Exeter Times, 1898-3-17, Page 6TIflXBTB TIMS
rOZNS ASP CO MRN2114,
loos
Whet% " the S1uggard. heel been told
go tO the adAt he has matte no rose
goose, or at least warte that has gone
upon record. It may be that he offer
no renitt because he has none for-
mulated or because getting into at
atneetneut entails exertion. be in-
defatigable aot oontinues to shed its
silent: *Isidore, as remorselessly active
as the housekeeper who pursues the
lest atom a duet with a spotless hand-
kerchief, Bet the sleggard, if be
tholight the exercise worth the ex-
pendituee of energy, could sa,y some-
thing in regard to the ferrate suggest-
ion. Re might ask his counseloe to
•suspend judgment until a certain
scientific, faot is explained, and, that
s. lenown as the fatigue a metals.
Objects not endowed with, life get
tired, or else modern researcht is in
error. Whea allowed. to rest they
regain elasticity. Engineers accept
this as a law and make du.e allowance,
for the relegation. Solentifie tests
stepport the idea that molecules of
steel are 'not u.na,ffected by a tired,
feeling.
Barbers believe that their razors get
tixed, an:d mechanics frora tim.e to time
motive a difference in the beha.vior of
their tools. Even the snorting locomo-
tive, through not permitted to indulge
fatigue, beconaes cranky, whboh is pos-
stbly verse. Tbe men on the footboard.
cells it a tantrum, and is glad. when
bho engibe is given a rest. If it could
speak it might explain, that the rails
%store tired. or the ties temporarily out
of aorts. When inoeganie nature asks
for a quiet tbm,e all branches of physics
are Olpt to be disturbed. Even, the inn
mac-ulate ant may occasionalltework
little slower or blushingly turn out in
the morning a few seconds late. Not
consoiousloe of COOTS% for that would
inxipertl a,n olsl and. valuable trademark.
As for the so-callecl'husy bee, which
sleeps a good deal in winter, its repu.t-
ation is not entibelly .deserved. If the
sluggard had *legs to abolish the toil
of walking. and. was simply required to
spend his time in colleting honey from
c.kwer blossoms, lee might make his way
through the wcask1 without meeting
that text about the tireless( ant at
every turn. To be kept forever stumb-
Eng over a proverb with, a sting is in
itself a. laborions disc•ouragement.
Bu,t just as the unfortun,ate person
domineered by the en.t is ready to re-
fer to the extenuating fact of the fati-
gue of metals science comes forward
with a new discovery that the law has
e,xceptisoes. Oast iron, it is now said,
is improved by age and. vibratory
shocks. At this pant the thou.ght
dawns that it is perhaps not prudent
to disturb an ancient text with. no
stronger proof than modern scientifio
authority. testes:id of send,bag the slug-
gard. to the ant which after all is not
doing anuoh for productive industry, he
might be grub -staked for the Klondike.
He would be reasonably certain to be-
oome acquainted with the Laws of mo-
tive le that country, where a, temper -
• of 15 below is ,d_escribed as "a
gentle reminder that the summer is
gone," and. where the man who digs
all winter lightly turns in Gering to
washing out his treasure.
POSER FOR BRADLAUGH
When the late Mr. Bradlaugh was
ence engaged in a disemesion with a
dissenting minister, the former insist-
ed onthe latter answering the ques-
tion be. had asked him, by a simple yes
or no, without any more circumlocu-
tion, asserting that every question
could be. replied to in that manner.
That reverend gentleman rose, and
in. a quietmanner, said: Mr. Brad-
lau,gb., will you allow nee to ask you a
question ot those terms?
Certainly, said Beadlaugh.
Then, may I ask, have you given up
beating your wife?
This was a, poser, for if answered. by
yes, it would imply he had previously-
• beaten her, and if by no, that he eon-
• tinu.ed to. do so,
• MARRYING A STICK.
That Is e curious custom they have
ta some of the South Sea islands, said
Mr. Wallace, of marrying a girl to a
tree or sortie inanimate object, which
is supposed. to not as a sort of seape-
goat for the short -comings of the real
live husband.
It is not unusual, said Mrs. Wallace,
for women in this country to he mar-
ried to a stick.
But Mr. Wallace. with the calm su-
•periority of the masculine mind, re-
fused. to deeni it a, personal matter.
AMBER FOR PIPES.
• Valuable dii`coveries of amber hare
recently been made in British Colum-
bia, which it is claimed will be able
to supply the pipernakers of the world,
with amber for another hundred yearn
• HE GAVE HER AWAY,
• The blushing bride -elect was rehears -
fag the, ceremony about to take place.
Of course, you will give me away,
papa? she sal&
• I am afraid I have done it already,
Coronae, replied the old gentleman,
nervously. I told your Herbert this
morning you had al disposition just
like yoer mother's.
AS Eft POUND IT,
Grimpue--I naked a scissers sharpen.-
•er tbe other day what he thought of
life.
CtiMpttes.-What did he say?
