Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE
TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
611. "The secret of a bright life is to have brightness in the
heart. The explanation of much of our pessimism is a poor,
darkened heart. Some one has expressed this in a fable : 'A
cold firebrand and a burning lamp started out one day to see
what they could find. The firebrand came back and wrote in its
journal that the whole world was dark. It did not find a place,
wherever it went, in which there was light. Everywhere there
was darkness. The lamp, when it was back, wrote in its journal,
"Wherever I went it was light." What was the difference
between the firebrand and the lamp? The lamp carried light
with it, and when it went abroad it illumined everything about
it. The dead firebrand carried no light, and it found none
where it went.' "
612. At a prayer-and-praise meeting a good brother had
indulged in a long, complaining strain of experiences about the
trials and difficulties in the way to heaven. Another, of a very
different spirit, followed, who said : "I see that our brother who
has just sat down lives in Grumbling Street. I lived there
myself for some time, and never enjoyed good health. The air
is bad, the houses bad, the water bad; the birds never came
and sang in the street, and I was gloomy and sad enough.
But I flitted. I got into Thanksgiving Street, and ever since
then I have had good health, and so have my family. The
air is pure, the water good, the houses good; the sun shines
in all day; the birds are always singing, and I am as happy
as I can be. Now, I commend our brother to 'flit.' There
are plenty of houses to let in Thanksgiving Street."
Intelligencer.
Christian
613. "A man met a little fellow on the road carrying a basket
of blackberries, and said to him, 'Sammy, where did you get
such nice berries?' 'Over there, sir, in the briars!' 'Won't
your mother be glad to see you come home with a basket of such
nice, ripe fruit?' 'Ye', sir,' said Sammy; 'she always seems
glad when I hold up the berries, and I don't tell her anything
about the briars in my feet.' The man rode on. Sammy's
remark had given him a lesson, and he resolved that henceforth
he would try and hold up the berries and say nothing
about the briars."
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