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HUMAN NATURE. If life were not so sad a thing, Who then could think of being merry! If God's will would bear altering. His plans we should not try to vary!? Were we once free from pain and care, We straight would seek some cross to bear! If upon love a seal were set, How many seals would then be broken! If gentle speech were hard to get, ~ \ How many kind words would be spoken!? If heaven were once denied us all, How we should then to heaven call! ?Mary A. Mason, in Youth's Companion. ' "'A FEMALE CRUSOE. On the 26th day of October, A. D. 1871, the trading schooner Little King sailed out of the port of Siugapore, bound for the Kinderoon Islands, to the north, and only one of her crew wa3 ever aeain met with. For five years before the schooner had belonged to and been commanded by Captain Ezra Williams, an American from San Francisco. He traded between Singapore and Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the smaller islands of the Java Sea, and in May, 1871, died at Singapore of fever. He had then been married for three years to an English woman, whose maiden name was Danforth, who had been a domestic in an an English family in Singapore. She had accompanied him in all his voyages, and had sccured much experience aud information. As she could not readily dispose of the schooner, she determined to continue in the business, acting as her own supercargo. Mrs. Williams secured an Englishman named Parker as captain, another named Hope as mate, and with three Malays before the mast and a Chinese cook, and with about $7000 in specie in the cabin, she sailed away on her first voyage, and it was four years later before she was gain heard of. The purpole of this narrative is to chronicle her advc^ tures in the interim, as I had it from her own lips. While it was a bit queer to start on a voyage with a woman virtually in command of the -craft, Mrs. Williams had nothing to fear from her crew. The officers were good navigators, and the men willing, and all were anxious for a profitable voyage. She had no complaints to make until the islands had been reached. The group lies between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo, about 100 miles off the coast of the former, and from 250 to 300 miles from Borneo. There are nineteen islands in the group, covering a length of 120 miles by about forty broad. There arc only seven or eight which are inhabited, and at the ~ time of which I write the people were a lawless scl, and a share of them out-andpirate3. The products were dried fish, aea shells, cocoanuts, dye stuffs, various herbs and roots for medicinal purposes, and several sorts of spices. The schooner had been there once before and made a profitable trip of it. She had clothing, powder, shoes, axes, and a great variety of notions, and where none of these were wanted she paid cash. On the trip the schooner worked to the northward and made her stop at the Island of Qucwang, being the third one from the northernmost island of the group. She met with a cordial reception, and at once began bartering for and receiving cargo. She was anchored in a sheltered bay, within 500 feet of the beach, and had been there five days before anything occurred to arouse Mrs. Williams's suspicions that all was not right. She then observed that the entire crew were drinking deeply of a native liquor which the natives were supplying in a liberal manner, and that some of the fellows were becoming impudently familiar. When the Captain was spoken to he laughed at her idaa of trouble and promised better things, but the drinking;.. continued. On the afternong^/ the seventh day seven;} women came of! in the canoes?-One of them, who could speak^tiDglish pretty fairly, was prewpftd with some ornaments by Mrs. ^Jfalliams, and in return she hinted to her ^^g^^that it was the intention of the natives to capture and loot the schooner that night. They had discovered that there was a large sum of money on board, and they naa iouna me crew an easy one 10 handle. The native woman hadn't time nor opportunity to say much, but no sooner had the crowd of natives left the Bchooncr at dusk, as was their custom, than Mrs. "Williams set out to sound the alarm. Imagine her feelings when she discovered that every single man on board, from Captain to cook, was so much under the influence of liquor as to be unable to comprehend her words. She doufsd them with sea water and pounded them with belaying pins, but all to no purpose. The entire lot were stupidly drunk, just as the natives had planned for. It was a perilous situation for the woman to be placed in. If the natives captured the schooner they would murder every one of the crew as a natural sequence, and the first step toward capturing her had already t>een taken. The step she took showed sound judgment. The schooner's yawl was down, having been in almost hourly use. The native village was about forty rods back irom tne Deacn, ana as tnc scnooner 6wung to tho ebb tide she presented her broadside to the village. When the yawl was pulled around to the port side ehe was out of sight. Mrs. Williams's first act was to step the mast; her next to supply the craft with provisions aud water. There were an unusual number of lights burning in the village, showing that something was on foot, but she had no fear of an attack until a later hour. The natives would wait until certain that all the people were helpless. Mrs. Williams had determined to slip away from the doomed craft in the yawl, although she had no experience in the management of a small boat. After water and provisions sho brought up all her money, which was in boxes she could handle. Not a penny of it was left behind. There was a rifle, revolver and double-barreled shotgun belonging to her husband. These she took, togetliei with powder, shot and fixed ammunition. Thnn shr> renthcrpil nr> ;i11 lir?r Iiorlilino- I and clothing, took three or four spare blankets, two suits of clothes belonging to the officers, and when these were in the boat she took pots, pans, dishes x. and cutlery, bundled up a lot of carpenter's tools, secured two axes, a lot of small rope, several pieces of canvas, and, in brief, loaded the yawl with whatever was portable and handy, including the clock, compass, quadrant, 6cxtaut aud a lamp and four gallons of oil. She worked for upward of two. hours getting these things into the boat, and the last articles taken aboard were meat, flour, beans, tea and other provisions from the lazarette. _ It was about ten o'clock when Mrs. Williams took her seat in the yawl and i cast off from the schooner, and the tide I at once drifted her out of the bay and i to the north. The only thiug of conse- i Aiinnrtft ffnn WOO fl