THIS is Jesus's prayer for his disciples wherever found in all the world to the end of time. He says, “Neither pray I for these [the eleven] alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” Here in this prayer is expressed the tender love and considerate care which the divine Saviour has for those who believe on him. Before departing out of the world he left this prayer to be recorded for the consolation and confirmation of his children who are left in the world. When his children are afflicted if they would remember more than they do this prayer of the Saviour for them, there would be more peace and comfort and joy in the Christian course.
CHRIST once said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Shall we not believe that in this sifting, in this tossing about, which Peter experienced, he was strengthened by the consciousness that Jesus had prayed for him? Certainly. But Peter is not the only one of Christ's followers whom Satan has desired; he is not the only one who needed to be sifted as wheat; and, far better than this, he is not the only one for whom Jesus has prayed. Notice, he did not pray for Peter that he might escape the sifting, he prayed that his faith should not fail, while being sifted. Peter needed the sifting, so do we. He needed the faith to endure it, so do we. He had the prayer of the precious Saviour that his faith might not fail, so have we.
THAT he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Eternal life is in Christ, and that alone for those who are his. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.” John 3:36. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. These scriptures show, and indeed the Scripture altogether shows, that there is life only in Christ. Out of him there is no life, for the wages of sin is death. But Christ died for sinners, and through faith in him there is forgiveness of sin. Without faith in him there is no escape from sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And death is death—the second death—and not eternal life in misery. Out of Christ there is no such thing as eternal life, in misery nor anywhere else. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” And when He appears in his glory, he takes “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction [not with everlasting misery] from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:8, 9. In Christ is life literal and eternal. Out of Christ is death literal and eternal. Choose Christ that you may live.
HOLY Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.” It is not the Saviour's wish, nor is it the Father's wish, that any should fall away. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:9. And, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.” Rom. 8:32. Notice, the word is not, How shall he with him freely give us all, but it is, “How shall he not.” If God so loved us that while we were yet enemies he gave his dear Son to die for us, now, being reconciled and his friends, how shall he not with him freely give us all needed grace to keep us. Oh, how great is his goodness, and how great his mercy. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25.
THEY are not of the world.” Those are they for whom this prayer is made, and who can claim the comfort and the strength which it promises. For he said that in this prayer he prayed not for the world. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which555thou hast given me.” It is plain therefore that no one can have the world, and the benefits of this prayer at the same time, nor even off and on. We must be Christ's. We must be not of the world. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” “The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:16, 15. Therefore, “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Rom. 12:2.
I PRAY not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.” No. They are the light of the world; they are the salt of the earth; they are epistles which Christ writes to the world to tell the world of him, of his goodness, his holiness, his purity, his righteousness—in short to tell the world that he is Christ, the sent of God, in whom God reconciled the world unto himself. They are in Christ's stead in the world, for he said, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” And when Christ's work is done for the world,—when he ceases to be priest upon his Father's throne, and becomes king upon his own throne; when he lays off the garments of the intercessor, and puts on the “garments of vengeance for clothing;” when the cup of salvation shall be emptied, and the cup of wrath filled; when the mystery of God shall be finished—then he will appear upon the white cloud, and call to the heavens above and to the earth, “Gather my saints together unto me;” and “shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other;” then and thus he will take them out of the world.
THAT they all may be one.” The unity of his disciples is the strong point of the Saviour's prayer, this wish being expressed no less than five times in it,—“That they may be one, as we are;” “That they all may be one;” “That they also may be one in us;” “That they may be one, even as we are one;” “That they may be made perfect in one.” Surely then the oneness of his disciples is the greatest wish of their Lord. This unity is accomplished and maintained by the Holy Spirit; as he says, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” On this Paul says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4:1–6. Again, in 1 Cor. 1:10, he says, “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” See also Rom. 15:5, 6; 12:16; Phil. 2:2, 5; 1 Peter 3:8.
AND the object of this unity for which he so earnestly prayed, and upon which, through Paul, he so strongly insists, is, “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me;” and “That the world may know that thou hast sent me.” If his disciples everywhere had met, or if they would meet, the wish expressed in this prayer, the world could not deny that God sent his Son into the world. But alas, even in the very days of the apostles, there were those who loved to have the pre-eminence, 3 John 9, and from among the churches they themselves established, there should “men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:30. Jude however exposes the secret of all such things then and in all ages. “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” Verse 19. Absence of the Spirit of Christ destroys the unity which should characterize the disciples of Christ. For this cause Paul beseeches us to endeavor to keep “the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace;” and Jude continues, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
J.
