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' 1 EE PULPIT + A S~!LL!A\T SUNDAY SEFMON BY THE R.V. DS. LYMAN AB30T7 f Eobjecl: "The Spirit of Christianiti'." j I Brooklyn, X. Y. ? At Plymouth | Church. the Rev. Lyman Abbott. I), D.. j 4 occupied his old puipit in the absence j of the present pastor, the liev. N. D. Killis. Dr. Abbott's subject was "The Essential Spirit of Christianity." He chose for his text the passage Matthew xx:27-2S: "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," aiid said: * What do we mean bv Christianity? What is its essential, specific spirit? It is the spirit of the Christ who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.'" The spirit of the Christian is to be like the Christ. It is to got back of all that is injurious and a!! that is valuable: all the accretions that are injuring: and all the additions which have been made in the growth of Christianity, doctrine, ritual and institutional: to get back to the time of Christ Himself, and, if we can, see what Christianity meant then and there, in order M that we may get at the essential spirit of it. There appeared at the beginning of! the so-called Christian era a religious teacher in a province of Palestine. He was certainly for that age and for al! ages a singular man. The things we care for most He seemed to be indifferent to. Ee did not care for pleasure, but He was not ascetic. He did not * hide Himself from the world. There is no instance in which He refused an invitation to a feast. He began His ministry be creating wine to prolong the festivities at a marriage feast, and yet He did not care fo- what men call pleasure. He said Himself that He hart nnt- xvfipro to lav His head." He often laid down to sleep with only the j * stars overhead. He lived on the sim- J " plest food. He did not care for wealth. He never called a man a fool but once, and that was the man who spent all his life "in accumulating and then did not know what to do with the accumulations. He did not care for power, for when He was offered a crown He refused it. One day they gathered about Him." waved palm branches and shouted "Hosannah!" and amid all the > 3oy and acclaim He stopped and wept as He remembered the sorrows which ;; .were to come upon Jerusalem. Ambition did not appeal to Him. He was willing to preach to 5000 or to 200 or to_ twenty-five or thirty, or to sit down with one poor wretched woman and talk to her by the well: and it did ndt jnake any difference. What did. He care for? For service?to go about among men and make them happy. * That was what He cared for. He cared for all sorts of men. He was equally St; willing to serve the Greek or the Jew. If He lived now, He would be as willing to serve the Jew as the Christian. He was willing to save the poor and the ;rich. He was not a poor man's prophet, nor a rich man's prophet. He way willing to minister to the ignorant, y and-just as willing to minister to the wise: He would talk with the peasant, or spend an evening with one of the great rabbis at Jerusalem. Character * . or past conduct did not separate men from His sympathy. It did not make any difference how badly a man had lived or how rotten was his character. He was ready to help him. He came into Jericho one day and the people '* crowcsu rouna jtum. it was a ui,? vl priests and corrupt politicians. The politicians were more corrupt than in * this day, and that is saying a great deal. It was .. city of priests and politicians. and one of these latter, who Lad made money by squeezing the public. was a little man. who climbed into a tree, because he wanted to see this strange man pass. This strange man passed the priests and the orthodox * religious people and looked up at the little man and said: "Come down: I am going to dine with you to-day." Ke sought out the bad man because He thought He could do something for him. He was equally ready to minister food to the hungry, healing to the isick. comfort to the afflicted, wisdom to the ignorant, inspiration to the dem pressed or succor to the simple and the fcurdenec:. The only question with Him was: "Is this man in trouble?" What kind of trouble? "It does not matter what >:ind of trouble. I want to help him." That was absolutely His only question. And yet this man saw that the deepest troubles of men are the troubles that ( 'come upon them