L ns pe mk A ER ET TET AEE . _ the power of seeing all the passions and A MODERN VALENTINE, wei, Pve written it, love, with a stiff steel pen; For the geese, I understand, Are so learned, now, that their quills, I trow, Must supply their own demand. Pve secured it, love, by the aid of glue, Instead of a strand of hair, ‘Which I cannot obtam, for 1 see, with pain, I have really none to spare. I send it to you by the postman, love; For Cupid, Igrieve to hear, Is afraid of the cold, and has grown so old That he doesn’t go out this year. But the message is ever the same, my lovs, ‘While the stars their course fulfil. Though to me and to you it may seem quite new, "Tis the old, old story still, —C. W. Latimer, in Harper's Magazine. THE PIECE OF GOLD. BY JAMES VAUGHN. HERE are times in every circle of story tellers, when a spirit of reverie seems to come upon every one. Thus it was when the learned judge of the court, sit- ting with his friends, had re- iated an instance of one who through trying to defraud a sis- ter of her share mm the father's property, out- witted Limself and came to a miserable end. For several minutes nc one spoke. At last, the lawyer said: +¢Gold is worse than an enchanter; it isa demon. As you said, judge, men will sell their very souls for its posses. sion. If any one of us could be given motives of men laid bare, it would drive him crazy in a day. If what men con- ceal could be opened to the light, how men would recoil from their own doings! It is only by concealment that the petty, the mean, the dishonest can be satisfied with themselves.” «Very true,” said the judge, still in- clined to be silent. Another spell of musing, which was broken by the lawyer. ‘I once had a queer experience in my own practice, in act as odd a case as I ever knew. One of my first clients ih New York was a wealthy, retired merchant, named Ber- trand. He lived very simply, alone ex- cept for his housekeeper, 1u a retired, but very respectable part of the city. He had a ncphew, Frank Bertrand, a broth- er’s son, whom he regarded as a scape- grace, and with whom he was not at all va good terms. **Frank seemed to me to be a modest, gensible sort of a fellow, enl I wondered at the old man’s feeling towards him, when he was the only relative he had in the world. My curiosity aroused, I pon- dered the matter somewhat, and came to the conclusion thatthe fault was the old man's, not Frank's. He was rather high spirited and wilful about making his own way in the world and doing as he pleased with himselr, instead of allowing his rich uncle to dictate what he should do. This seemed to be the exten: of kis offence, so far as I could learn. The old man was testy and choleric, and childish about baving his own way (a family trait, I guess), and not only for— bade the nephew the house, but required me to make hiswill, cutting Frank off with only a very insignificant sum. All the rest of his large property he gave to his housekeeper, because, as he said, she had been kind to him, and would take care of him as long as he lived. I talked with Frank about this disposition of the property and advised him not to throw away such a chance but to attempt a reconciliation with his uncle, so he might change Ins will. The young fellow was obdurate and would promise nothing. He was an artist and his whole soul was in his work. This his uncle detested more than all else as a species of vaga- bondism he could never tolerate. No reconciliation was possible while this re- mained, ana I could pot help admiring the boy's energy and spirit when he de- clared he would not give up his profes- sion for all the fortunes in New York. He said he had no ill wili against bis uncle, his property was his own to do with as he pleased; he spoke pleasantly of his uncle's peculiar notions, his tem- per and his weaknesses, and mentioned the housekeeper kindly as one who had treated him well. As he left my office I said tc myself, ‘Well, Frank Bertrand, you deserve a fortune it you don’t get one. A man Las reason to be proud of such a nephew as you.’ ¢¢Not a month after that interview word was brought me that Mr. Bertrand had been found murdered ire his library. 1 summoned the best detective I knew of and hastened to the spot. An ecn- I resoluely put that down for a fact. It being learned that he was seen in the vicinity of the house at the time of the murder, the detective went to his room to interview him as to his knowledge of the affair, and found him standing in the middle of the apartment in a state of ex- citemeat, and holding in his hand that same tell tale nugget of gold. So ab- sorbed was hein it that he did not notice the quiet approach of the officer until he was close upon him. Then he made a movement as if to hide the nugget. It was a perfect case of circumstantial evi- dence against him. Being arrested he impetuously defied his accusers, and would have resorted to violence against them, had I not appeared on the scene and bade him desist. Seeing me he burst into a flood of tears. £ «I demanded a further investigatio of the case, but the detective informed me that it would be useless to look further for the murderer. . «Of course, my first move was to secure a calm, rational interview with Frank. This was in his cell. I will not repeat his indignant declarations of in- nocence, nor his pitiful appeal to me not to believe it of him. How came he by that piece of gold, and why was he at his uncle's house? Those were the ques- tions to be answered. «¢ +] can answer the last easy enough,’ he replied, ‘but about the nugget I know no more than you.’ « +You were taken with it in your hands,’ I said. «¢ +] know it; I had just taken it from my pocket.” ¢» «How came it in your pocket? ¢¢<] don’t know.’ ¢: «Well, that's singular, to say the least,” said I. *Now, how came you there?’ ¢¢ «Mrs. Bland called and said my uncle wanted to see me, I went, of course.’ ¢Mrs. Bland was the housekeeper. I thought I had struck a fact that would help us, and whistled softly. “Did you see her whea you got there?’ I asked. s¢ ¢I saw no one there,’ Frank replied. ‘My ring was not answered. I tried the door and it was fast, I did not want to disappoint him after he had kindly sent for me, so Iattempted to go in the back way as I had used to do, but I found that fast also. Then, as I could rouse no one, I turned and came away. When I had got back in my room somewhat nonplussed at not being admitted after my uncle had sent for me, I happened to put my hand in my pocket, and found there the nugget. I knew it was my uncle's for I had often seen it there, and how 1t came to be in my pocket was a mystery that excited me somewhat. It seemed like witch- craft.’ ¢¢ «Devil-craflt more likely,’ said I who was now more mystitied than ever. 1 did not doubt the truth of Frank's story in the least. ‘Some one put it in your pocket to throw suspicion on you; but how, and when, and where? Did Mrs. Bland come close to you when she came to say your uncle wished to see you? +¢ +}o, she did not come in. She left word at the door. But from my window I saw her go by. I'm sure it was her, but she could not have put the nugget in my pocket.’ ; +] may as well say here that the housekeeper had been investigated aad was conclusively proved to he elsewhere when tne murder occurred. ‘Was she an accomplice?’ was the question I was pondering. A thoughs occurred to me. ‘Did you tind in your pockes the little veivet-lined box, thet held the nugget? [ asked. ¢¢ ¢No, there was nothing but the piece of gold, that I saw,’ Frank replied. ‘I went straight to Frank's lodgings and made a careful search. I searcaed the Bertrand mansion for the missing box, but found nothing. ¢Mrs. Bland seemed very much dis- tressed over what had happened and was much concerned for Frank. She de- clared she didn’t believe a word of the story that he was guilty. She said his uncle called to her from his room, as he often did, and directed her to call Frank. As she was going to a neigh- bor's she stopped on the way for her er- rand. She locked the house behind her on leaving, as was her custom, and found it locked on her return, She did not see Mr. Bertrand when he spoke to her; only heard his voice. «+I then went to my office and shut myself into my private room to quietly analyze the situation. Who, besides his housekeeper had a motive for murdering Mr. Bertrand? I pondered the question over and overagain. That there was an answer to it, I was sure. But who had “spt mctive. That once settied fairly in my own mind, I would look further for the little box. I could easily see how Frank Bertrand had a strong existing motive to keep his uncle alive uatil he should make a different will. In his | death he lost all hope. Only sudden anger under strong provocation could have moved him to the deed. was already out of my suspicion. the lever that moves human .eings in the commission of all deliberate crimes. That it was not mere robbery, in this trance had been made through the or- dinary passages of the house, as there was no breaking. The victim had been struck from behind as hesat in his chair. The instrument used was a heavy one; the skull had been crushed and death was instantaneous. Attirst we thought not a thing in the room had been touched, but the housekeeper called my attention do the fact that a nugget of gold which remained attached to a piece of its quartz matrix, the single geological specimen and curio which adorned the library, was missing, as well as the little velvet lined box in which it had rested. Every- thing else was in its usual place as if nothing had happened there. This was our only clue, and to my astonishment and dismay it speedily led to the arrest of Frank Bertrand as the murderer. «‘] had formed so good an opinion of the boy, and his manliness seemed 80 cer- tain, that I found it bard to believe that he was even accused of murdering his uncle. wind beyoed the bounds of vrobability. | That he was guilty was to my | | case, was evident—since only the nugget | of gold was taken, and that [ attributed | toa momentary fancy rather than to any | previous intention. It could not be | hatred, for the old man had not an | enemy in the world could discover. It must be gained though Mr. Bertrand’s death: Here was another dilemma. His house- keeper was to have all the property, and she