Calistoga, California.
By W. M. HEALEY; H. A. ST. JOHN
It is now seven weeks since we came to this place and began meetings in the tent. Besides preaching each evening, we have held meetings in the day-time on Sabbaths and Sundays. The whooping cough and mumps have been prevailing and have kept some from attending the meetings, which has necessitated much labor from house to house in the way of Bible-readings, etc. We now have fifteen names, of adults, on the covenant, and hope for others.
W. M. HEALEY.
H. A. ST. JOHN.
Pomona, Los Angeles Co., Cal.
By E. A. Briggs
Our tent meetings in this place have been in progress for seven weeks; and a wide-spread interest in “the present truth” has been manifested. The opposition to the law of God which has been shown is more bitter and malignant than anything I have hitherto experienced. One minister of the place claims to have proved that Sunday is the “Christian sabbath;” a second has taken the position that Sunday is not the Sabbath, but it is the Lord’s Day; while a third claims that there is no Sabbath or Lord’s Day for Christians. Is this Babylon? Meanwhile fourteen new converts have signed the covenant to keep “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus;” and our meetings will not close for several days longer. May God help the little band to be firm and faithful, even until the Master comes to usher his commandment-keepers into the golden city. Rev. 22:14.
August 26, 1886.
E. A. BRIGGS.
Nevada.
By G. W. Colcord
SINCE my last report I have held services in Mason Valley, St. Clair, and Reno. Two persons were baptized at Mason Valley, and one at each of the other places. I have also held a series of tent meetings in Winnemucca, assisted for awhile by Brother F. T. Lamb. At this place five signed the covenant and five others made verbal promises to obey the truth, but because of real or imaginary hindrances, they could not be persuaded to pledge themselves in writing to be loyal to the just government of Heaven. Time will tell how many will fulfill their vows.
Since leaving Winnemucca I have learned that eight adults had signed the covenant, as the result of Brother Lamb's effort at Unionville; and that he hoped for as many more.
Our tent is pitched in Dayton, where we hope to see ripening fruit as the important exercises of our annual camp-meeting draws towards a close. G. W. COLCORD.
THE LAW OF GOD.
The Authority for the Change of the Sabbath.
(Lesson 23.—Sabbath, September 25.)
1. What did Isaiah say of Christ’s relation to the law of God?
“The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.
2. What did Christ himself say of it?
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5:17, 18.
3. What have we found to be the practice of Christ and the apostles?
4. Did Sunday-keeping originate in the days of the apostles?
“We hear less than we used to about the apostolic origin of the present Sunday observance, and for the reason that while the Sabbath and Sabbath rest are woven into the warp and woof of Scripture, it is now seen, as it is admitted, that we must go to later than apostolic times for the establishment of Sunday observance.”—Christian at Work (Presbyterian), Feb. 13, 1886.
5. Is there any direct command for this Sunday observance?
“The change from the seventh to the first day of the week appears to have been gradually and silently introduced, by example, rather than by express precept.”—Dr. Scott; comment on Acts 20:7.
6. When and by whom was the first Sunday commandment given?
“Whatever may have been the opinion or practice of these early Christians, in regard to cessation from labor on Sunday, unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, A. D. 321.”—Chambers’s Encyclopedia, art. “Sabbath.”
7. Did this edict require the observance of Sunday as a sabbath?
“Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines.”—Part of the decree of Constantine.
8. When and by what authority was abstinence from agricultural labor on Sunday first recommended?
“It was not till the year 538 that abstinence from agricultural labor on Sunday was recommended, rather than enjoined, by an ecclesiastical authority (the third council of Orleans), and this expressly that the people might have more leisure to go to church and say their prayers.”—Chambers’s Encyclopedia, art. “Sabbath.”
9. When was liberty to labor on Sunday fully taken away?
“Nor was it till about the end of the 9th century that the Emperor Leo, the Philosopher, repealed the exemption which it [agricultural labor] enjoyed under the edict of Constantine.”—Ib.
10. How did Paul describe the Papacy?
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.
11. How was it to exalt itself above God?
“And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Dan. 7:25.
12. Does the Roman Catholic Church acknowledge this charge?—She does, and boasts of it. Thus:—
“Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?”
“Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”—From the Doctrinal Catechism.
13. What does the Catholic Church claim as the proof of her authority?
“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?”
“Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.”—From “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.”
14. Upon what foundation do all festivals of the church rest?
“Sundays and holy days all rest on the same foundation, namely, the authority of the church.”—Catholic Christian Instructed.
15. Do professed Protestants concur in this statement?
“We rest the designation of Sunday on the church having set it apart of its own authority. The seventh-day rest was commanded in the fourth commandment. . . . The selection of Sunday, thus changing the particular day designed in the fourth commandment, was brought about by the gradual concurrence of the early Christian Church, and on this basis, and none other, does the Christian sabbath, the first day of the week, rightly rest.”—Christian at Work, Jan. 3, 1885.
16. What is the only position that the true follower of Christ can take on this question?
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts. 5:29.
17. And what does God say?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” Ex. 20:8–10; 23:2, first clause.
Power of a Few Words of Scripture.
A PAINTER who rented a room in a tenement house, in one of the crowded squares of a great city, was one evening leisurely smoking his pipe, when he heard a rap at his door. It was repeated several times; then at his gruff “come in,” a little ragged boy timidly entered. “What do you want here?” demanded the man, keenly eyeing the intruder.
“Please, sir,” said the little boy eagerly, “can you read?”
“What do you want to know that for, boy?”
“Mother’s very ill, sir, and maybe she’ll die, and she wants somebody to read something to her, and I can’t get nobody, sir, and won’t you come?”
“Nonsense, child; I’m busy now; get away down with you, and mind you shut my door.”
The boy was so much in earnest that he still pleaded, but after another rebuff went sorrowfully away.
Brian took up his pipe again, but the voice of the little suppliant was still speaking to his heart, and presently it seemed to him a sound like a sob came from the entry. He opened the door, and on the stairs sat the child, sobbing as if his heart would break. Brian spoke to him more kindly, and told him to go down to his mother. But the boy said piteously, “Mother’ll be so sorry I can’t get nobody to come and read to her.” And then, encouraged by his auditor’s attention, he told how a lady had visited his poor sick mother, and read to her from a little book which did her “a deal of good,” and that she left the book with her, but his mother was too sick now to make out the words, and had sent him to find somebody to read to her, and how he had asked all the other lodgers in the house and they all made excuses; “and there’s nobody left but you; please, sir, won’t you come?” The man was touched, and went so far as to say, “I’ll see—maybe I’ll come a bit when I’ve done my pipe.” He turned back to his room but he could not finish his pipe. He laid it down, covered his fire, locked his door, and joined his little guide at the foot of the stairs.
As they entered the sick woman’s room, she looked up eagerly. It was plain to be seen that she was very ill. In her hand she held the book Willie had described and, handing it to Brian, gasped out her thanks. It was open at Luke 5, and the verses she wanted were the 12th and 13th—“And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy; who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.” When Brian had finished reading, he waited for her to speak.
“Aye,” she said, “poor man—full of leprosy—that was like me, full of sin—aye, I am full of sin—nothing but sin—all my life! Oh, how many, many sins. But, I must come to Jesus—he came, poor man! I want to come. What was it he said?”
“Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,” read Tom Brian.
“Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean,” said the poor woman again and again. “O Lord, do make me clean—please do—make me clean now!”
Brian read on: “And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean.”
“Lord, touch me,” said the poor woman, “oh, make me clean; say, ‘I will’ to me—take the sin away!—oh! take it away!”
Then there was a long silence. Little Willie fell asleep on the floor, his mother leaned back on her pillow, again and again her lips moved and the words were faintly uttered, “make me clean.” Brian sat looking out of the window thinking. He thought of the old times; of his godly mother; his childhood’s home; his Bible, well known once, now long neglected; of the house of God, and of his Sabbath-school teacher. Then, of months and years of carelessness and sin—a wasted life. Oh, might he return to God now? Would Jesus receive him, and say, in answer to his prayer for mercy, “Be thou clean.” He turned to look at the sick woman; she was drawing near to her life’s close. But her face was peaceful now. She beckoned to him and said, “Thank you, I see it all now. He has said ‘I will’ to me, he has touched me, he has made me clean.” Her eyes closed, she fell back on her pillow, and was dead.
Brian stood looking at her a few minutes, then called in a neighbor to perform the last offices, and taking the sleeping boy in his arms, carried him up-stairs and laid him on his own bed. But for himself there was no sleep. He opened an old box, half full of rubbish, and drew out his long-neglected Bible. On the fly-leaf he read his own name and that of his Sabbath-school teacher; and underneath, these words of our Lord, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out;” and, falling on his knees, he prayed, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” He was sitting by the fire, his face buried in his hands, when little Willie awoke, and, coming to him, asked in a troubled voice, “Please, sir, where’s my mother?” At first Brian could not speak; when the question was repeated, he forced himself to answer, “She’s dead, little lad.”
The boy looked earnestly at him and asked with a sob, “Shan’t I never see her no more?”
“Yes, little lad,” said he, putting his arm around him, “if you come as she came. You must say her little prayer, ‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.’”
“Let’s say it now, please, sir,” said the boy.
So the man and the child knelt together, and repeated again and again the prayer, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
And more than one soul in that crowded square was touched that night; more than one heart heard a loving voice saying, “I will, be thou clean.”—Sel.
Embalmed by the Soil.
HUMAN, bodies buried in limestone countries, are often turned to solid stone by the lime-water which penetrates the graves. In other soils there are elements which sometimes so embalm the buried dead as to preserve form and features unchanged. Many such cases are on record. Robert Burns's body was disinterred in 1815, to be removed to a new tomb. To the surprise of all his friends, the features were found to be as perfect as at burial.
The case of John Hampden, the famous English patriot and leader, was more surprising. His body was disinterred by Lord Nugent, two hundred years after burial, but form and features were as unchanged as if the corpse had been recently laid in the grave.
When General Washington's body was taken up at Mount Vernon, to be laid in a sarcophagus and removed to the permanent tomb, his face was found to be in a state of perfect preservation.
In all these cases, however, the process of decay had gone on internally, though arrested at the surface. After a brief exposure to the air, the body crumbled, and all resemblance to life passed away.—Sel.
Why the Irish Like Green.
SOME old Greek traditions tell how Cadmus, a mighty leader and a very wise man in all the arts and sciences, came over from Asia and taught the Boeotians letters. In Phœnician the word Cadmus means the East-man, while the word Europe, which gradually was applied to a vast extent of land, a continent, at first belonged only to land just across from the island of Euboea, on the other side of the narrow strait called Euripus, and means in Phœnician, the West-land. So when you read of Cadmus coming to Europe, it is the East-man coming to the West-land.
Over and over again in history we find names, to which all sorts of fanciful derivations have been given, and beautiful legends and myths have been attached, turning out to be the simplest kind of words. Thus, Ireland also means the West-land, and it comes from the Celtic word iar and our word land; iar meaning the west. Iar, before being used to denote the west, means the back, and that fact lets us into an important secret concerning the religion of the Celts, who first came over the Irish sea to the Emerald Island. It tells us that those early men named the points of the557compass according to the other directions when the observer faced toward the east. So the east was named from front, or forward, the west from back or behind, the north from left hand, and the south from right hand. That means that the early Celts worshiped the dawn and the sunrise. And so faithfully have the old traditions remained in men's minds in that big western island of the British Empire that, to this day, the emblem on the coat of arms of Ireland is a sunburst, or rising sun.
Another curious thing is that it is more than probable that the Irish preference to the color green, for their flag and their sashes, arose from a mistake among those who had lost a thorough knowledge of the old Irish language. The sun, in Irish, is called by a word pronounced like our word “green”; and it is likely that the Irish fondness for that color arose from the word's exact likeness in sound to their word for the sun. In the same way, when we talk about green-houses, we think they are called so because the plants are kept green in them during winter. Yet it is far more probable that “green,” here, is the Irish word meaning, not the color, but the sun; because green-houses are built so as to catch the sun's rays and store them up when it is hidden by clouds, as happens more than half the time in showery Ireland.—From “Wonders of the Alphabet,” by Henry Eckford, in St. Nicholas for June.
London as It Is.
WHAT a constant marvel and enigma is a great city! The facts that are appearing in regard to London almost stagger imagination and challenge belief, but they are the sober figures of cold calculation. The original city within its wall comprised only 370 acres, and was wholly included in the county of Middlesex. It now has spread until its area covers 75,362 acres, extending into three counties, and including 122 square miles, being equal to a square having about eleven miles on each side. Within this area, by the census of 1881, there were more than 486,000 inhabited houses, each occupied by 7.8 persons, and the population was then 3,814,571, which has since increased to at least 4,000,000.
Every year the births in London out-numbered the deaths by more than 1,000 a week, so that the natural yearly increase is 52,500. A low estimate of the immigration from the country and abroad is 65,000 a year. With all the accumulation of this immense population, there are less than twenty deaths out of every 1,000 persons, showing that London is a remarkably healthy city, only three of the twenty-eight largest towns in the kingdom being more so. Last year, indeed, the death rate was the lowest on record. In connection with this, the fact is also stated that the marriage rate was then the lowest, showing the hardness of the times and the difficulty of getting a livelihood.
These bare statistics of the size and growth of London are amazing. But still more so would be the facts, could they be as readily computed, of its immense influence on the financial, social and religious enterprises of the civilized world.—Star and Crown.
The Home Circle.
By Adelaide A. Proctor
JUDGE NOT.
“JUDGE not; the workings of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see.
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,
In God's pure light may only be
A scar, brought from some well-won field
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
“The look, the air that frets thy sight,
May be a token that below,
The soul has closed in deadly fight
With some infernal fiery foe,
Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace,
And cast thee shuddering on thy face!
“The fall thou darest to despise—
May be the angel's slackened hand
Has suffered it, that he may rise
And take a firmer, surer stand;
Or, trusting less to earthly things,
May henceforth learn to use his wings.
“And judge none lost; but wait and see,
With hopeful pity not disdain;
The depth of that abyss may be
The measure of the height of pain
And love and glory that may raise
The soul to God in after days!”
—Adelaide A. Proctor.
Homeless Children.
A RECENT writer states that, “in the city of New York, there are 12,000 children under twelve years of age, 7,000 of whom have no shelter, not knowing at morning where they can sleep at night, and the rest having shelters revolting to behold.” The like of this prevails to a greater or less extent in every city in the Union. New York is no exception; nor is it in proportion to its population worse than some others of our cities. This is, almost wholly, to be charged to the drink curse as one of its natural and legitimate effects.—Messiah's Herald.
The Pennies.
By Sel.
It was a bright spring evening when little Polly stole softly into her father's room, with shoeless feet, and her golden hair falling lightly over her white night-gown; for it was bed-time, and she had come to say “good-night.”
“Father,” said the little one, raising her blue eyes to his kind face, “father, may I say my prayers beside you, for mother is too ill for me to go to her to-night?”
“Yes, pet,” he answered, tenderly stroking the curly head.
And reverently the child knelt down beside him, and repeated her evening prayer, adding at the close with special earnestness, “God bless my two pennies.”
What can the child mean? thought her father in surprise; and when the little white-robed figure was gone, he went and asked her mother if she knew what their little daughter meant.
“O yes!” said the lady. “Polly has prayed that prayer every night since she put her two pennies into the plate at the last missionary meeting.”
Dear children, have you ever prayed to God for a blessing on the money you have put into the missionary box? If not, be sure you never forget to do so in the future.—Sel.
Daily Duties and Privileges
By Sel.
EACH day has its special privileges, as well as its special duties. The morning is a good time for considering in advance the duties. The evening is a good time for considering in retrospect the privileges. “What ought I to do to-day?” is a good question to start out with. “What have I gained to-day?” is a good question to wind up with.—Sel.
Living Beyond One’s Means
SPEND your own money, and do not spend more than you have. There are thousands of men in this country who are doing just the opposite of this. They spend other people's money, and spend more than they have. One of the causes of modern society is that men live beyond their means.—Christian World.
Gold Consumed by Jewelry and Arts
According to Mr. Soetbeer's researches, jewelry and the arts, after due allowance has been made for the re-employment of old gold, absorb yearly 90,000 kilograms of pure gold, or about £12,000,000.
Health and Temperance.
How to Prevent the Spread of Diphtheria.
DIPHTHERIA is a terrible disease, and when it breaks out in a school or in a family where there are several children, unless the very best precautions are observed, it is likely to spread, for it is a disease that may be communicated from one person to another. It is contagious. Regarding the different measures employed to prevent the spread of this disease, we very greatly prefer the fumes of burning sulphur. We regard sulphur as the most effective disinfectant we can use for the purpose of preventing the spread of diphtheria in schools and in families where several children are exposed, and it has a salutary effect upon those already suffering from the disease. We have had the care of scores of diphtheria patients, and we can refer to quite a number of families of children where the disease was limited to one child, and we verily believe that the fumes of burning sulphur were instrumental in preventing the spread of the disease in these cases.
In all cases where diphtheria breaks out in a school no children should be permitted to go to the school from houses where the disease exists. After school hours, in the evening, the school-rooms should be thoroughly fumigated with sulphur. This should be done daily, but the house should be free from sulphur fumes during school hours, for the coughing and sneezing that might result from the sulphur fumes would create great annoyance and confusion. Where diphtheria prevails in a family the patient or patients, if there are two or three attacked at the same time, should be isolated, confined to one room, and all the children not affected should be kept in some remote part of the house, or removed from the house entirely if practicable. In either case, whether any of the children are removed from the house or not, every room, including the one occupied by the patient, should be fumigated with sulphur two or three times daily.
The most convenient method of fumigating is to drop a small pinch upon a hot stove, if there be one in the room; if there be no stove in the room, a few coals on a shovel or other convenient utensil may be carried into the room, and the sulphur may be dropped on the coals. A little experience will soon enable any one to determine how much sulphur to burn in each room. It is not necessary to fill the room so full of these sulphur fumes as to suffocate us; and if we happen to burn a little too much sulphur in any given case, and the fumes become offensive, the doors and windows can be opened a minute or two.
Other disinfectants may be employed, but these sulphur fumes will permeate every crevice in the house; they are breathed by us, our clothes are saturated by them, and, withal, we regard this as the most practical and effectual method of disinfection against the spread of diphtheria that can be adopted. And where diphtheria prevails in a neighborhood, and families fear its outbreak among their children, they should resort to sulphur fumigation daily, whether diphtheria has appeared in the house or not; this may prevent its outbreak in families that might otherwise suffer from it. At least this prevention does not cost much, and can do no harm. These sulphur fumes will do us no injury.—American Medical Journal.
What Tobacco Can Do.
By ETHAN LAMPHEAR
Years ago, when I lived in Eastern New York, this sad occurrence happened in my county: There lived some miles away from my home, two young men of respectable families, with whom I was acquainted. They were naturally fine young men, but, like many others, they got to thinking that to smoke was manly and smart. These young men started out for a ride and a jolly good time; filled their pockets with cigars, and commenced to smoke. They came into the village where I resided, smoking as they came; stopped for a time, bought a new supply and passed on to the next village, keeping up their continual smoking. They returned in the evening, having kept up their smoking through the day, arriving at their homes late in the evening. What was the result? The next morning one of these young men was a corpse; and the other's life was saved only by the skilled effort of an able physician.
I have a neighbor who is an inveterate smoker, and he has three sons. They became smokers also. The wife and mother, though rather delicate, was compelled to live and breathe in the midst of their smoke, besides inhaling the stench of the clothing of her family. She grew feeble and pale; but no one seemed to know what was the trouble. The elder son married a beautiful young lady, and brought her into the family; but both the mother and her daughter-in-law (good Christians I believe) now lie in their graves, while the remainder of the family look pale in countenance, and are an offense, from the smell of tobacco smoke and the scented garments they wear, at church, or wherever they go; and neither preacher nor physician dare tell them the cause, lest they may be offended.
Another case in point: On the same street on which I live resides a man who always has a pipe or cigar in his mouth when about the house. He also has two sons, and they have the same habit, and keep the house filled with tobacco smoke. The father has a tobacco and cigar store, and when he is not in the house he is in the store amid the fumes of the tobacco poison. When father and sons meet at the house it is the same old story, smoke, smoke. The wife and mother, naturally a smart and hardy woman, who doubtless earned the largest part of the family's living, began to grow feeble and look haggard in countenance, but no one seemed to know the nature of her disease; and all hope of her recovery seemed to disappear; then she was sent to the sea-shore as the last hope of her recovery. But she is pickled through and through with this narcotic poison, and nobody dare tell them the trouble, because it is the fashion to smoke, and they might be offended!
The elder son, though lean and haggard in look, married a young wife and they lived in the house with her father, he being an inveterate smoker; he and the son-in-law kept things blue morning, noon, and night with smoke. A child was born unto the young couple; but it partook of the haggard look of its parents, and died before it was three years old.
These are fair samples of what this tobacco habit is doing all over our land; and this is taking place daily among professed Christian men. When will men learn wisdom, and learn not to "defile the temple of God."
Plainfield, N. J. ETHAN LAMPHEAR.
Tobacco Use and Heart Palpitation
MEDICAL statistics show that about one out of every four tobacco users has palpitation or some trouble of the heart.—Sel.