The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 27, 1886, Image 3
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ffi TMMAGE'S SBRMDN.!
JSHE STOLEN GRINDSTONES.
Text: "Now there was no smith found
fcju-oughcut all the laud of Israel; for the
M f li/v tI/\Kw\tWO ?n otjA fllOm '
UillSblUUd aau, 109U VUO iio VI V ?? ?j vuvu. ,
fiords or spears. But all the Israelites went
4pwn to the Philistines to sharpen every man
ma share and his coulter aud his axe aud his
mattock. Yet they had a file for the mattocks
and for the coulters and for the forks
and for the axes aud to sharpen the goads."
-' I Samuel xiii, 19-21.
What a galling subjugation for the Israelites!
The Philistines had carried off all the
blacksmith > and torn down all the blacksmith's
shops and abolished the blacksmith's
tfade in the land of Israel. The Philistines
would not even allow these parties to work |
their valuable mines of brass and iron, nor
djight they make any swords or spears.
There were only two swords left in all the land.
Tea, these Philistine; went on until they had
taken all the grindstones from the land of
Israel,so that if an Israelitish farmer wanted
to sharpen his plow or his axe, he had to go
Over to th-? garrison of the Philistines to get
(t done, Tuere was only one sharpening injrtrumeut
left in the land and that was a file.
The farmers and the mechanics h iving nothing
to whet up the coulter and the goad and
the pickaxe save a single file, industry was
hinde. ed aud work practically disgraced The
?reat idea of these Philistines was to keep the
Israelites disarmed. They might get iron out
Of the hills to make swords of, but they would
not have any blacksmiths to weld this iron.
If they ?i>t the iron welded they would have
I}0 pnnastODes uii wmcn ixj uiiug uia iiun laments
of agriculture or the military weapons
?p to an edge. Oh, you poor, weaponless
irae'ites, reduced to a file, now I pity you!
But these Philistines were not forever to keep
their heel on the neck of God's children.
Jonathan on his bands and knees climbs up a
great rock beyond which were the Fhilistines,
and his armor-bearer,on his handsand knee3,
Climbs up the same rock, and these two men
with their two swords hew to pieces the
Philistine*, the Lord throwing a great terror
apon them. So it was then: so it is now. Two
men of God on their knees, mightier than a
Philistine host on their feet
I learn first from thi3 subject how dangerons
it is for the church of God to allow it3
Weapons to stay in the Lands of its enemies.
These Israelites might again and again hare
Obtained a supply of swords and weapons, as
for instance when they took the spoils of the
Ammonites; but these Israel.tes seemed content
to have no swords, no spears, no blacksmiths,
no grindstones, no active iron mines
until it was too late for them to make any
resistance. I see the farmers tugging along
with their pickaxes and ploughs, and I say:
"Where are you going with those things:"
They sav: "On, we are going ovef to the garrisor
of the Philistines to get these things
sharpened." I say: "You foolish men; why
don't you sharpen them at home?" Oh,"
they say ' the blacksmith's shops are all torn
down said we have nothing left us but a file."
So it is in the Church of Jesus Christ today.
We are too willing to give up our
weapons to the enemy. The world coasts
that it has gobbled up the schools and the
colleges and the arts and the sciences, and
the literature and the printing-press. Infidelity
is making a mighty attempt to get all
our weapons in its band and then to keeD
them. You know it is making this boast all
the time; and after awhile, when the great
battle between sin and righteousness has
opened, if we do not look out we will be as
badly off as thesa Israelites without any
swords to fight with and without any sharpening
in-trunents. I call upon the superintendents
of literary institutions to see to it
that the men who go into the class-rooms to
stand beside the Leyden jars and the elec tric
batteries and the microscopes and telescopes
be children of God, not Philistines, 'ihe
Tyrdillean thinkers of this day are
trying to get all the intellectual weapons of
this century in their own grasp. What we
want is scientific Christians to capture the
science and scholastic Christians to capture
the scholarship,and philosophic Christians to
capture the philosophy, and lecturing Christians
to take ba:-k the lecturing platform, j
We want to send out against S henkel and
Strauss and Renau a Theodore ChrLtlieb. of
Bonn, and against the infidel scientists of the
day a God-worshiping Silliman and Hit facock
and Agassi7, We want to capture all
the philosophical apparatus and swing around
the telescopes on tne swivel until through
them we can f ee the morning star of the
neaesmer, ana wun mmeraiogicai nammer
discover the Rock of Ages, and amid the
flora of all realm; find the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of the Valley.
"We want a elegy learned enough to discourse
of the human eye, showing it to be a
microscope and telescope in one instrument,
with eight wonderful contrivances and lids
closing thirty thousand or forty thousand
times a day; all its mus?les and nerves and
bones showing the infinite skill of an infinite
Qod and then winding up with the peroration:
"He that formed tne eye, shall he not
see?" And then we want to dis?ouse about
the human car, its wonderful integuments,
membranes and vibration and its chain of
small bones and its auditory nerve, closing
with the question: "He that planted the ear,
^ball he not hear?" And we want some one
able to expound the first chapter of Genesis,
bringing to it the geo'ogv and the astronomy
of the world until, as Job suggested, "the
stones of the field shall be in league with
the truth, and the stars in their course shall
fight ajcainst 8isera." O Church of God, go
out ana recapture these weapons.
Let men of God go out and take possession
of the platform. Let any printing presses that
have been captured by the enemy be recaptured
for God and the reporters and the typegetters
and tbe editors and publishers swear
allegiance to tbe Lord God of truth. Ah,
xpy friends, that day must come, and if tbe
great body of Christian men have not th?
faith nor the courage nor the consecration to
do it, then let some Jonathan on his busy
bands and on his praying knees climb up on
the rock of hindranre and in the name of
T--J n?,i oIocVn t-n. r<i<u.a; tknoo
-UViU U\?U Ul JU9i (Kii o;oou bV J/IWOI %UVv/V
literary Philistines. If these men will not
t>e converted to God,then they must be overtljjown.
