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LOPSIDED- D] NORVAL Secretary to the Chairman, th vestigate the Social Econo I warn my countrymen that the is not a full measure of our civilizati on the wholesomeness. the attractivi the prosperity, of life in the countrj stand for what is fundamentally best ?Theodore Roosevelt. The record of constructive philanthropy in the United States is remarkable from an almost exclusively city xrfnt of view. Year after year great national and local organizations lay }ut programs, prepare budgets, collect funds, hire expert workers, and uxke account of actual progress made ?in the cities. Existing conditions ire constantly being Drobed. diag j Qosed, cauterized, cured or cut off, ? ;vhile new conditions crowd on the \ Dutskirts of the old, waiting their turn. The cities are" surely the hospitals for all and sundry social ills, and their organization, staff and squipment are bright with efficiency ind use. The great pity attending this social vaccination, treatment and convalescence, is the jealousy with which the cities hold on to their hospital func tion and permanently nouse an patients applying. It smacks of absurdity to follow ! aur present course to its logical convulsion. Social conditions are associated with population, and so must their treatment be. If we continue to confine this treatment to population after it has come to the cities, then the resii?ant population of country districts?which is generally thought | to be a good thing?will shortly be exhausted. For sooner or later all social conditions need treatment. As oacking up this course of reasoning ihe population statistics of the United States are good to quote. At the time ef the adoption of the constitution eight or ten per cent, of our citizens 1 lived in t^wns and cities. Every subsequent census has recorded a steady shift from the country to the cities. In 1860 some sixty-five per cent. were still in the country, and in 1900 thirty-eight per cent, or thereabouts. Whatever may be assigned as the reason for this cityward current of peo pie, the most confirmed optimist can scarcely find in the last decade any new conditions in the country itself to reverse the flow, and probably never before in the history of the world have the lure and promise of cities bo subtly and effectively snared the guileless country dweller. Witness the boards of trade and other commercial bodies, civic organizations, religious and educational associations, amusement activities,, and . every form of social expression that bas been invented, each in a hundred different cities loosing a torrent of civic pride as with hand on heart they swear there was never another such metropolis. And in each case everybody is urged to come and stay and to judge for himself. Speaking by and large the function of the open country is to produce food, clothing and raw materials for . manuafcture and trade, while that of cities is to manufacture and trade in these commodities. From the begin^ ning of time the people of the country have demonstrated that they can live, somehow, without the ministrations of the town. But on the other hand the people of the town have never dared to risk the contra experiment, though we seem impatient to look into the matter. : In view of the splendid spirit and organization of thousands of unsel^ fish people in this country who deeply concern themselves with the average city man's making-a-living problems, it is worth white to inquire if they are really serious, since in their activities they have almost entirely ignored the producing end which is the basic problem of everyone's life problems. Indeed not only have these constructive activities ignored country life and its business, but they have so magnified the special problems of city life, and have provided for them on such splendid scale, as to withdraw practically all attention to the woes of country life. And by their diversity and scope the institutions HE KNEW H( Schoolmaster Reasom the A Mr. James M. Greenwood, superin tendent of the schools of Kansas City, Mo., for thirty-five years, attracted attention as a mere boy by his superior ability in mathematics. At the age of sixteen he was at work on a plantation in Arkansas. The principal of a private normal school in that vicinity had heard much about the boy, "Jim Greenwood," writes Mr. Mowry In his "Recollections of a New ) England Educator," and wanted to see him, and on a certain Saturday he walked over to the farm where Greenwood was living and ihquired for the boy. He was told that the young man was out in the field plowing, and he was directed how to find the place. When he came in sight he found the boy plowing with a mule and a cow. The mule was balky and more devoted to kicking than to helping the cow drag the plow. The principal of the normal school, keeping out of sight, watched the process. After various attempts