Trust God. The summer trees are gaunt ami bare. The,summer sky is elouded; The whirling snow is in the air. The summer earth is shrouded. ... And the birds? Oh! are they not afraid! Will they freeze.upon the hough? - Go*,!' sheltered them in the summer shade— He'll not forsake them now. * The summer fruits, a golden si>oil. Were gathered long ago; ■* The seeds lie sleeping in the soil Or buried'neath the snow. And the birds? who will their tables set? Who, who their mouths will till? They htwe a Friend who'll ne'er forget. And He will feed them still. Po<jr trembling heart! thy sorest needs Be sure thy God can see: Who, while the hungry birds Jle feeds . A storehouse keeps for thee. He says—though dark the winter's day, And troubles round thee throng— "Art. Thou not better far than they?" Then trust Him and be strong. [From the New York Observer.] INTERNATIONAL S. S. LESSONS. BY REV. K. P. ROGERS. • JANUARY 18. JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN. ' MATT. J :I—l7. Golden Teyt,—" And 1<! it voire from heaven, Haying: This is my beloved son, in whom 1 sim well pleased. . Central Truth: —The divine witness to tin; " beloved Sou.". Thirty years Have passed away, since the events recorded in the last lesson.— Over all these years, almost an entire gen. oration, a veil of dim obscurity is drawn, lifted only to reveal his visit to Jerusa lem with' Joseph and Mary, when he was twelve years old, and his remarkable in terview at that time with the scholars of the temple. .. .. it is somewhat remarkable that we know so little about the youth and early mini hood of Jesus. Butiit shows us that the great interest which the world has.in him is connected witli his public ministry, bis suffering and his death. He came to this world for oni; great, purpose, and in the obscurity of Nazareth and the retirement of, his fatlier'.s humble home, laboring doubtless with him at his honest and use ful, occupation, and was waiting for the time when his great earthly work was to be doue. Now the time approaches, and he is to belfor in ally inducted into his special, mis sion. He had been carefully trained at home, educated perhaps above his station, fof hls acquirements Excited the wonder and the envy of his countrymen ; for his mother had kept all the sayings which she heard about him in his infancy, ami pondered 44 them in her heart." And she doubtless wutched over his mind and heart, and all the influences which sur rounded him, with more than a mother's ordinbry care, and* endeavored to train him up in a manner suited to some lofty vocation. •Joseph, the hlislmml Of Mary, had prob ably, by this time pissed from earth. Great poiiaieal changes had taken place in* the land. Archelaus had gorie into ejfcile',.. and .Judea was feeling the yoke of the Roman power. Pontius Pilate was the royal governor, Herod A'ntipas was the ..ruler of Galilee, and all the rest of tire life of Christ was to he pas ed under the administration of these two men. ,"In those days," that is while Jesus was living in Nazareth, John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mark, came forth before the public as a herald or'prophet, beginning ids public ministry in the rude country district near Hebron, from which lie afterwards went to the wild tracts between Jerusalem, the Jordan and the Dead Sea, His appearance w as'-'commanding and stern. A coarse garment, woven of cam el's hair, covered him, hound about him by a leathern girdle; he lived on the poor est tWrehis voice rung through the des ert in clarion tones, and the burden of t, 4' * llnt'O" ! his cry was, "Repent! for the kingdom' of heaven is at hand?" • The whole community was aroused by j his appearance and his words. It was i long since a prophet hadaphpeared among the people. Ills mission was to awaken | and arouse the sluggish and forgetful na ! tion, atul lie fulfilled it we 11,... Crowds ! gathered round him and listened with rapt j attention to his burning words. With ; confession of sin, they sought to be bapt-: ized at his hand, and bowed before this ! ! "stern prophet of the wilderness," before whose scathing domnnciations the l'hari ' sees and Sadducees, the prominent pur- j ists and moralists of the nation, shrunk ' and trembled as stigmatizing them as i "serpents and a generation of vipers," he : warned them to "flee from the wrath to come!" But John did not come to exalt him self, but to announce the coining Messi ah, one mightier than lie.