The Centre reporter. (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, January 29, 1891, Image 6

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    REY. DR. TALMAGES SERMON.
The Brookl yn Divi pe's Surd ay
sermon,
Subject: «Other Sheep I Have
Text: “Other sheep I have which are not
®; this fold."—Joln x., 16,
There is no monopoly in religion. Tha
co of God is not a nice little JrSpors
enced off all for oursefves. Itisnota Ring's
park, stwidck we look thro rred
uteway, wishing we might go in and ‘pluck
e flowers and look at the deer and the
statuary. Itisa father's orchard, and thers
are burs to let down and gates toswing open.
In my boyhood days, next to the country
schooithouse where went, there was an
apple orchard of great luxuriancs, owned by
a very lame man who did not gather the
apples, and they went to waste by scores of
bushels. Sometimes the lads of the school,
in the sinfulness of a nature inherited from
our first parents, who fell through the same
temptation, would climb over the fence and
take some of these apples and notwithstand.
ing ha fact that thers was a surplus, and
all going to waste, the owner of that orchard
reciless of making his lameness worse, would
take after these lads and shout, “Boys, drop
those apples or I'll set the dog on you”
Now there are Christians who have savere
guard over the Church of God. They have
a rough and unsympathetio way of wating
outsiders. It isa great orchard into whic
God would like to have all the people coms
and take the richest and the ripest fruit, and
the more they take the better He likes if
But there are those who stand with a bh
and severe nature guarding the Church o
God, and all the time afraid that some wil}
t these apples when they really ought not
have them,
Have you any idea that because you werd
baptized at eight months of age, and because
ou have all your life been surrounded by
lowed influences, you have a right to one
whole side of the tn table, spreadi
¥ urself out so nobody else can sit there
ou will have to haul in your elbows, for
there will comea great multitude to sit at
tho table and on both sides of you. You are
not coing to have this monopoly of religion.
“Other sheep have I which are not of this
fold.”
Scotch hills a great flock of sheep. MoDonald
bas four or five thousand head of sheep,
Bome are browsing on the heather, some are
on the hills, some are in the valleys, a few
are in the yard. Ona day Cameron codies
over to McDonald and says: “McDonald, you
bave thirty sheep. I have been couliting
them.” “Oh, no!” says McDonald, “I Bave
four or five thousand.” “Ah says Came.
ron, “you are mistaken. I have just counted
them. There are thirty.” “Why,” says Mo.
Donald, “do you suppose that is all the sh
I nave? 1have sheep o~ the distant hiils pes
fu the valleys, ranging and roaming every-
where. Other steep have I which are not of
this fold.”
So Christ comes. Here is a group of
Christinns, and thera is a group of Chris.
tinns; here is a Methodist fold, here is a
Presbyterian fold, here is a Baptist fold, here
isa Lutheran fold, and we make our annual
statistics, and we think we can tell you just
bow many Christians thers are in the world,
bow many thers are in the church bow
many in all these denominations. We ag-
gregate them, and we think we are giving
an intelligent and an accurate account, but
Christ comes and He says: ‘You have not
counted them right. There are those whom
ou have never seen, those of whom you
va never heard. I have My children in all
parts of the earth, on all the islands of the
sea, on all the continents, in all the mount
ains and in all the walleys. Do you think
that these few sheep you have counted are
all Je shath Ibave! There is a great mul-
tude tha D0 mian can number, Other
sep have I which are not of this fold.”
Sst in my text talks of the conversion
of the files as confidently as though fusy
had piready been converted. Ho sets for
the idea that His people will come from all
parts of the earth, from all ages, from all dir-
cumstances, from all conditions. “Other
shaep Lave I which are not of this fold.”
In the first Place I remark the Heavenly
There are different kinds of churches.
times you will find a church made up enly of
Christians. Everything seems finished. The
church reminds you of thess skeleton plants
from hich by chemical preparation the
greenness the verdure Lave heen tak
and they are cold and white and delicate an
beautiful and finished. All that is wanted ia
8 glass case put ever them. The minister on
the Sabbath has only to take an estrich
feather and brush off the dust that has ac
cumulated in the last six days of busi
and then they are as cold beautifnl and
delicate as before. Everything is finished
Ounished sermons, finished music, faished
architectures, finished everything.
