University of South Carolina Libraries
' -V" CHAPTER VII?Continued. The}* had gone but a few yards from the house, when a slender, well-clad, elderly man. with piercing gray eyes, 4A.?Ak/v/l V> I Ua+ nn/1 ry^A+i/vnoH tn tham to stop. This man had a military bearing, and-was accompanied by a .voung black qffan, who carried a large double valise' slunsf over his shoulders like a paiMJf huge saddle bags. ^would you please to tell me where one Squire Condit residos?" a9ked the 6tranger, in well-bred tones, his keen / eyes fixed the while on Ralph's face. / The Captain pointed out the house, and said: "You can 6ee the squire from here, forking in his garden." "Many thanks; I see you are both officers in her Majesty's service. Permit me to introduce myself as Col. Graham of Gen. Churchill's staff."The young officers gave their own names and shook hands with the ColoBiEss&fes mhn t_?kin?r two steDS in the direc ^on of Squire Condit's house, stopped. ^?r" turned and asked: ' "Is the Wanderer in port?" "Capt. Fox'6 ship?" "Yes, Colonel." "There she is," said Capt. Denham, "and a finer ship never entered this bay. By the way, sir, if you are to make any stay at this end of the island, It will afford me pleasure to receive you ion board of the Sea Hawk, a colonial cruiser, which I have the honor to command. " Col. Oraham raised his hat, said he "would be honored and delighted to visit the Captain, and then resumed his journey, followed by the sturdy black man. CHAPTER VIII. cou graham visits capt. fox. Squire Condit was out in his garden looking over his fine array of roses, now showing their rare colors through the bud tips, and filling the air with their first delicious odor, when he saw the gray-aairea, soiuierjy luuaiug uuuu uyproaching, with his servant just behind him, as was the custom of gentlemeD making a journey on foot or horseback in those days. Col. Graham and his servant had come to the place on horseback, and left theii horses and all the burden of a pack animal, the big saddle-bags excepted, al the "King's Arms," the principal inn of the place. Squire Condit, seeing the strangei entering at the front gate, took off his hat and advanced to meet him. "Does Squire Goodwill Condit live here?" asked Colonel Graham, touching his hat, and letting liis hand drop in the direction of the cosy, rambling old house. "He does, sir," replied the Squire. "Would you please tell me if he is home?" "He is home, Colonel Graham," said the squire, his voice tremulous, for he recognized in the Btranger ttie man wno. twenty-one years before had brought a little boy to him, and, after giving him into his care, suddenly took his departure. "Ha! you recognize me then?" >id ,the Colonel, extending his hand, a motion which the Squire could not have seen, for he made no effort to meet the salutation in like manner. "I do; your hair has become white, but your eyes and voice have not changed. Will you walk to the houso and be seated for a bit?" said the Squire, leading the way, like a man who finds duty compelling him to a disagreeable task. "I have official business with Captain Fox, of the cruiser Wanderer, now in your harbor, and as my time is limited, I cannot make you a very long visit. Would you do me the favor of a few minutes' private conversation? I hope to give you more time hereafter." "Certainly," replied the S<juire, and mntinninir tn thfi blank man to remain seated on the wide porch, he led Colonel Graham to the apartment where he presided as magistrate when the differences of the settlers were submitted to hi6 judgment. " Can we speak here without fear of being overheard?" asked Colonel Graham, glancing about him before taking the chair on which his white right hand rested. "We can, sir," was the answer. Sitting down, with the air of a man touch fatigued, Colonel Graham said: "You have often heard from me, but I presume you never expected to see me again?" "I have heard from you, and I have at interest every dollar you ever sent to me for the care of the boy, whose name you told me was Ralph Denharn; but, as to expecting to see you again. I must confess I did not, for we do not voluntarily expect what we do not wish * ? 1UI. Without appearing to notice the bluntnessof the Squire's speech, Colonel Graham went on, and there was in his voice and manner something that told he was conscious of his own superioril^, and could not permit himself to be annoyed by an inferior. "I do not come to trouble you now; ] desire to compensate you further, i! what I have given is not enough." " Stop, Colonel Graham; I will returr all you have Riven, and the interesl also, if you never show your face hero again," said the Squire, with much epirit"I can assure you, Mr. Condit, it ie her Majesty's business and not my own inclination that brings me to America. Strangely enough, the arrival of the ? 1 ? ? i ?-i i v> anuf rer, or raiuer urn uciu^ oiuciou here, is the reason lor my coming. My real object is to see Captain Fox and give him further instructions; out, being here, I felt prompted to ctll on you first, and It arned how it far*d with the boy I left in your hands twenty-one years ago." "And you have learned?" "I heard that he was now capta'n of the volunteer cruiser Sea Hawk, fitted out by the province of New York for thu suppression ol j iracy." ""Xdu were rightly informed; there is Dot a more able or gallant officer on the ocean than Kalph Denhain, if I do say it. But do you propose to tell mm all about the past?" "What have you told him?" "Nothing.'1" i "Has he never inquired about hie parents?" "Never; he seems to dread the subject. If there is anything that you can tell him to increase his happiness, do so; if not, keep away from him," said the Squire, with much force. "I could tell him that that might make him miserable all his life, and if you do not aid me in a certain matter it will bo necflfigaryjor tne to do _ _ k CkfhiM. f ,A >' P """Wnat Tslho certain matter?" askeo the Squire, rising from hi6 chair and confronting his visitor. "The certain something which you can do for me, and to save ISalph Denham from a knowledge that may embitter his life, I cannot explain now, but I shall j do so before I take my departure," said i Colonel Graham. "Suit yourself about that. Will you answer me one question?" asked Squire Condi t. "What is the question?" "Are you Ralph Denham's father?" The Squire shot this out with a force that nearly upset Col. Graham, fo? he gasped, turned pale, and for the instant lost his self-control, the very cower in which he telt he was vastly ' the superior of tbe more natural'mafi before him t nvor oar or write aught that "would lead you to?to infer " stam- | mered the Colonel. "That i6 the mischief of it; you never > said or wrote a word from which I could inter anything," said the Squire, now master of the situation. "But you have just told me that Ralph cared to know nothing " "So I did, but I am not Ralph Denham; if I were, I might feel just as he does. One more question before you leave," said the Squire, as Col. Graham rose to take his departure. "What is it?" "Are the parents of Ralph Denham I living?" "One of them is," replied Graham, now on his guard. "Which one?" "I am not at liberty to tell." "Why not?" "I cannot explain." i niioeHnn " Raid the fiouire. coming between his visitor and the door. "Well?" "Again, are you Ealph Denham's father?" "I am not," with anothei start. "Are you of his blood?" "N?no." "Is he legitimate?" asked the Squire, bringing^down his arm, as if to imply that this'was his lact'question. "What matters that to you; why ?