The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 02, 1892, Image 9
REV. DR. TALJiAGE.
THK BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: "Observations in itaMia anu
Cireat Britain
Text: "If Ttaks the wings of the morn
tng and dwell in the utmost parts of th>
sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me."?
Psalm cxxxix., 0.
What an absurd book the Bible must be to
a man who has no poetr" in his sou(
"Wings of the morning.- What kind of a
bird is it, and how long are its wings and o!
what color? Ah, some of us have seen and
felt its wings - They are golden. They are
buoyant. They are swift. They are widespread.
The 15th of last June I took "the
wings of the morning" and started for Europe.
June 20, on "the wings of the moraine."
I started from Liverpool. July 12, on
"th* wings of the morning," I entered ,i
Germiny, the land of Martin Luther and
many of that ilk, living and dead.
On "the wings oC the morning'' I entered
St. Petersburg. Russia. On "the wings of
tbe morning" I entered Moscow. On "the
wings of the morning" I entered the palaces
of Russia, greeted by the emperor and empress,
surrounded by a lovely brood of
princes and Drinceskes. On "the winjs of
the morning" I entered Inverness, the capital
of the Scottish highlands, country of
Robert Burns and Thomas Chalmers--the
one for noetry, the other for religion. September
21st, on "the win?s of the moraiug,"
I entered the finest haven of all the earth?
New York harbor?and looked off toward
the most interesting place I hads?su in three
months?1 South Oxford street, Brooklyn.
You all know why I went Russia this summer.
There are many thousands of people
who have a right to say to me, as was said
in the Bible parable, "Give an accouat of
thy stewardship." Through The Christian
"hint, T hm tha hnnnr to adit, wft
had for months, in publisher's, in reportorial
and editorial oolamn, pat before the peoDle
the ghastly facta concerning twenty million
Russians who were starving to death, and
subscriptions to the relief fund had corns by
letters that seemed not so much written
with ink as with tears, some of the
letters practically saying, "We find it hard
to get bread for our own families, but we
cannot stand this cry of hunger f ram beyond
the seas, and so please to receive the enclosed
." And others had sent jewels from
their hands and necks, saving, "Sell these
and turn them into bread.'' And another
letter said "Inclosed is an old gold piece.
It was mymother'e. She gave it to me and
told me never to part with it except ror
bread, and now I inclose it." We had gathered
thirty-Are thousand dollars ia moaey,
which we turned into three million pounds
of flour
When I went down to the board of trade
at Chicago and left five thousand dollars of
the amount raised with a prominent flour
merchant, taking no receipt and leaving all
to him to do the best thing, and returned, it
was suggested that I had not done things in
a business way. How could we know
what ?ort of flour would be
sent. There are styles of flour more
fit for the trough of the swine
than the mouths of hungry men and women.
Well, as is customary when the flour came
tn Navr York it was tested, and we found
indeed they bad cheated us. They gave us
better flour than we had bought. I bought
in Chicago floe flour, but they seat us super*
fine. God bless the merchant* of Chicago I
|' Now we know' nothing about famine in
America. The grasshoppers may kill the
crops in Kansas, the freshets may destroy
the crops along the Ohio, the potato worm
i may kill the vises, of Long Island, the rust
may get into the wheat of Michigan, yet
when there has been dreadful scarcity in
aome parts of the land there has been plenty
in other parts. But in districts of Russia,
vast enough to drop several nations into
them, drought for six consecutive years has
devastated, and those districts were previously
the most productive of all the empire,
i It was like what we would have in
America if the hunger fiend somehow got
out of hell and alightel in our land, and
wept his wing over Minnesota, and said,
"Let nothing grow here," and over Missouri
and said, ''Let nothing grow here," and over
New York State and said, ".Let nothing
grow here," and over Ohio and Georgia and
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Nebraska
and Dakota and the Carolinas and
said, "L?t nothing grow here," and the hunger
tienrt had swept the same wit baring and
blasting wing over the best parts of America
in the years 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891 and
1892, and Anally all our families ware put on
small allowance, and we all had risen from
the table - hungry, and after awhile' the
children had only quarter enough, and after
awhile only one meal a day. and after
aarhiio no rood food at alL but a mixture
of wheat and chaff and bark of trees, and
!then threaof the children down with hunger
jtyphus, and then alt the family unable to
walk, and then crawling on hands and knees,
and then one dead in each room, and neighjborg,
not quite so exhausted, coming in to
bury them, and afterward the house becoming
the tomb, with none to carry the dead to
more appropriate sepulcher?whole families
blotted out.
: That was what occurred in Russia in
homes more than were ever counted, in
{homes that were once as comfortable and
happy aud bountiful as yours or mine, in
J homes as virtuous as yours or mine, in homes
I where God is worshiped as much as in yours
or mine. It was to do a little something
j toward beating back that archangel of
wretchedness and horror that we went,
and we have now to report that, according
to cue estimate of the Russian famine
relief committee, we saved the liv as of
125,000 psoDle. As at the hunger relief stations
the bread was handed out?tor it was
made into loaves and distributed?tnanv
people would halt before taking it and religiously
cross themselves and utter a prayer
lor the donors.
Some of them would come stazeirinz
back and say: "Please tell us who Beat this
bread to us." And when told it came from
America they would say: " IV hat part of
America? Please jgiv"e us the names of
those who sent it." Ah, Go i only knows
the nam<M of those who sent it, but He certainly
does know, and many a prayer is
going up, I warrant you, day by day, for
those who sent flour by the snip "L*x Perhaps
some of us at our tablet rattle off a
prayer that may mean nothing, although
we call it "saying grace," but [ warrant
when those people who received the bread
which saved ttWr lives "jaid grace" it
meant something.
