HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1895-3-14, Page 7\
TIIE
TI1VUIS
UNOCCUPIED FIELDS.
REV, DR. TALMAGE'S SUCCESSFUL
VVORK iN NEW YORK.
ge ear( ants Semen That Ile re Glial to
Worn on Inew Ground That Does not
Interfere with Others—The Cavalry
eeeviee.
NEvir Yeaut, March 8.—Public interest
the services et the Academy of Music
ie something phenomenal. Although the
arrangement is an innovation in religious
methods in New York, both as to time and
place, there is no church in the city to
vvhieh soinany people go or where so much
eagerness to secure admission is displayed.
The usual inineenee audience was present
• tiles afternoon to hear the famous preach-
er. Dr. Talmage's subject was "New
Ground" and his text Romans xv, 20,
• • "Lest I should build upon another 'man's
fonudation".
e After Yvan the help of others, I had
built three churches in the same city, and
- not feeline called upon to undertake the
esulaselmman toil of building a foueth
church Providence seemed to point to this
'place as the field in which I could enlarge
erne, work, and I feel a sense a relief
„amounthig to exultation. Whereuntonhis
Work will grow I cannot prophesy, It is
e inviting and promising beyond anything I
, have ever touched. The churches are the
grandest institutions phis world ever saw,
end their pastors have no superiors this
side of heaven, but there is a work which
must be done outside the churches, and to
that work I join myself for awhile, "Lest
/ build on another man's foundation.
The church is a fortress divinely built.
e
Now, a fortress is for defense and for drill
- not for storing ammunition, but an army
must sometimes be on the march far out-
side the fortress. In the campaign a con -
a Altering this world for Christ the time has
, come for an advance movement, for a
"general engagement," for massing the
troops, for an invasion of the enemies'
country. Confident that the forts are well
manned by the anlest ministry that ever
'blest the church, I propose, with others,
* for awhile to join the cavalry and move
, out and on for service in the open field.
. In laying out the plan for his missionary
tour Paul, with more brain. than any of
, his contemporaries or predecessors or suc-
cessors, sought out towns and cities wbich
' had not yet been preached to. He goes to
*Corinth, a city mentioned for splendor and
, vice, and Jerusalem, where the priesthood
and sanhedrin were ready to leap with
- both feet upon the Christian religion. He
feels he has a special work to do, and he
. means to do it. What was the result?
The grandest life of usefulness that man
' ever lived. We modern Christian work-
ers are not apt to imitate Paul. We build
• on other people's foundations. If we erect
- a church, we prefer to have it filled with
„families all of whom have been pious. Do
we gather a Sunday school class, we want
!good boys and girls, hair combed, faces
.washed, manners attractive. So a church
in this denee apt to be built out of other
*churches. , Seine ministers spend all their
,.-time in fishing in other people's ponds, and
,they throw the line into that church pond
and jerk out a Methodist, and throw the
--line into anothev church pond and bring
, out a Presbyterian, or there is a religious
row in soma neighboring church, and the
eaysb,ole ealaen1 of fish swim off from that
pond, and we take them all in with one
sweep of the net. What is gained? Ab-
• solutely nothing for the general cause of
4, Christ- It is only as in an army, when a
regiment is transferred from one division.
to another or from the Fourteenth regi-
• ment to the Sixty-ninth regiment. What
e strengthens the army is new recruits.
The fact is, this is a big world. When
* in our schoolboy days we learned the di-
ameter and circumference of this planet,
we did not learn half. It is the latitude
• and longitude and diameter and circum -
s ference of want and woe and sin that no
figures can calculate. This one spiritual
• continent of wretchedness reaches across
0'4 all eenes, and if I were called to give its
• geographical boundary I would say it is
bounded on the north and south and east
• and west by the great heart of God's sym-
pathy and love. Oh, it is great world!
Since six o'clock this morning at least 80,-
• 000 have been born, and all these multi-
plied populations are to be reached of the
gospel. In England or in eastern Ameri-
• can cities we are being much crowded,
• and an acre of grouud is of great value,
. but out west 500 acres is a small farm, and
00,000 acres is no unusual possession.
• There is a vast field. here and everywhere
. unoccupied, plenty of room more, not
• building on another man's foundation.
• We need as churches to stop bombarding
, the old ironclad sinners that have been
proof against thirty years of Christian as-
• sault and aim for the salvation of those
• who have never yet had one warmhearted
and point blank invitation. There are
' churches whose buildings might be worth
. 8200,000 who are now averaging five new
converts a year and doing less good than
neerly 60,000 ciying ror leak of surgicat
atteedatme," "No," Say the three doetora
standing there and ferining their patients,
"we have three important eases lore, and
We are attending theta ad waen We are
nett posiavely busy with their wounds it
many a log cabin meeting house with tal-
e low candle stuck in wooden socket and a
ruinister who has never seen a college or
known the difference between Greek and
Choctaw. We need churches to get into
, sympathy with the great outside world
and let them know that none are so brok-
e en hearted or hardly bestead that they will
e not be twelcomed. "No," 'says some fasti-
dious Cheistian, "I don't like to be crowd-
'. ed in church. Don't put any one in my
4 pew." My brother, what will you do in
heaven? When a great multitude thee no
man can number assembles, they will put
s fifty it, year pew. What are the select
4 few to -clay assembled in. the Christian
churches compared with the mighteer mil-
lions outeide of them? At least 3,000,000
.‘„ people in this cluster of seaboard cities,
and not more than 200,000 in the churches,
• 1Vlany of the churches are like a hospital
• that should advertise that its patients
• ranst have nothing worse than toothache
or "run mounds," but no brolcen heads,
be cruthed tinkles, no fractured thighs.
Give ti4 for treatment moderate sinners,
takes all or time to keep the flies off."
an this a,wful battle of sia and eereoW,
Where millions have fallen on millions, do
not let us spend all our tirne it Mg
eare Of a few leople, and when the coin -
mead comes, ‘Go into the World," sea
practically, "Noe 1 cannot go; I have
here a few ohoice oases, and ain busy
keeping off the flees," There are lima-
tudes to -day who have never had any^
Christian worker look them in the eye,
and with earnestness in the accentuation
say, "Come," or they would long ago
have beeia in the kingdom. ley friends,
religion is either a sham, or a tremendous
reality. If it be a sham, let us cease to
have anything to do with Christian a,ssoci-
Mien. If it be a reality, then great popu-
lations are on thole way to the bar of God
unfitted for the ordeal, and what are we
doing?
In order to natal. the multitude of out-
siders we must drop all technicalties out
of our religion. When we talk to people
about the hyspostatic union and French
euoyolopedianism and erastianism and
complutensianism, we are as impolitic
and little understood as if a physician
should talk to an ordinary patient about
the pericardium and intercostal muscle
and scorbutic symptoms. Many of us
come out of the theological seminaries so
•ioaded up that we take the first ten years
to show our people how much we know
and the next ten years get our people to
know as =eh as we do know, and at the
end find that neither of us knows any
thing as we ought to know. Here are
hundreds of thousands of sinning, strug-
gling and dying people who need to real-
ize just one thing—that Jesus Christ came
to save them and will save them now.
But we go into a,profound and elaborate
definitition of what justification is, and
after all the work there are not, outside
of the learned professions, 4,000 people in
the -United States who can tell what justi-
fication is. I will read you the definition:
"Justification is purely a formai° act, the
act of a judge sitting in the forum, in
which the Supreme Ruler and Judge, who
is accountable to none, and who alone
knows the manner in. which the ends of
his universal government can best be
attained, reckons that which was done by
the substitute, and not on account of any-
thing done by them,but purely on account
of this gradous method of reckoning,
grants them. the full remission of their
sins."
Now, what is justification? I will tell
you what justification is. When a sinner
believes, God lets bim off. One summer
in Connecticut, I went to a large .factory,
and I saw over the door written the words,
"No admittance." I entered and saw
over the next door, "No admittance." Of
course I entered. I got inside and found
it a pin factory, and they were malting
pins, very serviceable fine and useful
pins. So the spirit of i exclusiveness has
practically written over the outside door
of many a church "No admittance." And
if the stranger enters he' finds practically
written over the second door, "No achnit-
tance," and if he goes in over all the pew
doors seems weitten, "No admtttance,"
while the minister stands in the pulpit
hammering out his little niceties of belief,
pounding out the tecbnic,alties of religion
—making pins. In the most practical,
common sense way, and laying. aside the
nonessentials and the hard definitions of
religion, go out on the God given. mis-
sion, telling the people what they need
and when and how they can get it.
Comparatively little effort as yet has
been made to save that large class of per-
sons in our midst called skeptics, and he
who goes to work here will not be building
upon another man's foundation. There
is a great multitude of them. They are
afraid of us and of churches, for the reason
we do not know how to treat them. One
of this class met Christ, and hear with
what tenderness and pathos and beauty
and success Christ dealt with them: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandinent, and the
second is like to this—namely, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no
commandment greater than this." And
the scribe said to him: "Well, Master,
thou hest said the truth, for there is one
God, and to love him with all the heart,
and all the understanding, and all the
soul, and all the strength, is more than
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly he said unto him, "Thou are
not far from the kingdom of God." So a
skeptic was saved in one interview. But
few Christian people treat the skeptic in
that way. Instead of taking hold of him
with the gentle hand of love, we ere apt
to take him with the iron pinchers of ec-
clesiasticism.
You would not be so rough on that man
if you knew by what process he haa lad
his faith in Christianity. I have known
men skeptical from the faot that they
grew up in houses where religion was
overdone. Sunday was the enost awful
day of the week. They had religion driven
into them with a trip hammer. They
were surfeited with prayer nieetines. They
were stuffed and choked with catt'echisms.
They were often told they were the worst
boys the parents ever knew, because they
liked to ride clown hill better than to read
Bunyan's "Piletrinas Progress." When
ever father and mother talked of relikion
they drew down the corners of their
mouth and rolled up their oyes. If any
one thing will send a boy or girl to ruin
sooner than another, that is it. If I had
had such a father and mother, I fear
I should have been an infidel. When I
was a boy ba Sunday school, at one time
we had a teacher who, when we were not
attentive, struck us over the head with
the now Testament, and there is a way of
using even the Bible so as to make it
offensive.
Others wore tripped up of skepticism
from being grievously wronged by some
man who professed to be a Christian.
They had a partner .in business Who
turned out to be a "first-olass socrandeol,
though a professed Christian. Many yeas.%
ago they lost all faith by what happened
in an oil company which *as formed
arald the petroletun exciteinent. The
company owned no land, ot if they did
there was to sign of oil produced, but
the presideat of the company was a Pres-
byteriau elder, and the treasurer was an
Episcopal vestryman, and ono direotor was
a Methodist elms leaclet and the other di -
redoes prominent members et Baptiet and
Congregational ehttrolies. Citoulers Were
gotten out telling what fabulous prose
poets opened before this company. In-
xiocent Uteentind Women. who aest Blida
velvet coated sinners and sinners with a
gloss on. It is as though a man had a
farm of 8,000 mores and put all his work on
one acre. He may raise never so large ears
of corn, never eo big heads of wheat, he
•Would. remain poor. The church of God
has bestowed its chief care on one acre
and has raised splendid mem and women
in that small inclosure, but the field is the
•World. That means North and South Am-
erica, Europe, Asia and Africa aad all the
ailands of the sea,
at is as though after it great battle there
„Wombat 50,000 woluided and dying on the
field and throe surgeons gave all their time
to three patients under their charga The
major general collies in and says to the
doctors, "Come out, hero and look at tho
said, "I dOR't know auything abo t
Ode compana, hiet SO matingeod Men are EIJEL 0 TN NE
..,....... 1 in a itneeling peat:eon, ,At a Mal freiri tile
presiding inandarin, and with inereclible
M the head of it that 10111.1Ft be excellent, ewiftness, the butchery oemmences. The
Mid talting steolt in it must be aimost as CHILDREN TORTURE ANIMALS AND i sveistallt seizes the tiro victim by the
good as joining the ohurch." So they MEN THEIR FELLOWMEN.
boulders from behind, wbile the exem.
bought the stook and perhaps received one
divtdend so as to k.eep them still, but After
awleile they foand that the company had c
reorgenizea and had a different presinent
and different treasurer and dileerent
directors. Other engagexneuts or al.
.m..v...4vr.vv..o, emu' Mar ilrifie MU an, 0 E 0111 8B assistants, wbo arrange thent ilineen tee°
TY F
health had calmed the former officers of
the company,with ratiey regrets, to eesign.
And all that the subserthers of that stook
had to show for their investment Was a
beautifully ornamented certefieMe. Some-
times that man, looking over his old
papers, comes aoross that certificate, and.
It is so suggestive that he vows he wants
none of the religion that the presidents
and trustees andixectors of that oil com-
pany professed. Of course their rejection
of religion on such grounds was unphilo-
sopineal and unwise. I am told tbat
many of the United States army desert
every year, and them are thousands of
court martialed every year. Is that any-
thing against the United States govern-
ment tbat swots) them in? And if a soldier
of Jesus Christ desert, is that anything
against the Christienity which he More
to support and defend? How do you judge
of the currency of the country? By a Mtn-
terfeit bill? Oh, yen must have patience
with those who have been swindled by
religious pretenders. Live in the presence
of others a frank, honest, earnest Chris-
tian life, that they may be attracted to
the same Saviour upon whom your hopes
depend.
Remember skepticism always had some
reason, good. or bad, for existing. Goethe's
irreligion started when the news came to
Germany of the earthquake at Lisbon,
November 1, 1775. That 60,000 people
should have perished in that earthquake
and in the after rising of the Tagus so
stirred his sympathies that he threw up
his belief in the goodness of God.
Others have gone into skepticism from
a natural persistence in asking the reason
why. They have been fearfully stabbed
of the interrogation point.. There are so
many things they cannot get explained.
They cannot understand the Trinity or
how God can be sovereign and yet man a
free agent. Neither can I. They -say, "I
don't understand why- a good God should
have lot sin come into the world." Nei-
ther do I. You say, "Why was that child
started in life with such disadvantages,
-while others have all physical and mental
equipment?" I cannot tell. They go out
of church on Easter morning and say,
"That doctrine of the resurrection con-
founded me." So it is to me a mystery
beyond unra,vehnent. I understand all the
processes by which men get into the dark.
I know them all. I have traveled with
burning feet that blistered way. The first
word that children learn to utter is
"Papa," or "Mamma," but I think tlee
first word. that lever uttered was
I know what it is to have a hundred mid-
nights pour their darkness into one hour.
Such men are not to be scoffed,but helped.
Turn your back upon a drowning man
when you have the rope with which to
pull 'him ashore and. let that woman in
the third storey of a house perish in the
flames when you have a ladder with which
to help her out and pull her down, rather
than turn your back scoffingly on a
skeptic, whose soul is in more peril than
the bodies of those other endangered ones
possibly can be. Oh, skepticism is a
dark land. There are men in this house
who would give a thousand worlds, if
they possessed them, to get baek to the
placid faith of their fathers and mothers,
and it is our place to help them, and we
may help them,never through their heads,
but always through their hearts. These
skeptics, when brought to Jesus, will be
mightily effective, far more so than those
who never examined the evidences of
Christianity. -
Thomas Chalmers was once a skeptic,
Robert Hall a skeptic, Robert Newton a
skeptio, Christmas Evans a skeptic. But
when once, with strong hand, they took
hold of the chariot of the gospel they
rolled it on with what momentum! 12.
address such men and women to -day, I
throw out no scoff. I implead them with
the memory of the good old days when
at their mother's knee they said, "Now
I lay me down to sleep," and by those
days and nights of scarlet fever in which
she watched you, giving you the medicine
at just the right time and turning your
pillow when it was hot, and with hands
that many years ago turned to dust
soothed away your pain, and with voice
that you will never bear again, unless you
join her in the better country, told you to
never mind, for you would feel better by
• and by, and by that dying couch, where
she looked so pale and taed so slowly,
catching her breath between the words,
and you feel an awful loneliness coming
over your soul—by all that I beg you to
come back and take the same religion. It
was good enough for her. It is good
enough for you. Nay, I have a better plea.
than that. I plead by all the wounds and
scars and bloocl and groans and tip:mails
and death throes of the Son of God, who
approaches you this moment with torn
brow and lacerated hands and whipped
back and saying, "Come unto me, all you
who are weary and heavy laden, and I
will give you rest."
I have heard of what was called the
"thundering legion." It was in 179,a part
of the Roman army to which soine Chrie-
dans belonged, and their prayers it was
said, were answered by thunder and
lightning and hail and tempest, which
overthrew an invading army and saved
the empire. And I would to God that you
could be so mighty in prayer and work
thttt you would become a thundering le-
gion, before which the forces of sin might
be routed and the gates of hell made to
tremble. All aboard now on the gospel
ship! If you cannot bo a captain or a first
mate, be a stoker, or a dockhand, or ready
at command to climb the ratlines. Heave
away, now, lads! Shake out the reefs in
the foretopsail l Come, 0 heavenly wind,
and fill the canvas 1 Jesus aboard will
assure our safety. Jesus on the sea will
beckon us forward. Jesus on the shining
shote will welcome us iato harbor, "And
so it came to pass that they all escaped
safe to land "
'
1
The Chinallutou at Heine altd Abroad Are
Two Different Artielea—liarbarouS
Cruelty, liriliery and corruption Di
the Law Courts—The lilost Canons lit.
difference to Torture—Horrible Scenes
ut ai Eiteentiott.
Throughout the course of the present
war there has been a good deal of mise
pleeed sympathy with the Chinese, and
they have beau exteueively eulogized as a
patient and meek people, unwarlike almost
to gentleness, who have been forced into
an unfair and unequal conteet by their
aggressive neighbors, writes Capt. Arthur
H. Lee in Harper's Weekly. This sympite
thy arises from an imperfect understanding
of the mosb doininant traits in the Chineee
character. As dwellers in a foreign land,
it is true, they conform with singular
pliability to the laws of the community,
and, as a rule, acquire the reputation of
being harmless and benevolent aliens, pati-
ent under persecution, and unobtrusively
industrious. To do ,thern justice, they
certainly are peculiarly amenable to goy -
eminent, if that government is inflexible
but beneath their mask of passiveness they
retain all their national charaoteriatics
unalloyed and unmitigated.
The Chinaman abroad andthe Chinaman
at home present as many points of similari-
ty as the mule and the tiger, and in draw-
ing this comparison I ant not sure that I
am not libelling the tiger. No one who
has not dwelt amongst the Celestials can
fully realize bow every relation of their
life is tinged with the spirit of groasest
cruelty. Before it all characteristics of the
race pale iuto insignificence. The Chinaman
is oruel from the cradle. Children delight
in torturing animals with an ingenutty
which can only be accounted for by some
diabolical hereditary instinct. I have seen
children scarcely able to walk amusing
themselves by catching the large green
grasshoppers of the country, dipping their
heads into pith's, and than igniting them.
And this is only a ramdom example. This
savagery developed in childhood shows no
diminution in after -life. To
animals, to attend and to
GLOAT OVER EXECUTIONS,
Giving (Dolor to ft.
Kind Old Man—See here; didn't I give
you ten cents this morning becauee y01.1
told me you Were blind? And now 1 find
you reading a newspaper.
Beggar --That's all right — I'm eoler
•
Where Wigs Conte From.
Canna exports al60,000 worth of human
tiair evety year, It comes mostly from
ale heads of orinainale, paupers and aead
eeople, .
torture
tioner stops up to his left side, maned with
an enorrnowily heavy short mord with a
breed blade and re,zorlike edge. Withoue
any compulsion, the abeam, Pall kneeling,
bend e his head forward, and almost inettin.
aneously it leaps from but body, severed by
one swift stroke. The sesistaut pushes the
trunk aver forward, and a shrill burst .of
approval " Hayelie" goesup from the
orowd. After • the uncertain and olamsy
operations of the medimval hee,deuian one
had been led to suppose that it human head
required a great deal of severance; but so
adept are the Chiuese executioners than
they appear to display no nore effort of
emotion in cutting of the heria than they
would in lopping a poppy from its etelk.
With fearful rapidy the slaughter proceeds
and not five eeconds elapse between the fall
of each head.
ONE UNERRING STEWED
ends each life, and the victims are so
arranged that each can witness the fate of
all those in front of him before his turn
cornea • The crowd is now in the most
jovial humor, and signidee its light-hearted
enjoyment by ribald ohaff at the expense
of the remaining victims, who frequently
retort defiantly, and exhibit the most stolid
indiffereuce to their fate, Suddenly a
burst of merriment arises in one corner. A
portly merchant has approached too near,
and his long white coat is splashed with
blood. How the bystanders laugh! Was
there ever suoh a good joke The last few
heads are falling now, when my hand is
plucked by an excited youngster of ten,
dancing with delight, who cries eagerly,
"lefo-tai ?" (Isn't it beautiful?) 1 repress
a fierce desire to throttle him, and in a few
sec:toner, all is over. Justice is vindicated,
and the crowd quickly disperses, all but
the city gamins, who remain behind to
rehearse the whole proceedings and to
skylark with the bodies. Horrible though
the sight has been, death has, at any rate,
been swift and merciful, but another day
the supreme horror of Chinese justice is
revealed to us.
For certain offenders notably parricides
and women who kill their husbands, the
penalty is the "Ling-chee," or "thousand
cuts." This is too ghastly for detailed
description, but suffice it to say that the
victim is firat crucified to a low cross, and
then
and to gaze on human suffering in any
form, afford the keenest delight to the
Chinese youth. Manhood comes, and with
it eubjection to the law, or rather that
parody of justice which passes for the law
in China. Her code combines the legalities
of Judge Jeffreys with the practice of the
Holy Inquisition. The law is delightfully
simple. No man can be condemned till he
confesses hie guilt. If he happens to be
innocent, and cannot fee the Judge to a
higher extent than his accuser, he is pre-
sumed to be guilty. If he is then obstin-
ate enough to persist in his innocence he
is tortured till he confesses, and is then
convicted on his own confession. Of legal
inquiry there is no semblance, and torture
is the recognized form of oross-examina-
tion. -• •
Some four years ago e spent four days in
Canton, themetropolis of fouthern China,
on a special mission to investigate Chinese
justice, and the results surpassed my most
ghastly anticips tion. Whau I witnessed
was nothing unusual, and is the daily prac-
tice of the country but I am compelled
to tone down the detail to make them
presentable for publication. Nothing but
the strongest spirit of inquiry, supported
by an iron resolution, carried nie through
the horrors of those days, and for weeks
afterward I suffered from perpetual night-
mare. 1 first inspected the yeanens, or
police courts, where the dispensing of jus-
tice, or rather injustice, originates. Here,
amidst surroundings of squalor, and under
the direction of an apathetic mandarin,
the laws of China were deing administered.
Of forensic eloquence there was none,
but to
BARBAROUS CRUELTy,
bribery, and corruption there was abund-
ance. The law moved with no sluggish
strides. Prisoner atter prisoner was ar-
raigned,e.nd after theverieat farce of inquery
adjured to confess. Those who protested
their innocence end could not pay were
handed over to the "yamen runners," or
official torturers, while the trial of the rest
proceeded, only disturbed by the groans of
those undergoing cross-examination at the
other end of the hall.
Let us turn to these latter unfor tunates.
Here is one prisoner held down whilst a
ruffian is pounding his ankle bones into a
jelly with a wooden club. This man has
not been proved guilty, but he will never
be able to stand again. In another corner
is a poor wretch suspended by his thumbs
and great toes in such a position that his
whole weight is thrown upon the pointe of
his knees, which reat on a chain mat stud-
ded with sharp points. His groans have
ceased and a merciful unconsciousness has
come to him,to the evident disappointment
of the idle crowd, which has now ceased to
regard him with interest. But why continue
this recital of horrors ? The methods of
torture are innumerable, and are eagerly
criticised by the crowd, which signifies its
approval of the more successful and refined
atrooitiee by grins of delight and exclanua
tions of "Hayale" Do they ever realize
that any day they may be affording a simi-
lar entertainment? In such a contingency
one feels as if one could witness their sua
fering with but small conpunotion.
Let us move on to the place of execution,
or " alatou," as 18 18 called by the Chinese.
It is a filthy yard, long and narrow, like a
blind alley, and singularly enough, it is
used as a potter's field when not required
for execution. On a cold January afternoon
I proceeded thither to witness the final
release of a batch of poor wretches who had
already undargone a prolonged course of
torture. The entire pr000edinge were
characterized by
A ItEOVICING SQUALOR
and the most adieus indiffereuce on the pad
of both epectators and victim. On this
occasiori the death -squad coneists of thirthee
who are tightly bound hand and foot and
carried in huddled up in baskets slung on a
bamboo between two coolies. On arriving at
the oentre of the ground these living loads
are pitohea out uneereniOniOusly, and lin.
tediately seized by the executioner end his
SLOWLY SLICED TO PICEOES WITR A IINIPE.
So skilful is the executioner thab although
his victim socn becomes almost unrecogniz-
able as a human being, yet no vital wound
is inflicted till perhaps half an hour of this
torture has elensed,when the agony is ended
by decapitation. So superior an entertain-
ment as this is naturally rewarded by a full
house, and even greater merriment prevails
than at mere head -chopping displays, which
savor somewhat of monotony to the blase
teantonese.
. Almost enough has now been said on the
subject of Chinese cruelty, but a full list of
the atrocities perpetrated daily by this
inhuman people would occupy volumes.
To every sojourner in a China° port the
spectectle is a familiar one of those tiny
bundles of bamboo matting which are con-
tinually washed up on the river -banks or
sea -shore. They contain the bodies of
female children,s, large proportion of whom
are thus disposed of by their inhurmin
parents, with the full coneent of the law.
Returning to the subject of the present
war, we read daily of the horrible atrocities
perpetrated by tne Chinese troops on their
Japanese prisonera. Slow torturing of the
wounded, crucifixion of women,
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSONMAR, 1.7•
•
"Zaaellene Use Peildicati." Lupe
Golden Text, Lune 19.10.
GENERAL STATEMENT.
After hie journey through Peree Jesus
probably came to leethany,near Jerusalem,
adore be raised the dead LaZarlie to life.
nob an excitement was created by this
event that the jewieh leaders formally re.
solved to put James to death as a disturber
of the people. As his hour was not yet
come he withdrew from the vicinity of the
capital and secluded himeelf for a few weeks
in the village of Ephraim or Ephron, near
the Samaritan border. Shortly befere the
paesover he left this retreat, Having re-
crossed the Jordan he passed through Jer-
icho on his way to Jerusalem. At the gate
of Jericho he healed Bartimeus, the blind
beggar, and in its streets he met Zacieheus
the rich publican. He entered his house as
O guest, and was received into his heart as
it Saviour.
EXPLANATORY AND PAA.CITICAL ITOTES.
Verses 1, 2. Passed through Jericho.
"Was passing through." He was on the
way to Jerusalem from his retirement in or
naar the Jordan valley. Chief among the
publicans. The publicans assessed and
colleoted the taxes, which they paid to
their chief, who was in turn subordinate to
the receiver -general of the province. Rich.
"Perhaps the fruit of his false accusation
(verse 8)."—Lange. The fees of a publican
were large, and extortions often made them
larger.
3, 4. Sought to see Jesus. His was more
than mere curiosity to behold the man
whose name was on every tongue. It was
a desire to know him who declared himself
to be the friend of publicans and sinners,
and in him to seek satisfaction for the hun-
ger of his soul. Who he was. Which
person in the mingled and confused crowd
which was thronging the streets of Jericho.
Press. Two crowds jolted each other—
Galilean pilgrims now on their way to
Jerusalem, hundreds of whom probably
flocked about Jesus, and the sightseers of
Jericho. Christ passed his earthly lifein the
excitement and strain of a throng which
was ever expecting to hear wonderful
words and to witness wonderful
works. Little of stature. As a publican
he would likely be hindered and perhaps
abused in his endeavors to penetrate ths
crowd that swayed around the Prophet.
He ran before. The only chance
the little man would have. Many finding
obstacles in their way to find the Master
would have given up the effort and gone
home. Suppose Zaceltens had become
discouraged ; what then? He svould have
lost the spiritual opportunity of a lifetime.
(1) When Christ is near men should make
the most of their opportunities to find him.
Climbed up. A simple action, but it showed
(1) determination ; (2) skill to employ
expedients; (3) courage in withstanding
probable jeers and taunts ; (4) a sacrifice
of some dignity in one so rich taking a place
so humble. (2) Those who desire to see
Jesus must not be repelled by any difficult-
ies that may arise. Sycamore tree. The
Egyptian fig, a very large tree.
5, 6, Saw him. Out of all the crowd the
Master's eye rested upon him, He knew
his name, read his history at a glance, and
appreciated his rising faith. (3) Christ sees
everyone whose thoughts are turned to-
ward him. Said unto him, Zacoheue. (4)
There is great power in direct individual
address. One fervent personal word will
outweigh a whole sermon addressed to an
assemblage. Notice from the beginning of
this last southward journey Jesus had
acted as a monarch ; he no longer enjoins
secrecy upon his sposamea and this com-
mand to Zaacheus is in keeping with the
triumphal entry to Jerusalem which was
so soon to follow. Make haste. (5)
Souls must not be slow in obey-
ing the commands of Christ. Abide
at thy house. An unexpeoted honor. (6)
Jesus always bestows on seeking_ souls
more than they expect from him. Receiv-
ed him joyfelly. Which he would not
have done if he had not previously longed
for him. (7) Let us joyfully receive him
who comes to bring us joy.
7. T hey all murmured Till a man is
converted he can never be reconciled to
the way God dispenses his fawns. There
were almost as many priests dwelling in
Jericho as in Jerusalem,and they doubtless
molded public opinion. This religious
teaoher seemed to countenance an agent of
Roman tyranny, and his lofty motives
were lost sight of. Rainy he went to the
home where he could do the most good.
(8) Let us not be surprised when our good
efforts are reported as evil. (9) Let us
be careful not to mistake and des-
pise the good deeds of others. A sin-
ner. • In our sense of the term, but more
also. He was 'regarded as a traitor to
his nation, 80 unscrupulous officiena grinder
of the poor,and a social outcast. Probably
there was not a man in the crowd who did
not hate him.
8. Behold Lord. He makes a pledge for
immediatefulffilment. (10)Vows are val uable
in the degree to which they are kept. The
half of my goods. Jewish teachers recom-
mended that a fifth of the income be
employed in cliarity ; this convert cense-
cratee half hie means. If I have taken. If
Zaccheue's fortune had been piled tip mainly
by fraud, his pledge to compensate four-
fold after having given half to charity
would have been absurd. (11) Liberal
donations will not cover unjust gains. (12)
The poor are with us and belong to we to
be aided by us. Fourfold. The Roman
law obliged publicans to make fourfold
restitution when it well. be proved that
they had abused their power.
9, 10. Salvation come to this house.
Christ had been present in honies where
salvation does not seem to have come,
but here a soul was ready to be saved. A
son of Abraham. Doubtless Zaccheus was
a Jew, and therefore descended from
Abraham, but this phrase would seem to im
ply something deeper. His fel th had
brought him into spiritual kinship with
the father of the faithful. To seek and to
save. (13) The seeking shows his love, the
saving shows his power. Lost. Vor this
reason he had visited the publican ; he saw
in him one lost who might yet be saved.
BuRNING ALIVE Op pRISONERS,
are constantly practised with the approval
and at the instigation of the Chineee
officials and yet the sympathy of masses of
educated people is on the side of the Chi-
nese. The cry now is that China is down,
and that Japan should cease wantonly to
trample on her. Fortunately the Japanese
statesmen understand the situation better
than the wiseacres in Europe and America,
and are strong enough to ignore threats of
interference. Should Japan stay her hand
now and impose lenient team of peace,
within a year the report would be dissem-
inated through every corner of the Chinese
Empire that the Japanese had sued tor
mercy, and that the 'Son of Heaven" had
been graciously pleased to spare the "dwarf
slaves." Should the, foreign powers inter-
vene it would universally be published
abroed that the "outer barbarians' ' vassals
of the Chinese Emperor, had, athis cone -
mend, saved the sacred territory of China
from violation. Nothing but the humbling
of China to the dust, and the imposition of
penalties which must affeet every corner of•
her empire, will break down her oast -iron
attituae of insolent. arrogance,. and render
her civilization possible. And if my judg-
ment is not very much at fault, Japan will
never halt until this good work is accomp.
lished,
Chief Justice of British Columbia
At a 'reoent meeting of the Dominion
cabinet Premier Da vie,of British Columbia,
SYR'
was appointed chief inatihe of British Col
umbia. The new chief juatioe is a middle.
aged man.
Tea in England.
England consumes 600,000 pounds or
about 4,000,000 gallons of tea every day,
which is as much as is mod by the rest of
Europe, North and South Amerion, Africa.
and Australia combined. The green "tee
of former days has almost oeasea to be
known, while the Twankay, alyient and
gunpowdet tem aro seldom heard from.
China only eupplies one twelfth of tho
quantity, the rest owning from India and
Ceylon. The Indian tea goes half as far
even as the Chilies°, as regards color an d
flavor,
FRICTION WITH GERMAN •
notatioas netween England and Gereetitet
ere etritene4-10maerer Wilitienne
tant—noprimande4 by Iltet 1001tbfb
Press.
One eallee of the faction betWeeil Ereelea
and England heti been Damped by the
signing of the egreeinene relative 'be the,
Sierra Leone boundary, but there are sal1
other points to setae which may proae
waffler more troublesome, Egypt inalitl
always be a boas of contention eo long ae
the British persist in 0401Ipying the come.
try, and that there is no immediate prospeot
of their evacuating is made apparent when"
ever this vexed question comes up foe
discussion. England in other respects 11
showing a desire to conciliate France, and
were it not for the rabid utteraneee of te
oertein class of Parisian journals, widish
keep up
A CONTINUAL NAGGUTO,
the two countries would soon be on the
beet of terms. M. Ribot, the nets+ Premier
has friendly inclinations toward the United
Kingdom, but he has to be on hie guard
against false constructions, which the preati
referred to is quick to put upon any cola
duct opposed to its own particular viewtt,
Reoent events, however, show that England
has more to fear from Germany on colonial
subjeots than from France, Within the
peat fortnight frequent conferences have
taken place between the Gerinau Arabassa.
dor and Lords Rosebery and Kimberley.
The occasion for these interviews is the fact
that the policies of the two countries ill
South Africa have come in collision. Reba..
tions between Emperor William and Eng'.
land have been somewhat strained of late,
and the strain has not been decreased by
the better understanding established be-
tween England and Russia. The railway
which the President of the Transvaal has
constructed between his capital and the
frontier received considerable aid from
German investors. At the Transvaal iron.'
tier it joins the Delagoa Bay railway. The
acquisition by England of the latter railway
would be a step toward controlling Delagoe
Bay itself, and the Emperor has intimated
in
PRETTY STRONG TERMS
that he will not allow the bay to pass filth
the hands of Great Britain. Tory organs
are warning Emperor William that such
language should only be used by one able
to beck up his words by deeds. This, they
say boldly, the Emperor is not in a position to
do and England is not likely to quake at his
taking a leaf out of the anti -English policy
of Prince Bismarck. The young Emperor
is reported to be angry over the criticism
of the British press. He recalls the fact
that only a few months ago these same
newspapers toadied to Germany, and had
nothing but pleasant allusions to himself.
But in the face of the last arrangement of
Imperial friendships, which leaves Emperor
William considerably exposed, he is forced
to acknowledge the truth of much they say,
and relieve his mind by patriotic addresses
to "my army."
An Up-to-Da,te Exeuse.
Little boy—Marnma, I wish you'd find
out who it was hypnotized me, and. punish
'ern severely.
Mamma—Wha-at ?
Litble boya-While you was out I was
pulled right into the pantry, an' forced to
Sat a hull lot of those cookies you mild 1
inuetn't tonoh,
ANIMAL IN A GIRL'S STOMACH.
George W. Millers' Daughter Is Relieved.
of the Pali%
About three years ago a daughter of
George W. Milian, of Detroit, was attacked
with what physicians diagnosed as an
aggravated form of stomach trouble. At
that time the young lady was 18 years of
age. Her malady took the form of what
was classified as a "gastric lump," and she
suffered a great deal of pain. She waa
exceedingly nervous, and was frequently
seized with severe choking spells.
"From the &et the girl was imbued with
what we thought was a strange fancy,'
said Mr. Millers. "She insisted that there
was something alive in her stomach, time
she could feel it crawling, aud that the
terrible choking spells were caused' by itit
coming up toward her throat. She also
claimed that the severe spasms of pain were
caused by the movement of the thing, what.
over it might be, in crawling about.
The best doctors lathe cher attended the
girl, but gave her no relief. Finally her
father decided to try a female clairvoyant
physician who it was claimed, had removed
lizards and other living things from hums,n
stomaohs. The family physician, Dr. W.
R. Baker, was in attendance when the
woman went into a trance.
"I see it 1" she cried. "It's a horrible
thing, and it's alive. It is crawling around
in the girl's stomach. It is covered with
thick fur and hae sharp claws. It has made
a neat in the lower stomach, and that ill
what makes the girl gag so. We meet kill
it and get it out. We will never get rid of
the thing until it is killed."
While still in a trance she dictated re
prescription which she said would kill the
bees r, and onFriday the poor girl was relievea
of the foot of some animal. It is covered with
a thick fur, about the color of a rat, provided
with sharp claws and is not unlike the foot
of a kitten. It is thought the animal came
through the penetook when very small and
that the girl must have swallowed it while
taking a drink in the dark.
• British Silver.
The "Hall mark" shows where the gola
or silver article upon whiob it is atarepea
was manufactured or assayed—being a
leopard's head for London ; a castle and
lion for Edinburg; a tree and salmon, with
a ring in its mouth, for Glasgow; an anohor
forBirmingham; three castles for Newcastle;
a, dagger or three wheat sheavee for Chest-
er; a oastle with two wings for Exeter ; a,
orown for Sheffield ; five Elions and a cross
for York, arid the figure of Hibernia for
Dublin. "Duty mark" is the head of the
sovereign, showing that the duty is paid.
The "standard meek" for gold is t For ell
England, a lion passant; for Edinburgh,: a
thistle; for Glasgow, a rampant lion; and
for all Ireland, a crovvned harp, The
" standard mark" for silver is the same
throughoet the 'United Kingdom, viz t the
figure of Britannia.
A Oreat Problem.
Joe Ribbortelerk—I am engaged 011
great prolem.
Mettle Magenta--Wha,b is it?
Joe R. ---How long ought a young man on
$7 a week take a girl eleigh riding at 6
an heal
^
It is reported in allearid that the dieter
banclee ia Olathb are of it imitate nettle%