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> ' PRV nR TAT.MAGE. ! I JltiJ I J-' Jill ? / {THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Sword of Eleazar.' < Text: "And His hand clave unto the tword?II Samuel xxiii., 10. ! A great general of King David was "Eleazar, the nero of the text. The Philistines opened battle against him, and his troops retreated. The cowards fled. Eleazar end three of his comrades went into the ibattl* and swept the field, for four men /with God on their side are stronger than a rwhole battalion with God against them. [ 'Fall back!" shouted the commander of 'the Philistine army. The cry ran along the Jiost. "Fall back!" Eleazar having swept the field throws himself on the ground to Twcf- hut the muscles and sinews of his hand had been so long bent around the hilt iof the sword that the hilt was embeddied in the flesh, and the gold wire of the hilt had broken through the skin of the palm of the {hand, and ha could not drop his Bword which he had so gallantly wielded. "His [hand clave unto the sword." That is what :I call magnificent fighting for the Lord God iof Israel. And we want more of it. 1 (propose to show you this morning how (Eleazar took hold of the sword ana how the sword took hold of Eleazar. I look at jEleazar's hand, and 1 come to the conclusion that be took the sword with a very /tight grip. The cowards who fled had nc trouble in dropping their swords. As they ifly over the rocks I hear their swords clanging in every direction. It is easy enough tot them to drop their swords. But Eleazar's hand clave unto the sword. Oh, my friends, in this Christian conflict we want a tighter grip of the (iospel weapons, a tighter grasp or the two edged sword the truth. It makes me sad to see thesa Christian people who hold only a part of the truth and let the rest of the truth go. so that the Philistines, seeing the loo3erred grasp, nrliAla crrnr/1 ftarnr frnm thftlTI Th e only safe thing for us to do is to put our thumb on the book of Genesis and sweep our hand around the book until the Isew Testament comes into the palm, And keep on sweeping our hand around the book until the tips of the finders clutch at the words, "la the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I like ?n infidel a great deal better than I do one of these namby-pamby Christians who hold jn part of the truth and let the rest go. By ouracle God preserved this Bible just as it as, and it is a Damascus blade. The severest jtest to which a sword can be put in a sword factory is to wind the blade around a gun tarrel like a ribbon, and then when the sword is let loose it flies back to its own hape. So the sword of God's truth has been fully tested, and it is bent this way and that way, and wound this way and that way, but it always comes back to its own shape. jThinkofit! A book written eighteen centuries ago, and some of it thousands of years ego, and yet in our time the average sale of this book is more than twenty thousand cop les every week, and more tnan a mirnoa Copies a year. I say now that a book which is divinely inspired and divinely kept and divinely scattered is a weapon worth holding a tight grip of. Bishop Colenso will come along and try to wrench out of your hand the live books of Moses, and Strauss will come along and try to wrench out of your hand the miracles, and Renan will come along and try to (wrench out of your hand the entire life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and your associates in the store, or the shop, or the factory, or |the banking house will try to wrench out of your hand the entire Bible; but in the strength of the Lord God of Israel, and with Eleazar's grip, hold on to it. You give up the Bible, you give up any part of it, and you E've up pardon and peace and life and laven. 1 see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young men in this audience. Do not be ashamed, young man, to have the world (know that you are a friend of the Bible. ,This book is the friend of all that is good and it is (he sworn enemy of all that is bad. ro^anf lff cixma an Inei JXU QiVAJUGUV " * *V>-* VWUV.J - dent of a very bad man who stood in a cell of a western prison. This criminal had gone through all styles of crime, and he was there waiting for the gallows. The convict standing there at the window of the cell, this writer says, "looked out and declared, 'I am an infidel.' He said that to all the men and women and children who happened to be .there, *Iam an infidel,and the eloquent writer says, "Every man and womai there believed him." And the writer goes on to say, "If he had stood there saying, 'I am a Christian,' every man and woman would have said. 4He ija liarP " This Bible is the sworn enemy of all this wrong, and it is the friend of all that is good. Oh, hold on to it Do not take part of it and throw the rest away. Hold on to all of it. There are so many people now who do not know. You ask them if the soul is immortal, and they sav. "I euess it is. I don't know; perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't." Is the Bible true? ' 4?\ ell, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't; .perhaps it may be figuratively, and perhaps !it may be partly, and perhaps it may not be at all." They despise what they call the iApostolic creed; but if their own creed were .written out it would read like this: 4,I believe in nothing, the Maker of heaven and earth, and in nothing which it hath sent, which nothing was torn of nothing, and which nothing was dead * and buried and descended into nothing, and arose from nothing, and ascended to nothing, and now !?tteth at the right hand of nothing, from [which it will come to judge nothing. I believe in the holy agnostic church and in the communion of nothingarians, and in the forgiveness of nothing, and the resurrection of nothing, and in the life that never shall be. Amen." That is the creed of tens of thousands of people in this day. If you have a mind to adopt such a theory I will not. "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, and in the holy catholic church, and in the communion of saints, and in the life everlasting. Amen." Oh, when I see Eleazar taking such a stout grip of the sword in the battle against sin ana for righteousness, I come to the conclusion that we ought to take a stouter grip of God's eternal truth, the sword of rignteousness. As I look at Eleaz3r*a hand I also notice his spirit of self forgetfulness. H3 did not notice that the hilt of the sword was eating through the palm of his hand. Ha did not know it hoit him. As ha went out into tha conflict he was so anxious for the victory he forgot himself, and that hilt might go ever so deeply into