The ‘‘curfew’’ idea is said to be get-
ting very popular in Kansas towns,
and, where tried, to have been effec-
tive of good results in the control of
the young.
The German emperor wrongs Amer-
jcans by imagining they doubt his ex-
pressions of friendship. Butthey are
justified in a suspicion that he may
see fit to take them back.
United States Consul Smith at Mos-
cow, Russia, reports that the Russian
government has already expended
$188,014,938 on the construction of
the Trans-Siberian railway.
Angusti, the Spanish governor of
the Philippines, offered a reward of
$25,000 for the head of Aguinaldo,the
insurgent leader. The latter
tured the governor's wife and chil-
dren, whom he treated as tenderly as
if they were his own. Perhaps this
is an exhibition of the Philippine sav-
Madrid talks so much
cap-
agery that
about.
The export trade of the Congo state
is growing splendidly. In 1886 it was
$354,000. In 1889 it was $859,000.
In 1884 it was $1,752,000, and in 1897
it was $3,029,000. More than half the
export trade is in rubber, which has
increased in amount more than fifty-
fold since 1886. And that increase is
chiefly due to the enormous extension
of wheeling, Thus does. civilization
get swiftly forward upon a bicycle.-
The population of Cuba increased
from 715,000 in 1825. to 1,631,400 in
1894.
now itan it was then, owing mainly
The population is much less
to starvation. About sixty-five per
cent. of the population is descended
from the aristocracy and peasantry of
Castile,
other provinces of Spain.
Catalonia and
Most of
the remainder of the population is
Havana
Audalusia,
mainly of African descent.
is about as populous as Washington,
and until the war began was a very
gay city.
Tt is hardly possible that the widow
of the great English commoner who
all through life declined ennoblement
at the hands of the Queen will now
fall to the bait, muses the St. Louis
Star. She is the relict of Mr. Glad-
stone, and a space is reserved beside
his body at Westminster Abbey for
Mrs.
read much more eloquently on the
her remains. Gladstone would
tablet than the Countess of Liverpool.
Oh, no.
plain Mr.
Gladstone lived and died as
His widow, if she reveres
his memory, will live the balance of
her life and go down to the tomb as
Murs. Gladstone.
The poverty and low state of social
life and civilization of the Spaniards
is .ndexed quite accurately by their
wuge rates, states Gunton’s Magazine.
For instance, the average weekly pay
of a bricklayer in Spain (Malaga) is
$3.80; in the United States $21.18; of
a mason $3.30 in Spain, $21 in the
United States; of a carpenter $3.90 in
Spain, $14.35 in the United States; of
printers $4.50 in Spain, $16.42 in the
United States;
ters, etc., 82.75 $8.88 in
the United States. While rents, and
possibly prices of a few native pro-
of laborers, por-
in Spain,
ducts are lower in Spain than in the
United States, the
nowhere near equalling the wide dis-
difference comes
parity of wages. Moreover, ina com-
parison of this sort the quality of the
living must be considered as well as
the nominal cost. Thus lower rents
nearly always imply inferior accom-
modations, and. to the average Span-
iard, most of the comforts and con-
veniences in ordinary use here are un-
attainable luxuries.
The president and the secretary of
war had a delicate task in selecting
195 men out of 7000 applicants for
appointment as second lieutenants in
under act of
Congress providing for changes in the
The
task was
the regular army an
farm of battalion organization.
selections indicate that the
performed with rare discrimination.
Fighty-nine of the men designated
are college graduates, representing
different institutions in
which military instruction is a part of
sixty-seven
are enlisted
men in the United States army, and
the curriculum; thirteen
the others are serving in various ca-
pacities in the voluntecr service. The
of graduates
who have had a military training to
appointment ccllege
serve as junior officers in the regular
army can hardly be called an experi-
ment, says the Chicago-Times Herald,
for the methods employed by military
instructors in colleges are much the
same as those at West Point. The
government is £hus assured of a high
degree of efficieney on the part of the
new junior officers, who have the ad-
ditional qualifications of learning and
yoathful enthusiasm,
are fired
A NAVY'S ELECTRICITY.
THE APPARATUS USED ON A MODERN
BATTLESHIP VERY COMPLEX,
The Cruiser Brooklyn Is Steered by
Electricity—=On Most of Oar Ships the
Guns Are Fired by the Mysterious Cur-
rent—The Range Finder a Novel Device.
