Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SI N DAY SERMON. Subject: "Thirst in a Cavern." Text: "Oh, that one would (fire me drin, of the water of the well o f Bethlehem, whic is by the gate!1'?3 Samuel, xxiii., lo. War, always distressing, is especially ruin Oub in harvest time. "When the cropsare a] ready for the sickle, to have them troilde: down by cavalry horses and heavy supph trains gullying the fields, is enough to mak" any man's heart sick. When the last grea war broke out in Europe, and France an' Germany were coming into horrid collision, rode across their golden harvests, and sawth tents pitched, and the trenches dug in th very midst of the ripe fields, the loni cythe of battle sharpening to mov down harvests of men in grea win rows of the dead. It was at this seasoi of harvest that the army of the Philistine came down upon Bethlehem. Hark to tin ctamor of their voices, the neighing of thei chargers, the blare of their trumpets, andthi clash of their shields! Let David and his men fall back! Th Lord's host sometimes loses the day But David knew where to hi le. H had been brought up in that country Boys areinquisitive, ana they know all abou the region where they wore born and brough up. If you should go back to the old homo ftead, you could, with your eyes shut, fin< Sour way to the meadow, or the orchard, 01 :e hill back of the house, with which voi were familiar thirty or forty years ago. S< David knew the cave of Adullam. Perhaps in his boyhood days, he had played "hide and-seek" with his comrades " all abou the old cave; and though other might not have known it, David did Travelers say there is only one way of get ting into that cave, and that is by a verj narrow nath: but David was stout, anc teady-headed, and steady nerved; and so with his three brave stafT-o.fieers, he goa along that path, finds his way into the cave sits down, looks around the roof and th< dark passages of the mountain, feels ver} weary with the forced march; and water h< must have, or die. I do not know but then may have been drops trickling down the sid< of the cavern, or that there maj have been some water in th< goat-skin slung to his girule; bu that was not what he wanted. He wanted ? deep, full, cold drink, such as a man get only out of an old well with moss-coverei bucket. Dnv.:d remembered that very ni?ai that cave of Adullnm there was such a wel as that, a well to which he used to go it boyhood?the well of Bethlehem; and heal most imagines that he can hear the liquic plash of that well, and his parched tongu moves through his hot lips as he says: "Oh that one would give me drink of the water o the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! It was no 5 ooner said than done. The thre brave staff-officers bounded to their feet an< start Brave soldiers will take even a hin from their commander. But between then and the well lay a host of the Philistines: an. what could three men do with a great army Yet where there is a will there is a way, and with their swords slashing this way and that * ? >? ii??.41. WJBJ IliantJ U1C1I pmu bl) l/UU wen. " uuc cuPhilistines are amazed at the seeming fool hardiness of these three men, and canno make up their minds exactly vhat it mean? the three men have come to the well They drop the bucketv They brinj up the water. They pour it in tli Siil, and then start for the cave. "Stoi em!" cry the Philistines. *'Clip them witl your swords! Stab them with your spears Stop those three men!" Too late! They ar gone around the hi!L The hot rocks ar splashed with the overflowing water fron "tne vessel at it is carried up the cliffs. Th three men go along the dangerous path, am with cheeks flushed with the excitement, an< all out of breath in their haste the}* fling thei words, red with the skirmish, to the side o the cave, and cry out to David: "There Captain of the host, is what you wanted: i drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is b; the gate." AtcitJsof no use to me unless I can fin* Christ in it; and unless I can bring a Go.spe out of these words, that will arouso and com fort and bless, I shall wish I had nover seei them; for your time would be wnsted, an* against my soul the dark record would b made that this day I stoo 1 before a great nu dience of sinning, suffering, and dying mon and told them of no rescue. By the cross o the Son of God, by the throne of the eterna judgment, that shall not be! May the Lon Jesus help me to tell you the truth to-day! You know that carrier pigeons have some times letters tied under the wing, and tlic fly hundreds of miles?one hundred miles ii an hour?carrying a message. So I havi thought I would like to have it now. Oh heavenly Dove! bring under thy win; to-day, to my soul and to the souls of thi people, some message of light, and love, an< peace! It Is not an unusual thing to see peopl* gather around a well in summer-time. Th husbandman puts down his cradle at the wel curb. The builder puts down his trowel Th traveler puts down h s pack. Then one draw the water for all the rest, hinisolf taking th very last. The cup is passed around, am the fires of thirst are put out; the travele starts on his journey and the workman take up his burd?n. My friends, we come to-day around th Gospel well. We put down our pack of bur dens and our implements of toil. One mai must draw the water for those who hav gathered around the well. I will try am draw the water to-dsv: and if, after I havi - poured out from this living fountain for you soul, I just taste of it myself, you will not be grudge me a " dnnk from the water of th well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate." This Gospel well, like th? well spoken of ii the text, is a well of Bethlehem. David ha< known hundreds of wells of water, but h wanted to drink from that particular one and he thought nothing coula slake his thirs like that. And unla-a your soul and mine cai get access to the Fountain open for sin am uncleanness we must die. That fountain i the well of Bethlehem. It was duer in th night. It was dug by the light of a lanter: ?the star that hung down over th manger. It was dug not at the gate o Caesar's palaces, not in the park of a Jeru salem bargain-maker. It was dug in a barn The camel's lifted their weary heads to liste: as the work went on. The shepherds, unabl to sleep, because the heavens were filled wit bands of music, came down to see the oper ingof the well. The angels of God, at the firs gush of the living water, dipped their chalice of joy into it, and drank to the health c earth and heaven, as they cried: "Glory t God in the highest, and on earth peace. Sometimes in our modern barns the water i brought through the pipes of the city to th very nostrils of the horses or cattle; but thi well in the Bethlehem barn was not so mue for the leasts that perish as for our rac( thirst-smittten, desert-traveled and s'mooi struck. Oh. my soul, weary with sin, stoo down and drink to day out of that Bethlehei well! "As the heart panteth after the watei brooks, so my soul panteth after thee, < God." You would get a Letter understatu ing of this amidst the Adirondacks in sun mer-time. Here comes a swift-footed de?i Tbe hounds are