to make the animal do its duty, Greenwood took a rope, and making a slip knot in one end, placed it round the lower jaw of the mule, and tied the other end of the rope to the fetlock of that leg of the mule with which it was accustomed to do the kicking. Then going back to the pi-uw uc &a?e (.iic uouai siguai iui_ .vut team to start. The mule, however, did not intend to obey the summons, and immediately began to kick. At once this became too serious an occupation. The . slightest motion of the hind leg pulled severely upon the lower jaw, and the ticking stopped. Then Greenwood took off the rope returned to the plow handles, and repeated his command to go ahead. The '.earn started, and plowed straight onward without any further difficulty. . part of them these counties are the country in miniature exhibiting within their limits to a greater or lesser degree most of the important, vital phases of our national life. Who ever heard of a county plan? ?The Survey. Age of Herring. According to researches made by Dr. Knut Dahs in Norway, the herring may live to a good old age, and the age of different kinds of herrings may differ very much. Thus an analysis of 1062V'iarge" herrings taken by drift nets off the northern coast of Norway in August, 1907, showed that the age varied from 3% to 16% years, the greatest proportion (392) being 8% years: the sizes varied from 24 centimetres (9% in.) to 39 centimetres (15% in.)?there were only two of the latter, their'age being 12*4 and 14% years respectively. Then 297 autumn-spawning herrings from the mouth of the Christianafjord varied from 5 to 1'5 years of age, and from 10% to 13 inches in length, the average length being 11% inches and the average age 10.4 years. On the other hand, 320 spring-spawning herrings from the same place ranged in length from 9% to 13 inches, and in age from 4 to 11 years, the average age being 5.3 years and the average length 11% inches. The age in all these cases | was determined by .a study of the markings on the scales.?Fishing Gazette. Selected Self Made This Ink. v-/uiucoc YV ayapci tuuiaiuo iuu following advertisement of a local ink manufacturer: "At the shop Tae Shing ('Prosperous in the extreme'), very good ink. Fine! fine! Ancient shop, great-grandfather, grandfather, father; very hard; picked with care, selected self made this ink. Fine and hard, with attention. The ink is heavy; so is gold. The eyes of the dragon glitter and dazzle; so does this ink. No one make3 like it."? Shanghai Courier. >w to teachT~ sd That This Boy Had Lbility. ( The schoolmaster could not well avoid the conclusion that a youth who had the skill thus to couquer a refractory mule would succeed in managing schoolboys. He introduced himself to Greenwood, talked with him about his arithmetic, and asked him if he would like to come to the normal school and study. "What do you want.to tantalize me for? You know I can'.t go." "You can't go? For what reason?" i WI can't afford it." MI?ut suppose I should offer you i board and tuition for teaching the younger scholars? If you will ac. cept. I will make the bargain with i you." "If you mean it, I'll come." i "When will you commence?" "Kext Mnnriav " So the youth left his plow and bei gan his course in the normal school. Roman Athletics For Health. To the Roman, the whole question ' of athletics was health. It seemed indispensable to his health and happiness to take active exercise and sweat before his daily bath and meal ' at noon. Romans regarded the prof fessional athlete as lazy, overfed, idle 1 and useless as a class, akin to male! factors and far beneath the slave. ! The Roman professional first started that odium for the name athlete. EmL peror Commodus entered the gladi ai^nai 111x5. muuci u 51cm ' ones seem to have similar brutal as! pirations. Alexaifder was once asked ' to take part in chariot races and re! plied: "Yes, with another Alexander."?New York Pupss. . The railroads of this country paj . out 224,000,000 a year in Ireight claims. ( *v.. v EVELOPMENT. D. KEMP, le Roosevelt Commission to Inimy of Rural Communities. great recent progress made in city life on; for our civilization rests at botton ?ness and the completeness, as well as r. The men and women on the farms and most needed in our American life. Of the cities put Institutional life on such a high plane as seems to have entirely discouraged this form of social expression in the country. It is public information, confirmed by the Inquiry and report of President Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life and other authoritative agencies, that xthe people of the open country are woefully unorganized for any purpose; that their churches, schools and such organizations as do exist lack, for the greater part, both body and spirit; that there is'little if any social life, and that in practice ambition and progress among country men and women are most generally