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A CARPING ELDER BROTHER Ready to Take Every Advantage Over His Fello^ Men. A Itesr.atch from Chicago says: Rev. Frank T)e Witt Talmage preached from the following text: Luke xv, 28, "And ho was angry." Who was the prodigal's elder brother? "I know who he is," an- every day of Biy life. He is the honest, upright son who stays at home and gets no credit for heing good; he is the respectable plodder of the family who does most of the hard work in the office, in the store and on the farm and then has tho extreme pleasure of seeing all the young girls run after his dissolute younger brother merely because that brother is driving fast horses and sowing his 'wild oats.' The elder brother is the son who is always sober and yet receives he not one extra dollar from his parents as a reward, whilo the drunken son of the family is continually receiving extra money to get. his clothes out of pawn, so that he may have another start in life. The elder is the 'good boy' upon whom the mother depends to help give his sisters new drosses for the winter parties, yet he never has a party given for him. He never had a fatted calf killed that he might entertain his friends, though for years he has cared for the cattle by day and has seen that they were properly milked at night. He is the 'good boy' who never had a fine ring put on his finger. The folks laughed at his horny fingers, which were knotted from handling the plow and wielding the hoe and tho ax. His feut were never measured for dancing slippers because his sandals were always soiled and dirt begrimed. Ho was always working in the fields. The drunkards, the profligates, ihe midnight carousels, the libertines and the associates of lewd companions are the ones who, when they reform, have the smiles and the dancing parties given to them, not the elder brothers who have never done any wrong." TWO KINDS OF FAULTS. But neither of the brothers is portrayed as an example. Both were bad, though in different ways. We easily see the faults of the younger brother; they were open and scandalous; but the faults of the elder brother, being decorously covered up by dutiful conduct, are not so easily recognized. In estimating character on God's lines we have to ask not only what a man has done, but what he is. Meanness and unbrotherliness and cruelty in the heart deface a indelibly as ct\<>; aity;. I- s.iid, like "whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness." Therefore I place my chief emphasis upon the sinful life of the elder brother, to show that the so-called spectable sins of self are of all sins the most to be dreaded and that it is the duty of the preacher to warn his hearers against them. The elder brother is the modern Pharisee, who thanks God that is not as other men. He compli contly looks upon the drunkard and the social outcast and the pauper and says to his friends: "Just look without one drop of human kindness in your heart. You may be so merciless in your dealings with mankind that you will not stop for one moment to consider the sad causes which led your friends into sin or into financial difficulty. And, elder brother, if your faults are meanness and avarice, though you may-have never violated the criminal code of your state, you are at heart a sinful monster, a financial tyrant; you are at heart a merciless cab niator. God despises your in pented sins just as much as he spises the sins of the prodigal in A DESPICABLE SPIRIT. Tho elder brother thinks that Divine Father's house is not big ough to hold two sons. He feels that if his brother is allowed come back the returning prodigal will crowd him out of some room which rightfully belongs to him. He says to himself: 'There is that drunken loafer of a boy. He has taken his one-half of the property; give part of my rightful inheritance now he is coming back to eat up part cf my half. 1 know that father is so kind-hearted that he will to this lazy spendthrift, this boon companion of dissolute characters. If he has spent his all, then let him starve. That is just what lie deserves. He has no right coming back, to be a vampire upon my property." So the selfish older brothers in many of our large churches refuse to let the prodigals come among them and will not allow them to be received as equals in their Father's house. They seem to think that the advent of the poor and outcast means their own social extinction and their spiritual debasement. Where can the despicable, Pharisaical spirit of tho elder brother be found more conspicuous than in some of your modern Sunday school classes? "Oh," say the- well dressed young girls of that class, "you are not going to put that poor girl in our class. Why, it will ruin the whole class! You can't expect the daughters of millionaires to