he BOOK that will be opened before the
throne, out of which every one will be judged. A _good heart_ is each
redeemed saint's BOOK OF LIFE: and an evil heart is each lost soul's
book of condemnation.

Hence we are told by our Lord "that every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment;" and
that "whatsoever is spoken in the ear in the closet shall be
proclaimed upon the housetop." Good words leave the lines of their
light upon the heart's love-tablet; but evil words leave their shadows
in the chambers of the soul, and deepen the darkness there.

_Sermon by Elder John Kline._

_Preached on Lost River, West Virginia,
March 3._

TEXT.--Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many be they
that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the
way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.--Matt.
7:13, 14.

It is declared that our Lord spake to his disciples in parables; "and
without a parable spake he not unto them." A parable is a brief
statement of such _facts_ as men are well acquainted with; which
facts are designed to correspond to or represent things they are
_not_ well acquainted with. Every parable, then, carries with it
two lines of thought. The one line is natural, and is based upon the
natural things given in the parable. The other line is spiritual, and
follows the natural line, as a shadow follows its substance. My text
is not properly a parable, but it is in the parabolic form, and must
be treated as such.

We notice at once the two gates and the two ways. We also notice that
these two ways or roads lead in opposite directions and to opposite
destinies. These statements the simplest mind can lay hold of. Even
young children know what gates are, and what roads are. They can also
look in thought toward the ends of roads, and comprehend, in some
measure at least, what is meant when they are told that one road ends
in a great fire that will burn forever, and that the other ends in a
delightful garden where flowers of beauty and fragrance, with fruits
of exquisite taste and healthfulness, hang upon trees and vines of
unfading loveliness.

It is never necessary to speak to the simple-minded man or child about
the freedom of the human will. Their lessons in this are learned from
observation and experience. By experience every one knows that he has
the