In Jer. 31:8, who is it that is brought from the north country?
God's “people, the remnant of Israel.” See Verse 7. The “north country” would be the regions of the north. It will be seen from the context that the gathering is from all parts wheresoever the people of God are scattered. This was in part fulfilled under Zerubbabel; it would have been wholly fulfilled if God's people had then accepted His promises; it will be in all its fulness of glory fulfilled when Christ shall come. Matt. 24:31.
1467.—Cain's Wife.
Where did Cain get his wife, if, as it is written, there were only Adam, Eve, and Cain upon the earth at that time. K.
There are some things which it is worth while to settle for all time. One of these is, that no part of the Bible was written to satisfy our curiosity. Another is, that the one great purpose of the Bible is to warn, to save, to instruct men in the way of righteousness. 2 Tim. 3:16. Hence many things in the narrative seem incomplete, sometimes contradictory, which, if we had the omitted details, would be plain and clear. The Bible does not say that Adam and Eve and Cain were the only people upon the earth then. It gives an account of the birth of Cain and Abel, Abel's death, and then an account of Cain and his posterity for six generations. It then returns and records the birth of Seth and others. But we have no more ground, except uncertain probability, for saying that Cain's marriage preceded Seth's birth than we have to say that Tubal-cain's birth preceded Seth's. In fact Seth was probably born and other sons and daughters of Adam and perhaps of Seth, before Cain became so fearful that his life would be taken, and the Lord promised him immunity. Cain's wife may have been a daughter of Adam, or, perhaps, of Seth. For within 300 years Adam's and Seth's sons and daughters may have numbered fifty or more.
1468.—Not Christ's “Second Coming.”
It is contended from John 20:17 that Jesus ascended, and afterward descended and remained with His apostles forty days (Acts 1:3), and that this was the second coming of Christ. Please explain.
The first part is true that Jesus ascended and then returned; but that was not His “second coming” to this world. He afterward came down and appeared to Paul. Acts 26:16; 9:17; 1 Cor. 9:1. But Christ's coming “the second time” is spoken of as future long after this. Heb. 9:28; Rev. 1:7.
THE OUTLOOK
By Editor
WHAT IS THE OBJECTION TO THE THEATER?
Before the awful Chicago theater fire had occurred, it was announced that this editorial (begun in last week's issue) would be republished from the Sunday School Times of nineteen years ago. The following letter from a Chicago pastor, received just as this issue is closing, is of timely significance: "The Iroquois Theater horror has shaken our city as it is seldom stirred by any interest. The theater question, morally considered, has become a living question with hundreds of Christian people who frequent such places. Several have intimated to me that they should never go again,—not solely through fear, but through an awakened conscience. Not only in Chicago, but the country over, the hour is ripe for gentle and tactful dealing with theater-going Christians."
In his merging of his personality in simulation, as a very essential of his profession, or of his "art," the actor's profession or art differs from that of any other. There is nothing like it in the true mission, or in the best work, of any other honest or reputable profession. There is nothing akin to it in any other approved sphere of art. A man may describe evil, or portray it, in literature, in poetry, in music, in painting, in sculpture, without putting himself into that show of evil; without merging his personality in another personality; but in the art of the actor he who would portray the tyrant, the murderer, the adulterer, the seducer, or the betrayer of a sacred trust, must strive to think and feel and speak and act as if he were himself this very evil-doer. Shakespeare himself seems to recognize the essential unworthiness of such an art, when he makes Hamlet say:—
"Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!"
Even if truly noble characters are, in exceptional instances, represented by leading actors on the stage, it may be said, unqualifiedly, that rarely if ever has an eminent actor or actress in modern times made or rested a reputation on the portrayal of a truly noble character (not including in this estimate, of course, the exceptional remnant of the original religious drama in the Passion Play of Ober Ammergau). And if a man or a woman tries at one time to seem better and at another time to seem worse than his or her real self, the tendency of such acting as a whole must inevitably be toward the lower rather than toward the higher standard, since it is always easier to go down hill than to go up. If in the Passion Play, for example, the same man were to assume in alternation the diverse characters of Jesus and Judas, the effect of his acting would be more likely to give a show of Judas than of Jesus in his face and bearing, if not indeed in his character.
