The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, August 26, 1891, Image 3

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| REV. DRT TALMAGE. r Ti'P- nitnnifT.vv nrvivps SUN |r DAS SERMON. ^ubject: "A Poor Investment.* (Preached at Topeka, Kan.) 1 Text: "f? have sold yourselves for fiaiicjht, and ye shall be redeemed without monry."?Isaiah iii., 3. ' Tho Lord's people had gone headlong into in, and as a punishment they had been car- | ;ried captive to Babylon. They found that ,'inlauitv did not Dav. Cvrus seized Babylon I ?nd felt so sorry for these poor captives that, ;without a dollar of compensation, he let them go home. So that, literally, my tjxt was fulfilled. "Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without inoney." i There is enough Gospel in this text for 'fifty sermons. There are persons here who* tiave, like the people of the text, sold out. ?Tou do not seem to belong either to your selves or to God. The title deeds have been passed over to "the world, the flesh, and the devil," but the purchaser never paid up. "Ye have sold yourselves for naught." 1 When a man passes himself over to the world be expects to get some adequate compensation. He has heard the great things that the world does for a man, and he believes it. He wants two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That will be horses and houses, and a summer resort and jolly companionship. To get it he parts with his phy sical health by overwork. He parts I with his conscience. He parts with much domestic enjoyment. He parts with opportunities for literary culture. He parts with his soul. And so he makes over his entire nature to the world. He does it in four installments. He pays down the first installment, and one-fourth of bis nature is gone. He pays down the second Installment, and one-half of his nature is irone. He navs down the third installment. and three-quarters of his nature are gone, | and after many years haVe gone by he pays j down the fourth installment, and lo! his entire nature is gone. Then ho comes up to the j world and says: "Rood morning. I have | delivered to you the goods, I have passed | over to you my body, my mind and my soul, and f have come now to collect the two hundred and fifty thous-.nd dollars." "Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?" says the world. "What do you mean?" Well,** you say, "I come to collect the money you owe me, and I expect you to fulfili your part of the contract." "But," says the world, "I have failed. I am bankrupt. I cannot possibly pay that debt. I have not for a long time expected to pay it." "Well," you then 6ay, '"give me back the gooJs." "UH, no," ?ays the world, "theyare all goR9. I cannot give them back to you." And there you stand on the confines of eternity, your spiritual character gone, staggering under the consideration that "you have sold yourself for naught." I tell j'ou the world is a liar. It does not beep its promises. It is a cheat, and it fleeces everything it can put its hands on. It is a bogus world. It is a six-thousandyear-old swindle. Even if it pays the two tundred and fifty thousand dollars for which you contracted, it pays them in bonds that will not be worth anything in a little while. Just as a man may pay down ten thousand dollars in hard cash and get for it worthless scrip?so the world passes over to you the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in that shape which will not be worth c farthing to you a thousandth part of a second after you are dead. "Ob," you say, "it will helD to burv me. anvhow." Oh. my brother I you need not worry about that. The world will bury you soon enough from anitary considerations. Post mortem emoluments are of no use to you. The treasures of this world will not pass current in the future world, and if all the wealth of the Bank of England were put | In the pocket of vour shroud aud you in the midst of the JorSan of death were asked to pay three cents for your ferriage, you could cot do it. There comes a moment in your existence beyond which all earthly values fail, and many a man has wakened up in such a time to find that he has sold out for eternity and has nothing to show for it. I ?Lould as soon think of going to Chatham street to buy silk pocket handkerchiefs with no cotton in them, as to go to this world expecting to find any permanent happiness. It nas deceived and deluded every man who has every put his trust in it. History tells us of ona who resolved that he would have all his senses gratified at ona and the same time, and he expended thousands of dollars on each sense. He entered a j room, and there were the first musicians of | the land pleasing his ear, and there were fine | pictures fascinating his eye, and there were costly aromatics regaling his nostrils, and there were the richest meats and wines and fruits and confections pleasing the appetite, and there was a soft couch or sinful indul gence on wnico ne recuneo, ana tas man as- | dared afterward that he would give ten | times what he had given if he could have one .week of such enjoyment, even though he lost his soul by it! Ah! that was the rub! He idid lose his soul by it! Cyrus the conqueror thought for a little while that ho w*aa making a fine thing out of this world, and yet before he came to his grave he wrote ous this pitiful epitaph for his monument: "I am Cyrus. 1 occupied the Persian empire. 'I was king over Asia. Begrudge me not this monument." But the world in after years plowed up his sepulcher. The world clapped its hands and stamped Its feet in honor of Charles Lamb; but what dpes be say? "I walk up and down, thinking I am happy, but feeling I am not." Call the roll, and be quick about it. Samuel jonnson, cue learnea: nappy? ".No. I a u afraid I shall someday get craz/.". William Hazlitt, the great essayist! Happy? "No. I have been for two hours and a half going up and down Paternoster row witii a volcano in my breast." S-nollet, the witty author t Happy? "No. I am sicx of pr usa end blame, and I wish to GoJ that I had such circumstances aroun 1 me that I coul l throw my psa into oblivion." Buchanan, the world renowned writer, exib l fron his own country, appealing to Hsnry VIII for protection! Happy? "No. Over mountains covered with snow, and through valleys flooded with rain, I coaie a fugitive." Moliere, the popular dramatic author! Happy? "No. That wretch of an actor just now recited four of my lines without thi propsr accent and gesture. To nave the children of my brain so huajr, drawn an 1 quartered tortures me liku a condemned spirit." I went to see a worldling dij. As I w.