IN this brief petition is contained one of the most comprehensive requests ever made by mortal man. Thousands have repeated the simple phrase thoughtlessly, and thousands who have pronounced the words with all the reverence possible for them, have had very limited ideas of what they were asking for. Someone has well written:—
“‘Thy kingdom come;’ thus day by day
We lift our hands to God, and pray;
But who has ever duly weighed
The meaning of those words he said?”
Let us try to weigh the meaning of the words, that we may utter them more intelligently. It is certain that if we know the full meaning of the petition, we shall not lightly make use of it.
First, we will notice that the Lord's prayer shows the kingdom to be still future. That prayer is for all Christians; it is a model for us, just as much as it was for the personal followers of Christ. We are to pray for the kingdom of God to come; but that would be out of place if the kingdom were already set up. That it was not set up in the days of Christ's first advent, is shown by the question which his disciples asked as they stood upon the Mount of Olives, just before he was taken out of their sight. Said they: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6. Christ did not say, It has already been restored, but, “It is not for you to know the times or the sea-155sons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” That is, It is not for the disciples to know when the kingdom will come; but they are to pray for it; if they knew that the time for the kingdom were fixed, it would be useless to pray for it. That God has not made known the time of the coming kingdom, is shown by the statement that he has put it “in his own power.” He is not under obligations to set up the kingdom at any specified time, for he has not appointed any; it is all within his own power.
Many people have the idea that “the kingdom of Christ and of God” is a spiritual kingdom; that it is simply the reign of the Spirit in the hearts of believers. It is true that the gospel plan is termed a kingdom, as in Col. 1:13 and Rev. 1:9; but that kingdom,—the kingdom of grace,—begun as soon as man fell, as soon as he had need of “the grace of God which bringeth salvation;” but the kingdom referred to in the Lord's prayer is, as we have seen, still future; consequently that kingdom cannot be the gospel. Moreover, the apostle James says: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James 2:5. Here he speaks of a kingdom that is promised to those who love the Lord,—a kingdom of which they are heirs through faith. It is this kingdom for whose coming we are to pray.
WHAT THE KINGDOM IS.
When Adam was created, he was made king of the earth, as is shown by these words: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Gen. 1:27, 28. This dominion was forfeited by the fall, and the world passed into the hands of the one who had conquered Adam,—Satan,—who is now “god of this world.” Not that God has no control over the earth; for even when he gave the dominion to Adam, he did not relinquish any part of his own universal dominion; but Satan took as much of the dominion as was given to Adam. He is not able, however, to go beyond the bounds which God sets for him. See Job 1:12; 2:6.
When David was king over Israel, God promised him that his throne should be “established forever.” 2 Sam. 7:16. This promise was often repeated, and God said, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.” Ps. 89:34-37. Yet notwithstanding this promise, it was not long before the whole kingdom of Israel was overthrown, and the people were taken into captivity; and although many of the people were afterward allowed to return to their own land, the kingdom was never restored. The kings who afterward reigned in Jerusalem were simply the creatures of the Roman power, which controlled Judea and all the rest of the civilized world.
But David himself, it seems, never expected that his throne should be established forever with earthly monarchs upon it. He understood that Christ was the one referred to, who should rule over the kingdom. So Peter, after quoting David's words in Ps. 16:8-10, said: “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell [the grave], neither his flesh did see corruption.” Acts 2:29-31.
Christ, then, is the one who is to “restore again the kingdom to Israel.” It is to be a literal kingdom, for he is to sit upon the throne of David. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she should be the mother of Jesus, he said: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:32, 33. The coming kingdom must, therefore, be as literal a kingdom as was that of David.
The kingdom is, however, to be different, in that it will be perfect and sinless. Said the prophet, addressing Christ by inspiration: “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8. And the Lord himself, in his promise to David, said: “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more.” 2 Sam. 7:10.