Again I Jearn from this subject what a
large amount of the church's resources is
actually hidden en 1 buried aud undeveloped.
The Bib'e intimates that that was a very
rich land, this land of Israel. It ?ays: * The
Stones a- e iron and out of the hills thou shalt
dig brass." and yet hundreds and thousands
Of dollars' worth of this metal was kept
under the hills. Well, that is the difficulty
with the church of God at this day. Its
talent is not developed. If one-half of its
energy could b3 brought out it might take
the public iniquities of the day by the throat
and make tbem bite the dust If human
eloquence were consecrated to the Lord
Jesus Cbri-t it could in a few years rerBuade
this whole earth to surrender to God.
There is enough undeveloped energy in this
_. one church to bring all Brooklyn to Christ?
enough undeveloped Christian energy in the
City of Brooklyn to briDg all the United
States to Christ?enough undeveloped Christian
energy in the United States to bring
the whole world to Christ; but it is buried
under strata of indifference and under whole
mountains of sloth. Now is it not time for
the mining to begin and the pit ka\es to
plunge and for this buried metal to be brought
out and put into th? furnaces and be turned
into howitzers and carbines for the Lord's
host? The vas t m a ority of Christians i n this
day are useless. The most of the Lord's batta'lon
belong to the reserve corps. The most
9f the crew are a deep in the hammocks. The
most of tha metal isunder the hills. Oh, is it
uottirrc for tha church of God toroussupand
understand that we want all tb~ energies, all
the talent, and all the wealth enlisted for
Christ's sake * I like the nickname that the
English soldiers gave to Blu-her, the commander.
They called him "Old Forwards."
We have had enough retreats in the Church
of Christ; let us have a glorious advance.
And I say to you as the gene: al said when
his troops were affrighted. Rising up in his
stirrups, his hair flying in the wind, he lifted
up his voice until twenty thousand troops
beard him crying out: "Forward, the whole
line j" ?. , , ,
Ob, let us scop tan soieiuu loivo wi li jiujs
to save the world by a few ministers. "VVe are
numerically too small. The ministers of this
land and of ctber Jands are as a body the
grandest men on earth, but they are all overworked.
Some of them dyspeptic because
they cannot get the right kind of food, or so
hurried they take it down in chunks,
and a vast multitude of them in ill
health. I was reading yesterday that in one
denomination the average salary is $175 a
year. These men, some of them half starved
to death, yet doing mighty work for God;
worn out by all sorts of botherations?men
wanting to show them mans and lightnlug
rods and patent medicines. And you stand
them in draughts at funerals, and you poison
them with had air in churches. If
I die before ray time it will be at the
hands of committees who want an address
or a locture. A man rame to me the other
day and wanted me to lecture, so a3 a result
of it, he could pay for his wedding trip! I
could not do th? work of this church if there
were fifty hour3 a day and I toiled forty of
them. Neither can any minister or ministers
do the work that seems opening before them.
Ministers are overworked more than any
other class of men, in ray opinion, and it is
absurd for you to suppose that this world is
poing to be saved by ministers. You have
the responsibility in the pew as
well as we have it in the puloi*i.
and if men los? their souls the blood
of their soul^ will no more be found on my
skirts than on yours. We want the membarship
aroused. Oh for two or three hundred
consecrated men and women in every church.
In most of the churches all the work is
done by fifty people, or by forty, or by thirty,
or by twenty, or by ten, or by five, or by one
p?rson: so that in many of the prayer meetings
o f the church it is almoet impossible if
the minister be absent to keep up the ser'
K-? cr% innnh npnt"
VICC5, *>UCU liUCICUU^UU IV wo o</ UIUV.. x
up energy breaking forth in the service of
Sod that the absence if the minister would
hardly be noticed. We want the men who
ire doing nothing for God to enlist. "We
want not only the ministry, but the laity
with a new baptism of the Holy Gho:t. and
then it will be a work of but very fe.v years
to take this whole world for God. Before
the sod shall press your evelids and mine, we
will decide unler God whether our children
shall come up under vicious influences, or
wlielher they shall come up amid righteous
and Christian surroundings.
Again I learn from this subject that we
nmetimes do well to take advantage of the
world's sharpening instruments. These
Israelites were reduced to a file, and so they
went over to tho garrison of the Philistines
to get their axes, and their goads, and their
ploughs sharpened. The Bible distinctly
states it?in the text whi?h I read at the beginuiug
of the service?that they had no
oth9r instruments now with which to do
this work, and the Israelites did right when
they went over to the Philistines to use their
jjriudstones. My friends, is it not right fcr
as to employ the world's grindstones? If
there be art. if there be logic, if there be
business fa.ulty on the other side, let us go
sver and smploy it for Christ's sake. The
Tact is, we fight with too dull weapons and
tve work with too dull implements. We
back and we maul when we ought to make a
teen stroke. Let us go over among sharp
business men and among sharp literary men
ind find out what their tact is, and then
transfer it to the cause of Christ. If they
tiave science and art it will do us good to rub
trains!; it.
'in word*, let us emnlov the world's
jrindstones. We will listen to their music
ind we will watch their acumen and we will
ise th9ir grindstones; and we will borrow
;heir philosophical apparatus to make our
jiperiments and we will borrow their printing
presses to publish our Bibles, and we
will Dorrow their rail-trains to carry our
Christian literature, and we will borrow
their ships to transport our missionaries.
