HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1895-6-20, Page 3A .
THE EXETER, TIT/IES
„
, existentie, Doe$ not that 'look as l
STANDS LTKE A ROCKe
this aook had been divinely protected
e.s if God had gUarded it all through
the centuriee ?
BIBLE Is it not an argument plain enough
to every honest man and every honest
Woman that a book divinely protected
and in this shape le in the very shape
that God wants it? It pleases God and
ought to please us. The epidemics
which have swept thousands of other
books into the sepulcher of forgetful-
xxess have only brightened the fame
a this. There is not one book out of
a thousand that lives five years. Any
publisher will tell you* that. There will
not be more than one book out of 2,000
thet will live a century. 'Yet here is a
book much of it 1,600 years old, and
Much of it 4,000 years old, and with
more rebound and resilience and
etrength in it that when the book was
first put upon parchment or papyrus.
This book saw the cra.dle of all other
books, and it will see their graves.
Would you not think that an old book
like this, some of it 40 centuries old,
would come along hobbling with age
and on crutches ? Instead of that,
more potent thaa any other book of the
time. More copies of it printed in the
last ten ?ears than of any other book,
Walter Scott's Waverly nove's, Mac-
auley's "History of England," Disraeli's
"Endymon," the works of Tennyson
and Longfellow and all the popular
books of our time having no such sale
in the last ten years as this old, worn-
out book. Do you know what a strug-
gle a book has in order to get through
one century or two centuries ? Some
old books during a. fire in a seraglio of
Constantinople were thrown into the
street. A man without any education
picked up one of those books, read it
and did not see the value of it. A schol-
ar looked over his shoulder and saw it
was the first and second decades of
Livy, and he offered the man a large
reward if he would bring the books
to his study, but in the excitement of
the fire the two parted, and the first
and second decades of Livy were for-
ever lost. Pliny wrote 20 books of his-
tory. All lost. The most of Menander's
writings lost. Of 130 comedies of
Plautus, all gone but 20. Euripides
wrote 100 dramas. All gone but 19.
AEschylus wrote 100 dramas. All gone
but seven. Varro wrote the laborious
biographies of 700 Romans. Not a frag-
ment left. Quintilian wrote his favor-
ite book on the corruption of eloquence.
All lost. Thirty books of Tacitus lost.
Dion Cassius wrote 80 books. Only 20
remain. Berosius' history all lost.
Nearly all the old books are mummi-
fied and are lying in the tombs of old
libraries, and perha.ps once in 20 years
some man comes along and picks up one
of them and blows the dust and opens
Ing fetch up the ammunition from the it and finds it the book he doesn't want.
magazine, are trying with crowbars to But this old book, much of it 40 cen-
pry out from the wall certain blocks of turies old, stands to -day more discussed
stelie ...because they did not come from than any other book, and it challenges
the rfght quarry. Oh, men on the ram- the admiration of all the good, and the
parts, better fight back and fight down spite, and the venom, and the animosity what the -331ble says, "The dog is turn -
the common enemy instead of trying to and the hypercriticism of earth and hell. ed to his own vomit agate and the sow
make breaches in the wall! I appeal to your common sense if a that was washed to her wallowing hi
While I Oppose this expurgation of the book so divinely guarded and protected the mire." No gilding of iniquity. No
Scriptures I shall give ou my reasons in its present shape mit not be in
for such opposition. "What," say some just the way that God wants it to come
of the theological evolutionists, whose to us, and if it pleases God, ought it
brains have been addled by too long not to please us?
brooding over them by Darwin and 1 Not only have all the attempts to de -
Spencer, "you don't now really believe tract from the book failed, but all the
all the story of the Garden of Eden, do attempts to add to it. Many attempts
you ?" ,Yes, as much as I believe there were made to add the apochryphal
books to the Old Testament. The coun-
cil of Trent, the synod of Jerusalem,
the bishops of Hippo, all decided that
REV. OR., TALMAGE OPPOSES
RECONSTRUCTION.
Ile Shows How Futile Are the Assaults
Made Upon the Scriptuves—The Bible as
Ciesupered to Other Books—Ite Divine
Freteetion.
New York, June 9.—In his sermon for
to -day Rev. Dr. Talmage deals with a
subject that is agitating the entire
Christian church at the present moment
—viz. "Expurgation of the Scriptures."
The text chosen was, "Let God be true,
but (every man a liar" (Romans 111,4).
The Bible needs reconstruction, eta
cording to some inside and outside the,
pulpit. It is no surprise that the world
bombards the Scriptures, but it is amaz-
ing to find Christian ministers picking
—at this in the Bible and denying that,
until many good people are left in the
Cog about what parts of the Bible they
ought to believe and what parts reject.
The heinousness of finding fault with
the Bible at this time is most evident.
