Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r_ EEV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN ^ DAY SERMON. Subject: "Lessons Taught by Holl days." Tixt: "In respect of a holy day."?Colossians ii. 16. What the Bible here and elsewhere calls a holy day we, by change of one letter and - change of pronunciation, call holiday. But by cbangre of spelling and accentuation we - caooot change the fact that holidays hav? great significance. As long as the world stan ? Christmas day and New Year's daj and Easter day will be charged and but charged with solemn suggestiveneas and k holy mirth. Whether you take the old style of my text and call them holy days, or the modern style an1 call them holidays, they - somehow sat all my nerves a-tingle and my r deeper emotions into profounriest agitation; I I am glad that this season we have the holi' - days completely bounded. For years, Christ* mas rtav starting in the midst of one week. and New Year's day starting: in the midst of - another week, we have been perplexed to know when the holidays b?gan and when they ended, and perhaps we may have begun them too soon or continued them too long. But this year they are bounded by two beaches of gold?Sabbath, December 25, 1892, and Sabbath, January 1, 1893. The one Sabbath this year commemorates the birth of the greatest being that ever walked the earth; the other celebrates the birth of that which is to be one of the greatest years of all time; the one day supernatural be cause of an unhinged star and angelic doxology, and the ether day natural, but part of a procession that started with the world's existence and will go oa until the world is burned up; both the first and last days of these holidays coming in with Sabbatical splendor and solemnity, and girdling all the days between with thoughts that have all time and all eternity in their emphasis. How shall we spend them? At haphazard and without special direction, and they leaving. as they go away from us, physical fatigue and mental exhaustion, the effect of late hours and recklessness of diet adding - another chapter to the moral and spiritual and eternal disasters which have resulted from misspent holidays* Oh, nol A. 6tout and resounding not for all the eight day?. I propose that we divide this Holiday season, the two Sabbaths of the holiday and the six cays between, into three chapters? the first part a chapter of illustrious birthda?; the second part a chapter of annual de' - c-idence; the third part a chapter of chron ological introduction. First.then, a chapter of illustrious birth/ day. Not a day of any year but has baen - / marked by the nativity of some good or / great soul. Among discoverers the birthday -of; Humooldt was Sept. 14 and of David Livingston March 19. Among astronomers the birthday of Isaac Newton was Dec. 33 and of Herscbel Nov. 17. A-nong orators the birthday of Cicero was Jan. 3 and of Chrys oetom Jan.-It. Among prison reformers the birth lay of John Howard was Bep. 2 and of Elisabeth Fry May 1. Among painters the birthday of Raphael was March 83 and of Michael Augelo March 6. Among statesmen the birthday of Washington was Feb. 22, of Hamilton May 8 and of Jefferson April 2. Among consecrated souls the birthday of Mrs. Hemans was Sen. 25, of f Lucretia Mott J an. 3 and of Isabella Graham . Juiy 29. But what are all those birthdays .compared with Dec. 25, for on or about that it.w i?< Wn on? who (v.irwvi all the creaC , names of all the oanuries?Jesuj of Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Gojgotha, Jesus of Oli/et, Jesus of the hdavaaly fchroue? Toe greatest pictures hare been made about scenes ia His lifetime. Th? greatest sacrifices on field of battle or in hospital or on long march or in martyrdom have b9en inspired by His self abnegation. The finest words of eloquence ever spoken have been ^uttered in the proclamation of His Grapel. The grandest oratorios that have ever rolled from orchestras were descriptive of His life and death. There have been other oratory bat none like Him who "spake as never man spake." Tbere have been other reformers, but none, like Him who will not have completed His mission until the last prison is ventilated, and the last blind eye opened, and the last deaf eir ua stopped, and the last lame foot bounds like a roe, and the last case of dementia snail come to its right mind. There have been other discoverers, but none like Him -able to fini how man may be just with God. There have been other deliverers, but none like Him, the rescuer of Nations. There ? 1 - -* K?|. ???? Mfca Him cave oeeu utuci pauiv^a, vuv uvuomao ** who pot the image of Ood on a lost soul. No wonaer we celebrate His birth, Protestant church, Catholic church, Greek church, St. Isaac's of St. Petersburg, St. Peter's at Rome, the Madeleine at Paris, SL Paul's In London joining all our American cathedrals and churches and log cabin mooting housas and homes in keeping this pre-eminant birth festival. Elaborate and prolonged efforts have bean made to show that the star that pointei to the manger in which Christ was born was not what it appeared to be, but a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Our wise mea of the west saj that the wise men of the east were mistaken. Astronomars, you know, can calculate backward as well as forward, and as they can till what will occur a hundred years from now among the heavenly bodies, so they can accurately calculate backward and tell what occurred eighteen or nineteen hundred years ago. And it Is true that seven years before Christy in Chaldes, "hont three hours before day dawn, tkere was a conjunction of Jupiter and 8a turn. Standing in Jerusalem and looking over toward Bethlehem, those two stars would have seemed to hang over that village, and it Is suggested by a learned Drofessor that ths magi may have Vu>4 wpak B7M. so that the two stars mav have looked like one. In order to take everything supernatural out of the story we have to blind the eyes of the magi and introduce a second star to help out the idea of the one star.. But I prefer the simple story of the Bible, that a light of some kind ?stellar or m?teoric?pointed from the sky to the straw cradle. vVhen it is so easy for God to make a world that He puts eighteen millions of them within one sweep of the telescope, Ha could certainly afford one silvery or iiery signal of soma kind to point the world to the place where thi sovereign of the universe lay inc-irnatei anl