denoted by their departure for the city. It must be true that for every manufacturing and trading man surrounded by healthy social conditions in town, there should be a proportionate numVior nf nrnHnolne' mpn_ or nart of a man, in equally healthy conditions in the country. Who is attending to this business? Every national or local organization of persons working for the advancement of humanity, which is content to limit its activities within city gates, is pursuing a policy which may eventually perfect a manufacturing and trading scheme, but which makes absolutely no provision for putting it into effect through the production of raw material, and for sustaining it through the production of food and clothing. We are engaged in a broad, lasting development of our national life, yet all roads lead to town, all action is there, all plans are city plans. In the United States the self-governing political unit is the county, each with a county-seat, which is frequently a cWahlo tnwn nr o.itv and for a srreat Foxy German Emperor. By E. ALEXANDER POWELL. The Kaiser, finding himself isolated as the result of French and British diplomacy, debarred on every hand from territorial expansion In Europe, had dreamed of a commercial empire in Asia. But Wilhelm is the kind of a man who prefers to see things with his own eyes, and that Is why, in the Spring of 1897, he set j out on his spectacular tour of the i Near East. He rode through Palestine in a theatrical uniform made for the occasion, with a great cavalcade behind him. At Jerusalem he laid the cornerstone of?a German church; at Haifa he addressed a great assemblage of German colonists; from Damascus he carried away with him the priceless furnishings of the palace which he occupied, loaned, for the occasion, by the neighboring pashas: at Ba'albek a peculiarly hideous tablet was placed in the Temple of Venus to mark his visit, and so he came to Stamboul, where AbdulHamid. his friend and brother, awaited him. Imagine, if you can, a more queer ? J i- ? Cnlfon rroftv I ly assurieu pan. a u<= i^uiv?u, cautious, timid, patient; the Kaiser, bombastic, blatant, hot-headed, domineering. This meeting of the monarchs was as curious as any in modern history?the one a ruler in spite of his physical cowardice, and the shrewdest diplomat in Europe; the other a sort of footlight king. Humble, patient, and furtive, the Master of Turkey listened, 'while the War Lord thundered. Always he dilated on his great idea, the Drang nach Osten?that onsweep to the East of German imperialism. This strangely mated pair, these masters of East and West, made a compact that the one would abstain from intervening in Crete and would use his influence to j obtain the withdrawal of the International soldiery from the island, and that the other would give him, in payment, a right-of-way for his railroad across Turkey-in-Asia. Ahd so they arranged it between them, the bilious, sallow-faced, silent little man with his eternal cigarette, and the stoutish, aggressive, domineering Teuton who puffed intermittently at a black cigar. . . . The Sultan had, indeed, bartered a kingdom for the Kaiser's friendship. To the German concessionnaires was given the exclusive right to cultivate the land within this railway zone ? 18,600 square miles in all, and every foot of it, to all intents and purposes, German soil?to work the mines and the forests within this radius; to grow wheat, tobacco and cotton; to colonize, and to navigate the streams, not to mention various subsidiary rights. The concession admits, moreover, of the concessionnaires' I utilizing all waters along the route { for electric purposed; and such powI er will eventually be used, it ie | planned, for lighting their towns and j running their factories.?Everybody's. The Supreme CourtStealthily the husband opens the front door at 3 a. m., removed his j shoes and starts up the stairs in his j stocking feet. Suddenly he is conj fronted by a figure in a long white j robe, bearing -a heavy instrument in her right hand. "What do you mean by staying out so late?" she demands. "My dear," he explains carefully, "you know we were married by a j Justice of the Peace, and the MuniciI pal Court Judges say that sort of cere i mony isn't legal, so I was consulting with a number of my friends before the bar to get an opinion that would assure me I was married." Four seconds after he ceased speaking he was handed down a decision that vereifled his fears, or hopes, as the case may have been.?Chicago Post. Most Plays Are "Padded." A play is rarely produced that would not be improved, from a dramatic and artistig standpoint, if it were shortened from a third to a half. Many dramas that have succeeded would be far better condensed to one act. For instance, "The Wolf," by Eugene Walter, would be . much stronger in this tabloid form. "The Fighting Chance," by W. J. Hurlburt, in which Blanche Bates