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f . REV. DRTTALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Straining at Gnats and Swallowing Camels." Text: "Ye blind guides, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."?Matthew xiti., 34. A proverb is compact wisdom, knowledge in chunkn, a library in a sentence, the electricity of many clouds discharged in one bolt, a river pnt through a millrao?. When Christ quotes the proverb of the t&it'Be means to aet forth the ludicrous behavior of those who make a great bluster about small sins and have no appreciations of great ones. la my text a small insect and a large quadruped are brought into comparison?a enat and a came). You have in museum or bo the desert seen the latter, a great awk- ' ward, sprawling creature, with back two stories high and stomach having a collection of reservoirs for desert traveC an animal forbidden to the Jews a9 food, and in many literatures entitled "the ship of the desert." The gnat spoken of in the text is in the grub form. It is born in pool or pond, after a few weeks becomes a chrysalis, and then after a few days becomes the gnat as 4re recognize it. But the insect spoken of in the text is in its very smallest shape, and yet it inhabits the water?for my text is a misprint and ought to read "strain out a gnat." My text shows you the prince of inconsistencies. A man after lone observation has formed the suspicion that in a cop of water he is about to drink there is a gmb or the grandparent of a gnat. He goes and gets a siere or a strainer. He takes the water and pours it through the sieve in the broad light. He says, "I would rather do anything alilrinlr this wafjw until thifl larva be extirpated." This water is brought under inquisition. The experiment is successful. The water rushes through the sieve and leaves against the side of the sieve the grub or gnat. Then tbo man carefully removes the insect and drinks the water in placidity. But going out one day and hungry, he devours a "snip of the desert," the camel, which the f Jews were forbidden to eat. The gastronomer has no compunctions of conscience. He 1 suffers from no indigestion. He puts the z lower jaw under the camel's forefoot and his c upper jaw over the hump of the camel's t back, and gives one swallow and the drome- i dary disappears forever. He strained out a j gnat, he swallowed a camel 1 While Christ's audience were yet smiling j at the oppositenessand wit of His illustration y ?for smile they did in church, unless they i were too stupid to understand the hyperbole j ?Christ practically said to them. "That is j Ku." Punctilious about small things; reck- < s about affairs of great magnitude. No j subject over withered under a surgeons ] kniie more bitterly than did the Pharisees i uader Christ's scalpel of truth. ( As an anatomist will take a human body t to pieces and put them under a microscope [ for examination, so Christ finds His way to t the heart of the dead Pharisee and cuts it j out and puts it under the glass of inspection for all generations to exam ins. Those ( Pharisees thought that Christ would flat- ' tev them and compliment them, and how ] they must have writhed under the red hot i words as He said, - "Ye fools, ye whited i sepulchern, ye blind guides which strain < out a gnat and swallow a camel." < There are in our day a great many gnats ] strained out and a great many camels 1 swallowed, und it is the object Qt this ser- j mon to sketch a few persons who are ex- , tensively engaged in that business. \ First, I remark, that all those ministers ( of the Gospel are photographed in the text ( who are very scrupulous abont the conven- 3 tionalitieso'religion, but put no particular j stress upon matters of vast importance. t Church sei'vices ought to be grave and solemn. There is no room for frivolity in { religious convocation. But there are illus- , trntinns. And there are hvoerboles like that of Christ in the text that will irradiate with . smiles any intelligent auditory. There are j men like those blind guides of the text who \ advocate only thosa things in religious ser- ] ice which draw the corners of the mouth j down, and denounce all those things which have a tendency to draw the corners of the , mouth up, and these men will go to installa- , tions and to presbyteries and to conferences ] and to associations, their pocket9 full of fine sieves to strain oat the gnats, whib in their ] own churches at home every Sunday there , are fifty people sound asleep. They make j their churches a great dormitory, And their somniferous sermons are a cradle, and the , drawled out hymns a lullaby, while some < wakeful soul in a pew with her fan keeps the i flies off unconscious persons approximate. , Now. I say it is worse to sleep in church than 1 to smile in church, for the latter implies at , least attention, while the former implies the , indifference of the hearers and the stupidity , of the speaker. " 1 In old age, or from physical infirmity, or from long watches with the sick, drowsiness ] will sometimes overpower one, but when a j minister of the Gospel looks off upon an ( audience and finds healthy and intelligent j people struggling with drowsiness it is time < for him to give out the doxology or pro- 1 nounce the benediction. The great fault of j church services to-day is not too much viva- ( city, but too much somnolence. The one is an irritating gnat that may be easily i stxainpd out- the other is a cTaat snrawlinc i and sleepy-eyed camel of the dry desert. In < all our Sabbath schools, in all our Bibla 1 classes, in all our pulpits we need to brighten < up our religious message with such Christ- < like vivacity as we find in the text. ] 1 take down from my library the biog- , rapines or ministers ana writers ot the past j ages, inspired and uninspired, who have done i the most to bring souls to Je3us Christ, and I find that without a single exception they < consecrated their wit and-their humor to ] Christ. Elijah used it when he advised the i Baalitee, as they could not make their God j respond, telling them to call louder as their < god might be sound asleep or gone a hunt- t rag. Job used it when he said to his self- i conceited comforters, "Wisdom will die ?with you.