In our day the Bible is assailed by
ecurrility, by misrepresentation, by, in-
fidel scientists, all the vice of earth and
all the venom of perdition, and at• this
particular time even preachers of the
gospel fall into line of criticism of the
word of God, Why, it makes me think
of a ship in a September equinox, the
.waves dashing to the top of the smoke-
stack, and the hatches fastened down,
and many prophesying the foundering
of the. Ffeamer, and at that time some
of: the crew with axes and saws go down
, into the hold of the ship and they try
to saw off some of the planks and pry
out some of the timbers, because the
timber did not come from the right
forest. It does not seem to me a, com-
mendable business for the crew to be
helping the winds and storms outside
meth their axes and saws Inside. Now,
this old gospel ship, what with the
roaring of earth arid hell around the
stem and stern and mutiny on deck, -is
having a. very rough voyage, but I have
noticed that not one of the timbers
has started, and the captain says he
will see it through. And I have noticed
that keelson and counter timber knee
are built out of Lebanon cedar, and she
is going to weather the gale, but no
credit to those who make mutiny on
deck. s
When I see professed Christians in
this particular day finding fault with
the Scriptures, it makes me think of a
fortress terrifically bombarded, and the
men on the ramparts, instead of swab-
bing out and loading the guns and help -
Words, "This chapter not fit to read."
There has been plenty of opportunity
during the last half centtiry privately
to expurgate the Bible: Do you know
any case of such expurgation? Did
not your grandfather give it to your
father, and did not your father give it
to you ?
Besides that, I am opposed to the ex-
purgation of the Scriptures because the
so called indelicacies and cruelties of
the Bible have demonstrated no evil
reoult, A cruel beok will produce cruel-
ty, An unclean book will produce un-
cleanness. Petah me a victim. Out of all
Chistendom and out of all ages fetch
me a victim whose heart has been har-
dened to cruelty or whose life has been
made impure by this book. Show me one.
One of the best families I ever knew
of for 30 or 40 years morning and even-
ing had all the members gathered to-
gether, and the servants of the house-
hold and the strangers that happened
to be within the gates. Twice a day
without leaving mit a chapter or a
verse the read this holy book, morn-
ing by morning, night by night. Not
only the older children, but the little
child who could just spell her way
through the verse while her mother
helped her, the father beginning and
reading one verse, and then all the
members of the family in turn reading
a verse. The father maintained his
integrity, the mother maintained her in•
tegrity, the sons grew up and entered
professions and commercial life, adorn-
ing every sphere in the life in which
they lived, and the daughters went
Into families where Christ was honored,
and all that was good and pure and
righteous reigned perpetually. For 30
tars that family endured the Scrip-
tures. Not one of them ruined by them.
Now, if you will tell the of a family
where the Bible has been read twice a
day for 30 years and the children have
been brought up in that habit, and tele
father went to ruin and the mothev
went to ruin, and the sons and dauglf
term were destroyed by it—if you will
ten rat of one such inciaen.l.,
throw away my Bible, or I will doubt
your veracity. I tell you if a man is
shocked with what he calls the Ind
li-
cacles of the word of God he is pruri-
ent in his taste and imigination. If a
man cannot read Solomon's Song with-
out impure suggestion, he is either in
his heart or in his life a libertine.
The Old Testament description of
wickedness, uncleanness of all sorts is
purposely and righteously a disgusting
account instead of the Byronic and the
Parisian vernacular which makes sin
attractive instead of appalling. When
thoeeeold prophets point yon to a la.z-
aretto, you understand it i$ a lazaretto.
When a man having begun to do right
falls back into wickedness and gives up
his integrity, the Bible does not say
he was overcome by the fascinations of
the festive board, or that he surrender-
ed to convivialities, or that he became a
little fast in his habits. I will tell you
were roses in my garden last summer.
"But," say they, "you don't really be-
lieve that the sun and inoon stood still?"
Yes, and if I had strength enough to the apochryphal books must be added
create a sun and moon I could make to the Old Testament. They must
them stand still, or cause the refraction stay in," said those learned men, but
of the sun's rays so It would appear to they staid out. There is not an intelli-
stand still. "But," they say, "you don't gent Christian man to -day that will
really believe that the whale swallowed Put the book of Maccabees or the book
doreah ?" Ye's, and if I were strong of Judith beside the book of Isaiah or
enough to make a whale, I could have
blade very easy ingress for the refrac-
+tory prophet, leaving to evolution to New Testament," and there were epis-
eject him if he were an unworthy ten- ties and gospels and aposalypses writ -
ant. "But," say they, "you don't really ten and added to the New Testament,
believe that the water was turned but they haye all fallen out. You can -
into wine ?" Yes, just as easily as not add anything. You cannot subtract
eva.ter now is often turned into wine anything. Divinely protected book in
with an admixture of strychnine and the present shape. Let no man dare to
logwood. "But," say they, "you don't lay his hands on it with the intention
really believe that Samson slew a thou- of detracting from the book or casting
sand with the jawbone of an ass ?" Yes, out any of these holy pages.