^nt into the hall I saw its floor was toss^llat: 1, j and its wall was a picture gallerv. I foua I | his death chamber adorned with tapestry j until it seemed as if the clouds of th; setting sun had settled in the rooai. Tha man ha t given forty years to t ie world?his wit, his time, his genius, his talent, his soul. Did the world come in to staud by his deatiibai an 1 clearing off the vials of bitter medicine, put down any compensation? Oil. no! Tho world does not like sick and dying people, and leaves them in the lucchl It ruinad this man and then left him. Ha had a rnagniticent tuneral. All th-j ministers wore scare's, and there were forty-three carriages in a row; but the departed man appreciated not the obsequies. I want to persuade my au lienca that this world is a poor investment; that it does not pay ninety per cent, of satisfaction nor eighty per cent., nor twenty per cent., nor two per cent., nor one; that it gives no solaca when a dead babe lies on your lap; that it gives no peace when conscience rings its adarm; that it gives no explanation in tha I day of dire trouble; an i at the time of your decease it takes hold of the pillow case and Bhakes out the feathers, and then jolts down in the place thereof sighs and groans aud execrations, and then mikes you put your head on it. Oh, ye who have triad this world, is it a satisfactory portion? Would you advisd your friends to make the investment? No. "Ye have sold yourselves for nauscht." Your conscience went. Y our hope went, x our Bible went. Your heaven went. Your God went. When a sheriff under a writ from the courts sells a man out the officer generally leaves a few chairs an 1 a bad, and a few cups and knives; but in this awful vendue in which you have been engaged the auctioneer's mallet has came dowu uoon body, mind and soul?going! gone'. "Ye have sold yourselves for naught." How could you do so? Did you think that your soul was a mere trinket which for a few pennies you could buy in a toy shop? Did you think that your sout, if onca lost, might be found again if you went out with torches and lanterns? Did you think that p your soul was short lived, and that panting, you would soon lie down for extinction? Or h?h you do idea wh&t your soul was worth? Did jrou ever put your forefingers on Its ; * 1 *?ni?Kaa? euemai puu*?r iu<oiuuuu??> . w. of its peerless wing? Hava you nofc known that after leaving the body, tha flrat step of your soul reaches to the stars, and the next step to the farthest outposts of God's universe, and that it will not die until the day when the everlasting Jehovah expires? Oh, my brother, what possessed you that you should part with your soul so cheap? "Ya have sold yourselves for naught." But I have some good news to tell yoa. I want to engage in a litigation for the recovery of that soul of youre. I want to show that you have been cheated out of it. I want to prove, as I will, that you were crazy on that subject, and that the world, under such circumstances, had no right to take the title deed from you; and if you will join me Ishall get a decree from the High Chancery Court of Heaven reinstating you in the possession of your soul. "Oh," you say, "? am afraid of lawsuits' they are so expensive, and I cannot pay the cost." Then have you forgotten the last half of my text? "Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." Money is good for a great many things, * A J?? fha matter nf out it cannoii uu on/buiu^ m ?uu ? ? the soul. You cannot buy your way through. Dollars and pounds sterling inean nothing at the gate of mercy. If you could buy your salvation, heaven would be a great speculation, an extension of Wall street. Bad men would go up and buy out the place, and leave us to shift rorourselve3. But as money is not a lawful tender, what is? I will answer, Blocdl Whoss? Are we to go through the slaughter? Oh, no; it wants richer blood than ours. It wants a king's blood. It must be poured from royal arteries. It must ba a sinless torrent. But where is the king? x see a greac many tnrones ana a great many occupants, yet none seaai to becoming down to tha rescu?. But after awhile the clock of night in Bathlehe:n strikes 12, ani the silver pendulum of a stir swin^j across thesky, and I seethe Kin? of Heaven rising up, and He descsnds and steps dowu from star to star, and from cloud to cloud, lower and lower, until He touches the sheep covered hills, and then on ta another hill, this last skull shaped, and there, at the sharp stroke of persecution, a rill incarnadine trickles down, and we who could not t>e redeemed bymonev are redeemed by precious and imperial blood. Wo have in this day professe 1 Christians roVin ?ra sn rAfAfinl an 1 eth^-aalizid that they do not want a religion of bloal. What do you want? You saa.n to want a religion of brains. Tha Bible says, "In tha bloot is the life." No atoiamant without blood. Ought not the apostla to kna v:' What did he say? "Ye are redeenad not with corruptible things, su?h as silver an i gold, but by the precious b!o a i of Carist." You put your lancelet into tli3 arai oS our holy religion and withdraw the bload, an 1 you leave it a mere corps?, fit only for th 3 grave. Why did God command tha priests of oil to striko the knife into tin kii, an 1 the goat, ani the pigeon, and the bullock, an I the lamb? It was so that whan the bload rushed out from these animals on the floor of the anoieut tabernacle the people should be co-npalle I to think of the coming carnage of the Son of God. No blooJ, no atoneai9nt. I think that Go i intaniei to impress us with a vividness of that color. The grean of the grass, the blue of the sky, would not have startled an 1 arousal us like this deep crimson. It is as if Goihai said: *'Now, sinner, wake up an I sae what tha Saviour eudurad for you. This is n .it water. This is not wine. This is blood. It is tha blood of My Son. It is the bio ad of tha inmaculate. It is the bloo 1 of God." Without th3 shedding of blooi is no remission. Thara has been many a man who, in courts of law, has pleaded "not guilty," who neversli3les* has been condemned because there was bloo I found on his han.ls or blood found in his room, and what shall we Jo in the last day if it it be found that wj have recruciflel the Lord of Glory and have never repeated of it? You must believe iu the blood or die. No escape. Unless you let th? sacrifice of Jesus go in your stead you vourielf must suffer. It is cither Christ's blooi or your blood. "Oh," says soma one, "th9 thought of blood sickens me." Good. Gol intended it to sicken you with your siu. Do not act as though you had nothing to do with that Calvarian massacre. You had. Your sin3 were the implements of torture. Those implements were not made of 6teel aarl iron and wood so much as out of your sins. Guilty of this homici le, aud this regicide, and this deicide, confess your guilt to-day. Ten thousand voices of heaven bring iu th9 verdict against you of guilty, guilty! Prepare to die or believe in that blooi. Stretch yourself out for the sacrifice or accept the Saviour's sacrifice. Do not fling away your one chance. Tfr f/\ ?na oo if oil Uao TirajtQ iiV ao^oio w ?uy ao 4b uti aavhavwi* ? w<? w w?