Another church is like an armory, the
sound of drum and fife mere recruits
to the Lord's army. e say to the appli-
cants, “Come in and Je your equipment.
cleansed the helmet yop 419 to put on
here is the you are to put on
your head, here are the sandals you are to
put over your feet, here is the freastpiate
you are to put over your heart, hers is the
sword ars to take in your right band and
fight battle with.
men.”
There are those hera perhaps, who sar.
“It is now BYisun Jeary ¢e I was in
EE Ee Eas
a case o 0
tell you something that will be star Ui .
thing of that kind.”
case. I have been up and down the world.
I know why soms of you do net attend upon
Christian services. ‘
Igo furtier, and make another announce-
ment in regerd to you, and that is, you are
vot only to become the "a shoap 1
ing to ’ sheep
i
eek
5
dais
:
gERY
Ed
¥
upon Christian san
hem the steamer Atlantic went to
Mars Rock, why did that brave
the of whom we have all
or erp KIC
tor
finals around them, ud
£
3
Bass
E
i
I
f
i
i
8
z
§
3
i
i
:
-
-
"E¥
3
swept iz; your voles is
nrayer; you are
Liod; you are
ness, and your
rounded
vout men will
0
thbed is going to be sar
gight of the
{ d all Shas ub is ing © Buln S04
My ip oer ve I which are ni
ths fol 4 ep
: dguin I remark, the Heavenly Shepherd
Is going to find many of His sheep among
thoso who are now rejecters of Christianity.
I do not know how you came to reject
Hanity. I do not know whether i6ywax
through hearing Theodore Parker preach:
whether it was reading Renan’s * i’
Jesus,” or whether it was through”
skeptic in tho store or factory. Or it may
=-probably is the cass-—that you were dls.
gusted with religion and disgusted with
Christianity because some man who pro.
fessed to be a Christian defrauded ‘you, and
ho being a member of the church, and you
| taking him as a representative of the Chris
tian religion, you said, ‘Well, if that's re.
ligion, I don’t want any of it.”
donot know how you came to reject
Christianity, but you frankly tell me you do
reject it; you do not think the Bible is the
word of God, although there are man
things in it you admire; you do mot thin
| that Christ was a divine being, although you
{ think He was a very good man, Yeu say,
“I the Bible be trus—the mest of the Bible
be true—I mevertheless think the earlier part
| of the Bible Is an allegory.” And there are
| fifty things that I belisve you do not be
{ love. Novertheless they tell mein regard to
| you that Jou are an accommodating, you
| are an obl glog person, If I should coms to
i fou and ask of you a favor you would grant
| 16 if it were possible. It would be a joy for
outo grant me a favor. If any of year
riends came to you and wanted an accem-
| medation and you could sceommodate them,
{ how glad you would be!
{ Now I am going to ask of you a favor. 1
{| want you to oblige me. The accommeda~
tion will cost you nothing, and you will giva
me great happiness. Of courss yeu will not
denyme. [want you as an experiment to
try the Christian religion. If it does not
stand the test, discard it; if it does, receive
it,
If you were very slok, and Fo had been
given up of the doctors, and I came to you,
and I took a bettle of medicine from my
pocket and sald, “Hers is medicine I am
sure will help you; it has cured fifty le,”
you would ar “Oh, [haven't any cenfl-
dence in it; they tell me all thess Wedicines
will fail ma.” “Well” I say, “will you not,
as a matter of accommodation 6 ‘mywelf,
just try itF’ “Well” you say, “I bave no
objection to trying it; if it will be any sat-
Isfaction to you I will try it.” Yeu take it.
New you are sick in disquietude, sick in sin,
| You are not happy. You laugh semetimes
| when you are miserable. There come surges
of unhappiness over your soul that almost
swamp you. You are unhappy, struck
through with unrest. Now, will you met t
this solace, this febrifugs, this anodyne, th
Gospel medicine?