because of their wrong doing. In His first great sermon He gave the secret of happiness wherrHe said: "Blessed are the pure in Lean" and "Blessed are the poor in spirit." etc. The secret of happiness is what you are. not what you have. So the thing He wanted to do was to change men's characters, to get them out of sin and lead them in the paths ? of virtue and truth and good will. He wanted to lift off the burden of their sirs and make them healthy, normal, 'holy men and women. To this He jgave His life. He did not do this incidentally. as it chanced Him: there was JV - ---- TT^ : J . i.s "KOineiumg mere. ne s;iiu: xiiai jwhat I am here for. That is what food put Me into the world for; it is the ' mission He has given Me.*' He belonged to a nation that had been taught to look forward for the golden age, not backward. They thought the goed time was yet to come. Their prophets liad told them so. They thought it was !to be brought about, some said, by the nation, by a series of prophets, or by a single man. a conqueror. And this anau Jesus said: "This kingdom of God Is at hand. This good time is already * here. >uid I am the one to bring it about.'' The first time He preached |was at Nazareth and then He toid them this. Then He gathered a few disci- j 4>les about Him and after a year with ! ithem He asked: "Whom do men say j .that I am?" They said: "There are j toany different things said. Some say ! !a prophet; some a great teacher: some! tone thing and some another." And He | 'said: "But whom say ye that I am':" i m ;One can imagine the moment of si- j lence and hesitation and uncertainty j jtbat followed. And then one. an impui-j jsive one. said: "You are the Messiah." i !He replied: "Yes. I am: that is right." ' The mission of His life was to bring 1 About the kingdom of God on the earth and He. said, "The way to do it is to belp everj one in need. No matter. ? Kfcy * what the character?to help one anoth- j er. that is the way.*' The Jews wanted it another way. Queer people, these Jews! They thought they were the great people, which was very like the Anglo-Saxons of to-day. They thought there were no other people who were religions or civilized or who had the secret of great progress. They said the kingdom. would come J. Jerusalem, not to Kome. and that not the Romans, but the Jews, would be dominant. But Christ said, "No. that is a mistake. The kingdom of God is not in Jerusalem or Rome or Athens. It is in a spirit of universal helpfulness." That is the kingdom of God. and the kingdom will come when every man helps his fellow man out of every kind of need, whatever it may be. He was finally arrested and put upon oath and asked: "Are You the Messiah?" "I am." He said. He claimed to be the Messiah and He claimed to bring about the kingdom of God by diffusing the spirit of hope and faith and good will. The apostles went forth and preached ?what? Not the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, but "This is the Messiah. The Deliverer is come." In the nature of the case He could not do it alone. If it were to be some sudden upheaval, some cataclysm, some march of armies, it could be doue in a single period, but if good will, peace and universal helpfulness were to be brought about, that would take generations. That must go from kingdom to kingdom, from city to city :toid nation to nation. And so He called a few men to carry the message?first twelve, then seventy. Then He died. Then, after His resurrection, He sent others. He sent them in the spirit of good will and helpfulness, to heal the sick, cleanse the leper and restore comfort to the sorrowing. To minister to everybody, rich, poor, wise, ignorant, to the Jew and the Gentile, There was something more. In all ages men have believed in some great occult power lying back of the phe nomena of nature, xne jews inougnt there was one great God who inexorably demanded righteousness of His people, and Jesus said, "God is such a one as I am, actuated by the same spirit. In My life and teachings I am interpreting this great Infinite Power, this just, wise God, this eternal Infinite Presence." And He illustrated His meaning by the parable of the king whose subjects rebelled against him; by the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the prodigal son. "That is the kind of Father that God is," said Jesus. There is