University of South Carolina Libraries
: a 1 REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE’S DAY SERMON. SUN- Subject: The Earthquake. (Preached at St. Paul, Mlnn.) Text: "Believeon the Lord Jetus Christ and thou shall be saved."—Acts xvi., 31. Jails are dark, doll, damp, loathsome places even now; bat they were worse in the apos tolic times. I imagine to-day we are stand ing in the Philippian dungeon. Do you not feel the chilli Do you not hear the groan of those incarcerated ones who for ten years have not seen the sunlight, and the deep sigh of women who remember their father’s bouse and mourn over their wasted estate? Listen again. It is the cough of a consumptive, or the struggle of one in the nightmare of a great horror. You listen again and hear a culprit, his chains rattling as he rolls over In his dreams, and you says: ‘God pity the prisoner.” But t’.^re is another sound in that prison. It is a song of ioy and gladness. What a place to sing in! The music comes winding through the corridors of the prison, and in all the dark wards the whisper is - Jhflkrd: “What’s that? What’s that?” rt is the song of Paul and Silas. They cannot dMp. They have been whipped, very badly^piippod. The long gashes on their i bleeding yet. They lie flat on the cold ground, their feet fast in wooden sock ets, and of course they cannot sleep. But they can sing. Jailer, what are you doing with these people? Why have they been put in here? Oh, they have been trying to make the world better. Is that all? That is all. A pit for Joseph. A lion’s cave for Dan iel. A blazing furnace for Shadrach. Clubs for John Wesley. An anathema for Philip Melancthon. A dungeon for Paul and Silas. But while we are stand ing in the gloom of the Philippian dungeon, and we hear the mingling voices of sob and S oan and blasphemy and hallelujah, sud- nly an earthquake! The iron bars of the prison twist, the pillars crack off, the solid masonry begins to heave and all the doors swing open. The jailer, feeling himself re sponsible for these prisoners, and believing, in his pagan ignorance, suicide to be honora ble — since Brutus killed himself, and Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed himself—puts his sword to his own heart, proposing with one strong, keen thrust to put an end to his excitement and agitation. But Paul cries out: “Stop! Stop! Do thy self no harm. We are all here.” Then I see the jailer running through the dust and amid the ruin of that prison, and I see him throw ing himself down at the feet of these prison ers, crying out: “What shall I do? What shall I do?” Did Paul answer: “Get out of this place before there is another earthquake; put handcuffs and hopples on these other prisoners, lest they get away?” No word of that kind. His com pact, thrilling, tremendous answer, an swer memorable all through earth and heaven, was: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Well we have all heard of the earthquake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo, and in Caraccas, but we live in a latitude where severe volcanic dis turbances are rare. And yet we have seen fifty earthquakes. Here is a man who has been building up a large fortune. His bid on the money market was felt in all tho cities. He thinks he has got beyond all annoying rivalries in trade, and he says to himself: “Now I am free and sue from all r uble perturbation.” But in ’837, or 1857, or in 1873 a national panic strikes the foundations of the commercial world, and crash! goes all that magnificent business establishment. Here is a man who has bniltup a very beautiful home. His daughters have just come from the seminary with diplomas of graduation. His sons have started in life honest, temperate and pure. When the evening lights ore struck there is a happy and unbroken family circle. But there has been an accident down at Long Branch. The young man ventured too far oat in tho surf. The telegraph hurled the terror up to the city. An earthquake struck under the fonndation of that beautiful home. The piano closed; the curtains dropped; the laugh ter hushed. Crash! tic hopes and prospects an H* *u»-.a el* of some great ’Si-oublb, and there i when wo were as much excited as this man of the text, and we cried outashedid: “What shall I do? What shall I dor' Tho same reply that the apostle made to him is appropriate to us: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” There are some documents of so little im portance that you do not care to put any more than your last name under them, or even your mltials; but there are some docu ments of so great importance that you write out your full name. So tho Saviour in some parts of the Bible is called “Lord,” and in other parts of the Bible He is called “Jesus,” and in other parts of the Bible He is called “Christ;” bat that there might be no mistake about this passage, all three names come to gether—“The Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, who is this being that you want mo to trust in and believe in? Men sometimes come to me with credentials and certificates of good character, but I cannot trust them. There is some dishonesty in their looks that makes me know I shall be cheated it I con fide in them. You cannot pat your heart’s confidence in a man until you know what staff he is made of, and am I s u ireasonable to-day when I stop to _jk you who this is that you want me to trust in? No man would think of ventur ing his life on a vessel going out to sea that had never been inspected. No, you must have the certificate hung amidships, telling how many tons it carries, and how long ago it was built, aud who ou.it ail about it. And you cannot expect me to risk the cargo of my immortal interests on board any craft till you tell me what it is made of, and where it was made and what it is. When, thou, I ask you who this is you want me to trust in, you toll me He was a very attractive person. Contem porary writers describe His whole appear ance os being resplendent. There