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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1899-12-21, Page 22 tt TEE .BRUSSELS POST. Dl,a, 21, 1599 l"':ca{?iyy:161/4 fe suppose'?he; "and—you haven't any novels,A s" LITTLE RE EL„ words come, She casts one anguished glance at the professor, and rushes ' Eels from the room, CHAPTER IV.—Continued, "Still—my age --as you suggest --so fiat exceeds Perpetua'e-1 am indeed s0 anuoh older than she is, that I might be allowed to escort ber wherever it might please her to go." "The real age of a man nowadays, air, is a thing impossible to know," saysbliss M=j •ndie. 'You wear gasses --„a capital disguise. I mean nothing 0ffereive—so far—sir, but it behooves me to be careful, and behind those'. glasses, who CaO tell what demon Lurks ? Nay 1 No offence 1 An Irmo - went man would feel no offence 1" "Really Miss Majendie I" begins the poor professor, who is as rad as thouga he were the guiltiest soul alive. "Let me proceed, sir. We were talk- ing 0f the ages of men," - We ?" "Certainly 1 It was you who sug- gested the idea, that, being so much oder than sty niece, bliss 11'ynter, you h could therefore escort her here and there --in fact everywhere—in fact" t -with awful meaning—"any where 1" "1 assure you madam," begins the professor, springing co his feat—Per- t petua puts out a white hand, "Ah 1 let her talk," says she, "Then t you will understand." v It wos' but a Momenttgy glimpse in- to a heart, but it was terrible. The professor turns upon Miss Majendie, in great wrath. "Teat was Cruel—uncalled for," says he, a strange feeling in his heart that he has not time to stop and analyze then, "flow could you hure her so ? Poor child I Poor girl! She loved him 1" "Tben let her sbow respect memory," says Miss btajendio, Lively. She ie unmoved—undau "She was not muting In re His tone is hurried. This wom.t the remorseless eye is too mu the gentle professor, "All se want is change, amusement. young. 'outs must many," I h " ;moderation — anti in proper; t ways," said Miss Majendie, stonily. "Ind moderation," she rope:its meths. meal- 1 t' ly, almost unconsciously. And teen; suddenly her wrath gets the better of 'talent j ques- h ?" de h bould wrongig ' says 1t see s let ai " No," says he. "But-'." don't care for any books but nav- els," says she, sighing, "Have you read 'Ales?' I uevor have anything to read here, because Aunt Jane says wee els are of the devil, and that if I read them I shall go to half," "Nonsense l" said the professor gruffly, " You mustn't think I'm afraid about that," says. Perpetua, demurely, " 1 am not. I knew the same place could nev- er contain Aunt Jane and me for long, so I'm all right." " Ab 1 now you are on my side," arias his ward exultantly. She tucks hes arm at talk er me, e rude d think i not • out! as much more t g her 1 him t a T a y w g as th th ed th of an sh er he no sh you, feo e to au longe W ling Go fit says ha lting;jh '1100, t ara jsh feel-, de the' l' rt" I Lu . , stns Ihab 1aLy, Bib r a!wr qhs ing said sin fell-; the jThe she the u to era with aro age me." tyr gra says for ser- not 'han But ' Th Dred San 040 toe ody lift for thir See shel eryiand �I a ays of ton Ma God lgrat hall who will ick Its o 'te wro i0' -that ng WA ?"II a ho then nt'any or care pJravi ane make he word ke e e of th h hie . heart tsno \ire h so born d paten to ts, to his abouto hisknonledgee don'nd as for tllhn h vindies about that any more. It's alltll latest. of you, do you know? One woul apect," I Was a donee—that I knew n0 n with 1 whereas, I assure you," tlirowi eh for' her other band. " I know quite e &me' as most girls, and a great deal She Is! than mine, I daresay," puffin cad to one side, and examining hnughtfully, " I know mare than you o if it comes to that. I don't believe ca knew this moment who wrote 'The Laster of Bellantrae. Come now, who Wag it?" She leans baek from him, gazing at in. mleehiecously, as if nnti^ipating is defeat. As for the professor, he rows red—he draws his brows t=- ether, Truly this is a most impertin- ut pupil I "the Master of Ballantraee sounds like Fir Walter, and yet— he professor hesitates, and Is last. "Scott," says he, with as good an r as he can enmmand, " Wrong," cries she, electing her ads softly, noiselessly. " Oh, you ;g- rant man i Go buy that hook at once. will do you more good and teach you great deal mars than any of your usty tomes," She laughs gaily, It occurs to tate ofessor, in a misty sort of 1c•:•y, that r laugh, at all events, would d<, any e good. She has been ladling a ring on and her finger unconsciously, a9 if; inking, but now she looks up at m. If you spoke to her again, when sea was in a better temper, don't thiulr she would let you take in the theatre some night 1" She has nearer, and has hid a light appea little hand upon his aria, "I am ;lure it would be useless," he, taking off his glasses and pu them on again in nn anxious iss They are both speaking in whist and the professor is conscious of 'ing a strange sort of pleasure in thought that he is sharing ase with her. "Besides," says he, couldn't very ever! come here again "Not come again ? Why " "I'd be afra'd," returns he situ Whereupon Miss Wynter afro second's pause, gives way and len consumedly,' as they would hove long, long years before her pretty tures saw the light. " Ah 1 yes," murmurs she. "How did frighten you. She brought ye your knees—you actually"—this keen reproach—" took her Dartag me." I took her part to help you," the professor, feeling absurdly mi aLla• Yes," sighing. "I daresay, though I know 1 should have cuff for it afterward, it would have d mea world of good to hear some') tell her his real opinion of her once. I she.ul like,"' calmly " to her writhe; she makes me writhe v often," This is a bad school for ynu," s the professor, hurriedly. "Yes? Then why don't you take away from it?" If I could—but-- Well, Is see," says he vaguely. " You will have to be very qu about it," says she. Her tons is qu ordinary; it never suggests itself tho professor that there is mean; beneath it. You have some friends surely says be. There is a Mrs. Constans AV comes her sometimes to ;sea Au Jane, She is a young woman and h mother was' a friend of Aunt Jan which accounts tor it, I suppose. S seems kind. She said she would to me to a concert soon, but she has n been here for many days. I dares she has forgotten all about it by t time. She sighs. The ebarming face near the professor's is looking s again. The white brow b pucker tbo soft lips droop, No,. She cannot eat, stay here, that is certain—and yet it noel= frac her father's wish, and who is he, 'aster the professor, that he should pretend in us to know how girls should be treated ? has What if he should make a mistake? you se And yet again, should a little brilliant Ah m face like that know sadness? It Is you h. a problem difficult to solve. All the of loo professor's learning fails him now, To be Continued, great basin in lvbioh the priests wash- ed their hands and foot, The water mane down from the basin in epaulet, end passed away after the cleaning. This laver, or heel)), was niade out of the looking -glasses of the women who had frequented the tabernacle, and who had made these their contribu- tions to the furniture. Tbese looking - glasses were not made of glass, but they were brazen, Tho brass was of a very superior quality, and p0lisbed Until 1t reflected easily the features of those who Looked into It, So !.bat this laver of looking -glasses spoken of in my text did double work; it not only furnished the water in which the priests washed themselves, but it also, on its shining, pallsbed surface, pointed out the spots of pollution on the face which needed ablation. Now, my Cbrlstian friends, as everything in that ancient tabernaele was sugges- tive of rel. glees truth, and, for the most part, positively symbo11001 of such ruth, I shall take that laver of leok- ng-gbteses spoken of in the text as till suggestive of the Gospel, which ii•sl shows us our sins iia in a mirror, nd then washes teem away by Divine blu'tion, 'Oh, happy day, bappy day, When Jesus washed my sins away," Now, my friends, I ;lave to say hat 111is is the only looking -glass. In which a man can see himself as be is. hero are some mirrors that Ti'LATTLl1 TILL .1'EATURES nd mace you look better than you re. 112an there are other mirrors hat distort yuur features, and make on look worse than you are; but I ant to tell you that this looking - lass of the Gospel shows a man just he is, When the priests entered e ancient tabernaela, one glance at e burnished side of this laver show - them their need of cleansing. So is Gospel shows the soul its need Divine washing. " All have sinned, d come short of the glory of God." Tl is one showing. • All we, like. eep, have gone astray," That is anot h - showing. "From the crown of the ad to the sole of the feet, there is health in us," That is another owing, T11e world calls these "de - is," "imperfections," or monthl- ies, or "erratic behaviour," or ild oats," or "high living ;" but' the spel calls them sin—transgression— th—the abominable thing that God tes. It was just one glance at at mirror that made Paul cry cul ; Oh, wretched man that I am, who ail deliver me from this body of ath 1" And that made David cry out: urge me with hyssop, and I shall clean." And that made Martin ther cry out: "011, my sins, my I" I am not talking about bad its, You and I do not need any le to tall us that bad habits are ong—that blasphemy or evil speak - is wrong. But I am talking ot a ful nature—the source of all bad ugbts as well as of all had aotiona, Apostle Paul calls their roll in first chapter of Romans. They a regiment of death encamping and every heart, holding it in a anny from whish nothing but the cc of God can deliver it. There, inatanee, is ingratitude. Who has been guilty of that sin? If a man ds us a glass of water, we say, ank you;" but for the ten thou- ) mercies that we are every day lying from the han1 of God, how le expression of gratitude — for st slaked, for hunger fed, for ter, end sunshine, and sound sleep clothes to wear, how little thanks, oppose there are men, fifty years age, who have never yet been down their knees in thanksgiving to for His goodness ! Beside that' in - Rude of our heart, there is ,pride, has not felt it?