These two texts teach us that the dominion of Christ is to be the same as that given to Adam,—“the first dominion,”—that it will be the earth in its Eden beauty and freedom from the oppression of sin. And so we read the words of Peter, who, after speaking of the fire which shall melt the earth, and shall destroy sin and sinners out of it, says, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. This promise is recorded in Isa. 65:17-25. Read those verses, and then read the parallel passage in Amos 9:13-15. Then read Amos 9:11, 12, and you will see that this new heavens and new earth is in the time when the Lord has restored the kingdom to Israel. So we learn that when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are simply praying for God to set up his own reign of righteousness in the earth made new.
SETTING UP OF THE KINGDOM.
But let not the subject be dismissed with this simple statement of the truth. Around the fulfillment of this promise cluster the grandest and most tremendously important events. That kingdom is ushered in by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul indicates in his charge to Timothy: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word.” 2 Tim. 4:1, 2. This kingdom Christ receives before he returns to earth; for he himself compared himself and kingdom to a certain nobleman that “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” Luke 19:11, 12. See the account of his receiving this kingdom, in Dan. 7:13, 14. So it is, that when Christ comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, he will be sitting upon the throne of his glory, and to the righteous he will say: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25:31-34. This again shows that the kingdom which the saints are to inherit is the dominion of the earth.
In this kingdom righteousness, and that alone shall dwell. 2 Pet. 3:13. The prophet says of that time: “Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” Isa. 60:21. Read the verses preceding this one, and then read the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, the last verse of which says: “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”
This state of righteousness will not be brought about by the conversion of all men, for we read that as the end approaches “iniquity shall abound” (Matt. 24:12) and that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13); and that in the days when the Son of man shall be revealed, it shall be as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot. Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-30. So when God gives to Christ the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession, the first thing he does is to rule them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. See Ps. 2:8, 9. Says the prophet: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isa. 13:9. And we also read that when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, it will be “in flaming fire taking 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 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” 2 Thess. 1:7-10.
Thus we learn that to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” is to pray for the coming of the Lord to destroy the wicked, and to cleanse the earth of everything that defiles, and to give immortality to his people. God is no respecter of persons. Whosoever shall not be found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:15. It will avail nothing that men have said, Lord, Lord,—that they have prayed earnestly, even praying for the kingdom of God to come, if in that day any defilement is found in them, they will be cast into the lake of fire. Who is there, then, that realizing what the kingdom of God is, who alone can inherit it, and what will be the fate of those who are unfit,—can pray, “Thy kingdom come,” and still cherish sin in his heart? How carefully and unblamably we must live if we are able to unite, as we should do, with the beloved disciple, in saying, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” W.
The Missionary.
By John Norton Loughborough
FRESNO, TULARE, AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES.
FRIDAY, January 28, I joined Brother Daniels in the meeting at Fresno City, where he had been laboring for a week. Here I found a revival going on in the church, and a good outside interest. I remained, taking part in the meetings, until February 9, when, leaving Brother Daniels to carry on the interest, I went to Los Angeles. I held one meeting in the evening at the church. I was happy to find that, after about ten days' search, Brother McClure had succeeded in obtaining mission rooms at 131 Wall Street, a short distance from our church building. There had been such a great emigration from the East that Los Angeles was literally packed with people, and every available house rented. Every room in the hotels was taken, and in some of the larger hotels as high as ninety cots were employed to accommodate the lodgers. The Lord's providence seemed to especially favor us in trying to obtain a house for our mission just where we wanted it. Parties who had previously rented it gave it up, which gave us a favorable opportunity to secure it. There is abundance of material in Los Angeles for our missionaries to work upon, and we hope for good results as our sisters enter upon their mission work.
The following Sabbath and first-day, February 12 and 13, I was with our brethren at Santa Ana, and organized a church of twenty-four members. There are some ten more that will unite with them soon. Some of these were detained from the meetings on account of ill health and a violent rain-storm. I found those who had embraced the truth at the camp-meeting still steadfast, and others are becoming interested. On Tuesday, the 15th, I had expected to meet with the church at Norwalk, but violent storms caused a wash-out on the railroad and I missed the train and so missed the meeting. On the 16th the road was repaired and I went on to Los Angeles and had two very interesting meetings there during the day. On the night of the 18th I came to Lemoore, Tulare County, where I held meetings three days with the Lemoore church, and they seemed very much encouraged by the visit.