is starring, bears all the earmarks of having been a nne-art nlav stretched into three. It has material for about three-quarters of an hour at the most of exciting drama. Not even the wonderful skill of David Belasco, nor the acting of Blanche Bates and John Cope, cab relieve the tedium of the whole first act and most of the second.?Hartley Davis, in Everybody's. The Bear's Hug, No Such Thing. It is a pity that among the old notions of bears which have to be discarded in the light of larger knowledge is that they kill their prey by hugging it?"a lovely death," as Mr. Emanuel's young lady said. All bears seemingly follow the same fighting tactics, attacking first by striking with their paws and then, on coming to close quarters, endeavoring to clutch the adversary with their claws and draw it within reach of their | jaws. This act of pulling an enemy, dog or .man, close up to tne cubbi tu bring the teeth into play might easily be mistaken for hugging and doubtless gave rise to the belief.?London Times. Substitute For Broomcorn. A new broom which is practically made of a substitute for broomcorn, I the interior or body being constructed of hay, is now being placed on the market. Only the outer edges or exterior of the brooms are made of 1 broomcorn. The brooms are neat in appearance, are said to possess good sweeping qualities, and as much durI Q<J r-hoan h rnnm r.nr n. Steel the Railroads Demand. There are about 45,000 tons of rails in use in the steam roads of the United States, about 20,000,000 tons 9f iron and steel in cars and locomotives and perhaps 10,000,000 tons more in bridges, viaducts and buildings, a grand total of something like 75,000,000 tons for 228,000 miles of ; road, about 330 tons a mile.?Ircn Trade Review. ' f . New York City.?Such a simple yet | becoming blouse as this one is wel; come at all seasons, but especially so ( j Just now when so many young women , j are preparing for a return to college j and so many others are planning a i trip to the mountains where waists of I the sort made from flannel and simi[ Iar materials are always in demand, j This model is an exceptionally becom 1 v> i rw ! ing one, the pleats over the shoulders < I providing just the necessary fulness. ! As illustrated it is most satisfactory ! for general wear, but it can be made i j with a stock and plain long sleeves when it becomes somewhat different I in effect. Again the shirt waist I sleeves can be cut off in three-quarter | length if genuine comfort is required. m V p! 1 I I In the illustration ddtted French flan- 1 nel is finished with simple stitching, 1 | but linen and similar waistings are < I utilized at all seasons of the year, and < this model is adapted to anything that 1 can be finished in tailor style. 1 The waist is made with fronts and < back. The pleats are laid after the : j shoulder seams are closed and are 1 1 stitched for full length at the back, to yoke depth only at the fronts. There f Is an attached pocket which can be i used or omitted as liked. When the i Dutch collar is chosen it is sewed to 1 the neck edge, but when the stock is ] used it is finished separately. The i shirt waist sleeves are gathered at t their lower edges and finished with < ! straight bands and the long ones in- t I elude rolled-ov6r cuffs. The plain | sleeves are made in one piece each. 1 The quantity of material required i 1 for the medium size is four and a quarter yards twenty-one or twentyj four, two and seven-eighth yards thirI ty-two or two and a quarter yards forty-four inches wide. Shawl Frocks. Lace shawls are made into frocks now, and are considered particularly smart for dinner and reception wear. They are really used exactly like the materials of which the robes are | made, yet whenever it is not absolutely essential to cut in order to make them fit these shawls are the more expensive and desirable, and a woman who possesses one that will make a train?if only a short one?is decidedly fortunate. In Embroidered Crash. A princess gown in cream-tinted crash is very richly and thickly embroidered on the bodice and down the front of the skirt, the design thistles, and their decorative foliage a very ' good effect, especially as some of the leaves were outlined with a line of palest green. A touch of green was introduced in the collar and again in the sleeves. New Bracelets. Ribbons and flower bracelets, worn f tfith short-sleeved bodices, which t were fashionable some fifty years ago, 3 have once more come into favor and f are worn by some of the fashionable \ I women this season. t Patent Leather Belt. The patent leather belt Is a new J feature of the princess frock, as it Is j ilso of the sailor hat. i i A Color Season. I ' A rich color 'season Is at hand. j j Whatever else next season's styles. \ j yet unknown, may have in store, this i much is a surety. j ' - ' I J Skirts Still Clinging. ; 5 Skirts are still clinging over the J 1 liips, however, so that the petticoat j j must be carefully fitted and un- 1 j 3tarched. j t ! 