was no need for Christ to tell the children to come to Him. “Suffer little children to come unto Me,” was not spoken to the children; it was spoken to the disciples. The children came readily enough without any invitation. No sooner did Jesus appear than the little ones jumped from their mother’s arms, au avalanche of beauty and love, into His lap. Christ did not ask John to put his head down on His bosom; John could not help but put his bead there. I suppose to look at Christ was to love Him. Oh, how attractive His Why, when they saw Christ com i all those domes- ans. So, ipai upotenl. His earnestness, this Christ ing along the street they ran into their houses, and they wrapped up their invalds as quick as they could, and brought them out that He might look at them. There was some thing so pleasant, so inviting, so cheering in everything He did, m His very look. When these sick ones were brought out,did He say: “Do not bring Me these sores; do not trouble Me with these leprosies?” No, no; there was a kind look, there was a gentle wfcrd, then was a healing touch. They could not keep away from Him. In addition to this softness of character, there was a fiery momentum. How the kings of the earth turned pale. Here is a plain man with a few sailors at his back, coming off the sea of Galilee, going up to the palace of the Cfesars, making that palace quake to tne foundations, and uttering a word of mercy and kindness which throbs through all the earth, aud through all the heavens, and through all ages. Oh, Be was a loving Christ. But it was not effeminacy or insipidity of character; it was accompanied with majesty, infinite and omnipotent. Lest the world should not realize mounts the cross. You say: “If Christ has to die, why not let him take some deadly potion and lie on a couch in some bright and beautiful home? If He must die, let Him expire amid all kindly intentions.” No, the world must hear the hammers on the heads of the spikes. The world must listen to the death rattle of tho sufferer. Tho world must feel His warm blood dropping on each check, while it looks up mio the face of His anguish. And so the cross must be lifted aud a hole dug on the top of Calvary. It must be dug three feet deep, and then the cross is laid on the ground, aud the sufferer is stretched upon it, and the nails are pounded through nerve and muscle and bona, through the right hand, through the left hand, and then they shake His right hand to see if it Is fast, and they heave up the wood, half a dozen shoulders under the weight, and they put the end of the cross in tho mouth of the hole, and they plunge it in, all the weight of His body coming down for the first time on the spikes; and while some hold the cross upright, others throw in the dirt and trample it down, and trample it hard. OIl plant that tree well and thoroughly,for It is to bear fruit such as no other tree ever bore. Why did Christ endure it? He could have token those rocks and with them crashed His cruciflers. He could have reached up and grasped the sword of the omnipotent God, and with one clean cut have tumbled them into perdition. Bat no; He was to die. He most die. His life for your life. In a European city a young man died on the scaffold for the crime of murder. Some time after the mother of this young man was dying and the priest came in, and she made confession to the priest that she was the murderer and not her son; in a moment of an^er she had struck her husband a blow that slew him. The son came suddenly into the room, and was washing away the wounds and trying to resuscitate his father when some one looked through the window and saw him, and supposed him to be the criminal. That young man died for his own mother. You say: “It was wonderful that ho never exposed her.” But I tell you of a grander thing. Christ, the Son of God, died not for His mother, nor for His Father, but for His sworn enemies. O'u, such a Christ as that—so loving, so pa tient, so self-sacrificing—can you not trust Him? I think there are many under the in fluence of the Spirit of God who are saying: “I will trust Him if you will only tell me how;” aud the great question asked by thou sands is: “How? How?" And while I answer yonr question I look up and utter tho prayer which Rowland Hill so often uttered in the midst of his sermons: “Master, help!" How are you to trust in Christ? Just as you trust any one. You trust your partner in business with important things. If a commercial house gives you a note payable three months hence, you expect the payment of that note at the end of three months. You have per fect confidence in their word and in their ability. Or again, you go home expecting there will be food on the table. You have confidence in that. Now, I ask yon to have the same confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says: “You believe I take away your sins, and they are all taken away. “What!” you say, “before I pray any more? Before I read my Bible any more? Before I cry over my sins any more?" Yes, this moment. Believe with all your heart and you are saved. Why, Christ is only waiting to get from you whatyou give to scores of people every day. What u that? Confldeuce. If these people whom ; you trust day by day are mora I worthy than Christ, if they are i more faithful than Christ, if they have done more than Christ ever did, then give them the preference; but if you really think that Christ is as trustworthy as they are, then deal with Him as fairly. “Oh,” says some one in a light way: “I believe that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and I believe that He died on the cross.” Do you believe it with your head or your heart? I will illus- strate the differenee. You are in your own house. In the morning you open a news paper and you read how Capt. Braveheart on the sea risked his life for the salvation of his passengers. You say, “What a grand fellow ho must have been! His family de serve very well of the country.” You fold the newspaper and