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I ML DPi. TAIJ1AGE. 1 iTHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN i DAY SERMON. \ r_ _ . . 25abject* "The sin 01 uorrowinj Trouble." Text: "Sufficient unto the day is th ievil thereof"?Matthew vi., 34. I The life of every man, woman and child is as closely under the divine care as though ?uch person were the only man, woman or -child. There are no accidents. As thece ii a law of storms in the natural world, so there is a law of trouble, a law of disaster, a law of misfortune; but the majority of the troubles of life are imaginary, and the most of those anticipated never corns. At any rate, there is no cause of complaint against God. See how much He hath done to make thee happy; His sunshine filling the earth with glory, making rainbow for the storm and halo for the mountain, greenness for the moss, saffron for tbe cloud and crystal for tee fuiow, ana procession or oannereu uuuie through the opening gates of the morning, chaffinches to sing, rivers to glitter, seas to -chant, and springs to blossom, and overpowering all other sounds with its song, and overarching all other splendor with its triumph, covering up all other beauty with its garlands, and outflashin? all other thrones with its dominion?deliverance for a lost world through the Great Redeemer. I I discourse of the sin of borowing trouble. First, such a habit of mind and heart is wrong, because it puts one into a despondency that ill fits him for duty. I planted two rose bushes in my garden. The one thrived beautifully, the other perished. 1 found the dead one on the shady side of the house. Our dispositions, like our plants, need sunshine. Expectancy of repulse is the cause of many secular and religious failures. Fear of bankruptcy has uptorn many a fine business and sent the man dodging among the bote shavers. Fear of slander and abuse has often invited all the long beaked vultures of scorn and DacKDitmg. juany 01 wie uiiaiuitunes of life, like hyenas, flee if you courageously meet them. How poorly prepared for religious duty is * nan who sits down under the gloom of existed misfortune! If he pray, he says, "I do not think I shall be answered." If he give, he says, "I expect they will steal the money." Helen Chalmers told me that her father. Thomas Chalmers, in the darkest horn: of the history of the Free Church of Scotland, and when the woes of tha land seemed to weigh upon his heart, said to th3 children, "Come, let us go out and play ball or fly kite," and the only difficulty in the play was that the children could not keeD up L'aI iL.J_ J.ii TU, wita tneir miu^i. iuc .uwuuct uco <uii wuq Buinmerfields of the church who did the -most good, cultivated sunlight. Away with 4he horrors! they distill poison; they dig graves, and if they could climb so high, they would drown the rejoicings of heaven with obs and wailing. You will have nothing but misfortune in the future if you sedulously watch for it. Bow shall a man catch the right kind of fish If he arranges his line and hook and bait to catch lizards and water serpents? Hunt for tats and hawks and bats and hawks you will find. Hunt for robin redbreasts and you will find robin redbreasts. One night an eagle and an owl got into a fierce battle; the eagle amused to the night was no match for an DWl, wniCQ is most at uumc id vue uiuucn, and the king of the air fell helpless; but the morning: rose, and with it rose the eagle; and the owls and the night hawks and the hats came a second time to the combat; nov?, the eagle, in the sunlight, with a stroke of his talons aud a great cry, cleared the air, and his enemies, with torn feathers and splashed with blood, tumbled into the thickets. Ye are the children of light. In the night of despondency you will have no chance against your enemies that flock up from beneath, cut, trusting in God and stan :ing in the sunshine of the promises, yoa shall "renew your youth like theeagl?.'' Again, the habit of borrowing trouble is wrong because it has a tendency to make us overlook present blessing. To slake man's thirst, the rock is clert, and cool waters leap into his brimming cup. To feed his hunger , the fields bow down with bending wheat, and the cattle come down with full udders from the clover pastures to give him milk, and the orchards yellow and ripen, casting their juicy fruits into his lap. Alas! that amid such exuberance of blessing man should growl as though he were a soldier on < ? oo?Iai? an cV?s\**t q I lnwnnr?a ViaI1. i dUUUO, VI a muvt uu ouu* V ui>v wuw< , that a man should stand neck deep in harvests looking forward to famine; that one should feel the strong pulses of health marching with regular tread through all the avenues of life and yet tremble at the expected assault of sickness; that a man should sit in his pleasant home, fearful that ruthless want will some day rattle the broken window sash with tempest, and sweep the coals froir the hearth, and pour hunger intc the bread tray; that a man fed by Him who cwns all the harvests should expect to starve; that one whom God loves and surrounds with benediction, anl attends with angelic escort, and hover? over with more than motherly fondness, should be looking for a heritage of tears! Has God been hard with thee that thou shouldst be foreboding? Has He stinted thy board? Has He covered thee with rags? Haj He spread traps for thy feet, and gaiiea tuj cup, and rasped thy soul, and wrecked tcee with storm, and thundered upon thee with a 'life full of calamity? If your father or brother come into your bank where gold and silver are lying about you do not watct them, for you mow they are honest; but il an entire stranger coma by the safe you keen your eye on him. for you do not know bis designs. So some men treat God; not a< a Father, but a stranger, and act suspiO' iousiy toward Him, as though they were afraid He would steal something. It is high time you began to thank God for your present blessing. Thank Him foi your children, happy, buoyaut and bounding. Praise Him for your home, with its fountain of song and laughter. Adore Him for morning light and evening shadow. Praise Him for fresh, cool water bubbling from the rock, leapirfg in the cascade, soaring in the mist, falling in the shower, dashing against the rock and clapping its hands in the tempest. Love Him for the grass that cushions the earth, and the clouds that curtain the sky, and the foliage that wavein the forest. Thank Him for a B ble tc 1 cau, au.i a ui \aj a^u, auu a oa. ? iyui to deli ~er. Many Christians think it a bad sign to be jubilant, and their work of selr-examination is a hewing down of