close on the track; it hi leaped chasms and s. aled cliffs; it is fagge out; its eyes are rolling in deatl Its tongue is lolling from its foamln mouth. Faster the deer, faster the dogs until it plunges into Schroon Lake and th hounds can follow it no farther, and it put down its head and mouth until the nostril i clean submerged in the cool wave, and I ui ? derstand it: "As the heart panteth for th water-brook, so panteth my soul after the< O God." Ob. bring me water from that well Little child, who has learned of Jesus i the Sabbath-school, bring me some c that; living water. Old man, wh fifty years ago didst find the wel bring me some of that water. Stranger in jrtrange land, who used to hear sung in th Highlands of Scotland, to the tune of "Boi nreDoon," "The Star, the Star of Bethle hem," bring me some of that water. Whose ever drinketh of that water shall never thirst "Oh that one would give ma drink of the wt ter of the well of Bethlehem which is by th gate." AgaiH, this Gospel well, like the one spoke of in the text, is a captured well. David n membered the time when that good water c Bethlehem was in the possession of his ancei tors, His father drank there, his mothe drank there. He remembered how tie watt tasted when he was a boy, and came un tlier fromDlav. We never forcret the old well w used to drink out of when we were hoysorgirl There wns something in it that blessed tli lips and refreshed the brow better than an thing we have found since. As we think c that rlear old well, the memories of the paflow into e?.ch other like crystalline drom Kon-plinted. and all the more as we remembe that the hands that used to hold the roj> and the heart3 that beat against the wel I euro are still now. \v e never get ove r these reminiscences. George P. Morris, the great son? writer of this country, once said to me that his song. "Woodmnn spare that tree." was sung in a great c oncert hall, and the memories of rarlv life were so wrought upon (he audience by that sons that, after the singinc was done, an a?;ed man arose in the audience, overwhelmed with emotion, and said: "Sir, will you please to ten me whether the woortman really spared tlio tree?' We never forget the j{ tree under which we plaved. We never forlt get the fountain at which wo drank. Alas for the man who has no early memories. David thought of that well, that boyhood L. well, and lie wanted a drink of it, but he re[j membered that the Philistines had captured it. When thOiie thr.v lu.-n tried to come up r to the well in behalf of David, the)' saw e swords gleaming around about it. And this t is true of this Gos;>el well. The Philistines 1 have at times cantured it. When wo come to 1 take a full. old-fas'iioned drinVof pardon and o comfort, do not their swords of indignation o anrl sarcasm flash? Why, the skeptics tell ; us that we cannot come to that fountain! v They say the water is not fit to drink anyt how. "If you are really thirsty now. there ii is the well of philosophy, there is the well of s art, there is the well of science." They try e to substitute, instead of our boyhood faith, a r modern mixture. They say a great & many beautiful things about the soul, and they try to feocl our immor0 tBi hunger on rose leaves, and mix . a mint julep of worldly stimulants, when e nothing will satisfy us but'"a drink of the . water of the well of Bethlehem, which is at t the gate." They try to starve us on husks, t when the Father's banquet is ready, and the j best ring is taken from the casket, and the J sweetest harp is struck for the music, 1 and the swiftest foot is already lifted for the dance. They patronize heaven and abolish hell, and try to measure eternity with their hour-glass, and the throne " of the great God with their yard-stick! I ? abhor it. I tell vou the old Gospel well is a s captured well. I pray God that there may be somewhere in the elect host three an. nointed men, with courage enough to go j forth in the strength of the omnipotent jod, with the glittering swords ' of truth, to hew the way back again to that old well. I think the tide is ' turning, and that the old Gospel is to take its place again in the family, and in the univer[ sity, and in the legislative hall. Men have . trie ! worldly philosophies, and have found ? out that they do not give any comfort, and ; that they drop an arctic midnight upon the ' death-pillow. They fail when there is a . dead child in the house; and when the soul [ comes to leap into the fathomless ocean of , eternity, they give to the man not so much ? as a broken spar to cling to. Depend upon J it, that well will come into our possession I again, though it has been captured. If there ' be not three anointed men in the Lord's 1 host with enough consecration to do the work, ." then the swords will leap from Jehovah's buckler, and the eternal three will descend? 8 God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy ' Ghost?conquering for our dying race the ,, way hack again to "the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate." "If God ? be for us, who can be against us?" "If God spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up c for us all,how shall he not with himalso freely ? give UJ all things;'' "For I am persuaded j that neither height, nor depth, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powei^s, nor things > present, nor things to come," shall tako from ' us, into final captivity, the Gospel of my 9 blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the Gospel well, like the one spoken 6 of in my text, is a well at the gate. The ? traveler stops the camel today, and gets down and dips out of tha valley of the East, ? some very beautiful, clear, bright water, and 9 that is out o; the vory well that David longed P for. Do you know that that well was at ? the gate, so that nobody could go into Bethlehem without going right past it? And 0 so it is with this Gospel well?it is at the gate. 0 It is, in the first place, at the gate of purifica1 tion. We cannot wash away our sins unless with that water. I take the responsibility of saying that there is no man, woman, or child in this houso to-day that I has escaped sinful defilement. Do you say it is outrageous and ungallant i for me to make such a charge ? Do you say: "I have never stolen?I have never r blasphemed?I have never committed unchastity?I have never been guilty of murder?' I reply, you have committed a sin worse than Blasphemy, worse than uncnastity, worse than Theft, worse than murder. We have all committed it. We have by our sins re-crucified the Lord, and that is deicide. And if there bo any who dare to plead "not guilty" to the indictment, then the hosts of heaven will be empaneled as a jury to render a unanimous verdict against us; "guilty one, guilty all. "With what a slashing stroke that one passage cuts us away from all our pretensions. "There is none that doeth good?no, not one."' "Oh," says some one, "all we want, all the race wants, is development." Now I want to tell you that the race develops without the Gospel into a Sodom, a Five Points, a great Salt Lake City. It always develops dowaward, and * never upward, except as the grace of God lays 1 hold of it What, then, is