T I1.TT O W,,cn,o n rhan I
saw him cross himself. "Whtt do you do
that for!" "Oh," he said, "when I do that
I al?rays say, 'God have mercy on me'."' I
hold in my hand something; very suggestive.
What does that black and uncomely thing
look like? That is what is called hungry
brcwi from Russia; that is what millions
of people lived on for months be
tore help came from England, Scotland,
Ireland anl Americe; that is a mixture
which seems to have in it not one grain of
sustenance. It is a mixture of pig weed and
chaff and the sweepings of stables That is
somothing which, if dropped in the street,
your dog or oat might sniff at, but would
not eat. That was the only food ou which
millions of men and women lived
You must look at that hunger bread of
Russia before you can jjet proper appreciation
of what an attractive and beautiful
thing a good loaf of bread is. It is so commoa
to us we cannot realize its meaning.
Why does not some poet ring a canto on a
loaf of bread, or some modern Raphael punt
it, or some historian tell its history? but I
have been "asked by good people in Great
Britain and America, again and again. Why
did not the prosperous people of Russia stop
that suffering themselves, making it useless
for other nations to help? And I am always
glad when I hear the question asked, because
it gives me an opportunity o? ex
plaining. Have you any idea what
It requires to feed twenty million
people? There is only ona Bsing in t'ae
universe who can do it. ani that is the
T,*: ?-U? ui- ?? ????'?? Lr ftiahaH uirfaan
-Dtfiu'j; way uuis uiui uiu^ o.?kv.u .
hundred million of the human race. The
nobility of Russia hare not only contributed
most lavishly, but many of them went down
aad staid for mouths amid the ghastlines?,
and the horror, and the typhus fever, and
the smallpox that they might administer to
the suffering.
The Emperor has made larger contributions
toward this relief fund thau any
monarch ever made for any ciujs since the
world stood, ana the superb kindness
written all over the faces of Emperor and
Empress and Crown Prince is demonstrated
in what they have already doue and are
doing for the sufferers in their own country.
When I 8iw a few days ago in the papers
that the Emparor and Empress hai wallcei
/ .'..
through the wards of the most vi ruient
cholera, talking with the patients, shaking
hands witn them and cheerin5 them up, it
was no surprise to me, for I said to myself,
"That is just like them." Sot put all the
three prayers together?Goi save the President
of the United States I God safe the
Queen of England! God save the Emperor
and Empress of Russia1
I will, whether in sermons or lectures I
have not yet decided, shovr that ninetaentwentieths
of all things written and published
against Russia ore furnished by men
who have been hired by other countries to
fti* i*nfViap tvrifa rlnarn R uQQin an
as to divert commerce from that empire or
because of international jealousies. Russia
being; larger than all the rase of Europe put
together, you can dee how natural would be
the jealousies.
Before passing to the other field of 1117
summer observation I give you one little
specimen of the falsehoods about Russia. I
stood in London with ray tickets' for St.
Petersburg, Russia, in my pocket It was
2 o'clock in the afternoon, and at 3 o'clock
I was to take the train. An American
physician came in and said, "You certainly
are not going to RussiaI said,
"Why not?" Then a morning paper was
shown me, saying that in St Petersburg
there were two thousand cases of virulent
cholera; the city had been divided into hospital
districts, and the doctors were at their
wits' end what to do with the number of
patients. The population was flying in terror.
It was almost as bad in Moscow,
i While reflecting on these accounts two
messages arrived from other friends protest*
ing against the foolhardine3s of my rushing
into the presence of two thousand cases of
cholera in one city. Of course I halted. I
halted for four days. Meanwhile a telegram
from St Petersburg encouraged me to go. I
went. There was not a single case of cholera
in Sfc. Petersburg r Moscow, and there was
not a single case in either city until four
weeks after I left those cities
I must tell you of a picture of pathos and
moral power impressed upon my mind, so
that neither time nor eternity may efface
it. rhe ship Leo swung to the docks a tew
miles below St. Petersburg loaded with
flour from America. The sailors on board
huzzaed as they came to the wharf. From
a yacht on which we had descended the
river to the sea the prominent citizens of
St. Petersburg disembarked. The bank was
crowded by prosperous citizens, who stood
on the wharf, and back of them by poor
laborers, who had oome down to offer their
servioes free of ail ^harge for the removal
or the breadstuff? from the sbtp to
the imperial freight train that took the flour
to the interior free of charge. While we
stood there the long freight train rambled
down to the docks, the locomotive'emd each
car decoratxl with a flag?the American
flag and the Russian flag alternating.
Though a flag to some eyes is only a
floating rag, you ought to see how the
American nag looks fire thousand miles from
home. It looked that day like a section o(
heaven let down to cheer mortal vision.
Addresses of welcome and responses were
made, and then the work began, the only
contest being who should lift the
hardest and ba most expeditious. From
ship to rail train. From rail train to kneeding
board. From kneading board to oven.
From oven to the white and quivering lips
of the dying. Upon all who, whether by
contribution small or large, helped mak6
that scene possible may there come the benediction
of Him who declared," I was hungry
and ye fed Me."
But I must also give a word of report concerning
my other errand?the preaching of
tbe Gospel in Great Britain last summer. It
was a tour I had for many years anticipated.
With the them93 of tbe Gospel I
confronted more people 'than ever before
in the same length of time ? multitudes
after multitudes, and beyond anything
I can describe. The throngs in all
the cities were so great that they could be
controlled only by platoons ot police, bo
that none should be hurt by the pressure,
each service indoors followed by a service
for rho waiting thronsra outdoors, and both
by handshakings to the last point of physical
endurance.
