Oh THCHRGES ISORIY SEAT Subject: “The Cradle of Jesus’ —Lessons Drawn From the Miraculous Escape of the Infant Christ From the Perils That Encompassed Him, Text: ‘Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.” —Matthew ii.. 13. The cradle of the infant Jesus had no rockers, for it was not to be soothed by os- cillating motion, as are the cradles of other princes. It had noembroidered pillow, for 1he young head was not to have such lux- urious comfort: Though a meteor, ordin- arily the most erratic and seemingly un- governable of all skyey appearances, had been sent to designate the place where that cradle stood, and a choir had been sent from the heavenly temple to serenade its illustrious occupant with an epie, yet the cradle was the target for all earthly and diabolical hostilities. Indeed, I give you us my opinion that it was the narrow- est and most wonderful escape of the ages that the child was not slain before He had taken His first step or spoken His first word. Herod could not afford to have Him born. The Casars could not afford to have Him born. The gigantic oppressions and abominations of the world could not afford to have Him born. Was there ever planned a more systematized or appalling bombardment in all the world than the bombardment of that cradle? The Herod whnoledthe attack was ‘reach- ery, vengeance and sensuality imper- sonated. As a sort of pastime he slew Hyr- canus, the grandfather of his wife. Then he slew JMariamme, his wife, Then he butchered her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. Then he slew Antipater, his oldest son. Then he ordered burned alive forty people who had pulled down the eagle of his authority. He ordered the nobles who had attended upon his dying bed to be slain, so that there might be universal mourning after his disease. From that same deathbed he ordered the slaughter of all the children in Bethelem under two years of age, feeling sure that if he mas- sacred the entire infantile population that would include the destruction of the child whose birthplace astronomy had pointed out with its finger of light. What were the slaughtered babes to him, and as many frenzied and bereft mothers? If he had been well enough to leave his bed, he would have enjoyed seeing the mothers willly struggling to keep their babes and holding them, so tightly that they could notibe separated until the sword took both lives at one stroke, and others, mother and child, buried from roofs of houses the street, until that village of horse- shoe. shape on the hillside became one great butcher shop. To have such a man, with associates just as cruel and an army at his command, attempting the life of the infant Jesus, does there seem any chance for His escape? Then that flight soutaward for so many miles, across deserts and amid bandits and wild beasts (my friend, the late missionary and scientist Dr. Lansing, who took the came journey, said it was enough to kill both the Madonna and the Child), and poor residence in Cairo. You know how difficult it is to take an ordinary child successfully through the disorders that are sure to assail it even in comfort- able homes and with all delicate ministries, and then think of the exposure of that famous babe in villages and lands where all sanitary laws were put at defiance, His first hours on earth spent in a room with- out any doors, and ofttimes swept by chilled night winds, then afterward riding many days under hot tropical sun, and part of many nights lest the avenger over- take the fugitive before He could be hidden in another-land. The sanhedrin also were affronted at the report of this mysterious arrival of a child that might upset all conventionalities and threaten the throne of the nation. ‘Shut the door and bolt it and double bar it against Him!” cried all political and eccle- siastical power. Christ on a retreat when only a few days of age, with all the priva- tions and hardships and sufferings of re- treat! When the glad news came that Herod was dead and the Madonna was packing up and taking her Child home, bad news also came that Archelaus, the son, had taken the throne—anothercrowned infamy. What chance for the babe’s life? Will not some short grave hold the wondrous infant? “Put Him to death!” was the order all up and down Palestine and all up and down the desert between Bethlehem and Cairo. The cry was: ‘‘Here comes an iconoclast of all established order! Here comes an us- pirant for the crown of Augustus! If found on the streets of Bethlemem, dash Him to death on the pavement! If found on a hill, hurl Him down the rocks! Away with Him!” But the babe got home in safety and passed up from infancy to youth, and from youth to manhood, and from carpenter shop to Messiahship, and from Messiahship to enthronment, until the mightiest name on earth is Jesus, and there is no mightier name in heaven. What I want to call your attention to is your narrow escape and mine and the world’s narrow escape’ Suppose that attempt on the young child’s life had been successfull Suppose that delegation of wise men, who ‘were to report to Herod immediately after they discovered the hard bed in the Bethlehem caravansary, had obeyed orders and reported! Suppose the beast carrying the Madonna aud the Child in the flight had stumbled and flung