It is in the electrical apparatus that
the modern battleship is especially
complex. For a vessel like the Massa-
chusetts there are three ‘‘generating
units,” with multipolar dynamos,each
having a capacity of 300 amperes at
80 volts. These dynamos are run by
engines which make 400 revolutions a
minute. This electric plant is used
for the operation of nearly 500 incan-
descent lights, four search lights, one
set of signaling apparatus, two sta-
tionary and four portable ventilating
fans, four motors for the 8-inch am-
munition hoists, and other apparatus
peculiar to warships, such as range
finders, engine telegraphs, telephones
and the like.
The introduction of electricity on
warships has - been a constant fight
and struggle against steam. Inch by
inch the ground has been fought over,
and inch by inch electricity has been
winning its way, end the end is not
yet.
Very few of our warships are steered
by electricity. ~The cruiser Brook-
lyn, however, has such an apparatus
and it is said to work satisfacterily.
On most of the large ships the guns
by electricity. On nearly
all of them an elaborate telephone
system is in place and use. ~ Another
electrical device is what is called the
helm indicator, which shows the navi-
gator of the ship the exact aoudition
of the helm at any time. One of the
commonest uses of electricity on ship-
board is the steering telegraph, where-
by the navigator communicates with
the engine room and is enabled in re-
turn to see agvhether the orders he has
transmitted have ben carried out.
Another electrical instrument, which
1s coming into use on warships, is the
speed and direction indicator, which
reveals to the navigator-of the ship
not only the number but the direction
of the revolutions of the shaft of each
engine.
Then there is the range finder and
the range indicator whereby, with
dials, the captain of a ship can regu-
late the direction and all the details
of firing guns in aay part of the ship
from his station iu the conning tower.
Another electrical apparatus is the
electric telescopic sight. This works
in co-operation with the range indi-
cator. It has been found that when a
ship is rolling the man whois sight-
ing the gun has to get the target,” the
front sight and the rear sight into line
and that he has only about one-fifth
of a second in which to do this work.
Through the operation of this tele-
scopic sight the man who is elevating
the gun merely watches the range in-
dicator and keeps the gun in a certain
vertical plane. The man at the tele-
scopic sight waits until the vertical
and horizontal eross-hairs rest upon
the targev as he looks through
telescope, and the projectile goes
straight toward ‘the mark when he
presses the button to fire a gun.
A scientific paper recently called
attention to the fact that it was im-
possible to provide any more search-
lights for our larger ships owing to
the scarcity of the mirrors used in
them. They are of a peculiar make,
and cannot be produced quickly.
This emphasizes the fact that the war-
ship of the present time is something |
in a |
helter-skelter, slam-bang fashion, like |
that cannot be put together
the war of 1862, when even a battle-
ship was made in
months. The modern searchlight,
such as is used on the Massachusetts
or Indiana, has 100,000 candle power,
and there is no manifestation of elec-
tricity on a warship that so appeals to | frat ol ) ]
> | county,” said a citizen oi that quiet |
the average man as a shaft of light
from one of these instruments in a
dark night. Theaverage ship, also,is
full of various indicators which
are operated by electricity and
which, althongh apparently of trifling
importance, are of serious moment.
One of these is a thermostat, which
is placed cn the walls of the magazine
which automatically rings a fire alarm
in case the temperature of t
zine rises to a dangerous poini.
Another indicator is called the
alarm. This tells exactly when any
hy
ie
compartment of the double bottom is |
perforated in any way, and also ex-
actly where the injuryis. If it is a
serious injury the captain on the ves-
gel again employs electricity and by
the mere pressure of a button blows
that eav-splitting instrument of ‘or-
ture known as the siren whistle. This
is a signal to close all. water-tight
compartments throughout the ship, so
that, if possible, a tragedy may be
averted if the vessel is in danger of
sinking. :
Another use of electricity on war-
ships that invariably attracts the at-
tention of the spectator at night has
to do with the signalling apparatus.
Red and white lights are strung from
a yard to the deck, and the various
combinations jof lights form certain
letters, which are the means of com-
munication from ship to ship. = The
operator of this signalling system sits
at a little table on which are arranged
a large number of black keys with red
and white spots painted on them, re-
presenting every possible combination
of the two colors in the
five lanterns of each color. These
keys look like so many dominoes. The
operator becomes very expert in the
manipulation of these keys, and can
place his finger on a certain letter or
sign as quickly as an expert operator
on a typewriting machine can touch a
certain key.
In battle formation it is very neces-
sary for ships to keep at exact dis-
tances from each other so as to
maneuver properly. An electrical
| danger.
| Neither
| positive and learned man
his |
device is now in use on some of our
warships whereby the vessels are en-
abled to fix the desired distances ac-
cyrately. The helm indicator,another
electrical device in use, simply tells
the man at the wheel at what angle
the captain wishes the helm set to
make a turn, A registering device on
the bridge, operated by electricity,
notifies the captain whether his orders
have been carried out. A mistake in
obeying the orders of the captain in
time of battle in this respect might
result in a collision, and how serious
that might be the fate of the Victoria
when the Camperdown sunk her in
the Mediterranean several years ago
would seem to indicate.
The range finder on ships consists
of two sighting apparatus, usually
situated well up onthe superstructure
of the warship, with an operator for
each station. The exact distance be-
tween the stations is known, and this
forms the base of a triangle. The
operators simply focus their instru-
ments upon the target. An automatic
device registers the angles involved
and this at once indicates the exact
distance of the target from the ship.
This distance is telegraphed to the
various guns and the man who has
charge of the eievation of a gun
kuows the exact range.
There are other electrical devices
which are being used or perfected for
use on warships. One of them is a
sounding apparatus to take the depth
of water when the ship is going at
full speed and to give warnhg of
Another is to secure some
means of communication between the
various ships of a squadron without
wires and by means of induction.
of these systems has been
successful vet, but both serve to indi-
cate the trend of events in electrical
eugineering, so far as it applies to
warships. Hence it is that the use of
electricity on such vessels would
probably grow, and it must be a very
dicate the limit of its future use.
Saluting in the Army.
One thing which the volunteers
find it hard to do—a thing which per-
haps they will never do in anything
like the form in which the regulars do
it—is to salute officers. Take a vol-
unteer who is bronzed and big, like a
regular, and put him in a regular’s
clothes and send him out on the
street, and he would certainly betray
himself as a volunteer at his first
meeting with an officer. The regular,
walking on the street, salutes every
officer he meets by raising the
straichtened fingers of his right hand
to the brim of his hat, just over his
right eye, .and keeping them there
until the officer has passed. The
volunteer cannot be made to hold his
hand there in any such way.
If he salutes a strange officer of low
rank at all, he salutes him with the
quick dash which is the regular offi-
cer’s salute to the private. If the
regular soldier is seated when an
officer approaches, in camp, on the
street or anywhere else, he rises, faces
the officer, stands very erect, and
makes this salute. No one ever sees
a volunteer private do this. Recently
a regular cavalryman was trying to
get his horse across a bridge while an
electric car was crossing it from the
other direction. The horse was
plunging and leaping wildly, and the
| soldier had to work hard to control
{ him. At this moment a young second
lieutenant of Ohio voluiiteers came
along the footway. In the mu:dst of
the horse's gyrations the mounted
somethnig like six |
maga- |
water |
i
use of
regular managed to salute the pedes-
trian officer in proper form. The
smile of admiration and satisfaction on
that young officer's face was worth
going a long way to see. Joston
{ Transcript.
A Mysterious Spring.
“Phere isn’t much to say about the
little village of Joy, in Wayne
SE
up
| hamlet in the peppermint belt, ‘‘ex-
| cept that just outside of it is a spring
| which is undoubtedly unlike any other
spring in the world. That spring
hasn’t any visible outlet, but it has
[ two very visible inlets, thus reversing
the natural order of springs. Springs
are usually the sources of streams.
This one is just the opposite. One of
the inlets of the spring is a rivelet that
i-flows from the south. The other
comes from the north. The waters that
{ come from the north and empty into
waters of the stream that discharge
from the south are almost as black as
ink. Thesouthern inlet never freezes,
while the northern oue is the first
water in all that region to freeze.
‘‘Another singular thing about this
spring is that although no water flows
from it water is constantly boiling up
through the white sand that forms its
bed. The spring is only two feet wide
and three feet deep, but a force pump
worked steadily and rapidly in it for
hours has failed to decrease its water
supply in the slightest degree. The
mystery is, what becomes of the water
of the spring ? Fed by two streams,
and from an underground source, and
with no outlet, this spring has been
a thing impossible to explain from tho
time the original settlers squatted in
that part of the state and found it
there until now.” —New York Sun.
The Natives of the Philippines.
The Filipinos are a very cleanly
race, forever washing themselves, and
they, the women especially, take great
pride in their hair, which is often al-
lowed to hang loose in a great, black,
wavy mass, sometimes. reaching to
their heels. When ‘‘done up,” it is
combed straight back from the fore-
head into a big knot at the back of the
neck and surmounted by a huge comb
of horn ov tortoise shell or silver.
Not a native of either sex ean be seen
with the least sign of baldness, and
gray heads are very rare.—Youth's
i Companion.
the spring are as clear as crystal. The |
g )
who can in- |
|
|
| prayer, not a word, not a whisper.
REY. THLMAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.
A GOSPEL MESSAGE.
“Sectarianism” is the Subject — The
Church of God Divided Into a Great
Number of Penominations—The Causes
of Bigotry—Evils of Intolerance.
Text: “Then said they unto him, Say,
now Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth;
for he could not frame to pronounce it
right. Then they took him and slew him
at the passages of Jordan.” —Judges xii., 6.
Do you notice the difference of pronun-
ciation between shibboleth and sibboleth?
A very small and unimportant difference,
you say. And yet, that difference was the
difference between life antl death for a
great many people. The Lord’s people,
Gilead and Ephraim, got into a great fight,
and Ephraim was worsted, and on the re-
treat came to the fords of the river Jordan
to cross. Order was given that all Eph-
raimites coming there be slain. But how
could it be found out who were Ephraim-
ites? They were detected by their pronun-
ciation. Shibboleth was a word that stood
for river. The Ephraimites had a brogue
of their own, and when they tried to say
‘‘shibboleth’ always left out the sound of
the ‘“h.” When it was asked that they say
shibboleth they said sibboleth, and were
slain. “Then said they unto him, say now
shibboleth; and he said sibboleth, for he
could not frame to pronounce it right.
Then they took him and slew him at the
passages of Jordan.” A very small differ-
ance, you say, between Gilead and Eph-
raim, and yet how much intolerance about
that small difference? The Lord’s tribes
in our time—by which I mean the different
denominations of Christians—sometimes”
magnify a very small, difference, and the
only difference between scores of denomin-
ations to-day is the difference between
shibboleth and sibholeth ~~ °
The Church of God is divided into a great
number of denominations. Time would
fail me to tell of the Calvinists, and the Ar-
minians, and the Sabbatarians, and the
Baxterians, and the Dunkers, and the
Shakers, and the Quakers, and the Metho-
dists, and the Baptists, and the Episcopal-
ians, and the Lutherans, and the Congre-
gationalists, and the Presbyterians, and the
Spiritualists, and a score of other denomi-
nations of religionists, some of them found-
ed by very good men, some of them found-
ed by very egotistic men, some of them
founded by very bad men. But as I de-
mand for myself liberty of conscience, I
must give that same liberty to every other
man, remembering that he no more differs
from me than I differ from him. I advo-
cate the largest liberty in all religious be-
lief and form of worship. In art, in poli-
tics, in morals. and in religion, let there be
no gag iaw, no moving of the previous
question, no persecution, no intolerance.
You know that the air and the water
keep pure by constant circulation, and I
think there is a tendency in religious dis-
cussion to purification and moral health.
Between the fourth and the sixteenth cen-
turies the church proposed te make people
think aright by prohibiting discussion, and
by strong censorship of the press, and
rack, and gibbet, and hot lead down the
throat, tried to make people orthodox; but
it was discovered that you cannot change
a man’s belief by twisting off his head, nor
make a man see differently by putting an
awl through his eyes. There is something
in a man’s conscience which will hurl off
the mountain that you threw upon it, and
unsinged of the fire, out of the flame will
make red wings on which the martyr will
mount to glory,
In that time of which I speak, between
the fourth and sixteenth centuries, peo-
ple went from the house of God into the
most appalling iniquity, and right along
by consecrated altars there were tides of
drunkenness and licentiousness such as
the world never heard of, and the very
sewers of perdition broke loose and flood-
ed the church. After awhile the printing
press was freed, and it broke the shackles
of the human mind. Then there came a
large number of bad books, and where
there was one man {hostile to the Christian
religion, there were twenty men ready to
advocate it; so I have not any nervousness
in regard to this battle going on between
Truth and Error. The Truth will con-
quer just as certainly as that God is
stronger than the Devil. ' Let Error run if
you only let Truth run along with it.
Urged on by skeptic’s shout and transcen-
dentalist’s spur, let it run. God’s angels
of wrath are in hot pursuit, and quicker
than eagle’s beak clutches out a hawk’s
heart, God’s vengeance will tear it to
pieces.
I propose to speak to you of sectarian-
ism—its origin, its evils, and its cures.
There are those who would make us think
that this monster, with horns and hoofs,
is religion. I shall chase it to its hiding
place, and drag it out of the caverns of
darkness, and rip off its hide. But I want
to make a distinction between bigotry and
the lawful fondness for peculiar religious
beliefs and forms of worship. Ihave no
admiration for a nothingarian.
In a world of such tremendous vicissi-
tude ang temptation, and with a soul that
must after awhile stand before a throne of
insufferable brightness, in a day when the
rocking of the mountains and the flaming
of the heavens and the upheaval of the seas
shall be among the least of the excite-
ments, to give account for every thought,
word, action, preference, and dislike—that
man is mad who has no religious prefer-
ence, But our early education, our physi-
cal temperament, our mental constitution,
will very much decide our form of wor-
ship.
A style of psalmody that may please me
may displease you. Some would like to
have a minister in gown and bands and
surplice, and others prefer to have a min-
ister in plain citizen’s apparel. Some are
most impressed when a little child is pre-
sented at the altar and sprinkled of the
waters of a holy benediction *‘in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost,” and others are more impressed
when the penitent comes up out of the
river, his garments dripping with the
waters of a baptism which signides the
washing away of sin. Let" either have his
own way. One man likes no noise in
An-
other man, just as good, prefers by gestic-
ulation and exclamation to express his de-
votional aspirations. One is just as good
as the other. ‘‘Every man fully persuaded
in his own mind.”
George Whitefleld was going over a
Quaker rather roughly for some of his re-
ligious sentiments, and the Quaker said:
‘George, I am as thou art: I am for bring-
ing all men to the hope of the Gospel;
therefore, if thou wilt not quarrel with me
about my broad brim, I will not quarrel
with thee about thy black gown. George,
give me thy hand.”
In tracing out the religion of sectarian-
ism or bigotry I find that a great deal of it
comes from wrong education in the gome
circle. There are parents who do not think
it wrong to caricatureand jeer the peculiar
forms of religion in the world, and de-
nounce other sects and other denomioa-
tions, I could mention the names of prom-
inent ministers of the Gospel who spent
their whole lives bombarding other de-
nominations and who lived to see their
children preach the Gospel in those very
denominations. But it is often the case
that bigotry starts in a household, and
that the subject of it never recovers.
There are tens of thousands of bigots ten
years old.
Jigotry is often the child of ignorance.
You seldom find a man with large intellect
who is a bigot, It is the man who thinks
he knows a great deal, but does not. That
man is almost always a bigot. The whole
tendency of education and civilization is
to bring a man out of that kind of state of
mind and heart.
So I have set before yeu what I consider
to be the causes of bigotry. Ihave set be-
fore you the origin of this great evil.
What are some of the baneful effects?
| Yirst of all, it eripples investigation. You
are weong, and I am right, and that ends
No taste for exploration, no spirit of
investigation. From the glorious realm of
God’s truth, over which an archangel
might fly from eternity to eternity and not
reach the limit, the man shuts himself out
.and dies, a blind mole under a corn-shock,
While each denomination of Christians
is to present all the truths of the Bible, it
seem to me that God has given to each de-
nomination an especial mission to give
particular emphasis to some one doctrine;
and so the Calvinistic churches must pre-
sent the sovereignty of God, and the Ar-
minian churches must present man’s free
agency, and the Episcopal churches must
present the importance of order and solemn
ceremony, and the Baptist churches must
present the necessity of ordinances, and
the Congregational churches must present
the responsibility of the individual mem-
ber, and the Methodist churches must show
what holy enthusiasm, hearty congrega-
tional singing can accomplish. While
each denomination of Christians must set
forth all the doctrines of the Bible, I feel
it is especially incumbent upon each de-
nomination to put particular emphasis on
some one doctrine.
Another great damage done by the sec-
tarianism and bigotry of the church is that
it disgusts people with the Christian relig-
ion. Again bigotry and sectarianism do
great damage in the fact that they hinder
the triumph of the Gospel. Oh, how much
wasted ammunition! How many men of
splendid intsllect have given their whole
life to controversial disputes when, if they
had given their life to something practicai,
they might have been vastly useful! Sup-
pose, while I speak, there were a common
enemy coming up the bay, and all the forts
around the harbor began to fire into each
other—you would cry out ‘“National suicide!
Why don’t those forts blaze away in one
direction, and that against the common
enemy?”’
Besides that, if you want to build up any
denomination, you will never build it up
by trying to pull some other down. Intol-
erance never put anything down. How
much has intolerance accomplished, for in-
stange, against the Methodist Church? For
long vears her ministry were forbidden the
pulpits of Great Britain. Why was it that
so many of them preached in the fields?
Simply because they could not get in the
churches. And tt name of the church
was given in derision and 2s a sarcasm.
The critics of the church said, “They have
no order, they have no method in their
worship;” and the critics, therefore, in
irony, called them ¢ Methodists.”
I am told that in Astor Library, New
York, kept as curiosities there are seven
hundred and seven hooks and pamphlets
against Methodism. Did intolerance stop
that church? No; it is either first or second
amid the denominations of Christendom,
her missionary stations in all parts of the
world, her men not only important in re-
ligious trusts, but important also in secular
trusts. Church marching on and the more
intolerance against it the faster it marched.
What did intolerance accomplish against
the Baptist Church? If laughing scorn and
tirade could have destroyed the church it
would not have to-day a disciple lett. The
Baptists were hurled out of Boston in olden
times. Those who sympathized with them
were imprisoned, and when a petition was
offered asking leniency in their behalf, all
the men who signed it were indicted. Has
intolerance stopped the Baptist Church?
The last statistics in regard to it showed
forty-four thousand churches and four
million communicants. Intolerance never
put down anything.
In England a law was made against the
Jew. England thrust back the Jew and
thrust down the Jew, and declared that no
Jew shouid hold official position. What
came of it? Were the Jews destroyed?
Was their religion overthrown? No. Who
became Prime Minister of England? Who
was next to the throne? Who was higher
thanthe throne because he was counsellor
and adviser? Disraeli, a Jew. What were
we celebrating in allour churches as well
as synagogues only a few years ago? The
one hundredth birthday of Montefiore, the
great Jewish philanthropist. Intolerance
never yet put down anything.
I think we may overthrcw the severe
sectarianism and bigotry in our hearts,
and in the church also, by realizing that
all the denominations of Christians have
yielded noble institutions and noble men.
There is nothing that so stirs my soul as
this thought. One denomination yielded
a Robert Hall and an Adoniram
Judson; another yielded a Latimer and
a Melville; another yielded John Wesley
and the blessed Summerfield, while our
own denomination yielded John Knox
and the Alexanders—men of whom the
world was not worthy. Now, I say, if we
are honest and fair-minded men, when we
come up in the presence of such churches
and such denominations, although they
may be different from our own, we ought
to admire them, and we ought to love and
honor them. Churches which can produce
such men, and such large hearted charity,
and such magnificent martyrdom, ought to
win our affection—at any rate, our respect.
Se come on, ye six hundred thousand
Episcopalians in this country, and ye four-
teen hundred thousand Presbyterians, and
ye four million Baptists, and ye five mil-
lion Methodists—come on; shoulder to
shoulder we will march forths world’s cone
quest; for all nations are to be saved, and
God demands that you and I help. Fore
ward, the whole line! In the Young Men's
Christian Associations, in the Bible So-
ciety, in the Tract Society, in the Foreign
Missionary Society, shoulder to shoulder
all denominations.
Perhaps I might forcibly illustrate this
truth by calling your attention to an inci-
dent which took place twenty-five years
ago. One Monday morning at about two
o'clock, while her nine hundred passen-
goers were sound asleep in her berths
dreaming of home, the steamer Atlantic
crashed into Mars’ Head. Five hundred
souls in ten minntes landed in eternity!
Gh, what a scene! Agonized men and wo-
men running up and down the gangways,
and eclutehing for the rigging, and the
plunge of the helpless steamer, and the
clapping of the hands of the merciless sea
over the drowning and the dead. threw
two continents into terror. But see this
brave quartermaster pushing out with the
life-line until he gets to the rock: and see
these flshermen gathering up tue ship-
wrecked and taking them into the cabins
and wrapping them in flannels snug and
warm; and see that minister of the Gospel
with three other men getting into a
lite-boat and pushing out for the
wreek, pulling awlky across the
surf, and pulling away until they had saved
one more man and then getting back with
him to the shore. Can those men ever for-
get that night? And can they forget their
companionship in peril, companionship in
struggle, companionship in awful catas-
trophe and rescu=? Never! Never: In
whatever part of the earth they meet, they
will be friends when they mention the
story of that night when the Atlantic
struck Mars’ Head. Well, my friends,
our world has gone into a worse ship-
wreck. Sin drove it on tae gocks. The
old ship has lurched and tossed in the
tempests of six thousand years. Out with
the life-line! I do not care what denomina-
tion rows it. Side by side, in the memory
of common hardships, and common trials,
and common prayers and common tears,
let us be brothers forever.
Dead Brothers in Arms.
Two brothers, Mortimer and Emmett
Huffman, sons of D. C. Huffman, of In-
dianapolis, Ind., were kiiled at Santiago.
The family moved from Lawrenceburg,
Ind., to Indianapolis several years ago. and
at that city a few months since Edna, the
only daughter, committed suicide because
her lover had killed himself after a misun-
derstanding with his sweetheart. Later
Mrs. Huffman ended her life with carbolie
acid while grieving over the death of her
daughter, and now the sons have lost their
lives on Cuban soil fighting for the honor
of their country.
German school boys study harder and
play less than those of any other country.
THE SHBBMH-SCHOOL LESSOR
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
Lesson Text: “Elijah’s Spirit on Elisha.’»
JI Kings ii., 6-153—Golden Text: Luke
Xi. 13—=Commentary on the Day’s
Lesson by the Rev. D. M. Stearns.
G6. ‘“‘And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, IL
pray thee, here, for the Lord hath sent
me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord
liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee. And they two went on.” The
man who had wanted to die was not go-
ing to die, but was going to be taken by a
whirlwind up to heaven (verse 1). He had
said to Elisha both at Gilgaland at Bethel,
“Tarry here, I pray thee,” but in each
case Elisha had with the same words re-
fused to leave him. They make us think
of the words of Ruth to Naomi and of Ittai
to David, in Ruth i., 16, 17, and II Sam.
xv., 21, and of the advice of Barnabas to
the believers at Antioch, that with purpose
of heart they would cleave unto the Lord
(Acts xi., 23). Our eternal safety depends
upon the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
and His cleaving unto us, as it is written
in Gen. ii., 24—the man shall cleave unto
his wife—and in Eph. v., 31, 32, Paul says
he speaks concerning Christ and the
church. As to His faithfulness see such
passages as I Cor. 1., 9; x, 13; I Thes.
V.. 23. 24.
7. ‘‘And fifty men of the sons of the
prophets went and stood to view afar off,
and they two stood by Jordan.” Gilgal,
Bethel, Jericho and Jordan are suggestive
of stages in Christian experience, but there
is no place where we should qver be con-
tent to stop. We mast ever be going and
growing (II Sam. v., 10, margin). Gilgal
suggests salvation, the reproach rolled
away and the passover kept (Joshua v., 9,
10); Bethel reminds us of visions of glory
(Gen, xxviii., 19); Jericho had a pleasant
situation (verse 19), but in none of these
may we rest as a matter of attainment.
8. “And Elijah took his mantle and
wrapped it together and smote the waters,
and they were divided hither and thither,
so that they two went over on dry ground.”
Thus for these two men God did what He
had done before for millions when He took
the whole nation across this river on dry
Jand, Jordan cannot be suggestive of lit-
eral death, nor Canaan of heaven, for when
Israel crossed Jordan into Canaan it was
to encountermany enemies and do much
fighting. Jordan, which means river of
judgment. seems rather suggestive of- that
judgment of self which henceforth practices
constant denial of self that the life of Jesus
may be manifest in our mortal flesh,
U. “And it eame to pass when they were
gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask
what I shall do for thee hefore I be taken
away from thee, And Llisha said, I pray
thee let a double portion of thy spirit be
upon me.” The greatest thing for a re-
deemed soul isto be fllled with the spirit
of God for His service; dead with Christ,
risen with Christ, one with Him for what-
ever He may please of service, if only we
can be a comfort to Him, a vessel meet for
His use.
