Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r I PW TM TAT.MAfTTC IJLVJLJ T JL/Xli ? i ? i i. / n . j. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Snbjeot: "The Lijrhtning of the Sea." Text : "He maketh a path to shine after him.''?Job xll., 32. If for the next thousand years ministers of religion should preach from this Bible, there rwill yet he texts unexpounded and unexplained and unappreciated. What little T?aa Kaon (innnomlnff this r?h?nter In .Toh from whioh my text Is taken bears on the controversy as to what was really the leviathan described as disturbing the sen. What creature it was I know not. Some say it was a whale. Some say it was a crocodile. My own opinion is it was a sea monster now extinct. No creature now floating in Mediterranean or Atlantic waters corresponds to i Job's description. What most interests me is that as it moved on through the deep it left the waters flashing and resplendent. In the words of the text, "He maketh a path to shine after ihim." What was that illumined pafh? It JfM phosphorescence. You find it in the ,Wakeoi a ship in the night, especially after rough weather. Phosphorescence is the lightning of the sea. That this figure of speeoh is correct in describing its appearAnoe I am oertifled by an incident. After .crossing the Atlantio the first time and ^writing from Basle, Switzerland, to an American magazine an account of my voyage, in rwhioh nothing more fascinated me than the phosphorescence in the ship's wake. I called It the lightning of the sea. Returning to my bote!, I found a book of John Buskin, and the first sentenoe my eyes fell upon was his description of phosphorescence, in which he wlied it "the Ughtnins: of the sea." * Down to the poetofflce I hastened to get the manuscript, and with great labor and some expense got possession of the magazine article and out quotation mark9 around that one sentence; although it was as orig, fnal with me as with John Raskin. I suppose that nine-tenths of yon living so near the seaeoast have watched this marine appearance called phosphorescence, and I hope that the other one-tenth may some day be so happy as to witness it. It is the waves of the sea diamonded; it is the inflorescence of the billows; the waves of the sea crimsoned as was the deep after the sea flght of Lepanto; the waves or the sea on Are. .< There ore times when from horizon to horizon the entire ocean seems in conflagration with this strange splendor as it Shanges every moment to tamer or more idi?T??ncr color on all sides of you. You sit looking ovar the taffratl of the yacht or ocean steamer, watching and waiting to see what new thing the God of beauty will do With the Atlantic. It Is the ocean in transfiguration ; it is the marine world casting its garments of glory in the pathway of the Almighty as He walks the deep; it Is an inserted Armament with all Its stars gone down with It No picture can present it, for photographer's camera cannot be successfully trained to catch it, and before it the hand of the painter drops its pencil, over-' otwarl on^ nAtvarlooa i This phosphorescence is the appearance of myriads of the animal kingdom rising, falling, playing, flashing, living, dying. These luminous animalcules for nearly 150 years have been the study of naturalists and the fascination and solenyiizatlon of all who have brain enough to think. Now, Ood, who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or useless, calls the attention of Job, the greatest dentist of his day, to this phosphorescence, and as the leviathan of the deep sweeps past points out the fact that "he maketh a path jp shine after him." Is that true of us now, and will it be true of us when we -have gon9? Will there b? subsequent light or darkness? Will there be a trial oT gloom or good cheer? Can any one between now and the next 100 years say of pa truthfully as the text says of the leviathan of the deep, "He maketh a path to shine gfter him?' For we are moving on. While We live In the same house, and transact business in the same store, and write on the same table, and chisel in the same studio, and thrash in the same barn, and worship in the lame church, we are in motion and are In many respects moving on, and we are not where we were ten years ago, nor whare we Will be ten years hence. Moving on! I Look at the family record, or the almanac, or Into the mirror, and see if any one of you Is where you were. All in motion. Other feet may trip and stumble and halt, but the feet of not one moment for the last sixty oenturiea has tripped or stumbled or halted. Moving on! Society moving on! The world moving on! Heaven moving on! The universe moving on! Time moving on! Eternity moving on! Therefore it is absurd to think that we ourselves can stop, as we must move with all the rest. Are we like the creature of the text, making our path to shine after use? It may be a peculiar question, oat my text suggests it. What influenoe will we leave in this world iltor we have gone through it? "None," answer hundreds of voices; "we are not one of Hcne immorcais. i?iny years arcer we are out ot the world it will be as though we never Inhabited it* You are wrong in saying that. I pass down through this audience and up through these galleries, and I am looking for aome one whom I cannot find. I am looking for one who will have no influence In this world 100 years from now. Bat I have found the man who has the least influence, and I inquire into his history, and I And that by a yes or a no he decided some one's eternity. In time of temptation he gave VI afllrmrtiva or a negative to some temptation which another, hearing of, was induced jto decide in the same way. f Clear on the other side of the next million years may be the first you hear of the long reaching influence of that yes or no, but hear of it you wilL Will that father make a path to shine after him ? Will that mother snake a path to shine after her? You will be .walking along these streets or along that oountry road 200 years from now in the character of your descendants. They will be affected by your courage or your cowardice, your purity or your depravity, your I holiness or your sin. You will make the path to shine after you or blacken after you. s Why shoald they point out to us on some mountain two rivulets, one of which passes down into the rivers which pour out into the Pacific Ocean, and the other rivulet flowing dowi*into the rivers which pass out Into the Allantio Ocean? Everv man, every woman, stands at a point where words uttered, or deeds done, or prayers offered, decide opposite destinies and opposite eternities. We see a man planting a tree, and treading sod on either side of It, and watering it in dry .weather, and taking a great care in its culture, and he never plucks any fruits from Its bough. But his children will. We are all planting trees that will yield fruit hundred; of