i
REV. OR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
STRAINING-AT GNATS AND SWAL
The Sunday Sermon as Dslivered by the
ane Brooklyn Divine,
TEXT: ‘Ye blind guides, who strain at a
ghar, and a camel ¥—-Mastrew
xiii., 24. 4 Ag whe :
A proverb is compact wisdom, knowled,
in'ciuntts, @ library in a Sentosa tog: a
tricity of many clouds discharged in one bolt,
a river put through a millrace. When Christ
quotes the proverb of the text He means to
set Mrth the ludicrous behavior of those
who make a great bluster’ about small ‘sins
* and have no appreciations of great ones.
In my text a small insect and a large
quadruped are fronght into ' comparison—a
‘goat and a camel. You have in museum br
onthe desert seen the latter, a great awk-
ward, sprawling creature, with back two
stories high and stomach having a collection
‘of reservoirs for desert travel, an animal
foroidden to the Jews as food, and’ in many
literatures entitled *‘the ship of the desert.”
The. gnat spoken of in the text is in the
grub form. 1t is born in pool or pond, after
@ few weeks becomes a chrysalis, and then
atter a Tew days becomes the gnat as we
recogniza it. But the insect spoken of in the
textis in its very smallest shape, and yetit.
inhabits the water—for my text isa misprint
and ought to read *strain out a gnat.”
My text shows you the prince of inconsis-
tencies. A man after lony observation has
formed the suspicion that in a eup of water
he 1s about to drink there is a grub or the
grandparent of a gnats. . He goes and gets a
sieve or a strainer. He takes the water and
pours it through the'sieve in the broad light.
Slesays; tI would rather do anything als
arost than drink this waver until this larva
be.extirpated.” ‘This water is brought un-
- der mquisition. The experiment is success-
tuk. “The water rushes through the sieve and
leaves against the side of tha sieve the grub
or gnat. aor ;
Then the man carefully removes the insect
and drinks the water in placidity. But go-
ng out one day and hungry, hé devours a
tship of the desert,” the camel, which the
Jews were forbidden to eat. The gastrona-
mer has no compunctions of conscience, He:
suffers from no indigestion. - He puts tha
lower jaw under the camel's-forefoot and his
ypper jaw over the, hump ‘of. the camel's
back, and gives one swallow and the drome-
dary disappears forever. He strained out a
gnat, he swallowed a camel. f :
While Gbrist’s audience were yeti smiling
at the oppositenessand wit of Hisillustration
—for smile they did in church; unless they
were too stupid to understand the hyperbole
—=Ulirist practically said to them. : “That is
Jou.2 Punctilious about small things; reck-
ess about affairs of great wagnitude. No
subject over withered under a surgeon's
. knite more bitterly than did* the Pharisees
unaer Christ’s scalpel of truth. SHI
As an anatomist will take a human body
to'pisces and put them under a microscope
forexamination, so Christ finds His way to’
the heart of: the dead ‘Pharisees aud cuts it
out and puts it under the glass of inspec-
tion for all generations to examine. Those
Pharisees thought’ that Carist' would flat-
ter them and compliment them, and how
they must haye writhed under. the red hot
words as He said, “Ye fools, ye waited
eepulchers,” ye blind guides which strain
out a gnat and swallow a camel.” :
Tnere are in our day'a great many gnats
stralned out and a great many camels
swallowed, and it is the object of this ser-
mon to skétch a few persons who are ex-
tensively engaged in that business
First, I remark, that ali those misters
pf the Gospel are photographed in the text
who are very scrupulous about the conven-
tionalities of religion. but put no particular
Stress upon matters of vast importance.
Church. services ought to be grave and
solemn. There is no room for frivolity in
religious convocation. = But there are illus-
trations, and there are hyperboles like that
«of Christ in the text that will irraiiate with
smiles any intelligent auditory. There are
men lise those blind guides of the text who
auvocate only those things in religious ser-
vigée which draw the corners of tne mouth
down, and denounce all those things which
have a tendency to draw the corners of the
mouth up, and these men will go to installa-
tions and to presbyteries and to conferences
and to associations, thair \pockéts full of fine
sieves to strain out the gnats, while in their
own churches at home every Sunday there
are fifty people sound asleep. They make
their churches a great dormitory, and their
somniferous sermons are a cradle, and the
drawlea out hymns a lullaby, while some
wakeful soulin a pew with her fan keeps the
flies off unconscious persons approximate.
Naw, say itis worse to sleep in church than
to smile in church, tor the latter implies. at
least attention, waile the former implies the
indifference of the hearsrs and the stupidity
of the speaker. 7
In old age, or from physical infirmity, or
from long watches with the sick, drowsiness
will sometimes overpowér one, but when a
minister of the Gospel locks off upon an
audience and finds healthy and mtelligent
people struggling with drowsiness it is time’
for him to give out the doxology or pro-“
pounce the benediction. The great fault of
church services to-day is not too mach viva«
city, but too much somnolence. The one is
an irritating goat that *may be easily
strained out; the other is a great, sprawling
and sleepy-eyed camel of the dry desert. In
all our Sabbath schools, in all our Bible
classes, in all our pulpits we need to brighten
up our religious message with such Christ-
like vivacity as we find in the text.