to become of our soul without Christ? Banishment. Disaster. But 9 I bless my Lord Jesus Christ that there is a 0 well at the gate of purification. For great 1 c ri ?rr?nfc narrlnn Fnr Aipht.v venrs of trans 0 gression, an eternity [of forgiveness. For crime s deep as hell, an atonement high as heaven; e that where sin abounded,so grace may much 1 more abound; that as sin reigned unto death, r even so may grace reign through righteouss ness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Angel of the Covenant, dip thy wing e in this living fountain to-day, and wave it '* over this solemn assemblage, that our souls 11 may be washed in "the water of the well of 0 Bethlehem, which is by the gate." * Further, I remark that this well of the 3 Gospel is at the gate of comfort. Do you r know where Davia was when he uttered the * words of the text? He was in the cave of 0 Adullam. That is whore some of you aiv now. Has the world always gone smooth'y j with you? Has it never pursued you with slander? Is your health alwayi , good? Have your fortunes never 1 perished? Are your children all alive and n well? Is there no dead lamb in the fold? Are you ignorant of the way to the cemetcry? g Have you never heard the bell toll when it e seemed as if every stroke of the iron clapper n beat your heart? Are the skies as bright when 0 you look into them as they used to be ? when other eyes, now closed, used to look into them? Is there some trunk or * drawer in your house that you go to only on anniversary days, when there comes beating 0 ct^aiiiat/ ruui nwui iuc sun v>i a w;caii ui Ij agony? It is the cave of Adullam! The cave . of Adullam! Is there some David here .j. whose fatherly heart wayward Absolom has s broken? Is there some Abraham here who is ,f lonely because Sarah is dead in the family0 plot of Jlachpelah? After thirty or forty t? years of companionship, how hard it was for js them to par'.! Why not have two seats in l0 the Lord's chariot, so that both the o!d folks js might have gone up at once' My aged mother, j, in her last moment,said to my father:''Fat her, , wouldn't it be nice if we could both go toll gether?" No, no, no. We must part And p there are wounded hearers here to-day. The world cannot comfort you. What can it bring )"ou? Nothing. Nothing. The salvo r. they try to put on your wounds will not stick. 0 They cannot, with their bungling surgery, mend the broken bout*. v Zoppar the Naaniathite, and Bildad the r, Shuhite. and Kliphaz the Temanit-e, come in. is and talk, and talk, and talk, but miserable id comforters are they all. They can not pour v. light into the cave of Adullam. They can g not bring a single draught of water from ' the well of Bethlehem, which is by e the gate.-' But, glory bo to Jesus 3 Christ, there is comfort at the gate! is There is life in the well 1.1 the cate. If vou i- give me time, I wit; draw up a promise for e every man, woman and child in this house. \ Ay, I will do it in two minutes. I will lay 1! hold the rope of the old well. What is your n trouble? "Oh," you say, "I am so sick, so ?f weary of life?ailments after ailments." I o will draw up a promise: "The inhabitants 1, will never say 'I am sick.'" What is your a trouble? "Oh, it is loss of friends?bereavee ment," you say. I will draw you up a l- promise, l'resh and cool, out of the well. "1 f- am the resurrection and the life; he that be> lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall lie live." What is your trouble? You say it i- is the infirmities of old age. 1 will draw you o upa promise: "Down to old age I am with thee, to hoarv hairs will 1 carry thee." n What is your trouble? "Oh," you say, "1 have a widowed soul, and my children cry for Drcaa." 1 Drmsupiu;spro mse: j^v.hiiv *" fatherless children?1 will preserve them 'r alive, and let thy widows trust in me." ] !r breakthrough the armed ranks of your sor 0 rows to-day, and bring to your pirched lip.< e "a drink of the waters of tho well of Betide 1 hem, which is by the gate." i9 Again, the Gospel well is at the gate ol v heaven. I have not heard yet one single in if telligent account of tho future world froir it anybody who does not believe in the Bible ?, They throw such a fog about the subject thai r I do not want to so to the skeptic's heaven, tx j, the transcendentalist's heaven, to the worldl) 1- philosopher's heaven. I would not exchange the poorest room in your house for the fines* heaven that Huxley, or Stuart Mill, or Darwin ever dreamed of. Their heaven has no Christ in it: and a heaven without Christ, though you could sweep the whole universe i into it, would be a hell. Oh. they tell us J ; there are no songs there; there are no | coronations in heaven?that is all imj agination. They tell us we will do j there about what we do here, only J j on a larger scale?geometriz* with j clearer intellect, and with alpenstoe'c j j go clambering up over the icebergs , ; in an eternal vacation. Rather than that. I ' turn to my Bible, and I find John's picture i of that good land?that heaven which was j j your lullaby in infancy?that heaven which i | our children in the SabbatR-school will sing ! ?thot. liAnvmi tvhifVi liftc I 1 a "well at the pate." i After you have been on a long journey, j j aud you come in, all bedusted and tirod, to j your home, the first thine: you want is re- I ; freshing ablution, and I am clad to know . that after wo pot through" tbo pilgrim, age of this world?the hard, dusty pil! grimage?wo will find n well at I the gate. In that one wash, away I will go our sins and sorrows. I do not I care whether cherub, or seraph, or my owu i departed friends in that blessed land place ! to my lips tho cup, the touch of that cup \ ! will be life, will be heaven? I was read- j ! ing of how tho ancients sought for tho i I fountain of perpetual youth. They thought j j if they could only find and drink out of that ! 1 well, the old would become young again, the ; sick would bo cured, and everybody would i have eternal juvenosconce. Of course, they j could not find it. Eureka! I have found it! i "The water of the well of Bethlehem, whi-h is by the cate." j 1 think we had better make a bargain with , those who leave us, going out of this world j from time to time, as to where we will meet I i I them. Travelers' parting appoint a place of [ meeting. They say, '"we will meet at Rome, or we will meet at Stockholm. or Vienna, or Jerusalem, or Bethlehem." Now, when we come to stand j by the death-pillow of those who are leaving us for the far land, do not let us weep ' as though we would never see them again, but let us, there standing, appoint a place where we will meet Where snail it lie? Shall it be on the banks of the river? No. The I hnnl.