In every city and town I had messages
poured into my ears for families in America.
Oh, sons of Scotchmen, Englishmen, Welshmen
and Irishmen, there are haarts on the
other side of the sea beating in affection for
you and praying for your present and
eternal welfare. By the memories
of the old Scotch irirk, where you
were baptized, and of the English
fireside, by which you played, and of
the Welsh hills and valleys, among which
you roamed,and the old homes on the banks
of the Tweed and the Shannon and the
Clyde, I charge you be honorable and true
and Christian. You have good ancestral
blood in your veins. ProVe yourself worthy.
It seems to me that the Gospel is making
mighty strides over there.
What is the use of controversy abont anything
except how we shall keep close to the
cross and do the most for helping people for
this world and the next? May there come
in England more cordiality between the
National church and the dissentero. Although
I would be called a dissenter
there, almost my first; step in England was
into a banqueting hall?the Lard Mayor's
banquet, given to the bishops and high officials
of the National church, the great and
good and genial Archbishop of Canterbury
at their head, and a more magnificent group
of folks, intellectually and spiritually,
I never got among, and I found that though
we had never met before, the archbishop
and myself were old friends. But all up and
down Great Britain I found a multitude
that no man can number enlisted for God
and eternity, and I tell you the kingdom is
coming. 1
If the pessimists would get out of the
way?the people who snivel and groan and
think everything has gone to the dogs or is
about to go?I say if these pessimists would
only get out of the way the world would
soon see the salvation of God. Christianity
is only another name for elevated
optimism. Was Isaiah an optimist?
See his deserts incarnadined with red roses
and snowed under with white lilies and his
lamb asleep between the paws of a lion.
The greatest thing I can think of would
be to nave a triple alliance of America,
England and Russia, in complete harmonization,
and then to have UDon all of them
come a deluge of the Holy Ghost. Let the
defamation of other nations cease. Peace
and good will to men! For that glorious
consummation, which may be nearer than
we think, let us pray, remembering that
God can do more in five minutes than man
can do in five centuries. If the consummation
is not effected in our day I shall ask the
privilege of coming out from heaven a little
while to look at this old world when it shall
have put on its millennial beautv. I think
God will let us come out to see it at least
ofara hafrira it i?
wuuo 111 iua pvi buvwN* ?
burned up.
I should not wonder if all heaven would
adjourn for an excursion to this world to
see how a shipwrecked planet was got off
the breakers ancl set afloat again amid the
eternal harmonies. Meanwhile let us do
all we can to make it better, anl it will
bomehow tell in the final result, though
it be only a child's sob husned, or
a trickling tear wiped from a pale lace, or a
thorn extracted from a tired foot, or a sinful
soul washed white as the wool. May God
help us to help others! And so these lessons
of gratitude and sympathy and helpfulness
and vindication I have brought you on the
wingi of this moruiag "
The Home of the Doll.
The finest dolls now come from Germany,
which has overtaken France in
this industry. Nuremburg, as everybody
knows, is the most important center of
the manufacture. It has been the home
of doll making for many centuries. A
generation ago the finest dolls had wax
heads, but this material had the disadvantage
of being very perishable, and it
has goDe altogether out of fashion. The
best heads nowadays are of "bisque,"
which is a kind of porcelain with a rough
finish. Papier mache is molded into
shape for the bodies, legs and arras, the
wrists and ankles having ball and socket
ioints. so that the haads and feet can be
put m any position. The fact seems remarkable
that one can buy to-ilay a doll
of the fine description, with hair that
looks like human hair, dressed even to
shoes, stockings and cap, for so small a
price as $1. Half a dozen years ago the
same article would cost $3.?Washington
Star.
\
TEMPERANCE.
DANGEROUS HOSJIT ALtTV.
"A Christian gave it to me"?the fatal
gle?s
Which proved the turning point. The Rubicon
Once crossed, my path was clear to ruin,
I knew its power, and I was struggling sore
Against the deadly spell. Full many a time
Had taunts of boon companions made me
viold.
But grace was given to turn away from
them.
And now, when I had hoped?yo?, hoped
once more.
That health and happiness and home were
mine,
A noble lady, one bright New Year's morn,
Pressed me to take a glass, "just for this
ODO?,"
In honor oi her hospitality.
She did not dream?how could she??what;
was meant
Bv drinkinz that little drop of wine.
The buried craving of the clays gone by
Uprose within me, and I fell
A victim to its power; my being seemed
As set on fire ot hell, and from that hour
To this my downward course was switt aud
sure.
Oh, Christian! pause and think; was it your
band?
A sister's hand, perchance, which should have
helped,
That put temptation in a brother's way?
You say, *'I would not;" but you cannot
tell
Their soul-surroundings who may cross your
path;
You do not know, oh, then, consider well
The possibilities ot every case,
And let no erring ones have cause to say
That by your means they have been led
astray.
?Homo.
ALCOHOLISM IN SWITZERLAND.
It is significant that the Zurich, (Switzerland,
society for combating the alcohol habit
has circulated an appeal on the Continent,
pointing out the dangers which menace the
future of Europe through the use of intoxicants,
and calling upon people to show their
patriotism by becoming abstainers. An/<
Switzerland is a wina country!
QKOBGE W. CHILES OS TKBtPERANCK.
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, contributes
a very helpful, suggestive article to
T Almanac fVtft f.
we rUDilUlieugn ammiini.,
year, upon "Success in Life," in which, referring
to the subject of temperauce, he
says:
I cannot lay too great a stress on the matter
of 9trict temperance. Drinking, beer,
wine, or spirits is a useless and dangerous
habic. It does no good, and if the habit is
continued it is almost sure to lead to destruction
and death. Taste not, touch not.