>hould you wish to know?" "For one good reason?the happiness of Ralph may depend on hi6 being of legitimate birth." lia frnnri onnnirh to ovnlftin.*1 "Ralph Denham loves a beautiful girl, she is of good family, and I feel that if the cloud were lifted from his antecedents, so far as vo show that he came of honest parents, that his suit would not be rejected." "Is the young lady your daughter, Squire Condit?" asked Col. Graham, with a smile, that had in it something satanic. ? "I cannot answer that till you have answered nte." "Then you will never answer, nor shall I suffer anxiety for the lack of knowing who Ralph Denham's ladylove is." Col. Graham took another stride in the direction of the door, and came to a sudden stop. Without looking at the Squire, he continued: "You are a man of sense, and so I need not impress on you the importance of keeping our conversation to yourself. If you have Ralph Denham's happiness at heart, you will not tell him why I called. We shall meet again, and very soon." With a frigid Dow, coionei uranam left the room, and, addressing the negro as "Othello," bade him follow him. Othello threw his burden across his shoulders, with an ease that, showed wonderful strength, and followed, with the long, swinging 6tride that manifested endurance equal to his strength. When Colonel Graham reached the town of Sag Harbor, an hour or two before hi6 appearance at Squire Condit's, he dispatched a messenger to Captain Fox, asking him to send a boat for him. This boat, under the command of Lieutenant Frenauld, was now waiting on the beach. In a minute more, the Colonel and his servant would have been on board, and on their way to the ship, but an incident that astonished the Colonel prevented his progress for some time. Old Dinah, who had been talking, in her disjointed way, to Ellen Condit and Lea Hedges, left the group, with the intention of going to her home, some miles away. She caught sight of Colonel Graham approaching, and she came to a sudden halt, raised her lean, black hands, and shouted: "Lod Paliton! Lod Paliton, or de dead! Where hev you come from, wanderln' back en foth " "Hist,'Dinah!" said Colonel trraham, rushing toward the old woman, and speaking in a whisper, indicative of alarm. "Do not speak now; do not know me yet awhile", and you shall have gold " "Blood-red gold! blood-red gold. But who's dis? Who am de black boy? She ran at Othello, and took off his cap revealing a circular scar on his forehe ad. "Hello! hello! de son of my darter!" The old woman caught the young black man in her arms, and kissed him, and cried and laughed alternately, while he, still supporting his burden, asked in a perplexed way: "Is you my granny ez ran away from Bermuda nigh onl.er twenty yeah agone, and all said was drownded?" "Izeyer granny, 'Thello. Har I is in de flesh, or wat's left of me. I'm the mudder of yer mudder. But tell me, i9 you de sarvint of dat man?" she asked, pointing a stinny, black finger at the perplexed Colonel, who was now biting his gray mustache, and loo:;ing anxiously from Dinah to the waiting boat. "Ye-yas. he bought me foh foive 'unerd," replied Othello, hi6 face showing that the unexpeoted discovery ol his grandmother did not afTord him any great amonnt of pleasure. "En?en yer both a-gwine to dat eoiyl rirvlntinrf fr\ fho cui|j. oaiu IUUU, JJVIUUU^ w VMV Wanderer. "Ye-yas," responded-the still astounded servant. Coming close to Colonel Graham, the old woman whispered: "You've got to see me soon agin." "But where do you live?" asked the Colonel, glad to see his way to getting rid of the crone. "Mong the Montauks. Ila, ha, ha! I was a black woman in Bermooda; hea lze a Hinjin priestess-ess." "I'll see you again," said the Colonel, motioning for his servant to follow him. "You've cot to see me agin. Ye'll be 'bloedged to see ine. Now go to seo , Cap'n Wolf. Good-bye, 'Thello, come en see yer granny, honey." Chuckling to herself, as if she thought sho had said something humorous, Dinah grasped her staff and hobbled away in the direction of the land of the Mon i tanks. Colonel Graham and Othello Hastened on bourd the boat, where l-'renauld, who was in charge, saluted the former with a deference that amounted to obsequi, ousness. "The Captain is anxiously awaiting , you," said Frenauld, as the oarsmen pulled for the ship. "You have been here eight days,"said the Colonel, as if he were <iuite indifferent to the reply. -?Mne days, my lord " "You mistake, sir," said tbe other in a frtern whisper. "I am Colonel Graham." ".beg your pardon, sir; I forgot for the instant," stammered Frenauld. "Such forgetfulness proves the ruin of many men." responded the Colonel, the line between his eyes deepening, as if Frenauld's apology had increased rather than lessened his displeasure. "It is hard, sir, for one accustomed to calling another the name by which the world knows him, to change to a different name at the order of tne individua', and to be censured for a slip of the tongue," said Frenauld, evidently but little pleased by the Colonel's manner. "I fully appreciate what you say," replied the Co.onel, condescendingly, but still with that manner of ostentatious superiority which marked everything he said or did. "But Graham is my family name, and I hold the commission of colonel in her Majesty's service. You know the rest, and, as I pay you to use this knowledge for my benefit, it holds, sir, that I should not be annoyed at any breach of the contract on your part, or on that of your supperior officer." > This was said in a low tone, but the noise of the oars in the clumsy rowlocks in use at that time would have prevented the sailors from overhearing, had they been so inclined. |TU UE 'lUflllJiUllH | SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB NOVE3IBER 29. Lesson Text: "The Fame of Solomon." I Kings lx., 1-10? <?olden Text Matt, xii., 42? Commentary. ?1. "And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord she came to prove him with hard questions." She heard, and she came and she saw. It was in her own land that she heard (verse 6), therefore some one who knew must havetold of the glory of SolomoD. We know of "a greater than Solomon." Offlth. *ii_. 