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! IMAGE'S SERMON. i I IAUGHTER OF THE BIBLE. i i " Text: "Then was our mouth fillel with laughter."?Psalm, cxxvi, 2. "He that -Sitteth in the heavens shall laugh."?Psalm 44 A -X. ? Thirty-eight times in the Bible is reference ' made to this configuration of features and quick expulsion of breath which we call laughter. Sometimes it is born of the sunShine and sometime? of the midnight. Some(bimes it 'stirs the sympathies of angels and sometimes the cachinnation of devils. All healthy people laugh. Whether it please? Or displeases God depends upon when we laugh and at what we laugh. I propose this morning to speak to you on the laughter of the Biole, namely, Sarah's laugh, or the laugh of scepticism; David's laugh, or that of spiritpal exultation; the fool's laugh, or that of Sinful merriment: God's laugh, or that of (divineindignation: Heaven's laugh, or that pf eternal triumph. Scene: An oriental tent; the occupants,old Abraham and Sarah, probably wrinkled and decrepit. Three guests, one of them the Lord Almighty. To repay these old people for their hospitality. |3hod promises Sarah that she shall be the ancestress of th9 Lord Jesus Christ. She laughs in God's face. She does not believe it. Affrighted at what she has done she says she Tirtt. Inrxrh Then fiivl retorts with an emphasis that silences all discussion: "but thou didst laugh." And that sceptical laugh Of Sarah's has had its echo in the scepticism of all the ages. Gcd says He will accomplish a certain thing. People say: 4,I don't believe it can be done: I don't believe it will be done." People laugh at the iniracles. They say "the miracles are contrary to the laws of nature, and therefore they are impossible." What is a law of "nature? It is only God's way of doing things. Ordinarily you cross to New York on the bridge, Tomorrow you decide to go by Wall Street ferry. You formed your habit: you have a right to change your habit. I ordinarily enter the church by this door (indicating.) Next Sabbath morning I might enter it by that door (indicating). I - J 1?u:4. T 1? ~ 4.^ lonueu iiijr iiauiu x lie***? a m^uu v*f tuau^o my habit. A law of nature is God's habit. His way of doing things. If He has a right to form the habit He has a right to change it whenever he chooses to change it. It is an awful tiling for us to laugh back in the face of God, ana say: "You can't do what You said You would do;" or, ' You won't do it." God says the Bible is true, it is all true. Bishop Colenso laughs, HerWt Spencer laiighs, John Stuart Mill laughs, . some of the German universities laueh, Harvard laughs softly, some of the American institutions, with long rows of professors seated on the fence between Christianty and infidelity, laugh softly. They say they did not laugh. Ah, that is Sarah's old trick I For God thunders from the Heavens, "thou didst laugh." The Garden of Eden was only a fable. Noah's ark was an impossibility for it could not have talH t-urn nf ?nr-h IrinH Thp rWllnr nf firo hir night was only the "northern lights." Jacob's ladder was only horizontal and picturesque clouds. The sea- parted only because the ,Wind blew a great while from one direction, violently, and the sea could not help but Separate. The ten plagues of Egypt were only a brilliant "specimen of jugglery. The destroying ansel smiting the first born of Egypt was cnly cholera infantum become epidemic, r The gullet of the whale by positive measurement is too small to swallow a prophet. Sun and moon did not put them selves out or tne way lor josnua. The blind, the lame, the halt, who were cured in Bible times were not cured by supernatural power, but by great skill of surgery. The resurrection of Christ's friend was only a tableau. Christ and Lazarus and Mary and Martha only acted their parts well. Lazarus was not dead. He only played dead. He was not resurrected. He only played res jrre-ted. My friends, there is not a statement in that book, or a theory in that bsok, or a sentiment in that book, or a fact in that book but has been disputed and laughed at by modern scepticism. Here is King James' translation. I believe it to be a perfect Bible. Now let me tear out all those portions of the Bible which modern scepticism would have me tear out. "Where shall we begin? "Well," says some man: "Take out all that about the creation and the settlement of the world." There goes Genesis. "Well," says some one, "take out next all that about the miraculous guidance of the Israelites in the wilderness." There goes Exodus. Says some man There are things in Deuteronomy and the Kings 1 which are not fit to be read." Away go Deuteronomy and the kings. Some man savs: "Take that out which is only the fable" of Job's writings.'1 Away goes Job. Sime man says, "take out that from the New Testament which declares the divinity of Jesus Christ." Awav go the evangelists. Somebody says: "That is absurd in the work of Revelation about a man with the moon under his feet and a sword proceeding from his mouth." Away goes Revelation. We have a few pieces left; whan shall we do with them? Soms man says: "I don't believe a word of the book from beginning to end. It is all gone now. Oh, do you not think we had better keep the Bible a lit- I ? > Ta. i j ? - i ue urn)*wi luitt-o: it uasuone pretty well for a pood many years; then there are some old people who like to hold it on their laps, and there are children who like to read its stories. If the Bible is-to be put away in the dark corner of some city library, the Koran on one side and the writings of Confucius on the other, perhaps we had better keep one copy for ourselves, for we might nave trouble and we would want the delusion of its consolation, and we might die and we would like to be deluded with the story of high residence in the presence of God. Oh, it is an awful thing to throw back God's revelation into His face, and say: "I don't believe it" After a while, the day will come when people will say. ''Ididnot lau<rh." Th^n all the Hypercriticisms and the caricatures and the sneers at the Bible will bo brought into judgment, and amid the ro;king of everything beneath, and amid the flamiug of everything above, God will thunder from the heavens: "That thou didst laugh." The most fascinating laughter at Christianity that I ever heard was Theodore Parker. I sat in the hall in Boston and heard him make many of the passages of the word of God seems absolutely ridiculous,and that man wentjon laughing at our holy Christianity until he came to die, and then he said: "My lifehasbeena failure; domestically a failure, I have no children; c/vio 11 tr o ' '*? ? ?