DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON The Three Greatest Things to do. “The people that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits." Dan. 11: 32, ANTIOCHUS Epirnanes, the old sinner, came down three times with his army to desolate the Jews, advancing one time with a hundred and two train- ed elephants swinging their trunks this way and that, and sixty-two thousand infantry, and six thousand cavalry troops, and they were diiven back. Then, the second time, he advanced with seventy thousand armed men, and Lad been again defeated, But the third time he laid successful siege until the navy of Rome came in with the flash of their long banks of oars and demand ed that the siege be lifted, And An- tiochus Epiphanes said he wanted time to consult with his friends about it, and Popilius, one of the Roman embas- sadors, took a staff and made a circle on the ground around Antiochus Epip- hanes, and compelled him to decide be- fore he came out of that circle; where- upon he lifted the siege. Some of the Jews had submitted to the invader, but ome of them resisted valorously, as did Eleazer when he had swine’s tlesh forced into his mouth, spit it out, al though he knew he must die for it, and others, as my text says, did exploits. An exploit I would define to be a heroic act, a brave feat, a great achieve- ment, “Well,” you say, “I admire such things, but there 1s no chance for me; wine is a sort of A HUM-DRUM LIFE. It I had an Antiochus Epiphan:s to fight, I also could do exploits.” You are right, so far as great wars are col- cerned. There will probably be no op- portunity to distinguish yourself in bat- tle. The most of the brigadler-gen- erals of this country would pever have been heard of had it not been for the war. General Grant would have re- mained in the useful work of tanning hides at Galena, and Stonewall Jack- son would have continued the quiet college professor in Virginia. And whatever military talents you have will probably lie dormant forever, great inventor. Nineteen hundred and ninety-nite out of every two thousand inventions found in the Patent Oflice at Wash ngton never yielded their au- penses of securing. the patent, will probably never be a Morse or an Edison or a Humphrey Davy or an Eli Whitney. There is nol much proba jty that you will be the one out of th hundred that achieves extraordinar) success in commercial or legal i cal or literary spheres. What then? Can you have no opportunity to do ex- ploits? I am going to show that there are THREE OPPORTUNITIES OPEN stupendous, and overwhelming. are before you now. In one, if three of them, you may do exploits. They do are to save 4 man, or save a woman, or save a child. Durning the course of his life, almost every uian gets into an exigeocy, caught between two fires, is ground be- tween two millstones, sits on the edge of sone precipice, or in som: other way comes near demolition, It may be a financial or a moral or a domestic or a social or a political exigency. You 8 metimes see it is IN COURT ROOMS, pany and he has offended the law, and he is arraigned, fused, he is and jury and lawyers, right on in the wrong direction. perate. Let the Distriet-Attorney over- haul Lim as though he were an offender; let the ablest attorneys at the bar refuse to say a word for him, 1 cause he cannot afford a considerable fee; let the judge give no opportunity him up to Auburn or Sing Sing. If he live seventy years, for seventy years he life wiil be blacker than its predecessor, In the interregnums of prison life he can get no work, and he 1s glad to break a window-glass, or blow up a safe, or play the highwayman, =o as to he can get something to eat, himself from the gaze of the world. Why don’t his father come aud help hin? His father Is dead. Why don’t his mother come and help him? She is dead. Where are all the ameliorating and salutary influences of society? They do not touch him, . Why did not some one ago in the case understand that there was an opportunity for the exp o t which would be famous in hea- ven « quadrillion of years after the earth has become scattered ashes in the last whirlwind? Why did not the Dis. trict-Attorney take that young man into his private office and say: “My son, 1 see that you are the victim of circumstances, This 18 your Lrst crime. You are sorry. 1 will bring the person you wronged into your presence, and will apologize and make all the repara- tion you can, and I will give you an- other chance.” Or that young man is presented in the court room, and HE HAS NO FRIENDS present, and the judge says: your counsel?’ And he answers: “I have none” And the judge says: “Who will take this young man’s case?’’ And there is a dead halt, and no one offers, and after a while the judge turns to some attorney, who never had u good case tn all his life, and never will, and whose advocacy would be eu- ough to secure the condemnation of in- nocence itself. And the professional incompetent crawls up besida the pri. soner, helplessness to rescue despair, when there ought to be a struggle among all the best men of the profes sion as to who should have the honor of trying to help that unfortunate, How much would such an attorney have received as his fee for such an ad- vocacy? Nothing in dollars, but much every way in a happy consciousness that would make his own life brighter, “and his. own dying. pillow. sweeter, and his own heaven happier—the conscious- ness that he had saved a man! ong “Who is A very late spring obliterates the de- mand for spring overcoats and spring hats and spring apparel of all sorts. Hundreds of thousands of people say: “It seems we are going to have no spring, and we shall go straight out of winter into warm weather, and we can get along without the usual spring at- tire.” Or there is no autumn weath- er, the heat plunging into the cold, and the usual clothing which is a comproms- ise between summer and winter is not required, It makes a difference in the sale of millions and millions of dollars of goods, and some over-sanguine young merchant is caught with a vast amount of unsalable goods that never will be salable again, except at prices ruinous- ly reduced, THAT YOUNG MERCHANT with a somewhat limited capital isin a predicament. What shall tue old mer- chants do as they see that young man in this awful crisis? Rub their hands and laugh and say: *Good for him. He might have known better. When he has been in business as long as we have, he will not load the shelves in that way. Ha! Ha! He will burst up before long. He had no business to open his store so near to ours anyhow,” Sherifi’s sule! Red flag in the window: “How much is bid for these out-of-the- fashion spring overcoats and spring hats, or fall clothing out of date? What do I hear in the way of a bid?" “Four dollars.” “Absurd; I cannot take that bid of four dollars apiece, Why, these coats when first put upon the market were offered at fifteen dol. lars each, and pow 1 am offered only four dollars. Is thatall? Fivedollars, do I hear? Going at that! Gone at five dollars,” and he takes the whole lot, The young merchant goes home that night and says wife: ‘Well, Mary, we will have to move out of this house and sell our piano. That old merchant that has had an evil eye on me ever since I started has bought out all that clothing, and he will have il re- juvenated, and next year put it on the » his we keep out of the poor-house, THE YOUNG MAN, BROKEN-SPIRITED, goes to h The young wife father’s ris his store wiped morals, and his 3 for two worlds and the next. And devils make a banquet of 1 their cups of gall, and drink I ga : ith of the old merchant young merchant spring goods and way, and wl drinking it AAAS. out, but i 1s home, iis Srl 16 Neal vxey tho i up the deep tot who swallowex who got went down. That some of you haves tried iL, But there another ng merchant who found that b ilated in laying too many kind, and been flung of 1 season, is standing r, feeling very blue, sr-nails, or looking over his ac- it which read darker and worse every time he looks at them, and I have to in a plainer house than she ever or go to a third- where they have and sour bread five morn- the seven, An old mer- “Well, Joe, # 33+] SLUCh i838 Ole Way. had oods of ous un. behin and bitin USHA counts 3 IRS, liver ings out t comes in and says: has been a bard season for young and this prolonged weather has put many in the doldrums, and I have been thinking of you a good fF os 3 COO ANYTHING I CAN out I will DO TO HELP gladly do it. Detter present, and next season we will plan about them. I you to some goods that you can sell for nething somnesning o one of the wholesale houses and tell and will back ou up, and if you want a few dollars Sou them. Be as economical ber that myself. merchant you have two friends, God and Good morning!’ The goes away and the young cheeks, It Disaster everything, and mad at God. melts him, and roll down his is the first made him mad at man But this kindness the tears seem to re- his brain, and his spirits raise from ten below zero to eighty in the shade, and he comes out of the crisis, About three years after, this young store and says: I was this morning thinking over what you did for me three years ago. You helped mo out of an awful crisis in my commercial history. I learned wisdom, and prosperity has come, and the pallos and thousands in all our large cities; young woinen WITHOUT MONEY AND HOME and without work in these great maels- troms of metropolitan like. When such a case comes under your observation, how do you treat it? “Get out of my way, we have no room in our establish- ment for any more hands, I don't be- lieve in women anyway, they are a lazy, idle, worthless set. John, please show this person out of the door.”” Or do you compliment her person appearance, and say things to her which if any man said te vour sister or daughter you would kill him on the spot? ‘Lhatis one way, and itis tried every day In these large cities, and many of those who advertise for female hands in fac- tories, and for governesses in families, have proved themselves unfit {o ben any place outside of hell, jut there is another way, and I saw it the other day in the Methodist Book Concern in New York, where a young woman applied for work and the gen- tleman in tone and manner said in sub- stance: “My daughter, we women here, but [ do not know of any vacant place in our department. You had better