(July 31.—Matt. 4:1-11.)
AFTER the baptism of Jesus, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. When he came up out of Jordan, he bowed and plead with the great Eternal for strength to endure the conflict with the fallen foe. The opening heavens and the descent of the excellent glory attested his divine character; and the Father's voice declared the close relationship of Christ to his Infinite Majesty: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The mission of Christ was now about to begin; but he must first withdraw from the busy scenes of life to a desolate wilderness for the express purpose of bearing a threefold temptation in behalf of those whom he had come to redeem.
THE great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen man. Burdened with the sins of the world, he must go over the ground where Adam stumbled. He must take up the work just where Adam failed, and endure a test of the same character, but infinitely more severe than that which had vanquished him. It is impossible for man to fully comprehend the strength of Satan's temptations to our Saviour. Every enticement to evil, which men find so difficult to resist, was brought to bear upon the Son of God in as much greater degree as his character was superior to that of fallen man.427
WHEN Adam was assailed by the tempter he was without the taint of sin. He stood before God in the strength of perfect manhood, all the organs and faculties of his being fully developed and harmoniously balanced; and he was surrounded with things of beauty, and conversed daily with the holy angels. What a contrast to this perfect being did the second Adam present, as he entered the desolate wilderness to cope with Satan, single-handed. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and deteriorating in moral worth; and, in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he stood. He assumed human nature, bearing the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He humiliated himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that he might fully sympathize with man and rescue him from the degradation into which sin had plunged him.
IN taking the nature of man, Christ was not equal in appearance with the angels of Heaven, but this was one of the necessary humiliations that he willingly accepted when he became man's Redeemer. Satan urged that if he was indeed the Son of God he should give him some evidence of his exalted character. He suggested that God would not leave his Son in so deplorable a condition. He declared that one of the heavenly angels had been exiled to earth, and his appearance indicated that instead of being the King of Heaven he was that fallen angel. He called attention to his own beautiful appearance, clothed with light and strength, and insultingly contrasted the wretchedness of Christ with his own glory.
HE claimed direct authority from Heaven to demand proof of Christ that he was the Son of God. He taunted him with being a poor representative of the angels, much less their high Commander, the acknowledged King in the royal courts; and insinuated that his present appearance indicated that he was forsaken of God and man. He declared that if he were the Son of God he was equal with God and should evidence this by working a miracle to relieve his hunger. He then urged him to change the stone at his feet to bread, and agreed that if this were done he would at once yield his claims to superiority, and the contest between the two should be forever ended.
SATAN thus hoped to shake the confidence of Christ in his Father, who had permitted him to be brought into this condition of extreme suffering in the desert, where the feet of man had never trodden. The arch-enemy hoped that under the force of despondency and extreme hunger, he could urge Christ to exert his miraculous power in his own behalf, and thus take himself out of the Father's hands.
THE circumstances and surroundings of Christ were such as to make temptation upon this point peculiarly aggravating. The long fast had physically debilitated him, the pangs of hunger consumed his vitals, his fainting system clamored for food. He could have wrought a miracle in his own behalf, and satisfied his gnawing hunger; but this would not have been in accordance with the divine plan. It was no part of his mission to exercise divine power for his own benefit; this he never did in his earthly life; his miracles were all for the good of others.
SUFFERING humiliation, hunger, and contempt, Jesus repulsed Satan with the same scripture he had bidden Moses repeat to rebellious Israel: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." In this declaration, and also by his example, Christ showed that wanting temporal food was a much less calamity than meeting the disapprobation of God.
IN becoming man's substitute, and conquering where man had been vanquished, Christ was not to manifest his divine power to relieve his own suffering, for fallen man could work no miracles in order to save himself from pain, and Christ, as his representative, was to bear his trials as a man, leaving an example of perfect faith and trust in his heavenly Father.
CHRIST recognized Satan from the beginning, and it required strong self-control to listen to the propositions of this insulting deceiver, and not rebuke his bold assumption. But the Saviour of the world was neither provoked to give him evidence of his divine power, nor to enter into controversy with one who had been expelled from Heaven for leading a rebellion against the supreme Ruler of the universe, and whose very crime had been a refusal to recognize the dignity of the Son of God. Armed with faith in his heavenly Father, bearing in his mind the precious memory of the words spoken from Heaven at his baptism, Jesus stood unmoved in the lonely wilderness, before the mighty enemy of souls.