to death its riders! Suppose Archelaus had got his hands on the babe that his father had failed to find! Suppose that among the children dashed from the Bethlehem house tops or Separated by sword of the enraged constabulary Jesus had perished! Still further remarking upon the narrow escape which you and I had and all the world had in that babe’s escape, let me say that had that Herodic plot been successful the one instance of absolutely perfect character would never have been unfolded. The world had enjoyed the lives of many splendid men before Christ came. It bad ad- mired its Plato among philosophers, its Mithridates among heroes, its Herodotus among historians, its Phidias among sculptors, its Homer among poets, its Asop among fabulists, its /Eschylus among dramatists, its Demosthenes among orators, its Asculapius among physicians, yet among the contemporaries of those men there were two opinions, as now there are two opinions, concerning every remarkable man. There were plenty in those days who said of them, ‘He can- not speak,” or ‘‘He cannot sing,” or ‘‘He cannot philosophize,” or ‘‘His military achievement was a mere accident, or “His chisel, his pen, his medical preseription, never deserved the applause given.” But concerning this full grown Christ, whose life was launched three decades before that first Christmas, the moans of camels and the bleat of sheep and the low of cattle mingled with the babe’s first cry, while clouds that night were resonant with music, and star pointing down whispered to star, “Look, there He is!” That Christ, after the detectives of Herod and Pilate and sanhedrin had watched Him by day and watched Him by, night, year after year, was reported in- nocent. It was found out that when Ho talked to the vagrant woman in the temple it was to tell her to ‘“go and sin no more,” and that if He spoke with the peni- tent thief it was to promise him paradise within twenty-four hours, and that as He moved about He dropped ease of pain upon the invalid’s pillow, or light upon the eye that lacked optic nerve, or put bread into the hands of the hungry, or took from the oriental hearse the dead young man and vitalized him and said to the widowed mother, “Here he is, alive and well,” and sbe cried, ‘“‘My boy, my boy!” and he re- sponded, ‘Mother, mother!” And the sea, tossing too roughly some of His friends, by a word easier than a nurse’s word to a petulant child He made it keep still. The very judge who for other reasons allowed Him to be put to death de- | @pening of Chinese and other Eastern | markets will furnish new and aimost unlimited opportunities. deathbeds. Beforethe time of Christ good people closed their earthly lives in peace, while depending upon the Christ to come, and there were antediluvian saints and Assyrian saints and Egyptian saints and Grecian saints and Jerusalem saints long be- fore the clouds above Bethlehem becamea baleony filled with the best singers of a world wherethey all sing,butI cannot read that there was anything more than a quiet- ing guess that came to those before Christ deathbeds. Job said something bordering on the confident, but it was mixed up with a story of “skin worms” that would de- stroy his body. pared with the ‘after Christ deathbeds it was like the dim tallow candle of old ve- side the modern cluster of lights electric. I know Elijah went up in memorable man- ner, but it was a terrible way to go—a whirlwind of fire that must have been splendid to look at by those who stood on the banks of the Jordan, but it was a style of ascent that required more nerve than you and I ever had, to be a ‘placid oe- cupant of a chariot drawn by such a wild team. The triumphant deathbeds, as far as I know, were the after Christ deathbads. What a procession ot hosan- nas have marched through the dying room of the saints of the last nineteen centuries! What cavalcade of mounted halleluiahs has galloped through the dying visions of the last 2000 years save 100! Peaceful death- beds in the years B. C.! Triumphant death- beds, for the most part, reserved for the years A. D.! Behold the deathbeds of the Wesleys, of the Doddridges, of the Leigh Richmonds, of the Edward Paysons; of Vara, the converted heathen chieftain, crying in his last moments: ‘“The canoe is in the sea. The sails are spread. She is ready for the gale. I have a good Pilot to guide me. My outside man and my inside man differ, Let the one rot till the trum- pet shall sound, but let my soul wing her way to the throne of Jesus.” Of dying John Fletcher, who entered his pulpit to preach, though his doctors forbade him, and then descended to the communion table, saying, *‘I am going to throw my- self under the wings of the cherubim be- fore the mercy seat,’”” thousands of people a few days after following him to the grave, singing: With heavenly weapons he has fought The battles of the Lord, Finished his course and kept the faith And gained the great reward. American Money Loaned Abroad. American money interests are loaning abroad, Abraham and Jacob had a | little light on the. dying pillow, but com- | | men, we compete with “the WORK OF PROTECTION. OUR FOREIGN TRADE. AND ITS VAST SIGNIFICANCE. James IR. Keene Points Out the Tremend- ous Increase of National Wealth Re- sulting From the Increase of Exports