That was what made Paul such a master in
his day. He not only got all the
learning he ccu'.d get from Doctor
Gamaliel, but afterword, standing on
Mars Hill, and in crowded thoroughfare,
quoted their poetry and grasped their logic
and wielded their eloquence and employed
t ieir mythology until Dionysius the Areopaeite,
l?arned in the schools of Athens and
Heliopolis. went down under his tremendous
powers That was what gave Thomas Chalmers
his power in his day. He conquered
the world's astronomy and compelled it to ring
out the wisdom aud greatuess of the Lord
until for the second time, the morning stars
sang together and all the sons of God shouted
for joy. That was what gave to Jonathan
Ed wards his influence in his day. He conquered
the world's metaphysics and forced it
into the service of God until not only the old
meeting-house at Northampton, Massachusetts,
but all Christendom felt thrilled by his
Christian power. Well, now, my friends, we
all have tools of Christian usefulness. Do
not let them lo.-o their edges. We want no
rusty blades in this fi^ht. We want no
coulter that cannot rip up the glebe. We
want no axe that cannot fell the treoa We
want no goad that cannot start the lazy
team. Let us get the very best grindstones
we can find, tfcoagh they be in possession of
the Philistines, compelling them to turn the
crank while we bear down with all our might
on the swift revolving wheel until all our
energies and faculties shall be brought up to
a bright, koen, sharp, glittering edge.
Again, my subject teaches us on what a
small allowance Yhilistine iniquity puts a
man. Yes; thess Philistines snut up the
mines and then they took the spears and the
swords, then th -y took the blacksmiths, then
they took the grindstones and they took
everything but a file. Oh, that la the way
sin works; it grabs everything. It begins
with robbery an i it ends with robbery. It
despoils this faculty and that faculty and
keeps on until the whole nature is gone.
Was the man eloquent before, it generally
thickens his tongue. Was he fine in perscnal
appearance, it marks his visage. Was he
affluent, it sends the sheriff to bell him out.
Was he influential, it destroys his popularity.
Was he placid and genial and loving.it makes
him splentic and cross, and so utterly is he
changed that you can see he is sarcastic and
rasping, and that the Philistines have left
him nothing but a file.
Oh, "the way of the transgressor is hard."
His cup is bitter. His night is dark. His
pangs are deep. His end is terrific. Philisi
tine iniquity says to that man: "Now, surrender
to me aud I will give you all you
want?music for the dance, swift steed i for
the race, imperial couch to slumber on, and
you shall be refreshed with the rarest fruits
in baskets of golden filagree." He lie3. The
music turns out to be a groan. The fruits
burst the rind with rank poison. The filagree
1 c i ??t;i?j TKo
IS IllttUO up U1 bUWlDU A cpviiOJ 1UU vuuvu 1.1
a grave. 8mall allowance of reit; small allowance
of peace; small allowance of comfort.
Cold, hard, rough?nothing but a
file. So it was with Voltaire, the most applauded
man of his day.
' The Scripture was his jest book, whence he
drew
Bon viots to eall the Christian and the Jew.
An infidel when wall, but what when sick?
Oh, then a text would touch him to the
quick."
Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs in
Paris, where ha had goae to be crowned as
the idol of all France, he sends a messenger
to get a priest tbat he may be reconciled to
the Church before he dies. A great terror
falls upon him. He makes the place all round
about nira so dismal that the nurse declared
that she would not for all the wealth of Europe
see another inOdel die. Philistine
iniquity had promise^ him all
the world's garlands, but in the last hour
of his life, when he needed a solacing, sent
tearing across his conscience and his nerves
a file, a file. So it was with Lord Byron.
His uncleanness in England only surpassed
by his uncleanness in \ enice, then going on
to end his brilliant misery at Missolonghi,
fretting at his nurse Fletcher, fretting at
1 '? * -a ? 4
ounseil, ireiling ttu l<uo nunu, Iirii/iu^ ab
God; aud He who gave the world Childe
Harold and Sardanapalus aud The Prisoner
of Chillon and The Siege of Corinth,
reduced to nothing but a file. Oh, sin has a
great facility for making promises, but it
has iustas great facility for breaking them.
A Christian life is the only cheerful life,
while a life of wicked surrender is remorse,
ruin and death. Its painted glee is sepulchral
gbastiness. In the brightest days of the
Mexican empire, Montezuma said he felt
gnawing at his heart something like a canker.
Sin, like a monster wild beast of the forest,
sometimes licks all over its victim in order
that the victim may be more easily swallowed,
but generally sin rasps and galls and tear;
and upbraides and filei. Is it not so, Herod!
Is it not so, Hildebraud? Is it not so, Rnbospierre?
Aye!?eye! It is so, it is so. "The
way of the wic ked He turneth upside down r
History tells us that wlieu Rome was founded,
on that day there were twelve vulturei
Dying tnrougn toe asr; uui wucu u uau?
gressor dies the sky is bla-k witl
whole flocks of them. Vultures! vultures
vultures ! "When 1 see sin robbing so manj
of my hearers, and I see thern going down
day by day, and week by week, I must
give a plain warning. I dare not keep it
back lest I risk tho salvation of my owe
soul. Hover and Pirate pulled down thi
warning bell on Iuchape rock, thiukingthat
they would have a chance to despoil vessels
that were crushed on the rocks; but one
night his own ship crashed down on this verj
roL-k, and he went down with all his cargo.
God dec-lares: "When I say to the wicked
thou shalt surely die, and thou give>t hiir
not warning that same man shall die in hia
iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy
hands."
I learn from this subject what a sad thing
it is when the church of God loses its metai.
These Philistines saw that if they could onl j
get all the metallic weapons out of the hands
of the Israelites all would be well, and therefore
they took the swords and the spears.
They did not want them to have a single
metallic weapon. When the metal of th?
Israelites was gone their strength was gone.
This is the trouble with the church of God
to-day. It is surrendering its courage. It
has not got enough metaL How seldom it is
I that you see a man taking hi9 position in pew
or in pulpit or iu a religious society and bold
ng that position against all oppression and
all trial and all persecution ana all criticism.
