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sisted upon in important matters. Put it in writing," is a wise precaution. The lawyers carry this to an extreme with their multiplication of terms, but they know what they are doing, and they are right to err on the safe side. With all this it is difficult to frame sentences on whose meaning men cannot dispute. It is an old saying repeated in many forms, that " Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts";

"When Nature's end of language is declined,
And men talk only to conceal the mind."

That it could be said and repeated shows that such concealment behind and within the words had often been resorted to. It will still be so, and words will be a refuge for cowardice and insincerity. But this is not their office and they do not give protection. Shibboleth did not hide, but revealed, the tribe of the man who spoke it. The escape from insincerity is only into sincerity; and a man should be willing to be known, or at least, unwilling to be held in falsity. We seem to have come upon a time of indefiniteness and indistinctness, I need not give it a harsher name. There is said to be more thinking, though this is by no means certain. But the times lack nerve. Thought is often thin, vapourised, diffused, needing to be condensed. There is a demand for plain living and high thinking, and for clear speaking. Truth can be trusted, and noth

ing else is trustworthy. It simplifies life to have it honest. It is the single eye which receives the light, and the single mind which uses it to advantage. Think with precision, speak with distinctness, and you have gone a long way to make life true.

There are two sides to the matter of insincerity. It may consist in the desire to appear better than we are; it is quite as likely to consist in the consent not to appear as good as we are. Often we conceal our best feelings, disguise our best motives, cover our best beliefs. We call this modesty, and sometimes it may be modesty. It may be timidity, the lack of confidence in ourselves and our stability. But timidity grows in concealment and increases with years, and becomes a needless hindrance. Modesty is graceful, but it is not to prevail at the cost of courage and honesty. The Australian ballot is an ingenious device, but it should not have been necessary. Why should a man wish to hide his vote? We may bow to necessity until we outgrow it, and liberty is self-respectful and respected. Let us not go too far. The New Testament requires of a man that he stand for what he is. The inner light is to shine before men. There are but two sides in the world, God's, and the other one. Self-respect demands that we stand boldly on the one side or the other. Honour and honesty enforce the demand. The fence is not regarded

as the man's place. Let him say Shibboleth or Sibboleth as he pleases, but say it distinctly.

The life is to have a likeness to the thought and belief. Much is made of the confession of our belief and intent for its influence outwardly, and its work within the man. It is well to commit ourselves to the truth and to let it be known that we are upon that side. It need not be with noise, or show, or many words. It may be silent as the light, but it should be as clear and steady as the light. In a very broad way we are to heed the plain words of the Apostle,-“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation." Always are we to be directed and cheered by the promise of the Lord, made to those who confess Him before men.

I

X

LUCK

S there such a thing as luck? We answer with some hesitation, that there is not.

Then we add, It seems sometimes as if there were." There are men with whom all things appear to go well, while apparently they are no more deserving than others in whose lives one disappointment follows another. We do not discern greater intelligence, or industry, or merit in those whose plans prove to have been well formed and well timed. How shall this difference be accounted for? There are ships which appear to be protected from the disasters that befall others, and to have the winds in their favour in whatever direction they are steered. But we do not see that these ships are better in their construction, or have more skilful officers, than those which are always contending with adversities. How is the difference to be explained? There is a quiet clinging to superstitions in these matters. Falstaff hoped for good luck in odd numbers,— "They say there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death." We should not confess it, but probably most of us would

have some choice of the shoulder over which we are to see the new moon. There are other signs and portents which we do not accept, yet cannot quite disown. What does it all mean? Is there such a thing as Luck?

We retain the words which recognise its reality. We speak of happiness, which in its origin means that which happens. The fortunate man, or event, has fortune, that is chance, as his benefactor. The fortune which a man has earned, or inherited from those who earned it, takes its name from Fortuna, the Roman goddess of Chance. Her temple and oracles were in high honour. She was represented in various ways,as blind, and with wings on her feet; holding a globe, or resting on a cherub. She is no longer worshipped formally, but the gains which men have acquired are called after her, as if they had come from chance. In the same way we talk of misfortune, as if chance was behind it. The ancients had their Fortunate islands, Pliny and Ptolemy speak of them. The name had a history which connected it with Fortuna. In later times the birds have named these islands the Canaries. This is natural, but it would have been a simple matter to call them after the ship which first visited them, or the earliest adventurer who landed upon their shores. Someone happening to see the birds chanced to think that their name would be a good one for their home,