The Exeter Advocate, 1897-12-16, Page 7SPIRITUAL POWER.
SAMSON'S FALL THE SUBJECT OF
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
labasiesti and Moral Giants Should *Ilse
Their Power An Doing Good—Misgulded
Strength May Worlc Great Evil—Christ
Our Champion.
[Copyright 8e7, by American Press Asuman,-
tion.)
Washington, Dec. 12.—Taking the ex-
citing story of Seanson's fall as a sug-
gestion, Dr. Talmage in this discourse
shows how giants in body and nand or
soul ought to be consecrated to good and
greet Inman& His text is Judges xiv,
1, "And Samson went down to Tim-
nath."
There are two sides to the character of
Samson, The one phase of his life, if
followed into the particulars, would ad-
minister to the grotesque and mirthful.
But there is a phase of his character
fraught with lessons of solemn and eter-
nal import. To these graver lessons we
devote our sermon. This giant no doubt
in early life gave evidence of what he
was to be. It is almost always so. 9.'bere
were two Napoleons—the boy Napoleon
and the man Napoleon—but both alike;
two Rewards—the boy Howard and the
man Howard—,but both alike; two Sam-
sons—the boy Sanason and the man Sam -
sone -dant both alike. This giant Was no
doubt the hero of the playground, and
nothing could stand before his exhibi-
tions of youthful prowess. At 18 years
of age he was betrothed to the daughter
of a Plailistbae. Going down. toward
Timnata a lion mime upon him, and, al-
though this young giant was weaponless,
he seized the monster by tbe long inane
and shook him as a hungry hound shakes
a March hare and made his bones oraok,
and lefti him by the wayside bleeding
under the smiting of his fist and. the
grinding heft of his heel.
There he stands, looming up above
other raen, a mountain of flesh, his arms
hunched with muscle that oan lift the
gate of a oity, taking an attitude defiant
of everything. His hair had Dever been
out, and it rolled down in seven great
plaits over his shoulders, adding, to his
bulk, fierceness and terror. The Philis-
tines want to conquer him, and therefore
they must find out where the secret of
his strength lies.
Wife of Delilah.
There is a dissolute wonaan living in
the valley of Sorek of the name of Deli-
lah. They appoint her the agent in the
oath. The Philistines are seoreted in the
eame building, amt. then Delilah goes to
work and coaxes Samson to tell what is
the secret of his strength. "Well," he
says, "if you should take seven green
withes, suoh as they fasten wild beasts
-with, and put them eround me I should
be perfectly powerless." So she binds
him with the seven green vsitbes. Then
she claps her heeds and says, "They
come—the Philistines!" and he walks
out as though they were no impediment.
She coaxes him again and says, "Now
tell me the secret of this great strength,"
mid he replies, "If you should take S01/10
ropes that have never been used and tie
me with them, I should be just like
other men." She ties him with the
ropes, claps her hands and shouts, "They
come -the Philistines!" He walks out
as easily as he did befOre—not a single
obstruction. She coaxes him again, and
be says, "Now, if you should take these
seven long plaits of hair and by this
house loom weave them into a web,
could not get away." So the house loora
Is rolled up, and the shuttle flies back-
ward and forward, and the long plaits
of hair are woven into a web. Then she
claps her hands and says They come—
the Philistines!" Hu walks out as easily
as he did before, dragging a part of the
loom with him.
But after awhile she persuaded him to
tell the truth. He says, "If you should
take a razor or shears and out off this
long hair. I should. be powerless and in
the bands of my enemies." Samson
Bleeps, and that she may not wake hire
up during the process of shearing help ie
called in. You know that the barbers of
the east have snoh a skillful way of
manipulating the head to this very day
that instead of waking up a sleeping
man they will put a man wide awake
sound. asleep. I hear the blades of the
;shears grinding against each other, and
I sea the long looks falling off. The
shears or razor accomplishes what egetni
withes and new rope and house loom
could not do. Suddenly she claps her
hands • and says, "The Philistines be
upon thee, Samson!" He rouses up with
a struggle, but his strength is all gone.
.Be is in the hands of his enemies.
I hear the groan of the giant as they
take his eyes out, and then I see him
staggering on in his blindness, feeling
bus way as he goes on toward Gaza. The
prison door is open, and the giant is
thrust in. ,He sits down and puts his
hand on the mill crank, which, with ex-
hausting horizontal motion, goes day
atter day, week after week; month after
month—work, work, work. The con-
sternation of the world in captivity, his
locks shorn, his eyes punctured, grinding
corn in Gaza.
Physical and Moral Power.
First of all, behold in this giant of
the. text that physical power is not al-
ways an index of moral power. He was a
huge man. The lion found it out, and
the 3,000 men whom he slew found it
out. Yet he was the subjeot of petty
revenge g and out-gianted by low passion-.
I aro far from throwing any discredit
upon physical stamina. There are those
who seena to have great admiration for
delicacy and sitikliness of constitution. I
never could see any glory in weak nerves
or sick headache. Whatever effort in our
day is made to make the men and wo-
men more robust should have the favor
of every good citizen as well as of every.
Christian. Gyronastios may be positively
religious.
good people sometimes ascribe to a
wicked heart what they ought to ascribe
to a slow liver. The body and the soul
are such near neighbors that they often
catch each other's diseases. Those who
never saw a sick day, and who, like
Heroules, show the giant in the cradle,
have more to answer for than those who
are the subjects of lifelong infirmities.
He who oan lift twice as much as you
can and walk twice as far and work
twice as long will have a double account
to meet in the judgment.
Do Something.
How often is it tbat you do not find
physical energy indicative of spiritual
power! If a clear head is worth more
than one dizzy with perpetual vertigo, if
muscles with the play of health in them
are worth more than those drawn up in
chronic rheumatics, if an eye quick to
catch passing objects is better than one
with vision dim and uncertain, then God
will require of us efficiency just in pro-
portion to what he has given us. Physi-
cal energy ought to be a type of moral
power. We ought to have us good diges-
tion of truth as we have capacity to
assimilate food. Our spiritual hearing
ought to be as geed as our physical hear-
ing. Our spiritual taste ought to be as
clear as our tongue. Samsons in body,
we °eget to be giants in moral power.
But while you find a grime many men
who realize that they ought to use their
money aright and use their intelligence
aright, how few men you find aware of
the fact that they ought to use their
physical organism aright! With every
thump of the heart there is something
saying, "Work, work!" and lest we
should complain that we have no tools
to -work with, God gives us our hands
and feet, with every knuckle, and with
every joint, and with every muscle, say-
ing to us, "Lay hold and do something."
But how often it is that men with
physical strength do not serve Christ!
They are like a ship full manned and
full rigged, capable of vast tonnage, able
to endure all stress of weather, yet
swinging idly at the docks, when these
1110n ought to be crossing and recrossing
the great ocean of human suffering and
sin with God's supplies of mercy. How
often it is tbat physical strength is used
In doiag positive damage or in luxurious
ease when, with sleeves rolled up and
bronzed bosom, fearless of the shafts of
opposition, it ought to be laying hold
with all its might and tugging away to
life up this sunken wreck of a world.
A Shameless Pact.
It is a most shameless fact that much
of the business of the churob and of the
world must lit: done by those compara-
tively invalid, Richard Baxter, by reason
of his diseases, all his days sitting In
the door of the tomb, yet writing more
than a hundred volumes and sending
out an influence for God that will en-
dure as long as the "Saints' Everlast-
ing Rest." Edward Payson, never know-
ing a well day, yet bow he preached, and
how he wrote, helping thousands of dy-
ing souls like himself to "swim in a sea
of glory. And Robert M'Cheyne, a
walking skeleton, yet you know what he
did in Dundee, and how he shook Soot -
land with geal for God. Philip Doddriclge,
advised by his friends, bemuse of his
illness, not to enter the ministry,yet you
know what he did for the "rise and
progress of religion" in the churob and
in the world.
Wilberforce was told by his doctors
that he could nob live a fortnight, yet at
Welt very time entering upon philan-
thropic enterprises that demanded the
greatest endurance and persistance. Rob-
ert Hall, suffering exoruoiations, so that
often in his pulpit while preaching he
meld stop and lie down on a sofa, then
getting up again to preach about hea-
ven, until the glories of the celestial city
dropped on the multitude, doing more
work perhaps than almost any well man
In his day.
Oh, how often it is that men with
great physical endurance are not so great
in moral and spiritual stature 1 While
there are achievements for those who
are bent all their days with sickness—
achievements of patience, achievements
of Christian endurance—I call upon men
of health to -day, men of nausole, men of
nerve, men of physical power, to devote
themselves to the Lord. Giants in body,
you ought to be giants in soul.