the palm of his hand it could not disturb him. "His hand clave unto the sword." Oh, my brothers and sisters, let us go into Christian conflict with the spirit of self abnegation. Who cares whether the world praises us or denounces us? What do we care tor misrepresentation, or abuse or persecution in a conflict like this? Let us forget ourselves. That man who is afraid of getting his hau l hurt will never kill a Philistine. Who cares whether you get hurt or not if you get the victory? Oh, how many Christians there are wno are all the time worrying about the way the world treats them. They are so tired, and they are so abused, and they are so tempted, when Eleazer did not think whether he had a hand or an arm or a foot. All he wanted was viotory. We see how men forget themselves in wordly achievement. We have often seen men who in order to achieve worldly success will forget all physical fatigue and all annoyance and all obstacles. Just after the battle of Yorktown. in the American Revolution, a musician, wounded, was told he mtijt have his limbs amputated, and they were about to fasten him to the surgeon's table?for it was long before the merciful discovery of anassthetlcs. He said, "No, don't fasten me to that table; get me a violin." A violin was brought to tiin and he said, "Now go to work as I begin to play," and for forty minutes, during the awful pangs of amputation, he moved not a muscle nor dropped a note while he played some sweet tune. Oh, is ft not strange that while the music of the GospV. of Jesus Christ and with this grand march of the church militant on the way to become the church triumphant, we cannot forget ourselves and forgot all pang and all sorrow and all persecution and all perturbation? We know what men accomplish under wordly opposition. Men do not shrink back from antagonism or for hardship. You have admired Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico," as brilliant and beautiful a history as was ever written; but some of you may not know under what disadvantages it was written?that *'Conquest of Mexico"?for Prescott was totally blind, and he had two pieces of wood parallel to each other fastened, and totally blind, with his pen between those pieces of wood he wrote, the stroke against one piece of wood telling how far the pen must go In one way, the stroke against the other piece of wood telline how far the pen must go the other wav. Oh, how much men will endure I for worldly knowledge ana lor wonaiy sui^ I cess, and vet how littJe we endure for Jesus Christ. How many Christians there are that go around saying, "Oh, my hand, my hand, my hurt hand; don't you see there is blood on the hand, and there is blood on the sword?' while Eleazar, with the hilt imbedded in the flesh of his right hand,"does not know it. Mnst I be carried to the skies On flowery bods of ea9e. While others foueht to win the nriza Or sailed through bloody seas? What have we suffered in comparison with those who expired with suffocation, or were burned, or were chopped to pieces for the truth's sake? We talk of the persecution of olden times. There is just as much persecution going on now in various ways. In 1849, in Madagascar, eighteen men were put to death for Cnrist's sake. They were to be hurled over the rocks, and before they were hurled over the rocks, in order to make their death the more dreadful in anticipation, they were put in baskets and swung to and ! fro over the Drecioice that they might see how many hunlred feat they would have to be dashed down, and while they were swinging in these baskets over the rocks they sang: Jeans, lover of my son!. Let me to Thy boson fly. While the billows near me roll. While the tempest still li high. Then they were dashed down to death t Oh, how much others have endured for Christ and how little we endure for Christ! We want to ride to heaven in a Pullman sleeoing-car, our feet on soft plush, the bed made up early so we can sleep all the way, the 1 black porter of death to wake us up only in time to enter the golden city. We want all the surgeons to fix our hand up. Let them i bring on all the liut, and all the bandages, i )and all the salve, for our hand is hurt, while 1 Eleazer does not know his hand is hurt. "His hand clave unto the sword." 1 As I look at Eleazar's hand I come to the conclusion that be has done a great deal of jbard bitting. I am not surprised when I i see that these four men?Eleazar and his thre9 companions?drove back the army of 'Philistines that Eleazar's sword clave to his hand, for every time he struck an enemy ; with one end of the sword the other end of I the sword wounded him. When he took hold of the sword the sword took hold of < Him. ua, we cava iuuiiu au cuoiu; ?uv cannot be conquered by rose water and soft speeches. It must be sharp stroke and straight thrust. There is intemparance. and there is fraud, and there is gambling, and there is lust, and there are ten thousand battalions of iniquity, armed Philistine iniquity. How are they to be captured and overthrown? Soft sermons in morocco cas93 laid down in front of an exquisite audience will not do it. You have got to call things by their right names. k We have got to expel from our churches Christians who eat the sacrament on Sunday and devour widows' houses all the week. "We have got to stop our indignation against the Hittites and the Jebusitas and the Gorgishite3, and let those poor wretches go, and apply our indignation to the modern transgressions which need to be dragged out and slain. Ahabshere. Herods here. Jezebels here. The massacre of the infants here. Strike for God so hard that while you slay the sin the sword will adhere to your own hand. I tell you, my friends, we want a few John Kuoxes and John Wesleys in the Christian church to-day. The whole tendency is to reflne on Christian work. We keep on refining on it until we send apologetic word to iuiquity we are about to capture it. And wo must go with sword silver chased and presented by the ladies, and we must ride ou white palfrey under embroidered housing, putting the spurs only just enough to make the charger dance gracefully, and then we must send a missive, deli I cate as a wedding card, co ass iao oia disck giant of sin if he will not surrender. Women saved by the grace of God and on glorious mission sent, detained from Sabbath classes because their new hat is not done. Churches that shook our citie3 with great revivals sending around to ask some demonstrative worshiper if he will not please to say "amen" and "hallelujah" a little softer. It seems as if in our churches we wanted a , baptism of cologne and balm of a thousand flowers, when we actually need a baptism of fire from the Lord God of