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* .? "REV. DR. TALMAGE. / [THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. _______ JCsT-? Subject: "Unsafe Lifeboats.,y f Text : " Then the soldiers cut off the ropes [of the boat and let her fall off."?Acts rrvii, 82. L 1 r Whila your faces are yet somewhat bronzed Iby attendance on the international boat con * <est between the Vigilant.and the Valkyrie I (address you. ' Good things when there Is no (betting or dissipation, those outdoor sports. FWe want more fresh air and breeziness in our temperament^ and our religion. A stale And slow and'lugubrious religion may have <lone for other times, yet will not do for , t Jthese. But my text calls our attention to a Iboat of a different sort, and instead of the Atlantlo it is the Mediterranean, and instead r of not wind enough, as the crows of theVigi? ' lant and the Valkyrie the other day complained, there is too much wind and the ewoop of a Euroclydon. i I am not calling your attention so much I to the famous ship on which Paul was the (distinguished passenger, but to the lifeboat !of that ship which no one seems to notice. !For a fortnight the main vessel had been tossed and driven. For that two weelts, the account says, the pasaffigere had "continued fasting." I: subpflr the salt water, dashing over, had'spoittki the sea biscuit, and the passengers wire seasick anyhow. ! The sailors said, "It is no use; this ship *.. must go down." nni rljv>"" proposed among themselves to lower th? lifeboat and get into i it and take the chance* for reaohing shore, although they pretended they were going to get over the sides of the big ship and down Into the lifeboat only to do sailors* duty. That was not saUorlike, for the sailors tnat i I have known were all intrepid feiiows and I would rather go down ^ith the ship than do I , such a mean thing as those Jack Tars of my text attempted. When on the Mediterranean last Jane the ,Viotorla sank under the ram of the Camperdown, the most majestio thing about that awful scene was that all the sailors staid at their posts doing their duty. As a class all r over the world sailors are valorous, but these sailors of the text were exceptional an<] pretended to do duty while they were really pre paring for flight in the lifeboat. Bat these ''marines" on board?sea soldiers?had in especial charge a little missionary who was turning the world upside down, and when these marines saw the trick the sailors were about to play they lifted the cutlasses from the girdle and chop! chop! went those catk lasses into the ropes that lield the lifeboat, ? > and splash! it dropped into the sea. m I My text describes it, "The soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off.1' < iAa Amnfv UtohoAt drooDed and was cap fired on a sea where for two weeks wind3 and billows had been In battle I think that many on board the main vessel felt their - last hopeof overreaching home had vanished. In that tempestuous sea a small boat could not have lived five minutes. I j My subject is "Unsafe Lifeboats." We cannot exaggerate the importance of the lifeboat. All honor to the memory of Lionel Lukin, the coach builder of Long Acre, London, who invented the first lifeboat, and I do not blame him for ordering put on nis tombstone in Kent the inscription that you may etill read there: "This Lionel Lunkin was the first who built a lifeboat and was the original inventor of that principle of safety by which many lives and much property have been preserved from shipwreck, and he obtained for It the king's patent in the year 1785." All honor to the memory of Sir William Hillary, who, living in the Isle of Man, and After assisting with his own hand in the rescue of 305 lives of the shipwrecked, stirred <hs English Parliament to quick action in the construction of lifeboats. Thanks to God for the sublime and pathetic and divine mission of the lifeboat. No one will doubt its <mnnrfont miasion who has read of the wreck of the Amazon in the Bay of Biscay, of the ' Tweed running on the reefs of the Gulf of Mexico, or of the Ocean Monarch on the coast of Wales, or of the Birkenhead on the i iCape of Good Hope, or of the Royal Charter on the coast of Anglesea, or of the Exmouth on the Scotch breakers, or of the Cambria on the Irish coast, or of the Atlantic on the rocks of Nova Sootia, or of the Lexington on Long , Island Sound. To add still further to the importance of the lifeboat, remember there are at least 3,000,000 men following the sea, to ?ay nothing of the uncounted millions this moment ocean passengers. We "land-lubbers," as sailors call us, may not know the difference between a marline spike and a ringbolt, or anything about heaving a log, or rigging out a flying Jibboom, or furling a topsail, but we ail realize to greater or less extent the importance of a lifeboat In every marine equipment. . A But do we feel the Importance of a lifeboat in the matter of thesoul's rescue? Thereifre times when we all feel that we are out at sea, and as many disturbing and anxious questions strike us as waves struck that vessel against the 9ides of which the lifeboat of my -text dangled. Questions about the church. Questions about the world. Questions about God. Questions about our eternal destiny. Ever}* thinking man and woman has these questions, and in proportion asthey arethinkLag people do these questions arise. There is no wrong in thinking. If God had not intended us to think and keep on thinking, He would not have built under this !wheelhouse of the skull this thinking machine, which halts not in its revolutions frfczn cradle to grave. Even the midnight does not stop the thinking, machine. for when we are in dreams we are thinking, although we do not think as well. All of us who are ,ac customed, to thinking want to reaoh some eolid shore of safety and satisfaction, an I if any one has a good lifeboat that we r iay honorably take I wish he would unswint it ' from the davits and let us get into it and >ut 3, tor the shore. I Bat I give you fair notice I must first exit amine the lifeboat before I risk my soul in it or advise you to risk your soul in It. All the HB splendid Ramsgate lifeboats, and Margate r~ lifeboats, and- 0oat& Shield lifeboats, a?d r American lifeboat* WON tested before being I put into practical Q*e ae to their buoyancy I and speed ini1ijf0iMf,l'liiil 8slf-rightingro?pacity. And miijva offer my soul a lifeboat i must first tocc ft. Hera is a agjMb&t ftew lifeboat called Theosophy. if ba* oaly k little iprbile beet launched, although aoma of the pl&nks are really several thOasoad yaars old, and from <a worm eaten sfefp^faqt Ih9y are painted iover and look new. They are really fatalism , and pantheism ol OMe& nsw nut we must i [forget that and call theft& thfcosophy. The IGrace Darling of tttf lifeboat was an oarsrwcman by the nsM of Mm-. Blavatsky, jbut the oarswoman Qoir li Anaie Besant. So znanv are getting aboard the boat it is worthy of examination both because of the 'safety of those who have aotand it and because we ourselves ara invited to get in. I Its theorj?