and I think that the man who in this Besides tha,t, I am opposed to this ex -
day assaults the Bible is wielding the purgation of the Scriptures because if
same weapon. the attempt were successful it would be
There is nothing in the Bible that the annihilatioh of the Bible. Infidel
staggers me. There are many things geologists would say, "Out with the
I do not understand, I' do not pretend book of Genesis." Infidal astronomers
to understand, never shall in this world would say, "Out with the book of Jos -
understand. But that would be a very hua." People who do not believe in the
poor God who could be fully understood atoning sacrifice would say, Out with
by the human. That would be a very the book of Leviticus." People who do
small Infinite that can be measured by not believe in the miracles would say,
the finite. You must not expect to "Out with all those wonderful stories
weigh the thunderbolts of Omnipotence in the Old and New Testaments," and
in an apothecar's balance. Starting some would say, "Out with the book of
with the idea that God can do anything Revelation," and others would say,
and that he was present at the begin- "Out with the entire Pentoteuch," and
ning and that .he is present now, there- the work would go on until there would
Is nothing in the holy Scriptures to not be enough of the Bible left to be
arouse skepticism in my heart. Here worth as much as last year's almanac.
stand, a fossil of the ages, dug up Theexpurgation of the Scriptures
from the tertiary formation, fallen off means their annihilation.
the shelf of antiquarian, a man in I am also opposed to this proposed ex -
the latter part of the glorious nine- purgation of the Scriptures for the fact
treth century, believing in a whole, that in proportion as people becorns.
Bible from lid to lid. self sacrificing and good and holy and
I am opposed to the expurgation of consecrated they like the book as it is.
the Scriptures in the first place because I have yet to find a man or a woman
the Bible in its present shape has been distinguished for self sacrinee, for con -
so miraculously preserved. Fifteen secretion to God, for holiness of life,
hundreed years afteralierodotes wrote who wants the Bible changed. Many of
his history there was only one menu- us have inherited family Bibles. Those
script copy of it. Twelve hundred years Bibles were in use 20, 40, 50, perhans 100
after .Plato wrote his book there was years in the generations. To -day take
only one manuscript copy of it. God down those family Bibles, and find out
was so careful to have us have the Bible
in just the right shape that:we have 50
manuscript copies of the New Testa-
ment 1;000 years old and some of them
1,500 years o1d. This book handed down
from the time of Christ or just after the
time of Christ by the hand of such men
as Origen in the second century and
TertUllian in the third century and by
men of different ages who died for their
principlee. The three best copies of the
Neva 'Testament in manuscript in the
possession of the three great churches—
the Protestant church of England, the
Greek Church of St Petersburg and the
Romish church of Italy.
It is a plain matter of history that
Tischeridorf werlt .to a convent in the
peninsula of Sinai and was by ropes
lifted over the. wall into the convent,
that being the only Mode a admission,
and that he saw ,there he the Waste
basket for kindling for the fires, a man-
uscript of the holy Scriptures. That
night he cOpiecl many of the pasetages
of that Bible, but it was not until 15
yeara had, passed of earnest entreaty
and prayer, and coaxing and purellaSe
on his part that that eopy Of the holy
nneletneee was Ma into the hand of the
Romans. Then a great many said,
"We must have books added to the
if there are any chapters which have
been erased by lead pencil or pen, and the forms and the posture of the
rs any mangins 3,011 can find
statues of Phidias and Praxiteles. Such
ethe
Emperor of Russia—that one copy so
maidielously protected.
Do you not know that the catalogue
of the books of the Old and New Testa-
ments as we have it is the same cata-
logue that has been coning on down
garlands on a death's head. No pound-
ing away with a silver mallet at ini-
quity when it needs an iron sledge ham-
mer.
I can easily understand how people,
brooding over the description of -un-
cleanness in the Bible, may get morbid
in mind unell they are as full of it as
the wings, and the beak and the nos-
tril, and the claw of a buzzard are full
of the odors of a carcass, but what is
wa.nted is not that the Bible be disin-
fected, but that you, the critic, have
your mind and heart washed with car-
bolic acid.
I tell you at this point in my discpprse
that a man who does not like this
book, and who is critical as to its con-
tents, and who is shocked and outraged
with its descriptions, has never been
soundly converted. The laying on of
the hands of presbytery or episcopacy
does not always change a man's heart,
and men sometimes get into the pulpit
as well as into the pew, never having
been changed radically by the sovereign
grace of God. Get your heart right, and
the Bible .will be right. The trouble Is
men's natures are not brought into har-
mony with the word of God. Ah, my
friends, expurgation of the heart is
what is wanted.
'You cannot make me believe that
the Scriptures, which this moment lie
on the table of the purest and best
men and women of the age, and which
were the dying solace of your kindred
passed into the skies, have in them a
taint which the strongest microscope
of honest criticism could make visible.