infantile. If God could afford to make an especial earthquake at the crucifixion, the aslant rocks on Mount Calvary still showing that there was a convulsion of nature ac that particular spot which was felt in none of the surrounding'1, the" Hecou d afford something unusual, sjrmjuiuj brilliant, something positive, something tremendous at the nativity. If a king ac th3 birth ot a sou can have the palacj illumine 1 and couriers sent with swift dispatch to announce the gladness at the gates and wake up an empire with canonade, I am not surprise! that at the birth ot ths Son of G- > i there was ifatinn ?n I mv onlv woniar is that, instead of one star or one meteor firing signal, all worlds . .did not make demonstration. Why not other worlds take interest in the event w&en (Jbrist came rrom another world and another world was to gee the souls that would be saved by this celestial descant? It would have beei a stellar disgrace, an astronomical scandal, if, whan the Qodhead lay compressed in the form of an infant, something from above bad not poiuted down, as much as to say: ''There He is! . Look, all earth and heaven! Look, all time and all eternity!" Yousee, the birth a,t Bethlehem must have been more novel and startling to tbe heavens than the crucifixion on Calvary. It was expected that Christ would be maltreated. The world always ha 1 maltreated itsgool and great frienda Joseph hurled into the s pit, tiha-Jrach put into the fire, Jeremiab lowered into a dungeon, David hounded from the throne, Elijah compelled to scarve ** Via Itta KaaV rtf fllfVo /i uorvo Uii IVA^I nuui IUO I^an v* ? ???UT raven, and Socrates condemnedvto death, st that the Calvarian massacre was in the saml old line of maltreatment. Bnt the noveltj of all the ages was the conjunction of divinity and humanity. Invisible deity, muscle I and nerved an4 fleshed in masculine phys ique. A child and yet a Godi Why, if the meteor had not pointed dowa that night, some angel would have rushel down and pointed with his glittering scepter. I<?aiah and David and Ezekiel, who foretol! the coming, would have descended frod thair thrones and stood on the roof of the barn or in some way designated the honored locality. As the finger of light that DecernKdP 9^4 r?fnrl */\ f Ka nf?n ttt aoaiIIa nr*nr oil w* w pwiuwu wv uuo auian uauic, uw ?? , the fingers of Christendom this moment, fingers of childhood and old age, fingers of sermon and song and decoration and fesi tirity, point to the straw cradle. Am I not , ^ right in sayins: that ths first of the three chanters of the holidays should be devoted to the illustrious birthlavf By sotit: and praver and solemn reflection and charities to-iav, and by eifts and trees that bear fruit in an hrnir nttpr thpir art) nlfcntei. and familr gathering and hilarities sounding from cellar to garret to-morrow, keep Christmas. As far as possible gather the children and the grandchildren, but put no estoppel on racket, whether of laughter or swift feet or toys in shape of rail trains or trumpets or infant effigy. Let the old folks for one day at least say nothing about rheumatism, or prospect of early demise, or the degen9racvr of modern times, or the poison in confectionery. If you cannot stand the noise, retire from it for a little while into some other room and stop your ears. Christmas for children without plenty of noise is no Christ* mas at all. If children and grandchildren cannot have full swing during the holidays, when will they have it? They will be still soon enough, and their feet will slacken their pace, and Ithe burdens of life will bear them down. Houses get awfully still when the children are gone. While they stay let them fill the room with such resounding mirth that you can hear the echoes twenty years after they are dead. By religious oelebration to-day and by domestic celebration to-morrow keep Christmas. As for our beloved church, we tomorrow night mean to set the children of our Sabbatn-school wild with delight, and in The Christian Herald, with which I am >-1 u connected, we are ceieuraviug wo uuuuaj? by sending oat from two to four thousand Bibles a day, and they will continue to go out by express, by messengers and by mails until we have distributed at lqast one hundred thousand copies of the good old Book on which Christmas is built, and which give* the only healthful interpretation of these , swift flying years. The second chapter of the holidays must < speak af annual decadence. This is the last Sabbath of the year. The steps of the last , year are getting short, for it is old now. j When it waved the springtime blossoms the year was vounz, and when it swung the ] scythe ana cradle through the summer har j vest fields toe year was strong, but it is,getting out of breath now, and after six more ' throbs of the pulse will be dead. We cannot , stop this annual decadence. Set all the ( clocks back, set all the watches back', set ail the chronometers back, but you cannot \ set time back. For the old family clock you might suppose that time would have especial respect, and that if you took hold of those old hands on the face of that centenarian of a timepiece and poshed them baolc you might expect that time would stop or retreat for at least a few minutes. "No, no!" says ths old family clock. "I must go on. I saw vour father and mother on their wedding day. I struck thy hour of your nativity. I counted the festal hours of the day in which you brought home a bride. I sounded the kuell at your father's death. I tolled at your mother's departure. Yea, I must sound your own going out of life. I must go on. I must go on. .Tick, took I Tick, toclc!" But there is a great oity clook high up in the tower. There are ?o meny wrongs in all our oitids to be righted, so many evils to be extirpate J, so many prisons to be sanitaried?stop the city doc s until allthesa things are done. Lat common council and the oeoole of the great town decree that the city* hill clock shall stop. We do not want ; the sins of 189*3 to be handed over to 1893. 