“Oh,” you say, “I haven't any faith in it.”
As a matter of accommodation, let me in-
troduce you to the Lerd Jesus Christ the
Great Physician, “Why,” you say, “I
bavex't any faith in Him." Well now, will
you not just let him coms and try His power
on your soul? Just let me introduces Him to
you. Ido not ask you to take my word for
it. Ido pot ask you take the advice of cler-
gymen. Perhaps the clergymen may be
prejudiced; perhaps wo may be speaking
professionally; perbaps we may give you
wrong advice; perhaps we are morbid en
that subject; so I donot ask youto take the
advice of clergymen. I ask you to take the
adyios of very respectablp laymen, such as
William Shakes , the dramatist: as
William Wilberforce, the statesman: as [sano
Newton, the astronemer: af Robert Boyles,
the philosopher; as Locks, the metaphysi-
cian; as Morse, the electrician,
Theso men never preachsd—they never
pretended to preach—bul they come out, and
putting down, ome his telescepe, and auether
the electriclan’s wire, and anether the par.
Hamentary scroll—they ceme out, and they
; commend Christ as a comfort to all the peo-
I gle, a Christ that the world needs. New |
0 not ask you to take the advios of clergy-
{ men. Take the advics of thess laymen, [t
| does net make any difference te me at this
i juncture what you bave said avd the
ible; it does not make any differences to me
| At this juncture bew vou may have
tured religion. Take the advice of who
tre prominent ia secular affairs as these
men whom I have mentioned and ethers who
immediately occur to my mind. Yeu see [
do mot scoff at skepticlem. I never scoffed
at skepticlams. Ihave been a natural ie.
| Ido not know what the first word was that
I uttered after emtering ths world, bub
tinnk it must have been “why?
i There were times when I doubted ths exist.
| ence of Ged, when I doubted the divinity bt
| Christ, when [ doubted the immortality of
the soul, when I deubtad my own existence,
when | doubted everything. I haves bean
| through the whole curriculum of Goubs, and
§ can tell me nothing new about i%
ve come out from a great Sabara desert
into the calm, warm, sunshiny land of the
Gospel. I know about the other land, I
bave been thera. You can tell me nothing
osw about it. And Iksow all about the
saything—the peace, the comflort, the
the Miuiagh of trusting in God and in
Christ w He has sont, So I
scoffiag in regard to it.
It ou me to ses how soon Christian
people give up the prodigal. I hear Chris.
Han people talk as though they thought
the grace were a chain of forty or
fifty links, and when they had ran out
then thers was nething ts touch the depth
of a man's iniquity. If a man wers out
bunting for deer, and off the track
i the deer, hs would hunt amid
: and the brakes longer for the lost
! game than be would look for a lost soul.
They say Jas had the delirium
oy,
Jesus
am not
a eantet give yon
-
I ake isa back
7 ey
Now fig-
not thiak & man
id
y
HH
§
i
has got to coms up, your physien
th is to be rebuilt, your family is w be
reptored, the Church of God on earth and
in heaven is to rejoice over your co
#Other sh have I which are not of th
old.” If this ix not the Gospel I do no
ow what the Gospel is, It can scale any
height, it can fathom any depth, it can com.
any infinity. I think one reason why
are not more poopie saved 1s we do
' pot swing the door wid anough opan.
| Now there is only one class of persons in
' this house about whom I have any despond.
ency, and that is those who have been heare
| lng the Gospel for perhaps twenty, thirty,
| forty years. Their outward life Is moral,
but they tell you frankly they donot love the
| Lord Jesus Christ, have not trusted Him, have
1 Io been born again by the spirit of God.
"hey are Gospel hardened, e Gospel has
' ao more effect upon them than the shining
i of the moon on the city pavement. _ The
| publicans and the hari go into the Ring.
om of God before they.
ome of them, the revival of 1857, when 500,
X00 souls wers brought to Gol. Bome of them
went through great revivals in individual
thurches, Still unpardons!. unblessed, un-
mved. They were merely spectators. Gospel
sardened!
they are sick, and then that they are dead,
snd then that they died without any hope.
dospel hardened!