sit down at the table, and lo not think of that incident again, it is historical faith. But now you are ou the sea, and it is night, and you are asleep, and you are awakened by the shriek of “Fire!” You rush out on the deck. You hear amid the wringing of tho hands and the fainting, the cry: “No hope! no hope! We are lost! we are lost?” The sul puts out its wings of fire, the ropes make a burning ladder in the night heavens, tho spirit of wrecks hisses in the wave, and on tho hurricane dedk shakes out its banner of smoke and darkness. “Down with tho lifeboats!” cries the captain. “Down with tho lifeboats!” People rush into them. The boats are about full. Room only for one more man. You are standing on the deck beside the captain. Who shall it be? You or the captain? The cap tain? The captain says: “You.” You jump and are saved. He stands there and dies. Now, you believe that Captain Braveheart sacrificed himself for his passengers, but you believe it with love, with tears, with hot and long continued exclamations, with grief at his loss, and joy at your deliverance. That is saving faith. In other words, what you believe with all the heart, and believe in regard to yourself . On this hinge turns my sermon* aye, the salvation of your immortal soul. You often go across a bridge you know nothing about. You do not know who built that bridge, you do not know what material it is made of: but you come to it and walk over it and ask no ques- ' here is an arched bridge blasted architect of the whoTe hhivorse, spanning the dark gulf between sin and righteousness, and all God asks you is to walk across it; and you start, and you come to it, and you stop, and a go a little way on and you stop, and you back, aud you experiment. You say: “How do I know that bridge will hold me?” instead of inarching on with firm step, ask ing no questions, but feeling that the strength of the eternal God is under you. Oh, was there ever a prize proffered bo cheap as pardon and heaven are offered to you? For now much? A million dollars? It is certainly worth more than that. But cheaper than that you can have it. Ten thousand dollars? Less than that. Five thousand dollars? Less than that. One dol lar? Less than that. One farthing? Less than that. “Without money and with out price." No money to pay. No journey to take. No penance to suffer. Only just one decisive action of the soul: “Believe ou the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Shall I try to tell you wliat it is to be saved? I cannot tell you. No man, no angel can tell you. But I can hint at It. For my text bring mo up to this point. “Thou shalt be saved.” It means a happy life here, and a peaceful death aud a blissful eternity. It is a grand thing to go to sleep at night and to get up in the morning, and to do business alt day feeling that all is right between my heart and God. No accident, no sickness, no per secution, no peril, no sword can do mo any permanent damage. I am a forgiven child of God and He is bound to see me through. The mountains may depart, the earth may burn, tho light of the stars may be blown out by tho blast of the judgment hurricane; but life and death, things present and things to come are mine. Yea, further than that—it means a peaceful death. Mrs. He- mans, Mrs. Sigourney, Dr. Young, and al most all the poets have said handsome things about death. There is nothing beautiful about it. When we stand by the white and rigid features of those whom we love, and they give no answering pressure of the hand and no returning lass of the lip, we do not want anybody poetizing aroond about us. Death is loathsomeness, and midnight, and the wringing of the heart until the tendrils snap and curl in the torture, unless Christ shall be with us. I confess to you an infinite fear, a consuming horror of death, unless Christ shall be with me. I would rather go down into a cave of wild beasts or a jungle of reptiles than into tho grave, un less Christ goes with me. Will you tell me that I am to be carried out from my bright home and put away in the darkness? I cannot bear darkness. At the first about me. And am I to be put off for thousands of years in a dark place with no one to spook to? When the holidays come and the gifts are distributed, shall I add no joy to the “Merry Christmas,” or tho “Happy New Year?” Ah, do not point down to tho hole in the ground, the grave, and call it a beauti ful place. Unless there be some supernatural illumination I shudder back from it. My whole nature revolts at it. But now this glorious lamp rs lifted above the grave, and all the darkness is gone, and the way is clear. I look Into it now without a single shudder. Now my anxiety is not about death; my anx iety is that I may live aright, for I know that if my life is consistent when I come to tho last hour, and this voice is silent, aud these eyes are closed, and these hands, with which I beg for your eternal salvation to-day, are folded over the still heart, that then I shall only begin to live. What power is there in anything to chill me in the last hour if Christ wraps around mo the skirt of Hia own garment? What darkness can fall upon my eyelids then amid tho heavenly daybreak? O D.iatli, I will not fear thee then. Back to thy cavern of darkness, thou robber of all the earth. Fly! tho'i despoiler of families. With this battle ax I hew thee in twain from helmet to sandal, tho voice of Christ sounding all over the earth aud through the heavens: “O Death. I will be ray plague, u Grave, 1 will be tliy destruc tion.” To be saved is to wake up in the presence of Christ. You know when Jesus was upon earth how happy He made every house He went into, ana when He brings us up to His house in Heaven, how groat shall be onr glee. His voice has more music in it than is to be heard in all the oratories of eternity. Talk not about banks dashed with effores- cence. Jesus is the chief bloom of hoaven. We shall see the very face that beamed sym pathy in Bethany, and take the very hand