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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1896-10-29, Page 7TIIE WORLD'S CLIMAX, REV. DR. TALMAGE DISCUSSES THE WORLD'S LAST BATTLE. The °PeetIns Forces medicate the Magid- worship, and go on mission.from man - new uggic Of the Great toraehe mem. Other regiments who will march into sloe to mansion and help to build the tory win Lie with the Great none the fignt on the wrong side will be hosannas and enthrone tbe hallelajahs met. the reganen.ts 'infidel. God gave but one and ron the doxologies of tbe service Wathington, Oct. 18.—In his sermon revelation to the human race, and these that never ends. But they an, if re - to -clay Rev..Dr. Talmage disoussed the men have been trying to destroy it. quired, will be in the last fight be - great conflict prophecy foreshadows an). of tbe books, magazines and tween holiness and sin. as -Il newspapers, through perpetual scoff at llezen could afford to adjourn just the climax of the world's struggles— brttam y, an some of the umver- one y and enepty all its temples and Armageddon. His text was Revela- sites have beeome recruiting agencies mansions and palaces and bo-aleva,rds into that one battle. I think all the angels a God. will join in it. The one that stood with the sword of flame at the gate of paradise. The one that pointed Hagar to the fountain in the wilderness. The one that halted Balaam on the higbway. The one that warned Lot to flee the doomed city. The one that took part with Joshua against the Canaataites. The one that informed Mary of the approacb of the Nativity. The one that wrestled with Jacob at the brook Jabbok. The one that swung open tlie gate for tbe incarcerated Apaetle Peter. The one that strength- ened Christ ha His last paroxysm. AM, I think. will be there—their velocities inconceivable. so that when Daniel was in prayer, Gabriel. we are tead, came from heaven to speak to him, and if heaven be at the centre of the uni- verse that angel must have travelled thousands of millions of miles in an instant. Talk of earthly regiments on double quick march! What will be the speed. of the regiments aogelle when at the command of the Archangel, "Down to earth! Forward into the battlel" those regiments angelic, light- ning -winged, rainbow girdled, lire - footed, shall sweep Into the greater Armageddon I The next. regiments that I see rat:welt- ing into the fight will be the regiments ecclestic. Aecording to the la.st ac- count., and practically only in the be- ginting of the great gospel movement which propases to take tbe whole earth for God, there are 4,600,000 Meth- odists, 3,725,000 Baptists, 1 2e0,333 Pres- byterians, 1,230,000 Lutherans and 60,000 Episcopalian. THE their way mav be joined by other mil- ,inag, "Ye are come to Mount Zion and. bons a rem orcements, brigade after brigade, witb.ndrunkerds' bones drum- ming on the heads of beer barrels the dead. rear& of smelts I These mtllions of v.ictims of alcohol, joined by the mil- lions of the victims of axrack, the spire nuous liquor of China a.nd India and Arabia and Egypt and Ceylon and axe innunierable company or angels.. If each sou l on earth has a guterdian angel, then there must be 1,600,000,000 angels on earth to -day. Besides that, heaven must be full of angels, those who stay there. Not only the 12 aragels, who, we are told. guard the 12 gates, but those angels who help in the tion xvi, 16, "And be gathered tbenti together in a plain -vaned to ehe He- brew tongue Armageddon." • Megiddo Is the name of a raountain thet looks down upon Esdra.elon, the greatest battlefield that the world has ever seen. There Barak fought tbe Canaanites, there Gideon fought tiae )ildianites, there Josiah fougiat the in - trading Egyptians. The whole region standafor battle, and the Armageddon of my text borrows its name from and is here used not geographically, but figuratively, while setting forth the idea, that there is to be a world's clos- ing battle, the greatest of all battles. compared with which the conflicts of this century and all other centuries were insignificant, because of the greater number of combatants en- gaged, the greater victory and the greater defeat. Tne exaot date of that battle we 40 not know, and the exact locality is uncertain. It may be in Asia, Europe, 'Africa or A.mericia, but the fact that poen a bottle will take place is as certain as God's eternal truth'. When Time the superlative degree in regard to that coming conflict, I do not fonT that there have been wars all along stupendous scale. M when at Mara- thon, Miltiades brought on his men, not in ordinary march, but in full run, upon the horsemen of Persia, and the black archers of Ethiopia and. scatter- ed them and crying: "Bring fire! Bring fire 1" set into flames the ship of the invaders. As when Pizarro overcame Peru. As when Philip II. triumphed over Portugal. As when the Huns met the Goths. As wlaen 300 Spartans sac- rificed. themselves at Thermopylae. As when the Carthaginians took Agrigen- tum. As when Alexander headed the Macedonian phalanx. As when Hanni- bal invaded Italy. Battle of Hastings I Battle of Valmy I Battle of Pultowal Battle of Arbela I Battle of Toursi Battle of Borodino 1 Battle of Lucknow 1 Battle of Solferino I Battle of Fontenoy, !where 100,000 were slain ! Battle of Cholous, where 300,000 were massacred! Battle of Herat, where Genghie Khan destroyed 1,600,000 lives I Battle of Neithar, where 1,747,000 went down to death I One million eight bundred and sixteen thousand- slain at Troy] And American battles, too near us now to allow us to appreciate their awful gtendeur and significance, except you oho eneee there, facing the north or facing the south I But all the battles I have named put together will not equal in number enlisteti or fierceness or grandeur or triumph or rout the coming Armageddon contest, Whether it shall be fought with printers' type or keen steel, whether by brain or muscle, whether by pen or carbine, whether by booming cannon or thun- ders or Christian eloquence, I do not know, and you may take what I say as figurative or literal, but take as certain what St. John, in his vision an the rocks of the Grecian archipela- go, is pleased to call Armageddon. My sermon will first mention the regiments that will be engaged in -the conflict, then will say something of the eommanders on both sides, and then speak of the battle itself and the tre- mendous issues. Beginning with those who will fight on the wrong side, I first mention the regiments diabolic. In this very chapter from which my peat is taken we are told that the spirits of devils will be there. How many mil- lions of them no one can tell, for the atatistics of the satanic dominions have never been reported, and the roll of that host has never on earth been called, but from the direful and con- tinental and planetary work they have already done, and the fact that every man and woman and child on earth has a temper there must be at least 1,600,000,000 evil spirits familiar with our world. Perhaps as many more are • engaged in special enterprises of abom- ination among the nations and em- pires of the earth. Besides that, there must be an inconceivable number of tnhabitants in realms pandemonian staying there to keep the great capi- tals of sin going from age to age. Many of them once lived. in heaven; but, en- gaging in conspiracy to put satan on 'the throne, they were hurled out and down, and they are now among the worst thugs of the universe. Having been in three worlds—heaven, earth and 'hell—they have all the advantages of great experience. Their power, their epod, their cunning, their hostility, wonderful beyond all statement. In the Ermageddon they will, I doubt not; be present in full array. They will have no reserve corps, but all NY111 be at the front. There will not only be soldiers in that battle who can be seen and aimed at but troops intangible, and without coporeity, and weapons may strike clear through them without giv- ing them hurt. With what shouts of defiance will they climb up the ladders on fire and leap from the battlements of asbestus into the lost campaign of hell 1 Paul, the bravest of men, was impressed with their might for evil when he said, "We wrestle not against flesb and blood, but against principal- ities and against powers and against the rulers of the darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in 'high anaces." Oh, what an agitating mo- ment, when the ranks diabolic move up and take, their places for conflict in the Armageddon! Other regiments who will marcb into the fight will be the regiments of alco- holic. They will be made up of the brew- ers' companies, distillery owners and li- quart dealers' associations and the hun- dreds of millions of their patrons. They will move into the ranks with.what the Bible calls the"song of the drunkard," and what a bloated and soaked and bleared and blasted and hiceougbing and nauseating host! If now, according to a scientist, in England there are 50,000 deaths annualle from strong detnk, and in the Untied States, ac- tording to another estimate, 98,000 leaths annually from strong drink, what an arrayof living drinakezds that corning up from the whole oath to take their places itt the last, , nettle, especially as the evil increases an.d the millions now staggering on for those regiraents. The greatest brig- adier of all those regiments, Voltaire, who closed his life of assault upon. Christianity by writing:. "Happiness is in a drea, and only pain is real. 1 have thought so for 84 years, and I know no better pla.n. than toresign myself to the inevitable and to reflect that flies are born to be devoured by spiders a.ncematt to be consumed by ease. I wish I had never been born. Oh, the God for- saken regiments of infidels, who, after having spent their Wein antagonizing the only Influence that could make the earth better, gather, with their low wit, and their vile sneer, and their learned idiocy, and their horrible blasphemy, to take part against God andrighteous- ness in the great Armageddon! Other regiments who will march in on the wrong side in the battle will be the regiments Mohammedan. At the present time there are about 175,000,000 Moslems. Their plainraission into kill Christians, deraean womanhood and take possession of the earth in the in- terest of ignorance, superstition and moral filth. Their massacre of 50,000 Armenians in the last two or three years is only one chapter in their effort to devastate the earth of every- thing but themselves. So .determined are they in. their bed worn that ali the nations of the earth put together dare not say to theni, "Stop, or we will make you stop I" My hope is that. long before that last battle of wbich speak the Turkish Government, and with it alohammetianism, may be wiped out of existence. The Turkish power for the last 400 years has beeri the miglatiest hindrance on earth to relig- ious libertyand moral improvement. Her extermination is propbened in the Book of Revelation in the figure of the drying up of the river Euphrates, and she is going rapidly, thank God1 In 1820, by the Greek uisurrection, she re- ceived the first destructive blow. In 1823 the Turkmen army of 30,000 was destroyed and the cause of liberty ad- vanced. In 1827 England, France aud Russia, not so cautious as they have since been. at Navarino humiliated the larkish fleets, and Greece was free. Weaker anti weaker the Turkish power has becomentn.d ix has lost Algiers and Wallachia, and, more than all, during the past decade, through ber cruelty, has lost the sympathy of every good man and woman m all the earth, and ifWilliam E. Gladstone were Prime Minister of England the Turkish Gov- ernment would very soon either quit her outrages or go down under the bombardment of the men-of-war from raan.y nations now hovering near the Bosphorus. .."bit if the Bible prophecy concerning the drying up of the Eu- phrates is not fulfilled beiore the battle mentioned in my text, ttionammedanism will march in with sword and poison and torah to take her part in the great. Armageddon Yea, to GilOW the magnitude of the forces on the wrong side, 1 have to tell you. that what is left of heathenism at that time will =math into the conflicts. There are 150,000,000 fetish idolatore; 221,000,000 Brahmins, 411,000,000 Budd- hists. Through the sublimest move- ment of this century, the missionary movement all the time gathering in momentum, I believe all or nearly all of that 770,000,000 of heathendom will be converted to God. But that winch is not converted will come into the Armageddon on the wrong side. Other regiments on the wrong side will be made up of offenders of all sorts—the defrauders, the libertines, the dynamiters, the anarchists, the op- pressors and the foes of society, the criminals of all nations, by whatever name they are now called or sball then be called. They may not, before that, have opeialer taken sides, but then they will be compelled. to take sides. With what venom. with what violence, with what desperation they will fall into line at the great Armageddon 1 Is it not appalling, these uncounted regi- ments of the earth to be joined by the uncounted regiments from perdition? Can any power cope with them? Espe- cially when I tell you. who their com- mander is, for so much in all wars de- pends upon the chieftain. Their leader wil1 not be a political accident or a military "happen so." By talent and adroitness and courage and unceasing industries he has come to the bad emi- nence. He disputed. the throne of heaven with the Almighty, but no one has ever disputed the throne of eter- nal night with this monarch, who will in the last battle take the field in per- son. Milton calls him Lucifer, Goethe calls him Mephistopheles, the Hebrew calls him Abaddon, the Greek calls him Apollyou. He is the impersonation of all malevolence of all oppression,of all cruelty, the summing up a ell false- hood. In his make up nothing bad was left out and. nothing good was put in and he is to be the genera, tbe c =- mender in chief of all the forces on the wrong side in the great Armageddon. He has been in more battles than you have ever read. about, and. he has gained more victories than have ever been celebrated in this world.; But I guess there will be an army to dis- pute with his forces. I have mention- ed the supremacy of this world. I guess our troops will not have to run when on the day mentioned in my text all the infernal batteries shall be un- limbered. We have been reviewing the troops diabolic. We have been measuring the crnibers of their guns. We have been examining the ammu- nition wagons. Now let us look at the forces to be marshaled in the Armaged- don on the right side. First of all, I mention the regiments angelic. Alas, that the subject of de- monology seems better understood than the subject of magelology. But the glo- rious spirits around the throne and all the bright immortals that fill the gal- leries and 'levels of tb.e universe are to take part in that last great fight, and the regiments angelic are the only regiments capable of meeting the regi- ments plutonic. To show you some- thing of an angel's power, I ask you. to consider that just one of them slew 185,000 of Sonnachib's hosts in a night, and it is not a tough arithmeti- cal question to solve, if one angel can slay 185,000 troops in a night, how many ean 500,000,000 of them slay? The old books says that "they exhel in strength." It is not a celestial mob, but a disciplined host, and they know their rank. Cherubim, seraphim, thrones, PrinniPalities and power! And the leader of those regiments In Michael the Archangel. David saw just one group of angels sweep past, and. they were 20,.000 charioted. :Paul, who in the Gamakan College had. his fecal - ties so wnnderfally developed, confesses hie incapacity to count them by say - EXETER TIMES fly. Back orver the battlements of per- dition theygo down with infinite crash, all the regiments diabolic/ Back to the mountains and caves the armed hosts of earth, 'crying as they retreat to the rocks and fountains. "Fall on les and hide no from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamle for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stan(1?" •And while Apollyon, the prisoner of war, is being dragged in them, to bis dungeon, and our Conqueror is re- mounting His throne, I look off npon the battlefield, and among the slam •I' find the carcasses of Mohammedanism, and paganism, and atheism, and infi- delity, and dissipation, and fraud, and multitudinous wrong strewing tlae Piain, and I hear the angel that stand- eth in the sun crying, in the words of Revelation, to all the fowls that fly 'in the midst of heaven—the eagles, and the vultures, and the hawks, and the albatrosses—" Come and gather your- selves together Unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of raigbty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them." The prophesied Arraageddon of the text has been fought, and Christ and His followers have won the day. The kingdoms of this' world have become the kingdoms of our Load and -His Christ. 44.11 the Christian workers of our time, you, my bearers, and you, my readers. and all the Christian workers of all the ages havehelped on thexnag- nificent result and the victory is ours as much as theirs. This moment in- viting all outsiders, through the ran- somed blood of the everlasting cove- nant, to get into the ranks of the con- querors, and under tile banner of our leader, I shall not close the service with prayer, aa we usually do, but irame- diately gave out the Moravian Inenn by James Montgomery, appropriate when -written in 1819, but more appro- priate in /fillti, and ask you, with, full yokes, as well as with grateful hearts to chant it: See Jehovah's banner furl'd; Sheathed His sword. He speaks; done, And the kingdoms of this world Are the kingdoms of His Son. But the presentstatistics of churches will be utterly swamped wheneafter all, the. great denominations bave done their best work, the sloweet of all the sects Will have ruore numbers than the present throliment of all denominations througbout. Christendom. You see, by hai tirae, an atheist or an infidel will Lea curiosity, and he will be looked at as we look at a man .with hag bair reaching Wow his shoulders and long finger nails that are never cut and a stare in the eyes indicating incipient Innacy—not to 113 argued with, but to be pitied; while it will not be any un- usual dung to see men as moth de- voted to their religion as Francis Xa- vier was devoted to his religion 'when he went through the streets asking all eo come to hear his faith expounded. m ten years planting the gospel in 50 nations and baptizing over 1,000.001) souls. And the great hosts of believ- ers will fill the earth, making the 2,317,- 000 combatants that Xerxes reviewed a corporal's guard in comparison. I see them, the regiments ecclesiastic, mov- ing into that last battle. The Luther- ans headed by some great Martin Luther yet to be born. lihe Methodists headed by some George Whitefield yet to come. The Presbyterians, headed by sorae Jahn Knox yet to come. The Episcopalians' headed by some Bishop Cbarnocle yet to be enrobed. The Baptists headed by some Missionary Carey yet to bless the world. The Con- gregational' church headed. by some .Dr. Kirk of Pentecostal power yet to take tongue on fire. I see them Inoving into the ranks, carrying a standard striped and starred; striped as suggesting Him by whose stripe we are healed, and starred as with the promise that those who turn .many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, forever and ever Into that battle on our side will roll those mighty engines of power, tbe printing presses of Christendom. nnto that battle will also move the might- iest telescopes, that shall bring the stars in their courses to fight foe our God. Again, the regiments elemental will come into that battle ou the right side. The vvinds! God showed what he could do with them when the splintered. tim- bers of the ships of the Spanish as - made were strewn an the rocks of Scot- land, Norway, and the Hebrides. The waters! Ile thowed what He could do with them when he put t.he whole earth under them, leaving it suhaqueous 150 days. The earthquakes' lie showed obit t He coulki do with them when He la Caracas drop into the open mouth of horror and the intends of the sea went to entombment. Tile lightnings! He showed what Re could do with them when He wrapped Mount Sinai in flame, and we have all seen their flashing lanterns moving with the char- iots of the midnight hurricane. AR the regiments elemental will come in on our side in the great Armageddon( Come and let. us mount and ride along the line and review the troops of Emman- uel and find that the regiments terres- trial and celestial that come into that battle on the rtglat side are as com- pared with those on the wrong side two to one, a hundred to one, a thou- sand to one. But oho is the commander in chief on his side? Splendid armies have been ruined, caught in traps, flung over precipices man annihilated through the incompetence or treachery of their gen- eral. Who commands on our side? Jehovah-jireh, so called in one niece. "Captain of Salvation," so-called m an- other ptsce. Xing of kings. Lord of lords. Conqueror of conquerors. His eye omniscient. His arm omnipotent. He will take thelead. He will draw the sword. He will give the command. And wben He plants His foot for the corabat, the foundations of the earth will quake and when He shall give the battle shout, all the gates of hell will tremble. But do hiot let us shout until after we have seen the two armies clash in the last struggle. Oh, my soul The battle of all time and eternity opens. "Forward I" n Forward I" is the com- mand on both sides given. The long lines of both armies waver and swing two and fro, Swords of truth against engines infernal. Black horse cavalry of Perdition against white horse cav- alry of -heaven. The redemption of this world and the honor of the throne of God to vindicate—how tremendous is the battle! The army of rtgliteousness seems giving way, but no I It is only a part of the matoeuver of the infinite fight. It is a deploy of the least celes- tial. What a meetmgin this field of splendor and wrath, of the angelic and on the diabolic, of hosanna and blas- phemy, of song and ourse, of the divine and the Warne The thunderbolts of the Almighty burst and blaze upon the foe. Boom!! boom! By the torches of lightning that illumine the scene. I ,see that the crisis of the Armageddon has come. It is the turnbag point of this last battle. The next moment will decide all.' ..e.ye, the forces of Apollyon are breaking ranks. .See, see! They -fly. Some on foot, some on wing, they HIE SUNDAY SCHOOL, INTERNATIONAL LESSON, NOV. 1. BANK ROBBER TRAP, A New Idea DevIshed Which Should Prove Sacco:sin'. The latest device for bringing to naught the ill -directed energy of the thief who presents a pistol to the bead of bank officials in broad daylight and. during business hours is reported from the west. This species of criminal au- dacity is getting to be painfulay com- mon of late, the usual plan being for the bandit to select an opporhme mom- ent when lots of money is be sight, and rush up to the window, thrust his pistol through the cashier's opening, and de- mand the funds on pain of instant death in ease of a refusal. The system de- vised for trapping this spectes of the gentry consists of a drop in the floor ta &mit of the pay window, and so nice- ly adjusted as to be unnoticed except upon close examination. The dropping of the. trap is affected by a knob on the inside and readily aetassible to the cashier. Directly beneath the drop a ohute extends downward about six feet and. converging to a point at the bot- tom. The suies of this chute are lined with spikes, which project inward and downward. Wleen Mr. Robber steps to the window and makes Ids demand the cashier grabs flee money with one hand, as if to deliver it, saying: "All right, here you are," and with. the other turns the knob that unlatches the drop, when "down goes McGinty," wedged in- to the chute between the spikes from which no amount of cursing will ex- tricate him, and the bank partition being bullet proof, if he &looses to shoot it only adds to the alarm already given by the bank's officials, which brings the police to bag the game so effectually caught A CLEVER DOG. "Building the, Temple." I Kings 5. 1-12. tiolden Text. Psalm 127. 1. GENERAL STATEMENT. Among houses of worship in all ages the temple of Jerusalem stands unique Not merely was it in its eJay the most magnificent; buieding on earth; not 'merely was it a perfect expression of a mast interesting type of the buman race; not Merely did it represent the lof- tiest faith, the purest morality, the no- blest worship; the very conception of it was diffeeent from that of other sbrines. The conviction that Solo- mon's temple was (as the taberoacle bad Leen) the residence in time and. space of the eternal, omnipresent God. was a cone victim without parallel 15 either pag- anism. or Chrtstianity. In the pagan mind there was no reason for confin- ing the formal worship of a great god or goddess to one place. The venera- tion of Greeks for the temple of Zeus at Aegina dial not make the erection of a temple to Zeus at Atherus in any way absurd or unnecessary. But to build another temple to Jetovah, at Beth -el or eleewhere, was the worst. a crimes. To -day there is no linen to the nuxuber of Mohammedan mosques or of Christ- ian churches, They are ail "houses of nod" in an aceemmodated sense. But eri the mind ot the devoted. 'Hebrew Mor- iah was phyeietailly the place ot God's abode, just. as Zion bad been the &tee of the ting's, and much ruore excl usive- 1Y so. The Hebrew nation, which alone had any adequate conception tit God, existed for the very purpose of perpet- uating that conception and of spreading ID eveutually, over the earth. A Green temple stood because there were Grashe to measly* in it; a, Christian church stands because there are Cerisnans; but the Hebrew temple was not built be- cause there were Hebrews; rather there were Hebrews because there was a texu- ple to ee built. Its erectioa was a no - able stage in the gractuated process of divine revelation, and marks the cli- max of lieorew history. It. was in Hebrew eyes not only the greatest Man- ifestation of noloinon's pomp and pow- er and. glory; it was for its sake that Solomon received his wisdom and wealth. Bet as Solentou binnelt could never have built this Majestic shrine withoutthe assistance of the Phoenic- ians, it becomes needful for as to de- vote one Sunday to the careful study a his alliance with tbe King of Tyre. 'he unieseity for this alliance cant be seeo by a giant* at, the limitations a He Belongto a British Color Sergeant and Wears a Medal. There has beeni a wonderful dog in Sunderland, England, for several weeks and a large number of the friends and acquaintances of his owner have been surprised and entertained from time to time by his performances. The ani- mal IS called "Joe," and. is the property of Calor Sergeant King, of.the1st Staf- fordshire Regiment. who has been spending his furlough in this town. "Joe" is a fox terrier, marked with black and tan patches, and not parti- cularly handsome to look upon. He is well known in nearly all the middle towns, especially at Perry Bar foot- ball grounds, Birmingham, where, dur- ing the Color Sergeant's service in Eg- ypt, he has been greatly naissed. When his master goes from Litch- field to Birmingham to attend a foot- ball match and leaves his dog at home, "Joe" is not to be beaten, for he pre- sents himself at the booking office, where he is we'll kn.own, and plainly indicates that he wants a ticket. He is supplied with one "on tick," enters the proper train when it pulls up at the station, and on arrival at Birmmgham leaves it, proceedes to the foot -ball field and finds his master. He is a grand hand at the game known as "tip it,' and will find the button every nine. Tim names of the company being mentioned to him, and the indivoluals pointed out, he is able, wheji the different names are repeated, to identify the persons to whom they apply. He also, in a way, tells people that the 1st Staffordshire Regiment is the math corps in the ar.my. He will balance a penny on his nose until the number "three" is men- tioned. Any other number may be put forward,. but it is not until the word "three" is spoken that he throins the penny up, catches it in nis mouth, and forthwith proceeds to make a purc,hase with it. In fact, "Joe" can go through nearly a couple of hours' performance. Recently he was presented with a gold medal, Councilor Cbrisp, Jr., fixing it an his collar. The medal was sub- scribed for bythe friends, Sergt. King has made during his sojourn in Sunder- land. ',MEXICAN BURIALS. ' The Mexicans ihave a queer way of burying the dead. The corpse is tight- ly wrapped in century -plant matting, and placed in a coffin hired for about a shillbag. One or two natives, as the case may be, plate the coffin on their heads and go at a trot to the grave, where the body is interred, and the coffin is then returned. The wealthy class uee the tram cars as bearsen, mad the friends follow beside the car on foot, David had no rest from wars, see 2 Senn '7. 1, but that he had to conquer it; Solomon's rest and peace were inherited. Adversary. In 1 Kings 11, 14, 23, we read of Hadad, Rezone and other "ad- versaries" a Solocaon, but they came later itt his reign, after be had proved unfaithful to God. Nor evil occurrent. Better "oceurrence," that is, nimble, pestibenee, or other national sufferings, each as had come sepeatedly during David's reign. 5. This verse is not an attempt to take the credit of planning for the temple from David, to whom it belonged, but rather an intimation that Solomon is carrying out David's plans. 6. See 2 Citron. 2 3-10, where Solomon asks for one of the ...cunning Sidonian workmen," who could, design and sup- erintend casting, carving, engraving, and embroidery, wbo could work in gold and silver, ba costly wood, and in that luxurious "purple" which it was the delight of clasno writers to de- scribe. Cedar trees out of Lebanon. The cedar forests were in Ilirana's do- minions, although the original dowry of.Isreal included Lebanon, Josh. 13.5. The "cedar" of Scripture probably La - eluded several varieties a wood, which now bears other names. Hirana's reply, verse 8, shows that "fir" as well as ceder was to be imported by Solomon. My servants shall be with thy servants. The workmen antrl soldiers and porters of the two nations were to work hare ominously together in carrying out the pla,ns of Solomon. Hire for thy ser- vants. See. verse 11. There ts not arnong us any that can skill to bew tinaber like unto the Sidonians. "Hew" means not only to fell the great trees, but to do all the woodwork of the temple, heavy man fine, both carpenter work and artistic carving. Phoenicians were in antiquity commonly referred to as Sidonia' n.s, and their skill in wood- work was famous throughout Greece and Rome. Jews, on the other hand, were never skillful as a clam ill either mechanics or art. 7. When Hiram heard the words of Solomon. .As reported by his ambas- sadors. He rejoiced greatly. For more reason,s than me. The friendship of Israel far Phoenicia. was of relatively greater importance than the friendship of two such modern powers as Russia and France or England and the United States. Blessed be the Lord. "Blessed be Jehovah"—an atlenewledgment of the national God of Ierael. Hath given un- to David a. wise son over this great peo- ple. A less sagacious moo might have attempted to push. further David's car- eer of conquest, and have even souglit to dethrone Hiram, but this "wise son" made friends of the people all about. We are to remember that David had two very foolish sons, both of whom came dangerouely near securing the throne. 0 8. Hiram sent to Solomon. In writ- ing, 2 Olean, 2, 11. According to din uneversal beliefof antiquity he tuse of letters began with tile Intoenielans. Thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir, (cyprese). Mod- ern Arabs have but one name for pine, radar, and juniper. The wood of the cedar that now grows on Lebanon Ls neither very beautiful nor eminently fitted for building. The tinnier used in the palaee of Nineveh, which was long believed to be cedar, is now believ- ed to be yew. 3. My servants shall bring tbena down front Lebanon unto the sea. Bring down the logsof cedar. I will convey thebe m see in floats. The Revised, Verott1 better, "I will make them into rafts to go by sea." So timber was transported in the most ancient Orient ju.st as it is in. modern times down the forest streams of America. The place that thou shalt appoint. The chronic- ler gives its name, joppa, 2 Chum. 2. 16. Joppa is only forty nines dis- tant from the holy city, but the transportation of timber over the rocky road Letween 14 and Jerusalem xnust have Leen almost as difficult as its transportation from Lebanon to the sea. Distherged there, and thou shalt remise them. That is, "my representa- tives shall give an inventory, ann you. shall give a receipt." 10. See note concerning "cedar" and "fir," on verse 8. 11. Pure oil. Beoten cal, such as was obtained bypounding the olives evben not quite ripe 'in a mortar. Thus Rave Solomon to Hiram year by year. This great annual payment explains in part tbe strain and unrest felt by the peo- ple of Israel which found belated ut- terance when Rehoboam succeeded Sol- omon an the throne. 12. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom. Hiram gave Solomon cedar and fir trees; Solomon gave Hiram wheat and pure oil; Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom. the two natious. In Palestine no large trees grow excepe terenathe and olives, whde the 'Wear ot -Lebanon," the fin- est timber at antiquity, Was exported irom the heart of Ifncenicia to the ends ox. the earth. 'rhe Hebrews were de- ficient in arteetic anti mechanical wide the Phoenicians were iamous es- pecially for arohnecture, weaving and carving. Palestme, on the other hand, was rich in harvests a grain and olives and grapes, and Tyre and Sidon were depewient upon it to a large degree for food. On the surface, therefore, the alliance was advantageous to both coun- tries. All we know a Isting Hiram is to his cretin. But Phoenicia Was the bot- ned of the foulest. of anei.e.ut idolatries, and assodation with it was contamina- tion, even though the motive Was lof- tily rehgious. "Evil cenununications corrupt good manners," and Wo need. nor wonder to read inn the suLsequent ruin at tbe Ilebrens was mainly due to the rites of Baal and Aelooreth, which had been imported, with all the moral eeils that circled around them, from the friendly idolaters of Sidon and Tyre. PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 1. Hiram king ot Tyre. Hiram had teen David's ally and personal friend, ever a lover of David. He had reigned twelve years wlen the building of tbe temple was begun by. Solomon, and either he or a successor of the sarae barna still sat on the throne twenty- two years afterward. There is some reason to believe that Ins daughter be- came one of Solomon's wives. His friend- ly relations with the Jews are referred to by pagan as well as by sacred his- torians, and oriental legends allude to his intellectual acumen. Tyre was in Hiram's day the dominant city of Phoe- nicia, and like its rival Sidon it was the home of a set of daring adventurers who traded with the remotest regions known. 'Tile wealth of Tyre is des- crited in a most splendid passage (Ezek. chapters 27, 28). The alliance with the Phoenicians was not only directly belp- ful in the erection of temple and pan enormously increased by David's con- quests. The spoil of many kingdoms was theirs, and, as we read elsewhere, they eagerly joined the venturous Phoe- nicians in endeavor= to bring strange and beautiful commodities from the ends of the earth. But tbe religion of Tyre was unutterably bail, and this very allia.nce, productive as it was of immediate advantage, exerted a sue- tle influence toward decay and moral rot. The introduction of Baal worship, which proved to be a fatal :mare to In- rael, is to be dated. from the friendship of Hiram and the Tyrians with Solo- mon and the Hebrews. (See General Statement.) Sent his servant unto Sol- omon. Doubtless with congratulatory messages. We have seen that Solo- mon could hardly have built his temple without Hiram's help; but }Dram and his people could not live at all with- out support. from Palestine, for .his country was a strip- of sandy sea -shore, without the grain -producing fields and rich vineyards which made Palestine "like the garden of the Lord," He had heard that they had. anointed him king in the room of his father. How had. he heard this? 'ft is probable tbat his em- bassy from Hiram was sent in response to a formal notification of the acces- sion of the young sovereign. 2. Solomon sent to Hiram. josepbus states that the messages that passed. be- tween Hiram and Solomon on this oc- casion were all preserved for centuries in the public archives of Tyre, 3. Thou In:lowest. Hiram knew all about David's plans to build the temple, for he had sold to him Cedar. wood from Lebanon and wood -carvers and sculp- tors a stone (2 Saan. 5. 11; 1 Cbron. 22. 4); he dou.btless also understood. why those plans had been defeated. The Lord put them under the soles of his feet. The Lard vanquished all Ws en- emies. 4. Now • the Lord any God. bath- given me rent, Ats promised 15 1 Olean, 22. 9. Not tbat TO INTENDING 1/NEST0RS, A BRITISH COLUIPIAN ON TM MINING PROSPECTS. Valuable Milts for Preepeetive InVestortt About the TItle, the Location, the Stott, or Developluent, and the Character 01 the Men Who Are BoonlIng the re," party. Itt the laistony of gold mining the world over it has frequently happened that a braes sign, a plate glass winclove a blue-pencilled map, a glib ton,gus. hove constituted a "valuable property" in which the public have been asked to invest with the utmost confidence. There is more gold in British. Columbia than can be mined in the next twents years. There are also delusions; per, hops lies. In any cane, the intending investor should be cautious. He will do well to investigate the title, the lees° tion, the state of development, the character a the =ern wbo are boon:dna ake Property. Mr. Charles Griffith, part owner ot the Nickel Plate mine, has been in Brit* ish Columbia for the last six years. He knows a good deal about the aubjed. lIs has no shares, to sell. ,Ilimself and, friends have eziough money to work their property. Mr. Griffiths is now in Montreal, and willing to communicate what he knows about the situation as it exists to -day. "Let it be well understood," he said. "that there axe many worthless pro- perties. There have been. sales made ot properties to which, it turned. out NO TITLE COULD RE SHOWN. AN ADVOCATE OF GOOD ROADS. How the Poor Tramp Got Even With tit Melt Tne marks of a long pedestrian tour were thick upon him. He sat down to rest on the carriage step in front of a rural residence. The proprietor happened to pass and paused to look at the rather unsightly addition to the landscape which the traveler made. "What are you doing in this part of the bountry ?" he asked. " Welkin'," was the answer. "Haven't you any work?" " Walkin's as bard work as I know of ba this part of the world; up hill an' down holler; ye climb a rock pile one minute an' land in a mud -hole the next." " You ought to be ashamed of your- self." "I ain't altogether ter blame fur lookin' this way. The road's ter blame fur some of it.' "I was referring not to your appear- ance, butto your method of life. You are a man in middle life. Don't you think it's about time you were mend - bag your low ways?" Mister, did you ever go ter Sun- day school?" "01 course." "Do you remember bearin"bout it's being a good idea not ter bother 'bout the mote in yer neighbor's eye tell ye cast the beam from yer own?" "I remember that lesson." "Welt, mister, when yer talk ter me 'bout mexidin. my low ways, I'm willin' ter listen respectful, 'cause I know ane't perfect. But I can't help re- markine without meanin' offense, thet my low ways don't need mendixn a bless- ed bit amore'n your highways do." • HAVING FUN WITH HIM. And the du.de thought he would bave fun with the old doctor to Whom he said: What bad I best do, doctor? When I even take light exercise I breathe in abort quick paaats. Get a pair cif troasers' stretchers. Ca,ranelita—" I wonder Why Dorothy didn't have leer skirt out so the stripes would run straight up and down." Grace--" Oh, that girl takes a biased view of everything!" There have been statements made re- garding prospects which could not be substantiated. I advise cau- tion. One eaoad nutke inquiry." "How is t.b.e public in the east to be protected against alluring promises V' "Well, am= should go to a respon. sible broker, who will advise him right- ly. The broker will be 15 possession of fatts whicb will determine his course. The investor should not snap at the first statement made. He should. wait and, see. Not few men have simply put their money into 'prospects.' Of course, a good deal of unueeessary suspicion at. taohes to owners who are anxious to sell or to let the public io.on the ground floor,' as the saying is. To develop the mines in British. Columbia eastern capi- tal must besought. There is no consid- erable amount of local capital. It takes money, and a good deal of it, to develop a mine. Most ot Coe owners of mining property are poor. They feel they have a good thing, but they are not able to work it. They thus are forced to appeal to capital in the east, offering to let this capital in., as I say, upon the ground. floor. This is ail right, la every case, however, there should be careful investi- gation made before money is invested." As an evletence of actual results achieved. Mr. Griffiths pointed to the fact that almost A QUARTER Or A MILLION had laeexi paid this year by the Le Rol mine be atvitiends,while the Wax Eagle haat paid ni187,000 in. dividends. The lat- ter, it is understood, bus been sold toan Engtish company Inc n800,000. "And there m no doubt," said Mr. Griffiths, "that English capital is flow- ing in. and will eeen make a revolution itt the methods of working, while the results will be coutmensura.te with the efforts put forth." Asked as to railway facilities, Mr. Griffiths mentioned thefact that Mr. Corbio vt as about to build a branch of bis main line to Rossland, so that the ore could be slupped at the latter place and sent to any part of tb.e United States without breaking bulk. This would be a great advantage. Then they had a narrow gauge railway al- ready which broughe the ore to the smelter, but what they needed was that the C. P. R. sbould build the line through the Crow's Nest Pass, which woullit have the effect of giving them alt the coke they needed, railway tap- ping a opal district. "lf the C. P. R. does build this line, I should think i4 would make 14 the main line, as this would do away with the heavy grades a the Rockies and the Sel- kinks, while at the same time it would. save the company a great deal of money in the matter of the snow sheds, which have to be TYmintained in the winter at great cost on the present main line. 'there are, without exaggeration, many MILLIONS OF TONS of low grade ore, which could be 'mat- ted' by fusion, a.nd wbich could be ren- dered profitable if ooke could be easily procured, and brought to the dump. At present the coke has all to be brougbt troni the west and suffers by brea.k- ing bulk on the way. It would be a great improvement if the company would undertake to build this line." Mr. Griffiths spoke ho_pefully of the prospects of the "Jose," "iron. Mask and •'Everting Star" mines, which, .altbough they hod not yet paid dividends,were being worked with every indication of SUCC4SS. As to the Nickel Plate, t he ore already taken was worth about sixty dollars to the ton, llrhile the copper was worth about two dollars and a half." Mr. Griffiths is quietly optimistic of the future. He is not disposed. to be extravagant; but he speaks with a firm assurance when he points out that with the introduction of capital British Col- umbia gold ruining will, in the near fu- ture, rectaves a great impetus. "The prospects are encouraging. It is to be remembered that although the gold is there it requires a considerable amount, of money to carry out even pre,- liminary work. This has hitherto acted as a deterrent to some extent, hut the certain results already secured froni the few mines which have been worked with energy and the latest machinery, are encouraging the inflow of capital both • from England and the east. The publie intim east, who.know nothing ot the actual situation, eimply need to be guid- ed by responsible brokers, before they invest their money, seeing to it espe- cially that there is a clear title .to the property in which they propose to in- ' vest." A SCHEME THAT FAILED. Good gracious, he cried, was that rooster 1 beard crovviaag then? Yes, she said, but don't hurry away. The people around here won't be up for an hour yet. Next day 'he learned that her father had an educated rooster that crowed everynight at 100 o'clock, and, of course, bbs match is off.