But I turnaway from all such with a thrill
of hope to those who ars not Gospel hard.
med, Bome of you Bave not heard, perhaps,
ive sermons in five years. This whele sib-
ject has besn a novelty to you for some time,
You are net Gospel hardened; you know you
! fre not Gospel hardened, The whole subject
tomes freshly fo yourrmind. 1 hear soma soul
laying: “Oh, my wasted life! Oh, the bitter
tf Oh, the graves 1 stumbled over!
hither oe ? The future isso dark, so
dark, so very ri! God help me!”
Oh, 1 am §o glad for that last utterances!
That was a prayer, and as soon as you be-
gin to pray that turns all heaven this way,
and Ged steps in, and He boats back the
bounds of temptation to their keanels, and
He throws all around the pursued shul the
covert of His pardoning mercy.
something fall. What was it? It was the
bars arcouad the sheepfold, the bars of ths
tence areund the sheepleld. The Heavenly
Shepherd let them fall, and ths hunted sheep
of the mountain come bounding in, some
with flesce torn of the brambles, and others
with feet lame from the dogs, but bounding
in. Thank Ged! “Other sheephave I wiih
are not of this fold”
lamentation of the dyin
be determined. Iam throwing my last stake
for eternity, and tremble and shudder for
the important fssue. Oh, my friend, with
what borror do I recall the heurs of vanity
wa have wasted together; but I have a splen-
sto the grave, 1 dis instate, and
languish under a glided canopy I am ox
piriag on soft and downy pillows, = am
respectfully aflended by my servanis aad
physicians. My depondants sigh my sister
weap, my father bemds beneath a load of
yours and grief. But oh, which of thew
will answer my summons at the high tri
bunai? And Lich of thess will ball me fron
the arrest of death? While some flattering
pasnegyric is pronounced at my interment, |
may be hearmg my just condemnation at ¢
wuprems tribunal. Adieu
—-—— a
Revolutionary Widows.
The last Revolutionary soldier wie”
years and years age. But the Rovoln
tionary widows are still with us. Twenty
venerable women whose husbands *¢iit
for American independence are carried
upon the pension rolls. It is amszing
how the widows of soldiers hold on. At
the pretent time Uncle Sam is disburs.
tife war of 1812. But the widews of the
old soldiers of the war of 1812 are draw.
ing in pensions the snug sum of $1,263.
239 annually. When we get down to
the Mexican war we find the survivors a
little the best of it. They draw $1,728.
027 a year. The Mexican War widows
got $605,054. Bot the widows are
cresping up om the sarvivors. It will be
only a few yenrs until the Mexican War
widows will be drawing more pession
money than the survivors. That is the
At the
Pension Office this is well understood.
It is explaived in a few words. The old
pensioners marry young wives and leago
them their blessings and pensions. The
pengioners of the Civil War will reach
their maximum in numbers eight or ten
years from now if there are no more pen-
sion laws enacted. Dut the widows’ list
will keep on growing for a quarter of a
century. Filty years from now there
will not be a Grand Army man living.
Seventy-five years from now a grateful
Republic will still be reimbarsing widows
for what their husbands suffered at
Women
aire yet to be born who will become
widows of old soldiers and draw pensions
for their husbands’ services in the war of
1861-5,
There are to-day over one hundred
thousand widows on the pension rolls.
The pensiontrs number 400,000. These
figures will be reversed in twenty years.
Ninety-eight thousand widows draw $13
8 month. Last year the Civil War pen-
sioners drew $71.877.618. The Civil
War widows drew $19,008,857, more
than one-fourth of the magnificent total.
we Washington Letter,
An Old Fable Rent Asunder.
“These stories of mothers throwing
their children into the Ganges is all a
| ‘fake,’ ” ssys a returned missionary, +I
never saw it dome, er any ome who
claimed to have seen {i done, or, in fact,
ever heard there of its being dome. It
is only in Eaglaad sad America that I
ever heard of it. Ohildren are loved
there just as much as they me here.