Af 4 l^UCUUC OUC UUU iUI^ULi^u iioa (I vuui u vi j the Java Sea, which she could have put her hand on at a minntc's notice, and it i was the want of this which made a Crusoe of her for several years. As the yawl went to sea after its own fashion, Mrs. Williams lost the points of the compass at once. Indeed, had she kept them in mind, it would have been of no benefit just then, as she had not studied " the chart and could not have told which 1 way to steer to reach auother group or ' the main land. She heard nothing ! whatever from the natives, but several years later it was ascertained that they ! did not board the schooner uutil mid- ] night. The men, all of whom were still drunk and asleep, were stripped and tossed overboard to drown, and then the . absence of the woman and her money was discovered. Five or six native . crafts were at once sent in pursuit, while the people who remained looted the schooner of everything of value to ( them, and then towed her out to deep water and scuttled her to hide the evidences of their crime. After drifting three or four miles out * to sea the yawl got a light breeze, and : after a few trials the woman learned . how to manage the sail and lay a course. She had no idea which way she was heading, but rau o2 before the breeze, and kept going all night and until raidafternoon next day. She must have passed the island of Upnong in the early morning, but so far to the westward that she could not see it. The wind hauling at midforenoon altered her course by several points, and the northernmost island of the group named Poillo was thus brought in line. The island is seven miles long by three in width at its widest part, and well wooded and watered. Tne woman landed on the east side, at the mouth of a creek which forms a snug little harbor. She was convinced that this was one of the islands of the Kinderoon group, but she did not know that it was the most northerly one. By consulting the compass she got the cardinal points, but not having studied the chart she could not say in what direction any other land lay. She had seen the sails of two traders that morning, but as they were native crafts she had every wish to avoid them. The boats which were seat in pursuit of her must have taken another cousrc, as she saw nothing of them. When Mrs. Williams landed on the island she had no idea of stopping there for more than a day or two, or until she could uccide on some plan. She had scarcely gone ashore when a gale came un which lasted about thirty hours, dur ing which the yawl was so damaged that 1 she must undergo repairs. She unloaded ? her goods on the shore, covered them * from the weather, and then set out to explore the island, pretty well satisfied that it was inhabited, and hoping, if it was, that her money might secure as- c sistance. Before night she was f satisfied that she wa9 all alone, and sae <] made a shelter out of the blankets, and j slept the night away as peacefully as if t in her cabin on the schooner. Next day y she exchanged her apparel for a man's , suit and began the erection of a hut. In ^ a grove about 200 feet from the beach { she erected a shelter, 10x20 feet, which ( withstood tho storms of almost four v years. While the sides consisted of can- s vas and poles, the roof was thatched s with a long gras3 which she found on the j island in abundance. \ It took the women about a week to ( construct her hut aud move her stores t into it, and this bad scarcely been doa^ L when her boat, owing to f.Vefessness on ; her part^vas-esrncd off by the sea, and ? she now realized that she was a prisoner T until such time as the crew of some t trading vessel might land aud discover t her. After her house was completed c she made a more thorough exploration of ? her island home. There were parrots f and other birds, snakes of a harmless t variety, Borneo rats, and a drove of ? about 300 Java pigs, which are about tho s oi^ft nf thfi American iieccarv. but are * wild iustead of fierce. 1 The woman had clothing to last hor c five or six years, but the provisions she c had brought from the schooner would ( not supply her needs more than a few f months. While hoping aud expecting r to be taken off almost any day, she wise- E ly prepared for a long stay. She had fish-hooks and lines in her outfit, nnd , with fish from the sea, meat from the \ woods, and bananas and wild fruits from s the groves, she had a variety and a plen- j ty. Six months after she landed a na- , tive craft put in about a mile from her ^ hut, but creeping through the woods she ^ saw that all were Malays, and so savage t in appearance that she did not dare make s herself known. Seven months later a s second craft sent men ashore to fill two water casks, but she was also afraid of these. She lived very quietly from that time until uearly two years after her landing, having remarkably good health 1 all the time, but naturally lonely and cast ( down at times. One afternoon, as she was in the forest * about half a mile from home, having her * sliotgua with her, a iiorneo sailor sua- ? denly coufrontcd her. lie was entirely ! alon3, and whether he had bsen marooned or cast away she never learned. ' As she was dressed in a man's suit he 1 naturally took her for a man, but his first ' movement was a hotile one. He advanced < upon the woman with a club in his hand 1 and uttering shouts of menace, and to 1 save her own life she was compelled to 1 shoot him. 1 Now and then, all through her stay, trading vessels were sighted in the oil- 1 ing, with now and then a craft known to 1 be manned by Englishmen, but signals J made to the latter by meau9 of smoke were never heeded. Her main hope was : that the loss of the schooner would in some way reach her friends at Singapore, 1 and that a searching party might be sent | out to her rescue. Onp riav. when she had been on the 1 islaud four years lacking about fifty days, 1 the British survey ship, Sahib, then cn- i gaged in surveying the group, dropped anchor off the mouth of the creek and sent a party ashore to explore the interior. I had the honor not to only head this party, but to be the first ruau to eec and to speak to Mrs. "Williams. We fouud her in excellent health, although tanned and roughened by exposure to the weather. When she had donned her own proper apparel and had time to tidy up no one could Gnd fault with her appearance. After a few days we sailed for Singapore, where Mrs. Williams >ras safely landed, and a few weeks later a tnau-ofwar was despatched to the island where the schooner had been seized. Natives were found who gave all the particulars, and the result was that eight men were brought aboard, tried, convicted and 3wung up at the yard arm, while three more were shot while trying to