A recent English writer computes that Mr. Henry Irving has committed at least fifteen thousand murders on the stage, while Mr. Barry Sullivan has added at least two thousand more stage murders than this to his list; that Mr. Charles Wyndham has been divorced from twenty-eight hundred wives—on the stage; that Mrs. Bancroft has in the same public place been "foully betrayed," or abducted thirty-two hundred times; that Miss Ada Cavendish has been "betrayed, deserted, or abducted," fifty-six hundred times; and so on, all along the list of popular actors. Can any intelligent person, any person of refined sensibilities, or with a fair knowledge of psychological laws and influences, believe for one moment that the deliberate and purposeful indulgence in simulated evil to the extent here indicated has had no effect in deadening the moral nature of the actor to the enormity of the offenses simulated or dallied with?
To be a great actor (and surely the actor's profession is seen at its best in the persons of its greatest representatives, not its poorer), the real self must be merged or lost in the simulated self during all the time of acting—whether before the public or in preparatory rehearsals. The good self of the actor's personality must for the time being be lost in the evil self of the character acted. And what an effect is this! The greater the actor, the completer the transference of self, and the profounder the evil!
Hear Charlotte Brontë's graphic but terrible description of the peerless Rachel's acting in the part of Phèdre: "For a while—a long while—I thought it was only a woman, tho a unique woman, who moved in might and grace before this multitude. By and by I recognized my mistake. Behold! I found upon her something neither of woman nor of man; in each of her eyes sat a devil. These evil forces bore her through the tragedy, kept up her feeble strength—for she was but a frail creature; and as the action rose and the stir deepened, how wildly they shook her with the passion of the pit! They wrote Hell on her straight, haughty brow. They tuned her voice to the note of torment. They writhed her regal face to a demonic mask. Hate and Murder and Madness incarnate she stood."
And this is a woman's tribute of praise for a woman's rarest success in the art and profession of an actor. Would any true and pure woman intelligently crave the power of such a hellish transformation of self as this? crave it for herself, or for one whom she loved and honored? Can any pure and true man or woman intelligently approve as a life profession the actor's endeavor after such power of transformation hellward?
Is there wonder, then, that all along through the ages there have been indications of well-founded hostility to, and an abhorrence of, the profession of an actor, even among those who themselves approved and sustained the theater itself? Among the ancient Spartans, only an alien or a slave could be degraded to an actor's profession. Solon denounced that profession in ancient Greece, as "tending, by its simulation of false character, and by its expression of sentiment not genuine or sincere, to corrupt the integrity of human dealings." Under the Roman Republic, he who pursued the profession of an actor "became in the eye of the law infamis [disreputable] and incapable of holding any honorable office." Under the Roman Empire also the legal ban was still upon the actor, as satirized by Tertullian, when he said: "What perversity! They love whom they abuse; they depreciate whom they approve; they magnify the art; they mark with infamy the artist. What a condemnation, that one should be vilified on account of those things through which he is held to win merit. Aye, and what a confession of the evil of the thing it is, that its doers, even when most accepted, are not left without the mark of infamy." And so with only varying degrees of difficulty down to the present day, the professional actor, even when most honored as an actor, has had to struggle for a full moral recognition as worthy according to his personal worth.
There are worthy men and women in the actor's profession; but not one of them is in a worthy profession. No pure or noble man or woman ought to be in a profession which demands a life of simulation and of un-selfing. No pure or noble man or woman who is outside of that profession ought to give countenance or support to the institution of the theater which demands these lives of simulation and un-selfing. Even to enter the doors of a public theater for the witnessing of the performances of professional actors is to give such, unjustifiable countenance and support.—S. S. Times.
DANCING AND CARD-PLAYING DENOUNCED.
By Editor
FROM Pastor J. W. Allen, President of the Ministerial Alliance of Bunceton, Mo., we have been asked to publish the following action taken by the Cumberland Presbyterian Synod of Missouri, representing 20,000, at a recent session in the above town:—
1. That we discourage and condemn the public and parlor waltzing and dancing as one of the church's greatest hindrances, and affords one of the mightiest stumbling-blocks over which the world falls; that public and private sentiment should be created against the practise, inasmuch as it is dangerous to virtue.
2. That card-playing in a social way is not conducive to the good influence of church members, and that it be discouraged; especially the practise of card-playing for prizes, be not only discouraged, but classified with other forms of gambling, and be condemned as such; and that our influence be used against the divorce custom that is becoming so prevalent in the land.
3. That suitable books and literature should be placed in the homes of the people that they may inform themselves on this subject [the waltz], and that every minister of the Gospel should preach9against the waltz and dance as conducted in these modern days, believing that they are dangerous to virtue and ruinous to morals.
The resolutions are none too strong; nay, are not strong enough. If Christians really knew Christ, they would not only want to spend the time in some more useful and edifying way, but would want to set no bad example before those who made no profession of religion. It reveals the dangerous, critical time of the professed church when such action is necessary.
The Gambling Spirit
By Editor
It is a vast amount of money, two hundred and thirty-three million dollars; but that is the amount that was lost and won—gambled away—at that famous gambling institution, Monte Carlo, during the year just past. Gambling there has so increased of late that tables have had to be installed in the beautiful library on the second floor. Of this sum $7,000,000 went to the institution itself as its share in the debasing business.
The spirit of gambling is running rife in the world, increasing by leaps and bounds. It has found its way into the homes of the refined and educated, and visitors are urged to play for money. Members of fashionable churches have formed themselves into "whist clubs," and the home circle has become the training-school for professional gamblers. This accounts for the increased patronage of all the gambling places; and from these places it is but a short, swift journey to many of the other forms of vice, which are eating away the moral vitals of the race. Gambling is a conscience killer; and when consciences are deadened or dead, there is little or nothing to check the downward rush. In this increase of the gambling spirit, as in the increase of many other things that tend in the same direction, we see the coming in of that condition which the Word of God declares would exist in the days immediately preceding His return.
CORRECT PRINCIPLES.
By Editor
Glad That One Editor in Many Sees Them.
BISHOP FOLEY, of the Roman Catholic Diocese, of Detroit, Mich., celebrated his seventieth birthday a few days ago. A civic reception was tendered him by the mayor of the city. Twenty Lutheran ministers of Detroit, who had been invited to act upon the reception committee, sent a letter to the mayor declining, and in their letter they say: "We are loyal Americans, and our loyalty forbids us to do honor to a person representing a church which is opposed to the fundamental principles of our great country, and which condemns government by the people as boundless license."
Some will suppose these Lutheran ministers to be narrow in the extreme. If any distinguished citizen was about to celebrate his seventieth birthday, and his friends arranged an informal reception, and we resided in such a city and had the honor of an invitation, unless that citizen held some attitude, which seemed to us an immoral one, or stood for something antagonistic to the public welfare, we should gladly accept. But if the city undertook to give a reception to an ecclesiastic as such, we should decline to take any part in the matter. If the bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, resident in this city, Dr. Edward G. Andrews, for whom we have the highest personal respect and affection, were offered a civic celebration by the mayor of this city, we should conscientiously decline to attend. Our belief in the separation of Church and State as the only safeguard of human liberty is stronger than etiquette, stronger even than denominational affiliations.
When the two hundred clergymen of this city went to the Fifth Avenue Hotel to pay tribute of respect and political sympathy to James G. Blaine, on the day that the mouth of the celebrated Dr. Burchard was set a-going while his judgment had "gone away on a visit," we were pressed to go, but abruptly and persistently refused to do so on the ground that we had never known any permanent good results to come to any cause or party by demonstrations of the clergy, as such, in any party political movement.—Christian Advocate.
STRIKERS CONDONING CRIME.
By Editor
THE Chicago Record-Herald of the fourth inst. records a state of affairs that borders on a reign of terror. It shows that when men undertake to avenge their own wrongs, real or imaginary, they are prone not only to retaliate upon those who may have driven them to seek revenge, but to utterly disregard the rights of all others but themselves. Since the great industrial strike in that city many of the men connected with the labor unions have been disposed to disregard the peace of their fellow-citizens not of their own class.
Therefore there has been formed a Citizens' Anti-crime Committee, and this committee has made a request to the strikers for a better observance of law and order. This action, according to the Record-Herald, has been interpreted by the unions as an "insult to organized labor." At a meeting of the Federation of Labor, "the men who inspired the communication" were severely denounced. One man is reported to have said:—
They have forced our young men to go out on the highways with pistols and to demand the money wherewith to feed themselves. And I respect the hold-up man far more than the despairing workingman who weakly submits and takes his own life in his cellar. The reformers said in '93 that we ought to be fed on bullets and bread flavored with strychnin, and they are trying to give us a little of the same medicine now.
This outbreak was "greeted with thunderous applause," which was continued when another delegate said that the capitalists of the city were its greatest criminals, and that when the federation attained its object of organizing all wage-earners, crime necessarily would be eliminated. This was a frank admission that the unions were indulging in crime to enforce their designs.
Others, a little more conservative, urged that the federation accept the invitation to appoint representatives on the Anti-crime Committee and unite in its work. This was suggested as a means of getting representatives in the "camp of the enemy"—another admission that they still indorsed the acts that called out the committee, and desired to get where they could thwart its purpose to preserve law and order. One of the delegates gave an inkling of the crimes of their antagonists when he said:—
"Let's get on the committee with them, and ask the rich merchants why they don't pay their taxes. Ask them why the grand jury spends a month looking up union pickets who may have been doing a little slugging, instead of devoting its time to the forty-eight hold-ups of the past few weeks."
The criminality of some men in the capitalist and political classes in our great cities has been discussed until it has become a byword, and the antagonists of the capitalists have come to think that it is the proper thing to commit crime in order to withstand them, or to secure a like prestige in other lines. The caste principle that is growing up in our country, especially in the cities, and in mining and manufacturing centers, is taking on a worse form, if possible, than that in so-called "heathen lands." It is worse in that it is accompanied by violence in the scramble for ascendancy.
The same paper gives an account of the assaulting of a non-union painter employed in the Pullman Car Company's shops. He had been six times assaulted by union men because he would not join a union. The last time he was badly beaten and chased to his room in a boarding-house. Here he secured a pistol and shot his assailant. According to his account, he had preferred to spend money for books rather than to pay $25 and dues in order to belong to a union. Verily we are fast approaching the time of which the Saviour said it would be as it was in the "days of Noah." Matt. 24:37. And the record of that time tells us that "the earth was filled with violence." Gen. 6:11.
SOME MEN'S ASSUMPTION.
By Editor
WE note in the Labor Leader a statement that at a certain Federation meeting a delegate gave notice that he would present for indorsement a bill which he proposed to have introduced in the Maryland Legislature. The object of the bill was to prohibit the serving or selling of intoxicating liquors over any bar in that State by a woman. Besides the impropriety of women being in places where they would hear conversation unfit for their ears, he added the argument that he expected by this means to create work for several hundred men who need it.
The purpose of the proposed measure was robbed of most of its virtue by this last feature. There are no men who need such employment. Much ado is made by the liquor traffic over the number of men who obtain employment under it. But every person not in sympathy with it knows that more men, women, and children are impoverished by it than gain a livelihood in connection with it. If the capital invested in it were invested in the production of necessary and useful articles, thousands more would have employment, or, better, have business of their own.
Another absurd idea in connection with the purpose of the bill to which we have alluded is, that it is worse for a woman to hear barroom conversation than for a man. It is one of the false notions of the world that men may legitimately indulge in indecent conversation that would be unfit for a woman to hear. Fortunately all men, even men of the world, do not so regard their prerogative. An incident in the life of Gen. U. S. Grant will illustrate this. It is said that, as a group of officers were chatting together, one of them was about to relate some obscene story, and apologetically remarked, "As there are no ladies present." But General Grant quickly responded, "No, but there are gentlemen present." And the story was not told.
Men ought to learn that they have no more right to be indecent than women have. The prerogative of barroom conversation, and the assumption of a right to engage in untoward pastimes, are without right, either moral or social, and the women can well afford to yield all the positions to which the assumed privileges attach.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND CIGARETS.
THE London Express is authority for the statement that in a certain Sunday-school in Somerset cigarets are given the boys during the service as a means of increasing the attendance. Such a vile, pernicious practise surely can not have the approval of the pastor. Juvenile smoking is, next to the drink problem, the most serious evil, physically speaking, that afflicts the race. We must sadly admit that in two things we are greatly inferior to our forefathers: The women have taken to drink, and the boys to smoking.
Church Attendance in New York City
Church attendance in New York City is a matter of considerable interest as showing the religious aspect of the city. On the first three Sundays in November the congregations at all the services in 365 Protestant and Catholic places of worship were counted, and the results of the three countings were averaged in order to obtain the normal attendance. The total membership of these bodies is 695,942, of which 173,812 are Protestants, and 522,130 are Roman Catholics. The average attendance for each Sunday was 451,631. Of these attendants 134,177 were Protestants, and 317,454 were Roman Catholics. This shows something of the enormous gains Catholicism is making in the metropolis of this country. A similar condition obtains in Chicago, and these are indications of what is taking place in all the large cities.
Swamp Mud for Fuel
Swamp Mud for Fuel.—Mr. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, believes he has found a substitute for coal which will be much cheaper than anthracite, and will give sixty-five per cent as much heat. It is simple swamp mud, or mud turf, or grass peat, and is found in limitless quantities throughout the country. Of course this mud must be properly prepared in order to burn and give off the necessary amount of heat. Mr. Atkinson declares that practical experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of prepared mud for fuel.
THE RECORD OF ONE YEAR.
FROM the Chicago Tribune's New Years issue we gather the following statistics in regard to crime and disaster in the United States during the past year. In marine disasters during the year, 1,935 persons lost their lives, and 50,000 are reported to have died as the result of epidemics. Tho no large wars have been carried on during the year, there has been a considerable loss of life in the aggregate in battle. The number of killed and wounded amounted to 86,468. The larger part of these casualties occurred in Macedonia. The number of persons who lost their lives in railroad wrecks during the year was 4,090; and in disasters of other kinds in all the world, such as floods, fires, explosions, and tempests, 45,037 were killed. The number of persons lynched in the United States during the year 1903 was 104, an increase of 8 over the previous year. The total number of persons lynched in the United States since the year 1885 is 2,858. The number of legal executions in the United States during the year 1903 was 123. The number of suicides during the year was 8,597, an increase of 306 over the previous year. The records of a few years will show the steady increase. In 1899 the number was 5,340; in 1900, 6,755; in 1901, 7,245; and in 1902, 8,291. The number of murders and homicides, including deaths by violence of all kinds for 1903 was 8,976, an increase of 142 over the year previous. The embezzlements for the year amounted to $6,562,165, a slight decrease over the previous year. This record is itself a striking commentary on the conditions of the times in which we live.
Tension in the Orient
By Editor
Various and conflicting are the reports which come to us from the far East. There are threatened complications which may of themselves bring the powers into conflict, even tho the principal parties to the controversy are desirous of avoiding a clash. The Empress of China is arousing to the fact that the rule of Manchuria by the Russians may endanger her own dynasty. It is the Manchu dynasty that is now ruling China, and if that be cut off from the empire, the dynasty will be degraded in the eyes of the people, and may be overthrown. So there has been some talk of a conflict between China and Russia. The Koreans also are growing restless, and are attacking the property of foreigners, and threatening the foreigners themselves. Several of the powers, including the United States, now have marines at the Korean capital, much against the wishes of the Koreans themselves, and a dangerous element of the latter has been armed by the government. Some reports have stated that Japan is sending troops to Korea. Others state that Russia has indicated her unwillingness to allow Japan to send her troops in large numbers to Korea. At this date Russia has not given Japan her final reply; but both powers continue their preparations for war. With the tension in Korea becoming acute, with China showing signs of rising in opposition to Russia, and with Japan showing no signs of weakening in her attitude, it would seem that there is great probability of war in the Orient.
A number of serious disasters have been reported during the week, among which we note the following: By the bursting of a reservoir in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on January 18, about thirty persons were drowned, and hundreds rendered homeless. Three hotels and 176 houses were destroyed. The bursting of a large steam pipe at Johnstown, Pa., on January 21, resulted in the death of 12 men and the serious injury of 25. A disastrous tornado swept through Moundville, Ala., on January 24, killing 38 persons, fatally injuring 12, and seriously injuring 53. Practically the whole village of Aalesund, Norway, was destroyed by fire on January 24, leaving its 11,000 inhabitants shelterless. The financial loss is placed at $4,000,000.
Intense cold, and much suffering on account of it, are reported from nearly all the States east of the Rocky Mountains. Trains have been snowed in in many places. In several parts of the East the thermometer has been more than fifty degrees below zero. Among the poor, especially in large cities, this has caused great suffering. In some cities the hospitals have been crowded with frost patients. Stock has suffered also, especially on the ranges. In some sections the rivers have been gorged with ice and much property destroyed by their overflowing their banks.
The Congressional battle has begun on the canal treaty with Panama. It is generally conceded that the treaty will be accepted, tho the discussion is bringing out many strong protests against the course of the United States in the Panama affair.
German colonists in German Southwest Africa are being driven from their homes by the rebellious natives, and reinforcements are being hurried forward to quell the disaffected natives. German officials regard the situation as very serious.
LESSONS FROM NATURE.
By Arthur K. Fox
The Lily.
BY ARTHUR K. FOX.
"CONSIDER the lilies of the field." Matt. 6: 28. As the Saviour sat upon the mountain, bedecked with flowers, and with His disciples gathered near Him, He picked a flower, and holding it up, said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." "Consider the lilies," does not mean only to look at them; it is not only to admire them; it is not only to think about them. It means to think thoroughly, but rather let us render it, "Be still, and let them preach to you."
The good Lord gives us the anointed eye, the opened ear, and the tuned heart. So we will listen while the lily begins its sermon. "I come from God," it says. "He sent me with His love, and bade me say that the heavenly Father careth for you." Look at it—the beauty of the shape; its exquisite color; the powdered gold; the grace of stock. "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." If God makes flowers, I do not think I need be afraid of Him. If God cares so much for flowers, He must be very kind and patient and gentle.
What images and thoughts of God the world had in the old time, and what thoughts some men have still! When the mountain flamed and melted, the people fled, crying, "Let not God speak with us, lest we die." The prophet sought for Him in the fire that fused the solid rock and ran along the ground, and in the whirlwind that swept and roared resistless in its might, and in the earthquake that shook the solid hills; but lo! He cometh who hath seen the Father and saith, "Consider the lilies."
I have known men who did not care for flowers. They have been so taken up with business that their hearts have been asphalted, as hard and barren as the city streets, trodden by the restless feet of a thousand fretting thoughts, and where the heavy wagons of their cares go rumbling all the day and far into the night. They have no room for what they call sentiment.
The children are troublesome and are banished into the nursery; the birds are noisy and should be shot; and as for the flower garden, they would turn it into a potato ground, unless flowers pay better—then they like flowers. Now I might go to such people for advice; they know all the good investments; they are sharp, shrewd, what the world calls clever.
But I would never dream of going to them for pity, for sympathy, for help. But I hold the flower in my hand, and I feel at once how gracious He must be who makes the flowers; how pitiful, how patient, how tender; with what care and skill He deals with things. These are the proof and pledge of His tenderness. "If He so clothe the flower of the field"—the common flower of the hedgerow and the pasture—"shall He not much more clothe you." "He invites us to take our trials to His sympathy, our sorrows to his love, our wounds to His healing, our weakness to His strength, our emptyness to His fullness. Never has one been disappointed who came to Him."
Shall He not deck and adorn His children? Shall He not array them in beauty, if He so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is gone?
The beauty of the Lord our God is to be upon us. He who teaches the birds their song, how it must grieve Him when His children speak harsh, angry, unkind words.
He who makes the daisy, the peeping violet, and the lily so beautiful, how it must hurt Him when His children are hideous with envy, ugly with pride, mean and selfish. What a blot and stain upon His fair creation!
Again, consider the lilies and see how He delights to give. In poor-houses and prisons—alas! that we should have to put them together, and that poverty should be treated so much as if it were a crime—the food is allowanced, the weight exact, lest a bit too much should be given—bread to the crumb and rice to the grain.
They may claim enough for bare existence, but must not ask for more. Even pity and kindness find their limits in men's wants. They look up what they can spare and give their scraps and cast-offs. But love, glad love, can not bear to weigh and measure. Love can not limit itself to wants and stop there. Love must give its luxuries; love must lavish its best, its all. Bring out the best robe, the ring for the finger, the shoes for the feet—all these are luxuries, not necessaries, in Palestine—and bring hither the fatted calf, the daintiest and best. Flowers are the overflow of God's love, the luxuries thrown in.
It is much that He should give us bread to eat, and water to drink, and light to see by, and air to breathe; but these can not satisfy. His love must go further, and He sends us the flowers, and bids them bring the assurance, Your heavenly Father careth for you.
St. Helena, Cal.
A PAUSE IN PRAYER.
"If I should die before I wake," said Donny, at grandmother's knee. "If I should die before I wake,"—
"I pray," prompted the gentle voice. "Go on, Donny."
"Wait a minute," interposed the small boy, scrambling to his feet, and hurrying away downstairs. In a brief space he was back again, and, dropping down in his place, took up his petition where he had left it. But when the little white-gowned form was safely tucked in bed, the grandmother questioned with loving rebuke concerning the interruption.11
"But I did not think what I was sayin', grandmother; that's why I had to stop. You see, I'd upset Ted's menagerie, and stood all his wooden soldiers on their heads, just to see how he'd tear around in the mornin'. But 'if I should die 'fore I wake,' why—I didn't want him to find 'em that way, so I had to go down and fix 'em right. There's lots of things that seem funny if you're goin' to keep on livin', but you don't want 'em that way if you should die 'fore you wake."
"That was right, dear, it was right," commended the voice with its tender quaver. "A good many of our prayers wouldn't be hurt by stopping in the middle of them to undo a wrong." Take a look at Matt. 5:23, 24 and Matthew 18, and see if they would.
HOW CAN I WAIT?
By L. D. Santee
"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."Rev. 21:2.
How CAN I wait the city gladness bringing,
That glows with rapture for the hearts that ache,
When the redeemed shall come with joy and singing,
And loved ones with fond hands enclasped and clinging,
Shall enter in, no more to watch and wait?
How can I wait? The years roll on to ages,
And still the heavens conceal the pearly gate.
'Tis sung by poets and foretold by sages,
And plainly promised in the sacred pages,
And still it comes not, and I sadly wait.
How can I wait? Unnumbered graves are filling
And hearts are breaking; homes are desolate,
And gems of love the cruel world are chilling;
And clouds upon the earth their tears are spilling,
And life is weary. Ah, how can I wait?
How can I wait? The serpent's 'mong earth's flowers;
And evil passions, scorn, and pride, and hate.
There's sound of sadness heard in brightest hours,
O, how I long for Eden's fadeless bowers!
But still they come not, and I sadly wait.
How can I wait? I pause and look before me,
And say 'twill soon be here e'en tho 'tis late.
Far from my childhood have the long years borne me,
And still I know 'tis God that watches o'er me,
And bide His time, tho still I sadly wait.
L. D. SANTEE.
WIN YOUR BOY'S CONFIDENCE.
By Margaret E. Sangster
WHOEVER does not impress your child, his playmate does, writes Margaret E. Sangster, in Good Housekeeping for November. He is educated in the street, at the game, in the post-office, and in the schoolroom, as certainly as in your household. The next bigger boy whom he adores because he is big and strong takes a hand in the boy's moulding. Every association he forms leaves some trace upon him, for good or for ill. You can not throw him into the gulf and bid him sink or swim. He must be guarded and looked out for, and you must know whom he walks and talks with, whom he plays with, who sits beside him at school. He will not be specially hurt by a lad who eats with his knife, but a lad who is profane, or immodest, or furtive, may do him irreparable injury.
Far more than she prizes pearls and diamonds, should a mother prize her boy's confidence. Not merely when he is a little golden-haired cherub should she give him herself at the bedtime hour, for a nightly chat, but when he is older, at fourteen or fifteen, when he has trials and temptations, let him feel that he can tell her everything and that she will not be shocked, nor censorious; that she will understand and advise.
His friends of every degree should be encouraged and invited to the home, and as they share the boy's pursuits, the mother may be quietly observant, and see where she can help; she can do much to prevent the ascendancy of an unprincipled lad, and her doors should be shut against one who is unclean in speech and behavior. Under God, the mother holds her boy's life in her hand.
Nor is the father free from obligation. A boy's father epitomizes to him the whole story of manhood. A boy reflects his father's opinions, accepts his modes of thought, and aims to be as much like him as he can. A father is as sacredly bound to be his boy's chum and comrade as to be his tutor and governor, and to provide for him food and clothing. If a father keep pace with the boy, suiting his long steps to the shorter ones, there will be small danger that the little fellow will make a serious blunder in choosing his associates.—Sabbath Recorder.