still more in Christ's message. In all age3 men have been trying to get to this unknown God. They have said: "We have done wrong, we have aroused the wrath of this God. He is right to be angry with us. How shall we appease His anger? We will offer sacrifices." It is difficult in this tweutieth century to realize what worship was twenty centuries ago. Picture the temple, the altar, the whiterobed priests. All around in the outer court the cooing of doves, the bleating of sheep, and within, by this altar, a butcher's shop, a shambles. Priests cutting the throats of lambs and cattle and the blood flowing in great rivers out from under the altar. Why? Because these people thought God had a right to be angry?and they were right. He had a right to be angry?and they thought He was angry?and they were half right in that?and they thought the way to peace was by sacrifice, and they were wrong in that. Jesus never offered a sacrifice, so far as we know, or told anybody else to offer sacrifice. This world is God's reformatory and what He has done is this: His .Marshal ] has come for you and me. Has He come in power, with greatness of riches or wonderful display ot intellectual wisdom? Xo. Come how? In sympathy. in tenderness, in love, in purity and truth and righteousness. We can see no way to Happiness save by endowing witli truth and puriiy and righteousness. He has come to us?to 1 you and me. He says, "You can do the same thing." You say: "I have no power." "Neither had I." "I have not wealth." "Neither had I." "I was not an ecclesiastic." "Neither was I." "Come to Me: get My spirit; live as I 'lived; be billing to lay down your life for others, as I was for you." i I have tried this morning to get behind all definitions, all creedal statements, not because I think they are had. but because I am sure the spirit of Christ transcends all definitions and creeual statements. Christianity! What is it? It is the new doctrine of God. It is the new faith in God. It is the faith of God, who is in His world as He was in Jesus Christ, comforting the sorrowing, helping the tempted, instructing the ignorant. It is the new hope, the hope of the kingdom of God that is coming. There is coming the time when men will give to their fellow men fair, honest, generous measures and will "do unto others as they would be done unto." That is righteousness. There is coming a time when there will be peace in every heart because it is at harmony with itself, and peace in the whole world between man and man, nation and nation. And it is a new hope that Christianity brings when it says: "Now, you can work for that because yon are working in the spirit of the Eternal, and it is the spirit of good will, of service, of sacrifice, of laying down our lives for others as He laid down His life for us." Christianity! What is it? It is that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." That is the theology of Christianity. "The kingdom of God is at hand." That is the hope of Christianity. "A new commandment give I unto you: that ye love one another as I have loved you." That is the law of Christianity. Whfre I otp I?, There God I*. Thoughts that disturb and trouble us seldom come from God. It is generally best to put them away, and throw ourself. with increased trust in Him and mistrust of self, at His feet. And never forget, amid Avbatever may befall you?dryness, coldness, desolation 1 and disappointment, consciousness of many faults, and of great weakness, and want of faith?that where love is. there God is sure to be. He rever yet ' has suffered any soul to fail wholly * from Him which, amid all its frailities and falls, clings to Him in ove.?II. L. Sidney Lear. God's Errands. Difficulties are Gcd's errands, and when we are sent upon ;hem we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence.? lieeebeu PITS, Si.Yihis' B?nrp; Nprvonppi=ea?:?s permanently c red by Dr. Kline's Great Nervo r?e?ior<-r. $2 trial bottle and treatise Dee. De. Ii. II. Kli>e, id., CGI AtehSt., Phi la., 1'n. London's first Turkish bath under municipal control was recently opened. ; JTrs. Widow's Soothing Syrup Cor Children ; iretniiu;,softens the^um.?,redueesiaSaminatlcr.allajs j f.:;n,aires windcolic,2cc.a bottle Professor Siinson asserts that the use of apples will improve the disposition. CAN'T STRAIGHTEN LP. 12'.tin y T:o:.l)",;! Ca.s?s "\7ra1c Packs nn.l j Multitude of I'.