escape from the island.?New York Sun. rhe Indians of Northwest Canada, Dr. Boas, in the British Association report on the Northwestern tribes of the Dominion of Canada, describes the Indians of the Pacific coast as being able- j bodied and muscular, with the uppet limbs, owing to the strengthening of the irms and chest by the constant use of the 1 paddle, generally better developed than | the lower ones. They have a keen sight, ! but in old ape freauentlv becomo blear- I -O" 1 * 9 I jyed. Their mental capacity is high, as is proved by the state of their culture. Whiteness of skin and slendemcss of limbs are considered among the principal beauties of men and women, and long, slack hair of women. In some of the ;ales red hair is described a3 a peculiar aeauty of women. Red paint on the :ace, tight-fitting bracelets and anklets >f copper, nose and car ornaments ol variegated haliotis shells,and hair strewed ;vith eagledown, add to tho natural jharras. The fact that in honor of the irrival of friends the house is swept and itrewed with sand, and that the people jathe at such occasions, shows that cleaniness is appreciated. The current expression is, that the house is so cleaned ;hat no bad smell remains to offend the juest. For the same reason the Indian t __ a. ?i ?- _ J.1 L ./ ; taL.i :asesrepeated Dams oeiore praying, --mm le may be of agreeable smell to the leity." The Indian is grave and selfcomposed in all his actions; and playing s considered undignified and even bad. in the Tsimshian language tho term foi ilay means to talk to no purpose; and loing anything to no purpose is con^mptible to the Indian. He is rash in inger, but does not easily lose control )ver his actions. He sits down or lies lown sullenly for days without parlakng of food, and when he rise3 his #first hougbt is, not to take revenge, but to ihow that he is superior to his adversary. 3reat pride and vanity combined with ;he most susceptible jealousy, characterze all actions of the Indian. He watches ;hat he may receive his proper share of lonor at festivals; he can not endure to )e ridiculed for even the slightest mis.ake; he carefully guards all his actions, ind lcoks for due honor to be paid to rim by friends, strangers, and subordilatcs. To be strong and able to sustain he pangs of hunger are evidently conlideccd worthy of praise by the Indians; >ut foremost of all is wealth. It is conidcrcd the duty of every man to have )ity upon the poor and hungry. Women ire honored for their chastity and for beng true to their husbands; children, for aking care of their parents; men, for kill and daring in huuting . and for >ravery in war. The Surrender of tho Commune. Nest day (May 22, 1871) it was genimII'it Icnnron that the "Versaillais." as hey were called,had entered the capital, rhen opened the gloomiest page in the listory of France. On one side were he vandals of the commune, doing their >est to burn Paris to the ground, murlering innocent hostages, unchaining all he horrors of civil war; exhibiting nil he heroism, every act of ferocity and :owardice,into which human nature when mreatrained will rush. On the other ide were the troops, irritated by the itruggle, humiliated by the duty that iad fallen upon them, exasperated . >y so ra&ny horrors. Torrents of frotri:idal blood deluged p&vement of the jreatJF^Bck-cfty. While the struggle vas goiDg on, there could be seen arrivng at Versailles,escorted by the soldiers, ;angs of prisoners, the savage rabble \*ho had plundered and spread conflagraion, and who, in blind obedience to heir leaders, had committed unparalleled icts of barbarism. They arrived on tho jreat Place d'Arraes, under a bright and >roiling sun. The perspiration ran from heir faces, blackened with gunpowder md dust. Their clothes were in tatters, imelling of smoke and petroleum. There vere women, with features distorted by latred and anger; precocious children, casting a stealthy lookarouudthem; and >ld men. crushed by defeat, with patches >f clotted blood on their white hair and jeards, marking them out as apostles of evolution. Some, who had been jolted imidst the lumber heaped on the carts, vere taken out and put flat on the jround. They Iny, stiff and motionless, vith their eyes wide open and staring, is if, after a loug fit of madness, they lad lost all consciousness of an outer vorld. The captives were separated into groups, and sent to improvised prisons, vhere an attempt was made to shelter his army of disorder. They had added hame to defeat, who had with lire and word ravaged Paris.?Harper. A Traitor's Ending. John Fiske tells the old story of Benelict Arnold's treason in an article of fas:inating interest written for the Atlantic. iVhat may be new to many readers is tfr. Fiskc's statement that all the family ;radition goes to show that the last years >f Benedict Arnold iu London were rears of bitter remorse and self-reproach, rhe great name which he had so gallanty won and so wretchedly lost left him 10 repose by night or day. The iron l*o/l wiflicfrvnrl fliA fntinriiPQ 11111111,*) nuitu 1AC*VA HlkUOVUVU ?.ww if so many trying battlefields and still nore trying inarches through the wildcraess, broke down at last uudcr the slow torture of lost friendships and merited ilisgrace. In tho last sad days in London, in June, 1801, the family tradition says that Arnold's mind kept reverting to his old friendship with Washington. He had always carefully preserved the American uniform which he wore on the day wheu he made his escape to the Vulture; and now as, broken in spirit and weary of life, he felt the last moments coming, he called for this uniform and put it on, und decorated himself with the epaulettes rind swordknot which "Washfngton had Ljiven him after the victory of Saratoga. "Let me die, ' said he, ''in this old uniform in which I fought my battles. May I God forgive me for ever putting on any other." Snow Shoes lit TVar. In the early wars with Frcncli and Indians many a winter campaign could never have been carried on but for the snow shoes, which aloue made marching possible. Id the winter attacks of the savages upon the settlements in Northern New England, and in the expeditions of English and French troops, snow shoes were a necessary part of their equipment, their baggage being hauled on sleds or toboggans.?New York Star. - - ' - MB rev. dk. taijage. t'v/v- " THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN~ DAY SERMON. Sutyecis "A Religions Movement In 1891." Text: "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.1'?Luke xxiv., 49. For a few months, in the providence of God, I have two pulpits, one in Brooklyn and tho other in New York, and through the kindne&j of the printing press an ever widening opportunity. To all such hearers and