years after we are dead?orchards of golden fruit or groves of deadly upas. I am so fasclnuted with the phosphoreecenoe in the traok of a ship that I have sometimes watched for a long while and have seen nothing on the iace of the deep bm blackness. The mouth of watery chasm! that looked like gaping jaws of bell. Not c apark as big as a firefly ; not a white scrol of jurf; not a taper to illuminate the might) sepulohers of dead ships ; darkness 3000 tee< deep, and more thousands of reet long aik wide. That is the kind of wake that a bac man leaves behind him as he plows througt the ocean of this life toward the vaster oceai of the great future. Now, suppose a man seated in a cornei grocery or business office among clerks give: himself to jolly skepticism. He laughs at the Bible, makes sport of the miracles speaks of perdition in jokes and laughs a revivals as a frolic, and at the passage of < .funeral procession, which always solemnize sensible people, says, "Boys, let's take i drink." There is in that group a younj man who is making a great struggle againsi temptation and prays night and morning an< reads his Bible and Is asking God for hel| day by day. But that guffaw against Chris nanny maces mm lose his grip of sac re things, and he gives up Sabbath and churc and morals and goes from bad to worse, til he falls under dissipations, dies in a laza house and is buried in the potter's field. Another young man who heard that joll; Skepticism made up his mind that "it make do difference what we do or say, for we wll all come out at last at the right plaoe," am began as a consequence to purloin. Som< money that came into his hands for other he applied to his own uses, thinking per haps ne would make it straight some otbe .time, and all would be well even If he dii not make it straight. He ends in the peni ftentiary. That sooffer who uttered the Joke against Christianity never realized what ba< work he was doing, and he passed on throng) life and out of it and intofi future that I an not now going to depict. > I do not propose with a searchlight to #bo* the breakers otrhe awroiT coadt on which fEat ship la wrecked, for my business now is to wrtch the sea after the keel has plowed it. No phosphorescence in the wake of that ship, J but behind it two souls struggling in the wave?two young men destroyed by reokless skepticism, an unillumined ocean beneath and on all sides of them. Blackness of darkness. Ton know what a gloriously good man Rev. John Newton was the most of his life, but before his conversion he was a very wicked sailor, and on board the ship Harwich instilled infidelity and vice into the mind of a young man?principles which destroyed him. "Afterward the two met, and Newton tried to undo his bad work, but in vain. The young man became worse and worse and died a profligate, horrifying those who stood by him in his last moments. Better look out what bad influence you start, for you may not be able to stop it. It does not require very great iorow so rum others. Why was it that many years ago a great flood nearly destroyed New Orleans? A crawfish had burrowed into the banks of the-river until the ground was saturated and the banks weakened until the flood burst But I find here a man who starts out in life with the determination that he will never see suffering but he will try to alleviate it, and never see discouragement but he will try to cheer it, and never meet witlj anybody but he will try to do Him good. Getting his strength from God, he starts from tome with high purpose of doing all the good he can possibly do in one day. Whether standing behind the counter, or talking in the business office with a pen behind his ear, or making a bargain with a fellow trader, or out in the field discussing with his next neighbor the wisest rotation of the crops, or in the shoemaker's shop pounding sole leather, there is something In bis face, and in his phraseology and In his manner, that demonstrates the grace of God in his heart. He can talk on religion without awkwardly dragging it In by the ears. He loves God and loves the souls of all whom he meets and is interested in their present and eternal destiny. For fifty or sixty years he lives that life, and then gets through with It and goes into heaven a ransomed soul. But I am not going to describe the port into which that ship has entered. I am not going to describe the Pilot who mnt him outside at the "lightship." I am not going to say anything about the crowds of friends who met him on the cyretalline wharves up whioh he goes on steps of chrysoprases. For God in His words to Job callls me to look at the path of foam In the wake of that ship, and I tell you it Is all a-gleam with splendors of kindness done, and rolling with illumined tears that were wiped away, and a-dash with congratulations, and dear out to the horizon in all directions is the sparkling, flashing, billowing ^phosphorescence of a Christian life. "He jmaketh a path to shine after him." i And here I correct one of the mean notions whioh at some time takes possession of qdl of us, and that Is as to the brevity of human life. When I bury some very useful man, clerical or lay. In his thirtieth or fortieth year, I say: "What a waste of energies ! It was hardly worth while for him to get ready for Christian work, for he had so soon to quit it." But the fact is that I may Insure any man or woman who does any good on a large or small scale for a life 011 earth as long as the world lasts. Sickness, trolley car accidents, death itself, can no more destroy his life than they can tear down one of the rings of Saturn. You can start one good word, one kind act, one / hnarfni nmfia. on a mission that will last until the world becomes a bonfire, and out of that blaze It will pass Into the heavens, never to halt as Ion# as God lives. There were In the seventeenth oentury men and women whose names you never heard of who are to-day influencing schools, colleges, churches, Nations. You oan no more measure the gracious results of their lifetime than you could measure the length and breadth and depth of the phosphorescence last night following the ship of the White Star line 1500 miles out at sea. How the courage and consecration of others inspire us to follow, as a general in the American army, ccol amid the flying bullets, inspired a trembling soldier, who said afterward, "I was nearly soared to death, but I saw the old man's white mustache orer his shoulder and went on." Aye, we are all following somebody, either In right or wrong directions. A few days ago I stood beside the garlanded casket of a gospel minister, ana In my remarks had occasion to recall a snowy night In a farmhouse when I was a boy and an evangelist spending a night at my father's house, who said something so tender and " " * * U UJ ?