Behold also in the story of my text
illustration of the damage that strength
oan do if it be anisguided. It seems to
me that this man spent a great deal of
bis time in doing evil, this Samson of
my text. To nay a bet which he had lost
by guessing, of his riddle be robs and
kills 30 people. He was not only gigantic
in strength, but .glaegtio in misuhief
and a type of those men in all ages of
the world who, powerful in body or mind
or any faculty of social position or
wealth, have used their strength for in-
iquitous purposes.
IVIlsguided Giants.
It is not the small, weak men of the
day who do the damage. These small
men who go swearing and loafing about
your stores and shops ana banking
lamases assailing Christ and the Bible
and the church. They do not do the
damage. They have no influence. They
are vermin that you crush with your
foot. But it is the giants of the day, the
misguided giants, giants in physical
power, or giants in mental acumen, or
giants in social position, or giants in
wealth, who do tbe damage. The men
with sharp pens that stab religion and
throw their poison all through our liter-
ature; the men who use the power of
wealth to sanction iniquity, and bribe
justice, and make truth and honor bow
to their golden scepter. Misguided
giants. Look out for them. In the mid-
dle etea latter pert of the last ceptury
no doubt there were thousands of men
in Paris and Edinburgh and London
who hated God and blasphemed the
Pam° of the Almighty, but they did but
litiule mischief. They were small men,
insignificant men. Yet there were giants
In those days.
Who can calculate the soul havoc of a
Rousseau, going on with a very enthusi-
asm of iniquity, with fiery imagination
seizing upon all the itnpulsive natures
of his day, or David Huang who ena-
ployed his life as a spider employs its
sunamer in spinning out silken webs to
trap the unwaxy, or Voltaire, the most
learned man of shis day, marshaling a
great host of skeptics, and leading them
out in the dark land of infideity, or Gib-
bon, who showed an uncontrollable
grudge against religion in bis history of
one of the most fascinating periods of
the world's existence—the "Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire," a book in
which, with all the splendors of his
genius, he magnified the errors of Chris-
tian disoipline, while, with a sparseness
of notice that never can be forgiven be
treated of the Christian heroes of whom
the world was not worthy?
Bad Inibiences Abroad.
Oh, men of stout playsioal health, men
of great mental stature, men of high
sooial position, men ot great power of
any sort, I want you to understand your
power, and 1 want you to know that
that power devoted to God will be a
crown on earth, to you typical of a
crown in heaven, but misguided, bed-
raggled in sin, administrative of evil,
God will thunder against you with his
condemnation in the day when million-
aire and pauper, master and slave, king
and subject, shall stand side by side in
the judgment, and money bags, and
judicial ermine, and royal robe shall be
riven with the lightnings!
Behold also how a giant may be slain!
Delilah started the train of circumstances
that pulled down the temple ot Dagen
about Samson's ears. And tens of thott-
Sands of giants have gone down to death
and hell through the same impure taut
talons. It seems to me that it is 1:111
time that pulpit nd platform and prbat-
ing press speak out against the Miami.
ties of modern society, Fastidiousness;
and prudetyasay; "Better not speak, Yoe
will rouse up adverse critioism. You will
make WOrg0 what you want to make
better. Better deal in glittering generali-
ties. The subject is too delicate for
polite ears." But there mines a voice
from heaven overpowering the minoing
sentimentalities of the day, saying, "Cry
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet and show my people their trans-
gression and tbe house of Jaoob their
sins."
The trouble is that when people write
or speak upon this theme they are apt to
cover it up with the graces of belles let-
tres, so that the crime is made attractive
instead of repulsive. Lord Byron in
"Don Juan" adorns this crime until it
smiles like a May queen. Alichelet, the
great French writer, oovers it up with
bewitching rhetoric until it glows like
the rising sun, when it ought to be made
loathsome as a smallpox hospital. There
are to -day influences abroad which, if
unresisted by the pulpit and the printing
press, will turn our modern cities into
Sodom and Gomorrah, fit only for the
storm of fire and brimstone that whelmed
the cities of the plain,
A Galli' of In iquit y.
You who are seated in your Christian
homes, compassed by moral and religious
restraints, do not realize the gulf of in-
iquity that bounds you on the north and
the south and the east and the west.
While I speak there are tens of thousands
of men and women going over the awful
plunge of an impure life, and while I cry
to God for meroy upon their souls, 1 oall
upon you to marshal in the defense of
your homes, your church and our nation.
Tbere is a banqueting hall that you have
never heard described. You know all
about the feast of Ahasuerus, where a
tbousaiad lords sat. You know all about
Belshazzar's carousal, where the blood of
the murdered king spurted into the facies
of the banqueters. You may know of the
scene of riot and wassail when there was
set before Esopus one dish of food that
cost $400,000. But I speak 110W of a
different banqueting hall. Its roof is
fretted with fire. Its floor is tessellated
with fire. Its chalices are chased with
fire. Its song is a song of fire. Its walls
are buttresses of fire. Solomon refers to
it when he says, "Her guests are in the
depths of hell."
Behold also in this giant of the text
and in the giant of our own century that
great physical power must crumble and
expire. The Samson of the text long. ago
went away. Ho fought the lion. He
fought the Philistines. He could fight
anything, but death was too much for
him. He may have required a longer
grave and a brander grave, out the tomb
nevertheless was his terminus,
1!, then, then, we are to be compelled to ge
out of this world, where are we to go?
This body and soul must soon part.
What shall be tho destiny of the former
I know—dust to dust—but what shall be
the destiny of the latter? Shall it rise
into the companionship of the white
robed, whose sins Christ has slain, or
will it go down among the unbelieving,
who tried to gain the world and save
their souls, but were swindled out of
both? Blessed be God, we have a cham-
pion! He is so styled in the Bible—a
champion who bit' conquered death and
hell, and he is ready to fight all our
bastes from the first to the last. "Who
is this that ooraeth from Edom with
eyed garments from Bozrah, nsighty to
save?" If we follow in tho wake of that
champion, death bas no power and the
grave no victory. The worst man trust-
ing in him shall have his dying pangs
alleviated and his future illumined.
Things to Consider.
In the light of this subject I want to
gall your attention to a fact whith may
not have been rightly considered by five
men in all the worlcIsand that Is the fact
that we must be brought into judgment
for ttae employment of our physical
organism. Shoulder, brain, hand, foot—
we must answer in judgment for the
use we have made of thorn. Have they
been used for the elevation of society or
for its depression? In proportion ae our
arm is strong and our step elastic, will
our account at last be intensified. I hou-
sands of sermons are preached to in-
valids. I preaoh this raorning to stout
men and healthful women. We muss
give to God an amount for the right use
of this physical organism.
These invalids have comparatively lit-
tle to account for perhaps. They could
not lift 20 pounds. They could not walk
half a mile without sitting down to rest.
In preparation of this subject I have said
to myself, How shall 1 account to God
in judgment for the use of a body which
never knew one moment of real sickness?
Rising up in judginent, ateastaing beside
aniii and vinfireinVhn la -ad only little phy-
sical energy, datti yet coneguned that
energy in oonfiairation of religious
enthusiasm, how will we feel abashed!
Oh, men of the strong arm and the
stout heart, what use are you making of
your physical forces? Will you be able to
stand the test of that day when we must
answer for the use of every talent,
whether it were a physical energy, or a
mental acumen, or a spiritual power?
The day approaches and I see one who
in this world was an invalid, and as she
stands before the throne of God to answer
she says: "I was sick all my days. I had
but very little strength, but I did as well
as I could in being kind to those who
were more siok and more suffering." And
Christ will say, "Well done, faithful ser-
vant."
A Prophetic Dream.
.And than a little Oland will stand be-
fore the throne, and she will say: "On
earth 1 had a curvature of the spine and
I was very weak and I was very sick,
but I used to gather Bowers out of the
wildwood and bring them to my sick
another, and she was comforted when she
saw the sweet flowers out of the wild -
wood. I didn't do much, but I did some-
thing" .And Christ shall say, as be
takes her no in his aims and kisses her,
"Well done, well done, faithful servant;
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
What, then, will be said to us—we to
whom the Lord gave physical strength
and continuous health?
I said to an old Scotch minister, who
was one of the best friends I ever had,
"Doctor, did you ever know Robert Pol-
lock, the Scotch poet who wrote 'The
Course of Time?' ' "Oh, yes," he re-
plied, "I knew him well. I was his
classmate." And then the doctor went
on to tell me how that the writing df
The Course of Time" exhausted the
health of Robert Pollock, and be expired.
It seems as if no man could have such a
glimpse of the day for which other days
were made as Robert Pollock had and
long survive that glimpse. In his de-
scription of that day he says, among
other things:—
Begin the woe, ye woods, and tell it to
the doleful winds,
And doleful winds wail to the bowling
hills,
And bowling hills mourn to the dismal 9111E SUNDAY SCHOO:L
vales,
And dismal vales sigh to the sorrovving
LESSON XII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN-
TERNATIONAL SERIES, DEC. 19.
brooks,
And sorrowing brooks weep to, the weep-
ing stream,
And weeping stream awake the &musing
deep.
Ye heavens, great archway of the uni-
verse, Put sackcloth on,
And, ocean, robe thyself in garla of
s wiclovihood
And gather all thy waves into a groan
and utter it
Long, loud, deep, piercing, dolorous,
immense.
The occasion asks it—nature dies, and
angels come to lay her in her grave.
When Robert Polloolc saw in prophetio
dream you and X will see in positive
reality-ethe judgment, the jutignaent I
Her Anxious Face,
In looking up a word in the diction-
ary several days ago my eyes fell on the
definition of "emulation" --"the act of
attempting to equal or excel in qualities
or actions., rivalry, desires of superior-
ity, attended with effort to attain it."
Only the evening before we had been
talking about a little woman who was
once pretty, but now has a harassed and
anxious expression of countenance.
"What is the matter with her?" asked
one. It was it physician who answered
"Sha has no disease. She is wearing
herself to death by emulation of other
people. The straba will kill her if sbe
keeps it up. Nobody in this world eau
stay first"
Ms words and the dictionary definition
set Inc to thinking. Are not many wom-
en killing themselves by this Ranee pro-
cess? And how drearily unprofitable Mall
is, when one considers the truth of the
physician's statement that "nobody in
this world can stay firet I"
Nobody I For, strive as we may, there
is always seine one with a little more
money, a handsomer house, more infda-
mace'or perhaps naore brains. There is
merit in the desire to make the best of
ourselves and of the talent given us.
There is no credit due her who, because
of "a desire for superiority" over an-
other, wears herself out in attempting to
do that which she cannot perform, Is
this not one reason for the nervous, an-
xious look on the face of our American
women? They strive to dress as well as
neighbors with double their income; they
give entertainments that empty the never
too full purse, and they buy furniture
for which they can only pay by rigid
Were we only content as women to do
jamb that which we can easily afford, how
much more peaceful our lives would be,
how much better our children, how
much more oare free and youthful our
men—these American husbands the best
in the world, who cannot bear to have
their wives long for things that by an
additional strain they might give them.
And would not our lives be longer in
the land?-13arper's Bazaar.
Still Anxious for Information.
It was a third class compartment of
one of the expresses running from Lan •
don to the north. A long nosed, thin
lipped man, enth pointed chin, a slouch
bat and a hungry expression of counten-
ance, was resting his feet on the opposite
seat of the carriage, whioh seat was part-
ly occupied by a passenger in a gray
check suit.
"Gobs far, mister?" asked the long
nosed man of the other.
The passenger addressed turned slight-
ly round and took a long look at the
questioner.
"Yes, I'm going to Crewe," he re-
plied. "My lousiness there is to sell four
shares of bank stook, dispose of my in-
terest in it farm of 80 acres, ten miles
from the town, and invest the proceeds
in a clothing establishment. I am from
St. Albans, in Hertfordshire. I got into
the train there at 9.85 this morning, It
was 45 minutes behind time. My ticket
from Euston cost me 18s. 2d. Had my
breakfast about an hour ago. Paid 15.
6d for it My name is William Page. I
am 39 years old, have a wife and four
children and am a member of the Con-
gregational church. I was formerly a
chemist, but sold out to a man named
Morris and am not in any business now.
I am worth perhaps 42,000 My father
was a cooper and my grandfather was a
sea captain. My wife's name was Nash
before I married her. When I reach
Crewe, I expect to stop at a hotel."
He stopped. The long nosed man re-
garded him for a MOMS= with interest
and then asked in a dissatisfied way:
"What did your great-grandfather do for
a livin'?"—Strand Magazine.
To Handle the .PamilY Wash.
e.
"The laundry work, one of the most
important of onr domestic tasks, is, as
a rule, left entirely to the managgnent
of =trained household servants," writes
Mrs. S. T. Rorer in the Ladies' Rome
Journal, telling how to do the family
washing. "And being untrained, they
naturally select the naost difficult way of
doing what, under proper conditions,
should be easy work. The person reopen-
sibie for the family wash should really
understand a certain amount of chem-
istry, in order to preserve the coloring
in different fabrics, and to understand
how to remove stains and various spots.
To prevent the flannels from shrinkage
she should know the condition and ohar-
actor of the fibre of wool, and the differ-
ence between that and the fibre of cotten.
If the coloring matter in a colored gar-
ment is acid an alkaline soap 'will dis-
solve or neutralize it, and the garment
will come from the wash entirely faded,
Tlae average housewife returns to the
laundry all articles iinproperly launder-
ed, but she fails to pin to each article a
little suggestion of bow they may be
made better, with the result that the arti-
cles are returned again the next week in
exactly the same unsatisfactory eandi-
tion."
success.
Most people have many things in
which they desire to succeed, innocent
in themselves, except when they interfere
with a higher aim and worthier purpose.
It is this conflict of aims, this gradation
of duties, that makes life often so com-
plex and so difficult. The qtlestions come
continually before every thoughtftl
mind: "Is this aim which I set before me
the bighest I can reach? Is it not merely
a desirable and, but the moist desirable?
Is it likely to lead to still better and
worthier purposes, or is it likely to bide
them from view?" As we answer these
questions to ourselves intelligently and
conscientiously, the rightful limits of
eaoh will become clear, and our desire to
suceeed in each will harmonize with
those limits.
Thus the desire for health, the ogre of
self by the care for others, the leve of
money by the love of honor, the efthat tiS
nlease y the effort to do right.
Text of the Lesson, I John .1, 5, to ii, 6
Memory VerSeS, 8-10 — Golden Text, I
John 1, 9 — ()elementary by the Iter, D.
111. Stearns.
5. "This then is the message which we
bave heard of Him and declare mite you,
that God is light and in Min is no dark-
ness at all." John wrote his gospel that
vse might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and believing have life in
Him (John xx, 31). He wrote this epistle
that we wbo believe might know that we
have eternal life, be fall of joy and not
sin (chapters r, 13; 1, 4; ii, 1). Knowing
Jesus personally, having heard and seen
and looked upon and handled Him, he
declares Him as the Word of Life, that we,
too, may have fellowship arida; him, and
with the Father, and with .fesus Christ,
6. "If weasay that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie
and do not the truth." From the begin-
ning of the Bible storg light is suggestive
of God and aarkeess of sin and satan.
The waste and void and dark condition of
things ie GOD. i, 2, seems to have beeia the
result of a judgment which must have
come upon the earth, for, acoording to
Ism xlv, 18, a V., compared with Gen. i,
2, God did not create the earth waste and
void. Ism xxxiv, 11, and jer, iv, 23, are
the only other two places where we have
tbe seine combination of Hebrew words as
in Gen. a 2, and in each case a judgment
is manifest
7. "But if we svalk in the light, as He Is
in the liebt, we halve fellowship one with
axaother, and tho blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth us from all sin." Light
shines, diecovers, beautifies, purifies, for
light is of God. Not only did Jesus Christ
say, "I tun the light of the world," but
He also said to His own, "Ye are the light
of the world; let your light so shine be-
fore men that they inay see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in
hcavee" (,bath. v, 14, 16). If we walk
with God, =cannot but walls in the light,
but walking with God implies at least
Iwo things—viz, benaility, such ae is not
natural to us, and perfect agreement with
God about everything (Mk. vi, $, naargin;
Amos ill, 3).
8. "If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive onnelves, and the truth is not in
us." There are those who conclude from
the previous verso that all sin, root and
branch, is removed from their being, but
such a thought is contrary to the teaching
of Scripture, and surely the Holy Spirit in
placieg the statement of this verse just
whore Ho has sought to correct may such
/else teaching. While we are in these mor-
tal bodies the flesh or old nature remains
In us and lustoth agathet the Spirit, but
tho SPirit is also in us as children of God
by faith in Christ JOSIIS and keeps us from
the things which otherwise we might do
((3al. y, 17, B. V.).
9. " If we confess our SIDS, Be is faith-
ful and just to forgive us our sins and to
oleanse us from all hartrighteousness."
