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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1897-6-10, Page 7THE EXETER TIMES A. STRUGGLE FOR LIFE onwom, REV. DR. TALMAGE ON NECESSITY FOR FAITH IN THE GOSPEL PLAN. An illoanent Stallion to Those hardened With Doubt and Whose Faith has Been Shipwrecked—The Skeptic's Objections Conclusively Dealt With. Dr. Talmage preaclaed on Sunday) from the text Acts xxvii, 44, "And some on broken pieces of the ship." Never off Goodiviel Sands or the Sher- ries or Cape Hatteras was a ship in worse prediement than, in the Medi- terranean hurricane, was tbe grain ship, on which 276 passengers were driven on the coast of Malta, five miles from the metropolis of that island, call- ed, Citta Vecchia. After a two weeks' temptest, when the ship was entirely disabled, and captain and crew had be- come completely demoralized, an old missionary took command of the vessel. He was sraall, crooked -backed and sore - eyed, according to tradition. It was Paul, the only unseared man aboard. Be was no more afraid of a Eurocly- don tossing the Mediterranean Sea, now up to tbe gates of heaven and now sinking it to the gates of hell, than he was afraid. of a kitten playiug with 4 string. He ordered them all down to take their rations, first asking for them a blessing. Then he insured all thew lives, telling thein they would be reamed, Paid, so far from lining their heads, they would not lose so much of their hair as you could cut off with one click of the scissors—nay, not a thread of it, whether it were gray with age or golden with youth. "There shall not a hair fall from the bead of any of you," Knowing that they can never get to the desired port, they make the sea on the fourth night black with overthrown cargo, so that when the ship strikes it will not strike so bea.vily. At daybreak they saw a creek, and in their exigence resolved to make for it. And so they cut the cables, too'k in the two paddlesi they had on these old boats and hoisted, the mainsail so that they naight come with sugh force acs to be driven high Ivan the beach by some fortunate bil- low. There she goes, tumbling towards the rosins. now prow foremost, now stern foremost, now rolling over to the starboard, now over to the larboard; now a wave dashes clear over the decki and it seems as if the old craft has gone forever. B ut up she comes again. Paul's arms around a mast hecries: "All is well. God has given me all those that sail with me." Crash went the prow with suelz force that it broke off the mast. Crash went the timbers till the sea rushed through from side to side et the vessel. She parts amidships, and into a thousand fragments the vessel goes, and alto the waves 276 mortals are precipitated. Some of then had been broaght up on the seashore and. had learned. to swim with their cbins justi above the waves, and by the strokes of both arms and propuasion of Loth feet they put out for the beach and reach it. But alas for those others! They have never learned to swim, or they were wounded. by the falling of t/aemast the nervous shock was too great for them. And others had been weakened by long seasickness, Ob. whatwill become of them? "Take that piece of a rudder," says Paul to one. "Take that fragment of a spar," says Paul to another. "Take that image of Castor and Pollu.x." "Take that plank from the lifeboat." "Take any- thing and. head for the beach." What a struggle for life int the breakers! Oh, the merciless waters, how they sweep over the heads of men, women and chil- dren! Head on there! Almost ashore. Keep up yoar courage. Remember what Paul told you. There the re- ceding wave on the beach leaves in the sand a whole family. There trawls up out of the surf the centurion. 0 There another plank comes in with a life; clinging fast to it. There another piece of the shattered vessel, with its freightage of an immortal soul. They. m.ust by this time all be saved. Yes, there comes the last of all, .for be had been overseeing the rest, the old, missionary, who wrings the water from his gray beard and cries out, "Thank God. all are here!" Gather around a fire and call the roll. Pau.1 builds a fire, and when the bundle of sticks begin to crackle' and standing and sitting around the blaze the pas- serigers legin to recover from their chili, and the wet clothes begin to dry, end. warmth begins to come into all the shivering passengers, let the purser a the vessel go around. and see if any of the poor creatures are missing. Not one of the crowd that were plunged into the sta. How it relieves our anx- iety as we read: "Same on broken pieces of the ship. And. so it came to puss that they escaped. all safe to land." Having on previous occasions looked at the other passengers, I confine myself to -day to an examination of those who came in on broken pieces of the ship. There is something about them that ex- cites in me an interest. I am not so much interested in those that could swim. They got ashore as I expected. A mile of water is not a verygreat un- dertaking for a strong swimmer, or even two miles are not. But I cannot stop thinking of those on broken pieces of the ship. The *Teat gospel ship is the finest of the universe and can carry more passengers than any craft ever constructed, and you could no more wreck it than you could wreck the throne of God Almighty. I wish all the people would come aboard her. I could not promise a smooth voyage, for ofttimes it will be tempesteous or a, chopped sea, but I could promise safe arrival for all who took passage on that Great Eastern, to called by me because its commander came out of the East, the star of the east s badge