* Christ not only used it in the ^ text, but when He ironically complimented ' the putrefied Pharisees, saying, "The whole i \ need not a physician." and when by one \ word He described the cunning of Herod, \ saying, "Qo ye, and tell that fox." Matthew Henry's <Commentaries from the 'first page to the last coruscated with humor as summer clouds with beat lightning. John Bunyan'j writings are as full of humor as they are of saving truth, and there is not an aged man here who has ever read "Pilgrim's Progress" who does not remember that while reading it be smiled as often as he wept. Chryeostom, George Herbert, Robert South, John Wesley, George Whitefleld, Jeremy Taylor, Rowland Hill, Nettleton, George G. Finney and all the men of the past who greatly advanced the kingdom of Go 1 consecrated their wit and their humor to the cause of Christ. So it has been in all ths ages, and I say to these young theological students, who cluster in these services Sabbath by Sabbath, sharpen your wits as keen as scimiters ana and then take them into the holy war. It is a very short bridge between a smile and a tear, a suspension bridge from eye to lip. and it is soon crossed over, and a smile is sometimes just as sacred as a tear. There is as much religion, aud I think a little more, in a spring morning than in a starless midnight. Religious work without any humor or wit in it is a banquet with a side of- b?ef, and that raw, and no condiments and no dessert succeeding. People will not sit down at such a banquet. By all means remove all frivolity and all pathos and all Lightness and all vulgarity?strain them oat through the si9ve of holy discrimination; but, on the other hand, beware of that monster which overshadows the Christian churcu to-day, conventionally, coming up from the (ireac Sahara Desert of Ecdeenasticum, having on its back a hump oi sanctimonious gloom?and vehemently refuse to swallow that camel. Oh, how particular a graat many people are about the infinitesimals while they art quite reckless about the magnitudes. What did Christ say? Did He not excoriate th< people in His time who were so careful tc wash their hands before a meal, but did not wash their hearts? It is a bad thing to have 1 unclean bands; it is a worse thing to have I an unclean heart. How many people there are in our time who are very anxious that ! after their death they shall be buried with their feet toward the east, and not at all j anemic. fhaf fhaif vhnln life thfcV ' should face in the ^rizht direction so that they shall come up in the resurrection of the just whichever way they are buried. How ' many there are chiefly anxious that a minister of the Gospel shall coma in the line of apostolic soooession, not caring so much , whether he oomes from Apostle Paul oi4 Apostle Judas. They hava* way of meat uring a gnat until it ia larger than a camel. . -L'. ilvkiv Again, my subject photographs all those who are abhorrent of small sins while they are reckless in regard to magnificent thefts. Yon will And many a merchant, who while he is so careful that he would not take a yard of cloth or a spool of cotton from the counter without paying for it, and who if a bank cashier should make a mistake and send in a roll of bills five dollars too much would dispatch a messenger in hot haste to return the surplus, yet who will go intoastockfcompany n which after awhile he gets control of the itock and then waters the stock and makes 1100,000 appear like 1209,000. He stole only H00,000 by the operation. Many of the men >f fortune made their wealth in that way. One of those men engaged in such unrighteous acts, that evening, the evening of the ?erv dav when he watered the stock, will ln<? a wharf rat stealing an evening newspaper from the basement doorway, and will go mt and catch the urchin by the collar and ;wist the collar so tightly the poor fellow jannot say that it was thirst for knowledge ;hat led him to the dishonest act, but grip ihe collar tighter and tighter, saving: "X lave been looking for you a long while. You itole my paper four or fire times, haven't fou? You miserable wretch P' And then :he old stock gambler, with a voice they can lear three blocks, will cry out, "Police, poicer That same man, the evening of the day on vhich he watered the stock, will kneel with lis family in prayer and thank God for the jrosptritv of the day, then lds3 his children good night with an air which seems to say: 'I hope you will all grow up to be as good is your father!" Prisons for sins insectile n size, but palaces for crimes dromedarian. ^"cr mercy for sins animalcule in proportion, >ut great leniency for mastodon iniquity. U ?'<? fi'ma fKbf. wa in A mavMno fhaf do is not excusable in proportion as it detares large dividends and has outriders in iqutpagd. Many a man Is riding to perdition postilion ahead and lackey behind. To steal a dollar is a gnat; to steal many thousands of dollars is a camel. .There is many a fruit dealer who would not consent to steal i basket of peaches from a neighbors stall, rat who would not scruple to depress the rait market; and as long as I can remain bar ire have heard every summer the peach crop >f Maryland is a failure, and by the time the rrop comes in the misrepresentation makes a lifference of millions of dollars. A man rho would not steal one peach basket steals Ifty thousand peach baskets. Any summer go down into the Mercantile ibrary, in the reading rooms, and see the tewspaper reports of the crops from all pares >f the country, and their phraseology is very auch the same, and the same men wrote /hem, methodically and infamously carryng out the huge lying about the grain crop 'rom year to year and for a score of years. &.fter a while there is a "corner" in the wheat market, and men who had a contempt lor a petty theft will burglarize the wheat )in ot a nation and commit larceny upoa the American corn crib. And men will sit in :hurches and in reformatory institutions tryng to strain out the small gnats of scoundrelsm, while in their grain elevators and ia ;heir storehouses they are fattening huge camels which they expect after awhile to iwallow. Society has to be entirely reconducted on this subject. We are to find iiat a sin ia inexcusable in proportion as it s great. 