-im tnn Aclies. Col. It. S. Harrison, Deputy Marshal, 710 Common St., Lake Charles, La., says: "A kick from a horse first I weakened my back j /Cp* a;u* fleeted U,J kiiI* I lu?vs'.1 ^Gcan!eypiy! I "'oou* ?" crut'-iics. : '^? ("0Ct01s t0'^ 1110 (^r0M'c rheumatism, j In:t I could not be- j licvc them. and fin* ! I {& :. %?? ally began using j Doan's Kidney Tills j for ray kidneys. First the kidney secretions came more freely, then the 1 pain left my back. I went and got 1 another box, and that completed a cure. I h?vc been well for two years." j Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburii Co., Buffalo, N. Y. k A naturalist hag been making observations on the"toilets of certain -tnta. The Sultan of Turkey owns more than 200 bicycles, some with cold mountings. State of Ohio, City or Toledo, f Lucas County. f * Frank J. Cheney makes oath tnat he Is senior partner of the Arm of F. J.Cheney A Co., doing businessjn the City of Toledo, I County and State aforesaid, and that said firm Will pay the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every case of catarrh that cannot be cured by the use of Hall's Catarrh Cure Frank J. Cheney. Sworn to before me and subscribed in my ,???. presence, this 6th day of Decern j seal. [ ber, A.D., 1SS6. A.W.Gleason, ' v? > Notary Public. Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken internally,and acts directly on the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Send for testimonials, hee. F. J. Chexey <fc Co., Toledo, 0. Sold by all Dhuwrists, 75c. Hall's Family Pills are the best. An excuse nearly always goes lame in the home-stretch. (At17-*06) II All Of course the success of a rival Is merely a matter- 01 Dun-neaa iuck. DON'T MISS THIS. 1 Core For Stomach Trouble?A New Method, bj Absorption?No Drags. Do You Belch? It means a diseased Stomach. Are you afflicted with Short Breath, Gas, Sour Kroctationa, Heart Pains, Indigestion, Dyspepsia, Burning Pains and Lead Weight in Pit of Stomach, Acid Stomach, Distended Abdomen, Dizziness, Colic? Bad Breath or Any Other Stomach Torturer Let us send you a box of Mull's AntiBelch Wafers free to convince you that it cures. Nothing else like it known. IPs sure and very pleasant. Cures by absorption. Harmless. No drr~*. Stomach 'trouble Can't be cured otherwise?so says Medical Science. Drugs won't do?they eat up the Stomach and make you worse. We know Mull's Anti-Belch Wafers rnre i and we> want you to know it, bence this offer. This offer may sot appear again. 4286 GOOD FOK 25c. 144 Send this coupon with your name and address and your druggist's name and 10c. in stamps or silver, and we will supply you a sample free if you have never used Mull's Anti-Belch Wafers, and will also send you a-certificate good tor 25c. toward tbe purchase of uiore Belch Wafers. You will find them invaluable for stomach trouble; cures by absorption. Addrees Mull's Gkate Ionic Co., 328 3d Ave., 'tock Island, 111. Give Full Addres* and Write Plainly. | ' 1 All druggists. 50c. per bor, or by mad | uood receipt of pr'ee. stamps accepted. The Strenuous Life of Old. This Is said to be a "strenuous" age. Doctors or people who dabble in the doctor's art talk about the "pace" we all live now, the stress and storm of life in England in the twentieth century, and so forth. But are we all so tremendously strenuous? Are we greater in will c* work than Englishmen were in the Elizabethan age or than they were, say?we take the date at random?in 180G? English literature and history do not show convincingly that this is so.?London Saturday Review. LACKED APPRECIATION. "I told her she was the sweetest girl I ever had met." "Did she seem to appreciate what rou said?" "Not entirely. All she said was, *Oh. come off!"