1 We do not want the young year'to inherit 1 the misfortunes of the old year. By ladders ( lifted to Che to war ani by strong hands c take hold and halt the city clock. ".No! no!" i say a the city clock. "1 cannot wait until t you correot all evils or soothe all sorrow or e drive oat all sin. I have been counting the c steps of yonr pro;res* as a city. I nave t seen your opportunities. I have deplored b you neglects, but time wastsd is waa'ied i forever. I must go on. I must go on. 1 Tick, took! Tick, tock!" But in the tower ( of the capitols at Washington and London i and Berlin and Vienna and all the great i national capitals there are clocks. ? Suppose that by presidential proclana- < tion and resolution of the senate an 1 house of ranrafiantAtives our national clock in the I Capitol turret ba orderal to stop, "Stop, O clock, until sectional animosities are cooled off, until our Sabbaths ara batter kept, and drunkenness turn3 to sobriety, and Bribery, fraud and dissipation quit the land! Stop, 0 clock, io the tower of the United States Capitoi 1" "No, no?" says the clock. "1 hare been going on so long i cannot afford to stop. 1 sounded the birthday of American Independence. I rang out the return of peace in 1865. I bare seen many Eresidents inaugurated. I struck th9 our of Lincoln's assassination. I have beat time for emancipation proclamation. and Chicago Are, and Charleston earthquake, and epidemics of fever and f cholera, Nations never stop. They march J on toward salvation or demolition. And 1 why should I stop? I chime tor the national holidays. I toll for the mighty dead. I must go on I I must go on I Tick, tockJ Tick, tockl" There may be a difference of a lew seconds or a few minutes in the timepieces, but it will be a serious occasion whan a next Saturday night about the same hour the family clocks, and the city clocks, and the national clocks strike one! twol tareel t fourl five! six! savant eight! nine! ten! eleven! twelve! , Sorry am i to have 1892 depart this life, It has been a g}od year. What bright days! r Wh?t?fArrf mcrhts! What harvests! What religious coavocatioas! ' What triumphs cf art and science aad Invention and enterprise i and religion! But, alas, how sacral it has ] been with sorrows! What pillowy hot with fevor that could not be cooled 1 What graves opening wide enough to tike down beauty t and strength and usefulnesst What octo- v geoarians putting down the staff of earthly pilgrimage and taking the crown of heavenly ? rewardl What children, as in Bible time, crying: "My hea-3, my head t And they carried t him to his mother, and he sat oa her knees ] until noon and then died." This year went c the chief poet of England and the chief i poet of America; Oar John G. Whlttier? ?;reat in literature and simple as a child? f or did I not spend an afternoon with him in 1 a barn in the Adirondacks, and in the even- v ing we played blindman's buff, he tying a over my eyes the handkerchief while the hotel parlors rang with the merrymaking? And Tennyson, this year gone?he who for T this particular season of the year wrote: c Ring oat, wild bells, to tbe wl'd s'ty, e The flying cloud, the frosty light, > The year Is dying In the night, 1 King oat, wild balls, and 1b: mm an What mingling of emotions in this closing f year I What orange blossoms for th9 mar- . riage altar, and what myrtle for the tombs 1 of tbe dead! Hosannas and lamsntations in t collision. Anthem and dead march mount* ] ing from the same ivory keys. Before this year quite leaves the earth let it hear our repentance for opportunities that can never i return. Kind words spoken too late or not ^ spoken at all. Means of getting gooi or doing good so completely gone by that tbe ^ archangel's voice could not recall tbem. Can fi it be tbat this year is closing and our sin* t unforgiven, and we have no certainty that e when our last Dec. 31 has sped away we shall enter a blissful eternity? Tae most over- j whelmingly solemn week of all the year is 1 the last week of December. But on opening this subject, "la respeot 8 of a boly day," as my text puts it, or a noli* J dav. as we moderns write and pronounce it. { l advised that you divide this season Into three chapters?the first a chanter of illus- | . mom uiriaaay, ice secoua a caipwjr 01 annual decadence and the third a chapter of a chronological introduction-^-and this last ] chapter we have reached. In ,olden times , there was a style-of closing an old year and 1 onening a new one that was very suggestive. 1 The family would sit up until twelve ] o'clock at night, and when the clock struck twelve the family would all eo to the fronc door of the house, take ? down the bar and turn back the lock j and swing the door wide open to let the old year out and new year in. And that is I what we are going to no. With the same j measured-step that time has kept since it s started it will come to our door in the closing night of this week. With what spirit 1 shall we let the new year in? I have already s indicated that it is to be one of the greatest < years of all chronology. "Why?"' you ask*. ll I"T? ?? ??AM mwamAni. navb you tuijr luiuuuuu^a v/i i?cuiuu.tions?" No. "Are you expecting the'millen- \ ilium this year." No! "Whv, theD, say i this about the coming year?' For the simple ( reason that I find as the years go by they become more aud more eventful. Compare j the Nineteenth century with the Eighteenth i century. I Compare the nrsc nan 01 iuis wnaui y with the last half. The surges of this ocean ' of time are rolliricr higher and higher. The ) forces of right and wrong are rapidly multiplying, and their struggle! must be intensitied. It is a chronological fact that we are all the time comiug nearer to the , world's edenization first and then to its in- J cineration, to its redemption and its de noli- | tion. And so I expect that 1893 will be a ( j greater year than 1S0? Its wedding bells \ i i will be merrier. Its obsequies will be sad* der. Its scientific discoveries more brilliant. Its properties more significant. Its opening more grand. Its termination more stupendous. Look out for 139 i! Let printers nave in their cases of type plenty of exclamation poiats to set up a sudden paragraph. Let the conservatories have profusion of flowers that can be twisted into garlands. Let churches have plenty of room for increased assemblages. Let men and women have more religion to meet the vacillations and the exigencies, and the demands and the raptures and the woes of this coming 1895. In what mood shall we open the door of the new year? With faith, strong faith, buoyant faith, triumphant faith, God will sea you through. His grace will be sufflcient if you trust Him. You can go to Him at any time and And sympathy. My little child got hurt one morning during her mother's abseaoe. We looked after the case as well as we ooold. Toward night her mother returned, and for the first time