42V hut what are we doiUK to make known His greatness, and His wondrous love and His salvation? Faith cometh by hrearins?, bat how nan they believe who have never beard? (Rom. x., 17) It was not merely the fame of Solomon that was made known, but the name of Jehovah, who gave him all he had. The exaltation of any. man, however great, is not our business, but our motto is, ''Jehovah alone shall be exalted" (Isa. ii., 11, 17). There is only one to whom God has given a name that is above every name (Phil, ii., 9, 11), and we are here to magnify Him and make Him known to the ends of the earth. 2. "And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices and very much gold and precious stones." When the Son of David, the true Prince of Peace, shall reign in Jerus'ilem. for it shall surely be because the Lord bath spoken it (Luke i., 32, 33), then "the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts?yea, all kings shall fall down before Him, ail Nations shall serve Him." "They shall bring srold and Incense, and i hey shall shew forth the praises of the Lord" (Pa. lxxii., 10,11,15; Isa. lx., 6). This was foreshadowed not only in the visit of tba Queen of Sbeba and of all the earth seeking Solomon to hear his wis lom (verse 24), but also in the wise men from th$ Eist, who brought Him gifts-gold and frankincense and myrrh (Math, ii., 11). 3. ' 'And Solomon told her nil her questions. There was not anything hid from ihe king which he told her not" We are not told the nature of her bard questions, but simply that the wisdom Of God in Solomon was equal to every one. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col ii., 3), and there is nothing that we need to know that He by His Spirit through His word is not ready to tell us. There are many things we are not auie 10 oettr uocuuse ui uui tnirnality or lack of faith (John xvi., 12; I Cor. iii., 2; Heb. v., 12), but If we are teachable and believing He who is with us and perfect in knowledge will teach us all things (Job xxxvi., 4; John xvi., 26). Some things we may not know now, but hereafter (John xiii., 7; I Cor. xiii., 12). A friend of mine has written over thirty hopeful questions and answers from the book, which can be had in tract form simply for the postage from L. & EL, Box 216, Harrisburj?. ("The Soul's Cry and the Saviour's Answer.") 4, 5. "And when the Queen of Sheba had seen * *"? there was no more spirit in her." Probably she came with the consciousness that she herself was some great one, and doubtlessshe was in herown land and among her own people, but now she is in Emmauual's land aud sees somewhat of the ?lory which Jehovah can give, and she thinks nothing of her own any more. When we in our ignorauce of God's righteousness think we have of ourselves somewhat worth mentioning, it only declares that we have not seen or known flis. 6. "And 6he said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own laud of thy acts and of thy wisdom." Although we know that the report we give from the book concerning opr King Is all true, how often we have to saj,"Who hath believed our reporiV" (Isa. liiL, L). As to the last book in tne Bible, which more than any other tells of the glory of our King, which has a special blessing both at the beginning and end of it upon all who read and keep it, and in which it is three times written that its words are faithful and true (Bev. i., 8; xxii., 7; xix., 9; xxi., 5, xxii.,6), how few there are who count it a true record, while many turn away from it and talk against it? 7. "Howbeit I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes bad seen it. and, behold, the half was not tolcl me. Tby wisdom and prosperity exceedetb the fame which I beard.' We remember that one of the apost es would uot believe that the Lord had risen until he saw for himself, but when he did see and believe our Lord said to him, "Blessed are they that have not seen yet have believed" (John xx., 29). Faith in God brings all blessing to the believer and the enjoyment of it, but unbelief shuts the door. Contrast Gen. xv., 6; Dan. vi., 23; Luke i., 45; Acts xxvii., 25; Mark v.. 30; John xi., 40, wi;h Lake i., 20. 62; Beb.iil., 12; iv.. 1-3. Do we who profess to believe in Christ Jesus give any kind of a true report concerning Him. that fomi may be led to come and see for themselves? We surely cannot tell it all. 8. "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand oontinnallv before tbee, and that hear tby wisdom. How happy should those b^? who are accepted in Christ and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him, who an made partakers of the diviue nature and of the glory to be revealed (Epb. i., 1, 3, 6, 7; I Pet. v.. 1; II Pet. i., 4), who are joint heirs with Christ,* laborers together with God, and here in Christ's stead as His embassadors (I Cor. iii., 9; II Cor. v., 20). But are we? 9. "Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made He the king to do judgment and justice." In II Chron. ix., 8, the record is "to set thee on His throne to be king for the Lord thy God." 8ee also I Chron. xxix.. 23, "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David, his father." The only throne on earth ever called the throne of the king of Israel, and at rusalem shall yet be the throne of the Lord, and a King shall sit on it who will execute judgment and justice in the earth, and In those days all the earth shall send gifts to that King and shall worship Him (Jer. iii., 17,18; xxiii., 5, 6). 10. "And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones. If wo value a talent of gold at 825,000 which is probaole a low valuation, wt have here a gift of S3,000,000 in gold, not to mention the spices and precious stones. The next verse speaks of ?cid from Ophir, and verse 14 says that 606 talents (516,650,000) came every year, besic?'the wea'th of verse 15. Let it all suggest to us the "exceeding abundantly above all wo ask or think" ot the grace and glory of our God. The Queen of Sheba was emptied of her treasures, but went home filled with the roval bounty of Solomon (verse 13), even all her desire and more. Christ Jesus will do greater things ler us.? Lesson Heloer. Te:uiPi<?ee'i? Centennial. It is announced that the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which will be opened at Nashville ou May 1, 1?'J7, will cost ab'jul $1,000,000. All the money necessary has been subscribtd. 4 I REV. DR. TAIJIAGET dvvutva via niksn/wtdqui nv tow gt/li l/A 1 a tkoi J u A m. XIU NOTED DIVINE. Subject: "A Passion of Souls." Text: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."