# ing to bid in your sou'. Th9 first bid it mato is the tears of C'.rist at the tomb of I>?2iru3, but that is not a high enough vrice. The next bid heaven makes is the sweat of Gethsemane, but it is too choap a price. The next bid heaven makes saaava to bo the whipped back of Pilat9's hall, but it is not a high enough pries. Can it be possible that heaven cannot buy you in? Heaven tries once more. It says: "I bid this time for that man's soul the tortures of Christ's martyrdom, the blood on His tempi?, the blood on His cheek, the blood on His chin, the blood on His hand, the blood on His side, the blood on His knee, the blood on His foot?the blood in drops, thoblooJ in rills, the blood in I pools coagulated beneath the cross; the blood that wet the tips of the soldiers' spoars, thj blood that plashed warm in the face of His ! enemies." Glory to God, that bid wins it! The highest price that was ever paid for anything I wa3 paid for your soul. Nothing could buy it but blood! The estranged property is brought back. Take it. ''Sou have sold yourself for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." O atoning blood, cleansiug blood, life giving blood, sanctifying blood, glorifying blooi of Jesus! Why I not burst into tears at the thought that for I thee He shei it?for thee the hard hearted, I for thee the lost? "No," says some one; "I will have nothing to do with it except that, like the enemies of Christ, I pat both my hands into I that carnage and scoop up both palms full, ] and throw it on my haad anl cry, "His ! blood be on us and on our children!' " Can I you do such a shocking thing as that? Just rub your handkerchief across your brow and look at it. It is the blood of the Son of God whom you have despise! and driven back all these years, Ob, do not do that any longer! Cotne out boldly and fraukly anl honestly, and, tell Christ you are sorry. You cannot afford'to so roughly treat Him upon whom everything depends. I do nit know how you will get away from ! this subject. You sje that you are sold out, an I that Christ wauts t > buy you back. There are three persons who come after you to- lay?God tho Father. God the Son and Go 1 the Holy Ghost. They unite their three omnipotences in one movement for your sal| vatiou. You will not tike up arms against the triune God, will you? Is there enouzh muscle in your arm for such a combat? By the highest throne in heaven, and by the deepjst chasm in hell, I beg you look out. Unless you allow Christ to carry away your sins, they will carry you away Unless you allow Christ to lift you up, they will drag you down. There is only one hope for you, and that is the bloo). Christ, the sin offerins. bearing your transgressions. Christ, the divine Cyrus, loosening your Babylonish captivity. Would you not like to be fre>? Here is the price of your liberation?not n?ney, but blood. I tremble from hoad to foot, not bocause I fear your presence, but because I fear that you will miss your chance for immortal rescue. This i3 the alternative divinely put, "He that believeth on the Son shall have everlasting life; and I19 that believeth not on the Son shall not sea life, but the wrath of Godabid9th on him." In the last day, if you now reject Christ, every drop of that sacrificial blood, instead of pleading for your release as it would have pleaded if you had repented, will plead against you. OLoriGodof the judgment day! avert that calamity! Lst us sa* the quick flash of the scimeter that slays th3 sin but saves the siuner. Strike, omuipDtent God, for the soul's deliverance! Beat, O eternal sea! with all thy waves against tin barrau beach of that rocky soul and make it tremble. Oh, the oppressiveness of the hour, thj minute, the second on which the soul's destiny quivers, and this is that hour, that minute, that second I Some years ago there came down a fierce storm on the saacoast, and a vessel got in the breakers and wa3 going to pieces. They threw up some signal of distress and the people on shore saw them. They put out In a lifeboat. They c>me on, and they saw the poor sailors, almost exhausted, clinging to a raft* and so afraid were th3 boatmen that the men would give up before they got to them they gave them three rounds of cheers, and cried: "Hold on, there I hold on! We'll save you!" After awhile the boat came up. On* man was saved bj having the boathook pat in tbe collar of hi9 coat, and some in ona way and some in another; but they all got 4 11 - ' *- fy J???n fKn Aarvfjii'n ''Prtl* I in I/O (Q9 DOttt. nVWf oojra uug o^puutu, *v? tha shore. Pull away now, pull!" The people oa the land ware afraid tin lifeboat had gone down. They said: "How long the boat stays. Why, it must have been swamped and they have all perished together." And there were men and women on the pier head sand on the beach wringing their hands; and while they waitsi and watched they saw something looming up through the mist, and it turned out t j be the lifeboat. As soon as it came within speaking distance the people on the shore cried out: "Did you save any of them? Did you save any of them?" And as the boat swept through the boiling surf and came to the pier head the captain waved his hand over the exhausted sailors that lay flat on the bottom of the boat and cried: "All saved! Thank God! All savedP' So it may be to-day. The waves of your sin run high, the storm is on you. but I cheer you with this Gospel hope. God grant that within the next t9n minutes we may row with you into the harbor of God's mercy. And when these Chrlstlan'men gather around to see the result of this service, and the glorified gathering on tha pier heads of heaven to watch and to listen, may we be able to report all saved! Young and old, good and bad! All saved! Saved for time. Saved for eternity. "And so it came to pass 1 -* - * -? J ?i.- i 1 1? mac may an escapea stue uu mu j. Foofl Brings Sleep. Some persons, though not actually sick, keep below par in strength and general tone, and I am of the opinion that fasting during the long interval between supper and breakfast, and especially the complete emptiness of the stomach during sleep, adds greatly to the amount of emaciation, sleeplessness and general weakness we so often meet, says the Medical Journal. Physiology teaches us that in the body there is a perpetual disintegration of tissue, sleeping or waking; it is therefore logical to believe that the supply of nourishment should be somewhat continuous. As bodily exercise is suspended during sleep, with wear and tear correspondingly diminished, while digestion, assimilation and nutritive activity continue a3 usual, the food furnished during this period adds more than is destroyed, and increased weight and improved general vigor are the result. All beings except man are governed by natural instinct, and every being with a stomach, before man, cats before eleep, and even the human infant, guided by the same instincts, drinks frequently day and night, and if its stomach is empty anv nrnlnnorprl noriod it cries lon?? h""*?o? I -- o