Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r REV. BE. TALMAGE. / -THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Dumb Spirit." Text: "Thou dumb and dtaf spirit, 1 charge thee, come out of him."?Mark ix., 25. Here was a case of great domestic anguish . The son of the household was possessed of an evil spirit which, among other things, paralyzed his tongue and made him speechless. Wh?n the influence was on the patient he could not say a word?articulation was impossible. The spirit that captured this member of tue household was a dumb spirit?so called by Christ?a spirit abrcad to-day snd as lively and potent as in New Testament times. Yet in all of the realms of sermonolosy I cannot find a discourse concerning this dumb devil which Christ charged uoon my text, saying, 'Come out of him." There has ben much destructive suparsti won aoroau in tne worm cuurarnmg uuwbaion by evil spirit?. Under the form or belief in witchcraft this delusion swept the continent?. Persons were supposed to be possessed with some evil spirit which made thtni able to destroy others. In the sixteenth century in Geneva 1500 persons were burned to death as witches. Under one judge in Lorraine 900 persons were burned to cleat to as w.tches. In one neighborhood of France 1000 persons were burned. In two I centuries 200,000 persons were slain as witches. So mighty was the delusion that It included among "its victims some of the greatest intellects of all time, such as Chief Justice Mathew Hale and Sir Edward Coke, and such renowned ministers of religion as Cotton Mather,one of whose books, Benjamin Franklin said, shaped hi3 life?and Richard Baxter and Archbishop Cranmer and Martin Luther, and among writers and philosophers, Lord Bacon. That belief, which has become the laughing stock of all sensible people, counted its disciples emong the wisest and best people of Sweden, Germany, Eng land, France, Spain and IN aw England, tmo while we reject witchcraft any man who believes the Bible must believe that there are diabolical agencies abroad in the world. While there are ministering spirits to bless there are internal spirits to hinder, to poison and destroy. Christ was speaking to a spiritual existence when, standing before the afflicted one of the text, He said, " Thou dumb and deaf spirit, come out of him." Against this dumb devil of the text, I put you on your guard. Do not think that this agent of evil has put his blight on those who, by ommission of the vocal organs, have had the golden gates of speech bolted and barred. Among those who have never spoken a word are the most gracious and lovely and talented souls that were ever incarnated. The chaplains of the asylums for the dumb can tpll von eneh&ntiiiir stories of those, who never called the name of father or mother or child, and many of the most devout and prayerful souls will never in this world speak the name of God or Christ. Many a deaf mute have I seen with the angel of intelligence seated at the window of the eye, who never came forth from the door of the mouth. What a miracle of loveliness and knowledge was Laura Bridgman, of Near Hampshire! Not only without faculty of speech, but without hearing and without sight, all these faculties removed by sickness when two years of age, yet becoming a wonder at needlework, at the piano, at the sewing machine. and an intelligent student of tho Scriptures, and confounding philosophers, who came from all parts of the world to study the phenomenon. Thanks to Christianity for what it has done for the amelioration of the condition of the deaf and the dumix Back in the ages they were put to death as having no right, with such paucity of equipment, to live, and for centuries they were classed among the idiotic and unsafe. But in the Sixteeath century came Pedro Pone?, the Spanish moalf, and in the Seventeenth century came Juan Pablo Bonet, anothor Spanish monk, with dactylology or the finger alphabet, and in our own century we have had John Braidwood and Drs. Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and Gallaudet, who have given uncounted thousands of those whose tongues were forever silent the power to spell out on the air by a manual alphabet their thoughts about this world and their hopes for the next. We rejoice in the brilliant' inventions in behalf of those who were bora dumb. One of the most impressive audiences I ever addressed was in the far west two or three years ago?an audience of about 600 per sods who had never heard a sound or spoken a word, an interpreter standing beside me while I addressed them. I congratulated that audience on two advantages they had and over the most of us?the one that they escaped hearing a great many disagreeable things, and on the other fact that they escaped saying things they were sorry for afterward. Yet after all the alleviations a shackled tongue is an appalling limitation. But we are not this morning speaking of congenital mutes. We mean those who are born with all the faculties Ol vocalization and yet have been struck by ttie evil one mentioned in the text?the dumb devil to whom Christ called when He said, 'Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come I out of him. There has been apotheosization of silence. Some one has said tnat silence is golden, and sometimes the greatest triumph is to keep your mouth shut. But sometimes silence i? I a crime and the direct result of the baleful influence of the dumb devil of our text. There ia hardlv a man or woman in this bouse to-day who has not been present on some occasion wben the Christian religion i became a target for raillery. Perhaps it was over in the store soma dav when t.hara w?? cot roach going on and the clerks were in a group, or it was in the factor/ at the noon spell,or it was out on the farm under the,trees -while you were resting, or it was in the clubroom, or it was in a social circle, or it was in the street on the way home from I business, or it was on some occasion which [ you remember without mo describing it. \ Some one got the laugh on the Bible \ and caricatured the profession of re\ ligion as hypocrisy, or made a pun out \v of something that Christ Baid. The laugh \ started and you joined in, and not one word ' x