~ . beautiful ana lmpresssive cuui ? icu mo miv the kingdom of God and decided my destiny for this world and the next. You will, before twenty-four boors go by, meet some man or woman with a big pack of care and trouble, and you may say something to him or her that wiil endure until this world shall have been so far lost in the past that nothing but the stretch of angelic memory will be able to realize that it ever existed at all. I am not talking of remarkable men and women, but of what ordinary folks can do. I am not speaking of the phosphorescence In the track of a Newfoundland fishing smack. God makes thunderbolts out o( sparks, and out of the small words and deeds of a small life He can launch a power that will flash and burn and thunder through the eternities. How do you like this prolongation of your earthly life by deathless influence? Many a babe tnat died at six months of age by the anxiety created in the parent's heart to meet that child in realms seraphic is living yet in the transformed heart and life of those parents and will live on forever in the history of that family. If this be the opportunity of ordinary souls, what is the opoor-' tunity of those who have especial lntellectuor social or monetary equipment? Have you any arithmetic capable of estl mating the influence 01 our good ana gracious friend who a few days ago went up to rest?George W. Chllds, of Philadelphia? From a newspaper that was printed for thirty years without one word of defamation or scurrility or scandal, and putting a chief emphasis on virtue and oharity and clean intelligence, he reaped a fortune for himsolf and then distributed a vast amount of it among the poor and struggling, putting his invalid and aged reporters on pensions, until his name stands everywhere for large heartedness and sympathy and help and highest style of Christian gentleman. In an era which had in the chairs of its journalism a Horace Greeley, and a Henry J. Raymond, and a James Gordon Bennett, and anErastus Brooks, and George William Curtis, and an Irenaeus Prime, none ofthem will be longer remembered than George W. Childs. Staying away from the unveiling ol the monument he had reared at large expense in our Greenwood in memory of Professor Proctor, the astronomer, lest I should [ say something in praise ot the man who bad i paid for the monument. By all acknowledged a representative of the highest American journalism. If you would calculate his influesce foi i good, you must count how many sheets ol i his newspapers have been published in the t last quarter of a century, and bow man] 3 people have read them, and the effect not t only upon those readers, but upon all whom 1 tbey shall influence for all time, while you [ add to all that the work of the chur,ches he helped build and of the institutions of mercy | he helped found. Better give up before you I stnrt the measuring of the phosphoresoence 1 in the wake of that ship of the Celestial line. 1 Who can tell the Dost mortem influence of a Savonarola, a Winkelrled. a Gutenberer, a : Marlborough, a Decatur, a Toussaint, a Boli' var, a Clarkson. a Robert Raikes, a Harlan c Page, who had 125 Sabbath scholars, eightyi four of whom became Christians, and six of t them ministers of the gospel. I With gratitude and penitence and worship 3 I mention the grandest life that was ever i lived. That ship of licrht was launched from X the heavens nearly 1900 years ago, angelic J host3 chantins;. and from the celestial 1. wharves the ship sprang into the roughest 'P\ sea that ever tossed. Its billows were made - up of the wrath of men and devils. Herodic ? and sanhedrinic persecutions stirring thu deep with red wratb, and all the hurricanes II of woe smote it until on the roftks of GolgoI tha that life struck with a resound of agony y that appatledthe earth and the heavens, s But in the wake of that life what a phosphoII resoenoe of smiles on the cheeks of souls j pardoned, and lives reformed, and Nations s redeemed. The millennium itself is only g one roll of -that iradlated wave of gladness . and benediction. In the subllmest of all r senses it may bo said of Him, "Hemaeeth a j path to shine after Him." But I cannot look upon that luminosity s that follows ships without realizing how fond j the Lord is of life. That flre of the deep is ti life, myriads of creatures all a-swim and a! play and a-romp in parks of marine beauty laid out and parterred and roseated and f blossomed by Omnipotence. What is the use of those creatures called by the naturalists "crustaceans" and "copepods." not more than one out ot hundreds of billions of whioh tre ever seen by human eye? God created ahem for the same reason that He creates flowers in places where no human foot ever makes them tremble, and no human nostril ever inhales their redolence, and no human eye ever sees their charm. In the botanical world they prove that God loves flowers, as in the marine world the phosphori prove that He loves life, and He loves life in play,life iu brilliancy .of gladness, life in exuberance. And so i am led to" believe that He loves our life if we fulfill our mission as fully as the phosphori fulfill theirs. The Son of God came "that we might have life and have it mnm ahiindnntlv." But I am clad to tell you that oar God is not the God sometimes described as a harsh critic at the head of the tinlverse, or an infinite scold, or a God that loves funerals better than weddings, or a God that prefers tears to lau ghter, an omnipotent Nero, a ferocious Nana Sahib, but the loveliest Being in the universe, loving flowers and life and play, whether of phosEhori in the wake of the Majestic or of the uman race keeping a holiday. But mark you that the phosphorescence has a glow that the night monopolizes, and I ask you not only what kind of influence you are going to leave in the world as you pass through it, but what light are you going to throwjpcags the world s night of sin and sorrow r1 People who are sailing on smooth sea and at noon do not need much sympathy, but what are you going to do for people in the night of misfortune? Will you drop on them shadow, or will you kindle for them phosphorescence? At this moment there are more people ory* ing than laughing, more people on the round world this moment hungry than well fed, ' more households bereft than homes un. broken. What are you going to do about it? "Well," says yonder soul, "I would like to do something toward Illumining the great ocean of human wretchedness, but I cannot do much." Can you do as maoh as one of the phosphori In the middle of the Atlantic Ooean, creatures Bmaller than the point of a sharp pin? ' Oh, yes," you say. Then do that. Shine' Stand before the looking glass and experiment to see if you oannot get that soowl ofT your forehead, that peevish look out of your lips. Have at least one bright ribbon in your bonnet. Embroider at least one white cord somewhere in the midnight of your apparel. Do not any longer impepa fnnnml