Pentecost. But | we are so afraid somebody will critioise our ! sermons, or criticise our prayers, or criticise our religious work that our anxiety for the j world's redemption is lost in the fear we will j get our band hurt, while Eleazar went into the conflict, "And his hand clave unto the I sword." But I see in the next place what a hard i thing it was for Eliazar to get his hand and his sword parted. The muscles and the sinews had been so long grasped around the sword he could not drop it when he proposed to drop it, and his three comrades, I suppose, came up and tried to help him, and* they bathed the back part of the hand, hoping the sinews and muscles would relax. But no. "His hand clave unto the sword." Then they tried to pull open the fingers and to pull back the thumb; out no sooner were they pulled back than they closed again, "and his hand clave unto the sword." But after a while they were successful, then they noticed that the curve in the paim of the hand corresponded exactly with the curve of the hilt. "His hand clave unto the sword." You and I have seen it many a time. There are in the United States to-day many aged ministers of the Gospel. They are too feeble now to preach. In the church records ' the word opposite their name is "emeritus," or the words are, "A minister without charge." They were an heroic race. They had small salaries and but few books, and they swam spring freshets to meet their appointments. But they Hid in their day a mighty worlr for God. They took off more of the heads of Philistine iniquity than you'could count from noon to sundown. You put that old minister of the Gospel now into a prayer meeting, or occasional pulpit, or a sick room where there issome one to be comforted, and it is the same old ring to Ids voice and the same old story of pardon and peace and Christ and heaven. His hand has so long clutched the sword in Christian conflict he cannot drop it. "His hand clave unto Al J ft LUO bffUIU. I had in my parish in Philadelphia a very aged man. who in his early life had been the companion and adviser of the early Presidents, Madison and Monroe. He had wielded vast influence, but I only knew him as a very aged man. fne mosc remartaftle thing about him was his ardor for Christ. When he could not stand up in the meeting without propping he would throw his arms around a pillar of the church, and though his mind was partially gone his love for Christ was so great that all were in deep respect and profound admiration, and were moved when he spoke. I was called to see him die. 1 entered the room, and he said, "Mr. Talmage, I cannot speak to you now." He was in a very pleasant delirium, as he imagined he had an audience before him. He said, "I must tell these people to come to Christ and prepare for heaven." And then in this pleasant delirium, both arms lifted, this octogenarian preached Christ and told of the glories of the world to come. There, lying on his dying pillow, his dying hand clave to his sword. Oh, if there ever was anyone who had a right to retire from the conflict it was old Joshua. Soldiers come back from battle have the names of the battles on their flags, showing where they distinguishel themselves, and ic is a very appropriate inscription. Look at the flae of old General Joshua! On it Jericho, Gibeon, Hazar, City of Ai, and instead of the stars sprinkled on the flag the sun and the moon which stood still. There he is, one hundred and ten years old. He is lying flat on his back but he is preaching. His dying words are a battle charge against idolatry and a rallying cry for the Lord of Hosts as he says, "Behold, this day I go the way of all the earth, and God hath not failed to fulfill his promise concerning Israel." His dying hand clave unto the sword. There is tho headless body of Paul on the road to Ostea. His great brain and his grant heart have been severed. The elm wood rods had stung him fearfully. When the corn ship broke up he swam ashore, coming up drenched with the brine. Every day since that day when the horse reared under him in the suburbs of Damascus, as the supernatural light fell, down to this day when he is sixty-eight years of age and old and decrepit from the prison cell of the Mamertine,he has been outrageously treated, and he is waiting to die. How does he spend his last hours? Telling the world how badly he feels, and describing the rheumatism that he got in prison, the rheumatism afflicting his limbs, or the neuralgia piercing his temples, or the thirst that fevers his tongue? Ob, no. Hia last words are the battle snout for Christendom: "I" am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure b at hand; I have fought the good fight." And so his dying hand clave onto the sword, % It was in the front room on the second floor that my father lay a-dying. It was Saturday morning, four o'clock. Just three years before that day my mother had left him for the skies, and he nad been homesick to join her company. He was eighty-three years of age. Ministers of the Gospel came in to comfort him, but he comforted them. How wonderfully the words sounded out from his dying pillow, "I have been young and now am old, yet nave I never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread." They bathed his brow, they batbecl his bands, and they bathed his feet and they succeeded in straightening out the feet; but they did not succeed in bathing open the hand so it would stay open. They bathed the hand open, but it came shut. They bathed it open again, but it came shut. What was the matter with the thumb and the fingers of that old hand? Ah! it had so long clutched the sword of Christian conflict that "his hand clave unto the sword." I preach this sermon as a tonic. I want you to hold tbe truth with ineradicable grip, and I want you to strike so hard for God that it will react and while you take the sword, the sword will take you. You noticed that the officers of the Northera army a few years ago assembled at Denver, and you noticed that the officers of the Southern army assembled at Lexington. Soldiers coming together are very apt to recount their experiences and to show their scars. Here is a soldier who pulls up his sleeve and says, "There, I was wounded in that arm," and shows the scar. And another soldier pulls down his collar, and says, "There, I was wounded in the neck." Aid another soldier says, "I have had no use of that limb since the gun-shot fracture." Oh, my friends, when the battle of life is over and the resurr action has come and our fn/im f.ha HaaI Will UUUU33 * WV w?vy 1 we have on U9 any scars of bravery for God* Christ will be there all covered with scars. Scars on the brow, scars on tbe hand, scars on the