?Romans is., a i A tough passage, indeed, for those who take Paul literally. When some of the old theologians declared that they were willing to be damned for the glory of God. they said what no one believed. Paul did not in the text mean he was willing to die forever to save his relatives. He used hyperbole, and when he declared, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh," he meant in the most vehement of all possible ways to deolare his anxiety for the salvation of his relatives and friends. It was a passion for souls. Not more than one Christian out of thousands of Christians feels it. All absorbing desire for the betterment of the physical and mental condition is very common. It would take more of a mathematician than I ever can be to calculate how many are, up 10 an anxiety that sometimes will not let them sleep nights, planning for the offlciency ot hospitals where the sick and wounded of body are treated, and for A 1-a oyc nuu ctur imiriimrics, nuu iux uwpouoaiioo and retreats where the poorest may have most skillful surgery and helpful treatment. Oh. it is beautiful and glorious this widespread and ever intensifying movement to alleviate and cure physical misfortunes. May God eiicourage aud help the thousands of splendid, men and women engaged in that work! But all that is outside of my subject today. In behalf of the immortality of a man, the inner eye, the inner ear, the inner capacity for gladness or distress, how few feel anything like th? overwhelming concentration expressed in my text. Rarer than four leaved clovers, rarer than century plants, rarer than prima donna, have been those of whcm it maybe said, "They have a passion for souls." You could count on the fingers and thumb of your left hand all the names of those you can recill who in the last?the eighteenth?century were so characterized. All the names of those you could recall in our time as having this passion for souls yo* jan count on the fingers and thumb3 of your right and left hands. There are many more such consecrated souls, but they are scattered so widely you do not know them. Thoroughly Christian people by the hundreds of millions tbere are to-day, but how few people do you know who are utterly oblivious to everything in this world except the redemption of souls? Paul had it when he wrote my text, and the time will come when the majoritv of Christians will have it, if this world is ever 1l*i? l nl...u ?U!/.k U V?a IU urz JULCU UUl KJi LUC OIUU^U 1X1 WUIV^U U UO0 been sinking and floundering lor near nineteen centuries, and the betterment had bet* ler begin with myself and yourself. When a Committee of the Society of Friends called upon a member to reprimand him for breaking some small rule of the society, the member replied: "I had a dream, in whioh all the friends had assembled to'plan some way to have our meeting house cleaned, for It was very filthy. Many propositions were made, but no conclusion was reached until one of the members rose and said, 'Friends. I think if each one would take a broom and sweep immediately around bis own seat, the meeting house would be clean.'" 80 let the work of spirjtuc.1 improvement begin around our own soul. Some one whispers ap from the ri??ht hand side of the pulpit and says, ''Will you please name some of the persons in our times who have this passion for souls?" Oh, no! That would be invidious and imprudent, and the mere mentioning of the names of such persons might "uuse in them spiritual pride, and then the Lord would have no more use for them. Some one whispers up from the left hand 3ide of the pulpit, "Will you not, then, mention among the people of th<* past some who had this passion for souls'?" Oh. yes! Samuel Rutherford, the Scotchman of 300 years ago ?his imprisonment at Aberdeen for his religious zeal, and the public burning of his book, "Lex Rex," in Edinburgh, and his unjust arraignment for high treason and other persecutions, purifying and sanctifying him bo that hit), works, entitled "Trial and Triumph of Faith" and "Christ Dying and rv mmr> ? ! MX Q<n<ift?n a XT { TV* nnl f " on/t nhrtT7Q L/iaWlUK OIUUGIO IV UlUiCOii} nuu} rtv/vTv all, bis 215 unparalleled letters showed that be had the passion forsouls; Richard Baxter, whose "Paraphrase of the New Testament" caused him to be dragged before Lord Jeffreys, who howled at him as "a rascal" and "sniveling Presbyterian" and imprisoned bim for two years?Baxter, writing 168 religious books, his "Call to the Unconverted" bringing uncounted thousands tnto the pardon of the gospel, and his "Saints' Everlasting Rest" opening heaven to a host innumsrable; Richard Cecil; Thomas a Kempis. writing his "Imitation of Christ" for all ages; Harlan Pige, Robert JMcCheyne, Nettleton, Finney anil more whom I might mention, the characteristic of whose lives was an overtowering passion for souls. A. B. Earl, the Baptist evangelist, had it. T. 3. Inskip, the Methodist evangelist, had it Jacob Knapp had it Dr. Bacbus, President of Hamilton College, hnd it And when told he had only half an hour to live said: "Is that so? Then take me out of my bed and place me upon my knees and let me spend that time in calling on God for the salvation of the world." And so he died upon his knees. Then there have been others whose names have been known only in their own family or neighborhood, and here and there you-think .of one. What unction they had in prayer! What power they had "in exhortation! If they walked into a home, every member of it felt a holy thrill, and if they walkad into a prayer meeting the dullness and stolidity instantly vanished. Oue of them would wake up a whole church. One of them would sometimes electrify a whole city. Rut the most wonderful one of that char acterization the world ever saw or heard or felt was a peasant In the Far East, wearing a plain blouse like an inverted wheat sask, with three openings?one for the nook ana the other two for the arms. His lather a wheelwright and hou?e builder and given to various carpentry. His mother at first under suspicion because of the circumstances of His nativity, and He chased by a Herodic mania out of His native land to live awhile under the shadows of the sphinx and pyramid of Gizeh, afterward confounding the L.L. D.:i of Jerusalem, tnen stopping the paroxysms of tempest and of madman. His path strewn with slain dropsies and catalepsies and ophthalmias, transfigured on one mountain, preaching on another mountain, dying on another mountain and ascending from another mountain?the greatest, tho loveliest, the mightiest, the kindest, the most solf-sacriflcing, most beautiful being whose feet ever touched the earth. Tell us, ye deserts who heard our Saviour's prayer; tell us, ye seas that drenched Hin witii your surf; tell us, ye multitudes who beard Him preach on deck, on Pencil, on hillside; tell us, Golgotha, who heard the stroke of the hummer on the splkeheads and the dying groan in that midnight tlmt dropped on midncon, did anyone like Jehus have thi3 passion for souls? But breaking right in upon me is the question, How cau we K?t something of this Pauline and Christly longing for saved immortalities? I answer, by bettor appreciating the prolongation of the soul's oxistenco compared with everything physical and material. How I hope that surgeon will successfully remove lhe cataract from that man'-j eye! it is such a smi thing to be blind. Let us pray while the doctor is busy witn the delicate*operation. Biit