before us, so to my heart are the genial memories that come up to my soul from the happy past:

And my soul amid these memories

Shall be blessed evermore !""

How strange, thought I, this difference. Why should the Past be so dark and cheerless to one, and so full of joy and pleasant memories to the other!

I had not thought long on this contrast, when the cheerful one of these youth reminded the other, that, as they had now warmed themselves and rested, it was time for them to set out afresh on their journey.

"This is only a tarrying place," said he, "and we have not yet come to the inheritance which lies before us. Let us arise, and journey; for this is not our rest!"

"Go! whither?" said the other. "The path before us is all dark to me. The fearful symbols on the memorial stone, are prophetic of what must meet us, if we go forward. It is a land of wrecks, ruins and death upon which we now enter, if we go forward!"

"Ah! you mistake," said the other. "Those are only intended as warnings, and not designed to portray our fate. We need but observe the rules of the way, and all these seeming enemies will prove our friends. Though the path before us looks dark, it will brighten to us as we pass on; and when we get to the next memorial stone, we shall find it delightful to recount the incidents and pleasures of the way. Up, and let us hasten onward."

"It is all vanity before us, as it has proved itself to be vanity in the past. If you see any hope before us, you must look through a different kind of eyes from those it has ever been my lot to possess." "That may be," said the cheerful one. "That must be looked

to. Have you never read: 'If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!'"

"To me all is dark," was the despairing reply. "The past is dark-the present is dark-the future is dark! Let the day perish wherein I was born. Let that day be darkness: let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it!"

"Be not so cheerless," said the other; "let us go forward, 'heart within, and God o'erhead?'”

"It is all dark! dark! dark! My fears grow as I look forward. My despair crushes me. My soul is as among lions; and I see the jaws of hell open before me!"

"See you not a star twinkling in the distant sky before you?" "I see but a hazy speck-a faint gleam-but, oh how dark is all around-dark!"

"You see it faintly.

Keep your eye upon it.

brighter the longer you hold it in your eye.

It will grow When you get to

know it well, you will find that it will illumine your path, as it were a bright smile of heaven. It is the star of Bethlehem !" "I never saw it before. It grows brighter!"

"Keep your eye on it," exhorted the cheerful youth-"Keep your eye on it! firmly, and steadily on it! and-forward!"

Then I saw that the two youth passed the memorial stone, and were soon out of sight, going on into the future! I hope the gloomy one will be more cheerful, when they come to the next memorial stone. Sure we are, that, if they keep their eyes steadily fixed on the STAR, it will lighten their way till they reach it. Ŏn it they will no doubt find

For whom as wiles the tempter still is wreathing
The bright and fair.

My steps, I know, are on the plains of danger,
For sin is near;

But looking up, I pass along, a stranger,
In haste and fear.

This earth has lost its power to drag me downward :
Its spell is gone;

My course is now right upward and right onward,
To yonder throne.

Hour after hour of time's dark night is stealing
In gloom away;

Speed thy fair dawn of light, and joy, and healing,
Thou Star of Day!

For thee, its God, its King, the long rejected,
Earth groans and cries;

For thee, the long-beloved, the long-expected,
Thy bride still sighs !

LIFE-PICTURES FROM CHURCH HISTORY. No. 7.

THOMAS A KEMPIS.

FROM THE GERMAN OF DR. VAN OSTERZEE.

BY L. H. S.

"Abide in meck simplicity and Christ will abide with you." These were the words of the pious father Florentius, the follower of the excellent Gerhard Groot, the well-known founder of the Society of the Common Lot, when he breathed his last, on the day of the Annunciation, in the year 1400, at the age of fifty years. That this last exhortation of the dying master became an enduring blessing to many of his scholars,, scarcely allows of a doubt. But it was followed by no one with greater truth and steadfastness, than by the faithful biographer of Florentius Radewins-as it were the Elisha of this Elijah-by Thomas a Kempis, who as a youth sat at his feet, as a man revered his memory, and not till seventy years afterwards as an old man followed him to the everlasting rest. So closely did Thomas abide in meek simplicity, that he took nearly as much pains to withdraw himself from the eyes of the world, as others have employed to obtain the admiration of mankind. "Strive to remain unknown"-ama nesciri-this was his motto throughout life, and notice, that we find few names, in the history of the living Church of the Lord, surrounded with greater lustre. It is as though God had designed to place this man, right before all succeeding centuries, as a confirmation of the truth: He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. His fame has become universal. He belongs not only to the Society of the Common Lot, mentioned above, as whose highest ornament his name sweetly shines forth. He belongs not at all exclusively to the Roman Catholic Church, which may count this friar with justice as the noblest of her members. The name of Thomas a Kempis belongs to all Christendom, to all Christian Confessions. Almost every where, even down to the present day, where the good tidings of salvation in Christ have penetrated, there his little book-the Imitation of Christ-in manifold tongues has found a way to the hearts of the disciples. And although, in the fullest sense of the word, he was a true son of the erring mother-church of Rome, and remained so to his death, yet his picture, on that account, must not be wanting amid the life-pictures of an evangelical Calendar. On this account we shall give here a short review of his life; tarry for a moment at his chief Work already named, and then seek to show the place which he occupied among the precursors and preparers of the way of the great Reformation work.

