The Exeter Times, 1894-10-18, Page 2AI 1 CHRISTIAN,
THESTO1U OF THE BEAUTIFHit
EWESS XiADASSAH,
Oen, Or, Talmage's, Superb Word Itlettere
Teem the Text t "'and Pm 'trougb*. up
llaaniwatle"-Witat Anyone May eteeeme
AC *UnTutelage,
BAOOtadill, 04 7, 1891 edRev. Dr. 'W-
age, who is still absent on his round -the.
Woeld tour, him seleoted as the aubjeot of
tonday'e eermon through thepress "Had -
web," the text °home beteg Lather 2: 7;
"Ai:d he brought up Hadassah,"
A. beautiful child was born he the °vital
Of Persia. She was an orphan and a Pap-
tive, her parents having, been stolen from
their Israelitieh home, and carried to Sha -
sham, and lied died, leaving their daughter
poor and in a strange /end. But an Israel-
ite, who had been carried into the same
capeivity, was attracted by the mute of the
orphan. He eduoated her io his holy re-
ligion, and under the roof ef that good
man this adopted child began to develop a
toweetness and excelieney in character if
ever equalled, certainly never surpassed.
Beautiful tiadassah 1 Could that adoPted
father ever spare her from his household
Her artlessness 1 her girlish sports ; her in-
nocence ; her orphanage had wound them-
selves thoroughly around his ,heart, juat
as around oath permit's , lheart among Us
there are tendrils climbing and fastening
and blossoming, and growing stronger.
expeot he was like others who have loved
ones at horne,-wonderiog sometimes if
sickness will come, and death exid bereave-
ment. Ale.a 1 Worse than anything that
the father expects happens to his adopted
child. Ahasuerus, a princely scoundrel,.
demands that Hadassah, the fairest one in
all the kingdom, become his wife. Worse
than death was marriage to such a monster
of iniquity 1 Haw great the ohange when
this young woman left the hotne where God
was worshipped and religion honored, to
enter a, place devoted to pride, idolatry
and sensualiey "As a lamb to the
slaughter 1"
Ahasuerus :knew not that his wife was
a jewess. At the instigation of the in-
famous prime minister the king decreed
that all the Jews in the land. should be
Efadassah pleads the cause of her
people, breaking through the rules
of the court, and presenting herself in. the
" very face of death, crying, "If I perish, I
perish," Oh, it was a sad time among that
enslaved people 1 They had. all heard the
decree concerning their death. Sorrow,
gaunt and ghastly, at in thousands of
households, anl mothers wildly pressed
their infants to their breasts as the day of
, massacre hastened on, praying that the
same aword-stroke evhich straw the mother
might also slay the child, rosebud and bud
perishing in the same blast.
But Hadassah is busy at court. The
hard. heart of the king is touched by her
story, and although he could not reverse
his decree for the slaying of the Jew, he
sent forth an order that they should arm
themselves for defense. On horsebaele ; on
'mules; on dromedaries, messengers sped
througb the land bearing the king's des-
patches, and a shout of joy went up from
that euslaved people at the faint hope of
stleCe98.• I doubt not many a rusty blade
was taken down and sharpened. Unheard -
ed youths grew stout as giants at the
thought of defending mothers and sisters.
Desperation strung up no wards into heroes
and fragile wommr grasping their weapons,
swung them about the cradles, impatient
for the time to strike the blow in behalf of
household and country.
The day of execution dawned, Govern-
ment officials armed and drilled, cowed
before the battle shout of the oppressed
people. The cry of defeat rang back to the
palaces, but above the mountains of dead,
above 75,000 crushed and mangled corpses,
sounded the triumph of the delivered Jews,
and their enthusiasm was as when the
Highlanders came to the relief of Luck.
now, and the English army, which stood
in the very jaws of death, at the suddeu
hope of existence and rescue, rifted the
shout above belching cannon and the death -
groom of hosts, meting, "We are saved
We are saved 1"
My subject affords me opportunity of il-
lustrating what Christian charae.ter may
be under the greatest disadvantages.
There is no Christian now exactlywhat be
i
wants to be. Your standard s much
higher than anything you have attained
unto, If there be any man so puffed up as
to be thoroughly satistied with the amount
of excellency he has already attained, I
have nothing to say to such a one. But to
those who are dissatisfied with past at-
tainments, who are toiling wider disadvan-
tages -which are keeping them from being
what they ought to be, I have a message
from God. You, eaoh of you, labor under
difSculties. There is sometieng in your
temperament ; izi your worldly circum-
stahces ; in your oalling, that acts powerfully
against you. Admitting all this,' introduce
to you Hadassah of the text, a noble Chris -
time, notwithstaneing the ;nest gigantic
difficulties. She whom you might have
expected to be one of the worst of women
is one of the best.
In the first place, our subject is an illus-
tration of what Christian character ratty be
under orphanege. This bible line tells a
long story about Hadassah. She had
neither father nor mother." A nobleman
had become her guardian, bub there hi no
one who can take the place of a parent.
Who so able at night to hoer a child's pray-
er ; or at twilight to chicle youthful wander-
ings, or to soothe yonthiul sorrows ?
individual will go through life bearing the
znerks of orphanage. It will require more
etrength, more persistence, more grime, to
make suth an 055 the right kind of a Ohrie.
tian, He who at forty years loses a parent
must reel tinder the blow. Even down to
old age iron ete accustomed to rely upon
the emu eel, oi•b pewerfully influenced by
the adviee of narrate, if they ere still alive.