1 know in our time the tendency is to charge religious frauds upon good men. rhey say, "Oh, what a class of frauds you iave in the Church of God in this day," and when an elder of a church or a deacon or a sinister of the Gospel or a superintendent 31 a DaDDaiu bcuuui lurus uut a uciauiwr what display heads there are in man? of the newspapers?great primer type; five line pica?"Another Saint Absconded," "Clerical Scoundrelism," "Religion at a Disjouat," "Shame on the Churches," while there are a thousand scoundrels outside the :burch to where there is one inside the ihurch, and the misbehavior of those who sever sea the inside of ? church Is so great it is enough to tempt a man to become a Christian to get out Qf their company. Bnt in all circles, religious ani irreligious, the tendency is to excuse sin in proportion is it is mammoth. Even John Milton in his "Paradise Lost," while he condemns Satan, jivas such a grand description of him you aave hard work to suppress your admiration. Oh, this straining oat of small sins like gnats, and this gulping down great iniquities like camels. This subject does not give the picture of it one or two persons, but is a gallery in which thousands of people may see their likenesses. For instance, all these people who, while they would not rob their neighbor of a farthing, appropriate the money md the treasure of the public. A man has a bouse to sell, and he tells bis customer ic is worth (20,000. Next- day the assessor comes u-ound and the owner says it is worth $15,XX). The Government or the United States took off the tax from personal income, imong other reasons because so few people would tell the truth, and many a man with in income of hundreds of dollars a day made statements which seemed to imply he was ibout to be handed over to the overiser of the poor. Careful to pay their passage from Liverpool to New York, yet smuggling In their Saratoga trunk ten silk dresses irom Paris ' in a a half dozen watches from Ueneva, Switzerland, telling the custom house officer an the wharf, "There is nothing in that trunk but wearing apparel," and putting a five dollar gold piece in his hand to punctuate the statement. Described in the text are all those who are particular ntver to break the law of grammar, and who want all their language an ? ??!??? it nrn(>T otrainlneT ntlfc nil 21t;gaub o^irnou V*. the inaccuracies of speech with a floe sieve jf literary criticism, while through their Mnversation go slander and innueado and profanitj and falsehood larger than a wkole airavan of camels, when they might better fracture every law of the language and shock their intellectual taste, ana better let rerb seek in vain for its nominative, and jvery noun for its government, and every preposition lose its way in the sentence, ana adjectives and participles and pronouns get into a grand riot wortny of the Fourth ward on election day, then to commit a moral inaccuracy. Better swallow a thousand gnats than one camel. Such persons are also described in the text who are very much alarmed about the small faults ot others and have no alarm about their own great transgressions. There are in every community and in every church watchdogs who feel called upon to keep their eyes on others and growl. Ttey are full of suspicions. They wonder if that man is not dishonest, if that man is not unclean, if there is not something wrong about the other mau. They are always the first to hear of anything wrong. Vultures are always the first to smell car rion. They are self appointed detectives, a lay this down as a rule without any exceptian?that those people who have the moat faults themselves are most merciless in their watching of others. From scalp of head to sole of foot they are full of jealousies and hypercriticisms. They spend their life in hunting for muskrats and mud turtles instead of Hunting for Rocky Mountain eagles; always for something mean instead of something grand. They look at their neighbors' imperfections through a microscope, and look at their own imperfections through a telescope upside down. Twenty faults of their own do not hurt them halt so much as one fault of som? body elsei Their neighbor's imperfection! are like gnats, and they strain thenaout; their own imperfections are like camels, and they swallow them. But lestany might think they escape th? scrutiny of the text, I have to tall you w? all come under the divine satire when we make the questions of time more prominent than the questions o* eternity. Come now i~?-... ~n ? ? , ? 2 JOU US Oil IUIU lUO UUIllCODIUUai. ATO UUV all temnted to make the question, Whera shail I live now? greater thau tb? question. Where shall I live forever! How shall I get more dollars here? greater than the question. How shall I lay up treasures in heaven? the question. How shall I pay rav debts to man? greater than the question. "How shall I meet my obligations to God? the question, How shall I aain the world? greater than the question, What if I lose my soul? the question, Why rHa God let sin come into the world? greater than the question. How shall I get it extirpated from my nature? the qu?stion, Whatshallldo with the twenty or forty or seventy .years of my sublunar existence? greater that the question, What shall I do with the millions of cycles of my poatterrestial existence? Time, how small it is! Eternity, how vast it is! The former more insignificant in comparison with the latterkhan a fmaf. in in<?icrniflnnnt- whan /?Amnor<w1 with a camel. We dodged the text. We said, "That doesn't mean me, and that ioesn't mean me," and with a ruinous benevolence we are giving the whole sermon iway. But let us all surrender to the charge. What an ado about things here. What 1 pooripreparation for a great eternity. As ;hougn a minnow were larger than a behe* i .r-i-'i' / o moth, aa fchpugJS a swallow took wider ebr-- < cnit than aa a! batrou, as though a nettle were taller than a Lebanon cedar, aa though a giant were greater than a camel, as tbough a minute were longer than a century, aa though time were higher, deeper, broader than eternity. 