-a nm f/v? loiic^ Shall it be in tho i | temple? No; no. There is such a host j j there?ten thousand times ten thousand. | AVhere shall we meet the loved ones? Let us i I make an appointment to meet at the well by ' the gate. Oh, heaven! Sweet heaven! Dear ! heaven! Heaven, where our good friends ; are! Heaven, whero Jesus is! Heaven! ' Heaven! j But while I stand here there comes a revulI sion of feeling when I look into your eyes and j know there are souls here dying of thirst, ; notwithstanding the well at" the gate. Be ; tween them ana the well of heaven there is a t great army of sin; and though Christ is I ready to clear n way to that well for them, they will not have his love or intercession. But I am glad to know that you may come yet. The well is here? :he well of heaven. Come; I do not caro how feeble you are. Let i me take hold of your arm, and steady you up j to the well-curb. "Ho, every one that ! tliirsteth, come." I would rather win one soul to Christ this morning than wear the crown ' of the world's dominion. Do not let any man go away and say I did not invite him. j Oh, if you could only just look at my Lord I once: if you could justsee him full in the face: ay, if you could only do as that woman did whom I read about at the beginning of the ! services?just come up behind him and j touch his feet?methinks j'ou would live. In Northern New Jersey, one vn'nter, three lit I Ha children wandered off from homo in a snow storm. Night came on. Father and ! mother said, "Whereare the children.'" They could not be found. They started out in haste, and tho news ran to the neigh1 bors, and before morning it was said that there were hundreds of" men hunting the mountains for those three children, but ; found them not. After a while a man imagined i there was a place that had not been looked at, j and he went and saw tho three children. He i examined their bodies. He found that tho ! > older boy had taken of! his coat , and wrapped it around the younger one, tho , 1 baby, and then taken off his vest and put it ' ' around the other one; and there they all ! ' i died, he probably the first, for he had no coat i ;j or vest. Oh, it was a touching scene when that I ! was brought to light! 1 was on the ground i ; a little while after, and it broueht tho j j whole scene to my mind, and I thought to ; i myself of a more melting scene than that: 1 when Jesus, our elder brother, took off the j robe of his royalty and laid aside the last garment of earthly comfort, that he might ! wrap our poor souls from the blast. Oh, the ! height, and the depth, and the length, and the breadth of the love of Cnristl : religious" reading. Triumph. | j Into those mansions, pure and holy, j Cometh tears nor pain; Followers of the meek and lowly ; Meet their Lord again. Singing are tho angels, singing, singing, i Jn that sinless lund; I Ringing are tho voices, ringing, ringing, ! I Voices of a sainted band. I 1 j Sorrow and sighing from tho immortal j Evermore aro fled; 1 J Joyfully, at the heavenly portal, i Shout the risen dead. Everlasting joy, all glorious, g'orious, ' j On their heads shall lie, j Everlasting life, o'er death victorious, J Through a long eternity. j The Things That n?mnln. There may be hours of trial when the "feet are almost gone, the steps well-nigh | slipped.'' What is the proper course to purj sue in these seasons of temptation? One thing should always be done; the things that re- j main should be strengthened. The heart I | should encourage itself. Memories of God's | former mercies f.re among the things that j remain to us. Recall in times of tribulation His days of i gracious deliverance. How many times God has appeared in unexpected ways for our j help. Draw lessons from His tender dealings?lessons for present and future comfort. He has not changed. Our weakness, even sinfulness, cannot remove His desire to do us , good. One may form the habit of thus remem- j bering all the way God hath led us. "What | i strength comes in this way when the heart is | j well-nigh overwhelmed with sorrow! "lam j | strengthened greatly," said one, "by bearing ( | testimony in my most trying hours to God^ : j past help." He only expressed the uniform I experience of the saints. "They looked unto 1 Him, and were lightened, and their faces ! were not ashamed. This poor man cried, | and the Lord heard him and saved him out ! of all his troubles.'' ! Rem-irkable Convi-rslons. ! Tbe accTJtmt which Richard Baxter gives j i of his own conversion has often been quoted j as a testimony to the power of good books, j j When Richard was about fifteen years of j ago a certain day laborer known to tho fami- i ly lent him "an old lorn book"'called "Bun- i i liy's Resolutions,'1 and tho reading of this j i became a means of enlightenment. What j happened further goes to show tho viluo of j col portage, though colporteurs as an organ- j | ized band were not known in England until ; centuries afterwards. A pedlar, whose pack j 1 contained some indifferent wares, as well as j ! others of sterling m?rit, one day halted at tho Baxters' house and sold a [ copy of Sibbe's "Bruised Ree<l." That j book was the instrument used to confirm Richard in the faith; though it was not as is sometimes represented, tho means of his awakening. "Tho Bruised Reed" has in rc| alitv taken tho honor duo to tho "old torn book" of tbe poor day laborer. In tho era of 1 the reformation it appears that educated men were frequently converted despite their [ former prejudices. I'linco George of Anlialt | was of this description, for after reading tho j books of Luther Irom mere curiosity, and ' | not without inward misgivings as to his own j j weakness he embraced the refonno l faith ! | ) and built up the Church. Even more strik- ; ing was the case of Vergerius, legate of tho j I'OJJO 111 UXTIimil} , ttllll WIIUM9 CIJIUIUUU SU1"* vices to the Human see "His Holiness" pro| posed toruwnrd with a cardinal'sliut. Tiiero wore tluiso about tlio court however, who counselled a becoming caution; for having boon so long absent from tlio centre of orthodoxv, sumo suspected that Vergerius i nt least smefled of Lutlicranism. On Jearnt ing how mjitters stood, tlio ecclesiastic was more thrm a littlo chagrined, being conscious ' of his own integrity and devotion to the church. lie resolved to prove his sincerity by writing down tlio Reformation, in a book - to bo entitled "Against the Apostate Ger mans," and ho retired to a suitable retreat i > for that purpose. Ho set himself industriously to work at the task of reading the t hooks of the enemy, hut this reading was ) blessed to his conversion Jfo wont to his r brother to toll him what lmd occurred, nud ) that brother likowiso renounced Pouery. They both of them became zealous preachers and pillars in the Protestant church.?[Sword and Trowel. Daniel Webster'* Confession. The following articles of faith were written by Mr. Webster at the ago of 25, and he retained those viows, in the main, in later years, as was shown in his remarks before the Massachusetts supremo court on the death of Jeremiah Mason. Tho confession has been printed many times, but is none the worse for that: I believo in tho existence of Almighty God. who created and governs the wholo world. I am taught this by the works of nature and tho .word of revelation. I believe that God exists in three persons: | this I learn from revelation alono. Nor is it any objection to this belief that 1 cannot comprehend how ono can be three or three T if I\a1 i'ot>A ?/\f wKnf I can comprehend or account for, but what ! 