* Am~ ?-aa j W4 cau mxj ime a pi rare on tho street; professionally a failure, for I know but one minister who has adopted my sentiments." For twenty-five years that man laughed at Christianity and Christianity has ever since been laughing at him. Oh it is a mean thing to go into a man's house and steal his goods, but the most gigantic burglary of the centurief is the atteinpt to take away these treasures of the souL Of all the laughter on earth or hell ever heard the meanest laughter is the sceptic's laugh?proposing to take our only consolation in trouble and our only pillow in death and give us as a substitute absolutely nothing. The next laughter of the Bible that I notice is David's laugn, or that of spiritual exultation. He says: "Then was my mouth tilled with laughter." You know he sometimes got clear down, he was at times very melaucholy. Then he rose up and in some chapters he calls forth the people four or rive times to sing and rejoice anl laugh. It is not merely the teaching of the lips with him; it is a demonstration that takes all his bodv and all I his soul. "Then wa? my mouth filled with laughter." My friends, if this world is ever converted to God it will be because Christians cry less and laugh more. The horrors make a poor bait to fish with. People do not want a morbid Christianity. I know there are j eople so morbid in feeling that they actually enjoy a funeral. They go early to see the friends, take leave of the corpse and then steal a ride to the cemetery. But the va-t majority of healthy people, all healthy people, enjoy a wedding better than they do a burial, and if you make religion seprechral and hearse-likeyou make it repulsive. So I say, plant rose of Sharon along the walks of the church, ?nd columbine to run on the walls of the church and let there be a smile on the up, and let there be holy laughter in the souL I think that a christian is the only man who has a right to untrammeled glee, lor he is promised that ail things are for the best in this world, and lie is on his way to a delight which it will take all the processions with palm branches, and all the orchestras, harped and cymbaled and trumpted, to express. Kejoice evermore, and again I say rejoice. The merriest laughter I have ever . heard has been in the sick room of God's dear children. Theodosius was put upon the rack for Christ's sake. He gave an account of it aftervrard and said: "When J was put on the rack I suffered awfully, but a young man in white came with a sort and comfortable handkerchief and wiped my forehead, and my sufferings were alleviated, and it was an actual punishment for me to be taken off the rack, for as soon a? all the suffering was gone the angel was ffone." And last Friday night standing by the dying bed of a Christian, I said to him: "What word will you seni to the church service where I am goina; to-night?" and, rallying all his energ;es, and his face shining like heaven, he said: "Tell them to be of good cheer." "Oh," says some one, "I have so many troubles, and so many sicknesses, and so many persecutions, and so many trials; that doctrine won't do for me." Have you it any "worse than Paul had it? Driven out. persecuted. tried, suit upon, slain. Yet, hear him say: "Sorrowful yet rejoicing.poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing all things." Why, sometimes, my friends, there is more religion in a lau^h than in a groan. Anybodv can groan, but to laugh in the midst of trial and persecution and suffer ing, it takes a David, a Daniel, a Paul, a mo lern heroine to do t-hit The next laugh of the Bible that I shall mention is the tool's laugh, or the expression of sinful merriment. Solomon was veryquick at a simile and when he makes a comparison everybody catches it right away. Solomon, what is a fool's laugh like? He answers: "The crackling of thorns under a Eot." The kettle is swung, a bunch of rambles is put under it, a t>rch is applied, there is a great blaze and a big noise and a solutter. and a quick extinguishment, and it is darker than it was before. A fooi's laughter. The most miserable thing on earth is a bad man's fun. Ten men in a barroom and an impure joke starts at one end of the barroom, and crackle, crackle, crackle it goes all around. In 500 such guffaws not one eloment of happiness. They all feel be-neaned, for they have wives, mothers, daughters at home. I have not any faith in either a man's Christian character or common morality, who either tells or laughs at an impure ."joke. Men and women are no better than their conversation. If you love to tell or love to hear impure jokes it is because you are depraved. Yet there are men who call themselves gentlemen who indulge in impure conversation, and laugh at impure jokes; and I have been told that in womanly circles there are those who call themselves la lies, yet who tell impure stories, or laugh at them when they are told. They are half harlots, incipient Magdalens? under powerful temptation they would become waifs of the street. Beware of man or woimr i who tells or laughs at an impure joke. It is the fool's laughter, "the crackling of thorns under a pot." So also all merriment that is made at the frailties, at the misfortunes,of others. The caricature of a lame foot, or a curved spin?, or a blind eye or a deaf ear. God will write it out; in .luagmenc eituer 10 you or vour chlliren. Twenty years ago t saw a mau very skillfully mimic his neighbor's lame foot. He did it with wonderful skill. Not long ago, th; son of that skillful mimic ha 1 his Te? amputate! for the very*infirmicy that the father had caricatured in the neighbor years ago. I do not say it was a judgment of God. You can say what you please. But I say beware, look out how you cari-ature the infirmities of others. It is the fools laughter. So is also all themorriment that is aroused from dissipation, that starts from the drinking restaurant or from the wine cup of the social circle, the simpering and the saturnine gibberish, the laughter at nothing. which you sometimes hear after the wine has taken its effect in the social circle or in the club room. It is all the laughter of the fool. When I was a lad a book was published called "Dow Junior's Sermons." It had a large circulation; it made everybody laugh; it was considered a very witty