feet, scars all over the heart, won in the battle of redemption. And all heaven will sob aloud with emotion as they look on those scars. Ignatius will be there and he will point out the places where the tooth and paw of the lion seized him in the Colisseum; and John Huss will be there, and he will show where the coal first scorched the foot on that day when his spirit took wine of flame from Constance. M'Millan and Campbell and Freeman, American missionaries in India, will be there?the men who with their wives and children went down in the awful massacre at Cawnpore. and they will show where the daggers of the Sepoys struck them. The Waldenses will be there, and they will show where their hones were broken on that day when the Pi-iimontese soldiery pitched them over the rocks. And there will be those there who took care of the sick and who looked after the poor, and they will have evidences of earthly exhaustion. And Christ, with His scarred hand wavine: over the scarred multitude, will say, "You suffered with Me on earth; now be glorified with Me in heaven." And then the great organs of eternity will take up the chant and St. John will play, "These are they who came out of great tribulation and had their robas washed and made wince in tne oiooa ox ue miuu, But what will your chagrin and mine be if it shall be told that day on the streets of heaven that on earth we shrank back from all toil and sacrifice and hardship. No scare to show the heavenly soldiery. Not so much as one ridge On the palm of tEeTmacT to saow that just once in the battle for Qod and the truth, we just once grasped the sword so firmly, and struck so hard that the sword and the hand stuck together, and the hand clave to the sword. O my Lord Je3U3, rouse us to Thy service. ? , Thy saints In all this glorious war V' Shall conqaer though they die; They tee the triumph from afar. And seize It with the eye. When that Illustrious day shall rlie, And nil Thy armies shine In robes of victory through the sklei, The glory shall be Thine. CURIOUS FACTS. V?nr?lrlnc qpo mar}/* r\f nr T*nrn? Every seventh man in England is a Londoner. There are twice as many large game animals in Maine now as there were ten years ago. Damascus is to be lighted by electricity, while Smyrna is to have an electric railway. It took 168 newspaper columns ol nonpariel type to contain the last list of delinquent taxpayers of Denver, Col. The gauge of the Roman chariots 2000 years ago was four feet eight and a half inches?same as standard railroad gauge of to-day. The temple of Hom-mom-ji, at Inke garni,begun in 1282 and finished in 1307, is one of the most famous religious structures iu Japan. Several hundred eagles swooped down on Bjelgord, Russia, and devoured ten horses, several sheep, and a vast number of smaller animals. The father of one of the largest property holders in London is buried in a glass case on top of one of the finest buildings in the city. A cat in Texas has developed such an affection for a dog that she i3 learning to bark so that she can converse with him with greater freedom. A woman In Hancock County, Maine, who was afraid to drive her horse across a railroad track, was bitterly disappointed in attempting to go around it. Damp weather in a town in Kansas caused a package of 5000 postage stamp3 to be glued together in a solid block, making it necessary to return them all to Washington. Caterpillars from tea to twelve inches long are said to l>e not uncommon in Australia, while species which vary in length from six to eight inches are stated to be numerous. In India, so it is told, the common custom is for the barber to go the homes of his customers. He starts out early in the morning, and, should he find a customer in bed, he shaves him without arousing him. Dr. Clement,who was treating a horse at Betzor, Hinsdale County, Penn., supposed to be in bad shape, discovered a tooth growing out of the animal's car. The strange ivory wa3 jerked out and the suffering animal promptly recovered. There are said to be about four hundred gypsies in the Northern States. The men are nearly all tinkers and profess to make a living mending pots and kettles, but fortune-telling by the women is the great source of the family revenue. The new compound ten-wheeled engines built for the Mexican Central Railroad by a Rhode Island concern were found too large to pass thp Raton tunnel of the Santa Fe road, and they h>ul to be shorn of every projecting part. Even then they just managed to pass through. One of the largest species of puffball mushroom was found growing ou a recent night in Carl Castelliun's garden on High street, Newburyport, Mass. It measured twenty-eight inches around and twenty-four inches high, and weighed three pounds and thirteen ounces. It is said to be a whole day's task for two men to fell a mahogany tree. On account of the spurs which project irom the base of the trunk, a scaffold ha3 to be erected and the tree cut off above the spurs, leaving thus a stump of the very besf; wood from ten to fifteen feet high. Will Chicago admit that It eve* baa a Are in which the loss Is less than ll.OOCLQQQZ RELIGIOUS READING. SIMPLICITY. Take, Lord, the little I can do; For love counts nothing small, And lowly service scrveth true In gladly giving all. To stay one weary heart in pain, One cheering word to suy, To help one sufferer .?ing again, Sufliceth for the day. In simple errands, silent praise, And pure obedience trod, So, one by one. shall all my days Be hid with Christ in God. ?[M. Woolsey Stryker, D. D., in Interior. CONVERTING THE POCKET. Conversions, as you know, are usually among youns: people, and if the pocket be not converted at the same time with the heart, or very soon nfter, the task grows harder each year, until, a3 middle life Is ap- I proached, it is next to impossible. The con- | sciences of young Christians are tender, their impulses warm and generous. Get them started in the matter of giving from principle, and in no other way can you do them so much good spiritually, or so effectually prevent that great sin of the eve?covetousness?from getting a lodgment in their minds and hearts?[Presbyterian Messenger. my mother's chair. My, mother's chair; vacant now, but, thank God, not forever! She walks on tbe piazza, or stands for a ment by her rosebush ; she will come soon and till the seat so long her own. I shall see the white border 'ofher cap against the dark cushions, ber gray brown hair and gentle eyes. She will speak, and I shall hear her voice?the music of that sacred word, mother. When the voice shall be hushed, the music of the word will fall into a minor strain. Oh, how near the mercy-seat is this aged mother's chair! How many times has she touched the hem of Christ's garment with such prevailing prayer that from the multitude of angels thronging his holy presence he has turned > to ask, "Who touched rac?" and then came I the answer, "Daughter, be of good comfort, the souls are healed for whom thou hast prayed.'' More precious than a throne will be this chair, if I should look upon it when my mother has heard the summons, ''Come up hither."