fthlna ! Do Bar somothins cheerful about society and about tho worl<? Put a few drops of heaven into your disposition. Onoeina while substitute a sweet orange for a soar lemon. Remember that pessimism is blasphemy and that optimism is Christianity. Throw some light on the night ocean. If you cannot be a lantern swinging in the rigging, be one of the tiny phosphori back of the keel. Shine! "Let your light so shine before men that others seeing your good works may glorify your Father wbich is in Jieaven." Make one person happy every day, and do that for twenty years, and you will have made 7300 happy. You know a man who has lost his property by an unfortunate Investment or by putting his name on the back of a friend's note. After you have taken a brief nap, which every man and woman is entitled to on a Sunday afternoon, go and cheer up that man. You can. if God helps you, say something that will do him j?ood after both of yoa have been dead a thousand years. Shine! You know of a family with a bad boy who has run away from home. Go before night and tell that father and mother the parable of the prodigal son, and that some of tha illustrious ana useful men now in church and state had a silly passage in their lives and ran away from home. Shine! You know of a family that has lost a child, and the silence of the nursery glooms the whole house <rom cellar to garret. Go before night and tell them how much that child oinnA thfl mo of nfnanAf. 1KB uiuvvi kav *MVW? ^>*VW^W* 0U8 life on earth is a struggle. Shine! You know ol some invalid who is dying for lack of an appetite. She cannot get well because she cannot eat. Broil a chicken and take it to her before night and cheat her poor appetite into keen relish. Shine! Ton know of some one who likes von, and you like him, and he ought to be a Christian. Go ten mm wnat religion nas done for you, and ask him if you can pray for him. Shine* Oh, for a disposition so charged with sweetness and light that we cannot help but shine! Remember it you cannot be a leviathan lashing the ooean Into fury you can be one of the phosphorl, doing your part toward making a path of phosphorescence. Then I will tell you what impression you will leave as you pass through this life and after you are gone. I will tell you to your face and not leave it for the minister who offl elates at your obsequies. The failure In all eulogium of the departed is that they cannot hear it. All hear it except the one most interested. This, in substance, is what I or some one else will say of you on such an occasions "We gather for offices of respect to this departed one. It is impossible to tell how many tears he wiped away, how many burdens he lifted, or how many souls he was, under God, instrument tal in saving. His influence will never cease. We are all better for having known him. "That pillow of flowers on the casket was presented by his Sabbath-school class, all of whom he brought to Christ. That cross of flowers at the head was presented by the orphan asylum which he befriended. Those three single flowers?one was sent by a poor woman for whom he bought a ton of coal, and one was by a waif of the street whom he thronch the mldnizht mission, and the other was from a prison cell which he had often visited to encourage repentance in a young man who had done wrong. "Those three loose flowers mean quite as much as the garlands now breathing their aroma through this saddened home crowded with sympathizers. 'Blessed are the dead who die m the Lord. They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.'" Or if it should be the more solemn burial at sea, let it be after the sun has gone down, and the captain has read the appropriate liturgy, and the ship's bell has tolled, and you are let down fromthe stern of the vessel into the resplendent phosphorescence at the wake of the ship. Then let some one say, in the words of my text. "He maketh a path to -uj '? CUUIC CfcltCL limit Vastness of Arizona. The Senate Committee oa Territories while considering the bill admitting Arizona as a State of the Union gave a hearing to a delegation in behalf of the bill, headed by Wiley E. Jonee, District Attorney of Graham, Arizona. Mr. Jonee, ia tbe coarse o! is argument, said the area of Arizona is & great that a line drawn due north from Chesapeake Bay across Pennsylvania and New York to Lake Ontario, including all the American territory lying east of that line, will not equal the area of Arizona. Arizona is latger than Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland combined ; larger than the three States of Illinois, Indiana and Wast Virginia ; larger thaa Ohio, Michigan and Maryland combined. Omitting Montana, California and Texas, he said, it is larger than any of the other forty-one States of the Union; it is 390 miles In length and 825 miles in width, and, therefore, embraces mora territory than 13 included in all the States of Maine. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina. It would carve up into ninety States the size of Bhode Island, into flfty-flve States the size of Delaware, into thirty-two States the size of Connecticut, into thirteen States the size of Massachusetts .or into eleven States the size of New Hampshire and Vermont. It has six million acres of pine forests. 10,000 miles of irregular canals" 1200 miles of railroad. and annual products to the amount of 125,000,000. Under the election laws of the Territories evsry qualified voter must be a full citizen of the United States and a resident in the Territory for one year, which prevents the election from being controlled by the transient cla3S. Crimes are few. Everything in tne way of fruits, from the raisin grape, which cures in the sen, to the hardy appio of the Northern States, is grown there in abundance. The sickles mow the meadow Ave time3 in a single season, a thing unknown in the Mississippi Yaliey States. Oresham Gives Up His Pension. Secretary of State Gresham has given up his pension. He drew $39 per month pension for more t nan twenty years for a very severe wound in the leg, which he received July 22, 1864, before the Confederate breastworks at Atlanta. It has never ceased to trouble him. and he was eligible to receive an increase, but he voluntarily relinquished it When asked for an explanation Judge Gresham replied: "I have made up my mind thAt the public is not intarested in the matter." No papers have been placed on file, and the Commissioner of Pensions refers all inqalriaa to the Secretary of State. ftATttUTIT Sf!TTArtT KJJ.?XJXJL\.X.JL?. UVilVVJUl INTERNATIONAL LESSON ! OB MARCH 11. Lesson Text: "Jacob at Bethel," Gen. xxvill., 10-22?Golden Text: Gen. xxviii., 15 ?Commentary, 10. "And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward HaraD." Since the last lesson Isaac has been to the Philistines, and. being forbidden to go to Egypt, he sojourned at Gerar, where he fell tnto his