1 Three Flounces Revived. j j A welcome revival is the graceful ] form of skirt, which consists of three j ] flounces, sometimes called a "threelecker." It lends Itself well to the 30ft muslins and embroidered lawna which will be worn this season. French Beading. Many of the tailored shirt waists ire trimmed with French beading. This is used not only at the seams, but it is also used to finish the tucks. :he box pleat down the waist and to' make a sort of yoke effect running j from the shoulders. The idea is very : ;ood and may be carried out in many jeautiful ways, while in. making a f jet of shirt waists the beading might j je of a different size and design. I i Girl's Dress. The dress that can be worn either tfith or without a guimpe as the day ; nay require is a serviceable one, and j ;his pretty little model possesses that | advantage at the same time that it is j :hic and attractive. In the illustra- ' :ion it is made from a simple printed ; tvash fabric with bands of white. For j :he trimming bands any contrasting material wouia Depreuy, &uu u buiuc thing very elaborate were wanted ^ they could be made from, embroidery J Dr heavy lace, or they could be braid- | 3d with .the soutache that is such r 1 favorite. The sleeves are cut In one , 1 tflth the blouse portion, and the labo(.. j j 5f making is slight in the extreme, j f yet the dress is one of the most at- j ? :ractive the season has to offer. ! i The frock is made with blouse and j t ;kirt. ' The blouse consists of the i i !ront and back portions and the skirt j s made in one straight piece. The | Dlouse is gathered and the skirt is | pleated, and the two are joined by i neans of the belt, while the front of j :he skirt is extended over the lower i 3dge of the blouse, so making a dis- I :inctive and novel effect. | The quantity of material required j .'or, the medium size (ten years) is 'our and five-eighth yards twenty our, three and seven-eighth yards hlrty-two or three and one-eighth rards forty-four inches wide with I ive-eighth yard twenty-saren inches c vide and six and a quarter yards o? c >andin?r for trlmmine. c 1 . ._'i. .... The Sunday^School INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 19. Review of the Lessons For the Third Quarter?Golden Text: "So Mightily Grew the "Word of God and Prevailed," Acts 19:20. The lessons of this quarter are all ibout Paul, his life and teachings. They can be profitably reviewed unier two heads: Leading events in his ife; Prominent points in his characer. I. The leading events in his life. The lessons of the quarter cover six rears, A. IX 52 to A. D. 58. In Lesion I. We have Paul beginning his vork in Europe, at Philippi. In Lesion II. Paul in jail at Philippi.v In uesson III. Paul at Thessalonica and 3erea. Lesson IV. At Athens. Lesson V. At Corinth. Lesson VI. SVriting from Corinth to Thessalonica. Lesson VII. At Ephesus, ^reaching with great success. Lesson VIII. Still at Ephesus meeting with bitter opposition. Lesson IX. At Ephesus writing to Corinth. Lesson K. At Miletus bidding farewell to the jlders of the Ephesian church. Lesion XI. At Tyre and Caesdrea. n. Prominent points in Paul's :haracter. Lesson I. We have Paul's jbedience to the leadings of the Spirit. Lesson II. We see him as a nan of prayer and praise. We also see his watchfulness for opportunities ;o save souls. In' Lesson III. We see his fearless boldness and persistmce in preaching the Gospel, being persecuted and driven out of one llace he beeins in another. We also jee his dependence on the Scriptures, [n Lesson IV. His eagerness to preach the Gospel to all classes, and confidence in the one Gospel as adapted to the need of philosophers as well is to ''the common people, and also lis tact. In Lesson V. His industry ind self sacrifice; his holy boldness ind unwearying activity in preaching lesus. Also the secret of his fearessness. In Lesson VI. We see his humility, gentleness and tact. In Lesson VII. We see the reverence :hat even the evil spirits had for Paul, and the lavor that Paul had with God. In Lesson VIII. We see lis dauntless courage. In Lesson IX. We see his high esteem for love as the mpreme virtue. In Lesson X. We see his faithfulness, his love for souls, tiis untiring industry, his unselfishness, his tenderness of heart and lovibleness. In Lesson XI. We see his fervent love for Jesus and unwavering devotion to His will, and his praysrfulness. ,kOur Father,>Who Art in Heaven." How many of us use these words at mother's knee every night and morning, and yet scarcely realize what we are saying! "Our Father"?our very awn Father?who has made the earth, with its sunshine and flowers, Its trees and songbirds for our enjoyment, and to whom we can go with Bvery little trouble! LLttle people are apt to think that their affairs are too