readers I come with an especial message. The time has arrived for a forward movement such as the church and the world have never seen. That there is a need for such a religious movement is evident from the fact ? ?U n rm \ r\ rr tlittl UCVOr MlilX} UUI nuxxu onauft vuw among the planets has there been such aa organized and determined effort to overthrow righteousness, and make the Ten Commandments obsolete and the whole Bible a derision. Meanwhile alcoholism is taking down its victims by the hundreds of thousands, and the political parties get down on their knees, practically saying: "0 thou almighty rum jug! we bow down before thee I Give us the offices?city, State and national. Ob, give us the offices, and we will worship thee for ever and ever; Amen." The Christian Sabbath meanwhile, appointed for physical, mental and spiritual rest, is being secularized and abolished. As If the bad publishing houses of our own country had exhausted their literary filth, the French and Russian sewers have been invited to pour their scurrility and moral slush into the trough where our American swine are now wallowing. Meanwhile there are enough houses of infamy in all our cities, open and unmolested of the law. to invoke the omnipotent wrath which buried Sodom under a deluge of brimstone. The pandemoniac world, I think, has massed its troops, and they are at this moment plying their batteries upoD family circles, cnurch cirole3, social circles, political circles and national circles. Apollyon is in the saddle, and riding at the head of hi; myrmidons would capture this world foi darkness and woe. That is one side of the conflict now raging. On the other side we have the most magnificent gospel machinery thut the world evei saw or heaven ever inveuted. In tho first place there are in this coui vry more than eighty thousand ministers of religion and, take them as a class, more consecrated, holier, more consistent, more st_* denying, more faithful men never lived. I know them by the thousands. I have met them in every city. I am told, not by them, but by people outside of our profession, people engaged in Christian and reformatory work, that ths clergy of America are at the head of all good enterprises, ahd whoever else fail they may bo depended on. The truth of this is demonstrated by the fact that when a minister oi ? <%! ! oirtw /Taaa IaII i* nn AWAMvflAnal fVi n t fli n ICJUgiUU uuca lOU, 1U lo OU CAV/^biuuai vuau uue newspapers report it as something startling, while a hundred men in other callings may go down without the matter being considered as especially worth mentioning. In addition to their equipment in moral character the clergy of this country have all that the schools can give. All archaeological, rhetorical, scientific, scholastic, literary attainment. So much for the Christian ministry of all denominations. In the noxt place on our side of the conflict we have the grandest churches of all time and higher style of membership and more of them, and a host without number of splendid men and women who are doing their best to have this world purified, elevated, gospelized. But we all feel that something is wanting. Enough hearty songs have been sung and enough earnest sermons preached within the last six months to save ail the cities of America, and saving the cities you save tho world, for they overflow all the land either witn their religion or their infamy. But look at some of the startling facts. It is nearly nineteen hundred years since Jesus Christ came by the way of Bethlehem caravansary to save this world, yet the most of the world has been no more touched by this most stupendous fact ot all eternity than if on the first Christmas night the beasts of the stall, amid the bleatings of their own young, had not heard tha bleating of the Lamb that was to be slain. Out of the eighteen hundred million of fchiL human race fourteen hundred fliffiibn are without God and witiwat hope in the world, the camel dpy^of Arabia, Mahomet, with his ulstJ wives, having half as many disciples ps our blessed Christ, and more people are worshiping chunks of painted wood and carved stone than are worshiping the living and eternal God. Meanwhile, the mo3t of us who are engaged in Christian work?I Bpeak for myself as well as others?are toiling up to our full capacity of body, mind and eouI, harnessed op to the last buckle, not ablo to draw a pound more than we are drawing or lift an ounce more than we are lifting. "What is the matter? My text lets out the secret. We all need more of the power from on high. Not muscular power, not logical power, not scientific power, not social power, not financial power, not brain power, but power from on high. With it we could accomplish more in one week than without it in a nundred years. And I ara going to get it, if in answer to prayer, earnest and long continued, God will grant it to me. His unworthy servant. Men and women wno know how to pray, when you pray for yourself, pray for me that I may be endued with power from on high. I would rather have it than all the diamond fields of Golconda, and all the pearls of the sea, and all the gold of the mountains. Many of the mightiest intellects novnr nnn a rniirn nr it An.l manv of thfl less than ordinary intellects bare been surcharged with it Ana every man and woman on earth lias a right to aspire to it, a right to pray foi it, and, properly persistent, will obtain it. Power from on the level is a good thing, etch power as I may give you, or you may give me, by encouraging words and actions. Power from on the level when we stand by each other in any Christian undertaking, j Power from on the level when other pulpits are in accord with ours. Power from on the level when the religious and secular pres< forward our Christian undertakings. Eul power from on the level is not sufficlen Power from on high is what we need to ta'c. possession of us. Power straight from Go i. Supernatural power, omnipotent power, a! conquering power. Not more than one ou of a thousand of the. ministers has it cou tinuously. Not moro than one out of tei thousand Christians has it all the time. Given in abundance, these last tea years of the nineteenth century would accomplish mort for God, and the church, and the world thar the previous ninety years of this century. A few men and women in each age of thi world have possessed it. Caroline Fry, thi immortal Quakeress, had it, and three huu died of the depraved and suffering of New gate prison, under her exhortation, repented and believed. Jonathan Edwards had it, and Northampton meeting house heard the out burst of religious emotion as he spake oJ righteousnssa and judgment to come. Samue Eudgett, tbe Christian merchant, had it, anc his benefactions showered the