of protest did you utter. What keot vou y silent? Modesty? No. Incapacity to answer? No. Lack of opportunity? No. It was a blow on both your hps by the wing of the dumb devil. If eoina one Bhould malign your father or mother or wife or husband or child you would flush up quick, and either with an indignant word or doubled up fist make response. And yet here is our Christian religion which has done so much for you and so much for the world that it will take all eternity to celebrate it, and yet when it was attacked you did not so much as say: "I difTer, I object, I am sorry to hear you say that. There is another side tu this." You Christian people ought in such times as these to go armed, not with earthly weapons, but with the sword of the Spirit. You ought to have four or five questions with which you could contouuJ any man ' who attacks Christianity. A man ninety years old was telling me a few days ago how be put t3 flight a scoffer. My aged friend said to the skeptic, "Did you ever i read the history ol Joseph in the Bible?" "Yes," said tbe man: *,it is a fine story, and as interesting a story as I ever read." 'Weil, now," said my old friend, "suppose that account of Joseph stopped half way?" "Oh,'' said the man, "then it would not be entertaining." "Wall, now," said my friend "we have in thieworld only half of everything, and do you not think that when we hear tho last half things may be consistent, and that then we may find that God was riehtV Oh, friends, better load up with a few laterrogation points. You cannot afford to be silent when God and the Bible and the things ot eternity are assailed. Your silence gives consent to the bombardment of your Father's house. You illow a slur to be cast on your mother's dying pillow. In behalf of the Christ, who for you went through the agonies of assassination on the rocky bluff back of Jerusalem, you dared not face ? Rat?n. t/v?l nn wifk a law questions so that next time you will bo ready. Say to the scoffer: "My dear sir, will you tell me what makes the difference between the condition of woman in China and the United States? What do you think of the sermon on the mount? How do you like the golden rule laid down in the Scriptures? Are you in ravor ot ttie tea commandments? In your large and extensive reading have you come across a lovelier character than Jesus Christ? Will you pleasa to name the triumphant deathbeds of in&dels and atheists? How do you account for the fact that among the out and out believers In Christianity were such persons as Benjamin Franklin, v 7 I John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyla Babington Macau lay, William Penn, Walter Scott, Charles Kingsley, Horace Bushnell, James A. Garfield, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Admiral Foote, Admiral Farra^ut, Ulysses S. Grant, John Milton, William Shakespeare, Chief Justice Marshall, John Adams, Daniel Webster, George Washington* How do you account for their fondness for the Christian religion? Among the innumerable colleges and universities of the earth will you name me three started by Infidels and now supported by infidels? Down in your heart are you really happy In the position you occupy- antagonistic to the Christian religion? When do you have the most rapturous Yievra of the next worldf 60 at him with a few such questions and he will get so red in the face as to suggest apoplexy, and he will look at his watoh and say he has an engagement and must 8KV. You will put him in a sweat that will beat a Turkish bath. You will put him on a rout compared with which our troops at Bull Run made no time it ail. Arm yourself, not with argucuaats but interrogation points, and I promise fou victory. Shall such a man as you, shall >uch a woman as you surrender to one of the meanest spirits that ever smoked up from ;he pit?the dumb devil spoken of in the ;ext? But then there are occasions when this particular spirit that Carist exercised when He jaid, "I charge thee to come out of him," cakes people by the wholesale. In the moit responsive religious audience have you noticed how many people never sing at all? They have a 000k, and they have a voice, and they know how to read. They know many o( the tuno i, and yet are silent while the great raptures of music pass by. Aicong those who sing not one out of a hundred sings loud enough to hear his own voice. They hum it. Tney give a sort of religious gruut. They make the lips go, but it is inaudible. (Tith a voice strong enough to stop a Btre9t car one block away, all they can afford in the praise of God is about half a whisper. With enough Sopranos, enough altos, enough bassos to make a small heaven between the four wails, tney let cue opportunity go by unimproved. The volume of voice that ascends from tha largest audience that ever assembled ought to be multiplied about two thousand fold. But the miuister rises and gives out the hymn; the organ begins; the choir or precentor leads; the audience are standing so that the lungs may have full expansion, and a mighty harmony is about to ascend, when the evil spirit spoken of in my text?the dumb devil?spreads his two wings, one over the lips of one-half the audience and the other wing over the lips of the other half of the audience, and the voices roll baok into the throats from which they started, and only here and there anything is heard, and nine-tenths of the holy power is destroyed; and the dumb devil, as he flies away, says: "I could not keep Isaac Watts from writing that hymn, and I could not keep Lowell Mason from composing; the tnne to which it is set, but 1 smote into silence or half silence the lips from which it would Have spread abroad to hle3s neighborhood and citi?s, and then mount the wide open heavens." Give the long meter doxology the lull support of Christendom, and those four lines would take the whole earth for God. During the cotton famine in Lancashire. England, whea the suffering was something terrific, as the first wagon load of cotton rolled in, the starving people unhooked the horses and drew tbe load themselves, singin?, until all Lancashire joined in with triumphant voices, their cheeks sopping with tears, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." When