If men are uncontrollable in their in-
dignation when the integrity of wife or
child is assailed, ani judges and jurors
as far as possible excuse violence under
such provocation, what ought to be
the overwhelming and long resounding
thunders of condemnation for any man
who will stand in it Christian pulpit
and assail the more than virgin purity
of inspiration, the well -beloved daugh-
ter of God.
Expurgate the Bible! You might as
well go to the old picture 'galleries in
Dresden • and in Venice and in Rome,
and expurgate the old paintings. Per-
haps you could find a foot of Michael
Angelo's "Last Judgment" that might
be improved. Perhaps you could throw
more expression into Raphel's "Madon.-
na." Perhaps you could put more
pathos into Rubens' "Descent From the
Cross." Perhaps you could change the
crests of the waves in Turner's "Slave
Ship." Perhaps you might go into the
old galleries of sculpture and change
through the ages ? 'Thirty-nine books
of the Old Testament thousands of years
ago. Thirty-nine now. Twenty-seven
books of the New Testament 1,600 years
ago. Twenty-seven books of the New
Testament now. Marelon, for wicked-
ness, was turned out" of the Church in
the Second cerattry arid in his assault on
the Bible and Christianity he incident-
ally gives a catalogue of the books of
the Bible—that catalogue corresponding
_exactly ,with ours—testimony given by
the enemy of the 13Ible and the enemy of
Christianity. The catalogUe now, just
like the catalogue then. Assaulted and
spit on ahol torn to pieces and burned,
yet adhering. The book to -day, in e00
languages, confronting fouretifths of
the htimael race hi their Men tongue.
Four hundred millione eoples of it in
an iconoclast would very soon find him-
self in the penitentiary. But it is worse
vandalism when a man proposes to re-
fashion these masterpices of inspira-
tion and to remodel the moral giants
of this gallery of God.
Now, let us divide off. Let those
people who do not believe the Bible,
and who are critical of this and that
part of it, go plear over to the other
side. Let them stand behind the devil's
guns. There can be no compromise
between infidelity an d Christianity.
Give us the out and out opposition of
infidelity rather than the work of these
hybrid theologians, these mOngrel eccle-
siastic.% these half evoluted people, who
believe the Bible and do not believe it,
who accept the miracles and do riot
accept them, Who believe in the inspira-
tion of the Scriptures and do not be-
lieve In the - inspiration of the Serip-
tures—trimming their belie on one side
to suit the skepticism of titSS world, trim.
ming their belief on the tither side to
suit the pride of their onSii heart and
teelinz, that in. order to dernonstrate
their dourage they must nvitke the 13ible
it target and shoot at Goa.
There is one thing that encourages
me very much, and that is that the
Lord make out to manage the universe
before they were born sant will prob.
ably be able to make out to manage the
'Universe a little while after they are
dead. While r demand that the antag-
°nista of the Bible and the critics of
the Bible go clear over where they be-
long, on the devil's side, I ask that all
the friends of this good book come out
openly and above board in behalf of it.
That boot, which was the bsst inheri-
tance you ever received frorn your an-
cestry, and which will be the best leg-
acy you will leave to your children
when you bid them good -by as you
cross the ferry to the golden city.
Young man, do not be ashamed of
your Bible. There is not a virtue but
it commends, there is not a sorrow but
it comforts, there is not a good law
on the statute book of any country
but it is founded on these Ten Com-
mandments. There are no braver,
grander people in all the earth than the
zhaeproheizsesand the /aeroines which it biog-
...
Of *all the works of Dore, the great
artist, ;here was nothing so impressive
as his illustrated Bible. What scene of
Abrahamic faith, or Edenic beauty, of
dominion Davidic or Solorraonic, of mir-
acle or parable, of 'nativity or of cru-
cifixion, or of last judgment but the
thought leaped from the great brain to
the skillful pencil, and from the skillful
pencil to canvas immortal. The Louvre
the Luxembourg, the National Gallery
of London compressed within two vol -
times of Dore's illustrated Bible. But
the Bible will come to better illustra-
tion than that, my friends, when all the
deserts have become gardens, and all
the armories have' become a- ademies,
and all the lakes have become Gennes-
arets with'Christ walking them, and ail
the cities have become Jerusalems,
with hovering Shekinah, and the two
hemispheres shall be clapping cymbals
of divine praise, and the round earth
footlight to Emanuel's throne—that
to all lands, and all ages and all cen-
turies, and all cycTes, wi I be the best
specimen of Bible illustrated.
a
A RIDE ON AN EARTHQUAKE.
This is What Sitting Gn a Runaway Ele-
phant Feels Like.
Nothing but a ride on an earthquake
could be compared to the sensation of being
run away with by an elephant. Nothing
stops his wild rush,and he does not swerve
or an obstacle, but goes straight at it. A
few shakes fling off everything on his back,
and the rider has but a second or two in
which to make up his mind which over.,
hanging branch he will cling to, or if he
will risk throwing himself off. A broken
neck would be the certain consequence of
remaining. As for stopping him, somebody
has well said that you might just as well
try to stop a runaway locomotive by pulling
with your walking sttek on the funnel as to
seek to check an elephant at such a mo-
ment with the goad.