world. Johr Newton had it. Bishop Latimer had it. Isa bella Graaam had it. Andrew Fuller had it The great evangelists Daniel Baker and Dr Net tie ton and Truman Oiborn and Cbarle! G. Finney had it. In my boyhood I 'jaw Tru man Osborn rise to preach in the villag< church at Somerville, N. J., and before nt had given out his text or uttered a wor/ people in the audience sobbed aloud with ro figious emotion. It was the power from 01 high. All in greater or less degree may havi it. Onco get it and nothing can stand befon you. Satan goes down. Caricature go a down. Infidelity goes down. Worldineai goes down. Ail opposition goes down. Several times in the history of the churcl and the world has this power from on higl been demonstrated. In the seventeentl century, after a great season of moral de pressiOD, tnis power iroin uu uijju uiuu iiovva upon John Tillotson and Owen and Flavel and Baxter and Bunyan, and then was a deluge of mercy higher than th<) top ot the highest mountains ot sin. in the eighteenth century, in England and America, religion was at a low water mark. William Cowper, writing of the clergy of these daya, said-. Except a few with Ellr? spirit bloat, Hophni and Phlncaa may describe the rest. The infidel writings of Shaftesbury and Hobbes and Chubb ban done their work. But power from on high carto upon both the Wesleys and Lady Huntington on the other side the Atlantic, and upon William Tennant and Gilbert Tennaat and David Brainerd on this side the Atlantic, and both i :?#Alf fi'ooH nf n nar/lnninff UUUiiayiici ca ion w. ? r ? God. Coming to later date, there may be here and there in this audience an aged man or woman who can remember New York in 1831, when this power from on high de scended most wondrously. It came upon pastors and congregations and theatres and commercial establishments. Chatham Street Theatre, New York, was the scane of a most tremendous religious awakening. A committee of Christian gentlemen called upon the lessee of the theatre, and said they would like to buy the lease of the theatre. He said, "What do you want it for?" They replied, "For a church." "For wh-a-ati"' said the owner. "For a church," was the reply. The owner sSKI, "You may nave it, and I will give you a thousand dollari to help you on witn your work." Arthur Tappan, a man mightily persecuted in his time, but a trmn as I saw him in his last days, as honest and pure and good as any man I ever knew, stepped on the stage of old Chatham Theatre as the actors were closing their morning rehearsal and said, "There will be preaching here to-niirht on tfci? staze:" and then crave out ana sang witn sucn people as were mere the old hymn: The voice of free grace crie3, escape to the mountain, For aH that believe Christ has opened a foontaln The barroom of the theatre was turned into a prayer room, and eight hundred persons were present at the flret meeting. For seventy successive nights religious servic33 were held in that theatre, and such scenes of mercy and salvation as will be subjects of conversation and congratulation among tna ransomed in glory as long as beaven lasts. But I come to a later time?1857?remembered by many who are here. I remember It especially, as I bad just entered the office of the ministry. It was a year of hard tiine3. A great panic had flung hundreds of thousands of people penniless. Staryation enteral habitations that had never before knoiva a (rant. Domestic life in many cases became a tragedy. Suicide, garroting, burglary, assassination were rampant. What ?n awful day that was when the banks wen. down I There has been nothing like it in thirty years, and I pray God there may noJ be anything like it in the next thirty centuries. Talk about your Black Fridays! It was Black Saturday, Black Sunday, Black Monday, Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday, Black Thursday as well as Black Friday. This nation in its extremity fell helpless before the Lord and cried for pardon and peace, and upon ministers and laymen the power from on high descended. Engine nouses, warerooms, hotel parlors, museums, factories, from 12 to 1 o'clock, while the operatives were resting, were opened for prayers and serm6n3 and inquiry rooms, and Burton's old theatre on Chambers street, where our ancestors used to assemble to laugh at the comodies, and all up and down the streets, and out on the docks and on the .eoKs or snips lying at tne wnarr psopie san:;, "All hail the power of Jesus's name," whil3 others cried for mercy. A great mass meeting of Christians on a week day, in Jayne's Hall, Philadelphia, telegraphed to Fulton Street Prayer Meeting In New York, saying, "What hath God wrought?" and a telegram want back saying, "i'wo hundred souls saved at our meeting to-day." A ship came through the Narrows into our harbor, the captain reporting that himself and all the crew had been converted to God between New Orleans and New York. In the busiest marts of our busiest American cities, where the worshipers o? Man* mon had been counting their golden beads, men began to calculate, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" The waiters in restaurants after the closing of their day's work knelt among the tables where they had served. Policemen asked consent of the Commissioner of Police to be permitted to attend religious meetings. At Albany members of the New York legislature assembled in the room of the Court of Appeals at half-past eight o'clock In tne morning ror prayer ana praise. Printed invitations were sent out to the firemen of New York saying. "'Come as sniti your convenience best, whether in fire 01 citizens' dress, but come! cornel" Quarrymen knelt among the rocks. Fishermen knelt in their boats. Weavers knelt among the looms. Sailors knelt among the hammocks. Schoolmasters knelt among theii classes. A gentleman traveling said there was a line or prayer meetings from Omaha to Washington City, and he might havg added a line of prayer castings from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and from tha St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. | In those days what songs, what sermons, what turnings to God, what recital of thrilling experiences, what prodigal? -toaught home, what burning .tijjfogs' of souls saved, what ser/^um of sin emancipated, what wild rout of the forces of darkness, what victories for the truth I What mijlion3_on earth and in hoavon are now tbanldng uocl for 1857, which, though the year of worst financial calamity, was the year of America's moat glorious blessing. How do you account for 1S57, its spiritual triumphs on the heols of its worldly misfortune) It was what my text calls the power from on i 'f hat was thirty-thrao years ago, and though there have been in various parts of the land many stirrings of the Holy Ghost, there has been no general awakening. Does it not seem to you that we ought tc have and may have the scenes of power in 1857 eclipsed by the scenes of power in 18911 The circumstancaa are somewhat similar. While we have not bad national panic and universal prostration as in 1857, there has been a stringency in the money market that has put many of the families of the earth to their wits' end. Large commercial interest? collapsing have left multitudes of employe without means of support. The racke brains of business men nave almost or entirely given way. New illustrations all ov>* the land, of the fact that riches have not on! feat, on which they walk slowly as they com but wing* on which they spaed when thr. IT KAII IrnAnraaf. npftmnpfl gu. liai UVU i * uvu auw ? ww? ' ? 