-trrb<it eve^jthtegfaGod. Horse and star and treo a&d matt are parts of God. "We have three souls?am animal soul, a human so*il, a spiritual soaL The animal soul J)ecomes, after awhile, a thing, trying to express itself through mediums. It enters beasts or entett a iTOtaam being, and when you find an ef?mtO?t? fkon it is because a woman's soul but w*t 'fcito the man, and when you find a mat.rail tae-woman it is hecHuao a ucan's sou! hactakaa posaoaeloti of a woman'*; body. !', -f I 11 you dud a woman has be MOM a. platform epeakor and lik?s politics, shqrJspOMMVed by a (load politician, who forty yean ago made Iho platform quake. The soulfceepaWander3 ' tog ou and on, and may fcuva fifty or iauaf> ineraido different forms, end tuily lanbaorbed in God. It was God at the ftart And jWlll be God at the last. But girts the (authority lor the trulh o! ouel* a rellgicc: Pome litmus living in a Li Mitral Asia. .They are invisible to the naked ej*, bat they cross contioonls and soas in v- Sash. .! My Baptist brother J.'r. Haidoqutt &ay? that a theoaof.hl?: in Xc7/ York waa vtoited by one of tnese mysterious beings from I central Asia. The gentleman knew it from I h?ino> l*f? hta I tiro luvi fcuai me wj afcr.nvu.7 vw,**orynw .pocket handkerchief, embroidered vBk^K name and Asiatic residence. The meat W8ft* derfnl achievement of the theosopMihl .fa S that they keep out of the insane asylum. | They prove the truth of the statement that no I religion ever announced was so absurd but tt gained disciples. Societies In the United States and TEwgWptid and other lands have been established ftt the promulgation of theosophy. Instead needing the revelation of a Bible you lhave these spirits from a cave in oentral Altai to tell you ail you ought to know, and aftatf you leave this life you may become a prima donna, or a robin, or a gazelle, or a sot, 01 m prize fighter, or a Herod, or a Jezebel, an?> I so be enabled to hare great variety opi r * . 'J 'r experience, rotating through the universe, now rising, now falling, now shot out in a straight line and now describing a parabola, and on and on, and up and up, and down and down, and round and round. Don't you see? Now, that theosophio lifeboat has been launched. It proposes to take you off the rough sea of doubt into everlasting quietude. How do you like the lifeboat? My opinion is you had better imitate ice mariners of my text and cut off the ropes of that boat and let her fall off. Another lifeboat tempting us to enter is made of many planks of good works. It is really a beautiful boat?almsgiving, practical sympathies for human suffering, righteous words and righteous deeds. I must admit I like the looks of the prow, and of the rowlocks and of the paddles, and of the steering gear, and of many who are think ing to trust themselves on Her bencnes. jtsur the trouble about that lifeboat Is It leaks. I never knew a man yet good enough to earn heaven by his virtues or generosities. If there be one person here present on this blessed Sabbath all of whose thoughts have been always right, all of whose actions have always been right,and all of whose words have always been right, let him Btand up, or if already standing let him lift his hand, and I will knoyv that he lies. Paul had it about right when hesald, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified." David had It about right when he said, "There Is none that doeth good, no not one." The old book had it about right when it said, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Let a man get off that little steamer called The Maid of the Mist, which aails up to the foot of Niagara Sills, and then climb to thetop of the falls onth'e descending floods, for he can dc it easier than any man aver will be able to climb to heaven by his good works. VIf your thoughts have always been exactly right, and your words exactly right, and four deeds always exactly right, you can go up to the gate of heaven, and you need cot even knock tor admittance, oar opea u yourself and push the angels out of your way and go up and take one of the front seats. But you would be so unlike any one else that has gone up from this world that you would be a curiosity in heaven and more fit for a heavenly museum than for a place where the Inhabitants could look at you free of charge. No, sir, I admire your good works, andtha lifeboat you are thinking of trusting in is handsomer than any yawl or pinnace or yaoht or outter that oyer sped out of a boathouse or hoisted sail for a race. But she leaks. Trust your soul in that, and you will go to the bottom. She leaks. So I imitate the mariners of the text. ohd with a cutlass strike the ropes of the boat and let her fall of. Another lifeboat is ^Christian Inconsistencies. The vplanka vof this boat are j composed of the split planks of shipwrecks. ' That prow Is made' out erf hypocrisy from the life of a man w^Q professed one thing and really was another. One oar of this lifeboat was the falsehood of a church mem- ' ber, and the other Oar was* the wickedness of some minister otthe Gospel, whose iniquities were not (or a long while found out. Not one plank' from the oak of God's eternal truth in all that lifeboat. All the planks,,by universal admission, are decayed ? -? ~v,'?fnllnn anm nYld rotten ttJUU UUUXI^UU^ ?H*u ^ ? and ready to sink. "Well, ^rell," you say, "no.one will want to get into that lifeboat." Oh, my friend, you are mistaken. That is the most popular lifeboat erer constructed. That is the most popular lifeboat ever launched. Millions of people \yant to get into it. They jostle each other to get the best seat in the boat. You could not keep them back though you stood at the gunwales with a club, as on our ship Greece in a hurricane, and the steerage passengers were determined to come up on deck, where they would have been washed off, and the officers stood at the top of the stairs clubbing them back. Even by such violenoe as that you could not keep people from jumping into the most popular lifeboat,made of church member inconsistencies. In times of revival when sinners flock Into the inquiry room the most of them are kept from deciding aright because they know so many Christians who are.bad. The inquiry room beoomes a World's Fair for exhibition of all the frailties ot church members, so that if you believe all is there told you you would be afraid to enter a church lest you get your pockets picked or got knocked down. This is the way thev talk : "I was cheated out of $500 by a leader of a Bible class." "A Sunday-school teacher gossiped about me and did her best to destroy my good name." "I had a partner in Dusmess wnu owomuou our business concern