111 v Maker tcaches me. 1 believe the Scriptures of the Old and | New Testaments to bo the wi!l and the work . of God. I believe Jesus Christ to bo the Son of God. i The miracles which He wrought establish in my mind his personal authority, and render it "proper for me to believe whatever He asserts; I believe, thoroforo all His declarations, as well when He declares Himself the Son of God as when Ho declares any other proposition. And I believe there is no other way of salvation tbun through the merits of His atonement! I believe that thin gs past, present and to come are equally present in the mind of the Deity; that with Him there is no succession of time nor of ideas; that,therefore, the relative tartns, past, present and future, as used among men, cannot, with strict propriety, be applied to Deity. 1 believe in the doctrines of foreknowledgo and predestination as expounded. I do not believe in those doctrines as imposing any fatality or necessity on men's actions or" any way infringing free agoncy. I believe in the utter inability of any human being to work out his own salvation without the constant aids of the Spirit of all grace. I believe in those great peculiarities of the Christian religion?a resurrection from the dead and a day of judfjment; 1 believe in the universal providence of God; and leave to Epicurus and his more unreasonable followers in modern times, the inr.nncicfnnnv rtf luiliavinrr t.hnf. fiAfl innrfft ft world which He does not take the trouble of governing. Although I have great respect for some other forms of worship, I believe the Congregational mode, on tbo whole, to be preferable to any other. I believe roligion to be a matter, not of demonstration, but of faith. God requires usto givo credit to the truths which He reveals, not because we can prove them, but because He declares them. When the mind is reasonably convinced that the Bible is the "Word of God, the only remaining duty is to receive its doctrines with full confidence of their truth and practice them with a pure heart. I believe that the Bible is to be understood and received in the plain and obvious meaning of its passages, since I cannot persuade myself that a book, intended for the instruction and conversion of the whole world, should cover its true meaning in such mystery and doubt that none but critics and j philosophers can discover it, 1 believe that the experiments and subtleties of human wisdom are more likely to ob- j scure than to enlighten the revealed will of j God, and that he is the most accomplished : Christian scholar who has been educated at the feet of J esus and in the college of fisherman. I believe that all true religion consists in the heart and the affections and that, there- I fore, all creeds and confessions aro fallible and uncertain evidences of evangelical piety. TEMPERANCE. Playing: Drunkard. Jones was a kind, good-natured man as one j might wish to see, ; He had a buxom, tidy wife and bright-eyed j ,.l:U riiiiuiru biuuc:, But Jones was weak in one respect?he had a love for rum, And often from the drinking shop would r.taggerlng homeward come. His good wife grieved to see him thus, but j bore all patiently, And prayed and hoped that in some way he ; would reformed be, She never waver'd in her faith, but toiled with hand and brain, And in the end with joy she found her prayers were not in vain. Thus it occurred, One Sunday morn, while ! Jones lay on tho floor Sleeping away the outcome of his spree the night before, His wifo had gone to church to pray that his reform might come, Leaving, with much regret, her ill-clad little ones at home. When passed away the lethargy caused by the flowing bowl, Jones gazed around and saw a sight which shocked his very soul. His eldest child, a boy of six, with frowzy, unkept hair, Was staggering around the room with idiotic stare, The while his other little ones laughed loudly in their glee, His grimaces, and flounderings, and antics queer to see. "I'm only playing drunk," he said, "to imitate papa, But if I had some liquor, I could do it better, far. But children ain't allowed to drink, so I know what I'll do, - 9 i-l Till ~ I'll wait till i grow up aim men j. 11 i? a drunkard too.1' "I reckon not," Jones muttered, "with heaven's help I'Jl try To do my duty after this in strict sobriety. My eyes shall ne'tr again behold a scene so sad as )his; Come here my precious little ones, and give papa a kiss!" ****** When Mrs. Jonos came home from church he i met her at the door, And tenderly embracing her, said: "Wife, I I'll drink no more!'1 She saw the truth shine in his eyes and wept j for very joy, Z But n?v< r knew the change was wrought by her unthinking boy. ?Fancis S. Smith. Why We Need a Temperanco Ileform. The movement for the teaching of the principles of temperance in the public schools is thoroughly philosophical in its fundamental idea, which is that in a "government of the people" the individual shall bo self-controlled, or at least capable of self-control. Education makes and marks the difference between the savage and the civilian. Knowledge is the foundation of self-control. The old maxim says that "right wrongs no man." So I say that light wrongs no man. Truth wrongs no man, but it helps each man to control himself. There is, and there can be, no question j nf thA t?rrihla evil of intemperance. All thinking men are agreed that it is the great- | est social evil of the age. This cry for temperance teaching is the echo of God's prim- [ mordial decree: "Let there be light!" It is l the pleading of the millions of the children of theland, beseeching that they may not be sent ! naked, without shield or armor, into the battle of life to contend against odds, not only with the open and disclosed enemy but also i with those that lie in ambush and assail them ' in disguise. It is tho appeal of hundreds of thousands of the noblest and purest women of tho land in behalf of their homes, their children, their altars, and their firesides. It j is tho plea of the home, the church, and the j school combined that if our tender ones and j our helpless ones must run the gauntlet of th? army of alcohol they may, at loast, be- fore- | warned and upon^juard against tha lurking | anccr.? rr. IS. + . ss. Thoy Bear the Curse. There is one class of workers for temperance that ought to be, and in the main is, .