that dropped its blood from the short beam the cross. Oh, I want to stand In eternity with Him. Toward that harbor I steer. To ward that goal I run. I shall be satisfied when I awake in His likeness. Oh, broken hearted men and women, how sweet it will be in that good land to pour all of your hardships and bereavements and losses into the loving ear of Christ, and then have Him explain why it was best for you to be sick, and why it was best for you to be widowed, and why it was bast for you to be persecuted, and why it was best for yon to be tried, and have Him point to an elevation pro portionate to your disquietude here, saying: ‘Yon suffered with me on earth, come up now and be glorified with Me in heaven.” Some one went into a house where there had been a good deal of trouble, and said to the woman there: “You seem to be lonely.” “Yes,” she said, “I am lonely.” “How many in the family?” “Only myself.” “Have you had any children?” “I had seven chil dren.” “Where are they?” “Gone.” “All gone?” “All.” “AU dead?" “All.” Then she breathed a long sigh into the loneliness, and said: “Oh, sir, I have been a good mother to the grave.” And so there are hearts here that arc utterly broken down by the bereavements of life. I point yon to-day to the eternal balm of heaven. Are there any here that I am missing this morning? Oh, yon poor waiting maid! your heart’s sorrow poured in no human ear, lonely gnd sad! How glad you will be when Christ shall dis band all your sorrows and crown you queen unto God and the Lamb forever! Aged men and women, fed by His love and warmed by His grace for three-score years and ten! will not your decrepitude change for the leap of a hart when you come to look face to face upon Him whom having not seen you love? That will be the Good Shepherd, not out in the night and watching to keep off tho wolves, but with the lamp reclining on the sunlit hill. That will be the captain of our salvation, not aimid the roar and crash and boom of battle, but amid His disbanded troops keeping victorious festivity. That will be the Bridegroom of the Church coming from afar, the hr de leaning upon His arm, while He looks down into her face, and says: “Behold, thou art fair, my love! Behold, thou art fair!” TEMPERANCE. TEMPERANCE SHALL WIN. Must we call delay defeat, Shall our gallant band retreat. From a hard-won field? Never! for our cause is right; And though long the bitter fight, Wrong at last must yield. Slowly—as the tide come in— We aro gaining—through the din Timid souls may shake; Far above the battle’s roar Cries and groans rise evermore— “Help! for love’s dear sake.” Pause—to clear the smoke-dimmed eyes; Pause—then as the arrow flies. Swiftly charge the foe, Push the war for hearth and home; Make no compromise with rum; Forward! forward, go. —Harriet N. Swanwick, in the Voice. RELIGIOUS ►ING. DRUNKENNESS AND DRUNKARD-MAKING. Commenting upon the new Minnesota law declaring drunkenness a crime, the Cumber land Presbyterian says: The Legislature of Minnesota has passed a law declaring drunkenness a crime, and im posing a fine or imprisonment for the first two offenses, and for every subsequent offense imprisonment for not less than sixty nor more than ninety days. This is a very good law as far as it goes. It should be accom panied by a law making it a crime to sell in toxicants, and then legislation on the subject of intemperance would be complete in Minne sota, but, strange to say, Minnesota makes the liquor traffic a virtue aud liquor-drinking a crime. The sale and manufacture of In toxicants in the State are legalized, and drunkenness is punished as a felony. Cer tainly a law that permits a man to sell in toxicants also permits the buyer to that low, Tnmnan the law in forming a habit that makes" drunkard it looks inconsistent to punish him for it. But the Minnesota law is but another exhibition of the follv of trying to deal with intemperance in any hut a radical way. The drunkard should be treated as a felon, and the drunkard-maker as his accomplice. When a man is found drunk that ought to be all the evidence required for his punishment, but the investigation should not stop until his accomplice is found and punished for putting the bottle to his neighbor. TBS TABLES TURNED. A wealthy man was in want of a male ser vant and heard of a Chinaman who was said to possess many desirable qualities. The Cel estial was sent for accordingly. “You smoke?” asked the gentleman. “No, me no smokee!” “You drink!*’ “No, me no dlinkee!” “You gamble?” “No, me no gamblec!” ‘•Then you’re just the man I want,” was the prompt answer. A few nights later the master of the house gave an elegant supper for a party of gentle men. Wine flowed in rivers, betting ran high at cards, and cigar smoke as dense as a Lon don fog shrouded everything in the rooms. The Chinaman made the supper table a marvel of beauty, and waited to a charm. When the next morning came, however, the gentleman found no preparation for break- fast. , . “Drunk, the scoundrel. I’ve no doubt" he said as he steered his way out to the rear quarters, expecting to encounter the pros trate body of the Chinaman. No, there in the kitchen sat the Celestial sober as a ?Vhy haven’t you got breakfast?” Me no stayee here!*’ was the answer. “Don’t I pay you high wages enough?” “Yessee; but you aikee me I smokee? and I say I no smokee; I dlinkee? and I say I no dlinkee; I gamblee? and I say I no gamblee; and you smokee, dlinkee and gamblee, all tree. I no stayee here!”—Boston Herald. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. The criminal statistics of prohibition Iowa for 1887 report just one vagrant. Six prohibition tents, well equipped with able speakers, are sturdily marching over the prairies of South Dakota, making many converts to the cause. Sam Jones says that Georgia has already 117 counties redeemed from whisky, that only twenty are left where it is still tolerated, and that during the next twelve months they propose to put legs under the demijohns and run them out of these counties also. Before the bar of an enlightened conscience end the tribunal of God, every other sin will pale into insignificance beside the awful crime of forcing upon the helpless child a marred and tainted inheritance of blood and brain and nerve, mortgaging the future for the base, ignoble indulgence of the present. Racine (Wis.) saloons were closed by law on theSth of July. Anticipating this, Mil waukee breweries got up a free steamboat excursion to the “city of* beer,” conditioning the free ride upon the purchase of fifty cents’ worth of beer tickets good in any Milwaukee saloon. Another illustration of what saloan- ists will do to destroy their fellow men. The “Hundred Dollar Band” is a new in vention for raising money for the temperance temple, to be erected in Chicago. It is to consist of a thousand white ribboners who pledge to give $109 each to the building fund within two years. Many ladies have already joined this band. A similar hundred dollar bfuid, to be composed of a thousand men, has also been starteil. A monster petition in favor of Sunday closing of saloons was received at the House of Commons recently from the Salvation Army. The roll, signed by 436,500 persons, was borne through the streets of London to the House, drawn by four horses, and pre ceded by a band in the army uniform. The united efforts of six men were required to carry the roll into the cloak-room. “So certain are the criminal effects of the licensed drinks of the saloon and bar-room that a chemist in analyzing them should not be surprised to detect crime in a crystalline form, existing as an original element in their composition; while it would not require the microscope to discover the monad cells of every sin incident to fallen man in the foam of the beer mug or the dregs of the wine cup.” So says Hon. A. B. Richmond in the Chautauguan. SEED TUT We are sowing, ever eomg. Something good or southing ill In the lives of those arotf d We are planting whatpe wilL Not a word we say falls initless, Not a deed we do decs i; Every thought and wor md action Will be found in futu days. When perhaps the hand Shall itsel/b st sowed them r have ceasef o be, Still the record of their ling Will live on eternally. Grant then Lord of all t» harvest, That the seeds we dail sow May refresh the hearts /others, Spreading blessings a they grow. May each thought and ord and action Be the growth of Chi tian love, To be found in coming ;es In the garner-house i ove! Treasured there, in Th e own keeping, Just to prove our lov was true; For the motive gives tl value To the meanest thing re do. — C irlotte Murray. CHRIST-POS! “Can you tell me,” as£d a clerical friend of mine of a candidate f< missionary work, “what justification is?” Ftae man gave to the question a satisfac ory reply. “And what,” pursued my frie d, “is sanctifica tion?” “Sanctification,” laid the candidate, the fire kindling in hi look as he spoke, “sanctification is a God-i esassed soul sir.” ' No truer answer could e given. It is one thing to possess Christ—very different thing to be possessed by phrist. In the one case we have life, but iqfthi other we have life triumphant. If Satan is cast out, for ' Christ with Belial, and the temple of God wi 6-10.) It is to be feared tha and high privilege of Christians know com: is the one secret, bot! safety, for where God Satan are, just as whe: darkness inevitably is. sand snares that beset oi there is absolutely no our Lord’s own words: _ I in you,” to be, as somel^ne has put it at c nee, “Christ-inclosed and Christ-i —The Rev. K W. Moore. in possession, concord hath agreement hath ols?” (2 Cor., this* most blessed possession, many ively little; yet It , holiness and of oi, there sin and i^ht is not, there Ltnid the ten thou- • path heavenward irity except to obey ‘Abide in me, and put it at Indwelt.” A Christian should always be in a praying frame. “How much time shall I spend in my devotions?” is sometimes asked. The Fsalmist said, “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” Daniel, When in great dan ger, “kneeled upon his knees three times a and prayed, and gave thanks before his Are not " God.” Are hot these good examples to fol low? Instead of going before their Maker thrice a day, now many professed followers of Christ scarcely spend a quarter of an hour in the twenty-four in secret devotion. Can such persons grow' in grace?—and are they prepared to go out into the world, to resist temptation and to set a worthy example be fore their neighbors and friends? Are they ready to do unto others as they would have others do unto them? Are they prepared to resist temptation?—to return good for evil? —to suffer rather than to bring reproach upon the cause of Christ? Of course, it is not convenient for many to retire at noon to seek an interview with their Saviour, but cannot they lift up their hearts in secret, for a few moments, at their places of business, in walking to and fro from their meals, or even when engaged in their regular employments? If the heart is rightdhere will be no trouble; LADIES' DEPARTMENT. CO-EDUCATION PREVENTS PROFANITT. Three young women graduated from the college of Physicians and Surgeons the other day. The valedictorian, Mr. Galloupe, in his address, spoke approv ingly of co-education, one of the reasons for his approval being that the presence of women in the dissecting-room and elsewhere prevented profanity.