Rend is bonered more.
“The
6f men throwing them.
selves into the Gm
in fits of religious
rensy Is ansther fairy tale. It prob.
ably eriginated from the fact that at
i
:
it
I:
af
Hi
£163
£
§
m————
Dr. Holmes, in the Atlantic.
The glory has passed from the golden rod's
ume,
The purpleied asters still linger in bloom;
The fren is bright yellow, the sumachs are
rec
The maple 1ike torches aflame overhead.
But what if the joy of the summer Is ast,
And winter's wild herald is blowing his blaste
For me dull November is sweeter than May,
For my Love 1s its sunshine-—she meets me
today!
Will she come?
her nest?
Will the needle swing back from the east or
the west?
At the stroke of the hour she will be at her
Will the ring dove return to
gnte
| A friend may prove laggard—love never come
ale,
! Do | see her afar in the distance? Not yet,
Too early! Too early! She could not forget!
When I cross the old 1 ridge where the brook
{ over-flowed ,
She will flash full in sight at the turn of the
road.
1 pass tha low wall where the ivy entwines;:
I tread the brown pathway that leads through
i the :
I haste by the bow!der that les in the field,
| Where her promise at parting was lovingly
sealed,
Yes:
{ Will sho come by the hillside or round throuzh
the wood?
{ Will she wear her brown dress or her mantle
i or hood?
{| The minute draws near—-but her watch may go
{ Wrong :
My heart will bs asking,
long?
What keeps berso
Why doubt for a moment? More shame if 1
do!
Why question? Why tremble? Are angels more
: trust
{ Bhe would come to the lover who calls her his
} own
| Though she trod In the track of a whirlwind
{ cyclone!
; =I crossed the old bridge ers the minute had
assed,
I looked; lo! miy love stood before me at last,
Her exes, how they sparkled, her cheeks, how
hey glowed,
| As we met, face to face, at the turn of the
i roast
EE ——
OLD LADIES,
i
i
i
What a charm there is about a gen-
nine old lady, one that is not ashamed
to wear her own white hair, snd who
sees no disg1 ae» in the lines time has
{ traced on her comely features. To her
| the disgrace would be in trying to dis.
| guise these facts, and, with the painful
examples around her of old age trying
to pass itself off for youth, who will say
she is not right? To us of a younger
to surround onr
‘to envelope in
phere us poor, weary, overwrought
mcrtals of this nineteenth century who
, come within its influence. What caus
| ea this sweet serenity so often noticed
| In old people—women more than men?
| In it that they have lived their lives and
' vatilved their troubles? I think not,
old iady, and aven
sympathy more ready, than our dear
old iady’s? Else why should we all go
to her when life seems hard, and death
| almost desirable. And do we nt leave
| ber with the thought, that, after all,
things may not be 800 bad as they
seemed, and there may be a silver lin.
ing even toour dark cloud? An old
| Indy’s influence with children, too, is
, remarkable; but perhaps her unfailing
readiness to tell them stories has some-
thing to do with this. I well remember
the charm my dear old grandmother's
stories used to have for us children.
There was such an element of fairy tale
lore in her stage-cosch experiences, and
to us girls a savor of romance in the
idea of our grannies, onr stately granale
in her soft lace cap and biack gown ever
having worn and —was that befors Mrs,
Grundy’s time—even gone te ehurch
in, a muslin frock, with short slenaves,
long mittens, and shoes with high
red heels. Could frivelity ge any
farther? Bat, perhaps, low frocks in
those days were not quite the same
thing ra low frocks in these. Poor dear
grannie, she is feeble now, and her
memory is not what it once was; no
doubt she has forgotten all about these
things, though ber leve for her grand-
obildren, extended now to their litt'e
ones, burns as Lrightly as ever. And
with what love and reverence thess old
ladies speak of their long dead moth-
ers! Bhall we do so? ‘ray God we
may. Butin th se days of many en-
gagements a woman sees so little of her
clildren, and even when older, and one
won'd think more companionable, her
one thought is bow so. n she may relin-
quish her girls ‘0 the eare of husbands,
80 who knows, in years to come, the
its holy meaning?