1 and severe and solemn a time it is with maay. And as the business ruin of 1S57 w followed bv the zlorious triumshs of srrace. lot trie awful struggles or 1390 ba followed by the hallelujahs of a nation saved in 1891. I Brethren in the Gk>3pel ministry! if we spent half as much time in prayer as we do in the preparation of our sermons nothing 'could stand before us. We would have the power from on high as we never had it. Privat< membership of all Christendom! if we spent half as much time in positive prayer for this influence as we do in thinking about it and talking about it, there would not be secretaries enough to take down the names oi those who want to givo in their names for enlistment. | As the power from on high in 1857 waa more remarkable in acalomies of music and lyceum halls and theatres than in churches, why not this winter of 1891 in these two academies of music, places'of secular entertainment where we are during the rebuilding of our Brooklyn Tabernacle, bo grandly and graciously treated by the owners and le3sor9 and lessees; why not expect and why not have the power from on high, comforting power, arousing power, convincing power, converting power, saving power, omnipotent power? My opinion is that in this cluster of cities by the Atlantic coast, there are Ave hundred thousand people now ready to accept the Gospel calf, if, freed from all the conventionalities of the church, it were earnestly and with strong faith presented to them. ! In these brilliant assemblies there are hundreds who are not frequenters of churches, and who do not believe mush if at all iu ministers of religion or ecclesiastical organizations. But God knows you have struggles in which you need helD. and bereavements in which you want solace, and persecutions in which you ought to have defense, and perplexities in which you need guidance, and with a profound thoughtfulness you stand by the grave of the old year, and the cradle of the young year, wondering where you will be and what you will be when "rolling fears 6hall cease to move." Power from on high descend upon them I Men of New York and Brooklyn. I offer you God and heaven! From the day you came to these cities what a 'struggle you have had I I can tell from your careworn countenances, and the tears in your eyes, and the deep sigh you have just breathed that you want re-enforcement, and here it is, greater than Blucher when he re-enforced Wellington; greater than the Bank of England when last month it re-enforced the Barings?namely, the God who through Jesus Christ, is ready to pardon all your sin, comfort all your sc rrows, scatter all your doubts, and swing all the shininp gates of heaven wide open before your redeemed spirit. Come into the kingdom of Godl Without a half second of delay come in 1 Many of my hearers to-day are what the world calls, and what I would coll splendid fellows, and they seem happy enough, and are jolly and obliging, and if I wero in trouble I would go to them with as much -nnfidan as I would to mv father, if he were yet alive. But when "the/go to their rooms at niglit, or when the excitements o? .social and business life are off, they are not content, and they want something better than this world can offer. I understand them so well I would, without any fear of being thought rough, put my right hand on their one shoulder and my left hand on their j other shoulier and push them Into the -iv*''vt "T" ' \ i kingdom or God. Bat I cannot, rower from on high, lay hold of them! At the first communion after the dedication of oar former church three hundred and twenty-eight souls stood up in the aisles and publicly espoused the cause of Christ. At another time four hundred souls; at another time five hundred; and our four thousand five hundred membership were but a small part of those who within those sacred walls took upon themselves the vows of the Christian. What turned them? What saved them? Power from the level? No. Power from on high. But greater things are to be seen if ever these cities and ever this world is to be taken for God. There is one class of men and women in all these assemblages in whom I have especial interest, and that is those who bad good fathers and mothers once, but they are dead. What multitudes of us are orphans! We may be 40, 50, BO years old, but we never get used to having father and mother gone. Oh, how often we have had trouoies maiwewouiu use kj uawunu uiciu. and we always felt A3 long as father and mother were alive we had some one to whom we could go! Now I would like to ask if you think that all their prayers in your behalf have been answered. "No," you say, "but it is too late; the old folks are gone now." I must courteously contradict you. It is not too late. I have a friend in th9 ministry who was attending the last houra of an cgea Christian, and my friend said to the old Christian, "Is thera no trouble on your mind?" The old man turn ad his face to the wall for a few moments, and then said: "Only one thing. 1 hope for the salvation of my ten children, but not ona of them is yet saved. Yet I am sure they will be. God means to wait until I am gone." 80 he died. When my friend told of the circumstances eight of the ten had found the Lord, and I have no doubt the other two bafora this have found Him. Oh, that the long postponed answers to prayer for you, my brother, for you, my sister,'might this hour descend in ?