their brighter experiences. Like a hoy with a new jackknife, hacking everything he comes across, so their self-examination is a religious cutting to pieces of the greenest things they can lay their hands on. They imagine th?y are doing God's service when they are going about borrowing trouble, and borrowing it at thirty per cent., wlnc'a 13 always a sura procursor of bankruptcy. Again, the habit of borrowing trouble i= wrong because the present is sufficiently taxed with trial. God sees that we all neet a certain amount of trouble, and so He ap portions it for all the days and years of oui life. Alas for the policy of gatnering it a! up for one day or year! Cruel thing to pu upon the back of oue cani9l all the cargo in tended for tbe entire caravan. I never loot at my memorandum oooi to see wnat en gageraents and duties are far ahead. Le every week bear its own burdens. The shadows of to-day are thick enough why implore the presence of other shadows The cup is already distasteful, wny halloo t< disasters far distant to come and wring oui more gall into bitterness? Are we suet champions that, having won the belt it former encounters, we can go forth to chal lenze all the future? Here are business men just able to managi affairs as they now are. They can pay theii rent, and meet their notes, and manage affairs as they now are, but what if ther< should come a panic? Go to-morrow am write on your daybook, on your ledger, 01 your money safe, "Sufficient unto the daj is the evil thereof." Do not worry about notes that are far from due. Do not pile up on vour counting desk the financial anxieties of the next twenty years. The God who ha' taken care of your worldly occupation guarding your store from the touch of th< incendiary and the key of the burglar, wil be as faithful in 1891 as in 1S31. God's hani is mightier than the machinations of stock gamblers, or the plots of political dema gogues, or the red right arm of revolution and the darkness will fly and the storm fal dead at His feet. So there are persons in feeble health, and they are worried about the future. They make out very well now, but they are bothering themselveB about future pleurisies and rheumatisms and neuralgias and fevers. Their eyesight Is feeble, and they are worried lest they entirely lose it. Their hearing Is indistinct, ami they are alarmed lest they I beoome entirely deaf. They felt chilly today, and are expecting an attack of typhoid. They have been troubled for weeks with some perplexing malady, and dread becom* . ing lifefong invalids. Take care of your i health now and trust God for the future. Be not guilty of the blasphemy of asking Him to take care of you while you sleep with < t your windows tight down, or eat chicken ? salad at 11 o'clock at night, or sit down on a cake of ice to cool off. Be prudent and then be confident. Some of the sickest people have been the most useful. It was so with s I Pavson, who died deaths daily, and Robert j Hall, who used to stop in the midst of hl3 . sermon and.lie down on the pulpit sofa to rest, and then go on again. Theoiore Fr? i linghuysen had. a great horror of dying till I the time came, ana then went peacefully. , Take care of the presont an I let the future look out tor itseli. "aufflctent unto the aay i is the evil thereof," 1 Again, the habic of borrowing misfortune < is wrong because it unfits us for it when it j actually does come. We cannot always have j smooth sailing. Life's path will sometimes \ tumble among declivities and mount a steep < and be thorn pierced. Judas will kiss our ( J cheek and then sell us for thirty pieces of j silver. Human scorn will try to crucify us < ! between two thieves. We will hear the iron 1 gate of the sepulcher creak and grind as it j shuts in our kindred. But we cannot get ready for these things by forebodings. They I who fight imaginary woes will come, out of I breath, into conflict with the armed disasters of the future. Their ammunition will have been wasted long before they come ' under the guns of real misfortune. Boys in E attempting to jump a wall sometimes go so 5 far back in order to get impetus that when c they come up they ar? exhausted; and these ? long races in order to get spring enough to vault trouble brinp; us up at last to the [ dreadful reality with our strength gone. Finally, the habit of borrowing trouble is E wrong utrc-iuac iu is uuuguoi, . ised to take care of us. The Bible blooms [ with assurances. Your hunger will be fed; ; your sickness will be alleviated; your sorrows ' will be healed. God will sandal your feet and [ smooth your path, and along by frowning j crag ana opening grave sound the voices of victory and good cheer. The summer clouds that seem thunder charged really cirry in their bosom harvests of wheat, and shocks of corn, and vineyards purpiing for the wine press. The wrathful wave will kiss the feet of the great storm walker. Our great Joshua will command, and above your soul the sun of prosperity will stand still. Bleak and wave struck Patmos shall have apocalyptic vision, and you shall hear the cry of the elders, and the sweep of wings, and trumpets of salvation, and the voice of Hallelujah unto lioi for ever. Your way may wind along dangerous bridle paths and amid wolf's howl and the scream of the vulture, but the way still winds upward till angels guard it, and trees of life overarch it, and throne3 line it, and crystalline fountains leap on it, and the pathway ends at gates that are pearl, and streets that are gold, an l temples that are ^always open, and hills that qua'ie with per""'petual song, and a city mingling forever -in KiIoq or>rl friiimnVt orvt OttUUilbU QUU juuiito uuu v* iuiu^'u uum w*w nation. Let pleasure chant her siren song, 'Tls not the gong for me; To weeping It will torn e'er loay, For tnls is heaven'? decree. But there's a song the ransomed slnj, f To Je?us. their exalted kins. With joyful heart and tongue, . Oh, tttat' b the song for me! Courage, my brother! The father does 1 not give to his son at school enough money j to last him several years, but, as the bills for j tuition and board and clothing and books } come in, pays them. So God will not give ( you grace all at once for the future, but will j meet all your exigencies as thev come. c Through earnest prayer, trust Him. Eut { everything in God's hand, and leave it there. { Large interest money to pay will soon eat up t a farm, a store, an estate, and the interest t on borrowed troubles will swamp anybody, t 'Sufficient unto the day is tha evil thereoL" 8 WORDS OF WISDOM. 