On Tuesday, the 22d, I came to Selma, Fresno County, a town of over a thousand inhabitants. This place has been built up within a few months. Here are about a score of Sabbath-keepers, some of whom have recently moved in from Nebraska; these, together with their children, constitute a Sabbath-school of about forty members. They have rented a church building in which they meet. I spent three days quite pleasantly visiting at the houses of this company, holding while there three meetings. In these meetings preliminary steps were taken for the organization of a church.
On the 25th I returned to Fresno, where I found Brother Daniels still holding meetings. I have now spent three days with him. We expected to close these meetings to-day but have decided that the interest demands that we continue longer. The attendance is increasing, and souls are deciding for the truth. Twenty-five were baptized this afternoon. A number of these have taken their stand since these meetings commenced, while others are keeping the Sabbath who have not yet been baptized. Having now consulted with the brethren and sisters in Fresno and Tulare Counties, and having learned their desires, it is decided to have a camp-meeting at the new town of Selma, commencing Wednesday evening, April 6, and continuing until Wednesday morning, April 13. I am happy to report a spirit of good cheer among our people all along the line.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Fresno, Cal., Feb. 27, 1887.
CHOOSING LABOR.
By W. N. Glenn
It is one thing to know what the Lord would have us to do, and another thing to go right ahead in the performance of the required duty. Even in the ready and submissive Paul, we find one instance of a desire to labor in a field of his own choosing. On his return from Damascus to Jerusalem, he was very anxious to preach there; it was quite natural that he should wish to counteract some of the evil influences of his former course in that city. But the Lord had designed something else for him, and told him, while in a trance in the temple, to "make haste" and get away, for the people of Jerusalem would not hear his testimony. Still Paul thought he could accomplish something there, and the reasons he advanced for thinking so were among the very reasons why he could not labor to advantage in that city.
And right here is one of the deceptions that Satan would play upon God's people in these last days—especially upon the young. There is great anxiety to engage in the work, but there comes with it the desire to choose that which appears more compatible with their own feelings. There is often an unwillingness to be governed by the judgment of the more experienced, or even the testimony of the Spirit, selfish motives, or self-esteem, or the counsel of the inexperienced deciding the course of action. The question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" is too often supplanted by, "Lord, I want to do thus and so."
Again, it often occurs that when the right course has been undertaken, results are expected before a proper experience in the labor has been attained, and discouragement arises. A desire to change and enter some other branch of service takes hold of the mind. Dissatisfaction in the present position, through lack of perseverance, and visions of great things to be accomplished in another field, with perhaps the ever-ready incompetent advice, again decides the course to be pursued.
It is unnecessary to follow up the sequel to such a course of labor. A casual glance will reveal the end of such efforts. Suffice it to say that the professed servant of God who insists upon choosing his own field under all circumstances, or who expects to reap before he has sown, or aspires to leadership before having learned to be led, will in the end prove to have been in reality a servant of Satan. Had Paul persisted in a determination to be his own adviser as to how and where he would labor, he would no doubt have lost his life early in the race, as also his honorable place in the history of the church. He could not have wound up his earthly career with the satisfaction of having "fought the good fight." But Paul yielded, and suffered himself to be led, not only in labor, but to prison, to scourgings, and to death. So any who would succeed in the vineyard of the Lord must be servants and not masters—not even master of self—doing the will of him who "bought us with a price."
W. N. GLENN.
KEEP THE TIGER CHAINED.
By George Elliot
IN Italy, the country from which the red hat came not long since, Protestant preachers are almost daily threatened by mobs led and incited by priests. It is the same in every land where the Roman Church has preeminence. Italy, Spain, Austria, and many of the South American republics have no conception of real liberty of mind and conscience. It will be the same in America if the Papacy should ever win here its coveted supremacy. If the freemen of America wish to maintain their rights, there must be "no peace with the Papacy, and no compromise with Rome." Romanists, keep your red hat at home in the priest-ridden city from which it came. We do not want it in America. We have no room in the temple of liberty for that badge of a foreign and alien allegiance. Stand guard, Americans, before your threatened rights. Be not deceived by the plausibilities of Jesuit sophistry. Rome is the same old tiger still. Unsatisfied by the blood of martyrs, she waits when with gleaming fangs and unsheathed claws, she may tear to atoms the achievements of the present and the hopes of the future, and bring back the mediaeval darkness of her day of supreme power. Keep that tiger chained!—Rev. Geo. Elliot.