associate with sewing girls even in a Sunday school." Where can you find a more despicable, Pharisaical spir" than in the missionary life of son ur large city churches? There a y large, and wealthy church that are supporting missions in tl foul slums of the city, yet whose uembers would not for one in How the poor to sit in their . ews or kneel at their comm tables. And, mark you, this phar saical spirit of old is not, onlj found among- the rich, but als< Long the poor. TTll'j TWO SONS. THE LACK OF FAITH. The elder brother's conduct also shows a lack of faith In his father. He refuses to believe that his Divine Father's love is powerful enough to change a sinner Into a saint. Infidelity often Intrenches itself in the pew and behind the church pulpit. Some church members, and some ministers of the gospel, are only theorizing when they profess to believe that Jesus Christ can pardon sin. They prof< lieve that Christ can transform the seven deviled Marys into the Marys who are willing to sit at his feet and worship, but these skeptical-elder brothers go forth into the great, widi, sinful world and by their practical behavior scatter their ideal spiritual theories to the four winds. When the reformed drunkard comes home, they cry out : "What is the good of letting that loafer into the house ? J like other drunkards. He repenting for a little while so that he may get some money out of u and go forth on another spree. Driv him out at once. Let him go to th poorhouse, where he belongs. When the young girl who has led dissolute life wants to lead a pure life, instead of finding the willing arms of forgiveness held out to her by her elder sisters she finds only the shut doors of a contemptuous rebuke. Why ? Because the cynical cider sisters do not. believe that a prodigal woman with a black past can ever, even by divine power, be changed into a sainted woman with a spotless future. The criminal has served his penitentiary term and is liberated from the stone cell. Is the great world at large ready to forgive him and receive him back into honorable employment if ho repents? Oh, no ! The elder brothers and elder sisters are so bitter against the ex-convicts that many a repentant one has deliberately returned to his crimes because he could earn a living in no other way. THE FATHER'S FORGIVENESS. The other day a person asked me what I considered the most beautiful sentence in the parable. This was my answer : "It is not to be found in the good father's dealings with the younger, but with the elder son. When the servant came and told the good father that i elder boy was acting unfilially and unbrotherly, tho father did not lose his patience. He did not send a peremptory command to his elder • had ( ad- vantages than those people had. I was of a highstrung, my evil desires get the better I have never been drunk. I have never run up a bill I was unable pay.- I never was a frequenter the clubs, nor a convivial associi of midnight carousers. Indeed, bo frank with you, I have just about as good opinion of my moral attainments as Prince Bismarck had of his skill in statesmanship. When some one asked the Iron Chancellor who he thought -was the braini statesman in all Europe. Bismarck replied: 'Modesty forbids my stating who is the brainiest, because then I might have to mention my own name. But I am perfectly willing to state that Benjamin Disraeli is without doubt the second ablest statesman in all Europe.' Other saints," remarks the Pharisaical elder brother, "may be my equal in moral attainments, but I am sure there is no superior in all the world to my humble self." A DEFECT IN CHARACTER. Elder brothers, you have no ground for pride if the restraint that has kept you from prodigality is itself a defect of character. It is true that you have not gone off as a prodigal into a far country. You have not given a midnight banquet and started your young friends on the path to a drunkard's grave by toaching them how to bury their lips in the red poison cf the wine cup. You have been too stingy for that; you may have been so mean and stingy that that there is no fear that you would drink a glass of wine or smoke a cigar unless some one else paid for it. It is not principle that saves some men from going to destruction by the .broad highway of dissoluteness, but pe-nuriousness. They hold on to every dollar they have and are too stingy to spend a cent. They keep their money as long as they can and never give a cent to a friend unless they make that friend give them a first class security and pay full interest. But, my so called respectable and upright Pharisaical friend, though you are not a prodigal, you may be a urarer, an extortioner and a slandere*'. You may be a robber of tb^ poor widow's rnite and a contemptible tyrant in your dealings with your debtors