by his triokery and then rolled up his eyes In Friday night prayer meeting, as though ha were looking for Elijah's chariot to make a second trip and take up another passenger." But what a cracked and water logged and gaping seamed lifeboat the inconsistencies of others! Put me on a shingle mid-Atlantic und leave me there rather than In such a yawl of spiritual confidence. God forbid that I should get aboard it, and lest some of you make the mistake of getting into it I do as the mariners did on that Mediterranean ship w hen the sailors were about to get into the unsafe lifeboat of the text and lose their lives in that way. "Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off." Well," says some one, "this subject is very discouraging, for we must have a lifeboat If wo are ever to get ashore, and you have already condemned three." Ah. it is because I want to persuade you to take the * ? - Ml AaVA only sale iiieDoai. x win auunuw juu deceived and get on to the wild waves and then capsize or sink. Thank God, there is a lifeboat that will take you ashore in safety, as sure as God is God and heaven is heaven. The keel and ribs of this boat are made out of a tree that vraa sot up on a bluff bank fit Jerusalem a good many years ago. Both of the oars are made out of the same tree. Tne rowlocks are made/out of the same tree. sreoxiig gear is made our of the same trte. The planks of it were hammered together by the hammers of executioners who thought t bey were only killing a Christ, but weie really pounding together an escape for all imperiled souls of all ages. It is an old boat, but good as new, though it he been carrying passengers from sinking shipi to Arm shore for ages and has never lost a passenger. These old Christians begin to settle because it is, dawning upon them what-I mean. The fact is that in this way yeanygo they got off a wreck themselves, and Ipo not wonder they smile. It is not a sensors giggle that means frivolity, but it is a siiile like that on the lace of Christians the miment they leave earth for heaven? vea, lice the smile of God Himself when He had completed the plan for saving the world. RighJ after that big tumble of the Attantio Ocean or seven weeks ago on the beach at EastsHampton I met the captain of the "* ? ? ? J Mni/1 (iffinfflin Wn me savug bisuvu tvuu duiu, you tliiik a lifeboat could live in a seu like that?" |A.lthough the worst of it was over, the captiin replied, "No, I do not think it could."] But this lifeboat of which I Bpeak can llvein any sea and defies all breakers, and all qyclones, and all equinoxes, and all earth, aid all hell. In twenty years the life saving apparatus along our Atlantic coast saved the lives of over 45,000 of the shlpwreckedJbut this lifeboat that I commend has save!in twenty years hundreds of millions of tie shipwrecked. Like those newly in vented publish lifeboats, it is u'nsubmergible, self lighting and self bailing. All aloi; our ronkv American coast things were lefd to chance for centuries, and the shlDwrected orawied up on the beach to die unless sope one happened to walk along or Borne nsntrman 9 nut mignc oe near. *>ui after the ship Ayrshire whs wrecked^ at Squan Be eh, and the Powhattan left her 300 dead stre vn along our coast, and another vessel wei t on the rocks, 400 lives perishing, the UniteqStates Government wokeuD and made an appropriation of $200,000 for life stations, and life lines from faking box are shot over the wild surf, and hawsers are stretched from wreck to store and what with Lyles's gun and six oared surfhoat.with cork at the sides to make it unslnkable, and patrolmen all night long valkinsr the beach until they meet each other and exchange metal tickets, so as to show the entire beach ha3 been traversed, and the Coston light flashes hope from shore to sufferer, and surfmen, Incased in Merriman life saving dress, and life car rolling on the ropes, there are many probabilities o ^ rescue for the unfortunate of tho sea. But ^the government of the united heavens has : made better provision for the rescue of our :#ouls. So close by that this moment wo can -gut our hand on its top and swing into it is ttis gospol lifeboat, it win not taso you '"jmjpre than a second to get Into it. b??at while In my text we stand watching | tjbf marines with their cutlasses, preparing ! lb aever the ropes of tho lifeboat and let her f?U off, notice the poor equipment. Only ?JSbae lifeboat. Two hundred and seventy-six psijfengers, as Paul counted them, and only I Sa?Ilfeboat. My text uses the singular and not al, "Cut off tho ropes of the boat." suppose It woQld have held more rty people, though loaded to the -V;' * I y~ T- > I think by marine law all onr modern vessels have enough lifeboats to hold all the crew and all the passengers in case of emergency, but the marines of my text were standing by the only boat, and that a small boat, and yet 276 passengers. Bat what thrills me throutfh and through is the fact that though we are wrecked by sin and trouble and thera is only one lifeboat, that boat is large enough to hold all who are willing to get into it. The gospel hymn expresses it: All may come, whoever will; This Man receives poor sinners still. But I must haul in that statement a little. Boom for all in that lifeboat, with just one exception. Not you?I do not mean you, but there is one exoeption. There have been cases whero ships were in trouble, and the captain got all the passengers and crew into the lifeboats, but there was not room for the captain. He, through the sea trumpet, shouted : "Shove off now and pull for the beach. Good-by!" And then the captain, with pathetic and sublime self-sacrifice, went down wlfch the ship. So the Captain of our salvation, Chmt the Lord, launches the gospel lifeboat and tells us all to get in, but He perishes. "It behooved Christ to suffer." Was it not so, ye who witnessed His agonizing expiration? Simon of Cyrene, was it not so'? Cavalry troops, whose horses pawed the dust at the crucifixion, was it not so? Ya Marys who swooned away with the sun of the midday heavens, was it not so? "By His stripes we are hcalod." By His death we live. By His sinking in the deep sea of suffering weget off in a 9afe lifeboat, yes, we must put Into this story a little of our own personality. We had a ride in that very lifeboat from foundered craft to solid shore. Once on the raging seas I rowed. The storm was 1 ud; the night was dork The ocean yawned and rudely blowM The win a that tossed my lounderlng bark. But I got into the gospel lifebout and I got ashore. No religious speculation for me. These higher criticism fellows do not bother me a bit. You may ask me fifty questions about the sea, and about the land, and about the lifeboat that I aannot answer, but one thing I know, I am ashore, and I am going to stay ashore, if the Lord by His grace will help me. I feel under me something so firm that I try it with my right foot, and try it with my left foot, and then I try it with both feet, and it is so solid that I think it must be what the old folks used to call the Rock ot Ages. And be my remaining days on earth many or few I am going to spend my time in fh? llfnboat which fetched me LPp here, a poor sinner saved by grace, and in swinging the cutlasses to sever the ropes of any unsafe lifeboat and let h6r fall off. My hearer, without asking any questions, get. into the gospel lifeboat. Boom! and ' yet |tnere is room! The biggest boat on earth is the gospel lifeboat. You must remember the proportion of things, and that the ship* wrecked . craft is the whole earth, and the lifeboat must be in proportion. You talk about your Campanias, and your Lucanias, and your Majesties, and yoarCity of New Yorks, but all of them put together are smaller than an Indian's canoe on 8chroon Lake compared with this gospel lifeboat that is large enough to take in all Nations. Boom for one and room for alL Get in! "How? . How?" you ask. Well, I know how you feel, for summer before last on the sea ot .Finland I had the oomo ornorloiMll. TllB ShiD in Which WO sailed could not venture nearer than a mile from shore, where stood the Russian palace of Peterctt, and we had to get into a small boat and be rowed ashore. The water was rough, and as we went down the ladder at the side of the ship we held firmly on to the railing, but in order to got into the boat we had at last to let go. How did I know that the boat was good and that the oarsmen were sufficient? How did I know that the Finland Sea would not swallow us with one opening of its crystal jaws? We had to trust, and we did trust, and our trust wae well reworded. In the same way get into this gospel lifeboat. Let go! As long as you hold on to any other hope you are imperiled, and you get no advantage from the lifeboat. Let go! Dees some one here say, "I guess I will hold on a little to my good works, or to a pious parentage, orto something I oan do in the way of achieving my own salvation." No, no, let go 1 Trust the Captain, who would not put you into a rickety or uncertain craft. For the sake of your present and everlasting welfare, with all the urgenoy of an immortal addressing immortals, I cry from the depths of my soul and at the top of my voice, Let go! Last sifmmer the life saving crew nt East Hampton invited me to oolne up to the life station and see the orew practice, for twice a week they are drilled in the important work assigned them by the United States Government, and they go through all tha routine of saving the shipwrecked. But that would give little idea of what they would have to do if somo midnight next winter, the wind driving beachwsrd, a vessel should get in the grasp of a hurricane. Seo the lights llare from the ship in the breakers, and then responding lights flaring fmm tho h?n<?h. nnd hear tbo rockets buzz as they rise and the lifeboat rumbles out, and the gun booms, end the life line rises and falls across the splintered decks, and the hawser tightens, and the life oar goes to and fro, carrying the exhausted mariners, and tho ocean, as II angorod by the snatching of the human prey from the white teeth ot its surf and the stroke of its billowing paw, rises with increased fury to assail the land. So now I am engaged in no light drill, practicing for what may come over some of your souls. It is with some of you wintry midnight, and your hopes for this world and the next ure wrecked. But see! See! Tho lights kindled on the beach! I throw out the life line. Haul In, hand over hand! Ah, thero is a lifeboat in thesurf, which all the wrath of earth and hell cannot swamp, and its Captain with scarred hand puts the trumpet to His lips as He cries. "Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thyselfjpimt in Me is thy help." But what is the uscwf all this if yon decline to get into it? 'Yott might as well have been a sailor on board that foundering ship of th? Mediterranean when the mariners cut the ropes of the boat and let her fall oft * ?*"? GAIamAA A UVXSXFU. 1U tJtlUUVCi At least one boy on Catherine street knows more about electricity and the trolley than he did and so does his 'father. The other evening the boy was out in front of his home, which is not far from Broad street, preparing to sprinkle the street and cool off the pavement. The nice, black, shiny hose had just been bought, and it was his first experience at the job. He unrolled the hose, coupled it on and turned on the water. First he sprinkled the pavement liberally, and felt grateful at the coolness which seemed to pervade the atmosphere. Then he sprinkled the street until the dust was all mud and the water wa? trickling in streams into the gutters. Still he kept up the good r * th-r\ A t>o-i-vq ncLTYXo, nn f. 11 f/ht.pfj A vryiA w?, -0 oigar and sot down upon the steps to see Johnny do his work. Then mamma came out, too, and the neighbors who were across the street admired the family group. After wetting down the street and everything else in reach, Johnny looked around for more worlds to conquer. Suddenly he glanced upward and his eyes rested on the shining trolley wire which stretched away in tho distance. It looked rather hot, and he concluded to sprinkle it as an evidence of good faith. Without consulting papa he turned the hose on the trolley wire und struck it fair with a nice, plump, strong stream of water, while he held the nozzlo of the hose the bettor to direct the stream. Then Johnny was struck by the current of ?1 J?- --A ? I /.!? Am /I of tao TY* eittmriuilijr wuitu HOY uuua vuc Diiuuiu to meet him. Ho dropped to the sidewalk and the hofle turned looae, sprinkling papa and mamma well before they could escapo. Then the admiring neighbors laughed and papa grabbed Johnny, lugged him into the shed and paddled him with a shingle, after which he delivered a lecture on electricity and the dangers of the trolley. Then hfl fondled Johnny again with a trunk strap and put a dry suit of clothes on himself. ?Philadelphia Call. * ' u*. d'fsA .-"viT- .... -j I- ; :* ' I RELIGIOUS READING." LIMITED USES OF 3I0NS7. A groat many of our business mon are tompted to put the attainment of money above the value of the soul. It is a grand thing to have plenty of money. The more you get of it tho better, if it come honestly and go usefully. For the lack of it sickness dies without medicine, and hunger finds its coffin in the empty bread tray, and nakedness shivers for want of clothes and fire. When I hear a man in canting tirade agaiast money?a Christian man?as though it had no possible use on earth, and he had no interest in it, I come almost near thinking that tho heaven that would bo appropriate for him would be an everlasting poorhouse! While, my friends, wo do admit there is such a thing as a lawful use of money?a profitable use of money?let us recognize also the fact that money cannot satisfy a man's *uui; liiui ii cauaui jjnilur lutii-j uutiv viu?.-jr , that it cannot pay our fare across the Jordan of death; that it cannot unlock tho gate of heaven. There are mon in all occupations who seem to act as though they thought a pack of bonds and mortgages could be traded <ilT for a title to heaven and as though gold would be a lawful tender in that place where it is so common that they make pavements out of it. Salvation by Christ is tho only salvation. Treasures in heaven are tho only incorruptible treasures. Have you ever ciphered out in the rule of Joss and gain, "What shall it profit a man if ho gain tho whole world and lose his soul?" However flue your apparel the winds of death will flutter it like rags. Homespun and a threadbare coat have sometimes been the shadow of coming robes made white in tho blood of the Lainb. The pearl of great price is worth more than any gein you can bring from the oeenn, than Australian or Brazilian mines strung in one carcanot. Seek after God; find his righteousness, and all shall bo well here: all shall bo well hereafter. DUTY- TO ONE'S FAMILY A man has more responsibilities than those which are discharged by putting competent inutmntn ftmw h is .->>111/1 r-f.li !Lnri rrlvlnif tllftm a drawing master and music teacher. The physical culture of the child will not be attended to unless the father looks to it. Ho must sometimes lose his dignity. He mu3t unlimber his joints. He must sometimes lead them out to their sports and games. The parent who canuot forget the severe duties of life sometimes?to fly the kite and trundle the hoop and chase the ball and jump tho rope with the children?ought never to have been tempted out of a crusty and unredeemable solitariness. If you want to keep your children away from places of sin, you can only do it by making your homo attractive. You may preach sermons and advocate reforms and denounce wickedness, and yet your children will be captivated by the glittering saloon of sin unless you can make your home a brighter place than any other place on earth to them. Oh, gather all charms in'o your home. If you can afford it, bring books and pictures and cheerful entertainments to the household. But, above all, teach those children, not by half an hour twice a year on the Sabbath day, but day after day, and every day teach them that religion is a great gladness that .throws chains of gold about the neck.; that it takes no spring from the foot, no blitheness from the heart, no sparkle from tho eye, no ring from the laughter, but that "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are poace." I sympathize with the work being done in many of our cities by which beautiful rooms are set apart by our Young Men's Christian Association, and I pray God to prosper them in all things. But I tell you there is something back of that and before that. Wo need ? U~ _v.. e hnftrfi 11 inuru uuuoocKtbvuj vuwvAkui ? homes in America. MUTUAL 8EIIVICB. A switchman in giving an account of his conversion said: "I was signalman at tho A Junction- One day, just as 1 had signalled 'clear,' and the express was coming up at full speed, I was horror-struck at seeing a gentleman about to cross the line. I rushed to the door, and shoutod with all my might, without attracting his attention. In a frenzy I blew my whistle: this he heard, saw his daager, gave a spring, and just cleared the rails as the express thundered past. He then came up to the signal-box to thank me for having saved his life. 'You have bad a very narrow escape,' I said, 'another moment, and what then?' A smile lit up the gentleman's faoo as he replied, 'I. should have been in glory now.' and then' putting his hand on my shoulder, he inquired, 'Suppose you wore suddenly cut down, would it be glory for you,' <vj/v ai>- T cniH 'I'm afraid not.' He stayed and talked with me, and he so<jmed so happy and so sure that it would havo been all right with him if he had been killed that I envlod him and I told him I wished I was like that. In my business wo generally go off suddenly, and I knew there would bo no time to do anything when the end came. He explained to me what I ought to do and the first minute I had to spare I threw myself on my knees, confessed my sins, and cried to God for salvation. He hoard my prayer. I rose from my knees a saved man, and slnco then my life has been a new thing. I am trusting in Christ, and when my time comes I shall go to be with Him. The gentleman always drops into my box when he is near and thanks me for saving his lifo that day, but I won't admit it. What was that servico compared with what he did for me in setting me seeking eternal life?"?[Christian Herald. WHAT XOV CAN DO. You cannot set the world right or the times, but you can dosomethlng for the truth, ~ * '' ? ? ~ '' nWoinlv full If fha ana an you <;uu uu ?ui .. .uv work you do is for the Master, who gives you Jrour share, and so the burden of responsibilty is lifted off. This assurance makes perfect satisfaction and repose possible even in the partial work done upon the earth. Go to the man who is carving a stone for a building; ask him where is that stone going, to what part of the templ^. and how is he going to get it into place, and what does he do? He points you to the builder's plans. This is only one stone of many. So when men shall asic whore and how is your little achievement going into God's plan, point them to your Muster, who keeps the plans, and then go on doing your little service as faithfully a? if the whole temple were yours to build.?[Phillips Brooks. a soldier's faith. In the United Service Magazine. Lord Wolaeley, who had served on his staff, thus speaks of the religiou i faith of General Sir Hope Grant: '-His religion influenced all he did. His Maker was always uppermost in his mind, and to him he confided his cares, troubles and difficulties, and to Him he looked at all times and undor all circumstances for a way out of them. His trust was indeed in God, and I very mueh doubt if any man. even Abraham himself, ever had- a more comj lete or practical faith in the Almighty." > When, upon his deathbed, he saw an aid-de-camp break down and burst into tears he said: "What's tho matter, Bobby! Why, death is only like going from one room into another." Alittlo stir and all is over! Behold yon bravo old oak in tho meadows; of what goodly stature! how strong aud lasting! how indispensable to the landscape! Hew it down and how empty the sky! Yet in a few days, the eye growing accustomed to tho changed aspect of the field, tho oak is not missed? the landscape is as perfect as before. Thus the proud one of the world passeth; tho little gap that his late presence lilled closeth forever; and his name beeometh a memory. Dear God! and is this all of lifeV ?