The church of God to-day wants more
backbone, more consecrate:1 bravery, more
metal. How often you see a man start out
in some good enterprise, and at the first blast
of opposition he has collapsed and all his
! courage prone, forgetting the fact that if a
man be right, all the opposition of the earth
I pounding away at him cannot do him any
permanent damage. It is only when a man
is wrong that he ca>i be damaged. Why. God
is going to vindicite His truth, and He is
going to stand by you, my friends, in every
effort you make for Christ's cause and the
salvation of men.
Go forth in the service of Christ and do
Jour whole duty. You have one sphere. I
avo another sphere. "The Lord of Hosts is
with us and the God of Ja ob is our refuge.
Selah." "We want more of the determination
of Jonathan. I do not suppose he was a very
wonderful man, but he got on his knees and
clambere:l up tin ro-k aud with the help of
his armor-bearer he hewed down the Philistines;
and a mau of very ordinary intellectual
attainments on his knees can storm anything
for God and for the truth. We want
something of the determination of the general
who went into the war and as he entered
his first battle his knees knocked together,
his physical courage not quite up to his
moral courage; ami he looked down at liis
knees and sa'd: "Oh, if you know where I
was going to take you, you would shake
worse than that!"
There is only one question for you to ask
and for me to ask?what does Rod want me
to do? Where is the field? Where is the
work? Where is the anvil? Whore is the
Srayer-mpeting? Where is the pulpit? And,
nding out what God wants us to do, go
ahead and do it?all tha energies of our body,
mind and soul unlisted in the undertaking.
Oh, my brethren, we have but little time in
which to fight for God. you w.'ll be dead
soon. Put in the Christian cause every energy
that Gcd give3 you. "What thy
hand findeth to do, do it with all
thy might, for there is neither wisdom
nor aevice in the grave whither
we are all hastening." Opportunities of usefulness
gone forever; souls that might have
been benefited three months ago, never again
coming under our Christian influence. Oh,
is it not high time that we awake out of sleep I
Church of God, lift up your head at the coming
victory! The Philistines will go down
and the Israelites will eo up. We are on the
winning side. I think just now the King's
horses are being hroked up to the charict and
when h9 does ride down tho sky there
will be such a hosauna among His friends,
and such a wailing among his enemies
as will make the earth tremble and the
heavens sing. I see now the plumes of the
Lord's cavalrymen tossing in the air. The
Apocalyptic angel has already burnished his
trumpet and soon he will put its golden lips
to his own and he will blow the long, loud
blast that will make all the nations free.
Clap your hands, all ye people! Harkl I hear
the falling thrones and the dashing down of
demolished iniquities. "Hallelujah, the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah,
the kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms * ' Lord Jesus Christ."
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.
'Red alcoholic noses cured in a week"
B a ne .v and odd London advertisement.
As for "Le Pere Mustache," who died
jtt Algeria lately,he was "the oldest man
in the world"?how old no one knows,
but he helped to build the Arache bridge
in 17G9It
was n common practice among the
Roman? to reciine at length while writing,
the tablet being placed against one
knee, which was raised up as a support
for the purpose.
Several fine specimens of "masked"
quail or Arizona Bob White have been
received at the Museum of Natural History
in Central Park, New York. This
species has long been known in Arizona,
but until recently was mistaken for the
Bob Whits of the East.
The falling-off in the average size of
families in .France, as shown by recent
statistics, has induced the enactment of
a docrea reaffirming the law whereby
every father of a family having seven
living children may have one of his sona
educated at the expense of the State.
When Brodie, the Ne.v York newsboy,
jumped from the East River Bridge,
some of the newspapers said that he was
thirty seconds in renching the water.
The Manufacturer awl Builder has figured
it out exactly, and demonstrates
that he dropped from the bridge to the
water in ju^t 2.8 seconds. In thirty seconds
ho would have fallen 14,752 feet,
if there had been room to fall so far.
A silver dollar was received at th<
Boston Sub-Treasury recently that evidently
got there by mistake, for some
skillful worker in metals had hollowed
out the centre so that it could hold th<
photograph of a child, while the face o!
the toin formed a covcr, fastened bj
hingC3 and clasp. So excellent was the
work that the changes in the piece would
not be detected at a casual glance.
Seal Hunting.
Sc.tf hunting on the ice is another
standing source of amusement, says a
Hudson Bay letier to the Toronto Mail.
During the entire winter these animals
keep holes open through the shore ice,
but on account of the depth of the snow
they are not seen until the mild weather
ex poses their hiding places. The Eskimo,
however, has a way of finding them out
before this. He harnesses a dog, that
has been triined for the work, and leads
him out to the snow-cove, ed field, where
the two walk back and forward, making
a zigzag course over the ice. Probably
before long the dog catches the
scent, and then takes his master straight
* > - T V?/]
IO III'J SCctl H IlUUb?a HVICi lUC iiaiu
thick crust of Ihc snow there is quite a
large room, which at the time of discovery
may or may not be occupied, but if
'occupied, will very soon be vacant on
(the arrival of the hunters. In cither
(case, the Eskimo ascertains by means of
Jiis spear the exact position of the hole,
and then, placing a little pinnacle of
snow ov?r it awaits the arrival of his victim.
The native becomes aware of the
peal's return by hearing a peculiar blowing
noise, and as soon as this commences he
fhrusts his spear down vertically through
the snow into the hole and secures his
prey. Sometimes when the snow is very
deep the dogs are not ab'e to find th6
holes, and then it is that the poor Eskimo
lias his hard time?.
In the spring, snow disappearing from
the ice, the seals are exposed to view.
Then the hunti r takes another way of
getting at them. 1- irst of all lie notices
the direction of the wind,and then keep*
- * ?11-.
| ing ins enemy tu u wiim? iu nuum ium
I or' five hundred yards of him. From
there he begins to crouch down nnd to
advance oniv when the seal is not looking.
