Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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{ , BEY. DR. TALMAGE, jJTHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SC DAY SERMON. Subject: "What Were We MadeFoi Text: "To this end was I born.1'?Jo Xviii., 37. After Pilate had suicided, tradition sa XL.*. l:_ I .1 i.u. OVL mai ms oouy was tarown into laa iitx and such storms, ensued on and about tb river that his body was taken out a thrown into tho Rhone, and similar di turbances swept that river and its ban! ?Theu the body was taken out and i moved to Lausaune and put into a deer pool, which immediately became the cent of similar atmospheric and aqueous d turbances. Though these are fanciful ai false traditions, thev show the execratii with which the world looked upon Pilate, was before this man when he was in full li and power that Christ was arraigned in a court of oyer and teraiiner. Pilate sa to his prisoner, "Art Thou a king, then and Jesus answered, "To this end was bom." Sure enough, although all earth ai hell arose to keep Him down. He is tod! empaliieed, enthrone 1 and coronated king i earth and king of heave-. "To this end w I born." That is what He came for and th was what He accomplished. By the time a child reaches ten years age the parents begin to discover that chilc deetiny; but by the time he or she reach fifteen years of age the question is on tl child's lips: "What am 1 to be? What a I going to be? What was I made for?" is a sensible and righteous question, anl tl youth ought to keep on asking it until it so full}* answered that the young man ortl young woman can say with as much tru as its author, though on a less expansi scale, "To this end was I born." There is too much divine skill shown in tl physical, mental and moral constitution the ordinary human being to suppose th he was constructed without any aivine pi pose. If you take me out on some vast pla and show me a pillared temple surmounted 1 a dome like St. Peter's, aud having a flo of precious stones, and arches that must ha taxed the brain of the greatest draftsman design, and walls scrolled and niched ai paneled and wainscoted and painted, anc should ask you what this building was p up for, and you answered, "For nothing ill," how could I believe you? ,> And it is impossible for me to believe th any ordinary human being who has in b muscular, nervous and cerebral organizatii Jnore wonders than Christopher Wren lift in St. Paul's, or Phidias ever chiseled on t 'Acropolis, and built in such a way that shall last long after St. Paul's cathedral as much a ruin as the Parthenon?that su a being was constructed for no purpose, ai to execute no mission, and without any < Tine intention toward some end. The obje 'of this sermon is to help you to find out wh you are made for, and help you to find yo sphere, and assist you in that condition whe you cau say with certainty and emphasis ai 'enthusiasm and triumph, "To this end was ."born." First. I discharge vou from all resDon: ibility lor most of your environments. Yi are not responsible for your parentage < granaparentage. You are not responsib ifor any of the cranks that may have lin in your ancestral line, and who a hundr years before you were born may have liv< a style of life that mora or less affects you t day. You are not responsible for the fa that your temperament is sanguine or mela cholic or bilious or lymphatic or nervou 'Neither are you responsible for the place Tour nativity, among the granite hills New England, or the cotton plantations 'Louisiana, or on the banks o? the Clyde, i the Dnieper, or the Shannon, or the Seiti Heither are you responsible for the religi< taught in your father's house, nor the irr ligion. Do not bother yourself about wh you cannot help, or about clrcumstanc that you did not decree. Tasce things as they are and decide tl question so that you shall be able safely say, "io this end was 1 born." How w you fiecide it? By direct application to tl only Being in the universe who is compete] to tell you?the Lord Almighty. Do y< know tie reason wh v He is the only one wl tail ieu:' Because tie can see every imug u tweea your cradle and your grave, thouc the grave be eighty vears off. And, besia that, He is the only Being who can see whi has . een happening for the last five hu: drei years in your ancestral line and f< thousands of years clear back to Adam, ai there is not one person in all that ancestr line of six thousand years but has someho affected your character, and even old Ada himself will sometimes turn up in your di position. The only being who can take a things that pertain to you into consideratic is God, and He is the one you can ask. Li is so short we have no time to experimei "with occupations and professions. The reason we have so many dead failuri is that parents decide for children what the shall do, or children themselves, wrought c by some whim or fancy, decide for theu solves without any imploration of divir guidance. So we have now in pulpits me making sermons who ought to be m blac! smith shops makingulowsbares, and we haN in me law xnose wao msiesu ul ruuiiiig ti cases of their clients ought to be poundii shoe lasts, and ooctors who are the wor hindrances to their patients' convalescenc and artists trying to paint landscapes wl ought to be" whitewashing toard fence While there are othars mating bricks wl ought to be remodeling constitutions, < shoving planes who ought to be transforc ing literatures. Ask God about what world] lrasiness you shall undertake until you a so positive you can in earnestness smite yoi hand on your plow handle, or your carpe ter's bench, or your Blackstone's "Comme taries," or your medical dictionary, or yoi Dr. Dick's "Didactic Theology," sayin "*\For this end was I born." There are children who early develop na oral affinities for certain styles of wor When the fathor of the astronomer Forb was going to London he asked his childri what present he should bring each one them. The boy who was to be an astro omer called out, "Bring me a telescope And there are children whom you find ? by themselves drawing on their slates, or < paper, ships or housesor birds.and you kno they are to be drattsmen or artists of son kind. And you find others cyphering o difficult problems with rare interest and su cess, and you know they are to be mathern ticians. And others making wheels ai strange contrivances, and you know thi are going to be machinists. And others ai found experimenting with hoe and plow ai sickle, arid you know t'aey will ba farmer And others are always swapping jaclckniv or balls or bats and making something I the bargain, and they are going to be me chants. When Abbe de Ranca had so advanced studying Greek that he could transla Anacreon at twelve years of age, there w no doubt left that he was intended for scholar. But in almost every lal the comes a times when he does not know wh he was made for, and his parents do n know, and it is a crisis that God only ct decide. Then there are those born for sor -especial work, and their fitness does not d velop until quite late. When Philip Do dridge, whose sermons and books have ha vested