—Boston Advertiser. QUEEN victoria’s RINGS. It is said that the three rings which Queen Victoria prizes the most highly are: First of all, her wedding ring, which she has never taken off; then a small enamel ring, with a tiny diamond in the center, which the prince consort gave her at the age of 16; and an eme rald serpent, which he gave her as an engagement ring. For many years af ter the prince consort’s death her majes ty slept with these rings on her fingers, only taking them off to wash her hands, as the water would, of course, spoil the enameL —Detroit Free Press. A MIGHTY HUNTER. Mrs. Jule Eastman, of West Virginia, is one of the mightiest hunters in all its mountains. She is a dead shot with the rifle, relates the Pittsburg Times, and has killed bear and deer by hundreds. She is big, black haired and ugly, but so industrious and warm hearted as to more than make up for lack of beauty. Her carrying capacity must be some thing enormous, as she has been known to carry more than 100 pounds a dis tance of seven miles without resting, and is said to have lugged a sewing ma chine all the 60 mountainous miles be tween her home and Grafton. In ad dition she has seven children and lots of wellbred kinfolk, who delight to visit her and to talk of her exploits. w opportunities w; day, when the converse with his gret, when life prayer and devol JJYING' he presented through the a will find time to Who will ever re- the time spent in ligioun Herald. What is your idea are mistaken on that p >i will be wrong. If a ma tianity consists in feeling wholly at the mercy of his liver is sound, and he himself, he will think cause he feels happy; bui ? If you thing else that Chris- ippy, he will be r is comfortable in all is right be- if he has neural gia he will feel unhappy, and will imagine the devil has got hold of him, and that he is a lost man. The man who judges of his Christianity by his feelings, builds on the shifting sand. There is nothing that will help us but this one point—that Jesus Christ has called and made me a Christian that He may live in me His life ovier again. It is not by believing thL tning or that thing that I can get to heaven, but by[ Jesus Christ living and dwelling in me. He hwants me to live His life in the office, in th i workshop, behind the counter, for when peqple see a Christian living a Christ-like life, they will believe in Christianity. There is only one work on the evidences of Christianity worth having—a work I have met with hei e and there. It is rather scarce, but thank God some new edi tions are coming out. It is bound in cloth— from five to six feet of h; imanity living a Christ-like life. It is no use arguing with people to prove the existei ice of a Creator only. Downright out-an( -out goodness and simple every day Christli] Leness can win the victory. Are you going to be wi nesses fqr Christ, or while your fellows ook upon you as Christian, are you going to be angry, and mean, and harsh? If sol people will shrug their shoulders and shake! their heads, ana say: “Ah. there’s your Christianity!’ If religion does not goverul your temper and cure your meanness what’s the good of it? See! here is a man who Jis brought before a judge under suspicious Circumstances, and whether he is acquitted or; not depends upon my evidence. 1 am called as a witness, I am asked what I know. I bungle in my speech, and am careless. I put in what 1 ought to have left out, and leave unsaid what I ought to have said. The judge shakes his head— counsel for prosecution rubs his hands and sits down smiling. The counsel for the de fence looks aghast, the jury whisper togeth er, and my p. or friends turn pleadingly to m», as if to say: “Is that the best you can do for mo? ’ So Jesus Christ, whom we love, stands in us at the bar of public opinion, and whether He shall be excepted or rejected depends upon our evidence every day, and hour by hour, i Will you not then give yourselves right up to Jesus Christ, and quietly, earnestly and resolutely live His liL? Kneel down in His presence and say, “Lo d, I can think of no greater ambition than to make the world think well of Thee. I don’t want to be great, but I want so to live that men can not help believing in Thee.” He doesn’t want splendid gitts or sparkling genius, but TEACHING THE TOILERS iESTHETICISM. Some Boston ladies, assisted by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, are about to show the East Siders by practical demonstra tions how to fit up a home artistically, and at the same time economically. A house will be hired and furnished neatly and a woman cook will give daily illus trations of how to live on a dollar a day. In addition to this object leaching there will be a reading.rroom and also a sew ing-room where the girls of the neigh borhood will be taught how to make dainty adornments for their homes. This object is a worthy one and shoult receive the hearty co-operation of al who are interested in ameliorating anc. improving the conditioa of their fellow- men. If there were more of this kinc of aestheticism the homes of the toilers and stiff. The Japanese belle dees not do up her hair every day. It is a long and laborious operation, and when once performed she resorts to all kinds of expedients to make the dressing last. At night she sleeps not on a soft pillow that would muss her hair, but rests her head on a block of wood that fits into the nape of the neck.—[Philadelphia Telegraph. A RAG CARPET CRAZE. There is quite a craze among the la dies of the North End to make rag car pets, and they are vicing with one an other in selecting pretty colors. It does not count against a lady that she has no scraps of cloth, for then she will attend the remnant sales at the drygoods sto-es and buy the colored pieces of cloth, out of which she will construct a prettier carpet with the aid of the weaver than the woman who saved up a conglomer ate assortment of “rags” from the gen eral family clothing. Mrs. Foster is one of the most successful in making pretty carpets, and has two that she would not trade for the finest Brussels map. The styles of rag carpet are the “hit and miss,” which is made by sewing the mixed strings of cloth together at ran dom, the “striped” carpet, which is the result of putting each color in a ball by itself, and the “crazy” carpet, which is the product of designed mathematical lengths of the string rags being sewed into balls, and num bered in their order for the weaer’s guidance in putting them on the teeth of the loom. The women hardly know what to do with their “crazy” carpets after they have them, as it is too much of an innovation to put them on the parlor floor or in a front hall. They usually lay them on the floors of their own bedrooms or in the dining rooi The rag carpet craze was revived at Ladies’ Aid Society meeting some two months ago, when it was suggested that a rag carpet or two be made for the poor. Now the poor will be more likely to get the ingrain carpets that the housewives will take up to make room for their “pretty” new rag carpets.