Bub how aeteh number the hereeverarat
when it mimeo ia a arty life, before the
ammeter es eelf-reltent, and when naturally
the heart is uneophietioated and easily
tempted.
And yet beheld what a nobility of diem-
sition Ifadaagith exhibited 'Though fattier
arid mother were one, grace had trittinph.
eel aver diaa vantagen Her willing.
heea eelt-eaerificee le r conteol over the
king ; her hnrollity ; her faithful worthip
of God, show het to have beee. one. of the
beet of the world's Obriativate.
There are those who did not enjoy re.
inarkable early privileges, Perhaps, like
the beautiful oaptive of the text, you were
Rfl orphan. Yett Id Inige riorrowe la your
little heart. Yon sometime:1 wept iu the
night when you kaew not whati was the
matter. You felt ma sometimes evert on
the -playgroand. Your father or mother did,
not ft tend, in the door to welcome yoo vehen
yen come benne froma long journey. You
etill feel the effect of early disedvantteges,
and you have :sometimes offered them as a
reason for your not being as thoroughly
religioue at you ehould like to be. But
these excuser, are salficrient. God's grace
will triumph• if yen seek it. Ile lthows
what obstaolea yee have fought against,
and the more triale the more help. After
all there are no orphans in the world, for
the great God is the father of ne
Again our subject is an illustration of
what religion mar be tinder the pressure of
poverty. The aaptivity and mashed coodi..
tion of this orphangirl, and of the kind men
who adopted her, suggest a condition of
poverty. Yet from the first aequaintence
we had with Hadassah we and the saixte
happy and contented Christian. It was only
by compulsion she was afterwards taken
into a sphere of honor and ailluenoe. In
the humble home a Mordecai, laer adopted
father, she was a light that illuminated
every privation, in some period in almost
any man's life there comes a season of
strained oircemstances, when the aeverest
oalculation and most seraph% economy are
necessary to maintain subsistence and re-
apecta,bility. At the comraenceneent of
lausiuesst at the entrance liven a professiorn
when friends are few and the world is
afraid, of you because there is apoesibility
of failure,
minty of the noblest hearts have
struggled dagainst poverty, and are no'
struggling. To such I bear a message
of good cheer. You say it is a hard
thing for you to be a Christie'',
This conatant anxiety, this unreatino cal-
culation, wear out the buoyancy ofyour
spirit, and although you have told perhaps
no one about in cannot I tell that this is
the very trouble which keeps you from
being a -hare you ought to be? You have no
time to think about laying up treasures in
heaven when it is a matter of great doubt
whether you will be enabled to pay your
next quartet's rent. You cannot think of
attiving after a robe of righteousness until
you can get means enough to buy an over-
coat to keep out the cold. You want the
Bread of Life, but you think yea must get
along without that until you can buy
another barrel of flour for your wife and
children. Sometimes you sit down die-
oouraged and almost wish you were dead.
Christians in satin slippers, with their feet
on a damask ottoman, may acout at such a
class of temptations, but those who them.
selves have been in tbe trouble and grip of
hard misfortune nem appreciate the power
of these evils to dissuade the soul away
from religious duties. We admit the
strength of the temptation but then we
point to He.dassah, her pove;ty equalled tiy
her piety. Courage, down there in the
battle! Hurl away your disappointment
Men of half yourheart have, through
Christ, been more than conquerors.
Again, our subject illustrates whe.t reli-
gion may be when in a strange land, or far
from home. Hadassah was a stranger
in Shushan. Perhaps brought up in the
quiet of rural scenes, she was now surround-
ed by the dazzle of aciter. Heads as strong
as here have been turned by the transit
from country to city. More than that, she
was m a strange land. Yet in that lone-
linees she kept the Christian integrity, and
was as consistent among the allurements of
Shushan as among the kindred ofher
father's houee.
Perhaps 1 address some who are now far
away from the home of their fathers. Yon
came across the seas. The sepulchres of
your dead are far away. Whatever may be
the comfort and adornment of your presene
home you cannot forget the place of your
birth, though it may have been- lowly and
unhenored. You often dream of your
youthful days, and in silent twilight run
off to the distant and and seem to see your
forsaken home, just as it was when your
peeple were all alive. Though you may
have hundreds' of friends around you, you
I often feel thatyou are strangers in a strange
land. God saw the bitter par tin s
when your families were scattered. He
watched yoa in the ship's cabin floundering
the stormy seas. He knew the bewilder-
ment of your disembarkation on a strange
shore, and your wanderings up and down
this land. have been under an eye that never
sleeps, and felt by a heare that always
pibies. Stranger far from home you have
a companion in the beautiful Radasaith, as
good in Shushan as inher native Jerusalem.
indeed, very many of you are distant from
the place of year nativity. Some of you may
be pilgrims from the warm south, or from
hardier olimea than ours, from latitudes
of deeper snows and sharper frosts. You
have come down in these regions for pupas --
es of thrift and gain. You have brought your
teats and pitched. theta here, and you
seldom now go back stain, except to visit
the old village with wide streets and plenty
of treea'on some holidaye This is not the
climate in which many of you were born.
These mothers are not the neighbors who
came to the old. homestead to greet you
into life. These churches are not those
under the shadow of which your grand-
father was buried. These are nob the
ministers of Christ who out of the baptis-
mal font sprinkled your baby brow. Far
away the kirkfriar away the homestead
Far away the town! Have you formed
habits which would not have seemed right
in the places bad times of which we speak?
