Learncd to Read at 80. Mrs. John Young, residing. near Overfield, in Barbour county, W. Va, has learned to read and write at the age of eighty. She undertook the task because she desirzd to write a letter %0 a daughter, Anna Young, in Washington. Young's grand- daughter was her tutor. When she began studying Mrs, Young did not know a letter of the alphabet. Now? she writes a legible hand. Miss Mrs. The Sweet Child. In a crowded steam bus, which is Sery popular in the North of England, was scated a middle-aged gentleman who was tryinz to read. He was suh- jected to the inquisitorial tongue of a little girl, who also tugged at his gold watch.clain, Turning to the lady who was-with the child, the middle- aged gentleman was heard to sav: “Madam, what do you call this sweet | child?” The mother smiled, and an- swered “Ethel.” call: her, then.”—Automobile Owner. “Please Bad Borrowers. These words from McCall's ahout the girl who is censtantly borrowing from her friends and forgetting to re- pay will find a response in the mind of more than one who kas suffered similarly. A good many of us are apt to become thoughtless about these trifies because it is very easy to get into the habit of borrowing small things; and it is not that our friends mind lending them to us or that they resent our borrowing them because of their intrinsic value, but it is just the annoyance of never having them at hand when they want them because hey have lent them. The Fair Finlander. been so far the only world ights Finland has country in the where woman has got equal rig with man. The fair Finlander has made little or no fuss about the matter; she has simply “up and ver her hand found to 1e pioneer suf- frazette; she has proved your baby, darn y« and vet attended with factory: results to pi has not yet been ¢ as a soldier, but she has proved self an excellent policewoman; may painter and house | decorator, almost invariably, | when married, joyful mother of many children.- dy’'s Pictorial. done” what do. she is the original ccchere, yon can mi husband's £0c¢ perfectly satis- lie matters; alled upon to act ood is ti tha she shel be seen as a she is A ‘woman, ecspecially to be attrac- tive, must preserve a sense of reserve; she must, so to speak, keep up a cer: tain amount of mystery about herself. There is a folklore tale of a woman who, finding her married life unhappy, went to a whitie witeh for a charm against the trouble. She received a flask filled with a colorless liquid, which she was directed to take and hold in her mouth whenever she was disposed to quarrel with her husband. She obeyed directions, and, delighted with the ‘effect of the charm, went back to the witch for a fresh supply when that was exhausted. “The liquid was merely water,” said the wise wo- man. “The virtue of the remedy con- sists simply in holding your tongue in keeping back angry answers.” To adopt the rule, says Woman's Life, once given to a gushing girl by a.friend who knew the world, “Never speak of yourself, and never say any- thing which is uncalled for, would at first seem likely to make Trappists of all the world; yet it is to be ques- tioned whether, after all, the advice was not wise. There always are peo- ple who like to talk, whose favor is to be won by interested listening, and good listeners are rare. Girls Boast of False Hair. In other days it was a much more painful admission to tell the man you loved that you wore a switch than it was to tell him that you had loved be- fore. Behold, however, -all this is changed! In these days a girl is as frank about the fact that she wears a hassock of false hair en her head as she is about the fact that she uses a tooth brush. No longer does she stealthily adjust her hair in a locked room. On the contrary, the removal of her spiral ringlets is a no more surreptitious- performance than the re- moval of her butter-bowl hat. Public dressing rooms, there where women most do congregate, have, con- sequently become the scene of whole- sale hirsute avowals. The young girl of 20 removes her dozen excelsior- like curls of auburn tint with the same sang frold as does the matron- of 50 remove her Frankfurter-like pufts. For when artifice is universal, where is the need of deception. A young man in this era need not feel sheepish when he sees a girl clutching uneasily at her hair. For just as likely as not she will confide to him in a few minutes that she is awfully afraid her braids are coming off. It is, indeed, an era (one should per- haps say h-era) or false hair. So much so, indeed, that the answer to the classical