IT was not for the Son of God to descend from his lofty mission to prove his divinity to Satan, nor did he condescend to explain the reason of his present humiliation, and the manner in which he was to act as man's Redeemer. If the children of men would follow the example of their Saviour, and hold no converse with Satan, they would be spared many a defeat at his hands. Six thousand years has this arch-enemy been warring against the government of God, and continued practice has increased his skill to deceive and allure.
BUT Satan had too much at stake to lightly give up the battle. He knew that if Christ came off victor his influence would be lessened. So, in order to awe Christ with his superior strength, he carried him to Jerusalem and placed him on a pinnacle of the temple. He now demanded that, if he were indeed the Son of God, he should cast himself from the dizzy height, and thus indicate entire confidence in his Father's preserving care.
THE sin of presumption lies close beside the virtue of perfect faith and confidence in God, and Satan endeavored to take advantage of Christ's humanity and urge him over the line of trust into presumption. He now admitted that Christ was right in the wilderness, when he placed such perfect confidence in the Father, and he now urged that one more proof should be given of his entire faith in God, by casting himself from the temple. He assured him that if he were indeed the Son of God he had nothing to fear, for the angels would uphold him. Satan was well aware that if Christ could be prevailed upon to fling himself from the temple, in order to prove his claim to the protection of his heavenly Father, he would, by that very act, exhibit the weakness of human nature.
BUT Jesus came off victor from the second temptation, by spurning the sin of presumption. While manifesting perfect trust in his Father, he refused to voluntarily place himself in such peril that it would be necessary for the Father to display divine power in order to save his Son from death. This would have been forcing Providence to come to his rescue, and thus he would fail to give his people a perfect example of faith and trust in God.
FINDING that he prevailed nothing with Christ in the second great temptation, Satan began to be alarmed for the result of his efforts. The continued steadfastness of the Son of God filled him with apprehension, for he had not expected so strenuous an opposition. He now called all the resources of his Satanic nature to his aid in one last mighty effort to baffle and defeat the Saviour. In his first two temptations he had concealed his true character and purpose, claiming to be an exalted messenger from the courts of Heaven. But he now throws off all disguise, avowing himself the Prince of Darkness, and claiming the earth for his dominion.
HE took Jesus up into a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world, spread out in a panoramic view before his eyes. The sunlight lay on templed cities, marble palaces, fruitful fields and vineyards, gilding the dark cedars of Lebanon and the blue waters of Galilee. The eyes of Jesus, so lately greeted by gloom and desolation, gazed upon a scene of unsurpassed loveliness and prosperity. Then the tempter's voice was heard: "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine."
SATAN brought all his strength to bear upon this last inducement, for upon the result of this effort depended his destiny. He claimed the world as his dominion and himself to be the prince of the power of the air. He promised to put Christ in possession of all the kingdoms without suffering or peril, if he would make one concession, and that was to acknowledge Satan his superior, and pay him homage. This last temptation was designed to be the most alluring of all. Christ's life was one of sorrow, hardship, and conflict. Poverty and privation attended him; even the beasts and the birds had their homes, but the Son of man had not where to lay his head. Homeless and friendless as he was, there was offered him the mighty kingdoms of the world and the glory of them for a single consideration.
THE eyes of Jesus rested for a moment upon the scene before him; he then turned resolutely from it, refusing to dally with the tempter by even looking upon the enchanting prospect he had presented to him; but when Satan solicited his homage, Christ's divine indignation was aroused, and he could no longer tolerate his blasphemous assumption, or even permit him to remain in his presence. He exercised his divine authority, and commanded Satan to desist, saying, "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
SATAN had asked Christ to give him evidence that he was the Son of God, and he had, in this instance, the proof he asked. He had no power to withstand his peremptory dismissal, and was compelled to obey the divine command. Writhing with baffled hate and rage, the rebel chief retired from the presence of the world's Redeemer. The contest was ended. Christ's victory was as complete as had been the failure of Adam.—Mrs. E. G. White, in Great Controversy, Vol. 2.
COQUILLE CITY, OREGON.
By Wm. Potter, J. C. Bunch
At the close of our good camp-meeting at East Portland, it was decided that we should go to Coos County, Or., to spend the season in assisting the little churches already established, and holding tent-meeting as the way might open. We arrived here June 5, and pitched our tent. We held our first meeting June 12, with seventy-five in attendance. Have now given twenty-one discourses, with an average attendance of fifty-two. Those that attend give good attention, and some have decided that we have the truth.