the child cried ana cried vociferously. Some one said to her: "What do you cry tort You did not cry all day." Har reply was, "There was no one to cry to." And so you sometimes suppress your trouble because there is no full resource of earthly sympathy. But I rejoice to tell you that in God you always have some one to cry to. He will condole and help in every crisis. Come, now, let me unstrap that knapsack of care from your shoulders. Come prosperity or adversity, oome wedding or burial, come health or sickness, oome life or death, oome time or eternity, all's well, all's welll Keep your heart right and all else will be right Men and women have some times Riven strands and ' whimsical directions in regard to what shall be done with their haarts after death. Robart Bruce ordered his heart to be ssnt to the Holv Land for buriai. The Earl of Leicester ordered h& heart seat to Brackley Hospital. Isabella, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke, riiod at Berkkampstead, but ordered her heart taken to Tewkesbury Cathedral. Lord Windsor, dying in a foreign lafad, ordered bis heart loclosel in lead and sent to England for burial ia the chapel of Bradenham. Now what shall we dacre3 for our heartr That it be the Lord's, aad thea it makes no difference what else becomes of it. Living :jid dying, may It all be Hi?. Thus in three chapters I hare counaaled that the holidays be grouped. May nothing interfere fttth their felicities. May they bs 10 spent that they will bs food for pleasant remiaiscenoe further on. Tou know that if ter awhile the old homestead will be broken ip. For years and years the children come some to spend the holidays, and the house is rummaged from garret to oellar, and the scenes of childhood are rehearsed, and we augb till the tears come as we calk over iome boyish or girlish freak or cry over tome old trouble ended; but the heartswings sack again to mirth, for it does not take half j i second for a tear of the eye to strike the imlle of the lip. For a few years the grand- 1 ;hildren make the holidays merry. One of ;he many oses of grandchildren is to keep ;he old folks youn?. Then after a few year?U :he annual gathering at the old homestead is half broken up, for father or mother is jone. About two years after (for there are gen- I sraliy about two years between the time of ;heir going) the other half of the holiday * ? m. I season is nroKeu up. iaen tun uiu uvun roes into the possession or strjui^art, and ;he sons and daught3r? by that tima hare lomes of their own. They plant their own Christmas trees and bane up their own chillrea's stockings, and twine their own holly ind mistletoe, and have their own good lioXee. They will perhaps be riding oat on tome of those holidays either in alelgb or arriaga twenty or thirty years from now ilong the places where we alumber the last ileep, and may we have bean so considerate ind sympathetic in oar demeanor toward .hem now that they will then say one to an* >ther as they pass the silent mounds of the rUlage graveyard or city cemetery, "There ests as Jcind a father and as kind a mother is ever wished their ohlldren a merry Christmas and a happy new year." Meanwhile we, their parents and grandtreats, will, I hope, through the atone* nentof oar blessed Lord, be keeping nolilays livelier and higher up; in th9 presence '* '?* ******* nrKma Kit*rh t.ha AflPthllT Fi UUJ y OIJ VtMHV " UVJW i>u *uv VM-Vwy Christmas commemorates, aai of the 'Ancient of Days" who saw the first year pen, and will see tha last year close; in tompanionship with the ever-widening :ircleof hearenly kindred, many already here and many soon to coma, aai the tables >f that festivity will purple with the grape* if Escboi, and redden "with the n9w win# >f the kingdom," and glow with "twelve nanner of iruita" from the tress of life, and he gtfts of those holidajs will ba mansions ind thrones and crowns of glory that never ade away. Oh, that these delightful holilavs of earth may fit us for thoje more de? ightful holidays of heaven ( POPULAR SCIENCE. Ginger essence contains twice as much Icohol as whisky. A antantiaf afafAfl fclldt lflflhflrM 80010 M.BV*VU*<??> ?*???? O imes last for two hundred years. During the last decade the birth rata a England has fallen from 31.7 to 30.2 >er thousand. A new discovery of platinum and irdiurn has recently been made in the ludgee District of New Sauth Wales. Small electric lamps, as substitutes for he old bull's-eye lanterns hitherto used >y the police, have proved a gratifying luccess in London. The Natural History Department of he British Museum received last year .18G presents, one of which comprised !90 heads of Indian mammals. The iron columns of the Philadelphia Jity Hfril are the first extensive iron fork to be electrolytically plated with .luminuoi as a preventive of rust. . There are volcanoes all over the world. [*hey occur all along the Pacific Coast, in the western side as well as the eastirn, all the way from Baring Strait to few Zealand. The highest average speed attained by rains on the various railways in Engand is fifty-one miles per hour, made by he Great Northern Railway and the Midland Railway. Professor Coetz has been experimentng with brainless dogs. One animal, leprived of all its psychic faculties, surrived eighteen montiis. It could neither ;ee- nor feel and its memory wa3 utterly jone. George WestiDgboiwe sets the cost of i powerful passen^r locomotive of 1200 lorse power at $10,1)00. To do the ame work by clectrxcity would require a L600 horse power steam plant and elecrical apparatus costing $81,000. The Milky Way holds probably at east 20,191,000 stars, and as each is a un, we presume it is encircled by at east fifty planets. Counting up these igures, we arrive at the magnitude of 1,000,955,000 stars. A thousand milion of stars I Who can comprehend it? Among the latest buildings discovered it Epidaurus, one of great importance is he crepidoraa of a small temple built of }oros lithos, which is thought to be the iphrodition named in one of the micriptions of the Asclepire J.n. This is jrobably the shrine of which Pausanias ipeaks, calling it the temple of Aplirolite. The number of electric lamps now ised in Paris is said to be about 175,000, naintained by central stations, the enirgy of which corresponds with 17,500 lorse power. Out of the 85,000 houses n Paris, only 20,000, or not one quar:er, are lighted by gas, the consumption )f which in 1891 was 233,000,000 cubic metres. Lady friend (to Mrs. Newlywed)? Well, how do you like your flat? Mrs. Newlywed?Which do you mean ?the one I married or the one I livo in??Tit-Bits. V SABBATH SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR JANUARY 15. Lesson Text : "KncouragIrtff the rcupie, aa^Kui 11., i-v?Lrinuen Text: Psalm cxxvll., 1 ? Commentary. The prophecies of Hsggai and Z ciariah should be read in comteccion wicti the historical books ot Ezra and Nehejniah, for these prophets were specially commissioned to encourage th9 people tore >uild the temple andthecity. A. ter the foundation of the templa was laiif, as we leirned in last lesson, enemies hindered the work, and it ceased until the second yjar of Darius, where our present lesson oegins (Ez. iv., 24). 