The wary animal is in the habit of
throwing up his head quickly every few
seconds and looking about, and -co, when
within about two hundred yards,the native
lies down tint on the ice. It is only
now that jeil sport commences. Seal
takes Eskimo, who is able to talk scl
perfectly, to be one of his brothers; nnd
indeed there is a great deal of resemblance
between the species, for the genus homo
is dressed in sealskin, and, living largely
upon its flesh, is similarly odorous. The
two lie on the ice for perhaps half an
hour, keeping up a sort of broken conrtn
rt rt f tvllifll 13 conducted in
,c'ou"u,,i r? - -
the ordinary way and part by means ol
peculiar gestures, until the Eskimo has
crept to within about thirty yards of his
outwitted companion. The animal's eye,
then being clearly visible, is 110 sooner
turned from the hunter thau he present* j
his rifle and tires. The seal, if shot
through the head,is killed instantly; but ,
if hit in any other place defeats hij
enemy by disappearing through the ice. J
... . " f
RELIGIOUS READING.
God Knows Best.
If we could push ajar the gates of life,
And stand within, and all God's workings
see,
We co ild interpret all this doubfc md strife,
And for each mystery finds a ready key.
But not to-day. Then be content, tad heart!
God's plants, like Llli?3, pure and white
unfold,
Wo must not tear the tender lenvus apart;
Time will reveal the calyx -s of gold.
And if through patient toil, wd reach the
land
"Where tired fejt, with sandals loo3od may
rest;
When we shall clearly know and understand
T tliof tro will cair * 1 IniAlv fViA
lest."
How to be Strong.
"They that trust in the Lord shall bo
as Mount Zion, which can:iot be removed,
but nbideth forever."
What a wonderful promise of strength 1
They "shall be as Mount Z on, which
cannot be removed." And how simple
the conditiou, only trusting Jesus.
Of course, this trust implies a full
consecration. There can be no such
thing as perfect trust, unless the consecration
is complete. I 1 ave heard
people wish that they could trust God
for everything, but som<way they
couldn't do it, and no worder. They
had not placed their nil in His hands. *
How could they trust Him to keep that
which they were withholding; from Him?
But having placed our all on the
alter ourselves, with all thnt we have
and are, our talents, and timB and reputation,
having even given Him our un
belief and our weakness, ve have a
right to trust Him. Did you jver atop to
think that Jesus wan 13 us to
consecrate our weakness to Him. Well, I
He does. What for? As a means of j
displaying His mighty power. Is it not I
written, "My strength ia mado perfect in
weakness?"
This wonderful, yet simple trust, incomprehensible
to those who are still
clinging to some fondly chsrished idol,
but well known and understood by all
who are the Lords's entirely, so unites us
to Him that His strongth becomes ours.
I have often heard a good brother, who is
noted for his stability of character, say
in the prayer meeting, that his feet were
bo fimly planted on the Rock, that ho
seemed to have bccome a pnrt of it.
I have a message to-day, for the weak
ones. Those who tell us tbey arc trying
to serve God in their poor ?vcak way, but
crosses are heavy, and they shrink from
the performance of many duties, because
they feel their weakness. Those who
arc too timid to speak to ar unconverted
friend, and invite him to oomc to Jesu?,
or to use their voice i:i prayer or
testimony in the prayer circle, or
| to do many things they feel it their
duty and privilege to do. but think they
are not able. Jesus kno'vs all about
your weakness, and sends you a message.
You will find it written in Ilis
own holy word, and these arc the words:
''Let him take hold of Ky strength.^
Whv. the strength of Jesus is omnipo
tent! Could you risk anything more?
Never mind your weakness; ju3t come
close to Him and trust Him with all
your heart; just take hold of His strength
and you are more than a match for all
your foe3.
Docs the enemy come in like a flood?
Trust in the Lord. His Spirit shall lift
up a standard against him. Do temptations
assail you on every hand? Trust
in the Lord. The shield of faith will
quench all the fiery darh; of the wicked.
Do trials and afflictions come to you?
God is a strong refuge, only trust Him,
and He will hide you in tho cleft of the
Rock, and cover you with His hand,
till these calamities aro everpast.
Perhaps He bids you go on soma j
errand for Him, and you find some great |
mountain of difficulty right in your |
way. Never mind. Trusit in tiae i^ora; |
He can remove it if necessary, if not .
(ust let Him hold your right hand and
go forward. Keep looking up into His
loving face, keep trusting, and you shall
pass safely over, and just beyond you
will find the valley of blessing.
Then let us press boldly forward with
victory inscribed on our banners, for He
hath compassed xis about with songs of
deliverance. Let us trust H.m at all
times, and we shall be able to say with
one of old, "Blessed be God who always
causeth us to triumph."
The righteous neod no monument,
their deeds are their monument.?
Rabbinical.
As frost, raised to its utmost intensity,
produces the sensation of Are, so any
good quality, over-wrought and pushed
to excess, turns into i ts own contrary.?
William Matthewn.
The sunlight falls upon a clod, and
the clod drinks it in, is itself warmed
by it, but lies is black as ever, and
sends out no light, But the sun touches
.1 /? it.. .3: 1
a diamond unci um uiumimu uuuusi*
chills itself as it sends out in radiance on
every side the light that has fallen on it.
So God helps one man bear his pain, and
nobody but that one man is a whit the
richer. God comes to another sufferer?
reverent, unselfish, humble?and th-3
lame leap, and the dumb speak, and the
wretched arc comforted , all around by
the radiated comfort of that happy soul.
?Phillips Brooks, D. D.
Temperance Notes.
The salutary effects of Prohibition in
Rhode Island begin to appear in the crim inal
statistics.
I ne prom oiuon women 01 ine vy est seem
to be in earnest. Mrs. Samuel Warren, of
Maquoketa, in prohibition Iowa, stepped
into a saloon where her husband was
drinking, grabbed a glass of beer from
his hand, and captured enough of the
beverage to convict the saloon keeper,
who paid $50 and costs.