Of course old ladies have their pecnl-
iarities, as indeed, who has not? One
dear old soul of my acquaintance, who
knows pot the meaning of the word
vanity, but who hates white hair almost
as she hates anything wrong or s nfal,
wears, and has done for the iast quarter
of a century,a heavy brown wig. There
is not the least attempt to disguise, it is
a most palpable wig, and she will prob-
ably eall Your attention to it, and ex.
pla why it is there.
Another, one of the prettiest, most
cultured, and well read women I know
who, years ago, was the chosen frisrnd
and companion of oneof the first novel.
ista of our century, now in her old age
forms her life a mangers as far as
possible on the model of a heroine in
one of her friend's werks;because, for-
sooth! that friend wishine to endow his
oLaracter with a pretty face, painted
bers. As the heroine in question was
distinguished by one or two peculiar
char cteristion, and was, moreover, a
er grotesque when these peonliarities
oT in a woman who has
reached her three score and ten. But
she shone the leas Shacusin , and,
out smile, to her own
De of triendu she is a mest lov.
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
BUNDAY, JANUARY, 25 1951
Elijah and the Prophets of Baal.
LEBBON TEXT.
1 Kings 18 : 25.30, Memory verses: 35.39.)
LESSON PLAN,
Torio or THE QUARTER:
and Serving,
Goroex Texr vor Tow Quanren:
Godliness 1s profitable unto all things,
~1 Lim. 4:8,
Sinning
Limssox Toric: God's A
dicatzd.
rvant Vine
{ 1. Baal's Prophets Defoaz.
| ed, vs, 25-29
Lessox OurLixe 2 Elias Test Prep
| 8 Eiijah's Test Triumph.
L ant, vs, 87 39,
Goroex Tex: How long halt ye be-
tween two opinions? f the Lord be
God, follow him,—1 Kings 18 : 21,
Day Hour BeApiNGs :
M.—1 Kings 18 : 25-39,
vant vindicated.
T.—1 Kings 18 : 1-24. The assem-
bling at Moant Carmel
W.—1 Kings 18 : 80.48,
trinmph complete,
T.—Exod. 12 : 21-38.
dicated.
F.—Acts 28 ;
ed.
8.—John 12 : 20-36.
cated,
B.—1 Cor. 15:
vindieation.
ared,
(iod’s ser-
Elijan’s
Mosas vin-
1-10, Paul vindicat-
Jesus vindi-
35-57.
The final
A sr
LESSON ANALYSIS,
I. BAAL'S PROPHETS DEFEATED.
I. A Cold Challenge:
Call on the name of your god, bat
put no fire under (25).
Choose you this day whom ye will serve
Josh. 24 : 15.
Return thou after
(Buth 1 : 15).
If the Lord be God, follow him: but if
Baal, then follow him (1 Kings 18 ;
21).
Would ye also go away? (John 6
thy sister-in-law
a
: 67.
Il. 2n Earnest Response:
| They... caled on. . .Baal from morn-
j Ing even until noon (26).
| They leaped abont the altar which was
made (1 Kings 18 : 25).
| They ent themselves after
ner {1 Kings 18 : 28),
.eried every man unto
hin god Jonah 1 33.
their man-
291,
(Daut.
swered (1 Kings 18: 26),
Call now; 1s thers any that will answer
thee? (Job 5: 1).
They have months, but they speak not
(Pea. 115: 5),
L “Choose you one bullock for your-
selves, and dress it first.” (1) The
contending parties; (2) The poins
of comteation; (3) The accepted
test: (4) The decisive result.
2. “There was no voice, nor any that
answered. (1) The worshipers’
a Is; (2) The idol's silence. —(1)
Blind idolatry; (2) Damb idols; (3)
salen lL.
3. “Eli mocked them.” (1) Je
hovah's representative tricmphant;
(2) Beal's representatives routed.
Il. BLIJAN'S TENT PREPARED
I. The Altar Repaired:
He repaired the altar of the Lord
that was thrown dowa (30).
Throw down the altar of Baal (Judg
6: 25).
thrown
down thine altars (1 Kings 19: 10).
Their altars are as heaps in the farrows
(Hos, 12: 11).
They... .have digged dowd thine altars
(Rom. 11: 8),
il. The Tribes Represented:
Elijah took twelve stones, scoording
to the. .. tribes (31).
All these are the twelve tribes of lsrasl
(Gen. 49: 2%),
Take you twelve men ont of the tribes
of Israel (Josh. 3: 12).
Take yon hence out of the midst of
Jordan twelve stones (Josh. 4: 3).
«odor ever (Josh. 4: 7).
lil. The Sacrifice iade Ready:
He... .out the bullock in pieces, and
laid it on the wood (33),
He shall... .eat it into ite pieces (Lev.
1: 8.
The sons cf Aaron... .shall. . . .lay wood
in order (Lev, 1: 7).
The priests, shall lay the pieces...
order upon the wood (Lev. 1: 8),
Tne priest shall burn the whole on the
altar (Lev, 1:9,
lL. “Come near unto me; end all the
people came.” (1) Elijah's oall;
(2) Israel's response, —(1 ) Choosing
the Lord's side; (2) Abandoning
Baal's side.
2. “Wi h the stones he built an alter
in tits name of the Lord.” (1)
The representative stones; (2) The
enbm ssive people; (3) The confi-
dent prophet; (4) The sacred altar.
3. “Pour it on the burnt offeriag,
and on the wood.” (1) The altar
rebuilt; (2) The oTering od;
(3) The water applied; (4) The test
.in
IT, MLIJAM'S TRST TRIUMPHANT.
I. The True God:
O Lord, the God of Abraham, of
Isanc, and of Israel (36).
Iam the Lord, the God of Abraham thy
father (Gen. 28: 18),
I am the God of thy father (Exod. 3:
8 i.
Tho Lon She God of your fathers
Thon Ol he none other gods before
me (Exod. 20: 8),
Il. The Fervent Appeal.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this
people may know (37). a
n hear
TEI Ctkts or ay, mers
m .
swiwer (Pan. 60: 13), '
i. “ egiiiye Resporise:
The fire of the Hed Toll
sumed the burnt offering (38).
There came forth fire from before the
Lord (Lev, 9: 24).
There went up fire out of the rock
(Judg. 6: 21).
He answered him from heaven by fire
(1 Chron, 21: 26%,
When Solomon had made an end of
praying, the firecame down (2Chron
i: 1
and econ-
J. “Let it be known this day {hat
thou art God in Israel.” (1) The
lost knowledge; (2) The restoring
effort,
« *O Lord, hear me, that this peo-
ple may know.” (1) Fervent pray-
ing; (2) Gracious hearing; (3) I'ri-
umphant answering,
« “They fell on their fac
enid, The Lord, he is God.” (I)
Au overwhelming demonstration:
(2) A unanimous response,
sani they
LESSON BIBLE BEADING.
MIBACULOTUS FIRE,
The burning bush (Exod. 3
7 : 30).
A plague in Egypt (Exod. 9 : 23, 24),
Leading Israel (Exod. 13: 21, 22 ; 10 :
4
on,
+ 0
~ 3
On Mount Sinai (Dent. 4 : 11, 36; Heb,
12 : 18).
Destroying Nadab and
10: 1, 2).
Destroying complainers at Taberah
(Num. 11 : 1.3),
Consuming Korah and
(Num. 16 : 35).
Consuming Gideon's offering (Jude,
8 : 21).
Consuming Elijah’s offering (1
18 : 38).
Destroying Elijab’s pursuers
1:10, 124,
Accompanving aseensions
20 ;2 Kings 2 : 11).