inquire at such and sucha place, and I hope you will be success- ful in getting something to do.” The embarrassed and humiliated woman seemed to give way to Christian confi dence. She started out with a hopeful look that I think must have won for her a place in which to earn her bread. I rather think that witTuour New York and last year abou women, and iboat as many thirty thousand young would hike to grind up this year. Out of all women who march on with no hope for this world or the next, battered and bruised and scoffed at, and flung off the precipice, not one but might have been saved for home and God and heaven. But good wen and good women are not in that 1 Alas for that poor hing! nothing but the thread of that ile Led hier LIQ held C3 business, , and the ke. I have heard men t sli course what a man is; woman? Until better definition, I will tell WIAT Direct from God, gift, with affe measuring line 1 can tell ioned to refine and soot irradiate home and world, Of such value that no ot appreciate ii, mothe : long enough to let him understand it, or who in some great crisis of | when all else failed him, hed a wife with in pal Speak oul, ye t that rocked RONe one A WOMA A sacred Lions 80 tof t finite Go society uniess His iF, iat, £0 rein. God tl urseries of Speak out, ye n vil Christendom, and ye homes, whether desolate or still in full bloom with the faces of wife, mother, and daughter, aud help me to define what woman is, But as geographers tell us that the depths of Lhe sea corresponds with the heights of the mountains, T have to tell you that good womanhood is not higher up than bad womanhood is deep down, The grander the palace, the more awful he conflagration that destroys it. The grander the steamer Oregon, the more terrible her going down ff the ’ just off coast. Now 1 should not wonder if you a person in this house but may have AN OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE A WOMAN, It may in your case be done by good to bring to bear some one of a thousand Christian influences. You would not far. If, for instance, you your acquaintances a to go among + wil 160. her respondivg to the smile ¥ of entire gO 0 i1dy tell her that nearly all the destroyed womanhood of the worid with that | 1 | ed her in her [father's house have bloomed again, and my business is splendid, -and I thought I ought to Jet you know that you saved a man!” In a short time after, the old merchant who bad been a good while shaky in his limbs and had poor spells, is called to leave the world, and one morning after he had read the twenty third Psalm about “The Lord is my Sheps herd,’ he closes his eyes on this world, and an angel who had been for many years appointed to watch the old man's dwelling, cries upward the news that the patriarch’s spirit is about ascend- ing. And the twelve angels who keep the twelve gates of heaven, unite in crying down to this approaching spirit of the old man; “Come in and wel come, for it has been told all over these Celestial lands that you saved a man,” There sometimes come exigencies in the life of a woman, One morning about two years ago I saw in the news paper that there was a young woman in New York, whose pocketbook contain- ing thirty-seven dollars and thirty-three cents had been stolen, and she had been left without a farthing at the beginning of winter, in a strange city, and no work, And although she was a stran- ger, 1 did not allow the § o'clock mail to leave the lamp-post on our corner, without carrying the thirty- seven dol. lars and thirty-three cents; and the case Wis Proved genuine, Now I have read spere’'s tragedies, and all Victor Hago's tragedies, and all Alex. ander Smith's tragedies, but I never read o tragedy more thrilling than that case, and similar cases by the hundreds listress and breaking down in health and spirits trying to support her children, now that ber husband is portant and honorable work, but which is little appreciated, Keeping a boarding- house, where all the guests, according without paying any board at all, to de- camp, are critical of evérything and hard to please, busy yourselves trying fo get her more patrons, and tell her of divine sympathy. Yea, if you see a woman favored of fortune and flatteries of the world her chief regalement, living for herself and for time as if there were no eternity, strive to bring her into the Kingdom of God, as did the other day a Sabbath- school teacher, who was the means of THE CONVERSION OF THE DAUGHTER of a man of immense wealth, and the and she went home and sald: “Father, I am going to join the church and 1 want you to come.’ “Oh, no,” he said, **I never go to churel.,” “Well,” sald the daughter, *'if I were going to be married, would you not go and see me married?’ And he said: “Oh, yes," “Well,”” said she, *‘this is of more importance than that.” So he went, and has gone ever since, and loves to go. 1 do not koow but that faithful Sabbath-school teacher not only saved a woman but a man. There may be in this audience, gathered from all parts of the world, the most cosmopolitan assembly in all the eartli there may be a man whose behavior toward woman hood has been perfidious. Repent! Stand up, thou masterpiece of sin and death, that I may charge youl! As far a8 possible, make reparation, Do not boast that you have her in your power and that she cannot help herself, When the fine collar and cravat and that ole gant suit of clothes comes off and your uncovered soul stands before God, you will be better off if you save that woman There is another exploit you can do, and that is TO SAVE A CHILD, A child does not seem to ambunt to much. It is nearly a year old before it can walk at all, For the first year and and a half it cannot speak a word, For the first ten years it yould starve if it had to earn its own food. For the first fifteen years its opinion on any subject is absolutely valueless, And then there are so many of them, My! what lots of children! And some people have contempt for children. They are good for nothing but to wear out the carpets and break things and keep you awake nights crying, Well, your estimate of a child is quite different from that mother’s estimate who lost her child this summer, They took it to the salt air of the seashore and to the tonic air of the mountains, but no help came, ended. Suppose that child eould be re- stored by purchase, how much would that bereaved mother give? She would take all the jewels from her fingers and neck and bureau and put them down, And if told that that she would take her house over the deed for it, and if not enough, she would eall In all her investments, put down all if told would say: I and make that were and were not enough, she } i I can have that child back 1 will pledge that I will toil with Only '1l am Know cellar and die in a garret, me back that lost darling!’ who thing of I'HE § CHILD, Its possibilities are tremendous, Wha hands yet do? Where will those feet vet walk? Toward wl ALUE OF A those itself? Shall those lips be the throne blasphemy or be Come, 3, and calculate the decades iries on centuries, BAVe i wediction? the cen its lifetime, a child among But what are you going to do wha those children who are worse off than | their father or mother had died the day they en? There are tens of Their parentage Fheir names 1s against skulls agai muscles conta or dissoiuten: are pract with us’ from n 3 mi hey AVE B85 Ame nu r of well-born chilldrer | tis land damnation just as £ them SUPPOSE We each over to i boy OF S4ve & iyou? I will WE GET READY these three exploits? failure if it oly gill. w one or all of We shall s 3 dead fall strength we try to woman or chilh Dut my tex! su where we are Lo get equipment. peone that SAVE ig, and kpow Him thie Own gaivaton His help in while you are ving save some of your own Kin, You your brothers aad sisters and and grandchildien all safe, but they are not dead, and so one 1s sale | dead. On the English coast there was A WILD STORM, AND A WRECK in the offing, aod the cry was: “Man the lifeboats!” But Harry, the usual leader of the sailor's crew, was nol be found, and they went without and brought back all people but one, Dy this t leader of the crew, said: “Why did you leave that one? The vas: He co i himself at nd we conld not get him he boat’ “Man the lifeboat!" shouted Harry, and we will go for that one.” “No," sald his aged mother, stan Jing by, “you must not go. 1 lost your father i a storm like this, and your brother Will went off six years ago, and I hav not heard a word from Will he left, and 1 don’t know where he is, por Will, ant I cannot let you also go, for I am oid su. i dependent on you.” Hisreply was: ‘Mother, I must go and sve that one man, and if I am lost, God will take care of you in vour old days.” The lifeboat put out, and after an awful struggle with the sea, they picked the poor fellow out of the rigging just in time to save his life, and started for And as they came within speaking distance, Harry cried out: strog aty *% SR 3 seed © SLTANZErs You In il he Is to ‘ nim, shipwrecked me, Harry, appeared and ’ ihe the answer uld not help aii, & into 5 i“ since brother Will.” Oh, ves, my friends, woman, some child, And who but 1t may, directly or indirectly, worthy of celebration when the world A————— Freaks of Razors, SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. Sunpar, Ocronen 2, 1548 The Fall of Jericho, LESSON TEXT. Josh, 6 1-16. Memory verses, 15-14) LESSON PLAN. Toric or THE QUARTER: Promises Fulfilled, God's GoLpex TEXT For THE QUARTER! There ratled not aught of any good thing the Lard Jd winlo the af If roel J isi. : 45. nokeen ; all came Lo pass 21 Lesson Toric: Faith. Overcoming Through « Revi » Ly ation, va, 1-5, , Va, 6 14 Victory, va, 15 Lesson Outline dience 3. 16, GOLDEN TEXT: By faith the of Jericho fell down, after the § were com. passed about Heb. 11 : 30, DarnLy Hoang READINGS: M.—Josh, 6: 1-1 iO, th faith, walls seven days. rough Josh ANALYSIS, REVELATION, LESSON i. Of God's Purpose : OBEDIEN/( I. Commandment Given: Joshua. .. Sd, . 1a Pass « Have In t John 13 : 11. Obedience Rendered: 11 riests. . . . passed : (8, “1, 34). nen went obeved my continually Thy God whom thou servest (Dan, 6 : 16), These all with one accord steadfastly (Acts 1 : 14. 1. “Pass on, and compass the city.” 1) The doomed city; (2) The com- passing army; (3) The conquering Lord continued ing.” {1} (2) The hero of Jericho, —The ap- pointed conqueror; (2) The early rising: (3) The pending victory. 