\ntror frnm nn hich Ob, unanswered prayers of father and mother, where are you? In what room of the old homestead have they hidden? Oh, unanswered prayers, riso in a mist of many .tears into a cloud, and then*break in a shower which shall soften the heart of that man who is so hard he cannot cry, or that woman who is ashamed to pray! Oh, armchair of the aged, now emnty and fn the garret among the rubbish, speak out! Oh, staff of the pitgrim who has ended his weary journey, tell of the parental anxieties that Dent over thee! Ob, family Bible, with story of births and deaths, rustle some of thy time worn leaves, and let us know of the wrinkled hands that once turned thy pages, and explain that spot where a tear fell upon the passage: "Oh. Abialom, my son, my son, would God I had died for thee." Good and gracious God! what will become of us, If after having had such a devout and praying parentage, we never pray for our selves! We will pray. We will begin now. Oh, for the power from on high, power to move this assemblage, power to save BrookIvn and New York, power of evangelism that shall sweep across this continent like an ocean surge, power to girdle the round earth with a red girdle dipped in the blood of the cross! If this forward movement is to begin at all there must be 6ome place for it to begin, and why not this rlaoe? And there must be some time for it to /jejdn. and why not this time? And so I sound for your ears a rhythmic Invitation, which, until a few days ago, never came under my oye, but it is so sweet, so sobbing with pathos, so triumphant with joy, that whoever chimed it, instead of being anonymous, ought to be immortal: Thy sini I bore on Calvary's tree; Tne stripes, thy fine, were laid on ms. That peace ana pardon might be frea? 0 wretched sinner, come! Bnrdaned with gallt, wonldst thoa be bleit? Trnst not the world; it gives no rest; I bring relief to hearts oppreat? 0 wejry sinner, come! Come, leave thy burden at the cross; Count all thy gains but empty dross, My grace repay* all earthly loss? 0 needy sinner, come! Come, hither bring thy boding fears, Thy aching heart, thy bnratln? tears, 'Tis mercy's voice salutes thine ears; 0 trembling sinner, come; CURIOUS PACTS. A Chinese pheasant is worth $5 in Oregon. Matches have been in common use since 1829. Gatchina, the Russian Czar's home, contains 700 rooms. In France the bankrupt man is not allowed to serve on the jury. Charles Little has been arrested in Indiana for stealing a monument. The coinage of a sovereign costs the English mint three-quarters of a penny. The Corean alphabet is phonetic, and so simple that any one can learn to read in a day. It has been calculated that there are about 200,000 families living in London on about $5 a week. " - - ? fii. J A schoolboy of gooa iamuy commmeu suicide in Vienna, Austria, because he found Latin so difficult. The Buddhists of Japan propose to establish a bank in order to obtain funds for the propagation of their religion. It is alleged that the catacombs of Rome contain the remains of 6,000,000 human beings, and those of Paris about 3,000,000. To a certain extent, the harder a teaplant is picked, the more it becomes stimulated to reproduce new shoot3 in place of those lost. There are only two manufactories of tape measures in the United States?the principal one at Brooklyn, N. Y., and the other at Cleveland, Ohio. The white mourning of the youthful Queen of the Netherlands is a revival of au old custom. Some ancient orders of nuns, corresponding to the passionate one for men, used to diess in white. It is usually said that there are but seven nine-lettered monosyllable words in the English language, viz.: Scratched, stretched, crunched, scranchsd, screeched, squelched and staunched. A man who lately refused to aid a British policeman struggliug with a party of roughs has been fined 8100. The law requires that a citizen shall render help under such circumstances. An Abilene (Kan.) man recently settled a large estate belonging to his deceased father in New York, dividing the property satisfactorily among a number of children at a C03t of only thirty cents, and that was for postage. Smokeless powders are not noiseless, as is so frequently stated. The noise is I somewhat different from that of black J powder being on a higher key; but it can tie neara quite as uisuuuuj ?uu <? far as when the latter is used. Some huntere will not eat the meat of a deer that has been run and worried by Jogs, but only of those which have been I killed by what is called still hunting? I that is, which are shot and killed and so don't suffer much before they cue. Thomas II. Beuton and Charles Lucas, of Missouri, fought two duels on Bloody Islaud in the Mississippi River in the same year, 1817. The first occurred August, 12th, the second September 27th. In the first Lucas was wounded and in the second he was killed. Thousands of goldcrcsts annually cross and recross the North Sea at the wildest period of the year, and, unless the weather is rough, generally mako their migrations in safety. And jet this is the smallest and frailest British bird? a mere fluff of feathers and weighing 1 only seventy grains. . i jl. SABBATH SCHOOL \ i /S INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB JANUARY 25. / Lesson Text: "Elijah and the Proplv cts of Baal," I Kings rrlll.,. 25-89 ?Golden Text: I Kings xviiL, ] 12?Commentary. . ' <3 . '^>3 25. "And Elijah said onto the prophets ot . Bcwl, Cbooae yon ona bollock for yoonelvw, and drew it first, for ye are many, and call >s on the name of yonr God, bat pat no Are under." At Clienth (cutting) anaZarephath fraflntncrl RUiah hod been Gilt off from all human resources, and refined in tho school of _ poverty and close communion with God, and thus qualified for the contest now before him. lie who had bean so much alone with God bad co fear of King Ahab nor of the hundreds of prophet* of Baal. Even the king and the prophets are obedient to the word of such a man, for he comes in the nanKFdfthe King of kings. : 26. "Oh, Baal, hear us. Bat there was no voice nor any that answered." Fire was to be the test, and they hod agreed that the God who would answer by fire should be-ao- . 3 knowledgod as the true God (verse 94). ^Tney had slain their bullock, cut it in pleca*. laid it on the wood, and from morning until noon they had been crying: "Oh, Baal, hoar us." 27. "And It came to pass thai at noon Elijah mocked them and said: Cry aloud, for he is a God." Surely he must be a reality; or there would not to 450 prophets (verse 19) tanpMncr nennla tn nnrshtn mm TTn mint be busy or away from home, or asleep;, cry aloud, wake him up. Thus talked ttifemaa of God to these deluded ones, and they seemod to think that he meant it. If people receive not the truth they will most readily believe a lie (II These, li., 10-12). ' L 28. "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves, after their manner * * * till the blood gushed out upon them." Fancy hundreds of men leaping up and down f (verse 26, margin), and shouting afad cutting U. their bodies olltue blood streamsd from them, and all to make the god .whoa they ^ worshiped hear them. Central Africa could ' not produce anything worse. But those men bore the name of Israel, ani professed : ^ to be the people of the true God. % 29. "There was neither voice, nor any to ; answer, nor any that regarded." Hoar after hour they kept-it up until the time of " J the evening -sacrifice; for six hours at least they had been crying unto the god thsy worshiped, while in reality they had been . crying to no one. W-* tSF 30. "And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto mo.