Commodore Ferry, with his warship, the Mississippi, lay off the coast of Japan, he bombarded the shores with "Old Hundred," played by the marine band. Glorious "Old Hundred," composed by William Franc, of Germany. In a war prison, at ten o'clock at night, the poor fellows far from home and wounded ana sick and dying, one prisoner started the "Old Hundred Doxology," and then a score of voices joined, then all the prisoners on the floors took up the acclaim until the building, from foundation to topstone, fairly quaked with the melodious ascription. A British man-of-war, lying off a foreign coast, heard a voice singing that doxology, and immediately guessed, and guessed aright, that there was an Eaglishman in captivity to the Mohammedans; and in the small boats the sailors rowed to shore and burst into a gaurd-house and set the captive free. I don't know what tune the trumpets of resurrection shall play, but it may be the Nosology which is now sounding across Christendom. How much more hearty we would be in our songa, and how easily we could drive back the dumb devil from all our worshiping assemblages, if we could realiza that nearly all our hymns have a stirring history. That glorious hymn, "Stand Up for Jesus," was suggested by the last words of Dudley Tyng, who was dying from having his right arm torn off in a thrashing machine. That hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," heard through a telephone, converted an obdurate soul. "Shall We Gather at the River?' was a hymn first sung in our Brooklyn Prospect Park, at the children's May anniversarry.jind then started to encircle the world. "Where la My Wandering Boy To-night?" is a song that has saved hundreds of dissipated young men. Torn, the drummer boy in the army, was found crying, and an officer asked him what was the matterl "Oh," he said, "I had a dream last night My sister died ten years ago, and my mother never was herself again ant site died soon after. Last night I dreamt I was killed in battle, and that mother and sister came down to meet me." After the noxt battle was over, soma one crossing the Sold heard a voice that he recognized as the voice of Tom, the drumner boy. singing "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." But at the end oi the first verse the voic9 became very feeble, and at the end or the second vara; k stopped, and they went up and founi Tom, the drummer boy, leaning against a stump and dead. Thj.t hymn, "Oh,for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," was suggested to Charles Wesley by Peter Bohler, who, after his conversion, said, "I had better keep silent about it." "No," said Wesley, "if you had ten thousand tongues you had better use them for Christ." And then that angel of hymnology panned the words: Oh. for a thousand toazaes to slag My dear Redeemer's praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace. Jesus, the name that calms oar fears. That bids oar sorrows cease; lis masic in the sinner's ears, Tis life and health and peace. While much of the modern music is a q r*r\naar?mhaH nnncpnqp A reugivus ui, ? sacred tomfoolery, I would like to see some great musician of our time lift the baton and marshal Luther's Judgment Hymn, Yarmouth, Dundee, Ariel, Brattle Street, Uxbridge, Pleyel's Hymn, Harwell, Antioch, Mount Pisgah and Coronation, with a few regiments of mighty tunes made in our time, and storm Asia, Africa and America for the kingdom ot God. But the first thin; to do is to drive out thtf dumb devil of the text from all our churches. Do not, however, let us lose ourselves in generalities. Not one of us but has had our lives sometimes touched by the evil spirit of the text?this awful dumb devil. We hat just one opportunity of saying a Christiai word that might have led a man or woma*? into a Christian life. The opportunity was fairly put before us. The word of invita** won or cousoiauun or warning came w toe inside gate of the mouth, but there it halted. Some hindering power locked the jaws together so that they did not open. The tongue la j fiat and still in the bottom of the mouth as though struck with naralysis. We were mute. Though Gk> l had given us the physiological apparatus for speech, and our lungs were filled with air which, by the command of our will, could have made the laryngeal muscles move and the vocal organs vibrate, we were wickedly and fatally silent. For all time and eternity we missed our chance. Or it was a prayer meeting, and the service was thrown open for prayer and remarks, and there was a dead halt?everything silent as a graveyord at midnight. Indeed it was a graveyard and midnight. An ombarassing pause took place that put a *et blanket on all the meeting. Men, bold enough on business exchange or in worldly circles, shut their oyes as though they were praying in silence, but they were not pray mg at all. They were busy hoping somebody else would d? his duty. The women flushed under the awful pause and made their fans more rapidly flutter. Soma brother with no cold coughad, by that sound trying to till up the time, and the meeting was slain. But what killed it??the dumb devil. Thi3 is the way I account for the fact that the stupidest places on earth are soma prayer mesting3. I do not see how a ma a keeps any grace if he regularly attends them. They are spiritual refrigerators. Religion kept on ice. How many of us have lost occasions of usefulness? In a sculptor's studio stood a figure of the god Opportunity. \ The sculptor had made ths hair fall down over the face of tbe statue so as to completely cover it, and there were wings to the feet, when asked why he so represented Opportunity, the sculptor answered, "The fnce of the statue is thus covered up because we do not recognize Opportunity when it conies, and the wings to the feet show that Opportunity is swiftly gone." But do not let the world deride the church because of all this, for the dumb devil is just j as conspicuous in the world. The two great vvAliftAal nanfiaa will DAnn OOCamKIa trt platforms for the presidential candidates to stand on. A committee of each party will be appointed to make the platform. After proper deliberation the committees will come in with a ringing report, 'Whereas" and "Whereas" and Whereas." Pronuuciamentoes all shaped with the one idea of getting the most votes. All expression in regard to the great moral evils of the country ignored. No expression about the liquor traffic, for that would loso the rum vote. .