3 " ?l *\ r We're never to old to unlearn. a The grief which all hearts shave, 0 grows less for one. I Beware of the man who feigns to be ? amused when he is angry. An average awkward squad makes a good display of a wheel within a wheel. It's always more agreeable to tell the - i A- _ ? 1 4.1 truin auout one & neiguuura uiau uw o self. ! The mail who has to hoe his own row , is foolish to befoul the soil with wild cats. ; You cannot repeat too soon, because i you do not know how soon it may be too ' late. Some people seem to imagic e that preordination offers an excellent excuse for a life failure. Our generation appears to a thought1 ful mind ungirt aud frivolous compared with the last a<?e. | One reason why some people are not so ! wicked as others is because they haven't i had so good a chance. bimpncity is tne last attainment 01 , progressive literature, and many are afraid of being natural from the dread of being taken for ordinaryMankind is always happier for having been happy; if you make them happy V now, you make them happy twenty years a hence by the memory of it. * Our life is determined for us; and it 11 makes the mind very free when we give is up wishing, and only think of bearing ci what is laid upon us, and doing what is tl given us to do. ? A clown who w smart in his profession w may achieve quite a reputation, but a ^ i minister who is a buffoon loses the hitrh ; honor of the sanctuary and fails to gain ? | even the poor applause of a circus. w Imitations are always adulterations, f Let everyoDe be himself?but his best o eelf, not his worst self. There arc two selves in every self. Bring out into ? dominance the angel and subordiaste o the animal. f2 P Forging by Electricity. p ; An exhibition was recently given in ^ Boston by Mr. George D. Burton, of ai , that city, to Professor Van De Wride, p r of the Cooper Institute, New York; 1 1 Doctor Wiliiam H.' Wahl, Secretary of a * the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia; I> I Mr. C. E. Robinson, of the Manufacturer t and Builder, of New York, and half a * dozen nther men. The exhibition was 1 of processes of forging and tempering b t by electricity of obdurate metals. One n experiment was the melting into liquid w ; form of a bar of steel an inch in diain- o \ eter and twelve inches long in forty- S t five seconds, without the temperature of 1 the room being raised a single decree ^ ' from its normal condition. 0 Another thing shown was the making t< 5 of a steel railroad spike. The bar is cut j into the required length, the pieces ? , passed through the electrical machine, j, i where one end i3 heated, and then to 1 a die, which shapes the head on the c heated end, the poiut being compressd j into shape without heating. Another ex- , i hibit was the forming of an auger p * screw, the flat bar of iron being fas- a ^ tened in the machine at the two ends 1 1 and heated almost instantly, and then I twisted into the required spiral by the automatic turn of the machine. A little p machine is devised for making spheric?! i ball bearings, such as are used for bi- ^ cycles, etc. While the exhibit was ip. 0 progress to-day a cablegram was received from the Krupps, the great gun d makers of Germany, in furtherance of t negotiations for the rights of the in- p I vention in Germany and other countries o : of the European continent. e TEMPERANCE. REAPING TIME. Be temperate, my son; don't indulge in the cup Avoid what's called, "going on toots," Dt you'll find yourself trying to lift yourself "P. Some day, by the straps of your boots. ?New York Press. FRANCIS MURPHY TREATS. A short, thick-set man, with silver stroak3 in his hair and bushy mustache, stood in the rotunda of the Grand Pacific yesterday and talked earnestly to a group of reporters that encircled him. "Friends," he said, "it is very warm. Let us go to my room and have & long drink." This startled the young men, for the speaker had never said such sweet words before. But recovering quickly, they followed the man to his room, fle rang for i bellboy, and when the messenger arrived the host said: "Bring us four nice, large sparkling glasses of ice water." Then all was juiet. You could have heard a couple of pins drop, anil each reporter had a different ?xpression on either side of his face. The lost was Francis Murphy, the famous temperance lecturer.?Chicwjo Herald. A QUESTION THAT WILL NOT DOWN. This (the drink evil) is a great public quesion. It appeals to every honest man's heart, ind is a reproach to every honest man's conicience. It wrings the very soul of our noble nothers, who see a hell-trap set by sccicty on ivery corner for the destruction of their beoved. Politicians may ignore it?conventions nav keep silent about it: but this issue is irrepressible." It will not down. It claims i solution, and it will have a solution in ac:ord with the dictates of humanity, Chrisianity and civilization, before the eries of ts victims cease to echo through the aching ihambersof our hearts?before our coniciences cease to cringe before the shame of t. How long, O brothers, will it ba before ve will begin to be honest with ourselves and vith each other??Farmers' Alliance, Lin oln, Neb. UERMAS BEER MOURNERS. Itappear3 that recently some German students, desirous of commemorating Count Von Moltke, under the leadership of a pastor of a local church who was master ot ceremonies, drank a solemn "Trauer-Salaman der" in his memory. Any American min ister who should lend himself to such a beer drinking ceremony in the name of mourning, in this country, would give rise to a great scandal. It is a striking illustration of the backwardness of the temperance reform in Germany, that such a ceremony could take place and be nothing thought ot as peculiar or exceptional in that country. The agita tion for total abstinence on this side of tht Atlantic, though it has not prevented a stilJ enormous consumption of intoxicauts, has, especially in religious circles, deprived social drinking usages of much of their old-time respectability. Let the agitation continue and inorease.?National Advocate. A FORM OF ROBBERY. The Toledo Blade, referring to the saloon, >ay.