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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1899-6-2, Page 6THE BriUSSiiILS POST J'uNA 2, 1200 TRE OIRISTIAN'S TRIAL REV. pR, TAL11AUE SAYS THE IS.. SUES ARE TREMENDOUS. Tho (ewe es Above Any court to the land ltrohon the Comma '1'Uh God ix the Iuilletment—Tho Ina balls Mier Winton.$. the Ysorld, conscience, the Angel or Cod, and the (plan or Gen—e. ieoverial Menter the shiner to rem pare for the Way or Trial. A despatch from Washington, sant :— Rev, Dr. Talmage preached from the following text;—"We have an advo- cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteops."-1 John Ii„ 1. Standing In a court -room, you say to yourself,; "At this bar oxime has often been arraigned; at this witness- stane the oath has often been taken; at this jurors' bench the verdict has been rendered ; at this judge's deck sentence has been pronounced." But have to tell you to -day of a trial higher than any Oyer, and Terminer, or Circuit, or Supreme, or Chancery, ft is the trial of every Christian man for the life of his soul. This trial is different from any other in the fact that it is both civil and criminal. The, Issued at stake are tremendous, and I' shall this morning, in my sermon, show you, first, what are the grounds of complaint; then, who ars the wit- nesses in the cause, and lastly, who are the advocates, When a trial is called on, the first thing !.s to have the in- it dictment read. Stand up then, 0 c d Christian man, and hear the indict- . meet of the e court of high heaven h against thy soul. It is an indictment e of tea counts, for thou hast directly orindlr -t1y broken all the ten cum- mandments. You know how it thun- a dered un Sinai, and when term carne m down how the mountain rocked, :.ad w the smoke ascended as from a smoul- dering furnace, and the darkness Bath h erect thick, and the loud, deep trumpet t uttered the words: "The soul that a sinneth, It shall die 1" Are you guilty t oe not guilty?" Du not put in a emu- w time plea too quick, for I have to an- d nounee that "all have sinned, and mule short of the glory of God. There is none that Meth gouda nu, not one. is Whosoever shall keep the whule la,v, yet offend in one point, be is guilty of all." Do nut, therefore, ee too baste in pronouncing yourself not g guilty Thi', lawsuit before us also charges you with the breaking of a solemn le contract. Atony a time dict we prem- b Ise to be the Lord's, We got down on our knees, and said: "0 Lord, 1 am Thine now and for ever. Did you keep the premise? Have you stood up to the contract? I go back to' your first cummnniun. You remember it as well as it it were yesterday. You know how the vision of the truss rose before you. You remember how, from the head, and the hands, and the side, and the feet, there came bleeding forth these two words: "Remember Ale." You recall how the cup of communion trembled in your hand when you first took it; and as in a sea -shell you may hear, or think you hear, the roaring of the surf even after the shell has been taken from the beach, so you 111* - ed the cup of communion, and you heard in it the surging of the great ocean of a Saviour's agony ; and you came forth from that communion ser- vice with face shining, as though you had been on the Mount of Transfigu atiun; and the very air seemed treniu- lows with the love of Jesus and the woods and the leaves and the grass,' and the birds were brighter and sweeter -voiced Cha ever before, and you said down in th very depths of your soul; "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that 1 love Thee." Have you kept the bar- gain, 0 Christian man? Have you not sometimes faltered when you ought to have been true? Have you not been proud when you ought to have been bumble? Have you not played the coward when you ought to have been Lhe hero? I charge it upon you, and 1 charge it upon myself—we have brok- en the contract. 5011 further: this lawsuit claims damages at your hand.. Tha greatest Weeder on the Christian religion is an inconsistent professor. The Eible says religion is one thing; we, by our inconsistency, say religion is scare other thing ; and what is more de- plorabic about it is that people can see faults in others while they cannot see any in themselves. If you shall at any time find some miserable cid gos- sip, with imperfections from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot, a perfect blotch of sin herself, she will go tattling, tattling, tattling all the years of her life about the i and testify in behalf of the proaeou- tion against this Christine soul on trial. What do you know about this Christian man 4 "0," sage the World, "1 know u greet deal about him, He talks about putting his