\To expression in regard to the universal at* tempt at the demolition of the Lord's day. No recognition of God in the history of this nation for that would lose tha vote of atheists. But "Whereas" and "Whereas" and "Whereas." Nine cheers will begivenfor the platform. The dumb devil of the text will put one wing over the Republican platform and the other wing over the Demo* cratic platform. There is nothing involved in the next electiou except offices. The^reat conventions will bo opened with prayer by their chaplains. If they avoid platitudes and tell the honest truth in their prayers thev will say: "0 Lord, we want to be postmasters and consuls and foreign ministers and United States district attorneys. For tnat we are nere, and for that we will strive till th? nlco.tion nait November. Give ua I office or we die, for ever and ever. Amen." The world, to say the least, is no better than tbe church on this subject of silence at the wrong time, in other words, is it not time for Christianity to become pronounced ani aggressive as never before? Take sides for God and sobriety and righteousness. "If the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal, then follow him." Have you opportunity of rebuking a sin? Rebuke it. Have you a chance to cheer a disheartened soul? Cheer it. Have you a useful word to speak? Speak it. Be out and out, up and down for righteousness. If your Bhip is afloat on the Pacific Ocean of God's mercy, hang out your colors from masthead. Show your passport if you have one. Do not smuggle your soul into the harbor of heaven. Speak out for God I This morning close up the chapter of lost opportunities, and pitch it into the East River and open a new chapter. Before you get to the door on yonr way out this morning shake hands with some one, and ask him to join you on the road to heaven. Do not drive up to heaven in'a twowheeled "sulky" with room only for one. aud that yourself, but get the biggest ttt)spel wagon you can find and pile it full of friends and neighbors, and shout till they hear you all up and down tha skies, "Come with us, and we will do you good, for the Lord hath promised good concerning Israel." The opportunity for good whica you may consider insignificant may be tremendous for results, as when on sea Captain Holdane swore at the ship's crew with an oath that wished tjhem all in perditioD, and a Scotch sailor touched his cap, and said, "Captain, God hears prayer, and we would be baoly off if you're wish were answered." Captain Holdane was convicted by the sailor's remark and converted, and became the means of the salvation of his brother Robert, who had been an infidel, and then Robert became a minister of the Gospel, and under his ministry the godless Felix Neff be' came the world renowned missionary of tha Cross, and the worldly Merle L'Aubignebecame the author of 'The History of the Reformation," and will D? tne giory oc i,ne church for all ages. Perhaps you may do as much as the Scotch sailor who just tipped his cap and used one broken sentence, by which the earth and the heaven? are still resounding with potent influences. Do something for God, and do it right away,or you will never do it at all. Tim* files away fast. The whilo we never remember; How soon oar life here Grows old with the year That dies with tao next December. CtFRIOUS PACTS. A ton of gold is worth $600,000. The Japanese aro fond of bathing. A Philadelphia Chinaman glories in a pigtail five feet eleven inches in length. Live fish have been sent in safety ia the mails from India to the British Museum. A "Poor Richard Almanac" of 1758 sold for $35 at an auction in Philadelphia a few days ago. A hermit named Owen Mulligan, who died in Clinton County, 111., recently, left a fortune of $100,000. The skin of the whale is thicker than that of any other animal. In some places it reaches a thickness of several inches. It is found that the Ban^ala cannibals of the Upper Congo, Africa, make excellent soldiers when put in uniforms and drilled. The city of London proper is only one mile square, but so valuable is its real estate that it produces a rental of $7,1)00,000 a year. North River ferry boats transport 80, 000,000 people and 130,000,000 tons of freight every year from the shores of New Jersey to New York City. The enlisted men of the United Statel Army are to be furnished with cravats, the first they have had since the days when tbe military wore stocks. Fit* T)nrrlo?n natimafaa thof iOO OOfl men (cave men or any other kind) could have safely found shelter in the two monster caverns that were discovered in Australia three years ago. A curious Mashona custom is recorded by Dr. Knight-Bruce in the journals of the Mashonaland (Africa; mission just published. It appears that when twii babie3 are born both are drowned. Why or where/ore he does not explain. Sometimes families who desire to bury their dead in the clothing worn in life? in evening or wedding dress for instance ?substitute less costly imitations for the jewelry worn in life, partly from motives of thrift and partly from a superstitious fear tint anything taken off a body when it is readv for the tomb will bring ill-luck to future wearers. Nothing varies so macii ia value as pearls. With them 'fashion affects the market constantly. Sometimes white ones are sought, while othar tints at intervals are in demand. For some years past blacic pearls have been the rage. A fine speoimen, worth $600, will fetch $1000 perhaps if another can be got to match it perfectly. The harp which was suggested by the lute is ascribed to Jubal, 397.5 B. C., and was King David's favorite instrument. The harp was used by the Welsh and Saxons, and also by the ancient people of Ireland. One of the oldest harps in existence is in the Dublin College Museum, and originally belonged to Brian Borothine, Kinij of Irelaud. The Philadelphia City Council 13 making war on bicycle riders. A. measure has been introduced restricting the speed to six miles por