and the Decrease of Imports. A notably impressive statement is that of Mr. James R. Kecne regarding the present fiscal position of the United States, chiefly as theresult of an econ- increased the use and consumption of our domestic products while at the same time dimin- ishing our use of the products of other countries. Nobody will accuse Mr. politics when he this wonderful de- In- draws attention to velopment of national prosperity. i deed, so far as public expressior have heard the seven trumpets or seen the | deed, so far as any public expression heavenly walls with twelve layers ol illum- | ) Bat | hardly be said to have any polities. of his on that subject goes he can Jay Gould once said that while he | belonged to any or all parties, his only politics was the Erie road. Mr. Keene's politics may be said, in the same sense, to be the stock exchange. Judged by the authorized interview which he gave out for publication a few days ago he { ought to be a Republican and a pro- | tectionist, but if he is he has not said so. In that interview, while testify- tection, he refrains from the acknowl- edeement of any obligation to the sys- tem which detends the great home market as a means of enabling Ameri- can producers to successfully reach out after the world’s markets. But we should let Mr. Keene tell the story of protection’s grand achievements in his own way. He says: ‘“T'o my mind the foreign trade of the United States is the fundamental factor in the present situation. Most people have apparently not yet appre- ciated its significance. The Govern- ment figures of foreign trade show: Excess of exports year ending June 30, 1896, $85,997,983; excess of ex- ports year ending June 30, 1897, $265,- 621,112; excess of exports year ending June 30, 1898, $6,615,259,124. Total for three years, $966,878,219. Ex- cess exports July 1 to October 30, 1898, {four months, $165,799,884, making a total of $1,100,000,000. Here is an addition of over $1,100,- 000,000 to the wealth of the country from surplus products in a little. over three years. There is a persistent and importunate demand for our grain, provisions, cotton and manufactured products, which insures for the fiscal year ending June 30 next another large excess of exports. The total gain to the country in four years will prob- ably be in excess of $1,500,000,000. ‘““The trade statement for the three preceding years is important, showing the gradual growth of foreign trade: Year ending June 30, 1893, excess of | imports, $18,735,728; year ending June 30, 1894, excess of exports, $237,145, 950; year ending June 30, 1895, ex- cess of exports, $64,076,782. These net sales of surplus products must be paid for in some form. Foreign na- tions did not have $1,100,000,000 gold to remit, but they sent us some gold and some securities. To-day they owe us in various forms large amounts of money in the shape of liabilities, as, for example, exchange, the collection of which has been deferred. The debt, moreover, will grow instead of de- creasing. We have not demanded money due us by foreign nations, be- in England, Germany, France and other countries, and be- cause it pays us to leave it at interest. “A gratifying feature of our foreign ranged ladder of musical scale and there | (rade is the growth in exports of manu- had been no preaching of good will all up | | nearly trebled. In eighteen years these have Last year they were nearly $300,000,000. There is every prospect that this growth will con- facture. | tinue. We have imported fewer manu- factured goods because we have learned how to make our own, and with im- proved machinery, abundant raw mn: terial and skilled and well-fed work- world in The manufactures as never before. “Tt is this enormous debt of foreign nations to us which has made money so easy throughout the country, flood- ed the West with capital, filled West ern banks to repletion, and broughi Western men in large numbers to in- vest in our securities. “Hardly one man in a thousand in the United States realizes this change. The power of $1,500,000,000increased wealth no one can controvert. The figures are so stupendous and the logic is so irresistible that the student stands aghast. Few have ever seen these figures grouped in this form, and even {he financial writers of the press, clever and able as they are, have not seemed to grasp their mag- nitude and the irresistible investment and speculative momentum they have unquestionably exercised. It musi also be remembered that while this increased wealth is from exports only, the country itself has grown richer in even greater proportion. There has been nothing like this foreign trade statement in the history of the com- merce of any country.” This picture, drawn by the master hand of one of the world’s leaders in finance and business, is remarkable for its truth, its simplicity and its power. Nothing need be-added to it. The People Know. A New York paper says ‘‘it must be a firm purpose not to dim the luster of the war heroes that is keeping Mr. Dingley from pointing out how the result of the election is a vindication of the existing tariff law.” Mr. Ding- ley doesn’t have to ‘‘point out” any benefits that accrued from the tariff law. The people know that protection made prosperity, and Republican pros- perity made Republican victory cer- tain. —Tacoma (Wash.) Ledger. 