looked like stains on his cheeks.  And the father got down in between the sheets with his boy, and they got their arms around each other’s necks, for they had always been the best of friends, father and boy, and their tears got mixed up on each other’s cheeks.  Then they slept.  And the next night when the time came for sleep, the father said, “Good-night, mother, I’m going up stairs with Phil.”  And the second night he slept in the attic with his boy.  And the third night, again he said, “Mother, good-night, I’m going up with the boy again.”  And the third night he slept in the place of punishment with his son.

You are not surprised to know that to-day that boy, a man grown, is telling the story of Jesus with tongue and life of flame in the heart of China.

Do you know, I think that father is the best picture of God I ever saw.  God could not take away sin.  It’s here.  He could not take away suffering out of kindness to man.  For suffering is sin’s index finger, saying, “There’s something wrong here.”  So He came down in the person of His Son, and lay down alongside of man for three days and three nights.  That’s God—­our God.  And beyond that He comes and puts His life alongside of yours and mine, and makes us hate the bad, and long to be pure.  To be on intimate terms with Him, to live in the atmosphere of His presence, to spend the day with Him—­that is the true normal life.

[Illustration]

[Illustration:  Jack and David Jamison going to Mill]

IF YOU ARE ONLY HONEST

It is not best to try to still the voice of conscience by repeating the popular maxim, “If you are only honest, that is all.”

The mill was doing a great business that day, when Jack and David Jamison rode up with their bag of corn to be ground.  They lived on a small farm five miles off the main road, and were not sorry at the prospect of waiting several hours for their grist.

This would give them a chance of seeing something of the liveliness and bustle of “The Corner,” as that part of the village was called, where stood the tavern, the store, and the mill.

Jack and David had plenty of time, and they ran about a great deal, here and there, and saw and heard many things.

At last, a heavy shower coming on, they went back to the mill to eat their lunch, and to inquire when their turn would come.

There they found the miller’s son and the son of the squire engaged in earnest conversation, which soon took Jack’s attention.  The miller’s son was urging upon the squire’s son the importance of a correct understanding of the Bible.  But the squire’s son only insisted that “It doesn’t matter what a man believes, if he is only sincere.”

Jack was a vain, foolish fellow, and felt very much pleased with the rattling off-hand speech of the squire’s son, and he only wished that he could talk as well; then he would put his old grandfather to confusion—­indeed he would.