As a flash of lightning illuminates the whole darkness of the country side, and reveals for the moment every object in clear outline, so this quaint saying of my dying friend dispelled in a moment the mists of the past which clouded the truth of my strange superstition. Here was the best answer to the mystery, pointing with no uncertain words to the glorious Resurrection Day, this aged, earthly shepherd at the end of his years of toil recognised his Great Master, Jesus, as the True Shepherd of mankind, meeting His flock as they arose from their long sleep of death, with their faces turned eastward, awaiting His appearing. Then when all had been called and recognised He turned to lead them onward, still their True Shepherd and Guide, with the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left hand, so wonderfully foretold in the Gospel story: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."--_S. Matt, xxv., 31, 32, 33._ Surely, the above simple illustration explains much that is difficult and mysterious to us in the way of religious superstition. Undoubtedly, we have here a good example of how superstitions have arisen, probably from a good source, it may be the words of some teacher long since passed away. The circumstance has long been forgotten, yet the lesson remains, and being handed down by oral tradition only, every vestige of its religious nature disappears and but the feeling remains, which, in the minds of the ignorant populace, increases in mystery and enfolds itself in superstitious awe, without any desire from them to discover the origin, or source, of such a strange custom, or event. Curious Announcements in the Church. By the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees. Years ago announcements in churches were of a distinctly curious character, and the parish clerk in making the intimation seems to have been left completely to his own indiscretion. In country districts, where proper advertising would be quite impossible, the practical advantages of some classes of announcements would be great, but none of them accord with our modern sense of the fitness of things, and many can only be accounted for on the ground of extraordinary familiarity between clergyman, clerk, and congregation. A brief consideration of the subject furnishes a few side-lights into the general condition of the church, as well as into the laxity of church discipline, about fifty years and more ago, especially away from large centres of population.