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WOLVES OF THE SEA. From dusk until dawn they are hurrying on. Unfettered and fearless they flee; From morn until eve they plunder and thieve? The hungry white wolves of the sea! [With never a rest, they race to the west, To the Orient's rim do they run; By the berg and the floe of the northland they go And away to the isles of the 9un. They wail at the moon to the desolate dune Till the air has grown dank with their breath; They snarl at the stars from the treacherous bars Of the coasts th^t are haunted by death. They grapple and bite in a keen, mad delight 'As they feed on the bosom of grief; And one steals away to a cave with his I prey And one to the rocks of the reef. TlTifc-h fprtfVi r?n thf?ir !in? thpv follow I the ships, Each striving to load in the chase; Since loosed by the hand of the king their band They have known but the rush of the race. They are shassgy and old, yet as mighty and bold As when God's freshest gale set them free; Not a sail is unfurled in a port of the world But is prey for the wolves of the sea! Herbert Bashford,. in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. ^ TAKING HIS ADVICE. ^ MIL SHELDON* was the principal merchant in the important manufacturing town nf Tnrmonf TTp tvn? v? . ?proud of his wealth, but he was still more proud of the fact that he had made It all himself, aud his pride was greatest because he had made It by never allowing anybody to get ahead of him. "That's the secret of success in life, Harry," he said, one day, to his favorite clerk. "Sharp's the motto, if you wish to rise. I don't mean you should cheat; that, of course, is both .wrong and ungentiemanly." (Mr. Sheldon prided himself, also, on being what he called "a gentleman," and above all little meannesses.) "But alwovs be wide-awake, and never let anybody cheat you. I've noticed, by the \?ye, that you've seymed rather downhearted lately. If it's because you'.^e your fortune yet to make, don't despair) but follow my advice. An opening will come at some time for something better than a clerkship, and though I shall be sorry to lose you, jet I'll give you up, if it's for your interest." "Thank you," said Harry, apparently not a bit cheered up by this cool .way of being told he had nothing to expect from Mr. Sheldon; "but it's not exactly that. I suppose I shall get along somehow." "What is it. my dear boy. then? I really take an interest in you. as you know"?and he did, so far as words were concerned. "Perhaps I can give you ;some advice." "Well," said Harry, with some hesitatic|p, "I'm in love, and " "In love!" exclaimed the rich merchant "In love, and with only a clerk's salary to marry on. It will never donever do, Harry. Marriage for one like you is fastening a- millstone round your neck, unless, indeed"'?and he stopped, as If a bright thought had struck him?"unless, indeed, the girl is rich." "She is rich, or will be, I suppose," answered Harry, "for her father is a .wealthy man. But that's just the difficulty. Her father would never let her marry a poor man. and she won't marry without his consent." "What a miserable tyrant!" said Mr. Sheldon. "If I was the lover, Harry, I'd run off with her. I'd checkmate the old curmudgeon in that way." and he chuckled at the imaginary triumph he would achieve. "Ton my soul. I would! I never, as I told you. let anybody take a rise out of me." "But would that be honorable?" (irrAnnMnKl/v<2 T xiuuui uwitr; x 9ii i cvcijiutu^ ian iu love and war? I thought you had some pluck, Harry. How- I should like to see the stingy old hulk rave and stamp about on his gouty toes? for he must be gouty?when he heard of your elopement!" And he laughed till his portly sides shook at the picture he had conjured up. "He'd probably never forgive me," said Harry, dejectedly. "And then what could I do. with a wife brought up to every luxury, and only a poor clerk's salary to support her on?" "Never forgive you? Trash and nonsense! They always do forgive. They can't help it. B<??idcs." with a confidential wink. "I think I know your man. It's that skinflint Meadows. I've heard of your being sweet on his. daughter. She's a pretty minx. though she is his child. Oh. you needn't deny it. I saw how you hung about her at our party the other night; and when I joked about it with my daughter the next morning she as good as admitted that it was true, saying it would be a very good match, for you. Now. I owe old- Meadows a grudge. He tried to do me in those railway shares last winter, and I mean to pay him for it. somehow. I tell you what I'll do. I musn't ask. mind you. who the girl is. Mum must be the word. I mustn't, of course. bt> known in the affair; but I'll Rive leave of absence for a month and a check for ?50 to pay for your wedding trip if you'll make