father's sin concerning his wife. He afterward made his home at Beersheba in the extreme south, where his father dwelt when called upon to ofTer up his only sod. Then follows the story of the deception practiced upon Isaac by Rebekah and Jacob, with Esau's consequent hatred of Jacob, resulting in Jacob's leaving home to go to his mother's ceople at Haran, in Padanaram. where Abram had sojourned on his way to Canaan till Terah died. 11. "And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night, because the sun was set, and he took of tne stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep." If we consider Jacob from this on apart from His nature and conduct as a sinful man, there are several things in his history suggestive of facts in the history of the Lord Jesus. He goes forth to obtain a wife (verse 2), for whom he labors patiently a long time (chapter xxxi., 40, 41), but it seems short to him because of his great love to her (xxix., 20). Christ loved the churoh and gave Himself for it . (Eph. v., 25). Eliezer seeking a bride for the son at home with his father is suggestive of the present work of the Spirit in gathing out the church. As you see Jacob in his loneliness with the stones for his pillows you can't help thinking of Him who had not whereto lay His head (Luke ii., 58). 12. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold tte angels of God ascending and descending on it." By comparing John i., 51, the ladder Is suggestive of the Son of Man,who becoming man reached down to where we were, and being God reaches up to heaven, the angels being ministering spirits unto the heirs of salvation. T* nrill ka fnlltr coon In hArAAftar ftf the millenial kingdom. 13. l,And behold the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father and the God of Isaac ; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed." Notice in this verse and the last three beholds?behold a ladder, behold the ang6ls, behold the Lord. 14. "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to' the west and to the east and to tbe north and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.1' Abram was promised a seed as numerous as the dust of the earth and as the stare of heaven (xiii.. 16; xv., 5). The latter was repeated to Isaac (xxvi., 4), and now the former is confirmed to Jacob. 15. "And behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou (foest and will bring thee again into this laud, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Here is a fourth behold and associated with what to me the most comprehensive assur ance in the Bible, "I am With thee." Compare Ex. Hi., 12 ; Joshua L, 5; Judg. vi., 16 ; Jer. i., 8, 19; Isa. xli., 10; Hag. 1., 13; ii?, 4; Math, xxviii.. 20. etc. Consider well this promise ot God's pres'mce and loving care and gracious purpose in the light of Jacob's unworthiness and crookedness and see if your soul is not comforted and strengthened by the fact that this God is your God, the same yesterday, to-day and forever. 16. "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." His partnership with his mother in the deceit practiced upon Isaac would not tend to fellowship with God, but to be alone and away from home sometimes causes deep thought, and it is possible that ere Jacob slept he bad turned to God with true penitence and confession, and that this vision was the answer to his prayers. 17. "And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place I This is none otner but the house of God, and this is the gate of ainpA Adn.m sinned and sold,"I wasafraid"(Gen. iii.,10),9in has made man afraid at the presence of the Lord. And yet God is love and loved us when we were dead in sins, and Christ died for sinners. We cannot have peace in the presence oi God apart from the forgiveness of sins, but this also He has provided in Jesus Christ (Acts sill., 38, 39 ; Eph. i., 6, 7). 18. "And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it." A sense of the presence of the Lord is now upon him, and ne is awed and subdued and grateful. It should be always so with the believer, with joj added?joy in the Lord and the joy of the Lord, serving the Lord with gladness. The stone that was prostrate, but now uprighl and annolnted, may stand for Jacob himself. 19. "And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at the first." Near this place was one ol Abram's first tenting places in Canaan (chap^ ter xil., 8), and later God appeared to Jacob as "the God of Bethel" (chapter xxxi., 13), But Jeroboam defiled it when he here set uf one of his golden calves (I Kings xli., 29), Every spot in our pilgrimage may be to us a Bethel if we will not defile it by any idol. 20. 21. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying I! God bo with me and will keep me in thn way that I go and will give mo Dread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God." In view ot the most gracious and unconditional assurances of verse 15, it is surely too bad to hear Jacob come ii with his great big "if," and yet how many ol us leave out all the "ifs," and when God says a thing boldly declare, "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told to me," or gratefully say. "Be it unto me according to my words'" (Acts xxvii., 25 ; Lukei., 33)? 22. "And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all thai Thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." Yet there are Christians without number who never yet began tc srive God a tenth and are therefore more mean than crooked, scheming Jacob. II we are children of God by faith In Christ Jesus, then we are Abraham's seed (Gal. 111., 29"), but Abram gave Melchisedec tithes of all. U-t us therefore cheerfully give our Mel? chisedec tithes of all as the very least we should do, and then pile high the free will offerings on top of that. Let no one try tc escape by saying, "All I have is His." Well the Lord grant it to be so, but show up th< tenth anyhow as a little evidence that yoi are all His. Read Prov. xi, 24, 25 ; xlll., 7.Lesson Helper. k A .Japanese Jack the Kipper. Japan has suffered from its thft P.lpper." Fortunately, he'has been captured, and his eyery-day name turns out to be Kobayaahl Mitsuyu. At his trial it was stated that he went to Mayeoa3hi about the middle of last year, took up his abode in a cheap lodging house, and prowled about the streets, sometimes as a shampooer, sometimes as an itinerant priest, and sometimes again aa a deaf-mute beggar. In these disguises he became acquainted with the interiors of several houses, into waich Iih afterward broke at night. Not content with mere thieving, he began to strangle women in loneiy places and mutilate them. The cases proved against him were thre3, but the murdered women found about the scene of his operations were greatly in ex-jess of this number, and led the authorities to the beliei that Kobayashi had accomplices. This