OrtectiorentThet it was wee coetineal
grin&
THE FIIIITE 'VISION(
OVR PRESENT .1001WIAEROR IS Dad
AND. IINPATISVACTPRY.
gee
111,111110E'S VIVID DISCOIJASE,
The Sreats Divine Contrasts the Diemen er
• Earthly Eyesteet With. the Grander and
More Complete ILou. irtnii) ilerearter—
aortas sited entailed 14 the Celestial
Washington, Man% 6.—From I. Cor-
inthians xiii, 12, "For now we see
tbrough a, glass, darkly, but then face
to face." Rev. Dr. Talmage preethed
a most powerfel and vista. sermon. He
said.:
The Bible is the most forceful and
pungent of books. While it has the
sweetness of a mother's hush for hu-
man trouble, it has all the keenness of
tscimiter and the crushing power of
a lightning. holt. • It portrays with
more tbaia e. painter's power, at one
stroke, picturiog a heavenly throne
and a judgment conflagration. The
strings of this great harp are fingered
by all the splendors of the future,
now sounding with the crackle of non -
consenting words, 110AV thrilling with
the joy of the everlasting emancipat-
ed.. It tells how one forbiddenetree in
the garden blasted the earth with
sickness and. death, and. how an-
other tree, though leafless and. bare,
yet, planted on Calvery, shall
yield • a fruit which shall more
thau antidote the poison of the other-.
It bells how the red, ripe clusters of
God's wrath were brought to the wine
press, and. ,Tesus trod them out, and
how, at last, all the golden chalices
of heaven shall glow with the wine of
that awful vintage. It dazzles the
eye with an Ezekiel's vision of wheel
and wing and fire and. whirlwind,
and stoops -down so low that it can
put its lips to the ear of a dying child
and say, "Come up higher."
And yet Paul, in ray text, takes the
responsibility of saying that it is only
an indistinot mirror and that its mis-
sion shall be suspended. I think there
may be one Bible in heaven. fastened
to the throne. Just as now, in a mus-
eum., we have a lamp exhumed from
Herculaneum. or Nineveh. and we look
at it with great interest and. say, "How
poor a light it must have given com-
pared with our modern lamps!" so I
think that. this Bible, which was a lamp
to our feet in this world, may lie near
the throne of God, exciting our inter-
est to all eternity by the contrast be-
tween its comparatively feeble light
ancl the illumination of heaven. The
Bible, now, is the .scaffolding to the
rising temple, but when the building
is done, there will be no use for the
scaffolding.
The idea I shall develop to -day is;
that in this world our knowledge is
comparatively dim. and unsatisfaotory,
but nevertheless is introductory to
grander and more complete vision.
This is eminently true in regard to our
view of God. We hear so much about
God that we conelude that we under-
stand him. He is represerited as hav-
ing' the tenderness of a father, the
firraness of a judge, the majesty of a
king and. the love of a mothee. We
hear about him, talk. about Lite, write
about him. We lisp his name in in-
fancy, and it trembles on the tongue
et the dying octogenarian. We think
that we know very rauch about him.
Take the attribute of mercy, Do we
understand it? The Bible blossoms all
over with that word—raercy. It speaks
again and. again of the tender mercies
of God; of the sure mercies; of the
great mercies; of the mercy that en-
dureth. forever; of the multitude of
his mercies. And yet I know that the
views we have of this .great Being are
most indefinite, one sided and incom-
plete. When, at death, the gates shall
fly open anct we shall look directly up-
on him, how new and surprising! We
see upon canvas a picture of the morn-
ing. We study the cloud in the sky,
the dew upon the grass and the bus-
hel:L(1ra= on the way to the field. Beau-
tiful picture of the morning! Bat we
rise at daybreak and go up on a hill
to see for ourselves that which was
represented. to us. While we look the
mountains are transfigured. The
burnished gates of heaven swing open
and shut, to let past a host of fiery
splendors. The clouds are all abloom
and hang pendent from arbors of ala-
baster and amethyst. The waters
make pathway of inlaid pearl for the
light to walk upon, and there is morn-
ing on the sea. The crags uncover
their scarrect visage, and there is morn-
ing among the mountains. Now you go
home and how tame your picture of the
m.orning seems in contrast! Greater
than that shall be the contrast between
this Scriptural view a God and that
which we shall have when standing face
to few. This is a picture ot the morn-
ing thrg will be the morning itself.
Again, my text is true of the Savior's
ex,celiency. By image and sweet rhythm
of ,expression, and startling antithesis,
Christ is set forth—his love, his com-
passion, his work, his life, his death,
bis resurrection, We are challenged to
measure it, to compute it, to weigh it.
In the hour of our broken enthrallment
we mount up into high experience of
his love, anti shout until the counten-
ance glows, and the blood hounds, and
the whole nature is exhilarated, " I
have. found him!" .And yet it is through
a glass darkly. We see not half of that
compassionate face. We feel not half
the evermth of that loving heart. We
wait for death to let us rush into his
outspread arms. Then we shall be face
to face. Not shadow then, but subs-
tance. Not hope, but the fulfilling of
all prefigurement. That will be a mag-
nificent unfolding. The rushing out in
view of all hidden excellency, the. com-
ing again of a long absent Jesus, to
meet us, not ixt rags and in penury and
death, but amidst tt light and. pomp. and
outhursting joy smile as none but a,
glorified intelliktence could experience.