<: "It is clear that the saloon is a form of obbery. It robs the family of its victims >f the necessaries and comforts the money ivasted in rum would buy, and it robs every legitimate business in the city of the money ;hat would be paid for them. The saloon is ;he worst enemy of the business of any city. Consider how much money a saloon must ake in daily, and multiply it by the number >f saloons in the city; multiply this in turn )y the 363 days in the year, and you will lave before you the sum wasted in your own own or city through rum trafic. Aud it ie o be remembered that the saloons prevent he earning of nearly as much monev by detroying the capacity for work. The drunkard cannot do as pood a day's work as a so>er man, and he loses the time spent is his tebauches, and in the inevitable "sobering" rocess. As he goes on, and becomes more md more the slave of rum, he becomes more ndmore incapable of steady labor, until ho nil not work at all except when he can in I io other way obtain the rum to satisfy bis ravings. INTEMPERANCE AND CRIME. The saloon brings dire disaster to the whole social fabric. It loads down our crim inal calendar. We are living in a fortunate period of time; the country is at peace with foreign nations: there is no civil strife within its borders; no agrarian war; no conflict of classes has occurred. Yet our jails and work-houses are crowded; our criminal courts are never void of culprits; our police force?, though large, are too small for the work allotted to them. What is the cause? 1 answer: Alcohol. Intemperance is not the sole crime of the day, nor is it the sole cause of other crimes which men commit. Butas Chief Justice Noak Chase, of New York, says: "Among all th<s causes of crime intemperance stands out the unapproachable chief." In addition to specific rum crimes, alcohol begets numberless others, inasmuch as it awakens the lower appetites, and breaks down all moral barriers. It is the fruitful feeder of immorality, theft, rapine, murder. It suggests to the mind the thought of crime; it gives the animal excitement needed for deeds of violence, it silences consciences ivhen the deed has Deen done. How often after horrid crimes, which affright in his ober moments the wrong-doer himself, we hear from him the excuse?Whisky did it!? Archbishop Ireland. THE PROBLEM OF INTEMPERANCE. Intemperance is a vice of human natnre. Fhile the liquor traffic encourages and inreases the vicious tendency of men and omen, the vice is back of and more firmly Doted and difficult of destruction than the alllc. The aim of the true temperance reformer ! to lift men to a higher manhood, to a self ontroling spirit. The resources to effect his end are various and ample. The order nd method of their application requires the ighest wisdom and skill. It requires the isdom that cometh down from above. For these reasons we have no specific to ofjr. The solution of the problem of intemerance must be by the act of God, who hai >lved other problems of humauity, and who rill solve this. He will do it through tho eople because it must be done in the people, he manner and time of His leading us out f Egypt do not yet appear. To the human side of the question the peole must address themselves. Tho question lust not be dismissed from the public mind r thrown off the public conscience and earr. it must continue to be talked about 1 private and public, and discussed in the eriodical and on the platform and in the ulpit. But more light must be prayed for. l universal concordant waiting upon God ill unify tho people, and prepare tuem for rtion. His providence will point out the nth of duty. From all envy and strife, om all clamor and evil speaking, from all ndue reliance on men and measures, let us jme back to God.?American Temperance 'eview. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. This temperance movement is the very ud and blossom of the Christianity of the ineteenth ceutury. China now has a National W. C. T. U. ith the necessary equipment of general fficers?fifteen Vice-Presidents and nine uperintendents of Department*. The Rev. John McNeil, of London, assured n audienca lately that he owed his success I life to having become a member of the rood Templar Lodge at Inverkip in his flf jenth year. "A Presbyterian church," says Dr. Theoore Cuyler, "is not properly manned until aere stands in its pulpit an uncompromisig teetotaler. If you put a bottle on the ulpit it will trickle into every pew of the onf,'regation." The annual report of the British Woman's emperance Association, recently issued, tates that tho past year has been tho uiost rogrossive one in its history. There are in II 4'i5 societies, extending throughout vventy counties, the Isle of Man and tho Isle f Jersey. The Rev. Mr. lleidenger, of Findlav, Ohio, a harmony with his couviction of duty reached against the saloons, and the saxmists, availing themselves of the best rguments at their command, bombarded lis house with stones and brickbats tho ther night. The society for the abolition of strong [rink in Holland certifies that in a populaion of 3,500,000 there are 35,000 licenses for he sale of liquor annually granted. Comuting two-thirds of the total population to >e women and children, there is a saloon to very thirty-three men; a woeful condition. SABBATH SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR U. Lesson Text: "The True Children ol God," John vili., 31-47? Golden Text: John i.t 12--Commentary. 81. "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed." He is still at Jerusalem, teaching in the temple (versa 2), and it is just after the feast of tabernacles. The previous verse says that many believed on Him; so, also say chapters iv., 89, 41; x., 42; xii., 42; but chapter vi., 66, says that many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him, and after His ascension we read of the number of the disciples as being only about 120. 32. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." To know the truth is to kn$w- Himself, for He is the Troth (chap, xiv., 6), and to know God and j Jesus Christ is life eternal (chap, xvii., 3). I 83. "They answered Him, We be Abra ham's seed, and were uever ic Donaage to any man. How sayest Thou, ye shall "be made free." Being only natural men, they unaerstood not His spiritual sayings, for it seemed foolishness to them (I Cor. ii.,14). To be a descendant of Abraham, and to hare been circumcised, was in their eyes all that was necessary to entitle them to eternal happiness. (Gen. xv., 6: Rom. 4, 11; x., 3, 4). 34. "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." As the Spirit through Paul has said, "lo whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." 35. "And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever We cannot become children of .God by natural birth, nor bv any works of the flesh, but only by receiving into us something of God, even His Son Jesus Christ as our Righteousness and our Salvation. 36. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." The Righteousness of God stood before them and was talking to them, but they knew Him not. In Him, and in Him only, was there Life and Light and Righteousness; all else apart from Him was only sin, darkness and death. 