— St. Louis Star-Sagings. they Gras*. Oh, the joy to lie alone In the amorous arms cf the gran; And to wate’a the white clouds pass. iy th * languid zephyrs blown, L ke a squadron of sh'ps on a shoreless see In the ocean of Paradise over me. Oh, the joy to lie and dream for an hour. Folded in grass like a happy flower I i;t is here the whispers come From the odorous, emerald lips— From the depths where the honey-bee dips, With a wild delirium, Into glittering goblets of nectar brewed By the stars on their heavenly altitude I For the stars that bloom on earth in tho day, Girdling the green with a milky way. Would you taste of Heaven? There, In the lap of the blossomod-starred sky. In the grove of the grass go and lie When the Summer seer ts the air; Go and listen and learn from the grass how sweet Is the Eden that stretches beneath your feet; For the angel host that sprak to you so Went to their graves in the winter’s snow. Oh, the gladness in the world When the trees clap their myriad hands At the exquisite sight of the lands In their summer verdure furled! For the souls of tha delicate grass awake From their graves, and melodious music make; And I lie and dream it is even thus, Heaven at last shall be shown to us! Frank D. Sherman in Independent FASHION NOTES. note paper is no longer in Glazed favor. Bonnets are without exception close- fitting. Very tall women should not wear per fectly plain skirts. Dresses with slight trains are again in favor for house use. Empire sashes require an ample sup ply of ribbon. Empire gowns and Connemara cloaks have already put tailor-made garments out of fashion. “ derecPlesS dreary~^-'^?JJ 11 THE DELIGHTS OF LAUGHTER. A New Orleans lady was relating a very pretty incident the other day of Mrs. Morse, wife of the great electrician of that name. It seems when the pro fessor courted and married her, Mrs. Morse was a mute, never remembering to have heard the sound of .her own voice. Her family believed total deaf ness was the result of imprudence com mitted by a nurse during her infancy, and not an affection from birth. Buoyed up by confidence in this theory, and with patience inspired by love, the famous scientist exhausted every means to re store to his wife her two lost senses, his efforts being crowned in the end by complete success. It was some years after the cure had been perfected, and while visiting in Louisville, that the narrator met the vivacious little lady. Mrs. Morse, she said, talked almost in cessantly, was passionately fond of dancing, but above all the joys of life ranked the delights of laughter first. Whenever compatible with good taste she laughed heartily in conversation, the least trifle excited her risibles, and it was confided as a fact to a few chosen friends that so divine a sound in long dulled ears were these tones of her own voice that often and often she would go off alone, close the doors and surfeit her newly found hearing by long ringing peals of fresh, unrestrained laughter sweeter far than any music to the happy women rescued from the horrors of dumbness.—Few Orleans Times-Demo crat. ut men in whom What bet- give thyself earnest, thorough, out-an< He can live His life over ter thing canst thou do wholly to Him? That alone is Christ’s id) —men and women given they may be filled with H: what are you going to do? io put >train and agony _ make great resolutions and splendid prom ises—they are just blown away by a puff of wind; bur I do want you to say, “Lord. I ^ive myself to Thee: Tkou shalt live Thy life over again in mr I hdd myself as Thy 3WU.’’—Rev. Mark Guy Peirce. f Christianity Jfe-nievn to Him, that ' wer. Now, on t want you n yourself, to In taking revenge, a mai is but his ene my’s equal; in passing it by, he is his su perior. He is doubly a conqueror who, when a jonqueror, can conquer jimself. Modera- lion and mercy shed over tie laurels of the xmqutrcr the lustre of tru« glory. luor traffic, a writer in es 164 every Vy hour, of- total War in na- rr produces d’.ath. The lowest estimate thatlfcflve seen of the number of deaths caused b. annually, in this country,] the Voice, is 60,000. This twenty-four hours, andsevi fered to the god of avarii since the close of the 1865, of 1,440,000. I know tion that sacrifices an; of human victims to their we offer in this “land of th the brave” to the gods brinus and Bacchus, and victims thus offered is those offered by the where is thy blush! Wi for heathen nations to this country? EVERY-DAY JAPANESE LIFE ILLUSTRATED There has been set up in a large case at the National museum a collection just brought from Japan by Professor Hitchcock, which illustrates the every-day life of a Japanese house hold. In one part of the case is a Japanese lady’s toilet stand. It looks as if it were made for a doll, but Professor Hitchcock said it was a toilet stand such as is actually in use in the boudoir of every Japanese belle. There is a little -ound metallic mirror on top, and the Japanese lady kneels or squats on the floor before this. ’ The stand is pro vided with dainty little drawers for pins, wooden combs and the many little knick-knacks of the toilet. There are perfumery bottles and jars for powder. A saucer is filled with red dye used for heightening the color of the lips. In another vessel is the pigment with which married Women blacken their teeth, a practice ^is going out of vogue. This pig- applied to the teeth with a h. There are coils of ;ed paper strings and trings to tie up to rub on it it