uncounted souls for glory, began study the ministry, Dr. Calamy, one of tl wisest and best men. advised him to turn h thoughts to some other work. Isaac Barroi an eminent clergyman and Christian scie; tist?his books standard now, thought 1 had been dead over two hundred years?w the disheartenment of his father, who usi to say that if it pleased God to take any his children away he hoped it might be h son Isaac. So some of those who have be characterized for their stupidity in boyhoi or girlhood have turned out the mightit benefactors or benefactresses of the bumi race. These things being so, am I not right saying that in many cases God only kuo^ what is the most appropriate thing for y to do, and He is the One to ask. And let i parents and all schools and all universiti and all colleges recognize this, and a larj number of those who spent their best yea in stumbling about among businesses ai occupations, now trying this and now tryi; that, and failing in all, would be able to ahead with a definite, decided and tremen ous purpose, saying, "To this end was born." But my subject now mounts into t momentous. Let me say that you are ma for usefulness and heaven. I judge this frc the way you are built. You go into a sh< where there is only one wheel turning ai that by a workman's foot on a tread and say to yourself, "Here is sona thing good being done, yet on a sms scale;" but if you go into a factory coverii many acr&s, and you find thousands of bands t pulling on thousands of wheels, and shuttles flying, and the whole scene bewildering with activities, driven by water, or steam, jj. or electric power, you conclude that the factnrv wa? nnf; nn to Ha crrAftt. wnrlr a.r?H nn a vast scale. Now, I look at yon, ani if I should flad that you had only one faculty of body, only one muscle, only one nervo, if n vou could see but could not hear, or could p- hear and not see, if you had the use of only one foot or one hand, and, as to your higher nature, if you had only one mental faculty, 1111 and you had memory but no judgment, or judgment but no will, and if you had a soul ,y3 with only one capacity, I would say not much is expected of you. iaJ; But stand up, O man, let me look you nd squarely in the face! Eyes capable of seeis. ing everything. Ears capable of hearing [3> everything. Hands capable of grasping pgl everything. Mind with more wheels than >er any ractory ever turned, more power than ;re Corliss engine ever moved. A soul that will is. outlive all the universe, except heaven, and ad would outlive all heaven if the life of other an immortals were a moment short of the It eternal. Now, what has the world a right ife to expect from you? What has God aright as to demand of you? God is the greatest of id economists in the universe, and He makes !?? nothing uselessly, and for what purpose did I He build your body, mind and soul as they 2d are built? iy There are only two beings in the universe ot who can answer that question. The angels as do not know. The schools do not know, at Your kindred cannot certainly know. God knows, and you ought to know. A factory of running at an expense of $500,000 a year, i's and turning out goods worth seventy centa a year wouiu not ds sue a uu iuuuuKrm(/j tie as you, O man, with such semi-infinite m equipment doing nothing, or next to nothlt ing, in the way of usefulness. "What shall tie I do?" you ask. Mv brethren, my sisters, do is not ask me. Ask (jk>d. tie There's some path of Christian usefulness th open. It may be a rough path, or it may be ve a smooth path, a long path or a short path. It may be on a mount of conspicuity or in a tie valley unobserved, but it is a path on of which you can start with such faith and at such satisfaction and such certainty that ir- you can cry out in the face of in earth and hell and heaven, "To this end was by I born." Do not wait for extraordinary or qualifications. Philip the Conqueror gained ve his greatest victories seated on a mule, and to if you wait for some caparisoned Bucephalus id to "ride into the conflict you will never get 11 into the world wide fight at all. Sampson ut slew the Lord's enemies with {he jawbone of at the stupidest beast created. Shamgar slew six nundrea or the iioru s enemies with an ox goad. Under God spittle cured the blind 113 man's eyes in the New Testament story. Take all the faculty you have and say: "O Lord, GCI Viftra ie? whof I Hotta Shrttxr m? t.V?a Ami k? back me up by omnipotent power. Any where, anyhow, any time for Goi." V* Two men riding on horseback came to a ~ trough to water the horses. While the ?r horses were drinking one of the men said to ll* the other a few words about the value of the soul, and then they rode away, and in oppoat site directions. But the words uttered were ur the salvation of the one to whom they were uttered, and he became the Rev. Mr. Cham2 j pion, one of the most distinguished mission5 A aries in heathen lands, for years wondering who did for him the Christian kindness, and S1* not finding out until, in a bundle of books 3U sent him to Africa, he found the biography of Brainerd Taylor and a picture of him,and the missionary recognized the face in that 9jj book as the man who,at the watering trough for horses, had said the thing that saved his soul. What opportunities you have had in ?T the past. What opportunities you have c now. What opportunities you will have in n" the days to come! Put on your hat, oh, woman, this afternoon, and go in and comfort that young mother who lost her babe last summer. Pat ! 01 on your hat, oh, man, and go over and see Dr that merchant who was compelled yesterday .6- to make an assignment, and tell him o? the , everlasting riches remaining for all those irlm corvA thu T.nr.^ Pan vmi sini*? (in and ? sing for that man who cannot get well, and es you will help him into heaven. Let it be , your brain, your tongue, your eyes, your J9 ears, your heart, your lungs, your hands, ?? your feet, your body, your mind, your soul, your life, your death, your time, your eterQ? nity for God, feeling in your soul, *'To this end was I born." It may be helpful to some if I recite my i own experience in this regard. I started for 7* I the law without asking any divine direction. I consulted my own tastes. Hike! lawyers aud courtrooms and judges and juries, and * 1 reveled in hearing the Frelinghuysens and the Bradleys of the New Jersey bar, and as assistant of the county clerk, at sixteen *7 years of age, I searched titles, naturalized foreigners, recorded deeds, received the confession of judgments, swore witnesses and j? juries and grand juries. But after awhile I vj" felt a call to the Gospel ministry and entered ' it, and I felt some satisfaction in the work. IP But one summer, when I was resting at Sharon Springs,and while seated in the park of that village, I said to myself, "If I nave an especial work to do in the world I ought to find it out now," and with that determiuation I prayed as I had never before prayed, and got the divine direction, and wrote it I * down in my memorandum book and I saw ? my life work then as plainly as I see it now. L Oh, do not be satisfied with general directions. Get