and funny thing. I had a copy presented to me in my childhood. I read it. The whols book was a caricature of the church, of the ministry, of the Biblean loftheDgtyof Judgment. Oh,how the world laughed at it. Tho commentary of the whole thing is that the author of that book not long ago died in poverty, shame, debauch. Kicked out of decent society and under the curse of Almighty God. I charge on the young people of this congregation, in the preseace of Almighty God, have nothing to do with these styles of mirth that I have been speaking of. It despoils the character. If your lips are not pure it is because your heart is rotten. The next laughter of the Bible that I speak of is God's laugh of indignation. The Bible savs: *'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." It says in another place: "The Lord ' shail laugh." In another place it says: "I will laugh at vour calamity." With that demonstration God meets great sins and wickedness. Here is a man building up his villainies. It seems as if he has beaten the Lord because of his successful schemes. I can show you men in Brooklyn and New York now who are going right on building up their villanies, and they seem iaj uu aiittcouui. uuu v> ait?. rvLLei anmio the pin will get out of the machinery of wickednesss or the fatal secret will be told and everything will go into demolition. The crash of the ruin will be the reverberation of the wia*h of God's indication. Wall street is a great place for good men and for bad men. There are no better men in the world tban you will find in Wall street and . no worse men. A fraudulent man of that street says: ''I mean to get a million dollars and I don't care how I get them." Reckless of all the laws of honesty, he goes ahead and he gets his $100,001). He goes on and he gets his $200,000. He gees on until ha gets his ?500,000. Now," he says, "I have but one more stroke to make and then I'll have my million." He gathers together all his resources. He ris'.cs everything on one grand throw. He lose?. He fails. He has not actually enough money of his own to pay his car fare home. What is the matter? You say, "great stir in Erie railway stocks," or, "jjreat stir in Western Union," or, "great stir in Illinois Central," or you charge it to this speculator or that speculator. Thev all guess and they guess wrong. I will tell you what was the matter. He that sitteth in the Heavens laughed. A man in New York, years ago, resolved to be the wealthiest man in the city. He left his honest work as a chairmaker, went into politics, got elected to the city councils and in ten years stole from the city government $15,000,1)00, He held the Legislature of tha State of New York in the grip of his right hand. After a while suspicion was arousid. The (riaad Jury brought in an indictmeut. The whole land stood aghast. That mau who expected to put half of New York in his vest pocket gcos to Ludlow Street jail, goes to Blackweli's Island, escaping prison crosses the ocean, is rearrested, comes back, is reimprisoued anri dies there. Why? He thatsitteth in the heavens laughed. Rome was a great empire. She had Horace and Virgil among her poets; she had Augustus and Con stantine among her emperors. But why the defaced Pantheon? why the broken walis of the Coliseum' why the forum tuuned into a cattle market? "Why the architectural skeleton ; of her acqueducts? What is that thunder? You say it is the battering rams coming against her walls. No. Whatis thatauiverine? You say it is the tramp of hostile legions, No. The quivering and the roaring are the outburst of the unimpotent laughter of a of a defied and insulted Heaven. Rome defied God and He laughed her down; Thebes defied God and He laughed her down; Babylon defied God end He laughed her down. Oh, there is a great difference between God's smile and God's laugh. The smile, it is eternal beatitude, it is the bells of heaven striking a wedding peal. The smile of God, it is the loth of May, the apple orchards in full bloom. God smiled when David sang, and Miriam clapi>ed the cymbals, and Haunah made the garments for hsr son, and Paul !>reaohed and St. John kindled wifh apocayptic vision! But oh, the laughter of God, may we never hear it! It means punishment for our sin, it means wast ing away under His indignation. God ' wants us to live in His smile. He comes down from Heaven. Ho cca<es us, He begs us to como from our sins into righteousness. He comes into this world in the person of Christ. He takes up the bins of the world and He puts them on one shoulder, and Ho takes ud the sorrows of the world and puts them on the other shoulder, and then with this Alp on one side and this Himalaya on the other, He climbs up the steep just outside the city of Jerusalem to achieve our redemption; putting the palm of one hand on one spik? and and putting the palm of the other hand on another spike, He stretched forth His hands bespotted with His own blood and He gesticulates and says: "Look and live, look and live; with the crimson veil of my sacrifice I will cover up all your sins; with my dying groan* I will swallow up all your groans, look and live, look and live." If a man turns from that, then God'a voice cnanges its intonation ana it comes through the first chapter of Proverbs like the simoom of the desert and says: "Because I called and you refused, and stretched out my hand and no rsan regarded, and yet put at naught all my counsel and despised my reproof, therefore I will laugh at your calamity. Oh, this day by turning uuto God through Jesus Christ let us decide that we will live forever in the light of His smile.and escape forever the thunriar of the laugh of His indignation. i Another laughter of the Bibla?and the last one I shall mention?is the Heavenly laugh, or the one of eternal triumph. Christ said to his disciples: "Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall langli." That takes away tha idea that we are forever in Heaven to be singing long-meter psalms. The formalistic and stiff notions of some people in regard to Heaven would make me miserable. When Christ says to His disciples "blessed are ye that weep now, ye shall laugh," I know that heaven is not only goins: to be a place of'worship. but also a maerniScent sociability. What, will the ringing laughter eo all around the circles of the redeemed ? It will. Christ says so. "Ye shall lautrh." It will be a laugh of congratulation. If we meet a friend who has met with what we call good fortune, and