^afe from gibe and rancor. It is the women upon whom the curse of ; drunkenness rests most heavily, and when ] women unite to protect their homes from its j blight their provocation and their aim should so euro lor them at least the respect of silence ! from those who do not believe in their remedies for an evil that none can deny. Woman's suffering from drunken husbands, fathers, sons and brothers give3 her a right to call for all the protection that society can justly give.?New Yorlc World. Mrs. E. S. Boyd, of Wyoming, write?: "Our Prohibition party will be mostly women, but that makes no difference here, where a woman's vote counts as much as a man's." A Famous Bicycler on Temperance, The following letter to the Vofo* from Thomas Stevens. the famous bicyclist, who wheeled his way round the world last year, adds another testimonial from the great travelers in favor of total abstinence: I incidentally learned the other day that my article, ' The Drinks of All Nations," that appeared in the Sun October 3, has created the impression upon the minds of some that I personally advocate the use of alcoholic beverages. I therefore beg that you will give me sufficient space to "stand corrected." What the Sun rightly entitled my "curious observations*' must not be mistaken as a personal advocacy of liquor-drinking, as against temperance, oven when vie wo i from the "nation" standpoint. For the benefit of those readers who cannot be expected to know anything about a newspaper writer's position, I would point out that bo has small choice of subjects. He has to sink his personality out i of sicrht entirely. Like the man who raises I vegetables for the market, it is imperative I upon him to produce varieties that meet with the readiest sale. No doubt an articlo might be written on the opposite side of the question producing points quite as plausible as my observations that "nations who drink the most alcohol do the best fighting." As the Chinese philosopher said, when they were whipped by the allied forces, "the ability of the foreign devils to fight doesn't establish their superiority nohow. Turning from the "national observations" of the Sun article to an individual traveler's view, I may say that the views of Henry M. Stanley, on the temperance question, are fully verified by my own experiences. He believes, and so do 1, that alcohol as a beverage should be avoided, but that a mild stimulant?a glass of claret, or a "peg"?in the evening, after a fatiguing day, is not a bad thing. Its use in this manner relegates it to its proper sphere as a medicine, as distinct from a beverage. That alcohol is sometimes useful in medicinal practice, few, I suppose, would care to dispute. It is also an excellent thing for preserving tarantulas and freaks of nature. From a social standpoint, I don't think anybody needs to be told that a community of thoughtful and reflecting temperance people?"Prohibition cranks," even, if you will ?would be a vast, improvement upon the heterogeneous elements that now abound almost everywhere in our country. While 1 am not quite prepared to take the extreme views that some take, I am in strong rympathv with the mission of such men as John B. Gough and kindred spirits. I want it to be distinctly understood that I am a strong advocate of temperance. I attribute my remarkable immunity from sickness under the most trying climatic conditions to the fact that I have, all my life, been practically?though not professedly so?a total abstainer. As a matter of fact, I was a "blue-ribbon wearer" for over ten years, and might just as well be one now as then. New York City. Thomas Stevens. A tireat uuange in Progress. No person past middle age, says T. W. Higginson, in Harper's Bazar can help admitting that a great change has come over the drinking usages of society since his childhood ; that moderation is far more general and total abstinence less rare. It is a matter of surprise at a hotel dinner-table to see how largo a majority now dine without wine: it is far less common to see it set forth on sideboards; a man may forego it entirely and lose no social caste. No doubt a good cleal is still used; it is the stereotyped phrase to describe champagne as "flowing like water'' 011 festive occasions; but the change is undoubtedly great. Nor is this confined to our branch of the Anglo-Saxon race; during the last twenty-five years there has been a distinct diminution of social wine-drinking in England, and the "four-bottle man" is a thing of the past. Eminent leaders of English thought now visit us who, like Canon Farrar and Mr. James Bryce, are total abstainers; and even at the univerities, once the stronghold of well-bred and decorous winedrinking, you are constantly told how great is the change. In this country the prohibitory party is undeniably growing stronger, and its policy is gradual!y being accepted into tbo actual constitution of States. Not only is the brewer's vocation regarded as a low one?instead of having his career rewarded by a peerage, as in England?but tho winemerchant himself, once at tho head of all tradespeople, is now viewed with disapprobation and dislike, and seems in a fair way to be constitutionally prohibited out of exist ence. Were this merely a change in an ordinary social habit it might pass as the mere swing of the pendulum, no more predicting a final abandonment of the indulgence than a diminution in the size of hats or bonnets predicts a final preference for bare heads, nut the transformation now going on is something more than a passing fashion, for it has been made under a pressure of the vast injury confessedly dona by the drinking habits of our race. When the greatest of living Englishmen says that the traffic in intoxicating drinks ' has wrought more harm to England than war, pestilence, and famine combined'' (Gladstone s speech of March 5, 1881, in the House of Commons), and when even the London Times says of the same traffic: ''We must somehow end this business or it will end us," it is evident that the change now going on is the outcome of a moral conviction.^ Under its influences these evils are diovinlauing. j Dr. McGIynn on Intemperance. "Some twenty-one years ago," said Dr. MeGlynn recently in New York, "I was appointed to St. Stephen's Church in East Twenty eight street, I was met on the street by a j'oung medical man, who said, with muc h vehemence, that I needed whiskey each day, and he told me just how many ounces to take. I was moved to think that he was too fond of his own medicine. Dr. Stephen Smith, with whom I was associated during | the war in the Military Hospital in Central Park, at that day deplored the readiness with which doctors at that time surgested and ordered liquor to their patients. It is very amusing to hear people talk of using liquor to excess. Many a man will talk glibly of how he has never been drunk, yet he nas t>?n using liquor all hi? life and m large exc&s. The curse of drink enters all classes. Even the altar is not free from its ravages. We' have seen those who could preach most eloquently from the pulpit upon the beauties of temperance, yet who themselves were the victims of the curse of intemperance." A Suggestive Increase. Within forty years the per capita consunip- ! tion of whisky m the United States has de- j creascd fifty percent., the const mption of wine ; has increased forty per cent., ana of beer 700 j per cent. It is suggestive of the social harm- I fulness of ardent drinks, and of the compara- | tivc hanr.lessness of beer and wi e, tliatthe arrests for drunkenness in New York during j forty years have decreased in a ratio almost j exactly corresponding with lha above noted j decrease in whisky drinking ?Milwaukee | Wisconsin Temperance News and Notes. j The drunkard's thread of life is wound on ! a reel. | The cork-screw lias sunk more than tha cork-jacket will ever float. t Prohibition has been generally successfu in the Missouri local option contests. One of the most effective temperance agitators in Iowa, it is stated, is a blind woman, Miss Ida Minkler. It is said that enough beer is annually con- j suraed in Chicago, III., to give 720 glasses to every man, woman and child in the city, or J $34.70 for each person. Chicago is enjoying ; the "blessing" (?) of high license. Canon Wilberforce, in a recent meeting in j London, said: "In Maine when they caught j a brewer they put him in prison, but in ling- j land they elevated him to the House of Lords." A commission has been appointed by the | French Government to consider the subject | " - - ?