By stroking an elephant's lip in aaertain
manner you can make it purr like a huge
grimalkin, till the earth shakes beneath
your feet. When it is afraid or angry it
squakes like an unoiled hinge. But when
it suddenly jumps aside like a flea, you
imagine for a moment that the ultimate
terrestrial cataclysm has gone off.
The Malays never wholly trust their
elephants, and were nervous at my famili-
arities with mine, a sweet -tempered old
female, on which I rode hundreds of miles.
During the midday halt I used to call her
up, and she would come and stand with
one foot on each side of my chest as I lay
on my back and fed her with bananas. I
was never angry with her but once -when
she tried to kill -the cook.
On one oceasion a little elephant of our
party, running behind its mother, teased
her beyond endurance, and she turned and
gave him a shove that landed him feet
uppermost at the bottom of a deep brook.
For two hours he screamed like a steam
whistle, while we were all engaged in get-
ting him out.
Every night when we reached camp and
the loads were taken,off, each driver would
hobble his beast by' tying its front legs
together with rattan, so that it could only
hop with both together. Then a huge
wooden bell was hung around its neck
and it was turned loose to wander in the
jungle. All night long the faint dong,
dong of these bells made a mournful noise
around the camp. At daybreak each
driver tracked his elephant by the sound,
often going many miles for him.
The elephant is in some respects a stupid
beast, and many of the tales of its sagacity
are apochryphal,yet it sometimes does very
strangely intelligent things. Once a tiny
elephant got jammed in between the parts
of a heavy tree trunk that had 'been out in
two to leave a passage in the road. Its
:creams brought back its mother from
ahead. She inspected it carefully for a
moment, then walked a dozen steps back-
ward, and lowering her head, charged
straight at it, shooting it out as if it had
been fired from a gun. Now she must have
seen that, although the little one could not
move either way, there was really room for
it to get through. If there had not been
her charge would have mashed it as flat as
a pancake.
Doting Mother-" Tell me, professor, is
my son a deep student 1"
Professor (dryly) -"None deeper, ma'am;
he's always at the bottom."
Didn't Kneel.
, Clara -Did he go down on his knew;
when he proposed'?
Dora -Nom, but I don't think he Might
to be blamed for that
hy not
He Wag helpieg me over it mud-puetilta
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON, June 2S.
..11•••••
"The Saviour's Parting Words." Luke 24,
4443, Golden Teat, Matt, 28. 19.
wars:BAT. OTATEIlliter.
On the evening of the day of the last
lesson ten of the disciples, with others of
those who'had been followers of Jesus, met
in secret, drawn together by a common
interest end by the strange reports that
were sounding iu the air, that their Master
had risen. The women could tell what they
had witnessed in the garden; John had
seen the abandoned sepulcher ; Peter, the
penitent, had caught a sudden glimpse of
his Lord; and the two brethren from
Emmaus came in, breathless with their
story. The disciplea) hearts, though not
yet convinced, were strong with a new
hope, when all at once, without drawing of
bolt or opening of door, the Master himself
stood in their preaence, with " Peace be
unto you I" upon his lips. He gave them a
few words of oheer and counael, reoalied to
their mind his own prophetic utterances
and the writings of the Reared books, and
then vanished from their view. A week
passed by, and again on Sunday even-.
ing he appeared once more to con-
vince the unbelief of Thomas and
to renew their hesitating faith. Again
they saw him in the morning sunlight on
the shore of Galilee and still again when
five hundred disciples, by his command,
assembled on a mountain to meet him.
Here he gave more extended instructions,
and proclaimed that the Gospel kingdom
was not for the chosen people alone, but
for all mankind, and bade them tarry in
Jerusalem until the anointing from on high
should fall upon them, fitting them for
their minion to the world. For the last
time he met them in the city itself which
had witnessed his death, and over which
his heart still yearned in love. He led
them through its streets, perhaps unseen
by its people, and across the valley, past
the well -remembered garden, over the
orown of Olivet, and there lifted up his
hands in farewell benediction. While their
eyes were fixed upon him he slowly rose
above the earth, and mounted higher and
higher, until a cloud hid him from their
sight. Angels, who had heralded his com-
ing, now appeared once more to promise
his return, and his disciples, thrilled with a
new impulse, began to look forward to their
mighty Work.
EXPLANATORY AND PRACTICAL NOTES.
I
poured forth on the They of Peistelloat (Aots
2, 1.4), and the heritage cif the Church
ever eince, promised by the Son (baring
his ministry as a gift from God the Father.
Tarry ye in the city. Though the world
was waiting for their menage, they were
not to deliver it until endued with the
divine power. (10) Gears warriors are not
to go forth until their weapons are prepared.
Power from on high. They were to receive
power : (1) To understand fully the Goap'31
plan ; (2) To utter forth the truth with
tongues of fire; ($) To endure patiently the
oppositioia and persecution of enemies ; (4)
To work miracles in attestation of their
message. (11) Those who work by Christ's
appoiutment are equipped with everything
needful for success.
00, 51. He led them out, Probably from
the meeting place of the disciples in Jeru-
salem, perhaps the "upper room" of the
last supper and the pentecostal baptism.
He may have walked with them through
the streets invisible to his enemies, or may
have appointed a meeting on the mountain
and appeared in their presence there. Beth.
any. On the eastern slope of the Mount of
Olives, about a mile from Jerusalem. Bless
them. Re stretted out his arms in bene-
diction to show them that he was not about
to vanish from them, but to depart, not
again to appear on earth until his final
eoming, (12) Let us rejoice that Christ's
last act on earth was to bestow a blessing.
Carried up into heaven. While we may
not fully understand the divine purpose in
the ascension yet we can see reasons why
it should take place, 1. It Bets the seal
of truth on the record by rounding out his
career to completeness, showing that as he
came from heaven, so he returned to heaven.
2. It attests his divinity. 3. It proves
the existence of a spiritual world, and
intensifies our interest in it. 4. It is in
acoordanoe with the divine plan, that, hav-
ing finished his sacrificial work on earth, he
should enter upon his intercessory work in
heaven. 5. It gives us an assurance of our
own eternal reward, which heshaa gone to
prepare for us (John 14. 2, 3). 6. It
permits all his disciples on earth, in every
land, to enjoy equal privilege of communion
with him. 7. It adds to the self-reliance
and strength of the Christian character by
giving the disciples burdens to bear and a
work to do. 8. It honors the Church by
giving it a part in a divine conqueat of the
nations. (13) Let us then be thankful that
we have a Christ beside the throne.
52, 53. Worshiped him. Showing that
they regarded him as still living and
possessing divine attributes. (14) Their
worship of Christ should warrant ours.
Returned. to Jerusalem. To await the
promised power. With great joy. Though
knowing that they shall see him no more,
their sorrow over the parting is lost in joy
in his glory and the coming conquests of
his cause. In the temple. They now see a
new meaning in its services and find delight
in its songs. (15) Lovers of Christ will
love the house of his Father. Blessing
God. Rejoicing Over the accomplishment
of redemption and longing to proclaim the
glad tidings. Amen. A Hebrew word
signifying assent, "so let it be ;" and
Verse 44. He said. The words of Christ,
as here given, are regarded by most
appropriately placed at the end of the
ex. as expressing the faith of the
positors as a summary of his teachings gospel,
during the forty days, and not as spoken Church.
at any one time or place. These are the
words. Meaning, "These events are the
fulfillment of the words." Which I spake.
The resurrection of Clhrist explained many
utterances which had seemed mysterious
during his ministry. Yet with you. While
he had been present in the flesh, and con-
stantly with them. After the resurreotion
his appearances were only occasional and
only to his own followers. All things must
be fulfilled. (1) What God haerspoken in
his word God can bring to pass in his
world. Law . . . prophets . . . psalms.
The general name by which the Old
Testament was referred to among the
,Jews, indicating its three divisions. The
law included all the five books of
Moses. The prophets included not
only those books now called prophetical,
which the Jews named "latter" prophets,
but also most of the historical books,which
were called the "former" prophets. The
psalms in general embrace that part of the
Scriptures called the Hagiographa, or
"holy writings." These were divided into
three classes : (1) Psalms, Proverbs, and
Job ; (2) Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamenta-
tions, Ecclesiastes, and Esther ; (3) Daniel,
Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Concern-
ing me. (2) Alt of the Old Testament is
prophetic and looks Christward. 1
45,46. Opened... understanding. By en-
livening their faculties and giv ing them an un-
erring judgment as to the meaning of Scrip-
ture; yot grisclually, for some great truths did
not dawn upon them until years afterward.
(3) Only the spiritual mind can understand
spiritual truth. Understand the Scriptures.
Which were to be their guide, and ours also, •
during his absence from the earth. (I)
Christ puts honor on the Bible by leaviug
it as his substitute with his Church. (5)
"The Spirit in the word and the Spirit in
the heart say the same thing." -M. Henry. I
It behooved. It was necessary that Christ
should die as the world's Redeemer, and
according to the declarations of Scripture. j
Yet this necessity did not lessen the guilt
of those who crunified him. God could have
provided some other plan, but overruled
their crime as the means of the world's sal- ,
vation. 47. Repentance and remission of sins.
Repentance, or the sincere forsaking of sins
i th sinner's
for God's service, a e part, and
remission, of forgiveness, of 'sins is the 1
divine part in the work of salvation. Should I A MARINE WONDER.
be preached. The great doctrine, which is --
The Mighty Barrier Reef a Monument
the summary of all Gospel preaching, is
salvation through Christ alone. (6) The , to minute insects' Industry,
followers of Christ are under obligation not One of the marine wonders of the world
only to hold the truth, but to proclaim it. is the great Barrier Reef of Australia.