he has come from poverty to great riches, or he is restored from some dire sickness, we grasp his hands and we laugh, and we congratulate him, and when we get in heaven we will meet our friends who on earth had a hard time of it,and to one of them we will say; "Why,the last time I saw you, you were down with six weeks of low intermittent fever. Now, how well you look. Immortal health on your cheek and eye. 1 congratulate you." It will be the laugh of congratulation. To another i one we'll we say :"Down in the world we saw . you limping along with rheumatism, now you have the strength and the fleetness of an immortal athlete. I congratulate you." It will be the laugh of congratulation. We will meet friends who failed in business. They went from raufo to panic and from disaster to disaster in this world, and we will meet them there and we will congratulate them. It will be the laugh over ( f-Jipir anf?npss. anil thov will sav ''Yes. V6S. this is my throne, this is my mansion, this is my companionship, this is ray Christ, this is my God." Laugh of congratulation. And it will be also a laugh of reunion.' The perceptions quickened, our knowl edge improved, we will know each other at a flash. Oh, how much those who have been ten years in heaven will have to tell us about their ten years of celestial residence. Oh, how much we will have to tell them about the ten years of their absence from earth. And there I think George Whitefield and John Wesley will give a laugh of ' contempt over their earthly misunderstand- , iugs. And there I think Toplady and Charles Wesley will give a laugh or contempt over their earthly misunderstandings. The two farmers that for twenty years quar- , relied about a line fence, in the heavenly country will give a laugh of ( contempt over their earthly quarrels. Ex- , emption from all sorrow. Immersion in all joy. We shall laugh. Christ says so. We , shall laugh. Oh, what a thrilling satisfaction to stand on the wall of heaven and look down at Satan and see him caged and chained, and wo am frtrarrar trAn frnm his clutches. Just think of it. You know how < the Frenchmen cheered when Napoleon the ( Great came back from Elba. You know how Englishmen cheered when Wellington came ' back from Waterloo. You know how Americans cheered when Kossuth came from Hungary. You know how 1 Rome cheered when Pompey returned from victory over 903 cities, and every cheer was a laugh. But oh, the grander : mirth and the mightier gladness when we shall see the snow-white cavalry troop of Heaven moving through the streets, Christ ( in the red coat, as described in Revelation, on a white horse riding on and all the armies of Heaven on white horse3. Oh, when we hear the click of the troops of that cavalcade we will shout and we will laugh. Does not this subject, men and women immortal, make your heart-, beat quick with joy, tiecause so soon we are to enter that great jubilee? We pray God that when we ' get through 1 with this world and are gouig to leave it we may have something of the belief of the dying christian who said he saw in the sky at the time he was dying the letter "W," and people standing by his dying bed said, "what do you suppose it means," after ho had told them he had seen the letter "W." "Well," he said, "it can mean only one thing, 'W' stands for 'welcome.'" And so when we i leave this world may it be "W" in the sky and "W" at the door of the mansion, and "W" on the throne. Welcome, welcome, welcome!" I preach this sermon this morning because I have fivo prayerful wishes?that you may see how mean a thing is the laugh of scepticism, that you may see how bright a thing is the laugh of Christian exultation, that you may see how hollow a thin? is the laugh of ainful mlrt-h thnt. von TTIAV SPA llOYV awful a thing is the laugh of God's indiguation, and that you may see what a rapturous and rubicund thing is the laugh of eternal triumph. Oh, my Lord and my" God, fill my soul with this rapture. Avoid evil. Choose the good Be comforted. Be comforted. "Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh, ye shall laugh!" Affection Among: Birds, Between a pair of the species called love birds, says an author, "we find the most perfect unity of purpose, and har mony of actlo.i besides, it one cars, tne other eats also; if one bathes, the other accompanies it; if the husband cries, forthwith the wife chimes in. Is one ill, the other feeds it. No matter how many of these little birds may be assembled on a tree each keeps with its mate; they never serarate." And another writer adds: "It is a well-known fact that these lovely creatures rarely survive the deaths of their companion; they pine away visibly when cruel fate dissolves the marriage bond, rarely touch food again, scarce utter a sound, or if tbey do its tone is most piteous, and in a few days they follow the loved one gone before. " Often sterner birds show the same rlr>nt}i r>f fpnlinor "We even know an example where the female owl pined to death on the decease of her mate and companion of many seasons. Clinging affection like this is a beautiful picture of lifelong attachment. Here, at least, we find no trace of selfishness; the one finds its happiness only where the other takes part; each lives for the other." Swindling the Farmers. It looks as if our farmers, as a class, were the most easily swindled people in tlie country. some 01 tnem are snrewa i enough, but the most of them are gulled by every bum that comes along. The other day a man went through Dauphin county with a lot of colored salt put up in jars, which he represented was a stump-consuming powder. His instructions were bore a hole in the stump, fill it with powder, ping up the whole, let it stand for six weeks and then set the stump afire, and it would burn down below the plow-line. The farmers caught on to it readily. The six weeks' provision was a wise one, for it allowed the agent to get away. An examination of the "powder," however, proved its worthless qualities, and the farmers can kick themselves over being badly fooled.?Mauch i J hunk iPenn.) Times. FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS. A Chinpsfi bank note 3.284 rears old is i in the museum at St. Petersburg. Jacob Twaddle, of Steubcnville, Ohio, blind from birth, can tell the color of a j horse by the sense of touch. In Spain, when a person eats a peaL-h i or a pear as he passes aloncf the road, he I immediately plants the seeds. Fruit trees are plenty and free to