small to be told to the Heavenly Father; bilt anything that is big enough to .trouble the cltfld is big enough to claim the Father's attention. Once a little boy who had a very bad earthly father lay dying. The lady who sat beside him trying to soothe his pain, bent over him, and laying her hand upon his forehead, said: "Never mind, dear, you will soon be with Jesus and with your Father in Heaven." A shiver of fear passed over the worn little figure; bis face .was streaked with terror as tie raised his eyes piteously tc his * ' J * ?. -> ?Ua Knnf ineiiu s ituu ctsneu. ??m nc me?" To him the word "Father" anly meant curses and blows. Tears rushed to the lady's eyes as she told aim that this Father loved him, and would soon take him to be with Himself forever, and a light spread over the small face as though what she said was almost too good to be true. A. Father who would be kind to him! ?that would be Heaven, indeed. A great man who brought a Wonierful reformation in the world once said tnat the best name by which we :an think of God is Father. So, as we say the prayer which the Lord Jesus :aught us, let us think while we repeat it, of our Father who is in Heaven, and realize that His care Is >ver us every moment of our lives.? The Interior. God and the Doctor. Why should we trust God less than ve do our physician? One lying on :he sick bed does not expect to have iverything he may wish for; he does lot dare to act without advice. "Doc;or, I should like this, or that," he lays; "is it safe for me to have it?" i.nd if the doctor says "no," the patent accepts the decision unquestionngly, glad that he inquired and so ' J ??? A ra nrn nHlUncr L V U1UCU CLL1J Kiaix&^k . v* nv fim.ut, ;o accept the Great Physician's word >n everything? His promised supply 'or every real need is more to be defended upon than the care of the best luman physicians. Why not let Him lecide what our real needs are? For, is a saintly old Christian put it: 'My God will supply all my needs, lot all my notions."?Christian and Hissionary Alliance. Frivolous Characters. We have seen travelers on trains >assing through a region of historic ind scenic attractiveness who kept heir eyes fastened on a trashy novel >r a cheap magazine, and never once alsed them to look at the beauties >y the way. Some people are jourleying toward eternity this same leedless way. ? Pittsburg Christian Advocate. 8ays College -Girls Copy Men. At Cambridge, Mass., Dean Briggs, )f Harvard, who is also president of iladcliffe College, says in his annual eport for the latter institution that :ollege girls are given too much to :opying men. He warns the girls igainst this and condemns various orms of imitation. He makes a gensral charge against schools for wonen, where certain features of colege life are tolerated merely be:ause they are also features of col* ococ for mpn 27,995,000 Lincoln Cents Minted. The machines were turning out Lincoln cents in Philadelphia, Pa., ;vhen the order to stop was received, ind 27,995,000 of the little coins had Deen minted. About 14,000,000 of :he coins had already been distrlbited; the remainder will be shipped nit as rapidly as the demand calls lor. Drowned While Sporting. After frightening hia friends by jretending he was in danger of Irowning, William Sutherland be:ame helpless in the water and was Irowned near Rye. N. Y. pippr. '.::M ' ''V^S M ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY DR. ROBERT BRUCE HULL. 4 Theme: The Power of Christ. Broomyn, N. Y.?Dr. Robert Bruce vHull, who, for twenty-two years was pastor of the Greenwood Baptist Church and who resigned on acoount -l\ 3f ill health, has accepted the invitation of the Sumner Avenue Baptist -i Church to be its acting.pastor. .He preached Sunday .from the text, 2 Peter 1:16: "We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we , -C-'M made known unto you the power and ,; 3j coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but \ ? were eye witnesses of His majesty." :>* Dr. Hull said: Human life does not end at the ..' v grave. Of this fact the consciousness of the race is itself a proof. But , ^ this future life'and the present life rf'Ji are not to be controlled and directed >.1 by guesses. We ought not to risk the future on a perhaps. We ought not to condition oar eternal state 6n a hypothesis. For such tremendous issues we should demand not fables, but facts. This demand Christianity meets. Christianity is not afraid of the light. It is not a dark lantern religion. It welcomes all investigation, whether scientific or unscien- : >,3 tiflc. It deals not in hypotheses but " in verities. -This is the thought of the Apostle Peter in the text. The apostles were not deceived. In following them we shall not be trusting . ! to the wild vagartes of unverified speculations. Notwithstanding Tall reverent and Irreverent critics have said, the Bible is a trustworthy revelation of God and from God. Suppose we grant to " our skeptical friends that the inspiration of the Bible is the same in kind as the inspiration of other books of eminent authors. Still the degree of inspiration is so manifestly greater in the authors of the sixty-six books -b, of Scripture that it amounts to 'a difj ference in kind as well in degree. As a rule, the men who wrote the -'; 'l books of the Bible were not what ' ft would call educated men. They were shepherds, nsnermen, nerasraeu, bui* diers, kings. They lived in a nation which never had a literature, and yet ; i these sixty-six books written by more than forty different authors living v'Vi more than 1600 years apart, all hava one theme, and they wrote upon it .