could not have conmitted the murder. gain through her. had not aclative in the world that I had ever heard of. She had lived very many years in the family, and I thought her relatives would have been heard to commit murder in order to give her | property which they might not get after | all. Had she a lover? | sense of its affording mystery, that it was lke an electrio shock. She would not marry while Mr. Bertrand lived; his death would make her free, and besides would make hee wealthy, two great points to be gaiued, which might have a strong influence on a weak minded man. I was sure also from the taking of the nugget, that whoever he was he would be found to have been a miner or a collector of ores or minerals. Full of my new idea, 1 started out to investigate. «[ had great faith in Mrs. Blacd's honesty in the matter, but I did not think it prudent to go to her now fot information, for I had not proved her integrity as I had Frunk’s, and, she might, if an accomplice, give a warning that would defeat my purpose. I went to the few persons she was intimate with and made cautious inquiries about het gentlemen friends. It is almost needles: to say I found one. «He was a tall gaunt fellow, and swarthy, like those who have been much exposed to th: sunlight. He had been a micer in Australia. Mrs. Bland had confided to a female friend that the mao proposed, but she refused him, ‘because she could not leave Mr. Bertrand.’ 1 now decided to go straight to Mrs. Bland and ask if this mae knew of the contents of the will. Tears came into her eyes as she admitted that he did. She had inclined to favor his proposal, aud had agreed to marry him stter Mr. Bertrand’s death. «+I found where the man had his lodg- ing, and taking an officer made all haste there. His rcom was shabby enough, but ah, there were the minerals, as I had surmised. We arrested him as the mur. derer of Henry Bertrand, and after some search among his rather mixed belong- ings found there the box with the velvet lining. : «When that was brought forth, his defiant manner fell away from him and he begged for mercy like a child. He confessed all, even to brushing against Frank Bertrand on his way home, toslip the nugget inte his pocket. At the time of the murder he caught sight of the gold lump, and was suddenly possessed of a fancy for it. Realzing later how dangerous was its possession, he dis- posed of it to’ throw suspicion upon Frank. All my theories were ‘thus curiously verified.” The lawyer paused, apparently at the end of his story. There was one present who had the general appearance of a de- tective, who had been carefully follow- ing his narrative. He asked: ‘Pardon two questions, sir. How came the murderer in the house without the housekeepers knowledge, and wo was it sent for the nephew?” ‘I was going to tell you that present ly,” said the narrator. *‘The fellow explained that he had been determined for some time to get Mr. Bertrand out of the way, as that meant for him both a wife and a fortune. He had beez wait- ing for an opportunity. Gcing to the house that aay, he found the door unfastened aud slipped in and concealed himself, He heard the old man give directions to have Frank called, and heard Mrs. Bland say she was going to stop awhile with a friend. Fortune was favoring his plans. Not only that but the fear came that Bertrand was relenting towards his nephew and might spoil all his hopes unless speedily despatched. Frank Bertrand would be brought to the house just in time to be accused of the deed, It was the propitious time. «The blow fell, the old man passed to his reward, and he fled. To his annoy- ance the door locked with a spring behind him, and Frank, whom he was watching as he came, could not get in. Then came the thought to fasten the crime on him more severely by putting the nugget in his pocket. ‘It has been truly said that men com- mitting great crimes always do some act or leave some act undone, despite all their precautions, that tells the tale of their wrong doing. So this man, who seemingly had all his plans perfect, in his eagerness and excitement, forgot to put on Frank's person the box as well as its contents, and now it rose up a cou- clusive witness against him.” «Now I've got a question,” ventured another listener. ¢*What did the old lady do with the property? Did she hunt up another husband, or, as some of them do, give it to an asylum?” «Neither. She was a really good woman, and was struck with horror at the villainy of the man who wanted to marry her for her prospective money. I think that every day, for she is now living, she thanks the Lord that soe e:- caped the fate of marrying him. She turned the whole property over to Frani, saying she had no doubt his uncle would have relented toward him if he had lived. She lives with him, making a home for him like a mother, and they think a great deal of each other. The piece of gold and the velvet box which But he | «J am a great believer in motive as that we then be greed of some sort, some advantage to It must then be somebody reaching further, somebody hoping for But the old woman from, if there were any greedy enough «The thought struck me with such a ! the square of the tower for that especial a solution of the played so important a part in the tragedy | of their lives, still rest in their old place in the library.”