Oh, to gaze full tiposs the brow that watt
lacerated, upon the etcle that was pierc-
ed, upon the feet that were. tailed ; to
stand close up in the presence of him
who prayed for as on the trout:lain,
and. thought of Ite by, the sea, and age
?Atmt for sue in the totedeo, and Mod
for ue to linkable ereigifitresti; to feel
of his, to embreoe bleu, to teke his
hand, to klee his feet to run our fing
ors glens the sears ot ancient Butter-
ing, be sey " Tbie is my Jesus! Fie gave
illoaself for me, I shall never leave his
Presence, I shall forever behold his
glory. I shall eternally hear his votoe.
Lard Anus, now 1 eee thee! I belie)ei
where the blood started, where the
tear* mune& where the face was dis-
torted. I have waited for this hour.
I shall never turn my bach on thee. No
more lookiog through imperfect glass-
es. No More studying thee in dark-
ness. Bat as long as this throne
stands and this everlasting river flows,
maul those garlands bloom, and. these
arches of victory remain to greet home
heaven's oonqu.erors, SO long l shall see
thee, Jesus of my choice,j Jesus of My
song, Jesus of my triumph, forayer ant
forever, face to face 1"
The idea of the text is just as true
when applied to God's providenoe. Who
has not come to some pass in life thor-
oughly ioexplicable? You say: "Wbat
does this paean? What is God going to
do with me now? He tells me that all
things work together for good. This
does not look 'Use it." You continue
to study the dispensation and after
awhile guess about whet God. means.
"He Means to teach me this, I think
he means to teach me that. Perhaps
Lt is to humble my pride. Perhaps it
is to make rae feel more dependent.
Perhaps to teach me the uncertainty of
life." But after all it is only a guess
—a looking threugh the glass, darkly.
The Bible assures us there shall be a
satisfactory unfolding. "What I do
thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter." You will know why
God took be hinaself that only child.
Next door there was a household of
seven children. Why not take one feom
that group instead of peer only one
W'hy single out the dwelling in which
there was only one heart beating re-
sponsive to yours? Why did. God give
you e ohil& at all if he meant to
take it as -ay? Why fill the cup
of your gladness brimming if he natea,nt
to dash it down it Why allow all the ten-
drils of your heart to wind around that
object and then, 'when every fiber qf
your own life seemed to be interlocked
with the child's life, with strong hand
to tear you apart, until you fall, bleed-
ing and crushed, your dwelling desol-
ate your. hopes blasted, your heart
broken? Do you suppose that God will
explain that! Yea, tle will make it
plainer than any mathematical prob-
lem—as plain as that ten and two make
four. In this light of the throne you
will see that it was right—all right.
"Just and true are all th.y ways, thou
King of saints !" f
Here is a man who cannot get on in
the world. pae always seems to buy at
It he wrong time and to sell at the worst
disadvantage. He tries this enterprise
and fails that business and is disap-
pointed. The man next door to him
has a lucrative trade, but he lacks cus-
tomers. A new prospect opens. His
income is increased. But that year his
family are sick, and the profits are ex-
pended in trying to cure the ailments.
He gets a discouraged look. Becomes
faithless as to success. 3egins to ex-
pect disasters. Others wait for some-
thing to turn up; he waits for it to
turn down. Others with only half as
much education and character get on
twice as well. He sometimes guesses
as to what it all means, He says :."Per-
haps riches would. spoil me. Perhaps
poverty is necessary to keep me humble.
Perhaps I might., if things were other-
wise, be tempted into dissipations." .But
there is no complete solution of the
mystery. He sees through a glass
darkly and must wait for a hgher un-
folding. Will there be an eiplana-
tion ? Yes; God will take that man in
the light of the throne apd san:
immortal., hear the explanation! You
remember the failing a that greet
enterprise— your misfortune in 1857,
your disaster in .1867. This is the ex-
planation." And you will answer, "It
is all right."
I see, every day, profound mysteries
of Providence. There is no question we
ask oftener than Why? There are hun-
dreds of graves in Oak Hill and
Greenwood. and Laurel Hill that need
to be explained. Hospitals for the
blind and lame, asylums for the idiotic
and insane, almshouses for the desti-
tute and a world of pain and misfor-
tune that demand more than human
solution, Ah„ God will clear it all up.
In the light that pours from the throne,
no dark mystery can live. Things now
utterly inscrutable will be illumined as
plainlir as though the answer were
written on the jasper well or sounded
in the temple anthem. sBartimeas will
thank God that he was blind, and Laz-
arus that he was covered with sores,
end Joseph that he was cast into the
pit, and Daniel that he denned with
lions, and Paul that he was bumpbaok-
ed„ and David. that he was driven from
Jerusalem, and that sewing women that
she could get only a few pence for mak-
ing a garment, and that invalid that
for 20 years he could not lift his head
from the pillow. end that widow that
she had such hard work to earn bread
for her children. You know that in a
song different voices carry different
parts. The sweet and overwhelming
part of the halleluimh of heaven will
not carried by those who rode in
high places and gave sumptuous enter-
tainments, but pauper children will sing
it. beggars will sing it, redeemed hod
cerriers will sing it, those who were
once the offscouring of earth will sing
it. The halleluiab will be all the
grander for earth's weeping eyes and
aching heads and exhausted hands and
scourged backs and martyred agonies.