specific directions. Do not shoot e nt ran^nm TaIto nim ?nH Are. Concan? trate. Napoleon's success in battle came ? from his theory of breaking through the enemy's ranks at one point, not trying to meet the wnole line of the enemy's force by a similar force. One reason why he lost jq Waterloo was because he did not work his 3r usual theory, and spread his force out over a a, wide range. Oh, Christian man. oh, Christy tian woman, break through so newaere. Not a jjenerat engagement for God, but a ir particular engagement, anl made in answer n. to prayer. It there are sixteen hundred n_ million people in the world, then there are ^ sixteen hundred million different missions to g fulfill, different styles of work to do, different orbits in which to revolve, and if you do not get the divine direction there are at least k- fifteen hundred and ninety-nine million possibilities that you will make, a mistake. On ,n your knees before God get the matter settled nt so that you can firmly say, "To this end was n_ I born." !" And now I come to the elimacterie con til sideration. As near as I can tall, you wore in built for a happy eternity, all the disasters >w which have happened to your nature to be ie overcome by the blood of the Lamb if vou ut will heartily accept that Christly arrangeic ment. We are all rejoiced at the increase a- of human longevity. People live, as near as id I can observe, about ten years longer than ?y they used to. The modern doctors do not re bleed their patients on all occasions as did id the former doctors. In those times if a man s. had a fever they bled him, if he had cones sumption they bled him, if be had rheuma>y tism they ble.1 him, and if they could not :r- make out exactly what was the matter they bled him. Olden .time phlebotomy was in death's coadjutor. All this fias changed, te From the way I sas people skipping about as at eighty years of a^e, I conclude that life a insurance companies will have to change re their table of risks, and charge a man no j at more premium at seventy than thcv used to ot do when he was sixty, and no more premium tu at fifty than when he was forty. By the adlie vancemeDt of medical science and tne wider ie- acquaintance with the laws of health, and ri- the fact that people know better how to r- tase care of themselves, human life is proto longed. But do you realiza what, after all, ie is the brevity of our earthly state? In the lis times when people lived seven ani eight v, hundred years, the patriarch Jacob said that a- his year3 were few. ao Looking at the life of the youngest person as in this assembly and supposing he lived to ad be a nonagenarian, how short the time and of ?oon gone, while banked up in front of us is lis an eternity so vast that arithmetic has not an figures enough to express its length or height, id For a happy eternity you wore born unless ,st you run yourself against the divine inteuia tions. It standing in your presjnee ny ova should fall upon the feeblest soul here as that ia soul will appear when the world lets ic ud, evs and heaven entrances it, I suppose I would on be so overpowered that 1 should drop down as one dead. l" You have examined the family Bible and e? explored the family records, ani you may 50 have daguerreotypes of some of the kindred of previous generations, yoa have had phoid tographs taken of what vou were in bo vhood or ginnood, and what you were ten years ? later, and it is very interesting to anv one to be able to look back upon pictures of what he was ten or twenty or thirty years ago; . but have you ever had a picture taken of "J? what you may be and what you will be if you seek after God an 1 feel th9 Spirit's regenerating power? Where shall I plant the >p camera to take the picture? I plant it on li this platform. I direct it toward you. Sit le, still or stand still while I take the picture. It shall be an instantaneous picture. There! ill I have it. It is done. ?ou can see the picig ture in its imperfect state and get some idea or wnat it will oa when thoroughly developed. There Is your resurrected body, so brilliant that tbe noonday sun is a patch of mid* night compared with it. There is your soul, i bo pure that all the forces of diabolism could not spot it with an imperfection. There is your being, so mighty and so swift that flight from heaven to Mercury or Mars or ' Jupiter and back again to heaven would not weary you, and a world on each shoulder j would not crush you. An eye that shall j 1 never shed a tear. An energy that shall j never ieei a iangua. a Drow that shall never throb with pain. You are young I again, though you died of decrepitude. You are well again, though you coughed or ' shivered yourself into the tomb. Your everv day associates are the apostles and prophets, and martyrs, and most exalted souls, masculine or feminine, of all the centuries. The Archangel to you no embarrassment. God Himself your present and everlasting joy. That la an instantaneous picture or what you may ' be, and what I am sure some of you will be. If you realize that it is an imperfect picture, ' my apology i3 what the apostle John said, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." "To this end was I born." If I did not < think so I would be overwhelmed with melancholy. J The world does very well for a little while, eighty, or a hundred or a hundred and fifty years, and I think that human longevity may yet be improved up to that prolongation, for now there is so little room between our cradle and our grave we cannot accomplish much, but who would want to dwell c in this world for all eternity! Some think I this earth will finally be turned Into a E heaven. Perhaps it may, but it would 1 have to undergo radical repairs, and through i eliminations and evolutions and revolutions 8 and transformations infinite, to make it do- * sirable for eternal residence. 8 All the east winds would have to become 1 west winds, and all the winters changed to * springtides, and the volcanoes extinguished, ^ and tne oceans cnainea to tneir beds, and * the epidemics forbidden entrance, and the * world so fixed up that I think it would take I more to repair this old world than to make 1 an entirely new one. But I must say I do 1 not care where heaven is if we can only get there, whether a gardenizjd America, or an emparadised Europe, or a world central to the whole universe. "To this end was I 8 born." If each one of us could say that we would go with faces shining and hopM exhilarant amid earth's worst misfortunes and trials. Onlv a little while and then the rapture. Only a little while and then the reunion. Only a little while and then the transfiguration. In the Seventeenth century all Europe was threatened with a wave of Asiatic barbarism, and Vienna was especially besieged. The king and his court had fled, and nothing could save the city from being overwhelmed unless the king of Poland, John Sobieski, to whom they had sent for help, should, with his army, come down for the relief; and from every roof and tower the inhabitants of Vienna watched and waited and hoped, until on the morning of Septembar 11 the rising sun threw an unusual and unparafleled