for how long a time will he be able togivo his patient eyesight? Well, if the patient be forty years of age. he will add to his hpopincss perhaps fifty years of eyesight, and that will bring tho man to ninety years, and it is not probable that he will live longer thau that, or that he will live so louir. But what is good eyesight for fifty years more as compared with clear vision "for tho soul n billion of centuries? I iiopc the effort to driv* back A L .1 e... -n?t I I Iw. U1U lypuoiu. IHV.T IJAJiXl 1IV.MIIC *>111 uc successful. Oo'l h?."p tho doctors! We will wait in great anxiety untii the fins of tlmt faver are extinguished, and wliea tho man rises from his pillow and walks out. with what heartiness v,*o wiil welcome him into tho fresh air anil thfc church and business ciicles! He is thirty years of n?e, and if he shall live sixty ye*.rs more that will make him ninety. But what an- sixty years raoru of earthly vigor coinprrod with tho soul's health ior h quadrillion millenniums?a millennium, z-.s yo'i know, a thousand years? This world, sincn fitted up f*?r man's" residou.'o. has existed about six thousand year.*. How much looker will it exist? We will. suppose it shnU l.u-t as much longer, which is very doubtful. Thai will make its exist unco twelve thou -and yp.sr*. But what are or will bis twelve thousand year? compared Willi the eternity prosculng- these y-*urs and m the eternity following them?time, as com- t pareii to eternity, like the drop of the night I dew shaken from the top of a grass blade by i the cow's hoof on its way afield this morn- \ in*?, as compared with Mediterranean and c Arabian and Atlantic and Pacific watery do- 11 minions! ? . ' . A stranger desired to purchase a farm, but * the owner would hot sell it?would only let * it. The stranger hired it by lease for only { one crop, but he sowed acorns, and to ma- ' ture that crop 300 years were necesary. That 4 was a practiced deception, but I doceive you 1 not when I tell you that the crop of the soul } takes hold of unending at?e9. I see the author of my text seated in the 1 house of Gaius, who "entertained him at ' ToHnth not tnr from the overbanjdnR for- ' tress of Acro-Corinthus, and meditating on the longevity of the soul and getting more and more agitated about its value and the awful risk some of his kindred were running concerning it, and he write,? this letter containing the text, which Cbrysostom admired so much he had it read to him twice a week, and among other things he says those daring and startling words of my text, "I could wish tbat myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Another way to get something of the Pauline longing for redeemed immortalities is by examining the vast machinery arranged to save this inner and spiritual nature. That machinery started to revolve on the edge of the garden of Eden, just after the cyclone of sin prostrated its sycamores and tamarisks and willows and will not cease to revolve until the last soul of earth shall I JJ !?? I ?1 J t Kui nu vi no iaoi oiu auu ouiui iuo uua?v?.j Eden. On that stupendous machinery for soul saving the patriarch put his band, and prophet his haod, and evangelist his hand, and apostle his hand, and Christ His hand, and almost every hand that touched it became a orusbed hand. It was the most expensive machinery ever constructed. It cost more to start it and has cost and will cost more to keep it running than all the wheels that ever made revolution on this planet. That machinery turned not by ordinary motive power, but ?y force of tears and blood. To connect its banis of influence' made out of human and Christly nerves with all parts of the earth millions of good men and women are now at work and will be at work until every wilderness shall become a garden, and every tear of grief shall be a tear of joy, and the sword of divine victory shall give the wound to the old dragon that shallsond him bowling to the,pit, the iron gate clanging against him. never again to open. All that and infinitely more to save the soul! Why, it must be a tremendous boui?irmuouuuua iui ^uuu v/x nomouuvu^ < for evil, tremendous for happiness or tre- I mendous for woe. I Put on the left side of the largest sheet of i paper that ever came from paper mill a sin- i gle unit, the figure 1, and how many olphers l would you have to add to the right of that 1 figure to express the soul's value, each cipher i adding tenfold? Working Into that scheme I of the soul's redemption, how many angels 1 of God descending and ascending! How 1 many storms swooping on Lake Galilee! How i many earthquakes opening dungeons and i striking cataclysms through mountains,from 1 top to base! What noonday sun was put on i retreat! What omnipotence lifted and what I Godhead was put to torture! All that for : the9oal. No wonder that Paul, though pos- j sessing great equipoise of temperament when ; he thought what his friends and kindred J were risking concerning their souls, flung 1 aside all his ordinary modes of speech, argument and apt simile, and bold metaphor, and : learned allusion, as unfit to express how he felt, and seizing upon the appalling hyper- i bollsm of my text cries eut, "I could wish 1 myself accursed"?that is. struck of the thunderbolts of the omnipotent God, sunk 1 to unfathomed depths, chained into servitude to Abaddon and thrust into furnaces whose fires shall never burn out?if only those whom I love might now and forever be saved. Mind you, Paul does not say, "I do wish." He says. "I could wish." Even in the agony he felt for others he did not lose his balance. "I could wish myself acoureed." I could, but I do not. Only one being that ever lived was literally willing to give up heaven for perdition, and that was the divine peasant whom 1 mentioned a few moments ago. He was not only willing to exchange dominions of bliss for dominions of wretcheduess, but He did so, for, that He forsook heaven.' witness the stooping star and all those who saw His miracles of meroy, and that He actually entered the gates of the world of perpetual conflagration the Bible distinctly declares. He did not say, with Paul, "I could," but He said, "I will, I do," and for the souls of men He "descended into hell." Iu this last 'half of the last decade of the nineteenth century the temperature In 'the churches is very low, and most of the piety i would spoil if it were not kept on ice. And, taking things as they are, ordinary Christians will never reach the point where the outcry of Paul in the text will not seem like extravaganza. The proprieties in most of the churches are so fixed that all a Christian is expected to do on Sunday is to get up a little later in the morning than usual, put on that which is next to his best attire?not the very best, for that has to be reserved for the levee ?enter the church with a stately step, bow his head, or at any rate shut nis eyes in prayer time, or close them enough to look sleepy, turn