1 EASILY ANSWERED, How the American Merchant Marine May Be Upbuilt. The American Line of steamships, plying between New York and South-s ampton, isin existence, but is heavily’ subsidized for carrying the mails. Our coastwise marine is large, bacause foreign competition is excluded by law. Will the Republican leaders permit Americans to buy vessels in Europe, and then nationalize them? If they will not do that, nor remove the tax from building materials and the ves: sels when launched, then how is the American merchant marine to be up- built?>— Paris edition New York Her- ald. You have already answered the question, if you were logical enough to know it. Here is the answer out of your own mouth; Our coastwise marine is large, be- cause foreign competition is excluded by law. i There is the whole thing in thirteen words. Exclude (that is, penalize, by means of discriminating duties) by law foreign competition in our foreign carrying trade, and will not our over- sea marine be large? Discrimination has built up Great Britain’s merchant navy to its present tremendous pro- portion; discrimination maintains British marine supremacy to-day. It will do the same for the United States. What we want to do is to ex- clude foreign competition on the sea. precisely as we do on the land. Uncle Sam’s Educational Charl. Its Real Meaning. The real meaning of the open door is simply a guarantee of equal oppor- tunity to trade and under like condi- tions and it does not exclude tariff for revenne or protection which may be thought necessary for the support of the Government. It simply means that there shall be no discrimination. All the questions raised by the anti- expansionists have been thought of and taken into account by those who believe in growth. Assistant Secretary of State Meiklejohn sees no difficulty in treating the Philippines as a colony and legislating especially for them. It can be depended upon that what- ever the outcome, existing industries in the United States will neither be destroyed nor disturbed. —Utica (N. Y.) Press. An Anti-Expansionist View. If we can sell steel rails to foreign countries, and locomotives, and har- vesting machines, and bicycles, and about everything else we make, there is no reason why we cannot make merchant ocean steamers, and run them, too, as cheaply as anybody does. And it is high time to take hold of our merchant marine and do our own carrying across the ocean. And if England secures her business by sub- sidizing her steamship lines, we must subsidize ours. That's much cheaper than it is to buy distant islands, and pay heavy expenses in caring for them. Lowell (Mass.) Courier. ad For Spanish Merchants, Porto Rico continues to quantities of supplies from Spain. That is because under existing ar- rangements the Spaniards are the most favored mation dealing with Porto Rico. When the Porto Ridan tariff is the same as that of the United States, some of the Spanish merchants who have been getting wealthy off the trade with the islands will discover a sudden and disastrous falling off in their business. The majority of the ships delivering goods at Porto Rico will be sailing under American register soon after the tariff" is extended to our new possession.—Baflalo Review. buy large Does Not Necessitate Bond Issues. The fanniest thing that appears in the Democratic paners these days is abuse of the Diugley law because it doesn’t produce revenue enough to suit them. What the average Demo- erat wants is a revenue law that will cause bond issues every two or three months. The Dingley law may have imperfections; even Republican laws have them occasionally. But the fact remains that no bonds have been is- sued to pay the running expenses of the Government outside of war ex- penses, since it went into effect. — Lawrence (Kan.) Journal. They Jump Over It. Evidently the tariff wall around this country is not so high that exports cannot jump over it. The foreign trade of the United States is now near- ly $2,000,000,000 a year and the in- crease in the volume of exports was $107,000,000 during the past eight months,—Aberdeen (S. D.) News. His Only Alternative, Little Dot was very fond of Bible stories, and one day after her mother had read the story of Lot’s wife she asked: “Mamma, what did Mr. Lot do when his wife was turned into a pillar of salt?” “What do you think he did?’ asked mamma. “Why,” re- plied the practical little miss. “I s’pose he wert out ang hurted up a fresh one.”—Chicago News. - The Season's Decrees An TASTIONS. ent Skirts---Clinging Ef- fects Popular. DORIC NEw York City (Special).