Faith and Obedience to God’s Law
Because there is no justification from sin except by faith in Christ, it does not follow, as some suppose, that those who are justified are free from obligation to obey the law of God. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4); and in discussing the relation of the renewed soul to that law, the transgression of which is sin, the apostle says: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom. 6:1, 2. And again he tells us that because of man’s inability to keep the law without divine help, God, sending “his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.
It is only by true faith that any man can render acceptable service to God, and by works is such faith made perfect, or shown to be genuine. James 2:21, 22.
TRICKS OF VISION.
M. EMIL SOREL, in La Nature, says: "There are days on which, in certain weather, and despite the curvature of the earth, the distance of visibility is doubled or more than doubled. This phenomenon is explained to us by a well-known law of physics. If we throw a coin into an empty vessel, it will be hidden by the edge of the latter, at a certain distance; but if we fill the vessel with water, the coin will become visible. We have here a case of refraction, such as is explained in elementary works on physics.
"Every one also knows the theory of the mirage put forth by the celebrated Monge, who explains the phenomenon as due to a diminution of the air's density in contact with the superheated earth. A contrary theory will explain the mirage at sea. While the sun is making the atmosphere intensely hot, the sea and the strata of air in contact therewith remain relatively cold, and these strata become superposed in the order of their density. A luminous ray emanating from the sea will pass from one stratum into another of less density, there will be a refraction, and an object beneath the horizon will be seen above it.
"This theory supposes two conditions, to wit, a heating of the atmosphere, while the157sea and the earth remain relatively cold, and a calmness of it to permit its strata to become superposed in the order of their density. It is precisely when these two conditions are fulfilled that the phenomenon of the mirage occurs. On such days ships rise instead of descending in measure as they recede. As the horizon is perceived by direct visibility, a ship is finally seen above the horizon as if it were suspended in the air. It is the famous "phantom ship," familiar to sailors—a visible ship in the natural, upright position. If atmospheric conditions were favorable, a second ship would be seen above the first, etc. Certain mariners worthy of credence have assured me that they have seen as many as seven superposed ships."
SAINT AND SINNER.
THERE is a queer little burying-ground near the White Bridge on the shores of the Sound. It is in a nook, and is bounded by bowlders against which the sea beats drearily in winter, though the salt mists keep the grass green long after the distant hills and woods have become gray and bleak. Here, some days ago, they carried a little casket. It was so light that the body it contained might have been that of a child, but old age, white hairs, and the silent dust of a feeble gentleman were inclosed therein. There were no mourning friends save one stern man of middle age. The grave received its own. The bended gate at the entrance of the little place of the dead is closed, and will never again be opened to a funeral. The burying-ground is tenanted with all who will ever rest there, for it is a family plot, and therein has now been gathered the last one of the Dows.
Strangely enough, on the same day that Deacon Dow was buried, his old playmate, business associate, and fellow church officer, the late Deacon Mills, was placed to rest in the beautiful cemetery, whose lofty monoliths and quaint monuments may be seen by the sailors as they skim along the waters of the Sound. The great brick church had been thronged by those who wished to pay their last respects to Deacon Mills's memory, and a long line of slowly, solemnly moving carriages followed the body to the grave. There, amid costly stones erected to the memory of those of his family who had preceded him, was dug the grave of Deacon Mills, and men will not for many years forget that this strong man lived once among them; for Deacon Mills was strong, and stern, and firm-willed, and great were his riches. He had built a chapel, had given a bed to the hospital, had endowed a theological professorship, and had created many business enterprises. All that he had touched in business life seemed to have turned to gold. You may read in the sectarian newspapers the account of his life, and to his career business men already point when they wish to show the model man.