brilliancv. It was the reflection of the swords and shields anl helmets of John Sobieski and his army coming down over the hills to the rescue; and that day, , not only Vienna, but Europe, was saved. And see you not, oh, ye souls, besieged with sin nnrl snrr.iw that licht breaks in, the swords, and the shields, and the helmets of divine rescue bathed in the rising sun of heavenly deliveranca? L?t 2 everything else go rather than let heaven go. ? What a strange thing it must b3 to feel one's self born to an earthly crown, but you have been born for a throne ou which you may reign after the last monarch of all the earth shall have gone to dust. I invite you to start now for your own coronation, to come in and take the title deeds to your everlasting inheritance. P Through an impassioned prayer take heaven ^ and all of its raptures. What a poor farthing is all that this world can offer you compare! with pardon here and life immortal beyond ? the stars, unless this side of them there 09 f a place large enough and beautiful enough and grand enough for all the ransomsi. Wherever it be,in what world, whether near by or far awav, in this or some other con* N stellation, haif home of light and love and e blesst?dnes3! Through the atoning mercy of e Christ, may we all get there. i i _ r The Ski. 1 The Norwegian snow and ice of mid- * winter is surprising to any one accus- ^ tomed to the English climate. The very ] enow and ice is what makes Norway and r it3 customs so particularly interesting to a stranger. Of course the cold is very J intense, the thermometei never rising a above freezing point for months, and often standing at zero; but at the same ^ time the atmosphere is so wonderfully i dry that the cold is not nearly so notice- |o able out of doors and indoors the houses are kept very warm. In winter all the vehicles are sledges? i carriages, cabs, carts, and even the per L-.i.. - amouiacurs arc uu ruuucia. v^ucsmc iug i town, where the road is not trodden i hard, it is impossible to walk without . d the snowshoes of the country. These d are called "ski," pronounced "she," and P are peculiar to Scandinavia. Ski are A long wooden planks, measuring nearly r nine feet for a fully grown man. They d are three-quarters of an inch thick and * about four inches wide, slightly raised c at the toes, and pointed off like the j-tl 6hoes of Chaucer's day. The wood for ski is not sawn, but split, with the grain, I n so that they never break, and can bear a tremendous strain. 6 For four or five months of the year the ground is entirely covered with snow, u and were it not for ski the natives living b outside towns would see absolutely nothing of one another, for in many parts n there are no roads or tracks, and walk- p ing over snow is impossible whilo sink- 11 ing to the armpits at every step. Thus ? it will be seen that ski arc not only an ri amusement, but an absolute necessity, k r 11??? MABiatnn 1 af furo An oH d iUC puaiLUdLl tallica iuc iCbiuio vu oat* ^ The farmer visits his friends on ski. The ^ children go to school on ski. Everything I is done on ski, in fact, and outside the poorest cottage the snowshoes of the ? family are stuck up in the snow, which t1 has been swept or dug back with wooden c spades from the entrance door. There ' they stand?the lather's, mother's, ser- 1 vant's, children's ski all in rows, for withcut them no one could leave the Cl house. 11 Under these circumstances it is not b extraordinary that people become very ii proficient on their snowshoes; they can go up hill or glide down a mountain on *1 them, besides being able to stop them- * selves suddenly from going over a preci pice, and even to jump a ravine. Every ti valley has a ski club, and every club t< holds "meetings" to encourage proiic- d iency in the art.?Murray's M'tgazine. ' ? a Dranght Horses of Various Nations. ? Every nation has its prejudices in t: favor of the horses of their owu country a as the best in the world; they get edu- a cated up to that standard type. In Scot- s laud they think the Clydesdale the best v draught horse, while the English are 0 equally as sure that the Shire is the great jj model draught horse of the world. Across 1 in Belgium every one, from the peasant c to the King and Queen, believe that tho Belgian draught horse is best of all jj breeds, while the Frenchmen think there are no good draught horses outsido I of France. America finds much to ad- ? mire in each of these breeds, which are t being so extensively imported and crossed t upon our native mares and from which the American draught horse is being evolved, containing the be9t points of all. There is no patent on any of these * breeds, and we are free to use the points t we like best and graft them on to Amen- t can stock;.-- Western Agriculturist. i ! TEMPERANCE. THE DUETS'KABD'S DAUGHTER. Out in the street, with naked feet, I saw the drunkard's little daughter; Ber tattered shawl was thin and small; She little knew, for no one taught her. Heart-broken child, she seldom smiled; Hope promised her no brighter morrow; Or, if its light flashed on her night, Then up came darker clouds of sorrow. 3he softly said: "We have no bread, No wood to keep the fire a-burning." The child was ill; the winds were chill, Her thin, cold blood to ice was turning. But men well fed and warmly clad, And ladles robed in richest fashion. Passed on the side where no one cried To them for pity or compassion. That long night fled, and then the light ^ Of rosy day in beauty shining, Set dome and spire ana roof on lire, And shone on one beyond repining. Asleep?alone?as cold as stone, Where no dear parent ever sought her, In winding-sheet of snow and sle?t. Was found the drunkard's lifeless dans ter. ?New York Ledger, ALCOHOLISM IN FRANCE. At the recent Congress of Mental Med dne at Lyons Dr. Paul Garnier made a r >ort which indicates the alarming growth < Jcoholism in France. Durin? the peric 886-88 there were sent tothe"Depot" speci nflrmary for lunatics 8839 persons, of who 1139 were found to be mentally derange )f these the per centages of cases due 1 dcohol were, in 1886, 34.91 per cent., .688 29.34 per cent., and during the peri< rom 1874 to the present time the number < :ases of lunacy due to driuk has risen fro 167 to 729, i. it has nearly doubled with ;hat time. Worst of all, alcholism on tl >art of women is rapidly overtaking that ( ;he part of men, in 1874 there being flfty-tv :ases, in 1888 no fewer than 125. THE INCREASE ON INSANITY. The Duluth (Minn.) News says: "Tl pread of insanity' is one of the serious pro omo nf+.hn ncrA Statistics show that the ii ame population is increasing from year 1 ear." It thinks "the number of insai nuch greater than it is pleasing to couteD (late and larger than is justified by ti ncrease in population," and adds, "TI inclusion is inevitable that the cause mu >e traced to the increased development < he intellect and more constant brain work There is, indesd, a high pressure in mar rays in modern life, but we have no doul ;hat the brain power of many of the i Teased number of the victims of insani las been lessened by the deteriorating i luence of alcoholic indulgence, either < ;heir own part or of their aucestors. 