Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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REV. DR. TALMAGE. SUNDAY'S SERMON IN THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC. Subject: "The Dangers of Pessimism." Text: "I said in my haste, All men are liars."?Psalm cxvi., 11. Swindled, betrayed, persecuted David, in '? a paroxysm of petulance and rage, thus insulted the human race. David himself falsified when he said, "All men are liars." Ee apologizes and says he .was unusually provoked, and that he was hasty when he hurled such universal denunciation, "I said in my taste." and so on. It was in him only a momentary triumph of pessimism. Tnere i? * ever and anon, and never more than now, a disposition abroad to distrust everybody, and because some bank employes defraud to distrust all bank employes, and because gome police officers have taken bribes to believe that all policemen take bribes, and beoause divorce cases are in tho court to believe that most, if not all, marriage relations are unhappy. Th:>re are men who seem rapidly coming to adopt this creed: All men are liars, scoundrels, thieves, libertines. When anew case of perfidy comas to the surface, these people clap their hands in glee. It gives piquancy to their breakfast if the morning newspaper discloses a new exposure or a new arrest. They grow fat on vermin. They join the devils In hell in jubilation over recreancy and pollution. If some one arrested is proved innocent, it is to them a .disappointment. They would rather believe evil than good. The}* are vultures, preferring carrion. Thev would like to be on a committee to find something wrong. They Wish that as eyeglasses have been invented imnmvn fhfi nijrtit. and ear trumoets have been fnvented to help the hearing,"a correaponding instrument might be invented for the nose, to bring nearer a malodor. i Pessimism says of the church, "The majority of the members are hypocrites, although it is no temporal advantage to be a knember of the church, and therefore there , Is no temptation to hypocrisy." Pessimism pays that the influence of newspapers is only f bad. and that they are corrupting the world, . when the /aot is that they are the mightiest agency for thfl arrest of crime and the spread of intelligence, and the printing press, secular and religious, is setting the nations free. The whole tendency of things is toward cynicism, and the gospel of Smashup. We excuse David of the text for a paroxysm of disgust, because he apologizes for it to all the centuries, but it is a deplorable fact that many bave tak^n the attitude of perpetual distrust and anathematization. There ara, we must admit, deplorable faots, and we would not hide or minify them. We are wa* mn/?h Anpnurajred to find that the creat I work of official reform In Now York City begins by a proposition to the liquor dealers to break the Jaw by keeping their saloons 'open on Sunday from two In the afternoon to eleven at night. ! Never since America was discovered has there been a worse insult to sobriety and decency and religion than that proposition. fcThat proposition is equal to saying: "Let law ?vnd orderand religion have a chance on Bunday forenoons, but Sunday afternoons open all the gates to gin and alcohol and Bohledam schnapps and sour mash and Jersey lightning, and the variegated swill of breweries and drunkenness and crime. Consecrate the first half of the Sunday to God and the last half to the devil. Let the chil\dren on their way to Sunday-schools In New Sork at 3 o'clock in the afternoon meet the i&lcoholiBm that does more than all other Causes combined to rob ohlldren of their , fathers and mothers and strew the land with helpless orphanage. Surely strong drink .can kill enough people and destroy enough families and sufficiently crowd th? alms* bouses and penitentiaries in six days of the B -week without Riving It an extra half day for r pauperism and assassination. Although we are not very jubilant over a municipal reform that opens the exercises iby a doxology to rum, we have full faith In fin* and cnsnp] whirth will vat alnlr all iniquity as the Atlantic Ooeaa melts a , flake of snow. What we want, and what I kelieve we will have, is a great religious |awakening that will moralize and Christianize our great populations and make them superior to temptations, whether unlawful or legalized. So I see no cause for dlsTieartenment. Pessimism Is a sin, and those who yield to it cripple themselves for the .war, on one side of which are all the forces ot darkness, led on by Apollyon, and on the other side of which are all the forces ofriight, led on by the Omnipotent. I *lsk the statement that the vast majority of people are doing the best they can. N ne hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand of the officials of the municipal and the United States governments are honest. Oat ot a thousand bank presidents and cashiers, nine hundred and ninety-nine are worthy the position they occupy. Out of a thousand merchants, mechanics and professional men, nine hundred and ninety-nine are doing their duty as they understand it. ;Out of one thousand engineers and conductors and switohmen, nine hundred and ninety-nine are true to their responsible positions. It is seldom that people arrive at positions of responsibility until they have been tested over and over again. If the theory of the pessimist were accurate, society would long ago have gone to pieoes, and civilization would have been submerged with barbarism, and the wheel of the centuries would nave turned back to the dark ages. A wrong Impression is made that beoause two men falsify their bank accounts those two wrongdoers are blazoned before the world, while nothing is said in praise of the hundreds of bank clerks who have stood at their desks year in and year out until their health Is well nigh gone, taking not a pin's worth of that which belongs to others for themselves, though with skilful stroke of pen they might have enriched themselves !and built their country seats on the banks of the Hudson or the Bhlne. * It is a mean thing in human nature that men and women are not praised for doing well, but only excoriafed when they do wrong. By divine arrangement the mcst of :the families of the earth are at peace, and the most of those united in marriage have tor eaob oiher affinity vand affection. They may have occasional differences, and here and there a season of pout, but the vast majority of those in the conjugal relation chose the most appropriate companionship, and hre-nappy iu itiai raiuuou. jou near noming of the quietude and happiness of suoh homes, though nothing but death will them part. But one sound of marital discord makes the ears ot a continent, and perhaps of a