This command was given not to the apostles
This stupendous rampart of coral, stretch -
merely, but to the entire body of his dis-
ciples. In his name. The preachers of hg in an almost unbroken line for 1,250
Christ were commanded to speak not as miles along the northeastern coast of
philosophers, but as messengers, presenting Australia, presents features of interest
the word of their Master. (7) Let us listen
to every sermon as a message from the which are not to be equalled ha any other
Lord. Among all nations. In this sentence, quarter of the globe. Nowhere is the
as by royal command, the gates of the king- action of the little marine insect, which
dom are now flung open to all ma,nkincl, builds up with untiring industxy those
(8) The Gospel is to be preached to all, be- mighty mountains with which the tropical
cause it is needed by all, given for all, and Bees are studded, more apparent.
adapted to all. Beginning at Jerusalem. ' By a aimple process of secretion there
(1) Because it would be a proof of the Gos- hits been reared in the course of eountletts
pel's truth if they began preaching it on centuries an adamantine wall against which
the very spot where its events occurred and the billows of the Pacific, sweeping along in
its faota could not be denied ; (2) Bemuse an uninterrupted course of several thousand
it wouldbe a proof of the disciples' fidelity, miles, dash themselves in ineffectual fury.
since there they would meet the fiercest Inclosed within the range of its projecting
opposition ; (3) Because it would prove the arms is a calm inland sea, dotted with a
Gospel's power, since if the very ones who , multitude of coral islets, and presenting at
slaughtered their Saviour could be sa,ved, every turn objects of interest alike to the
then there yeas hope for the worst of sin- 1 unlearned traveller and the man of
ners ; (4) Because it would prove the science.
Redeemer's love by his willingnesa to for.1 Here may be witnessed the process by
give even those who had nailed him to the which the wavy gelatinous mass hardens
crosa.I fiat° stone, then serves as a collecting
48, 49. Witnesses. Nob only to the ground for the flotsam and jetsam of the
fact of the resurrection, but to she whole ' ocean, and ultimately develops into an
aeries of events connected with Christ's island oovered with a luxuriant mese of
life on earth. (9) Not only the apostles, 1 tropical growth. Here, again, may be seen
but all Christians, are to bear testimony to in the aerene depths of placid pools( extra -
their own experience of Christ's power. I ordinary forms of marine life, aglow with
send. The eveet otily ten claya in the the inobt brilliatit colors, producing in their
future is spoken of as already present. infinite Variety a bewildering sense of the
Prolniae of any rather. The oly Spirit, vastnees of the life of the eteata
BRITISH RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.
The List of tensualties is TrItlingin Cont
parslon to the :Number of Passengers.
The return for 1894 of railway accidents
and casualties in the United Kingdom re:
ported to the British Board'of Trade has
just been issued. Last year 22 persons
were killed and 409 were injured, the great
majority in each case being passengers.
The figures were net so bad as were those
of the previous year, though they are ap-
paling enough. There were 22 collisions
between passenger trains, 26 collisions be-
tween passenger and goods trains, and 11
collisions between goods trains. In 47
oases the trains left the rails, and. in three
cases the trains travelled in wrong direc-
tions through the points. The axles failed
in 186 cases, the couplings failed eight
times, and the permanent way was flooded
72 times. Then there were 38 occasions
on which trains ran through gates at level
crossings, the tires failed 3S7 times, and
there were four fires at stations, together
with a host of minor casualties. All these
facts show how great is the risk
attending the railway system, and yet,
when the amount of work done is consider-
ed, and when the number of passengers
who escape all injury is reckoned up, the
list of accidents seems small and trifling in
comparison. The greater number of people
killed or injured every year on the railways
are not the victims of accidents, but per.
sons who are guilty of misconduct or want
of -caution. Thus, 238 persons met their
death and 127 were injured while trespas-
sing, and 112 persons committed suicide.
Then, 473 of the railway employes were
killed and 2,649 were injured, the causes
being too numerons and diverse for specifi-
oatien here. Nearly a hundred persons
were killed and a few thousand were injured
upon railway premises, ftom which it will
be evident that the danger is not only in
travelling ; and altogether steam locomo-
tion, directly and indirectly, was
responsible last year for 1,185 deaths and
injuries to 9,165 persons. •
SEE LATE CABLE NEU
•••••01.1.110
A GOOD SALE OF CANADIAN HORSKS
IN ENGLAND.
noro Trouble In Chitral -Tito Parnell
Estate—a Trotter in larde Park—Lertt
Laintxt,gton'S Weddenn—A. Iltessaere or
Misstonarlee.
A despatch from London says t -Owing
to the Whitsuntide holiday) those who
could do BO flitted to the country or flew to
the seaside, and the "Town" hes been
comparatively deserted by thoile who
furnish food for the gossip of the millions.
But they are uow flocking back to London,
doubtless refreshed by their trips, and are
plungiug into the whirl of metropolitan
life.
Iis expected that Viscount Gough, the
first secretary of the British Embassy at
Washington, who, by the reoent death of
his father, succeeded to the title and family
estates at Lough Cutra castle, County Gal-
way, and St. Helen's, County Dublin, will
soon return to Ireland from Washington.
A heavy consignment of American and
Canadian horses was sold here on Fridays
Twenty-six Canadian horses averaged
thirty guineas apiece, and twenty-fout
Canadian horses which were landed front
the steamer Carlisle City a few days ego,
were sold at the same average price. Nine-
teen American horses exported by W. H.
Forrester, of lowa, I;rought an average of
28 guineas each.
Mrs. Parnell, widow of the Irish leader
C1harles Stewart Parnell, is in broken
health at the seaside. She has deoided to
destroy all the late Mr. Parnelrs letters.
The Parnell estate is just being wound up
and the creditors will ultimately recive 10
shillings in the pound. Mr. Parnell's debts
amounted to $150,000.
Despatelaes received at Calcutta from
Simla says that the tribesmen of Chitral
are again threatening to atteck the British
troops. A body of 500 tribesmen is collect-
ed in the vicinity of Derma and the
British are preparing for an attack. Litter
despatches from Simla says that a body of
Shirannis has surprised a village, twenty
miles from Fort Sandeman, in the Zhob
country, and killed a British lieutenant
and some seven men.
Loungers in Hyde park on Thursday
last were startled by the appearance' of a
-smart trotter, drawing an American sulky,
and driven by a well-known Britisher.
Another novelty seen in the same locality
is a coster's barrow, built by the beat Lon-
don coach -builder, in which two tall awella
drive every afternoon.
It is again announced that the Duke of
Argyll is to marry a Miss McNeill in Aug-
ust.
Lord Lamington's wadding this week
will be a very quite affair, owing to a death
in the family. More than 300 presents,
however, have already been received, in..
eluding a dog cart from the Hon. George
N. Curzon and Mrs. Careen. Lord Laming -
ton it will be remembered, acted as best
man at the recent marriage of Mr. Curzon
to Miss Mary Leiter, of Washington. He
was private secretary to Lord Salisbury
while the latter was Premier, from 1885 to
1886.
A speoial despatch from Shanghai says
says that it is almost certain that there has
been a massacre of all the persons connect—
ed with the English, French, and American
missions at Chengtu. Neither men, women,
nor children have been spared, according
to the report. It is admitted that tele-
grams have been interrupted by the Gov-
ernment, the object being to conceal the
news of the massacre. A French gunboat
is en route to Wu-chang to investigate the
report.
Collingwood at Trafalgar.
On the elat of October • the French and
Spanish fleets were caught at Ti afalgar.
Every Englishman knows how Collingwood
led the way into the fight far ahead of any
other ship, made first for the Santa Anna,
crushed her with a broadside which killed
three hundred and fifty men, and was
presently engaged with no fewer than five
of the enemy. And in the midst of the
contest the gallant old Admiral in his best
uniform, knee -breeches, silk stockings, and
buckled shoes, paced watchfully to and fro,
munching an apple. "You Wad better put
on silk stockings, as I have," he said to his
First Lieutenant on the morning of the
fight; "for if one should get shot in the
leg, they would be so much more manage.
able for the surgeon." As the struggle
went on he went down among the men
sighted several of the guns himself, and
encouraged all hands. At ane moment in
the hottest of the fire, he gave way to his
ruling passion of economy of the King's
stores, solemnly rolled up with the assis-
tance of his First Lieutenant, a topgallant
studding.sail which was hanging loose over
the hammocks, and stowed it carefully
away, observing that it would be wanted
some other day. •
A Long and Weary Tramp.
A despatch from Ceres, N.Y., says :-
Horace North and wife, an old couple, olad
in rags, arrived on Tuesday footsore and
weary, after a tramp of 480 miles. Up to
a year ago they lived here, when relatives
in Michigan wrote glowing letters telling
of easy farm work at good wages, and the
old couple sold their few effects and started
for Michigan. Several weeks ago North
found himself out of employment and with.
out it dollar. He and his wife deeided to
start for their old home on foot. They
walked the entire distance, begging food
along the way. They were on the road
40 days, and slept in farmhouses, bins,
and sheds, suffering much. North is ;sixty
years old and a oripple. His wife is 55
years oldltelativee near Ceres are ea -leg
for them.
Whar IS It ?
That the clock invaribly strikes the half -
ham when you awake et night and ivies
to knows -what time it is ?
Prejudioe is never easy unless it on past;
itself off for reason.
According to an announcemeat in the
London Standard, the ships of the Holt
Oceanic) line, which have been running
front Liverpool to Yokohartia, will tiontintte
their journey to Vancouver and San Fran.
Oise°, and will carry ore to England,
their route ots ettols trip being Vaneoueere
gan til0 OtitPAA Bad Engine&