^ And ell tha people . ?& came near unto him.n In cahmnttJS'Tio had , waited, his soul doubtless communing with Sj his God, but now the decisive moment bad ;* come; 450 men had failed?what coifld this one man do? He was one or tbose or wnom j it is written, "One shall chase a thousand, and two pat ten thousand to flight" (Dgut. ; rnriii., 30). 31. "And Elijah took twelve stones, ao- i cording to the number of the tribes .of. tha 1 sons of Jacob." See swelve stones in the :1 same connection in Ex. xriv., 4; xxViii,, 21; Josh, iv., 8,8. 9, 20. Although the twelve tribes were divided into ten and two, mak- - ? ing two nations,yet they were onlvooenation ;A before God, and He has ever before Him the "~-j time when they shall be -reunited under one j king (Ezok. xzzvii., 21, 22). All Israel had I at this time become idolaters, and hence the \ necessity of a testimony to the twelve tribes 1 concerning the true God. "Unto whom the word of the Lord came t!N saying, Israel shall be thy name." This re- " , ,i fers back to an event over 800 years before (Gen. xxxii., 28;, when Jacobin conscious weakness clung to the angel and prevailed, and received the name of Israel, or a prince of God. Elijah in conscious weakness1 as to himself is now before the people in the nam* v of the unchangeable and Almighty God erf Israel. 32. "And with the stones he built an altar in the name of-the Lord." The altar of the false prophets was unto Baal aad In his name; this one was unto Jehovah and in Hit name. Whatsoever we do in word or deed ii to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. ill., 17), and to the glory of Gpd^CI CsC. t 3H , nt-hr.*3Y.3d of WOrshiD- ? o ^ ? --m , ing some Baa!, and there aro eight or ten J different ones mentioned in Scripture. :] 83. "And he pat thewood in arJert.*ad cut j tho bullock in piccss, and laid him oa the --j wood." A bullock was used both as a sin of- - 1 fering and cs a burnt offering (Lrsv. i., and j iv), and in these chapters Cull instruction! are found as to the manner of offering. Th? ' -J sin offering was a type of Christ baarinz oar , J sins; the burnt offering was a type of Christ -Toffering Himself without t^pct to God. In this case while the great point w&g to show God as the only living and true God, the bollock was probably offered as a sin offering; for God could only reveal Himself as the righteous one requiring a sacrifice for sin. 84, 35. "Tiie water ran around about the altar, and he filled the trench also with water." Once, twice, thrice was the sacrifice. and the wood and the altar drenched' with water. There was to be no deception here, no fire hidden somewhere about, which J might be secretly used. If any one had such a suspicion these repeated drenchings would V> dispel such an idea, and seemingly make it impossible to ever kindle a fire with such material. 1 36. "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and ol .. I Israel, let it bo known this day that Thou art I God in Israel and that I am Thy servant.? By this title God revealed Himself to Moeat j at the burning bush and said, "This is My ^- "a name forever, and this is My memorial untg J all generations" (Ex. ill., 6,15,18). Observe J that the prophet's whole aim is that God mtcf j hA mmTnlflM. :*) "Ad3 that I hare done all these things at ->'1 Thy word." Then tho altar and sacrifice and . j wood and water and an3wer by flro were no J mere thoughts of Elijah, but simple com- 1 mands of God wbich ho had only to obey, 1 Aj trusting God for all results. The path of im- | plicit obedience is tbo only path to walk in. 87. "Hear me, 0 Lord, hear me; that this ~ people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." "If we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have f> the petitions that wo desirea of Him" (I John v., 15). So that Elijah's one d&riro now was for God to hear him. "And this is the confidence that wo have in Him, that, if we ask ' anything according to His will, He heareth Z US? ; 38. "Then the fire of the Lord fell." Pio- "V ture to yonrself tho multitude gazing on this lone man a? ho stands calmly before . them boside his drenched and drippiug altar and sacrifice and trench full of water, conscious of the presence and favor of the Lord God of Israel. Ho does not cry aloud nor ?< leap up and down, but quietly looks up to \ heaven, and wit a his .whole heart utters wthese few words (just thirty-four in the Hebrew) unto his God in the hearing of all the >.' people. 1 "And consumed tho burnt sacrifice, and -Vi the wood, and the stoaos, and the dost, and ' M licked up the water that wa3 in the trench." r?4. ?? H^iir>ntir>n of the f.ibc-rnaacle. and the temple, and the offerings of Gideon ; and David, supernatural flro consumed the sacrifica (Lev. ix., 24; II Chron. vii., 1; Judg. J vi., 31; I Chron. xsi., 36), so it happened ] now. I have no doubt but the offering of Abel was accepted in the same way. 39. "And when all the pjoplesawit they fell on their faces. And tney said, The Lord He is the God; the Lord He is the God." So: well they might, for the God of Mosas and ^ Aaron, of Gideon, and David and Solomon, God, who is a consuming fire (Deut. iv., 24; ix., 3), had again declared Himself by the on* failing but awful sign, telling them of the wrath that would fall on them unless they came to Him in true penitence and byway, of true sacrifice, as He had appointed. Woraa are nothing apart from deeds. Their lips now confess Him If their lives shall prove their sincerity it will be well with them, but if oth'-] erwise their words are only idle worda (Matt, vil., 21;xii.,30).? Lesson Helper. In "his address to tne sixtieth annual mfletiucr of the British Association for u the Advancement of Science, the President, Sir F. A. Abel, reviewed the progress of science since the last meeting Df the association at the same place 'Leeds) in 1858. The subject to which, reference was made included the transmission of electric energy, the application of voltaic energy to the fusion and welding of metals, the discovery of the use of aluminium in the production of irou and steel castings, the meas? urement and control of the explosive force of gunpowder, the composition ind valuo of tko smokeless powders, HB recent inventions of explosives for min- E?| ing purposes, and the development of^Hj the petroleum and natural gas Helds^flH the United States. ik. . - ' 11W