—Yankee Blade. The Giant of All Timepieces. The greatest hcrological wonder in world to-day is the gigantic clock in the | tower of the immense **Pablic Building” at Philadelphia. When everything is | in running order this marvel of the clock- | maker’s art will be stationed a distance | of 351 feet from the pavement. Its bell | weighs between 20,000 and 25,000 | pounds, and is the second largest bell of | any kind in America, the great bell at Montreal being the largest, weighing 28,000 pounds. The dial of this Paila- | delphia titan is tweaty-tive feet in di- | ameter, and the striking hammer is as | large as a pile driver weight. The minute hand is twelve and the hour hand nine feet in length. The machinery is arrar.ged so that the clock will strike over fifteen minutes, the quarter, half, three-quarters and hours. The Roman numerals on the facz are two feet eight inches in length, the dark part of the | figures being 3} inches in width. As it | is entirely out of the question to talk of winding such a monster by hand, a three- ! horse power engine has been placed at SCRIPTURE ICHTHYOLOGY INTERPRE®ED BY DR. TALMAGE. God Created the Finny Tribe Before All Others: and the Sacred Writings Aro Filled With Their Im- agery. Bible Fishes. TEXT: “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving erea- tures that hath life.”—Gznesis i., 20. What a new book tha Bible is? After thirty-six years’ preaching from it and dis- cussing over 3070 different subjects founded ou the word of God, the book is as fresh to me as when I learned, with a stretch of in- fantile memory, the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus went.” and I opened a few weeks ago a new realm of Biblical interest that neither my pulpit nor any one else's had ever explored, and having spoken to you in this course of sermons on God every- where concerning the ‘‘Astronomy uf the Bible; or, God Among ths Stars;” the “_hronology of the Bible; or, God Among the Centuries;” the *‘Ornithology of the Bible, or, God Among the Birds;" the “Mineralogy of the Bible; or, Goi Among the Amethysts,” this morning, as I may be divinely helped, 1 will speak to you about the ‘Ichthyology of the Bible; or, God Among the Fishes.” " Our horses ware Jathered and tirel out, and their fetlocks were red with the blood cut out by the rocks, and I could hardly get my feet out of the stirrups as on Saturday night we dismounted on the beach of Lake Galilee, The rather liberal suppy of food with which we had started from Jerusalem was well nigh exhausted, and the articles of diet remaining had by oft repetition three times a day for three weeks ceased to appa- tiz>. 1 never want to see a fig again, and dates with me are all out of date. For several days the Arab caterer, who could speak but half a dozen English words, would answer our requests for some of the styles of food with which we had been delec- tated the first few days by crying out ‘‘Fin- ished.” The most piquant appetizer is ab- stinance, and the demand of all the party was, “Let us breakfast on Sunday morning on fresh fish from Lake Gennesareth,” for you must know that that lake has four names, and it is worth a profusion of nomen- clature, and it is in the Bible called Chin- neretb, Tiberias, Gennesareth and Galilee. To our extemporiz:d table on Sabbath morning came broiled perch, only a few hours before lifted out of the sacred waters. 1t was natural that our minds should revert to the only breakfast that Christ ever pre- pared, and it was on those very shores where we breakfasted. Carist had in those olden times struck two flints together and set on fire some shavingsor light brushwood and then put on larger wood, and a pile of glow= ing bright coals was the conssquence. eanwhile the disciples fishing on the lake had awtully *‘poor luck,” and every time they drew up the net it hung dripping with- out a fluttering fin or squirming scale. But Christ from the shors shouted to them and told them where to drop the net, and 153 big fish rewarded them. Simon and Nathaniel, having cleaned some of those large fish, brought them to the coals which Christ bad kindled, and the group who had been out all night and were chill and wet and hungry, sat down and began mastication. All that scene came back to us when on Sabbath morning, December, 1889, just outside the ruins of ancient Tiverias and within sound of the riopling Galilee, we breakfasted. Now, it is not strange that the Bible im- agery is so_inwrought from the fisheries when the Holy Land ig, for the most part, an inland region? Only three lakes—two be- cides the one already mentionel—namely, the Dead Sea, where fish cannot live at all, and as soon as they touch it they die, and the birds swoop on their tiny carcasses, and the third, the Pools of Heshbon, which are alternately full and dry. Oaly three rivers 3 the Holy Land—Jabuok, Kishon and Jor- a ; : About all the fish now in the waters of the Holy Land are the perch, the carp, the bream, the minnow, the