hemisphere, alert. The one letter that ought never to have been written printbd in a newspaper makes more talk than tbe millions ot letters that crowd the postofflces and weigh down the mail carriers with expressions oF honest'love. Tolstoi, the 'great Russian author, is wrong when he prints a book for the depreciation of marriage. If your observation has put .you in an attitude of deploration for the marriage state, one of two things is true in regard to you. You have either been unfortunate in your acquaiutanceahlp, or you yourself are mOfally rotten. The trorld, not us raoid as we would like, but still with Ions strides, is on the way to the scenes of beatitude and felicity which the Bible depicts. The man who cannot see this is wrong, either in his heart or liver or spleen. Look at the great Bible picture gallery, where Isaiah has set up the pictures of arborescence, girdling the world with cedar and fir and pine and boxwood and tbe lion led by a child, and St. John's pictures of waters and trees, and white horse cavalry, ?nd tears wiped away, and trumpets blown ond harps struck, and nations redeemed. "While there are 10,000 things I do not like, I have not seen any discouragem> n: for the cause of God for twenty-five yean. The kingdom Is coming. The earth is preparing to put on bridal array. Wa need to be getting our anthems and grand marches ready. In our hymnologywe shall have more use for "Antioch" than for "Windham," for "Ariel," than for "Naomi." Let "Hark, From the Tomb3 a Doleful Cry!" be submerged with "Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!" Really, It l tnougni me human race were as determined to be bad and getting worse, as the pessimists represent, I would think it was hardly worth saving. I? after hundreds of years of gosfielization no improvement has been made, et us give it up and go at something else besides praying and preaching My opinion is that if we bad enough faith in quick results and could go forth rightly equipped with the gospel call the battle for God and righteousness would end with this nineteenth century, and the twentieth century, only five or six years off, would begin the millennium, and Christ would reign, either In person on some throne set vp between the Alleahanlaa and the Eocklea or In tha institutions of mercy and grand* set up by His ransomed people. Dlscourag work will meet with defeat. Expectant a buoyant work will gain the victory. Sti out with the Idea that all men are liars a scoundrels, and that everybody Is as bad he can be, and that society, and thp ohur< and the world are on the way to demolltl* and the only use you will ever be to t world will be to Increase the value lffts In* a cemetery. We need a m< cheerful front in all our religious woi People have enough trouble already ai do not want to ship another oargo of troul In the shape of religiosity. If religion h been to you a peace, a defense, an inspii a tion anu a jov, say so. &uy u. uj nv*u mouth, by pen in your hand, by face ill mined with a divine satisfaction. If tl world is ever to be taken for God, It will r be by groans, but by halleluiahs. If 1 could present tha Christian religion as really Is, in its true attraotiveness, all t people would accept It, and accept It rig away. The cities, the nations would c out: "Give us that, give it to us in all holy magnetism and gracious power! I that salve on our wounds! Throw back t shutters for that morning light. Knock i these chains with that silver hammer! Gi us Christ?His pardon, Hia peace. Hiscoi fort, His heaven I Give us Christ In sor Christ In sermon, Christ in book, Christ living example!" As a systim of didactics religion has ne\ gained one tnoh of progress. As a tea nlcality It befogs more than it irradiates, a dogmatism it is an awful failure. But as fact, as a re-enforcement, as a transflgui tion, it is the mightiest thing that ev descended from the heavens or touohed t earth. Exemplify it in the life of a go man cr a good woman, and no one can he but like it. A city missionary visited a hou in London and found a sick and dying bo There was an orange lying on His bed, ai the missionary said, "Where did you g that orange?'' He ?hld: "A man brought to me. He comes here often and reads t Bible to me and prays with me and brin me nio9 things to eat." "What is I name?'' said the city missionary, forget his name," said the sick bo "but he makes great speeches over that great building," pointing to t Parliament House of London. The m sionary asked, "Was his name Mr. Gla stone?" "Oh, yes," said the boy, "that his name?Mr. Gladstone!" Do you tell r a man can see religion like that and not 11 It? There is an old fashioned mother in farm house. Perhaps she is somewhere : the seventies, perhaps seventy-flVe or se enty-six. It is the early evening hot Through spectacles No. 8 she is reading newspaper until toward bedtime, wnon si takes up a well-worn book, called the Bibl I know from the illumination in her liu she is reading one of the thanksgivir psalms, or in Revelation the story of tl twelve pearly gates. After awhile she clos the book and folds her hands and thinks ov tho past and seems whispering the names < her children, some of them on earth ai some of them in heaven. Now a smilo is < her face, and now a tear, and sometimes tl smile catches the tear. The scenes of a lot life come back to her. One minute si sees nil the children smiling around he with their toys and sports and strange que ticnings. Then she remembers several them down sick with infantile disorder Then she sees a short grave, but over it c in marble, "Suffer them to come to Me Then there is the wedding hour, and tl neighbors in, and the promise ot "I will and the departure from the old homestea then a scene of bard times, and scant bref and struggle. Then she thinks of a fe years with gush of sunshine and Sittings dark shadows and vicissitudes. Then she kneels down slowly, fo/ mai years have stiffened the joints, and the i nesses of a lifetime have made her less sa pie. Her prayer is a mixture of thanks f sustaining grace during all those years, ai thanks for chUdren good and Christian and kind, and a prayer for the wanderli boy, whom she hopes to see come home b fore her departure. And then her tremblii lips speak of the land of reunion, wheresl expects to meet her loved ones alrea( translated, and after telling the Lord in ve simple language how much she loves Hit and trusts Him, and hopes to see Him soo I hear her pronounce the quiet "Amen," at -I 1 - 14**1 A aPTo t3UU liOCO up?O JJlllO UiUiO uimwuik ouu than kneeling down. And then she puts h head on the pillow for the night, and 1 angels of safety and peace stand se tinel about that couch in the fat house, iind her face ever ar anon shows el?ns