- He; wit* the I herald of a greater, and was satisfied to "prepare the way of the Lord." This greater one was now to manifest himself, i and his first appearance was on the bank of the Jordan, asking tor baptism at John's hands. The Baptist, divinely in ; structed, naturally and modestly shrank from assuming this position towards him from whom he felt that it would be more j ! becoming in liiiir. to receive chat rite, j ; But Jesus felt that it was for him -to set j j an example of honoring the confmand t merits of God, and of obeying both the | spirit alid the letter of the law, and so J received , the ordinance from inferior j : though authorized hands. ■ This was followed by a miraculous maiiifcaeatioii of the Holy Spirit as a wit ness lbr Christ", and a divine endorsement :of his divine relationship to the Father, j and as one in whom the Deity was well j pleased. :1 With this striking scene the lesson clo | ® | ses. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 1. The first .message ,yf a Christian ! tecaher is an awakening np^sage. Men are slumbering in sin; they need jto be roused. Tliey are insensible to i danger, and need to be alarmed. So the ! gospel message is not couched in smooth, mellifluous phrases, but comes in earnest and startling language: "Awake thou that steepest, ami arise from the dead, ! and Christ shall give thee light!" 2. The most earius' preacher will have the most, hearers. Who should be earn* st, If not the I preacher of the gospel? Ilis subject and his object alike demand it. The great' salvation by the blood of Christ; the lost state of sinful men; the shortness of tipie. j and the nearness of death, judgment and j eternity, all conspire to make him earn-; | est. . All the world needs and demands earn est men. . Drones in the pulpit will have sleepers ' in the pew. Said an earnest man : "Raise me but a barn in the shadow of St! Paul's Catlie- j I dral, and with the conscience-searching! I power of a Wbitefleld, I will fill that barn j with multitudes of eager listeners, while j the matins and vespers of the great Ca-! tiled fa I shall be chanted only to the stat- ; ues of the mighty dead." J. It is a great honor and privilege to j point men to Christ;. So John the Baptist considered it. He ' , might have led an enthusiastic following j j and achieved great popularity. But it! was glory enough for him to be the her | aid of the Messiah, and when that was! accomplished, he was willing and ready ' for obscurity, for martyrdom, for heaven. 4. Repentance and confession of sin must proceed pardon and peace. Regret is not repentance. You must j "change your mind." And since we can- j not atone for our sins, the least we can j i do is to confes them. Baptism by whomsoever adminis- j tered, cannot take away sin. The bap tism of.the Spirit, must preceed that of water, as the tiling signified is greater than the sign. 6. Complacent self-righeousness apd cultivated seeptiuism are alike lmteftil to God. The Pharisee and the Sadducee, both trembled before the bold preacher of the desert. 7. The tree that is not good for fruit is only maturing into tire, wood 9. To every true child of God the heavens shall at last be opened, and the universe shall be told that in them, as in their precious Lord, God is "well pleas ed," COAL. NATHAN TIDD, DEAt.KK IN ! ITTTSTON, WILKES - BARKE, AND LOYAL SOCK COAL. Invite* the putronage of hit* old friends"iihd the pub i lie generally. I shall keep a full assortment / of all sizes, AND SIIAI.L SELL. AT LOWEST PRICES FOR CASH. Yard and otiics, foot of Tine street, just s<>uth of Court House. ! Aug. 30 N. TIDl). j A \ V ertical Feed. \s usual, the Vertical Feed Sewing Machine took First Pre mium, at the late county Fair. T FIGHT MIT SIGEL and all ' HONORABLY DISCHARGED SOLDIERS will consult their own iuterests