blenny, thu barbal (so called because of the barb at its mouth), the chub, the dogfish, none of them worth a Delaware shad or an Adirondack trout. Well, the world’s geography has changed, and the world’s bill of fare has changed. Lake Galilee was larger and deeper and bet- ter stocked than now, and no doubt the rivers were deeper and the fisheries wera of lar more importance then than now. Besides that, there was the Mediterranean Tea only thirty-five miles away, and fish were salted or dried and brouznt inlaud, and somuch of that article of food was sold in Jerusalem that a fish market gave the name to one ot the gates of Jerusalem near by, and it was called the fish gate. The cities had great reservoirs in which fish were kept alive and bred. The 1 of Gibeon was a fish fool. Isaiah and Solomon refer to fish pools. Large fish were kept alive and tied fast by ropes toa stake in these reservoirs, a ring having been run through their gills, and that is ths meaning of the Scripture passage which says, ‘‘Canst thou put a hook into his nose or bore his jaw through with a thorn.” So-dimportant was the fish that the god Dagon, worshiped by the Philistines, was made half fish and half man, and that is the meaning of the Lord’s indignation when in I Samel we read that this Dagon, the fish zod, stood beside the ark of the Lord, and Dagon was by invisible hands dashed to pieces because the Philistines had dared to make the fish a god. That explains the Scripture passage, ‘The head of Dazon and both tha palms of his hands were cut off up- on the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left tohim.” Now, the stump of Dagon was the fish part. The top part, which was the fizureof a man; was dashed to piecss, and the Lord, by demolishing every thing but the stump or fish part of the idol, prac- tically said, **You may keep your fish, but know from the way I have demolished the rest of the idol that it is nothing divine.” Layard and Wilkinson found the fish an object of idolatry all through Assyria and tigypt. The Nile was full of fish, and that explains the horrors .of the plague that slaughtered the finny tribe all up and'down that river, which has been and is now the main artery of Egypt's life. In Job you hear the plunge of the spear into the mnip- popotamus as the great dramatic poat cries put, ‘‘Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons or his head with fish spears?’ Yea, the fish began to swim in the very first book God said, Let the waters bring forth abund- antly the moving creature that hath life.” receded the dence ever every living thing. The next thing done after God had kindled for our world the golden chandelier of the sun and the silver chandelier of the moon was to make the fish. life—was in a fish. scales, God were called into action for the making of that first fish. cent miracle. a shark to confound the scientist. not take the universe to prove a God. fish does it. anatomy. purpozeC, of Genesis, where my text records, ‘‘And Do you reahze that the first living thing that God created was the fish? It bird, the quadruped, the uman race. The fish has priority of resi- The first motion of the principle of life, a principle that ‘all the thousands of years since have not been abie to define or analyze—the very first stir of | ing, ‘‘The day shall come upon you when he will take you away with hooks and your What an hour that was when in the Eu- | posterity with fishhooks.” phrates, the Gihon, the Pison and the Hid- dekel, the four rivers of Paradise, the waters swirled with fins and brightened with | net. All the attributes of the infinite Lanceoiate and translu- There is enough wonder in the plate of a sturgeon or in the cartilage of It does No wonder that Linnseus and Cuvier and Agassiz and the greatest minds of all the centuries sat enraptured before its Ob, its beauty and the adaptedness of its structure to the element in whica it must live; the picture gallery on the sides of the mountain trout unveiled as they spring up to snatch the flies; the grayling, called the flower of fishes; the salmon, ascending the Uregon and the Severn, easily leaping the falls that would stop them; the bold perch, the gudgeon, silver anl black spotted; the herring, moving in squadrons five miles long; the carp, for cunning called tha fox of fishes; the wondrous starzeons, former ly reserved for the tables of royal families, and the isinglass made out of their membrane; the tench, called the physician of fishes, be- cause when applied to human ailments it is said to be curative; the lampreys, so tempt- ing to the epicurean that toc many of them slew Henry Il—aye, the whole world of fishes! Enough of them floating up and down the rivers to feed the hemispheres if every ear of corn and every head of wheat and every herd of quadruped and if every other article of food inall the earth ware destroyed, Universal drought, leaving not so much as a spear of grass on the round planet, wonld leave in the rivers and lakes and seas for tbe human race a staple commodity of food which, if brouzht to shore, would be enough not only to feed but fatten ths eatire human raca. In times to come the world