?San Francisco Call. w Tho better class of druggists f who devoto their lives to the t purest medicinal agents of kr (scientific formula. Druggists always under original or ofnci They are the men to deal witi all standard remedies and coi (best of toilet articles and prei The earning of a fair living, v conferred upon their patrons reward ior long year3 of studj Figs is an excellent laxative r are selling many millions of I remedies, and they always ta^ name of the Company?Calift They know that in cases of cc of weakness or torpTdity of th over-eating, that there is no c Syrup of Figs, and they arc g Owing to tho excellence of i immense demand for it, imitr individual druggists to be fou of the profession and whose g to recommend and try to sell t rometimes have the name?" or fictitious fig syrup compar I the Company?California Fig should be rejected because tl they find it necessary to resor off on a customer a preparatic does not bear the full name o he is attempting to deceive ai establishment, whether it be ' and deception in one case he physicians' prescriptions, and Knowing that the great majo ft for our exceljent remedy enti ft where, in original packages o A exist it is necessary to iniorn m any imitation which may be A California Fig Syrup Co.?pi I article and to demand the re w druggists who will sell you wh: r WILL PAl vertise in / The Only Remedy. Edwin James was one of the most brilliant English lawyers of his day, bnt'he was always in financial diffi culties. At one time he lived in some We^t End chambers, the landlord ot which could never obtain rent. At last he had recourse to an expedient which he hoped would arouse his tenant to a sense of his obligations. He asked him if he would be kind enough to advise him on a lilt tie legal mat- ' ter in which he was concerned, and on James acquiescing drew up a statement specifying his own grievance J( against the learned counsel and asked him to state what he considered the 'best course for a landlord to take under such considerations. The'paper was returned to the landlord the next morning with the following sentence subjoined: "In my opinion, this is a case which admits -of only one remedy?patience."?BalU* * more Daily Record. H. H. Gbkex'b Sox8, of Atlanta, Ga., are the only successful Dropsy Specialists in the world. See their liberal offer in advertiseI ment in another column of this paper. I RESIGNATION. "Do you think that a strike will . make coal more expensive?" asked one householder. ? "I don't know whether a strike will do it." answered the other, "but nrill "?.tXT'oc'Mn<rtnn Star. suuiciuiug n in. ' ' A"D ? Cures Blood Poison, Cancer, Ulcers, Ectsoui, Carbuncles, Etc. Medicine Free. Robert War>*, Maxey's, Ga., says: "I suffered from blood poison, my head, face and shoulders were one mass of corruption, aches in bones and joints, burning, itching, scabby skin, was all run down and discouraged, but Botanic Blood Balm* cured me perfectly, healed all the sores and gave my skin the rich glow ot health. Blood Balm put new life into my blood and new ambition into my brain." Geo. A. Williams, Roxbury, face covered with pimples, chronic sore on back of head, suppurating swell- c ing on neck, eating ulcer on leg, bono f pains, itching skin cured perfectly by Botanic Blood Balm?sores all healed. Bo- * tanic Blood Balm cures all malignant blood t troubles, such as eczema, scabs and scales, . pimplee, running sores, carbuncles, scrofula, etc. Especially advised for all obsti* 1 nate cases that have reached the second or third stage. Improves the digestion; . strengthens weak kidneys. Druggists, 81. I To prove it cures, sample of Blood Balm sent free and prepaid by writing Biood Balm Co., Atlanta, Ga. Describe trouble and free medical advice sent in sealed letter. Men who say that life is a burden : ilways make others tired.. ! lND ? othe i, everywhere, are men of scientific ail relfare of their fellow men in supply: town value, in accordance with pi of the better class manufacture ma nal names and they never sell false bi - ?T ? ^ w /? 4*% -i wneii in iic^u ui u.iij' m vju^-ii responding adjuncts of a first-class ] >arations and many useful accessorie rith the satisfaction which arises iroi and assistance to the medical profess * and many hours of daily toil. Th< emedy and that it gives universal sa >ottles annuallv to the well informed * ke pleasure in handing out the gen >rnia Fig Syrup Co.?printed on t ilds and headache3 attended by bilio e liver and bowels, arising from irr< ither remedy so pleasant, prompt am lad to sell it because it gives univers Syrup of Figs, the universal eatisfact itions have been made, tried and nd, here and there, who do not maipt reed gets the better of their judgmer he imitations in order to make a larj Syrup of Figs"?or "Fig Syrup" an ly, printed on the package, but they Svrnn f!n 2_nr?ntpd on the front of ~v*-r r ? bey are injurious to the system. Ir