Rave you built an altar in your present
abode? Is the religion of olden time, mice
pietas& in your heart, come up in glorious
hervest ? Is your present home an eulogy
upon th a tf rom which you were transplanted/
Then areye worthy compels lobs of 13adreseah
the stranger as holy in Shushan as en
Jerusalem.
Agana, our subjeet illustrates what retie
mon may be under the temptation of per.
smeel attractiveness. The inspired reoord
says of the heroine of mY text. "She 'was
fair and beautiful." Her very name signi.
fied, "A myrtle." Yee the admiration,
and praise, and flattery of the world did
not blight her humility. The simplicity
of her manners and behavior equalled her
extraordinary attractions. It is the same
cliviati goodness vvhioh puts the tinge on
the rose's cheek, and the whitenese into
the lily, and thegleam oh the wave, and
i
that put it aolor n the cheek and sparkle
in the eye, and majesty in the forehead,
and ayounetry into the form, and graceful-
ness into the gait. But many through the
very therm of their personal appearance
have been deetroyed. What aimperings,
and affeetatione, and impettinenoes have
often been the result of that Which God
bent as a bleating, Jamoneee, aftentonea
arid heliotropes toyer swagger at the beauty
tvhiah God planted is their very leaf,sepal,
axil and antimene There are many flowers
that bow down so. modestly you canooti see
the color in their cheek until you 111t up
theirlead, patting your liend 'ander their
rowed ;thin. Indeed, any kind of personal
attraotions, whether they be those of the
body, the mind, Or the heart, may become
temptations to pride, mid arbitrariaeae,
end foolieh asenreption.
Agate oar istibjeat exhibits what religion
may be under bad domestio infitiences.
Madasseal -was snatolied from the godly
home into whiah she had beee adopted, autl
introdaced iuto the abominable aeooeiations
of whielt wielted Ahasuerus was the eeutre.
What a whirl of alasphemy, aoldrunkea-
nestaand licentiousness I No altanno pray.
erme Sabbath,no God. If this captive g 4:1 can.
be a Christian there thee it is poesible to be
a Christian anywhere. There are many of
thebest people of the world who are °Wig -
ea to contend with the most adverse do.
niestio influenoes, ottildreu who havfe grown
up into the love of God under the frowu of
patents, and under the diecouragentene of
bad example. Some sister of the family
having professed the faith of Jesus is the
subject ot Unbounded satire inflicted by
brothers and sisters. Yea, liadassah wae
not the only Christian who had a queer
hosband. his no eaey. matter to maintain
correct Chriatian principles when there is
eompanion disposed to sooff at them,
and to ascribe every imperfection of charac-
ter to hypocrisy. What a hard thing for
one member of the family to rightly keep
the Sabbath when others are disposed to
make it a day of revelry; or to inculcate
propriety of speech in the mind of thildren
when there are ahem; to offset the instruc-
tions by loose and profane utterances; or
to be 'regularly in atte0da000 upon chorale
when there is more household work demand-
ed for the Lord's Day than for any secular
day. Do I speak to any laboring under
these blighting disadvantages? My subjeot
is ball of encouragement. Vast responsibili-
ties rest upon you. Be faithful thee gh
you stand as much alone as did Lou in
&down Jeremiah in Jeruealetn, or Jonah
ID NineTah, or Hadassah in the oourt of
Ahasuerus.
Finally, our subject illustrates what re-
ligion may be in high worldly pOsition.
The Met we see in the Bible of Hadaseah is
that she had become the Queen of Persia.
Prepare now to see the departure of her
humility, and self-sacrifice, and religious
principle. As she goes up you may expect
Grace to go down. It is easier to be hum-
ble in the obscure house of her adopted
father than on a throne of dominion. But
you. misjudge this noble woman. What
she was before, she is now -the myrtle.
Applauded for her beauty and her crown,
she forgets not the cause of her suffering
people, and with, all the simplicity of heart,
still remains a worshipper of th.e God of
heaven.
Noble examplea followed only by a very
few. I address some who, through the
goodness of God, have risen to positions of
influence in the eortununibywhere you live.
i
In law, in merchandise, n medicine, in
mechanics, and in other useful occupations
anclprofessions you hold an inffuence for
good or for evil. Lee us see whether, like
Hadassah, you met stand elevation. Have
you as muett simplicity of ahaxacter aa once
you evidenced? Do you feel as muck de-
pendance upon God; as much your own
weakness ; as muck your accountability for
talents entrusted? Or are you proud and
over -demanding, and ungrateful, and un.
sympathetic, and worldly, and sensual, and
devilish? Then you have been spoiled by
your success, and yen shall not alt on this
throne with the heroine of my text. In the
day when Hadassah shall come to the
grander coronation, in the presence of
Christ and the bannered hosts of the re-
deemed, you will be poor indeed. Oh,
there are thousands of men who can easily
endure to be knocked down. by misfortune,
who are utterly destroyed if lifted up of
success. Satan takes them to the top of
the pinnacle of the temple and. shoves them
off. Their head begins to whirl and they
Jose their balance and down they go.