Thomas Hemmerken (Hemmerlein, Malleolus) was born in 1380, in the small but pleasantly situated village of Kempen, near Cologne, in the mountainous district of Cleves, under the Church authority of the archepiscopate of Cologne. He obtained his name from this place (not from Kampen in Oberyssel). His parents belonged to the simple condition of citizens, and were possessed only of ordinary means; still our Thomas enjoyed the high privilege, which many prominent men of the Church, such as Augustine, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Theodoretus and others, shared: He was educated by a pious mother. His oldest biographer says: "Quite early in life be was filled with love for religion through the exhortations of his very pious mother."

same time his father, a modest mechanic, furnished him a worthy pattern of activity, perseverance and singleness of heart, so that it might well be said, that ora et labora (pray and work) was very early so stamped on him by both parents, that this remained in a still higher degree the life-rule of the son, when at the age of twelve he left the paternal roof.

Yet it was not the desire for earthly honors, nor the longing for wealth and possessions, that induced him at so tender an age to go to Deventer in Oberyssel, whither his older brother John had gone before. His desire was to seek the then celebrated school of the Brothers of the Common Lot in that city, whose good name had also reached his ears, in which Institution even those scholars, who were not provided with the requisite money, found reception and instruction. Gerhard Groot he found was no longer there, but a friendly relation was soon formed between him and Florentius, and the latter provided him the requisite school money. As, after him, the chorister Luther, at Eisenach, so here our Thomas also found a friendly reception and loving assistance from a devout woman, which manifestation of kindness he returned on his side by a persevering zeal, an upright fear of God, and an amiable modesty, in which he was especially distinguished above many of his fellow-scholars. Moreover, he took part with great conscientiousness in the religious exercises of the Brothers, whence he was at a later period definitely received into the Brothers'-House. Here he formed an intimate friendship with that zealous and pious youth, Arnold von Schoonhoven, whose bed-fellow and room-mate he was, and with whom he practiced daily in writing, and reading the Holy Scriptures. From the way and manner in which Thomas here and there speaks of this companion of his youth, it is clear that he endeavored early in life to imitate the weighty admonition of the apostle: "In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves" (Phil. 2: 3). The example of Florentius, however, affected him still more than that of Arnold, to whom as to his spiritual father he had also evinced an unbounded affection, and according to whose advice he determined, in his twentieth year, to follow the approved inclination of his heart, and to devote himself to a monastic life. Provided with a letter of recommendation from the beloved master, he betook himself to a monastery of reg

ular canons of St. Augustine, which was dedicated to St. Agnes, and was situated not far from the city of Zwolle, in the midst of a healthy, friendly neighborhood, on a small hill. This monastery was retired and but little known, yet our young brother was not repelled, either by these circumstances nor by the poverty of the Institution. His heart's desire was to live there, entirely shut out from the world, in communion with his Lord and God. In the year 1899, he entered upon a five-year novitiate; in 1406 he was invested with the robes, and took the monastic vow the following year; in the year 1413, he was consecrated priest. How specially sacred this last named office was to him, is clearly shown in a passage of the 'Imitation,' written about this time: "Behold, thou hast been made a priest "-so speaks the voice of the Lord to him, (Book IV, 5)—“and consecrated to celebrate the Lord's sacraments; see now that thou offer the Sacrifice to God faithfully and devoutly, and at fit opportunities, and conduct thyself so, as that thou mayest be without reproof. Thou hast not lightened thy burden, but art now bound with a straiter band of discipline, and art obliged to a more perfect degree of sanctity. A priest ought to be adorned with all graces, and to give example of good life to others. His life and conversation should not be in the popular and common way of mankind, but with the angels in Heaven, or with perfect men on earth."

A man who held such exalted ideas of his ecclesiastical position must certainly have fulfilled, with singular fidelity and active zeal, the daily duties which the monastic life imposed on him. And indeed everything, which we know of him in this respect, authorizes us to praise in Thomas a singular proportion of that fidelity in little things, for which the Lord himself has promised so great a reward. It was his fixed rule, never to be wholly at leisure, but to spend his time in reading and writing, in prayer, in meditation, or in occupations advantageous to others. He took especial pleasure in beautifully written books, and deemed it a peculiar act of devotion to pay respect to the good and sacred even in this way. "There is extant" says his oldest biographer-" an entire Bible written by him, and we have also to thank the calligraphy and indefatigable labor of Thomas for a very large Missal, and some works of St. Bernard." He frequently copied the books of the Imitation of Christ' composed by himself, in consequence of which the prolonged discussion arose on the question whether he was the author or not, because he himself, either from excessive modesty, or perhaps also with child-like naive joy at the beauty of his handwriting, only styled himself copyist (hic liber est scriptus manu et characteri bus Thomae a Kempis).

With all these he did not neglect the minor duties of domestic life. He was for a long time Procurator or Oeconom, and in this office he sought to perform the Martha-duties-as he styles them in his little book on "the faithful housekseper"-with maternal fidelity, although such a position but little suited his private tastes. The thought filled him with joy, that, through his care, Christ's poor