ruffluu will commit no more brulai murders. He has just been executed. Dead Mail Matter. The gradual increasa in tng amount of "dead" mail mutter reaching the dead letter office is shown in a statement prepared at the Postoffiee Departmsnt. It shows that the total number of pieces of mail matter receh 3d at the office during last month was 596,400, while in the corresponding month lhst year the number was 524,200. To cheok the Increase the department ia sending the following notices to all postmasters, with an order to post it conspicuously and to call the attention of all patrons to it: "Don't mail your letter or package without having your own address written ot Printed upon the upper left hand coraer. uis will Insure its prompt return to you 11 not delivered, and will prevent its being sent to and opened at the dead letter office." RELIGIOUS READING. THE KIKO AND THE BABBX. A great and wealthy king once said to fc piom Jew, named Rabbi Jeshua: "Do ycu actually ask me to believe that God is in all places at the same moment, and that he is now in this placo?in this verv hall? I cannot believe it to be true, I must continue to doubt it, until I have seen him with my own eye3." "Yes, God is everywhere present," replied the rabbi, "but he is invisible; no one has ever seen him, no human eyes would ever be able to bear the sight of such dazzling glory." The king smiled, as if still unable to belifWA thia nr?H .Taahnu rtrnnf r*n tn an_v "Well, if you do not believe, try and look the herald and ambassador of this great God in the face." He then asked the monarch to go with him to the large window of the hall. It looked towards the south, over an open square. "Look out from this window, great king," said the rabbi, "upon the sun now shining at noonday in all the fulness of his strength: just gaze for one single moment into his radiant face." "I cannot,"replied the king: "if I were to look on anything so dazzling I should run the risk of losing my sight." "How!" exclaimed the other, "your eyes cannot endure even the brightness of the creature and yet you think yourself able to behold the Creator face to face. Surely we should both of us be destroyed at once by the brightness of his presence, if we saw him with the mortal eyes we have now."?[Young People's Paper. CONVERSION OF AN INFIDEL. "I remember," wrote Jacob Knapp. the evangelist, " that a hardened infidel who had been accustomed to curse ministers and churches, followed me to my lodgings one night, keeping up an incessant tirade of abuse. As I was stepping into the door I remarked: -Well my friend, I expect to see you on the anxious seat before long.' He turned away exclaiming. 'Never! no. never!' On the evening of the tnird day after this conversation, whom should I see in the seats before me but the same man. As I approached him he asked, 'What shall I do? I am in deep trouble.' I told him to pray. He StilU, 'X UtkiHiUl pi uy ; X UUIO uui ykary, I replied, 'God la merciful; go to Jesus and ask him to forgive you.1 He reElied, 'I have damned him to his face, and ow can I ask him /or mercy? It seems to me if I attempt to pray the devil will take me right down to helL' I told him to begin and keep right on praying,and the devil would not carry him far, for he wanted no praying souls in hell. He knelt and maJe an attempt to pray. He would open his mouth, and as he was about to speak his courage would fail him and he would sink down again. Throughout that night, and during the part of the next day, he continued in this horrible condition; at length he cried out to God to have mercy upon him for the sake of Christ. God came to his relief, and he broke forth in strains of joy as the consciousness of pardon and of hope beamed on his soul."?Revivalist LITTLE WOBBIES. We have read of a battle against cannibals gained by the use of tacks. They had taken possession of a whaling vessel and bound the man who wa3 left in care of it. The crew, upon entering, saw the situation, and scattered upon the deck of the vessel the tacks, which penetrated the bare feet of the savagee oTirl cant fhom liAnrllncr into thfi SPfl_ TheV were ready to meet iance and sword, butthej could not overcome the tacks on the floor. We brace ourselves up against great calamities. The little tacks of life, scattered along our way. piercing our feet nnd giving us pain, are hard to bear. A pastor was absorbed in studying the question of socialism, when his wife came in with despair on her face, and wanted advice about the sen-ants. ''Oh. my dear," he replied. "I cannot give my time to little matters like domestic sen-ice. I am trying to solve the social problem of the universe." "Well," replied the wife, "you solve the problem in the kitchen, and I will promise you to solve the problem of the universe in twenty-four hours." Really, it is easier to dispose of those great questions that covet the world than it is to meet and successfully overcome the little worries which present themselves day by day.?[Rev. A. C. Dixon, in "Milk and Meat." WATCHING ONE'S SELF. "When I was a boy," said an old man, "w# had a schoolmaster who had an odd way of ! catching idle boys. One day he called out to us: ; " 'Boys, I must have closer attention to your books. The flrst one of you who sees another boy idle, I want you to inform me, i and I will attend to the case.' " 'Ah,' thought I to myself, 'there is Joe Simmons, whom 1 don't like. I'll watch him I and if I see him look off his book I'll tell.' It i was not long before I saw Joe look off his ' book, and I immediately informed the mas> ter. i "Indeed,' said he, 'how did you know he : was idle?' 'I saw him,' said I. i ' 'You did! Aud were your eyes on youi book when you saw?' I "I was caught, and never watched for idle boys again." ' If we are sufficiently watchful over our owr conduct, we shall have no time to And fault with the conduct of others.?[The Daisy. " p A RELIABLE AND SELF-BELIANT BOY. , I The value of character to a boy is wen ir JI lustrated by this incident in connection with the late Civil War: The rebel General Lee, in conversation with one of his officers, was i overheard by a plain farmer's boy to remark . that he had decided to march upon Gettysi burg instead of Harrisburg. The lad watched i to see if the troops went in that direction.and ! then telegraphed the fact to Governor Curtin. The boy was sent for at once by a special en, gine, and as the governor and his friends stood about the former remarked anxiously, ''I would give my right hand to know that this lad tells the , truth." A corporal promptly replied, "Governor Curtin, I know that boy. I lived iD > the same neighborhood, and I know that it [ is impossible for him to lie. There is not a i drop of false blood in his veins." In llfteen 1 minutes from that time the Union troops were pushing on towards Gettysburg, where they gained the victory.?