While last, autumn all through the forests
there were Tuxurient trees with moderate
outbranola, and moderate height, penetra-
ting but little, there were foliage gnats
that shot far up, leificing down with con.
tempt on the whole forest, clapping their
hands M the breeze and shooting, "Aha 1
Do you not wish you were as high up as we
are ' But last week a blase, let loose
from the north, came rushing along and
grappling the boasting oaks, hurled them
to the ground, and, as they went down, an
old tree that had. been singing psalms with
the bhunder one hundred summers, cried
out, "Pride goeth before destruction and a
haughty spirit before a tall." And humble
hickory, and pine and chestnut that ha'i
never said their prayers before, bowed
their heads as much as to say, "Amen 1"
My friends, "God resisteth the, proud,
but giveth grace to the humble.' Take
front my subject encouragement. Attempt
the service of God, whatever your disad-
vantages, and whatever your lot; let us seek
that grace which outshone all the splendors
of the palaces of Shushan.
A C001 Proposition.
A Russian journal advises Russia, Eng-
land and France to make short work of
the war by dividing up the Chinese Em-
pire between them, each taking a third. If
Russia wants a third of Chinese territory,
or even a slice of Corea, she will has to
take it out alone. Then it will be found a
harder mouthful to swallow than Portland,
whith has not yet been entirely assimil-
ated. The cool and comprehensive inoraliby
of the proposition is theriteteristM of Rus-
sia. This war has been forced upon China,
and because she happens to be getting the
wont of the struggle so far with the single
opponent, it is suggested to the powerful
bystanders to rush in and destroy her while
opportunity offers. It would indeed. be a
beautiful and edifying sight to see the
civilized nations dashing helter-skelter
upon Pekin, carry fire and sword and dis-
aster to the heathen. What a triumph it
would be for Christianity. The bravery of
the accomplishment would be enhanced by
the fortunate distress of the victim. A
greet "moral leeson would be taught., and
Japan 1a1t:p it, to heed, might become
Climetiautzed without more ado. It is a
short mit to tthe milleuniam, and might
prove thea,per in the long run than the
present syeterri of slew missionary effort.
EAST AFRICA.
Several mines atassarred- by Ratters -
Supineness of the Portugueet auth-
orities.
A despatch from Lourenzo itfargaezasays;
The Itaffirs -motions their raiding mid loot.
ing tete. The other morning several whites
and a number of friendly Kaffir% were
attacked and massacred in the outskirts of
the town. The Portuguese and foreign
residents are Meal:teed because of the
apathy of the authorities, and are holdiog
publie meatinge to dello:woe the ineoinlet-
eney of the Government, antt to demand
energetic action to entail the Katfirs. Busia
neaS is parelyaod, and the pablic eifictes ore
-closed,
TIB L&T OF TIM THUGS,
re-pocreon aOlt,
Fifteen mike of jangle eeperated the
ealt-pans of Malariabaal from the tealr-olad.
Wile of Junglepore ; but midway between
the two one came upon a patch of Pula..
Yeted plaia dotted with villages and Mango
tepee,
In one of these I had made my encamp -
went -on business -which has nothiugto do
with the istaident I atit about to eelate---
when whom should 1 toe riding toward my
tent about ten o'clock one morning but
Doetor Joe.
The dootor aaid I had lived in adjoining
bungalows, arida tbe ferns and coeoanut
groves of Ivialariabad, for upward of three
yeere ; and never in all that time had I
known him to travel so far afield as Shia.
HIS Ofia010.1 duties coneerned the English
and turasicin residents of the aforesaid
town, whom he doctored into health or
eternity with the utmoat sang frac/. I was
therefore net'a little surprised to find ktitti.
strayed so far from the ordinary paths of
physic.
Re bestrode A partioularly ill -conditioned
Auatrelian water, and behind the saddle
rode his favorite and constant oompanion,5
lawn coal -black monkey, whom he called
"Daddlee."
"Why, doctor 1" said I, ,advancing to
meet him, "you are the last person in the
world I expected to see here. Welcome
to the tents of Slim 1 Where are yon
boon d ?"
With his riding -whip the doctor pointed
to the tent doorway, through which could
be seen a table surmounted by a bottle of
whiskey amid an oasis of glasses. •
"That hi my immediate destination,"
aid e, with a dry chuckle. "Tell you,
the rest later. Got any grub I"
The "boy" at that moment sonouno.
ing breakfast, the doetor lost no time in
exchanging the pigskin for a camp chair,
and conunemted a prodigious attack upon
the matutinal curry and rine. After eating
for a while in silence, he suddenly laid.
down his fork and apoon and said:
"Slingsby's in a deuced bad way 1"
Slingsby was principal assistant to the
collector of the district, and lived at jungle -
pore,
"What's the matter with him?" I
asked, interested at once. "Fever?"
"Worse than that," replied the doctor.
" Got six inches of cold steel through his
shoulder night before last. 13Iess my soul I
-do you mean to say you haven't heard ?"
Not a word. You've been over to see
him, 1 suppose ?"
" Yea ; rode into Jungiepore yesterday
evening, and started back this morning.
He'll peg out, rm afraid."
"So bad as that 1 How did it happen!"
" Queer case " said the doctor, • awful
queer case! Thugs."
" Nonsense 1 They were all wiped out
years ago."
"tot clean " retorted the doctor.
"There's two of 'em alive yet, to my certain
knowledge. But come eutside, and I'll
tell you about it over a Triohy." ,
When we had lit cheroots and settled
ourselves comfortably beneath the awning
of the tent, the doctor proceeded with his
story.