?[S. A. W., in Exchange. a new creation'. God never repairs. Christ never patches. The gospel is not here to mend people. Regeneration is not a scheme of moral tinkering and ethical cobbling. What God does He does new; new heavens, new earth, new body, new heart ? "Behold, I make all things new." In the gospel thus we move o ?o,?. ttf/ipih ond nnilpr a nfiw scheme. The creative davs arc back again. We step out of a regime of jails and hospitals and reform shops. We get live effects direct from Go<*. That is the gospel. The gospel is a permanent miracle. God at first band?that is a miracle. The gospel thus does not classify with other schemes of amelioration. They are cood, but this is not simply better, but different, distinct, and better because d stinct; it worjes in a new way, and works another work. Compare the wrought chains riveted on the demoniac, and the Divine Word working a new creation in the demoniac. It is all there. It is like the difference between the impotent Persian lashing the turbulent sea with chains, and the gracious Lord saying to the troubled sea, "Pe:ce, be still!"?[Rev. C. II. Parkhurst. CHRISTIAN INDIVIDUALITY. Christians sometimes overlook the fact that God designs to carry forward Ilis work in the world, not only through varied agencies but through individuals possessing ilivcrsc mental characteristics. All the differences of natural temperament in His chosen instruments should be gladly welcomed ; only so that they are sanctified by I IDC opiru, anu are eiiiisieu m iuw one great end. If we study the lives of tho evangelists, we will be impressed with the | peculiar personal traits that constantly be. come apparent in their intercourse with our I Lord and with each oth?r and we cannot I fall to be struck with the manner in which these traits were employed by their Master in furthering His kingdom. All this was clearly exhibited by the apostles in the early period of the Church. Indeed, the record furnished by the four evangelists, and that of the acts and the BDistles, will give a truthful picture of church life around us at the present. God's servants must possess a Christian individuality?each one fitted to act for himself?in order to reach the best development of Christian Joctrine, and to give direction In practical flort to the philanthropic and Christian novomcnts of the age.? [Methodist l'rotesaut. uc;nr-HOLL>Kus. Every voyager through the British chanlel will remember the famous light-house hat stands near the gates of tbe Atlantic. It ises from a rock in tne middle of the waves, ts beacon-blaze streamiug out over tbe midlight sea. Christians arc Christ's light-bolders to .heir fellow men. The lantern of a lighttouse is not self-luminous. It has to be ;indled by a hand from without itself. C'onrersion by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual i!umination of the soul. God's grace lights lp the dark heart. Sometimes suddenly, as m the case of Paul. Sometimes, as iu^te :ase of Newton, there is at first a f(?ble germ >f light, like the little blue point of (lame ou ;h2 candlewick; and tliis germ of light grows into a clear, full blaze. Tbe beginning of true religion is in the first act of tmc faith? the firit breathings of earnest Drayer?the first hungering* after God?the first honest attempt to do right and serve Ihe Lord. God's grace is the only original source of light that makes any man a luminary in society; and when a man has been once kindled at the cross of Christ he is bound to shine. And in order to do this he need not be conspicuous in society for talents, wealth and intellectual culture. The modest candle by which a housewife threads her needle shines as truly as does the great lantern that burns in the tower of a city hall.?[Word and Work. AN" i:x.VM Pf.K. Jesus does not shadow the joys of others with his own griefs. He might have sat down in that wedding and said: *'1 have no much trouble, so much poverty, so mucu persecution, and the cro<3 is coining; I shall not rejoice, and the gloom of my face and of mv sorrow shall be cast over all this croup." So said not Jesus. He said to Himself: ' Ilere arc two persons starting out in married life. Let it be a joyful occasion. I will hide my own griefs. I will kindle their joy." There are many not so wise us that. I knew a household where there art; many little children where for two years the musical instrument has been Kept shut because there ' has been trouble in the hou?e. Alas, for the folly! Parents saying: "We will have no Christmas-tree "this coming holiday because there has been trouble in the house. Hush that laughing upstairs! How can there be any joy when there has been so much trouble?" And so they make everything consistently doleful, and ?end their sons and daughters to ruin with the gloom they throw around them. Those children will have trouble enoiurh of their own after awhile! He glad they cannot appreciate all yours. Keep back the cup of bitterness from your daughter's lips. When your head is down in the grass of the tomb, poverty may come to her. betrayal to her. bereavement to her. Keep back the sorrows as long as you can. Do you not know that son may, after awhile, have his heart broken? Stainl between him and all harm. You may not tight his battles long; tight them while "you may. ?[Exchange. A Kentucky colonel died from an overdose of whisky. A Monroe County, Pa., child swallowed the handle of its rattle and died. A Jerseyinan fell out of his bed while fighting a mosquito and broke his neck. Danger lurks in the simplest walks in life. In twenty ""years "there has been no counterfeiting of the United Statea postage stamps. The only criminals who tried it gave up in despair when It came to imitating the flavor of the mucilage Uncle Sam uses^ .SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR NOVEMBKK 1. Lesson Text: "Christ the True Vine," John xv., 1-1G?Golden Text John xv., 8?Commentary. 1. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman." Having arisen to go He still talks with them. Israel was the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts and the men of Judah His pleasant plant. He also called Israel a vine which He had brought out of Egypt (Isa. v., 8; Ps. Ixxx., 8). But Israel was only a type of Him who now spake with them. The manna, the rock, the water all spake of Him, for He is the true bread, He is the rock, He is the foundation of living waters. 