-i!l ! of alcohol legisxawuu. xuu <.un.iiuooU,. ..... . base its action upon the report, mado last year j by a Senatorial committee concorning the Bpread of alcoholism in Franca. The ovil has assumed such threatening proportions that the Government feels called upon to impose some check upon the sale and use of spirituous lirjuors. The now Cairo bridge across the Ohio River is to have two spans 518 feet each, seven -100 feet each, and three 2">0 feet each; total length, 4,r.70 feet It will be fifty-threo feet above high-water mark, and will cost $2,500,000. It will take two and a half years to build it. It will be the woudcr of tho West. NUMISMATICS. SOME FACTS ABOUT RARE AND VALUABLE COINS. Price* Paid for Some?Scarce American Gold and Silver Coins?* Other Rare CoinsRare Medals. A dealer in rare coins said to a New York Ecening Sun reporter: "There nrp spvornl varifltiflS that We WOllld at present be very glad to encounter, among which may be mentioned the gold dollar of 18G3, for which we would willingly pny $7.50. For specimens of the $3 gold pieces of 187:3, '75, and '76 we would give a good premium. There are many other United States coins that cither have been or are still in circulation, for which good priccs can be obtained when the piece has not been mutilated or too much worn. The rarest- of all these is the 1804 dollar, for which we offer $350. "Another good coin to have is the original half dollar of 1801. The obverse is similar to the present type, but the reverse contains a United States shield, surmounted by a liberty cnp. the whole being surrounded by a wreath of oak and lauicl leaves. For a good copy we would give $200. Among the old stylo of large copper cents there are many valuable dates, all the old issues from 1793, when the United States issued the lirst copper ccnt, to 1814, being worth a premium ranging from one cent to $5. The ccnt worth the last mentioned sum is that of 179!). An 1804 cent is also a good date to have, being worth $2. None of the small 1-cent n'wnp* nf the current stvl<? arc vet worth a premium, exccpt the one tirst issued. This is known as the "Flying Eagle" cent of 1855. It is made of nickel and is worth $1.50. The only nickel 3-cent piece worth a premium is that of 1877, which brings 15 cents, but the little old 3-cent silver bieces from 18G3 to 1873 inclusive all lave premiums on them ranging from 15 to 50 cents. The only nickel o-cent piece with a premium is the one of 1877, which is worth 15 cents. "The little antique i cents so much used by oar grandpas are now becoming rare, and nearly all those issued have premiums ranging from 1 ccnt to $5. Those worth the last mentioned sum are the issues of 1796, 1830, '42, '43, '47, and '48. Other rare dates that do not bring quite as much are 1840, '41, '44, '45, '47, and '55. We now come to the higher denominations, there being but few rare issues among the silver dimes and half-dimes. About the only one of interest is the 5cent piece of 1802, which fetches $25. Both the silver 20-cent pieces of 1877 and '78 are valuable, bringing $1.50 each. "The quarter of 1853, similar in appearance to the present issue, which has on its reverse side no lines back of the eagle, is worth $2.50. Some of the older 25 cent pieces bring much more?that of 1823 bringing $15, and that of 1827 bringing $3U. Among me nan uonara beside the one already mentioned, there are several with premiums. That of 1770 is worth $20; that of 1796, $18; and I there are smaller premiums for those of 1794, '95,1801, '02, '15, '26, and'52. "The silver dollars come next in order, among the most valuable being those of 1704 (bust of Liberty with Cowing hair) worth $25; 1836 worth $15, '30 worth $10, '51 and '52 worth $10. Other dates with premiums among the latter issues are 1854, '55, '50, '57, '61, '63, '64, '65 and '67. The last five must be sharp impressions to be worth more than their face value. Among the gold coins there are also a number with premiums, those of 1870, '71, '72. Nearly all the quarter eagles or two dollar and a half pieces issued between 1796 and 1834 also bring more than their face value, the rarest being the issue of 1826, which is worth $10. Among the $5 pieces there are j some good dates, mosc or i <uj wnu i large eagle, 1797 with either large or small eagle, and 1801, being worth $10 | each, That of 18to is worth IIS, 1824, #10, and 1828, $12. In $10 piece9, or Eagle3, there are a few good ones worth a I dollar or two premium; .hut the: majority are not worth anything beyond their face. The coin highest in denomination worth a premium is the $20 or double eagle of 1840, which brings $30. "Outside of the United States, there is very little call for the coins of this country, as every coinage is better appreciated in its own country than it is anywhere else. A fine American dollar brings the highest price in New York, and tine English crown pieces sell best | in London. The Canadians, for exam- | pie, are great collectors of their own j coinage. Their series of issues, however, I is much smaller than ours, that of the United States commcncing in 1793. i while many of their piecos are rude in j ovpmMnn a?d have no reference at all ' upon them to theirecuntry. ' Thestudy of the early issues of the various colonics, prior to the institution of the Uuitcd States Mint in 1776, is exceedingly interesting. They are called 'Colonial' coins and dale from 1694, during William and Mary's rei'jn, and were j issued in the Carolinasand New England | irregularly up to 177:1, under George III. j The issues were in the form of copper j ccnts, and arc now very valuable specimens, being worth from $20 to $3-1. The Continental' issues, as I may call them, although this term has never been applied before, are also very interesting. These were various copper cents, issued by a numb-r of the independent States, namely, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, between the years 178-*I and 1733. They arc all rare, many being very valuable. The first piece of money ever issued by the United Slaics as a power, under ditectiou of llic Continental Congress, was a silver dollar of the year 177G. Specimens arc worth from to $0. "A most interesting branch of numismatics is tlmt relating to medals, winch are numerous in most countries, noted men usually being tho subjects commemorated. Urmze is the best, and the usual metal svbclcd for the impressions, but sometimes the finer metals ore used. The be-?t metal work doue in the world comes from Sweden, some of the most beautiful dies ever cut being the work of n lady, I call Ahlboni, of the HoyalMint at Stockholm. This country has a 1 irge issue of medals, on-of the rarest bring the (iermatilown medal, so called from its commemorating the celebrated battle of Gorman town during the Revolution. There are also some rare Canadian medals, a numl er being valued at $10 or more.