"You perhaps remember," said he, " a
murder tnat took place some weeks ago
nearJunglepore-woman killed in the jungle
and robbed of her ornaments? Well, Slings-
by set the police on the cascals, and Vother
day one of the pair -there were two of 'em
-was run to earth and captured. Slingsby
seam the scamp up for trial. He'll swing
for it, sure:"
"And the other? "
"That's where The knife comes mg, said
the doctor. " Night befOre last, while
Slingsby was sitting in the veranda, smok-
ing. and dozing by turns, what should
Vother scamp do but sneak up and slip a
knife into himl"
"Because Slingsby had sent his amine
plice up for trial?"
"Unboubtedly; clear case of revenge.
It's the Thug all over. Even if Slingsby
pulls through, his life iso t worth a mom-
ent s purchase."
"And yours, doctor? My Godt"I exclaim-
ed, "do you suppose yours is worth
more?"
The doctor looked startled. "What do
you mean?"said he. "I'm in no danger."
OBtit you arel" said I, speaking under
the impulse of a sudden apprehension.
"11 the Thug scabbed Slingsby out of rev-
enge, and Slingsby's life depends upon
you as the only medical matt in these parts,
don't you see that this Thug fellow may
try to put you out of the way ?"
" Why so ?"
"To play the deuce with Slingsby's
thence of recovery, of course 1"
"Pooh I" said the doctor. "I'm not
afraid."
Just as the twilight began to deepen into
dust, Doctor Joe mounted his horse, and
with the monkey perched behind him, tOok
the road to Malexiabad. As he was wholly
unattended and refused to allow one of tny
men to accompany him,I earnestly repeated.
my warning about the Thug who wail still
at large. •
"Nonsense ," said the doctor, as he rode
away. "]'m all ,ight. The paths of physio
don't &twat . tad me to the grave,my boy,"
fl. -fl r mne onanx 14'7m/t0.
A.pprehension racked me that night like
an ague fit. The faint soughing of the
wind throogli the treee, and stealthy fittp.
ping of the tent canvas, the sharp crooking
of a twig beneath some passing foot iteelf
unheard, was enough to still the beating of
my heart.
AS the evening wore on, preeentiment
passed into rettleas expectancy. A horror
of impending evil, as impalpably real as the
night itself, hung overnnd oppressed me.
At last the culmination oterne-suddee,
numbing as an eleo.trio shock.
The night was Wearing on. I had thrown
myself iota a ohair, facing the open door.
way,: wheo there suddenly evolved .itself
from the inky baekground of thd night the
iinnlike figure of the deotor'e monkey
Dust -laden, mndestained, Whimpering like
a whipped child, the areature dragged him:
soli wearily into the tent and crouched at
toy feet.
Somehow the monkey's reappearanne did
not surprise me. I seemed to have been
enticipating it or hours. 1 Moped and
lifted bien upon my knee. •
Then / received a shook the remembranoe
of which death Mona can iftace, While
patting the monkey's head, netioed upon
My hand et atittn•-of olay, as 1 thought at
fire, 7, but aloeer earatiny revealed ite true
nature, Blood, 1 But whoa 1 loOked tho
oreathre carefulty over, aot 5 eorateh cOuld
find upon him
Ten miuutea later 1 was in the saddle,
The monkey, tie if divining the objeet of the
ride, ceased hie whimpering, and, scrambled
up behind me. In advance went the "syce"
tend my faithful ftemarlas, with the lam -
tel; was now past midnight. Overhead
he stars twiukled coldly brilliant, but a
thin mist covered, the ground As WW1 A
pall. The daraness rendered progress slow.
Tile dietanoe from milestoue to milestone
eeeined leageee. So, at length, we reaahed
Bleck Nulls!).
A typical Valley of the Shadow of Death
was this revine. The,road dipped into it
as into a bottomless grave filled with pal-
pab:e darkness, .A, likely ape, foe deeds of
viotedoe 1.
Mown the hed of the Nelleh coursed a thin
stream of water. Beneath the lurid rays
of the lanteru it seemed to ran blood.
The Nullah crossed, tbe monkey slid to
earth and shuffled on a head, Halfway up
the bank he paused and renewed his piteous
ory. Dismounting, I seized the lantern,
and, turned its light full upon the epot
Wheiaehe sat.
In the dust of the roadbed there glistened
a dark, semi-liquid pool, from which a
draggled stain trailed off toward the
jungle.
Across the ditch, into the thick under,
growth, I follo‘ved the trail. The monkey,
scurrying peat me, took the lead, and
struck into a narrow footpath, whioh, as it
wound in and eut among the clumpeof
jungle bamboo, was all wet and slippery
With that horrid Stain.
Suddenly the monkey orouthed motion-
less. Peering past him, I made one a dark
objeot lying across the path. It was
Doctor Joe. He had been stabbed to the
heart!
I Went down on ray knees beside him,
and bowed my heed upon hislifeless breast.
There are times when even the most care-
less cannot forget God. A touch upon the
shoulder aroused me. It was old Barnacles.
He held a cord in hie hands. In the half
tight it resembled a live snake.
"Twas round the sahib's neck, babu,"
said the old Hindoo, as he coiled it up.
'Tie the cord of a Thug. May it hang
the blaokdivered villain who used it to.
night 1"
Born of these words a terrible thought
entered my mind. The murderer of zny
friend-eould 1 overtake him? In what
direction had he slunk off,
:My eyes fell upon the monkey. He had
left his dead master'said ,e and had run
bank along the path. But only a few
yards. There he stoimed, and turned
toward zne with an appealing cry.