and your employes. You may be a peddler of evil reports and a murderer of your neighbor's reputation. You may be one of those keen, cold automatons ' dowry. The elder brother never longs tisfy the divine cravings of father's love. I have no sympathy with some of the excuses that made for that prodigal son. I ] no sympathy with those who clare that young men are led astray into the far country of sin because they have generous impulses abnormal affections and therefore cannot say no to the tempter. That prodigal was an ingrato, every way you take him. He was a selfish, contemptible, dissolute rake. No man is large hearted who will take a friend to a saloon or open a bottle of wine at a club when ia order to do it he makes his own children go hungry and dress in rags. No generous hearted young man will go into the far country of sin and recklessly squander his money when at the same time he knows that his old father is weeping at home, with his eyes a fountain of tears ; but, though that younger son was a fish, despicable character, tho elder was just as despicable. When elder brother heard the music which signaled the parental joy over repentant prodigal's return ; when he saw the eyes of his father glistening with love and his cheeks flushing with a holy thankfulness, he would have rejoiced for his father's sake if he had not been selfish and would not have tried to stab i old man to the heart. Did he i say in effect : "Yes, we shall dr that dissolute debauchee back to his swine trough. Then we can have the pleasure of seeing father again restlessly pacing the floor through the long, weary hours of the night." Did he not want to hoar that dear, old, gentle, forgiving father again moan over his wayward boy as David mourned over his dead son Absalom ? If that elder brother had been tho right kind of a son, he would have ' t joy came into the father's heart at the return of his repentant ~ i would have immediately What difference does money make if I can only mako father happy ? Away with the question of dollars and cents if my brother's re-only a true return." So every Christian to-day, if he is tho ight kind of a Christian, does not think about the social condition of his repentant fellow man. He immediately says, when the publican bows at the mercy seat : "Oh, the look of triumphant love which is upon my Divine Father's face. Oh, the celestial music which in great tidal waves of sound is rolling through the golden boulevards of the New Jerusalem. Oh, the angelic voices in heaven which are everywhere shouting the glad tidings : The prodigal has returned to his Father's house !' " There ought to be joy on earth as well as joy in heaven over one sinner that re-penteth. There ought to be the joy which the good shepherd felt when he found his sheep that as lost ; the same joy which the nee frantic wife experienced when le recovered the lost piece of silver, hich was part of her wedding right to do, but, as a ser-he left tho banquet hall. He the darkness of the night and plac about his sinful elder son as he answered in a pleadin me, and ' all that I have That is as much 8 boy, my dear boy, j do j a not trying I shall r take away any of.your inhexj -All that I'havcrtsto^Jrs.Klj-j 'long for is for tr^Flovc purity of my children. I want two boys to be always by my side. Come, my child ; come back to your father's love. Come back into the old homestead which I have prepared for you.' " Oh, that answer to me is beautiful i That answer is the sweetest, gentlest, most loving and yet most pleading rebuke ever spoken by the lips of any of the characters of the Bible. That is a Christ love pleading for you and for me to come into the Father's house and nestle as a lamb in his bosom. But, after all, the most impressive part of the elder brother's history is the abrupt way in which the parable ends. There is no doubt the younger son was forgiven. No doubt tho repentant prodigal was able to enjoy the rest and the home pleasures of the father's house. But how about that cynical, self satisfied and complaining elder brother ? Did he ask forgiveness of his father? Did he go into the banquet where the feast was being celebrated ? I do not know. I cannot tell. The parable ends with the earnest plea of the father. Wo must take the rest we will. Personally I have my bts about the salvation of that elder brother. It is sometimes far easier for the sinner down in- the slums to come to Christ than for tho rich son living in a luxurious palace. A London missionary was one night called up to go to a dying girl. This wayward child at the time was living in a dissolute house. When the missionary entered the room, he found a sinful sister holding in her arms the head of the dying girl, and she was saying : "Jennie,it is all right. Put your love and trust in Jesus. He died for just such sinful girls as we are. Jennie, put your faith In Jesus Christ." Yes, we can all feel that Christ died for the prodigal son, it is awfully hard for some of sinful elder brothers and sisters to feel that it was necessary (i Jesus Christ to die for them ai their sins. My elder brother in si you going to stay out of yoi Father's house ? Are you going to refuse to put your faith in Christ and come into the marriage banquet of the Lamb ? 