evfrv passerby. By a Japanese proc ess seaweed is made into paper so transparent that it may be ! substituted for window glass. When I colored it makes an excellent imitation ot stained glass. The Bible used in administering the oath to JefTcrson Davis as President of the Confederate States is still used in swearing in the Governors of Alabama at Montgomery. It appears that there are now inhabited cave dwellings in Saxony. They are dug in a sandstone hill, have different rooms, light and dark, as well as chimneys, windows and doors, and are said to be very dry and habitable. TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT. A Strong Pica for Total Abstinence. Dr. Carpenter, a prominent English temperance lecturer, in the course of a recent lecture said that as soon as a person had hid a glass of wine, spirits or beer they felt jolly, and it was of no use talking to them while snch influence was upon them. They would asssrt that none were so happy as they, but let them visit the fane person next morning and they would find the happiness of the previous evening had departed, that the person had a head-ache, was not ready for his breakfast or had a nasty taste in his mouth. Then some would say "never mind, old fellow, have a glass of brandy; that will set vou right again." It did so, and they thought <lwhat wonderful stuff this brandy is." But the person who took no wine, beer or spirits over night had no nasty taste, no loss of appetite next morning. Such happiness, he contended, was much hotter than the boisterous happiness created by (he drink the night before. No sound person could come to the conclusion that he who rose with a loss of appetite in the morning was the better for it. He contended rather that he had received more harm than good. A person might say he felt chilly or cold, and a glass of liquor warmed him and made him feel a man again. Now this was a complete delusion. Our bodies were all burning carbon precisely the same as a lamp did. We took in oxygen and threw out carbonic acid. This could be collected, and by instruments of precision measured, so as to ascertain what amount of heat had been produced in the body during the day. Were he to test all persons present who had had no alcohol he should find that, if healthy, their temperature aver j t\ai ? nr\ J T7<?V,T"kz? tigCU tfO-J ur VV UCglCGS luiucaucu. X degrees or heat could be increased by increasing oxidation in the body. This would be done by giving a person strong tea, but a few glasses of brandy and water, though making a person feel hot all over, would, as could be proved by placing a thermometer in the mouth, reduce the temperature of the body. This was explained by the fact that the alcohol brought the blood from certain centres to the surface, and while feeling so hot people were really cooling themselves. The more hot people were in reality cooling themselves. The more alcohol one had in any form, whether as beer, wine. or still worse, as spirit, it tended to diminish oxidation and prevented the carbon from being burnt up, and so producing heat. The amount of carbonic acid which came from the lungs was smaller, after taking alcohol, than before. The blood being brought to the surface and made sluggish, tended to disease in the blood vessels, -i - - < ? n_ i. in i?ii/u ana uaturauy iu lu-uunuu. uiuj90ms" existed all over the body and in the liver, heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, and other organs, though it was on the uosc they were seen to perfection (laughter). Alcohol enlarged the vessels, stopped the functions of the sweat glands, and so destroyed softness of skin and purity or complexion. Abstainers were farjietter able to bear cold than were non-abstainers, and it was a fact that many of the deaths attributed to drink were practically deaths from cold through T~ ~ -3 i 1 _ iAwrtAKofnra Vimrln nr Konn OA TP UUUIl J lCilI];biatUll/ uuriu^ MWWU wv *V duced by drink. Going to the Bible for examples of temperance he might mention Samson, the strongest man that ever lived, Samuel, one of the wisest, Daniel, who controled the Assyrian monarchs, and John the Baptist, of whom our Savior said that amongst men born of a woman there was not a greater. Athletics knew that it would not do to drink alcohol; the university men train for the boat race were kept, if possible, without it. Among cricketers total abstaining elevens were the best, and it was gener ally noticed that the eleven which went in before luncheon won the match. Al! delicacy of sight, thought, touch and action was destroyed by alcohol. As to its driving away pain or care, it would certainly paralyze a certain set of nerves and feelings and enable people to put on one side uncomfortable thoughts and go on as if such things did not exist. But it was only postponing th?m till the mor row, aud it would be far better for humanity to bear them patiently. By taking alcohol a person resisted the natural cleaning process and made the nerves a depot for material which would lay the foundation for organic disease and certainly shorten life. Clubs of 1,000 memT 1 - J ' Ders in Lonaon ayerageu seven uaya sickness per member per annum, in Glasgow eight, in Dublin nine; but societies where only temperance members were admitted averaged less than four, and were it not for accidents it would be less than two. Doctors told their patients it did them good because * lllj-n/l if- nnrl trAnnrr t\ r\f\ txiuv 11XVT;V4. 11/ \^J il Uq II tV/l Jj IIUU juuui^ tors could not afford to be total obstainers, or they would lose their practice. The majority of lunatics were those who had inherited disease, and not those who were suffering from their own indiscretions. Ninety per cent, of our convicts wer.? in prison through drink. The most unhealthy class of all were publicans' servants, sin 1 closetD these stood the publicans but the healthiest of all were convicts who were kept without alcohol. Alcohol undoubtedly was of service . 1 t. ? sometimes, "ill ims> u vi utii. uiiuu uv.iiiii, and if it was tr.kcn when tlio henrt did not want relieving it would do n > good whatever. Dr. Carpenter concluded his excellent lecture, which had been made very clear by the aid- of diagrams, by a r\f tlio T'trminn state which UV9Ui|^?vi? w England would be in were drink but abolished. The Christian Rome, of New York.says: "Of the sixty-eight married men receive.! in this home during the past year, twothirds of that number had been separated from their families on account of their drinking habits." i m " ' ' 3?ss$! RRRin RELIGIOUS READING. Any WorkforMe! Yes, there is plenty of work for you? whoever you are. God says to every ! one, Go, work in my vineyard. The vineyard is very large. It includes the whole of life. There is something for every one to do for God. 11 God's vineyard is not a place in which a man can work a certain number of hours in a day. It requires his whole time?his -waking and his sleeping hours. It is a gloat error to suppose that we i arc doing the Lord's work only when we i nro nnnrtf <rnd in rlovfit.innni exercisus, or i laboring for the conversion of sinners, or for the edification of Christians. That which a man does heartily, as unto the Lord, is the Lord's work. The farmer, when he is carefully and wisely cultivating the soil, is doing the Lord's work. Ploughing is as truly a religious act as praying. The merchant when he makes an honest exchange is doing the Lord's work. Dealing justly is as truly a religious act as warning sinners to flee from the wrath to come. A man is doing God's work when he is doing that which pleases God. A man is doing the Lord's work when he is faithful to his employer?does a ! fair day's work; when he takes proper care of hi.rj health; when he governs his temper; when he is careful. to speak the exact'truth; when he is courteous to strangers, and lends a helping hand to the needy; when he has a word of en couragement for the desponding; wnen he sets an example of industry and honesty; when he returns good for evil; when he leads such an upright, benevolent, God-honoring life, that men take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus. Religion docs not consist solely in reading the Bible, praying, attending church and laboring for the conversion of men. These are important duties, but they do not include the whole of duty. God's will has reference to every act of our lives.?N. T. Observer. Spiritual r^wer. Spiritual power comes only from the Holy Spirit dwelling in and working with and through the human spirit, and by the instrumentality of the truth as it is in Jesus. Believers in the Lord Jesu3 Christ are made new creatures by the power of regeneration, and are receivers of it by the grace of God. The church is organized to receive and use this power with men and with God in the world. But the church cannot do her work without sufficient and continuous supplies of "power from on high" t:n Iv-nnn hnr movincr regularly and effi "" - J- o W t ciently. Ever since Jesus Christ went up to glory from the Mount of Olives, the Holy Spirit has been in the world, convicting it of sin, of unrighteousness, and of judgment, and converting innumerable millions of sinners from the error of their ways. He has also perfected that good work which He thus began in them. Revivals of religion, reformations of faith and practice, and great ecclesiastical purifications have made new eras of spiritual power in Christendom, and the conversion of Pagan peoples to Christ has given them new civilizations and new moral and religious life. But it would dishonor the. Wniv nhrust-, tn snnnnse that even His " "V ?- ? ?I" i I greatest influence is confined to crowds and masses of people, and to that strained cxcitement which sometimes overwhelms large communities. The simplehearted Russian Christians to whom Richard Knill brought the gospel, used to call him "the man on fire." The ministries of Baxter, Doddridge, Chalmers, M'Cheync, and William C. -Burns?like those of the Reformers, the Wcsleys and Whitefield, and the later work of Spur- 1 geon, Moody and other living leaders of the sacramental host, are signals of that inexhaustible reserve of power which the j Comforter is using now, and will pout 1 forth more abundantly as the church is able to receive it and as the world needs ! "* "nw/i" lino Knnn Tli\r will tTipp/i I 1U A11UIC HI* V ti ixuo t/uun aav/* ii4*? vuw*?. | be any lack of it for the greatest emer- | gencies of the church or for the victories of the Lamb.? W. J. R. Taylor. D.D.I The Soul S?et Free. Happv is that soul which freed from its earthly prison, at liberty seeks the sky; which sees there its Lord, face to j face; which is touched by no fear of death, but rejoices in the incorruption of eternal glory. At rest and secure, it no longer dreads death and the enemy. Now, 0 Lord, it possesses thee, whom it has long sought and always loved. Now it is joined to those who sing to thy praise, and forever it sings to thy glory the sweet sounds of never ending blessedness. For the fatness of the house, and rivers oi thy pleasure, tnou givcsi it to drink. Happy is the band of heavenly citizens, and glorious the solemnity of all who are coming back to thee from the sad toil of this our pilgrimage, to the joy of beauty, and the joy of universal splendor, and the majesty of all grace. -There shall the eyes of the people see the^ face to face; there nothing at all that can trouble the mind is permitted to the ears. . I What songs of praise! What sounds of harmonious instruments! What sweetly flowing choruses! What music rises there without end! There sounds continually the voice of hymns and pleasant chants, which arc sung to the glory of the heavenly inhabitants. Malignity and gall of bitterness have no place in thy kingdom, for there is no wicked one, nor is wickedness found therein. There is no adversity, nor any deceitfulncss of sin. There is no want, no disgrace, no wrangling, no turmoil, no quarreling, no fear, no disquietude, no punishment, no doubting, no violence, no discord; but there is an excellency of neace. the fulness of love, praise eternal, and glory to God, peaceful rest without end and everlasting joy in the Holy Spirit. *0 how blessed shall I be if ever I heat those most sweet choirs of thy citizens, those melifluous songs, ascribing the honor that is due to the Holy Trinity. But 0 how exceedingly blessed shall I be found among those who sing to our Lord Jesus Christ the sweet songs of Zion.? St. Augustine's Manual of Devotion. "Behold I am with thee in all places whither thou goest." All places?not I some only, but all. The Christian is never without his guide, who is also I113 God, and therefore too wise and toogood | to guide him in any path but that of lafety and li^rht. Hlierc the Klietoricians Shine. Tlie only fine writing one sees in the newspapers these days is in the exciting accounts of the warfare between the rival baking powder companies au-i Hie different systems of insurance.? I Atlanta Constitution. Mme. Patti assures the Parisians that in America they believed every fib she told, and paid lier well for telling them. A gentleman in quest of a house ad- ! dressed himself to the owner: "I aee that you have advertised a small house I to let." "Yos, sir." "Is it large?" J r ; ; y%* ' : A CITY'S OUTCASTS. AN ARMY OF VAGRANTS EXIST 1NG IN THE METROPOLIS. How many of them Live?The Saloor"Sitters"?Different Grades of Vagrants?Dwellers in Rookeries?Population Figures. It is always ea?y to find interesting sta :istics in relation to the poor people of a country like ours. There arc over 200 ?heap lodging houses in New York. Most , 3t them are below Fourteenth street. The sanitary laws fix their legal sheltering capacity at about nine thousand lod?