1. "In the second year of Darius t ie kin?, in the sixth month, in the tlrsc day of the month, came the word of ths Lord by Haggai the prophet." Ha^gai, lUe every true prophet, was simply the Lord's messenger with the Lord's message (versa 13). 2. "Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, This people say, The time Is not come?the time that the Lord's house should be built." This phrase "speaketh or saith the Lord of Hosts" is found thirteen time'* in this short prophecy and "saitl tne Lord" is round seven times, wmie tbe name ".Lord" in capitals (whicn is always Jehovah) is found altogether in the tbirty-aight verses o'rthis prophecy at least thirty-four times. So we are not to see Haggai, whosa name is mentioned bnt nine times (and that is an uuusual number for so short a prophecv), but only Jehovah, and Hiqgai as His spokesman. Notice that the Lord observes what people say, and also what they think (Ezek" xi., 5, xxxiii., 30; Jert. xi., 18, 19). 3. "Then came the Word of tne Lord by Haggai tbe prophet, saying. The words of the people are wrong words;" they indicated a lack ?of sympathy with God in Bis purposes. The house of tbe Lord now being built is the church, which is His body (Seb. iii., 6; I Pet. ii., 5; I Cor. ill., 9; Eph. iiM 19-32), and there is much indifference to it on the part of the Lord's people as there was to the temple in the days of Haggai. The Word of tne Lord was sent to correct the people and bring them into sympathy with Goa and His purposes. See Isa. viii., 20. R. V. margin. 4. "Is it time for vou. O ve to riwnll in your ceiled houses,and this house lie waste?" They were neglecting the temple, the house of Jehovah, and attending to their own houses. The church is a spiritual building to be gathered out of all Nations and presented to Christ as His Bride in order that He may return with her to establish His Kingdom on earth and fill the earth with His glory; but the Lord might well saiy to the various denominations which make up the risible church: "Is it time for you to ba so occupied with your own little company instead of working earnestly to complete My body?" "Is it time for you to be spending hundreds of thousauds of dollars upon church buildings instead of sending the Gospel to the heathen?" 3. "Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways." Because of the neglected condition of His bouse He would have them stop and consider. He would hare them loo!: at things from His standpointlike Jeremiah when he said, "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see* if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord _ zafl:~~j i? -.l _ j * ni. xi I uBvuaiuiuiou iue m tu9 nay ui ms uercd anger" (Lam. i., 12|. When we think of Jesus waiting and longin; for the completion ot His c itlrch, that He may come again for the conversion of His people Israel and of the world, may we not hear Him saying, "Is it nothiug to you?V "Consider your ways," and see that as the heavens are higner than the earth, so are My ways than your ways (Isa. lv., 9). 6. "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough." Count the sevenfold disappointment in this and the ninth verse, and compare Isa. lv., 2, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and yotir labor for that which satisfleth not'" Men labor in vain and spend their strength tor naught (Isa. xlix., 4) when they are out of harmony with God; but when Goi is working in us, though it may sometimes seem that our labor is ia vain, it ia never really so. His word may not accomplish what we please, but it will accomplish what He pleases (Isa. lv., II), and our work is not in vain ia the Lori (I Cor. , xv., 58). Wages in a bag with holes make us think of the treasures ou earth which the Saviour coutrastei with toe treisure ia heaven (Luke xii, 33). 7. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways." Th?? Holy Spirit oever repeats needlessly. Tne fifth verse was ia connection with the desolation and neglect of the Lord's house, but this is in' connection with their own desolation or fruitless toiL In this an I the uext verse, with verses 4 and 5 of the next chapter, there is an iateresting sevenfold command (Consider. do up. Bring wood, Build the house. Be strong. Work. Fearuot) each part of which we may well take to ourselvas in reference to our part m oompieung tna churca. There will be nothing but failure in our lives as long as we neglect the Lord's work, and even though one shou Id amass the wealth of Babylon, in one hour it shall couie to naught (Rev. xviii., 17). 8. "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house, an 1 I will take pleasure in it,(and I will be glorified, saith the Lord." We hare nothing to do with difficulties, either real or apparent. It is curs to obey; results are with God. His pleasure and His glory are everything. Even Christ pleastd not Himself, and one of His last joy* ful testimonies was "I have glorified Thee on the earth" (Rom. xv., 3, John xvii.. 4). Let us take as our daily muttoes, "For Thy Pleasure," "For Jesus' Sake," "Glorify Go i" (Rev. iv., 11; II Cor. iv., 11; I Cor. vi., 20), and live to build the house. 9. "Why? saith the Lord of Hosts. Because nf miro Kntica f liaf io twto of a anrl tta i?nn otrarrr vl iiuuo uuuoq vuav 10 najic, auu jo & uuo>oi j man into his own bouse." If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness we have the promise that all else will be added (Matb. vi., 33); whereas if we seek flret our own interests there is the probability that whatever we may accumulate, God will blow it away or suddenly take us away from it. This seems a strange place to close the Je3?on. I trust teachers will go on to consider the threefold assurance of L, 13; ii., 4, 5, 8, concerninz His presence, His Spirit and His wealth. Note also thrice "Be strong" of chapter ii? 4 and compare Josh. 1, 6-9; IE Cbron. xxxii., 7, 8; xv., 7; but be warned by II Chron. xxvi., 15, 17. Kail not to uote tbe great shaking of chapter iL, 6. 