THE STONE LAMB.



A GERMAN minister, Pastor O'Feucke, tells a story in a very interesting book of his, about things which have really happened to him, or which he has met with, in his travels. In 1865, he stood with a little band of travelers, before the beautiful Roman Catholic chapel of Werdenander Ruhr, in Germany, waiting for the key to be brought, that the door might be unlocked for them to enter. While they waited, they saw something on the ledge of the roof, which they found to be a carved stone lamb, and began to wonder what it meant up there. So they asked an old woman who was hobbling along a little way off, if she could tell them about it, and she replied, "Yes," and related why it had been put in that strange place.

"Many, many years ago," she said, "where that lamb now stands, a man was busy repairing the roof of the chapel, and he had to sit in a basket fastened by a rope, as he worked. Well, he was working in this manner one day, when suddenly the rope, which held the basket, gave way, and he fell down, down from that great height to the ground below! Of course, every one who saw the dreadful accident, expected that the man would be killed; especially as the ground just there was covered with sharp stones and rocks, which the workmen were using for building. But, to their great astonishment, he arose from the ground and stood up quite uninjured. And this was how it happened: a poor lamb had wandered quite up to the side of the chapel, in search of the sweet young grass which had sprung up among the stones, and the man had fallen exactly on the soft body of this lamb, it had saved his life, for he had escaped with the mere fright, and with not so much as a finger broken. But the poor lamb was killed by his heavy fall upon it. So, out of pure gratitude, the man had the stone lamb carved, and set up for a lasting memento of his escape from so fearful a death, and of what he owed to the poor lamb."

Do you not think this is a beautiful story? Does it not remind you of the story of the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was slain for us that we might live forever? Never forget that "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our Iniquities." And let us copy the poor man's example in being truly thankful, and in showing that we are so. 

He could not do anything more for the lamb which had so wonderfully saved his life, than make a little monument or memento of what it had done. But there is much that we can do for the Lamb of God, who was slain for us. We can love him for what he has done, and we can give him the one thing he wants from us. Do you ask what it is, for which the God of' glory asks, he who has all the riches of the world, and to whom Heaven and earth belong? He says, "My son, give me thine heart." 



N. Y. Observer.



Do the best you can where you are, then you will see an opening for something better.