But no one hears of Deacon Dow. He was a gentleman. He went shrinkingly, modestly through life. His last days were those of one dependent upon charity, and he had seen the successful career of his old playmate without other emotions than those of pleasure. They played in childhood together. Then William Dow was thought the more fortunate of the two. His father was well-to-do, while John Mills had heard early in the morning and late in the day the clanging of his father's anvil. They had gone to school together. Then William's gentleness was misunderstood, so that the boys jeered him with derisive nicknames such as "girl-boy;" while John, whose clothes were not so fine as William's, by his stubborn will and imperious manner, commanded respect and won his leadership. They had begun business life at the same time. William had a small capital and became a book-seller. John had no capital but his own hands and head, so he pegged away industriously on a shoe-maker's bench. William's purpose in business life was simply to earn a living. John, as he sat on his bench, with awl and hammer, was fired with energy and enthusiasm because he had bent his will to getting riches. Everything subserved to that. He pegged away from dawn to bed-time, and his savings accumulated. He owed none and suffered none to owe him. He prospered, and within five years had quit the bench, and surveyed with business pride his handsome store. William, gentle, unsuspecting, sweet-dispositioned man, was no better off in five years' time than when he first began. Men liked him but they pitied him. Men trusted his word. They knew he would not lie nor cheat, but they made him trust them, knowing that he would never clamor for pay. They said he was too good-natured to succeed. They sent tiresome beggars to him, knowing that William never refused an alms. They borrowed money of him, and got it, if he had it, without security. John Mills sometimes made loans, but only after the careful scrutiny of a bank-teller. William's heart melted at every tale of distress. John's never.
As years rolled on they both were chosen deacons in the church of which they had long been members, but Deacon William modestly sat in one of the rear pews in the side aisle, while Deacon John was seated in the center aisle, about half the distance down.
There was organized in that town a building association, whose ostensible purpose was to assist deserving men to build a home. John Mills made the single error of his life in placing money in this enterprise, and he made the discovery when it was too late to get the money back. Too late! John Mills had never lost a dollar yet by bad investment, and he would not suffer loss now. He thought of the matter overnight, and by morning had decided.
That afternoon Deacon Mills stepped into Deacon Dow's book store.
"Come, Brother Dow, let us take a boat and go fishing this afternoon," he said.
Fishing of an afternoon in the Sound was the only recreation that the merchants of that time took, and Deacon Dow consented.
When they had sat in the boat awhile, twitching the lines that they might see whether the fish had been hooked or not, Deacon Mills said:—
"Brother Dow, why haven't you put some money into the building association?"
"I never thought of it, Brother Mills."
"Never thought of it! Why, there isn't a better way of doing good with your money. You help your worthy young mechanics to get a home. That makes them good citizens, and you get six per cent. on your money."
"You know, Brother Mills, that I am always anxious to extend any help I can to our young men. I have got a little money. It represents all my profits since I've been in business. I shouldn't want to lose it. It's all I have. But, if the investment is safe, I'd be glad. Is it safe, do you think, Deacon Mills?"
"Why, I put a thousand dollars in!"
"Then it must be safe. You're a prudent, far-seeing man, Brother Mills. Yes, yes; if you think it safe, I'll make the investment. I have some twelve hundred dollars in the bank, and I was thinking of buying a home."
"Shall I tell the secretary to put you down for a thousand dollars?"
"Yes. I rely upon you, Brother Mills, for the safety of it."
"My money is there!"
The next morning at ten gentle little Deacon Dow drew his money from the bank, and, stepping across the street, paid it in to the secretary of the building association and received his certificate. A half-hour later Deacon Mills entered the office.
"One of our rules provides that any investor may withdraw his money at any time without notice by forfeiting interest. I believe I will withdraw mine now."
The secretary delivered to Deacon Mills the identical thousand dollars which Deacon Dow had deposited. Two days later the building association went up.
Without any manner but that of sorrow, Deacon Dow sought Deacon Mills in his handsome place of business.