I snatched the cord from old Ramadas'
hand and followed.
•
111.---WIIAT Tan noory SAW AT msetenso.
A remnant of moon hung midway he.
tween jungle and zenith, and the dawn -star
glittered like a gem on the rim of the
eastern horizon, when, at a point on the
highway distant some miles from the Black
Nullah, a solitary native -dragged his lixnbs
wearily to the roadside and with a sigh
of relief sank upon the ciew.wet turf.
Re nal evidently walked far and fast,
for his breath came in labored gasps, and
rivulets of sweat coursed down his dust -
rimed fere and shoulders. Ins head was
'thrboalless but the knot of hair at its back
f had worked loose and fallen like a natural
puggaree upon the nape of his sinewy
neck. The loosened hair shone like silver
in tbemoonligbc.
This, however, was the only sign of
advanced years the solitary wayfarer
showed. In limb he was as lithe and
supple as .a youth of twenty. Wearied
though he was, he could not reek His
movements, and above all the fearsome
glances which he momentarily oast about
him,betokened a mind ill at ease. Once
he started in affright at sight of his own '
shadow.
' There was something wrong with his,
hands,too. Every now and thenhe oaughtup
a quantity of dust frorn the roadway, and
rubbed it upon them as though it were
soap. Re might have cleansed them to
better purpose upon his cloth. But this
he did not do.
Presently the purl of running water fell
upon his ear. He rose and moved the
directioii of the sound -along the road,
down a steep incline, nntil he stood upon
the bank of a tiny stream, which the sun
had spared. He stooped and carefully
washed his hands. Then he scooped up
some water in his palm aud railed it to his
lips. But a great shuddering seized him, 1
and he could not drink 1
Ascending the slope, he espied a black
object by the roadside. It had the appear-
ance of a stone. Re stopped abruptly,
muttering. The black object by the road-
side moved, and came swiftly toward hint,
chattering angrily. It was only a monkey
but the native with the muscular limbs
turned and ran as though the devil were at
his heels.
He did not run far. The cle.rkjungle teem-
ed with terrors for this solitary native.
Scarcely had he left one behind when an-
other sprang upon his path. This time
the terror stood out against the heavens,
13y day it was but a palm that the
lightning had blasted; and by night
-to his bloodshot eyes -the broken dang-
ling top seemed A human corpse; the harsh
rattle of its withered leaves, I he creaking
of gibbet amine 1 Re remembered havine I
seen these weemicle gibbets when a boy.
The ghastly apparition paralyzed him, heart
and limb. He dared not pass it. He dared
not go back. He groveled in the dust of
the road.
On the night air octane the thncl of a
horse's hoofs. Bub the, sound fell unheeded I
upon the native's ears. As he had fallen '
so he ley face downward, hia arms out-
spread, the dust of the road red as blood,
upon his hands.
So the horseman found him at the rising
of the dawn star.
• ..
A cooly, palming that way at early sun-
rise, espied something white amid the
jungle. Curiosity drew him to the spot. '
Dangling by a cord from the branch of a
tree hung the dead body of a native. The
• • •
cooly threw down his burden azidlied.
The cord had done double duty that
night?
Malting an InItinesSlon, 1
Mrs. Strongmbad--" I really belive that '
I am at last beginningto melte an impres-
sion upon the public,,'
Mr, 8,-e" Have the papers praised your
last leonine 2"
Mrs. S.-" N-ce but to day I heard yen
mentioned as 'the husband of Mrs. Stron-
mind."
assa
Soap has been substituted for wax on'
the recerding surface of the phonagramh
by, a Berne. inventor. The advantage..
leaned le that tamp le unaffected by ordi,
nary ehanges of tereperatene
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTURNATIONACT,ESSON, OCT. 21‘
"A Sabbath In, ifhiti
pernanVar
Nk*, 01-34
-Conley. 'next, Marti 1,22.
=tar. STATinMENZ •
a.07018ogwy, ab entowwent
's a; °171 rrbdyi !olft e dto "titrf bite; 1)
clir-
1mo yearit of age. It was about the middle
of hie motive ministry. He had been expell.
ed from Nazerabli, and now, with his
disciples, and with his own family, too, he
makes his home in Capernaum. Doubtless
the record of this wouderfal Sabbath and
the eveningwhich. followed it is not a whit
more wouderful then would be. the record
of many auother-perhape of every other of
his ministry -if ,,they had only been pre-
served, It gives us large oonceptiortedof the
miracle -working power of oer Lord -some
glimpses at the unceunted number of an -
recorded miraolee. The "lesson story" ie
simply that in the s,ynagogue Capernauni
he taught, sod afterward oast out demon,
and in Simon' s house oul4ed Simon's mother.
in-law of a fever, and healed a multitude of
sick and possessed people. The authority
he exhibited in teaching and in the expul-
sion of a demoti, caused great surprise, and
resulted the spreading abroad of his
fame and the gathering after sunset, before
the house in which he was lodged of the
entire populace of thetown. This lesson clea-
ner, be studied with mit giving some atten.
tion to that strange phenomenon,demeniaoal
possession. "Possession," says Dr. Moul-
ton, "was a real tyranny of evil spirits
over the physical and mental powera of
men, fixing not necessarily on the morally
reprobate, but on the • highly wrought,
nervous temperaments. A specral outburst
of such demonical powers was natural in the
age which prepared and witnessed the
coming of Christ. But they may perhaps
be recognized even nove in fields of mission-
ary enterprise, and at home such varying
phenotnene, as those of "religious mania'
or even deliriura tremens. Thia is not
denying the agency of definite psychological
laws ; such laws, which are the matruments
of God's own working, may `become the
weapons of Satan,"
La
itx.n.NATORV AND 1,BACTIOeven
AL s.