80 the texc which flashed with lightning of wit as Christ uttered it, is followed by the crashing thunders of awful catastrophe to those who make the questions of time greater than the questions of the future, the oncoming, overshading future. 0 Eternity 1 Eternity 1 Eternity! SABBATH SCHOOL, 1NTEUNATIONAL LESSON FOR APRIL 17. Lesson Tex;* "God's Works and W ord," Psalm xlx., 1-14Goldun Text Psalm xix., 7?Commentary. An Easter lesson is suggested 'Math, xxviii.. 1-20), as optional instead of thip, but with anointed eyes we may And an abundance of resurrection troth in tins lesson, for certainly the labt five verses of the previous psalm are full of the resurrection triumphs oi toe messiao. 1 - We bare in this psalm three books CreamoD,#i., d, Scripture, vii., 11, and Conscience, xii., 14; and these have been called David's whole library. The heavens may include the aerial, solar, starry and highest; the first three within nan<e of our vision, and therefore here referred to, the last seen by Paul in the Spirit (II Cor. xii., 3-4), We cannot look up either by day or night, if we have anointed eyes {Rev. iii., IS), without beholding the glory of God in the works of His hands. 'J. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night snoweth knowledge." It is written in Rom. i? 30, that His eternal power and Godhead may be known by the works of His hands'but surely not without the aid of the Spirit who is ready to teach every one. The stars taught Abram that so Bhould his seed be (Gen. xv., 5>; that seed is Christ and His resurrection joint heirs (Gal. iii. lfl. 2fltiXohn xii.. 24) 3. "There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard." Tet they shine steadily and continuously, preaching without intermission, the one taking up where the other left off; unappreciated by the multitude, unthanked, ana yet delighting to to the will of God. There are many earthly lives something the same. Shine on, ob, quiet one*. Thy God sees and approver be content. 4. "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.*' For signs and seasons, days and years (Gen. i., 14)), to the whole world. Let Mary's memorial in all the world (Mark jciv., 8, 9) encourage others to do what they can unto Him. 5. "In them hath He sat a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his Chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to "run a race." The tabernacle, the sun. the bridegroom are all suggestive of Christ and His redeemed, both in humiliation and resurrection glory He tabernacled among us in the flesh and He now dwells in us (John i., 14; R. V.,'margin xiv., 23; II Cor. iv? 11). Every believer should be looking forward to the marriage of the Lamb, when the joy of Bridegroom and Brid&shall be consummated, and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun (Rev six., 7. 8; Math, xiii., 43.) 6. " 'Hia going forth is from the end of the heaven, and HiB circuit unto the ends of it* and there is nothing hid from the heat there of." So shall we with Him in resurrection power and glory share all that is His (John xvji., 33) in heaven and on earth and cause the richness of His grace and glory to be known everywhere. But this cannot be till that Easter morning when we shall be like Him (I John iii., 3). 7. 4*The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Sun. moon and stars silently proclaim Him, but in the volume of the Boot we find Him more fully. Law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, judgments are all His * Notice, ix times "of the Lord." He is the author and the embodiment of all. He is my salvation and my wisdom 8. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord u pure, enlightening the eyes." He is my jov and my light; His word ths joy and rejoicing of my heart; Himself my light and my salvation. Let Scripture speafr, and read Job xxiii., 13; Jer. xv., 16; Pa. xxvii.,1: cxix., 97, 105; John vili., 12; I John i 7 V "The rear or tne juora is clean, enauring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Not only solvation, wisdom, joy and lizht, but everlasting righteousness are all in Him and made ours by His word and Spirit (John vi., 63). "What joy should All us because we have His word, what zeal should possess us to carry it to others? 10. "More to be desired are they thaD gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Compare Ps. cxix., 108. All this world's riches and sweetness are here outdone. Even believers have been known to turn away from the Bible to other books tor sweetness, but while they may know Jesus as Saviour they do not know him as Lord, or they would not turn from Him for anything 11. "Moreover by tham is Thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is freat reward.*' His word in our hearts eeps us from sinnine against Him (Ps. cixx., 11) And while here in this life we have the consciousness of sins forgiven, peace with God, acceptance in the beloved (1 John ii., 12; Horn, v., 1; Eph. i., 6, 7): who can estimate the reward of the faithrul when like Him, and with Him, we shall receive from Him the crowns we may have won on the earth. (Jas. i,, 12t ? Cor. lx, 25, I Pet. v/ 4; II Tim. iv.. 8) 12. "Who ran understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults." The contemplation of the King in His works and His word reveals more fully our sinfulness; and thoughts of His glory, which we shall snare with Him, makes us want to be more holy now (Isa. vi.,?; Job xlii., 5, I John V: II Cor. iii.. 18) 10 T\ - L. _i__ ? io. jveejj uoct xuy arrvnnb aiso irotn presumptuous sins; let them not' have dominion over me, then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." One has said that the sins we see and confess are only like a box of samples compared with the stock in store. We may count hairs or stars, but sins cannot be numbered, and yet the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. As to presumptuous sins see Deut. i . 