While in the mortal body alway delivered
to death for Jesus' sake—i. e., the deatb of
self or the flesh or sinful- nature (II Cor.
iv, 11), if we sin against God, as all are
liable to do, here is our comfort, that in-
stant confession of sin brings instant for-
giveness through tho blood of Christ, and
then we must go on more watabfully and
prayerfully.
10. "If eve say that we Lave not sinned,
we malgtHim a liar, and His word is not
in us." John is svritino to those who are
children of God by faitliin Christ Jesus,
for only such as have received Cbrist aro
children of God (John 1, 12). Others tare
children of the devil even though they may
be very religious, according to our Lord ie
John viii, 44.
2-1. "My little children, these things
write I unto you that ye sin not, and if
any man sin webave an advocate with the
Father Jesus Christ the righteous." Our
niarohing orders day by day are to sin not.
We have been redeemed by the blood of
Cbrist, that the righteousness of the law
Might be fulfilled in us who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit (Roan. viii, 4).
Surely God bas made full provision for tis
to live this life which He would bave us
live to His glory by our ;advocate or para -
dote with Him, Jesus Christ the right-
eous, and by our paraelete ba no, the Holy
Spirit; yet so weak aro we and often so un-
watohful that notwithstanding the abun-
dant provision we grieve both Father, Son
and Spirit.
2. "And He is the propitiation for our
sins, and net for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world." Propitiation
here signifies atonement, reconciliation,
stiorifice, and that provided by God through
Christ is sufficient for all the world. There
Is no forgiveness of sins apart from Him
and His great work, but in and through
Rim there is sufficient for all who will ac-
cept Blur even for every soul on earth if
they will come. How shall they come if
they do not bear?
B. "And hereby we do know that we
know Him if we keep His • command-
ments." Not faultless conformity, for
there is none such on earth, nor ever was,
except in Christ, bub a hearty acceptance
of and willing subjection to His whole re-
vealed will. He Hianself said, "He that
bath My commandments and keepeth
them, be it is that lovetb Me." .
4. "He that saith, I know Hirn, and
keepeth nob His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him." So skillful is
satin in perverting the truth and in blind-
ing people that he leads seine to say, "Oh,
it does not matter very muoh how I live,
I believe in Jesus Christ, and therefore I
am saved. If nay 1110 :18 not quite correct,
I will only lose my works." Now such
are evidently deceiving themselves, and axe
liars. Believing about Jesus Obrist saves
no one. He roust be received into the
!mart, and that is de Soriptural sense of
believing (John 1, 12).
5. "But whose keepeth His wovd, in
bins verily is the love of God perfeoted
Hereby know we that we are in Ilian."
When we receive letters from those whom
we love, we treasure them and read them
many Mines, and live on them. A mere
casual reading of a letter, and that but
once, would not indicate ninth love for
the writer. How, then, can those be said
to love God who care not for His word?
6. "He that saith he abideth in Him,
ought himself also so to walk, oven as Be
walked." Ile could say, "The Father
bath swat Me, and I live by the Father."
But He also said, "As the Father bath
sent Me, so send I yon," and "Be that
eateth Me, even he shall live by Me" (John
vi, 57; scx, 21). Now Be was here wholly
for God, speaking the words of God, doing
the will of God, Wows pleasing God.
There is no other way for us, and we must
be willing to renounce self, deny self, die
daily unto self that HIS life May be anent
-
fest in us, or else prove ourselves unworthy
of His name.
D O -D -D -S
THE PECULIARITIES OP
THIS WORD.
No Name on Earth So Famous.
—No Name More Widely
Imitated,.
No name on earth, perhaps, is so well
known, more psetallarly constructed Or
nacre widely unisated than the word
DODD. It possesses a peculiarity that
makes is etaud out prominently and fast-
ens h :n the memory. It contains four
letters, but 01117 tVVO letters of the alpha-
bet. Everyone knows that the first kid-
ney remedy ever patented or sold in pill
form was named DODD'S. Their disoove
era" Startled the medical profession the
world over, and revolutionized the treat-
ment of kidney diseases.
No imitator has ever succeeded ia
constracting a Paine poseessing the pecu-
liarity of DODD, though they nearly all
adopt names as similar as possible in
soiled and construction to this. Their
foolishness prevents them realizing that
attempts to imitate increase the feme of
Dodd's Kidney Pills.