*>? ? urir nio-ht. but almost everv night ^ | O 7 ' ' w from ten to twelve thousand dismal souls ire crowded into them. It is estimate I that there are from four to five thousand more poor males and females who find shelter at the free-lunch saloons, the stale-beer dive3 and the police stations about Chatham Square and in the streets which traverse the slums and sloughs o' New York. These unfortunates have a show by working as sitters in the low saloons. They cluster around the stove in the cold weather and excite the sympathy of tiansient customers. Dnrinorthfiholidav season, about election . _ 0 ^ , time ancl when great parades are going on this dodge of the needy worker and the saloon keeper works to the advantage of both. At such times the sitters are enabled to keep comfortably filled up, to the advantage of the house. In some saloons which cncourages sitters they are let in in relays, a fresh" batch every hour. By working up a regular route of such places a tramp can manage to fill up his time all night. The way many of these people keep clothed is a study. One that I have heard of has pretensions in this direction. Every day he watches the deatti notices in tne papers, anuwueuever the demise of a man is announced he promptly calls at the house with a piteous appeal for cast-off clothing. People are tender-hearted* with death in the house, and he rarely goes ^way emptyhanded. A manager of the tramp question has classified the different grades of cheap lodgers and sitters. He finds from long experience that fifty per cent, of them are victims of intemperance, twenty-five per cent, are vagrants from sheer laziness, twenty per cent, are willing to work, but cannot get it to do, and five per cent, are unable to work on account of some mental or physical defect. Upon this basis of say fifteen thousand out and -"t n.i*nni,to i'n INToTirVnrLr 7-ilOOfl.rf! UUtUUlLttOtO iu iivi? a v* ia. j . 7 drunkards, 3,750 are indolent knaves, 3,000 decent, poverty-stricken people out of work, and 750 invalids and unfortunates. The next class of poor people, but little better off, are tlie dwellers in the rookeries and shanties and meanest tenej mcnt houses. There the condition becomes somewhat better, but never satisfactory. The evils of the tenement house system are apparent. This huddling together of large numbers of men. women and children under one roof breeds vice and dissipation. But the growth of this system in New York has been remarkable. The tir^t tenement house was erected in 1838 on Cherry t treet. In 1865 there were | 15,309 tenements in this city. Now there are at least 30,000, includiug apartment houses and flats. In a quarter of a century the system developed and during the last twenty-five years has more than I doubled in extent. In 1865 the average number of inhabitants in each tenement house was thirty-live. The average today is fifty. New York has double the number ol inmates to a house of any other city in the Union, Philadelphia the least. Out of 146,212 houses in the Quaker ci^r, there are only six inmates to each d wellir j*. In the 50,883 houses which make up Baltimore, there are six and one-half people to each residence. St. Louis, with 43,026 houses, has eight people to each house. Chicago, with 61,069 houses, eight and a quarter people. Brooklyn, with 62,233 houses, has nine peoplo to : house. New York, with 73,684 houses, has sixteen and one-half people. The figures as to this city are deceptive, because there are fully 20,000 tenements proper, which accommodate fifty people on an average, or a total of a million souls. This demonstaates that more than two-thirds of the population of New York are dwellers of tenement nouses proper, among which flats and apartment houses are not included. "What a singular study these figures are. No city in the Union has half as many houses as Philadelphia, and yet Boston has nearly two-thirds as many as New York, and Chicago almost as many. Truly these statistics justify Philadelphia in its claim of being the city of homes, and Chicago and Boston follow very closely.?Philadelphia Press. tt. .1 jcreeuom ut n iuujui ? vmhvi I happened-to visit "Windsor the other day when-the queen was holding an "investiture." - Several matters struck me with surprise?for one thing, the remarkable' freed.Qjn accorded to the public of entry to the castle and its appurtenances. All the open spaces within the precincts, except the quadrangle itself and the private garden, seemed to be free to everybody. The "Windsor children use as a playground the grassy slope in front oi St. George's chapel* and the region about the Windsor end of the Long "Walk. There is not a gentleman's seat in the whole kingdom where very much greater seclusion is not maintained. There are plenty of sentries, but they do not interest themselves in the people who lounge '' * 1 4 lini?a af about tneir ueats. nerc uuu mvie, <* > long intervals, is a benevolent-looking policeman in uniform, whose leading function seems to be to gossip with any one who will gossip with him. With some practice in that sort of introspection I could not spot a single detective in plain clothes. That the queen is in residence is proclaimed by what I supj ose we should call a white aag flying l'roin the top of the Round tower. Uut sucft a flag! No meaner picce of bunting can well be conceived than "the banner of Britain" which, it seems, is thought good enough to mark the personal presence of the sovereign. It is not much larger ii lvinr?nn;i Thr> most Ill,'HI U JJUUU-01/..V.VA economical lord-lieutenant in the kingdom would be ashamed to display so paltry and shabby a rag.? London World. How to