Again, the thought of the text is just
when applied to the enjoyments of the
righteous in Mason. I. think we have
but. little idea of the number of right-
eous in heaven. Infidels tia,y, "Your
heaven will be a very small place nom -
pared with. the world of the lost; for,
according to your teaching, the ma-
jority of men will be destroyed." I
deny the charge, I suppose that the
maltitude of the. finally lost, as com-
pared with the. multitude of the final-
ly saved, will be 4 handful, 1 suppose
that the few sick people hi the hospital
to -clay, as compared with the, hundreds
ot thousands of well people in the city,
*woulct not lbe smaller than the outlib-
er of them who shall be cast out in
suffering, compared. with 'thou who
shall have upon them the health of
heaven. For we ere to remember that
we are living in oomparatively the be-
ginnirite of the Christian clispensatiott
and that thie world is to be, popnlated
and redeemed, and that ages of light
and. Jove are to flow on. If this be en
the multitud.es of the saved will be in
vast majority.
Take alt the cengregatione that have
Unclog' aentimtled for worship- Pet
tbp treenther and, they would melte
het a emelt Itedience odoolatred with
theowide and bens of ihoesands
Seel ten thousand times ten thousand,
anO ths itendred and forty and four
thoustlied that ghat), atand around the
theoue. Those flashed uP to hew'?"
in martyr fires, those tossed for many
3reeTs upon. the invalid couch, those
freight an the armies of liberty and
rose an they fell, those tumbled. from
high scaffoldings or slipped from the
mast or were washed. off into the sea.
They mane up from Corinth, trent Lou-
dicea, from the Red See, bank and Gen-
neseret's wave, from EgYptiali brick-
yards end Gideon's thrashing floor,
Those thousands of years ago slept
the last sleep, and these are ibis mo-
ment having their eyes closed, and
their limbs. stretched out for the sep-
eleiher.
A general expeoting an attack from
the enemy stands on a hill and looks
through a fieldglass and sees in the
great dietance multitudes approaching
het has no idea of their numbers. He
says: "I cannot tell anything about
them I merely know that there are
a great nuxaber." And, so John, without
attempting to count, says, "A great
multitude that no man can number."
We are told. than heaven is a place
of happiness, but what do we know
about happiness? Happiness in this
world is only a half -fledged thing —
a flowery path, with a serpent hissing
across it; a broken pitcher, from which
the water has dropped before we could
drink it; a thrill of eihileration, fol-
lowed. by disastraue reastions. To
help us understand the joy of heaven,
the Bible takes es to a river. We
stand on the grassy bank. We see the
waters flow on with ceaseless wave,
But the filth of the cities are emptied
into it, and the hanks are torn, and
unhealthy exhalations spring from it,
and. we fail to get an idea( of the riv-
er of life in heaven.
.We got very unperfect ideas of the
reunions of heaven. We think of some
festal day on earth, when father and.
mother were yet living, and. the child-
ren came home. A good time that I
But it had this drawback—ail were not
there. That brother went off sten sea
and never was heard from. That sis-
ter—did we not lay her away in the
freshness of her young life, never more
in this world to look upon her? Ale
there was a skeleton at the feast, and.
tears mingled with oux laughten on
that Christmas day. Not so with hea-
ven's reunions. • It will be an uninter-
rupted gladness. Many a Ohristian
parent will look around and find all
his children there. "Ah 1" he says,
"can it be possible that we are all here
—life's perils over? .The Jordan pas-
se& and not one wanting ? Why, even
the prodigal is here. 3 almost gave
him up. How long he despised my
counsel, but grace hath triumphed.
All here, all here! Tell the mighty joy
through the citye Let the bells ring.
and the angels mentien it in their
swag. Wave it from the tog of the
walls.. All bare!"
So more breaking of heartstriegs,
but face to face. The orphans that
were left poor and in a merciless
world, kicked and. miffed of many
hardships, shell join their parents,
over whose graves they so long weptt
and. gaze into their glorified count-
enances forever, face to face. We may
come -up from different parte of the
world, one from the land and another
from the depths of the sea; from lives
affluent and prosperous, or front
scenes of ragged distressbut we admit
all meet in raptare and jubilee, face
to face.
Many ef our friends have entered
Upon that joy. A few days ago they
sat with' u:s studying these gospels
themes, but they only saw through a
glass, darkly—now revelation bath
come. Your will else come. Gocl will
not leave you: floundeting in the dark-
ness. You stand wonder struck and
amazed. You. feel as if all the love -
limps of life were dashed out. You
stand gazing into the open chasm of
the grave., Wait a little. In the
presence of yau.r departed and. of him;
who carries them in his bosom, youi
shall 'soon stand face to face. Oh,
that our last hour may kindle up with
this promised joy I May we be able to
say, like the Christian not long ago,
departing, "Though a pilgrim, walk-
ing. through the valley, the mountain
tops are gleaming from peak to peak 1"
or, like my dear friend and. brother,
Alfred. Cookman, who took 'his' flight
to the throne of God, saying in his last
moment. that which has already gone
Into Christian classics. "1 an sweep -
Ing throu.gh the pearly gate, washed
in the blood of the Lamb!"