and loud. Digestion requires no interval of rest, and if the amount of food during the twenty-four hours is in quantity and quality not beyond the physiological limit, it makes no hurtful difference to the stomach how few or how short are the intervals between eating, but it does make a vast difference in the weak and emaciated one's welfare to have a modicum of food in the stomach during the time of sleep, that, instead of being consumed by bodily action, it may during the interval improve the lowered system. I am fully satisfied that were the weakly, the emaciatcd and the sleepless to nightly take a light lunch or meal of simple, nutritious food before going to bed for a prolonged period, nine in ten of them would be lifted into a better staudard of health; on the contrary, persons that are too stout or plethoric fkft.il/l ^aIIah* fln ArvnAClfo pniirao fuuuiu 1U"U" *" A Warm-hearted Tar's Qnaint Proposal An old seaman-named Peters, stationed on one of the United States cruisers in the North Atlantic squadron, was a man of rough exterior but of a warm heart. Its warmest corner was reserved for a certain young ensign oa board the same ship, whom Peters worshiped with unswerving constancy. One day it happened that an unpracticcd landsmen, while attending to some duty in the rigging, lost his footing and fell into the water. As he was unable to swim, he would probably have been drowned had not an officer sprung after him and gallautly held him up until assistance came. A letter from the Secretary ot tne JNavy, commending in high terms this heroic action, was sent to the brave rescuer and read before the assembled ship's company. Old Peters viewed the whole proceeding with a feeling of jealousy, and, after brooding over the matter some days, he relieved himself in the following manner: "Mr. Bradley," said he, sliding up to the object of his devotion, "that there letter what the Secretary wrote, that's a fine thing for a young man to have. You ought to have one, Mr. Bradley." "Why, yes, Peters," said young Bradley, with his pleasant smile, "that letter is, undoubtedly, a thing for nnt fnllnw tn ha nroud of. but I'm afraid I don't quite see my way to getting one like it." "Mr. Bradley," answered Peters, in a hoarse tone, inviting confidence, "ter-morrow night, sir, I'll be ia the main chains, fussin' with somethin' ornuther. P'raps I'll axerdentally fall into the water. Sich things have happened, as yer know yerself, sir. Then, Mr. Bradley, what's to hinder ye from jumping artcr me, like your messmate, there? I guess ye'd have as good a chance as him for one o' them letters from the Secretary." "Thoro'sonly one difficulty about the plan, Peteis," said Bradley, preserving a grave countenance, but inwardly much amused; "unfortunately, you see, I don't know how to swim." "Sho! is that all, sir?" returned Peters, undismayed; "that ain't nothin.' I'll hold you up till the boat comes."? Argonaut. Ingenious Observation Train. A novel style of observatory has been devised by an ingenious Manitoban who is of opinion that the scenery of this country is such that passengers on a railroad ought to have better facilities for seeing it. Three or four sections of a car roof are raised to a height of twelve to eighteen inches above tho ordinary level, forming a sort of "conning tower," the sides of which arc glazed. Second story seats are provided in these sections where passeugers can sit and enjoy the scenery in any direction. If perfectly heated and ventilated such a car would be most desirable, but it is a question whether the added weight in the upper part of the car would affect its safety, and whether the considerable motion in swinging round curves or running over rough tracks would affect many travelers very unpleasantly.?CAicaijo 2Teu)S. A Brooklyn man who wanted to go west and grow up with the country settled in Kansas, and had got as far a3 a home in a dug-out when he was struck by lightning, pelted nearly to death in a hail storm, and blown half-way into the next county by a cyclone. He has returned to Brooklyn, and now advises young men to MGo west and blow up with the country." TCTUnPD A XTVTVP f rjL\t\?\\jEu 8AVE THE BOTS. The National Baptist says that "recently when two hundred or mora drunkards were gathered in a meeting by the Breakfast Association, a speaker asked that all who bad begun to drink after the age of twentj-one would raise their hands. Six: responded. He then asked that all who had. begun to drink before twenty-one should, raise their hands. A sea of hands were raised. By saving the boys from the saloon, we can. go far to save the next generation. AN UNNECESSARY INDULGENCE. Dr. Maudsley says: "If men took careful thought of the best usa they could make of their bodies, they would possibly never take strong drink, except as they would a dose of medicine, in order to serve' some special purpose. It is idle to say that there is any" need for persons who are in good health to indulge in strong drink. At the' beat it is an indulgence that is not necessary; at the worse it is a vice that occasions infinite misery, sin, crime, madness, and disease." THE CONSUMPTION OF" BEER. ''Do you know," said a dyspeptic-looking man at the luuch counter, ini the Astor House a few days ago, "that we have no lager beer nowadays? This beverage that is sold as lager beer is turned out it* ten days or two weeks' time by the big brewers. The use of duplex air-pumps has almost completely revolutionized the brewerv business." "Brewers have to make their beer quickly in order to keep up with the enormously increasing demaud," replied the dyspeptic's friend. "Iam told on the authority of a careful statistician that the increase in the manufacture of beer in this city alone-.in the year ended April 30 i last was more uiani .j,wu,,uw uanreis. newYork City now consumes annually a trifle more than 30,000,000 barrels of beer. At the present rate of increase the consumption in this city ten years from now will be 50,000,000 barrels."