Verse 21. They. Jesus and his four
fishermen disciples. Went. Should be
"go." Into Capernaum. Rejected at
Nazareth, they titke up their residence in
this thriveng town, which is henceforth to
be called "his own city." It stood on the
northwest shore of the Lake of Galilee
(Katt. 4, 13), either at Tell Hum or Khan
Minyeh, Straitway is a word used forty-
one times by Mark, who writes with more
vigor and verve than any other evangelist.
Mark's conceptien of our Lord is of One on
fire with holy enthusiasm rushing from
place to place to perform his mighty deeds,
speaking with rapidity, and acting every-
where with lofty, divine decisiveness. The
synagogue. Repeatedly in out notes we
have described such a place of worship as
this, which was duplicated in almost every
Jewish town. The Greek word might be
translated, almostliterally, "meetinghouse."
Synagogue worship probably originated
while the Jews were in foreign captivity
afar from the teniple. Taught. There
was very evidently nauch.broader liberality
in the conduce of synagogue worship than
would now be tolerated by Protestants,
Catholics, or Jews. See Mark 1. 39;
Acts 13.. 5, 15; Luke 13. 10-17, and
many similar passages.
22. Astonished at his doctrine. See
Matt. 7. 28; 29. Scribes quoted other
scribes, rabbis learned -from other rabbis.
but Jesus said, "I say unto yon." Wond-
erful as 'were the precious words he spoke,
they were not nearly so wonderful to those
who heard him as was his majestic inde
pendence of tradttion, his divine authority -
23. There was, Our version has unfortu-
nately omitted here another of Mark's
etraightways, "Straightway there was."
An unclean spirit. The word "unclean"
was used by the Jew to describe things
which the law forbade him to do and persons
with whom he must nob associate, very
much as we tee the phrase " tabooed," and
perhaps in some cases " boycotted." This
W58 an unbearable spirit, an abominable
spirit. Mark evidently (verse 32) does not
believe that those "possessed of devils"
and those "diseased" were 'afflicted in at
all the same way.
24. Saying. The devil in him spoke by
the burrow victim's voice. Whitt have we
to do with thee ? An idiomaticphrase very
much like our " wiaat business have you
here ?" Of Nazareth. This may or may not
have been a taunt. Bengel observes that
the enemy niay Well have watched with
eager anxiety the life which the name of
that tewn recalled. Art thou come to
destroy us? That is, to ruin our prosperity.
Exactly what liquor -men say of temperance
agitators; what corrupt men of all sorts
say of apostlea of righteousness. I know.
I perceive. The Holy One of God. Equiva-
lent to saying, "The Messiah." Comp.
Job. 6. 10; Psalm 16. 10; 89. 19; Isa. 10.
17 ; Luke 4. 34; John 6. 69 ; Aots 3. 14;
4. 27-30 ; Rev. 3. 7 ; 6. 10.
25. Hold. thy peace. Literally, " Be
muzzled." Precisely What Jesus said to the
stormy sea when he stilled it.
26. Had torn him. Better, "Tearing
him, convulsing bim," Cried with a loud
voice, See Mark 9. 26. Came MIS of him.
From sheer inability to stay in him in our
Lord's presence. The spirit's anger at
being dislodged is shown by the convulsion
and the shriek.
27. All amazed. - The miracle was more
wonderful than the teachieg. With a,utle.
amity, -Thea is, without incantations and
ceremonies such as Jewish exorcists uaed.
The sheer force of Jesus was the most
wonderful thing about him,
98. All the region round about Galilee.
Better, " Through every part of Galilee,"
29. Forthwith. "Straightway," again.
The house of Simen and Andrew. Showing,
whet the rapidity of tha narrative might
lead ue to doubt, that these disciples ware
already " settled" in Capernaum.
30. Simoo's wife's mother, This is not
the only evidence that Peter wee a married
men. See 1 Cor, 9. 5. Sick of a fever. It
wae "high fever," according to Luke the
phyistetan. Amont "Straightway," again;
it is a pity that our trartslatore, used more
than ooe Eoglish word for this favorite
phrase of Mark's. Surely the power Mott
can expel an unclean spirit can expel a
high fever.
( 31. Took her by the hand. Evidenoing
tender reimect for the sick old W01110.11.
Lifted her up. This was his majestic an.
ewer to thou pleading (see Luke's itacourita
Immediately. "Straightway," again. The
fever left her. How many evile it mutt
have taken withit Finish of chock, dry*
nen of ski, eon:noting thkret, il.ush of Sick
room, bitter doses,. fatigue of nurses, anxi-
ety of friends -the neighborhood of death
itaelf-all these "bit" -WPM the fever. She
Minietered unto there. Dr. Stoll exPleine
this AS fo/lowli "Prepared an 'evening
meal and eleeping accommodations fer five
eereons. The tense of the Greek words
points to the coetinuanoe of the raultifarioue
household duties, It may 'have included
grinding at the mill, going to the lake oe
public fou
ntain for A large jar of water, and
Oooking the principal repast of the day.