THE USEFUL X-RAYS.
It is very settlefaetory and. inter-
esting to know that the Rontgen rays,
which at first promisecl to be only a
nine days' wonder, are doing such
spleedid work in the hands of the sur-
geons. Every big hospital has now its
long roll of casts in which the surge•ons
have been guided in their work by the
revelations of the X-ray tube; and
now, from. the distant Indian frontier,
we bsar how the wounded are receiving
benefit from this method of diagnosis.
In one instance a Sappy had. been
stru.ok by a bullet, whie,h inside a flesh
wound across the chest,. and appar-
ently had found its exit at his arm.
The case was not an extraordinary one;
but the surgeons were puzzled by the
inflammatory symptoms which mani-
fested themselves, and for which there
was no apparent muse. Recourse was
had to the Rontgen apparatus, which
at onoe showed that some shadow-cast-
ing foreign bodies were lodged in the
mane chest Operation showed.. that
there were pieces of lead, the remains
of a bullet which seems to have brok-
en up after impact with the home.
PRESEItVING- HER comeLratox.
How is it that your friend, Miss Sere-
ly, sheds no tears? he asked at the
theater where the pathetio poetions of
the play cattsed even the hardened
roanders to weep.
Sh-h-h 1 answered his fair companion
she points.
rowrodiml•
STRTYCJIt IT RICH.
I see Plimley's wife has a neer* seal-
skin coat,
Xes, be's had a streak of luck.
How was that?
Got (hie thumb smashed the day after
he took out al accident policy for $50
0, week.
HIE SUNDAY • SCROOL.
Vr".,r1
INTERNATIONAL LESSON, MAR, 20.
"John the needed iseheaded." nate, 14, Y-
r?. Golden Text, tyros. 4.53.
PR,A,CTICA,L NOTES;
Verse 1. At that time. Matthew's
disregard ot the order of tittle makes
the meaning: of soda phrasee as these
wave-I:tail:10 but from Mark's story
are bed lita infer that this "time" was
during the Week:nary jouruey of the
twelve, uerod, Herod Ants1spas. He
was te eon of H,erod the Great, en•d 'his
mother was a Samaritan women. 1He
was brought up at Ronne married an
ArabItit princess, to whom he was ,usa-
true, end. then stole the mete of Phillip,
who was also, a sou of Herod tate Greet,
but by another mother, and who lived
in wealth and retirement at noime•
Family retail:le/whips were so etran,ge-
in mitred among 'the Herode that Her -
°idles woe niece to both of her husbaods.
To the jewielhi vonecience the marriage
of Herod and Herodias was inexpress-
ibly shocking; ill came iiInde.r prohibi-
tircee, first, as ateultero; secondly, as an
act of double incest, because marriage
with a_ niece arid tuterriage with it mist,-
err-inetaw were both ea repass:led. it
was a polftietti blunder too; fOT the fa-
ther ot Herad'a deserted wide took up
bar muse ataid declared war a•gainst
Herod. This war Lnvolved increased
taxation of the Galilean, Jeavs, and very
likely also the .drafting, a soldiers from
among them; end as at was directly
against both their taste and their eon-
seience dirsheyalty sp,reed far and wide.
Then tile was' ended disastrously; and
under such condleitons to have a pro-
phet so influential as John the Bap-
tiet denounee the crime endangered
lierods throne. The tetraxch. That is,
the ruler ocE a quarter. NVItee the con-
quer -Lug legiems a Beene parted the na-
t.ons of the world among the imperiad
victors it became ahmnat a. oastom to
divide kingdoms into quarters, and put
a tetrarch or quarter -king over each,.
Such a man was ofeen oomplementaxie
ty called "kentg," ae. in Mark 6. leolifer-
od spent such tiene ain,d enerey in am
effort to lse m,ade fully a Ming, and it
may have been to his trip to Rome for
this purpose that our Lord elludes in
Luke 19, 12; but he failed, and 1 tbe
cad lost, his tetrarrelly. The fame of Jes-
us. "Heard the report concerning,
Jesus," who had now 'been, teaching and
working miracles for e little less than
a, year; a good part of that year had
been spent in Jsusdea„ when his tame
began to spread seddeniy. He was the
"sensatiion" a the home and. what all
the good folk talked about of course
SOO/1. COMB echoing to thecouet,
wham the tetrarch wass trying bedrown.
oonsciessee in a rouni of pleasure.
2. Said unto his servants. Not his
sla,ves, as in many other cases, but of-
ficials of higher rank. Who were these
rasa who had. conference with Herod
about Testis? We do not know; but
it is very likely, as Dr. Plumptre sug-
gests, that Chuza; the royal steward,
whose wife Jeanne is mentioned in
Luke 8. 3, as ministering unto Jesus
of her substance, was one; and that
Man.aen, his foster brother, brought up
with him from babyhood, and men-
tioned in Acta 13. 1, was another; and
that the nobleman the healing of whose
sink son at Oapernanm.was the second.
miracle that Jesus did, John. 4, 54, was
a third. This is john the Baptist.