0 >f the hereditary legacies of alcoholic brai joisoning is insanity.?Temperance Adx, late. THE USE Of ALCOHOL AS A MEDICIKE. Dr. Cros*-er.or, in tho Buffalo Medic ournal, gives the following concise sun lary of his views respecting the medicini se of alcohol, 1. Grave responsibility rests upon tt ledical profession in the usa of alcohol as aedicine, on account of its deleterious ii uence upon the system, and the liability c he patient to contrac: the habit of using sa beverage. 2. Alcohol being an acrid narcotic poisoi be bottle containing it should be labelle Poison," as a reminder of this character! Ic. and a warning to handle it with care. 3. Alcohol containing none of the con ounds which enter into the construction c he tissues, cannot properly be termed a ti ue-forming food. 4. The evidence in favor of the existenc f a heat-generating quality in alconoi is n< ufficient to warrant the belief that it is eat-producing food. ALCOHOL AS A BEVERAGE. It will be a shivering surprise to the ave tge reader to know that of late alcohol, pu: tnd simple, has become a beverage in Amei ca, especially in the Wast, Northwest an n the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Ev< n New York City the census returns est nate fifteen barrels a day as the alio want or drinking purposes. It is an innovation as startling as that < he opium habit when it came in. As th pium habit came through the Chinese, 8 he alcohol habit has come through tl 5oles, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Hungi ians and Russians. The eagerness with which any such ev >ractice becomes "all the rage" among drin! ng people may be seen from the fact tha Jthougn recently introduced and at first ii lulged in quickly, alcohol is now sold ov< he bar in the lower grade bar-rooms. On i&lf of the liquor sold for drinking purpos< q tha Northwest is alcohol. This is a pha; >f the liquor problem that may well cam .larm, even among those who are natural] udifferent to the ordinary evils of the soci. linking of light beverages.?Sacred Heai DRUNKENNESS CURED BT MAGIO. A great deal has been said and wrttte bout the crime of drunkenness, and tt isease of drunkenness. Theorists hav rawn fine distinctions about these tw hases of the appetite for alcohol until tt on-professional man is completely puzzled is a result of it all, however, the very dat erous belief is gaining ground that tb runkard is not responsible for his conditioi d the disease theory is more generally at apted. As a natural result the drunkar ure is heralded all over the country, an tie victims of alcohol spend hundreds an aousands of dollars chasing a phantom. Drunkenness cannot be cured by medicint or by magic. There is no royal road t irtue. Tne man who habitually drinks t xcess has formed a habit which is a corn! ion produced by repeated acta, and the onl ray to break that habit is by repeated act i the opposite direction. That man mui ecome convinced of the necessity for at taining; he must resolve firmly to abstaii nd to shun the occasions of temptation; t lust obtain the grace of God throug rayer and the sacraments to enable him t eep th*; resolution, and ho will soon h orne a sober man. A good physician ca elp to settle his nerves, and settle his out aged stomach, but he will do so by we nown, legitimate means. No physician ca estroy the appetite for drink, because one armed it will last forever. It may cease t e importunate if it is habitually curbe; ?ut it will never die until its owner dies. There is no royal road to sobriety. Th lind must be convinced, the will must 1 ooved, the grace of God must be invokei he aid of a good,regularly practicing phys ian may be sought ind the sober man wi le made.?C. T. A. News. temperance news and notss. Mexico's new tariff will make our bet Dst seventy-five cents a pint in that couu 7Aged Thomas Feeny dropped dead at ar in Schuylkill Haven, Tenn.. while reach ig for a glass of liquor. Chief Justice Green, of Missouri, decile: iat when a saloon is open contrary to la\ ny person can injure its business and th roprietor cannot recover damages. Eighty per cent, of the crime of our coua ry. Bays General Eaton, is the result of in smperance, and ninety-flve pjr cant, of th epraved youth are the children of drunka nd depraved households. Petitions containing thousands of uara< re constantly coming to Evanston. 11'., t e attached to the great petition which seel he outlawing of the liquor traffic and opiui rade throughout all nations. Ceyion hi ant 33,7!)" signatures; Burniah, 32,073; Cai da, 3S,8<?5. Dr. Hugouneng, after experimenting wit irtiticial digestive fluids, concludes that a nnes, without exception, interfere with th ctiou of pepsin. Those which are mos lighly charged with coloring matter, alec ioI and cream of tartar are most hurtful t is found that the acidity of new wines i alculated to aid the action of pepsin. "Alcohol is a chemical compound, it iroduct of decay. It is always a poisoi lectors to the contrary notwithstanding. 1 s not a stimulant; it is an irritant narcotii t never increases strength, it never hel] ligestion; it is not a lood in any sense, doctors will soon give up prescribing alcohi n any form, just as tney have given i deeding. A New York paper inquires "Whi s blasphemy ?" Printing a text fro he Bible and tips on the races in co iguous columns comes pretty near b ng an example. RELIGIOUS READING. DOINO ALL SHE CAN. Twenty years ago, a German moved up th? Ohio river, and had only seven hundred dolars and au interest in a superanuated sawmill. That man has been so blessed of God for his generous giving that today he is 1 worth thirty millions of dollars. He has a beautiful young daughter, who is a graduate of the best woman's college in this country, a master of Latin, Greek, German, French, Italian, as well as being very proficient in music and art. What is she doing? Is she dawdling about in fashionable society, or ' running from resort to resort, crossing the wnfpr pvarv summer tn nir.k nn snmp dnile nr I some sickly foreign count, or some p9eudo prince, that she may bestow her fortune on him and share rhe diss:race of his name. Hear what she is doing. If her father should die today, her cheek would be worth at least ten millions of dollars. She is the unpnid missionary of the Presbyterian church in the city of New York, down in the lowest and most neglected p:irt?climbing up the stairs of tenement houses, three, four, five, six stories, to mmistei comfort and salvation to those who are in want and sickness and sin. [h* She is searching there for jewels for her Master's crown. She is a lineal descendant of the Son of Man, who left His glorious home on high to eome down on earth and U win meu to God.? [Dr. W. A. Spencer. ejf THE FUTURE LIFE. ^ Victor Hugo occasionally has insight al Into the way the human instincts and seuti? ment confirm the declaration of the Gospel. He says 5? "I feel in myself the future life. I am "j Hfce a forest which has more than once been cut down. The new shoots are stronger and 01 livelier than ever. You say the soul is nothP1 ing but the resultant of bodily powers; 