?New York Times. IN FAVOR OF STERNER MEASURES. The Canadian Churchman takes the view that excessive drinking is a symptom of deficient moral sense, which is in itself the root of all criminality, the cause of all crime, and further, that this deficient moral sense is largely du9 to the light penalties inflicted for I drunkenness. "A sentence on a drunk is a j matter of joke and merriment," says our I contemporary. "A few days' confinementjust long enough to sober up?and the person is let loose on the public again. The punishment of this crime of putting one's self in position to commit other crimes ought to be increased a thousandfold." Of course this measure of increased punishment is metaphorical. Ten days is the usual allowance tor what is known in New York police courts as "a drunk and disorderly." A ten-thousand-day sentence would confine a man for a generation, and be in excess of the requirements. It is high time, however, that in our courts of law and in practical dealing with drunkenness the offense should be deemed a serious one and its humorous element, if it has any such, be ignored. A man who gets drunk puts himself in the way of committing every known sin, and the legal punishment seldom conforms with the weight of the transgression.?New York Observer. KEPT HIS PROMISE. The celebrated Frenc'i General Cambronne, wheu he was a common soldier, was terribly given to the sin of drunkenness. I One day, when he was drunk, he struck an I officer, and was condemned to death. His j Colonel, however, who loved him for his bravery, obtained his pardon on condition that h8 would promise never to drink wino or spirits again. Twenty-five year3 afterwards the Corporal had become a General, and had immortalized himself by his haroie i retreat from Waterloo. Having retired into family life, he lived quietly in Paris, beloved and esteemed by all. His old Colonel one day invited him to dinner to meet soma of his former comrades. Thopliceof honor was reserved for Cambronne at the host's right hand. A highly pricad wine was brought in which was served only on grand occasions. j "General," sai J the old Colonel, "you must ! tell us all the news;" and he was just about j to fill Cambronn?'s glass. The General I stopped his hand; the Colonel insisted. "But, General, 1 assure you it is excelI lent." "That has nothing to do with it," said ! Cambronne, eagerly. "It has to do with my | honor and my promise. Colonel?my prom I lse as a uorporai; nava you torgoicen it; i Since that day not a drop of wine has touched my lip3. My word and my conscienca are worth more than vour wine." INTEMPERANCE AND INSANITY. | A recent contributor to the Western Christian Advocate, writing of intemperI ance and insanity, quotes Dr. Parchaffe as giving the causes of insanity in 976 cases of ! which he had knowledge, and of these in| temperance was responsible for lti4. He quotes Dr. Griesinger, professor of clinical medicine and mental science in the Univerl sity of Berlin, a3 citing drunkenuess as "one ! oi the most important causes of domestic troubles," to which :24l more of these cases J of insanity were accredited. Ho furthermore says, "Drunkenness stands midway j between psychical and physical causes. Its I effects are very powerful and very complex." He adds-: "On the one hand, the action of alcoholic excesses is principally, purely phys! ical, in part direct, by causing irritation and I changes in the nutrition of the brain, by the j development of chronic stasis within the 1 j 'jianium; in part indirect, by producing ! Jrunkard's scorbutus, fatty degeneration of I tlie liver, ser.ous gastric aiseases; in suon., I by complete ruin of the coustitutiou." He j then ci:es drunkenness us producing imporj cunt psych.cal causes, by the quarrels and | brawls which drunkenness so frequently oo ! . asion?, and the sad montal impressions j which it causcs, domestic discomfort, witLJrawal from the family, ruin in business, ; and loss of self respact which it must forca j iiome upon the drunkard. This is weighty I scientific testimony which ought to warn all users oi intoxicants ol the peril involved in j he drinking habit in the way ot physical and j ii3itt-.il deterioration and ruin. The insane j isylunrs of this country steadiiy increase in j jumb.rs, and like our prisons, are, many of I them, overcrowded. Alcoholism, directly ; >r iini.rectiy. is undoubtedly chief among i the eausw.?Xationa! Advocate. ; I ! TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. Tho annual drink bill of the world oxcaeds | ?1,000,000,000. ! The Emperor of China has ordered all tho ; distilleries in the Hooded districts to be closed for a year, in order to save the grain. Several liquor saloons in Tacoma, Wash., had not been closed once for from six to ten years until the recent enforcement of a new Sunday law. In Scotland there are altogether (omitting the Orkney and ShetlauJ Isles) 11,79$ j licensed premises, or one to every 310 of the estimated population. The British Woman's Temperance Association will put up a memorial tablet in Willard Hall, in the \\ oman's Temperance Temple, in memory of Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas, their former President. The unions of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania have united and organized a national W. C. T. U., with Miss Jessie Ackermun aS President. Theannual report of the British Woman's Temperance Association, recently issued, states that the past year has been the most progressive one in its history. There are in all 425 societies, extending throughout twenty counties, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Jersey. All Victorians in Australia point with pride to Mildura, the beauty spot where the development of the irrigation scheme of the Chaftey brothers from San Francisco is making the wilderness blossom as the rose. No saloons have ever been license.!. After prosperity came a club license was sought and granted, but wrouaht such disaster that it was soon revoked, tub district policeman testifies that ho has never had to arrest a drunken man. The American Medical Association, organized in May at the instance of Dr. N. S. Davis, brings into the arena of popular temperance a sword of keeuest edge. It requires no pledge as to the prescription of alcohol, but is open to every one interested in the topic. Nor is any written pledge of personal Abstinence demanded, but it is a point of honor in the society that if any member ceases to l?a total abstainer he sha:l withdraw. ^ - ? RELIGIOUS READING. TITE MOTHEIt'8 PRAYF./U Lord, give me this soul! I bave waked for it when i should! hav? slept. 1 I have yearned over it and I have vrept, Till in my own the thought of it has sway * All through the uightaud day. Lord, give me this soul! If I might only lift its broken strands; To lay them gent1}- in Thy loving hands; If 1 might know it had found peace in Thee What rest, what peacc to mel. Thou wi t give me this soul!. Else why the joy, the grief, the doubt,.thrf ] pain, ' The thought perpetual, the one refrain, The ceaseless longing that upon Thy breast 1 The teuipest-tossed may rest? Dear Lord, give niethis-soull j "SHE DIEl) AN HOUR.AGO " J One day the conversation at dinner, in' o ? family well known to the writer, turned up- j on a lady who was so unfortunate as to have . incurred the dislike of certain members ol ] the household, because of some little peculi- \ arities. After several hnd expressed. theii \ views in no gentle terms, the married slstei added: "I can't endure her, and I believe 1 ] will not return her call if she comes her* 1 again." Her husband, who had remained sil- < em, ra?jied: "She will not troubla you agaiu. my dear; as she died an houriago." "You dc not mean it? Surely you are only teasing us for our uncharitable"ness?H ''She it? really dead. 1 learned it on my way home to dinner." Overwhelmed