[Christian at i Work. God always gives us that which is best for 1 us in answer to our prayers, even though it 1 may not seem so to us. He has to teach us ' how to pray, and what to pray for. When we are over urgent, He may send us just : what we ask for, that we may learn to pray 1 rightly: "Thy will lie done." His method with us is educational, not absolute: and the wise educator leaves the learner, at times, to profit by his own mistakes. It is when a man has got far on in school that God will tell him frankly, as He told Faul, that his prayer is a foolish one, and that his earthly trouble, his "thorn in the flesh." with strength to bear is better for him than deliverance from it would be.?[The Sunday School Times. A missionary in Alaska saw a Bible tied at the top of a stick three feet long, and placed near the sick bed of an old man. When asked the reason for this arrangement, the man said: "I cannot read, but I know that the Word of my Lord is there and I look to Heaven and say. 'Father that is your book. There is nobody to teach me to read. Very good; you help me.' Then my heart grows stronger, and the bad goes away." If keeping ho'y the seventh day were only | a human institution, it would bo the best method that could have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of mankind.? [Addison. Whenever the devil's roads come in sigh: of God's country they arepaved with asphait. Tea Thousand III Iks. It fs estimate 1 that 10,000 oiks have corns from the mountains and foot hills into the plains between Fort Washakie aucl the head l of the Wind litver, in Wyoming, to escape i the deep snow3. The Arapahoe and .Shoshone Indians are very anxious to get permits l from the Indian ageut. Captain Ray, to slaughter these aairn ils, but so faL they have b^en unsuccessful. ingratitude or Kepupiics. General J. Warren Keiter has been employed by the thirty heirs of Robert Morris, ( the Philadelphia banker of Revolutionary days, to recover $2.iOJ,OOJ for t'leaj- asu-n with interest lent the Government as?d nave ' l>ald. ! WOMAN'S WORLD. E 8 PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR t FEMININE READERS. r <3 FORTUNE FROM A TRIFLE. 8 There is a story to those calico ^ prints of cats and dogs and rabbits ^ which, sewed together and staffed with " cotton, serve as admirable toys for ? small children. The idea of such a T toy occurred to a woman, and she tried vainly to convince several calico e printers that the thing would be profit- a able. She found, at length, a manu- ? facturer who was willing to undertake J the experiment of printing her toys! * and he has since paid her many thou- c sands of dollars in royalties upon the ? patent.?Chicago Herald. 8 PASSING OF THE "BUD." An English writer says that the reign of the "bud" is ended, and that in a year or two nothing less than j, thirty may expect to win admiration. She triumphantly quotes Plato's statement that woman reaches the zenith fl of her charms at forty, and ends her ^ able plea for the old maid in these c words: "The immature miss of eighteen or nineteen has too long been on a pedestal, and if she is being dethroned, the men are to be congratu- ? lated upon their sense. Most meu, I believe, become tired of the companionship of one who babbles little nothings,' or discourses crudely upon subjects which her mind has been in- 1 capable of digesting and classifying." ?San Francisco Examiner. 1 THE HEIGHT OF CHINESE FASHION. ( The wives of the wealthy Chinese of 1 San Francisco now dress in fashionable attire. The wife and daughter of a j rich merchant are thus described: ] Both were elegantly dressed. The mother wore a satin kilt skirt, with . box pleats of blue and black, embroid- 3 ered before and behind, and kilted on both sides. The shams, or over dresses, were of rich purple brocaded silk, with ' the now fashionable sleeves of im- ( mense width, the inside being lined with blue silk. 1 The glitter from three diamond rings : drew our attention to hands of lily 1 whiteness, and a wrist that bore bangles of chased gold and the palest i of jade. Her ear rings were studded i with pearls, from each of which hung ] the usual-ring of jade. Her head was without bonnet. The hair was set with artifical flowers, bars and pins of , gold and drops of pearls. She said it took her maid two hours to dress her hair, and I don't doubt it. { But these Chinese ladies are very rarely seen out of doors. They go about in closed carriages, covering the face when they alight.?New York ' Journal. SOME BTGONE FASHIONS DJ JEWELRY. A recent peep into a jewel box of twenty-five years ago brought to light a most curious design in earrings? namely, a horn of plenty made of fili- . djee gpld, long enough to almost reach the shoulder, and thickly encrusted at the opening of the horn with precious stones of almost every variety. 1 Although at first glance one trembled ' for the wearer's comfort with the some- 1 what overpowering looking ornament dangling from her ear, upon taking it ' in the band it proved to De very mue heavier than the solid gold ball ear- ' rings that afterward became so popu- ' lar. Mosaics were also worn abont 1 this time, and some were marvels of ' artistic workmanship. The big, gold-linked chain, from which hung an enormous gold locket, ; was the only necklace worn, while the ; narrow "glove band" bracelet of gold < fitting tight to the wrist was considered indispensable to the toilet. Ladies , in those days thought sapphire or em- ; erald rings set with diamonds and worn on the first finger to be "quitfe the j thing." Pearls were* the favorite ; stones, beeome 60 perhaps, by the famous necklace owned by the Countess , Dudley. This necklace was composed of a rope of pearls wmcn weni bis times around the neck, each pearl being so absolutely perfect that six or eight would have realized a small fortune.?Jewelers' Circular. ATHLETICS OF FRENCH WOMEN. , The Salle d'Armes Feminine, as it is called, which was recently opened in Paris, has been followed by the opening of a Cercle d'Escrime des Dames, or Ladies' Fencing Club. This in- ] stitution is under the patronage of i Mme. la Colonelle Derue, the Com- < tease de Murat, Mme. la Colonelle 1 Rousset and others. The chief pro- < fessor is a woman whose husband was 1 formerly master-at-arms in a military 1 school. The device of the club is | " -n 99 ? " * JUUC1US JtTO X ormu, ae LUC c&ri bloc of fencing is calculated to develop special graces and beauties of the feminine form. In no city is skating so generally practiced as in Paris, for the artificial ice arenas afford more opportunity for the sport than nature is inclined to provide except in Canada. These artificial ice surfaces are five or six inches thick, very smooth anil glistening, and the air inside the pavilions is pleasantly warmed with gas. French women, too, are devoted to bicycle riding, and may be seen in their jaunty short skirts every e day in the park riding, with or with- i out a groom in attendance, according i to their rank. It has been considered 1 pertinent to criticise the French a woman as given over to vanity and e luxuriousness, but the more one be- j comes acquainted with this dainty t type of femininity the more one leans t to respect the little knack she has of 1 accomplishing all that other women n do so quietly and gracefully and with j j so little flourish of trumpets that no v one knows sue is doing anything at 1 all. It is the supreme cleverness of 1 the womau that deceives us into be- j lieving her incompetent. ?Washington Star. 1 1 SPRING FASHIONS. 