—pride that not submit to God—that wants wn way—a nature that prefers ng sometimes instead of right, prefers to LLOW INSTEAD Or RISE UP, O not care what you call that. m not going to quarrel with any logien, or any man who makes pretensions to theology. I do not whether you call it total de- ty or something else. I simply the annourtoemcnts of Gaff's affirmed and e0nfirmed by the rience of hundreds of people in =use; the imagination of the of man is evil from youth. Tbere 0c that doeth good; no, not one, aye got a bled nature, 'We, were with it- We got it ,from our ts; they got it from their par - Our _ thoughts are wrong, our et•, and eh,' breaks out into a v rage. That one should dare to Ion her ac1h us ! "Who are you mends she, fiercely, "that you s persumo to dictate right and o me." 'I am bliss Wynter's guardian,' he ,professor, who begins to islons—and all the lower region "But men's ages, sir., are a and a delusion 1" continued bliss endie, who has =muted ber h and will ride it to the death. ' can tail the age of any man in degenerate age? We leek at faces, and say he must be so an and be a few years younger, but are vain, they tell us nothing. look old, because they are old, look ofd—turough vice." Tee professor makes an impa gesture. But Miss Majendie is e to most things. ''Who excuses himself accuses self,'" quotes she with terrible r Hess. "Why that gssture bir. Cur I made no mention of your name. indesd, I trust 7001' age would you outside of any such suspi. still, I am bound to be careful w. my mesa's interests are concer You, es her guardian, if a fait gnat diace" with open doubt, as to . expro-ssed in eye and pointed fin "should be the first to applaud caution." "You take an extreme view," be, the professor, a little feebly, perh That eve and that pointed linger cowed him. "One's views have to be extrem these days if one would continu the paths of virtue," said Miss Ma die. "Your views, • with a pier. and condemnatory glance, "are a ently not extreme. One word for Mr. Curzon, and this argument is an end. L shall net permit my ni with any permission, to walk with or any otter man whilst under protection," "1 dare say you are right—no do —no doubt," mumbles the profes. incoherently, now thoroughly frig end and demoralized. Good Leate What an awful eid woman 1 And think that this poor chi.d is under cam. He happens at this moment look at the poor child, and the sco for him that gleams in her large et' perft:ots Ms rout, To say that she w riga1. ' 1f Ferpetue Wishes to go for walk,' says Misa Majendi;, break; through a mist of angry feeling th Is only half on the surface, "I am he to accompany her," "I don't want to go for a walk—wi you," says Perpetua, rudely it mu be confessed, though her tone is I and studiously reserved. "I do want to go for a walk at' all," S pauses and her voice chokes a lift and tIen suddenly she breaks into small passion of vehemence, "1 wa. to go somewhere to see something she cries, gazing imploringly at Cu zoo. To see something," says ber aunt "Why it was only last Sunday I too you to Westm.nster Ab.cy weere yo saw the grandest edifice is all th world." "Most interesting place," says th professor, sotto vaae, with a wild bu mad hope of smoothing matters dow for Perpetuu's sake. If it was fdr Perpetua's sake, I�. proves herself singularly ungrate:u She turns upon him a small vivid Lao alight with indignation. "lou support Ler?" cries she. "Yo Well, I shall tell you 1 I"—defiantly "I don't want to go to eburches at al f'- I want to go to theatres I There." TLere is an awful silence. Miss Maj endie's fade is a picture. If the gir had said sbe wanted to go to the devi instead of to the theatre, she cool hardly have looked more horrified. Sit • takes a step forward, closer to Per petua, Go to your room! And pray—pre for a purer mind," says she, "This i hereditary, all this 1 Only prayer can cast it out, And remember, this is t1_ last word upon this subject. As long as you are under my roof you shat_ never go to a sinful place of amuse- ment. 1 forbid you ever to speak of theatres again." I shall not be forbidden 1" says Per- petua. She confronts her aunt with flaming eyes and crimson cheeks, "1 do want to go to the theatre, and to balls and dances, and everything. I" —paosionately, and with a most cruel, despairing longing in ber young voice, "want to dance, to laugh, to sing, to amuse myself—to be the gayest thing in all the world!" She stops, as if exhausted surpris- ed perhaps at her own daring, and there is silence for a moment, a little - moment, and then Miss Majendie looks et !ter, The gayest thing in all the world,' and your, father only four months dead," says she, slowly, remorseless- ly. •1} (,, ,,. ,'s All in a moment, as it were, the lit= tic, crimson, angry face grows white as death itself. The proles^or, shocked beyond words, stands staring, and marking the sad changes in it. Perpotue is trembling from head to toot. A frightened look hes come in- to ler beautiful eyes, ksr breath 0om00 quickly, She is a thing at bey --hopelr.ss, horrified, Her lips part as if she woull say somethin, ....but net snare loose at ones. Could an original Maj-Ilook more horribly th i,1 ,rus of 'tbt1Y, man, and ter gray, nodding head 'Who blind, vindictive passion. Ile this his voice ftltsiing, :nut knows th their is edging toward the door. Aft d so,' what can the bravest man do wit leeks angry old woman, except to get Some from her as quickly as possible, stone the professor, though brave encu tate usaal ways, is not brave wher tient men are concerned, quaff } "Guardian or no guardian, I ank yen to rem- mbor you are i use," cries bliss 1la,jendie, in a s :es tat run., th. nag , tee I.rofes id. "Certainly. Certainly," says nfusedly, and then he slips ou e room, and having felt the nee bailed him, runs tum ashy down tee staircase, For y has not gene down any slaite1t iftly, A vague, if unaeknowled 'ling that he is literally Makin ape from a vital danger, is len ngs to Lie feel. 13ee':: e him lies 11 -door, and that way safety fety from that gaunt, irate fi stairs. He is not allowed to r however—just yet. A door on the right side of the opened cautiously; a shapely 11 td is as cautiously pushed thro and two [melee; red .i1' t,hispe Mx. Curzon," first, and then, a 'ns in answer to the tvhi Sh—sb 1" Fury d WO- ha and hears IT at he a er all, m h an a And he gh in on a w0 - off will th n my hi brill• ors be, t of door ult- ars se so gad, g his ding the lies, gure each hall ttle ugh r: s he spar, mss en- ful- Lua ber re- in, her is all ie as he or 'to ou ou he re lad v - t ou 0, t - to Yes) 0 s ehai ht th place 60 ger, fe wi have up e in e in is my love is like the sea, es changeful and as fret lib; Sometimes she's angry, sometl rough, la,- Yet oft she's smooth and calm ough,— y much too calm for me." her It Ls Perpetua. A sad -eyed, tear to eyed Perpetua, but a lovely Perpe r» for ell that. " Sh 1" says she, again, shaking head °mince ly, and putting her ro a finger againet ber 1,p, "Come ng here," says sbe softly, under at breath. re "Here," when he does come in, a most untidy place, made up of th things heterogeneous. Now that he st nearer to her, be can sea that sbe h ow been crying. vehemently, and that t nit tears still stand thick within la lie eyes• le " I felt I must see you," says she, ' r- "Not at all, not at all," declares t :; Perpetua I Look here," laying his ha k nervously upon her shoulder and gi ing her a rttle angry shake. " Don e cry I Gond Heavens! Why should y mind that awful old woman ?" a Nevertheless he had minded that a t ful old woraan himself very °onside "But—it is soon isn't it?" says sh 1. ;Liarikynow that myself and yet—," wis —"I cent help it. I do leant se:ilschings and to amuse myself." laterally," says the professor, e, "And it isn't that forget him "' says she is 0/1 eager, intense tone, ' never forget him—never—never. Onl do want to laugla sometimes and t he happy, and to see Mr. Irving a Charles I," 1 The climax Is irresistible. The pro 1 fessor is unable to suppress a smile. d "I'm afraid, from what I have heard e that won't make you laugh," saY "It will make me ery, then. It 1 y all the same," declares she Impartially s "I shall be enjoying myself, I shall seeing things. You," --doubtfully an mindful of his last epeech—" Haven' you seen him?" "Not for a long time, I regret 1. say. I—I'm always so busy," says th professor, apologetically. " Alivays studying?" questions she " Per the most part," returns th professor an odd sensation growing within him that he is feeling ashamed of himself. Alt work, and no play," begins Per - Patna, and stops, and shakes her oharming head at " You will be a dull boy, if you don't take care," 8117s A gb sad 11 up her sorrnw "Wh clniekly and he a strati one goo having into in How do you know?" says she, " Yotl lia.ven't tried the others." "T icnew it fos• all that. I feel it Get knowledge—sucb knowledge as the short span of life allotted to us will allow you. to get, I can Jebel you some books, easy nnee at first, and--" "I ceuen't read your books," says CHAPTER V. est of a little smile warms het Iss es she says this, and lights shining eyes; like a ray of sena Then it fades, and she grows fat again. 11, can't sauly," seem she, y not ?" demands the peefessor Ilere he is on his OW11 ground, re he has a pupil to his hand— Be• lieve nte knowledge is the d thing that, lite contains; wort h . Pleasure, rithee, rank, all sink significance beeide it " • is us to God before conversion ancl conversion, not one good thing but that which the( grace oft God planted awl festered. Well, y dear brellmen, that is because king -glasses. If you could's:Itch ment fore G thing our p mar, c emelt A. despatch from Washington says; want —Rev. Dr, Talmage preached from the ethara, following text :—” And he made tha pa."44,.01 laver of brass, and the toot of it of are pr brass, of the looking -glasses of the only women assembling."—Exodus, xxxvlil, touthe 8. We often hear about tbe Gospel in ing th will la John, and the Gospel in Luke, and the end B Gospel in Matthew, but there is just to a r as certainly a Gospel of Manes, and a , flnite Gospel of Jeremin.h, and a Gospel of ,says a David. In other words, Christ is ns 1 true? certainly to be found in the Old there Testament as in the New, In H When the Israelites were marching where rough the wildernose they carried tbeir ebureli with there. They called it the Tabernacle. It was a pilohed fent, very costly, very beautiful, The frarnewOrk wee made of forty-eight boards; of acania wood, set in sockets of silver. The curtains of the place were temple, and scarlet, and blue, and fine linen, end were hung with most artistic: loops. The candlestick of that Wirral:tele had thaft and branch, end bowl. of solid go/d; and the figure of cherubim filet etood there had avings of wee; and there were lamps- of gold, of g,del; ned there were kelps of gold, pse your natural heart be- od, you would cry out in amaze - and alarm. The very first the Gospel does is to cut down ride and aelt-sufficieney. If a loos not feel his lost and ruined ion before God 1 any Gospel. I think the reason are so few conversions in this bemuse the tendency of the ing is to meke men ballets they etty good anyhow—quite clever, venting a little fixing up, a few s of Divine grace, and then you e all right, instead of proclaim e broad, deep. truth thee Payson, axter, and Whitetield thundered ace trembling on the verge of ins and eternal disaster. "Now," one one, "can this really he Hove we all gene astray? Is, the four wall with looking-Isla:ism, and it. made no difterenee which way you look- ed, you eaw yoarself, And so it ie in this Gospel of Christ. If you once step Within its full precincts you I will Jana your whole charaeter refleet- every spot of moral taint. if I un- deratand the Word of God, its first an- nounrement is that we are lost. care uot, my brother, how magnifies ently you may have been born, or what may have been yoar lierllage or eneestry, you are lost by reason of sin unlees you appreciate that truth a 1 p pare for the merely and ARDON OE THE GOSPEL, aims the usa of that burnished to this Inver of looking gentle. en of in the ext, if it only flotsam has sometimes asked wiser() did , 1-60 ell those precious :thanes come from?, P , they were therm elons stones: it is only to tett that! btheise,anof 1 ir wish morn eepeelally le speak of "What of that ancient tabernacle It the laver that was built; in the midst isouszleank we the spots cm the epiin- lennnoe, and the need of washing, and there was no- tbing to wash with?" Glary bo to God, I find this haver of looking - glasses was filled with fresh water every morning and the priest no Boon- er looked on its burnished aide, and saw his need of alonnsing, than be washed and was elsau. Glorious Lype of the Gospel of my Lord jesus that first shows a man hie sln, end then washes it all away. 1. want you to notice that this laver in whinh tl:o pa, sts washed—lb s lev- er of looking -glasses --was filled will, fresh water every morning, The ser- vants of the tabernacle brought the water in buckets and poured it into; this laver. So it is with the gospel 11 of Josue Cb1•ist; it has a fresh seam- li Saul was a murlieree. Ile essleted at the oxooution of Stephen; and YIIT PAUL WAS SAVED, The dying thief d!d everything bad; the dying thief was saved, ltiobard Baxter swore dreadfully, but the grace of God met him, and Riobard Baxter was saved, IL is a vast laver. Go, and L=U, everybody to come and wash In It, let them wine up from the 1 nitentiariee and wash away their crimes, Let theta corns up from the almshouses and wash away their pov- erty. Lel them come up from their graves and wash away their death. If there be any one so worn out in sin that he cannot get up to the lever, you wilt take hold of his head and !rat your arms around 111m, and I will take old of his feet, and we will plunge Int in this glorious Bethesda. LI ton every day. It is not a stagnant pool filled with accumulated corrup- tions. It is living water which 13 brought from the, eternal rock to w'asb away the sins of yesterday—of one moment ego, "Olt," ant's some a one, "I Was a Christian twenty years a ago I" That does not mean anything a to me. What are yo0 now? We are not talking, my brother, about par- don ten years ago, but about now—a fresh solvation, Supi,ose a limo of war should come, and I could .show the government I had been loyal to it twelve years ago, would that =cause me from taking an oath ot allegiance now ? Suppose you asked ms about my physical health, and I should say I was well fifteen years ago, that does not say how I atm now. The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes and demands pre- sent allegiance, present fealty, pre- sent moral health, and yet how many Christians there are seeking to live entirely on past experience — who seem to have no experience of present mercy and pardon, When I was on the sea, and there came up a great storm, and officers, and crew, and passengers all thought we must go down, 1 began to think of my life in- surance, and whether If I were taken away, my family would be eared for; and then I thought: Is the premium paid up? and I said: "Yes." Tben I felt comfortable. 'let there are men who are looking back to PAST INSURANCE, They have let it run out, and they have nothing for the present, no hope, no pardon—falling back on the old in- surance policy of Len, twenty, thirty years ago. If I want to find out bow a friend feels towards me, do I go to the drawer and find some old yellow letters written to me some ten or twelve years ago? No, I go tothe leiter that was stamped the day before yesterday in the post -office, and f find how be feels towards me. It Is not in regard to old communica- tions we have with Christ, it is com- munications we have now. Are we not in sympathy with Him this morn - lag, and is Ile not in sympathy with ns? Don't you spend so much of your time, in hunting in the wardrobe for the old worn-out shoes of Christian profession. Como this morning and take the glittering robe of Christ's righteousness from the Saviour s band. You were plunged in the fountain of the Saviour's mercy a quarter of a century ago. That Is nothing to me; I tell you to wash now in this' laver of looking -glasses, and bays your soul made clean, I notice, also, in regard to this lav- er of looking -glasses spoken of in the text, that the priests always washed both hands and feet. The water came down in spouts, so that without leav- ing any filth In the basin, the priests washed both hands and feet. So the Gospel of Jesus Christ must touch the very extretmities of our moral nature. A roan cannot fence off a small part of Isis soul, and say : "Now, this is to Tae a garden in which I will bave all the fruit and flowers of Christian oharacter, whilst outside of it shall be the Devil's comnons." No, no; it will las all garden or none. I some- times hear people say: "Ilia is a very good, man exoapt in politics." Then he is not te good man. A religion that will not take a man through an aut- umn election will not be worth any- thing to him in Tune, July or August. They say he is a useful soot of a man, but be overreached in a bargain. I deny the statement, if ho is a Christian anywhere, be will be in his business. It is very easy to be good in the pamyer-meetings, with sur- roundings kindly and blessed, but not so essy to be a Christian behind ,the counter, when by one twitch of the goods you can hide a flaw in, the silk so that the customer cannot see it. It is very easy to be a Christian, with a Psalm -book in your hand, and A BIBLE IN YOUR LAP; but not so easy when you go into a shopand falsely tell the met•0httul you can. get these goods at a cheaper rate in another store, so that he will sell them to you cheaper than ho can af- ford to sell them. The feel: is, the religion of Christ is all pervasive, If you rent a house, you expect full pos- session of it. You say; "Where aro the keys of those rooms? If I pay for this whole bouss, I want possession of these rooms." And the grace of God, when it comes to a soul, takes full possession or goes away and takes no room the nheart, will everyransack I'00m invthe life from cellar to attic, couching the very extremities of his nature, 'Che 1 dta priests washed both bends and feet. comes I remark further, that: the laver of fret wi looking -glasses spoken of in the text, blood, was a very large laver, I always thought from the fact that: so many washed there, and also from the fact that Solomon afterwards when he coph- ed that laver in the temple built it. on a very Large scale, tbatl it was large, and Bo suggestive of the Gospel of Jesus Cbrief and salvation by Him— vast in its provisions, The whole world may come and wash in this lav- er and be Olean. The Gospel of Christ says pardon for; bends vast laver of God's mercy and salva- tion. In Solomon's temple there \yore ten =leers and one molten sea; this great reservoir, in the midst of the laroPle, filled with water • these lavers nd this molten sett adorned. with fig - res of lethal brnnah, and oxen, and ewe, and chertaban. This fountain of o is mercy is a vaster molten sea than that. It is adorned not wIth Palm branches but with the wood of the moss; not with cherubim but With the wings of the Holy Ghost, and around its great rim all the race may come and wash in the molten sea. I was reading the other day of Alexan- der the Grese, who, when be was very thirsty, and standing at the head of his army, had brought to bina a cup of water. Ere looked off upon his hbst, and said: "I cannot drink this, any men are all thirsty ;" and he dashed it to the ground. Blessed be God there is enough water for all the lost—enough for captains and host, "Whosoever will may come and take, ot the water 02 Ufa freely ;" laver broad tie the earth, high as the heaven, and deep as But I notiee, also, ln regard to this laver of looking -glasses spoken of in the text, that the washtn,g in it was imperative ard not optional. Wben the priest came isao the tabernacle, you will find this in, the &fah chapter of Exodus, God tells them they must wa.sh in that laver or die. The priest might have said: "Can't 1 wash else- where / I washed in the laver at home, and nOW you want, Me to wash here." God says; "No matter whether pm have washed before, Wash in this laver or clie." "But," eases the priest, "there is water just as elean an this, why won't that do r "Wash with the Gospel of Christ—it is imperative. There i$ only this alter- native: keep our me and perish, or WASH THEM AWAY AND LIVE. But saye some one: "Why couldn't God have made more ways to heaven than one f" I do not know but Ho could have made half-a-closen. I know Ile made but one, You say: "Why aot have a long line of. boats running from here to heaven ?" 1 cannot say, but I simply know there is Only one, You lay: "Are there not trees as luxuriant as that on Calvary ? more luxuriant, for that had neither buds nor biossonas; it WEAS stripped and barked ?" Yes, yes, there have been • a ler trees than that, an 1 more al na- tant ; but the only path to heaven te under that one. Instead of quarrel- ling becaues there are not more ways, let us be thankful. to God that there is one—one name given unto men where- by we can be •saved—oue laver in whieh all the world may wash. So you see what a radiant Gospel this is I preaoh, I do not know how a man can stand stolidly and present it, for it is meta a radiant Gospel. It is eot anere white or capriee ; it is life or death—it is heaven or hell 1 You come before your child and you have a present in your band. You put your hands behind your back, and say; "Pishich hand will you take? In one hand there le a treasure, in the other there Is not." The thild blindly choos- es, But God our Father does not do that way with us. He spreads out both hands, and says: "Now this shall be very plain. In that hand are par- don, and peace, and life, and the trea- sures of heaven ; that hand , are punishment, and aorrow, and wee. Choose I Choose for yourselves 1" "He thee believeth, and is baptized shall be saved ; but he . that belleveth not shall be damned." Ole my dear friends, I wish I eould this morning coax you to accept this Goapel. Xf you could ju.st MI= one look in this laver ot lookin,g-glasses spoken of m the text, you wou'd begin now speitual ablutions, You %tell not feel insulted, will you, When r tell you that you ale offers all the generosity of His nature to yoa this morning, The love ot Christ 1 X dare not, towards the close of any sermon, begin to tell about. it, The love of Christ:1 Do not talk to me about a mountain; it is higher time that. Do not talk to me about a ma; it is deeper than that. An artist in his dreams saw such a splendid dream of the transfiguration of Christ, that he awoke and seized his ponce!: and said: "Let M's paint the nod die." Oh, I have seen THE GLORIES OF CHRIST. I have beheld something of the bettuly of that great saerifice on Calvary, and 1 have sometimes felt X would be will- ing to give anything if I might nett sketch betore you the tvontlers of that eaerifice, I would like to do it while I Iwo, and I would like to do it when Let rile paint this and die 1 along weary and worn, His face Lit tears, His brow eximmon with aed He hes down. on Calvary I you, No, I nuetake, Nothing was am comfortable as that. A. stone on Calvary woe's! have made a soft pil- low for the aying bead of Christ, He does not he down to clie ; Ho stands up to 4110, His spitted hands outspread s if to embrace a world, Oli, weal: hard end for those feel that had theme - led all over Judea on minietries of mercy I 1Vhat a bare end for those that hed wiped away tears and up bi•oken hearts I 'Very herd, g Lamb of God I And yet tliek se here this morning who do e Thee, They say: 'What is to me ? What if He doe nel groan, and die, I don't want Lord JeS115 Clarke they will P Thee &awn Zoom the cross. diers will conies and they will fie sloven trara the (arose, and ir arms arounel Thee and leaver la the Tomb ; bat they will not hey See nothing to move therm 11 131 Moist, turn cm them Thine attention now, and See if they change their minds 1 oat banging on a tree, Ony and blood, all, bud eapscially for the chief of si n.1 1b.,r,rldadi„ neut. a de not 110W think of a siegle sea Ytea passage that says a email sinner may '`' a ias" be roved; but I do think of passages noil "i'v that any n great sinner allay bo saved, al tha a little tinged ; so Saintly colored yell 1 -;gli.31;hei ean hardly See OHM, there is no elms I °lel pardon promised in the Bible for i Tha 5,2,1 t110110 Sins; but if they be glaring—red I fa" aa' tike crimsen—then they shall be as I Put the Male this to pat a Premium on great ileitrl' 5 snow Now, my brethren, I do not i Ill" la Iniquity, r merely sal this to ee- . 011, liai eourage that n111 11 In 11118 1101)Se 1010 1 sYes of Trek he is solar gone froin God that 71111- not WI han there is a good ellance, Why, In ag there its no metey for him. I want to "T SaW Who fixed Ilk languid eyee on me, As near the cross I stood, 011, never till IA7 latest breath,' Will I forget that look, He seemed to therm use with We gaze, Though not a word Ile epoke." And that Is all fOr Outt 1 Oh, 0110 you. got, love 1.1101? Came around tale fever, old and young. 111 Is eo liars Welled Sem kin Hee Smut eine, and So deep you onn wash them all *WV. Oh, mottruer„ hero bathe your bruised soul. Arid 'sick one, here cool .Your hot IA1111404 in this laver. Peace Don't you ery any mere, dear soul/ Perdon tor all thy sins, comfort for all thy affllistione, The blank aqui that hung thundering over Sinai has floated above Calvary, and buret in - TRE SUNDAY SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL.LLSSON, DEC. 24th 41,151dcu l'ex 1. Lithe 2. IL PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 2. The people that walked, in darkness. A. phrase that the people off Isitiah's time would recognize as de- seriptive of theneelvas. Meta of political uneertainty and shadows oft great national arimes had darkened their sky. Egypt threatened their country on tbe south and west, Ase eyrie, on the north ana east. Israel and Syria, most exposed te the inroads of Assyria, had in their' ignorant= of Assyria's strength joined Rims to antagonize it. The king ot juclah re- fused to joie these allieS. and, KO eonsequence, Syria and Israel made war on J'adah. That caused a terri- ble national danger- "The king's heart shook, and the heart of hia pee.. ple, as the trees of the forest shake be- fore the wind." Tbere seemed noth- ing to do but do appeal to the king of Assyria, who was nett slow to help, but demanded at tae same time ter- rible pay, and the wealth, of the tem- ple and the royal palace and the inches panda/lee of' the nation were sacrificed. Pdany of the eitlizens were captured, war was deolared by Edomites and Philistines, Judah was deserted, over- thrown by strangers. Added to thia political trouble was a paralysis ot true retigion. Nearly all sorts of false gods were worshiped. Men turned to astrologers and ghosts instead of the true God, The temple waa neglected and allowed to fall into decay. It was a dense naoral darkness through whieh the little nation un- steadily walk el, staggered, one might say, toward an unkuown and deeaded future. But what is this the prophet says? They have seen a great liget. pecante of redemption the hop, of the seaming of Immanuel. Tise laad of the shadow of death. The land ei the 0(51. Upon th ex the lig it h:th h ns ed. A 1,,eomee teat douotlees had two fulfillmeet; at the moment to Isiah's own impeful foresight, centuries la t r abyreatthhe. emal coming of jeans of Nee - 1 Thou hest ed the notion. He ems looking through the cent u, les and saw tile teeming millions last dwelt in the land in our Lord's d ,y, And not inere3sed tee joy. This should read as in the Revised Ver ion, "Time bast Melees d thee- joy." Their joy before thee. Like two classes of joyful oil eas, o. oa :sad ers and ennelied harvester 1, the W11015 nation rejoiced in the Messiah. Thou haat broken the yoke of his burden. Destroyed the power or the oppteessor. - Throughout there is the double meaning, reterring to Assyria in the first place and to em in the see- ond. The etas' of Midian. The time when Gideon with three hundred men overthrow the Midittnites. 5. Every battle of the warrior is with confueed noise. " All the armor of him that noisily arinell," cm "every hoof of him tient noltaly tramPeth." And garments rolled in blood. Every garment that is blood-stained. In short, every sign of battle; all mili- tary accouterments. I3ut this shall be with burning and fuel of tire. Revieed Version, " shall be for turtling, for fuel of fire," That is, peace shall every - lettere reign, aud the only thing to do with visations and battle flags will be to burn them up, a Unto us. For our benefit. A. child is born, The beginning of the life of the Saviour of the world, The governa- natant shall be mean his shoulder, Sceps ters, and swords and keys were borne untes the shoulders of dignitaries. So all government shall be vested in him. His naine shall be called, And there- fore, according to Jewish custom, his eintranter shall be taus deseribed. Wonderful, Counselor, The peeferable reading ik in the margin or the Re- vised Version ," 'Wondertul couneelor," Guide of infallible wisdom. The mighty God. This is one of many instances in which the title God is applied. tot the Messtsh Everlasting Father, Or, Fath- er of eternity, The Prince of Pellee. 5111S last and ;greatest of all hie titles explains the figures of verse 5. 1 wars have not c•ea.sed with Christ's ad- vent, it is been »se in the' hearts of! his people he bas not yet telly ComeeOver the manger tinges seng, "Peace on earth," Our Lora, the :King et kinge, is the only nonqueror who decilnes to be known by the eucoese or Ms wars, no brings perm that paeseth unclerstahd- 7, Of the inereaso ef hie government and moo there ahall. be no end. The growth of his power shall be limitless, ereceent over the people of God. To establlah it: with judgment and with jeetiee. To estahlith the kingdom ot God on righteousness, on eineeri ty, on holy living, From henceforth even forever, Tint is, form the time when was to begin, which the palely:Ng verses show to hrtve been the begins ning of Chalet's preaching in Gallime, The zeal or the Lord of hosts Will, pore form tibia. God's intetthe desire foe the ace,omplialitnent of his purpose to swim Mankind