a runaway match. Is it agreed? Well, there's my hand on it Here's the check. Egad! Won't the old rascal howl when he hoars how we've done him!" Harry seemed to hesitate, however, and it was not till Mr. Sheldon, eager , to see his old commercial rival put at a disadvantage, had urged him again and again, and promised to gland by him. that he finally consented, and took the check which his employer persisted in forcing upon him. The next morning Mr. Sheldon came down to breakfast in high glee, for a note had reached him just as he .was shaving, which ran as follows: "Dear Sir 1 have, with much difficulty. persuaded her to elope. It was not, however, till I showed her your cbcck that sbe vould consent to do co. She said that she was sure you would not recommend anything that was wrong; that you would advise her as if you were her own father, and she hopes you will stand by us. We shall be married to-morrow, before Mr. Meadows is up. Very thankfully, , "Harry Conrad." * The old gentleman brought the note with him to the table, opened it out before him, adjusted his spectacles and read it over and over again. "I'd give a ?10 note," he said chuckling, "to see the old fellow's face when he hears how Harry has done him." It was the custom of Mr. Sheldon to read his newspaper at. breakfast, while waiting for his only child and daughter, who. a little spoiled by overindulgence, was generally late. But this morning Matty was later I than ever. The banker had read all the foreign, as well as the home news, and even reperused Harry's note and still she had not made her appearance. "The lazy puss!" he said, at last Then he looked up at the clock. "Half an hour late! Now. this is really too bad. John!" he cried, addressing the man servant at' the sideboard, "send and see why Miss Sheldon doesn't | come down. Tell her." with a severe | air. "I'm tired of waiting." I John came back in about five minutes looking very much flustered. "If you please, sir," lie stammered, "Miss Sheldon's not in her room, and the maid says that the bed looks as if it hadn't been slept in all night." The rich merchant's jaw fell. He started up. with a cry of acrony, [ to go and see. But he was prevented by ttie footman appearing at the door with a telegram. "A telegram!" cried the merchant, unfolding it with trembling hands. "What can it mean? Has she been found dead anywhere?" This was the telegram: "Dear Father?Harry and I were married at eight o'clock this morning. I would not consent to an elopement till Harry assured me you had advised it. and had shown me your check as nrnnf Ha sjivs vou promised to stand l/tvv" ?- ?* - ? by us, and I know you pride yourself on never breaking a promise. We Trait for your blessing. Matty." "Well, I never!" ejaculated Mr. Sheldon, when he had recovered breath. "The impudent, disobe " But here he stopped?stopped, and mopped his bald head, which, in his excitement, had broken out into great drops of perspiration. He remembered that he had himself advised Harry to elope, and that, if the story got wind, he would be the laughing-stock of the town, including?hardest cut of all?Mr. Meadows. He remembered, too. that he had but one child, and that she was all in all to him. So he accepted the inevitable and telegraphed back: "You may come home, and the sooner the better, so as to keep the fifty pounds for pin-money. Tell Harry he's too sharp to remain a clerk, and that I take him to-day into partnership. Only he must remember that partners never tell tales out of afhnni Ood bless you! H. Sheldon." The runaways returned by the next train. The marriage proved, too, an eminently happy one. The story never got out. We only tell it now in confidence.?Woman's Life. t Severe Treatment. The noise made by the burglar In the Ferguson pantry, slight as it was, disturbed the light sleeper is the bedroom not far away, and the midnight marauder was surprised a moment later to find himself covered with a big revolver in the hands of a determined looking man in a long, white robe. "I hain't done notliin' but eat a few cold victuals, mister." stammered the burglar. "I see," sternly replied George Ferguson. "you have been eating the remains of a strawberry shortcake my wife made for dinner last night. Do you know what I'm going to do with you?" "Turn me over to the police, I s'pose," gasped the helpless thief. "Worse than that," said Ferguson, with a ferocious grin. "I'm going to make you eat a quart of health food. It's a new kind my wife heard of and fixed up for us yesterday, and it's LOOKING AHEAD FROM THE 1 before, and was marteed by sis boats and buoys stationed at intervals oi little more than six knots, the total : distance to be gone over twice, oul I and in. The path laj directly across > ' - ' v v"; I pretty dry eating, uui you 11 eat ev?.