43: xvii., 12. He earnestly desires cleansing trom all sin secret and manifest, small and great. It is a good sign when we hate all sin. 14. "Let the words of my nlouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Tliy sight, 0 Lord, my strength and my redeemer." This is like Paul, who says "We make it our aim whether at home or absent to be well pleasing unto Hiin" (II Cor., v., 9, R. V). Healsosaid to Timothy -'Study to show thyself approve! unto (rod" (II Tiin. ii., 15). Only as we see ourselves to be dead with Christ, and riseu in His Christ, and kuow something of the power of His resursection, shall we come to a life like thin. W"hen we can truly say "Not I but Christ," then filled with His spirit, both words and thoughts shall be pleasing unto Him. The IT-lw D?..l ? ?! xaujjt opu ib iuiuu^u x aui wua iu> buat wo ?r? not sufficient of ourselvt?? to taink anything, as ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. He also talis us that every thought is to be brought into captivity to the obe lience of Christ (II Cor. iii., 5; x., 5).?Lesson- Helper. MYSTERIOUS MALADY, An Epizootio Carries Off Many Valuable Thoroughbreds. It is estimate! that Marcus Daly's losses of colts at the Bitter Root Stock Farm, near Butte, Montana, this season will aggregate $100,000. Five-sixths of the colte foaled have died immediately after birth. The best veterinary surgeons are unable to arrive at the cause, but consider ic to oa au epizootic. Mr. Daly has over half a million dollars invested in his brooding establishment. There has been a similar epizootic in the breeding regions of Kentucky for the last two years. The veterinary surgeons said that it was the grip, but many expert horsemen assert that it is due to breedin ; mares so that the foals appear in January and February instead of April and May. However, the mortality is far less this year than 'hi 1891. RELlGiO USJR E ADING. . A 8WKKT PRAYER. God of the mountain, God of the storm, God of the flower, God of the worm. Hear us and bless us, Forgive lis, redress ust Brentbe on our spirits Thy love and Tby healing Teach us content with Thy fatherly dealing, Teach ua to love Thee. To love one another, brother his brother; And make us all freeFree from the shackles bf ancient tradition, Free from the censure of man for his - neighbor, Help us each one to fulfil his true mission, And show us 'tis god-like, to labor I God of the darkness, God of the-sun, God of the beautiful, God of each one t Clothe us and feed us, Illume us and lead us; Show us that avarice holds us in thrall. That the land is all Thrine, and Thou givest to all. Scatter our blindness; Help us do right, all thfe day and the night; To love mercy and kindness; Aid us to conquer mistakes of the past; Show us our future to cbeer us and arm us, The upper, the better, the mansions Thou bast. And, God of the grave, that the grave cannot barm us. ?[F. R. Orton. OKK VERSE READ AT A CRITICAL MOMEST. A missionary in Japan tells of a young man living in Yokabama, who had oeard * U.J UM?AN mvon If OI l/QntHimilly uiu UUU uciui ii?u Kiivu * any special attention. Learning that his father had been defeated in a lawsuit, and believing that injustice had been done, he became greatly enraged and determined to take revenge by assassinating the governor whom he believed to be responsible for the result. While arranging to go home that he might carry out his evil intention he called to say good-bye to a Christian ?rieud, who not knowing the object of bin journey, bade him God-speed and gave bim a Bible. He started on the journey, reading the liible on the way. He happened to turn to the first verse of the seventh chapter of Matthew, and when be read it his conscience, was so troubled that he gave up his purpose and re- * turned to Yokohama. He continued to read and became a true convert, aud then, not satisfied with a mere profession, he gave himself to the study of God's word and is now a faithful worker for the Master in the city of Toklo. PUSH UPWARD. What a bugle-blast the heroic old Paul sounded in the ears of bis youuger bretbern at C'olos3e when he exclaimed, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above!" In whatever way we apply these words, whether as meaning a preparation for heaven, or a coveting of heavenly treasures or an upward push iu the Christian life, they still breathe the name aspiration. Jesus had delivered those Le.itb* ern from the sepulchre of sin. They bad risen with Christ. Now instead of still lingering in the atmosphere of the charnel noose, the great apostle exhorts them to coat away their grave clothes, and to live as Christ's freemen and the heirs to a magnificient inheritance. Look higher! Live higher! These were the inspiring ojlls of the veteran to his younger fellow-soldiers in the warfare for Christ. He exhorts them to "set their minds" on the tblugs that are above, and also to "seek'' them. Ttyere was to be.an inward longing and an outward living Christward. Fau;'s boglecall is needed in our tiroes to vast numbers of God's people, who, like Bunyan's man with his muck-rake, are grubbing away among; the straws and rufobisli. without even lifting their eyes towards the crown above their beads. *Tens of thousands, whose names are on the rolls of onr churches are barely alive. Instead of growing they are only gasping. Their pulse is feeble. Their joys are few; only an occasional sunbeam iu a watery sky. 