of His au- thority. • But a vest multitude do not take re- gular passage. Their theology is broken In pieces, tbeir life is broken in pieces, and their worldly, and spiritual pros- poetsare broken in pieces, and yet beliove they are going to reach the shin- ing shore, and .E am encouraged by the exper:enee of those peeple who are spok- en, ca in the text, Some on broken pieces of the ship," '. One objeot in this sermon is to en- courage all tb,ose who cannot take the whole system at religion as we believe it, but who really believe something, to wine ashore on that one plank. I do not underrate the value of .a great theological system, but where in ell the Bible is there anything that says: Believe in John Calvin and thou shalt be savedi ox, believe in Amin -uses and thou shalt be, saved? ocr believe m Synod of Dort and thou shalt by saved. A man may be orthodox and go to hell or heterodox and go to heaven. The man who in the deep affeeticre of his heart accepts Christ is saved, and the men who does not accept Him is lost. I believe in both the Heidelberg and Westminster catephisms, and I wish you all did, but you rno,y believe in nothing they contain except the one idea that Christ came to save sinners, and that you, are not one of them, and you are instantly reseued. If you can come in , on the grand old ship, I would rather have you get aboard, but if you can 1 only find a piece a wood as long as I the human body, or a piece as wide as the outspread human arms, ancl ether of them is a piece of the cross, come in on that piece. Tens of thousands of people are to -day kept out of the kingdom of tGholdnglaecause they cannot believe every - I am talking with a raan thoughtful about ais_eoulnwhe has lately traveled through New England and passed the night at Andover. Ile says to me "I cannot believe that in this life the des - 15 irrevocably fixed. I think there will be another opportunity of rep'My after death." I say to him: 'MY brother, what bas that to do with you? Doe't you, reelize that the man who waits for another chance atter death when k has a good e'hance before death is a stark fool? Had not you better take the plank that is thrown to you now and bead for shore rather than wait for a plank that may by invisible bands be thrown to you aftex you are dead? Do tie you please, but as for myself, with pardon for all nay sins of- fered me now, and alt tbe joys of time and eternity offered me now, 1 instantly take them rather than run the risk of suet other cbance as wise men think they can peel off or twist out of a Scrip- ture passage that has for all the Chris- tian venturies been interpreted another way." You say, "1 do not like Prinee- ton theology, or New Haven theology, or Andover theology." I do not ask you on board either of these great men-of- war, tbeir portholes filled with the great siege of gems of ecolesiastical bat- tle, but I do ask you te take the one plank of the gospel that you de believe in and strike out for the pearl strung beach. of 'heaven. Says some other man: "1 would at- tend to religion if Iatti quite sure about the doctrine of e ela on and free agency, but that mixes me all up." Those things used to bother me, but I have no more perplexity about theinfor I say to myself, "If I love Christ and live a good, honest, useful life, I am elected to be saved, and if I do not lave Christ and live a bad life I will lie damned, and all the theological semin- aries of the universe cannot make it any different." I floundered a long while in the sea of sin and doubt, and it was as rough as the Mediterranean on the fourteenth night winn they threw the grain overboard, but I saw there was wenn for a sinner, and that plank I took, and I have been warming myself by the bright fire on the shore ever s1nce. While I arm talking to another man about ins soul be tells me, "I do not become a Chrietien because I do pot believe there is any hell at all." Ale don't you? Do all the people of all the beliefs and no beliefs at, all, of good mor- als and bad morals, go amine.. to a happy beaven ? Do tile holy and the de- bathedare the same destination. At midnight in a hallway, the owner of a Lou se and a burglar meet. They both fire, and both are wounded, but the burgLan dies in five minaten and the owner of the 'louse lives a week after. Will the burglar be at the gate of late- en, nailing, when the Louse owner names ? Will the debauchee and the libertine go right in among the families of heaven? I wonder if Herod 'splay- ing on the banks of the river of life with the children hit reassured. I won- der if Charleenenteau and John Withes Booth are up there ehooting at a mark. I do not now i ontrovert it, although I rauet say that for such a miserable heaven I have no admiration. But the Bible does not say, "Believe in perdition and be saved." Because all are saved, according to your theory, tbat ought not to keep you from loving and serving Christ. :Do you refuse to corae ashore beeause all the others, according to your theory, are going to get ashore. You may have a different therory about chemistry, about astron.amy, atout tho atmosphere, from that which others ad- opt, but you are not, therefore, hin- dered from action. Because your theory of light is differ- ent from others; do not refuse to open your eyes. Because your theory of air is different you do not refuse to breathe. Because your theory about the stellar system is different you do not refuse to acknowledge the North Star. Why e.houlti the fact that your theological theories are different hin- der you from acting upon what you known? It yoti have not a whole ship; fastened in the theological drydocks