* particle of it or I'll bore six holes through you. There it is, in that big bowl. Turn yourself loose on.it!" With grim determination the indignant householder stood over him till it was finished, after wliic-h he picked up the luckless scoundrel, who had fallen exhausted to the floor, and threw him out of the open pantry window. "It may kill him," soliloquized Mr. Ferguson somewhat remorsefully, as he crawled back into bed. without disturbing the rest of the family, "but a man who breaks into another man*' house takes bis life in bis bands anyway."?Chicago Tribune. A Short Lived Yacht. An Instance of the rapid passing of a racing yacht's ur^fulness is that of the grand old Defender, the ISO.* cup racer. It cost fully $100,000 to build her?not to run her; just to put her afloat ready for racing. Those who designed the yacht thought that a bronze bull with aluminum topsides would slide through the water with greater ceierity than any other combination of metals that could be devised for a hall. They so inform'd the syndicate that ordered her. But. they added, aluminum and bronze make a poor combination, aud ia course or time U18 ajummuui win iui# where it joins the bronze, and the Defender will be useless. But what mattered that? She was to be built tc defeud the cup; after she had defended it she might rot. or not as she pleased.?Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. Hmnor of Encll?h Red-Tape. Captain Oliver Young, of the English Navy, when a lieutenant on board Her Majesty's ship Beacon, in the Egyptian campaign, was laid up in hospital, and, being reported dead aud buried, a stone was erected to his memory at Suakim, where It still remains. It is one of the humors of English red-tape that the War Office 1 requested his executors to forward a guinea, the cost of engraving his name j upon the stone. ' gTHE'REGOltD-BKEAKM ? KAEE_DF THE ILLINOIS J S By Stanhope Sams, Special Corre- a 2> spoudent of Collier's Weekly. i SHE seemed almost conscious o the part she played?the grea battleship Illinois?as shi settled down to her race through the ocean path that had beer marked out for her to prove that sh( was the swiftest, and withal the mosi terrible, sea-fighter of her class afloat She gave the impression that tht: beauty and splendor she will some daj wear had been renounced, and thai here she was to exhibit- oniy net winged power of flight and her deadly strength. So stripped was she thai every muscle seemed laid bare, and she was *till begrimed with the sweat of labor that bad fitted her to run and win the race against a hundred rivals in the navies of the world. The Illinois, a dull, dingy, gray hulk, lay beyond the brooding islands and ii THE BATTLESI the busy harbor traffic of Boston, on the morning of June 12, awaiting the supreme moment that should see her transformed from a germ in iron and Bteel into a battleship. She had lain there for some time, and every hour her picked crew and her shrewd builders had made her fitter, and stronger and fleeter. They had let the grime and dirt accumulate on her decks, and Boil the creamy white of her gracefully curved sides; but they kept the-machinery clean and free, and as sleek with oil as the mouth of a milliongallon "sponter." The test of the ship bad been regarded by all as a dramatie climax toward which everything was moving. Her builders bad been preparing her for this moment ever since her launching on October 4, 189S; and the United States Navy, which was to reject or accept her on the result of the trial, had selected a trained body of offi:ers to witness the race. As if to mark the occasion as a sort of baptism }f fire, Rear-Admiral "Fighting Bob" Evans was placed at the head of this Board. On one, however, not even her builders or her crew, expected that she would run the marvellous race she did, eclipsing all records. Eut after she reeled off her wonderful speed of 17.31 knots so steadily, without fretting or quivering, Admiral Evans said she could easily be forced to eighteen knots. As soon as the members of the trial board, which consisted of Rear-Admiral Evans, Oaptain C. J. Train, Captain J. N. Hemphill, Commander .Charles Roelker, Lieutenant-Commander Charles E. Vreeland, Lieutenant-Commander T. S. Rodgers and Naval Constructor J. J. Woodward, had made a tour of inspection of the ship, she left her anchorage in President Roads and steamed slowly out of the bay. At first she moved with extreme caution, as if wary of the tortuous channels, and hor helm was in the hands of a harbor pilot. Then, as the wide seaway opened before her, she dropped the pilot, shook off her swaddling bands, as it were, scorned all guiding hands, save those of her masters, and turned her head toward Cape Ann for her life or death race. The course of thirty-three knots had been carefully