hour, barring them from all sidewalks, and Hi ,1 i. ~ iA1rA /v II compeiiiuk riuurs uu uta.e uuu n license and carry an alarm bell. Thousands of wheelmen are up In arms to oppose the measure. Thh dowry of a Turkish bride lg ?bout $1.70. No "real love matches" with gentlemen of the British aristocracy are made in Turkey. RELIGIOUS READING. A LEGSN'n OF TI! E ROBIX. One brown bird with red-tinged breast settle softly to its neat, Built where, swaying to and fro, twigs of apple blossoms blow. Nature's sweetest rhymes are made in a gnarled old orchard's shade, As white petals fluttering fall, rhyming with the robin's call. When the Christ, old legends say, bore the woe of the lost day. Though forespent with anguish great, none his dying thirst would sate. Then the silent air was stirred by the flight of brown-winged bird. As In olive gardens nigh, it had caught his broken cry. And from stilly Bethel pool, one sweet drop of water cool I In its beak the bird had caught, &ud with pftying love had brought. Down it settled, softly down, past the bitter, thorny crown; And to ease the fevered drouth, laid the cool drop on bis inouih. On its flight the brown bird's breast gainst the wounded hands were prest. Ever since the red drop's stain o'er its tender heart has lain. When the apple blossoms stir, swift we hear the brown wings whir, And the bird with reel tinged breast builds in all our hearts its nest. ? fLucy E. Tilley. "ye have done it orro me.'' "Ye have done it unto Me. ye have done it unto Me," sang Jenny, one Monday morning. "There. I'll remember it this time, sure. But, dear me. I'm forgetting after all. The teacher said we must not only learn the words, but think of what they mean and try to do them." "Let me see, now," and she pressed her chubby hands to her forehead; "teacher said: "If we gave a cup of cold water to one of his little ones, for Ka Cau^(i?*0 anl-o TTa a-nillH coff rA HflVfl done it unto Me.' I don't s'pose I know any of his little ones, but I'll try If I can find 'em." She ran into the kitchen, where, on the dresser she spied a large bowl, which was used to mix cake in. "Ah!" thought she, "the Saviour is pleased if we give His little ones a cupful of water: He'll like a bowlful better still. Bridget, may I take this bow a while?" Bridget, who was busy with her washing, did not turn her head, but said: "Oh. yes; take what you like." Jenny Jilted the big bowl down very carefully ; but how to fill it was ihe question. She aid not want to trouble Bridget; besides, she had an idea that she ought to do it all herself. A bright thought struck her; taking the luni ui ?> ayx uiui^ u? mc ouv filled it several times, and poured it into the bowl. ''It's capful s after all/' she thought. Tt was almost more than sbe could carry without spilling; but she walked slowly to the front gate. .There was no one in sight and Jenny set her burden on the grass, and swung on the gate while she waited. Presently, along came two little girts on their way to school. "Want a drink?'' called Jenny. "Yes, indeed; it's so hot, and" I'm dreadful thirsty. I 'most always am. But how arft we to get at it?" laughing as she saw the great bowl. "Oh, I'll soon fix that!" and Jenny ran for the tin cup, with which sbe dipped out tho water. "It tastes real good," they said, and kissed her as they ran off to school. The next that appeared was a 9hort, redfaced Irishman, wiping his face with the sleeve of his flannel shirt, while an ugly dog trotted at his side. ' He don't look much like 'one of the little ones,'-'' thought Jenny, doubtfully; bat she timidly held out her tin cup. He eagerly drained it, filling it again, and drinking. "And it must be a blis?ed angel ye ar^. for if'q Ifinlrinir fnr ?i tni'ppn I vna miri nnu* X won't need to go nigh one of teem. Anil shure, afther alJ. water's better nor whiskey. Might I give some to the poor baste?" pointing to the dog. jenny hesitated; she did not like the idea of having the dog drink from her cup or bowJ. But the man settled it by pouring the remnant of the water into his" dirty old hut, the dog instantly lapping it up. After tbey were gone. lenny filled her bowl again." But I can't tell you now of all to whom she save cups of cold water that hot day. But when she laid her tired head on her pillow that night, she thought? "I wonder whether, after all, any of 'em were His 'little ones?'" And the dear Saviour, looking down, and seeing that the little girl had done all tbat she could for His sake, wrote after her day's work, "Ye have done it unto Me." IS IT TIME TO AWAKE? The Japanese government sent a commission to Great Britain to see about making the Chnrch of England the state church of Japan; but, after careful investigation, an adverse report was rendered on the ground that "Christianity had not saved England from becoming a drunken nation." Alas! nor has it saved England ana America from making other nations drunken. Let Africa stretch out her hands to God and bear witness to the crimes of England and America, whose bottles of alcoholic poison are in many places the only coin in which Enropeanspay for the rich products of that tropical region, debauching whole villages, and blotting out tribes by the whiskey-lighted fires of hell. There are seven million young men in America today, of whom five million never darken a church door. That is, about seventy-five out of every hundred of these young men do not attend church. Ninetylive out of every hundred do not belong to the church, and ninety-scveen out of every otic hundred criminals are young men, antl young men arc the chief patrons of the saloon, the gambling house, the haunt of infamy. It was noticed recently that into a single saloon in Cincinnati, and within a single hour, went 252 men, 23<iof whom? or an out iu?were yuuug iucu. as a result the death rate increases from fourteen to tvrenty-five years of ago; their evil habits reporting themselves in deteriorated bodies and distempered souls, at the age when they should have attained their manly prime. The tumble statement is made that three-fourths of the convicts in the penitentiary of Ohio, which we women lovedto call '"'the Ciiisade State," were once Sunday-scho?l sohc.ars, and an equally large portion of them are in prison because of crimes growing out of their intemperate habits. If this statement is correct, we know that it te not essentially different from . the snowing that all our prisons make. Fifty-two Sundays in the year are devoted by the powers of darkness, through their emissaries, the 250,000 legalized saloons tl.n n.lUn ?,v r I, a I 1 . n M'/\h t inlniu. Ui uic uiui/iii iv wiic ^(uviuwkivu vi uiuur perance.?