to bring you to wharfage, you have at least a plant. "Srame on broken pieces of the snip." "But I don't believe in revivals." Theo go to your roam, and all alone, with your door toned give your heart to God, and join eame charch where the thermometer never gets higher than 50 in the shade. "But I do net believe in baptism." Come in without it and, settle that mat- ter afterward. "But there are so many iinconsistent Christians." Then -mine in end s•how them by a good example how professors should act, "But I don't be- lieve in the Old. Testament" Then comae in on the New. "But 1 don't like the book of Romans." Then come in on Matthew or Luke. Refusing to came to Christ, vrhorm you admit to be the Saviour of the last, because you oannot admit other things, you are like a man out there in that Mediterranean tem- pest and tossed in the Melita breakers, refusing to come ashore until he can, mend the pieces of the broken ship. I hear bem say: "I won't go in on any of these broken planks until 1 know itt what part of the ship they belong. When I can get the windless in tbe right place and the &ails set, and that keel piece tehere it belongs, and that floor teraber right, and these ropes un-' tangled, I will go ashore. I am an old sailor and I know; all about ships foe 40 years, and as soon as I can get1 the vessel afloat in good shape I Will come in." A man drifting by an apiece ' of wood hears him, and says: "You will drown before you gee that ship recon- structed. Better do as I am doing. I know nothing about ships and never saw met before Twine on board this, and I cannot avian a stroke, but I am going ashore on this shivered timber." The man in the offing while trying to mend his ship, goes down. The man who trusted to the plank is saved. Ola, my brother, let your smashed up sys- tem of theology go to the bottora while you come ieon. the splintered spar "Some on broken pieces of the ship." You men get all your difficulties set- tled as Garibaldi, th e magnetic. Italian, got his gardens made. When the war between Austria and Sardinia broke out, he was living at Caprera, a very roug/a and uncultured island tome. But, he went forth with his sword to achieve the liberation of Naples and Sicily and gave en10,000 people free government under Victor Emmanuel. Garibaldi. after be- ing absent two years from Caprera, re- turned, and when he approached it, he found that hie home had, by Victor Enaxpenuel as a surprise, been aldenized. Trimmed shrubbery had. taken the plue of thorny thiekets, gardens the place of barrenness, and the old rookery in which he once lived had given way to a pictured naansion. And f tell you, if you will come and enlist under our Vic- tor Emmanuel and follow Him through thick and thin and fight His battles and endure Eis sacrifices you will find. after awhile that He has changed your heart from a jungle of thorny ske deism into a garden all ab- loom with Iuxuriant joy that you have ever dreamed of—from a tangled Cap- rera of sadness into a paradise of God. I do not know how your tb system went to pieces. It may be th' at your parents started you with only one plank, and you believe little or nothing. Or they may have been too rigid and esedlroeu tvrertgliir Vdte psalmbook. It It may be that some partner in business who was 4 member of an evangelical church played on you a trick that dis- gusted you with religion. It may be that you have associates who have talk- ed against Christianity in your pres- ence until you are "all at sea," and you dwell more on things you do not believe than on things you do believe. You are in one respect like Lord Nel- son, when a signal was lifted that be wished to disregard, and he pit his era- lioes:oteselet= eYaelnd rad' gri 0 , my hea.re put this field -glass of the gospel no longer to your blind eye, and. say .1 cannot see, but put it to your other eye a faith. and you. will see Client, and He is all you need to see. ; If you believe nothing else, you cer- tainly believe in vicarious suffering., for You see it almost every day in some shape. The steanaship Knickerbocker or the Cronawellbee, running between New Orleans and New York, was in grea.l storms, and the captain and crew Saw the schooner Mary 1). Craennaer of Philadelphia in distress. The tveatber cold, the waves mountains high, the first 'officer of the ship and four men put out ;in a life boat to save the crew of the 'sehooner and reached tbe vessel and 'towed it out of danger, the wind shifting so that the scbooner was saved. But ;the five men of the steamship enentin back, their boat capsized, yet righted .and a liue was thrown the poor fellows, but their bands were frozen so they could not grasp it, and a great. wave rolled over them: and they went down never to rise again till the sea gives up its dead. Appreciate the heroism and selasacrifice of the brave fellows all who can, and. cannot we not appreci- ate the Christ who put out into a more biting cold and. into a naore overwhelm - leg surge to bring us out of infinite peril into everlasting safety? The waves of human hate rolled over Him frora one side and the wave of hellish fury rolled over Bina on the other side. On tbe thicknessf the nighl I th thunder of the tempest into which Christ plunged for our rescue. I would rather in a mud scow try to weather the worst cyclone that ever sweet up from the Caribbean than risk iny immtrial soul in useless and peri- lous discussions bi whien some of my l•rethren in the ministry are indulging. They remind me of a comeanyof sail - ere standing on the Ramsgate pier head, ;rum which the lifeboats are usually `lannehed, and cooly discussing the dif- ferent kind of oarlocks and how deep a boat ought to set in the water, while a hur.i.ane is in full blast and there are U ne: steamers crowded with passeng- er going to piens in the offing. An olct tar, the museles of his face work- ing with ner :ous excitement, cries out: "This is no time to diesuss such things. Man the lifeboat! Who will volun- teer t Out with her into the surf I Pull, my lads; pull for the wreck I Ha, ha! Now we have them. Lift them in and lay them down on the bottoin of the boat. Jack, you try to bring them to. Put these flannels around their .hands and feet, ane I. will &lull for the shcre. nod help me 1 There 1 Landed! Huzza! When ther.; are so many strug- gling in the waves of sin and sorrow and eretehedness, let all else go but salvation for nine and salvation for- ever. I bethink myself that there are some , here whose opportunity- or whose life is a more wreck, and they have only a ;suiall piece left. You started in youth with all sails set, and evirything pro- mised a grand voyage, but you have sailed in the wrang direetion or have foundered on a rock. You have only a fragment of time left. Then came in op thal one plank. "Some on broken pieces of the ship." ; You admit you are all broken up, one deno.de of your life gone by, two decades, tern decades, four decades, a half century, perhaps three-quarters of a century gone. The hour hand and the minute /land of your clock of life are almost parallel, and soon it will be 12 and your day ended. Clear discour- aged, are you? I admit that it is o. sad thing to give all of our lives that are worth anything to sin 4.131,i the ee- vil, and then at last make God a g re- sent of a first rate corpse. But the past you cannot recover. Get on board thin old ship you never will. Have you only one mere year left, one more monthe m , one more day, on iore hour— come n on that. Perhatps if you get; to heaven God may let you go out on some great missorn to some other world, where you can somewhat atone for your leek of service in this. eroin many a deathbed I have seen the hands thrown .utp in deploration something like this: "My life has been wasted. 1 had good mental faculties and fine social position and great opt portunity, but through worldliness ell has gone to waste sera these few re- maining hours. I now aceept Christ, shall enter heaven through His meroy, but, alas, that when I might have en- tered the heaven of eternal rest with a full cargo ,and been greeted by the waving hands of a multitude in whose salvation I had borne a blessed vet I mast caufess a now enter the harbor of heaven on broken pieces of the ship!" the harbor o fheaven on broken pieces of the ship 1" FRIENDSHIP AND DIPLOMACY. When you bee two men constantly together, bbserved the Ready -Made Philosopher, it is We to assume that they like earl othetr. Taking bis eue from bis philosopher's tone, the Aecomplisherl Listener in -I quired: And how about two women? In neat ease, responded the Philo-, sooner ,with an tappeeciative smile, you may ktabee that they'nu afraid of each other. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON, JUNE 13. "Seines edviee to Timothy." 0 Thus Is 1-11 3, 14-17's Golden Text, 2 Titus 3115. PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 1. This verse is an latereste ing statemnet a 1, the writer, Paul; 2, his office, an apostle of Jesus Christ; 3, the authority on which he held it, by the will of Goa; and 4, the purpose for win la 't was giventhe promiss of ble which is in Chriee Jesus. Paul aseribes his apostolate to the simple tleterraination of God; he did not enter that holy office lay the same door that opened for his fellows. Tile last part of the verse leans that he bad been made an apostle for the express pur- pose of making known the promise of life; this life exists originally in Cluist, Reraeraber that the man who writes this sentence is now hiniself under sen- tence of death. He must soon "seal the tru.th with his blood," but his life was hid with Christ. in, God. 2. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Tiniothy had been brought, to salvation through Christ by zninistry. Grarse. The favor and approbation of God. Mercy. Sbewn in pardon and purification Peace. The happiness, quietness, and. assurance that come from man/le-tad . 8. I thank Ged. Note how mealy of Paul's epistles begin with thanksgiv- ing to Gad for the virtues and graces of his friends. Whom 1 serve from my forefathers. Carefully edueated in the religion of the Jews, Paul bad sincere- ly worshiped God from infancy up, a.nd his natural religiousness was largely a matter of heredity. It is noticeable also that Paul in his arguraents was ac- customed to hold that in l•eing a Chris- I faun be was simply following bis here- ditary faith, and that those wbo re- mained Jews after Christ came were unfaithful to the doctrines of the fathers: With pure conscience. Al- ways sincere even, when wrong. and.. always vonforuung his life to the brightest light he had, Without teas- ing I have remembrance of theein any prayers night and day. The Revised Versien joins "night and day" to the - next verse: "Hew unceasing is my re- ' membramee of thee in my simplications.! night and day longing to see thee." Verses 3 and4 frout the words "wbom 1 I serve" are parenthetical; "I thank ct1d"to"nremmb necetsinransense with "when I 4. Being pliant', of thy tears. See the story of the praying of the lephes- iPs ('hiircli in Aets. 20. The nientLn of Timothy's tears is an evidence or the tender affeztion ot Paul. That 1 , may be filled with joy connects with ; "greatly desirine to see thee." ; 5. 1,Vheu I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that I. itt thee. Re- vised Version, "having been reminded." Timothy bad giyen good proof that his faith was genuine, there was no pre- tense about his Christianity. Which dwelt first itt thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice. This verse taken in connection with verse 3 is a beautiful attestation of Paul's confid- ence in the force of what might be call- ed, inherited piety. No man can be saved by inheritance, but nothing is more evident than that a bias to Wor- ship and, even a bias to good- ness is given to children by the habits of their parents. Lois and .Eunice are both Greek names, but we are told. that Eunice was a Jewess, and we may in- fer that Lois was also. Paul passes by the father, who was a Green and very probably a heathen. I asa persuaded that in thee also. "It dwells" must be understood. "That" should be omitted. The faith of mother and grandmother is to be an incentive to that of Tim- othy. . .6. Wherefore I put thee in remem- brance. Because I know the sincerity of thy faith I remind thee. That thou stir up. As a fire is stirred. with a poker. The gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. The imposition of hands was like bap- tism, the outward and visible sign of tb.e inward and spiritual grace. There is no good evidence ii my teaching of Paul of his belief in any sort of meek - al or mystical transfer of ministerial gifts, any sort of apostolic succession. The same act of ordination is probably referred to in "Tim. 414, where the apostle speaks of the laying on of the I hands of the presbytery. ' 7. For God bath not given us the spirit of fear. Commentators are fond of supposing that Timothy was a timid, young man and there are some indica- tions of this between the lines. He is here evidently exhorted to stir up the gift of God. for the purpose of offset- ting the spirit of fear. .Power. Vigor. Love. 'Which makes even the timid brave. A sound mind. Well controll- ed. 14. And continue thou. Whatever oth- ers may do. Revised Version, "abide thou." In the things which thou. has learned and hast been assured of. In the truths of the Christian religion. Timothy as a child had been instructed i,n the Old Testament; while still a boy (probably) he had been converted and had been •confirmed in Christian- ity by the instruction of Paul. Now he lived in the atmosphere of heresy, and Paul exhorts him to weer those early instructions like an axanor. Knowing of whom thou hest learned them. Not from unauthorized false teaohers, but Iran " thy grandmother, thy mother, and me.' It would not be right to claim that a man must heed every doc- trine that he was taught in childhood, but young people should remember that parenes have no motive for deceiving their children, that they have much more experience then the child cao have, and that all parental teaching's ehould be receivedwith respect. It is a dangerous venture to depart from the instruction of father and mother. For what he learned Timothy was indebt- ed to his mother, grandmother aaad Paul; for the aesueenee that this in- struction was correct he was indebted to the Holy Sceiptures. gee verses, 15, 16. Tbis vense teaches that "oo man, however well instructed lin the things of God or grounded io divine grace, is out of the teach of temptation, apos- tasy, and final rain."—Clarke. Hence the neceesity of watching unto pray- er, continuing in the faith, and. peeserv- ing unto the end. ; 15. From a dead. From early infancy. At the age of five orthoesec Jewish chil- dren were teught to begun to read the law. Thou hest known the holy Sesrip- tures. Timothy had good opportunity to understand the boly Scriptures, they baying been expounded to hinai by the oblef of the apostles. Are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in ZeK1S Christ. The full truth of the Old Testament Scriptures is on- ly found wben we study in connection with tbern the. life and, death and re- eurreetion of our Saviour. " The Old Testameut is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testa - runt everlasting life is offered to man- kind by Christ, who is the only media- tor between God and man, being both God and man."—Articles of Religion of the Canadian Methodist Cbureh, ,A.rti- cies VI. Wise unto salvation. means wise unto the attainment. of salvation, and to the extending of that eatvation to others, 16. All scripture is given by inspir- ation of God, and is profitable. Revised Version, 'Every acripture inspired of God is also profitable." "Scripture" meaxis rnutr eexnc " g;," but tbe Greek word beijthee treNteettTedeetecamri never rt ineceruerf-s erence to tbn lardy Scripture. "All scripture," meagre every pert pf Scrip- ture. We uneleretaind by mei:seen-en a, divine influence directing the minds of the writers of the Bible. It is more than mere suggestion or hely impulse. It is profitable becattee God-inepried, not, Gcoetnepirea areceuse profete.ble. "The eacand writers did not. always know the full significancy of their own ineeired worde."—David Brawn. We dp not need to hold to the mechanical cli ation, but we must bold that the God ip Wenn providenee the bole- writ- ers were first inspired by that saute providenee has en contrived tbat, nar- ratives, pro becien citations, the whole Scripture idews, pleases, words, meti- ers versions—all are molt that be saw fi,t to be there. A literal translation of ainneantion" in this phrase would be "Godebreatbed." Compare 2 Peter 1. 21: "Holy nese of Gol spake 86 th.ey were moved by the Holy Ghost " Tbis paseage simuld riot be quoted as a Proofetert of any of the tbsories of tbe irnethod of inspiration. For doctrine. Itrevised Vereion "for teat4bing." itt- tructuoei;; in the elements of religion. The engem/eis here is not, on the truth that the etudy a Scripture is -profi- table to make a person a teaoher of doctrine, but rather that it is pro- fitable to teaoh, doctrine to any teach- able soul. "It Is not Timothy's ability as a teacencr," Favs Alford, 'hut his stability as a Cbcriestia.n, whieb ishere itt quenion." "Inn:Tut-J.10n in the truths and precepts of revealed reli- gion."—Rev. 11, Wenn For reproof. "Refutation." "Convicting the erring of their error." ---Dr. Brown. "Convie- tion either of error in doctrine or of viciousness of life." --Dr. Wace. For correction. For reformation of con- duce, for amendraent of life. "Doctrine" and "reproof" eland for the theoreti- cal principles of religious instruction. "Correction" and "inetruction" refer to praetical life. Instruction. Train - ung In righteoueness. Re- vised Version. "which is in righteous- ness." It is possible, however, so to read the sentence that "in rigbteous- riess" shall refer to all the nouns—deo- trine in righteousness, reproof in riglit- eousness correction in righteousness, instrUction itt riglisteousiates.s. 17. That the man of God. The spirit- ual man. May be perfect. Revised Version, "complete." "There is no de- ficiency in the Bilge for man in any of the situations. in which he may be plac- ed in life; and the whale tendency a the book is to make hira who will fair- ly eat himself under its instructions absolutely perfect."—Barnes. Thorough - le furnished. Revised Version, "fur- nished completely." Our spiritual trea- sury and armory are to la. found in the holy Scriptures. Vnto all good works. The Christian is to be a man of symmetrical character. A careful student of the Soriptures under guid- ance of the Seirit of God will develop every part of the comnoeite nature of man. This entire lesson is an adequate reproof of the false. depeedenee of tbe Roman Catholic' and some other Churches on tradition as an authority. We are here tauzle that the Bible is sufficient to tenell the icznorant, to con- vict the evil, to correct the erring, and to train in righteousness all men. After centuries of edueatinn w.e eannot add one true line to the epiritual code eat up in the Bible; cannot add one tender balm to the broken heart that is not to be found. here; cannot provide a. single solace for a wounded spirit that is not here—any more than we ran en- large the circumference of the earth by half an inch. WHERE CLAY PIPES ARE MADE. Braseley, England, "Where One Faintly has Sade Thera tor 297 Tears. It is difficult to state with any de- gree of accuracy when tobacco was first introduced into Europe, but it is generally believed that Sir 'Walter Ral- eigh took it to England toward the end a the sixteenth century. With the in- troduction of tobacco came the need of tobacco pipes, as before tobacco eraok- ing began the smoking of herbs and leaves even for medicinal purposes 'was not at all general. It is stated that at Braseley, in Shrop- shire, the first clay pipes were made; and although many are made, in Glas- gow and elsewhere, yet the Breseley clay pipes are nate uest known among old smokers tlee world over, and their manufacture is still continued by de- scendants of the original makers, Tthe clay for makingthe pipes is and always has been obtained from Devon and Cornwall, the absence of coal in these districts and the abundance of it in Bra.seley having offered sufficient inducement to tae early manufacturers to mettle there. Pine making in the early days of its introduction was a very different matter from what it is now. Then the greater part of the manipulation was performed by the master, and twenty or twenty-four gross were the largest quantity ever burned in one kiln. This required about a ton of coal. Eacb pipe rested. an its bowl, and the stem was support- ed by tinge of pipe clay placed one upon the other es the kiln became fill- ed ; the result was that at least 20 per cent. were warped or broken in the kiln. At the present tirae the preliminary 1p,reparaitiones of Me clay are made by men, but Ube mast delicitte part us al- most entirely intrusted to -the hands of W0111001. The pipes are placed in. "saggers" to be burned after the Dutch mode, and from 850 to 400 gross in one kilrn are not an uncommon quantity, The breakages amount to not more then 1 per cent. One collector has a splendid collection of old clay pipes, th.e oldest of them, from their trade marks, hailing from Braneley, and being dated es long ago as the year 1600. At a distance of seven miles above th earth the air is so rarified that no hum an being can is-reathe. WHY THE TURKS WON. 1 RECENT RAILROAD STATIST THEIR ARMAMENT ONE OF THE BIER REASONS. Green Gene Were Obsolete—The kinh's Soldiers Could Carry bat OnesThird as litany eartriciget as the Turias—Tbetr Artillery Was Also Deficient. Doubtless there are plenty of reasons for the collathe of the Greek defence 01 Theeealy, but probably the =per- iority 01 the rifles used, by the Turks over those with which the Greeks are wined is one of the most important. The Turks bane alwone been noted for securing good arras and ammuni- tion. ,Even when they had no money for their officers and men and verY little for their civilian adminstration they bought the best rifles and field batteries and kept bhem well supplied with equipments and ammunition. Thus recently they have been rearming their infantry width the latest pattern of Mauser magazine rifles of .801 calibre, which are sighted up to 2,125 yards, and wiaioh have a range beyond the sighting limit witha velocity of 1,860 feet a second. Althounli a few of the Greeks have Mannlieher 'magazine ri- fles, most of them are armed -with the old Gras Weigle shot breecb load- er, of .433 calibre, wniele is sigbted to only 1,300 yards, and Which has an baitial velocity of only 1,489 feet a esenond. A QUESTION OF CARTRIDGES. The Gras cartridges are so large and so heavy that a man carries only seventy-five or eighty of them, erbile of the email calibre af.auser cartridges front two hundred, to two hundred and fifty May be carried. by the average soldier without overweighing bine In- armancanas the supply. service of both armies is very defectwe the difference in the amount of ammunition that may be marled by the men themselves could not have tailed to have a great in- fluence upon the relative efficiency of tbe two armies. Not enly bus the aTauser rifle a grea,cer merge. with lighter eartridges, but it is itself a ligater -weapon tbeei the one carried be. the Greeks. tbe Mawr weighing ccaiy eight, and three- quarter pounds, while the Uras weighs nine and one-quarter pounds. But probably the greater advantage a the Turkish area is the widening • a vane is known as the danger zone r; owing to higher velocity it gores its , projectiles and the eonsequent flatter trajectory. From the moment a ball ileaves the muzzle of a rifle it Ins be- ; sides its forward 'movement a vertical ; drop, dus to the action of the gravity. Consequently the piece is always eie- 1 crated above the level for all except 1 very ebort ranges. To hit an obtect ; at a specific distance a piece that gives !a low velocity to its projectile must be elevated more than one giving a high velocity, and the ball from the ' former manes a nigleer curve than one Iran the latter. alb.e danger zone is ' the horizontal distance the ball will traverse in time necessary for it to drop, the height of an average wan, and of course the piece that gives the 'higher velocity will have the wider danger zone. Ano*.her advantage the Mauser has over the Gran lies itt th.e former's ma- gazine. The Gras is a eingle loader, while the Moaner bas in its magazine seven rounds, whieh c,,a,n be kept in reserve for repelling a ebarge when every second cunt. A DETRIMENT MORALE. It ie evident. therefore, that the Greek infantrymen's equipment must have placed him at a great disadvan- tage wben conwared with that of bis e.neiny. Not only WM his fire unfelt at a distance where the alauser bul- lets must have been falling around him like rain, but the latter had a far bet- ter ehance of hitting him. Sueb eondi- tions were neceeearily subversive a dieeipline. No eoldier feels willing to risk his own life when he knows that he h.a.s little or ter chance of 'killing the other fellows who are shooting at him. The same eamerierity, it is believed, existed in the Turkish artillery, velaich is of the latest and most effective type. while the Greek batteries are slower in firing and bave less range and less inirial vehrity. It line been asserted also that the Greek shraenel could nice be depended upon to burst at the right time. A ehraenel ie. a shell con- taining a large number of rifle balls and an explosive charge. Its fuse is set to explode the bunsting charge at a given time. and. it is intended that the bullets Flinn be set free while the shrapnel is in the air, just before it reaches a raa.ss of the enemy's soldiers. The balls thus scattered, continue their forward fligiet. doing immense execu- tion, if the shell is made to burst at ex- actly the right time. It is said that the Greek fuses meted very badly. All told, the results have shown that the Greek array woe ill prepared for a hard fight, and its defeat is not there- fore a matter for wonder. TO MAKE WAR ON LOCUSTS. Locusts have recently become a de- structive plague itt the Argentine Re- public, and. the bankers and business men of Buenos Ayres have determined to make war upqn them, and have raised. a large sum of money for that purpose. Their first practical step was to send to the United States for an ex- pert entomologist to look over the field a.na plan the campaign. Professor Bruner, of the University of Nebraska was c,h.osen to organize the army of science, which is to carry on the, war, and he has just sailed for Buenos Ayres preparatory to going to th,e front. This is a kind of war for which arbi- tration will probably never be suggest- ed as a substitute, WHY HE FELT LONELY. What's the matter with you? asks the wife of the peculiar man. I'm feeling lonely, was the rep4y. Don't you like this city? I don't like this earth. What's the objection to it People are too egotistical If there's anything 1 hate it's egotism. And when I see kings going ahead confidently and doing things wrong, and diplomatists trying all sorts of insincere tricks with complete effrontery, and lawyers seek- ing a.pplause for arguing on the wrong side of a case, and everybody display- ing utter selfishness without a blusie I ate forced to the oonviotion that I am the only consistently high-toned and moral gentleman an this globe. And it makes me feel lonely. so. Number of Mlles An tbe AllgeTebt Climitrie4 of the Worlds 'The railway mileage of the world ban during the last sixteen years increased, at an average annual rata a 14,004 miles, and now stands at about 440,001i miles, say the Loudon Pall Nell Gaz- ette. It will readily be inferred that:* in regard to length of track, the V11,-- ite4. States is first. At the end of last , year it possessed 182,500 miles of ateanx railway, as compared with 176,229mile.