7, and co npare Heb. xii., 25-29; x., 35-37. Ere that great shaking comes tnecuurch will be gathered in and out of the storm, and the elect remnant of Israel will also be safely hidden (Ps. 1,. 1-6; lsa. xxvi., 19-21; Luke ixi.. 36; Rev. iii., 10). Then will all thrones against Christ be destroyed and He shall reign forever.?Lesson Helper. Found In Co*!. The Waterbury American, pul> lished at Waterbury, Conn., tells the nunoi. cfnrif Tf tv a a a nnppf AUI1UYT 1U^ V{uugi O UUi J . A. v fti^w ^V?w? And, that of Antone Hagenlocker recently, and no one can b'ame bim for being surprised. Antone is an engineer in the employ of the Ansonia lirass and Copper Company, and as he placed an extra large lump of soft coal under the boiler ho had no thoughts of what that lump of coal contained, a lew miuubes iaier uc opened the furnace door again and what was his surprise to see in the furnace a handsome plant resembling a species of cactus. It was bright red from the heat, every vein in the leaves being defined. He carefully removed it from the furnace without breaking, and when it cooled it returned to a dull gray color. It rests on a base of coal and then stands out a well-defined petrified plant, but not carbonized so that it burned as readily as the coal surrounding iu Wo v>-ia dhnc.i thfi formation to manv. and nothing like it. has ever been seen here The stalk of the plant where cut from the parent stem is well defined. Mr. Hagenlocker is to have it mounted and placed under ?. glass case. RELIGIOUS READING I ? ? " ' aa' Wl A NAT0RAL CONSEQUENCE. I lately read a pathetic article depicting the last days of a lonely -old man living in his married son's family. No one was positively unkind to him, yet tliey all ljatl tbeir business, tbeir pleasure, their friends, am] the old man wax mentally and spiritually alone. "We commiserate the deariness of such an old a?e and do not remind ourselves that it may be the natural outcome of the son's . dreary chHdhood. There is a similarity between the condition of little children and that of old men and women. At both ends of life there is need ot svmDalhv. helD. a stooping, brooding kindne>s. The child i? too j oung to take bold of life, the old man haslet go. Tbis lonely man, whom we pity in the sketch referred to, was probably absorbed in affairs when his sou was a little child. Most likely he was too busy to inquire Into bis baby needs, to sympathize with his baby wishes, to get acquainted with the little mind and sutisfy its bent, to win the innocent, confiding heart and make of himself a support for its outputting tendrils. A lovtr of children often observes the kind of training which results in forgetful sons and daughters. A child leans against the father's knee and looks up wistfully, longingly. He is pushed aside, while the father goes on with his work. The mature mind is absorbed with thoughts of business, of gain or loss, with far-reaching plans, it may be with grudges or-hurts. The approach of the little intelligence asking to be permitted to mingle itself with the father mind is felt to be an intrusion, a hindrance. ^ t- 3? UaH/)nAoa f A />Uil/)ran IB X II13 UlllllK llkiuuai UOlUIICog w shown perLaps as often by mothers as by fathers. The mother)ia Intent upon making ! the little garment, or cooking the dainty dish, or she ia making the bouse sprick and ' span for company. The little one follows ber about feeling exactly the same sense of isolation* of sadness, that the mother will perhaps experience by and by when the same child, a woman grown, is unwilling to give up time and Belf for cherishing and ' pleasing the aged cbild-woman. . 1 What traveler has not seen in the cars a little group of bright, eager, curious children , anxious to be told about this or that on the way? The mother, deep in a love story, scowls, commands stillness, instead of lovingly giving herself up to the little folks as interpreter and guide. It is dangerous to chill even once a child's enthusiasm. W hat if the clinging tendrils of the reaching, yearning soul be constantly unwound from their natural clinging place? The question answers itself.?[M. F. Butts, In Congregationalism THE KAULBH TKE1S. Walking through a forest a gentleman saw a grand old tree which had fallen across the path. The tree appeared strong and sound; there had been no wind or storm. Why had the tree fallen? He looked at the stock, and fonnd that the whole heart of tl?e tree was eaten ont by decay. For scores, perhaps for > hundreds of years tbat process of decay had gone on, and though the outside seemed fair and strong yet the inward life of the tree was gone, and at last without stress or strain, it fell by its own weight. How many of the oaks of Batthan thus go down! How many of the giant*' in the * crreat forest of humanity fall in the 6nme manner I Outwardly fair, inwardly false; apparently strong, really weak; with all the aspect of growth about on the surface, but rottenness aud decay within tbe heart, till at length in an unexpected bour tbe mighty man comes thundering down before the breath of a zephyr, to the astonishment of all who had beheld his apparent strength and massiveneas. There is a solemn lesson here. That lesson is the importance of tbe inner life. If that tree bad been strong within, men might have hacked and chopped it till a large portion of it bad been put away, and still it wonld have repaired its own damages, and stood for generations; but when the heart and tbe trunk was rotten; when all its inner vitality was eaten out, then what | remained bnt a crush? Tbe men who go down before tbe breath of temptation .who disappoint our hopes and ' make ub fear that humanity is rotten to the | core, are meu whose hearts for a long time , have not been ngiu in tne mint 01 uou. They may have lived correct lives, they may have pat forth fair pretensions and profession*, but there was something wrong within, and at last the sudden destruction comes. "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me."?