treasures in heaven, but he la the sharpest man in a trade that I ever knew. lie seems 10 want us to believe .that he is a child of God, but he is just full of im- perfections. i du not know but lam it great deal better than be is now. Of- tentimes he is very earthly, and he Mika so little about Christ and so much about himself, 1 am very glad Lo testify that this is a bad man," Stop! 0 World with the greedy eye and. hard heart. I fear you are too emelt interested in his trial to give impartial evidence. Let all (hose who hear the testimony of this witness know that there Le au uld family quar- rel between these two parties. There always itas been a variants between the World and the Church, and while the World on the witness-st•tntl to -day has told a great deal of truth abuut this Christian man, you must take it all with sumo allowance, remembering that they stilt keep the old grudge good. 0 World of the greedy eye and the bard heart, that will do. You may sit down. The second -witness I call In this ease is Conscience. Who art thou, 0000. - science Don- science? What is your business? Where were you born? \\'hat are you doing here? '0," says Conscience, "I was born in heaven. :i came down to befriend this man. I have lived with him. I have instructed him. I have warned him. I showed him the right and the wrong, advising him to take the one and eschew the other. I have kindled a great light in his soul. With a IN of scorpions I have scourged his wickedness, and t have tried to cheer im when doing right; and yet I am °lapelled to testify on the stand to - ay he has sometimes rejected m Y J mission. 0, how many cups of life ave 1 pressed to his lips that he Seale- d down, and how often has he stood with his bard heel on the bleeding earl of the Son of God. It paine Inc ery much that I have to testify garnet this Christian man, and yet 1 est, in behalf of Him who will in no :Ise clear the guilty, say what this Christian man has done wrong. He as been neglectful. He hue duns a lousand things he ought! nut to have one, and left undone a thousand hinge he ought to have dont " That ill do, Conscience. You tun sit own. the third witness I call to the case an Angel of God. Bright. audshin- me one, what dorsa thou here? What ant thou w say against this man on ia(: •'0," says the Angel, "1 have eau a messenger eu him, 1 have uarded him, I have watched him. Wi,h this wind I defended him, and ftentimee, when he knew it not, I d him into Cha greed pastures and eside the still waters. I snatched from him the poisoned chalices. When bad spirits came upon, him to destroy bim, f fought them back with infinite fierceness; and yet I have to testify to -day that he has rejected my mis- sion. He has not done as he ought to have done. Though I came from the sky, he drove me back. Though with this wing I defended him, and though with this voice I wooed him, I have to announce his multiplied im- perfections. I dare not keep back the testimony, for then I should not dare to appear again amongst the sinless ones before the great white throne." There is only one more witness to be called on behalf of the prosecution, and that is the great, the holy, lite august, the umnipo,ent Spirit of God. We bow down before Him. Holy Spirit knuwest thou this man? "0 yes," says the Hely One, "I know him. 1 have striven with him ten thousand times, and though i'- sometimes he did seem' to repent, he fell back again as often from his first estate. Ten thousand times ten thou- , sand has he grieved Me, although the Bible warned him, saying: `Grieve not n the Holy Ghost. Quench not the Spirit.' Yes, he has driven Me back. Though I am the Third Person of the Trinity, he has trampled on My mis- sion, and the blood of the Atonement that I brought, with which to cleanse his soul, he sometimes despised. I came from the throne of God to eon - vert, and comfort, and sanctify, and yet look al that man and see what he is compared with what, unresisted, I would have made him," The evidence on the part of the pro- secution bas closed Now ler: the de- fence bring on the rebuttal testimony. What have you, 0 Christian soul, to bring in reply to this evidence of the world, of the conscience, of the angel, and of the Holy Ghost'? No evidence? Are all these things true?' "Yes. Un- clean, unclean," says every Christian soul. What? Do you not begin to tremble at the thought of condemna- el tion; b ooasisteneies of others, leaving no idea that site is inconsistent herself. God. save the world from the gussip, female and male. I think the malas are the worst! Now, the chariot of Christ's salvation goes on through the world; but it is our inconsistencies, my bre- three', that block up the wheels, while all along the line there ought to have been cast nothing but palm branches, and the shout should have been lift- ed: "Hosanna to the Son of David" Now you have heard the indictment read. Are you ready to plead guilty or nol guilty? Perhaps you are not ready yet to plead. Then the trial will go on. The witness will be call- ed, and we shall have the matter de aided, In the name oe God .I now make proclamation. 