Three opinions of our Saviour's charac-
ter floated in the minds of the Jews.
Some maintained that he was Elijah
returned to the earth, as Jewish folk-
lore taught Elijah would return; some
that, it not Elija,h, he was another
prophet come back from the grave; and
still others that he was John the Bap-
tist. These conjectures were all
strangely characteristic of that strange
people among whom Jesus was horn
—a people so tiecl to the past, to tradi-
tion and history and ritual, that they
•had no power to think of anything
new, and when a strange character ap-
peared, concluded, as a matter of
couree, that he was one of the great
of the pa,st come back again. It is
probable that Herod discussed. with
."his servants" these three theories,
which are mentioned in Matt. 16, 14,
Luke 9. 7-9, and, helped by a guilty
conscience, rejected that of Elijah, and
that of another prophet, and. decided on
that of John. Hale risen froni the dead.
And yet there is strong reason to be-
lieve that Herod. was a Sadducee. He
certainly was in warm friendship with
the Sadduceen party, and our Lord
spoke of tte " leaven of Herod" as be-
ing identical wth the leaven of the
Sadducees. Compare Mark 8. 15 with
Matt. 16. 6. But when a man has per-
sonal fears theories to the Contrary
do not hold. Herod had murdered
Joh,. and of all the awful facts which
an 'excited imagination could Lear .1131
of the return of a murdered prophet,
to Die would be mast dreaded. That
Herod's conscience was terror-strioken
is to be seen here and. in the corres-
ponding accounts, and his supersti-
tious fear afterward became almost
proverbial in ancient Rome. Therefore
mighty works do show forth themselves
in hun. Rising from the dead he would
be expected to possess more miracu-
lous powers; and we know that in his
lifetime jOhse did not week any mir-
acles. John 10. 41.
3. Herod had laid hold on John. Had
sen( his soldiers into the wilderness
to arrest hi,m. This Was about a year
before the birtiadtty banquet. And bound
hiro. Chained him. Put him in prison.
From Josephus we lear.n that John's
prison. was in Perea, the most east-
ern a Herod's provinces, and in the
castle of Machaerus, which, like many
castles. in Europe and, Asia, did duty.
at once as palace and prison and fort-
ress. M'kheuer is, the modern name
of the place svhere it stood. 'Apparent-
ly Herod: was making his hea,dquarters
here while striving to push on thewax
with ging Aretes, who had. been his
father-in-law, The war, as we have seen,
was a disastrous one for Hered, •and
the Jews concluded that ,Tehuts death
was the reason. . For Herodias' seke,
his brother Philip's wife. Herod had
two brother Philips, one of' whom he
tints 'wronged, and the ether of Whorn
was tetrarch of Itureas Herodias was
Herocrs evil spirit; she participated in
his oris against ; she precipi-
tated the execution cif Sohn the Bap-
tist; and she led: hoz' hiteband into in-
trigues to have the title of tetrarel
changed, for the title of king, a,nd thus
u.nintentiortelly accomplished his ruin..
i.
hatoic rtilL4Atistetilid.111,141stot;r°y1,1 0';,110.11614414ietrzidg-
en Herod. said bertalit things (sous
ceraing Jesus; the reason he said
theta Was leoauSe he had imprisoned
• JjToolilt; este beecIsieusell hjoaltrillahaaditusaPildi46unnitdo.
rt 18 not lawful for. thee to have
her. Luke tells us that 'John's re-
:sivtikie:hjeteeb nhoethal,di.maitemelle.t,o lierect's ein
with. Herodias, beet included "all the
5. Wbeii he would hone put hint to
death. "Although he was willing to
put him to deatils." Heradifatl WaS the
aotive spirit in atnomplishing John's
rain, Herod was afraid of John and
at, the same time deeply impressed by
him. Read the story as given in Mark.
joeephus tells us thet Antieas feared
that John the Baptist's direet preach-
ing would incite the Clatileans to an
open rebellion. • He feared the Multi-
tude, Again We urge the teacher to
study the story as told. be Mark, who
tells us that Hebei feared John because
of his justice and holindss. "Did many
things" in Mark's story should be
translated "was much perplexed."
Herod was too weak to be consistent-
ly good, and. too weak to he comfortably
bed. Elerodiargwalked firmly where he
staggered, but the footsteps of both
were on the direct. path to ruin, They
counted him as 4 prophet. And there-
fore lifted by God above the authority
of kings. They belonged to a, generation
which "built sepulchers to the pro-
phets, not to the kings." They rever-'
e.nced the memory of Elijah more than
Ahab; of ,Isiah More than Manasseh.
They respeoted John more than Herod,
and believed him to have been eent by
Gml. •
O. Whoa Herod.'s birthday was kept.
The gorgeous splendor of Herod's
birthday parties is alluded to by a poet
of the time, Pessius. The daughter of
Herodias. 'Whose name was Salome. She
afterward was married to another Her-
od Philip, the tetrarch of Iturea. Danc-
ed before them, The dancing girls of
antiquity seem to have been as popu-
lar in Jewry es in Rome. They made
dancing a, profession, like the hetera
of• Greece and the nautch girls
of Indie. Pure lives were not expeot-
ed of them. That a. royal 'maiden
Should take their place was startling
to the banqueters. "Danced before
them" should be "in the midst of
theta." Pleased Herod. No sacrifice
that she could have made for thie ty-
rant's glory would, have been so richly
rewarded by him.as this sacrifice of her
maidenly modesty.
7. 'Whereupon. Immediateiy, and as
a. reward for the dancing. Promised to
give her. whatsoever she would ask. Ac-
cording to Mark, he offered half of
hi's kindgom, which, of course, he
was confident would not be asked fur.
8. Being before instructed of her mo-
ther. "Before instructed" might I.e
translated "Instigated." it does not
mean that the girl was instructed be-
fore she danced, becau.se she did not
know that the offer would be made
h.er. Mark tells .tes that she went di-
rectly from the banquet to her mo-
th,er to ask her advice. The banquet
.Was, according to the custom . of the
time, for men only. Give me here John
Baptist's head. By going to her m.o-
ther Salome had turned her triumph
into a triumph for Fferoclicte, and in
the (hour of success ones strongest
trot is apt to be manifested. Hero-
chas's strongest cberacteristic was
revenge; now was the time she
meld bave it. A cfbarger. The orig-
inal, meaning of the weird thus trans-
lated ie a. flat wooden, dish, bat the
Otte or plaque may have been made
of any aiarrter!al. Dr. Carr connects the
word wilth "Merger," a horse and car-
go, the origimial meaning of both being
that uporn wboh a lead its placed.
9. Ties kieg wits seery. Doubtless tia
recalled then -holy reselotilens he hatd
made sunder Jehta's prearehing. Very
Likely be recalled religious converse -
teem with, his foster 'brother lillenaen.
But Herod Ives one of many men, some
of whom are great in endowments and
large in wll, who, by their v.ery nee
tures submit more readily and more
usixeserveday to the clotranance of Oi
woman then to that of anyoraen. There
probably was not a eoun,s2lor iin Herod's
dem anions who could hove secured John
Baptist's death !nor the oath's sake.
Pluseaptre bus a short remark on
this clause: "Like most weak raen.Her-
od feared to be ithougtet weak-. A false
regard for._ public opilniou for what
people will say or think of us in our
own narrow circle, wan in tbis, as in
many other instances, en incentive to
guilt instead. of a restraint." If Herod
had sworn to Salome only, and none of
the guests had heard hitm„ onehalf of
the reeson which brought about the
:murder would have vanished; if he had
sworn to God, and not even Salome
knew it, it is very doubtfol whether
his conscience would. have led him to
keep his oath.
10. He sent. The executioner was
always ready in. an oriental meet. Be-
headed John in the prison. The king
was suppose,d by the people to be the
Goa -appointed arbiter of life and. death;
nevertheless, the killing of John was
popularly looked upon a,s a foul mur-
der. As we have already seen, the
prisoa was in all -probability in the
basement or cellar of the castle of
ltlacha.erus, in whose banqueting hall
the lease was served., So that we may
think of three scenes at the one hour
under the same roof—Salome and Hero -
dime trembling with, passion over their
victory in their private chamber, Herod
etall drin,king his perfuroed wine among
bus aobles in the banqueting hall, and
the young prophet •breathing out his
soul to God under the fatal stroke.
11. His head was brought 13 a charg-
61'. 'Every detail of the promise must
be ostentatiously kept, Given to the
damsel. One marvels at the hardis
hood of Philip of !Wren who ventured
a few months later, to marry this girl.
She brought it to her mother. And
with this scene, the young girl .hand
keg the bleeding head of the prophet
to her mother, the two women pass
out of sttered. history, Only the general
facts of their tettbsequent history is
known. Herodias urged her husband
to seek/the title of king., but When he
went to Rome on We errand his Galil-
ean enemies conspiredagainst him,
He was deposed' even from( his tete
rarehy, and was banished to a town
on the site of the modern eity of Lyons,
in France. One good thing may be
said of her, that having loved' him in
his honor, she loved. him, twee in his
degredation. Salome, as we 11O,VO seen,
married. Philips the tetrarch of Thema,
and when he died, married her first
cousin, Aristobulus. Aecotiding to tra-
dition, she slipped in crossing a river
and: 113 iee severed her hetta from her
body, a fate .that good people regarded
49 rot ribuitivist
NOVELTY IN WAR SHIM
10 Austeiates Sevontiou may Revolutionise
Mindere Sea IFightlx.4.
If the claims submitted by Norte Stew
eibz' an Antrian intiree tor, are justifteds,
many inipOrtatiet, perhaps nevolostignery
oh:miens will have to be made In sew
conIstr ac Sten,
• The ineventor's theorloa slash very
me& witb aooepte,d notions, and tt wlli
lee difficult to coevince experts mat lais
conoltustenat ere Net. Foe fighting Pure
potes he arevixies alas fleet into three
types, battle thips, outreared cruise's
and torpedo destroyers'. The unerraor-
ed battle ship, he aeserts, One not take
a <Street part in the fighting, but
a distributor of antosmobile weapons el -
tiler in the shape of under water tor-
pedoes or of other small vessels„*.hlieh
ere shot from auxin and theist' aerial
trajectory being compaletecll, keep up
Miele motion of teeter:libation under wet-
er.