You should have courage enough to say
"No" if you are asked to drink. In looking
back over my lite I can recall many of the
best and most promising of my companions
who were ruined by the habtt of drinking,
not one of whom ever imagined tbat he
would be wrecked in mind and body, and
eventually fill a drunkard's grave. Taere is
no safety in moderate arininng; ovmj
who touches it at all is in danger.
TEMPERANCE INT EXQLA.NI>.
Writing to the Manchester Guardian. 3ir
Wilfrid Lawson repudiates the charge that
his policy in temperance matters is everything
or nothing:. "All that we ask," he
says, "is that no scheme of licensing reform
should be forced on unwilling districts. The
magistrates now, as we see from every day*?
reports in the newspapers, pre able to establish
drink shops wherever they please, quite
regardless of the remonstrances ot the inhabitant?.
We are told that we are eo have
new licensing authorities, who, it is expected,
will give more satisfaction to the
public. Let them bo tried by all means.
They may reduce the horrors ot tho traffic
which they are to license. But to any
measure constituting these new authorities
we demand a supplement forbidding
them to exercise their licensing powers in
distinctly and decidedly unwillin^oistricts."
Fortunately, Sir Wilfrid adds, the workingmen
have just returned a Parliament clearly
znore hostile to tho drink traffic than any
which wo have had for a long time.
A TEMPERANCS LESSON.
On the old Cutto's estate at Biddeford
Pool, years ago, it was customary to keep a
large number of hogs. These animals for
mn?t norh nf fchft vp?r roamed at .larara.
feeding in the pastures and upon the clam
flats, digging clams being their chief employment.
The old Cutts'a store, was. at
that time headquarters for all kind* of intoxicating
liquors, including cherry rum.
On a certain day, the story goes, there
was at this old store a general clearing up,
and lots of old rubbish, including busbela of
old cherries from the cherry rum hogshead,
old salt fish, etc., was dumped out upon the
flats. This rubbish was soon discovered by
these greedy, half-starved hogs. The
cherries proved to be a precious morsel for
them and were devoured at once. The effect
was ludicrous in the extreme at first. They
began to run and capar and fi;tit and root
and cut up all manner of ridiculous
manoeuvres until finally tbe rum in tae
cherries became too much for thetn, and
down they lay upon the flata at nearly lo w
water, dead drunk. _
Boon tbe tide turned "and began to flow
in. An alarm was given and tbe neighoors
hastened to tbe scene with whips, broom?,
clubs and all manner of persuaders, wnicu
were used lustily, but without effect. Tae
hogs would not budge an mch, tbe tide
swallowed them up, and tbe Baco haroor
for days after was tull of dead liogs.?
i^ewiston iftiej journa'.
THE SAr.OOM KEEPER'S IliJSPOKBTBILrTT!
"I kuow it is the fashion to denounce fch#
drunkard and to hold him up to ridicule,
contempt and scorn; to spurn him from
one's pith as a creature fallen too low to merit
even a passing glance of pity. Yea the
drunkard has transgressed the laws of
nature and of God, and he finds now, when
perhaps he baa gone too far to romedy his
error, that the way of the transgressor is
hard indeed. But he was not always thus.
There was a time when he was content to
quench his thirst with w?.:er, that universal
S'fc of a bountiful Creator, which alone.
od intended to ba man's natural, common
beverage. There was a time when any al?
coholic liquid was repugnant to aim; and if
now he feels a necessity for induiging in it,
it is because he himself induced the necessity
which was once totally foreign to his natural
tastes and habits. But who placed
temptation in the way of the poor outcast?
Who led him ou step by step, glass by glass,
from tho region of inftocence, health and
happiness along tho pith of dissipation and I
crime, on to the very brink of that awful
precipice of alcoholic slavery and despair,
and then cruelly pushed bim ovor into the
dark and hideous abyss.? Woo furnished
him with that fiery, deceitful stuff that
burnt out the impress of O-od'3 iruape on his
soul, scorcbed his moral sensibilities and
changed him from a child of (tod and 'an
heir to the heavenly kingdom, into a horrible
and horrid monstrosity among created
thinip? Who wrecked his home and turned
it into an earthly boll? Who prompted his
tongue to blaspheme, steeled his heart to' revenge,
nerved his arm to strike? Who sent
his wife to tbo almshouse, and drove hii
sons to the reformatory, and thencd to the
jail, and thence the penitentiary, an 1 fiaaRy
to toe scaffold?'? Rev. Ferdinand Kittle.
TKMPIRAKCX NKWS AN'l) XOIKS.
Canada does not allow a liquor seller or
saloon keeper to hold a municipal office.
There are about five hundred pledged children
in the Third Congressional District of
Illinois.
.Some of our railroads refuse to employ
men whodrink. Farmers should do the same,
and also prohibit swearing and other vicoa
which may contaminate the boys.
Miss Isabel Gibson, of Pari?, wjo, after her
year's stay among American white ribboners,
returned to France filled with enthusiasm
and earnestness in the temperance
cause, has organized a bau i of Paris young
women?the nucleus of the Youug Woman's
Temperance Union of France.
John Dougherty, a young man living near
Leavenworth, Kan., boasted that he could
drink all the whisky anybody would pay
for. Somebody offered to settle for the
drinks, whereupon Dougherty drink twentyone
glasses and died in fifteen minutes. A
uost-mortem examination revealed a cooked
brain.
The folio wring storv is told of a retired
saloon keeper: "I sae you are building a new
house, Mr. Brown?'1 "Yes; you are right."
"Made the money out of wnisky, I suppose?"
