be passed. That prisoner, "in bodily
presence weak and contemptible," was however "permitted to speak for
himself;" and verily he did speak! He spoke of God and Christ; of
repentance and the new life; and of his own glorious commission to
"open the eyes" of men, "to turn them from darkness to light, from the
power of Satan unto God, that they might receive the forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith in
Jesus." What a revelation was this from God to man! The voice which
spoke from Sinai and through the prophets, the voice of Him who is
truth and love, spoke at that moment of life through Paul to those
royal hearers, and to the captains and principal men. But Agrippa,
with a sneer or with some conviction of the truth, replied, "Almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Unlike St Paul himself, when
the Lord spoke to him on his way to Damascus, Agrippa was disobedient
to the heavenly vision. And so the sermon ended; the gay multitude
dispersed; the place of hearing was left in silence, and echoed only
the midnight winds or the beat of the sea-wave on the neighbouring
shore. St Paul retired to his cell; Agrippa, Festus, and Bernice, to
their chambers of rest, to sleep and dream by night, as they slept and
dreamt by day. But they never heard the apostle preach again! It
was their first and last sermon; that moment in their life came and
passed, but never returned. Like two ships which meet at midnight on a
moonlit sea, those two persons, the prisoner and the king, spoke, then
each passed into the darkness, and onward on their voyage to their
several ports, but never met again! Oh, how awful are such moments
when truth reveals herself to the responsible spirit of man! And so,
my reader, does it ofttimes happen between thee and God's Spirit. Let
me beseech of thee to "redeem the time," to know this "the day of
_thy_ visitation," and to hear and believe "the word of the Lord."

Another "moment in life" which may be specially noticed, is that in
which we are tempted to evil. Temptations are no doubt "common to
man." Our whole life in a sense is a temptation, for whatever makes a
demand upon our choice as moral beings, involves a trial of character,
and tests the "spirit we are of." But nevertheless there do occur
periods in our lives when such trials are peculiarly testing; when
large bribes are offered to the sin that doth so easily beset us,
tempting us to betray conscience, give up