111 why, then is my soul the more luminous 10 when my bodily powers begin to fail? Win)n ter is on my head and eternal spring is in my heart. Then I breathe, at this hour, the fragrance of the lilies, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear 10 around me the immortal symphonies of h- the world, which unite me. It Is marvellous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and ;o it iu liktnrv Vrtr litilf n. rpntnrv T hnvA 19 been writing my thoughts in prose, verse, history, philosophy* drama, romance, tra19 dition. satire, ode," song?I have tried alL 19 But 1 feel that I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say, like so many others,41 ' have finished ray day's work;'but I cannot '7 say, 'I have finished my life.' My day's bfc work will tegin a^ain the next morning. J1" The tomb is not a blind alley, it is a thorou.ijhV fare. It closes in tne twilight to open with u" the dawn. I improve every hour because I 3n love this world as my fatherland. My work 30 is hardly above its foundation. I would be n* glad to see it mounting and mounting l0* forever. The thirst for the infinite proves infinity." SAFETY IN THE SHELTERINO ROCK. ro Jesus Christ is no security against storms l- but he is a perfect security in them. I have il seen a village nestling in the bosom of some "reat. mountain. Speaking one day to tbeville lagers. I ventured to ask if they had many a . storms during the year. l- "Ob, yes," was the answer. If there is a >f i storm anywhere in the neiRhborhood it it seems to find us out."' "How do you aceount for it?" ''Those who seem to know say it is u due to the mountain which towers a above our villasre. If he baps' pens to see a clooii anywhere on the horizon he beckons it until it settles on i- his brow. We villagers call it putting on his >? nightcap." "Have you had anv accidents s- from lightning?" "'Not one. We have seen the lightning strike the mountain a hundred times, and a ' grand sight it was, but nobody has a boon killed.'' "What have you, then?" "we have the thunder which shakes our windows aQd frightens our women and children, but it has not killed anybody: and we have the downpour. The fertility of our village which you so much admire.is all due to the thunder; showers." ^ When Jesus Christ became incarnate, he rose like a very mountain of God, and all the storms of" the ajre? gathered around bis '' bead. There came sweeping up, too, hurricanes from the dreary wilds of eternal night, .? which hurled themselves in all their fury ie against bim. but he took the lightning into 0 his own breast, and what have we? The w thunder-shower. He shall come down like rain on the mown crass, like showers that water the earth.?[Henry Simon. il c* THE FAMILY ALTAR. ^ A variety of excuses arc offered for a fail* ure to erect the sacrifice altar, or for the ne? le:tof the morning and evening sacrifices ? where it has been erected; but in most inj. stances, if not in all, they are excuses only, .. not reasons. If the plea'is a lack of ability v on the part of tbe bead of the household, S whether a father or a mother, the answer is, J that all, with rare exceptions, arc capable of reading the Bible, and that those who regard themselves as incapable of offering extern- i pore prayer may use a form. They may write their prayers and read them, or they n may make use of one of the many excel lent volumes cntic uave oeen prepared ior ^ the benefit of this class; aud all who are able 0 to reail may unite in the service. But if the '9 excuse is a lack of time, the answer 13, L '-Prayers an<i provender never hinder the l* journey." However pressing our work may 10 be, we can not afford to neglect our daily food; and prayers are no less necessary or important. No man accomplishes more 1 5 during the year by neglecting family worj ship. It was Martin Luther,if we remember. a who said: "When I have an unusual s amount of labor to perform during the day I * spend more than the usual length of time in ? the morning in prayer." But this was tho j wise aud reasonable course. If it were ' necessary to do more than his ordinary J amount of work, he bad more than an ordi* nary need of the divine blessinsr, and if he would secure this he must be willing to take more tbau the ordinary pains to obtain it. 1 ' But those who neglect the worship of the 1 family altar do so because they have no 1 . adequate conception of the importance of a ' faithful discharge of this duty. The family " altar should be conscientiously maintained, not only because it 13 by the discharge JJ of this duty that the blessn ing of God upon the family ] ,0 for the day is secured, but also for the sake 0 of its influence upon the household. It is * an educating process in a spiritual sense ! ' which 110 household can afford to neglect. Q It is needed by the parents, and it is needed ,Q by the children. And if there are domestics, j" or boarders, or visitors, it is needed by them, j.' And though thev may not understand its [II value, ami refuse to avail themselves cf its benefits, the knowledge that family worship ! is regularly maintained will leave an irapres- ; sion. It will prove to tbem a spiritual j ir educator. In many instances the immediate influence is very marked. Visitors 1 who have not been accustomed to thi? over- J cisc. during a stay of a very few days, or ! even of a single day, have received inipres- ' l* sions which have led to their acceptance of . Cliri.it. I'ut the importance of tiie family i altar is to be measured not by its immediate v results, but bv the influence exerted during ? a series of years. Its quickening and restraining power is felt by the adult members i i- of the household, and to the young it is promi inent among tlie home influences by which | o the character of the future man or woman a is modeled. For a day or ] for a month its formative < ,s influence may not be perceptible, but during < a a scries of vears the impression becomes ' j3 deep and abt lins;. Parents and other heads i n of families who live in neglect of this obliga- < uj tion make a very grave mistake. They j. wrong their own souls and they wrongevery ] member of their households. No one eah . afford to live without the family altar, so far I ij as relates to his own spiritual inrerests, and ! * to do so is to neglect a most important means I ? of ibtiusr ir??od to others.?[The National < ' Presbyterian, L _ is is The Crown Prince of Italy threatsns to smash the royal conventionality ties into cmithereens by marrying a ^ pretty little English girl whom he 3I loves. This makes an American sovXP ereign feel like patting him on the back, and it may make the Italian sovereign feel like doing the same sort of thing, only with more vehemm ence; and if the Crown Prince will a" refer to his map of Italy he will see that it is shaped significantly like a . big boot. , ''J\ :. ? I rr i. I ~ SABBATH SCHOOL ~ INTERNATIONAL LKSSON FOR OCTOBER 25. Lesson Text: "Christ Conofortinc His Disciples"?John xiv., 1-3; 15-27 ?Golden Text: John xlv., 16?Commentary. 