"No." "Why. you are a liquor dealer, are
you not?' "Oh, yes; but the money I'ai
puttine into the hi use was made out of ths
water I put in the whisky. Every farthing
was made out ot water, gir."
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
NOVEMBER O.
Lesson Texlr "Peter Delivered Prom
Prison," Acts xll., 1-17?Golden
Text: Psalm hut,, 7?
Commentary.
1. "Now about that lime Hero1, the king,
stretched forth his hands to vex certain of
cue enured." neroa represents tne woria,
and the world is always at enmity with God
and the people of God. It the people of
God are not found suffering more or less
persecution from the world it muRt be because
they are greatly conformed to it See
Jas. iv.,4; Rom. xii., 1. llr Tim. iii., 12;
John xv? 13-20.
2. "And he killed James, the brother of
John, with the sword." James was one of
the first to follow Jesus, and with Peter and
John had been His special companion on several
occasion?, as on the Mount of Transfiguration
and in the Garden of Getbsemane,
and now be is first to see his Lord in glory?
the first of the twelve. Jesus had taught
them to be ready for this (Math, x, 28;
John xvi., 2).
3. "And because He saw it pleased the
Jews. He proceeded further to take Peter
also." Being passover time city would-be
full of people, and Herod by pleasing them
would have opportunity to make himself
popular. He did not know that it is God
chat putteth down one ana settetn up another
(P?. Ixxv., <5, 7).' Like Pilate, "be saw
only the people or Caesar.
4. Peter in prison and guarded by sixteen
soldiers, four on duty at a time, is ijjirely in
safe keeping*! humanly speaking; but when
men take counsel against God He that sitteth
in the heavens shall laugh (Pa. xxxiii.,
10. 11; ii., 4). God may allow Peter to be
slain, as He did John the Baptist and Stephen
and James, but if He purposes otherwise not
all the soldiers on earth can hold Him.
5. Peter remains in prison, but the believers
cease not to pray for him. According
to the margin, "Instant and earnest prayer
was made tor him." Not knowing whether
it might be will of God to spare him or not,
while he lived they could earnestly ask that
if it could be for the glory of God h9 might
h* rfplivpr?d Comnare it. fSam. xii.. 22. 23)
6. The saying that man's extremity is
God's opportunity is often illustrated. The
last night of Peter's life seemed to have
come, for on the morrow Herod would bring
him forth to be slain., T?ere seems no possibility
of escape; chained) to a soldier on
either side, and all doors and gates securely
guarded?but ah. Lord God, there is nothing
too bard for Thee (Jer. xxzii., 17).
7. Read Ps. clii., 20, and behold here one
of thoee servants of God to whom storm
and tempest, fire and flood, walls and bars
areas nothing. The soldiers sleep on while
Peter's chains fall off and be arises at the
word of the angel. Read how just such a
messenger smcte 163.000 men, wnile another
shut the lions' mouths, and another found
Paul in tbestorm on the sea (Isa. xxxviii.,
Dan. vl., 22; Acts xxvii., 23).
y. Without unnecessary haste and yet
quickly, Peter at tho word of the angel
girds himself, pute on his sandals and alsc
his outer garments and prepares to follow
his deliverer. God will leave nothing belonging
to His people in the bands of the
enemy. Wtun Israel came out of Egypt
they ieft not a hoof behind lEx. x., 26j|,
when we come forth on >that resurrection
morning it shall be seen that not a hair of.'
our heads naa pensoea itiune ui,, ioj.
*). Thus far it was oil like a dream to Peter.
He bad already seen wondrous t-rings iu a
visioa (chapter x, 10. 11) and supposed he
was now enjoying another revelation from
heaven. It was as when the captives re
turned from Babylon and they said they
were like them that dream (Pg. cxxvL, 1).
10. Safely through tlie wards, and by tne
guards, and through tbe outer iron gate that
opened of its own accord, and along tnrougb
one street, and then the angel left Mm, and
Peter finds himself alone?a few moments
before in an inner prison securely chained,
but now a free man by the mightr Dower of
God. The same powef sets free tbe sinner
from satan's bondage and will soon bring
forth the body of every saint from the prison
house ot the grave.
11. How Peter convinced himself that it I
was no vision, but a waking, a reality, we
are not tola, v* e can imagiur uilu ut >aiious
ways proving to himself tb&t lie is really
awake, and as he walks about he finds no
chain?, no soldiers and no prison walls; it
dawns upon him that again he has had an
angel's visit. Sue chapter v:, 18, IV.
12. Finding it all gloriously real, he at
once turns bin steps to where he knew he
would find some fellow believers. ThLs
Mary seems to have been a sister to Barnabas
(Col. iv., 10) and her home a headquarters
tor the saints. Blessed are the homewhere
the saints are welcome to meet for
prayer.
13. 14. As Peter knocks Rhoda comes to
answer (K. V.j and is so overcome with
gladness that she forgjetd-to let him in, and
ran Dacx to ten mau rowr mn ut tuc
Great joy does make some peopte act
strangely; sorrow and trial bumble them
and bring them a ear to Go.t, wnile prosperity
sets them wild. Had the soldiers been
atter Peter they would have got him while
?he was saying ha waj there. But God was
caring for him.
' 15. "And they said uoto her, Thou art
mad. But she constantly affirmed taat it
was even so. Tnen said they. It is his
angel." The prayer meeting give* place to
a discussion, while the answer to tneir
prayers is kept waiting outside the door.
Is it not possible that answers to prayer are
still kept outside wcile discussion instead of
thaniwgiving is going on in the church?