toward the pulpit with holy dullness while the preacher speaks, put a 5 cent piece?or, if the times be hard, a 1 cent piece?on the collection platter, kind of shovinwjf/Irtirn nnrltrthe other coin so that it might be, for all that the usher knows, a $5 gold piece,nnd then, after the benediction, go quietly home to the biggest repast of all the week. That Is all the majority of Christians are doing for the rectification of this planet, and they will do thut until, at the olose of lite, the pastor opens a black book at the head of their casket and reads. ''Blessed are the dead who die fa the Lord. They rest from their labors and their works do follow them." The sense of tne ludicious is so thoroughly developed in me that when I hear these Scripture words read at the obsequies of one of the religious do nothings in. the churches it is too much for my gravity. "Their works do follow them." What work? And in what direction cfo they follow them?up or down? And do they follow on foot or on the wing? And how long will th>-y follow before they catch up? More appropriate funeral text , for all such religious dead beats wonld be [ the words in Matthew xxv., 8: "Our lamps are gone out." One would think that suoh Christians would show at least under whose , banner they are enlisted. In one of the Napoleonic wars a woman?Jeannette by name?took her position with the troops and shouldered a broomstick. The colonel said, j "Jeannette, why do you take such a useless weapon into the ranks?" "Well," she said. "I can show, at least, which side I am on. " Now. the ot ject of this sermon is to stir at least one-fourth of you to uo ambition for that which my text presents in blazing vocabulary?namely, a passion for soule. To ; prove that it is possible to have much of that spirit, I bring the consecration of 2990 foreign , missionaries. It is usually estimated that there are at least 3000 missionaries. I make a liberal allowance and admit there may be 10 lad missionaries out of the 3000, but I do i not believe there is one. All English au'l American merchants leave Bombay, Calcutta, Amoy and Pekin a% soon as they ( make their fortunes. Why? Because no < European or American in his senses would \ stay in thp.t climate after monetary induce- ] ments have ceased. Now the missionaries ; there are put down on the barest necessities, ( and most of them do not lay up SI in twenty , years. Why, then, do they stay In those , lands of Intolerable heat and cobras and j raging fevers, the thermometer sometimes ; playing at 130 and 140 degrees of oppressive- j uoss, 12,000 miles from hom^, because of the unhealthy climate and the prevailing im- \ moralities of those regions compelled to send their children to Eugland or Scotland o.America, probably never to see them again? O blessed Chris:! Can it be anything but a passion for soul/? Ii. is easy to understand ! all this fraijuent depreciation of foreign mis- ' sionaries when you know that they are all opposed to the opium traffic, and that inter- J feres with commerce, and then the mission- . aries are moral, and that is an offense to ' many of the merchants?not all of them, but ' I than. ulin llhui.nt from all hOm6 * IU1H1J Ui L.v-.u restraint, arc* so immoral that we can maKu only faiut allusion to the monstrosity of their abominations. Ob. i would like to be it the pate of heaven wtien those mission- ' aries go in to see how they will have the pick of coronets anil thrones and mansions on the best streets of heaven. We who hi??e had easy pulpits and loving congregations, j entering heaven, will, in my opinion, have ( to take our turn ana wait for the Christina j workers who. amid physical sufferings and menial privation uuu cutuuuuvu. squalor, have done their work, and on the principle that in proportion as ono has been j self-sncri(Icing and suft'ering for Christ's sake ou earth will he their celestial preferment. Who is that younq; woman on ttie worst treet in Washington. New York or London, : Bible in hand and a little package in wnich irq small vials of medlolnes, and another jundle in which are bisouits? How dare sh? Isk herself among those "roughs," and vhere is sbe going? She is one of the queens >f heaven hunting up the sick and hungry; tnd before night she will have read Christ's 'Let not your heart be troubled" in eight or en places, and counted out from those vials he right number of drops to ease pain, and ?iven food to a family that would otherwise mve had nothing to eat to-day, and taken he measure ot a dead child that she may prepare for it a shroud?her every act of dndness for the body accompanied with & >eneJiction for the soul. You se? nothing >ut tho filthy street along which she .walks md the rickety stairs up which she climbs, >ut she is accompanied by an unseen cohort >f angeld with drawn swords to defend her, ind with garlands twisted for her victories ill up and down the tenement house disricts. I tell jou there was not so much excitement when Anne Boleyn, on her vay to her coronation, found the Thames itirred by fifty gilded barges, with brillant flags, in which hung small bells nang by each motion of the wind, noblenen standing in scarlet, and wharf spread vlth cloth of gold, and all the. gateways lurmounted by huzzaing admirers, and the itreets hung with crimson velvet, and trumjetsand cannon sounding the jubilee, and Lnne, dressed in surcoat of silver tissue, and )row gleaming with a oirclet of rubles, and imid fountains that poured Rhenish wine >assed on to Westminster Hall and rode In >n a caparisoned palfry, Its hoofc clattering >n the classic floor, and, dismounting, )ass id into Westminster Abbey, and between he choir and high altar was oro vned queen imid organs and choirs chanting the "Te 3eum"?I say tnere was not much in au hat glory which daziles the? eyes of history vhen it Is compared with the heavenly reteption which that ministering spirit of the >ack alley shall receive when sho goes up to soronatlon. When she goes In, what wel:ome on the river of life, Its banks of pearl Ined with splendors seraphic and In temples )f eternal worship, whose mnsio Is comnanded by swing of archangelio scepter and >efore thrones where sit those ftho have eijjnfld a thousand years but have just )egun their dominion. Poor Anne Boleyn. n two years after that pageant, lost life and brone by one stroke of headsman, but those vho on earth bRve a divine passion for souls ihall never lose their thrones. "They shall :oif?n forever and ever." But, after all, the best way to cultivate hat divine passion for souis is to work for heir salvation. Under Ool save one, and Fou will want right away to save two. Save :wo, and you will want to save ten. Save ten, and you will want to save twenty, tsave twenty, and you will want to save a hundred. Save a hundred, and you will want to save Bveryb". dy. And what is the use of talking ibout it when the place to begin is here ana the time is now? And while you pray I will In