[Selected. Habitual prayerfulnesa includes more than prayiug at st.ited times; it describes the permanent attitude of thr soul toward God. It grows out of a realiz?tio? of God's continued presence and a constant sense of our need. It expresses itself in many unspoken petitions. The Christian who possesses such a spirit finds it easy 10 obey the command "I'ray without ceasing."?[1'uited Presbyterian. It is well for us. that when our thoughts must cease. God's thoughts have uot yet reached their eud,? [Richard Iiothe. When soarching into the hidden things of God. we are forever forgetting that we only know in part. DRUN*KENXESS IW RUSSIA. r\0 lmrra nitKHaWflrl fnrpicm V/i JOIO >UO O UU r W --T1 - g dispatchss portraying an appalling state of drunkenness among the starving Russian peasantry. How reconcile this with the statement that drunkennftss produces poverty! Simply thus wise: That druukenness in the past was the cause of the poverty strickera state among the peasants at present, and their drunken habits unfit them for energetic effort to relieve the stress of the situation, hence to drown despair they drown reason in drink. Drinking in poverty intensifies the evil of poverty. Tne total abstainer rarely becomes poverty stricken, . but IX he doee he knows drink Is no cur& ' , SABBATH SCHOOL I INTERNATIONAL .LESSON FOB JUNE 5. Lesson Text: "The Fiery Furnace," Daniel iff., 13-25?Golden Text: lMKiaii xiiii., a?oom- i mentary. 13. "Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, M? shach and Abednego." This Gentile king, to whom God gave the kingdoms of thb world, and to whom also He gave the wonderful vision of chapter ii., has in the pridi of bis heart set up an image which he commands all people to worship. Ten times in this chapter it is spoken of as the golden image or the image which he had set up. It Is suggestive of another image to be set up in the last days by an enemy of God, which men must eitaer worship or die (Rev. xiii., 15). Daniel's friends refused to worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and therefore they are summoned to appear before the king. 14. "Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which 1 have set up?" This 19 tne question assea 01 mese young men Dy the man to whom it had been made known that "The God of Heaven had given him his kingdom, power, strength and glory" (chapter it, 37). Yet his heart is so proud that he refuses to acknowledge the God of Heaven, but will if possible compel the servants of the true God to bow down to his false gods. 15. "If ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God tbat shall deliver you out of my hands?" "Man that is in honor and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish" (Ps. xlix., 20). See this roan whom God has honored, but who understands not, roaring like the lion from the pit against the servants of the Most High God, not knowine that they are under the care of a greater Lion, even the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. v., 5). 16. "We are not careCul to answer thee in this matter." Or, as in the R. V., "We have no need to answer," etc. The same word is translated "have need" in Ezra vi., 9, and these are the only two places in Scripture where the word is used. Young, in his concordance gives "think necessary" as the meaning of the word. The path of duty was so clear to these men that there was no need to wait for further light, no need of delay or argument. They knew God and would worship Him only. 17. "If it be so, our God whom we serve is aDie 10 aeuver us irom cne Burning are7 furnace, and He will deliver as out of thine hand, O king." We may not know if He will deliver us from this or that special trial, but we do know that He will be with us in the trial and that neither man nor devil can harm us. ' vVhen thou walkest through the fire, thoushalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isa. xliii,, 2). Perhaps this very promise was whispered to these men by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus teaches us that we are not to fear persecution or imprisonment or even death, but that our great aim must be faithfulness to Him (Math, x., 28: Rev. ii., 10). We may say with the utmost assurance, "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom" (II. Tim. lv., 18). 17. "But if not, belt known unto thee,0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor. worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Job said, "Though He slay me,yet will I trust in Him," or "Waitfor Hien" (R. V., Job xiii., 15), for he knew that even though his mortal body might be destroyed, yet in his resurrection body he would see God (Job xix., 25-27). The apostles, sustained by the same blessed assurance, feared not the face of man nor the threats of the rulers, but would testify of Jesus and the resurrection, ready to die for Him if need be (Actiiv., 19, 20; v., 29). These friends of Daniel were tempted to worship a golden image, but people are now tempted in this land to worship golden eagles and silver dollars and .whatever will Dring power or popularity, and how many professed ser vanta 01 uoa are wunout scruple rowing down to these, God oniy knows. Where are the Shadracks, who say without hesitation to the world, the flesh and the devil, "We will not serve thee." Let us remember that "To whom we yield ourselves servants to obey, his servants we are whom we obey" (Rom. vi., 16). 