37. "I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because My Word hath no place in you." They were children of Abraham by natural descent, but they were not like Abraham spiritually, for Abraham rejoiced in the Christ (verse 56), but i.1 *_ 1.111 u;? r?in on/1 uuvy nauicu i,\j n-m uiui, wvu vmu u.uv* Abel were the natural children of Adam and Eve, but spiritually Abel was of God while Cain was of the devil (fieb. xL, 4; I Johniii., 8,12). 38. "I speak that which I have seen with My Father, and ye do that which ve have seen with your father." As to His Father, He was continually speaking of Him. proclaiming that the Father sent Him, ana that He said and did only what the Father taught Him; that the Father was with Him, and that He always pleased the Father; that to know Him was to know the Father (verses 16, 18, 19, 28, 29). His whole aim on this earth was to glorify the Father, and when about to be crucified He prayed the Father would glorify Him that still He might glorify the Father. 39. "Theyanswered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children ve . would do the works of Abraham." They I still cling to the idea of natural descent being ' sufficient, but John the Baptist had taught them the folly of saying. "We have Abraham to our father" (Math, iii., 9); and on a previous occasion Jesus had taught at Ca pernaum that many would come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom, while many who thought themselves entitled to do so would be cast into outer darkness ^Matt. viii., 11, 12). 40. "But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. * This did not Abraham." The true children of Abraham will walk in the steps of Abraham (Rom. iv., 12), and his great characteristic was that he believed the word of God and acted accordingly. Rooking for a city which hath foundations he was content to dwell in the promised land as a sojourner. 41. "fe do the deeds of your father. Then said they to Him, We be not burn of fornication; we have one Father, even God." In Isa. Ixiii., 10; Ixiv., 8, we find these words, "Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of up, and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from ororlooHnff " "H T.nrv? Thnn Art", nur Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand." These are about the only places in the Old Testament where God is directly spoken of as Father, but if they had any reference to such words as these the comparison of the clay would condemn them, for they were hard hearted as rock rather than as clay, which could be fashioned by the potter. 42. "Jesus said unto them, If God were your father ye would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me." The Lord had said through Malachi, A son honoreth his father and a servant his master: if j then I be a father, where is mine honor (Mai. i., 6)? And in John v., 23, Jesus had said, "He that hofioreth not the Son, honoretb not the Father which hath sent Him." These people profess to bB children of Abraham, but do not his work; they call themselves children of God, but they hate Him wlnm God sent, even His only begotten Son. 43. "Why do you not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word." "Through faith" is the only way to understand (Heb. xi., 3), and if the disciples understood not many things till after Fentecost, even though they believed in Him (chaoter xii., 16; xiv.. 9), how could these people understand anything when they had no raith in Him whatever; and here is the reason of their blindness, and of the blindness and hardness of heart of all who are like them?they will not receive the word of God. 44. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." He had twice told them that they acted like their father (verses 38, 41), and now He says plainly who their father is. At another tim9 He calls them serpents, generation of vipers (Math, xxiii., 33),probably with reference to thnfc old seruent. the devil, and their likeness to him. 4". ' 'And because I tell you the truth ye ' believe Me not." Paul asks, ,!\m X therefore become your onetny because I tell you the truth?" (Gal. iv., 16). Truth is to a heart that loves lies liks salt to a wound unhealed, or like a strong light to weak eyes. 40. "Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if 1 say the truth, why do ye not believe Me." They could not convict Him of sin, for thero was no sin in Hiin; He knew no pin; He did no sin; He was without sin (I Johniii., 5; II Cor. v., 21; I Pet. ii., 22). Even Judas had to confess that He was an innocent man. 47. "He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear the:n not, because ye are not of God." Not of God, not of my sheep, neither part nor lot in thj matter (chapter x., 26; Acts viii., 21). There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever wor^eth abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life (tiev. xri., 27). Let the questions earnestly search our hearts: "Am i oi God? D:> I love to hear His word? Are His words more to me than any other words? Is His Book more enjoyed than any book in the house?" If I cannot ?'ve a sincere and hearty, "Yes, blessed be is name" to such questions as these, I should fear lest while bearing His name 1 am still in darkness?Lesson Helper. The New l'ork Sun, in defending the Prince of Wales, seems to take the position that when a man is a libertine, drunkard and gambler it is all right ii ho will only say so in an open and manly way. This is doubtful. People pet out of patience with too muoh oJ that .sort of thing. Mks. Chaska is seeking a divorct from her Sioux bravo. What! Tired already of the tepee, and yearning fo) the ways of the civilized? When tho dime museums fail, the noble red < man seems to pall upon the civilized appetito. ... J ' REL1GI0 US_RE ADING. ' EVERY EYE SHALL SEE niM.w Revelation i., 7. When first to this polluted earth The holy Saviour came, So humble was His place of birth, Few cared to know His name. Hi3 lowly form no comeliness To mortal eye po.-sessed; No Beauty in His grief-marred face Revealed the heavenly Guest. Rut lrv? TxrltVi r?lrmH<a TTp pnmpd The crown upon liis brow; And every eve shall see Him then, And every" knee shall bow. Thine eye, O Thou with soldire's spear, Or with more cruel dart Of unbelief, reproach, or sneer, Who pierced the Saviour's heart. Thine eye, 0 Thou in pride who dosfc His great salvation scorn, Or by neglect Thy soul has lost, Shall look on Him and mourn. Thine eye, 0 weak and trembling saint, Whom sin makes often sad. Who, though pursuing, oft are faint, Shall see Him and be glad. Thine eye, 0 Thou whose faith Is bright With joy in One unseen, Shall see Thine everlasting light, Without a cloud between. Oh! blessed hope, oh! jnvful thought, For those who know His grace, That whpn tho fight of faith is fought They shall behold His face! To work and wait, to watch and pray, With lamps kept burning clear, Be this our service day by day, Until the Lord appear/ , 1 ?