< ? with a power, a nobility and a aub? * limity unequalled in all literature. 3 From that eldest day in Genesis to that last moment when John's pen of holy power fell from his hands, we move down the ages in the presence- - : ? of one and the same Being. "In the beginning, |God," and at the close v . : the God man saying, "Behold, J come quickly." If such a book undef these circumstances is not divine, H is still more wonderful. So many ; authors could not have had sucb thought and such harmony unless their writings were presided over bjf ' One and the same Being. Even Rq? se~au, infldel though he was, speaki .' i.ng o? tjje Mr ^spela^ajs:^ ^11 //. J you saxTtqat ?our men agreed to in? .vgpt tills jjtory ol Jesus, the inventon ' O'J would have been more wonderful than the hero^L^**^ n liWflillii'l'i flf ? *- - - - ?_ ?* - * - - iv.i : *z] we are to Dear in miua tuw cuai this book is the most ancient book in the world. The ancient books of tha Persians and the Hindus do not com* !] pare in antiquity with this ancient ,' ; document. We are also to remem< ber that notwithstanding all that critics have said* its text is purer than that of Shakespeare. Fewer changes have crept into it by errors of tran< . Bcrlptlon than th^re are in the worki ' , of the great English dramatist. We can therefore feel that when we trust to the teachings of the Book, when ' we rely upon its promises, when we comfort ourselves with its hopes, w? are resting on the solid rock of a r proved revelation from God. We d4 r /.?$ not follow cunningly devised fables when we trust the Bible as a revelation from God. The character of Jesus Christ la not mythical. Rosseau well sald< "It would take a Jesus to forge q Jesus." Whatever comea, Jesui ptauds the test. For nineteen hun. dred years His life, character and teaching, have been studied and Ha stands to-day more indubitably th? God-man than ever before. It hai been well said that from this trl?' . * lemma there is no escape. "Eithei ! Jesus yas a conscious fraud or H< I was unconsciously deceived, or H< ..?? I was the Son of God and equal witli * . : the Father." Listen to Him saying, j "Come to me all ye that labor ind T will rAU : are ucaijr wueu au\? * o??? j I rest." I Behold Him saying to the im? ! potent man, "Son, thy sins he forgiven thee." Hear that wonderful ' assertion, "He that hath seen Mi hath seen the Father," and again, "I and the Father are one." Hi { claimed equality with God, for H? ; was God. Yet He was human also. .? His perfect humanity was in union with His divinity. He was intensely human so that He could be tempted in all point! like as we are, yet without sin. Thir is our hope. Jesus, the God-man Is our Saviour., The rocks may meet, but the Rock ' _ of Ages abides. j Away with doubt and fear. I! men should say we will carry away ! the Hudson River in our buckets, we I should smile at their folly. When j men seek to pluck from the crown of the Christ either His God-hood of His Man-hood we may well hold them in derision. . We have not followed cunningly' devised fables when we accept apostolic teaching concerning the future life. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a 'AW VA1I " IIQ VtOO A rtn q 1U1 J wu? iiv uao >kWMw *wi Heaven is a reality. From the brow of Olivet through the lifted skies 8 'human form went up. A cloud received Him out of the sight of thoaa amazed disciples. Then came, tha message. "This same Jesus which "is taken up from you Into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go Into heaven." The intuitions of our souls are not -to be disappointed. Then in heaven there is th<? human > body of Jesus the Christ. Stephen saw Him as He was about to be stoned to death. Paul saw Him on that Damascus road. John saw Him in that wonderful revelation which has been a comfort to all generations. , I There is life beyond. Science now tardily teaches that which revelation long ago declared, that death doea not end all. In all this we as Christians have not followed cunningly devised fables. We have the proved word of God. We can therefore confidently say. "I know whom I have bellevad and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.* \ , W. -