‘1 take down from my library the biog-
tapes OL MIIISTErS ana wWrinv2rs ol the past
ages, Inspired and uninépired, who have done
the most to bring souls to Jesus Christ, and
I nnd that without a singie exception they
consecrated. their wit and their humor to
Christ, ‘Elijah used it when ha advised the
Baalites, as they could not make, their God
respo.d, telling them to call louder as ‘their
god might be sound asleep or gone a-hunt
ing: Job wussd it when he said to his self-
-concvited ‘ com ‘orters, “Wisdom will die
with you.” Christ not only used it in the
text, Lut when He ironically complimented
tbe putrefisd Pharisess, saying, ‘“The'whole
heed not a physician,” “and when by one
word fe described tne cunning of Herod,
saying, ‘‘Go ye, and tell that fox.”
Matrhew Eenry’s Commentaries from the
first page to the iast doruscated with humor
-as summer clouds with neat lizhtning, John
Bunyan’s writings are as full of humor as
they are of saving truth, and there is not an
aged man here wno has ever read “Pilgrim’s
Progress” ‘who does not remember that while
reading ib. he smiled as offen as he wept.
Chrysostom, George Herbert, Robert South,
Jolin Wesley, Georze Whitefield, Jeremy
Taylor, ‘Rowland Hill, ‘Nettleton, George G.
Finney and all the men of the past who
greatly advanced the kingdom of Gol con-
sscrated their wit and. their humor to the
cause of Christ, :
So'it has been in all'the ages, and’ I say to
these young theological students, who clus-
ter in these services Savboath by Sabbath,
sharpen your wits as keen as scimiters and
aud then take them into the holy war. Itis
a very short bridge between a smile and a
tear, a suspension bridge from eye to lip,
‘and it is soon crosszl over, and a smile 1s
sometimes just as sucred as a tear. There is
asmuch religion, snd I think a little more,
in & spring morning than in a stariess mid-
night.
Religious work without any humor or wit
in it is'a. banquet with a side of bzef, and
that raw, and ao émdiments and no dessert
succeeding. « People will not sit do'vn at such
a banquet. By all means remove all frivoiit
snd ail pathos and all lightness and all val
garity—strain them out tnrough the sive ol
holy discrimination; but, on the other hand,
beware of that mons er whieh overshadow:
tue Christian church to-day, conventionally,
coming up from the 'ireat Sahara Dessrt of
Heolesiasticism, having onits back'a humr
| “ot sanctimonious gloom—and velramently ro
fuse ty swallow that came. 5 |
C0 Oby hos particular a %usat many people
SHE Toei A 4
rib%
| *I hope you will all
so careful to
but" did not
udelean hands; itis a worse thing to have
an uncian heart. OW many p [there
are in our time who are very anxious
after their death they shall buried
their feet toward the east; and not at all
anxious that during their whole life they
should face in the right direction so that
they shall come up in the resurrection of the
just whichever way they are buried. How
many there are chiefly anxious ‘that a min-
ister of the Gospel shall come in the line of
apostolic. succession, mot caring ‘so much*
whether he comes from Apostle Paul or
Apostle Judas. They have a way of meas
uring a gnat until it’is larger than a camel,
Again, my sibjeet photographs all those
who are abhorrent aan whils thy
are reckless in regard to magnificent thefts.
You will find many a merchant, who whila
he is so careful that he would not take a yard
of cloth or a spool of cotton from the counter
without paving forit, and who if a bank
cashier should make a mistake and send ina
roll ¢f bills five dollars too much would dis-
patch a messenger in hot haste to return the:
surplus, yet wao will go into a stock company
in which after awhile he gets control of the!
stock and then waters the stock and makes
$100,000 appear like $200,000. He stole only
$100,000'by the operation. Many of the men
of fortune made their wealth in that way.
ne of those men engaged in such unright-
eous acts, that evening, the evening of the
very day when he watered the stock, will
find a wharf rat stealing an evening newspa-
per fromthe basement doorway, and will go
outand catch the urchin by the collar and
twist the coliar s0 tightly “the poor fellow :
cannot say that it was thirst for knowledze
that led him to the dishonest act, but grip
the collar tighter and tighter, saying: ‘0
have been looking for you along while. You
stole my ‘paper ‘four or five times, haven't
you? You miserable wretch” And then
the old stock gambler, witha voice they can
hear three blocks, will cry out, *‘Polics, po-
lice!”
That same ‘man, the evening of tha day on
which he watered fhe stock: will kneel with
his family in prayer and thank God for the
prosperiey of the day, then kiss his children
good night with an air which seems to say:
ow up to bs 'as good
as your father?!’ Prisons for sins inseatile
in size, but palaces for crimes dromedarianJ
No mercy for sins animalcule in proportion,
bus great leniéncy for mastodon iniquity.
It is time that we learn in Amoarica that
sin is pot excusable in proportion as it de
clares large dividends and has outriders in
equipage, ny aman is riding to perdi-
tion postilion ahead and lackey Leiind. To
steal a dollar is a gnat; to stedl ‘many thou.
sands of dollars is a camel. There is many a
fruit dealer who would not consent to steal.
a basket of ‘peaches from a neighbors stall,
but who would not ‘scruple to depress the
fruit market: and as long as I can remembar
we have beard eyery summer the peach crop
of Maryland is a failure,and by the time the
Crop comes in the misrepresentation makes a
differences of millions of dollars. ‘A man
who would not steal one peach basket steals
fifty thousand peach baskets.
Any summer go down into the Mercantile
library, in the reading rooms, and see the
newspaper reports of ths crops from all pares
of the country, and their phraseology is very
much the same, and the same men wrote
them, methodically and infamously carry-
ing out the huge lying about the grain crop
from year to year and for a score of years.
After a while there isa ‘‘corner” in the
wheat market, and men who had a contempt
ror a pstty theft will burgiariz> the wheat
bin of a nation and commit larceny upon the
American cornerib.’ And men will sit in
churches and in reformatory institutions try-
ing to strain out the small gnats of scoundrel-
ism, “while in their giain elevators and in
their storehouses they are fattening huge
camels which they expect after awhile to
swallow, Society nas to be entirely recou-
structed on this subject. We are to find
that asin is inexcusab.e in proportion as it
is great.
i know in our time the tendency is to
charge religious frauds upon good men,
They say, ‘“Oh, what a class of frauis you
have in the Church of God in this day,” and
when an elder of a church or a deacon or a
minister of the Gospel. or a superintendent
of a Sabbath school turns out a defaulter
what display heads there are in many of the
newspapers—zreat primer €ype; five line
pica—‘‘Another Saint Absconded,” *‘Cler-
ical Scoundrelism,” “Religion at a Dis:
count,” ‘Shame on thes Churches” while
there are a thousand scoundrels outside the
church ‘to where there is one inside the
church, and the misbehavior of those who
never sz2'the inside of a church is so great it
is enough to tempt a man to become a Caris-
tian to get out of their company.
But in all circles, religious and irrelizious,
the tendency is to excuse. sin in proportion
as it is mammoth. Eyen John Milton in his
“Paradise Lost,” while he condemns Satan,
gives such a grand description of him you
have hard work to suppress your ad:mira:
tion. Oh, this straining out of small sins
like gnats, and this guipinz dowa great in-
iquities like camels.
This subject does not give the pictura of
of oneor two persons, but is a gallery in
which thousands of people may ses their
likenesses.” For instance, all these people
who, while they would not rod their neigh:
bor of a rarthing, appropriate the money
and the treasure of the public. A man has a
house to sell, and he tells his customer it is
worth $20,000. Next day the assessor comes
around and the owner says it is worth $15,
000. The Government of the United States »
wok off the tax from personal income,
among other reasons because so few people
would tell the truts, and many a man with
an income of hundredsof doliarsa day made
statements which seemed to imply he was
about to be handed over to the overseer of
the poor.
Careful to pay their passaze from Liver-
pool to New York, yet smuggiing in their
Saratoga trunk fen silk dresses irom Paris
and a half dozen watches from Geneva,
Switzerland, telling thé cuscom house officer
on the wharf, ‘There is nothing in that
trunk but wearing apparel,” and putting a
five dollar gold piecs in his hand to punctu-
ate the statement. i
Described in the text are all those who are
particular never to break the law of gran-
mar, and who want all their -lanzuage an
elegant specimen of syntax, straining out all
the inaccuracies of speech with a fing sieve
of literary criticisny ' while through their
conversation go slander and innuendo and
profanity and falszhooi larger than 4 whole
caravan of camels, when thay might better
fracture every law of the languaga and
shock their intellectual taste, and: better let
verb seek in vain for its nominative, and
every noun for its government, ‘and every
preposition lose its way in the santenca. and
adjectives and participles and pronouns get
into a grandriot worthy of the Fourth ward
on election day, then to commit a moral in-
accuracy. Better swallow a thousand gnats
than one camel.
Such persons are also described in the
text who are very much. alarmed about
the small faults: oi othsrs. and have no
alarm about their own great transgres-
sions. There'are in every community and
in every churea watchdogs who feel called
upon to keep their eyes on others and
growl. ‘Trey are full of suspicions. Thay
wonder if that man is'not dishonest, if that
man is nob unclean. if there is not something
wrong about the other maa, They are al-
sways the first to hear of anything wrong.
Vultures are always the first to smell car-
rion. They are selt appointed detectives. 1
lay this down as a rule without any excep-
tian—that those people wno bave the most
faults themseives are most merciless in their
watching of others. From scaip of head to
sole of foot they are full of jealousies and
‘bypercriticisms.
I'hey spend their jife in huntinz for musk:
rats and mud turtles instead of hunting for
Rocky Mountain eagles; always for some
thing mean instead of something graud,
They look at their neighbors! imperfections
through a microscope, and look at their ows
imperfections through a telescope upside
down, Twenty faults of their own do not |
| wash their hearts? It a Iams 4
3
z
ut;
ve to- tell you we
come under the. divine satire when we
questions of time. mare ‘ominent
t £
Tow sha T ge! : Tile jforevsr?
Ww -X get more dollars
ben . the. qu H all 1
tl ow shall
Pp
shall I pa : greater than
the a, ow shall I meet my obliga-
tions to God? the question, How shall I
gain the world? greaver than the- question,
if I lose my soul? the question, Wh
dia God let sin come into the world? greater
than the question, How shall T get it ex-
tirpated from. thy 'naturé? the question,
What shall I do. with. the twenty or forty
or seventy years of my sublunar existence?
‘greater that thie question, What shall Ido
with fhe miliions of ‘cy¢les
terrestial existence? Time, how small it is!
Egernity, how vast it is! ‘The former more
insignificant in comparison with the latter
than a gnat is insiemificant when compared
with a camel. We dodged the text. We
said, ‘‘That doesn’t mean me, and that
doesn’t mean me,” and with a ruinous be-
nevolence we are giving the whole sermon
away. : :
But let us all surrender to the charge.
What an ado about things here. What
poor preparation for a great eternity. As
though a minnow wera larzer than a behe-
moth, as though a swallow took wider cir-
cait than an albatross, as though a nettle
were taller than a Lebanon cedar, as
though a giant were ‘greater than a camel,
as ‘though a minute were longer than a
century, as though time were higher,
deeper, broader than etérnity, No the
text which flashed with lightning of wit as
Christ uttered it, is followed by the crash-
ing thunders of awful catastrophe to those
who make the questions of time greater than
the questions of the future, the oncoming,
overshading future, © Eternity! Eternity!
Eternity!
WINTER WHEAT.
The Injury by the Recent Heavy Freezes.
Not s o Great as Was Feared. 4
This week’s Farmer's Review says re-
garding the condition of winter wheat:
It was feared that the winter wheat had
been greatly injured by the recent heavy
freezes. Reports from alternate counties of
the States covered show that while there
was some injury, it has not been so wide-
spread as was feared.
In Illinois three-fifths of the correspond-
ents say that’ the outlook is still fair to
ood. : The others report the condition as
ad. ¢
In Indiana seventy per cent. of the corre:
spondents report the condition fair and
good, and the others report poor."
The condition in Ohio is -a little worse
than in the two preceding States. Only half
of the correspendents report the condition
as fair to good. The rest report from poor
to very bad.
In Michigan two-thirds of the correspond-
ents report the condition as fair and good,
the others poor.
In Kentucky half the correspondents re-
port the outlook as good, and nearly forty
per cent. report fair, and little or no damage
was done by recent unptopitious weather.
In Missouri two-thirds of the correspond-
ents report the condition as fair to good.
In Kansas one-half of the correspondents
report the condition of ' the crops as good;
one-fourth report fair, and the rest poor.
In Iowa very few correspondents report
any wheat. Of those Teporing, two-thirds
give the prospects from fair go sond.
In Wisconsin the outlook is decidedly bad.
Not more than one-third of the correspond-
ents report the condition as either good er
fair. The others give a gloomy “report of
the condition of the crop.
No Short Hours For Englishmen,
Loxpox, March 26—In the honse of com-
mons to-day a Liberal member moved the
second reading of the miners’ eight-hour
bill. He said the measure would affect 531,-
000 men. The bill was rejected by a vote of
272 to 160. : :
A Terrible Fire in Amsterdam.
AwmsTERDAM. March 24—During a fire
yesterday which destroyed four houses, five
persons were killed and 22 injured, seven of
whom are not expected to live. The fire was
caused by the explosion of a benzine barrel.
THE LABOR WORLD,
"THE coal strille in England has termin-
ated. 3 3
THERE are 20,000 waiters in New York
City
THE mining inferasts show a heavier pro-
duction. ; :
Sa1p buildings, both on coast and lake, are
thriving.
Tak British House of Commons rejected
the Miners’ Eight Hours bill,
THE outlook for laborers intheiron mana-
facturing businessis gloomy. }
THE theaires in London, England,
lariy employ over 12,000 people.
A. Boston (Mass,) dry goods house’ has a
regular physician for its employes,
Russia is employing 150,00) Poles in Po-
land in building new roads and fortifica-
tions.
EIGHTEEN THOUSAND men are needed at
once to man the vessals of the United States
Navy. #
AN alien labor bill is being urged in the:
Canadian Parliament in retaliation on the
United States.
THE reduction in the wages of puddlers
from'#4 to $3.50 a ton went into effect a few
days ago at Lizbanon, Penn. 8
THaE Pharmaceutical Union is about to
make a demand for a reduction of the hours
of labor for druggists’ clerks. ;
THE average annual wages of British
working-people ar: about $260 a year for
every man, woman and child,
THE Furriers’ Union‘has adopted a union
label, 4 copy. of which has been sent to
Washington to be duly registered.
TrE unemployel of Germany are still
making matters interesting for the Govern-
ment by threatening disturbances.
BuiLpixG material men are all’ crowding
work at present, and architects speak con-
fidently of booming demands ahead, :
THE proprietors of two Boston (Mass.) ho-
tels have issued orders that none 'in their
employ shall hereafter wear either mustache
or. beard. : \
TuE puddlers in the iron works of Menden
end Schwerte, in Westphalia, are now pro-
‘vided with furnace shields to protect toem
from the intense heat. nr
THE hotel an 1restaurant waiters of Brook-
lyn and New York City have asked all mem-
bers of organized labor not to patronizs res-
taurants that employ female waiters,
THE recently organizad , Federation of
Metal Workers is composed of the fnterna-
tional Association of Machinists, with 29,-
000 members; Iron Moulders Union, 33,00;
Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, 4000; Brother-
hood of Brass Workers, 8)00, and Pattern-
Makers'National Union, 2000 mambers.
EMmpLOYES of the Grand Trunk Railroad
have been ordered not’ to smoke while on
duty oriwhen in uniform. They mu re-
move their hats while passing through a
dinung ear or any car in which an official of
the road may be seated. Juey wilt not be
allowed ta use a seat, part o
ready occupied by a passeager,
regu-
But lestany migns think they eacape the
‘of my =.
‘which is ale
fp
[SUNDAY choOL. |
LESSON FOR SUNDAY, APRIL SRD,
“Way of the Righteous,” Psalm i., 1-18
==Golden Text: Psalm, 1.
Commentary.
1. “Blessed jo the man that walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful.” = The whole book of Psalms is
divided into five books, the endings of which
are easily seen (xli, 13; Ixxii,, 19: Ixxxix,
5% cvi., 48, cxix,, 6). Theé ancient Rabbins,
saw in the tive books of Psalms the image of
the five books of the law.. It has been said
that the Law is the Lord’s fivefold word to
the congregation, and tha Psalter is thé con-
tion’s fivefold word to the Lord.
m i. is the preface to the whole book or
or .the text of the sermon. The sub-
‘ject is the happiness’ of ‘the right-
eons and the * destruction” of'' sinners.
The word translated “Blessed,” or more
literally, *O the blessings”, is used over
forty times in the Old Testament, twenty:
five of which are in ths Psalms. The
is in Deut. xxxiii., 29, and the last in: Dan,
xii., 12. It is a different word from another
which is translated “Blessed,” signifying to
bend the knee to, or worship, and used over
30C times. In this negative description of
the happy man observe the three times three
of the down grade of the wicked, which he
avoids—walketh, standeth, sitteth, the
counsel, the way, the seat, the ungodly, sin-
ners, the scorntul. The counsel would be to
let religion alone. The way is that of the
theater, the gambler, the drunkard. The
seat is that of confirmed impiety. By resist.
ing the first we gev victory over ail Thé
following are very helpful texts in reference
to .counsel: Ps. cviy 43; xxxiii, 10,11,
Ixxiii., 24; xxxii., 8, margin, fo
2. *‘But his delight isin the law of ths
Lord, and in His law doth be meditate day
and night.” * This is the positive description
of the and. the sacret of his
happy man
blessedness. In the word of God he finds
God Himself, and God becomes his delight;
plead guilty, ‘led him to the blood that
maketh atonement for the soul, and now he
is the happy man whose transgression ig for
given, whose sin is covered and to whom
iniquity ‘is not imputed (Ps. ecxix,, 180;
xxxii,, 1, 2; «iil; 19, 24; Lev. xvit., 1h.
Having, as a r man—one essing
EE but sin—found tae riches of the
Lord, ‘yea, durable ricites and righteousness
(Prov, viii., 18,19), his heart goes out to others
who as poor as he once was, and so car-
rying to them the word of the Lord which
made him rich,and seeing the Lord’sgrace to
taem, he learns to delight greatly in the
Lord (Ps. xli., 1; Isa: lviii,, 8 11,14).
3. ‘‘And he shall be like a tree planted by
the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not
wither; and whatsoever he dosth shall pros-
pe He learns to say. with Thomas A,
Kempis, *‘I have no rest but in a nook witn.
the Book,” and thus eating the word day and
night, hisroots go down deep by the living
water and he learns to say to - , “All my:
Springs Are in Thee” (Ps. lxxxvii, 9). ‘And
gh he may be outwardly oppressed and
afflicted, even falsely accused and imprisoned
like Joseph, or actually beaten like Paul and
Silas, yet he prospers, and can make his joy
in the Lord to be heard and felt (Gen. xxxix.,
2, 23; Acts xvi, 25). The fruit. of the
Spirit, love, joy, peace, etc., is only ripened,
mellowed and brought out mors beautifully
by the fruits of affliction. In Jer. xvii, 7,
8, there is a very similar description of one
whose trust is in the Lord, and whose. hope
the Lord is. ' The secret is that the Al-
mighty God is the all sufficient home of the
soul—or, in other words, in Jesus dwelieth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily: and
we arefilled full in Him (Gen. xvii, 1; 1I
Cor, vi., 17, 18; Col. ii., 9, 10).
4. “The ungodly are not so, but ave like
the chaff which the wind drivetn away.”
And yet Christ died for the ungodly (Fom.
v, 6) and is not willing that any should
perish (II Pet. iii., 9),entreating those whose
sins are as deep dyed as scarlet’and crimson
to come to Him and be made whiter than
snow (Isa. i., 18), But if they will not turn
to: Him, persisting in disobadience and re-
bellion, then when He gathers in His wheat
into the garner He' will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire (Math. iii... 12).. He
will say unto some, ‘‘Depart from Me, ve
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the
devil and his angles,” ‘These shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the right-
eous into life eternal” (Math. xxv, 41, 46).
Chaff is just like wheat in form, but it is ail
form and no substance. Let us take heed.
5. ‘Therefore the ungodly shall not stand
in the judgment, nor sinners in the congre-
gation of the righteous,” Thus early in
Scripture do we find reference to the dis-
unctive resurrections and jodgments of
unrighteousnes which are so ciearly spoken
of in the New Testtment. The word ‘stand
in this verse is in Ps, Ixxxwviii., 10, and else=
where translated ‘“arise;” so we might read,
*‘The ungodly shall not arise in the judg.
ment,” The Scriptural programmeis Shape
this:'At death the spirits of the righteous
enter into conscious bliss, the spirits of the
lost into conscious torment, the bodies of all |
alike going to corruption; when Christ comes
to the air for His saints their bodies rise, and
souland body reunited appear at : His judg-
ment seat to receive rewards for service and
places in His kingdom. Only believers are
in that judgment. * They réetarn with Him tq
judge the living nations and convert Israel
and bring in the millennium, or thousand
years, at the end of which the ungodly arise
tostand before the greatwhite throne and go
away into the lake of fire (Luke xvi., 22, 23;
Phil. i,, 21, 23,1 Thess. iv., 16-18; II Cor, ¥.,
10; Luke xix., 11-15; Rev. iii., 21; I Cor. vi.,
2: Rev, xx., 1-15) +. ; ¥
6. *‘For the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish.” He looks with approval upon the
way of the righteous for they walk in His
ways Their prayer ig “Show me Thy way,
O Lord teach me Thy Satnst (Ps, xxv., 4),
and they find that all His ways are pleasant
and His paths are peace (Prov. iii., 10. The
ways of the Lord are right, and ‘the just
shall walk in them, but the transgressors
shall fall therein (Hos. xiv,, 9). The way of
the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord
(Prov. xv., 9)." There are openly ungodly
the ‘way of the Lord, these ars not
the worst enemies of Christ, although by
their own confession they are without lope
in the world. ‘There are others who bear the *
name of the people of God; and, like the
remnant in Jeremiah’s day, say, “Pray for
us unto the Lord thy God, that the Lord
thy God may show us the way wherein’
we may walk and the thing that we may
do.” Then when God’s way is made known
to them, because it does not happen to be to.
their liking, they turn their backs upon God
and do their own pleasure. (See Jer. xlii.,
2, 8, xliv., 16, 17).—Lesson Helper,
Endeavoring to Finish the Grant Monn
ment.
New York, March 23—Merchants of
various branches of trade in the Chamber
of Commerce inaugurated a movementlook-
ing to the completion of the long deferred
monument to General Grant. - Committees
were appointed fo arouse interest in the
matter, so that the cornerstone may be laid
on April 27, the 70th anniversary of General
Grant's birth. It is estimated that about
$350,000 is yet needed to complete the monu-
ment. : %
A Triple Tragedy. {
DroATuR, ALA, March 24.—John Fritz,
while in a drunken frenzy, shot and” in-
stantly killed Mrs. Thomas ‘Wolcott. ; Mrs.
Ed. Whitten was shot and seriously injur-
ed. Fritz then blew his own brains out.
He was chief engineer of the U. 8. Rolling
"| Stock plant. :
The entrance of the word has enlightened |
him, caused him to see his sinfulness aad |
.etc. Have we not sometimes been tempted
people who confess that they care not for |
We come to Thee, sweet Saviour!
Nero, ced ye Ted Po
one need Thee more than we do;
None are half 80 vile or low. Yaad
We come to Thee, sweet Saviour!
None will have'us, Lord, but Thee;
And we- want none but Jesus,
And His grace that makes us free.
‘We come to Thee, sweet Saviour!
With our broken faith again} =
‘We know Thou avilt forgive us, .
Nor upbraid us, nor complain.
‘We come to Thee, sweet. Saviour] :
It is love that makes us.come;
We are certain of our welcome,
Of qur Father's welcome home,
We come to Thee, sweet Saviour!
Fortd whom; Lord; ean we go?
The words of life eternal + :
From Thy lips forever flow. :
‘We come to Thee, sweet Saviour:
We have tried Thee oft before; .
But now we come more wholly, |
"With the heart to love Thee mors
We come to Thee, sweet Saviour!
And Thou wilt not ask us' why;
‘We cannot live without Thee, -
And still less without Thee die. :
0 — Faber.
GO AND DO IT.
“. Go and do it now, this moment, instantly.
Go, Tun.: “To do what?'? say you; the com-
mandments'of ‘God, all,’ everything in the
Book; the great Book, the Book of Books.
Whatever thy hand Sdeth to do, do it with
thy might. Not slothful in business, Joryent
in spirit, serving the Lord. Diffuse life, light
and glory; scatter widely the seeds of ben-
evolence, “Wash vou, make you clean, cease
to do.evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the, fatherless,
plead for the widow ;” in a word, follow the
golden rule, keep’ thyself nfispotted.. ‘Any |
thing more, any thing less? Goand do it.
CAM THE WAY, 7 |
Who? Jesus Christ. i 0°
Whence? From §in{ woe, hell,"
Whither? To holiness, joy, beaven.. =
How? By his perfect. obedience, atoning
plood, and new creating Spirit. 0°
Is there any other way? ‘Not one. Said
‘Peter; by the Holy Ghost, “neither is there
salvation in any other; for there is none
other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. :
Cannot. then. ‘morality . save mus? Nor
Alms? Nor penance? Nor masses? Nor |
priestly dispensations? Nor the merits of |.
saints? Most certainly not, Are not the |
words of God just cited, plain? Are they
not explicit? Need any man misunderstand
them? Will any man peril his soul, by per- |
verting or. neglecting them? Wat more
than madness!’ To every heir of guilt and
immorality, Jesus. Christ says; pointing from
hell to heaven—I am the wayl—[Presbyieri
an of the West. ~~. . © Eg
a ‘ PRAYER, ’
“He will not bear those who have not a
steadfast belief in’ His promises.” He de-
serves our confidence; and He requires it. *
“Nor will he hear those who. come: unto
His presence fuil of worldly feelings.” We
must love God supremely, and allow neither
our money, our: goods, to. oceupy the
thoughts that should be given to Him.
“‘He will not hearken to those who ask the
things they do not sincerely desire.” ‘Some
go through a round of: petitions without
feeling a need of the things they ask, or
without any strong desire to obtain them.
*‘He will not listen to those who ask ‘with
perfect selfishness, and without ‘any regard
to His glory.’ Our: prayers must be disin-
terested. We must. not implore for things
to pamper appetites, promote our own ease
and indulgence. or the worldly prosperity of
our families. We must not petition for ob-
jects that will not increase our spirituality,
Christian activity and carefulness. e must
have a supreme regard for the glory of God
in all we ask of Him: / & Yaa al
‘He cahnot consistently. hear ns when we
cry to Him for things he has revealed he
cannot consistently with his glory grant.” It
is an iusult to God to ask him for what he
has told us he cannot and ‘ought hot to give.
gight of a benevolent God. Sante Ley Sal
“He will not regard the prayers of those.
who supplicate for things without using the
means necessary for their attainment.” God
helps those who help themselyves.: He: con-
fers blessings through buman instrumen-
tality. We must do our part, or God will
withhold his aid. pg Evi
“Tt is inconsistent for God to hear the
prayers of those who pray without relyin
on the blood and righteotisness' of Christ.”
All the blessings conferred on ‘us are the
purchase of the atoning Saviour. We must
plead his righteousness and the great atope-
ment He has made. . ‘Behold. O God, our
shield, aud look upon the face of thine
annointed.” : sis La Shad i
THE ¢ONDITIONS OF EFFECTDAL PRAYER.
¢‘And all things, whatsoever. ve bélieve,”
to think that here, at least, is a case in which
Sur Lord has not literally and always ‘kept
his word? in which we do not get quite so
much as:the plain English of the promise
might lead us to expect? If so, well may he
say tous, “Do ye not therefore err, because
ye know not the Scriptures, neither the
power of God?” This marvelous ‘‘Whatso-
ever” depends -upon five great conditions,
and if we. honestly examine we shall find
that every case of seeming failuré in the
promise can be accounted for by eur own
failure in one or more of these: - | .. ':
(1) ‘““Whatsoever ye shall ask in ny
name, that will I do.” Really, not ver
ally only, in the name of Jesus; asking’ not
in our own name at ‘all; signing our petis
tion, as it ‘were, with his name only; coming
to. the Father by .onr Advocate, our Repre-
. sentative, Do we always ask this? os
(2) “Believing that ye shall receive.” The
faith-heroes of old “through faith. * # #*
obtained promises,’”” and thereisnonew way
of obtaining them. Is it any wonder that
when we aes at any ' promise of God
‘through unbelief, we/do not receive it?
(8) | If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shail ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you.” Ah, here isia
deeper secret of asking atid not having, bes
cause we ask amiss. ' And this Jeads us to
ke the root of our failure in another condi:
tion, ik ; Sade
(4) * “Wharsoever we ask, we’ réceive of
him, because we keep his commandments,
and do those things that are Pleasing in His
sight.” Only as. we are abiding in him can
we bring forth the fruit of obedience.
(5) “If we ask anything acéording to His
will, He heareth us.” ‘When what we ask is
founded on a promise or .any. written evi-
dence of what the will of the Lord is, this ig
comfortingly clear. But what about petis
tions’ which may or may not be according to
His will? Sure T then, the condition can
only be fulfilled by a complete blending of
our own will with His. > : .
Two comforting thougths arise: First,
the very consciousness of our failure in
these. conditions shows us the wonderful
kindness and mercy of our King, who
has answered so many a prayer in spite
it ‘of according * to His own heart, and
not according to our fulfillment, giving
us .of His royal bounty that to which we
had forfeited all shadow ' of .claim;
sesondiy, that he who knowseth our
frame knows also the possibilities of His
grace, and would never tantalize us by
offering magnificient gifts on impossible
conditions. Will he give him a stone?
Would sn earthly parent? Would yon?
Therefore the ory annexing of these ine
trinsically most blessed conditions implies
that His pra is sufficient for their fulfill-
ment, and should lure us on to a bless
‘life of faith, abiding in Jesus, walking in
obedience unto all pleasing, and a will pos-
fewér than 529,987 Maullers
| wheat, 830,000; peas, 109,00
Sg seed, 164, vi
‘ever found in’ Africa.
|| gloves. It. is very. soft
.the dust for biting:his thumb at
.an ox shoe in the trunk of the tree.
from. the surface.