—The one distinguishing characteristic in all the phases of fashion is the soft, grace- ful and clinging effect. We might ag well make the most of this fea.ure while it lasts, for there is no telling where the career of the overskirt may lead us. It is liable to branch out in- to draperies that will disguise every pretty line in the figure and accent- uate every defect; but whatever folly it may develop later on, it is here now in 1ts most acceptable form. There is no getting around the fact that the eel-like skirt which hugs the figure so closely to the knees, then suddenly flares with amazing fulness, { i | i { i | | THE POPULAR TYPE OF SKIRT. is the popular skirt of the moment. There is absolutely no fulness any- where at the top and one wonders how it was ever drawn on in its glove- fitting snugness, and were it not for the long opening in the back, which is laced up with cord and two rows of buttons, or else trimmed with seven small bows, the donning of this truly stylish skirt would be an art to be closely studied. The tall, slender woman with good figure revels in this novel skirt, and to accentuate the severity of its style, wears it in black satin, made quite long all around the front andsides, and a demi-train at + stitched new winter sleeves that are as close- fitting as they can comfortably be worn. Crescent-shaped puffs of fur or velvet, vandykes covered with spe- cial pieces in passementerie, short Femish caps edged with chenille gal- loon, stitched straps, Queen Bess puffs slashed and laced across, ail are used—and much originality is shown in the arrangement of various shoul- der decorations. A Useful Suggestion. These who have dress waists that hook on the shoulder and under the arm, and who have no lady’s maid, should try sewing a tiny cord along the fastening line instead of ‘‘eyes.” By catching the cord down at fre- quent intervals the hooks will catch and hold wkeraver they meet the cord, and the hunt for eyes under constant danger of dislocating one’s anatomy is ended forever. A Pretty Ncarf A pretty white scarf for the neck is of the finest and sheerest mull, hem- across the ends and down the sides with a narrow hem. .On each end, for a few inches up, is a pattern of conventionalized violets, lightly embroidered, all in white. Shoes For the Children. For outdoor wear children should have thick but not clumsy shoes. If possible, it is well to have several pairs at once, and let the child wear them alternately. Skirt Suggestions. Some of the new skirts of cloth are either vandyked or scalloped at the lower edge and from beneath comes a plaiting of silk about three inches wide, either to maich the color of the skirt orin a contrasting shade. A cloth skirt of quite bright green has a plait- ing of silk in 2 darker shade of the same tone, while the edges of the van- dykes are bound with a narrow roll binding of dark green velvet. For good wear some of the plaitings are bound in black velvet to match that on the vandykes and ’tis rather an ad- LADIES’ SKIRT WITH FITTED PEPLUM-—-OUTLINED FOR SCALLOPED FOOT TRIMMING. the back with not an atom eof trim- ming to relieve its plainness. Che chiffon-trimmed waist to this skirt madein quite frou frou effect and makes a fine foil for the severe effect in skirt. A Detter effect, however, brought about by by having a graded flounce on the skirt trimmed quite full in many little ruches or | ruflles. | 18 is | deep A Skirt With Peplium. | Mastic colored broadcloth, and rich golden brown velvet, combined in the | May Manton style shown in the large engraving, made one of the smartest skirts shown this season, the trim- ming being open passementerie over creamy satin. i The skirt is complete without the peplum, which may be added or not as preferred. In place of the velvet at the foot, shirred ribbun, velvet, passenienterie or braid, may be applied on the scol- | loped outline. i The skirt consists of a narrow front gore and two circular portions that fit closely at the top and ripple stylishly at the sides and back to the foot. Two short darts are taken in at the waist line and deep underlying plaits are formed to meet over the placket, which is finished at the,top of centre back seam. The smooth peplum fits without a: wrinkle, the short darts being taken up ! separately from the skirt. It meets closely over the fulness in centre buck where it is closed with a double row of crystal buttons held togefller by a lacer, and it can be made adjustable and worn ov not at pleasure. Very handsome combinations may be developed by the mode in silk, woolen, velvet or mixed fabrics, the mode suggesting possibilities for re- modeling last season’s skirts without a doubt of success. To make this skirt in the medium size will require five yards of forty-four inch material. Novel Effects For the Sleeves. Very novel and pretty effects are i pearauce tae skarv as } f | the si | | dition and %akce pwey the cut off ap- 133. prada y 1 to have. Skirts still continue to very long all the way around, especially on the des and in front. and while thisstyle is trying when one is walking, it is be- coming, particularly to the stout wom- an whose dresses are prone to ride up in front. Pipinzs of satin, velvet or ribbed silk are much used on gowns of cloth and the popular braids are much nar- rower than those used heretofore. Ap- plique braidings are much used on both gowns and wraps and if well ap- plied are quite as effective as though the design was done right on the gar- ment, In combining ruches of the tiniest baby or lace footing in while with these motifs, a very effective and i becoming trimming is made and one that looks more dressy than the plain braided designs. The drop skirt is obsolete. The A DESIGN TOR THE LATE WINTER, skirts are lined with silk in a conven- tional way. All of the street skirts are a trifle shorter, but demi-toilets employed in decorating the tops of! show a long and graceful sweep.