question, “where are you go- ing my pretty maid?” is pretty sure to be “I'm going to match my hair,” | until | can’t calliope 1 I My right c¢lbow First Experience on Roller Skates. The blonde girl vas stretched out on the sofa when the other girl dropped in for a little visit, “Excuse me for not getting up,” said she, “but I can hardly move as much as a finger without groaning. I am positively covered with bruises.” “What is A railway accident?” “No, an evening at a roller-skating rink. ' Mr. Brown came in last night and enticed my sister and me into ac- companying him*by representing rol- ler skating as the greatest sport of the day. You didn’t have to know how, he declared, especially if you could skate on ice. “It did look easy. Besides, I was persuaded against my better judg- ment, being made rash by my ability to skate on ice. . So a pair of roller skates was attached to my feet. I was ready before Julia and Mr. Brown, so I started cut alone. “It is the queerest sensation at first. Your feet keep pointed straight ahead —at least mine did—and you get to going faster and faster, and there isn’t any earthly way to stop yourseif. “Well, I never before had such an awful sensation as [ did when I got to the end of the room. I couldn't turn. I couldn't stop. I couldn’t even slow up. Nothing could have checked my progress but a wall, and it was. the hardest wall I ever encountered. You can see the bump on my forehead. And my left wrist is useless. “When [I recovered my senses a lit- tle 1 started off again. The others, I observed, crossed the outer foot grace- fully over the other as a means of turning at the ends of the hall. I found I could do that safely if I went slow enough. That was the awful dificulty—to go slow enough. I sim- ply couldn't keep myself at a reason- able pace. 1 took short ‘strokes and would get to golng faster and faster, the people would become posi- tively blurred to my vision. The third time round I was going at such a speed that I knew I could never man- age the cross-foot effect at the turn, and 1 saw Julia and Brown standing right in line with me. * ‘Lock cut! I can’t turn!’ 1 shouted. “But the incessant thundering of the skaters and the sere of the steam st have drowned my voice. They never budeged till I crashed into them and we 21] went down in a heap. ] is bruised andl broke my backbone. In addition to. these troubles Julia got mad at.me and took cif her skates. “Even then I wasn't satisfied. I knew there must be a knack about it, so I determined to try taking long strokes and sce if I couldn’t do as well as the others. But my effort was a dismal failure. I tried getting a good start, hoping to glide into a graceful, swinging motion. But at the first long glide 1 lost my balance and would have fallen if I had not reaciied out and grabbed madly. 3 “It happened to be a man. I put one hand on his arm that was nearest me and one on his arm that was farthest away, so that I had my own arin practically around him. Wasn't that awful? He was going pretty fast, bat he was so surprised that he stopped skating and just rolled ahead, while I clung to him. “I couldn't have let if my life had depended on it. He stared straight into nw eyes and I into his, and he wore the most astonished ex- pressiqn I ever beheld. “Excuse me, I managed to gasp out, ‘but I can’t let go. “Just then we encountered the wall, which had grown no softer since my first onslaught. As I stood rubbing my shoulder and renewing my apolo- gies, Julia arrived and commanded me wrathfully to come away. “lI came home, but I have hardly moved since,” concluded the blonde girl.—Pittsburg Press. it? stop and I ech go Fashion Notes. It is most difficult in sporting head- gear to combine becomingness with comfort. The newest taffeta bathing suits are embroidered—generally in the color of the suit. . Bathing caps are the jauntiest ever. Many .are made of rubber of bright tartan plaid. Certain —-of- the: dark “burnt” straws are unusually pretty and stylish trim- med with rich dark brown. Hizh bathing shoes are the newest thing. They are most poular in white with laces of contrasting color. Brightsstockings are worn with suits of a solid color. Polka dotted ones are particularly popular for this use. Of the materials for lingerie gowns of handkerchief linen, the mulls, ba- tistes and dotted embroidered Swisses are the most used. In deference to prevailing styles, the model with pleated skirt and shirt waist bodice is the correct thing for an ocean dip. Lace-edged ruffles applied festoon- like and caught with clusters of arti- ficial flowers have still many admirers among fashionable women. Among the fashionable lines most insisted upon are skirt borders and those varying from narrow hems to skirt facings that extend up over one- third the distance from hem to belt, she said.—Philadelphia Bulletin. | are having an immense vogue. SERMON * py AE REV~ (RAW. FLENDERSoN \Y Subject: Receiving. the Spirit. Brooklyn, N. Y.— Preaching at the Irving Square Presbyterian Church, Hamburg avenue and Weirfield street, on the above theme, the pas- tor, Rev. I. W. Henderson, took as his text Jno. 20:22, “Receive ve the Holy Spirit.” > He said: The reception of the Holy Spirt in the inner ¢ human heart trance into the kingdom of God. The possibility of the immediate and pres- | everlasting ent incoming and welcoming of the Spirit is reason enough for us to be- lieve that the kingdom begins in this life and at once, if you will. The fact that the coming of the Spirit into the heart is contemporaneous with the antrance of the individual into the privileges of divine citizenship is suf- ficient demonstration that spiritual- ity is the key to, and the essence of, and the first requirement of admis- sion -to the kingdom. The one and only way to participate in. the jovs and blessings of the Spirit filled life is to cease from hardness of heart, and from intellectual self-glorification and self-trust, and to become as lit- tle children in humility and receptiv- ity to truth. Spirituality and divine citizenship are one and the same thing. Growth in spirituality is the test of eflicient citizenship. The man who has stopped depending upon his own strength, his own wisdom, and has opened his heart and eyes and ears and mind to the influences and manifestations of the Spirit in his life is ready to receive, and in all conscience will get, the papers and rights of a citizen of the kingdom of the God of Jesus Christ. And that soul only is being sanctified unto Ged- likeness and fashioned into the im- age of Jesus Christ who is growing daily, hourly, momently, in the gifts and graces of the spiritual life. To be spiritual is to become child- like. To attain spiritual develop- ment is the aim and the calling of those who are Christ’s.: The Holy Spirit, the personal, pu- rifying, propelling presence of God in the life of man, is th» means unto the spiritualizing of human nature according to the divine decrees. "The entrance of the Spirit spells death to sin.. The yielding of self to the gen- tle ministrations of the Holy Ghost is the firs formation. = The communion of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God brings Yeace, ccntentment, rest and a wisdom and energy which are more than sufficient: to meet the demands and the opposition of the world. © No mere impersonal, unreal, unattain- ble something is this Spirit svhicl Chr of which at a later time they received a fuller measure. It is the real, help- ful, personal presence of God in the life. The spirit of man is a prey to all sin the Spirit of God as a. constructive, controlling force comes in. The transfusion of the soul with save : the vitality of the Spirit fills the dy- ing heart of man with life, There are three characteristics of the Holy Spirit to which I wish to di- rect your thought. The Holy Spirit is a constant presence in the life of the world, a controlling energy, a soul satisfying comforter. The Holy Spirit is a constant pres- ence and factor in the life of the world. The entire list of graces and gifts and blessings which are ours at the hands of our heavenly Father are constant. The gift of the Spirit is no exception to the rule. When God promises to men the presence and uplift of the Holy Spirit upon the fulfilment of certain conditions upon their part He means just what He says. Our Father is not fickle or changeable or inconstant. He is the same to-day, yesterday and forever. And His Spirit, which is His own real, personal presence in the hearts of men, is as constant as is all else with which He has anything to do. When we were far away from duty and were serving sin the Spirit of the living God was knocking ever at our hearts And though we hated our- selves and the depth of our own in- iquity, though the world may have despised us and forsaken us, though everything in life may have held us as “unclean” with the leprosy of sin, still the Spirit of the living, loving Father of us all stood waiting to re- veal to us the wealth and beauty of the love of God and to revive our dying souls with the fullness of power: unto eternal life. The constancy of the Spirit as a factor in life is nowhere better illus- trated than in the experience of Christian men who have given them- selves up, in less or greater measure, to His dominion. What a joy, what a comfort, what a stay it s to know that whenever and wheresoever we may turn to the Spirit for the portion of refreshment that our souls so sorely need we shall always find Him ready to supply our wants. There is no sense and no reaso: in much of our constant petitions to God to infill us with His Spirit. The influences of types of thought and of prayer are hardly escapable. We have grown so accustomed to ask God to fill us with His Spirit of power. But I submit, would we not pray better and more ‘to the point it we thanked our Father for the favors of His love and acknowledge to Him in person, what He already knows, our shortcomings- and jour: lack of appropriation of the gift of His Spirit. The showers of spiritual. blessings are forever falling frze, full and suflicilent upon human souls everywhere. Our prayers should be not of petition that God may give us showers, but rather of thanksgiving for past, present and future blessings and of dedication of self, through the riches of His grace and powers to a finer and more fruitful life for Him. The presence and influence: of the Holy Spirit in the life of the world is a constant gratuity. If you are not the deeply ‘grounded spiritual. man that you should be the fault lies not with the Spirit, of whom there is abundance unto all men’s necessity, but with you who have refused that wealth of spiritual power which, une der God, might be yours if you would. Everywhere and continually the Spirit of the Lord is active. He ‘knocks ever at the door of the sinner’s heart. He is forever pouring out the inex- haustible waters of spiritual life upon the parched souls of men. But neither God nor His Spirit can fill an inverted cup. The showers of blessing can not flood a closed heart. Then, too, the Holy Spirit is a con- trolling energy in the life of the man who is susceptible to His influence. Christ tells us that His Spirit shall lead us into all truth; that He shall be our Guide, our Teacher and our Helper. The catalog of the activities of the Spirit in the life of man is strengthening and sustaining. By Him we are lec into the entirety of divine self-revelation and of eternal { truth. Under the. guidance of the | Spirit of the living God we' may Se C y ™ 1 % is eo ohary of the | progress from truth to truth as the S condition of en- | wonders of God's universe are re- | vealed to ws and the application of verities brought home to May no man flinch to follow Spirit withersoever He may direct. As Dante went through hell and heaven and the intermediate regions of the world beyond, and told in allegory and song the wonders that he witnessed and the sights he saw, so may we, with the Spirit as our guide, be given grace to look truth squarely in the face and portray it faithfully to the world. And if we our hearts. %. the | as Dante, or beyond him Christ, shall | be hounded by those who. fear the light of truth we shall yet be certain that the ‘truth, the truth alone, is worth men's fealty and shall make them free. The Spirit as the Comforter ap- reals to the heart of every Christian. Who of us does not joy in the fact that above us and within us is this comforting Spirit of the Lord our God? The human haart cries out for comfort when distress and dan- ger and des.ruction come upon it. When our hearts are bowed in an- guish and our souls are crushed with grief," when every human tie is seéev- ered and no mortal hand may avail to dispel our utter darkness, thea the spirit of the loving God strengthens, sustains, sanctifies the soul. “Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul,” we cry out with the Psalmist. In the Judah wilderness of the world our souls thirst for Him, our flesh longs for Him as in a dry and thirsty land. where no water is. Then the Spirit comes, and with His entrance the live springs of refresh- ment minister to our couls’ deep } | I t step toward individual trans- a bade Iiis disciples receive, and need. Thea Spirit as the Comforter is God in -His presence ministering to the humanest of mortal needs. No man. can live happily without Him. No man can ‘weather the trials of tribulation and the temptations of prosperity without Hin. Lending the sorrowing light hea He keéps ssful level head > » of the constant presence of the Spirit of God in the individual and world life is the certain indica- tion of a true religious experience. No man who lives near to God is i i It-is_elementa: in Chris- Tieng «And this conscion ness of God's abiding and guiding is the mainstay of the soul. Without it progress is impossible in the truest sense. With it we may fight with ‘fearlessness, with hope unquench- able, against principalities and pow- ers, against the wickedness of high places and the sins of mighty -aen. For the abiding Spirit of the living God is the controlling energy in the life of humanity. Bad men may de- feat Him temporarily; evil polici.s may frustrate His purposes and hurl themselves against His plans; but the Spirit of God is unconquerable. He is the controlling, the overruling en- ergy in the world. In this Spirit we should find our strength. From Him we should derive the comfort of our souls. Let not your heart be troubled. Come what may, be the storms of life what they will, God will not leave us comfortless. He will not leave us orphans. He is with us. He will abide with every soul who bids Him enter. He will constantly refresh us all. He will give us courage and be our strength. He will suffuse us. He will comfort us. And He does. eG. The Great Lesson of Life. What a vast proportion of our lives is spent in anxious and useless fore- bodings concerning the future—eith- er our own or those of our dear ones. Present joys, present bless- ings slip by and we miss half their favor, and all for want of faith in Him who provides for the tiniest sunbeam. Oh, when shall we learn the sweet trust in God that our little children show us every day by ‘their confiding faith in us? We, who are so muta- i ble, so faulty, so irritable, so unjust; | and He who is so watchful, so piti- so loving, so forgiving? Why can not we, slipping our hand into His every day, walk trustingly over that day’s appointed path, thorny or flowery, crooked or straight, know- inz that evening will bring us sleep, peace and home?—Phillips Brooks. ful, Events Are God's God hath a thousand keys to open a thousand doors for the deliverance of His own, when it has come to the extremity, once said Samuel Ruther- ford. Let us be faithful and care for our part, which is to do and suffer with Him, and lay God's part on Himself and leave it there; duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When our faith goes to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if so to speak) upon God's providence, and beginneth to say, ‘‘How = wilt Thou do this or that?” we lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the Al- ‘mighty exercise His own office and steer His own helm.” = ] The Cross. "In our days there are many who would leave the cross out of Chris- tianity. They want an unsuffering Christ, a teacher, an example, a friend, yet not an atoning Saviour. But the cross is at the heart of the Gospel. We can be saved only by the One who suffered for us. With- out. shedding of blood there is no re- mission. Then in our lives, too, we must accept the law of the cross. We must die if we wish to live. We must lose if we would gain. We must suf- fer if we would reign. We can help others only through self-denial and cost. -sion. “work. JABBATH SCHOOL LESSON INTERNATIONAL LESSON OOM- MENTS FOR AUG. 18 BY THE REVI IW. HENDERSON. Subject: - The Day of Atonement, Lev. 16:5-22 — Golden Text, Heb, 7:25—>}Memory Verse, 2— Commentary. The day ceremonies press upon inseparable and the attendant im- our minds facts that are in our religious expe- rience. - First, the fact of sin. Sec- ondly, the necessity for confession of si Thirdly, the forgiveness of sin. Fourthly, the forgetting of sin. The day and tbe lesson of that day, which we shall study, impress other thoughts upon us but we shall con- fine ourselves to these. The day of atonement is a récog- nition of and an emphasis upon the fact of sin. The offering is for sin. The contession is a confession of sin. The scapegoat atones for sin, is an earnest of the forgiveness of sin, is the etample of God forgetfulness of forgiven sin. And all this rests up- on the basic consciousness of human sinfulness, For whatever may be our opinion. as to how and when and why sin enfers into the life of the indivicual and of humanity we must reo that sin is a fact, that the consciousnegs of sin is thz first step toward the affirmation of proper re- lationships with God after we have fallen away from Him. Whatever the ideal life may be we are to-day sin- rinz against God. However useless and fruitless and wicked and unnec- essary sin may he from any point of view the fact ol humanily’s present and prevalent sinfulnssg remains. The fact of sin is inescapable. Equally conscious are we that the only hope oi escape from sin lies in the confession of oar unworthiness to the living God. However philo- sophical we may .be, and however learned: we may Db2; whatever may be the paculiar twists of our state- ments cf the problem of sin and sal- vation, we must all come, and all of us do come, to this common ground that without confession of and peneanece for sin there can be no for- i no salvation. Also we know that forgiveness follows in hot haste upon confes- Perhaj we had better say that forgiven meets confession— and mora Mf the way. Even met the high priest on the the commissioner of the peonis so He stands just beside tha =fon soul and holds forth par- for coniezsed sin. scapezoat never carried a sin into tne dessert of forgetful- 3 can and: does. When He i ts. And He ex prolier to do the wperiencs counts for [5 in this process-of-a of For- e235 that not eorrelated with viinlness is no forgiveness at all would not want even God tag hound us with the memory of for- given sins. All these lessons are linked with the sory of the day of atonement. It. is no wonder. that the day of atonement is even to-day the mighty in the Jewish calendar. Tne inodern Jew may not go to syna- cogue for fifty 1c a year, but he no Jew who forgets the day “of atonement. Wny? Because the day ni atonement touches the universal note in the Jewish heart. It taps the spring oi his deepest experience and of his direst need. The fact of sin is ought not to overlon¥. It ought not to be overemphasized, but it had rather be overemphasized than for- gotten. Man is made in the image of God. He is created a little lower than Jehovah. He has inalienable birthrights as a son of God. But man is also a sinner. And his sin is worse as we understand his relation to divinity and his ancestry. We must no: let men forget the fact of sin. Ye must not withhold condem- nation of their evil. We must por- tray the exceeding viciousness of sin. For if we do not convict men of sin they will not confess it. And no man without a comprehension of the real nature of the consequences of his vailfulness will confess his sin. We must make men understand the enor- mity of sin or they will not confess it. And conscious unconfessed sin is the worst hell that God or man can de- vise. “Confession is good for th soul’ is more than a phrase. Forgiveness follows confession. And forgetfulness completes the God pardons and He erases His forgetting enhances His forgiving. And He not only for- gets, but He enables us to forget. And it is right we should. The mem- ory of sin is one of thc most spirit- ually debilitating things that we can imagine. To be sure, we should profit by ° our mistakes. But we should not be unnerved by our re- membrance of them. What you were you were. - Forgiven of God in Christ vou are no longer what you were. Benold, all things are passed away. You are a new creature. You are what you are. There are few, il any greater joys in life than the sens: forgiven and forgotten sin. Aw unconfessed is a scar unhealed. sin confessed is a sin healed. The day of atonement is a profit- able subject of study because it is linked with facts. And it is linked with fac:s that we can well discount or avoid if we are as a church to do our work for the regeneration and salvation of the world to God through Christ. Christ recognized the fact of sin and we shall be imbeciles if we gnut our eyes to it. The solution of its problem in the world is our work. God grant we shall face it with cour- age. of atonement thereto re- 1od CONIC con Tha sin. day i is one that we the record. mt tat. Stars’ Silent Voices. Stars, like Christians, utter their silent voices to all lands, and their speechless words to the ends of the world. Christians are called to be like stars, luminous, steadfast, ma- jestic, attentive.—Christina G. Ros- setti. As z money crop, the chickens and ggs alone in the United States an- nually amount to more than the en: lire cotton crop of the South. EPWORTH LEAGUE LESSONS SUNDAY, AUGUST 18. God's Care for the Young—Psa. 78: 1-8. Sunday School Interests. Deut. 11: 17, 18; Prov. 3: 1-10; Matt. 18: Acts. 2: Passages for reference: 19-21; Psa. 103: Isa. 54: 13; 59. If parent's the children 5, 6; taught God's truth to they would ‘set their hope” in him, and his would be fol- lowed by a remembrance of ‘the works of God ’-and an: effort “to keep his commandments” so that his favor might remain upon them. If children are thus started early, truth will so deeply root that there will be no old “roots of stubbornness,” but glad obe- dience as they work toward their “hope.” Tome religion must be cul- tivated-by teaching and precept (Deut. 11: 19-21). Blessings follow. the whole family. when it steadily obeys God (Psa. 103: 17, 18). . Finest health and prosperity are insured to children who love good and depart from evil (Prov. 3: 1-10). Peace, not worriment, comes from = religiously . taught children (Isa. 54: 13). - Little ones are pre- cious to and protected by the Master (Matt, 18: 5, 6), so that if they appro- priate the offered blessings God's good promises become theirs (Acts 2: 3S, 39). : All religious systems that endure be- gin with the children. It is constant lv enforced in the Bible. Methuselah was a teacher of the Mishna (a cece lection of traditions and interpreta- tions of Scripture) before the flood. Shem and Eber opened a ‘house of Instruction” for the study of the Hal- acha after the deluge. Abraham was a student of the Torah at three years of age. Jacob, a good boy, went to Rible school, while Esau, a bad one, did not. Dinah got into trouble by remaining away from Bible school, while her brothers were there. Sam- uel started Bible schools which con- tinued until the days of Elisha. Joshua was made Moses’ successor be- eause zealous and apt in Moses’ training - school. Ahaz closed the Jible schools in order to exterminate the religion. The chief purpose of the synagogue was to instruct in and dis- cuss the law. There was no surprise at the boy Jesus talking with the re- ligious doctors. Plato said, ‘He who would be good in anything must prac- tice that thing from his youth up.” The Scriptures say, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Saint Francis Xavier (a Roman Ca- tholic) said; “Give me a child until he is seven years old and you can have him the rest of the time.” CHRISTIAN EADEAVOR ROTES AUGUST EIGHTEENTH. The value of decision. Eph. 4: 14, 15; ’ 1-8. Israel’s decision. Josh. 24: Sincere decision. 2 Chron. An oath-bound decision. 29. Decision demanded. 1 19-21. Decision rewarded. Josh. 1: 7, 8. Firm decision. Acts 21: 11-14. It is the beauty of teachable childs hocd that it believes everything; it is the glory of taught manhood that it proves all things, hclding fast that bnly which is goad. “ Firmness of character 1s a slow growtii. No reed but ocutgrows an oak tree. Doubt, harbored in any part of the life, renders it all unstable. Nothing so contributes to firmness of character as simplicity of aim. Suggestions. Jas. 1: 15-22. 15; 8-13. Neh. 10: Kings 18: the and train hard to do One of the best mind to decision disagreeable things. Obstinacy is decision, plus selfish ness and egotism. Indecision is a terrible waste of strength and time, doing with each of a series of acts what need be done only with the first. Indecision is a habit which grows upon one, as a river, when ‘it begins to bend, winds .ever more meander- ingly. ways to is Illustrations. Obstinacy is the firmness of : a frozen post: decision, the firmness of iron set in stone. Even delicate frames become de- cisive through earnestness, as a cans die may be fired through a board. However sharp its point, an arrow fs valueless without its feather, as firmness is useless without good judg- ment. All the life of an undecided man i3 like a legal deed that lacks the signa ture. Dawn at Dusk. 1 will give him the morning star. — Revelation 2:28. To whom is this promise given? Is it to youth? Nobody would won- ! that: youth is the time of promise. But this is a promise to the o'd. It is made to those who have nrished their labor, as we see from ver: 26, “he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end.” It is the man at the end of the day who is promised the morning star. And that is a very strange thing. We often speak of a promising boy or a promising young man. But how incongruous would it sound to hear one speak of a promising old man! It would seem like viewing the sun- set and saying, ‘‘What a beautiful dawn!’ Yet it is this and nothing less than this that is imaged here. The veteran who has reached the goal is promised a dawn. We could have understood how he should have been promised a golden sunset. We could have understood how there should have been accorded to him the joy of looking back upon his work and see- ing that it was all very good, but to get the morning star at evening time, to hear the lark in the place where tne nightingale should be, to listen in December to the voices of the spring —it is the boon of perfect glory.— The Rev. Geo. Matheson, D. D., in the Bantist Argus. r at
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