("London Christian. GOOD HOMES. There Is nothing that society or church needs so mucb as it does good homes, and the power and charm of the home is most of all the mother. Every tendency is therefore to be deprecated that operates to cheapen woman's maternal possibilities, and to make it appear that she can subserve her mission just as well outside of domestic relations as within them. I believe that it is good sense and^ood Scripture to say that about the best thing that can be asked of a woman is that she should marry a man, have health enomrh to bear children, and mind and womanliness enough to fit those children to be useful members of society.?[Rev. C. H. Parkhurst. FACES TOWARD THE LIGHT. The sick ouite unive: sally lie with their faces toward the light. This is very noticeable in the wards of a large hospital. As you pass from bed to bed, ask one of these pale faces why they all are moved by this common impulse, nc cuiiuck. uuower. xuc reason is deeper down than his understanding. He doe9 so naturally, he does not know the reason why. Just as it is the nature of plants to Vend toward the window and reach out after the light, so a law written deep down in our spiritual, as well as in our physical nature, causes every soul to reach out after the light. Human wisdom and philosophy are but artificial limb's which will not satisfy the 6oul in its reaching out after God, any more than an electric, or any other light however bright, would adequately substitute the lifegiving rays of the sun in the home of growintr niants. . What this world, sick with sin, wants and longs for today more than anything else, is to have its face turned toward the Sun of liichteousness. It is this universal instinct of the soul that gives to preaching its success, snd to every Christian service its benediction of reward. How many are today unhappy, simply because in th'rir nature, deeper dowu than their understanding, there is a reaching out after God, and heaven and sacred things, while at the same time, in wicked rejection of the Saviour, the sinner is turning his face away from Christ and the light.?[Lutheran Ob server. REDEEMED 8INXER9. "Who gave Himself to U9, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar peopl What, then, was His object? To redeem us. to buy us back from bondage, to save us by the payment of a ransom price, not only from the punishment of sin, but from its power, from its pollution, from its foul and hideous embrace, no lees than from its swords and its chains. It was to set us free from sin itself that Christ redeemed us; not from some sin, but from all sin; not that we should still remain or afterward fall back under the dominion of the very tyrant from whose power He redeemed us; not that we should merely exchange one hard master for another, or for many; no. He "gave Himself for us," He laid down His life for us, He died upon the cross for us, "that He might redeem us trom all iniquity." Xor was this deliverance from sin as well as punishment intended merely for our advantage, but for His. He had an end to accomplish for himself. He died to purify us, not merely that we might be pure, and therefore happy, but also to purify a people for nimself. Of none but a purified and holy body could he be the head. JustiwnnlH hnvn ilnnp hut hftlf thp Wfirk for which Christ died ; His end would not have been accomplished if He had not redeemed us from iniquity as well as condemnation, if he had not purified a people for H mself, for His own use and His own honor?a people in their measure like Himself. His exclusively. His own forever. His inalienable right. His indefeasible possession, His peculiar people.?[Dr. J. Alexander. BOME GIRLS' WAYS. It was Saturday morning in a big farmhouse kitchen. Nell was bending over the sink picking a chicken, with a decided scowl on her face;Hattie was kneading bread, with an expression of grim determination suitable for a soldier scaling bis enemies' breastworks; and Susan was shellincr peas, her pretty face spoiled by the settled discontent about the mouth. The girls were not , talking?they never talked while they I worked?but they often spoke sharply and utikimliy. Work was to them a separate state of existence in which the Christian graces played no part. Did 1 leave mv whip in there?" asked a hesitating voice at the door and a boy in a bi^r straw liat appeared behind the voice. No.'" snapped Nell, "but's a wonder you didn't, for you are always leaving something around for us to tread on." ' It has fallen down under your chair, Susan.*' he said, coming in to pies it up. ' Ned, you are always bothering somebody, '* fretted Susan, while she arose with ungraciousness in every movement. 'Father called me to"eome quick and catch the chicken, and I stood it in the corner," replied Ned, rougulv, and gladly made bis escape. That same morning in a neighboring farmhouse kitchen, Lucy was kneading the bread as deftly as Hattie, but at the same time planning with Helen and Grace how to earn money for their mission-boxes; Grace had a funny story to tell while she washed the dishes; and Helen told tbem of the meadow-lark she saw while picking the strawberries that she was now hulling for the strawberry short-cake for dessert. 6am came in with an armful of wood ami threw it noisily into the woodbft\, twitched (trace's curl', made believe to dive LS hand in Lucy's pmi of flour, snatched the largest strawberry from Helen's dish, and pranced out whistling a Sunday-school hymn. The girls smoothed out the little smite that Sam's tactics always brought to their faces, and bepm to sing his hymn, being e< hocd by Fanny, who was sweeping the front stairs. Which family do vou belong to, girls?? [Advocate and'Guardian. The Earl of Dudley Is soon to wed Miss Letty Lind, the fascinating "skirt" dancer, whom theater-goers may remember as the possessor of limbs as elastic as her notions of the conventionalities. .The Iferl is 24 years old, and the down is ju4c beginnirg to sprout on his upper lip. Miss Lind is the mother of a hearty 12-year-old dauglv ter. This is nothing new. Mauy in the first ranks of the Er glish nobility are descended from unions quite as queer as this. It takes but a generation or two. often but a year or two. to blend disrepute with the best blueblooded