measured the day 7"T f the deep btght In the shore-line < J Massachusetts and New Hampshii and ended off Cape Porpoise beyoc J Mount Agamenticus on the Mail ? t LOOKING OVER THE STERN?HOW TD BATTLESHIP STIBS UP THE WATE > IN HER BROAD WAKE. : coast The gunboat Hist was the firs stake, and the others were, in the) ' order, the training ships Lancaste : and Essex, the gunboats Newport an [ Peoria, and the naval tug Potomac. T a?? KnfAKA +V*n TlUnalc ronnho/1 flfln , 1A/U5 UCLV/4C lilt 4VUVMV<W N/-J/ Ann she had worked up to a hlg i speed, and when she swept aroun the first stake-boat and swung easil into the path she had to follow, sh 1 was making more than seventee: * y ^ ' "elk ?" BjgMfeg IIP ILLINOIS, THE FINEST WARS knots an hour. So smoothly did sb rush through the water, without vibn tion or clatter, that even the naval es perts could hardly believe she wa moving at that wonderful speed. Onl, the white beaten foam she dasbei wide and far from her bows, and lef in a broad -swath behind her, told 0 the tremendous power and speed wit which she was being driven. Admire Evans and President Calvin B. Orcut' of the Newport News Shipbuilding an Drydock Company, the builders, wh were on the bridge, Admiral W. 1 Sampson, who watched the first pai of the trial from a station near th wheel, and all the other naval officer present, held their watches to catc the exact time of the start and finis ? O xU - /tVt n n JP iKn e?V?ir\ trrnt* UL me insL lcai_u, as il iuc ouip uci a racehorse nearing the wire in , sharply contested heat. The gunboat Hist saluted as the bal tleship crossed the starting-line, an the great fighter snorted curtl through her siren whistle in acknow edgment. At this moment, as the Illinois lia attained almost her utmost pitch o speed, she presented a remarkabl spectacle, viewed from her own foi ward fighting-top. That she could and would make th speed required by her contract?si: teen knots an hour?was evident to a from the moment she righted hersel from the turn and moved down th line of stakeboats that dlsappeare in the direction of the Maine coast. The crew, from Captain Hanlon an helmsman and engineer down to th deckhands, regarded the race aa personal affair. Each one knew exaci ly what the Alabama and the Wlscoc sin had done, and, therefore, what th Illinois was expected to do, and eac: felt the heavy responsibility that rest ed alike on steering wheel, or engin snan, or sacu. in cum, ui vu a. smgr drop of oil. At the end of the half-course a sin gular thing happened. Until the rac la finished every power of the ship 1 guarded against mishap. For this res son, the ship usually swings about o: an easy helm, and reserves the test o her ability to turn in a small clrcl to the very end of the race. Bu there was some confusion in orders and the ship suddenly came about hard a-port, and then as suddenly an . ? 'O A \\ 'OP OF THE FORWARD TURRET. i j mysteriously swung hard to Btai '. I board, like a tipsy sailor. Then sh 1 swung again in a stort curve, an : came round, beautifully righting hei i self, and seemed t? lean back l&t >f the path for her spurt home. Sh< rt behaved exquisitely under the seven id strain, neither listing too much In th? le abrupt swings to starboard and tc port, nor throbbing or quivering undei ' the immense tension of her engines. L At the finish, the Illinois made th? = usual figure "8," to show how quicklj she can turn, and swept a complete ! circle within three times her own length. Then she dropped anchor again in President Roads, and the great record breaking, historic race had ended New records had been established, ^ and a new goal and prize set up for B all future battleships to strive for. The Illinois had made 17.31 knots. ~ But aB a fighter? It Is not enough it that a battleship can steam fast. She r must hi? fihlf* to vanauish her ad* if versary after running her down. Can d the Illinois do this? Let "Fighting Bob" Evans answer: e "The English sometimes say we b overburden our ships with armament, d That is what the fighting ship is for? y to carry all the guns she can effectue ally use. She is a floating battery, a and if she can hurl more weight of HIP AFLOAT. e metal than her enemy, and can hurl t- it as accurately and timely, she will > win, and the ship is built to win. s She must get to her fighting ground y quickly, and outfight her foe. d' "I believe the Illinois can do both, t I believe she is the fleetest ship of f her tonnage and fighting power on h the sea to-day and can whip anything il that can now force her to fight, and t, many battleships that she could force d to fight her 011 her own terms." o The Illinois was launched October \ 4, 1898, at the yards of the Newport t News Shipbuilding and Drydock Coine pany, Newport News, Va. Her hull is s 3GS feet long at load-water line, her h beam seventy-two feet, and draught h at normal displacement of 11,525 tons e is twenty-three feet and six Inches, a Her indicated horsepower is 10,000; her speed is 17.31 knots, and her t- coal supply is 1500 tons. She will a - - . e ON THE BRIDGE DUBINQ FULL SPEED. a t- have forty officers and 449 seamen l- and marines. She has triple-expan^ e sion twin-screw propelling engines, h capable of 120 revolutions a minute. Her ormor consists of a belt, four e feet below and three and a half feet e above the load line, of s'iiteen and onehalf and nine and one-half inches i- thickness. The turrets are protected e by seventeen inches of steel plate, s She carries two thirteen-inch guns t- each in her forward and aft turrets, a fourteen six-inch rapid-fire guds, and f a secondary battery of sixteen quicKe tiring six-pounders, and four quickt firing one-pounders, and two Colt and 5, two field guns. t. The speed of the Illinois in the trial d race, as given above (17.31 knots an _ hour) is the actual time made against tide and currents. Her corrected speed, calculated by the Board of Inspection and Survey, is much better17.45 knots. This great speed places hor otlll fnrthor in the lffld of Ameri* catt battleships, and is her warrant to rank pre-eminently as the fleetest 9taip of her class in the navies of the world.?Collier's Weekly. Golf Tendon the Late?t Malady. The golf tendon is the latest discovery of surgery. A Chicago doctor has recently written a description of the newly affected ligament. The tendon begins to make itself felt when the "duffer" throws his weight on his loft heel This causes a sudden and great strain on the golf tendon, which rebels under repeated strains, goes on a strike entirely, with the result that the "duffer" is compelled to take tc his bed as a sufferer from a novel malady. In some cases the rebellious tendon /mmnlAfAlrr nn/1 n TVO*?Mol uaa ouu^|/cu auu a puwui paralysis of the golfer's leg is said to have ensued. If the "duffer" persists, in spite of the protests of the tendon, and develops In time Into a golfer, he learns - that the most effective strokes are not r- given by standing on his heel, e Then he stands squarely, until the d swing of the final stroke carries his r- weight to the ball of his foot.?New o York Mall and Express. . ...... DR. TALMAGES SERMON SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. inbjeet: Religion a Great Refreshment ? Water For the Thirsty ? God a Fountain of Joy That Is Unappreciated ? An Everlasting Well of Gladness. I Copyright 190L1 Washington, D. C.?In this discourse Dr. Talmage represents religion as a jreat refreshment and invites all the world to come and receive it; text, Genesis xxix, ?, "We cannot until all the flocks be gathered together and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep." A scene in Mesopotamia, beautifully pastoral. A well of water of great value in that region. The fields around about it white with three flocks of sheep lying down waiting for the watering. I near their bleating coming on the bright air and the laughter of young men ana maid ana indulging in. rustic repartee. 1 iook off, and I see onier flocks of sheep coming. Meanwhile Jacob, a stranger, on an interesting errand of looking for a wife, comes to the well. A beautiful shepherdess comes to the same well. I see her approaching followed by her father's flock of sheep. It was a memorable meeting. Jacob married that shepherdess. The Bible account of it is, "Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept." It has always been a mystery to me what he found to cry about. But before that scene 0?curred Jacob accosts the shepherds and asks them why they postpone the slaking of the thirst of these sheep and why they did not immediately proceed to water them. The shepherds reply to the effect: "We are all good neighbors, and as a matter of courtesy we wait until all the sheep of the neighborhood come up. Besides that, this stone on the well's mouth is somewhat hrivy, and several of us take hold of it an. push it aside, and then the buckets and che troughs are filled, and the sheep are satisfied. We cannot until all the nocks are gathered together and till they roll the stbne from the well's mouth; than we water the sheep. Oh, this is a thirsty world! Hot for the head and blistering for the feet and parching for the tongue. The world's great want is a cool, refreshing, satisfying draft. We wander around, and we find the cistern empty. Long and tedious drought has dried up the world's fountain, but centuries ago a shepherd, with crook in the shape of a cross and feet cut to the bleeding, explored the desert passages of this world, and one day came across a well a thousand feet deep, bubbling and bright and opalescent, and looked to the north and the south and the east and the west and cried out with a voice strong and musical that rang through the ages, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" Now, a great flo^k of sheep to-day gather around this gospel well. There are a great many thirsty souls. I wonder why the flocks of all nations do not gather?why so many stay thirsty?and while I am wondering about it my text breaks forth in the explanation, saying, "We cannot until all the flocka be gathered together and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep." / If a herd of swine come to a well they angrily jostle each other for the preceHPn if a rl rniro nf no f f lo 'rtinmo frt nroll they hook each other back ffMfif the water, but when a flock olsh&p come, though a hundred of th^nr' shall be disappointed, they only express it by sad bleating, they come together peaceably. We want a great multitude to come around the gospel well. I know there are those who do not like a crowd; they think a crowd is vulgar. If they are oppressed for room in church, it makes them positively impatient and belligerent. We nave had people permanently leave church because so many people come to it. Not so did these Oriental shepherds. They waited until all the flocks were gathered, and the more flocks that came the better they liked it. And so we ought to be anxious that all the people should come. Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in; go to the rich and tell them they are indigent without the gospel of Jesus; go to the poor and tell them the affluence there is in Christ; go to thff blind and tell them of the touch that gives eternal illumination; go to the lame and tell them of the joy that will make the lame man leap like a hart. Gather all the sheep off all the mountains; none so torn of tne dogs, none so sick, none so worried, so dying, as to be omitted. Why not gather a great flock? All this city in a flock; all New York in a flock; all London in a flock; all the world in a flnolr This well of the gospel is deep enough to put out the burning thirst of the 1.600,000.000 of the race. Do not let the church by a spirit of exclusiveness keep the world out. Let down all the bars, swing open all the gates, scatter all the invitations, "Whosoever will let him come." Come, white and black. Come, red men of the forest. Come, Laplander out of the snow. Come, Patagonian, out of the south.' Come in furs. Come panting under palm leaves. Come one. Come alL Come now. As at this well of Mesopotamia Jacob and Rachel were betrothed, so this morning at this well of salvation Christ, our Shepherd, will meet you coming up with your long flocks of cares and anxieties, and He will stretch out His hand in pledge of His affection while all the heaven will cry out: "Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to meet Him. You notice that this well of Mesopotamia had a stone on it, which must be removed before the sheep could be watered, and I find on the well of salvation to-day impediments and obstacles which must be removed in order that you may obtain the refreshment and life of this gospel. In your case the impediment is pride of heart. You cannot bear to come to so democratic a fountain. You do not want to come with so many others. It is as though you were thirsty and you were invited to slake your thirst at the town pump instead of sitting in a parlor sipping out of a chased chalice which has just been lifted from a silver salver. "Not so many publicans and sinners. You want to get to heaven, but you must be in a special car, with your feet on a Turkish ottoman and a band of music on board the train. You do not want to be in com panv wun rustic jacoo ana nacnei ana to be drinking out of the fountain where 10,000 8heep nave been drinking before you. You will have to remove the obstacle of pride, or never find your way to the well. You will have to come as we came, willing to take the water of eternal life in any way and at any hand and in any kind of pitcher, crying out: "0 Lord Jesus, I am dying of thirst! Give me the water of eternal life, whether in trough or goblet. Give me the.water of life. I care not in what it comes to me." Away with all your hindrances of pride from the well's mouth! Here is another man frbo is kept back from this water of life by the stone of an obdurate heart, which lies over the mouth of the well. You have no more feeling upon this subject than if God had yet to do you the first kindness or you had to do God the first wrong. Seated on H)s Ian all these years. His everlasting arms sheltering you, where is your gratitude? Where is yoilr morning and evening prayer? Where are your consecrated lives? 1 say to you, as Daniel said to Belshazzarw "The God in whose hand thy breath is and all thy way thou hast not clorjiied." If you treated anybody as badly as you have treated God, you would have made 500 apologies ? yea, your whole life wouid Via vn hrnri n n riiinlntrv Thrnr* timpj a illiV you have been seated at God's table. Spring, summer, autumn and winter lie has appropriately appareled yiu. Your health from Him, your companion from Him, vour children from Him, your home from Him, all the bright surroundings of yout life from Him. There are men who are perfectly discontented. Unhappy in the past, unhappy to-day, to be unhappy forever unless you come to this gospel well. This satisfies the soul with a high, deep, all absorbing and eternal satisfaction. It comes, and it oners tne most unfortunate man so mucn of thi3 world as is best, for him and throws all heaven into the bargain. The wealth of Croesus and of all the Rothschilds is only a poor, iniset^ble shilling compared with the eternal fortunes that Christ offers you to-day. In the-Far East there was a king who used once a year to get on a scales, while on the other side I . ' ' . . . . /Ai r % the scales were placed gold and silver an? gems. Indeed enough were placed there to balance the king. Then at the close of the weighing all those treasures were thrown among the populace. But Christ to-day steps on one Bide the scales, and oa the other side are all the treasures of the universe, and He says, "All are yours?all height, all depth, all length, all breadth, all eternity; all are yours." We do not appreciate the promises of the gospel. When an aged clergyman was dying, * man very eminent in the church, a young theological student stood by his side, ana the aged man looked up and said to him, "Can't you give me some comfort in my, dying hour? "No," said the young man, "I can't talk to you on this subject. You know all about it and have known it so long." "Well," said the dying nwin, "just recite to me some promises." The young man thought a moment, and he came to this promise, "The blooa of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," and the nld man clanDed his hands and in his dy ing moment said: "That's ju3t the promise I have been waiting for, 'The blood of Jesua Christ cleanseth from all sin." Oh, the warmth, the grandeur, the magnificence of the promises! ' If I could gather all the griefs ot all sorts from these crowded streets and could put them in one scroll, neither man nor angel could endure the recitation. Well, what do you want? Would you like to have your property back again? "No," you say as a Christian man, "I was becoming arrogant, and I think tlat is why the Lord took it away. I don't want to have my property back." Well, would you have your departed friends back again? "No." you say, "I couldn't take tne responsibility of bringing them from a tearless realm to a realm of tears. I couldn't do it." Well, then, what do yoa want? A thousand voices in the audienc* / cry out: "Comfort! Give us comfort!" For that reason I have rolled away the 0 stone from the well's mouth. Come, all ye wounded of the flock, pursued of the wolves, come to the fountain where the Lord's sick and bereft ones have come. "Ah," says some one, "you are not old enough to understand my sorrows. You have not been in the world as long as I have, and you can't talk to me about my misfortunes in the time of old age." WelL I may not have lived as long as you, but I have been a great deal among old people, and I know how they feel about their fail- ? ." infe health and about their departed 1 e- ' J i-l?A lA?<t1i'naoa fit of anmA? irienus uuu auuut mc iuuuiui.ra w??.~ timea strikes through their souls. After two persons have lived together for forty or fifty years, and one of them is takes away, what desolation! I shall not forget the cry of Dr. De Witt, of New York, when he stood by the open grave of his beloved wife, and after the obsequies had ended he looked down into the open place and said: "Farewell, my honored, faithful and beloved wife. The bond that bound us is severed. Thou art in glory, and I am here on earth. We shall meet again. Farewell! Farewell!" To lean on a prop for fifty years and then have it break undfer you! There were only two years' difference between the death of my father and mother. After my mother's decease my father used to go around as though- looking for something. He would often get np from one room without any seeming reason and go to another room, and' then he would take his cane and start out, and sonpe one would say, "Father, where are you going?" And he. would answer, "I don't know exactly where I am going."' Always looking for something. Though hp,; was a tender* Kienrt-AH man T never saw him CrV bat once, and that was at'.fhe burial of my mother. After sixty years' living together it was hard to part. And there are aged people to-day wno are feeling just such ft pang as that. I want to tell them there if perfect enchantment in the promises of this gospel, and I come to them and offet them my arm, or I take their arm and I bring them to this gospel well. Sit down, father or mother; sit down. See if then is anything at the well for Vou. Come, David, the psalmist, have you anything encouraging to offer them? "Yea, says the psalmist; "they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Come, Isaiah, have you anything to say out of your prophecies for these agev people? "Yes," says Isaiah; "down to dff.age I am witb 1 thee, and to hoary hairs will I carry thee." Well, if the Lord is going to carry you,, you ought not to worry iftuch about yout ailing eyesight and failing limbs. You get a little worried for fear that some time vou will come to want, do youl Ydur children and grandchildren some times speak a Uttie scarp co you oecau.'je of your ailments. The Lord will nol speak sharp. Do you think you will come f . to want? What do you think the Lord is? Are His granaries empty? Will He feed the raven and the rabbit and the lion in the desert and forget you? Why. naturalists tell us that the porpoise will not forsake its wounded and sick mate. And do you suppose the Lord of heaven and earth has not as much sympathy as the fish of the sea? But you say, I am bo near worn out, and I am of no use to God any more^' I think the Lord knowa whether you are of >any more use or not. If you were of no more use He would have taken you before this. Do jwu think God has forgotten you because He has taken care of you seventy or eighfcv years? He thinks more of you to-day tnan He evei did because you think more of Him. Mar the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Paul -the aged be your God forever. But I gather all the promises to-day in group, and I ask the shepherds to drive their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the sparkling supply. "Behold, happy is the man who God correcteth." "Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion." "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." > I am determined that no one shall go out of this house uncomforted. So I come to your timid and shrinking soul to-day and comoel you to come out in the presence of the Divine Physician. He will not hurt you. He has been healt r .. rr_ ,?:n Mg wounaa IOr many years; aim aic niu give you gentle and omnipotent medicament. But people, when they hAve trouble, go anywhere rather than to God, De Ouincey took opium to get rid of his trouolea, Charles Lamb took to punch, Theodore Hook took to something stronger. Edwin Forrest took to theatrical dissipation, and men have run all around the earth, hoping in the quick transit to get away from tneir misfortunes. It has been a dead failure. There is only one well that can slake the thirst of an afflicted spirit, and that is the deep and inexhaustible well of the gospel. But some one in the audience says, "Notwithstanding all you have said this morning, I find no alleviation for my troubles." Well. I am not through yet. I haw left the moat potent consideration for the bat. I am going to soothe you with the thought of heaven. However talkative we may be, there will come a time when the stoutest and most em* .. phatic interrogation will evoke from ua no answer. As soon as we have closed our lips for the final silence no power on earth can brt-ik that taciturnity. But where, 0 Christian, will be your spirit? In a scene of infinite gladness; the spring morning of heaven waving its blossdms ir the bright air; victors fresh from battle showing their scars; the rain of earthly sorrow struck through with the rainbow of eternal joy; in one group God and at. eels and the redeemed?Paul and Silas, Latimer and RidVy, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Payson and John Milton, Gabriel ana Michael, the archangel; lone: line of choristers reaching across the hills; seas of joy dashing to the white beach; conquerors marching front gate to gate, you among them. Oh, what a great flock God will gather around the celestial well! No stone on the well's mouth while the shepherd waters the sheep. There Jacob will recocrniRachel, the shepherdess. And. standing on one side of the well of eternal r.mture your children and standing on the other side of eternal rapture your Christian ancestry, you will bo bounded on all aides by a joy so keen and grand that n? other world has ever been permitted to experience it. Out of that one deep well of heaven the Shepherd will dip reunion for the bereaved, wealth for the poor, health for the sick, rest for the weary. And then all the flock of the Lord's sheep will lie down in the green nastures, and world without end we will praise the Lord that on this summer Sabbath morning we were permitted to studv the story of Jacob and Rachel at the well