The people seem distant and it is not easy to get access to labor for them privately. The truth has been partially presented here before, and many have decided against the truth or are so prejudiced that we fail to get them to listen. Picnics, excursions, celebrations, and dances call the majority and only leave a few to listen to the present truth. This is a place of about five hundred people.
We have been called to give three funeral discourses since coming here, and have tried to use these occasions wisely to get truth before the people. Expect to remain until, by the Lord's help, we have done all we can to present the message. We plead earnestly with the Lord, and ask the prayers of all, that with you we may be able to gather sheaves for the heavenly garner.
WM. POTTER,
J. C. BUNCH.
June 28, 1887.
FORBEARING.
By Sidney Dayre
"WHAT is the matter, Jessie? You have been going around for I don't know how long with your forehead all tied up into a knot, and your mouth down at the corners. And your voice is tuned to match."
Jessie's growls, frowns, and pouts lightened only a little as she answered,—
"Why, Aunt Lucy, I'm hunting for my skate-key."
"And will it come any the sooner for such a face and tune?"
"No ma'am, of course not. But I'm so angry with Herbert, you see. He borrowed it of me yesterday, and did not give it back to me, and now I can't find it and I can't find him. He's the most careless boy in the world. I'll never lend him a thing of mine as long as I live. There he is now—going off coasting with those boys. Herbert! Herbert!"
Jessie threw up the window and called loudly and angrily after him. He turned back at the sound of her voice.
"Don't speak crossly to him, dear," said Aunt Lucy, earnestly. "Remember, words can never be called back when once spoken."
"But I have lost so much time," said Jessie. "And I have so little time out of school. How can I help scolding him?"
"If you are sure you cannot help it," said her aunt, smiling, "suppose you go into another room and let me speak to him. You will be glad of it afterwards, dear."
"But I think it would really do him good to get a scolding," said Jessie, as she rather unwillingly turned to leave the room.
"But I am sure it would do you no good to give it to him," said Aunt Lucy.
She met Herbert as he hurried up to the open window.
"Jessie wants her skate-key," she said.
"Where is she?" he asked, with some trepidation. "I do believe, Aunt Lucy—" he felt quickly in one pocket and then another. "Yes, I do declare, I haven't got it! I lent it to Jack Staples, and forgot to get it again. Won't I catch it from Jessie, though! I'm ever so sorry."
"Run away, now, but do try to be more thoughtful, my boy."
"I will. And I'll stand all she says to me when I get home without saying a word back," said Herbert, as he turned slowly away.
Jessie came into the room with her things on to go out.
"I'm glad you didn't see him, Jessie," said her aunt, "for he lent the key to someone else, and I'm afraid you will lose your skating this afternoon."
Jessie's face grew darker than before.
"I wish I had seen him," she said, angrily. Then added, "But I shall see him after a while."
"Yes," said Aunt Lucy, "he said he would bear anything you might say to him."
Jessie's face changed a little at this.
"He deserves anything I can say," she said, after a pause.
"Perhaps so. But are you not glad you have not yet said anything you would wish to take back?"
Jessie looked as if she felt doubtful about that.
"When you are as old as I am," said Aunt Lucy, "you will look back with great thankfulness upon every harsh and angry word you forced yourself not to say; and oh, dear child! with such bitter regret upon every word in which you have sinned against those who love you."
"Why, Aunt Lucy," said Jessie, struck by her earnest manner, "I don't believe that you have spoken many words that you regret now."
"Yes, indeed, dear, plenty which I wish now that I could recall. But I never can. You never can. When the ugly words are once out of your mouth, they are free to do their ugly work of stinging and wounding. And they pour out so fast when we are angry—so fast, from lips which ought to open only to bless with words of sweetness and loving-kindness."
Jessie began thinking ruefully of the many sharp things she had said to her brother, provoked by his really very trying habits of carelessness and forgetfulness.
"Herbert forgets things so often," she said.
"Yes, most boys do. And I don't mean to excuse them, for they certainly are as much under obligation to correct that fault as any other. But we must learn to forbear with one another in love, dear. When I was a girl, Harry, my brother, was quite as much of a trial to me as Herbert is to you, for he had the same headlong, scatter-brain ways, but withal as loving and generous as Herbert always is. I remember one day he was going down town, and I specially desired him to take a note to one of my friends. It was to ask her to come right over to tell me about a hard lesson I was preparing for examination, in which I had little time to spare. How vexed I was when at the last moment he rushed out of the house in his usual hasty manner, and a few minutes afterward I saw that he had left my note behind."