*' A Sacred Tree Gone. The sacred Ho tree - the most ancient and authentic of the relics of Gautama liiiddha in Ceylon-was lately dcmoli-hed by a high wind in a sfo. in of th tinier and lightning. The tice was supposed to have a dreamy semi-consciousness oi' its own, and upon its de.ith it. was ccinate.l with hiirh lionois at the Tlmparanit Dag.tbn, after iU kirubs hud been b.ithed in Luly wa;cr. 7 vf*'. * ~' . - * ' \ POPULAR SCIENCE. Profs. Trowbridge and Hutchina, of Harvard college, report that their extensive and careful researches tend to disprove the view that oxygen exists in any part of the sun. Prof. Thomas Carnelly and a Mrs. Holdam of a college at Dundee have been investigating sewer air, and report that it averages as pure, so far as germ9 arc concerned, as the air in ordinary houses. A Pittsburg paper describes a new telephone on exhibition in that city that does away with the necessity of speaking. A sensitive plate "presses against the larynx and glands of the neck, and as the jaws are moved in conversation the motion sends the words along the wire as distinctly as the telephone now in use." Mr. TV. Mattieu Williams thinks that the instinct which guides the swallow southward in autumn is probably of a very practical and unpretic kind. Ita food is chiefly flying insects, whose development ceases with the advance of cold from the North, and in migration the bird is merely following ita retreat ing food supply. Dr. H. Lane, of Portland, Oregon, began digging a large well some time ago und it promised to furnish an unlimited supply of cold water. Indeed the water came so fast that one pump could not keep it out of the way of the workmen, and a second was to be put in. But in one night the temperature of the water changed, and in the morning clouds of steam rolled up from the well, which was found to contain about twenty-five feet of water almost boiling hot. *At last accounts the temperature had not lowered. During midsummer in Northern Alaska, according to a recent traveler, the sun shines twenty two hours out of the twenty-four, and on the high mountain peaks for a period of several days in June it is not entirely out of sight during the twenty-four hours. In July and August the weather becomes very warm. Aft6* this time the days gradually shorten until the sun shines but four hours out of the twenty-four, but at this period the aurora is exceedingly intense and helps very materially in dispelling the darkness. At a recent meeting ot the Academy of Natural Sciences the president, Dr. Leidyv stated that he had recently receivedfor examination from the Geographical Survey in Washington a collection of bones from ten mil?s east of Archer, Levy county, Florida. The specimens are generally much broken, although th# original texture is mostly preserved and they show no trace of being rolled or water worn. They consist chiefly of the remains of rhinoceros, mastodon and llama. A new species of horse was also indicated by teeth aud ankle bones, for which the name Hippotherium plicatils was proposed. From various experiments made to determine the force and effect of terrestrial contraction it has been calculated that * mass of sandstone a mile in thickness raised in temperature some 200 degrees Farcnheit, would have its upper surface elevated ten feet; and that a portion of the earth's crust fifty miles thick, raised GOO to 800 degrees, might produce an elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 feet; cooling again would reverse the result; such cooling having actually taken place, and the contraction has given the earth its irregular surface and gigantic mountain wi inkles, and that the process is still going on frequent eyidence is thought to be afforded in earthquake phenomena. According to this theory, the earth's shrinkage, in changing to a solid form, must have been much greater, as the common miueials lose from 3 to 11 per ccnt. in hardening from a melted state. The Tonng Ides. A few days since several teachers in the public schools were chatting together when one remarked: "I believe I havs the banner child story for this week. I gave an object lesson with a picture of three little quails crouching beneath a bush, while an owl perched on a limit above them. The picture was entitled 'On the Alert/ I had each of them writs a short description of it, and one of them described the owl as 'sitting on s little alert.'" " * "Well, now, I believe I have one that is better than that," said another teacher. "I put a li?t of nouns on the blackboard and wrote under them: 'Form the plurals of these nouns by adding s or es.' I noticed that one of the boys looked - rather dazed, and did not begin writing so I asked him what was the matter. He said: 'Why, I don't see how you can make plurals out of then nouns by adding sores.'" ' 'I had a case that would hardly be believed by anyone except a teacher," said a High School leacher. "One of the girls in my class in English literature hauded in a paper on Chaucer in which was the startling statement that 'He was educated in the Boston schools.' I asked her for her source of information, and found it was the statement lhat Chaucer studied at Cambridge. She had heard of Cambridge, Mass., and having a misty idea that Boston Was the seat of all culture she transferred tfce ftoet fcr'Harvard." ... ' Unnalrinrr of authorities." fftld A ' ? fourth tcaclier, "one of ray pnpils irtw(hiccd a remarkable one the other aajL' ;j|3 We were reviewing the United Statw <*Jt history and one of the girls spoke of the severe wounds received by General "Washington in one of the battles of the Revolution. I eorrccted her, but she insisted that it was in the book, and in proof of it pointed out the words: 'Washington was much crippled in his movements by the want of ammunition for his troops."' ?Indianapolis Jourical. Ghost-Haunted Ships. Ghost-haur.tcd ships were of all things those which the sailo.1 regarded with. most terror, and it is not many years since that an account was published of some sailors who refused to serve on board n British msn-of-wcr bccame, as they said, theie wa? a gho t aboard. "When pressed to ftive a reason for their belief they slid they su.ellcd him. One night, however, in a state of genuine terror, they sa:<l tn:y ii.ia not omy smelled but seen tlic ghost?ave, and heard it, too, behind ?0!no beer barrel", and th?;,Mvou!d ratlicr swim than remain aboard. The captain, however, ordered them to be put in iron> until they were well out at sea and then flogged. After sg th.it ho heard notliintr in >rt: oJ the ghost. fcliips tlius haiinled wire not only *3 doomed to p-rMi, in tlio belief of - ?i 1...1 ..n. U n 'HO III n liPiilloltfc biiuur*, uiii ir.vii ?t p.*- ? danger to ail who looked i.pou thc:n. The decayed huiU ol' vessel-* reputed to be haunted wou.d drive the lislier l'olk on home of the Scot*, h and Irish (oa$:?* from the ino-t promising bays, mfl no one would venture even to bathe t? them, Mu ll wild unreason ble ter:o.- '". t they provoke.?hjn loa Trie,raj>h. Narrow-minded peop'o ha < >t * thi.ught beyond the little \ J.c.e uS tHci.* own vi.-ioa.