3. “So they did six days.” (1) in obedience; (2) Persevering obedience, 11, I. Early Effor.: They rose early at the dawning of the in VICTORY. blades cannot equal them in texture, It is not generally known that the grain of a Swedish razor Is so sensitive that its general direction is changed after a short service. When you buy a fine razor the grain runs from the up- per end of the cuter point in a diagonal direction toward the handle, Constant strapping will twist the steel until the rain appears to set straight up and own, BSubseqient use will draw the grain outward from the edge, so that after steady use for several months the fibre of the steel occupies a position vx. actly the reverse of that which nppear- od on the day of purchase. The pro- coss also affects tho temper of the blade, and when the grain sets from the lower outer end towards the Lack you have a tool which cannot be kept in condi. tion by the most conscientious barber. But here's another freak of nature, f.eave the razor alone for a month, and when you take it up you will find the rain has resumed its first position, is operation can be repeated unui the steel is worn through the to back, i : i Abraham rose early in the moming . ... and went (Gen, 22 : 3). Joshua rose 4 early in the morning. ... and came (Josh, 3: 1) and... .prayed (Mark 1 : 35). At carly dawn, they came unto tomb {Luke 24 : 1). IL Persistent Effort: On that day they compassed the city seven times (15). Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times (2 Kings 13 : 19). By [patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory (Rom. 2 : 7), Steadfast, unmoveable, always abound- ing in the work (1 Cor, 15 : (8), Let us not be weary in well-doing (Gal. 6:9. 111, Success] Effort: Shont; for the Lord hath given you the city (10). The poeple shouted,....and the wall fell down flat (Josh, 6 : 20), . They that sow in tesrs shall reap in joy Psa. 126 : 6), In due season we shall reap (Gal. 6: 9), By faith the walls of Jericho fell down (Heb, 11 : 30), the 1. “They rose early at the dawning of the day.” (1) The early rising; (2) The dawning day: (5) The pending victory, 2. “Only on that day they compassed the city seven times’'' (1 A special dav; (2) A special duty; (1 A special deed, “The Lord hath giv city.”? (1) Jericho a gift; (2 bi en you the Jehovah Israel a recipient. Jericho given: (1) To what people? (2) By whores decree? (5 dv what means? (4) For w» 1rpose? a —— N BIBLE READING, ) IN'BIBLYE HIS p twprs {3 a giver; (3) TORY, (2 Kings 2 : 1 palm-trees 14 ii iptured thro Doomed to lie 1’ Rebuilt under IAT eso : Luke 1 The First Dress Coat. ied, 1 hiv held back sport an ) Wear 8 — —— OLOe en became by my EVE he 1 y R : . : of a poet t oct = aid dreading jest, at wement, 1 should ATR i - against the corner Oi sone or plunge my nose the wliorht VIE BIKA TULSE INV ALS trimming oi a HOON hone Mu matter; bul bodice. and thirst interfered in the for a kingdom I {0 approad rest of the ched for the mo: deserted; and while le groups of politic: ng a serious air, scorn the « of t whence Cs waill the smaller salon, with the pleasant and the tinkling of nas against the porcelain, a deli- an tea, of ss and cakes, At last they came to dance. and I gathered up m3 courage. I entered, I was alone, What a dazzling sight was that bufl- et! A crystal pyramid under the blaze of the candles, brilliant with glasses and decanters, white and glittering as snow in sunshine! I took up a fragile as a careful not # Chek 8 PSS LEASH ma of scented Spanish { i glass flower, to hold it too tightly lest I should break What should I pour into it? courage, 1 say to myself, since no one can see me. 1 stretched a It must be Kirsh, 1 thought, Well, 1'l decanter. its bitter and wild perfume that re- minds me of the forest! And so, like an epicure, I slowly poured out, drop the beautiful clear liquid, 1 raised the glass to my lips, Oh, hor I made! Suddenly a duet of laughter dress that 1 had not perceived flirting in acormer, and who were amused at my mistake. 1 endeavored to replace my glass, but I was nervous, my hand not what. One glass, two glasses, three glasses fell! 1 turned round, my wretched coat tails swept a wild circle, and the white pyramid crashed to the ground, with all the sparkling, splinter- ing, Mashing uproar of an iceberg break. ing to pieces, IAI IO NPIS 55 John Bright Makes His Boys Work. Of Jolin Bright's sons, John Albert was always the “good” boy; Leatham, now an M, P., was the mischievous one: and Philip was the hard-working one, Not long ago Phillp was employed in the fitting shed in the Bright mills, having an aplilude for making and mending of machinery, When be had gone through the grades in that shop he put ina year or two at Petrie’s iron foundry in the tewn, He carried his breakfast “can,” and shared the com- pany and work of all the other men, every one of whom he seemed to think as good as himself. His brother Leatham was put through the drills at the mills, aud so was John Albert John Bright himself learned how to work before be began to speak for and represent workingmen.
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