"Brother Mills," he said, "you and I are old playfellows. We played together, we slept together, and we ate together often. We united with the church together, we entered business at the same time, and we were made deacons together. I want to ask you if you think it was a Christian action to induce me to put all the money I had into a place that you might draw it out? Is it a Christian action?"
And so the gentle little man went away in more sorrow than he came. By and by the sheriff sold him out, and when his hair was turning gray and John Mills was gaining respect for great business success, little William Dow received a clerk's pittance by keeping books, and then, when he became too old for that, a relative supported him until his life went out.
But John Mills grew richer and of more and more repute, and when he died there was a great gap in the business and social life of that community.—Gotham, in Catholic Mirror.
The Home Circle.
By Saxe Holm
THE LOVE OF GOD.
LIKE a cradle rocking, rocking,
Silent, peaceful, to and fro,
Like a mother's sweet looks dropping
On the little face below,
Hangs the green earth, swinging, turning,
Jarless, noiseless, safe and slow,
Falls the light of God's face bending
Down and watching us below.
And as feeble babes that suffer,
Toss and cry, and will not rest,
Are the ones the tender mother
Holds the closest, loves the best;
So when we are weak and wretched,
By our sins weighed down, distressed,
Then it is that God's great patience
Holds us closest, loves us best.
O, great heart of God! whose loving
Cannot hindered be or crossed;
Will not weary, will not even
In our death itself be lost—
Love divine! of such great loving,
Only mothers know the cost—
Cost of love, which all love passing,
Gave a Son to save the lost.
—Saxe Holm.
Health and Temperance.
By John Harvey Kellogg
THE SMOKE NUISANCE.
According to the Cincinnati Times, a citizen of that place fell dead in a street-car, some time since, poisoned by the dense fumes of tobacco smoke with which the car was filled. "He was an occasional sufferer from heart disease, and the trouble was so aggravated by the suffocating smoke of the car, that he died after breathing it a few minutes. The car in which he rode had only one compartment for men, women, and children, and the smokers were allowed full sway in it. Two other passengers were overcome by the tobacco fumes."
If human beings possess one inalienable right more sacred than any other, it is the right to breathe the atmosphere of heaven, pure, free, and unadulterated. No man has any better right to puff tobacco smoke into the air I am about to breathe than to defile the water I am about to drink, or to sit down beside me at the dinner-table, and sprinkle upon my food vile and loathsome substances, obnoxious to the senses and deleterious to health.
Did any of you smokers ever attempt to imagine the felicity of a lady or gentleman to whom the odor of tobacco is sickening and most repulsive, following in your wake on a still summer evening, while you puffed with self-complacency and intense satisfaction the, to you, fragrant Havana? Or did you ever endeavor to picture in your imagination the delightful sensations which must be experienced by a sensitive man or woman who has never offered incense to the smoke god, when compelled to ride in a close cab, on a seat opposite or beside you, while you rolled between your lips the stump of a "cold cigar." Please put yourself in the place of that man or woman, and see if you will not decide with unhesitating promptness that the tobacco-user is a nuisance that should be abated.
Tobacco smoke is excellent in its place. The writer set an old smoker going in a green-house one day, with good effect. Every living thing that was able to travel left for parts unknown, and the few that were not able to get away, died of nicotine poisoning,—all except the smoker himself, who was tough and nicotine-proof. Tobacco is to be recommended as an exterminator of vermin of all sorts, except a kind of parasite that breeds in bar rooms and billiard halls, and may often be seen adhering to lamp posts, or hovering around street corners and railway stations.
Passing a London cigar store one day, the writer noticed a flaming placard announcing "The Devil's Own" as the name of a new brand of cigars just produced by the manufacturers. The name impressed him as exceedingly suggestive, and he wondered that so appropriate a cognomen had not before been utilized. The cigar is undoubtedly one of the devil's favorite instruments for converting boys who might become respectable citizens and useful men into loafers, vagabonds, drunkards, and criminals of every description.