Consider the following texts in reference to
people who are accounted mad r Isa. lixn
13, maririn; Hos. ix., 7; John x., 30; Acts
xxvi., 24. How slow we are to expect or acknowledge
answers to prayer'
16. "But Peter continued knocking, and
when they had opened the door and saw him
taejr were astonisueu. fiow gracious 01 our
God to have the answers to our prayers continue
knocking! Perhaps there are some at
your door even now waiting to be received
and acknowledged. Answers often ccme, not
as we expect, but in some unlooked for form
and way. Let u* pray that we may recognize
the answers when they come and quickly
acknowledge them.
17. "-Noisily they chattered, but by his
liand he stilled them aud then told how the
Lord had brought him out of prison." Why
do we not hear more testimony as to what
the Lord has done for His people (Pn. lxvi.,
10.) or is He not doing much these days because
of our unbelief? Having given the testimony
he would have them pass it on to
James (sou of Alpheu?, Math, x., 3; and the
brethren. All goo i tidings of tae grace of
ftod are to be passed on to others as fast as
possible. He departed and went to another
place, so that whon HeroJ sought for him in
the morning he could not be found. There
is a morning coming when believers shall not
be found, but the enemies of the Lord shall
be found and slain iv?rses 1H-28; compare
Heb. xi.,II Tbets. i., 710;. ?Lesson Helper.
Thb millionaire la becoming far
less important a factor la Congress
than formerly. The aggregate
wealth of members of the Senate
and House is at present from $50,000,000
to $100,000,000 less than It
was a few years ago. Many men of
great wealth, such as "Joe" Brown
Hears'., Plumb, Farwell, Spooner,
Scott and Spinola, have died or left
Congress, and their successors have
for the most part been men of modpwto
m^ana What, (rppat fortunes
remain are to the extent of 75 per
cent, the possession of members
from the Pacific Slope or the West.
Another curious fact about these
great Congressional fortunes is that
their owners are mostly men whose
names begin with the letter S? Sanger,
Stewart, Stanford, Sanders,
Sherman, Shoup, Squire, Stockbridge,
Stahlnecker, Stevens and Ste?
phensoir
Road Agent (stopping funeral)?
Hold up y'r hands! I want all th'
money ye've got! Chief Mourner?
Bless me! Here's the undertaker's
bill-collector al read v.?Lifft
r i
RELIGIOUS READING.
RULK8 FOE DAILV LIF8.
Begin tbe day with God:
Kneel down to Him in prayer;
Lift up thy heart to HU abode,
And seek his love to share.
Open the Book of God,
And-read a portion there:
Tbat it may hallow all tby thonght3,
And sweeten all thy care.
Go through the day with God,
What'er thy work may be ;
Where'er thou art?at home, abroad,
He still is near to thee. .v
Converse in mind with God;
Thy spirit heavenward raise;
Acknowledge every good bestowed,
And offer grateful praise.
Conclude the day with God;
Thy ?ins to him confess;
Trust in the Lord's atoning blood,
And plead bis righteousness.
Lie down at night with God,
Who gives His servants sleep;
And when thou tread'st the vale of death,
He will thee guard and keep.
CHRIST ALONE UNDERSTANDS US THOROUGHLY.
Our consciousness of our need of sym?
pathy is uo more wide-spread or .positive
than our consciousucss tbnt often our human
friends fail to sympathize with us intelligently.
They do nut lack a kindly interest,
but their sympathy does not go deep enough.
They simply ao not understand us through
and through... Blessed are we- w'nen we hnvie
learned that our Lord Jesus Christ does
thus comprehend our Inmost being, and all
its varied wants. When everybody else has
fulled us, we still can turn confidently to
Him.
He understands us because He shares our
own human nature. He was as truly a man
as the neighbor is woo waits down town
with us every morning, and He baa declared
that, do matter what changes His death,
resurrection and ascension may have worked
witbm Him. He still is essentially one in nature
with ourrelves. All the impulses for
good or evil which rise within us, therefore,
have been known to Him in His own
person, although His knowledge of the evil
oever passed from acquaintance with temptation
into acquaintance with actually committed
rin. * "1
.He has shared our human experience also.
For a whole generation he was a member
of an ordinary biimau household. The'ties
of home, tbe familiar cares and duties growing
out of tbe life of the household and tbe
neighborhood, tbe very temptation to which
humaniiy in ?ny form and at any time iB
exposed?an inese are Known 10 mm, auu
are understood by Him, so that He can enter
fully into the "feelings of each of us?His
disciples.
He comprehends ua, furthermore, by the
nid of His Divine Omniscience. He is not
only truly man, but also trulv God. He undemands
our nature, because He gave it to
us, and our circumstances because He ordained
them. His sympathy is not only tender
and unlimited, it is also perfectly informed,
even as to the secret influences
which often shape our lives so powerfully,
yet which we rarely detect entirely, and
often overlook altogether.
All this suggests a comforting truth. Although
our Lord knows all about our moral
failures and our t>ins, and appreciates' their
guilt far more keenly tban we do, He ajso
knows all about our struggles asainst temptation,
our efforts to rise above discouragement,
our good purpose renewed in the face
of defeat, and our sorrow and shame because
of our unfaithfulness.
Not one of our faintest aspirations or endeavors
toward better things escapes the
notice of His constant, helpful love. Is it
not indeed a comfort to know that He dees
understand us thoroughly?? (Congregationall^
TBUE FAITHFULNESS.
