ht. The afternoon service was over; we had come home and laid off
our bonnets and cloaks; for though we were in April it was cold and
windy; and my schoolfellows had all gone downstairs to the parlour,
where they had the privilege of doing what they pleased before tea. I
was left alone. It was almost my only time for being alone in the
whole week. I had an hour then; and I used to spend it in my bedroom
with my Bible. To-day I was reading the first epistle of John, which I
was very fond of; and as my custom was, not reading merely, but
pondering and praying over the words verse by verse. So I found that
I understood them better and enjoyed them a great deal more. I came to
these words,--

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not."

I had dwelt sometime upon the first part of the verse, forgetting all my
discomforts of the week past; and came in due course to the next words. I
never shall forget how they swept in upon. "_The world knoweth us
not._"--What did that mean? "Because it knew him not." How did it not
know Him; He was in the midst of men; He lived no hidden life; the world
knew Him well enough as a benefactor, a teacher, a reprover; in what
sense did it _not_ know Him? And I remembered, it did not know Him as one
of its own party. He was "this fellow,"--and "the deceiver;"--"the
Nazarene;" "they called the master of the house Beelzebub." And so the
world knoweth _us_ not; and I knew well enough why; because we must be
like Him. And then, I found an unwillingness in myself to have these
words true of me. I had been very satisfied under the slighting tones and
looks of the little world around me, thinking that they were mistaken and
would by and by know it; they would know that in all that they held so
dear, of grace and fashion and elegance and distinguished appearance, my
mother, and of course I, were not only their match but above them. Now,
must I be content to have them never know it? But, I thought, I could not
help their seeing the fact; if I dressed as my mother's child was
accustomed to dress, they would know what sphere of life I belonged to.
And then the words bore down upon me again, with their uncompromising
distinctness,--"_the world knoweth us not_." I saw it was a mark and
character of those that belonged to Christ. I saw that, if I belonged to
Him, the world must not know me