with shmaje, the little group realized far the first time the solemnity of such sinful conversation. Let us take warning, and speak of those about u* as w? shall wish we had done when they arc taken from us.?fPresbyterian.Witness. TESTING OOtD. A short time ago I handed to one of God's own children, who was n?t a member of my church, some money I had secured for him and his family in their time of need. The tears came to his eyes.. The act had touched the tenderest emotions- of his soul. He began to tell me of the severe trials through which he bad been, passing. Said he, "I took it to the Lord. 1 told Llim lie knew how sick I had been, how long out of work, how dark everything looked, how I and my wife had been fertting, but that for the future I would not fret, but would trust Him* no matter what should come." Said he, "Immediately help began to come." It pays to trust God". God seems to summon us to the high and exalted privilege of testing Him. hence he says, "Prove Mc." Trv Mfr." "Si>p if T will nnf " nn?? reader, have you fulfilled the conditions? If bo, joyously and confidently wait tiil there shall come the blessing?full, abundant, running over.?[J. W. Totteu. ciiildrkn still. I am interested in the religious character of children. What change is necessary in a child of a dozen years to become a Christian? What are the marks of a child who is a Christian? Should he bo expected to be spiritual? Should he think much about hi9 sin3? Should his Christian life be retrospective or free from self-consciousness? I know a little girl who is a member of a church, who is obedient to her father and mother, who is as happy as the day is long, who is healthy in body and mind, but as soon as you b'esrin to talk with her about her sins, or about the love or power of God, she will probably at once turn the conversation upon the pranks of her kittie, or how far she can ride on her velocipede. Her experience is about as far from the experience of some saint-like child, as brown eurth is unlike white snow. Yet, I am heathen ~.w?..?u i.% k~i? /^u iu a v, uiiaiiaii iiiiiu suuuiu j be a Chrislian child, and should think and speak to a child, and that the Christian life ( of the child, like the other life of the child, | should not be retrospective, but free from , self-consciousness. Let us not pray for our ( children to be pale-faced saints, but brown- j checked boys and girls who love Christ in their play and in their study. Oh, for the j natural "Christian :--LFarinton in, Advance, j i A Pt'RB RELIOtOM. ; A religion with 110 Christ in it as a per- i sonal Saviour from all sin is not worthy 1 the name of religion. A religion which does not purport a holy heart and life, and which docs not set forth I or show a power sntlicient to enable one to ' practice its p-ocopts, is not the true religion. ' A religin that does not a fiord strength and l relief under affliction, joy in sorrow, help in | time of need, deliverance in time of temptation, and satisfy the longing of the human heart, is not the religion of the Bible. A religion which we cannot freely and safely recommend to everybody, and which will not tit every case, is not the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. A religion which we do not enjoy, bat which brings us into bondage and only makes us miserable, is no better than no religion. A religion in which we are not kept unspotted from the world and enabled to show a consistent and unselfish life, is not the pure and undented religion. Anyone who practically embraces the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ will have no use for any of the new-fancied religions of today, for "the old-time religion" satisfies in every respect. Anyone who claims to have the religion of our Lord Jesu? C.irist. and is Ux>t saved and kept from shining, and doee not find happints* and satisfaction in ft, is either a hvpocrite or greatly deceived.? [Times of Uej "icing. THE SOURCE f?? STRENGTH. Jesii3 has commanded me to open my heart :*nd to stretch out my hands. It is enough for me to do as Jesus tells me. The apnst 1- s implored from God the recovery of a friend. When they were in prison "they asked to get out of it*. When they were persecuted. beaten, they cried to Ilim for help, and u t they were well aware that afflictions await us: that our sorrows enter into the Divine p!aii; but submissive and persevering at the same time, they prayed to God to deliver them, and (.iod did de iver. | I speak to this Gml at every 1 our of the j day. The command, "Pray without ceas- i ing," which scares so many people, constitutes my safety and makes my happiness. It is not enough for me to think about God; i my soul must pour itself before Him. When you have some beloved being be- | side yon. does it sufliee you to think of him, not to speak to him?why, would not that ! bo a torture? Every time an idea occurs to | you. a feeling overflows, you speak. Ah, If the fear of wearying did" not restrain us, how far more freely would our heart give itself expression. One can never weary God. Wliat is it I say to him? What does one say to one's father and to one's mother? What does one not say? Is any subsequent eloquence required? All fear over, embarrassment gone, the lips move as the beaat prompts, and the mother is satisfied, the father rejoices. ? [Madame de Gasparin. True turning unto God and the remaining In the practice of any oue sin, cannot staud together.?[R. Bolton. Learn from the earliest days to inure your principles against the points of ridiucle; you ." an no more exercise your reason if you live in constant dread of laughter than you can enjoy your life if you arc in constant fear of death.?[Sidney Smith. You have chosen the kingdom of God and his righteousness; other things, therefore, shall be added unto you; and if any which you drsire should not be added, comfort yourself with the thought that you hav? *he good part which can never be tasen away.? [Whitetield. another young laa.y nas fallen a victim to that death-dealing ogro the kerosene can. This occurrence has become bo common that newspaper comments might properly be restricted to a brief sentence, as "Jenny Jones, 125 Blank street, kerosene." Horrible examples and volumes of warning advice do not seem to reduce the annual number of victims a bit. Perplexed" wants to know how "a man with a long and drooping, mustache* ought "to eat his soup." He ught to eat it in the dark. . . .. . SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSOV- FOR AUGUST 30. Lesson Text: "Christ at the Feast,"' John vii., 31-44? Golden TexG,: John vii., 37 ?Commentary. 