1. "Let not Tour hnarfc hn trmihliwl va ho Jieve in God, believe also in Me." The passover lamb had been eaten, the supper to commemorate. "The Lord's death till He come" had been instituted, and very soon now He would go forth to His agony in Gethsemane, but He thinks not of Himself; He feels for these sheep whom He is soon to leave, and He comforts them. 2. "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." After the resurrection He said, "My Father and your Father ixx., 17). Being in Him, His Father is our Father, and all the glory given to Him He shares with ub (xvii., 22). What the mansions are we may not know, but every believer may thankfully say there is one prepared for me. If we are redeemed at such infinite cost, what must the preparations be which He is making for our eternal welfare? And should not such a divinely prepared place wean us from the vanities of thia present world? 3. "And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also." A great perversion of Scripture has crept into the church upon this verse. A very common idea is that when we die our Lord Jesus comes for us to take us to heaven and thus fulfills this promise. So the blessed Lord of life and glory is said to come in the guise of a great enemy, the last that is to be destroyed (I Cor. xv., 2(5), and instead of the complete victory of a redeemed body as well as a redeemed soul, we are said to have attained the highest possible bliss when Christ obtains part of us?the spirit and the devil holds on to the other part?the body in the grave. Mary and Martha did not so look upon the coming of Christ to their home; read John xi., 21, 32. Neither did His disciples understand His coming to mean death (chapter xxi.. 22, 23). 15. "If ye love Me keep My command* ments." The verse we are now upon will be more fully before us in verse 21, but notice ? 1A ItT# ? I ? J at., iv, jll jo 1XJ.V uouimuu uuients yo shall abide in My love;1' and I John v., 8, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." Then I John ill., 23, opens to us the meaning, "This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment." 18. "And I will pray the Father and He shallfijive you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever." The Spirit is ot Christ, but a different personality, even another comforter, who would be to them all that Jesus was, and who would never leave them. The same word here translated "comforter" is in I John ii., 1, translated "advocate," and is used in reference to Christ. 17. "The Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall ba in you." Because He is a Spirit of Truth we cannot know Him unless we are truthful. "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts" (Ps. ii., (5). Jesus is "The Truth," and He will not send His Spirit to one wno is not willing to be freed from all deceit and lying. 18. "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you." The comforts of the Spirit do not depend upon health, wealth, position or friendship, but mav be enjoyed by every true believer. Yet the children of the bride chamber will long for the personal coming of the Bridegroom, and like Mephibosheth, will fast and mourn for Him till He come) Matt, ix., 15; H Sam. xix., 34, 30. 19. '*Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live ye shall live also." He is alive forevermore (Rev. i., 18), and being reconciled by His .?u ~U?11 ?~ V.? Hi uera ill, luuuu luui o ouau vrc uo oavcu ujr xjlis life (Rom. v., 10). But we long for the time when we shall be with Him and like Him ll John iii.; 2 Phil, iii, '-'0, 21.) 20. "At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me and I in you." Hearts fixed upon that day when we shall sit with Him on His throne (Rev. iii., 21), and see His oneness with the Father and ours with Him will constrain to whole hearted service. 21. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that lovsth Me. and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." This includes verse fifteen and indicates how we may know that we love Him. If we love to do His will and take delight in His commandments; if they are more to us than gold or silver, or than even our daily food, then we may know, indeed that we love Him and may expect special manifestations of the Father's love and of Jesus Himself to our souls. 22. "Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou will manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?" This was Judas the brother of James, the son of A1phaeus, who also wrote the Epistle of Jude (Luke vi., 16; Jude L). Like Philip he knew not Jesus though he had been so long with Him (verse 9) 23. 4'Jesus answered and said onto him, If a man lore Me he will keep My words; and My Father will love Him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." Here He again enforces the test of our love to Him, as our love to His word. How can one be said to love another even in this world if they love not to hear from each othej when absent? If we love not to hear from Hirq every day, and take no delight in laying up His words in our hearts, how can we be said to love Him? 34. "He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings; and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent He." He here repeats the marvelous statement of verse 10, and chapter xii., 49, that whatever words He uttered were not His own, but only such as the Father gave Him to say. Yet there are those among us who covet to be original, to say something in prayer or testimony whioh no one else has said. Let such remember that we are most like Jesus when we use the very words of the Spirit, speaking the things of God in the words of the Holy Ghost rather than in the words which man's wisdom teacheth (1 Cor ii., 13). 25. "These things have I spoken unto you. being yet present with you." The R. V. says: "While yet abiding with you!*" Soon He'would be absent from them, and they would no longer talk with Him face to face. How little they knew or appreciated the privilege they were now enjoying and soon bo lose. 26. "But th9 Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all thing?." Here is some light upon the meaning of tha words "In My Name." The Holy Spirit was to bo mother Comforter (verse lGj, taking the place of Jesus as guide, instructor, helper, friend, full of power, wisdom, might, and all because He came "In Jesus's Name." "And bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." [f we first lay up th9 word of God in our hearts, we mav then rely upon the Spirit to bring it to mind as we need it either for ourselves or for others. 27. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give L unto you." Every true believer in Christ has peace with God, for Christ Himself is our peace, and our standing in Him is unchangeable. But there is the peace of God which will be ours or not just as we stay our minds on Him, and cast all our care on Him, or otherwise (Phil, iv., 7). "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." In another place He says, "See that ye be not troubled" (Matt, xxiv., 5). Let us then say, "Behold, God is my jalvation, I will trust and not be afraid" (Isa. xii., 2). "I will not fear what flesh can io unto me" (Ps. Ivi., 4,11).?Lesson Helper. Ax American who saw the German Emperor at the theater in London wys he looks much more like a man than his uncle, the Prince of Wales, does. Well, he is much more like a king. Indeed, he is a good deal more king, but if this profoundly impressed American will not tell us what a king ?a typical king?really looks like wa shall know whether he has in mind the fierce, theatrical chap in the purple togs on the stage or the very meek and humble-looking king of clubs. _ - A Gigantic Power Plant The largest fly-wheel in the Uniteo $ States has been turned at Boston in r? sponse to the touch of Henry M. WMfc' 7^ ney, of the West End Street RailwQ Company. In other words the first big , engine in the new power-house of thl ^ road was started. This house is designed to furnish the electric power for running nearly all of the street cars in Boston. Tbis central power station * concentrate* , in one placc a greater amount of horse :;M power than i3 known anywhere els? in M the world. The boiler house is 160 feefc Irtnrr K rr ainTt f /?Af AM/I * 1. lUUJJ uj IWl VYIUC, OUU UCOigJUCU to contain twenty-four boilers, which will supply steam for thirteen engines in the power house. These engines are of f\#g? the triple expansion type, and of suffl- i '3j cient capacity to develop at a maximum Jjam 2000 horse power each, making the total wS capacity at the station 26,000 horae y; power. This added to the capacity ol . the Cambridge station, will make on tho , . -J, completion of the proposed extensions ? ^ total of 34,000 horse power, sufficient to v| run 1700 long cars. This gigantic plant is, however, oaly about half completed at present, enough to operate 850 long . ?r cars. The countershafting in the basement will be when completed, the largest piece of work of this kind that has ever ;'_i| been built, and is designed to transmit the power of the engines to the genera '''&? tors on the floor above. These genera- .-.S tors, now in process of construction bJ ;vjjj the Thomson-Houston Company, will be 'Jig the largest street railway generator* that Vhave ever been built. The water for condensing purposes, of which 20,000 gal- _ ;>?j Ions a day will be necessary, is obtained from the South Bay through thirty-six ' ^ inch cast iron pipes entering the end of . ' <] the power house. Portugal's Gold Mines. 'Few people know that in Portogtf. there are gold mines that can be worked . at a profit, if the proper machinery could ' Xji be taken into the country," said WatsonB. Percy, of London, England, at thePoflr i?AniiA TTaI-aI (iKnf if a /artf ' v 1 i. uia nv^uug Javkui^ u'tb a* u> a -, .' taw and I have recently make a trip through that country. In prospecting around I .|f struck one of the old Roman mines > / worked in the days of Cse3ar Augustus, just 2300 years ago. In those days they cut down to the vein of ore, and this rain was 500 feet deep before pay rock W* reached. The mine was opened for as %$1 area of ten or more acres, 500 feet deep, ;<'*J and every foot of the surface of tin ground had been taken off. "It was curious to see the way tin ~v ?? miners reached their work. There wen >jgBa| shelves or steps made into the earth and .<^j| the dirt was packed hard by the man} ' feet that had trodden them. We foundt too, many old Roman coins and evidence# of smelting in this mine, as well at x|j others we explored. The trouble iB in Portugal that the cost of transporting the ),M machinery is so great as to make it im- ? possible to work the mines at a good profit. You know people have an idea that ..V:? a gold mine should pay an enormous percentage on the capital invested and ate .,XI never satisfied with small returns. . "The profitable mining in Portugal is for antimony and this mineral carries /? suca a trace ox goiu ia 11 mau it pays iw . ,?g| the tranportation down the Daro on barges and to be taken to Swansea, Eng- r,.i land, where the ore is smelted and tba ingredients separated. I don't think there will ever be a gold rush for Portu- y-|j gal, but many of the natives make a com- -o fortable living in individually hacking away at the vein of ore."?New Tori TeUgram. ^ Elephants in the Plow. Elephants are now turned to agricul* tural use in Ceylon. Travelers by the " ^ seaside railway can witness the curious spectacle of the huge earth-shaking beast ''s* breaking the stubborn glebe with the .JS iid of a ridiculously disproportioned ffl plow. An elephant plow of just propor- , ;?J cion, as far a3 appearances are concerned, would be a Titanic implement, and would cleave chines and canons where the agri- ^ culturist looks only for a moderate fur- "v row. But the Swedish plow, which in now much used in Ceylon, is more ef- \ fective and heavier than the primitive native instrument, and the disciplined V5 power of the elephant makes him an invaluable substitute for the powerful ' ^ draught horses used at home. The animals are employed in turning ^ up the soil between cocoanut trees, to ' & prepare the ground for cotton planting. An elephant with its driver and a coolie- f acting as plowman can thus plow an acta Si a day, at little more than half the cos* of the usual practice of scratching uptime or four inches of the soil by means of the Dutch hoe. The Swedish plow, drawn by an elephant, does the waric ^ very thoroughly. The ground is efeo - ^ tually weeded, and the cocoanut trees benefit by the turning up of the ground v,$ about them. Where elephants are not ' i emoloved the primitive light plow of th? country is used, drawn by bullocks or th4 "j curious long-headed native buffaloes?* long-beaded in a physical sense. Intel? ' ^ lectually, of course, the elephant is in- $$ comparably superior. Buffaloes, for the '-f heavier Swedish plow, need to be large and well-fed animals, and the elephants are found cheaper and more dependable. '' ('ij ?London Graphic. '':%8es Qneer Ears. On the tibia of grasshoppers* and crickets' fore legs may be seen a bright shiny spot, oval in fcrm, which has been found to be a true ear. Old naturalists . r? supposed these strange structures helped in some way to intensify the penetrating* chirping sounds of crickets. No one for a moment thought they might b? ears. f Sir John Lubbock and other modern naturalists have decided that crickets* .| bees, ants and other little animals shall . >; not keep their sense-organs a secret front us any longer; and although these era often in the least suspected places, still* by careful experiments they are sure to be discovered, as wa3 the cricket's ear. Some grasshoppers have no ears in thei# legs, and as a rule these cantfot sing.? St. Nicholcu. How to Tie a Shoe. To tie a shoe properly proceed . .cactly as if you were about to tie an ordinary b:>w knot, but before you draw it up pass tne right-hand loop trhough the knot; give & steady and simultaneous pull on both loops, and you may tread toe sands of time or the ocean beach all day and waltz into the wee sma' hours of the next day and tuat shoestring will never trip you up. Iu untying be Mire to pull the right-hand line and the string will reaJily unloosen, but if you pull the other you will fiud it as h ird to u it-urea as some hastily-tied matrimoau. aajis. ?New York Juurnal.