may bs so populated that the harvests and vineyards and land animals may be insufficient to feed the human family, and the nations may be obliged tocome tothe rivers and ocean beaches to seek ths living harvests that swim thse deep, and that would mean more health and vigor ani brilliancy and brain than the human race now own. The Lord, by placing the fish in ths first course of the menu in paradise, making it precede bird and beast, indicated to the world the importance of the fish as an article of human fool, The reason that men and women livad taree and four and five and nine hundred years was because they were kept on parched corn and fish. We mix up a fantastic fool that kill ths most of us before thirty years ot age, Cuse tards and whipped sillabubs and Roman punches and chicken salgds at midnigat are a gantlet that few have strangth (o run. eputon many a tombstone glowing epithets saying that the person bsnzath died of patriotic servicss or from exhaustion in religious work when notuinz killed ths poor fellow but lobster eaten at a party four hours after he ought to have been sound asleep in bed. Thereare men to-day in our streets so many walking hospitals who mizht have beer athletes if thoy had taken the hint of Genesis in my text and of our Lord's re- mark and adhered to simolicity ot diet. The reason that the country districts have furnished most of the men and women of our time wno are doing the mightiest worx in merchandise, in machanics, in law, in medicine, in theology, in legislative and congrassional halls, and all the presidents from Washington down—at least thoss who have amounted to anything—is becauss they were in those country districts of necassity kept on plain diet. No man or woman ever amountei fo any- thing who was brought up on floating island or angel cake. The world must turn back to paradisiac diet if it is to get paradisiac morals and parad saiac health, The human rac3 to-day neads mora phosphorus, and the fish is charged ani surcharged with phos- phorus—phosphoruas, that which shines in the dark without burning. What made the twelve apostles such stal- wart men that they could endure anything and achieve everything? Next to divine in- spiration, it was bacausa they wera nearly all fishermen and lived on fish and a fow plain condiments. Paul, thou zh not brought up to swing the net and throw the line, must of necessity have adopted the diet of the population amonz whom he lived, and you ses the phosphorusdn his darinz plea batore Felix, and the phosphorus in his boldest of all utterances before the wisacrss on Mars Hill, and the phosphorus as he went without frignt to his beheading, and tha phosphorus you see in the lives ol all tha apostles wio moved right on undaunted to certain martyr- dom. whether to be decapitated or flung off precipices or hung in crucifixion. Phosphorus, shining in the dark without burning. No man or woman that ever lived was independent of qu3dstions of diet. Let those who by circumstances are compelled to simplicity of diet thank God for their res- cue from the temptation of killing delica- cies. Themen and women who ars to de- cide the drift of the Twentieth Century, which is only seven or eight steps off, are now five miles’ back from the rail station and had for breakfast this morning a similar bill of fare to that which Christ provided for the fishermen disciple: on the banks of Lake Galilee, Inieed the only, articles of food that Christ by miracle multiplied wera bread and fish which the boy whoactaed as sutier to the 7000 persons of the wilderness handed over —five barley loaves and two fishes, The boy must have felt badly when called on to give up the two fishes which he had brought out after having caught them himself, sit- ting with his bare fest over the bank of the lake and expecting to sell his supply at good profit, but he felt better when by the mira- cle the fish were multiplied and hs had more returned to him than he had surrendered. Know also in order to understand the ichthyology of the Bible that in the deeper waters, as those of the Mediterranean, thers were monsters that are now extinct. The fools who become infidels because they can- not understand the ingulfment of the recré- ant Jonah in a sea monster might have saved their souls by studying a little natural history. “Oh,” says some one, “that story of Jonah was only a fable.” Say others: *‘It was interpolated by some writer of later times.” Others say: ‘It was a reproduc- tion of the story of Hercules devoured and then rastored from the monster.” But my reply is that history tells us that there were monsters large enough to whalm ships. The extincy ichthyosaurus of other ages was thirty feet long, and as late as the Sixth Century of the Christian era up ead down the Mediterranean there floated monsters compared with which a modern whale was a sardine or & herring. The shar: has again and again been found to swallow a man er- tire. A tiSherman on the coast of Turkey man and a purse of gold. I have seen in mus2ums sea monsters large enough to take down a prophet. But I have a better reason for believing the Old Testament account, and that is that Christ said