Engrave Egg Shells. Trace the writing or design on the f shell with thin varnish of melted wax, using a common pen; then immerse the egg for a few minutes in vinegar or dilute acetic acid. A few experiments will determine the proper time, depending on the strength of the acid employed. Then wash the egg in water, and remove the tracing. "Wax will rub off, and varnish will come off with alcohol. The re suit will be a most beautiful and delicate relief of the desired pattern. If varnish be used, a colored background can be produced by dyeing the egg before applying the alcohol. Wash the egg before dyeing it, as tiie acid would injure the color. ' ' ACANARYAT THE FARM. Folks have been to town, and Salry . m Fetched her home a pet canary, " . And of all the blame contrary, Agger vatin' things alive I I. love music?that's, I love it When it3 free?and plenty of it? But I kind o' git above it At a dollar-eighty-five I And it's iust as I was savin',? Jest the idy, now, o' layin1 Out yer money, and a-payin' Fer a wilier cage and bird, When the medder larks is wlngin' Round ye, and the woods is ringin' With the beautifulest singin' That a mortal ever heard! Sairy's sot, though:?so I tell her , V:$f| He's a purty little feller, With his wings o' creamy yeller, 'And his eyes keen as a cat; And the twitter o' the critter 'Pears to absolutely glitter! Guess I'll haf to go and git her A higher priced cage 'n that! ^ ?James Whitcomb Riley. ' '-"M j PITH AND POINT | The barber is fond of making cutting remarks. The action of the heart?A breach of promise case. Fine weather is never admired until it is mist.?National Weekly. Nothing reduces a man's income like a visit from an Assessor.?Call. . JfJjJ It's a poor man that can't have a few . ^ enemies.?Indianapolis Herald. Working like a horse?A lawyer draw- , ing up a conveyance.?Rambler.' There has always been a coldness between autumn and spring.?Washington One of the latest and most effectual cures for toothache is a pair of tight boots. -^-Puck. A teacher of swimming is submerged ; in business even when he has but one , pupil.?Si/tings. f The barber is the greatest of modern ^Jag travelers. He roams continually from. poll t3 poll.?Sioux Falls Leader. "Oh, mamma, I've got an awful pain ln "Where Tomm'e?" "Right here in the AfjW large part of my back."?Philadelphia iM Call. "Few sons take after their fathers," remark an exchange. True, but a great "[M many fathers take after their sons.?Hot ,.^|g8 Springs News. "Did you hear the lecture last night?" asked Williams of his neighbor Beasley. "No," replied Beasley, ''my wife wasn't m at home."?Tid-Bits. A book has been written under the . title, "Four Centuries of Silence." Iti* needless to say that it is not a history of the profession of barbering.?Graphic. The gloomy winter has gone hence. The days are warm and bright, The cat sits on the backyard fence And warbles through the night Little maiden (who is spending the afternoon with her aunt)?"Auntie,mother ^ said I must no? ask you for anything to eat, but I'm awful hungry."?Harper*$ Bazar. A pilot boat picked up an oil painting that apparently came from the wreck of $ the Oregon. By the time it was rescued > % it was probably a water color.?New York Commercial. _ It seems sort of cruel, when a man has p? fallen into bad company, to put him into W solitary confinement, and thus keep him . in the bad company which has proved his downfall.?Boston Transcript. "I stood at eve, when the gas was lit> by the door of a cheap hotel," sings a *3 a wild western poet. If the gas hadn't been lit he would probably have been inside, with his hand cn the spoon-stand. ?Boston Post. ^ "I should like to know, sir, why yon leave my house so suddenly?" asked Mrsl m Jackson, the boarding-house keeper. presume you have grounds?" 4 4Yes, madam," replied Simpson, "I have nrrnnndft?Coffee trrounds.?New York t?" . Graphic. "Make room for the girls?" cries the Woman's Journal. Oh, pshaw! the girls dont want much room. A chair that will hold one with a tight squeeze will hold two very comfortably. Rooin for the girls, indeed! Sit here, girls.? J. Burdetle. "Ah!" exclaimed Fogg, looking up from his newspaper, "another clergyman come to grief!" "What's that*" exclaimed half a dozen e3ger voices. ' 'How did it happen?" "It was at a funeral," 1 .Jffl replied Fogg, and everybody ejaculated, "Pooh!''?Boston Transcript. A Macon man, who has never witnessed a game of base ball, declares that ho never will. "I hear them talk aboufc " "TT... J.U 1 '351 catching a fly,1' lie says. "iou nceuns ^ expect me to pay my money to see a lot of lunatics catch flies. It's cruel to catch flies, anyhow. Wh^ not let the little insects live?" Americans in Mexico.. "Carp," of the Cleveland Leader, ha** been interviewing John W. Thompson, recently returned from an extended trip in Mexico: . "Are there minv Americans in business in Mexico?" I asked. "Yes," replied Mr. Thompson, "and the number is increasing. There is quite an American colony in Mexico city, and the English and Americans associate * largely together. There are American dentists, American doctors, an American barber, and there is an American who nnhlishps a daily newspaper in English. His name is Clark. He is a briglit fellow, and his paper, known as the Two Republics, is a spicy one. The American* do the big business of Mexico. They are the pushers in great enterprises, while the English and Germans have the stores and shops. In a Mexican shop you have to bargain for whatever you purchase in the same way as in Italy. The storekeepers have two prices, and they do not expect you to pay what they first ask. For instance, a man came into my room. at the hotel to sell me a pair of figures. I looked at them and liked them. He said they were worth forty dollars, while half the sum bought them." >3? Damascus. A correspondent says that Damascus with its 160,000 inhabitants, mostly Mohammedaus, is quite as fanatical a ccntre as there is in Syria. Here occurred some of the most di ?racef 1 scenes in the massacre of 1860. Cnristians are not safe at any time. A short time < ago it was impossible to buy a Koran in the bazaars if it were known that you were a Christian. It is not a. uncommon fhinnr nnwto be received with indignities. Children shout at the Christiansen the streets and even throw stones them. Aged Moslems will angrily spit on the ground and show other signs of disgust. Of late there has been an increase in their social outrages. M