- *' '
mmammmwmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmrnm^mmmmm
TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.
Tho Midnight Toiler.
'Tho heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not achieved by sudden flight,
But tltiey, whilo their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
The red-nosed bibulous adept,
A drunkard was not made outright,
But hu while his companions slept.
Was drinking whisky in the night
?Boston Courier.
Poverty in Germany.
A Massachusetts young man, now in
Germany as a student, writes home of
the distressing poverty which he sees in
Germany; of the way women have to
work to keep their little ones from
starving; that they are glad to do a
man's work, but cannot always find it to
do, and in that case must beg; that
women bear heavy burdens of produce to
market, and in addition to the load on
their backs is frequently a nursing babe
in their arnn; and he adds: "The
question arises, where is the father?
Most likely in some beer-garden, with a
mug of beer before him, without a
thought of the hungry mother and child,
who are wandering through the dark and
narrow streets crying for bread." He
says: "Everybody drinks beer in Germany,
even the clergy, and I do not care
to associate with any of the young men,
as the great and all-important question
with them is: Where is the best beer
s^lcl? * * * There i9 no home sociability
here. What sociability there
is b found in ths restaurants, where
women and children, high and low,
meet together, and the children learn to
drink before they learn to walk." Again
he says: "I have becomo convinced
that it is the temperance principle that
i it. i .e k ;?_ il - l
maKCB me nomes 01 America, tue nappy,
pro.'ipcrous homes which so many of them
ore, find that the intemperance of Germany
makes German homes what they
are.*' And yet the brewers of America
would, if they could, transform the
American into the German typ2 of home
life, and have everybody here, as in Germany,
drink becr. ? Temperance Advocate.
Total Abstinence
Total abstinence is not a virtue of
modern origin. Even though it be not
commanded upon all in the Bible text, it
finds frequent illustration there in its
obvious advantages. A ten days' trial
of it in the pulace of Babylon showed its
superiority over wine drinking as a means
of r.ptoring the freshness and vigor of
the travel-worn captives from Jerusalem,
in the days of Daniel. And from that
day to this, travelers in that direction
have had similar proofs of the gain of
water over wine, in the East as well as
in the West, when they were a< rigid and
sensible in their diet as Daniel and his
three companions. So, again, in the
days of the early Christian Church, the
ndvoeates of total abstinence gave proof
in. their lives of the gain of their practices.
Clement of Alexandria, writing at the
close of the second century of our era,
refers to Pauls counsel to Timothy to
u;io "a little wine" as a purely medical
prescription; and he adds, from his observation
of total abstinence, that even
as a medicine, wine needs to be used
with carefulness. "I therefore admire,"
he says, "those who have adopted an
austere life, and who are fond of water,
the medicine of temperance, a>id [who]
flee a* far as possible from wine, shunnicg
it aj they would the danger of fire.
It is proper, therefore, that boys and
cirls should keeD as far as possible from
O B _ ,
tfc.is medicine; for it is not right to
pour into the burning season of life the
hottest of a'l liquids, wine; adding as it
were, fire to fire."
Temperance in Tennessee.
"Prohibition i3 about to become the
great issue in Tennessee, and the indications
arc that that State will join in
the Prohibition ranks next year," says
the Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution. " It is
absolutely out of politics, as both parties
hold the same position concerning it.
The platforms of both the Democratic
and Republican Conventions, which nominated
the Taylor brothers, declare in
favor of submitting the question to the
vote of the people of the State, and the
next Legislature can scarcely do otherwise
than this. The last State Legislature
adopted an amendment to the State
Constitution forbidding the manufacture
or sale of any spirituous or malt liquors
as a beverage. By constitutional recuirement
any amendment to the Con
stitution must first be adopted by one
Legislature, and then, by a two thirds
vote of the next, must be submitted to
the people for ratification. As this prohibitory
amendment for Tennessee has
already passed the first channel toward
becoming a law, great interest centres in
the next turn. If two-thirds of the next
Legislature so vote, the people will vote
on the question probably next spring. It
is said that the State will go overwhelmingly
for Prohibition."
The Pledge and Strawberries.
One of the best temperance lectures
avnr rlnlitrornrl fnllfrnm fholinanf
V,VI UV1A* 4,v'" "l"* ? ~ ?
child in Covington, Kentucky, the child
of a reformed man. "Father," said she,
"arc you always going to wear the blue
ribbon?"
"I hope so, my dear," was his reply.
"So do I," said the little one.
"Why do you hope so?" asked her
father.
"Because I've never had so many
strawberries in my life as I've had since
you signed the pledge and put on that
blue ribbon."
Men who are not feeding the saloonkeepers'
children can afTord luxuries for
their own. ? Temperance Banner.
Young men, do you know that there is
in the Acte of the Apostles one of the
finest temperance thoughts ever uttered ?
"Do thyself no harm" (Acts xvi., 29).
Talk about the Eible being no temperance
book!? William Noble.
I WOMAN'S WORLD.
PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR
FEMININE READERS.
|
The Song of tho Farmer's Wife.
Monday is for washing,
Tuesday is for ironing,
Wednesday is for mending and putting
clothes away;
Thursday is for churning,
Friday is for baking,
Saturday is always the grand cleaning day.
But then there is the breakfast,
And the dinner and the tea to get;
Resides, there is the milking to be done each
night and morn;
The henstofesd, the knitting,
The sweaping and the broad to set,
And the carding oT tae wool when the pretty
sheep are shorn.
There is never any ending.
Bat always work beginning,
From early Monday morning till Saturday
at nignt;
But oftentimes I And,
If a merry song I'm singing,
flly heart is gay and happy, then all my
work seems light.
? Hr. S. Reed in Good Housekeeping.
Women Ushers.