families. MARINE MONSTERS. A TRIBE OP FISHES WITE WEIRD CHARACTERISTICS. The Stingray, Dreaded by Tropica] Fishermen ?Sea Devils Thirty Feet Long Which Attack and Carry Off Vessels. "There are no mdre curious fishes ic the-world than those which belong tc the order of ravs." said an iclithvolo gist to a "Washington Star reporter, "Certain members of the family are familiar enough under tho name ol 'skates.' Their only fault is ugliness ol aspect. You have to go to tropical vraters in order to find the dangerous and otherwise extraordinary members ol this tribe. "Not the least unpleasant of them ii the 'stingray,' which is quite common in Florida waters. Imagine a gigantic flat fish with great fleshy wings; give it a breadth across of seven feet, a length of twelve feet and a powerful tail armed with an ivory dart ten inches in length. Such is this remarkable animal, which has caused the death of many an unwary fisherman. It i3 slow of motion, lying on the bottom and enjoying life harmlessly unless interferred with. But once disturbed it is a dangerous creature to encounter. When alarmed it lashes its tail, and woe to him in whose flesh the caudal weapon sticks. The latter is a needle-shaped instrument, with tha keenest possible point, aod on both sides for its entire length it is armed with barbs, pair upon pair, so that when once struck in it cannot bo withdrawn except by cutting it out. Of its kind it is the most formidable weapon with which any animal is equipped by nature. "This 'sting,'as the fishermen call it, is chiefly dangerous because of the slime with which it is covered. Tlie lattfer gangrenes the wound it makes, so that blood poisoning is apt to set in, and fre quently the loss of a limb, if not of life, results. I myself once met a man who had nearly died from stepping upon the dart of a dead stingray, which, though its former owner had long since passed away, stuck up in the sandy bottom of a shallow lagoon. My friend's foot was thrust through by it while he was wading for crabs. When one of these oreatures is dragged into a boat the utmost care has to be exercised lest it wound its captor by the switching of its tail. One who walks in the shallows of a southern river finds it very unpleasant to see occasionally a section of what has appeared to be the bottom, perhaps several feet in diameter, move slowly away iust as he is about to step upon it. The animal assumes a likeness in color to the sand or mud where it finds its home, in order shat prey may approach it without tuspecting the presence of the lurking monster. "The stingray is sometimes called the clam cracker,' tuecauseit is able to break the shell of the toughest quahaug as easily as the operation can be performed with a hammer. Its upper jaw is furnished with a sort of mosaic pavement of teeth, with which it is able to smash the hardest substances. To oyster beds the creature is a deadly enemy, and where its species are numerous the bivalves have to be protected with fences. Crab3, sea snails and squids furnish a large part of its diet. "When it loses its 'sting' by an accident another one grows. It is sold for eating purposes in the New Orleans markets. The meat is very pecular and quite unlike anything else, the muscular tissue composing the wings being of so coarse a texture that, after the flesh has been boiled, one can dissect the fibers out upon one's plate. These wing are merely pectoral fins enormously developed. They, as well as similar parts of skates and ottier rays, are sold in con siderable quantities at San Francisco to the French and Italians, who value them for the table. Skate tails are largely eaten on the Pacific coast by the Chinese and Mexicans. The stingray produces from three to nine living young at a Aood, but its cousin, the fomidable 'sea devil,' gives birth to but a single offspring at a time, in which respect it is probably unique among the iinny tribe. "Much of the rc mance that has been written abotit the sea devil or true devil fish is based on fact. It is one of the most dangerous monsters of the deep, at all events when attacked. Animals are formidable in two ways?they possess a natural ferocity which impels them to attack, or they may be fierce in self defense. The soa devil will always run away if it can, but it is a most perilous beast to encounter when defending itself. To begin with it is of enormous size, often measuring thirty feet from tip to tip of its mighty wings, and its muscular power is so enormous that many,cases are well authenticated where it has Rp-ttiftllv r.nrriGd awav small vessels, hav iog become fouled with the anchor lines. There is on record an account of a specimen captured off Barbadoes which was of such vast bulk that seven oxen were required to draw it over the land. 'The sea devil will undoubtedly assail boats if attacked, and stories are told of its swamping such small craft bv extending one of its great wings out of the water and dragging crew and bark under the sea with n flap of the giant fin. It has two great horns or fleshy protuberances extending forward from its head, which assist it in grasping its prey. Being carnivorous in its habits there is every reason for supposing that it would devour a man if such a victim should happen into its clutch. Accounts are given of its assailing divers, swooping upon them from above, so that the unfortunate beholds a living cloud settling over him with eager jaws to gobble, while helpless to escape the horrible embrace. However, it is doubtful if there is any truth in such tales. Doubtless, with its tremendous bulk and double fleshy beak to grab with, this mighty ray must be an awful adversary to tackle. It is said to be particularly fierce when accompanied by its offspring. You may find in the sea devil a curious illustration of nature's system for adjusting reproduction. The cod lajs several hundred thousand eggs at a spawning, bccausc nearly all of them must necessarily be lost while floating on the waves, and those which batch are mostly devoured. But the sea devil, which produces but a single young one at a time, retains the latter until the infant creature is from four to six feet in length, so that when born it is able to take cure of itself, and is in no danger of being destroyed. 