1 The leading dressmakers agree that i the greatest chau<?e in woman's dress J during the spring will be in the direc- $ tion of double skirts, looped or plain. < There will be seen also tlio slashed ] skirts with fanlight platings iuserted in the slashes. Big sleeves will continue to be fashionable, and there is no sign yet of the departure of round 1 waists. For the full sleeves most wo- i men will be grateful, for, in spite of 1 ridicule, it must be confessed that they i are becoming. i fcT'ae return of double skirts, which' oems to be one of the fixed facts itt pring dress, draws attention at onoe o combinations of materiaL Such ar* angements have been very popular luring the winter, where shimmering; atins and rich moires have bees [raped with the lightest gauzes, but it s not yet certain that we are on tha ve of any such ultra change in street iress as the combination of 3ilk and rool. The new woolen dress goods import* d for spring are not characterized by ny noteworthy change in wear and tyle, and inany of them would not end themselves gracefully to a com>ination with silk. If the revival of ashmere, which is predicted from broad, is accomplished, we may in he near future see the revival of tha ilk underskirt with its draperies Of oft wool. The new cloths are soft, leecy woolens and worsted weaves, imilar to the hopsaokings of last seaon. There is a decided tendency, lowever, to a firmer, closer weave of loth. Diagonal twills and fancy digonal woolens of soft, silken quality .re prominent in the season's importaions. There are also shepherd'# hecks of soft Scotch wools and many ilk and wool matures, Tfcere are ,lso worsted cloths which have all the ;limmer of silk mixture. ?New York Ldvertiser. FASHION NOTES. Flat lace insertion is a pretty trimning on house dresses. Flowers run riot, the rose, the vioet and mignonette being the favorites. Flower pompons are made of tiny, iloaely massed blossoms, such as vjoets, daisies, etc. Golden cornelian is heard much of. ? Abroad it appears in everything, from natch boxes to broochea Garlands of green or purple metallic ajlass encircle black lace puffed crowns; ao other trimming is necessary. Black shirred net, studded with immense faceted beads and with a coronet af jet are becoming and elegant. Bound handles of wood about five inches long, ornamented with fine carvings and capped with gold or silver, are the latest styles in umbrella sticks, t The wide soft ribbons sold for sashes are now often used for shoulder ruffles and for trimming dress skirts; for this Latter purpose it is sometimes accordion-plaited or kiltecL Qreen is one of the popular colony also tan, gray, ecru and reddish heliotrope. Bent, twisted and distorted into becomingness are the plateaus and low-crowned hats with wide brims. Rather new are flat officers' caps of straw, with a heavy linked chain of gold looped around the crown; a strap of narrow bias velvet, almost covered with a thick gold chain, is passed beneath the chin. Fashionable hair dressers say that hair brushed to a satin finish will be worn in the near future, although the fringe of short curls about the face will be retained, as they make a woman look more youthful. The newly designed black garnitures are striking and elegant. They oon3ist of very elaborate appliques for the skirt, corsage and sleeves and for panels and inserted pieces to be laid over Vandyke points. Made muffs of satin and velvet are trimmed with ostrich plumes or bands of fluffy fur. The ends of the muff axe of velvet, full plaited and a band of aolirt ornnnrl f.V?A Wttll a puff or rosette at one side. One of the prettiest evening ornaments for the hair of a brunette is ? narrow band of silver, which almost encircles the head, and ornamented with two little silver wings perohcfi erectly on either side of the parting' ' in front. Laced shoes are the most becoming in the world, but when it comes to lacing them up the side the foot has to be absolutely a model to stand it, or else the boot maker mast be as clever in the insertion of pads as is the best dressmaker. ' They are making very pretty under bodices or cache corsets without any fastening, being made with two pointed, ends in fronf, which can either be"" tucked in the stays or tied in a very comfortable fashion, so as to be supplementary to that important and much misunderstood portion of feminine attire. One of Vird's latest fancies shows a low toque crown of white lisso wrought in gold beads and spangles. A torsade af large gold beads was twisted about the edge; directly in front an enormous Iragon fly, with outstretched wings ox transparent gold net, set with amethyst, (vas poised, the green chenille and jold body resting upon the crown. Tiny rosettes of piece velvet are made useful in various ways. Some lave the velvet edged with narrow ace. A big chou of black velvet on a round turban has a white aigrette slanted in the middle. Ciel blue satin s gathered in large loose rosettes on iats of brown velvet. Brown hats are jffered in beautiful shades of the rich?st velvet in soft and stiff felts and in sombination. Alleged Cure lor Pneumonia. A correspondent sends the following is a tried and true cure for pneumolia: Take six to ten onions, accordng to size, and chop tine, put in s arge spider over a hot fire; than add ibout the same quantity of rye meal, ind vinegar enough to form a thick jaste. In the meanwhile stir it horoughly, letting it simmer Ave or en minutes. Then put in a cotton jag large enough to cover the lungs, ind apply to the chest as hot as the jatient can bear. When this gets :ool apply another, and thus continue jy reheating the poltices, and in a few lours the patient will be out of danjer. This simple remedy his never failed :o cure this too often fatal malady. Usually three or four applications vill be sufficient, but continue always lutil the perspiration starts freely :rom the chest. This recipe waa jiven many years ago by an old phvsi;ian of largo experience.?Denver Siews. Durability o( Brick. Philadelphia is a brick city, and ivell illustrates the durability of brick is a building material. There are jrick houses apparently as good aa new in Philadelphia which were built, in 1760.? Detroit Free Press.