[toston Christian. THE MAN FOE AFRICA. We will never forget the speec'j made by Wm. Taylor on Africa, which made him bishop of that continent. Tbe. General Conference bad debated itself dry on tbe subject. , Not even a colored member could be coaxed into accepting tbe bonorof an eleo? tion to that field. At length Brother Taylor spoke. He described tbe man Africa needed, one wbo could adapt himself to the country,. the people, tbe work to be done. Then, swinging his long arm around :be semi-circle of bishops seated 01. the platform, be said, "None of these gf-ntlemen would do!" And be gave tbe reasons why. ''There are no 3 ilia noo unnrnnrh fn , |/aiiui-vni* vuui*?inv ..Kt/.VMV.. .v | them being ox-carts. There are uo fine episcopal residences there?even a hut being " sometimes a luxury, l'liere are no hotels, or homes of wen.lby layman to welcome even a t chief officer of the great Methodist Episco- ] pal Church."- And no on. lie said a great , deal more which was pointed and practical, ' and presented the o:ise clearly to nli present. Of course his spcech brought down the house. But it also brought It up to the point of suing that tLe man who bad made it was the only man in the church on whom it could jDes<tow the greatest honor it had to give, that of opening up fie Dark Continent to Methodism. And so VVi'Uaiu Taylor was made blsbop of Africa. When he was yet a young man, and we but a hoy. we beard him sing with a feeling inspired by faith: "O land of rest, for thee I sigh, When will the moment come W nen l sua l my luv unuur u.v, And rest In peace'at borne?'"' For a third of a. century since, at God's call, and with brave Annie Taylor's consent, as a knight of the Order of the'Cross, be bas be- n wandering through the four quarters of the globe. N'nirins; the same song of faith and hope.? [Baltimore Methodist. BELIEVING GOD'S PEOMI.SE3. ' Believe me," says God. Yes and He also says. "Follow mV That is His controversy with us?thnt we let so many of His notes go to protest, to the scandal of His name. His promises to pay are in our bands, and on every one of them is written, "All the promises of God a*e yen, and in Him, Aiuen! unto the ekrv of God the Father. Hut we haven't the faith and perseverance in prayer to prove them, and so they become the bankrupt securities instead of the living as-ets of the cbuich. It is true that faith is greater than demon station, and that we believe God without seeing Him. But we are to believe that He will do, not that He will not do. We are to prove His promises and rent in their proof, and not to be content to rest in them as uu? proven. For observe tha.. experience o 1 God's promises is necessary in order to out growth in grace. In the epistle of the Hebrews it is written: "For every one that usetb milk is inexperienced in the word of life, for be is ab;iue; but strong meat bolongeth to them that are of full age." Th&: is to say: If one is content wilh the barest rudiments of Scripture, he will be a babe c and a weakling all his life. But if he takes ? hold of the s>tronc promises and turns them . into facts and experience, he will be t mature Christian.?[Dr. A. J. Gordan. * I God denies nothing but with a design to c give us something better. A Fatnre ror tne Ilonkey. 3omo day Block raisers will turn thoir Attention to the common donkey, and with a few generations of liberal feeding, careful grooming, and judgment in p will rnJsn n hrpod that for all <, draught aud carrying purposes will be f superior to either horso or mule. The hoofs of the donkey seem absolutely in- . capable of lameness, his endurance ie 11 without parallel save in the camel, and 8 with good treatment there is no reason .j why the size of the breed should not be , greatly increased. Tho donkey has o ; bad name, butages of Ill-treatment have 11 given him a bad temper, which can be overcome only by kindness. s FAIR WOMAN'S DOMINION. Lu 0 at TWO WEDDING COSTUMES. ? * ' II A' White Satin With Embelishments, si and a Dress Over Which Came the H Veil and Orange Blossoms. 8j Some Hints oa Style. * RES33 and asage at B | weddings are always g f asubjec; of interest. ir\ i^e marri?ge toilet shown in the picture I'departs from convenI' tional usage, the bride being garbed 6 ^ arraye<* Lr^H | Vj'y. yTt'il uivui ouijr auu uauiu* MvSv\Vf Jng for an evening 3\)/Y I party. The fabric is jr A\V} ?? of white satin and (\vyw> ? embelishraents are iTw UmK Ihesame color. The a l\>\i) ^ sprays on the waist Kl /Tiln f anc* were em" TlllliV^* boridered by haDd in ?- VM f)l the finest conceivable Yf ' yf^AV I' t manner, making an /I W/wCvL/ N exceedingly costly *_ fl|\ tv ' ' toilet? 83 we^ as a di saw- = beautiful one. The hi ^ shaping of the gown o] Itself was severely plain and simple. The young bride wore no vail, or orange b'oa- gl soms, or anything else to denote that was at tr I _.JJ! mi L U/%> Lier uwu weuuing. mat w?a uci iuuvj. w The bride shown in the second picture "j put on a veil and a wreath of orange bios- th soms. The illustration shows the dress gl only, with its widely puffed sleeves, its high ox bodice, and its trailing skirt embroidered in gl silk and edged with lace. To a prospective th - th Wi bride, who writes to ask what she shall wear lic it the altar in order dot to be -'the usual & jort of thing." I can only reply that nine- to tenths of the bridal dresses are still made of btViUa oaf^n Availlr /If nnnrao T moan what are called fall dress weddings. Bat . ( ;bereis a growing independences to marriage robes, and any girl may indulge her jn )wn taste?if it be good?in choosing the . *?wn- . rei The bonnet in the picture has a raised p( sorder, trimmed with six roses placed at squal distance from each other, and the front is ornamented by a butterfly bow of ^ ace, from which a jet aicrette starts. The ^ itiingsareof narrow velvet. The third fly 39n net ia composed of black velvet and jet, vith almond green and old gold reversible iej ibbon. It makes a really charming Betting a , jo a youthful face. It has a mixed jet and itraw border, and is trimmed with a bow of 0f ;he almond green and old gold or rose color eversible ribbon. There, are also black jetted lace pompons. Veils are being wora is much as ever, with hats as well as bo'n- ac lets. Liarht. fine nets with tinv chenille ha cnots are most in favor, though some are te itili seen with heavy spots and a kind of jorder, which is not becoming to any fkce e(] 3y the way, if you are not a girl, but a wj fci A LOVE or A BONNET. CiL ? up jrown woman well start?d toward matroo> mi lines?, permit me to advise you to have your th >oi)Tiets large enough. There is nothing fu nore