31. "And many of the people believed on Him, andsaid, when Christ cometb, will He do more miracles than these which this man hath done? The lessons of the fifth chapter were based upon the incidents connected srl+U XN? a( ti. T XI vivuuucui tin icaau ui wd utina; tuubt) 111 the sixth chapter were associated with the manna and the passover feast; these are in connection with the feast of tabernacles, which points us forward to the coming kingdom of Israel and the time of blessing upon all nations. It was about the midst of the feast when Jesus went up to the temple and taught. He was up to this time demised even by His own brethren (verses 3-5), but He kept quietly on, seeking not His own s;lory but the glory of Him that sent Him. Many believed on Him, but the sincerity of their faith would be proved by their continuance. 32. "The Pharisees heard that the people aaurmured such things concerning Him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him." Always hating Him, uxd always seeking to kill Him, but unable So touch flim till His work was done. Professing to. be children of God and the trueieed of Abraham, thev made it manifest by iheir conduct that they were not truly ot trod nor of Abraham, but rather of their lather, the devil. 33. "Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a ittle while am 1 with you, and then I go un;o Him that sent Me." Over thirty times- in .his Gospel He speaks of the Father sendng Him. He says that the Father spoke, hrough Him and did the works which were vrought by Him. In all things He honored ;he Father, for He was the "Brightness of Sis Glory, and the express image of His jerson" (Heb. i., 3). He says to us who beieve in Him that as the Father sent Him so 3e sends us (xvii., 18), What strength is lere for every true servant of Christ. 34. "Ye shall seek Me and shall not find Vie. And where I am, thither ye cannot ?me." Now, He had before said that "He ;hat seketh findeth" (Math, vi., 8), but there s no contradiction. We must only take His | >aymgs in me ngat 01 an nis otner sayings, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Mfe, when ye ihall search for Me with all your heart" Jer. xiix., 13). This kind of seeking never 'ails. "They shall seek Me early but they ihall not find Me" (Prov. i., 28). This is the seeking of those who hated and despised Elira just like these Pharisees. 35. "Then said the Jews among themselves, tV"hither will He go that we shall not find Sim? Will He go unto the dispersed among ;he Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" Of he earth earthy, they understood notheav;nly things. That He came down from leaven they did not believe, and therefore Sis gsing to Him that sent Him they could lot understand. That many Jews were scattered abrcad among the nations is eviient from the Acts of the Apostles, for we 2nd Paul always preaching first to the Jews, ind the epistles of James and Peter were written to such (see Jas. 1; I Pet. i., 1). rhat they will yet be gathered out from the nations and home to their own land is clearly jvident from Isa. xi., 12, and many other prophecies. 26. "JVbat manner of saying is this that Be said, Ye shall seek Me, ana shall not find Me. And where I am, thither ye ' annot :orae." If He could find His way to any part of the earth, why could not they follow Him if they saw fit? Such seems to have been their thoughts. Anything beyond the ;arth they neither knew nor thought much ibout., 37. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and irink." For seven days was the feast continued, and many sacrifices were offered ;very day, but the eighth day, the last day af the feast, was a special day (Lev. xxviii., 30; Num. xxix., 35-38). It, of all the days, pointed to the perfection and power of resurrection, for thre^ and eight are the great resurrection numbers. Tn<j last words of this verse were probably uttered by Jesus at the time of the pouring out of the water. ?.bicj} was daily Brought in a golden ves&J from the pool'of Slloam, wnlie the people cried, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isa. xii., 3). 38. "He that Oelieveth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." To the woman nt t.hft wall PTa oaiH. "Tho wntar thftf. T qhnll give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (iv., 14); but this is even in advance of that, for here He speaks of rivers of living water going forth from the inmost being of the believer. It is like the waters of Ezek. xlvii., 1--5, which issued from the house of God. 29. "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believeth on Him should receive." From beginning to end of Scripture, and from the Garden of Eden to the new heavens and earth, the spirit is the mighty worker, or, as some one has said, '"the Executive of the Godhead." "For the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." The Holy Spirit, while in all ages the great worker, had up to this time not been given as He was at rentecost, and the reason is mentioned in this verse. 40. "Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said. Of a truth this j is the prophet." They seemed to consider j this prophet thus foretold to ba a different I person from the Messiah, but if they had considered Deut. xviii., 1ft, in the light of tha J probability of His being that prophet, they j would have seen good cause for $ome trem- , blingon their parr." ' \ 41. "Others said, This is the Christ. Bui j some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?" They now think it possible that He may be the King of Israel,tbe Son of David, as lore- | told in II Sam. vii., 12, 13; Isa. ix., 6,7. That the Christ or Messiah was understood to be the King of the Jews, and so looked for, u evident from Math, ii., 2, 4; Mark 32, etc. But they could not think tha# He should coma from Galilee, or, as Nathanael put it, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth" (chapter i., 40)? They evidently did not thing or Isa. ix., 1,2, and of tha light that was to shine in Galilee of the nations. 42. "Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of Dtvid, and out | of the town of Bithlehem where David was.-' Yes, truly, this was all plainly written in Pi. cxxxii., 11; Mic. v., 2, and other passages, i but not any more plainly than the statements concerning Galilea and Egypt in the J passages referred to in the previous verse. | i'heir difficulty was just the difficulty of as many to-day; they take such Scriptures as seein to suit that which they wish to believe, but they wili siot take a:iy interest in that which seems to conflict with their ideas. 