Accompanying Christ's return
7:10; 2 Thess. 1
Abihu (Lev
his company
k 154s
{2 Ki
nge
(dudg. 13 :
. *™ 5
4,8
— ——
LESSON SURKOUNDI
NGS.
INTERVENING KvEsTa.—The son o
the widow at Zarephsth is revived
throngh the intercession of Elijah (1
Kings 17 : 17-24). “In the third 3 ’
the prophet is sent to Ahab; le ee!
Obadiah, the devont chamberlain of
the king, mn his search for water, snd
bids him tell Ahab where he is. Ubud-
iah expresses his fear that E.ijah will
disappear, Lut is assured that he in-
tends to see Ahab. salutes
the prophet as the trou ler of israel;
Elijah rebukes Ahab, sud asks him to
assemble the people and the namerons
prophets of An at Mount Carmel.
This is done, and Eliis
people to choose be
Baal. He proposes
the details of which are given in the
lesson. The people consent.
Prace.—On Mount Carmel (““frait-
ful,” or ““woodd”), a mountain ridge
extending from the Mediterranean
south of the bay of Acre, for about
twelve miles southeastward, It divides
the plain of Sharon from that of Es!
draelon. The site of the sacrifice has
been id ntified with a spot near the
eastern (and higher; end of the nidge,
ealied El-Mahrakah (“the burn. ng,’ or
“banat sacrifice”); the stream near it
is oalled Nakr el-Makatea, ‘river of
siamghter,” from th: massacre of the
prophets of Baal
True. —There are no sufficient dats
for determining the year. If B, C. 91(
18 the correct date for the last lesson,
the date of this ome is either 907 or
906. It is not certain bow long the
drought Jhad eoutinwed. In Lukes 4 :
25, James 5:17, the period of three
years and six months is expressly
named. This was the Jewish tradition,
and seme regard it as a symbolic. per-
iod (the half of seven years) indicating
distress. Others reckom the third sear
from the arrival of Elijah at Zarephath,
or regard the drought as beginning Le-
fore Elijah appeaerd to Ahab,
Prrsoxs. — Elijah, the people of
Israel, four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal, and possibly four hundred
jrophets of the Asherah (Auth Ver.
“groves”). The latter were priests of
Astarte (Ashteroth), the Phoenician
goddess, in whose worship licentions-
ness was very prominemt. Ahab, the
king, seems to have been present.
Ixorpmsrs. —Elijah asks the prophets
of Baal to make the tr al first; they pre-
pare the bullock, and eall upon Baal
until noon; Elijah derides them; they
lacerate themselves, but in vain. Al
tho time of the evening oblation, Eli-
jab ealls the people; he repairs with
twelve stones the falien altar of Jeho-
vah, digs a trench about it, outs the
bullock im pieces, causes water fo be
poured three times upon the burnt.
offering and the wood; he then prays
fervently to Jehovah; the answer comes
in fire that consumes sacrifice and aitar,
The people fall down and coufess,
“Jehovah, he is God.”
A]
Ye. r
&
Ring
ah appeals to the
ween Jehovah and
the test by tire,
Tue death in Paris, on December
Oth, of Emma Goodwina, widow of the
late Josepa Faguani, recalls the mem-
ory of an artist who, a quarter of a
century ago, was probably one of the
most fashionably po painters that
New York knew. me of the most
brilliant of his exploits was the paint
ing of a series of life-size female figures
which he ealled “The Nine Muses”
These were not mere ideal res, but
actnal portraits of leading ety belles
of the peri maidens and matrons,
and included life-like representations
of well-known gentiewomen clad in the
geimenta of classic Greece. The exhi.
tion, which was held in the art gal.
lery on the southwest corner of Four.
teenth street and Fifth avenue, created
a sensation. During the hours of exhi-
bition the street in front of the gallery
was blooked with carriages, and Fag-
nant was the social success of the hour,
Commissions poured in npon him and
his work was in great demand. Per.
haps one of the happiest efforts of Lis
fessional oareer
Ask, aad it shall bo given you (Luke
Bijah
.... prayed fervently (Jas 5: 17),