'More remarkable, perhaps, than even the sea devil is another member of the ray tribe, most familiar under the name of 'torpedo' or 'cramp Ash.' It has two complete electric batteries on either of his head, constructed after the approved scientific principles. Each dfc [ them consists of about 470 cells in tM?9 shape of six-sided tubes placed side W| side. The walls of these cells are with nerve tissue and each one is AIl0V?g with a clear, trembling jelly. Predsdjjt.J how many volts this duplex galvatfigl apparatus is capable of administering hlMM never been determined, but frequenfcsajgH perience has shown the power to be ; ticient to knock down and temponBMBH i paralyze a man. Natives in Central . erica are said to make a practice oC , driving wild horses into water wher?!^ . cramp fish are, in order that the lattWv| f may stun the frightened quadrapeds aadT ! make them??y to capture. 60 that tk'M [ shock shall be administered, the obj0Cfc i must be brought into contact at ' points with the torpedo, thus completojjaB the electric circuit. Scientific men 4 t gard this as one of the most interesttt?j&| of natural phenomena. Two other ki&jfetffl of animals possess galvanic batteries?*-?? catfish and an eel. The two latter hat* ? the storage cells situated in their tafl*Sgj| In all three cases the electricity is merdraffi transformed nervous energy. The oil ofT the cramp fish is commonly believed to-' be good for rhematism and cramps. " "Saw fishes belong to the order o? * rays, although their bodies have thir^ shape of ordinary fishes. They swipijfl wholly with their tails and the ICMrafl weapons which adorn their noses merely prolongations of the snout, arnjoAH , on either side with teeth in sockete covered with rough skin of great tougj^.|2 ness. With this formidable instnuiMM^^ they attack their prey, tearing ptecetfrajg flesh from its body or ripping open ttmw abdomen to leed upon the intestine* <(^19 the victim. There is something ooal-;'3B tively abnormal about all these cre&taniftE called rays. They suggest the notion fishes antediluvian and it is not suprifiomn to find many large and cxtinct sped*-*! among the fossils ot vanished epochs.^; How Electricity Kills. ' Electricity kills by paralyzing tb? I nerve centres, such as the brain and ?pl> ;;^ nal cord, and by disintegrating the ^ blood. Three-fourths of the body, okjEi more, is composed of water which MKjfijai the blood. The flow of blood cannot disturbed without causing instant dsatiu^^ In ordinary deaths the blood is fotmd to. be coagulated and the heart empty. deaths by electricity the blood refuses cogulate, and the head is always fqljk>|| The paralysis of the nerve centres, however, is the primary cause of death. AJ&-&H tremendous shock would havo the saa^ilM effect, so far as paralysis aod death art. /<$ concerned. The members are over-stimiii- ^ lated and death occurs at once. As to $ why electricity should affect the ner^j||jj centres we can scarcely understand, b^'gai it certainly does so. There seems to W.'l a physical change in the blood, an actqjp|?[ interchange of parts. We know that tasQi positive pole tends to coagulate thle^f blood. It attracts acids and hydrogfe^Jj The negative pole attracts alkalies and -*|5s hydrogen, and tends to make the fluid. Possibly it is the opposing actiool i^ of these two poles that makes the ch?og|i^fl in the blood. It doesn't seem to tear tissue or cause grave lesions, bat & fflifOj of the capillary blood vessels, the vay-'lffij small ones, are generally ruptured. Elec-tf ^ tricity is such a tremendous force whatttpg used for killing that it is difficult analyze its effect. It never fails to if a sufficient voltage, say 1600 volts* I*' % used and the electrodes are properly justed. When it fpils to kill it is becaua* . -i the voltage is not sufficient, or the poinii^i of contaGt are not properly made. A % current of 1600 volts, with small eieetrodes, may not be equal in its effects to* one of 1000 volts with electrodes of considerable size. The rule is that larger the'point of contact tha less the: resistance. An expert, speaking on thavr^ subject, said: "I think that all oftha^^ primarily fatal effects of electricity ae?:',^g due to one of three causes, which distinct bnt inseparable, and each cap*ble of producing death, if sufficient!*powerful. The most prominent of thesa is the forcible contraction of the cles, which may be drawn so tightlj about the arteries as to produce congestion and stop the action of the heaxt* If you have taken a shock from any bat- 1 v tery, such, for instance, as used to bo^if operated on the streets, you will re meatber that one of the tirst sensations was- _ 5 as if all the nerves were being pulled from you, and that this was followed ttLL xui^i-Luaiavn vv/ uwuuw iuav iwmm ' the result of contraction of the muscles.1*; ' Edison testifies that working people more resistance' than those who do not work, but that 1000 volts of an";V alternating current, or of a cantinuoaa ~'j. current which is broken or interrupted often, is sufficient to cause instant and painless death." Dr. Cyrus Edson say*: 4'I think that death by elsctricity is entirely painless. Electricity is quicker than sensation, and uncenaciousness if '- >} produced at once. In the case of death ~',M by electricity the nerves would be par&l- ' vzed before they could inform the man that he was being injured,so there would ^ J be no sensation."?Boston Transcript. " ^ Macaroni. Macaroni is a very peculiar product of ? ? wheat, formerly made only in Italy, and -4.:n 1--1 SLlll [jupuitti lj! IC^aiUCU (H ? UUbiUgUUUVl* diet of the natives of that country. "..'Jg The name is now applied only to the larger pipes, and the smaller ones us 'known as vermicelli, though there is no real difference between the two except k the size of the tubes. The wheat isground, with the use of heat and moisture, into a s.ort of lineal or paste called. X/j semola, from which the bran is ex- ..raj eluded. This meal is made into ? '"J dough, with water, and is forced ^ thzough gauges, from which it emerge* as macaroni or vermicelli, the process resembling that of lead pipe drawing. i$jj Special varieties of wheat, those contain*ing the largest proportion of giutenr are demanded for the successful manufacture of macaroni.?Farm and Firetida* i _ -m An Illinois Pearl of Price. The pearl-hunting craze has been rew : vived by the finding by Mr. James Mawn, of Kappa, 111., in a mussel from the Mackinaw River, the largest and most perfect pearl ever taken from that stream. It is as large as a very large pea, and is perfectly globular, without a flaw and of tine color. The find has v created much excitement and the banks of the river are thronged with peart hunter3. The Mackinaw is a winding stream, which is crossed by the Chicago and Alton at Lexington and the Illinois Central at that point and empties into the Illinois below Pekin. A great manj 3 pearls, some of quite good si:ie, have g been found in it, especially near Kappa*? ?St. Louis Ityublic.