unbecoming than a bonnet to small 'or its wearer, or one which persists in be- un ng relegated to the back of the head. Jet th * - 1 1 -r.U r??h?nn. m; ?r steel coronals are too naru iu sunm...v? y faces. A fold of yielding velvet, or a th luilling of lace or good ribbon is better, vll 5uch a bordering forms a worthy frame to th he face. If you want particularly to have i jet rim, blend it with gold, if you are a Wl jruneite. and it will prove a satisfactory he :ombination. SOME HINTS ON STYLE. th ION NETS, WRArS, GLOVES AND BUTTONS FROM i "C woman's point or view. C V The illustration gives a picture of a sim?le but very pretty bonnet for dress occaions. Various combinations of color mid mi oKfin nrA anitflKIa frti* thiM Hpni(*n_ KU..V ?.v """ - r>? otl Among the different styles of overcover- pjj ngs the military cape seems safe for all. It m, hould come to the knee or just above it. ^ He correct caj?c should be cut rrom a circu- cli ir piece. <Jet a look at an army friend. It di: tsover the shoulders and has no fullness at is lie collar, but hangs as it will from the c?' houlders. The so-called military, however, wc i ihirred about the collar, and han^s with, at any fitting orer the shoulders. Very unning ones are real military, gotten up i black or blue cloth and lined with scar^ VA?* J?AAo?r AM in ti/rhf /ilnfch Afu) ** uiroo^ v/uco mo u? w^u* ??? aed with plaid. silk or far. A particularly rail one is of chamois colored felt, of aliost chamois texture, lined with Jennet, or nee Jennet is difficult to get here, with any 9 1 irk, soft fur. There is, of coarse, a very igh collar which may lie flat or be-tamed p about the ears. - '>) Of all traitorous accessories a woman's oves are the worst. You simply cannot ust them. Better start out in a hurry and ust to "fixing your hat as you go" than to ratting on your gloves" the same way, In e first place, though you selected your oves with due care, when you get half war i your journey and have come to thetother ove you will find you have taken both for e same hand. You may know positively at you started with a pair, bat when it unes to pat on tne second glove yoa wm id yoa had two lefts. It would have been ittertohave had two rights. Then, at ut, your right hand woald hare been cored and yon woald hare perhaps have gotn through handshaking gesture# without towing the other hand much, but as it is, ,'s either mortification or go back. Anher trick a pair of gloves will play ia hen yoa have the two hands all right, bat ey do not belong to the same pair, and a fference in color or length will be startig when you come to get them both on. ien perhaps if the pair is all right yoa will id you have lost the other one when yoa y me to put it on. This is one of the nicest cidents that can happen, and gloves Just ve to do that way. As to splitting! Every te knows that the brand new pair of ovee yoa have gotten to go with your pardress and that because the pair i*:new >u decide to "pat on in the carriage,"spliis ray ap the palms when yoa pall them the ist bit ' Buttons ara always perfidious. Unless >u always button to the last button before aving the bouse, they are sure to fly off. - ^ Iso buttonholes have a way. of banting if >u depend oa them the least bit The only fe way is not to repose a bit of confidence a glove. To give them no chance to do onkey-shinesr no matter what else yon ight, no matter what elae you "do*on the iiy," finiah your gloves before leaving the *A . y >use?nay, and before leaving your room. ave both carefully pulled on and all bat ned. That is th^^y gafe way. Playing to JJtmU Ananoynymous contributor to the tlantic Monthly says that several aimers of her girlhood were passed1 an old villa at Castle Gandolfo,: ilch before 1870 was the summer sidence of the Pope, near Borne. A| >lish lady, who occupied the lowerj or of the house, had a piano In'her. xlor, and very kindly, gave the lit-' i girl permission to use it every day. iring the hour of her own afternoon! ive. I was proud of being allowed to; irn some little pieces, particularly-; luet from "Lucia dl Lammermoor," aich I looked upon as a masterpiece subtlety and execution. One afrnoon I was thumping away at that; ursel, with my ?lght-year?old hands' retched at last to the full extent of i octave and my eight-year-old mindj tppy in the thought of having mas-, red all the technical difficulties or e composition, when the door opensoftly, and I looked up to see aj iilte-halred man, with a handsome, ndly, and to me very venerable untenance, standing beside me. Estopped playing in alarm, but he otloned me not to move, and said ntly, in Italian: "Go on, my little girl, never mind e. I should like to hear that piece er again." Half reassured bj the kindness of s manner, I began again nervously "Lucia," and somehow managed tol t through it. "It is not bad," said my listener.j s took hold of my band and showed; e how the notes should be struckj id what I must aim at in pracjing. "And n?w, if you like, I will play toj ? ? oof ^norn anH nlftrj Uf IXC ouu oau uvnu wuw -i "Lucia" to show me how it should! done. From that he went on to! her music, very different, but wonrfully grand, it seemed to me, and1 on and on, till, stopping at last,* saw me standing there, with eyes I with wonder and full of tears. > j "You have a soul for music,- child,* said; "study hard, and wiH'get . 19 At that moment my father's voice lied from the stairway. I gathered i my book to go. The old gentlein patted me on the head as I anked him shyly, and I ran away II of wonder and excitement. Afterward I heard and later still X iderstood that the musical treat of at afternoon was a privilege which ?*?" turtuM huvp anvieri tnfti that. e piano in the tapestried salon had Orated under the touch of genius; at I had been listening to the eat pianist, the Abbe Liszt, and; lat is appalling to think of, had en playing to him. "Cloth" and "Clothes." Dr. Murray has been puzzled about e origin of -'cloth" and the plural lothes" for garments, as distinct ;ra "cloths." The etymology and en the primary sense of the old sutonic kloth are uncertain. The rmer is probably to besought in the mtnnic verbal stem kli. klai, to ck; but whether the name was apied to cloth as a substance felted or ide to stick together, or to a cloth a thinjito be attached or made to np to the boc.y, is doubtful. Tho junction of "clothes" from "cloths" chiefly of the nresent century. The mmnn eiirhteenth-centurv SDellinu is "cloatbs."