0, yes! 0, yes! 0, yes( Whosoever hath anything to offer in this trial in which God is the plain- tiff, and the Christian soul the defen- dtt'nt, lot him now step forth and give testimony in this solemn trial. The first witness that I call neon the stand in behalf of the prosecution Is the World—all critical and Weser., ant of Christian character, Yoa know that there are people around you who perpetually banquet on the frailties of God's children. You may know, if you have lived in the country, that a crow cares for nothing so much as carrion, There are those who Im- agine that out of the faults of Chris- tians they can make a bridge of 'boats across the stream of death, and they are going to try It; but alas for. the Mistretta, When they get amid stream, away will go the bridge, and down will go their soul to. perdition. 0 World of the greedy eye and the hard. Heart, tome on the Mond ',ow honor he has seined, I impeach him itt the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trampled on, and whose country he has turned into a desert. And lastly, in the ileum of human nature, in the mime of both sexes, in the came of every age awl rank, I impeueh him as the common enemy and oppressor of all." But I tutu from the recital of those memor- able occasions to it grander trial end I have to tell you that in this trial of the Christian for the life of his soul the advocates are uiginer, wiser', and enure eloquent. The evidence all being in, Justice rises oil behalf of the prosecution t,o make bis plea. With the Bible open in his hand, he reads the law, stern tied inflexible, and the penally: "The soul that sinneth, it shalt die," Then be says: "0, Thou Judge ;old Lawgiver, this is Thine own Statute, and all the evidence in earth and heaven agrees In stating that this men has sinned against all those enactments. Now let the sword leap from its scabbard, Shall a man go through the very flumes of Sinai unsingedd Lel the law be executed. Let judgment be pronounced. Let him die. I demand that he die." 0 Christian, does 11 not look very dark for thee? Who will plead on thy side in so forlorn a cause? dome times a man will be brought into a court of law, and he will have no friends and no money, and the judge will look over the bar and say: ' Is there any one who will volunteer to take this man's case and: defend him?" and some young man rises up and says: "1 will be his counsel;" perhaps start- ing on from that point to a great and brilliant career, Now, in Ude matter of the soul, as yea have nothing to pay for counsel do you think that any one will volunteer'? Yes, yes, 1 see One rising, he isyoungman only ao y thirty-three a • f age.I i' years o I. his countenance suffused wth tears and covered with blood, and all the galle- ries of heaven are thrilled with Cha speoteele, Thanks be unto God; "we 0' make the disgrace and pain of the ; have an advocate with the Father, culprit as public and bitter as possible. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IN'T'ERNATIONAL LESSON, JUNE 4 ''tulixt. ceuelged," John ID, xl.ae, cnldea Text, um, 1. le, PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 17. Bearing bis cross, Mat- thew, Mirk and Luke tell us that :ini- on Ole Cyrennn was compelled 10 bear the cross part of the way, That it was as Africao who thus relieved a little the burden of our Lord, becomes, In the light of modern hiseur3', beautiful- ly' suggestive, Under the amen em- pire neither race nor color entered at all into the question of slavery, and we. are not to suppose that Simon was chaser as bele:ming to an inferior grade of society; he simply happened to be the first man on whom the eol- diers laid their hands; any passing Jew or Gentile would have done as well. Jesus, weak with sufferings prolonged through the night, was probably fainting under the toad of the ewes, otherwise he would not have been relieved. In ancient limes a condemned man need expect neither sympathy nor pity, Perhaps in no way so much as in the treatment of criminals have the teachings of ,lesus permeated the world, The Ilebrews punished with stern and rapid sever- ity'; but pagans have always delighted in intensifying and prolonging the tor- tures of those sentenced to death ; and even Christendom, it C m, ani within the last century ur se w05 disgraced l Y 5y.in absurd number of capital crimes cruel ncgleet of prisoners, and a dirpucutien Jesus Christ the Righteous.' 0 Chris- tian soul, your ease begins to look better. I think, perhaps, after all, you may'not have to die. The beat Unities .', advocatea c'tnuot but feel in 11 t fta that even a the universe has ttkau en yell your side. No one was ever su qualt- to erose degree and sumetimes the fled to defend a man as this advocate cruelty of the savage avenger is seen( is qualified to defend you. lie knows rather than that nobler, justice which all the law, all its demands, its pen- weeps while it punishes. But if we ! tittles. He is always ready. No new still hangmen tormurder,at least we; turn of the ease will surpriee Him, do not make them build their own 1 and He will plead fon you Lir nothing scaffolds; and it was; iu this spirit of intense cruelty that the Rumen con -1 riot was mads to bear his own cross.; During the three years of our Lord's teaching he had repeatedly, said.] "111 any man will cume' after me, tet him deny himself, and take, up his -. s and follow me." Illy audience t hardly hive understood in these words a prophetic allusion to the manner of hie death, but they, mush have under- stood els•arly that to become,, a disciple' of his was almost as fatal an act as to submit 10 a sentence of death. Our; pruyer meeting use of the words "tak- ing up the cross" is often a trivial misuse o1 what, rightly, understood, is one of the most pregnant phrases in the Gospel. Went meth, Brom Pilate's pal- ace through the city gate. 1n com- mon with many • ncient nations, the , Jews were scrupulous to execute trim- 1 foals outside their city wails. The place of a skull. This is a name or , title—"Skull Place." Called in the He -!1 brew Golgotha. If John had written immediately for us, he might have'i added what it was "called" in the t Latin, fur a few centuries later one;w half of the Christian world, reading the 1 Gospels in a Latin translation, called f w the pulaoe "0111 ary," which is La. la for " skull ;" and when, later still, mush nation took to reading the Gospel in; , its own language, " Calvary," had be- come so familiar that it passed over d into modern languages n ill es ¢s the .name g g of the place of our Lord's death. t 18. They eruoified him. Three small' words to express the pivotal tragedy of earth's history. The heavy cross was : o laid on the ground; the clothing of Jesus WAS removed, and he was fns- , b tened with nails upon it ; it was lift-' a ed and placed in the hole which had I m been dug for it, much as telegraph a poles are fixed alongside of our roads; and streets. It was now the hour of o morning sacrifice, nine o'clock; in the temple a lamb wv2 p was sacrificed on the altar, while outside the city the Lamb 'e of God " which taketh away L the sin of the -world " was sacrificed on the cross. Two others with hinsi Matthew and Mark call these two "robbers; ' Luke, male- factors," Probably they were bri- gands from the mountains, of whom But, my friends, Were la coming a there were many, ready to join each ay of trial, in which not only the saint /teem preemie -uprising, mabut an times oP ut the sinner must n } peace rstd 00 peaceable travelers. appear. That day On either side one, At this time he Indeed, those who follow with unpre- judieed eye the doings of many mud -1 ern district attorneys and police auth- as earnestly as though you brought u world of treasure to his feet. Be- sides that he has undertaken the ease of thousands who were as forlorn as yon, and he has never lost a case. Courage, 0 Christain soul. I think that after all there may be some chance for you, for the great Advo cute rises to make his plea. He says: "I admit all that has been proved against my client, admit all these sins, aye, more; but look at that wounded. hand of Aline, and look at that other wounded hand, and at 3Iy right Lout, and at liy' left . foot. By all these wounds I pseud for hie clearance. Count all the drops of Aly tears, Count ale the drops of My blood, By the hu- miliation of Bethlehem, by the sweat of Gethsemane, by the sufferings of the cross 1 demand that he go free. On this arm h with leaned; to this heart he hath flown; in My tears he hath washed; on my righteousness he hath depended. Let him go free; I am the ransom. Let him escape the lash; I took the scourgings. Let the eup pass from him; I. drank it to the dregs. Put on him the crown of life, for I have worn Cha crown of thorns. Over against 11y cross of shame set his throne of triumph." Well, the oounset on both sides have spoken, and there is only one more thing now remaining, and that is the awarding of the judgment. If you have ever bean in a court room you know of the silence and the solemnity when the verdict is about to be rendered, or the judg- ment about to be given. About this soul on trial, shall it be saved or shall it be lost? Attention 1 above, around, beneath. All the universe cries, "Hear I hear l" the judge rises and gives this decision, uevar to be ohnnged, never to be revoked:—" There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus," " That soul that on Jesus bath leaned for repose, I will not, 1 will not, desert to His foes ; That soul, though all hell should.en- deavour to shake, I'll never, no never, no never. for- sake," 'We have coma now to the most in- teresting part of this great trial. The evidence all in, the advocates speak The professio,t of an advocate is full 01 responsibility, In England and twitted Sales Chase have arisen men who, in this calling, have been honored by their race and thrown contempt upon those who in the profession have been guilty of a great many mean- uesses. That profession will be hun- oral,le as long as it has atlaehed to it such names es Monsl'i"Id, and Marsh- all, and Story, and Kent, and South- ard, and William Wirt, The court- room has sometimes been the scene of very marvellous and thrilling things, Some o!' you remember the famous Girard will ease, where !one of our ad- vocates pleaded the. cause of the Bible , and Christianity in masterly Anglo- Saxon, every paragraph a thunder- bolt. Some of you hav,, read he ram- jet/5 trial, in Westminster Hall, of 'Warren H.estings, Ute, despoiler of ;India, That great mat, lead conquer- ed India Try splendid talents; by tour - !age, by bribes, by gigantic dishonesty. IThe whole world had; rung with up- plause or condemnation, Gathered lin Westminster hall, a place in which thirty kings had been inaugurated, was ono of the most famous audiences ever gathered, Foreign ministers and princes sat there. Peers marched in, olad in ermine and gold. Mighty men and women from all lands looked down upon the scene. Amid all that pomp and splendour, and amid an excitement such as is seldom seen in any court room, Edmund Burke advanced in n speaoh which will last es long as the English language, concluding with this burning ehar'ge which made War- ren 2lastings cringe and cower: "I impeach Trim in the Commons Tlouse of Parliament, whose trust he has be- trayed..I impeach him in the name of the 1Cnglteh nation, whore ancient euustantly passing to nod from lite (My, for it was now !n ilia height of the passover foist, Truly, "these things were inn done 1n a Corner," it was written la Ile'brew, and Greek and Latin. To write such an Inmeriptem in three languages was to a than in 1'li- •l11"a euSitlun a natural thing to do. 'Cite world of the Romans was a med- ley of tungues; eta much so (het e Roman hero whose tomb was erect- ed on the Persian borders was honor- ed by an epitaph written in Latin, Por- ed by an epitaph written in Latin, Per- sian, Hebrew and Egyptian. ian, 'there was tea universally' accepted speech. Country folk from Galilee and the "common people" of, Jerustilem would read most readily' the "1te-brew," or to be more exact', the Aramaio, w'hiuh had gradually superseded the ancient Hebrew in and after the axile; the Greek was, more than other languages current throughout the Orien(, especially among the learned; and Latin was the official language in which judieal decisions would be an- nouneed, ""It was a triply prn.'la- minion, in the words of Religion, Cul- ture, and Empire,"—Moultan, So that as we study this very natural incident it takes upon itself a lofty symbolic character, `The three civili- zations," says Dr. 11. R. Vincent, "which had prepared the way for Christ, was thus concentrated at his cross. The cross is the real center of the world's history. 31. The chief priests. Annan, Cala- phas and their iminedcliale associates. Write not the King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. They Glared not to resent Pilate s insult directly, and could only de- fend themselves against the nspeisien that a peasant was their king by mak- ing u request that emphaetzed their bondage to the Romtn .Emperor. Pilate uaswe'etl AN hat. 1 have w' t o have written. \Weak in wi ttn I ac greet affairs, he was firm, in trifles. 23, Compere Matt, 27. 35; Mark 15. 2.1. The soldiers, when they had cruci- fied Jesus. The four that had been de- tailed to be executioners. Took his gntmenls, and made four parts, to every soldier a ,part: "On his head Jesus wore a white sudor. fastened un- der the chin and hanging down from the shoulder behind. Over the gray and red striped tunic which covered the body from the hands to the feet w "s a blue tallith, with blue and white Lieges on the four ends, so thrown over and gathered together that the undergarment was scarcely noticeable except when the sandal -shod. feet game into view,"—Dikensch, A;sa hie coat. Ibis tunic or undergarment. Now the Coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. In this it resem- bled the tunic of the high priest. Such a germot wain, he valueless if "rent" ar mut. - 21. Let us not rend it, bet east lots for it. In ancient times the lut was regarded as the handiest and juslest ready' court of resort, and all sorts of prubl'ms were settled by it, That the scripture might he fulfilled. The writ- ers u1 the New Testament are always ready to see that "through the ages one increasing purpose runs;' that even when men act with free- dtan of, wIll they, unknown to themselves, by suns and blund- ars, as well us iiy virtuous acts and wise judgments, carry out God's phins, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture did hey east lots, See Pea. 22.1.8 ,Between verses 24 and 25 should be nserted the prayer of the penitent hief Luke 23.80-43, and the "second vord" from the cross, "To -day shalt hou be with me in paradise." This vas a little before noun. 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother. Sea Luke 2.3'1. Old Simeon himself could hardly have it v agonyhis pro hyo reamedw hwhal p y l was to be fulfilled. His mother's sis- er, Mary the wife of Cleopas, This may or may not inchoate that "his mother's sister" was "Mary the wife 1 Cleopas." In that age and eountry wo sisters might bear the same name; et if, as is more likely, four women re referred to is this verse, then "his other's sister" unnamed here, was robably Salome, the wife o0 Zebedee, ad this would make; John the cousin E Jesus, "Mary the were of Clomps" was the mother of the apostle James he Less, and her husband is almost ertainly the mise called Alpheus in Matt, 10.3. Mary Magdalene. One of he close friends of Jesus, Her sur- name comes from Magdala, a town un the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The only iecorded incident of her early life is that out of her Jesus had cast seven devils, , Jesus therefore saw his Moth- er. Physical anguish could nut keep his huugoring heart and eager mind and observant eyes from recognizing his heart's love. The diisoiple whom he loved. John, who, tt would seam, was her nephew. Woman„ be- hold thy son! The phrase "woman" was a highly respeotful mode of ad- (trees. d(trees. Its literal tt•analatLon into Eng- lish tunnnot reproduce its afoot. The exelamatlou Behold occurs four times 1,n this chapter—"Behold the man," "Beheld your King 1' "Boloid thy on I" and "Ilahold tby mother 1"—end a sermon might bo preached on these four uses of the wort, for they show w t'kutt Jesus was and. what he revealed that men should. ,b.:, This was the "third word" from the cross, From that hour that clistiple took her tan- to his own Lime. The legends of the early Church tell tie that Mary went w ith John to Ephesus, and was there most tenderly oared for by blm for many years. "Between verses 27 and 28 comes the "fourth word" -"My Gocl, my God, why bast thou forsaken the?" which is the .first verse of Pea. 22, 28. Knowing that all things Were now accompliehod, that the scripture night be fulfilled. Jesus had under- taken to fulfill ell that prophecy (tad predicted of toil mutt suffering for the lave of man, and itis work was now done. y I thirst. , This was the "fifth word. from the cross. See Matt, 27, 8h, Compare Pea. 89.21.. 20, A vessel full of vinegar. Sour wine, the pouoa, or ordinary drink of Roman soldiers. We read of a group of tender-1tearled Jewish women who provided drugged posoa to mitigate the sutferi,rtgs of dying abuttals. Hyssop. A hyssop reed; Matthew and Mark say vintply "a :reed. Tho greatest length of the hyssop is not more than three or fotir fent, and, as Dr. Vincent says We have here a hint of the height: of fha 115098,. 30..11 is finished, Prophecys.ful- filled. This is the "8171;1. word" from of tri 1ll di my 1 a wr come very su c a . T to farmer will be at the plough, the mem , Ichant will be in the counting -room, the woodman will be ringing his axe on the hickories, the weaver will have his foot on the treadle, the manufac- turer will be walking amid the buzz of looms and the clack of flying ma- chinery, the counsel may be standing at the bar pleading the law, the min- ister may be in the pulpit pleading the Gospel, the drunkard may be reel- ing amid his cups, and the blasphemer with the oath can;'tt between his teeth. Lo 1 the sun hides. Night comas down at mid -noon. 1. wave of dark- ness rolls over all the earth. The stars appear at un,,n day. The earth shud- ders and throbs, 'There an earthquake opens, and a city sinks as a crocodile would crnnoli a child. Mountains roll in their sockets, and send down their granite cliffs in an avalanche of rock. (livers pause in their chase for the sea, and ocean uprenring cries to fly - Mg Alps and Rimalnya, Beasts bellow, and moan, and snuff up the darkness. Clouds fly like floelcs of swift: eagles. Great thunders beat, and boom, and burst. Stars shoot and fall. The Al- mighty, rising on Elis throne, declares that time shall be no longer, and the archangel's trump repeats it till all the living hear and the continents of dead spring to their feet. crying: " Time Shall be no longer 1" 01 on that. (ley, will you be ready? I have shown you how well the Chris- tian will get off in his trial. Will you get off as well in your trial? Will Christ plead on your side, or will He plaid against you ? 01 what: will you do in the lastgreatassize, if your conscienlle is ageingt you, and the world Lo, against you, and the angels of heaven are against you, and the Iloiy Spirit: Is against yon, and the Lord Gori Almighty is against you? Better this day secure an Advocate, spoke his "first word" from the cross, a prayer for the soldiers who were crucifying him, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 199. Pilate wrote a title, We have here a technical Roman term, ti tutus, which was used of piacards, noticos of sale affixed to houses, titles of books, epitaphs, etc, Matthew, having regard to the character of the writing, calls it an accusation; Luke hewing regard to its position above the head of the sufferer, calls it a superscription; Mark combines the two and calls it the superscription of the accusation. John tells its that Pilate wrote it. Put it on the cress. ,Above the head of Jesus. Ow tta3' way to Calvary it hall probably been, as was the custom, carried ' on his breast, fastened with strings about his neck. Jesus of Nazareth the Icing of the Jews. Matthew gives this title as This is ,Jesus, the King of the Jaws ; Mark, the King of the Jews Luka, This is the King of the Jaws, Much has been made of these variations. It. has been conjectured that ane of the evangelists copied the Hebrew in- saription, one the Greek, and one the Latin, while John, using mere worcls, sought to combine the three. This is ingenious, hut it seams to us to make too much of trifles. As Dr. M. R. Vincent suggaats the oeaenilnl ale- mant, "King of. the Jaws," in com- mon to all; for Pilate',s intent was to show contempt for his subjects, 20. 'Tilde til -le read many of the Jews. Immediately It beelines lmntter oflrub- lin note and discussion, The place whore Seems was erircified was nigh to the city. Probably near to a road which led from one of the gates, so that be sides sntslt throngs as always gather In watch huuaan suffering, end besides ileitis Hunt mune because of their in- terest in Jesuit himself, many were IREneielee W. 3 E L fie 9 6.0. I)k 4 iON 41 rIr ; James A. Bell, of Beaverton, Ont., brother of the Iter, Johu Wesley Bell, 8.0., prostrated by nervous l:eauschvs A victim or the trouble for several years. South American Norville effected a complete . cure, In their own particular field few men are peter known than the Rev. John Wesley Bell, B.U.Dand his brother Mr. James A. Bell, The former wet ne re- cognized by his thousands of friends all over the country at the popular and able missionary superintendent of the Royal Tempters of Temperance. Among the 20,000 member's of this order in Ontario his counsel is sought ou all sorts of oe- casiene, On the public platform he is one of the strong men of the day, nettling against the evils of intemperance. Equally well known 1' Mr. Bell in other provinces of the Dominion, havtug been for years a member of the Manitoba Methodist Conference and pert of this time was stationed in Winnipeg. lila brother, Mr, James A. Bell, is a highly respectedresident et Beneerton, wae're his ioflnence, though perhaps mare cir- cumscribed than that of his eminent broth r e is it n 4 o e .he lues ePfeclive and produd3ve oP Nnod, 01 recent years,ls W- ever, the working ability of Mr. James A.. Bell hue been sadly marred by severe attacks of nervous headache, accom- panied by indigestion. 'Who can do fit work when this trouble take hold of C3RVERT13N ,QM them and especially when it becomes chronic, as was, seemingly, the ease with Mr. Bell? The trouble reached such in- tensity that last June he wee complete- ly prostrated. In this coadittan a friend recommended South American Nervine, Ready to try an 'thing and everyteieg though he Menght he had coveroa tit list orro rietaryne odlcioes he secured a bottle o1 this great discovery. d second bottle of the medicine was takep and the work- was done. Employing his own language: "Two bottles of South American Nervine immediately relieved my headaches and have butte up me' system in a wonderful manner.' fret us not deprecate the good oar clergymen and social reformers are doing in the world, but how ill -fitted they wound be for their work were it not the relief that South American Nervine brings to them when physical ills overtake them, and when the system, as a re- sult of hard, earnest and continuepe work, Menke down. Nervine treats the system as the wise reformer treats the evils he is battling against It strucea at the root of the trouble. All din ease comes from disorganization i he lo t nerve centers. This is a eelenttflc tact. Nervine at once works on these nerve °enters; gives to them health and vlg- or; and then there courses through the vat= strong, healthy, life -maintaining blood, and nervoustroubles of every variety are things of the. past. Sold by G. A. Deadman, the cross. He bowed Ids head, and gave up the ghost. "What mortal man so resign himself at will to sleep as Christ resigned himself when he will- ed to die? What man with such free- dom of the will lays aside his gar- ments as Christ laid asitia the clothing of the flesh ? IVhat man so readily departs from one place to another as Chriat departed from his mortal life? What must we not hope or tear from his power when he shall eome to judge, 11 so great appeared his power when he died ?"—Saint Augustine. Luka gives his final words, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"—the "sev- enth word" from the. Dross. MAIL CARRIERS DROWNED. Edsvluyl HLillicirrn anti 0.1111.18 :Iew•el.i Lasa Their 'Lives In Rainy tette, A despatch from Rat Portage, Ont„ says :—The report has just reached hero of the drowning of Edward Mul- hearn and Louis Jowtsll, mail carriers between Dort Frances and Wlibigoon, They left the latter irlaec with a1'ot- erborough canoe and 500 pounds of. mall, and arrived safely as far as the cascades, at Rainy lake, Some Indians found clothing float- ing in the water, and soon after found Lhe oanoe on the shore, with the body of Jewell tangled in some ropes that were tied to the canoe. Mulhotu'n was not fount(. They left the canoe and body and went to Fort Frances for as- sis tante, 28 CALLED HINT FATHER, tlitelple San '4111* HSreitlts ,lib Validly lie. Cord, A despatch from Guelph, Ont., says: —The familiar countenance of Mr. Robert Mc0onachio, watchman at the G. T. R. creasing, Gordon street, is beaming wlth_smiles. The reason is Cho arrival of a young son on Wed.- nsday morning, which makes, as Mr. lbtConaehle said to a reporter: --"Let MO see; Walt till I count them; well '28 so far. MoConmcbia is 111 years oil ego, and was born Itt the northern part of Scotland. Re has been married three timee. There are seven children In the last family. Of the 28 ehildren 10 are living. 656,000 DEATHS IN A YEAR. Terrible Tales or Sull'rrnig and Misers Htc'tah a1. Priersburg. A despatch from St. Petersburg, says:—Friday the Eastern Churab celebrates the greatest festival of all the year in Realm and, as was to be expected, the newspapers have not failed to make use of this opportunity for reminding the more tortunaie that there are millions of their fellow -cowl trymen to whom the Baster feast will this year only bring home more acute ly the sense of their own misery. Not that in this town, at any rate -the people can be fairly reproaohec with any want of sympathy. Thr house -Io -house collection instituted last weep by the lied Cross Society realized upwards of 312,000, of which nearly 31250 were in copper end al. together within the last month snore than 05,0110 has been collected biro 1n Ma of the famine funds. But J:5,0011 is little among so many, Even 11 one supposes that a Earthing trill supply food for one wan, it will hardly waffled for one day, It is, of course, impossible to make any estimate of the number of lives likely to be sacrificed, but we are told That in many places the miseries of ehle year far exceed those of 1891. In 1801. the rleaUi rate in Russia rose from 3.3,7 to 38.2 per thousand; or, ex- pressing the same fact in absolute fig- ures, the /lumber of deaths altri:bated directly to the famine was 000,000. 31 t.ha famine of. 1809 is to leave these figures far behind, there eau be 110 gnostical of its terrible inlanslly, TO VISIT ANTICOSTI, ttt'ltlsh ,h'itiell. HINT ,Marl 1'111 Nolte on Enquiry. A despatch from St. John's Nfld., says:—'Che British Admiralty has ordered the armed sloop Alert, noW, p.ratecling the herring fishery along the traaly coast et Newfoundland, to visit the Island of Anticosti after the fishery ceases and 1.cl investigate idle condition of affairs there, especially With respect to the onforeereeet of sovereign xight by TVI, Merrier, owner of the island, as claimed by a section of the press olid public leen of Canada,