"Just like Herbert," said Jessie.
"I was more angry with him than I would like to tell you now. I had to go myself, and reached my friend's just after she had gone out for the afternoon. I think that if I had had a little time my ugly feeling toward him would have cooled. But just as I was settled again to my puzzling examples he appeared at the door with a bright face, entirely forgetful of my grievance against him, holding something behind him."
"Guess what I've got,' he said."
"His unconsciousness aroused my anger anew, and I poured it out upon him without restraint, using, I believe, every hateful word I could think of. All the brightness went out of his face as he listened quietly until I had finished, and then, without a word in reply, turned and went away."
"It was not until the next day, when I was in a pleasant humor, that he came to me, saying he was sorry for having disappointed me, and explaining why he ran away in such haste. 'I just caught a glimpse of Mr. Bray, the old florist from Hillsdale,' he said. 'He had a load of plants, and I ran a race after him to get you one of these, for, as he only comes once in the season, I knew it would be my last chance.'"
"The dear fellow had heard me speak of a rare plant I wanted, and had spent all his pocket-money to get it for me as a surprise. You can easily imagine my shame and humiliation. I have thought of the little incident many a time since when tempted to hasty words or actions."
"But, Aunt Lucy, how can we help speaking angrily when people are so provoking?"
"Only through the grace of Christ, dear. Even King David had to pray: 'Keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile!' Our little member, the tongue, is the hardest of all to manage, and we are told that no man can tame it—only its great Maker can hold it in check. I am sure, dear," with a caressing pat on the little girl's head, "that you will be ready to forgive Herbert by the time he comes back."
Jessie still felt doubtful about it as she saw some of her friends going by with their skates, and longed to join them. But she took her sled, and succeeded in having such a merry time that before she reached home she had almost forgotten her vexation, and had to think twice before she could recall why she had been so angry with Herbert.
"I wonder why he doesn't come home," said Aunt Lucy, an hour afterwards, as the winter twilight began to close in.
Jessie watched from the window in growing uneasiness as she perceived her aunt's anxiety. In the quiet waiting there came into her mind a few lines of a poem she had often heard read:—
"So many little faults we find,
We see them, for not blind
Is love. We see them, but if you and I
Perhaps remember them some by and by,
They will not be
Faults then—grave faults—for they and we
Have such a little way to go—can be
Together such a little while along the way,
We will be patient while we may."
The darkness became deeper as she still watched—watched until the quiet was broken, not by Herbert's light step, and cheery shout, but by the tramp of men who carried him. The sled on which he had been sliding had come into violent collision with a passing sleigh, and Herbert had been seriously injured.
Many days passed before any promise of recovery was held out, and Jessie never forgot the time in which she waited to learn whether it had been ordered that she and her brother should no longer walk together along the way which she had so often shadowed by her evil temper and uncontrolled speech. And in what fervency of thanksgiving she remembered that her latest words to Herbert had not been the angry ones she had been so ready to utter.
"Days change so many things, yes, hours.
We see so differently in suns and showers.
Mistaken words to-night
May be so cherished by to-morrow's light,
We may be patient, for we know
There's such a little way to go."
—Sidney Dayre, in Interior.
The Home Circle.
By Charles Swain
IMAGINARY EVILS.
Let to-morrow take care of to-morrow;
Leave things of the future to fate;
What's the use to anticipate sorrow?
Life's troubles come never too late!
If to hope overmuch be an error,
'Tis one that the wise have preferred;
And how often have hearts been in terror
Of evils that never occurred!
Have faith—and thy faith shall sustain thee—
Permit no suspicion and care
With invisible bonds to enchain thee,
But bear what God gives thee to bear.
By his Spirit supported and gladdened,
Be ne'er by forebodings deterred,
But think how oft hearts have been saddened
By fear—of what never occurred!
Let to-morrow take care of to-morrow;
Short and dark as our life may appear,
We may make it still darker by sorrow—
Still shorter by folly and fear!
Half our troubles are half our invention;
And often by blessings conferred,
Have we shrunk in the wild apprehension
Of evils that never occurred!
—Charles Swain.