it was true and a type of His own resurrection, and I suppose He ought to know. In Matthew xii., 40, Jesus Christ says, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall tae Son of Man be three days and three nights 10 the heart of the earth.” And tazt settles it for me and for any man who does not believe Christ a dupe and an imposter. Notice also how the Old T'estament writers drew similitude from the fisheries. Jeremiah uses such imagery to prophesy destruction, *:Behold, 1 will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them.” Ezakiel uses fish imagery to prophesy prosperity, ‘It shall come to pass that the fishers shall laim; there shall be a piace to spread forth the time will come when these waters will for fish. Ecclesiastes, declares that those captured of ology which has been lost. fishing. One was by they that cast angle into the brooks shal lament.” out leviathan with a hook?’ the angle.” nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding | served, or if it is on the shore of Galilee the many,” the explanation of which is that | fish classified as siluroids are hurled back Engedi and Eneglaim stood on the banks | into the water or thrown np on ths bauk as of the Dead sea, in the waters of which no fish can live, but the prophet says that be ragenerated, and they will be great places Amos reproves idolatries by say- Solomon, in temptation are as fishes taken in an evil Indeed Solomon knew all about the finny tribe and wrote a treatise on icnthy- Furthermore, in order that you may un- | will derstand the ichthyology of the Bible, you | that must know that there were five ways of | the fenca of reeds and A | cane, within which the fish were cauzht. But the Herodic government forbade that on Lake Galilee, less pleasuse boats be wrecked by the stakes driven. Another mode was by spearing, the waters of Galilee so clear good aim could be taken for the transfixing. An- other was by hook and line, as where Isaiah says, ‘The fishers also shall mourn, and And Job says, *‘Canst thou draw And Habak- kuk says, “They take up all of them with Another mode was by a casting net or that wkich was flung from the shore, an- other, by a dragnet or that which was thrown from a boat and drawn through the sea as the fishing smack sailedon. How wonderful all this is inwrought into ths Bible imagery and it leads me te ask in which moe are you and I fishing, for ths church is the boat, and the gospel is the net, and the sea is the world, and the fish are the souls, and God addresses us as Hs did Simon and Andrew, sayme, ‘‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishersof men.” But whenis the best time to fish for souls? In thenight. Peter, why did you say to Chrisg * .oa kave toiled all the night and have taken nothing?’ Why dia you not fish in the day- time? He replies, “You ought to know, the night is the best tims for fishinz.” At Tobyhanna Mills, among the moun- tains of Pennsylvania, I saw a friend with high boots and fisiing tackle siartinz out at 9 o'clock at night, and I said, “Wheraara you going?’ He answered, “Ging to fish.” ““What, in thenight!” Heanswered. **Yes, in the night.” So ths vast majority ofisouis captured for God aro taken in time: of ra- vival in the night m=zetings. They might just as well come at 12 J’clocz at noon, but most of them will not. Ask the evancelists of olden times, ask Finney, ask Nesttleton, ask Osborn, ask Daniel Biker,and then ask all toe modern evangalists which 1s the bast time to gather souls, and they will answer, “The night; by all odds, the night.” Nod only the natural night, bus tae night of trouble. : Suppose I goarouni in this audience and ask taese Caristians when they wara convert- ed to God. Oae would answer, *‘l was at tha tims 1 lost ny caild by membranous croup, and it was the night of bereavement,” or the answer would bz, ‘It was just atter [ was swindlad outot nv property,and it was the night of bankrupicy,” or it would be, “lt was during that tims when I was down with that awful sickness and it was the nigh$ of physical suffaring,” or it would be, *I§ was that time when slancer took after me, and I was malignad and abused, ani it was the night of persecution.” Ah, my hearers, that is the tima for you to go after souls, wien a night of troubles is on them. Misa not that opportunity to savas a sil, for itis tae bast of all opportunities. Go up alonz the Mohawk, or the Juniata, or the Dalaware, or tha Tomnbigoa2, or tha St. Lawrance rizat after a rain, and you will find the fisharman all up and down the laks:? Why! Bscauss a good time to anzle is rigat aft>r tas rain, and that is a good tims to catch souls, right after a shower of misfortune, rizht after floods of disaster. And as a pool overshadowed with treesisa grand place for making a fins haul of fish, so when the sou! is unier the long dark shadows of anxiety and distress itis a goad tima to make a spiritual haul, People in the bright suashins of prosperity are not s2 easily taken. But be sura bafore you start out to the gospel fisheries to get the right kind of bait. «But how,” you say, “am Ito get it?’ My answer is, ‘Dig for it.” “Where shall dig for it?” ‘In ths rich Bible grounds.” We boys brought up in the couatry had to dig for bait befora we started for tha banks of the Raritan. We put the sharp edgeof the spade against ths ground and then put our foot on the spade, and with ons tramen- dous plunge o® our strength of body and will wa drove itin up to the handle ani then turnei over ths sod. We had never real Walton's “Complete Angler,” or Charles Cotton's “Instructions How to Angie for Geravling in a Clear Stream.” We knaw nothing about the mod- ern red hackle or the fly of crange colored mohair, but wa got the right kind of bait. No uss trying to angle for fish or angle for souls unless yon hava the right kind of bait, and thers is plenty of it in the promises, tha arables, the miracles, the crucifixion, the eaven of the grand old gospel. Yes, not only must you dig for baif, buh uss oniy fresh bait. ou cannot do any- thing down at the pond with old angle- worms. New views of truth, New views of God. New views of the soul. There ara all the good books to help you dig. But make up your mindas' to whether you will take the hint of Habukkuk aod Isaiah and Job and use hook and line, or take the hint of Matthew anl Luke and Christ and fish with a net. I think many foss their tims by wanting to fish with a net, and they never get a placs to swing the net. In other words, they want to do gospel work on a big scale or thev will not do it at all. [see feeble minded Chris tian men going around with a Bagster’s Bible under their arm, hoping to do the work of an evangelist and use the net, while they might be better content with hook and line and take one soul at a time. They are bad failures as evangelists. They would be mizhty successes as private Christians. If you catch only one soul for God, that will ba enough to fill your eternity with celebration. All hail the fisherman with hook and line! I have ssen a man in roughest corduroy outfit come back from the woods leaded down with a string of finny treasures hung over his shoulder and his gamebaz filled, and a dog with nis teeth carrying the basket fillel with tha surplus of an atternoon’s angling, and it was all the result of au hook and line, and in the eternal world there will be many a man and many a woman thal was never heard of outside of a village Sun- day-school or a prayer mesting buried in a church basement who will come before the throne of God with a multitude of souls ransomed through his or her instru. mentality, and yet tha work all dona through personal inferview, one by one, ons by one. Horii mg Yon do not know who that one soul may be. Staupitz hslped one soul into ths light, but it was Martin Lutber,- Thomas Bilney brought salvation to one soul, but it was Hugh Latimer. An edge tool maker was the means of saving one soul, but it was found a ser monster which containad a wo- | John Summerfield. Our blessed Lord healad ons blind eye at a time, one paralyzed arm at a time, one dropsical patient at a time, and raisad from the dead one girl at a time, ona young maa ata imme. Admire the net that takes in a great many at once, but do not despise the hook and line. God hslp us amid the gospel fisheries, whether we employ hook or uet, for the day cometh when we shall ses how much de- pended on our fidelity. Christ Himself de- clared:’ “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kin, which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good in the vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world—the angels shall come forth ana separate tha wicked from the just.” es, the fishermen think it beast to keep the useful and worthless of the haul in the same nat until it is drawn upon the beach, stand upon it from Engedi even to Eneg- | and then the division takes place, and if itis on Long Island coast the mossbankers are thrown out and the bluefish anl shad pre. unclean, while the perch and the carp and the barbel are put into pails to be carried home for use. So in the church on earth the saints and the hypocrites, the generous ani the mean, the cnaste and ths unclean, are kept in the same membership, but at death the division will be made, and the good will be gatherad to heaven, and the bad, however many holy commupyions they may nave celebrated, and however many rhetorical prayers they may have offered, and however many years their names may have been on the church rolls, be cast away. God forbid any of us should be among ‘cast away.” But may we do our work, whether small or great, as thoroughl as did that renowned fisherman, George . Bethune, who spent his summer rest angling in the waters around the Thousand [sles and beating at their own craft those who plied it all the year, and who the rest of his tima gloriously preached Christ in a pulpit only fifteen minutes from where I now stand,and ordering for hisown obsequies:-*‘Put on ma | | my pulpit gown and banas, with my own pocket Bible in my right hand. Bury me with my mother, my father and my grande mother. Bing also my own hymn: “Jesus, Thou prince of life! Thy caosen canno! in the sleiffy igh. ” 8 24.7 Like Thee, t Ye reiga with 11 Hood gestion, |
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers