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Exeter Times, 1896-5-21, Page 7telletellesete A 8UMMSE TO MANY1 IN STORE 'WHEN THE SPOIL SHALL BE DIVIDED. A Joyous otittauigtan Sernion-A. Blossom fug learnt and. an Evangelized World When Wealth Will be Equalized ant Poverty tektotovek in God's Kingdom Washington, May 10.-Thia sermon of Dr. Talmage is radiant with coming rewards for all welldoers. Many of the disheartened will ratty after reading it. He chose for his subject. "The Division of Spoils," the text selected being Isaiah 101, 12, "He shall divide the spoils with the strong." Iu the Coliseum at Rome where per- secutors used to let out the half-starv- ed lions to eat up Christians, there le now planted the figure of a cross. And I rejoice to know that the upright piece of wood nailed to a transverse ptece has become the symbol not naore of ;suffering than of victory. It is of televise the conqueron that my text speaks. As a kingly warrior, having subdued an empire, might divide the palaces and naansions and cities and valleys and mountains among his of- ficers, so Christ is going to divide up ell the earth and all tee heavens among His people, and you and I will have to take our share if we are strong in faith and strong in our Christian loyalty, for my text declares it, "He *sole vent -neon v.a.mislwr " Christ is'cot so numbof a job as you; t.night iraagine, when the church takes off its coat and rolls up Its sleeves for the work, as it will. There are 1600,- 000,000 of people now in the world, and 150,000,000 are Christians. Subtract 450,- 000,000 Mho are Christians ,fromt the 1,600,000,000, and. there are 1,150,000,000 left. Divide the 1,150,000,000 who are not Christians by the 450,009,000 who are Christians, and you will find that we shall have to average less than titree souls each, brought by us into the kingdom of God, to have the whole world redeemed. Certainly, with the ehurch rising up to its full duty, no (thrietian will be willing to bring less than three souls let° the kingdom of God. I hope and pray Almigety God that I may bring more than three. I know evangelises wee have already brought 50,000 each for the kingdom of God. There are 200,000 people whose one and only absorbing business in the world is to save souls. When you take these things into consideration and that the Christians will have to average the bringing of only three souls each into the kingdom of our Lord, all impossi- bility vanishes from this omnipotent keoutade. Why, I know a Sabbath ecbool teacher who for many years bas been engaged in training the young„ and she 1=3 had five different classes, and they averaged seven to a class and they were all converted, and five times seven a.re 85 as near as I 'can calcul- ate. So that she brought her three in- -tee the kingdom of God and had 32 to Sparc. My grandmother prayed her children mto the kingdom of Christ, and her grandchildren, and 1 hope all bee great grandchildren, for God re- members a ratter 75 "ears old, as though it were only a, minute old, and est she brought her three in the king- dom of God and had more than 100 to epare. Besides that, through the tele - der. What an importation of unclean phone and the telgraph, this :whole world, within a, few yearn will be brought within compass of ten min- utes. Besides that omniscience are pre- siding in this matter of the world's bet- terment, and that takes the question of the world's salvation out of the im- possibilities into the possibilities, and then out, of the possibilities into the pro- babilities, tend then out of the proba- bilities into the certainties. Tee build- ing of the Union Pacific railroad from ocean to ocean was a greater under- taking than the girdling of the earth with tee gospel, for one enterprise de- pended upon the human arm, while the other depends upon almightiness. Do I really mean all the earth will surrender to Christ? Yes. How about the uninviting portions i Will Green- land be evangelized? The possibility Is that after a few more !hundred brave lives are dashed outv among the Icebergs teat great refrigerator, the polar region, will be given up to the walrus and bear, and that the inhabi- tants will come down by invitation into tolerable climates, or those cli- mates may soften, and. as it has been positively demonstrated that the aro- tie region was once a blooming garden and a fruitful field, those regions may change climate and again be a bloom- ing garden and a fruitful field. It is proved beyond controversy by German and American scientists that the arctic regions were the first portions of this world inhabitable. The; world hot be- yond human endurance, those regions were of course ;the first to be cool enough for !human foot and human lung. It was positively proved that the exam region was a tropical climate. Professor Heer of Zurich says the re- mains of flowees have been found in the arctic region, showin,g it was like Mexico for climate, and it is found that the erotic was the mother region from which. all the flowers descended. Professor Wallace says the remains of all styles of animal life are found in the arctic regime, including those ani- mals that can bete only in warm cli- mates. Now that arctic region, which has been demonetrated by flora and fauna and geological argument to have been as full of vegetation: and life as our Florida, may be turned back to its original bloom and glory, or it. will be shut up as a museum of crystals for curiosity seekers once in awhile to visit. But arctic and antarctic, in some shape, will belong to the Redeemer's realm. What about other unproductive or repulsive regions All the deserts will be Irrigated, the waters will be forced up to the geeat American desert be- tween here and the Pacific by ma- chinery now known or yet to be in- vented, and, as reat Salt Lake City has no train and could not raise an apple otr a bushel of weeatt in a hun- dred years without artificial help, but is now through such mean,s one great garden, GO all the unproductive parts of all the continents will be turned Into harvest Stele and orchards. A half dozen De Lessees will furnish the world will all the canals needed and will change the course of rivers and open new lakes, and the great Sahara deserts will be cut up into farms with an as- tounding yield of bushels to tbe acre, the manse will be drainee, of its wets ere and cured of its malaria. I saw what was for many years• called the. Black swamp of Ohio, its thief crop dells and fevers, but; now, by the tiles put into the ground to carry off the surplus moisture, transformed into the riebest and healthiest of regions. The God wh °wastes nothing L think, means that this world from pole to pole, has * come to perfeetion of foliage and fruit- age. For that reason he keeps the earth ranning through space, though so many fires are blazing down in its timbers and so many meteoric; terrors bage threatened to dash it to pieces. Att. soon as tee earth is completed Christ will divide 11 up among the good. The reatort He dees not divide it 110W is be- cause it is not done. A kind. father will not divide the apple amen -4 his obit- dren until the apple is ripe. In ful- filment of the New Testament promise. "The meek shall inherit the earth," and the promise of the Old Testament. "He diall divide the spoil with the strong," the world will be apportioned to those worthy to possess rt. R As not so pow. In this country, capable of bolding, feeding, clothing and sheltering 1,200,000,000 people and where we have only 60,000' 00 inhabi- tants, we have 2,000,000 whoca.nuot get honest work, and with their families an aggregation of 5,000,000 that are on the verge of starvation. Something wrong, most, certainly. In some way there will be a, new apportionment. Many of the millionaire estates will creek to pieces on the dissipations of grandchildren and then (Resolve into the poesession of the masses who pow have an insufficienoy. Wbat, you say, will beconae of the expensive and elaborate buildings now will become seboolar art aiieries,mueu devoted to dokeetteet erne e -meet 5.hetv_ 'ci many of these amusements,raenldesfio theatrical stuff we bave withiu tbe last few years had brought Lo our shores, And professors of religion patronizing suola things, Having sold out to the devil, why doset you deliver tbe goods and go aver to him publicly, bodyoaind and soul, and withdraw your name from Christian churches and. say, "Know all the world by these presents that I aro a patron of uncleanne,ss and a ohild of hell 1" Sworn to be the Lord's, you are perjurers. If you think these offenses are to go on forever, you do not know who the. Lord is. God, will not wait for the day of judgment. An these palaces of siu will beceme palaces of rigliteousness. They will come into the possession of those strong for virtue and strong for God. Be shall divide the spoil with the strong." China and Africa, the two richest portions of the earth by reason of metals and rare woods and inexbausti- ble productiveness, are not yet divided up among the good because they are not ready to be divided. \Veit until all the doors that Livingstone opened in Africa shall be entered, and Bishop Taylor, with his band of self -support - leg missionaries,have done their work, and the Ashantis and Sanwa:Means shall know Christ as well as you know Him, and there shall be on the banks of the Nile and the Niger a higher civ- ilization than 13 now to be found on the banks of the Potomac or the Hud- son. Then Christ will divide up that continent among his friends. Wait un- til China, which es half as large as all Europe, hall have developed her cap- acities for rice and tea and sugara,mong edibles and her amethyst and sapphire and topaz and opal and jasper and por- phyry among preeious stones, and .1aer rosewood and ebony and camphor and varresh trees among precious woods,and turned up from her depths a half doz- en Pennsylvanias of coal and iron, and 20 Nevadas of silver, and 50 Californias of gold, and her 500,000,000 of people shall be evangelized. Then the Lord will divide it up among the good. tet be not a deception, but the eternal truth, then the tirne is coming when all the farms will be owned. by Ohristian farmers, and all the commerce controlled by Christian merchants, and all the authority held hy Cliristion offieia]s,ships commanded by Christian captains and tall the urtiversules under the instruttion f Chritian professors; Christian kings, Christian presidents, Christian govern- ors, Christian mayors, Christian common council. Yet what a scouring out! What an upturning! What. a demoli- tion 1 What a resurrection must pre- cede this new apportionment 1 I do not underrate the enemy. Julius Caesar got his greatest victories by fully estimating the vastness of Inc foes and. prepared his men for their greatestriump 3, saying.. morrow King Jude will be here with 30,000 horses, 100,000 skirmishers, and 300 elephants." .1 do not underrate the vast forces of sin and death, but do you know who commands us? je- hovahjireh. And the reserve corps be- hind us are all the arraies of heaven and earth, with hurricane and thunder- bolt. The good work of the world's redemption is going on every minute. Never so many splendid men and glorious women on the side of right as y. Never so inany good people as now. Diogenes has been spoken of as a wise man because he went with a lantern at noonday, saying he was looking for an honest man. If he had turned his lantern toward him- self he might have discovered a crank. Honest men by the ten thousand! Through the international series of Sunday school lessons the next gen- eration all through Christendom are going to be wiser than any generation since the world stood. The kingdom is coming. God can do it. No house- wife with a cha.m.ois cloth ever polish- ed a silver teaspoon with more ease than Christ will rub off from this world. the tarnish and brighten it up till it glows like heaven, and then the glorious apportionment for my text is re-enforoed by a score of other texts, when it says ot Clu•ist. "He shall di- vide the spoil with the strong." "But," you. say, "this is pleasant to think of for others, but before that time I shall hci!ve passed up into an- other existence, and I shall get no ad- vantage from that new appor Lion- reent. Ah, you have only driven me to the other more exciting and trans- porting. consideration, and that is that Christ is going to divide up heaven in the same way. There are old estates in the celestial world that have been in the possession of the inhabitants for thousands of years, and they shall remain as they are. There are old family mansions in beaven filled with whole,generations of kindred and they. shall stayer be driven tout. Many of the victors from earth have alreasLy got their places, and they are pointed out be those newly arrived. Soon after our getting there we will ask to be sfiovvwn the apostolic residences and a.slt where does Paul live and John, and shown the patriarclsal restdences, and shall say, "Where does Abraham live or Jacob?" and ehown the martyr residences and say, "Where does John Huss live and Ridley?" We will want to see the -boulevards where the char- iots of conquerors roll. I will want to see the garden where the princes 'walk. We will wts,nt to see Music row, where Handel and Haydn and Mozart and Chaelee Wesley and Thomas Has- tings and Bradbury have their homes, out of their windows, ever and anon, rolling some snatch of an earthly ora- torio or hp= transported with the composer. We will want to see Revi- val terrace, vthere Whitefield and Net,- tleton. and Payson and Rowland Hill and Charles Finney and other giants or soul reaping are resting from their almost supernetural labors, their doors thronged with converts just arrived, coming to report themselves. But brilliant as the stmset and lite the leaves for 'lumber are the celestial homes yet to be awarded ween. Christ to you. and millions of others shall divide the spoil. What do you want there? You Waall have it. An or- chard? There it is- 12 manner of fruits, and fruit every month. Do you want river scenery? Take your choice on the berate of the river, III longer, wider, deeper roll than Danube or Amazon or Mississippi, if =ogled in oue, and emptying into the sea of glass, mingled. with fire. Do you want your kindred back again? Go out and raeel. your 'father and mother, without the staff or the stoop, and your children in a dance of immortal glee. Do you want a throne. Seleot it front the 1,000,000 burnished elevatems. Do you want a crown? Pick it out of that mountain of diamonded coronets. Do you want your old ceurch friends at earth around you? "Begin to hum an old revival tune, ancl they will flock from all quar- ters to revel with you in saored remin- iscence. All the earth for those who are here on etrth at the time of email - mutat and planetury distribution, and all the heavens for those who are there. That heavenlydistribution of spoils will be a euxprise to many. Here ces- itira!'renlithfie'aTI 'rate it- 1tril; cinucce on earth, but sacrificed, little, was ev1teua, rio ust Urtni• UN .elleUVA5U the shining gate, but it's a very tig.ht seneeee so t het t he dot recener has to pull hard t) gel, him in, end thik man eteissie half of heaven fetr bis elutte of trophies, and he would like a mo- nopoly of all its splendor, and to pur- chase lots in the suburbs, so that he could get advantage of the growth of the city. Well, little by little he gets gram of heart, just enough to get him through, and to ham is given a see- med -hand crown, welch one of the saints wore at the start, but exchang- ed for a brighter one, att he went un an goifidrYlliouse°1()orv. Le o4e'uvpi lehd4 pal aug., who eat, heeled out heaven at the time of ea,tan's eebellion. Right ate*. him comes a, soul that makes a great stir among the celestials and the angels ru,sh to the scene, each bringing to her a. dazzling coronet, Wbo is she? Over wbat realm on earth was she queen? In wbat great Dus- seldorf festival was she the eantatricet Neither. She was an invalid who nevn was strong in prayer and she prayed down revival after revival and. pante- cost alter pentecost upon the churches, and with ber pale bands she knit many a mitten oe Olivet for the pcor, a,nd with her contrivances she added joy to naany a holiday festival, and now with these tbiu hands so strong for kindness and with those white lips so etrong for supplication, she has won tit ronation and entiu•onement and lubilee. And Cheist said to the angel,: who have brought each a e*ONVII for the glorin- ed invalid. "No, not these; tlaey are not good enoegh. But in the jeweled vase at the eight head side of my throne there is one teat I have been prepar- eftvigerfOirpahnegr ma] nheavae s.yeetarananiduzfeoirhyhsetr, end for her every good deed I have set a pearl. }etch it now and. ful- fill the promise I gave her long ago in the sick TOM, "Be thou faithfub un- to death, and I will give thee a erown of life. But notice that there is only one Being in the waver -es who can and will distribute tlx trophies of earth and /leaven. It. is the Divine War rior, the Commander in Ceief of the Centuries, the Ohaxapion of Ages, tie Universal Conqueror, the Son of God Jesue. You will take the spoils (ruin His hand, or never take them at all Have His frieadship d tYrta*eevallvlei'!'sSonsreel te•senre:esailist loPi h:1 in and honored ai may de • a vdese me and all eternity, butwithmet 11, you area pauper, though you had a tui v s: your e mm told n .Re at o that • ob the twelve gates of heaven named af- ter them -over one gate of heaven Naphtali, over another gate of heaven Issachar, over another Dan, over an other Gad, over another Zebulon, over =other Judah, and so on. But Christ's name is eritten over all the gates, and on every panel of the gales, and have His help, His pardon, his intercession, His atonement, I must, or be a forlorn wretch forever. My Lord and me God, make me and all who hear me this day a,nd all to whom these weeds hal] come. Thy repentant, believing, sworn, consecrated and ransomed fol- lowers forever. What a day it will bel This entire assemblage would rise to its feet if you could realize it, the day in which Christ shall, in fulfilment ot my text, divide the spoil. It was a great day when Queen Victoria, in the midst of the Crimean war, distributed medals to the soldiers who had come home sick and wounded. At the Horse Guards, in presence of tee royal family, the in- jured men were carried in or came on crutches -Colonel Trowbridge, who lost both feet at Inkermann, and Captain Sayer, who had the ankle joint of his right leg shot off at tAlma,and Captain Curre, his disabled limb supported by a soldier, and others maimed and dis- figured and exbausted-and with her own hand the Queen gave each the Crimean medals. And whitie triumph- ant days for those soldiers when, fur- ther, on, they received the French med- al with the Imperial eagle, and the Turkish medal with its representation of four flags-France,Turkey, England and Sardinia -and beneath it a map of the Crimea spread over a gun wheel. And what rewards are suggested to all evaders of history by mere mention of the Waterloo medal, and the Cape medal, and theGoldCross medal and the medals struck for bravery in our American wars. But how insignificant are all these when compared with the day when the good soldiers of Jesus Christ shalt come in out of tee battles of this world, and, in the presence of all the piled• up galleries. of the re- deemed and the =fallen, Jesus, our King, shall divide the spoil! •Tbe more wounds the greater the inheritance. The longer the forced march the brigliter the trophy. The more terrible the exhaustion the more glorious the transport. Not the gift of a brilliant ribbon or a medal of brass, or silver, or gold, but a kingdom in which we are to reign for ever and ever. Mansions on the eternal hilts. Dominions of un - fading power. Empires of uneading love. Continents of everlasting light. Atlantic and Pacific oceans of billow- ing joy. It was a greet day when Aurelian, the Roman Emperor, came back from his victories. In the front of the pro- cession were wild beasts from all lands. 1600 gladiators, richly clad; wagon loads of crowns and trophies, present- ed by conquered cities, among the cap- tives, Syrians, Egyptians, Goths, Van' dals, Sarmatians. Franks and Zenobie, the beautiful captive Queen an foot eluties of gold that a slave had to help her carry, and jewels under tbe weight of weeth she almost fainted, and -Lem °ante, the chariot of Aurelian, drawn by four elephants in gorgeous comparison and followed by the Roman Senate and the Roman army, a,nd from dawn till dark the procession was passing. Rome in alt her laistory never saw anything more magnificent Bat how niece meter the day when our triumpelat arcees of heaven, his cap- tives, not on foot, but in chariolet all the kingdoixts of earth and heaven in procession the armies celestial on white horses. Iturablieg artillery of thunder- holte never again to be unlimbered. Kingdoms in line, centuries 13 line, stkintle, cherubic serapbic, archangel:it splendors in line, and Christ seated on one great rolling hosanna, mai1e. out of all hallelujahs of all worlds, shall exy bait to the procession. And not forgetting even the humblest in all the reach of Tels omnipresence, He sball rise, and then and there. His wore done, and His glory consum- mated, proceed, amid an ecstasv suck as neither mortal nor inuntort'al ever imagined, to divide the poil. y THE SUNDAY SCROOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON NAY 24 ,M111, "Jesus Teaching In the Temple." Luke .e0.11.19. Colden Text, Lithe 20.II. GillsTERAL'STATEIVIENT.. -eau) parapet is a portion at the last; diecourse of our Lord. The day on eventful in his whole life. It must bane been evident almost as soon as he rectobed the textiple an Tuesday morn- ing that systematic plans had been formed to silence him. Opposing, politic- ians and ecolesiasties bad for the time buried. their differences and united against lxim; they pretended to be his follovvers, and endeavored to entrap hho into statements that would embroil him with the .Romaxt government and arouse popular prejudice, He never uttered more severe and awful truths in more scathing words than in that day; and before the crowds who laad listened to him had retired to rest that night he was already covertly condemned to die. The history of this day is given in Matthew, from 21, 23, to the end of chapter 23; in Marc, from 11, 27, to the end of thapter 12; in Luke 20, and John 12..20-50, PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 9. Then began he to speak to the people. To tee people, but at the ciiief priests. The parable here given is one of those preserved for us in tbree versions, once each of the synoptic .g,ospels-pleasing evidence, we ntay suppose, of the deep impression made hy .its narration. A certain man plant- ed a. vineyard. This "certain man" stands for God. At this time, when our Lord was facing the mournful cli- max of his career, his mind, seems to dwell on stories of ungrateful rejection. See Luke 20. 1; 21. 28; 13. 6. Both speak- er and hearers bad studied the words of ..Seripture until they were familiar with them to a degree of familiarity that the modern Church knows little about, _ and it is hardly likely tba,t this story could have been told without many e minds recurring al, once to Ism. e. 1. See also Deut. 32. 32; Psalm 80. 8-16; Ezek. 15. 1-6; Jar. 2. 21. The hearers . would say promptly that the vine- yardes as the house of Israel. Judea was a land of vineyards; e,crapes and vine leaves beam e the national sym- bol, Matenew and Mark tell us that the vineyard was fenced around, just as Israel ens made; a separate esnd pecul- iar people' by special ins( it ut ions. Lel IL f tl t 1 tm , - to a. far country. Just as Jehovah, the Moe of Israel, prepared Canaan for his PsoPle, gave them excellent opportuni- tiee, and then left them to take ad- vantage of those opportunities; or per- haps the huebandmen. stand for the priestly rulers of the Jews. The. "fax' country" typifies God's apparent with- drawal from the spiritual government . of earth. "IL is not so, but so it looks; 1 And we lose courage then." 1 For a long time. Jewish history bad la.sled nearly two thousand years. 1 10. At the season. See .Ia. 5. 4, for , a variation of this story. Sent. a ser- . Judges, , priests, as servants of Jehovah, had been sent to call the nation to bring forth fruite of ' x'ighteousnoss. u. anc en at him, and sent him away empty. The prophets had the bardest pf. all tasks, and almost all of them suffered perse- cution for their faithfulness. See Matt. , 0, 31, Heb. 11. 37. Recall the fate of Isaiah and Jeremiab and Zechariah the son of Jehoiada.. 11. Thiel verse shows that what was done to one WaS done to many. Thera c is pathos at the repetition of sent him away empty, The Jewish nation was proverbially ungrateful to religious re- formers. 12. They wounded him also. A phrase peculiar to Luke, and one which Dr. Plumptre says has a characteristic half - surgical ring in it. 13. I will send my beloved son. "Who took on him the form of a !servant." A climax to the story. The scale gradu- ally ascended to -this culmination. Ev- ery possible means was employed by God to lead his people to repentance. It may be. Perhaps. This "may be" wee not fn. Godn; mind. There is no uncer- tainty with him. But this phrase makes plain the free will of the men who chose to be had. They will reverence him. Will treat him as an heir to the king- dom. ' 14. This is the. heir. How accurately our Lord read the !secrets of the hectrts of his antagonists! Thai the inheritance may be ours. The Sadduceant hierarchy had come to regard the nation as almost their property; and it was because the influence of ,Tesus zoom- ed to threaten their absolute sway that they hated, and slew eine 16. He shall come and destroy these hus- bandinen. Mattliete puts the.s,e words in- to the mouths of the bystanders; Mark aud 'Luke credit there to our Lord. It is not important tvluch uttered the words; but it IS assume.d by, many teat both did, our Lord repeating the im- promptu answer given by hes hearers. lei any case it was a prophecy which Led wrapped up in its keruel the future history of the charch and the world. If Jerusalem was destroyed, if the pri- vileges which had belonged to Israel were traosferred to Gentile Ceristen- dom, these results were the consequen- ces of the destructioh of the husband - men and the giving of the vineyard to nigisgeAssaalSMIWOBNIonownennifer others. Tbey said, God forbid. A peraso wlaieb appears repeatedly irt ; Paul's m•itinge. It is a hard phrase , to turn into any other Extglisti than ; is here used, but the nen* of God does mit eppeer in the ortgmal, 17. litbeheld them. He looked fixed- ; lo at them. Wis,at is this then that ; Is written. Psellu 118, 2. . where it stands directly next to the verse which had supplied the "Hosanna" shouted by tbe multitude the 'day before these words were spoken. Tlatt stone which the builders rejected. We are to look upon the psalm in vreich this is found as a little lyric which sprang to the mind and pen of oue who had teen a tghree at et rastopte :jut ea ect•rni edd laa indd otur onnsep oariteded itwo the builders, who misunderstood the head architectplans. Later it was found that that stone was the ceief ear ner stone, on which the strength of the structure largely depended -the chief bond between the wallet, which met at right angles. Very likely the peculiar shape which bad led them to displace it was the thing on wetch its unusual strength end. fitness depended. The p-salintsl saw m tins incident a parable of two( things -of the choice of David to ebe king over Israel; of the cboice of Israel out of all nations of the world.. Our Lord now reads into an additional meaning of the choice of Jesus of Naz- areth to be the Messiah and universal Saviour. SRO Eph, 2.20 "The rejection of the corner stone, when translated into histroy," says Dr. Cowles, is the murder of the beloved Son." 18. Whosoever aeon fall uptm that etene shall be broken. O'he Greek weed for broken" is another half -medical term, characteristic of Luke. It is true 1:11:t'vtellittecourra, 41.10iitt' tiraererIn e Greck of the best manuseripts, and '33.,-4I.71Fas;1;V(7=7fIglied4`07 lowines.s of the carpenter Messials,who dies lete a criminal, such sball be bruis- ed, but there is bope in their case; those on whom it shall fell" are those who come into coilision with Christ, end for whom there is no hope. The Lord Jes- us was a stumbling-blook to the Jews. They tripped over him. 11 they had, accepted him, the whole nation wea1!. eave been lifted and held by him in em - as all Christendom has done, 19. Chief priests and the scribes. Re- presenting in the xnain the Sadducea.n party, who hostile to the Pharisees in everything else, now united wite them in efforts to lay bands on him. Thetv frarrdnicillereP.1.1,11elsluulliA.ste days 11'1: pe ple feared each other. Sudden outbursts had been a curse to the land almost as great as that of the Herods' znisrule• They peroeived that he had spoken this parable against them. The meaning of some of the parables it was not easy at once to perceive, and the disciples had more Ulan once to ask for an explana- tion; but this one was evident to all - a, sort of explanation and aecommoda- tion of some of the most -terrifio moral arrangements of the old prophets. .0060 OPIUM IN INDIA- movogeo or the Drug In O. City ol turkson. There is a fierce dispute going .on just, now as to the relative merits or de- merits of opium. Many eminent men in the scientific world openly declare that opium is a blessing. Tbe Govern ment experts in the country where it grows go so far as to say that opium is a blessing instead of a curse to the na- tives. However, the vast majority of mankind will long be of the undivided opinion that opium is the onet mili- uru-hing eurse that afflicts man. A member of Peril:intent who was niost bitterly opposed to this traffic has been traveling through hetet gat boring faet s and seeing for himself m net the vomit - tion of the native.s is under an unres- trieted use of ium One of the opium deno of Lueknow is graphicutly des:gibed, nem is no seereve about selling or pureetkeing the d ; 't ' it d flour, or the ot her neces.sities of life Entering with the customers, you mill find e.oureelf in a .spatenue but very (Iwo court yard, around ninth are ranged fifteen or twenty smut! rooms. This is the establitannent ot the Gov- ernment col lec tor -t he opium farmer. The, stencil is :sickening, and the swarm of flies intolerable. Enter one of the small rooms. 11 has no ;windoes and is ex,y dark, but. in the colter is a small eliarectal fire, the glow of -which lights u t the faces of • • h man beings -men and women -lying on the like pigs in a sty. A young girl fans the fire, lights the opium pipe, teionndielixolds it to the mouth of the lam till his head falls heavily on the hotly of the inert man or woman who happens to lie near him. In no grog - pry, in no lunatic or i(hot asylum, will one see such utter helpless depravity as appears in the countenances of those, in the preliminary stages of opium hunkenness. Acre one may see :tome handsome young married woman, 11) or 20 years of age, sprawling over the senseless bodiee of men. Here is a much younger girl -sitting among a group of newly arrived customers sing - hg lewd songs as they hance around the npee. At night; these dens are all rowded to excess, and it is estimated Liueknosv abject slaves of this hideous v thi cae t. there are some 14,000 people in There are those, however, who have radically different opinions on the op- ium question. The use of the drug in Ainerica or Europe under vastly di- fereut climatic conditions has nothing in com.mon with the use of it in its na- tive land. The Bishep of Calcutta, on being -asked for an opinion on this sub- ject, said among other things that, "while admitting that there are evils arising from the use of opium, we are of the opinion that they are not sufficient- ly great to justify us in restricting the liberty which all men should be per- mitted to exercise in such matters. Medical testimony seems to show that opium used in modeantion is in this country harmless, axtd, under certain conditions of life, distinetly benefioial." One distinguished native, a high of- ficial of the Indian. museum; was rather semen° when asked his opinion on this subject. He said that the opium habit was much preferable to the alcoholism of America.; and. Europe, and eeeona- mended the introduction of the drug as a substitute for alaohol. IN BLISSFUL OBLIVION. We sat ia the same pew. I bung In rapture on her chiding frown. I found the hymns, but neither sung - held the hymn book upside clown. A waiter in a Sacranaento restaurant, the sc,apesgrace son of a wealthy .Aus- tria,n, while serving a guest, learned of his father's death, and. that he was heir to $500,000. He tore off his apron with- out untying the etrings, made a pre- sent of it to his boss, and immediately began prepaxations to start for hts Aus- trian home. TRAINING. TalillY ATKINS HOW THE BRITISH RECRUIT, IS FITTED FOR SERVICE. Gynanastee Exercises Are Made Compulso --Some or the noes ne is .iii,ouireol Perform -After This brill fle 1* I Itetter condition Eor righting. Every recruit in the British army is required, to.pass a complete and scion - tine course in gymnastics, and it is to this that a writer attributes the array's efficiently as a fighting force. The raw material may be of tee beet, but this does not obviate the uecessity for care- ful, persistent handling mid woreing up toward perfection. A wholly extraordinary improvement is always eoticea,ble in the "setting -up" of the men after they have completed the regulation leourse, which, by the waY, extends over a period of tea weeks, with conmulsory praetice lasting as hour and a half every day. Virtually from bis enlistment, tbe re eruit (who commences drill at the dee* of his regiuumt) bas ample facilitie given hen for physical exercise in th well-appointed militarY gymnasium and the fact that elaborately-fitte establishments of this kind are now els to be foued at all depots, as well as a regimental beadquarters, is Plain Proo ehet the akelegities pee perfectly tete sible to the immense importance of Iln paraaitacifre „Alit than that at Parkhurst, ,the present station of the Second Scottish Riflea lately returned from India. ttbe a ebaee of the gymna.sium at tb place VERY LARGE DRILL FIELD, and here is a series of "obstacles," mor or less difficult of negotiation, and al together constituting a very novel an desirable addition to tee mare ordinar appaxatus within the building itself The first of these consists of the half et a tree trunk, placed torizorttally al= 3 feet from the ground. and this tb men are required to clear withou touching. In the next exercise tite me are required to clear a .similarly con strueted obstacle, fixed about 4 feet inches above the ground, In tins m stance they.are allowed to use onehand, and have a run of above 30 yards. Still • vancing, the pupils are presently con fronted by a bridge -like structure. A a fact, the mei have to weak across on split tree -trunks, of which the con vex baxkless part is uppermost. Whe the writer witnessed these exer cises, the recruits had already received four weeks' training, and yet their Iran tic endeavors to accomplish this slippery peregrination reminded him forcibly o the scene on vertain festive occaeion when eager moles attempted to nego tiate a larizontal greasy pole, in th hope of winning an indiffexent .joint or a purse coataining a wholly made quote auto. The next obstacle is realietic water-jmnp, lacking only wa ter. The rogues cleared the tkung grand form, and advanced as one man upon tee last and most formidable ob settee. This represente a solid wal rather more than eight feet high, and with no foothold worth mentiouing. Th riget files of the squad are helped up be their comrade -4 below, and then, on being pretty firmly established on th top, they extend a strong helping band to the left files below. rite expression "a strong helping hand," is mild and euphonious, for that smile band is al - moot invariably applied to the SCRUFF Ott THE NECK of the man who Ls to be holpe,1 up. Na- turally, then, there is eonsitlerable com- petition as to who shall le first It; sit astride the wall, for clearly it is not, a pleaeant thing to le dragged up by the neck, -or even liy the hair, on to a wall eight feet bigh. All he rogues teap- ot down the ether side of the lest st at. with evilent tht your:to the ouly thing to be avoided in this teen reat•hing the ground too seen. when, probably, a companion will ineettinent- ly deseend upon one's neek. lee men are ucev supeosed to have entered, alter series of vicissitudes :tad more or less exciting adventures, into a thoroughly well -protected petit ion ; and a more prat -Ideal piece of work than the whole ot this oleutele bunnees could not pm- siiet devised as a part of the re- cruit e insi ruct ion. After a brief rese the full squad went through thtt duneeliell exercises, this being the merest child's play after the "up hill and down dale" career they had jute. completed. There were stand - inn exereiqes with dumb -hells, mainly designed to strengthen the recruit's arms, following which they are requir- ed to go through dumb-bell exercises while lying .prostrate upon the ground, for etreegthening the stomach. Next comes a letting posture. the dumb -bells being manipulated in such a way as to strengthmi the muscles of the back. Swedish drill,. with its endless vari- ety of exercises, is now compulsory' at least twice a week, sinee it works bene- ficially all the muscles of the body. Having completed the last exercise, the men retired to prepare for the bayonet practice; and they presently re- appeared rather curiously attired in grotesque cost umes, much to the do- le:eat of the sn.a 1 •ry frcni the "married light of the small fry from the "mar- ried quarters." For m order to olectiate all possibility of accident to the rogues, their heads are encased in a large and very strong wire -fronted mask; the body is protected by a well -padded can- vas jacket, and stout gauntlets are also worn. Moreover, large safety buttons are affixed Lo the points of the weapons. ry to 11 THE OLD WORLD% okrD FOLKS tne Bulgaria, With 3048 eekoleuerlsokee ewitzertand With, Net One. A Germ= statistitisn Otts studied bb census returns of Europe to hem a few things about the centenarians of the 014 World, He has found for instances that taglt civilization, does not favor the greatest length of life. The Geri:mete empire, with 55,000,000 potting -00n hati but 78 sebjects who are more than 100 years old. France, with fewer thaik 40,- 000,000, has 218 persons who have pass- ed their hundredth birthday -8, Eng- land has 146; Ireland, 678; Scotland, 46; Deemark, 2; Belgium, 5; Sweden, 10,and Norway, with 2,000,000 inhabitants, 23. Switzerland does not boast a single cene tenarian„ but ,Spain, with about 18,000,- 000 population, bale 401, The most amazing figures found by the German statistician came from teat; troublesome and turbulent region known as the Balkan Peninsula. Servia, has 575 Pereoue who are more than 100 years old; Roumania, 1,084, and Bulger-, a 3,888. In other words, Balgaria, ha* a centenarian to every thousand inhat4. itants,and thus bolds the intkrnatione I record for o.ld inhabitants. 