10. ‘‘And he =aid, Thou hast asked a hard
thing. Nevertheless if thou see me when I
am taken from thee it shall be so unto
thee, but if not it shall not be so.” To be
filled with the Spirit means readiness for °
whatsoever God may appoint that He may
be glorified. According to the story of the
Acts of the Apostles, it might mean such
service as was endured or rendered by any
of the apostles or deacons; it might mean
serving tables or preaching the gospel, win-
ning souls or enduring imprisonment,
scourging or death; it might mean to be
used in a great revival or sent to a desert
piace to reach one person. To be filled
with the Spirit means grace to say under
all circumstances, ‘‘My Jesus, as Thou
wilt,” or, “Yes, my Father, this is so, be-
cause that Thou hast found it good’?
(Math. xi., 26).
1. ‘‘And it came to pass as they still
went on and talked that behold there ap-
peared a chariot of flre, and horses of fire,
and parted them both asunder, and Elijah
went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
They still went on. This suggests the only
thing for the believer day by day that he
still goes on growing in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour (1I
Pet. iii., 18).
12, ‘*And Elisha saw it, and he cried,
My father, my father! The: chariot of
Israel and the horsemen thereof! And he
saw him no more, and he took hold of his
own clothes and rent them in two pieces.”
Not for a moment did he take his eyes off
him, and he was rewarded by seeing him
taken, The one great diflizulty with be-
lievers is that we allow so many things to
take our eyes off the Lord, yet we know
that our instructions are to run with pa-
tience, looking unto Jesus, and to consider
Him lest we be weary (Heb. xii. 2, 3).
There is no other way of rest. Akhough
Elisha saw him no more for the present,
he knew better than to imagine that he
was on any of the mountains round about
(verses 16, 17). He knew that he was as
really in Lhieaven.
13. ‘He took up also the mantie of Elijah
that fell from him and went back and stood
by the bank of Jordan.” We are instructed
to put on the Lord Jesus and make no pro-.
vision for the flesh to fulfill the luststheres
of (Rom. xiii., 14), to put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteoushess
and true holiness (Eph. iv., 24). We who
received the Lord Jesus and are saved by
Him and delight to say Eli] (my God is
Jehovah) should take equal delight in say-
ing Llisha (my God is Saviour), andin"mak-
ing it manifest that He does save us from
ourselves and from all self pleasing or self
seeking. Not I, but Christ,” in all our
daily life.
14. “*And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him and smote the waters iad
said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And
when he also bad smitten the waters, they
parted hither and thither, and Elisha went
over.” Thus the Lord did for one person
what He had done for two and what
He bad done for millions, even for all Israel.
Let us learn to cry with Asa, “Lord, it is
nothing with thee to help, whether with
many or with them that have no power!
Help us, O Lord, our God, for we rest on
Thee, and in Thy name we go against this
multitude’ (II Chren. xiv., 11).
15. “And when the sons of the prophets,
whieh were to view at Jericho, saw him,
they said, The Spirit of Elijah doth rest on
Elisha. And they camo to meet him and
bowed themselves to the ground before
him.” When the rulers saw the boldness
of Peter and John and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marveled, and they took knowledge of
them that they had been with Jesus (Acts
iv., 13). When the Spirit of Christ has
complete possession of us that those who
know us best see Him and not us, then God
will be glorified in us as He was in Paul
(Cal. i., 24). It will largely depend upecn
the sincerity and earnestness of our desire
in this matter, according to II Chron. xvi.,
9; Jer. xxix., 13.—Lesson Helper.
Mr. Blaine's Musical Taste.
The late Secretary Blaine was pas-
sionately fond of hand organs, says a
Washington correspondent of. the New
York Mail and Express. During his
last illness nothing seemed to please
him more than the strains from one of
these instruments. All the ltalian or-
gan grinders in town knew this, and
often there was a discord and a clash-
ing of tunes from several organs in
front of the red brick house in Lafay-
ette square. It was only a short time
before his death, when a friend called
to see him, and on leaving said: “Mr.
Blaine, is there anything I can do for
you?” Then thedistinguished states-
man raised himself slightly in bed and
said: ‘Yes. If you come across an
c¢rgan grinder on your way down the
street, please tell him to some up and
play for me outside my window.”