of dreams abo tbe heaven she read of before retiring. . the morning the day's work has begun dov stairs, and seated at the table the remark made, '-Mother must have overslept he self." And the grandchildren also noti that grandmother is absent irom her usn place at the table. One of the grandchildr coes to the foot of the stairs and cric "Grandmother!" But there is no answe Fearing something is the matter, they go i to see, and all seems right. The spectacl and Bible on the stand, and the covers the bed are smooth, and the face is calr her white hair on the white pillow case li snow on snow already fallen. But her bo is gone up to look upon the thinap that t night before she had been reading of in t Scriptures. What a transporting look on h dear old wrinkled face! She has sesn t "King in His beanty." She has been w corned by the "Lamb who was slain." Ai her two oldest sons, having hurried 1 stairs, look and whisper, Henry to Georj: "That is religion!" George to Henry, "Yi that is religion!" There is a New York merchant who h been in business I should say forty or fl years. During an old-fashioned revival religion in boyhood he gave hts heart God. He did not make the ghastly and i finite and everlasting mistake of Eowi 'wild oats," with the expectation of sowi good wheat later on. He realized the fn tnat the most of those who sow "wild oat never reap any other crop. He started rig and has kept right. He went down in 18; when the banks failed, but he failed honest and never lost hia faith In God. Ups a: downs?he sometimes laughs over them but whether losing or gaining he was gro ling better nil the time. He has been in ma: business ventures, but he never ventured! experiment of gaining the world and 1( iing his soul. His name was a pow iboth in the ohureh and in the busint world. He has drawn more checks for cont :butions to asylums and churches and schoi than any one, except God, knows. Hb h 'kept many a business man from falling lending his name on the back of a note t the crisis was past. All heaven knows abo him, for the poor womun whose rent he pt in her last days, and the man with consun tion in the hospital to wbom be sent flowt tand the cordials ju3t before ascention, a the people he encouraged in many ways, i ,iw vucjr cuiciou ucavcu itutwiug au^ ir, for the Immortals ure neither deaf e dumb. Well, it Is about time for the < merchant himself to quit earthly residen As it is toward evening, he shuts the sa puts the roll of newspapers in his pock thinking that the family may like to re them after he gets home. He folds up a bill and gives it to the boy to curry to c of the car men who got his leg broken a may be in need of a little money; puts Btamo on a letter to his grandson at collej a letter with good advice, and an inclosi to make the holidays happy, then loc around the store or office and says to t clerks, "Good evening." and starts 1 borne, stopping on the way at a door to a bow his old friend, a deacon In the sat church, ia getting on since his last bad i tack of vertigo. He enters his own hon and that Is his last evening on earth, does not say much. No last words r necessary. " His whole life has be a testimony for God and rlgutooi nesa. More people would like to atte his obsequies than any house or chui would hold. The officiating clergyman 1 gins bis remarks by quoting from tha psal ist, '-Help. Lord, for the godly man cease for the faithful fail from among the ehildi of men." Every hour in heaven for all t million years of eternity that old merchi will see the result of his earthly beaellcei I ,and fidelity, while on the street whorn ho i business, and in the orphan asylum in wh he was ft director, and in the church which he was an officer, whenever his g iality and beneficence aud goodness are ferred to, bank director will say to bauk rector, and merchant to merchant, 8 neighbor to neighbor, and Christian Christian: "That is religion. Yes, that religion." There is a man seated or standing v near you. Do not look at him, for it mlj be unnecessary embarrassment. Onlj few minutes ago he oame down off the st< of as happy a home as there is in this or i other olty. Fifteen years ago, by reason bis dissipated habits, hls^home was a horroi wife ana ohildren. What that woman w through with in order to preserve respec hlllty and hide her husband's disgrace i >ur tragedy whljh It would require a Shakes;ed peare or Victor Hugo to write out in Ave nd tremendous acta. Shall I tell it? He struck art her. Yes ; the one who at the altar he had nd taken with vows so solemn they made the as orange blossoms tremble! He struck her! jh, He made the beautiful holidays "a reign of >n, terror." Instead of his suDporting her, she he supported him. The ohildren had often of heard him speak the name of God, but never >r*? in prayer?only in profanity. It was the saddest thing on earth that I can think of? ' j a ' destroyed home! Walking along the , street one day an impersonation of all wretchedness, he saw a sign at the door of a Young Men's Christian Association. "Meeting Fcr Men Only." Ho went in hardly knowing why he did lso, and Bat down by the door, and a young t man was in broken voice and poor grammar telling how the Lord had saved him from a dissipated life, and the man back by the It door said to himself, "Why cannot I have b0 the Lord do the same thing for me?" and he 'bt put his hands, all a-tremble, over his bloated fy face and said: "O God, I want that I I must ?8 have that!" and God said, "Yoa shall have it, and you have It now!" And the man oame out and went home a changed man, and though the children at first shrank back ve and looked to the mother and began to cry with fright they soon saw that the father '<? was a cbanged man. That home has tura ed lQ from "Paradise Lost" to "Paradise Regained." The wife sings all day long at her '?r work, for she Is so happy, and the children rush out into the hall at the flr3t rattle of the 43 father's key in the door latch to welcome 1 a him with caresses and questions of, "What "a* have you brought me?" They have family '?r prayers. They are altogether on the road to heaven, and when the journey of oa life Is over they will- live forever in eaoh 'P other's companionship. Two of their dar36 ling children are there already, waiting tor father and mother to come up. What changed that man? What reconstructed that i?