A lady correspondent writing from
Paris notes with interest bow in Europe
women fill positions which in Amorica
are reserved for men. It is a woman?
not a man?who ushers you to your seat
in the hippodrome, places a comfortable
stool at your feet, for which she returns
to collect a gratuity half an hour later.
In many of the theatres women have
charge of the sale of seats in the boxoffice.
They wear dainty white muslin
caps with great red or blue satin bows
on them, and in their neat gowns add
much to the decorative effect. If you
drop the smallest article they will restore
it to you. Just before leaving the theatre
the other evening one of the ladies in
our party discovered that she had lost
her eye-glasses. "You will find them at
the box-office," said the young lady who
had brought us our footstools. The
owner was rejoiced, for, as she had been
promenading in the foyer, she supposed
the glasses had been trampled upon. The
Baying: "Nothing is ever loit in Paris,"
fell true in her case.
Betsy Patterson's Mule Ride.
Springfield, Md., was laid out by William
Patterson, tho great Baltimore mer
chant, so famous for his commercial affairs
in the early part of the present century.
It was in Springfield that Elizabeth
(or Betsy) "Patterson first heard of
the arrival of Prince Jerome, the brother
of the great Bonapa:tc, in America. She
wa* living out there with her father
when the grand ball was to bo given in
Baltimore to the young prince and his
associates. She begged her father to be
allowed to go to town for the ball, but
he uot only refused to take her, but
locked up all the horses and her dresses.
Her determination to captivate and
marry the young prince, with the aid of
her matchle.-s beauty, was too well settled
to be prevented by her father's orders,
and, mounting a mule in her common
house dress, and accompanied by a
colored servant, who carried her ball
dress on another mule, she set out after
dark on her twenty-mile ride over the
ijiDeny rutiu iur jDaiumuic. iruue we
ball was at itj height she arrived, won
the prince's heart, and brought upon
herself all the seventy years of woe and
trouble that she suffered after the Emperor
refused, in defiance of the Pope's
decision, to recognize-her as his sisterin-law.
The weak princc finally refused
to recognize his wife, and married again.
Mine. Bonaparte returned to Maryland,
and, after obtaining a divorce from the
Legislature of her native btate, she lived
jn Maryland, aided by the pension allowed
by the French Government.?
Baltimore American.
Mrs. Polk.
Every guest at tho "White House during
the Presidency of Mr. Polk saw th it
Mrs. Polk was fitted for her station.
But tho President's friends knew that
her gentle disposition and gracefulness
of manner, and in:ellccttial accomplish- |
ments and unfa 1 ngcouitcsy, hadgrea'ly
aided him in gaining that exalted position.
During the winter of 1848 President
Polk ga e a dinner-party, to which he
invited his political oponent, Henry Clay.
The distinguished guest, being seated
at the right hand of Mrs. Polk, made
hiaiself very agreeable to the lady.
"Madam," said he in that bland manner
which even an enemy could not resist,
"I must say that wherever I have been,
I have heard but one opinion of you.
All parties agree in commending your
administration of th3 White House.
But as for that young gentleman there,"
pointing to the President, "I cannot say
us nric-h. There is a little difference of
opinion as to his administration."
"I am glad," replied Mrs. Polk, "to
hear from Mr. Clay that ray administration
is popular. In return for your compliment,
let me assure you that should
the country elect a Whig next fall, I
know of no one whose elevation to the
Presidency would please me more than
Henry Clay's."
"Thank you! thank you, madam!" said
Mr. Clay, bowing.
"And I will assure you one thing: If
you have occasion to occupy the White
House on the fourth of March next, it
shall be surrendered to you in perfect order,
from garret to cellar."
"I'm certain that " the laugh
which followek prevented Mr. Clay from
finishing his sentence.?Youth's Companion.
Burden Bearers of Morocco.
I trust it will be pardoned me if, with
but slight transition, I pasj from the
donkey of Morocco to the women thereof.
Those who know Tangier will understand
that there is no discourtesy intended
against the sex which, in Europe,
we are apt to call the weaker, but which
he e shares with these other ] atient
creatures, the ass and th'i camel, the
bearing of all burdens. If you walk
along the bay at Tangier (which, by the
way, is one of the most splendid st ands
imaginable), you will meet drovei of
women each carrying euormous bundles
of grass or charcoal for market; the haik
covers their heads and their burdens,
the weight of which is usually further
supplemented by a baby in a kerchief,
slung pouch-wise about her somewhere
~ Vrtnm T.itfl fr<l * f
UIIC U IA1UIW IO iumu. X.UJ ?.** w, IT
almost seems borrowed from the kangaroo,
is the invariable way of carrying a
baby, and the women work and wash,
wearing their babies in this marsup al
fashion as naturally as some primitive
Australian animal would, did it but work
and wash; and in the .'treels, too, under
the white haiks of the townswomen, one
sees bulging out the little skulls of infants,
as in Donny brook, in the old days,
when the crowns of overtaken revelers,
showing through the canvas tents, became
irresistible spheres of attraction to
passing shillalahs. But to return to our
women, who are trudging along the
sands, perhaps eight or ten together?
perhaps it is a family parly, a husband,
wife and daughter, in which case there
is generally a donkey who shares the
loads pretty fairly with the two ladies,
except that he bas the further privilege
of carrying their mutual lord and master,
who sits up between the grass-woven
baskets with a dignified unconsciousness
of any calls of gallantry. Indeed, I believe
the ladies would feel it utterly un- -3
befitting and indecent were their positions
reversed, and I believe that even
the donkey bred in Mohammedan usages
would resent it. I think I have only
ODce seen a country-woman riding while
one of the nobler ssx walked, but in this
case she was evidently too old to get.
home otherwise.
Fashion Notes.
Plush is the favorite material for mantles,
visites and pelerines.
All bodices open over guimpes or plastrons,
but the fedora fronts are passe.
