Subject: The Parable of Jesus.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme “The Parables of
Jesus,” the Rev. Ira Wemmell: Hen-
derson, pastor, took as his text Mark
4:2. ‘And He taught them many
things by parables.” He said:
The parables of Jesus are as won-
derful to-day as they were in Jeru-
salem. Time has not spoiled their
“temper: nor dulled their edge. Spok-
en to the citizens of Palestine nearly
two thousand years ago, their truth
strikes deep and convictingly into
every heart now and here. Fraught
with eternal verities they still ring
fresh upon the ears of men. Laden
with the ripest and finest fruit of
human experience and of divine reve-
lation they can never fail to com-
mand and secure the attention of
humanity. Be they illustrative, com-
parative or similative, as the. com-
~.mentators have it, they are to us the,
means and the medium’ to convey
truth to our minds, comfort to our
hearts, power to our souls. Little
care we that the parables of the
sower and the mustard seed may be
paralled in the philosophy of Bud-
dha. The mind and the voice of
Christ have consecrated them in a
peculiar and impressive manner to
iis church.
The sonrce of the world-wide ap-
peal of Christianity lies, in large
measure, in its adaptability to the
needs of all men and in the fact that
in it all the most exalted truths of
ancient and modern philosophies are
crystalized and culminated. And no-
where is this more markedly demon-
strated than in the parables. No
man can light a candle but the words
of Jesus blaze up in the flame. Think
for a moment how out of place and
incongruous new patches are.on old
garments. The parable of the good
Samaritan has led us often con-
sciously, more often unconsciously,
to lend the weak and the fallen the
helping hand.
The parables reach all’ men be-
cause they depict and portray and
depend for force upon the world,
its activities and its people. They
are the product not of speculation
but of vital objective and subjective
human experience. They are the
epitome of all that we see and hear
and feel within us.
Add to this that the parables are
pungent, cogent, profound, positive
and pointed; and you have the keys
to their influence.
The parables of Christ are pun-
gent. That is to say they cut deep.
When Jesus started to flay sin or to
declare truth He went beneath the
surface of things apparent. The
parable pricks the surface and draws
blood. The steel of Toledo or Shef-
field or Damascus never made a
deeper or a cleaner cut than the
stinging language and the caustic
truths of the parables made, and vet
do make, into the vitals of sin. Let
the self-righteous man testify to the
writhings of his soul under the lash
of the scorn of Christ. Let him who
is wasting his talents tell of the
piercing words of = Christ to him.
Truth cuts. The parables of Christ
declare the truth and thus our sins
are slashed.
The parables of Christ: are cogent
and for two reasons. Words, I care
not what may be their language
or their grammar, are potent just in
the proportion that they bear a
freight: of truth, mirror for us in
language the many facts of life, and
compellingly. No man is there so
hard but he yields deference to truth.
Sin shrinks from the light and sin-
ners s¢ in sinlessness their hearts’
best I The touch of truth
transforms illiteracy and lends it
charm and cogency. Language is
never so mag ic gat, So moving, SO
Inspiring wh mediating truth
to men. What to us is the halting,
ungrammatical, mishandled English
if, co be, the light of truth irradiates
the speech! And, on the other hand,
what to us‘is the smooth, melli-
fluous language; what to us are arts
of polished rhetoric and of the self-
poised, gifted orator; what to us are
the graceful gesture and the win-
someness of voice, if the speech
lend aid to evil and the speaker’s
heart be black? Truth cuts and it
also counts. Pretense shears lan-
guage of power. Immorality of life
or opinion damages efiect. All the
gifts and graces in the world cannot
avail to make the wrong acceptable
to the pure and true in heart. The
parables are cogent. Their truth
forever sways the human mind.
Philosophy has never yet surpassed
them for they are the crown and the
‘consummation of immortal {ruths.
The child can read and understand
and find therein a scheme for life.
And how true to life the parables
are. Portrayal is powerful unto in-
fluence. The touch of experience
makes the whole world kin. That
word picture holds most which re-
veals most. The kindergarten of
~language is full of verbal photo-
graphs. What pictures are to the
babe the parables are to us. The
charm of the printed picture of the
horse depends upon the vision of the
quadruped that the child has en-
joyed. The power of the parable lies
in its reproduction. of the facts of
life around us. No man knows so
well the value of a sure foundation
as he who has built upon a cheap
and flimsy footing course. That
friend of yours who is wasting God
given opportunities has a keen ap-
preciation of a wastefulness that
Christ both portrayed and con-
demned. Put your candle beneath
a bisket some night and then tell
3 how much light you receive from
"ji. My brother, that was pretty poor
fodder even for swine which we en-
deavored to subsist upon before we
rushed back home to God, wasn’t it?
The parables are photographs; true,
faithful, convincing reproductions of
our own experiences and of human-
ity’s. Therefore they are cogent and
powerful.
* The profoundest thoughts are the
as
most potent for influence upon the |
Tders,
lives of men. The .deepest truth,
for which we have to dig, attracts
us ost. The parables are profound.
They present a field not for the grub
axe but for the pick. The search
for truth leads a man, ave compels
him, to cease placer mining and to
sink a shaft. Truth is to be found
most plentifully beneath the surface:
And just as the sight of pay dirt in
the pan sends the miner into the
depths for more so the appropriation
and appreciation, by the seeker after
truth, of surface verities impels him
to search deeper. The parables are
deep. They not only depict external
conditions and portray the visible
and objective facts of life but they
also clothe and conceal a wealth of
unseen truth that must be searched
out to be secured. The ring and the
calf and the cloak. and the feast
but tell in story the outward evi-
dence of the father’s love. We for-
get the sheep when we hear the
voice of God. Don’t bother with the
yeast; think of the spiritual uplift
we would have and would become
personally if we had the fullness of
the kingdom of heaven within us.
The parables are profound. If you
are unconvinced, just follow one of
them to the end of its implications,
under the guidance of the Spirit.
The positiveness of the parables
is refreshing. There is no hesitancy
about them. The Lord was certain
that men could understand them if
they would. He was sure that they
mirrored life and would have a real
appeal -to men. Furthermore there
was no doubt in the mind of Christ
that they contained a measure—of
spiritual truth which any man, under
the influence of the Spirit, might
easily discern. No man has to think
twice to understand that it is not
only unfair but also wrong to, make
no use or feeble use of divinely be-
stowed capacitiess There is mis-
taking the assuran®e that the parable
affords the man who puts his trust
in riches, that he is a fool. Is there
any doubt as to the opinion God has
of those Pharisees who bless their
stars they are a little better than
the common herd? . The action of
the yeast in the dough presents a
strong picture of the power of truth.
Those things that are cogent and
positive almost always have point.
The parables are pointed. They are
both sharp and well aimed. They
do not beat around the bush or be-
fog the issue. They make straight
for the mark. The sower and his
seed reflect the Gospel and our
hearts. The joy at the finding of
the money is like to the joy of the
Father over the lost who are found.
The drawnet and its catch ought to
make us less susceptible to class
and social distinctions, and more
cognizant of the fact that the king-
dom of God is for all men. The
spectacle of the cautious king who
took tally of his troops should re-
veal clearly that we cannot serve
Jesus without spiritual preparation.
Those ten virgins ought to warn us
that death-bed repentances are risky,
just as certainly as the tale Matthew
tells us of the vineyard workmen
and their hire admonishes us that
we should be cheerful, not churlish
because. men who have been bad in
this life enter repentant,. by the
grace of God, into equal-salvation
with us at the end of evil lives. The
parables have point and being well
barbed and feathered they fly true
andl stick. Full of life, and reflect-
ing life, they carry: truth lastingly
to our hearts.
Profound, pointed,
pungent parables of Christ are co-
gent. They are poweriul to arrest
attention: and to hold it, and to
stimulate our thought. To appre-
ciate them best and for them to
be most. of benefit to us we musi
enter into the mind of Christ. Filled
with His Spirit and dominated by
His love we shall ever discover won-
comfort, peac inspiration in
His truth. For Jesus is the master
teacher of the :S He is the pro-
foundest philosopher of the world.
Men may not accept Christian the-
ology concerning Him, they may not
accept Him as a Saviour in the Chris-
tian use of the term; but wherever
there is 2a man of philosophic ability,
wherever there is a mind of sur pass-
ing intellectual clarity, there
Christ honored for His insight,
intellectual acumen, His inte }
of soul. The parables ef Jesus are
the messages of a philosopher and a
Saviour.
"positive, the
The Christian’s Ascent.
The Christian life is a continual
renewal, but only as we walk up a
mountain is a continual ascent, and,
if the mountain is immeasurable,
then, of course, the summit is never
reached, but, if the ascent is ever
forward, it is a privilege, not a hard-
ship, that we can centinue to ascend.
—J. H. Thom.
Speed Peace on Earth.
been expended in war and preparing
its mighty engines had been devoted
to the development of reason and the
diffusion of Christian principles, noth-
ing would have been known for cen-
turies past of its terrors, its suffer-
ings, its impoverishment and its de-
moralization, but what was learned
from history.—Horace Mann.
God and Heaven on Earth.
To enjoy God and heaven it does
not require that we wait till the last
touch of death reveals all things in
the light of eternity. We may take
God and heaven along with us every
day, and carry their peace and glory
into all the dull and prosaic scenes
of earth,.—Thomas Lathrop.
Pray For Others.
Unless we pray for others, we are
we can pray hopefully for ourseives,
and we are living in neglect of a
prime duty to God's dear ones who
need and deserre our prayers.
~thinks of fainting when she is thrown
If a thousandth part of what has |
lacking in that spirit in which alone!
DECLINE OF HYSTERICS,
EVEN THE PEARL-LIKE ‘TEAR
QUT OF FASHION.
Babies no Longer Squall—Moderns
Resort to Strong Language Rather
Than Exhibit Emotion—As for
IS
Swooning, She Doesn’t Know How.
Human nature being largely made
ap of emotions, it is interestin ® “to
observe how different generations
have stood with regard to their de
velopment or suppression. In no way,
indeed, is the change in woman dur
ing the last fifty years more appar
ent than in this matter. -
In the Early Victorian Era, ‘when
every woman was overwhélmed by
her emotions, it was. .coasidered the
correct thing for her to weep and
shriek, to faint and have hysterics’
on every possible occasion. We have
only to read the novels of -the per-
iod to see how tears exuded from the
heroine like water from a sponge
whenever she was touched, how she
invariably, on the receipt of bad news,
fell into a “death-like swoon,”
sank “lifeless” into somebody’s arms
after emitting a series of piercing
shrieks.
To the present generation, which
prides itself on nothing so much as
its sense of humor, there is some:
thing. .eminently ludicrous in the ab
normally - developed sensibility = of
these heroines of fiction; while to an
age in which both sexes limit the ex
pression of their more painful emo:
tions to the comprehensive word
“damn,” it is absolutely unintelligible
not only why the hysterical Fannys
and swooning Ameclias were ever tol
erated, but how they actually managed
to lose consciousness in the way de
scribed.
The modern woman not only never
over by an unscrupulous lover, but she
is physically incapable of doing so.
She may faint as the result of a blow
on her nose from a hockey stick, or
he picked up in a swoon from among
the debris of a motor-car; but she
could no more lose consciousness on
receiving a letter than she could get
concussion of the brain on accepting
a proposal.
The difference between her and her
grandmother, far, however, from be:
ing one of physical constitution, is in
reality, nothing but a difference in
attitude. Our emotions being based
upon the senses are largely a ques
tion of habit, and become intensified
or weakened as we cultivate or sup:
press them. The very fact of these
Early Victorian women - never con-
trolling theirs, undoubtedly led to
their ' over-development, just as the
modern custom of repressing ours ig
gradually leading to a general petri
fying of the emotions.
Women are proverbially said to live
in extremes, and certainly in the mat
ter of emotionalism there would seem
to be a good deal of truth in the re
mark. With the decay of sentimental
itv and the decline of hysterics Wwe
seem to have embarked on an era of
or
only
Jammer can
feminine imperturbility, which is al
most as unnatural as the swoons and
“vapors” of a previous age,
Tears are out of fashion.
No self-respecting child ever sheds
them nowadays, while.a gqualling
baby is only met with in the lower
orders. Not to be able to control
one's emotions is to be guilty of the
worst possible “form.” The greater
the shock we sustain the tighter we
shut our lips, and the more we suf
fer the less we betray it. Here and
there, it is true, you will find traces
of feminine weakness lurking in un
suspected corners, women who can
still “turn on the waterworks,” and
know héw to sob and how to harrow
the hearts of their husbands and
their lovers, but these women are
rare. The generality, if they ever shed
a tear at all, shed it in secret, and
if they should be found with a sus
picion of redness in their eyes will
hastily attribute it to a cold in the
head.—Philadelphia Record.
SAWING WOOD WITH COMPRESS
ED AIR.
Cutting Cord Wood With a Simple
Pneumatic Engine.
Compressed air has not been so ex
tensively applied to the operation of
railway cars as was once expected
electricity having proved a more con
venient, if not a more economical
agent for that purpose. But it is still
generally used for drilling holes in
rock, preparatory to blasting, and for
riveting boiler plates and the ma
terial employed in bridge construc
tion. The pneumatic-hammer can be
carried wherever the end of the hose
(for a supply of air) will go, and it
works very much more rapidly than
a hammer manipulated by hand. Stil
another class of service to which
compressed air is devoted is sawing
wood. In ‘that class of work it is
necessary to produce a recipro
cating motion, like that of a piston
and so the principle of the pneumatic
here be turned to ac
count. ‘An ‘exceedingly simple en
gine, constructed of brass and steel
tubing, will suffice.
According to “Compressed Air,” a
monthly periodical devoted to the in
terests which its name suggests, the
chief feature is a tubular valve, which
will work equally well in whatever
position the machine be placed. The
general appearance of the device is
admirably shown in the accompany:
ing illustration. The mechanism com
prises a frame, resting on the log and
equipped with a hook to grip the
same; a slender cylinder with an os
cillating piston, and a flexible pipe te
furnish the air. The cylinder (and
consequently the saw) can be shifted
from one side to the other of tht
frame, without freshly setting %he
latter, The distance between the twc
positions regulates the length of the
cut, which is either sixteen or twenty
six inches. -The former would usu
ally be preferable for stove wood and
the latter for locomotive fuel. The
frame weighs eighty-five pounds and
the engine sixty-five. The saw is an
ordinary five-inch or eight-inch drag
saw. :
The capacity of the machine is put
at five hundred logs in a day of ten
hours, or twenty cords of four-fool
wood in that interval. A pressure of
seventy-five pounds to the inch is the
ordinany one employed. Though the
saw can be driven at the rate of one
hundred and fifty strokes a minute
sixty-five is the natural speed.
60,000,000 PERSONS
Under German Accident, Illness and
Old Age Insurance $1,656,750,000
Has Been Paid.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the
late Prince Bismarck’s announcement
in the German Reichstag, at Berlin,
that the Emperor was determined that
the State should systematically as-
sist the working people, male or fe-
male, by accident, illness and old age
insurance, was commented on widely
in the German press, which general-
ly approved or disapproved the re
sults, according to the political opin-
ions of the commentators. The sO-
cialists, following the policy which
they adopted when the laws were
passed, found fault with the dinsur-
ance as being inadequate and not rad-
ical enough to really provide for the
‘casualties in the industrial warfare
and the disabilities of those worn-out
in the service of capital.”
But the whole body of liberal and
conservative opinion appeared con-
vinced that the ik are henenelol,
AIDED.
000 fing been lis ont for ross,
$232,750,000 for accidents and $13,-
500,000 for old age. The law also
provides for-compulsery contributions
by employers and employes. In cases
of illness two-thirds of the expenses
are paid by the employe and one-third
by the employer.
In accident cases all the
are paid by the employer,
cases of old age pensions half the
amount is paid by the employer and
half by the employe, the government
supplementing each pension, with
$12.50 yearly. The sum of $312,500
was expended daily on the combined
objects, the total of the various fund
is $375,000,000, the total amount paid
in since the law was passed is $1.-
656,750,000 and sixty million person’
have profited by this legislation.
The official Imperial Gazette pub-
lished a decree on the anniversary of
the message of Emperor William I. on
state insurance, pointing out the great
ideas contained in the message, which
not only had unrivalled success in
His Majesty's own country, but was
spreafing bevond the fontiers of Ger-
mand,” and adding:—
“Unfortunately the accomplishment
of its highest aim has been retarted
bly the continuous opposition of those
thinking themselves entitled to repre-
sent the interests of the working
classes.”
The message concludes with ex-
pressing the hope that the insurance
bills may guarantee the inner peace
of Germany ,and announcing that it
is the Emperor's will that the legisla-
tion shall continue until the task of
protecting the poor and weak is ac-
complished. —New York Herald.
expenses
and in
i elvilization could hardly survive.
The American Cow.
There are nearly 25,000,000 dairy
cows in America and enough other
cattle to make a total of over 60, 000,
000 head, including bulls, oxen, young
stock and the “flocks and herds which
range the valley free,” and all con-
demned to slaughter. There are-fess
than a million thoroughbred cattle in
the country and more than 48,000,000
scrubs. The rest are half or higher
grades. About 20,000,000 €alves are
born annually. The average value of
a cow is $22. The average value
a cow is $22. In Rhode Island, a dairy-
ing State, the average is $39.
The cows of the United States yield
about 9,000,000,000 gallons of milk a
year (watered and unwatered), the
butter product is meariy 2,000,000,000
pounds (all grades), and the product
of cheese over 300,000,000 pounds. Our
cheese industry is making enormous
strides. In a short time the output
will be 1,000,000,000 pounds. There is
one item, a by-product, which is never
alluded to when Mistress Cow or Sis
Cow is considered. Our gold produc-
tion is about $81,000,000 a year at
present. That is a vast sum of money.
Yet the rakings of our cow yards
and stalls for the fertilization of crops
are estimated to be worth in cold cash
eight times as much, or $648,000,000!
Such figures are bewildering. They
stagger humanity.—New York Press.
Paper Making Materials,
New materials from which
can be made are continually being
discovered. Recently pine waste haw
been successfully manufactured into
that universal substance without
which many features of modern
Fine
corn stalks
addition to
spruce, pine, fir, birch, sweet
gum, cottonwood, maple, cypress and
willow trees all contain fibre suitable
for the manufacture of paper. Iemp,
cotton, jute, Indian millet, and other
fibrous plants can also be used for
this purpose, so that there seems to
be no danger of a dearth of paper.
paper
SO
from
In
aspen,
made
rice-straw.
paper can he
and from
———————
The director of the Breslau Hygienic
Institute has announced the result of
his mosquito war experiments. The
first object was to destroy egg-bearing
females, which were found in large
numbers in Breslau cellars. Fumiga-
tion was used, and the number falling
on the papers placed on the tloors often
ran up to over 2000 mosquitoes, For
destroying the larvae in pools of water
fifty grains of “larvicide” was put into
a cubic metre of water and poured into
the pool. This kills all the larvae
within half an hour, but does not harm
frogs and fish.
re—————
sermany’s shipments of cement to
this country are dwindling noticeably.
This country has cement of its own to
sell nowadays. Last year it shipped
abroad 1,067,000 barrels of cement,
valued at $1,484,000. “Up to 1897,” re-
marks Consul Harris (Mannheim), “the
export trade in American cement
amounted to practically nothing.”
LT eh a TEI SR
ELEN BRIN
AVE you 2
if so, we want to
EEE
you handsomely with beautiful furniture
litttle spare time?
Act et as Club Secretary—
- and Furnish Your Ho
ir sd
buy it and will pay
for your home, or fine wearing apparel.
We are appointing
Walker Clubs in
wide-awake woman is going
ment—why not you?
It is very easy to org
We are dc
all parts of the country.
need a Secretary right in your Tocalliy.
Local Secretaries for
We
Some
the appoint- -
El
Walker Clubs.
to get
117 rE
al
ing an cnormous amount of adver-
tising and women everywhere have heard about
Walker Clubs and want to join.
It takes only a very little time—and no ex-
perience whatever—to act as Club Secretary.
In fact, there is nothing to do but tell your
acquaintances and friends that you have been
appointed Club Secretary.
Now—the way we pay our Club Secretaries
is this:
For every Club they organize we give them
their own selection of furniture, wearing apparel,
etc,
You can organize just as many Walker Clubs
as you want to.
There is no limit to the num-
ber of useful and beautiful articles that you can
secure by giving your time to this delightful
work. Some of our Secretaries have charge of
as many as ten Clubs. Others look after twenty-
five or thirty Clubs.
The Club plan is so attractive that it is no
trouble at all for the Secretary to organize a
number of them.
= ALRER C
Von
We 1 ¥
vested in this busi
lished for 69 yea
factories,
everything used in
If you
dining-rcom, bed-
1avVe C
ve 3 capit:
€ss, i
rs.
and manuf
the home.
take up this work fog us, you will he
astonished to find how easy iti
and everything you ah ra for boil or,
room, kitchen, laundry—we
ing apparel of all kinds, musical instruments,
i 4h 0
Me Frhes
A EE NT SBR TR
EY TEAS TE,
RE
Les are very popular and
ver a million membe
1-0f
ho
IS.
w
We have
acture on import
i5
near ly
to get ©
EE ETS ER
ECR TE
car-
rugs, draperies, jewelry, china, cut-glass, cte.,
without paying a single penny for it.
Yori can
furnish your entire home FRELR with the articles
you receive for your work as Secretary.
Our Club Secretaries
a list of 1400 articles, which ave illus-
ents from
can choose their pres-
trated and fully described in the large book
which we
postpaid.
will be glad
to send vou FREE,
There isn’t any doubt in the world that you
can do this
work, and we want you to write and
tell us that you are ready to begin at orce.
This is a big opportunity —one that you can-
not afford to miss.
Don’t let anyone in your neighborhood got
in ahead of you.
Don’t even wait to write a letter, but simply
take a postal card and say on it—'' Please send
me full particulars of your liberal Secretary Pro-
position.”
We will reply by return mail,
details. Address
giviag full