The Mild Climate of Arran
The climate of the island of Arran, on the west coast of Scotland, is said to be so mild that palms and camellias thrive in the open air without injury in winter, although the latitude is that of the northern part of Labrador, on the Continent.
Cheerfulness and Serenity
The best application for the improvement of the countenance is a mixture in equal parts of cheerfulness and serenity. Anoint the face every morning, noon, and night.—Sel.
Health and Temperance.
EFFECTS OF STIMULANTS ON THE BLOOD.
THE effects of stimulants upon the circulation need careful consideration. There is no effect of alcohol more insidious than that produced by the nervous thrill it imparts to the action of the heart, and which is propagated all along the various vessels of the circulation. Even the temporary benefit derived from it, in cases of collapse, is most forcible evidence that its frequent or continued use is attended with most disturbing results.
The minute enlarged capillaries often seen upon the face, and the general redness of countenance produced by alcohol, in many who are regarded as temperate in its use, are the forcible declaration, that to the very tip ends of the circulating system it is capable of suspending contractile action, of paralyzing vaso-motor nerves, of weakening the caliber of the vessels, and of producing permanent engorgement or congestion in them. If this is true of the minute vessels of the face, it is equally true of those of the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, and other organs. When it is remembered that most of the vital organs are made up of millions of these little arterioles and veins, what takes place on the skin is the demonstration of far-reaching and abiding impairment of all vascular organs.
Induration of portions of the nervous centers, congestion of the respiratory organs, and shriveling and thickening of the coats of the stomach, are not unusual results of the frequent and habitual use of small quantities of alcohol. Still more serious is the effect upon the kidney and its functions. The power of alcohol to act upon the vaso-motor nerves of the capillary system, and to produce engorgement in minute vessels, is plainly shown in the reddened face and changed complexion of many habitual users who are not called excessive drinkers. The varied forms of renal disease which now destroy so many in middle life, or reduce them to invalidity, generally result from irritating substances which find their way into the renal vessels. No irritant so frequently has this effect as alcohol. So marked and general is its effect in the way of inducing congestion of the capillary circulation of the system and of most of its organs, and their subsequent destructive changes, that it has been well termed by Dickinson the very "genius of degeneration." The stomach, the liver, and the kidneys are generally the first organs to be embarrassed in their function by it. It then goes on to alter their structure so as to embarrass or suspend their service. One of the most constant and important revelations, both of pathology and of statistics, is that this occurs so uniformly in those who have been regarded as only moderate drinkers.
How the brain and the nervous system become involved in the disturbance is too well known, and too frequently attested by what we hear and see in the daily walks of life, to need extended comment. Alcohol retards the normal chemical changes which are essential to the processes of growth and repair. We need to give to the constructive forces full play. These are not stimulated, but blunted, by alcohol. We cannot successfully operate this wonderful machinery of life by forces which disturb circulation, disorder the nervous system, and embarrass vital organs both in structure and function.
When we come to examine the different forms of alcoholic mixtures we find them differing in their injurious effects as they differ in the amount of alcohol they contain. We of course cannot expect so rapid results from cider and beers, with from four to ten per cent. of alcohol, as we have from wines of from nine to twenty-six per cent.; and from brandy, whisky, and gin, with their fifty to sixty per cent. of alcohol. It is for the alcohol in them that they are used, and it is its use which constitutes the peril to health and to life. . . .
The deleterious effects of all alcoholic liquids have so impressed most Governments that restrictive measures have been adopted as to the sale of such liquors, and their sale entirely prohibited or discouraged, so far as minors are concerned. Many who will not practice total abstinence for themselves are in favor of bringing up men and women entirely without it for at least twenty-one years. The foods which are found adapted to the first twenty-one years of life are sufficient for the rest of life.
Against the use of liquids containing alcohol in any form must be urged, not only that they are not needed as foods, but that their use is likely to create an appetite for them which is dangerous to health and to life. In all grades, from the so-called moderate use to intensest intoxication, alcohol is fraught with fearful risks to health and life, as well as to character and success.
However proud we may be of our own powers of resistance, the universal testimony of experience is, that whatever tends to weaken our self-restraint is to be avoided. Fluids containing alcohol have shown such a wondrous ability to break down this power of self-control, and for creating a desire and appetite for such drinks, that, more than all other influences combined, they have overcome the resistance of the will, and proved the allurement and destruction of thousands.
Those who think they will stand, and those whom others have thought would stand, have fallen by multitudes. He who would do himself no harm must not run such a risk. The loss of self-control is a bodily as well as mental and moral infirmity often seen to pass from one generation to another. In any case it involves in its consequences many more than ourselves.
Hygiene has no more imperative law, and no more persuasive words in behalf of health, than to say, "Touch not, taste not, handle not." Character, education, health, happiness, and the hope of success, demand that life should be begun and carried through without indulgence at such a peril. It is a sad misnomer to call it drinking each other's health to drink alcohol. The fountain of health has not, and requires not, any such admixture.—Independent.
AFTER THE FOURTH.
JIM MEAD had done his best by his country on the anniversary of "the day when our land was made free." He had risen at midnight to salute the auspicious morning with the tooting of a fish-horn, he had fired tremendous charges into the air all day long, and finished by subsiding at night into tipsy slumber. Next morning, when he came forth rather jaded and listless, he encountered Aunt Mary Cole, the intimate friend and conscience of the whole village.
"Well," said she, resting her bag, full of school-children's goodies, on the fence, "did you have a good Fourth?"
"Prime!" answered Jim, glibly, but uneasily.
"You banged and tooted to your heart's content, and then you went and stamped and clapped your hands over a spread-eagle oration?"
"Now, Aunt Mary, it was just a first-class speech," said Jim, determined to stand by his colors.
"And you all roared yourselves hoarse when you were told you had a duty to your country. Now, do you want me to tell you where I think your duty to your country lies?"
"Yes, Aunt Mary, only don't be too ha'sh."
"I say you'd better go to work and keep your children in shoes, so they can go to school and get their learning. If you let 'em grow up into poor shif'less trash, you've made your country a present of so many paupers; that's all!"
"Now, Aunt Mary!"
"If you're so master patriotic, Jim Mead, why don't you try to leave your country as good as you found it? Trim up the hedge here, and hoe your garden! Columbia'll be much obliged to you for that, when she would not turn her hand over for a million guns fired off under her nose."
"You always was pretty rough on the lame and the lazy, Aunt Mary!"
"It's no such a thing!" said Aunt Mary, emphatically. "I always let 'em alone till they begin to make puffed-up speeches about their patriotism and their dignity as Americans, and then I just want to see 'em prove themselves. You just set your foot down like an honest man now, that you won't celebrate another Fourth till you've given America a good citizen, and then Columbia and I'll have some respect for you! Good-morning."
She passed on, upright as a needle.
Jim looked in at the kitchen window.
"Maria," said he, "where's that hoe gone to? I guess I'll hoe the beans."—Youths' Companion.
WONDERS OF THE SEA.
EVAPORATION is a wonderful power in drawing water from the sea. Every year a layer of the entire sea fourteen feet thick is taken up in the clouds. The winds bear their burden into the land, and the water comes down in rain upon the fields, to flow back at last through rivers. The depth of the sea presents an interesting problem. If the Atlantic were lowered 6,564 feet, the distance from shore would be half as great, or 1,500 miles. If lowered a little more than three miles, say 16,680 feet, there would be a road of dry land from Newfoundland to Ireland. This is the plain on which the great Atlantic cables were laid. The Mediterranean is comparatively shallow. A drying up of 660 feet would leave three different seas, and Africa would be joined with Italy. The British channel is more like a pond, which accounts for its choppy waves.—Selected.
THE BENEFITS OF HIGH LICENSE.
Mother—"Our boy is out late nights."
Father—"Well, we must tax the saloons $50."
M.—"Husband, I believe John drinks."
F.—"We must put up that tax to $100."
M.—"My dear husband, our boy is being ruined."
F.—"Try 'em awhile at $200."
M.—"Oh, my God! my boy came home drunk."
F.—"Well, well! we must make it $300."
M.—"Just think, William, our boy in jail."
F.—"I'll fix those saloons. Tax 'em $400."
M.—"My poor child is a confirmed drunkard."
F.—"Up with that tax, and make it $500."
M.—"Our once noble boy is a wreck."
F.—"Now I will stop 'em; make it $600."
M.—"We carry our poor boy to a drunkard's grave to-day."
F.—"Well, I declare! we must regulate this traffic; we ought to have made that tax $1,000."—Advance.
SECULAR.
—The Irish Crimes Bill has passed its third reading in the Commons.
—Parnell says that evictions are alarmingly on the increase in Ireland.