There is a return of favor to dressed
Kia gioves, duc unarcssea Kias are a is w - ^
Cheviot with fine chccks is the correct
material for the bride's traveling cosSome
of the new capote brims are cleft,
and have one side strapped back with
A collar, tie and wide cuffs of colored
India silk are the stylish wear with cloth
costumes.
Polka dots are seen in some of the
stylish woolen stuffs and promise to be
popular again.
Shawl dresses are sent out by French
tailors, but they are not pretty, nor will
they be popular.
Little girls are given coats, outside
garments of check or plaid to be worn "/Jjj
over plain stuff frocks.
Bodices and sleeves are in endless variety
; but, in spite of this, jackets are
more popular than ever.
Felt and cloth or wool bonnets are
chosen of the color of the woolen suit
with which they are worn.
Golden rod yellow is a dense but t>eau- v:
tiful shade which promises to Ufe worn ^
this season very generally.
Beaded tabliers and pattern robes with
b aded embroidery in different colors
are shown as a new and favorite style.
Breton jackets are seen on some of the
rao3t stylish everv-day costumes in cloth
for young ladies and children as well
Green is essentially a summer color
- ? J iC ?*r* 11 ka mAwn fl\A Tin n f ov
a LIU. Utuc 11 an J yy in UQ nviu i>u? nuiivi season,
except, perhaps, myrtle green. .
Recamier curls are still the favorite
dressing of the front hair, the straight
bang being too severe for many faces.
The fashion of great extravagance in
floral decoration has gone by, except for
weddings and such elaborate occasions.
Colored linings are in high vtgue
3triped and figured silks in bright colore
being largely employed for this purpose.
Parisians are wearing tartain plaids foi
the entire dress or in combination with
plain colors. The plaids, however, are
6mall. "
A pretty round waist is made dressj
by bands of velvet extending from the
neck to the bust about two or three inchei
Along gauntlet cuff is worn with
puffed sleeves reaching half way up the
- ? An arvonlaf nf tlm ahnnlrlpr rnrriw
ami. iiu v|;uuivu ? ? ? "j**
out the effect.
Princesse effects are noted in some o! :'|5
the bridal toilets, but these are confined
to the front or back, as the taste of the V
wearer may dictate.
Wide, low collars, exposing the throat,
are to be worn, and it is predicted in
certain quartersthat high collars and full
ruches arc soon to be abandoned.
Wide braids, bands of applique galloon,
and other border trimmings ar?
used on the bottom of the skirt as well ;
as to form panels on frocks of cloth,
wool fabric, sicilienne, and even plain
silk when made up for demi-toilets.
Titan and giant braids of from thre?
and three-fourth inches to five inches in
width form the side panels of manj
cloth, serge, diagonal, cheviot, and foule
frocks, the other garnitures of the dress
being of narrower braids of the same
weave. -^9
Ornaments for the hair are fashionable,
but must be judiciously arranged to be >3
effective. Fancy shell pins, knots and
aigrettes of ribbon and some fancy i
metal pins are used. A style called the I
j Mikado is dressed high with loops and
puff-t, and a number of small jet or shell
j combs are set in ai various angles. I
la new mantles we have been shown
jackets of frizzly cloth, made tailor- . J
fashion, in dark shades of color; traeeling-cloaks
of woolen sanglier, long
enough to completely cover the skirt,
and mantelctte8 of basket-work silk, or
silk rep, prettily trimmed with galloon ;.?fl
and fancy fringe; these mantles are quite
short at the back, not coming down be- j
lotv the waist, and fall in square lappet* I
in front. j
Wonders of Smelling. j
T wKa r? inr? in Af aKnnf
oumea .maucn, nuw uivu > . v>
1833, in the county of Nairn, in Scot- I
land, and was born blind, on November J
11, 1795, recognized, says the "World I
of "Wonders," different persons by smell- I
ing. The famous Mr. iloyle mentions Vj
a blind man at Utrecht who could dis- J
tinguish different metals by the different I
odors; and JWartials records the ease oi
a person named Mnmurra, who could I
tell by smelling whether copper was true E
Corinthian or not. Indian travelers have I
recorded that certain natives who hab- g
itually abstained from animal food have I
a sense of smelling which is so exquis- "3
itely delicate that they can tell from . jS
which well a vessel of water has baen fl
obtained. It has been related that bj -'.vsB
smell alone lhe negroes of the Antilles 9
will detect the footsteps of a Frenchman |
from those of a negro. Marce Marci has I
left nn account of a monk in Prague who I
could tell by smelling anything given to 1
him who had last handled it. The guides I
who accompany travelers in the route *'"?
from Aleppo to Babylon will tell by
smelling the desert sand how near they -1
are to the latter place. Nathaniel Wanley I
in his "Wonders of the Little World,'* I
a famous old bcok, gives a particularly I
full account of a man called John of i
Liege, who, when a boy, flying in terror I
of soldiers in time of war, passed many
-1 AV?a nf fnrpflt fl
years aiuuc m urn
of Ardennes, where he lived upon roots
and wild fruits, the presence of which I
he could at last detect from a great dis- I
tance by the sm 11 alone. In the same " "
way he detected the pre?ence of lien long I
before they came in sight. I
Operating in a Balloon. I
At a popular festival recently held at I
Sedan, France, a balloon was about to -I
rise when at the last moment the aeronaut I
announced that the ascent would have to I
be postponed, as he was suffering from a I
dreadful toothache, which drove him 1
almost to distraction. At this statement I
a gentleman pushed through the crowd, I
saying: "I am a dentist, and have got E
my case of instruments in my pocket; I
let me go with you, and if the pain doe? I
not cease I will undertake to extract the 9
tooth." Two hours later the balloon re*
turned to earth, and the aeronaut related 1
with radiant countenance that the den- I
tist had drawn his tooth with great skill .
at an altitude of 6,000 feet. I