[J. T. Trowbridge. After Tjoog Years. Albert Jones, a larmar nvia % auar urauuview, Texas, was woundod in the log at the battle of Chickamauga nearly thirty years ago. The wound has given him no inconvenience until within the last twelve months, and a few days ago it was fouud necessary to amputate the limb. The bullet was found imbedded in the bone. A large forgotten reservoir waa tapped in Lockport, N. Y., the other day by workingmen who were excavatj ing for a foundation. It belonged to I a system of water works abandoned many years ago. . 'i Sabbath school" INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB VnVKMRRR 1*2. Lesson Text: "The Grace of Liberality,'^ Cor. viii., 1-12?Golden Text: 2 Cor. viii., 9 ?Commentary. 1. "Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit (make known to you) of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia." Phiilippi, Thessalonica and other places in Macedonia wera the first in Europa to hear the gospel through Paul (Acts xvl.. 9,12 , xvii., 1). These churches beoame noted for their faith and works (I Thess. i., 3, 8 ; Phil, iv., 15,16). And.Paul loved to tell of every manifestation of the grace of God that thus others might be quickened to works of faith and labors of love and patience of hope in our Lord .Jesus Christ. As to his own abundant labors he credited all to the grace of God (I Cor. xv., 10). "How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. " At Thessalonica they received the word in much affliction, but with jov of the Holy Ghost. It was there that Paul wrought night and day for his own support that he might be no burden to them (IThess. i.,6 ; ii., Q'N fhav manQ(ToH AII^ Af fKalr nn>m?4r fA w y j j WW lUUJ U1(4UU^VU vuh wi IUUU pvrtikj wv do much for others, and this self denying, work the Lord greatly appreciates. He said of the widow who gave the two mites, "She of her want did cast in all that she had" (Mark xiL. 44). 3. "For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves." There are still those who seem to go beyond their power in the matter of giving; but. oh. how very few! If half the members of our churches would give as they are able, what an abundance there would b? for the work or the Lord! When the love of Christ constrains one (II Cor. v., 14)?that is, takes possession of one as a fever doesit will not be a question of how little service we can render and yet reach heaven, but rather a question of how much use we can be to Him this little while. "Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the sitints." It is not usual to have gifts for the Lord's poor pressed upon you and be uged to please pass this 85 or $10 or $20 on to some needy ones. I myself have the privilege of being a channel for thousand of dollars annuallyto foreign missions, out no one needs to entreat me?l enjoy tne service. 5. "And this they did. not as wehoped, but first K?ve their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." It is to be feared that there are many who receive Christ as their Saviour (John I., 12) who ,do not accept Him as their Lord and Master. They do not present their bodies unto Him as a living sacrifice that He may conform their lives to His own (Rom. xii., 1, 2). Yet anything less than this is a failure in Christian livinprv ' 6. "Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had hegun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also." While "it is God who worketh" (Phil. ii?, 13) He is graciously pleased to use the earthen vessels that it may be more clearly manifest that the excellency of the power is all of Himself (II Cor. iv., 7; I Cor. xv., 10). Philip was the vessel to the Samaritans and to the eunuch, Peter to Cornelius. and in this casa Titus to Corinth. 7 "Therefore as ye abound in everything, In faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence, and in yoiir love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also," Ih his first epistle he taught them to abound in the work of thffLord (I Cor. xv.. 58). Now he exhorts them to abound in giving. It seems to require exceeding abundant grace with some to develop this gmce of giving, but it is true, as in all else, that His grace is sufficient (chapter xii., 9). 8. "I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love." We can prove me reaiuj 01 our juuu an:i love uuiy by our works, and there is no use in saying that we love God whom we have not seen it we love not our brother whom we have seen (I John lv.. 20; Jas. ii., 26). The Saviour's command is that we love one another as He loved us (John xv., 12). 9. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." Here is the word that captivates; here is the love that constraineth. Consider the riches in glory of the Lord Jesus which He had with the Father before the world was (John xvii., 5). Think of His emptying Himself of all that and humbling Himself to Bethlehem and Nazareth and Getbsemane and Calvary (Phil, ii., 7, 8, R. V.). Hear Him say, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Math, xvi., 24); then hear Him tell His Father that He lias given His glory to all His followers, an-J He wants them to see and enjoy it (John xvii., 22. 24), and if it does not make you want to give all you are and have wholiv uo to Him for His service it must be that you do not believe the facts. 10. "And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago." In chapter ix., 2, He also speaks of their zeal of a year ago, the mention of which had stirred many, and now He sends the brethren to receive their promised bounty, inciting them by many words to manifest their thankfulness to God by their ministration to the saints and keeping before them the love of God in the unspeakable gift of His dear Son (chapter ix., 12, 15_). 11. "Now, therefore, perform the doing of it, that as rhere was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have." When God works, He works both to will and to do. When we have the will and the wherewithal, thero must surely be a performance; otherwise the will is really not there, and what seems a willingness is merely a word of mouth without any heart to it. "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving your ownselves." 12. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that ho hath not." There ia no use wasting breath in telling what wa would do If we couia. lor uoa oniy 8?ks u willing mind to do what we can. If It shall ho said of us that we did what we could (Hark xiv., 8), we can ask no highet commendation. As to the willing mind and offering read Ex. xsv., 2, xxxv.. 21. 22. 