* hi 1894. For the whole American con- tinent the total is approximately 230,- 370 mules South America, boasting a trifle in excess of 24,000 miles, Canada land Newfoundland 16,230 and Meeker and centraj America the rest—a ma ter of 7,640 miles. In the whole of Eur- lioneteagdisetnt wellitahwrie2t9:26241,06,54mi05001emms,ililreesrs,,an4GeneedrMitceourat: sta third with 23,680 miles. The Plam of Great Britain and Ireland is fourth' on the list. Our actual mileage in 0P- eration, according to the latest re- turn of the Beard of Trade, was 21,174 miles at the beginning of la.st year. Next after this country ranks Austria- Hungary with 18,960. miles, Asia, as a consequence of activity on the Trans- Siberian Railroad in British India, and in Japan (which has recently had its railway itaania), has in the last three years seen a remarkable increase, an the total now works out at 28,400 miles' against 26,070 miles in 1893. Of this total 19,700 miles meat be credited tol India, 2,950 miles to Japan, and 2,8* relies to Russia, the others being DutoiX India (1,260 inne.9), ASIA MinOT (1_400 miles), Ceylon, Siam, Malay, and Port India, Coteau China, Tonquin, China, and Persia. In the whole of Africa,. which Jaa.s an area of about 11,95000n square miles, or a round 4,000,009 miles less than either Asia or America. there are about 8,500 miles of railway; while Australia, with AU area of 2,954.411 square miles, now possesses close nom* 16,000 miles. In regard. to railway mil- eage per 100 square miles of territory, neither of the three great continen of Asia, Africa or Amerka shows wel beside Europe. There are ten coun- tries in which the State doe* nBortitcoainn,treoloitolimetriti.lwxee,ys,xineoa,miedayra, Gsureaaytt Peru, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the Milted States, and Uruguay. Eightee Governments own and operate some o their railways. These are Argentina, Australia, Austria-Hungary., Belgium, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Chili, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatem- ala, India, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Sweden. Egypt, and Nicara- gus own and control practically all their railways, while Greece, Holland, and Italy own part of their several sys- tems, but do not work any, leasing, all the .present mileage to joint stack com- panies. In Canada about one-tenth of the total mileage is owned and con- trolled by the Government, which lose/ something like 4100,000 per annum on its proportion. THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. , Lauudaing or the Kaiser vvIitlauui th6 Great at the Stettin Dori; Tardss Of signal interest, not only to all who are engaged in shipbuilding, but also to all (lerinans, was the launching of the new double screw steamer Kaiser illiam the Great, which. took ;place re- cently near Stettin. This splendid stetaner is at present the longest ves- sel of the kind in the world. and Ger- lulus are naturally elated at the thought that their country holds the palm in this respect. The dimensions of the monster craft are as follows:—She is about 190 metres inn length on the water line and. 198 metres over desk. Her breadth is about e0 metres anditer depth is 13 metres. Her gross tonnage is registered at 13,800 and her displace- ment is 20,000 tons. She has been built under the supervision of the North German Lloyds and the German Lloyds, and she ranks as a first class steam- er. For the safety of the passengers, the freight and the venni herself, all pos- sible precautionary measures have been taken. There are fifteen watertight bulkheads, and by means of these and of other appliances the vessel is divid- ed into eighteen separate watertight compartments. Furthermore, there is a double floor over the entire length of the vessel. There are two triple expansion engines, each of which has four cranks and four steam cylinders. Besides niese there are not less than 68 auxiliary engines, for the electric lights, the pumps, tte, which are provided with 124 steanicyl- inders. The two main engines are ol 30,000 horse -power, and the daily con- sumption of coal is from 450 to 500 tons. • Tashe 22avmeruaegsearnetheooufr.epeed is set down The steamer contains accommodations for 401) first class passengers, 340 second class passengers, and 800 third class pas- sengers. The cabins of the first class • passengers are amidships or over the promenade deek, those of the second, class are toward the stern and those of the third class are in tha front mart of the vessel. lhe various saloons and 1 reception rooms are elegantly furnish- ed and decorated, the first saloon being ornamented in early Renaissance Rai - 1 ian style. Some fine paintings are to be seen, among them being those of the Emper- or of Germany's residenoes from the earliest times down to the present day. Decorations in race° and in • Queen Anne style are also to be seen. Espe- cially tasteful in this respect are the reading room, mune room and smoking room. The cabins are designed to ace commodate from twp to three passen- gers each, but there are also several state cabins for speoial occasions. The number of men employed. on the steamer is 459, of whom 208 form the engineers' corps. There are twenty- four steel boats, and the vessel is fur- ther provided with the best mode•rn safeguards against fire. On the whole, the Kaiser William the Great is a, not- able vessel, arid it is no wonder that the Germans are proud of her. sHaarr POET, The man who brought this in, re- marked the editor's assistant, as he unrolled half a yard of raanuscript, told me eonfideetially that he needed the money for it. Yes, was the melancholy answer ; it's a strange fact that the longest poems seem almost invarlingy to be written by the shortest poets.