'Their assurance of hope is so scanty that they can barely say?''well, I hope that I atn a Christian. I think that I was converted several year* ago, and when I die I truxt that I shall be saved." xnere 13 no muscle in their faith, no power in their prayers, no ring in their voices, no force in their daily examples, no Iruit of tbe Spirit, in commercial phrase, their Christian life does not pay expenses; they are running behind every year. Now what Bball these baiting, doubting, crippled and almust useless professors do? 8hall they lieatUl jusb-where they are?with the desperate hope that when death overtakes them they will somehow scramble into heaven? Thw is too tremeudous a risk to run. And even if by God's grace thev are saved from hell they "will have a wretchedly e>or and meaner preparation for heaven. 0 crowns awaiting them there! No sheaves; not more than a spear or two of grain. All this style of existence is better than death; but it is not genuine living. Every one of these cumberera of the soil may become a fruit-bearer tomorrow if he only will. Every back-slider may become a joyous, useful servant of Christ at once if he will only heed Paul's bugle-call, and awake to the glorious possibilities before him. LIGHT ABOUND THE THROXE. 1 remember being in a meeting after tbe war of the great rebellion broke out. The war had beengoir gon for about six months. The armv of the North had been defeated at Bull Run. in fact ve had nothing but defeat, and it looked as though tbe Republic was going to pieces. So we were much cast down and discouraged. At this meeting every speaker for awbite seemed as if he bad hung his harp upon the willow; and it was one of the gloomiest meetings I ever attended. Finally an old man with beautiful white hair, got up to speak and bis face literally shown. "Young men," be said, "you do not talk like sons of the King. Though it is dark just here, remember that it is light somewhere else." Then be went on to say that if it were dark all over the world, it was light around the Throne. He told us he bad come from the east, where a friend had described to him how he had been up a mountain to spend tbe night and see the sunrise. As the party were climbing up tbe mountain, and before they, lmd reached tbe summit, a storm came on. ' " ' * ' 1 A- tC- ?T saril! rtiwo This inena saw to uie guiuc, i v tbis up; take me back." The guide smiled, and replied, I think we shall get above the storm soon." On they went; and it was not long before they got up to where it was as calm as any summer evening. Down in the valley a terrible storm ragejL: they could hear the thunder rolling, and see the lightning's flash; but all was sereue on the mountain top. "And so ray young friends," continued the old man, "though all is dark around you come a little higher and the darkness will flee away." Often when I have been inclined to get discouraged, I have thought of what he Mid. Now if you are down in the vallev amidst the thick fog and darkness, get a littte higher; get nearer to Christ, and kuow more of Him. You remember the Bible saye, that when Christ expired on the cross, the light of the world was put out, God sent his Son to be the light of the world; but men did not love the light because it reproved them of their sins. When they were about to put out tbis lijrht, what did Christ say to his disciples? "Ye?h:ill be witnesses* unto Me." (.Acts 1:8). He has gone up yonder to intercede for us; but He wants us to shine for Him down here. "Ye are the light of the world." (Matt. 5:14). So our work is to shine; not to blow our own trumpet so that people may look at us. What we want to do is to show forth Christ. If we have any light at all it is borrowed light. Someone said to a young Christian. "Converted! it is all moonshine!'' Said he "I thank you for the illustration, the moon borrows it.s light from the sun; and we borrow ours from the Son of Righteousness." If we are Christ's we are here to shine for Him: !>y and by He will call us home to our reward.?TMof) I v. Ward McAllister mlgnt arrange his classification of New York society on a more satisfactory basis if he would take a hint from the oyster dealers. Why not brand the first grade as "New York counts," the second as "selects," the third as "standards," and so on? tVk begin to see a reason ror cnicago capitalists building their blocks so big and high. Burglars recently carried off a stationary engino with several tons of plumbing, and wero going back for the building, but coneluded to wait until It was fitted up again. Deys of Algierv.andja now a barracks or"military headquarters. If Ir VSre' going to construct a city on one of yoor steep sand hills on the model of a labyrinth I think I should build something analogous with ancient Algiers. It is a town made up of narrow streets of unequal length, presenting in their wind THE MOOR AT HOME. PECULIARITIES OF MOORISH MANSIONS IN ALGIERS. External Ornamentation Not Favored ? Magnificent Interior Adornments? Lavish Use ot Valuable Material. rcR houses are oar ^*!mI W?|Pri8on,'"*afkJ8 &q ow L'f'vySB S Sa Jproverb, which can MM ^ bcapplied to the jKSS Arabs. With their ^SlESro ^^^ j/seYere an(* oloisteral XTaspect, their walls ^vVVi"'' pierced by rare and narrow openings. they might readily be taken for dungeons instead of for habitations. Isolated upon the slope of a smiling hill in the midst of green trees, they are rather attractive, but here in Algiers they offer nothing that is very sumptuous so far as outside show goes. Your good Mussulman does not like grand outlines -in architecture, or outward-display, as is the pleasure of us who aie civilized. The Arab is selfish and wmnts to enjoy alone his household gods and goods;'Wd^his is-why he takes care that his residence shall seem of no account to all passers by. All moo run mansions?oy jnoors 19 meant those Arabs who live in cities? are bailt on the same plan and method. It is always the house of the orient; it is