t to misrepresentation or deception. >n under the name of "Syrup of Fii f the California Fig Syrup Co. printe id mislead the patron who has been large or small, for if the dealer resori will do so with other medicinal a? 1 should be avoided by every one whc rity of druggists are reliable, we si rely through the druggists, of whom nly, at the regular price of fifty cents 1 the public of the facts, in order tha sold to them. If it does not bear th< inted on the front of every package, turn of your money, aftd in future go it you wish and the'best of everything i f YOU TO This Papei Four battleships cost more money than is given-by all Protestant Christendom in a year for missions. L. St ]?.! L. St M.! I* St M.! Buy L. & M. Paint and get a full gallon. Wears 10 to 15 years, because L. &. M. Zinc hardens L. & M. White Lead and makes L. & M. Paint wear like iron. 4 gallons of LI & M. mixed with 3 gallons oil will paint a moderate sized house. C. S. Andrews, Ex-Mayor, Danbury, Conn., writes: "Painted my house 19 vears ago with L. & M. Looks well to-day/' PAINT YOUR HOUSE. IS tier M>nt. rvsmmifwion allowed to anv resident where we have no agent, on sale | of L. & M. to property-owners, at our re- ! tail price. Apply to LONGMAN & MARTINEZ, j Paint Makers, New York, i ? A SURE SIGN. Madge?Why do you think she has passed the age of thirty? Millicent?Because she invariably i says "us girls."?Puck. TRIMMINGS. We use genuine Le; and backs, Leather Dash, and a fine It Quarter Top with Leather Back Stays, Full Rub Irons, Quick Shifting Shaft Coup] #49.00. Dealers sell the same kind f antee every part of our Bno-gy. A good H Write for Catalogue No. 73 GOLDEN EAGLE BXJ< 16 O Ed^ewood Ave. 1000 PE Find 1,000 persons, men, won ^VHEAT FLAI ind you will find 900 of them that it ion. You will never know what a mtil you have eaten this food. In he wheat berry lost, for which re yith the most delicate stomach ai notion of the bowels to vanquish cc lorved hot by being root Rufriflous?Palatable?Eesy of My Signature /T\ on 00try \UA package Dr. Ptioe. the famous food expert, the creator Delicious Flavori 10 C'SNTS A PACK AC E ' j ' - - - - ' _ - ?? COSTS 1 R 5. ainments and high integrity, ing the best of remedies and lysicians' prescriptions and ny excellent remedies, but ands, or imitation medicines, line, which usually includes pharmacy and the finest and a and remedial appliances, n a knowledge of the benefits sion, is usually their greatest ? -11 1? Qn.nn n( I -y fill iiiiuw i/uut a uy v>? | tisfaction, and therefore they I purchasers of the choicest J uine article bearing the full M he front of every package, Br usness and constipation and m ?gular habits, indigestion, or V d beneficial in its effects as 1 al satisfaction. I ion which it gives and the m condemned, but there are S ain the dignity and principles K it, and who do not hesitate B jer profit. Such preparations W d of some piratical concern, 1 never have the full name of I the package. The imitations I t order to sell the imitations m and whenever a dealer passes m grs" or "Fig Syrup," which I d on the front of the package, I so unfortunate as to enter his ts to misrepresentation and 1 ;ents, and in the filling of I > values health and happiness. | ipply the immense demand f; it may be purchased every- r i per bottle, but as exceptions I t all may decline or return J | "a - V' v' - 'W ,;''S i i i s . . [women! B will find in Mozley's Lemon Elixir, the ideal laxative, a ^b? B pleasant and thoroughly re- ^B ^b liable remedy, without the B |B least danger or possible harm ^B B to them in any condition ^fl Bfl peculiar to themselves. ^b B Pleasant in taste, mild in ^b B action and thorough in results. B Tested for 35 years. ' ^B SB 50c. and $1.00 per bottle at ^B B ITAfTT BVJfl B JaUAULI O K lemon elixir! mm PW "One Dose Convinces." W ather in our cushions rather Boot, Leather length Carpet, roller m ings, our price only or $65.00. We guararness for S6.49. ItIA^Loa $49.00 ARSONS nen and children, who eat IICE'S CE CELERY has helped to cure of constipareal, delicious breakfast food i* preparing it there is no part of ason it is always found to agree nd to excite the required natural uisupatiwii. hod with bolting milkDigestion and Ready to Eaf W&w of Dr. Price'* Cream Baking Powder sad iag Extracts. BH MQtifilSHMEHT A3 THREE 10ATI8 flF JgSMt #