29; IChron. xxix., 9. Then remember that 4,God is able to make .all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work" (chapter ix., 8). It isnot a question of what we can or cannot do. but n question of what God can do through us wtien we are willing to let Him.?Lesson Helper. Tlie Louisiana Rice Crop. As a result of n severe, almost unbroken drought during the growing period, thousands upon thousands of acres in the southwestern parishes of Louisiana have practically lost their rice crops. There are exceptional instances where, through sufficient rainfall or because of provision beins? made against possible iacK or moisture uy iuu mjing aside of water reserves or pumpinsr. fair crops are acknowledged : out even including these, many claim that the outcome will not be over one-fifth that of last year. This estimate, us we gather, applies on!y to the Calcasieu region ;still, as it contributed over four-fifths of the previous crop, tne total outcome of the present year in Louisiana, at above ratio, is not likely to be more than 750,000 sacks, as against 2,000,000 ill 1892, nnd 1,000,000 in 1891. The shrinkage is appalling. and cannot fail to seriously affect both individual and corporate interests iu that part of the State, as well as the milling interests of the city of New Orleans, to which nearly nine-tenths of the product is seut to be cleaned and distributed. The outlook is certainly anything but cheering for the various clerical forces which wait upon and earn their livelihood out of this particular agricultural product. The factor, broker and merchant will find that the ills of the planters are. to a considerable extent, theirs. The marvelous expansion of the crop last year had excited even greater expectations from the present one. and its failure excites apprehension as to the full effect upon co-ordinate branches of business. * - 1 nthui- nnrtu nf th? A3 quuc ^-aiioiot iu South, credit eaters largely into the making of the crop. The local or commission merchant furnishe-i supplies, and often money, for which he is reimbursed out of the crop when mad*. This year four-lift lis, it is said, make no crop, and what becomes of the "advances made on wind, sunshine and rain'?" Again, as above suggested, there had been a looking forward to and preparation made for the bundling of a great crop. ; . f . > ' ' ' V < '',V' V : . ; ? y1--*-y AGRICULTURAL i TOPICS OP INTEREST RELATIVE 1 TO FARM AND GARDEN. i 1 CUIiLTSO OUT ANIMALS. It is true that all unprofitable aui- < mais should be culled out at thiB season of the year and sent to the butcher's; but it does not pay to sell I them just as they are. No matter how poor tho cattle may be, they will im- j prove with feeding. The flocks should be weeded out, and those intended for ( the butch 3r should be fed fattening , rations for a few weeks. A little forcing in this way will make very light cattle take on considerable flesh, and by the time they are ready for selling 1 they will bring ten per cent more than 1 if sold when first separated from the 1 others.?New York Independent. ' J IMPORTANCE OF THOROUGHLY CLEANED SEED j It takes but a little while longer to . run the seed grain through the fan- y ning-mill a second time, and those . who have not tried it will be surprised at the amount of foul stuff and light grain that will be cleaned out. The light grain and small kernels are far better for feeding purposes than for sowing with the expectation that they will give as great an increase as the kernel that is plump and well matured. A safe rule to go by in cleaning seed grain is to use a little coarser screen, that all the small kernels may be taken out, and run thd mill at a little higher speed than usual that all light and false kernels may be blown out. Of course none of this refuse grain is lost, ? but may be used for feeding chickens or other animals. Guard particularly against sowing weed seed of any kind. Better go twenty miles after pure, clean seed than bow seed contaminated with foul stuff.?American Agriculturist. I EGOS FOB MARKET. 1 It Is universally conceded that it pays to sort and pack carefully all fruit ( intended for market, but many per sons are under the impression that when it comes to eggs this care is unnecessary. As long as the eggs are not broken they imagine nothing else matters. They never made a bigger mistake. To sell well all kinds of lood must be tempting to the eye. Cleanliness is the first thing to be considered, and for this reason many of the eggs must be washed. The next point is the uniformity of color, whioh is attained by keeping certain breeds that lay eggs of the same color. In this connection it is well to find out the color in demand, as some markets require brown eggs, while in others the white are preferred. Finally, the eggs should be sorted according to size. All housekeepers feel themselves cheated if they find one or more small eggs among their purchases. For this reason small eggs should not be mixed -with those of the usual size. On the other hand, uncommonly large ones should also <be laid aside. They are equally objectionable, as they tend to make the others appear small by comparison. Attention to all these points pays in the long run.?New York World. WINTER STORAGE OP FARM IMPLEMENTS. Upon storing farm implements in proper condition depends, in no small degree, the success of farming, writes J. M. Stahl, of Illinois. The man who provides a dry, airy shelter for farm tools and machines, and puts them is it when they are not in use, has done a wise and profitable thing; but he may have done only half of what he might and should do for the preservation and good work of his tools and machines. He should also nut the tools and machines away in good condition. This includes freedom from dirt. The plow, for example, put away coated with mud will rust and rot, though in good shelter; and such a coating is yet njore harmful to the delicate parts of machines. Though bright and steel surfaces are clean they will probably rust unless coated with oil in some form; and to be sure that even clean wood does not rot one must coat it with paint or oil. For coating metal surfaces coal oil or beef tallow is good. Of course the tallow should be applied in a liquid condition. It will pay to coat rough but unpainted metal surfaces as well as polished ones, For farm tools and machines mineral paint is better than artificial pigments, and brown mineral paint is very cheap > indeed. Anyone ought to be able to mix it?use only boiled linseed oil, and the best is certainly the cheapest; or one can buy ready-mixed paints of good quality at reasonable prices. One should have two brushes?a larare . one for ordinary surfaces and a small 1 one for narrow surfaces or small 8 corners. It is advisable to put away 9 all tools and machines in condition for 1 work?plows, hoes, harrows or sickles, r sharp and with all breaks repaired and weak parts strengthened. There will c be more time for this at the close than t at the beginning of the season's work; a and then one has the comforting as- a surance that as soon as the season per- g mits he may begin work. When one c puts away the implements just as they c leave the field, it is often