Bub is not a patient pmetrated and woak
after a 'great fever deperts ? Do ?rennet
(Awe then, why this detail is added ? '
32-34. At even, when the Sun did eet,
Though our Lord was reedy to Work mire
-
ales of healing at aey time, the supersbitiona
of the aillioted ones and their friends kept
Many from applying to him on the Sabbath
day. But the Jewish Sabbath ended (and
began also) at sunset. We may fanoy jesus
and hie four disciples quietly communing
together after partaking of the evening
meal, whibh had been prepared by Peter's
wife's mother, As the sun set the holy
calm was cheerily broken by the renewed
sound of seoular activity. An unusual etir
was herd. The little company loeked up,
and their door was filled, the Very streee
was choked, by an eager, turbulent, but,
reverent erowd. It seemed as if all the
city was gathered together. It was like
the sudden emptying of a modern hospital,
only immeasurably worse, far Many of
of these diseases were entirely unrelieved,
being far beyond the ken of the medial
men of that day, and many of the afflicted'
ones h vi what was inevitably worse than a
disease --devils. We Oan imagine the
crowd all talking at oucie hustling and
pushing to see which could geb-nearest the
mighty Maater. It seems sad to us that
they chd uot ask Win to continue hia teach-
ing, hut asked rather for miracles. But
would we have been wiser than they? And
what miracles he wrought 1 By the quiver-
ing toroltdight joy -struck ideals saw
numberless cures of the most marvelous
sort, and with great glacln.ess, at the close
of the long, hoe summer day, the crowd.
dispersed, taking back to their several
homes not one diseased or possessed victim,
but dozens perhaps hundreds, of convales
cents. Notice that Jesus suffered not the
d.evila to apeak. He. would have no indorse
ment from such a source,
GIVING THE BABY A NAME.
Some of the Carious Methods Adopted by
Weide of Ditterent caoantrtes.
The Hindu baby is named when 12 days
old, and usually by the mother. Sometimes
the father wishes for another name than
that selected by the roother ; in that case
two lamps are placed over bhe two names,
and the name over which the lamp burns
the brightest is the one given to the
child. ,
In the Egyptian family- the parenta
choose a mane for their baby by lightina
three wax candles; to each of these they
give a name, one of the three always bed
longing to some deified personage. The
candle that burns the longed bestows- the
name upon the „baby.
The Mohammedans sometimes write de-
sirable names on five slips of papand
these they place in the Koran. The -Tame
upon the first slip drawn out is given to the
child.
The children of the Ainos, a people living
in northern Japan, do Dot receive their
names until they are 5 years (la. 610
father who then chooses the name by which
the child is afterward to be called.
The Chinese give their boy babies enema
la addition to their surnames, a.nd they
must call themselves by these names until
they are 20 years old. At that age the
father gives his BOA a new name.
The Chinese care so little for their girl
babies that they do not give them a baby
name, but just call them Number One,
Number Two, Number Three, Number
Four e.nd so on, according to their birth.
Boys are thought so much more of in
China than girls are that if You ask a Chine
ese father who has both a boy and a girl
howmany children he has, he will always
reply: "Only one child."
Glermae parents sometimes ohange the
natne of their baby if it is ill; and the Jap-
anese arb said lo change the names of their
ohildren four times.
Women Clubs.
English women, like English men, possess
a talent for enjoying the advantages and
comforts of a club that their Amerioan aia
ters know nothing about. An English
woman's plub is first of all a convenience; a
soothing luxury, an oaeis in domesticity, a
quiet, independent nook, where the last
book or magazine, a cup of good tea and a
half hour's idle talk are all to be enjoyed.
Secondarily and only occasiobally does she
usesit for mental improvemenb. She is not
over fond of having herself warned, threat-
ened, coaxed or derid.ed in her club's seared'
precincts by e series of members who cher-
ish opinions. Neither does she wish to go
to sohool in her club, since she asks of ib
relaxation, not cultivation. Now and agean
the requeets some person of recognized abil-
ity to come and talk to her in her club
rooms on some special topic of current in
tereste She likce a vigerous debate 'or a
clever recitation al intervals, a little good
mnsic and an annual dinner. There are a
half clozen clubs of this sort for women in
London, and a riother Newcatible has beeeegn,
openeo reteently for a mission similar tr"'•
that fulfilled by the Londott clubs. There
is but one such organization in all Nee"
York, where women still have an idea that
the word club is synonyinona with self -
Improvement and not_ small personal aotu.
THE PARISIANS NOT POLITE.
The Feeling Against England is Pounding
Very...Nigh hi France,
A despateh from Paris says -Owing to
the strained relations between England and
Prance, and the exited state of the latter
nation, the American colony 10Paris
is very much annoyed by the proceod-
ings of the natives whenever aoyono speedo
Eagliali in their hearing. In the safes and
restaurante the Waiters show their resent-
ment by grannbling and careless teevice,
e.ed10 emee the proprietore heve even rs.
fused to allow Englishomeaking patriot;
to be served. The same Amcor ze soon 14
the streets, et the railway statine and else.
where, aod one American gentleman who
iimisted 011 his rights in a railroad train
narrowly warted spending the night in Ss
police station, becaues the oetronieeery was
nimble to tiee how a lean eould speak Eng.
ish mid not be so
4.‘