1'11802 alone, there died milulgaria 380 persons more than 100 years. In the Balkan Pen. reorek over, person is not regarded eke on, the verge of the grave the moment Jae bee comes a centenarian. For instance, in Servia there were in 1800 some e00 per - ;nfl11byears. 123 and 185. Tbree were between 135 and 140. TErteeit Oat:Person in the world/ the recent .gy about 4-2i.allt. credit years ussia bas census.14 says, and except in cases of speeled ; final investigation the figueea of ages et in Russia must be mistrusted. The olds, 1 est man in the world is then, in his op. linion, Erma° Cotriro, a negro born erf Africo and now resident in Rio Janeiro. e Cotrim is 150 years old. Next to elm conies probably a retired Moscow cate • .,raan named Kuetrie, who is in his 140tle ° I year. The etatistician says the oldest Y , woman in the world is 130 years old, i • but neglects to give her; name or ad. z" dress, possibly out of cou.rtesy, or per baps in view of the extraordinary fig - t ures wbich carae to his hand from the n Balkan% be thought a subject only 130 years old was bardiy wortby of parte. 6 culans. IdISEILABLE ITALY. -- 5 Many Townr. With no Drainage and Poi. hanons lirinting Water. • From a bygienio standpoint, Italy is - probably the worst off among all, the civilized nations. Aecording to sta.- - tisties, collected and published by Prof, 113411, who furnishes authentic figures s covering the entire Italian monarchy, there are among the 8,254 communities of Italy 1,454 whieli have water of bad quality or in insufficient quantity. a More than one-balf of all the commun- - ities, or 4,877, have no drainage; and * refuse matter is simply thrown into the - Street. The collations of homes are l also very bad he Italy, as in no other countre- of Europe are there so many people living in cellars or basements. n 37,203 tenements situated below ground, more than 100,000 Italians live, tile e eat and sleep. In 1,700 villages of Italy, bread is not used as food, a mush or corn, called polenta, taking its plaee. Corn being frequently sold m deterior- ekted condition muses many cases of pellagra, a sickness pecular to maize - eating people, which annually causes 4,000 deaths in the toovinces of Vene- tia and Lombertly. It is estenated that mere than 100,000 eases of pellagra occur annually in tbese provinces. In 4,961 communities of Italy, meet is not eaten, and ran only 'JO obtained from near -by towns, eince meat is so dear that the poor people of Italy cannot afford it. 'three hundred and sixty- six communities have not even a ceme- egy, their dead being buried in the churcheo for they are too poor to pur- ehaee ground for burying purposes. Isourteeu hundred and thirty-seven vil- lage- have no physician, a condition wilieh is simply dreadful, for one-third of the entire :tree of Italy is subject. to malarial fevers during one-half of the year. GATEWAY TO INDIA. A St. Petersburg despatch to the Lon- don Times says -Russia is preparing to be able to strike Herat (Afghanistan) before it could be reached by a British force from the other side. A broad gauge railway will be built as quickly mis possible from Merk in Turkestan, to Kushk, and. all the necessaxy material will be provided at Kuslak to rapidly build the Deauville line 300 versts fur- ther on to Herat. This will probably be denied, although all that is proposed to do at present is quite within Russia's frontiers. A Paris paper has struck a novel idea to increase the number. of its read- ers. It has two physicians who gratuit- ously attend its yearly subscribers. Some days ago the proprietor directed one of the physicians "not to prescribe for X - any more; his subscription has expired." The ,dostor replied, "so has X." Reeband-"Strange, but my wife al -1 ways wants me to remember her birth- day, but to forget her age," WORMS THAT AFFECT THE EYES. Thie h not so improbable as it may seem but only people who live in tropical countries suffer in this way. The worm in question is a mem thread -one of the filaria -and looks like a very little piese of vermicelli; and when examined under a microscope, it is seen to have a round head and a pointed tail. R has been found in the eyes of Europeans who have lived on the Congo and in similar countries. The eye becomes more or less inflamed and swollen until the orm is either extraeted or migrates of its own aecord. The raigralion is one of the pecularities of the "toe as it, is sometimes called. It goes from one eyee_ to the other, passing under the skin back of the nose. it will be seen in one eye for a day or two, then it will disappear; but a few days later reap- pear in the other eye. It does not al- ways remain upon the surface, in the conjunctiva (its usual abode), but oc- casionally makes a tour of the whole of the organ of vision. NOT A PRECEDENT. A well-known naval dignitary has a beautiful daughter. A young ensign, with no resotirces but his salary, fell in love with her, and asked the old gentles'. man for her hand. The father at once taxed him with the fact that he had only bis salartchardly enough to keep him in white glovesc and to burnielt his 1.7no,a s amrai. lmlitons. \\ what you say is true. But wlaen you married you were only a midshipman, with even a smaller sal- ary than mine: How did you get along? asked the ensign, who believed he bad. made the most. diplonaatic of defences. But not so. The crafty old ttea-dog thundered forth: I lived on my father-in-law for tee first ten years, but OIL be hanged it you are going to do di NOT GIVING TIMM.? AWAY. Is it true that the New -Woman will not shake hands with a =ant ,haTnhde to oewWoma anyraaanwill hileett agskivse lifoe; it. • There are some girls sweet enough to eat," which they do regularly, tbree or four times a day,