43. "So there was a division among the people because of Him." It seams strange at first sight that He, the Prince of Peace, should cause division among people; and yet that is one of the very things He came tor. 44. "And some of tbom would have taken Him, but no man laid hands on Him." When those sent to take Him were asked why they did not bring Him, their answer was, "Never man spake like this man" (verse 46). Nicodemus also at this time stood up for Him, saying, "Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth" (verse 51) ? But he and the officers were only despised because of their respect for Him.? Lesson Helper. the two young women who accomplished the feat of horsewhipping a Chicago doctor aro not to be envied for their reflections. Assumiug that they had a genuine grievance against the doctor, it is still true that a woman with a horsewhij) is not a deleotable object. In fact, the harder she hits and tha more complete the discomfiture of hei victim, the le3S she appeals to admiration. A woman who assumes the borsewhip lays aside by that act all claims to consideration on account of her sex; so that the doctor in the case auder consideration would have been quite justified if he had met force with force aud kuockedhis assailants down. A judge iu New York sent the city dog catcher up for a month "for keeping thirty dogs for three days without food or water." It was a mild sentence. .*sH POPULAR SCIENCE. .'3 The fly has 4000 eyes. ^ A returns has a diameter of aevm ;"? million miles. Fish will drown if the action of ~i3| gills is disturbed or interfered with. , ' > Dr. Brendon, of New York, announced ? that experience teaches him that-leDrofjr ia not contagious. Various berries which once flboriahafc 7500 feet above sea level do not grow is higher attitudes now than a800 feet. Dr. Thamm, of Duesseldorf, Germany, -.3|j has cured forty per cent, of the patient* Jj ho treated for tuberculosis by the Kocb '< ? system. Butter is sent from New Zealand to ;'ysj England in tin cans, from which the remaining air i3 extracted after being filled with butter. si _ So severe is the climate of Sooth America upon iron that before ties hav*. > shown signs of decay the flanges of the , tails- will be nearly eaten off by rot. Civil ixation is not favorable to tha-' condition of the teeth. The Esquimaux C have the best teeth of any nation in, tha 'S world, and it is very doubtful if they I take any trouble at all to preserve theau 3 A hotel in Hamburg, Germany,, has f. been built entirely of compressed wood, woicu oy me pressure to wuicu it is subjected is rendered as hard as iron, aft well a3 absolutely proof against the attacks of fire. The Natural History Museum at Kensington, Eagland, has received a novel addition to its shelves in the shape of 10,000 spiders. Thet insacta were bequcathed to the institution by the lata Count Keyserling, who spent a good part of his life in collecting theou All the birds of the swallow kind flj high at the advent of or during fine, yj weather, and low before astorm? These facts are accounted for by another. Whea M the weather is calm, the ephemera upon which swallows feed fly high in air, bat just over the earth or water if it be rough. It is affirmed that the large quantities v of snails which appear in the chalk pas- i, tuies after rain and which are devoured by the sheep along with the short sweet ?jj herbage on which both feed, have aeon- V. siderable share in imparting that pegp- -'J| liar flavor to which South Down muttoa r owe3 so much of its celebrity. Another improved apparatus for railway carriages will be welcomed by summer travelers. This apparatus provides for the production of a cool and ^ pleasant breeze throughout the car. It it .-jg fitted under the body of the car, is self -? j 1L.4 :i in ^ revolving, ana is so arrangeu mot it ?*u* catch the air from all directions. Not ^ the least of its advantages Is that it will keep working for fifteen minutes after the train has been stopped. M. Eiffel, the noted engineer, has offered to support Jansen's project for th? .vm erection of an observatory on the summit of Mont Blanc, Switzerland. Eiffel proposes the building of a horizontal tunnel for the purpose of protecting working- /paw men during the prevalence of storms and to a3certfan the thickness of ice. Hede-. -pS clares that if the ice exceeds fifty metre* 'if. in depth the project must be abandoned, because it is imperative that the found*- :^ tion of the proposed observatory be built- v. on solid rock, .. V' -;3g ^ .1, /" Hard Fight o? Two Birds. _ * ^ i The most extraordinary'occurrence of birds fighting came under my notice .. % writes W. Howlett from Newmarket, jd England, to the Pittsburg Dupatck. < Rev. H. Moon, walking .along Hig&^F:^ street, had his attention drawn to a peculiar noise in the air, and upon looking ? up saw several of the common swift* dashing about and uttering a peculiar noise. Presently two of them commenced v fighting, and with such extraordinary fierceness did they grab and claw eadr other that they both came to the ground and were picked up by the reverenJ* ?! gentleman and brought to me,, still locked together. I examined them, and found th? claws of each bird fairly imbedded is the breast of the other, and so deep that they could not extricate themselves | and for a long time they remained is ,J this exhausted and helpless condition. ^ Finally I separated them and washed off the blood and set them free; it was ft long time before they could fly. JSafejna, Thunder 4'Permit me^eaia a macTrntKetSfad# last week, "to give you the real motive that the woman had when she asked, w> cording to your last number, for glass Jj cups in which to rest her brass bedstead. I am sure that it was not in order to prevent the bed from robbing her of her electricity, but simply because glass is ft non-conductor, and every woman believes that lightning won't strike anything that rests in glass cups. "I have seen a highly respected relative of mine run to the pantiy on the approach of a thunder storm and secure four class preserve dishes, rest the four legs of a chair therein and sit serenelj while the rest of the feminine household climbed under the bed or got into th? closets. "It is supposed that when lightnnijf comes in a window and sees a woman with her heels on the rung of her chair, the legs of which are in custard cup?, that it turns around and goes back again."? Upkoliterer. JZi! ??? Poison in Warfare. It is reported from Chili that on tlift f? instigation of the Government an attempt was made to poison Admiral Moutt and several other leading men of the insurgent forces. The stomach pump saved the life of the Admiral. Waldo * Silva escaped by the merest accident and a number of others were made sick, but were saved by proper remedies. Twenty officers and men of the Government army were proved to be implicated in the plot, and after careful trial vrer? condemned to be shot and were executed. The greatest indignation is everywhere expressed at the cowardly use of poisoa in warfare as practiced at Iquique.-? Picayune. A Farmer Frightens an Army. An Amager farmer, ^oing to towa with his load of cabbages, rau into fttroop of mounted artillery marching oat to drill and scattered panic in the ranks. The war horses ran away leaving tha guns in the road, and one of the artillerymeu, who fell off, was dragged along1 by the stirrups. The farmer, who was as badly scared as the rest, was mads prisoner after the troops had rallied and was fined more than the value of his load . for assault upon the Danish Army.?J/lm York Btcoritr. . .