found that it s has been forgotton that some must be i mended and others sharpened, and u this is not recollected until they are brought out for work; then valuable time must be lo6t in going to the blacksmith. ' r WHY THE APPLE CHOP PAH.8. I 1 do not remember wnen Mere nas r been such a scarcity of apples at this s season of the year as there is dow. i There are very few farmers, if any, S that have had apples to put up. What v has caused this scarcity? I believe t neglect of the owner is the main cause. | * I have been observing the orchards in b this vicinity as well as my own and sec c none that have had a good, square ? meal given them in several years, and t many never had one in all their ex- c istence. To wash fruit trees is a prac- ti tice little known among farmers. In I b seeking out the prime cause of insects " injuring trees and destroying so much ^ fruit, I believe it is starvation. This t< causes limbs to die through the top, f J xt_ _ 1 t_ x _ -i . bo 0\ unu me u:ir& lu tjciue uu luu uuuao and thus make dens in which in- z Beets deposit their eggs. When a hatched the young penetrate the bodies o of the trees and spread over them, de? r? Btroying leaves and injuring the fruit, o causing it to fall immaturely. I / In most orchards some tree* a^e more favored than others and these ?re the ones that give the most and beat fruit. Two rowp of my trees ran ap to a tobacco barn, and the nearer the barn the finer the tree. White the trees have been pruned several! times of dead and useless limbs, yet I have not washed them for several' p-ears, and I find the trunks are scaly up to the branches and many of thtf branches particularly so. Now I need! not expect fine, profitable crops of fruit from these trees if not bettett jared for. j I have some young peach trees and* he Conte pear growing iy a poultry! * ' v pard where the soil is rich and oovered trith a fine sod. The trees have been veil cultivated the past two years, well headed in and are now auite H stocky, the trunks smooth and their,' twigs indicating health and vigor. Another very important item in securingt ;ood crops of choice fruit, which ia< jeldom practised, especially by that general farmer, is thinning t^he fruit 1 ivhile growing on the tree. Nature* perpetuates all fruits by the production of seed The maturing of these1 &y nakes the heaviest drain on the vital mergies of the tree. Thinning the - fruit lessens the number of seeds to be ipened by the tree and therefore in-1 sreases its vigor. Judicious thinning . mproves the quantity, quality and general appearance, and is alsoe great jrotection against disease of the tree md fruit. - The demand for strictly jrime fruit is much greater than the mpply, and those who produce the : )est are always sure of obtaining the lighest price.?New England HomeFABH AND GARDEN NOTES. Don't waste the eggshells. Is the binder under shelter? V. Clean up and paint the machines.'^ \\? Tall grass is objectionable in a sheep A wise farmer putBhis tools in order >n rainy days. ! Look well to the fences between the pasture and cornfield. I 1 Flow round the stacks in ? the field, >r back fire from them. Clean Band will go a good way in1 ceeping the quarters olean. { If butter is underworked it will be itriped; if overworked it will look like When the cat and the chiokens lie lown together, the chicken takes that nside place. ' { It is said that wood ashefc and salt ;ed to cattle will .prevent clover and' ilfalfa bloat. j '^*3 Enough poultry should be kept on* ivery farm to pick up whatever would! jtherwise go to waste. When two vessels of ripening cream ire poured together be careful to mix! ;horoughly by stirring. j It is claimed that roofing felt is ex-| lellent in poultry-houses, as the tar )dor keeps vermin away. A warm, comfortable house ia appreciated by the hen, who reciprocate^ with, a good supply of eggs. | The last eggs of a hen's clutch ara ,?%} dot considered nearly as fertile as thai iret, nor are the chioks as strong or iealthy. J If you do not know what color to' - v paint the wagon and machinery, give ;hem a coat of linseed oil?that is the preserving part of paint. Make all the hay and save all the fodder you can. It looks as if there yould be a demand for A1 hay. for ' ihipment across the sea. j * -A/V ? The time between harvesting that imali gram and corn catting may Dej yell need in plowing. Done early it! jrevents many weeds' from going to' . teed. |, The production of choice mutton,'. yith the secondary profits of wool,i nanure and fertilizers, is the best. iource of profit of the most successful) Sntrlish farmers. \ ' / ' Feather-palling is the way the hen*. jnt into practice the old saying: "Sean finds some mischief still for idle lands to do." If for hands you read" iens, you can understand the situation.' it once. j "When you dig the potatoes there rill be some that are too small for narket. Don't make your wife nee hose up at home but boil them in ?. )ig kettle out in the yard and feed) hem, mashed with milk, to the calves.: Hiey will pay you as well for them am rill any of the stock. ' Some men keep sheep in pasture* rhere there is scant water supply bemiae +.h?v t.hinlr thflSfl animals do not leed water as much as other stock. It , V'V s perhaps needless to say that they .re not the ones who make a brilliant uccess of the sheep business. Sheep teed water in their pastures and com- ~ aon sense in their management. A good team of mares is never oat if place on the farm. They will dot he work up in good shape, and if you' ,re wise in the selection of the stallion ,nd in the time of breeding they wi# ^ive you two good colts each year withiut much interference with the work if the fields. Don't think that any ort will do, but have good ones, that rill do their share toward producing: raluable colts. A Remarkable Life History. Herman Kreismann, of Berlin, Geroany, is a remarkable man. He is noir 'resident of the famous tramway corjoration of that city, the biggest intitntion of its kind in Europe, carryng as it does 170,000,000 people * ear. When an infant his parenta,, rho were not well-to-do, brought him1 o this country and settled in Chicago.': lis father was a mechanic and brought'* is son up well. Ho got a good equation and studied for the Bar, to rhich he was finally admitted. For . bree years he was city clerk of Chirigo, and in 1861 he was made Secreiry of the American Legation at Bern. From this position President U.J . Grant promoted him to the consull: 1 x>?u_ j ?1 n_ _,i> ilL[J Ub UCiilU UUU nuux llj ttibl'iWOlU ) the Consul Generalship of that city. he straugest part of Mr. Kreismann's areer is that he still retains his citienship of the United States after an bsence of thirty-two years, although n several occasions he was asked to ' . " ?& scover his German naturalization in rder to be elected to the Reichstag., -Pittsburg Times. ' m m