ny calling ut JACOBS' long established and well known ONE PRICE CLOTHING 1 HOUSE, PATTON'S BLOCK, and buy their coats, pants, vests, overcoats, shirts, overalls, Gloves, Ilose, Hats and Caps, and every thing in the llne'of <tne*nnd stylish' GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS. Don't be deceived by persons falsely representing themselves to be JACOBS, but cAne directly to my store In Patton Block, Main street, near Bridge st r H. JACOBS. Text Book Uniformity. RESULT WHERE BOOKS HAVE TO STAND ON THEIR OWN MERIT. At a Convention of School Directors, of Centre County, held a Bellefonte, Decem ber 2(5, 1878, pursuant to the call of H. Meyer, Esq., County Superintendent, for the purpose of considering the propriety of taking measures to secure a uniformity of the text-books used in the schools of said county, the following, .action was taken, over fifty directors being present and nearly all the district in the county being represented! ' COPY OF MINUTES. Upon motion of C. .R, Stonerod, of Snow Shoe township, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted: WHEREAS: Great expense and waste are frequently incurred by the present and con nstatly changing variety of text-books used in the common schools of Centre county, there fore, be it Unsolved, By the representative directors here in session, that a system of text-books, i suitable,.complete and uniform, be adopted in | accordance with the laws of the State, ! throughout the county. Upon motion of J. 0. P. Jones, the follow ing plan vyas adopted with but one dissenting vote, to carry into effect the following pre amble and resolutions; First. The various publishing housew to send samples of their books to eael* schol board in toe county lor examination and to submit therewith the lowest exchange, intr - duetory ami wholesale prices, and the length of time they will guarantee to furnish them I at said price. . Second. No agent of any publishing house j to be. permitted to do any work in the county, I to be either general or local agent, beyond I sending his books and terms as above stated. ; Any house or agent violating this under standing, their books to be counted ou of the ! contest. Third. The several school boards of the I county, after examination of the various | books which may have been submitted, to ; hold a meeting at which each director shall make out a list of the books which he prefers to have adopted in the county, and send it to Henry Meyer, Esq., County Supcrindent, at Rcbersburg, Pa., prior to'the first day of Jupe, JB9, who shall ma - o several statements so sent, and Jthe books up on the various branches having tin ighest number of votes or preference shall he the series recommended for county uniformity. The County Superintendent, after having made the above canvaos as above, to send the result of the same to each of the papers iii the county for publication. W. C. HEINLE, Chairman. J. C. P. JONES, Secretary. The following is the result of the votes of the Directors br'Cehtre county, Pa., on thfi Uniformity of Text-books in said county, with the number of votes cast fro each book, under the foregoing plan and resolutions: READERS. No. vote. ..... . f° r ac*h NbW Graded 74 Independent 20 Appmton's 17 New American*.. 12 SPELLERS. Swinton's 83 New American 0 Independent 23 Appieton's... 1 Patterson's Sander's Union Raub's • 1 GEOGRAPHIES. Swinton's, 100 Colton's 1^ Mitchell's... 10 Independent 1 Monteith's A HISTORIES. Swinton's #3 Redpath's 5 Barnes' Brief 7 Butler's OuaekCnbos' . 1 Watson's .... 0 V RITTEN ARITHMETIC. Robinson's Shorter Course 57 Greenleaf's V. 1A Brook's (Mine's 22 Buff's 12 N rook's Union i 3 Mew American 4 MENTAL ARITHMETIC. Milne's 7 Greenleaf's 4 ALGEBRA. Robinson's 53 Greenleaf's..*...* 1 COPY BOOKS. Speneerian 09 Appie ton's... M Ellsworth's 10 GRAMMARS. Kerl's 72 Swinton's IT Clark's Brief 1A Bullion's 1 Harvey's 20 Ouackenbos'.... 3 fcewsinith's 1 LANGUAGE LESSONS. Kerl's 5 Clark's • j Harvey's 5 t Morton's 15 * BOOK-KEEPING. ' * Bryant fe Stratum's 44 Folsom's. 4 Smith's. CIVIL GOVERNMENT. Townscud's..-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers