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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1895-5-2, Page 2AFTER THE BATTLE, rr-renttiertenneerreen-Yeten—e--... REV. DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON AT THE ACADEMY IN NEW YOWL The Eloquent Preather ea Influence Temptation an 4 the 'Wiles or the World -Story or the Good Angel and the Ecid, NEW Yonn, April 21, -There is no diminution in the vast numbers that e.seenible from Sunday to Sunday to listen to the eloquent sermons of Rev. Dr, Tan Meg% To -day he chose for his subject "After the nettle," the text selected being I Sametel =xi, 8, "And it came to pan on the morrow, when the Philistinee came to strip the elain, that they found Saul and hia three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa." Some of you were at South Mountain or Shiloh, or Ball's Bluff, or Gettysburg, on northern or southern side, and Ink you if there is any udder sight than a battlefield after the guns have stopped firing? I walked across the field of Antietam just after the conflict, The scene was so sick- ening I shall not describe ib. Every valu- able thing had been taken from the bodies of the dead, for there are always vultures hovering over and aroand aboet an army, and they pick up the watohes and the memorandum books, and the lettere, and the daguerreotypes, and the hats and the coats, applying them to their own uses. The dead make no resistance. So there are always camp followers going oo and after an army, as when Scott wenb down into Mexico, as when Napoleon marched. up toward Moseley?, as when Von Moltke went to Sedan. There ie a similar none in my text. Saul and his army had been horribly out to pieces. Mount Gilboa was ghastly with the dead. On the morrow the stragglers carve on to the field, and they lifted the latchet of the helmet from under the chin of the dead, and they picked up the swords and bent them on them knee to test the temper of the metal, and they opened the wallets and counted the coin. Saul lay dead along the ground, eight or nine feet In length, and 1 auppose the cowardly Philistines, to show their bravery, leaped upon the trunk of his carcass and jeered at the fallen slain and whistled. through the mouth of his helmet. Before night those cormorants had taken everything valuable from the field. "And it came to pass on the morrow when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa." Before I get through to -day 1 will show you that the same process is going on all the world over and every day, and that when men have fallen eaten and the world, so far from pitying them, go to work re- morselessly to take what little is left, thus stripping the slain, There are tens of thousands of young men everyyear comity 'iwin the country to our great cities. Th ehme with brave hearts and grand. expectations. The coun- try lads sib down in the village grocery, with their feet on the iron rod around the redhot stove in the evening, talking over the prospects of the young man who has one off to the oity. Two or three of them thibk that perhaps he may get along very well and succeed, but the most of them prophesy failure, for it, is very hard to think that those whom we knew in boy- hood will ever make any great success in the world. But our young man has a fine position in a dry goods store. The month is over. He gets his wages. He ia not accustomed to have so much money belonging to him. elf. He is a little excited and does not know exacitly what to do with it, and he spends it in some places where he ought not. Soon there comes up new compan- ions and acquaintances from the bar- rooms and the saloons of the city. Soon that young man begins to waver in the battle of temptation, and soon his zeal goes down. In a feyr months or few yearshe has fallen. He is morally dead. He is a mere eorpse of what he once was. The harpies of sin snuff up the taint and ome on the field. is garments gradual- ly gire out. He has pewned his watch. His health is failing him. His credit perishes. He is too poor to pay his v,ay home to the country. Down, down ! Why do the low fellows of the city now stink to him so closely ? Is it to help him back to a moral and spiritual life? Oh, no; I will tell you why they stay; they are Philistines stripping the slain. Do not look where I point, but yonder stands a men ho once had. a beautiful home in this city. His house had elegant furni- ture, his children were beautifully clad, his name was synonymous with honor and usefulinese, but evil habit knocked at his front door, knocked at his back door, knocked at his parlor door, knocked at his bedroora door. Where is the piano 7 Sold to pay the rent. Where is the hatmack ? Sold to meet the butchers' bill. Whereare the carpets? Sold to get bread. Where is the wardrobe? Sold to get rum. Where are the daughters? Working their imgers off to keep the family together, Worse and worse until everything is gone. Who is that going up the front steps of that house 1 That is a creditor, hoping to get some chair or bed that, has not been levied upon. Who are those two gentleman now going up the front steps? The one is a con- atable ; the other is the sheriff. Why do they go there? The unfortunate is morally dead, socially dead, financially dead, Why do they go there? 1 will tell you why the creditors, and the constables, and the sheriffs go there. They are come on their own moment, and come on account of the law stripping the slain. An ex -member of congress, one of the mot eloquent men that ever stood in the house of representativein mad in his last momenta: "This is the end, 1 am dying -dying on a borrowed bed, covered by a borrowed sheet, in a house built by public oharity. Bury me unaler that tree in the middle of the field, where I shall not be crowded, for I have been crowded all my life." Where are the jolly politicians and the diesipoting comrades who had been with him laughing at his jokes, applauding .hie eloquence and plunging him into sin? They lavve 'eft, Why? His money is one, his reputation is gone, hit wit is gone, hie clothes are gone, everything is gone. Why should they stay any longer? They have completed their work, They have etripped the slain. There is &other way, however, of doing thee Berne work. I1ere is a man Who, throng)) hie tu Is prostrate. Me aohnow- ledges that he has donenvrong, Now is the time for you to go to that niMa and. say, "Thousands of people have been. as fier astray as yea ere and got be,ok. Note is the Vine for you toga to that man and tell hint of the omnipotent grave of God -that is eufficieat for ay poor aoul. Now is the time to go to go tell hien how swearing .Tohn Beltran through the grace of God, afterward mune to the celestial oity, Now et the time to go to that man and tell him how profligate Newton oame• through ocinvitrsioteto be a world renowned preaoher of righteonences. Now is the time to tell that men that multitudes who hove been pounded with all the flails of sin and dregged through all the sewers of pollution at last have risen to positive dominion of moral power. You do not tell him that, do you ? No You say to him : Loan you money ? No, You are down, You will have to go to the dogs. Lend you a dollar ? I would not lend you five dents to keep you from the gallows, You are debauched. Get out of my eight now. Down. You will have to stay down,' And thus the bruised and battered men are sometimes mooted by those who ought to lift them up. Thus the last vestige of hops is taken from them. Thus those who ought to go and lift and save them are guilty of stripping the slain. l'he point I want to make is this ; Sin is hard, cruel and merciless. Instead of help ing a man up it helps hizn dowmand when like Saul and his comrades, you lie on the field it will come and steal your sword and helmet and shield, leaving you to the jack- al and crow, But the world wed eaten do not do all their work with the outcast and abandoned. A respectable and impenitent man cornet to die, He is fiat on his back. He could not get up if the house was on Ere. Ad- roiteat medical skill and gentlest nursing have been a failure. He has come to his last hour. What does eaten do for such a man? Why, he fetches up all the inapt, disagreeable and harrowing things in his life. lie says : "Do you remember those chances you had for heaven and missed them Do you remember all those lapses in conduct? Do you remeniber all those opprobious words, and thoughts and am gone ? Don't remember them, eh? Pll make you remember them." And then he takes all the past and empties them on the deathbed, as the mailbags are emptied on the postoffice floor. The man is tuck, Re canuobget away from them. Then the man says to eaten: "You have deceived me. You told me that all would be well. You said there would be no trouble at the last. You told me if I did so and so you would do eo and so. Now you oorner me and hedge me up, and sub- merge me in everything Ha, ha 1" says eaten. "1 was only fooling you. It is mirth for me to see you suffer. I have been for thirty years plotting to get you just where you are. It is ,hard for you now. It will be worse for you after awhile. It pleases me. Lie still, site Don't flinch or shudder, . Come, now, I will tear off from you the last rag of expectation. I will rend away from your soul the last hope. I will leave you bare for the beating of the storm. It is my business to strip the slain." While men are in robust health, and their digestion is good, and their nerves are strong, they think their physicel strength will get them safely through the last exi- gency.. Tney say it is only cowardly women who are afraid, at the last and cry out for God. "Wait till I come to die. I will show you. You won't hear me pray or call for a minister, nor want a chapter read me from the Bible." But after the man has been three weeks in a sick room his nerves are not so steady and his worldly compan- ions are not anywhere near to cheer him up, and he is persuaded that he must quit life. His physical courage is all gone. He jumps at the fall of a teaspoon in a Kilmer. He shivers at the idea of going away. He says " Wife, I don't think my infidelity is going to take me through. For God's sake,don't bring up the children to do as I have done. If you feel like it, I wish you would read a verse or two out of Fannie's Sabbath school hymn book or New Testament. But eaten breaks in and says : "Von have always thought religion a trash and a lie. Don't give up at the last. Besides that, you cemnot, in the hour you have to live get off on that track. Die as you lived. With my great black wings I shut out that light. Die in darkness, I rend away from you that last veetige of hope. It is my business to strip the slain." A man who has rejected Christianity and thought it all trash comes to die. He was in the svreet of a great agony, and his wife said: " We had better have some prayer." "Mary not a breath of that," he said. "The lightest word of prayer veould roll back on me like rocks on a drowning man. I have come to the hour of test. I have had a chance, but I forfeited it. I believed in a liar, and he has left ine in the lurch. Mary bring me Tom Paine, that hook that I swore by and lived by, and pitch it into the fire and let it burn and' burn as I myself shall soon burn.' And then with the foam on his lips and his hands tossing wildly in the air, he cried out: "Blackness of Darkeess ! Oh, my God,too late 1" And the spirits of darkness whistled up from the depth and wheeled around and around him,stripping the slain. Sin is a luxury noW. It is exhilaration. now. It is victory now. But after awhile it is collision. It is defeat. It ie exter- mination. It is jackalism. It is robbing the dead. It is stripping the slain. Give it up to -day -give it um Oh,how you have been cheated °Lamy brother, from one thing to another. All these years you have been under an evil mastery that you anderstood not. "inlet have yonr companions done for you? What have they.done for your health? Nearly ruined it by carousal. What have they done for your fortune? Almost scatter- ed it by spendthrift behavior. What have they done for your reputation ? Almost ruined it with good men. What have they done for your immortal sol? Alinost in- sured its overthrow. You are hastening on toward the consum !nation of all thab is sad. To -day you stop and think, but it is only for a moment, and then you will tramp on, and at the close of this service you will go out, and the ques- tion will be,"How did you like the sermon?" And one men will say, "I liked it very well,' and another will nay "/ didn't like ib at all," but neither of the answers will touch the tremonclous fact than if impenitennyou are going at thirty knots an hour towards shipwreck. Yes you are in a battle where you will fall, and while your surviving re, lativen will take your remaining eatitta,and the cemetery will take your body, tiro messengers of darkttess will take your soul and come and go about you stripping the slain, Many are lrying out, "1 admit I am aloin -f admit it," On what battlefield, my brothers? By what weapon? Polluted imagination," says one man, "Intoxicating liquor." says smother Man, "My own herd heart," says nether main Do you realize Ms? Then I ante to tell you that the retipotent Christ is ready to Welk aeon TIU ET4R TIXES thie battlefield and revive and resuscitate azul resurreot your dead soul. bet hIm take your hand and rub away the nntith. nese ) your head and bathe off the aching; yMtr heart tad atop its wild throb, Jte nrougb b Lames to life he broughtJairus' daughter to life; he brought the yomig man of Nein to life, aud thoo are three proofe anyhow that he oan bring you to life. When the Philistines game down on the field, they etepped between the corpses, and they rolled over the dead, and they took away everything that was valnable, and 80 10 WAR with the people that followed after the armies at C,haneelloreville, and at Pittsburg Landing, and at Stone River, and at Atlanta, stripping the slain, but the northern and southern women -God biess them 1 -came op the field yetth basins and pads and towels mid lint and cordiale and Christiau encouragement, and the poor fellows that lay there lifted up their arms and said, "Oh, how good that does feel since you dressed it 1" and others looked up and said, "Oh, how you make me think of my mother 1" and others said, "Tell the folka at home I died thinking about them" and another looked up and. sold, "Kiss, won't you sing me a verse of 'Home Sweet Home,' before I die ?" And then the tattoo was sounded, and the hats were off, and the service was read, "I am the resurrobion and the life," and in honor of the departed the muskets were loaded and the command given: "Present! Fire 1" And there was a shingle stab up at the head of the grave, with the epitaph of "Lieutenaut---in the Fourteenth Mas. sachusetts regulars," or "Captains, --in the :Fifteenth regiment of South Carolina volunteers," And so now across this great field of moral and spiritual battle the angels of God came walking among the slain, and there are voices of comfort, and voices of hope, and voices of resurrection, and voices of heaven. One night I saw a tragedy on the corner of Broadway and Houston street. A young man, evidently doubting as to which direction he had better take, his hat lifted high enough so that you could see he had an intelligent forhead, stout chest ' • he had a robust development. Splendidyoung man. Cultured young man, Honored young man. Why did he stop there while so many were going up and down? The fact is that every man has a good angel and bad angel contending for the mastery of his spirit, and there was a good angel and a bad angel struggling with that young man's soul at the corner ofBroadway andHouston street. "Come with me," said the good angel. "1 will take you home, I will spread Any wivge over your pillow. I will lovingly escort you all througk life under super- naturahprotection. I will bless every cup you drink out of, every couoh you rest on, every doorway you enter. I will con- secrate your tears when you weep, your sweat when you toil, and at last I will hand over your grave into the hand of the bright angel of a Christian resurrection. In answer to your father's petition and your mother's prayer I have been sent of the Lord out of heaven to be your guardian spirit. Come with me," said the good angel in a voice of unearthly symphony. It was musio hke that whioh drops from lute of heaven when a seraph breathes on it. "Noon)," said the bad angel. "Come with me. I have something better to offer. The wines I pour are from °helices of be- witching carousal. The danoe 1. lead is over floor tessellated with unrestrained indulgences. There is no God to frown on the temples of sin where I worship. The paths 1 tread are through meadows, daisied and primrosed. Come with me." The young man hesitated at a time when hesitation was ruin, and the bad angel smote the good angel until it departed, spreading wings through the starlight up- ward and away until a door flashed open m the sky, and forever the wings vanished. That was the turning point in that young man's history, for, the good angelftown, he hesitated no longer, but started on a path,. way which is beautiful at the opening, but blasted ab the last, The bad angel, leading the way, opened gate after gate, and at each gate the road became rougher and the sky more lurid, and what was peculiar as the gate slammed shut it came to with a jar that indicated that it would never open. Passed each portal, there was a grinding of locks and a shoving of bolts, and the scenery cm either side of the road changed from gar. dens to deserts, and the June air became a cutting December blast, and the bright wings of the bad angel turned to sack- cloth, and the eyes of light became hollow with hopelese grief, and the fountains that at the start had toned with wine poured forth bubbling tears and foaming blood, and on the right side of the road there was a serpent, and the man said to the bad angel, "What is that aerpent?" and the answer was, "That is the serpeat of stinging remorse." On the left aide of the road there was a lion, and the man asked the bad angel, "What is that lion?" and the answer was, "That is the lion of all devouring despair." A vulture flew through the sky, and the tnan asked the bad angel, "What is that vulture?" and the answer was, "That is the vulture waiting for the carcasses of the slain." And then the man began to try to pull off him the folds of something that had wound him round and round, and he said to the bad angel, "What is it that twists me in this awful convolution ?" and the answer was, ',That is the worm that never dies." And then the man said to the bad angel " What does all this mean? I trusted in what you said at the corner of Broadway and Houston street: I trusted in all, and why have you thus deceived me ?" Then the last deception fell off the charmer and ie said : "I was sent forth from the pit to destroy your soul. I watched my chance for many a long year. When you hesitated that night on Broadway, I gained my triumph. Now you are here. Ha 1 ha 1 You are here. Come, now, let no fill these two ohalicee of fire and drink together to darkness and woe and death. Hail I Hail I" Oh young man, will the good angel sent forth from Christ or the bad angel sent forth by sin get the victory over your soul? Their wings are interlocked this moment above you, contending for your destiny, as above the Apenninee eagle and condor fight mid. sky. This bour may decide your destiny. Protection that Protects. Brownston-Yes,sir. My house hat been robbed three times, and I live right in the middle of the city, tem with' a polioematt at every corner. I should think you'd be soared half to death living as you do, way off in the country. Mr. Suburb -My house ie never interfer- ed with. There hese% been a burglar in our section for years, Eh 1 Have you policemen there I No, Nothing but guns. At Close Quarters. tier lily eheek he pressed to his. They were eo near, so very near ; Alia then she said : I am so glad That there ie nauglit between tua dear. TETE SUliDAN SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL. LESSON, May 5, '95. "The Agony in ISethsemann," Mark 14, 32-42. eloilden Text, John IS. Z. Gammen Snaneeterin. The sone we are about to study dates perhaps fifteeu holm before the death cif Jesus, and to make it vivid we ehould re. mind oureelves of hie age, about thirty throe and one half years ; and probably his eleveu °Ilona ones were not fan from the same age, one or two of bhenn a little younger. It was, as nearly as the best scholarship can figure, about midnight after Thursday, April 6, A. D. 30, .when iTesits wtth his companions passed out of the gate of Jerusalem to cross the deep gully which surrounds the city. By just this route, centurin before, David, his great ancestor, had fled from his son Absalom. The stone fortifloations crowned in deep shadow behind them as they walked down the hillside, while the soft sods of the terraoed side of Olivet be- fore them were drenched .in moonlight. They approached the garden of Gethsemane, an orchard of olives -one of many near Jerusalem, Each of these orchards had in the middle of it the little stone cottage of its owner or keeper, and often an oil press also (the word Gethsemane means "ffil press"). El ,Tesmaniye, the tradition site of Gethsemane, lies at the foot of the western slope of Mount Olivet, and it is easy to believe that in this ease tradition ie correct. This garden was very probably owned ny one of our Lord's friends (John 18.2), Old olive trees are dense and heavy, and the shadows these threw were dark in proportion to the silvery splendor of the full April moon. Into this gloom our Saviour enters, leaving eight of his disciples at the edge of the grove, probably to guard against surprise, and keeping his three most intimate associates closer to him. The story of hie agony and his broken conversation with hisdisciplea is given in our lesson. Parallel aocounta are to be found in Matt. 26, 36-46 ;-Luke 22. 89-46 ; John 18. 1 ; but bhe exaot order of events as given by the four evange- lists is not certain. It was very likely during this walk (else immediately before it) that the solemn question was asked, " Lord, whither goest thou?" and the pathetic request made "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffioeth us;" that the high priestly prayer found in the foueteenth chapter of John was offered aloud in the hearing of the disciples •' and the distinct announcement made that the Shepherd was about to be smitten and the sheep scattered, but that the Lord would rise in triumph from the grave. It was about this time, too, that Jesus tenderly prophesied Peter's denial. Our story is so sacred that due dares hardly handle it familiarly. Dr. Farrar has well said that as we contemplate it we ourselves become like the disciples - our senses are confused and our perceptions are not clear; but there is no passage in all the Bible which contains more clear, beau- tiful, or comforting epirituel lessons. EXPLANATORY AND PRACTICAL NOTES. Verge 32. And they oame. Jesus and the eleven disciples; Judas had left on the wickedest of errands. A place. The or- iginal intimatee that there was a wall about it. From the accounts given by the other evangelists ib is evident that Geth- aemane was familiar to the disciples, and there are some reasons for the fancy that it belonged to Mark. The present Geth- semane, of which we have written in the General Statement, is less than a mile from the city walls. Within it are eight vener- able olive trees, probably the descendants of those under whose shadow the "agony" was felt. To his disciples. • The disciples left at the entrance were eight in number. Sit ye here. Doubtless ad a guard against surprise; perhaps also because they were not fitted to enter into his aorrow as deeply as the three others. While I shall pray. Our Lord fell the need of communion with the Father to support him in the ap- proaching crisis. (1) If he who is our Saviour needed the help of prayer, how much must we 1 33. He te.keth with him. For their sympathy's sake. (2) If he who is our Saviour needed the help of human sym. pathy, how much must our neighbors I Peter and James and John. The three lead,. ing spirits among the twelve; they had wit- nessed his transfiguration kind could more thoroughly than the rest sympathize with him. Sore amazed. Indefinably awestruck; overwhelmed by tbe intensity of hie feel- ings. "The word tells not only of amaze- ment, but even of stupefaction from amazement, aa if an utterly unwonted feeling were taking possession of his soul, and he knew not what to make of it ; the entrance upen a new stage of experience was overcoming American Commentary. Commentary. Very heavy. Crushed by sorrow. We dare not attempt to analyze this sorrow; but here are some evident elements of It ; First, and lightest of all, the near approach of death to one in the prime of manhood, in vigor of kiealth and intellectual powers: Second, perhaps. foreknowledge of the physical tortures or thorn, scourge, nails and cross. Third, perhaps foresight of the mental and affect. lomat anguish caused by the undeserved malice of the people he loved, the perver- sion of his good teachings into evil, the misunderstanding end misrepresentation of the purest aimh. Fourth, hie own freedom to escape from a terrible fate; by an act of the will he might avoid it. • Such a death might well seem unneoessary andwieked, horrid destruction of the pure and holy just when the world needed it most -it must seem so from the merely human point of view. "Not my will but thine be done," is ohe of the most auggestive of all the sayings attributed to him. Fifth, the tempt- ings of Satan (Luke 4, 13; Heb. 2, 18).who always takes advantage of hours of weak- ness. Then beyond all these there is the mystery which human thought cannot fathom, of the world's guilt pressiag down upon his pure soul. "The physical suffer bags of our Lord," writes the Rev. W. N. Clark, "were never the chief source of his pain: The true understanding of his agony has been kept away from many minds by a too exclusive attention to the physioal part." 34. iV1y soul ie exceeding sorrowful. " The soul is the human eoul, the seat of the affections and panions, and nob the higher spiritual being." -Alford. Unto death, Such an agony as Would destroy life if ie were toe alleviated, Wath, Li pain we Want our best friends near -us. 35. Went forward. " About a toften ctiete" says Luke. Fell on the ground, "Whim the flail of afflietion is upon me• let me not be the obeli that MOS in thy Noe, but the corn that lies low at,thy feet," --Calvin. If it were possible. If the great ends of redemption could. be accomplished in any other Way. The hour might Peas. And all that the hoilr, brought With it - the betrayal, bite trial, the mocking, Idle scourging, the cross, the grave, and all else otunooht rtellolrger part) which our thoughts 36, Abbe, Father. "Abba" was fami- liar endearing term for Father, oomparable to our " papa" -only that it was a correct word in another language, the Aramaic, which the Jews talked before they learned Greek, Putting the two words together thus made a wooing affectionate ghetto. All things are possible. So, then, nothing m possible to .Judas or Caiaphas or Pilate that is not permitted by God. This thoughb oimpled with ouch love for God as finds expression in "Abba, Father," will calm and eustaitt any soul through any agony. Take away this oup. "In hie hutnau soul," says Alford, "he willed to be free from the dreadful things before him; but this human will was overruled by the inner and divine purpose --the will at unity with the father's win." Not what I will, but what thou wilt. This is the type of all true prayer. God gives us our human nature, When ib rises clamorous for de- light or against pain its olampr is not wrong and we are right in petitioning heavenly Love for things we desire and for relief from the experiences we dread; but always we should pray with the proviso -"If thou be willing,, ' (3) Note in our great Exam- pler's prayer 3 1.) Its lowliness. 2,) Its directness, 3.) Its earnestnese. 4.) Its trustfullnese. 5.) Its submissiveness. 37. Findeth them sleeping. Luke says, "sleeping for sorrow" that eyes a physical reedit of mental disturbance. Joy and sorrow both aot as intoxicants -at firat they excite, later they be numb and cause stupor. Saith unto Peter. The natural leader of the apostles. Couldest not thou watch 1 Harlot thou not strength even to watch -thou who but just now evert boast- ing?" One hour. Perhaps a limitmore orless definite of the duration of the agony; or an 'allusion to the time, "one hour," as we would say, "one o'clock." • 38. Watch ye and pray. (4) Prayer without watching is hypocrisy ; watch- ing without prayer ie presumption. -W. Jay. Enter into temptation. "Lest you place yourselves Maier the power of the tempter by your own neglect." The spirit. . , is ready. "Is willing" (Revised Version. See alas Matt. 26. 41). Flesh is weak. A sentence applying both to Jesus and the disciples. In both, the spirit was in accord with God's will ; while the flesh, or physical nature, was shrinking -Abbott. But Christ's will oonquered his "flesh ;" while the disciples' bodily weakness over- bore their will. 39, 40. Again he went away, and prayed. Luke adds that he prayed more earnestly, and that his sweat was like drops of blood. The same words. But with even more complete renunciation of his human will to to the divine, (See Matt. 26. 42.) (5) Let us learn from our great Exemplar to perse- vere in prayer. He did not cease the struggle until he had conquered. Asleep again. Losing another priceless opportun- ity. For their eyes were heavy,' They vainly tried to keep their eyes open, and slowly yielded to physical weariness. Nei- ther wist they. " They knew not." Wist is an old English word. 41, 42. The third time, After a third interval of prayer. Sleep on nue?, and take your rest. The "Rise up, let us go," of the next verse seems at first sight to be directly contradictory to this, and some have explained the first phrase as one of irony, simply because the second must be taken literally. But this explanation seems to us to be utterly out of harmony with the spirit which Jesus showed throughoue this sad visit to Gethsemane. It is probable, rather, that even in this olimacteric mo- ment, when he himself was paining through so much of spiritual, mental, and physical suffering, he nevertheless had sympathy for the untimely weariness of his followers, and said indulgently to them, as we might say to children, "Sleep on now." But soon the flashing of the torches and clanking of the weapons of the motley guard which had come to arrest him were heard and seen from beyond the trunks of distant trees, and he said, The hour is come, the time of betrayal which he had foreseen; then, as a natural sequence, Rise up, let us go. All that remains is to meet the coming betrayal. (6) When opportunities have been lost we can but face the result and suffer bravely. Pay particular attention to the phrase, Into the hands of sinners. Much of our Redeemer's agony was due to his enforce' contaot with sin ; and death was to him, as Perhaps to none other, "the wages of sin" -but not his own. A Japanese War Story. Every war brings out stories of heroism that last long after many other incidents of the conflict are forgotten. Boyish bray- ety in the heat and smoke of battle in par- ticular, is always told of, and seems to have more distinction than that of the older soldier who is trained to do his duty under all circumstances. Already from bhe Japan -China war hits come a story of a brave little bugler that is likely to be told over and over again. It was on one of the battlefields, which have net been frequent in this war, when the Ja.paneee troops were somewhat panic.stricken and were retreat- ing before the Chinese,that the little bugler was mortally wounded. Stricken and dying as he was, the brave lad did not forget his duty. He sew the brave troops flying, and knew that the Chiueae were gaining a victory; with aplended courage he raised himself, and grasping his bugle, sounded a loud and stirring "oharge ;" the troops heard and rallied under its message, charged valiantly iu obedience to it, and the day was theirs. But the little bugler had died as they fought, and did not even know that his effort had been successful, His comrades knew, however, what he had done, and they bore him from the field in triumph, and already, the "uta," a poem of honor, has been written in his memory, while his mother has arrayed herself in robs e of state and honor, and wound her hair with flowers, the proudest woman in the empire, that her only son should have thits distinguished himself. Where Will It Stop ? And now they are actually calling a new butter after Du Maurier's heroine!' No -Impossible 1 Yes. Tompkins calls his new goat Tellby. A Friehaly Suggestion. Jimbly-There ie something the matifer with my head, and the doctor doesn't nen] to IIDoW what it io, • Jorkins-Why don't you go to a wheel- wright ?" THE QUEEN'S OUTING, ALMOST AS 'uLL OF CHANGE AND BUSTLE AS MOVING DAY, vontroets 'mann Sunny Italy's Primeratione Again !It Cranks and Anutiensiahrecieloilleor anWillilctd4BrOiltu;rirboWr,tittit: WaliS—Tho qns eyes APartments num Every year at about the beginning of Mogen the Queen of England takes her short holiday from the cares and More whioh are inseparable from her position. In some beautiful seolucled spot in Italy or the south of Frame she endeavorto forget the public affairs in the direction of whioh she takes diming the remainder of the year a far more active part than she is generellv credited with doing. Of course, were she to visit a foreign country under her own name the "Great Little Lady," as they call her in England, could non escape for a moment from the public recognition and interest which it has become with her advancing years her chief arm in life to elude. She invariably travels under some such title as the "Coun- tss of Balmoral" or "Lady Windsor," and in this way esoapes the official recognition which, whether she desired it or note- the courtesy due from one nation to another would make imperative. AS nurrcura .49 .4 SPRING STOVE. But though entteen Victoria manages to dispense with much of the ceremony. that would attend a journey made under her real name, the annual holiday of the Queen of England is not an affaie that can be undertaken without a considerable amount of preparation, nor is it possible for her to completely isolate herself, even for a day. Though she does not travel in state, a large retinue of officials and servants follows her, her doings are minutely chronicled in the Ctivoeu.rt Journal, as minutely as though she crowded with people to whom the presence of her Majesty has made the place patron- houses and hotels in the neighborhood are were at Windsor and Balmoral, and the ROUSE 11XTflGH'OR ROYALTY, The selection of a suitable spot for the Queen's sojourn and the arrangement of the details of the journey are in the hands of an offioial who is designated "The Queen's Director of Continental Journeys." His name is M. Dose. Early in November each year he is deepatched to the sunlit shores of the Mediterranean, or to the en- vironments of some Italian city, to seek for a secluded, picturesquely situated ti>1 feta • QUEEN VICTORIA.. building, which can be transformed into a suitable resting place for the Queen. He is generally fortunate in finding some charming spot away from the beaten track of tourists, and negotiations are immed- iately made for the rent of the building selected, The Queen never allows any guests but her own suite to occupy a hotel while she resides in it, and invariably rents the whole building, and the grounds at- tached to it. This year the choice has fallen on Cirniez, a beautiful suburb of Nice, and the Grand Hotel was selected as a suitable -residence. It stands about 400 feet above the glittering blue Mediterranean, while behind stretch the snow -clad peaks of the Maritime Alps. Plans and photographs were sent for the Queen's inspection by M. Deese, and she having pronounced the place suitable, pre- parations were immediately made for her visit. OUTING IS EXPENSIVE. These are always of a most elaborate char- acter. The rent paid for the hotel for une month, beginning on March 14, was about $8,000, with the option of staying another fortnight on similar terms. But more than $2,500 of this amount had to be spent by the proprietor in making the alterations and sanitary improvements considered necessary by M. Dose, An elevator was built to prevent the necessity of the Queen climbing upstairs. Partitions between rooms have been removed to give ,her Majesty the apace she alwaya desires. A complete systezn of electric bells was in- troduced so that any member of the suite can be summoned at a moment's notice. Special apartments were constructed for the Queen's Indian eervants, who generally give more trouble thee all the rest of the party put together, and altogether there will not be much of the $8000 left for the proprietor. He rests,however, content and smiling, for he knows that the Queen's visit will give his hotel an advertisement better than all the money he could spend in other attractions, and that he will enjoy patron' .age from the fashionable world for many a year to come. ROME INDUSTRIES PATRONIZED. All the attractions in the hotel having been completed, furniture for the Queen's apartments is forwarded from Windsor, together with her horses and carriages. Preparations arethen made for the journey itself. These are of an equally elaborate cnaracter. The Queee's desire for privacy has in late years antounted almost to mononiania, and her wishes have to be gratified, at whatever con This year two platforms were speoially onstruoted at Cherbourg, one ot whioh was lowered on to the deck of the royal yacht Victoria and Albert when the Queen landed, All thr nnth 108 year one of the tieveral trains the Queen owns is kent in the depot of the Gate eu Nord, at Brussels. It has beep there uphly overhauled and redecorated this.year before being sent to Cherbourg, One SaiOtill it fitted up as a sittinrelooie , with ErVerV possible appliance for acrdlitg Comfort to a journey; another as a bedroom, With a bathroom attaolied, and there are separate saloope for the Quest's Righland and Indien Orteints aud rns.ids• leeeides all this, traffic oD he lines oa whioh her Majesty travels is completely ' disorganized durieg her Winn be her mune for privaoy. The nember of attentiants on the sceoial train alone thie year amonuted to sixty-three, aud for each a charge of 35 centimes per kilometre was made. There Was algO A very heavy pay.. relent for personal baggage, of which there were overel tone. Tiled elaborate precautions are ta guard her Majesey itgainsb danger cranks and Anarchists, on most 000.8 a a pilot train preceding the royal party: he directors of railway lino are not altogether grateful to the Queeti for patronizing their routes, the extra labor of employes and the general disorganization of traffic hardly compensating for the honor of conveying the royal lady. This is even the case in England. At Charing Cross Station, Lon- don, where the Queen Arrived a few weeks since, she insisted on the whole of the station being closed until she had departed, e and the time schedule of trains had to be suspended as a consequence for several hours. The inoreasing infirmities of her I' Majesty are partly responsible. -for her insistence on complete isolation. • ANYTHING FOR PRIVACY. At the last moment it is generally dis covered that further arrangements for the •'•'• Queen's nolusion will Wive to be made. This year, for instance, the Town Counoil of Curdez were desired to close a publm promenade for a stated time flitch day while or tlae Queen took her drive, and the occupants of a villa near the Grand Hotel were um. ceremoniously turned out, as it was feared that they might be 'able to catch a glimpse of royalty from their windows. The villa, "et was, of course, then rented by the Queen. - These proceedings have naturally caused a some little ill feeling, but the vogue that Cimiez is sure to obtain in the future ie considered ample compensation for any indonveniences the royal visit may cause. - Altogether Queen Victoria manages to n' make herself fairly comfortable when she 1, goes on her little annual outing. A LITTLE GRAVE That Dods the Descendant of Solomon and the queen or Sheba. In this day of unbelief and the upsetting of all the traditions of our early lives it may interest some persons to know that a & few years ago there died in England a little Priuoo of Abyssinia, who was the last linear descendant of King Solomon " and the Queen of Sheba. The rnythical traditions still preserved 4 ' in Abyssinia say that the'royal house of the‘ country has directly descended from the " Queen of the Soubh, and the Negoes, or ruler of modern Ethiopia, claims descent '- from Menilek, an asserted child of Solomon by the Queen of Aram, otherwise known as the "Queen of the South," and the P: Queen of Sheba. ' • This claini has been allowed, and the little Prince Allamayo was the object of universal and tender interest', because of his high lineage, and his tragical history, All the world knows of the British expedition to Abyssinia in 1865ee for tho, purpose of releasing Captain Cameron, the English Consul to Abyssinia and others who hind been imprisoned and cruelly treated by King Thedore. It is a matter of history, and this sketch only pretends to furnish a bit of personal reminiscence. of the poor little Prinoe, so casually alluded to in the written records of that campaign, and whose name " Alla- mayo," (1 have seen the world), seems in a way prophetic. The British force'under Sir Roberb Napier, stormed the fortress of Magdala, the last atronghold of the brutal Theodore, and on Easter Monday, April 13, 1868, it fell and the standard of England was planted upon the African rock which had so long been the prison home of British envoys. The body of Theodore -was found some way up the path, between the second gate- way and the palace. As soon as the storm- ing party carried the outer gate, he ex- claimed to those near him, "Flee 1 I release you from your allegiance. As for me I shall never fall into the hands of the enemy." Drawing his pistol, he put it into his mouth and shot hiinself dead. His widow, Queen Tirrowark, and his son, Allatnayo, remained in the British camp, and were treated with the utmost consideration. But she was delicate and weak, and finally died of lung trouble, her son still remaining in the hands of the Commandenin•Chiet, Sir Robert Napier, until by order of the Queen of England, who adopted him, he was taken charge of by Captain Speedy, a naval officer, cele- brated for two things, viz. : his enormous body and most tender heart. The Prince and his guardian lived on the Island of Penang, off the coast of the Malay Peniasula, and here, in October, 1871,1 first saw the child. He was a bright-facedonce-looking boy of 10 years, dressed in knickerbockers, and was very dark, with fuzzy hair, parted in the middle. Isle had an extremely gentle voice, and quiet manner, and one could not imagine him the son of Buell a man as Theodore. e., Tberewas an evening party, going on at the Government House, dancing and music, and having felt deeply interested in the little chap earlier in the evening, when Captain Speedy had made us acquainted, I strolled around, looking him up. I came upon him at last, stretched out on a table in one of the smell reception rooms, sound asleep, his little dark cheeks resting on his arm, and as I looked down upon him, wondered what was to be the fate of thi tiny shoot of extinct royalty. His future seemed to be secure from all things hurtful, as it was directed by the good Queen'but a Higher Power was to intervene. When a few ieu.rs after 1 firse sew lam, he was carried to England and placed at Cheltenham College, the damp climate developed in hirenthe Moine which had carried off his mother, and the little Prince Allamayo, who b ad "Heenthe world," wao gathsred to his fathers, the lent of hit aphi. taivoennalervoeyr known ine where they laid him, but it is somewhere in England, that little grave, and I hope the daisies and the grass make it beautiful for the desolate child whose quiet resting piace it is. A Temperanee Town. (He rapturously)- flow beautiful you arel Just to gaze into your eyes IntOX17., tatSB Inc. Shh (in alarm1-Ilueh-sh-sh, Don't speak of 10. This is a local option town and 1 nuty be tweeted eild fined. th.