,
His fighting &hap • is •the armored
eruiser, and be heeds that a, partly line
visible buts with relatively stranger
armor, so disposed and shaped as to
make slight thh chancels of hitting and
to defy penetration, is the type need-
ed le modern nerviest ,tHte saSs .very
justly that foirc,e and rapsildity tie neon -
mint are the best peosteotions en army
or a. flieet can possess, and that the
best defense is the power to attack.
• THE TORPEDO DESTROYER. '
which, by the wag, is submarine ill
,PriiiciPle, is, he haute oino of the most
formidable sea weans and lin only
requirements are invisibility, sewer-,
*tames, high speed. and "agility," or
great .menseusering printer. Such gen-
erally desorlibed,Ibre the types of shins,
He finds the sdaution of the gun pro-
blesn in pieces ot very Large oaliber,,
watch through a, secret mechataimm ere
mainteined at any .required range,
'both la trains ond ele.vation, independ-
en,tly of the motions of She, sea. and
ship.
The I:immoral turret has an, extensive,
latitude of motions esPecialliS ID the
horizontal plane, and all tIbile Pisces,
•plraced in bomb proofs can be 'fired
without the slightest danger of watert
enteriaig through gu,n ecalbrasuxe.e. The
enters armament can be fired from a
central *rush and thiss will certainly
enhance the precision a fire, as the
dieturbenoes dwa to sueoke sitanuding
the muzzles or the deriatione which
unavoidably result at the moment ot
firing un inctiviciamil gun, from nervous-
ness or excitement a,re largely exclu(d-
ed. Apparatus located in the LirilIgi
statiou reveals at each trooment the
firling angle, necessary, the angle of de- '
vitals= from. the hOraCta end the
tance ot th,e enem,y.
By anothe,r mechanismattached to
each. gwn„ any desised angle cam be ob-
tained, either for distant or for lentils
or mortar fitting, and tihis apparatus
is so made that the grin, can be fitted
only when the axis of the gun forms
the exac.t angle witth the horizon nec-
essary to 'make the projectile reach the •
target. The armament at the armor-
ed misers consists of three guns eer-
ried in each turret, fore and aft, cen-
trally disposed., together with ta, num-
bee of rapid. fire medium' and small
calibred rifles and machine guns.
BATTLE SHIPS.
are of exiietly stni11ar design to the
cruisers, but—and here is a. revelation:
ia battle shtps—ttbisy carry no armor.
Theis weapons consist only of two large,
torpedo greens and 8., half dozen rapid
fire pieces. The torpedo destroyer, or,
chaser., i a„ submaritne boat about sev-
enty feet in length. It is ciroulareiu
cross section,, is propelled by six screws
and has very great speed. Its crew
will be four inert.
The torpedo ,gsen, ig about twenty in-
ellea i,n celibre, and the torpedo is load-
ed. much upon the usual principle. At
the ta.rget fiairng ang-1•8 the torpedo will
Ertl alas n distance of about two and. one-
h.alf miles, when it drops into the wat-
er, unless mi quicker fall es secured: by
giving the nose point the controlling
effect required. At the moment the
projectile touches the water the steel
case is detached, and the projectile
gives itself a forward motions at the
rate of &beat a :mete a minute.
The autormaNaUty of the torpedo le se-
cured by a mechanism whet% functions
the screw, a,nd this is so arranged that
when the borpeelb hits Lts target its ap-
paratus reverses quickly enid gives a
return motion of such velocity that the
weapon is clear of the target before the
delayed action of the fuse is in epees,'
Mtn.
AGE OF ICE CR,EAM.
"Ice cream.," according to the Gen-
tleman's ;Slagazine, "is an alder sweet-
meat than many would suppose. In the
beginning of the seventeenth century
goblets made of ice and also iced fruit
e., fruit frozen over—were first
brought to, table. The Iiinonadiers, or
lemonade sellers, of Paris, endeavored
to increase the popularity of their
wares by icing them and one, more
enterprising than the rest, an Italian
named Procope Couteaux in the sear
166() conceived the idea, of converting
such beverages entirely into ice, and,
SOyeats later iced liquors i.e., limbers
ohanged into lee—were. the principal
things sold by the lintenadiers, 13y the
end of the century iced liquors were
quite COIXIMOD in Paris. Ice cream, or
iced 'butter,' as it was first called from
its supposed resemblance to that sub-
stance son followed. It was first
knotvn in Paris in 1774. The Due de
Chartres often went at that 'time to
the Paris coffee houees to drink &glass
of iced liquor, and, the landlord, hav-
ing one day presented him with hte
'arms' forraed in edible ice, this kind.
a sweetmeat became the fashion. Ger-
than cooks at onee took up the new
at. It We.% not tong in reaohing
England, for in 1776 a French. mole
resident in London, named Clermont,
wrote 'The Modern Cook,' in which
sweet ices were first tesorilied for the
instruotion of English. cooks. Present
day cooks have elaborated the ice 041*
Ormously."
A.—Iext thinking of dabbling:a little
itt stocks. What'e geed: wag to
put your iitioney in ? %ttegtone inside
ttooket,