In this men readily deceive themselves,
they can do anything well in imagination
better than the' real task that is In their
bands. They presume that they could do
God good service in some place of com*
mand. who serve Him not, as becomes them,
in that which is by far the easier?tbetylnce
of obeying wherein He has set them. They
think that if they bad the ability and opportunities
that 'some men have, they
would do much more for religion and
' i-1-j .? .1 J-. --,1 *U?., /i/v
JUT v/uu IIIISU li1cj uu, uuu jrrc, iuc; viw
nothing but ?poil a far lover part than that
which is their own. and is riven them to
vtudv and act aright in. But our folly and
selt'-ignorauce abusee us; it is not our part
to cboos-e what we should be, but to be what
we are, to His dory who gives us to be such.
Be thy condition ever so mean, yet thy "conscience
towards God," if it be within thee,
will find itself work in that. If it be little
that is entrusted to thee in regard of thy outward
condition, or any other way, "be thou
faithful in that little." ?8 our Saviour speaks,
and thy reward shall not be little?He shall
make the ruler over much.?TLeightpn
a Prayer.
The most beautiful and efficient feature 01
-A.- A? TU?,.1??a*C SC. .?TKn
IUC Urucr Vi I lie UIU^ n JL/au^ui^io ip j.fic
Prayer of Consecration," which each Kind's
Daughter offers every morning - upon rising.
It is this:
"Take me. Lord, and use me todar as Thou
wilt.
"Whatever work Thou has for me to do,
give it unto my hands.
''If there are those Thou wouldst have me
to help in any way, send them to me.
"Take my time an^use it as Thou wilt.
"Let me l e a vessel close to Thy hand, and
meet for thy service, to be employed only
for Tbee| and for ministry to other'* 'in His
name.'"
tHE NEARXKSS Of CHRIST.
You may be nearer to Christ than you
think. Those men who went stumbling
along the rond to Exnmaus, weeping and
mourning that their Christ was gone, poured
into His very ear the tale of their bereavement.
They told Him of their trouble?that
they had lost Christ; and there be was talking
with tbem! In tbe midst of their deep
irripf fhpre was their victorvjiud thev did not
know it. There is many a man in" embarrassment.
overwhelmed with care, who does
not know what to do. It is the pressure of
God's band upon liim for the purpose of
betterment. It is God present in affairs:
Christ near to him for the sake of winning
him to Himself.
THE FITt;RE LIFE.
. If. in the happy phrase of Butler, oui
post humous life, instead of being altogether
a beginning anew, be rather a going on,
what scenes of loveliness and irradiations of
faith may unveil and beam upon the soul
when the Divine Giver tenderly takes it
back, and lays his hand on that bis own instrument
of music, and stills tt>e jar and discord
of earth, and brings every feelin;; and
desire into tune, ami a raws out an me
powers, and opens all the?6tops, and wakes
tbe.hnrmonfes so long sleeping!?[Robert
Wilmott.
The mind wants steadying and setting
right many times a dayJ Jt resembles a
compass placed on a rickcty table; the least
stir of the table makes the needle swing
around and point untrue. Let it settle, then,
till it points true. Be perfectly silent for a
few moments, thinking of Jesus; there is an
almost Divine force in silence. Drop the
thing that worries, that excites, thut interests,
that thwarts you; let it fall like a sediment
to the bottom, until the soul is no
longer turbid; and say, secretly, "Grant, [
beseech Thee, merciful Lord, to Thy faithful
servant purdon and pence; that I may
be cleansed from all my sins nnd serve Thee
with a quiet mind!" ?[Bishop Huntington.
CHAMPION IJKKU-UKli\6.lLtW?.
Philadelphia evidently has some champion
beer-drink er3. The Record of that city tells
of one brewery where the one hundred men
who are employed consume twelve half-barrels
of beer a day. It states that a compartment
has been set apart for a miniature bar,
and one bartender aoes rothing all day but
keep the faucet open. Some of the men, ao*
cording to the bartender, drink from eighty
to one hundred glasses a day; others drinkabout
fifty, while some can only stand
twenty-five or thirty glasses a day. Great,
indeed, mu3t be the capacity of thwe Philadelphia
beer-drinking champions!? National
Temperance Advocate.
.. - ' v 'Y '
'
PEARY'S WORK.
RESULTS OP THE EXPLORER'S
TRIP TO TBE FAR NORTH.
Peary and a Companion Traveled
Over 1800 Miles Across Inland
Ice?No Unman Beings on the
North Greenland Coast.
N an illustrated
account of LieutKoll
fonanf P W Pnarrr'i
Mp expedition, which
^''VfSMv rtturned recently
to this country, the
Chicago Graphic
0ryMI The success of
Lieutenant R. E.
mjPeary and his party
- ^VvajBag^*?|/W} goes lar to prove
the claim that
Americans are peRl
cuiiariy fitted to
explore. They are quick to adapt them*
selves to their surroundings and possess
unusual skill in contriving means by
which to attain the desired ends.
In a dispatch to the Nary Department,
from St. Johqs, N. P., Lieutenant Pearj
says: "United States Nary claims high*
' est discoveries on Greenland east coast.
Independence Bay, 82 degrees north
latitude, 34 degrees west longitude, dis*
covered July 4, 1892. Greenland icecaps
end south of Victoria inlet."
Lieutenant Peary presented his ideas
of exploration to the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia in January,
1891. ' His plans showed so wide a
LTEtrTKNAUT PKART*
familiarity with existing conditions, and
were so practical in character that the
academy, which had previously borne
i-i.~ n.
uie cAyeu&e ui tuo cApcuinwua uuuer ur.
Kane and Dr. Hayes, accepted hi? proposition
and provided the outfit needed for
the journey.