2. "Every branch in Mo that beareth not fruit He taketh away." Judas had just gona out a little before; he was of the number of the twelve but never really one of them. He professed to be a disciple, an1 was otr) outwardly, but was no plant of God's planting (Math, xv., 13). "And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it that it may bring forth more rruit." Now He speaks of the eleven, who were really His but needed cleansing, that they might he more fruitful. Anything of self hinders fruit fulness, and oil filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, must be cleansed. 3. "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Every one in Chri3t is washed, justified, sanctified and made meet for the inheritance of the saints (I Cor. vi., 11; Col. i., 12). 4. "Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me." Being in Him, and therefore clean by His blood, the great thing is to bear fruit to the glory of God. This we cannot do by thinking of ourselves or by striving in our own strength, but only by beholding Him, believing His love, resting in His finished work, yielding to Him fully; thus, as the sap flows from the vine into all the branches producing fruic, so will His life flow into and through us, producing in us love, joy, peace, Ions suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. 5. "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing.1' We all know that the grapes are gathered from the branches of the vine and not from the stalk, and also tVittt ormnpo crnw nnlv nn t.hA nonr ornwth rtf 5* -r"*' n* w " ?v "**w o* " " the branches put forth year by year. What then is thisabididg which He makes so much of and by which alone we can bear fruit? Vi hat can it be but conscious occupation of the heart with Christ; a continuous faith in Christ crucified, risen, interceding and coming again. 6. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." A believer may be stripped of his gifts and opportunities which he failed to improve, ana be thus left as a warning to others, and finally saved as by fire (I Cor. iii., 11-15), or if only a nominal Christian as Judas, he will be finally cast into the lake of fire (Math xxv., 41). This lesson , however, as I understand it, refers chiefly, if not wholly, to true believers and their service. The works of the flesh, ail the energy of self shall be destroyed and cnly tlife work of the spirit shall abide. 7. "If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." What possibilities of faith and prayer are here. Compare this with chapter xiv., 13, 14, and ponder humbly and prayerfully the limitations?abiding, asking in His name, and seeking the glory of God. 8. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciple.*." As it was His constant aim to glorify the Father, so it must be ours if we are His witnesses: and a little fruit shall not satisfy hp will r?r*f if tvo Via v? T-Tia Snlrit, hilt the words "much fruit" will bo ever with us. 9. "As the Father hath loved Me, so have 1 loved you; continue ye in My love." Here is the source of all true service and fruit bearing?the love of God. Who can estimate the love of God to His onlv begotten Son' And yet that Son says to all who are truly in Him that His love to us is a3 the Father's love to Himself?everlasting, unchanging, a love that lays down its life for its enemies, a love that bears with such as Peter and continues to love him through all his wanderings, boastings and denials. 10. "if ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." To love God with all the heart and soul and our neighbor as ourselves; to preach the gospel to every creature; and to aim only to glorify God ejfber by life or /InofVi. ftioca wopo ohrrift tha fh'rtoQ rrkm i manded, and lived out in such as Paul and I Timothy and others. 'W here is our love | when compared with Christ's, or even with that flf Paul or Peter or John? ''These"things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." It was the delight of the Lord Jesus to do the Father's will; it was His meat and drink (Ps. xL, 8; John4v., 34). This was His joy, and the time will come when the will of God shall be done on earth as iu heaven, the prospect of this enabled Him to endure the cross and disregard the shame (Heb. sii., 1, 2). lp. "This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." The only way in which we can show our love to God is by our love for one another, for "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not eeen?"' (I John iv., 20). 13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." This is the height of human love, to die for a friend; but see the love of God, for "God coinraondeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," "Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. v., 6-St. 14. "Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." And how can we be His friends if we do not? "Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto Him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God" (Jas. ii., 23). "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brothor and sister, and mother." (Math, xii., .10). 15. "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth." Paul took pleasure in calling himself the servant of the Lard Jesus, meaning by that his very bond slave, as one whom Jesus has taken captive from the enemy, but he rejoiced to be the servant of Jesus because he had bsen set free from the bondage of sm and Satan, and hi knew it and was fully persuaded of it. "But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.'' Just as we tell our secrets only to our most intimate friends, so Jesus rev jals Himself fully only to those who prove themselves His friends by keeping His word?. 16. "Ye have nott chosen M^ but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." In Epli. i.. 4, it says that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. But it is alsj written in the same connection that we were chosen to be holy and without blame before Him in love; not chosen simply to be saved, but chosen to bear fruit tliat mi?ht abide to the glory of God; not chosen merely that we might be happy in time and in eternity, but chosen to lay down our lives for otaers, that they, too, might share His glory. "That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name. He may give it you.