19-23. This is the account of the carrying out of the sentence of death against the faithful three. The furnace is heated seven times hotter than usual; the men are bound in their clothes and cast into the furnace; the fury of the beast is satisfied; the devil has done his worst to the servants of God, and a God of Love, and infinite wisdom, and all power has suffered it so to be. This is that which perplexed David and Asaph and Jeremiah, and is a stumbling block to multitudes to this day. We need to learn that "Evil doer3 shall be cut off, but they that wait iinnn thn Isird shall inherit the earth." The wicked shall be brought into desolation as in a moment and utterly consumed wijh terrors; they shall be pulled out like sheep for the slaughter (Ps. xxxvii.. 9; lxxiii., 19; Jer. xii., 1-3). When God permits the devil to touch His dear people it is only that He may be glorified and greater blessing brought in due time to these tried ones. He desires us even here in this life to be conformed to the image of His Son, and by all events of our daily life to befitted to reign with Him over this earth in due time. Thus Qod maketh even the wrath of man to praise Him (Ps. lxxvi., 10). 24. "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fira? They answered and ?aid unto the kine, Tru?, O king." His astonishment could hardly have been greater had he found himself in the torment where the rich man found himself immediately after death (Luke xvi., 23). He can hardly believe his eyes, for he had vainly supposed that no Qod could deliver out of his hands (verse 15). When men rage against God, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh (Ps. ii., 4; xxxvii., 13). The counsel of the ungodly shall come to nought, bat the counsel of the Lord shall stand and He will do all His Dleasure (Isa. viii., 9. 10; xiv.. 24). 35.' "He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose and walking in the midst of the Are, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Upoa their bodies the fire had no power, nor waa a hair of their heads singed, because the/ trusted in God (verses 27, 28). The only effect of the fire upon them was to burn their bonds and set them free to walk with tho Son of God. This is the effect that all trials should have upon us; they should free us from the bondage and entanglements of earth's allurements and make us more free to walk wnn Jesus. As these men came out of the furnace on tbe other side of death and judgment, the sentenco having been fully executed upon them, so every believer in Jesus may be said to have suffered the extreme penalty of the law in the person of Christ, His substitute, and to b9 now on the other side of death and judgment as far as tho penalty of the law is concerned. See John v., 24; Kom. vi., 6-11; II Cor. v., 15.? The Lesson Helper. lrndley Murray, the grammarian, from whose book so many of our older American citizens learned the Ins and outs of the English language "as she is spoke" and written, was born in Lancaster, Pa., and the residents of that city propose erecting a monument to his memory. The younger generation should contribute liberally through gratitude, for the fact that they do not have to cope with the mysteries of that same old Murray's grammar. It was choke full of hcadaches and general uneasiness. Plucky Girl*. Two young city-bred women, daughters of a prominent wholesale merchant iu San Francisco, named Lowenstein. are living on and working a laud claim in the State of Washington, bet ween Had lock and j Port Ludlow. They took up the claim two years ago and have liv<*d on it continuously since, built the cabin in which they live, and have cleared and grubbed twenty acres of land. Their nearest neighbor is four miles away. A QUAINT PEOPLE. CHARACTERISTICS OP THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH. A Religion and Language ot Their Own-Even in Courting They Hare Original Ideas?The Ornish and Dunkard*. EGARDING the C Pennsylvania Dutch, their mannere and customs, a writer in the New ^ York Press has this B people this race is _^gg|<ury^ I a myth and a fic- - -J tion. The whole tfi! nationality, for in many respects they are a separate nationality, seem to be shrouded by a mist of uncertainty. About the Pennsylvania Dutchman there lingers not a trace of sentiment, not a vestige of poetry. He lives as he has for a century, obscure, yet serene, paying no attention to the outside world and receiving none in turn. His ambition in life is to have a small farm md enough to eat, more than that doesn't interest him unless it be that he would like to leave when he dies a farm to each of his sons without a mortgage. If there is anything s Pennsylvania Dutchman hates it is a mortgage. These quaint people have lived for more than a century in various portions of Pennsylvania. They have no written language whatever, and many of them in fact in some communities the large majority can neither read, write or speak English. Their own garbled tongues, which iit a cross between the so-called high German, low German and English, ia sufficient to answer all their demands for communication. 1 A PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH FAMILY. Among them there are a number of peculiar religious sects whose strange creeds and customs are a marvel to the uninitiated. One of the most peculiar among them j is the Ornish. The personal appearance of these people is certainly very striking. The dresses of the women are as plain in their appearance as they can possibly be made. Always of some dark material, they are made without any trimming and are not relieved by any trace of color. In the house all the female members of the family wear a plain white cap that covers up the ears and is tied under the chin, giving the young girls the appearance of youthful grandmothers. No jewelry of any kind is ever used as a means of personal adornment, for, say they, adornment leads to pride and vaniftr wViioh are terrible sins. For the same reason buttons are not used to fasten any artielc of apparel either by the men or women. Hooks and eyes are employed instead. Even shoe buttons are discarded, and lace shoes or congress gaiters are always worn when they wear any shoes. The men are even more striking in appearance than the women. They wear their hair so long that it falls below their coat collars, and is cut evenly around the head, while over the forehead it is 'banged." The Ornish, as do most of the Pennsylvania Dutch, have the most fantastick idea of color. One farmhouse, which is regarded by the neighbors as the most beautiful in the country around, is A TYPICAL 0MI8H MAID. painted a moat gorgeous pink, with black trimmings and green shutters. These people regard it as a great sin to | read anything that borders on fiction. No novels are tolerated in their houses. hwpi, fipiH pnnsiats of tha Bible, historical books and newspapers. The Ornish hold their religious services at varying intervals, sometimes once in two weeks, but oftener their meetings are further apart. They have no regularly installed minister. They elect at intervals one of their own numbers to act in that capacity for a stated term, and when his time expires some one else is chosen. The minister is almost always one of the most prosperous farmers j in the congregation, but his ministerial I duties do not interfere with his lay occu pation. Another of the remarkable sects that j flourish among the Pennsylvania Dutch are the Dunkards. These people are in many respects like the Ornish, but their form of worship is tho moat peculiar and info.oaMnor niirf. nf their religion. They ??tv?w..w6 X w are sometimes called Tumblers.because of their practice, when baptizing a convert, to have him kneel aud then push him head lirst into the water. Like the ; Quakers, the Dunkards are very simple in i their language. They will not take an oath, neither wdl they fight or go to go j * >- ?.i? i law, and until very receuwy mev wure not allowed to receive any interest on money loaned. It is their "love feasts," however, that are most singular, if not picturesque. Their meetings occur quarterly, and are always attended by vast crowds of curious peopie. Up in front of the pulpit sit the j brothers and sisters arranged in a semi- '.*J8 circle. The women wear ins? their white caps $ad the mea with their long hair, ' ... with solemn, almost sad faces, presented a remarkable picture. On a table in tha -|j middle of the srrouo ia placed a Iarsa <k bowl of what looks and smells very much . ;^8 like plain, ordinary soup. Each one eats if* a little out of this bowl, and then after some singing and prayer, basins of water r-M and towels were brought, and then in $f| turn the feet of each were washed by an- . other, the greatest solemnity pre railing -:M throughout the whole ceremony. The Pennsylvania Dutchman cannot 'J be said to be gifted with a keen intellect. Some of them when theyaro young go perhaps to school for a year or two, but the rest of their intellectual training is received on the-farm. The social customs of the Pennsyl- f . jg vania Dutch are so positive that they cannot be passed over without some notice. No young man ever calls on a 'sis girl unless he's 4tgoin' a courtin'." If he means business he usually dresses .. up in his best on Saturday afternoon,. : 'A A SUMMER FESTIVAL. gets out his buggy that has been washed <r ejjsg for the occasioo, hitches up his hone . >^| and drives to the home of his best girl's ^ father. The old man an 4 all his son* JftaH upon his approach rusli out "put up" -;<$?] the horse and tbe stranger is invited lit ' ,^||S to stay to supper, which usually consist* of fried ham and>potatoes and pie,which : latter is we scan 01 me among cne rennsylvania Dutch. After supper the whole family gathered it& in the sitting room and talked crops and gossip about the aeighbora. About nin* o'clock ihe family withdraw! and leave the two lovers to do their courting aU alone. The call doesn't last till tea, '-VjjjB eleven or even twelve o'clock, bat the .'*2 young man, if he is properly trained la etiquette, will drive off just as the vul begins to appear above the hills. This is what they call "sittin up with a girl," and a man who can't continue his caM }) until morning is not regarded as being ittS either a very ardent lover or a very acceptable suitor. With all their peculiarities and eccentricities, however, the Pennsylvania^ Dutchman make good citizens. They ' are as a rule sober and industrious and moral. They don't know much about the *J| glorious privilege of American citizen- pS ship, but they are loyal and honest, and > if they can't speak English it isn't because they pay a greater allegiance to . another country. To Honor Colnmbu and Plnxene. vj The Spanish-Americans of New Tork f| have decided to commemorate the dii"$t; n Hi I t_ AfL. Jii a PROPOSED COLUMBUS FOUNTAIN. covery of America by Columbus, and /;J| the Circulo Colon Cervantes, a Spanish society, has two schemes under conaid- | eration. The first is a historical procession, planned by Imre Kiralfy, but this the society may give up. The other is -||j to present to Central Park a fountain ~i and group of statuary representing Columbus and the Piozone brothers in iffl discovering America. The plans for this fountain have been prepared. The members are determined that the anni- -~i versary of the discovery of America $j|| shall not pass without some honor be'ng done to the memory of the captains . ?||| Pinzone. While Columbus was chief of *< ; the expedition of discovery which gave ' a new world to Castile and Leon, and commanded the Santa Maria, one of the Pinzones commanded the Pintaand the - ^ fho Minn thp Santa Maria's con- - V: sorts. One of the Pinzoaes, it should ~ $ be remembered, claimed the reward for having seen the land before Columbus, but was ruled out of court by the ad- ij miral. It is proposed to place this fountain near the entrance of Central Park and to unveil it oa October 12. The "May-Come-Handy" Crank. r^niB I Wife?"There's a poor one-legged man at the door who wants assistance; can't we give him something?" The 4lM. C. H." Crank (triumphantly) ?"Here you are, my dear! I bought it at an auction sale eight years ago?I knew it would come handy some time." ?Puck. ? A Bi? Old Sheep Story. We rarely look back for bii? stories of sheep, aud especially of fleeces, but in the Patent Office Report of 1849 D. Lee, connccted with the omce cnea as an auricultui ist of espccial note, says: There are samples of wool in the Patent Office, , the product of a sheep that yielda eighteen pounds of washed wool a year, and weighs 420 pounds. This mammoth sheep is the property of Colonel Josiah W. Ware, of Clarke County, Va., whose best fat wethers sell at 935 a head.? American Farmer. V . . . . '**? " " aa