promo Seon mas aay
3 JACEE 0 U 5 - JF
+ Of Waterloo yererans France has eight
left. whet bite ; 3 ini
+" A’Missouri man hus’ carried the same
knife for sixty-nine years. - “ii
There are now living
et
a’ Germany no
‘Western New York has a skunk |
where black skunks are bred and raised
for their pelts. = © © 1% :
Portland, Me., in a recent week
bad butitwo arrests out of a population
of 40,000 perso : iid
| Old postage stamps
in China, and a hun
stamps will buy a bab a
The new German tent is devisible into
two portions, each of which can be con-
erted inte an overcoat ia case (of rain,
St. Tammany Parish, La., boasts of
spring which pours forth clear pure wa-
ter during the day, but goes dry when
the sun sets. / : og :
An '800-pound ‘cinnamon bear. ‘was
captured recently in Lassen County, Cal-
ifornia: I61s believed to: e of the
largest ever taken in a trap. <
* ‘Ina New Hanipshire graveyard there
is a large marble shaft on whick the fol-
lowing words are inscribed: “Sacred to
thé memory of three twins.” = -
All other things being equal, a bari-
qual, ‘3
tone voice in a man and a contralboivoice
ina woman will wear better and last
longer than any of the others, :
+A: Mississippi ; man, who has counted
the number. of seeds in a bushel of vari-
ous grains found that. corn went 72,130;
0; cotton
. op k
At a: Catholic: convent in Fort | Ber-
| thold; North Dakota, all ‘the sisters, in.
cluding the mother superior, are Indians,
and the spiritual director is a pries. of
Mohawk descent. ho Lani
| AVnew diamond is being cut in Ant-
werp, Belgium, said to be the largest
“It weighs 400
carats, and when itis finished it will ‘be
reduced pne-half. == = Hii i
e are not foods. If th
pair of ‘moderate stimulaats’ were lost
from off the face of the earth to-day and
forever they would not take away an
ounce of physical
Shooks, photo
Antelope skin, which has’
sively used for poc it roth
frames, etc, is DOW SR 0708
» 2) 8 d 1 ab) -
sembling _ the finest suede, and comes. in
all the'tan and light shades, 5 -
Shoulderings, jeerings and biting of
;thumbs were the favorite provocatives to
quarrel with. the ‘‘rougha” of St. Paul's
our houses, our stores; our ships, our stocks, |. Walk, London, England, in Shakspeare's
time, and many. a. braggart brawler bit
better
We Eirigann LF dani % $0
- Thomas _ Connolly, a woods! of
Bell's Mills, Forest, County, Penn. , while
splitting a chestnut tree into rails, found
oot
The shoe eviden|
d into the tree Ww.
had been pounde A
was a sapling: ove ord a
In the magnificent. court. of the temple
of Medinet Haboo the traveler will see a
score of columns, several of them bearing
i Greek inscriptions; snd in the chambers
‘on the northwest ‘side af. the temple he
will see ‘crosses designed fo consecrate
parts of the: ‘building which: had ‘previ-
ously been devoted to pagan nses.
Such DO rr abomination .inthe {+ he precipitous mountain crags around
‘a‘'large lake near the Columbia River,'in
Idaho, ate s4id €o ‘be ‘the finest fields for
sport in hunting the large white moun-
tain goat and’ black bear that there are
in the world. So ‘white are ‘the gcats
‘that it takes days of = practice hudting
them to detect a’'band moving over the
snow. : SFR oy Foi
Hook and Ladder Service in New York
There is generally a misconception ‘as
to what is meant by a hook’ and ladder
once understood, and the necessity of it;
‘the Hook is an implement used to pull
down portions of buildings with. The
hook is among the oldest of implements
sed for scaling walls, and dates back
from medizval times. The scaling lad-
ders are made of a single'length of tough
‘wood, with the Tungs at right ahbgles
with it, and passing through it. °
upper.end terminates with a metal hook,
which permits it to be attached to the
window sills, ‘or copings of a house. In
‘ordinary cased laddersare used, but there
are many fires where, in order to obtain
access to the upper portions of a house,
the hook ‘becomes a ‘necessity. Ladders
are not always long enough to reach the
desired heights; and then the hooks sup-
piement them. IHoB en EL,
"Hook and ladder companies are es-
sentially life-saving in their duties. To
generally assigned two hobk ‘and ladder
companies. - There are thirty-six to forty
hook 'and ladder machines, though they
may be all in service at oné time, some.
being under repair. To a hook and lad-
der company there is'given an average of
twelve men, and in particular cases there
have been as many as eighteen. ‘These
men represent the pick of the service as
to physique. All ‘of them” have passed
through the school of instruction, and
have been specially trained for: their
duties. "It is not coolness alone that is
requisite, but that perfect reliance which
tomes from well-trained muscles.
© On the apparatus is carried in addition
i0 ‘the Iadders, which, with their ' exten-
ions, are ninety feet long, a number of
100ks, with’ axes, erowbars, ropes, life-
laving nets'and fire extinguishers. On
iccount of the extreme length of the lad
s a steering wheel, acting on the back
axle, which enables the truck to turn
sharp corners. The three horses attached
0 such a lumbering machine must be of
ihe best,for every minute lost in reaching
a centre of conflagration means chances
of death or destruction of property, —
Harper's Weekly, ~~~
! The landed surface of the Northern
Hemisphere is about 44,
miles, as against 16;000,000 square miles
sessed of his own divine will.—[Frances
Ridlav Haveroal. = =-ol 0
embraced by the Southern Hemisphere, .
company. The use of the ladder is at
each’fire battalion in New York there are a
iers, the apparatus is extended and there
000,000 square
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