* See in this connection chapter xiv., U<, 14. and verse 7 of this lessor*; see also 1 John v., 14, 15,and learn that v^heu we abide in Him, ask according to His will and in His name, desiring only the glory of God, we shall have whatever we ask.?Lesson Helper. He who has respect for the opinions of others is the safest member of society. When a man becomes indifferent to what others think of him, he ia in a fair way to lose all self-re spect, and that lost, he is an unsafe man. It becomes every man to strive to merit the good opinion of society. It would seem that a man named Fishback ought to be a Finn. Anyway, the person of that name now Incarcerated charged with embezzlement appears to have been a scaly fellow. A .. ..... - . , ;^v ' ' " /*' ' '<7* She is Worth Waiting For. Jacob toiled seven years for his wife, and so great was his love for her that they seemed but a day. Cupid is very e much the same sort of a fellow now that he was in the patriarchal days. "When u a man once seta his heart on a woman, if his affection for her is of the proper r eort, a few years more or less is not go- g ing to bother him when he sets out to win her. Will J. Lynan, of Brooklyn, is a happy bridegroom, and besides that he has a comfortable bank account, being, therefore, able to support a wife. He worked for her longer by one year n than the period of Jacob's first probation, R but he got her, and says he will appre- & ciate her all the more because he had to wait. Eight years ago, at Rondout, N. p Y., he wooed and won the affections of fi Maggie Madden, of Wilbur, a neighbor- a ing village. Her parents objected because he was very poor. "Will you wait c for me, Maggie?" he asked her, when he q found that she was disposed to listen to f, the admonitions of the old folks in spite b of her love for him. "Yes." "How long?" "Always. When you come n back with a moderate fortune,"if it be ^ next year, or ten years from now, you will find me true to you." With this to encourage him, the young man turned his ba:k on his sweetheart and his face on the world. He set to work like a hero, and believing it ^ would do no great good, by tacit con- ? sent the couple kept up no regular cor- [ respondence. They heard from each other occasionally, though. Lynan came c to New York. Ono day last week a robust young man, bearing the independ- c ent air of a well-to-do American, called t at the Madden homestead in Wilbur and S asked to see Maggie. She came into the c room and he said simply: 4'I am able s to support you now, Maggie, and I have come for you." She recognized him at I once and Hew to his arms. Mrs. Lynan c now declares that in all the years that she i was waiting for her husband she never [ doubted his constancy, and that he would c ultimately come to her. In the meantime, she had refused to go much into f society because she considered hersell t engaged.?Chicago Jfeics. a mi i * Poorly-ShodChlldren. * James B. Carnwyl, of England, was at i the Tremont House on his way home from South America. "If the people in 1 Chili wore the same kind of shoes now e that they did twenty years,ago," said Mr. c Carnwyl, "Balmaceda would still be rul- ? ing over them. The soldiers could not ! hare made the marches they did under i General Canto around Valparaiso. As < late as 1874 most of the people you would < meet in the street in Valpariso wore no foot covering at all. Soldiers and ( officials of the lower class had a foot , covering consisting of a sole of beef hide ] not tanned and fastened to the foot by a , lace made of the same material running , through holes clumsily cut. The .well* j to-do middle clgMes wore shoes laccd up . the front, with wooden soles pegged on < in a clumsy manner. At that time tho city of Valparaiso possessed but foui shoemakers. Three of these made custom work and the other made ordinary Jwork to send into the interior of Chili and to Peru and Bolivia. To-day there are more than 1000 gocd workmen, among them there is scarcely a score of the first , rank. "By the way, a poor shoemaker in Chili made a peculiar discovery in a peculiar way. On August 14, 1888, a dyke - 9 _ _ J. TT.l ?: J Dursi in a river at. v aiparaiau auu uuuucu the whole business section c? the city. In speaking of the affair this ahoemake: saidtome: 'Out of everj evil there's a little good, for after cleaning up my store all I could find in it were five bull frogs of a gigantic size, the smallest weighing five pounds. After killing them I endeavored to remove part of the skins by I soaking them in alum and was well paid for my trouble. "Chinese mules" were made of the skins, and they were very supple and as easily worked as kid. Finding a ready sale for them, other frogs were obtained and similarly used. They are called liltle elephants here.' That poor shoemaker made a special traffic in those frog skins, as they were found to be well adopted for the manufacture of pocketbooks and wallets. Today he is a rich man?a fortune made out af nothing but frog skins."?Chicago Hercdd. The Horseshoe Superstition. The custom of nailing a horseshoe over the door of a house or other building as a protection against evil spirits and as an assurance cf good luck is widely spread over the United States and England. It also flourishes among ; the Teutonic and Scandinavian races, i and has been recognized as far J&ast a? Hindoostan. The horseshoe unites within itself three lucky elements?it is crescent-shape, it has been, or is to be, in contact with a horse, and is made of iron. Popular superstition has for ages endowed iron with protecting powers. The Romans are known to hare driven nniU intr? thft doors and the walls of their houses as an antidote or as a preventive of the plague. The Arab who is overtaken by a simoon in the desert ( seeks to propitiate the Jinns by shriek- | ing: "Iron! Iron!" Since time out of , memory the Scandinavians have sought , to exercise tho river spirit, Neckaw, by , sticking an open knife in the bottom of | the boat, or driving a nail in the mast or oar. In the mythology of England the ] horseshoe has always been considered a i "luck bringer." 1 The popular belief in the horseshoe j attained its greatest diffusion about the ] end of the last century. Aubrey, in his t "Miscellanies," tells us that in his time i most all the houses in West London had , a horseshoe over the door. Lord Nel- y son nailed one to the mast of the Victory, . and "Lucky" Dr. James used one as a ( crest for his carriage.?St. Louis Republic. , ? t Two Glaciers in Wyoming. ? Wyoming boasts two glacicrs equal in c surroundings and beaten only in extent J by the famous icy formations of the old ? world. The first is found in the ascent c of the highest of the three Teton Moun- 8 tains just outside tho National Park in Fremont County. It was discovered but a few days ago by W. O. Owen, a civil engineer visiting that section for pleasure, j I It is of a smooth surface except for a few great seams. The second glacier is ~ reported by G. W. Johnson, a Govern- f meat geological surveyor, whose investi- ' gations have been cut short by an order taking him to California. This Rocky .. Mountain freak is on Cloud Peak, forty * miles from the town of Buffalo, and at , ime poini on the ice field Johnson looked ' down & sheer twelve hundred feet. A j basin filled by seepage gives this glacier a lake attachment.?Chicago Qtrald. % -kgm POPULAR SCIENCE. Phosphorus is now being made bf-'M lectricity. Electric soldering irons are extensively sed in canning establishments. Cases of tuberculosis are a common f esu It of occupying the room of a con- :.v nm nfi At Tokio, Japan, a concern employs-raj n electric motor instead of steam fa* perating planing and drilling machine*. ^ A new mode of famishing power to -M aotor engines by mixing steam with hot --ij ;ases is creating a great deal of interest a English circles. An arc lamp of about 2000 caudle, lower will, when placed about thirty?- ^|| ve feet above the eat-th, light up in aa rea of 400 feet radiu3. India ink is made from fine lampblack^ ia ompacted and cemented with glue; ^ 'be finest black is derived from pork. v)?| at. The glue is made from buffalo .ide. The European demand for Americaft-v^ lade carts and light vehicles has greatly icreased. It has also been found .jv heaper to send them across without ^ ininf.incr lpsnrinor that: tr? hn dnnA broad. Investigations carefully made in t$tfj?g? ennsylvaaia . University VeterinanjnS Ichool tend strongly to establish t& act that the milk and fiesh of taberOT- '^ 3us cattle are almost the sole cause onsumption. Professor Carcot, the eminent lecturer ;||| in nervous diseases in Paris, has sac-!r^ :eeded in obtaining enlarged photoj ; rraphs of the brain under various con-J^a litions of the disease, a result of greafr. cientific value. The danger of conveying infection by 'JS ancet or needle having been pointed| ?g >ut, a French surgeon proposes vaccinators ng with ordinary steel pens, speciaUyiJH jointed. Being inexpensive, a fresh pttt :an be used for each operation. A patent has recently been taken ot&rJH or the manufacture of a good substi-J ute for ivory. The ingredients used] :|1 ire mostly those of which natural ivoijrf^l a rnmnnaojl onrl fko fliffAP-! 'Ji ?nt coloring matters enables objects of* <$> iny desirable shade to be produced. The aquatic plant, the bladderwo^;?|0 'eedfl on animal life. The tiny bUddea^i attached to the leaves and leaf stalks aimSS sach famished with a door, the who!?; \ icting on the eel-trap principle. Any). 1 imali water creature that ventures to peejp^?fl n is seized in the clutches of the munle^^ )us plant and is at once swallowed and s assimilated. The phenomenon of the "green rty??* ^ jr flash of green light seen when th?'.:1| mn's upper limb rises from or sinki tiind the sea horizon, has been lately ofinlla served by Mr. C. Mostyn in the Southern#! Ocean. He says it is best at sunrise,*^ because the eye is not fatigued witb^jg watching the glowing disk of the 6oa,at' ^ it is likely to be at sunset. An ingenious application of elecricife^^ for ventilation has been brought out iatgg France. An electric fan furnishes the current of air, which can be cooled bjfc&g means of ice or other cooling agent. ?e|9 hot air is required, electricity is Ma?&|| through a series of meshes of wire,whttirc?i kisvli vaaiofonno PQIIQAS if, flfl hflCfiTM hfluSffl andthe air passing through these if giT?rf1|f tKe heat required^ * "Sg "A novel cure for nervoa3 diseasesTa^S being practiced ia Worishofen, Bavaria/ . / The treatment is the outcome of J| study of an old prie3t, and consists ?2 chiefly in spraying water over the in various places, dressing at once with^eS out drying, and brisk walking immedj?.-;g|j ately afterward. The diet is carefolly' >Jj attended to, and thousands have been!. \ cured of nervous troubles which hatf'jjl defied all previous physicians. Georgian lien and Women. The natives of Georgia, a country Asia, situated on the south side of Caucasian range, and now included in ttar, ;'? Russian Government Tifiis, belong to the ' Caucasian race and have been as mucsk celebrated as the Circassians for the athi-'fjp letic frames of the men andthe beauty of ^ the women. These qualities have creatodr ^ in bygone times a large demand for tttiJ&S men to serve in the armies and for the women to become inmates of the haren*J|| of the Turks. The Georgia nobles long derived thefr'"M chief revenue from this traffic, valuing. their serfs only for the money which thgj'fjjH could obtain for them in the Turkish mar- ' . . it K6U3. uruer tuc irwusaiau. ouiwivt^uy which was established in 1800, this trft^SB 6c has ceased aad the distiactioa waich divided the whole population into th? classes of noble3 and serfs, nearly equivalent to those of masters aud slaves, though rJs 3till subsisting, ha? been greatly modi-Wtffl 6ed. The Georgians belong to the Greek ; Church, and the Bible was translated.;'^ into their native language a3 early a3 the beginning of the Fifth Century.?2fem York Neics. Story of an Invention. J. 51. Lowe, inventor of the adjostr ^ lble street car, was telling at the Aqdi-^^ toriuui the other evening how he came to conceive the idea of a street car that ^ :ould be transformed from au open to :losed car, or vice versa, in a few monents. "My family and myself were in Baston >ast summer," said he, "and we wentt&^M risit friends wh/? live some distance oat. We rode in ar ypen, summer street car, ind on our way home we were overtaken jy a rain storm. The curtains at the -$ tide of the car afforded us no protectioa whatever from the drenching rain, and . ? ny wife's and daughter's fine dresses vere ruined. They complained very much about the plight they were in and spoke >f several other ladies on the car who f,\: vere as bodly of!. That started me to ,'ty ;hinking, and I said to ray daughter: '3 Nevermind; I'll invent an adjustable :ar and make enough out of it to buy .'$? rou a much better dress.' I set to work Lt once, and by the next evening I had :ompletcd the first draft ot a plan for s? \ idjustablc car."?Chitago Post. ? Raised as a Girl. W . ~ "' t It is said that the eccmtric Qaeett Natalie's more eccentric sister, ths Prin:ess Ghika, entertains an absolute *<| iversion to boys and is very fond of ,nrls. Very much to her disgust, her raly ?:hild is a boy. She endeavors to issuage her disappointment by dressing ind treating him exictly as though ho vere a girl. Though now more than tea rears old, he wears long, flowing curia ind a feminine costume, low-necked and " fnort-sleeved frocks, and is called by a ./ girl's name, very much to his disgust* ?Picayunc.