—The British ship Muskota has, it is feared, been lost at sea with all on board, twenty-six men.
—The Catholic Herald, one of the New York papers which supported Dr. McGlynn, has suspended.
—Gold-bearing quartz has been discovered near Ishpeming, Mich. The ore is said to be very rich.
—Two men lost their lives in a fire in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 5th inst. The money loss was $160,000.
—Over 100 persons who took part in the recent rebellion at Chang-Chow, China, have been beheaded.
—Eight men lost their lives on the 7th inst, in the Sturgeon River district, by the sudden flooding of a mine.
—Locusts (commonly called grasshoppers) are devastating the country in the vicinity of Perham, Minnesota.
—Parts of China have recently been visited by most destructive floods. Thousands of persons are supposed to have been drowned.
—One woman was killed and two other passengers were probably fatally injured in a street-car accident in Fitchburg, Mass., on the 4th inst.
—The French revenue receipts for June were 4,000,000 francs less than the estimates. The total deficit for the half year is 25,000,000 francs.
—The new French Premier has prepared a budget which proposes retrenchment in the expenses of the Government to the amount of 129,000,000 francs.
—Fires in the little town of Clarendon, Pa., July 4 and 6, destroyed 381 buildings out of a total of 386, which constituted the town. Three persons perished in the flames.
—July 4, at Quincy, Ill., an aeronaut named Baldwin jumped from a balloon at the height of one mile, and landed safely by the aid of an eighteen-foot parachute.
—The New York Tribune gives figures to show that the present population of the United States, even without taking into account the immigration from Canada, is not less than 61,700,000.
—During a drill of the Sappers at Jazygia, Hungary, July 4, a dynamite cartridge exploded prematurely, killing twenty-seven men and injuring forty-eight others. Of the killed four were officers.
—The Michigan Legislature has passed a county local option liquor law, and the opinion is expressed that under it more than half of the counties in that State will free themselves from the liquor curse.
—Mr. Powderly is authority for the statement that "in one Pennsylvania county in a single year $17,000,000 was spent for liquor, and it was estimated that $11,000,000 of the amount came from workingmen."
—A terrible disaster occurred on the 6th inst. at Zug, Switzerland. A huge landslide precipitated twenty-seven houses besides one large hotel into the waters of the lake. At least 100 persons perished.
—July 7 a fire broke out in the barracks at the citadel, Quebec, and a large number of the buildings were destroyed. It was only by almost superhuman efforts that the fire was prevented from reaching the magazines.
—The town of Nagy Karoly, Hungary, was destroyed by a hurricane and water-spout on the night of the 6th inst., and the site of the town and the adjoining district converted into a vast lake. Many persons lost their lives.
—A correspondent of the Congregationalist referring to the waning influences of the home, calls attention to the statement made recently that of 243,000 families in New York only 13,000 live in homes of their own; the remaining 210,000 families board.
—About eighty persons were made seriously ill in New York City on the 4th inst, by eating poisonous ice-cream. It is said that this was undoubtedly a case of a tyrotoxicon form of milk poison discovered by Professor Vaughn, of the University of Michigan.
—President Cleveland has sent a letter to the mayor of St. Louis stating that he will not attend the Grand Army encampment in that city on account of the opposition expressed by many members of the organization, and the stated determination to insult him by a public denunciation should he attend.
—The riot at Oak Ridge, La., reported last week, resulted in thirteen deaths instead of seven as first stated. If the newspaper reports are trustworthy, the trouble was occasioned by a party of colored people attacking some officers who had a prisoner in charge. Only one of the victims was a white man.
—The skeletons of sixty murdered men were found a few days ago in a cave not far from a road in Kentucky which for seventy-five years was known as the Kentucky stock-road, and was once the principal highway for traders between Louisville, Ky., and several South Carolina and Georgia towns. Traders and cattlemen frequently disappeared mysteriously while traveling through that section and it is now known that they were murdered and thrown into this cave.
—The discontent with the corrupt rule of the Gibson ministry in the Hawaiian Kingdom culminated June 30, when the citizens, assembled in mass-meeting, demanded of the king that he form an entirely new ministry, restore certain moneys illegally and wrongfully taken, and consent to the formation of a new constitution. The king has appointed a ministry nominated by the people and has promised all the reforms demanded. The ex-Premier and his son-in-law have been placed under arrest and will be dealt with according to law.