* home? What took that wife, who was a . ' slave of fear and drudgery, and made her a queen on a throne of affection? I hear a whispering all through this assemblage. I know wh?it you are saying: "That's relig1 ion! Yes. that's religion!" My Lord and y? my God, give us more of it!" }~ Why, my hearers from all parts of the earth, do you not get this bright and beautl?" tul and radiant and blissful and triumphant f" thing for yourselves, then go home telling all your neighbors on tho Pacific, or In Nova ? Scotia, or in Louisiana, or Maine, or Brazil, or England, or Italy, or any part of the round world, that they may have it too. Have it for the asking! Have it now! Mind you, I do not start from the pessimistic * standpoint that David did, when he got mad and said in his haste, "All men are liars!" 10 or from the creed of others that every man is as bad as he can be. I rather think from !e your looks that you are doiug about as well as you can in the circumstances which you 10 are placed, but I want to invite you up into e9 heights of safety and satisfaction und liolleT, ness, as much higher than those which the world affords as Everest, the highest mounl(* tain in all the earth, is higher than your >n front doorstep. 110 Here He comes now. "Who is it? I might 1S be alarmed and afraid if I had not seen Him 110 before and heard His voice. I thought He )r> would come before I got through with this sermon. Stand back and make way for Him. ?* He comes with]scarsall around His forehead ; scars in the center of both hands stretched out to greet you ; scars on the instep of both the feet with which He advances ; scars on the breast under which throbs the great ' heart of sympathy which feel3 for you. I announce Him. I introduce Him to you, Jesua ia of Bethlehem and Olivet and Golgotha. Why ^ comest Thou hithei^thls winter day, Thou of the springtime and summery heavens! He answers: To give all this audience pardon iy for guilt, condolence for grief, whole rcgiII ments of help for day of battle and etornal p- life for the dead! What response shall I or give Him? In your behalf and in my own id behalf I hatl Him with the ascription : "Un? to Him who hath loved us, and washed ua ig from our sins in His own blood, and hath e- made ua kings and priests unto God and His ig Father; to Him be glory and dominion fario ever and ever. Amen." iy , ? r* Got Wealth by a Whipping. d, John James Mago, a quiet, middleld aged man, has had a career as romantio gp as that of Monte Cristo. Mago ia now he a Guatemalan millionaire, who lives n- nine months in the year in Paris, j? Twenty years ago he was a poor Engut lish collector of insects in Guatemala, In and also acted as the British consul at rn San Joue. !r^ One day Commandante Gonzalea ca ordered Mago to appear before him. Mago sent word that he would come ? i in ft short time. This incensed the >rj commandante, and he sent a file of ip soldiers after Mago, and when the insect collector appeared ordered fifty ? lashes to be laid upon his bare back, ke This was done very thoroughly, and ul -when it was finished Gonzales shouted. "Give him fifty more for luck." er "When Mago recovered, which was he only after very careful nursing, as his el- back was badly cut up, he made a *p formal complaint to the British Gov?e, ernment. The result was that Guateis, mala was ordered to punish Gonzales, ag and to pay Mago $500 for every lash fty ha had received. In default of this of English cruisers would shell San Joso to an(i other coast cities. Guatemala readily punished Gonzaag les, but tried hard to evade paying ,ct ?50,000 to Mago. The British, hows'' ever, were inexorable, and the poor k* collector was made a comparatively t]y rich man in one day. As he had more ad coin than any one in the country at l? that time, President Barrios went into partnership with him. he Mago became one of the largest w- coffee planters, and also secured the ^er contract for building docks in that port. No one can land or leave one >19 of these docks without paying toll to as Mago, while he also levies a tax on all freight. He alfo owns valuable mines mt and tracts of timber. His fortune is nd estimated at $5,000,000, all due to 100 |P"? lashes on the back.?Detroit Free JJ Press. tf ?ut A Hero ot Pins Yang. On the morning of the 16th of Sepce. tember all the gates but one of the le, Chinese stronghold of Ping Yang in ?f(} Korea had nearly yielded to the Jap$5 anese attacks, but the Genbu gate, >ne the strongest position, was still a(1 strongly held by Chinese braves, who ,eR stubbornly resisted the Japanese of ira the Genzan column. >1*3 The stafl of the column were about 119 to consult on some other means of capturing the position when Captain ne Mimura was seen alone rushing forat ward toward the gate. Everybody g' who saw him thought that ho was ir0 mad. His example was soon followed ea by a private, who ran ahead of him. JS; Before the wondering Japanese officers ' -A- - J.U.. ch conici recover irom tueir smpnoc, mu j ae- private had begun climbing the wall in the obscure corner of the castle eii a!n^ a torrent of bullets from the the Chinese defenders above. int The smoke hid him for a moment, ^ and when it cleared he was not to be ic)l seeu. His comrades believed him to of huve b ;en shot down. But presently '*?- the gate on which the eyes of the du JaPanese attacking parties were riveted ind was seen to open from within, and t0 there stood the brave soldier, un11 * < 1 ; ig wounasa ana saie, ms svtwu with Chinese blood. The hero of this brave deed was r a Jinkiohi Harada, a young farmer. Ho sps was promoted at once to the rank of a lQy corporal, and expected to receive the ^ imperial recognition in the shape of a ent gold kinshi medal, which was specially ita- oreated to reward those deserving of * it in the preaent war.?New York Herald. RELIGIOUS READING. GROWTH UNDER PRESSURE. Sub nondere eresco" (I grow under a weight) was motto on the crest of John Spreull. of Glasgow, who for his defease of religious liberty in the times of Claverbouse was imprisoned on the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth. This is the great motto of the world. Nature is like a huge watch, whose movements are caused by the compression of the mainspring. Only by restraint is life possible. The forms of all living things, from the smallest moss to man himself, are determined by the extent and degree to which the force of life overcomes the dead forces of nature. The simple principle of growth under limitation will account for the shape of every leaf, and the formulation of every organ of the human body; for the germination of a seed, and for the beating of the heart 1* i Krt U i? n? I \ ha o - f Uorft you ever watched a bubble of air rising up from the bottom of a clear pond to the top? If so, you cannot fail to have noticed that it ascends not in a straight line, but in a corkscrew or spirit form. The force which draws it upward to rejoin the native air from which it has been separated would do so, if left to itself, by the shortest course; but it encounters continually the resistance of the denser element of the water, and this pressure delays its ascent through it and makes it take a larger zigzag path. If you understand the reason of this simple phenomenon, you will understand the way in which every herb and tree grows in the air, and why their shapes are what we see them to be. They ail grow in the most varied and complicated spiral forms because they.grower under resistance. This is the simple method of nature's working, the law which determines all her fortes. The same law obtains throughout the spiritual world. There, too, growth is under resistance. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus contends against the law of sin ttuu uruin. xue iuv>s iu iuo xucuii/ojio nm against the law of the mind. The most essential character of spiritual life is that it depends upon the resistance of one form of moral force by another; its tension is holiness, righteousness, self-control. We grow in grace as the trees grow in space, under limitations; and the various forms and degrees of spiritual life which men exhibit are due to the extent of these limitations. Spiritual life does not assume stereotyped pattern. The Pharisees of religion have always endeavored to cast it into one mold, to prune all the trees of the Lord into pollards. In this, happily, they have not succeeded. The individuality of men and the circumstances r>f lifn havft hftpn too stronp for them, and human beings have developed spiritually as they have developed naturally, according to the sum of forces that have been brought to bear upon them. . . . And thus, by this simple law in the spiritual world as in the natural, the law of growth under pressure. God has produced that wonderful va rlety of Christian character and experience which strikes us as much in the kingdom of heaven as in the field of nature, and which is one of the most powerful factors of human progress. . . Sorrow is the commonest of all pressures that cast down the soul. This experience belongs to no class or condition of life exclusively. It is shared at some time or other by all human beings by virtue of their humanity. God has ordered that sorrow should be the most powerful factor in the education of our race. 4'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" That was the law of Christ's life, andit is the law or ours. That Christ, though holy.harmle8S undeflled and separate from sinners, should, nevertheless, be the Man of Sorrows, makes sorrow sacrea, ana associates 11 wim the dicipline of a heavenly Father and with the training of a blessed and glorious life.? Hugh Macinillan, D. D. DABE TO DIE? Christian, ask yourself this question. You must die, and may die very soon. Dare you die today ? Is your house and your heart set in order, so that you can meet your Judge with a smile, and not with fear? Were you to sit at the gate of glory and wait for charges against your life fbeforo your entrance, )would you dare to meet them? Would your children come up and say, he has done his duty to us; his prayers, and councils, and life have ever pointed to the path of purity? Would the church testify that you have been faithful to every obligation, ana kept your covenant vows wich'scrupulous exactness? Would your minister affirm that you had stayed his hands, and ever stood ready to co-operate with him in efforts to save souls? Would the inipeni tent say, you have ceased not to warn us and beseech us to come to Christ? The Sabbath school, and the heathen, and the destitute of our land, would they declare that you have done your duty? God has his eye on all these thines, and will judge you according to the truth in all these oases. My brother, have you done your whole duty, so that you can give in your account without fear of accusation,in regard to your various responsibilities? Are you worldly, penurious, cold, formal, seldom in the prayer-meeting,morose in your family, careless about the salvation of souls? Oh how the eye of God will search you, and how you will quail before him! Dare you go into his presence in such a state? Are you in such a state? Then, how dare you die? But you will die. You cannot avoid it. Suddenly, it is likely you may be called. How dare you live so careless, and hoard up your money without regard te a dying world? You are a steward, and are squandering your Lord's substance. Suppose you should employ a man at $80 a month, to manage your business in your aDsence. un your return, you uuu uo has neglected your business, rode around in your carriage, spent hi9 time in pleasure and folly, or in hoarding the income of your farm for his own cood. You call him to an account and demand why he has behaved thus, and he replies, just to show how you treat your God, what could you say? With such treatment, dare you meet your God? If you live thus, dare you die? Let us search aud try our ways and prepare to meet our GotL? Morning Star. EABLY CONVERSION. There are some, who remember not the time, when they did not sincerely love and bibitually serve God. Having, like Jeremiah, been sanctified from the very dawn of life, having had the incorruptible seed of the word sown in their minds by a parental hand, and applied to their hearts by a divine influence, in early childhood; having been turned or converted uuto the Lord as soon as they were capnble of moral action, they have grownup under tbe influence of religious principle; avoiding that which is evil and doing that which is good; hating sin and loving holiness; living in the daily exercise of spiritual prayer and habitual submission to the will und authority of God. They are truly the children of God; born of the Spirit; converted and raised from their natural state of spiritual death, to a state of spiritual life and new obedience. It is true, that such may still need forgiveness, and will often exercise repentance for their frequent buckslidings and continual shortcomings in duty; for there is no man who liveth and sineth not. It is true, likewise, that they must depend, and will feel their dependence on divine grace, through faith in Cnrist,for it is by grace alone that they, as well as others, can be saved. It is by grace that they are what thoy are; aud the same grace is continually necessary to carry on the work that is begun in them. Thoy must, therefore, as well as others, repair daily io the throne of grace, to o!