(Acts 5:15. 16.)

When God works, it is a small matter what instrumentality He uses or how He may employ it. There was most certainly no virtue in the shadow of Peter, and it is just as true that there was no virtue in the hand of Peter or in himself at all. This he himself realized most fully. "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk. . . . The God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus" (Acts 3:12, 13). All the power and all the glory were ascribed to their proper source. It was the power of the name of Christ that availed for the faith of those who would put the beds of the sick where the shadow of Peter might fall upon them.

But most certainly this was a remarkable occurrence. There can be no question that God honored the faith of these people, and that the healing in the sixteenth verse was due to the power of God making use, in some cases at least, of the strange instrumentality. One thing impresses us-the power of God was operating marvelously and unhinderedly. What an amazing thing for simple men to be used in this way; and how humble and dependent they must have been. An emptied vessel is what the Lord delights to use.

We have learned to look at the manner as well as the results of God's working, and to find instruction in details apparently unimportant or unmeaning. Leaving aside the miraculous power bestowed on the apostle, for performing wonders on the bodies of the sick-a power which had its special uses at that time, and which is not the highest form of blessing-let us ask if there is any meaning for us, any lesson of profit in this occurrence.

A shadow is caused by the sun falling upon an object. No object in the shade can cast a shadow. It must be open to the unobstructed action of the sun; it must be "in the light."

We are each in our measure to be not merely recipients of mercy but transmitters of it to others. In this way we are entrusted with the gospel, and, as imitators of God, are to represent Him in a world that knows Him not. But the power for all such work is not in ourselves, but in Christ our Lord. If we are to cast a shadow, we must abide in the light, we must let the " light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" shine unobstructedly upon us.

The reason why so many of the Lord's people are of no use in the world, of no blessing to others, is because they are in the shade. Something has come in between themselves and the source of all light and power. Oftentimes it may be comparatively a harmless, or even a useful thing that thus eclipses for us the direct light of the sun. A man's business, a woman's household duties and cares, may be thus permitted to come between them and the Lord. The result is they cast no shadow, exert no influence for Him.

Now all this opens up a very interesting and profitable line of thought of a practical character. Let us seek to trace it out in a way simple enough, but perhaps suggestive to each of us to make application to ourselves personally.

Home is the place where first impressions are received and given. It is the place of God's establishment-" He setteth the solitary in families." None can estimate the value of godly influence in the home, of the elders upon one another, and upon the children. We are speaking, of course, of Christian households, where the Lord is loved and His name honored. This home life is largely made up of small details, each in itself comparatively insignificant, and each too small to command our attention. How life is largely, in this way made up of actions of which we are scarcely conscious,-little bits of conversation, little acts of love,-example without knowing it.

Here is the place for the shadows of divine love to be cast. Take, for instance, the guidance and control of the children; they need instruction, "line upon line;" they need correction and, at times, chastening. But how often are all these administered apart from God. The parent is not "in the light," and no shadow falls upon the weak and erring little one. Instead, there may be endless talk, constant forbidding, frequent scolding, until the child longs perhaps to be out of the house, at school or with companions. Does not the taste for worldly associates oftentimes begin in this way? Home is the place for unpleasant reproofs, constant occupation with the evil, and the child is, as it were, driven elsewhere for its pleasure.

Far be the thought for a moment to disparage godly care and the exercise of a firm government in the home. Unquestionably much of the wreck in home, assembly, and in the world about us, has come through letting the reins of family-government fall from the hands. But there is only one way to exercise that government, and that is in the power of God's love.

"But," says the weary and overworked mother, "I have failed so often. I begin each day determined not to give way to temper, not to correct needlessly or to scold, and before the day has well advanced I have broken all my resolutions." Is not this an experience all too common among the saints of God? And yet how simple is the remedy. We are to abide in the presence of God, in the holy light of that love which can never be measured. We live in the sunshine. No effort to cast a shadow-who by trying could cast a shadow?-but our one care is to abide in the light, and the light makes the shadow possible.

There is exercise no doubt to be in the light. Many a thing inconsistent with that holy calm has to be judged-above all the word of God must be fed upon daily, accompanied by the spirit of constant prayer. Once in the light and there is no question about the shadow-the influence. Now, instruction is given in the wisdom of love, and there will be less need for spoken prohibition as the eye is quick to detect the power of a soul with God. Even the restless little ones feel this power, and are helped and corrected when the parent is least conscious of it.

There is little need to amplify; we all see and crave this power-how many of us lack it. Think, beloved brethren, of casting this shadow wherever we go:of it falling upon the salesman who waits upon you at the store, so that without effort a word is spoken for Christ our Lord, or a tract given. Think in the busy whirl of "the street," of casting this shadow. Do we covet it ? Let us live in the light. Let us give the Lord the joy of our fellowship, let us see that the Holy Spirit is ungrieved, and we too will cast a shadow wherever we may go.