Few lives there are upon whose page sooner or later there is not written the record of a tragedy. It may come in the loss of a friend, or a parent, or a wife or husband, or a child. It may come in the wreck of a fortune or the stranding of a worldly ambition. Some day while pursuing a peaceful voyage the cry will go forth, “Breakers ahead,” and in spite of our vigilance and our prayers the stout ship will founder and we will be cast upon untrodden shores of duty and experience. It is in such emergencies as these that the Christian has resources that the man of the world knows not of. Unlike Crusoe he does not turn his desperate gaze toward the half-sunken ship if perchance he may regain some of its stores. He recalls rather those sweet promises of God which await redemption in the hour of need. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” He remembers that and forthwith in the midst of his extreme peril and helplessness he cries: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1–2. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. _Psalms 107:28._ [Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY FRED’K L. CHAPMAN & CO. SHIPWRECKED――BUT NOT LOST. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.”] [Illustration] THE LOST SHEEP. No name by which the Savior is known brings Him into such close and tender relations with His people as that of Shepherd. “I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.” As members of the fold of Christ we are guaranteed His loving care and solicitous protection. “But other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” By that He means that His shepherding care extends over the entire world, and no bruised or fallen lamb exposed to the rocks and hardships of the wilderness, can ever get beyond the Shepherd’s patient search. No winds can be too harsh, no storms too angry, no mountain steeps too treacherous to defeat his patient will to reclaim the lost. Though by ignorance we fall into error and violate his commands, though by willfulness we transgress His law and traverse the road of disobedience, though the lamp of our innocence be shattered and the light of our hope fades away in desolation and despair, the Shepherd comes to us and calls, “Son, daughter, give me thine heart.” Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. _Luke 15:6._ [Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY FRED’K L. CHAPMAN & CO. THE LOST SHEEP.] [Illustration] CANCELED DEBTS.