is glossy Bridesmaids’ dresses of white HUMOROUS. mousseline de sole, over skirts of white and other silks in pale colors. The Russian cloak, for summer wear, will be made of surah and lace. It is not adapted for young ladies. Breton jackets are fastened with two or three hooks at the throat and then left open to reveal the dress beneath. A net very similar to the old fashioned grenadine is one of the recently import ed materials for midsummer costumes. Small shoulder capes in series are now fashionable, the fronts being long, square- cornered tabs in mantilla shape, laid ia three plaits and striped with ribbons. The Boulangist costume now worn in Paris is a gown of tea-rose colored silk, wool or cotton fabric, embroidered with red carnations or trimmed with red rib bon. Silk or lisle thread stockings, in tan color or gray, and tan or gray Suede slippers and gloves, will be worn during the summer with white, black or colored gowns. Gloves for morning and general wear are of dressed kid, black, tan or gray, merely corded on the back, and fastened smoothly about the wrists with four large gilt buttons. A Pathetic Story of the Sea. The ship news is dotted every month in the year with pathetic stories which are never told, mere intimations of broken homes and broken hearts. For example, a lady, evidently in great distress of mind, writes to ask if we have heard of a certain vessel which left a Southern port several weeks ago, and consequently encountered the terri ble gales we have recently reported. There are tears, hope, fear, anguish and despair in every sentence of that letter. She tells us that the captain was her brother and that her only daughter was with him. Little wonder that her days and nights of weary wait ing have been ominous of some great calamity. She has watched, pored over the columns of every newspaper, prayed, looked out on the gathering clouds, gazed at the silent stars, and tried in vain to believe that in good time she would hear the familiar footsteps on the gravelled path and the merry ring of that bright girl’s voice. A single sentence in our ship news columns probably answers all questions. It states that on a given day a vessel answering the description of the one named was passed bottom up. No one was clinging to the wreck. It simply rose and fell with the waves, a dead and helpless thing. If you have an imaginttion you can find in that item and that letter a story whose sequel is dimmed with tears, and yet one that is repeated many a time an/i oft in the sad annals of the sea. —New Tori Herald. To remove paint—Sit on it. Not the “ocean grayhounds”—“Old sea dogs.” Some men never foot a bill without kicking. Two heads are better than one. The two-headed freak in the dime museum earns a larger salary than the one-headed college professor. We believed it was a member of the Chicago Literary Aggregation who, on being asked if he could read Greek, modestly replied: “Idon’t know. I never tried.” Sophronia—“Yes, an agnostic is one that never affirms nor denies,’asyou say. That is to say, he doesn’t affirm that you know anything and doesn’t deny that he knows everything.” Food, fuel and light are the great ne cessities of the people, says a political economist. He is right, but the working classes, while admitting the necessity of food and fuel, make light of oiL The Mexican Wasp. The Mexican wasp bears the same re lation to a tarantula that a kingfisher does to a hawk. A hawk preys on chickens and small birds, and king fishers, that are little birds, will kill big l^awk. ^Atarantulq will kill njeat pugnacious birds Mexican wasp will make" shore work oi a tarantula. A traveler in Mexico tells the New York Sun all about them. In five seconds after the wasp has entered the spider’s den the tarantula will be dragged out as a butcher drags a dead porker out of a pen. But the wasp’s poison has not killed tne tarantula; simply put it in a trance. It is now effectually embalmed alive. Sometime* the tarantula killer drags its victim a mile distant, although the spider is many times the wasp’s bulk and weight. Then it punctures its victim’s body at the base of one of its hind legs and lays an egg deep in the opening. The wasp then digs a hole in the ground and buries the tarantula. When the egg is hatched inside the spider the result is a most voracious grub, which at once be gins to eat its way out of its storehouse. It is as if the spider had been kept on ice, nice and fresh in all its flesh and juices. A Marvelous Walking Stick. A walking stick for tourists and bot anists, recently patented in Germany by Herr Herb, of Pulsnitz, is furnished with the following articles: One side of the handle is a signal call, and on the other side can be fixed a knife (which is above the ferrule). In tho middle of the handle is a compass. The handle itself can be screwed off, and within is a small microscope with six object glass es. In the stick, under the handle,, is a vessel containing ether or chloroform. Outside the stick there is inserted on one side a tLci mometer, and on the other side a sand or minute glass. Above the ferrule is the kuife already referred to, and to the ferrule can be screwed a botanist's spatula, or an ice point for glacier parties. Lastly, a meter measure is adapted to the stick. A small ham mer aud a blowpipe arc ueeled to make it suitable for geologists as well as natu ralists.—Mail and Express. A Delicate Distinction. Agnes (in a deeply injured tone)—I don’t think you need call your sister’s best friend bold, even if you don’t want to marry her. Harry—I didn’t call her bold; I merely said her chin was the ouly retir ing thing about her!—Time. The Only Solution. “I’m so indignant that I cannot prop- srly express myself!” cried tho speaker. “Then put a stamp on yourself and go by mail,” was the unsympathetic re spouse. —Bazaar. He Was Prepared. Jones—Why don’t you lay by some thing for a rainy day? Brown—I have done so. I’m keeping the umbrella Smith loaned mo a week ago. ;