Why is the name "Dodd's Kidney
Pills" imitated? As well ask why are
diamonds ancl gold imitated.. Because
diamonds are the most precious gems,
gold the most precious metal. Dodd's
Kidney Pills are imitated because they
are the most valuable medicine the world
has ever known. No medicine ever cured
Bright's disease exeept Dodd's Kidney
Pills. No other medicine has cured as
many casee of Rbeuraatism, Diebeteg
Heart Disease, Lumbago, Dropsy, Fes
male Weakness, and other kidney dim
eases as Dodd's Kidney Pills have. It
universally known that they have never
failed to cure these diseases, hence they
are so widely and sbameleesly imitate&
WINTER IN THE KLONDIKE.
5:110 Gentleman From the Gold Diggings
Tells About the Weather.
Be bad just returned from the top of
the Chiliad pass and was apparently glad
of it.
"How was the weather when you left?"
Inquired a friend. -"Cold?"
"Yes, but not so bad as it will be along
in Januery after the mosquitoes get out of
the air and let the wind have a chance,
Thee it gets gond and cold. A man told
inc who had wintered up there seven years
that it was so cold in January that they
froze the flames of their candles and sold
them for strasvbexTies Be said they kept
their fires overnight by putting them out
in the air and letting them freeze and then
thawing them out in the morning. He said
he had seen four men die of collo from
elating whisky that was frozen so bard It
wouldn't thaw inside of them, Bo eaid
the COWS all gave ice cream till they froze
to death. Ile said he knew a clerk In a
hotel on the Yukon that got rich selling
the diamonds he wore, said diamonds be-
ing nothing on earth but ice crystals that
didn't thaw till after the clerk hadgot out
of tbe country. He said he htul seen a man
falloff the roof of a barn and freeze so
stiff before he lit that he broke in two
evben hs, hit the ground. Be said, he bad
seen smoke freeze in a chimney till the
fire wouldn t draw, and he knew of one
case where the smoke froze after it got a
hundred feet up and fell book on the
house- knocking a hole in the roof big
enough to drive a yoke of steers through.
Be said the reason the nights were so long
in that country was that the dark got frozen,
so hard the daylight couldn't thaw its
way through in less than six months. He
said"—
"Excuse me
' " interupted the friend,
"did this party have affidavits with these
statements?"
"He said he had, but I guess he must
bare frozen to death hunting fur them, be.
cause he never came back when I asked
him to go after them for me." And the
' returned Chilkater smiled a smile that was
childlike and bland.—Washiegton Star.
A Jewel.
Visitor in
Chicago)—That young raaso
you have In your office looks like a mighty
smart, shrewd young fellow.
Chicago Broker—Smart! The smartest
youeg chap 1 ever got ludel of. Why, be
stole $3,000 from me, right under rny nose.
I tell you, he has the making of a great
financier in hinn—New York 'Weekly.
She Didn't Worry.
Clara—I don't think Grace cares very
much for her husband.
Jessie—Why?
Clara—Well, he was detained at his
office until 9 o'clock one evening last
week, and it meter occurred to her that he
might be kilkd, or sorniathingl—Tit-Bits.
RHEUMATISIVI.
No One Need Suffer.
Mrs. L. G. Pratt, a clever nurse la
Cleveland, writes that: "After being
troubled by very painful attacks of rheu-
matism in the shoulder for over ten
years I tried a bottle of your Trask's
Magnetic Ointnient. For two years I had
been unable to raise my arm, but after
two thorough apPlioations my shoulder
was entirely cured, and I can not speak
highly enough in its praise." Since then
she has used it for others in her capacity
as nurse.
This ointment penetrates the frame,
permeates the inflamed tissues with its
soothing, healing qualities, takes out the
soreness completely and leaves the muse
oles and joints in their proper healthy
condition. Twenty-five and forty cents a
bottle. Francis U. Kahle, 127 Bay street,
Toronto.
Getting In shape.
The landlady began to get worried. By
the way things were going there -wouldn't
be enough left to make hash the next
morning. Well, she was glad. that Thanks-
giving came only once a year. But the
pie! Alas, it was till gone but one piece,
and the pale haired young masa with the
yellow face had done it all
As for hint, the expression on his face
was ecstatic.
"Oh, them geniuses!" moaned the land-
lady.
"Five mince pies," murmured the
youmg man. "Oh, the dreams that I shall
have tonight! Tomorrow I ought to be
able to write Aye poems and one slum
story,"
This, then, was the secret of Stephen
Crane's success.—New York Journal.