Notwithstanding the repeated exposures which have been made of the dangers to life and health incurred by the use of the filthy weed, the number of its devotees seems to be constantly upon the increase. The tobacco habit must be regarded and treated as a moral disease which has fastened itself upon society,—one of "the devil's own" means for degrading and depraving humanity. How perverted, indeed, are the instincts of the human being who deliberately defiles the image of his Maker till nearly every trace of the divine workmanship is obliterated by the scourge of the stinking weed, and he becomes fit only to be labeled "the devil's own"!
If smokers will persist in defiling themselves and spoiling the pure air, adulterating its life-giving oxygen with a deadly vapor, offensive to the natural instincts of man and beast, let them be compelled to indulge their precious poison by themselves, apart from the rest of human kind. Let them together enjoy the pleasures of the pipe, cigar, and cigarette. Perhaps this plan might result in the annihilation of the whole race of smokers, and rid the world of a vice which originated among savages, and is worthy only of an uncivilized and barbarous race.—J. H. Kellogg, M. D., in Good Health.
MENTAL LOAFING.
It is considered a disgrace to be lazy. He who is too indolent to work for his own living becomes a by-word and a reproach. But there is a very common form of laziness which is not always noticed; it is that of the mind. We first become conscious of it in our young days when we "don't feel like study." We dawdle over the book with our thoughts half asleep, and as a result give a fine exhibition of stupidity in the recitation room. This sort of indolence in youth is very dangerous, for it becomes a habit, and the mind grows rusty and dull in the very prime of life, when it should be at its best.
On the heels of this form of laziness comes another bad habit—that of intellectual loafing. What loafing is in the common sense we all know: it is hanging about with no definite aim or purpose, idling away the time without method and without profit. Well, there is a mental loafing as well, and it is known in the dictionary as “reverie.” It is a dreamy state of mind, when the thoughts go wool-gathering. This habit, so common to young people, is fatal to mental growth; many a promising youth is ruined by over-indulgence in it. It wastes time and enfeebles the mental powers. It is really a form of laziness, and it should be corrected at the very outset. The action of the mind should be kept under control. When the thoughts begin to wander, it is time to whip them into order. A resolute will will do it.—Baptist Weekly.
KRUPP'S WORKS.
THE Krupp works at Essen, Prussia, cover 500 acres, and 20,000 men are employed there. Mr. Krupp owns 547 iron mines in Germany, 4 sea steamers, 42 miles of railway, 28 locomotives, 883 cars, 69 horses, 101 wagons, etc. About one-third of the works of Krupp are devoted to the manufacture of cannon, etc. France cannot obtain even one of Krupp's guns. Krupp says that he will not look at an order from England that amounts to less than $4,860,000. Turkey has ordered $3,500,000 worth. A monster gun was recently shipped from these works for Italy. It weighs 118 tons, and is to be mounted on an iron-clad guarding the harbor of Spezia.
The 100-ton steel guns of Krupp of Prussia and Armstrong of England are forty feet in length and six feet in diameter at the base. They carry projectiles that are four feet long and seventeen inches in diameter, weighing 2,200 pounds each. To hurl one of these enormous projectiles over 800 pounds of powder are used. These awful instruments of destruction have a velocity of a mile in three seconds, and they can be sent nine miles. At a distance of over half a mile these projectiles can penetrate a mass of iron that is twenty-four inches thick, twenty-four feet of concrete masonry, or seventy-five feet of earth.—Selected.
SLEEP A PREVENTIVE OF HEADACHE.
A SCIENTIFIC writer says: "Sleep, if taken at the right moment, will prevent an attack of nervous headache. If the subjects of such headaches will watch the symptoms of its coming, they can notice that it begins with a feeling of weariness or heaviness. This is the time the sleep of an hour, or even two, as nature guides, will effectually prevent the headache. If not taken just then, it will be too late, for after the attack is fairly under way, it will be impossible to get sleep till far into the night, perhaps. It is so common in these days for doctors to forbid having their patients waked to take medicine, if they are asleep when the hour comes round, that the people have learned the lesson pretty well, and they generally know that sleep is far better for the sick than medicine. But it is not so well known that sleep is a wonderful preventive of disease—better than tonics, regulators, and stimulants."—Selected.