with the richest bey or pasha as with the poore?. merchant or mechanic, a square 9ttucture of one or two stories only. There is no front to them, that is to say, no facade as we understand it; merely INTERIOR OF A high walls pierced at irregular dlstaaces with small-sized openings covered with iron or wooden bars. There is a low, thick door, in a stone or marble frame, which may be and often is curiously carved, and usually there are old-fashioned locks and queer-shaped knockers. This is the exterior appearance of an Arab's house; there is no more luxury, no other ornamentation and no front yard either. But you should see the inside of these dwelling-places. Marble columns with delicate flutings, ogire arches of elegant desiga, balistrades of precious wood, large doors with fine panels,ceilings with arabesques and bright paintings, mosaic floors and fountain playing?these are the sort of things you find inside a Moorish home. The door which opens on the street never lets you at once into the apartments. You enter first a hall more or less spacious, according to the impor * * 5 J At*** iwaaHk ranee or me mansion uuu tuc V?t?a&bu v* the owner, and on both sides of which, under niches sustained by graceful columns, and marble seats extended for visitors and customers. Next is the courtyard, bordered on its four sides by galleries, and this court is the common promenade of all the home folks. It is also used for recaptions and marriage ceremonies, when the tiled or mosaic pavement is covered with matting or carpcts, and a cloth is stretched overhead to protect the guests against sudden rain or overdose of daylight. Around the galleries of (his ground floor are the kitchen, storerooms, bathhouse, cistern and chicken coop. The pavement of the hall of the court?when it is not laid in tiles or mosaics?the steps of the staircase, the columns, the door posts, are all in stone or marble. The walls are inlaid with A STltn^' Of AT-GIER8. faience of various colors, skilfully combined, and the effect produced is quite interesting. The floor above is similarly arranged as to division walls, and these nre the sitting and sleeping rooms. Finally we come to a flat roof which serves as a terrace for the women and children, and to it they go in search of fresh air and swap gossip with their lady neighbors. Most of all these houses are in the old Arab town, and they rise by stories, so to speak, above and back of each other on the slope of a high bill as fur as the ruined ramparts of the Kasbas. That edifice used to be the residence of the iu?o auu twiauuge everj iuiu and curve, staight lines being seldom noticeable. Your Mussulman fatalist does not like change of any sort, and looks with grief on the opening of wider avenues, which the local authorities are constructing,-so as to bring light and air into dark and unwholesome quarters. Moreover, Arab architects seem to feel instinctive repulsion toward right angles. The houses are without exterior windows, or with loopholes at most. The different stories protrude, the upper stiU further than the one below, and in su^h a way that at the top buildings on opposite sides of the carro* street often touch each other. Sometimes the public way runs for a rnnftirinrAhlft distance in A vaulted nu sage, and everywhere the -walls are of dazzling whiteness. It in the custom to whitewash them twice in every year, but now and then some cranky Arab lays on a coat. of blue, ,aod, the contrast is very striking.?San Francisco Chronicle. Progressive Japanese Yiseonnt. . It is only a little over a year ago that Japan adopted a constitutional form of government, fashioned very closely after the systems of America and Europe. The Viscount Tanl has been one of the fore* most spirits in bringing, this about, and is certainly a fair type of a people who already rank among the most intelligent and progressive to be found anywhere. The plan of government adopted was MOORISH HOUSE. that of a diet with two houses, one of which was to be composed of delegates duly elected, while iu the other sat the peers. Already the new constitution has encountered breakers. In ordinary parliamentary systems, when the deputies and the Government do not agree, it is the latter that goes under. In Japan, where everything is done differently, the house of representatives has been dissolved and a new election has been ordered to test public opinion. The Viscount Tani is on the side of the Government, and claims that tne ministers have made a good showing. It is charged that the popular party has resiated all Government hills indiscriminately; among others, several for the reVI8COTOT TAXI. lief of the sufferers by the recent earth quakes. Two other accusations made are that a majority of the representatives insisted upon unwise reductions 01 national expenditure, and rejected bills for the national defense, for railway extension, and for lightening local taxation. Immediately after dissolving the house the Government, on its own responsibility, took measures to relieve the earthquake sufferers.?Chicago Pos t. Don't be a Slave to the Doctors. Tattered Timothy?"I've been trampin'four years, Ma'am; an' it'a all 'cause I heard dat der doctors recommended walkin' as der be9t exercise." Mrs Prim?'-Well, the doctors ar6 right. Walk along!"?Puck. ,~ .:. ' ' * ' ';j. - " ' ? C \ ,. Something U^eoanwn I* R?f?. , ,M I was calling on a friend at a welP known importing house this week,writes a New York correspondent, and in the course of conversation he said; "Would you like to see something uncommon in rugs ? " I of course said "yes," whereupon he got a bunch of keys from their Aiiaf^i'an an si tAnlr ma infjt a arvpr-i*] ViUPbUUIOU ****** *vv?? I**V ?uw w vjrvvHM room about the size of an ordinary draw- : ing room, in which were several piles of rugsf while others were displayed about the walls. 