It has been the experience of Arctic
explorers who had heretofore attempted
high northern latitudes by means of
ships to find that once their way was
barred by ice it was
impossible to proceed
farther .with their
ships, and, should
they become icebound,
they must remain
there until their
vessels are destroyed ^
or drift out in the
. ?'v*n? 7
springtime. Feary,
recognizing this tact %v*
made careful arrange- ^ Esquimau.
ments to travel on foot and by means of ;
sledges.
The expedition sailed on the Kite,
a steam sealer, which on July 30, 1891,
left the party on the south shore of McCormick
Bay. After constructing a
house, a series of boat trips and short
excursions was begun. These trips continued
through the winter and until May
3d of this year, when Peary and all the
party, excepting Mrs. Peary and Mr.
Voj-hnaff Inffc fnr fcVi? north. On June
3d the supporting party returned, haying
parted from Pear; and Astrup at Humboldt
glacier. From this point they
continued northward until July 4th they
discovered Independence Bay. After an
absence of ninety-three days, during
which time Peary and his companion
traveled over 1300 miles across inlaud
ice, they returned to McCormick Bay,
meeting the Kite, which had in the
meantime returned for the party.
While preparing to return home, Mr.
Verhoeff went on a short seolozical trip
to a neighboring settlement. Not return- I
ing, search was made, and after some
?w ??
*" ?
A TUB!
time traces of his footsteps to a large
glacier were discovered, but no sign of
the missing man was found, and it is supnosed
he lost his life in one of the nu
meroufl crevasses.
This expedition verifies the possibility
of parties making their way on foot
toward the north pole, instead of by
ships, and thi9 belief has been eatertained
before by eminent and practical
Arctic explorers.
Lieutenant Peary's accomplishment re?
vives the inspiration in the heart of
every Arctic explorer who has been
batfled by ship progress to again make
the attempt over the laud, on foot and
by sledge journey, establishing, as the
.yAuc of discovery progressed, necessary
J *" - e * ah f h o nnrnncA nf qp.
UCpUlS Ul 1 Ul lUk |.ui|.vm. ?> ? ,
curing retreat, or tiding over unseen delays.
Although Peary reached North Green- J
land last year with a broken leg, good
luck seems to have been his portion. He
was fortunate in being able to procure
plenty of dogs. He took with him on
the ice cap twenty of these animals, bred
by the natives of Whale Sound, and they
hauled four sledges as far as Humboldt
glacier, where the return party went
back, aad Pcaiy and Astrup, with thir
teen dogs and three sledges, kept 09 %
their course. Peary had killed an abundance
of seals and walrus for dog food
during the winter, and traveled in the
lightest marching order. Pemmican,
pea soup, beans and biscuit formed hk
sole provisions.
* Eivard Astrup, who accompanied Peary ' ^
on this journey of 1300 miles, is a young
Norwegian who had lived in die United
owes oniv a-iew montns wnen he toiob- ^
teered for*he expedition. He waa skilled
in the use of the "skie,' as the pecoliai
snowshees of Norway are called.
Peary's enumeration of the Arctic high*
landers gives a total of leas than 250 sou la.
They are apparently decreasing in numbers,
but not so rapidly as was supposed ,!S^?
a few years ago. In their recent inter- JS
course with the whites they hare been
favored beyond most savage people. A
large part of the men whom they have
seen were rough, and they haven't at- < '#?
ways been treated with justice. Kane
had serious difficulty with the natives, ;
and two of his men accused these people
of plotting against their lires. This time AjpJ
they have been treated by their white !$
visitors with kindness, consideration and \ < frjHjf
generosity.
On the North Greenlahd coast Peary
found no traces of human beings. II .V*?j
has been a favorite theory with some
scientific men that the east coast derived
its population from the migration of peopie
living on the northwest coast. There
is no evidence whatever to substantiate
this unlikely theory, and it is probable
that the remains of Esquimaux hut>
found on the shores of Robeson channel, ; ?
in Grant land, indicate the moft north* 1
ern limit of human occupancy. s
Pearj intended to do for the Arctic
a VESSEL, THE KITS*
I hiorhlnndnra what TTnlm Hid tar Mia Krtfl
natives he discovered on the east Green- . $
land coast. He has thoroughly carried
out this purpose. He has made a complete
enumeration of the inhabitants, and
his long association with them enabled
him to secure photographs of folly half
the Arctic highlanders. He brings back
a large quantity of ethnological material,
including tents, costumes, sledges, boats, - /' '-Vx
dogri, and photographs of the people aad
dwelling. 1 5^
Eight days after Peary and Astrup
left the party and pushed forward by
themselves they saw, says Peary, "the
land at tne Head of the St. Ueoiges ''
fjord, and then for two weeks were baffled
and harrassed bj storms, fogs, ere- . |
va3ses and steep ice slopes, while trying
to weather the feeder basins of the St. ^^1
George's and Sheard Osborne glacier
system, the Hatteras of the northern in?
land ice sea. June 36 we were under the ,
eighty-second parallel, when the land
which I had been keeping in view to
the northwest confronted me to the north
PEABY's" HOUSE, X'COBKICK BAT.
sod northeast and then to the east, de- .
fleeting me to the southeast. After MM
marching four days to the southeast, the
land still extending southeast and ea*t,
I made direct for it toward a large opening
in the mountains risible orer the
nearer summits, and landed July 1. July
4, after three days' travel overland, I
reached the head of a great bay, latitude
81.37, longitude 34, opening out
east and northwest. ? named this In.
r HUT.
dependence Bay in honor of the day and
the great glacier Sowing north into it
Academy glacier. I reached inland ice
again July 7, with foot gear cut to pieces
and selves and dogs exhausted and dead
lame from the hsrd climbing, sharp
stonea and frequent falls."
" ' $
i
4 vV*
Just Out.
... V &