one minute tell all there is of it. Full pardon for the worst man on earth if he will believe in Christ, whose blood oan Instantly wash away the foulest crimes. Full oomfort for the most harrowing distress that ever jrushed a human being. At your first moment of belief, a process by whioh the whole universe of God will turn clear iround for your eternal advantage. For the mere asking, if the asking be in earnest, and pan throw everything into that asking, complete solace and helpfulness for the few rears of this life, and then a wide open oeaven which you can reach In less time than it takes me to pronoance that imperial word, flashing with all the joy that an infinite God knows how to bestow?heaven. In this world Qod never does His b?st He can bang on the horizon grander mornings than have ever yet been kindled, and ralnh/\m cha olrrr vlfh rlnhor nnlnrft than have ever been arched, and attune the ooeans to' more majestic doxologlestban have ever yet been attained; bat as near as I can tell, and I speak it reverently, benven is tbe place where God has done His best. He can build no greater joys, lift no mightier splendors, roll no loftier anthems, march no more imposing processions, build no greater palaces, and spread out ana interjoin and wave no more transporting magnificence. I think heaven is the best heaven God can construct, and It is all yours for the serious asking. How do you like the offer? Do you really think it la worth accepting? If so, pray for It. Get not up from that pew where you are sitting, uor move one inch from where you are standing, before vou get a full title for it, written in the blood of the Son of God, who would have all men come to life present and life everlasting. If you have been in military life, you know what soldiers call the "long rolL,r All the drums beat It because the enemy is approaohlng, and all the troops must immediately get into line. What scurrying nround the oamp and putting of the arms through the straps of the knapsack, and saying good-by to" comrades you may never meet again! Some of you Germans or Frenchmen may have heard that long roll just before seaan. Some of you Italians may have heard that long roll just before Bergamo. Some of you Northern and Southern men may have heard It just before the battle of the Wilderness. You know its atirrlng and solemn meaning, and so I sound the long roll to-day. I beat this old gospel drum tnat has ft* centuries been calling thousands to take their places in line for this battle, on one side of which are all the forces beatific and on the other side all the forces demoniac. Here the long roll call, "Who is on the Lord's side?" "Quit yourselves like men." In solemn oolumn march for God and happiness and heaven. So glad am I that I do not have to "wish myself acouited" and throw away my heaven that you may win your heaven, but that wo may huve a whole convention of heavens?heaven added to heaven, heaven built on heaven. And while I dwell upon the theme I begin to experience in my own poor self that which I tafee to be something like a passion for souls. And now unto God, the only wise, the only good, the only great, be glory forever. Amen! CANADA'S MINIRAL WEALTH. Discoveries of Corandrnin and Aabestof and a New Gold Field. A valuable discovery of a stone called "corundum," whioh Is akin to emery, has" been found in the County of Hastings, Canada. This stone is now imported at a cost of about $80 per ton. Dr. Dawson, Direuioi of the Geological 8urvey, has reported the discovery to B. W. Scott, aoting Minister of the Interior. Mr. Soott learned that the land upon which the discovery was made belonged to the crown lands, and he therefore bad it withdrawn from settlement. It is said that there are other veins of the same stone extending beyond tne crown lands. Mr. Scott bas also been notified of another discovery In the Yukon Distriot. Mr. Ogilvle of the Geo logical Survey, who is there at present looking into tbe delimitation of the boundary between Canada and the United States, writes to the Minister from Fort Cudabay, reporting large discoveries of gold on Bonanza Creek, a branch of the Birej Kiondik*, shown on the map as Deer Biver. which joins tbe Yukon above Fort Beliance about a hundred miles east of the Canadian boundary. Two hundred olalms nave ai- | ready been staked out. Tbe Provincial Department of Mines ol Ontario has reoeived a sample of asbestos found on the line of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway In South Renfrew. The asbestos Is of tbe hornblende variety, and <i test shows thut it contains .68 or two-thirds of r>no per cent, of water, whereas tbe asbestos of commerce contains ihirteen or fourteen percent. When beatod and tbe water is drivon oat ordinary asbestos will crumble readily, but this sample is not affected by Ore. With the nsbostos was sent a sample of soapstone of goo.t quality, and the deposits }f this mineral are said to be unlimited. Huge Iiinil Tract In Litigation. The ownership of a tract of land 40,000,00C teres in extent, all the way from Springfield. tfo.,tothe Pacific Ocean, is in litiigatlon, :he case being before the United 8tates 8u^rsme Court. Robert Mingus claims the and, and so does the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company. If the claims of the lailroail company should be sustained, all af the patents Usued by the United 8tates ind entries allowed to settlers for parts of such lands since 1S8C would be nullified, rue Supreme Court of the .Territory has de- [ ' "I in fnvor ol Mint?US. Legacies to a University.] Legacies aggregating 84,000.000 have been eft to the University of California on coalition that the State appropriates $500,000 ;or new buildings. A Polyglot Tramp. A tramp now serving ninety days at Kern City. Cal., speaks six languages, including Chinese. Four cakes of manufactured ice, averaging more than 8000 pounds each, were taken from the vats of an orange (Texas) company. TEMPERA.NCE TEZ DBUNKABD S LA3CE5T. f According to tfae Michigan Christian Ad- ' i rotate, the following poem was written by * Ihe inte Bichard Lyle, '"one of ?he brightest ', members of the New Orleans Bar, ani it M u* the Dathetic story of his own rained life."/ ' .V% * .? I have been to the funeral of all my hop6$ And entombed them one by one, Not a word was said, Not a tear was shed, + When the mournful task was done. Slowly and sadly I turned me round S And sought my silent room, And there alone, Bv my cold hearthstone, I wooed the midnight gloom. And. as the night-wind's deepening shade Lowered above my brow, I wept o'er the days When manhood's rays Were brighter far than now. 1 The dying embers of the hearth 1 Gave out their flickering light, Uj As if to gay, j This is the way i Thy life shall close in night. I wept aloud, in anguish sore, O'er the blight of prospects fair, While demons laughed And eagerly quaffed My tears like nectar rare. Through hell's red ball an eoho rang, M And echo loud and long; As in the boWl T nlnncptH mv anil t In the night of madness strong. sj! And there, within that sparkling glatt, ,/j I knew the canse to He, This all men own '^9 From zone to zone. Yet millions drink and die. ^ - i-itrcS ICEW yOHK'8 DRINK BILL. | "This is a paper for the statement of fact! rather than the exposition cf theories. It U .'-M well to understand this before I take up the next part of my subject, namely, the co?t . ^ of the wines and liquors annually drank la .- ' i the metropolis. New York. The thirsty among those who care for ale and beer annually stow away 4,691,464 barrels of malt liquor, ol . a trifle more than two and a hall baiTels pei ' ; 4 Inhabitant, counting them all from bab? to the grandsire. If all of this beer had beqn : ; & sold at five cents a glass the public would have paid for It $40,366,590140. But not all^rJ-':^ is sold that way, so that probably New York ""M does not spend for beer more than 180,000;- ' :/ > 000 a year. But the thirsty people makeup % for this moderation by an immoderate con- y'f sumption of wine and spirits. In these they *? spend 4btut 490,000.000 annually, and incidentally support 8500 places where " intoaJ. ' * cants are sold. Cnrrying the figures out we \ . $ see that each inhabit ant of New York spends S66K each year for drink, or about eighteen , cento a day. Now in the whole country, in ' which there are 232,295 drinking-places, there is spent each year for spirits, trine and i :'i beer 4962.192,854, or about 4000 per saloon, 1 or about S15.74 per capita,"?John G. Speed, d in Home Journal. * ,,rf] > Bib OWN BUBI5XU8. . j "If a man wants to drink whisky that If ,,-33 his business," says the saloon apologist. , ' *j Let's see. When Bob Poland and Coori .y~ Parker were drinking in Heflin, Ala., last !j" Saturday night, and in their spree ran a car of the Southern Bail road off the switch And out on the main track down the grade, till It } stopped on a high trestle, it became the . Southern Railroad's "business." ? And when a loaded freight train oame along and rushed into the car, causing a' $100,000 wreck, destroying much talUAbto * " j merchandise, it beoame the bustneas of a 1 great many merchants and shippers, as well . as the railroad. And when three dead bodies were dug out from under the wreck, it became the busi? ' '> ue*s of some wives and orphans. And when the taxpayers are called upon s to support the families whose natural pro- , > j riders have thus been suddenly-taken away, ' *" 1 it will becodie Jhe business of several other "J people. One man's drinking often becomes the J business of feveral hundreds or thousands of people, and the man who cannot perceive this fact ought to be sent at once to an insti- . tutlon for the education of the feeble minded.?Motive. -V;' DBINK WATEB. . The Pittsburg Dtspatoh quotes an enjinent physician, Dr.' B. H. Dalton, as recommending, on the ground of health, the method- V. ioal use of "cold water" as a beverage, and as fraying that it will prove the means of augmenting-the chance of longevity; that it is of a soundly physiological origin, and is well supported by experience. Dr. Dalton r $ says that solid and dry as the human body KnJ appears, water constitutes more than one- . fourth its bulk, and all the functions of life ore lenlly carried on in a water bath, and al- > though the sense of thirst may be trusted to > call fox a draught of water when required, y the fluid can be imbibed advantageously for - many reasons besides merely satisfying thirst. He maint:ilns that the habit ol ' drinking water in moderate quantities be- /< ''A ween meals contributes to health, and indi- 1 cates the fact that those who visit health re- 1 sorts for the purpose of imbibing the water i ?f mineral springs might profit by staying at home and drinking more water and iesa whisky. There is no need of using alcoholic beverages of any kind, BUT THEY ALL DBIXX. It is well known that at certain central .'.'i agenclei a record is kept of the name, position, and standing of nearly every business man in country. Careful men are employed to collect this information; and it not only includes the amount of property which the / * parties are worth, but also their standing as regards punctuality, promptness, integrity, temperance, morals, etc. A number of years ago, it is stated, a firm of four men in Bos- I on were rated as "A 1." They were rich, I prosperous, younff, and prompt. One of I ihem had the curiosity to see how they were I rated, and found these facts on the book and I was satisfied: but at the end it was written I "but theyail drink." J3e thought it was a 1 good joke at the time; bat a few years later jJ two of them were dead, another was a drunk- / ard, and the fourth was poor and living ffl partly on charity. That one little note at the end of their rating was the most impor- 9 tant and significant of all the facts collected and embodied in their rating.? Christian. rum's revenue. m No man ever made himself rich drinking whisky. If he became rioh, or remuined 9 rich, It was in spite of the whisky if be was V in the habit of drinking. No city ever be- fl ?ame rich by means of saloons and breweries. Q However high the tax was made on these X institutions, the consequent police and prifr on and hospital expenses far outran all the M income from thfBe sources. It is tho most absurd proposition that a thing which im- 1 poverishes a man can enrich a city or a Na- ' fl uoi). rne Jiquor ousinessis ror tne nnanciaj, moral and physical deterioration of all those under its influence. THE BESCLT OF I.NTEMPEBA5CB. Some time ago we saw three wagons goinu alo^gihe street, in each of which was a number of convicts, says the Father Mathew Journal. In a:l there were perhaps seventylive convicts, and we could not help thinking that were it not for intemperance, many, if not most, of these poor men would be in tlieir own houses, instead of being hauied along to prison or to the rock pile. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. When .a man's credit is" good at the bar il is often not good at the grocery store. Drink has blasted more homes and broken more hearts than wars or famine or pestilence. Every woman who has to live with a Jrunkeu husband* kaovvs tHat the devil is stilt loose. One of tbe greatest obstacles in the way of the temperance reform is the use of wine and An tlifl f o hi ao nf fKa nrnll.tA^A UUUJ UU I Uw UlUICO VI IUU ITWiriV-UW? Drinking is a sin, not in degree, but iriTt--.. self. ( 1, /* If sins of to-day could be pictured truthfully, how consistent would seem the character that condems the drunkard to the streets, yet encourages the use of the social glass. A Louisville lawyer, one of the ablest men. . at the bai, who served on bench, and is a brother of one of the United States' Supreme Court Justices, went to the city almshouse a few days ago as a last hopo of cu ring himself of the liquor habit. _ ' ^'*5 "'to.