4'It may interest you to know," he said, "that in this little room is $100,000 worth of rugs, and yet the real treasures are kept even more closely," He then went to a substantial cupboard and unlocking it drew forth a folded silk rug, which if he threw open with a flourish. It would need a Rfiskin and a Turner combined to do justice to the sight which met the eye.: . ^ The ruir was nearlv sauare. being about , ' five by seven feet, and its richness WM dazzling. The price, I was informed,. { was $7500. It contained 9,000,000stitches and was about 300 years old. How* it got to the New York market the . dealer was not all disposed to say, aaff .< this leads me to remark that in thaw . < choice Eastern rugs there is often a bid* .. ? den chapter of romance, which, if put to literaryuses ,might furnish more than one ntffci like Wilkie CoUins's "Moonstone" to the library of "thrill." These priceless rugs all have their history? whether they carry with them into exile something of that power to bless and curse, which is supposed to go with some of these Oriental gems that have been torn from their holy nooks . in the East to be made traffic ot by the infidels, I -i will not undertake to say. Possibly * this superb rug would be as unoomfort- n able a possession as that complacent "fallen idol" which caused such distress ; in the wild narrative of Anstey. Clever Horses end Cattle. 1 That horses and cattle can commuai- ' v cate intelligence to each other, and are endowed with a certain amount of tea. ? soning faculty, the following facts are 'Avjj pretty conclusive proof: I once pur-' chased a station on which a large num-" ber of cattle and horses had gone wild. .' V To get cattle io, I fenced the permanent . J water (a distance of twenty miles) lear- : -:j ing traps at intervals. At first this an- ^ swered all right, but soon the cattle became exceedingly cautions about enter- ; ?J| ing the traps, waiting outside for two ott . ',& il tli 1 9 1 f? <? . i i ' inree nignts Deiore going id, ana u tneyj , j could smell a man or his tracks, not go-' ' ^ ing in all. At last they adopted a plan; .^ which beat me. A mob would come to -M the trap-gate, and one would go ia audi drink and come out; and then another would do jthe same, and so on till all Xpj had watered. They had evidently arrived at the conclusion that I would net catch one and frighten all the other*1 ft away. To get in wild horses, 600 of which ^ were running on a large plain (about . 20,000 acres), I erected a large stockyard, with a gradually widening Jane, ia * ' || a hollow where it could not easily be listen, and by stationing horsemen at intervals on the plain, gallopod the wild horses in. My first hunt (which lasted' some days) was successful, the wild horses heading toward the mouth of the > lane without much difficulty, but, of 'V||j course, some escaped by charging back at the stock?yanl gate and in other \ way8. My Second hunt, about a month , | later, was a failure; every mob of horses 4.J| on the plain seemed to know where the I yard was and would not turn that wayThis seemed to show that the horses that escaped from the first hunt told all -;|j the others where the stockyard was.? 'cfl London (England) Spectator. i mm? The Form of a Bainbew. The form of a rainbow depends on the relative position of the sun and the .*( observer. It is caused by the light of; the sua passing through the drops of rain, by which the light is refracted, as bj a prism, when the rainbow colors are perceived. Thus when the sun shines through a shower of rain, in a parallel direction, the rainbow is circular, but when the rays of the sun strike the shower st an angle, we see only a part of a circle, which is less as the angle is less. When the sun is high and shines ' % through a cloud,which consists of minute . '"*4 drops of water, at a great height, we see '"d the circle and call it a halo. But it is actually a rainbow. The compound' {>J rainbows, sometimes seen at .a great height in the sky, are caused -by the light passing through ice crystals in the ' | clouds, when the refraction is more com plicated. The double rainbow is doe to the action of the sunlight that is reflected from both sides of the raindrops, as well as refracted bj their passage ' through the drops. These reflections produce faint colors which are seen within and without the principal rainbow. The phenomena of the rainbow have been studied by philosophers sihce the Four* J. teenth Century, but it was Newton who discovered the most interesting facts concerning this curious appearance. The so-called sun dogs which appear in hazy weather are merely different exhibitions of the same phenomena of the refraction of light.?New York Times. A New Twine Fibre. : -V'Oje J. C. Best, who lives a few miles south of Kansas City, Mo., thinks he has solved the binding twine problem for the American farmers. Mr. Best J proposes to use as a substitute for ma- -,J\ nilla and sisal tibre m toe manuiaccure of twine, the fibre of the yucca plant or ' V "Spanish bayonet" as it is called in New Mexico. A Kansas name for it is "tear grass," so called on accoant of the great strength of its fibre. Mr. Best has been experimenting with the yucca plant for several years, and he has progrossed so far that he has invented? machine that will satisfactorily separate * the fibre. Driven by a horsepower engine and operated by two men, it will separate 4000 pounds of clean fibre in ten hours, which c&n be manufactured into binding twine much more cheaply than manilla and sisal fibre, while at the same time making a twine that is quite as good. Mr. Best says the manufacture of his twine will bring the trust to more reasonable terms.?St. Louis Republic. The Color of the Eye. The color of the iris is not uniform in any eye. Some eyes hare spots, othert stripes, still others blotches of white, green, blue, yellow and black, and the eye take3 its color from the predominance of one hue. An eye that is considered grey will often be composed of black and yellow. An eyo that is thought to be brown will be very darlc^ red, with spots oi jellow or blue*