<tain mercy and find grace to help in time of Tina/1 One's happiness depends greatly upon the feelings that govern his heart. If nunshine is there, it will radiate out and make everything in the external world beautiful, or at loast it will give to the surrounding objects a bright side that may be contemplated with pleasure and a feeling of satisfaction which cannot be felt under auy other circumstances. The State cannot exist without religious principles. They are the foundation and life of the nation.?J. SI. Foster. Successful Skin Grafting. Skin grafting hns proved successful in the case of Mrs. A. V. Fitzgerald, of Chicago, and she is rnpidly recovering from burns, feared at one time as likely to be fatal. She overturne a lamp on October 4 last, and the blazing oil ignited her clothing, which burned the neck and breast. About six hundred pieces or skin were taken by Dr. Webster from the husband, bnt he could not iurnish enough. Captain Wells, of Company K, First Regiment, I. N. G., with his whole command then offered themselves to their fellow member, Mr. Fitzgerald, and ninny hundred pieces of Bkin so offered wero util'z SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR I FEBRUARY 17. Lesson Text: "The Good Samaritan," Luke x., 25-37?Golden Text: Lev. xix., IS? f Commentary. ] ( 25. "And behold, a certain lawyer stood < upandtemptbd Him. saying, Master, what < snail I do to Inherit eternal lite?" After the ] discourse ot the last lesson on humiliation . Jesus rebuked James and John for their un- J charitableness and zeal, which was not of ? Ood, after which He sent out the seventy to j heal the sick and preach the kingdom (Luke ix , 49, to x., 16). Then follow probably the events and teaching of John vli., 2, to x., 21, after which the seventy return and report as in Luke x.. 17-24, after which comes the lesson of to-day, in which the lawyer, one of 1 the wise and prudent of vers' 21, is instruct- < ed concerning eternal life. The lawyer was j not so anxious to obtain eternal life as he was to try Jesus, and like those of chapter < T i ZA. n?of IT (rt-i a um? OAmntVtinr* tttK ? i wi, fsui uiui ii/ ouj ovuioiuiu^ nuciovj they might accuse Him. ? 26 "He said unto him: What is written in the law? How readest thou?" This lawyer waa supposed to be well versed in the law of Moses, and therefore to that the Lord directed him. Many questions are asked today which should te answered by: What is written! How readest t hou? Instead o 1 by argument or words of ours. 27. *'And he, answering, said. Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soui, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." He quoted promctly and correctly from Deut. vi., 5, and Lev. xiz., 18. He did not lack know edge. He could quote from the Scriptures better than manv amone us. but mere knowledge of the truth do69 not save any one. It is the reception and application ot the trhth, or rather of Him who is the truth; that gives eternal life. 28. "And He eaid unto him: Thou hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt 1 live." If any one could perfectly keep the law ot God Jrom his youth up, as summarized in the quotations cf this lawyer he \ would have life and need no Saviour, or, as ' it is wrttten in Gal. 111., 21, ''If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." There is nothing wrong with or laoking in the law. The failure is in guilty man, who cannot keep God's holy law and whose mouth is shut by it (Rom. vlii., 3; ill., 19). 29. "But he, willing to justify himself, t eaid unto Jusus, And who is my neighborb?" He could not say be had kept the law; it Condemned him and proved him guilty, but he was not willing to own It and plead guilty. He would rather, if possible, establish nig own righteousness, thus proving I himself ignorant of God's righteousness, even the Christ with whom he was talking, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Bom. x., 8, 4; II Oor. v., 21). 30. "And Jesus, answering, said, A car- , tain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which 1 stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead.'^ By a clear-and simple illustration Jesus' would patiently show this one who tempted H m the meaning of the word "neighbor." j The poor robbed ani wounded and helpless , man is suggestive of the forlorn and help- J less condition of the sinner whom satan has < cost down, but th9 sinner Is wholly and not , half dead (Eph. ii.,5). ' ! 31. "And by ohance there came down a ' certain priest that w*y, and when he saw ' him he passed by on the other side." The priest's lips should keep knowledge (Mai. 1 ii., 7). tut Jetus said to the lawyers that they had taken away the key of knowledge, not entering themselves and hindering 1 those who would enter (Luke xi., 52). Ha 1 also pronounced a woe upon the lawyers be cause they loaded people with burdens which they themselves would not touch with 1 one of their fingers (xi., 46). i 32. "And likewise a Levite, when he waa at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side." Levi Is the; third person ot whom it i9 said in Scripture 1 that he walked with God (Gen. v., 24; vi., 9 j i Mai. ii., 6), but not all of his posterity walked with God, or there would not be this; record of this one. The Levltes were joined' with the priests In the ministry of the temple (Num. viii., 19). . 33. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion upon him.". Let us remember tbat Jesus is talking to a Jewish lawyer; that priests and Levltes were the highest and supposed to be the holiest of religious dignitaries among the Jews, and that 8amaritans were a class with whom the Jews had no dealings (John iv., 9). There tore, Jesus is finding something good in a despised outsider, as we might say, in speaking thus of this Samaritan. 34. "And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, ana set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.1' Here is a wonderful iftan surely, an outcast in Jewish eyes, a worse than a nobody in the eyes ofj priests and Levltes, but see his conduot and observe that it is the Lord Jesus who is telling us all this and learn at least one thing ?that it is not outward name or fame that the Lord looks upon, but actions and motives. 85. "And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out twopence and gave them to the nost and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spondest more when I come again I will repay tcee." It , the poof, helpless one Is suggested of the sinner, who can the good Samaratan be but Jesus Himself, an outcast and despised by the Jews, a nobody in the eyes of priests and Levltes, scribes and Pharisees, yet Jsee His heart full of compassion as He goes about doing good. 86. "Which now of those three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?" Jesus has not directly answered the question, "Who is my neighbor?" but He has told His story. He has shown ' the picture, and now He would have the lawyer answer his own question. Do not fail to notice in the last verse the words, "When I come again, I will repay thee," and comDare Lulce xlv., 14; Bev. xxil., 12. 37* "And he said. He that sheweth mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise." All commands to do cood thines addressed to unsaved people are to convince them of their inability to do thesime, that 30 they may confess their , sinfulness and helplessness and receive Jesus as tholr salvation. This is the work of God that ye believe on Him, and to believe on 1 Him is to receive Him (John vi., 29; i., 12). Until we receive Him we are still in the flesh end therefore cannot please Qod (Rom. viil., 8, 9). The remaining versos of Luke x. show -js that He Himself is the one thing needful for saints as well as sinners.?Lesson Helper. 'Tntense" Farming in the South. As an instance of the rlifference between * the old slavery-dnys farming and farming by 1 the employment of more modern methods and improved machinery in the South, the ; following illustration is ulven : G. T. Doug- . loss, a young farmer of Macklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1893. planted thirteen acres of land in cottou and harvested six bales by the old method of farming. Last ? year he planted three acre? of the same land I in cotton with the purpose of cultivating it , "intensely" as an experiment. Result: On three of the thirteen acres, which yielded < him but five tules of cotton the year before, he harvested four bales of cotton. Difference : Under tbe old system oi cultivation his land raisejl iess than one-half a baie ot cotton to tbe acre; under the improved methods it raised one and one-third bales. This ornctiee of "intense" farming is rapIdly spreading in the State, and the tendency is decidedly towards smaller and butter cultivateo'. larms. Histrionic Byplay In the Pulpit. The Rev. Edward Davie, of Oakland, Oil., loo'cs 'ike an actor. Ho illustrated a recent sermon on "Eternal Judgment" by assuming the char.ieter ol Richard III, and quoting In II linUIlIlUU Uliluili-l iiiu Jiuaviu ... tbo flrsi scene, nnd also from an act ot the play. There was a big nu lience. In acting out the doom that overtook Richard III, the preacher fell on tho stage, just as Keeno and Warde > id. The Thugs Are Protected. At a meeting of a Chicago club, the other day, It was asserted that thieves and high* waymen pay the polloe for the privilege of robbing in given localities. i, - V 1 WOMAN'S WORLD. PLEASANT L1TERATUBR FOR FEMININE READERS. \__ NO LOOPS ON* HER COAT. "When a new coat is purchased don't ;ay a few pungent words if there is no oop on the top of the coat whereby it :an be hung up. Many tailors now )mit the loop because the woman who :ares properly for her wardrobe doesn't lang her coat up by the loop, but seeps it Hanging on a snouiaer iorm, i inch as her brother or husband uses 3 tor his coats.?New York Journal. 3 fashion's laws about mourning. i The laws laid down by fashion for 3 bhe wearing of mourning at present ' jtaiid thus: For a widow, the dura- 1 bion is eighteen months, for one year of which crape is worn, for three months silk, and for the last three months, half mourning. For a father or mother, or for a father-in-law or 1 mother-in-law, nine months crape, three months silk, and three months < half mourning. For a child over 3even, six months crape, three months ] 3i)k, and three months half mourning; while lor grand-parents, brothers, ( 3isters, brothers-in-law or si&ters-in- . law, three months crape, three months silk, "and three months half . mourning are tne allotted times.?TitBits. THREE SUCCESSFUL SISTEBS, The Misses Swann are three Louisville girls who have made a success as designers aDd carvers of choice furniture. In 1880 Misa Laura Swann made a. cedar chest and sold it for $35. Miss Joie tried her hand on a wardrobe which was sold for $10. The third sister designed and executed a six-piece suite which was quickly sold for $215. The father then fitted up a shop for the girls. The.y prepare work only on orders, and seek only the best trade. No duplications are permitted. The designs, the construction, the carving are all done by the three sisters. Wealthy families in nearly all the Eastern cities have their work. Secretary Carlisle and Senator Blackburn, Starin, the New York boat magnate, and many others have specimens in tha shape of tables, chairs, sideboards, bric-a-brac stands, hat racks and bed and parlor suites.?Atlanta Journal. mb3. Cleveland's appearance. I saw Mrs. Cleveland in Washington the other day, and I have not seen her looking so well for years. The President himself may be troubled with gout and rheumatism, but his wife is the pioture of health. Her oolor is brighter and her step lighter than it has been for some time. She attribates all this to the fact that she lives in the White House but very little of the time. The Executive Mansion has too many chinks in its' venerable boards through which the wind enters and gambols to make it in any sense a sanitarium, and it is distinctly unhealthy. It was Mrs. Cleveland's idea for the Presidential family to do most of their living in the suburbs of the city, and it was at her request that Woodley was purchased and 'devoted to this purpose. She is very proud of the success of her plan, and smilingly Bays that she will next try to do away with the White House altogether.? New York Press. ELECTRICAL COSMETIC. * Electrioity is greater than any cosmetic as a beautifier. It also puts more and firmer flesh on the face in a shorter space of time than any known tonic. This has been found true lately by New York women, with the result that those of the sex who go in for fine, rosy skins are taking electrioity along with athletic aids to physical culture. The machinery required is a small, portable electric battery, with a faradio current. Be sure that it is a faradie, for its opposite, the galvanic, burns and blisters, while the other is only, to quote an old darky, "pow'ful etimerlative." One of small size is the right sort to get. Women who are adopting them apply the current to the muscles of the face, rubbing the sponges firmly over cheeks and foreheads. The same treatment is applied to the throat and shoulders. The musoles begin to enlarge and harden, the face fills out, lines disappear and a fine, natural bloom shows under the skin. , This is what the advocates claim for it. I know one woman who was very ( slender and she has gained twenty pounds in three months, since using her battery. Women who have thin neoks and shoulders are trying elec- J trioity to develop the latter into a condition that will permit of an 1830 gown this winter at social affairs. j 4a 4- Vi n n on?r JL10 CiiCUl/ ID XICOlUUlOl luuu aujr vtij cold cream or the manufacturers' evils 1 that are in continuous use by slender women, desirous of the abolishing of prominent bones and wrinkles. ' Then i it is less expensive, the batteries cost- < ing only 37 and $14. More expensive ones can be bought, of course, but , those at this price are adequately beneficial. The amount of current to be ! turned on can be learned from any \ physician, and there are not sufficient volts to cause death. ?Boston Sunday Post. i ALWAYS A MARKET FOB GOOD COOKING. A late and most remarkable newspaper article declared that a knowledge of cooking was worth absolutely , nothing to the woman who was obliged to earn her own living or to eke it out without being able to leave her home. , Also that the ability to teach dancing, for instance, or to do fancy work was worth far more, in a money-making point of view. This is arrant nonsense. The exchanges for sale of wo men's work are overflowing witn unsold fancy work; dancing is taught by professional teachers in most places. And good cooking is absolutely the one thing that will everywhere on the face of the earth secure a rapid and constant sale for its products. A woman who cannot go away from home may, no matter where that home may be, build up in time?and not so long a time, either---a splendid business, either in some specialty in cookery, or taking larger orders. This is not a vague, general assertion; it is a fact. The reason is the same that makes of our domestic servants the roe class of laborers wha can make their own terms and can invariably :arry their point; because the demand 0 is greater than the supply. And the reason forV-Jt is the self-same, bemuse our Am rican women as a class, 3o not care mutvj for the work of cooklug, and so are av the mercy of those they hire to do it -for them. It is not necessary to go into these women's kitchens to supply their food. But one may do it at one's own liome by having a grocer or other saleman in the town take what one makes it a percentage. The one thing to bear in mind is this?one must be rigidly honest. That is, one has no right to set a fancy price on one's wares, nor to make those that are nofc first-class of their kind. If this rule is adhered to and perseverance through iisagreeables is added to it, success is certain.?Philadelphia Press. FASHION' NOTES. J V>1 rt/iTr ?ta1 trof y civct, auu oopcuiniij va?wa is again all the rage. v Tiny handkerchiefs, to stick in front af the bodice, are a Parisian caprice. Eob Roy hate, the Scotch "bonnet,** have suddenly come in fashion again, Pearls sewed on black velvet make one of the latest stock collars foe women. Women over fifty loot better in ? bonnet than in a flaring hat intended for a girL Far and feather boas are worn shorter than ever, not to fall below the waist in front. "Brownie" stab pins of silver havo about had their day. They were too popular to last. Black satin gowns with raised gold ' embroidery hare been seen at after noon receptions. Side combs of pearls or turquoisa or diamonds are in great favor with fashionable women. Dahlias are the fashionable flower just now; consequently all the dahli* shades are also fashionable. Fink fuchsia bells in enamel, dandling from a gold stalk, form a charging addition to chain pendants. The bride who desires to carry aa. ultra fashionable bouquet orders it v made of orcnida and mignonette. Screw earrings set with turquoises or tinted sapphires, surrounded with brilliants, are coming into favor. Brown cloth trimmed with Bussiaa ' sable makes a costume elegant enough for a reception, let alone the street. The novelty of the season is the applique of cloth upon oloth. This looks . } its best when both are the same oolor. Cheviot suits are having a remarkable run among girls of the period. They are both stylish and serviceable. Scotch ginghams are to be among the fashionable dress materials. The new designs and colorings are beauti- , fnl. Most of the ultra-fashionable veilings, whether of coarse or fine mesh, show widely scattered black chenille spots. * , - 5' What used to be a "desk" for women is now an airy, fairy pieoe of onuU ' mental furniture called a "davenport." Some fanoy muffs of gigantic size are seen now, the majority being of velvet or satin, trimmed with fur and flowers. ' ' A gold wishbone, with the pnde , crossed and furnished with a snap catch, is among the newest designs in key rings. The hair is worn rather lower at the back and always parted and waved with a few light curls falling on the forehead. v Gloves of sealskin lined with wool and haying the palms made of soft, leather are very desirable for driving or skating. Among the novelties in neok gear is a sable collar band, with rosettes and long stole ends of lace on either side of the front. Moire silk petticoats lined with horsehair are worn to keep the vol* nminons dress skirts well flared ont at the bottom. Italian stilettos, having handles of enamel and blades of silver, with flenr de lis decorations, are in favor for paper enters. Little girls' dresses with velvet yokes, shirred waists, fall alepves and ' velvet collars and cuffs are preferred for ordinary wear. White veils have entirely been dona away with and black ones are now worn so thickly dotted with chenille as to almost form a mask. r Among conspioaoos novelties are the long silver chains. Many of them are punctured here and there with turquoise and pearl ornaments. Copper buttons and those of oxidized silver, eet with rhinestones, and buttons of inlaid ivory and carved OAftf-An'e A (1 arc amuu^ mo ocaovu a iwuo. Veil pins are something new. A very dainty one is a silver butterfly caught by the wings of filigree or enamel and poised lightly on the veil. Long mousqnetaire gloves of Angora, to be worn over the evening gloves instead of using a muff, are among the most ussful novelties this season. A pretty evening dress is made of white embroidered chiffon over white satin, trimmed on the skirt with three rows of lime-green velvet ribbon, and on the simple full waist with pink roses and green leaves. Evening dresses still have ruchings at the hem, but it is the sleeves which cannot fail to attract attention. They are gigantic, with puffs which are shaped to the elbow in a manner that is altogether inexplicable. Black lace over white moire or satin, white lace over black, black lace over black, or white over white, are^ favorite trimmings for black gowns, but rarely it is that there is seen lace, trimmings upon a white costume. The newest colors are a blue shade of 8t~el called "Valkyrie," various shade* of red of the American beauty rose order or color, a piukish yellow, Gismonda purple, the "bluet" shades of blue, and shades of emerald green.| White lawn lace-trimmed petticoata. cut after the umbrella pattern, giving the desired fulness around the feet, are among the leading specialties ia underwear. And dainty flannel skirts are made with tuifles and insertions of open-work embroidery.