9«9«9«'8'«9o$*0o9<»9»9*9e S FOR™ HOME | X Recipes for the Kitchen, f • Hygiene and Other Notes % © for the Housekeeper. ® S TESTED RECIPES. Barley Soup. -- The two following soup recipes are especially mended for the sick room: Take one pint of slightly salted boiling water and into this stir (slowly) about two-thirds of an even cupful of barley flakes, or enough to make a thick mash when it is swollen. Stir constantly and cook until the largo bubbles have ceased to burst. Then set the boiler over boiling water and cook a half-hour. Turn it into a bowl, smooth off the top and pour over it a little cold water to prevent the formation of a crust. When the patient is ready for a portion smooth it in cold milk--if it is desirable to have it very fine--sift it. Then thin it to the desired consistency with hot milk, or cream, and add a pinch of salt. In this way a small portion of gruel may be prepared quickly and often. Enough of the mush for one day only should I cooked at one time. This soup hi been given with satisfactory resul in severe cases of dysentery. It also soothing and not Mutton Ji ; for the Cinnamon roses are n children's luncheon. Roll bread dough quite thin, spread a little butter, and sprinkly mnvbfg a little butter, and sprinkle thickly with sugar and it up as for roll jolly cake, moisten the edge with water, so it will ad-hero firmly. With a sharp knife cul off slices from the roll about oik inch thick. Lay them in pan, and when light, bake. WATERING HOUSE PLANTS. Many plants an of water, but mo having too much, is to tap the pot if i gives starved for want are killed The way to ith the knuokli 9, a call for water, shing. ne pound o leg, into thir emove all th< all right; but i and heavy, the soil is too wet, and you must look to the drainage. By moving the soil on the top of the pot with a knife or trowel, it is easy to tell if thf ground is dry, for if so it requires wavor, but any one must use judgment in the case. If wate|^^Bivon^ from the tap is tho best for this purpo: add a little warm water, si be nearer the temperature of the room than the cold water would likely to be. Never let the watei stay in the saucer, and about once in three weeks put in a bit of lime about the size of a walnut in the wa ter, for it helps to sweeten the sof althy ap- peal At when the days are cloudy and shavings and carefully fat. Spread the slii gether, on a long fine piece of cl< cheesecloth; sprinkle with fine salt, ill up the cloth tightly and " Then pla< it i eights and ■ be- Ser"S slightly AWKWARDLY EXPRESSED. She was a large woman and not what you would call handsome, but then sho was an heiress. Still, the designing youth might have been ! diplomatic. liss Tubbs," he said, when he thought it was about time to bring ers to a head--"Sarah -- for ths past my thoughts and aspirations have been centered on one great object-" She smiled encouragingly. "Miss Tubbs -- Sarah -- need I y it? You are that great object!" "Sir!" And a few moments later the would-be suitor crept dejectedly pieeze out all the ju ith broken ice, or heat it 3rd serve without straining. A Simple Nourishing Dish.--Bread and milk, and crackers and milk classed as very simple dishes; ertheless, they do not agree all people. Those who cannot them without an uncomfortable sation of fullness may like to try the following dish: Have some perfectly made and baked Graham or whole heat bread, slice it thin and pour ver it a little thin cream--about three tablespoonfuls to each slice; sprinkle sparingly with salt. Personally, I would prefer this for my dessert to either pie or pudding. Oyster Rolls. -- Shape some well-isen light bread dough into small ound forms and put them into well-greased muffin pans. Let them rise until very light, then bake them in quick oven, decreasing the heat when they aro brown, and let them until very thoroughly done. When cold cut a small slice from the 1 scoop or pun out the in being careful not to break -ust. Don't throw away the do, but put it in a moderate „nd let it dry and brown slightly njid u:.r i_t_ as * im , ^ do pulfed bread; pint of oysters, strain the liquor put it with the oysters, and parboil until the edges curl. Skim out oysters, remove the scum, add the hot liquoi* an equal amount cream, and pour it gradually over white roux made by cooking one blespoonful of hot butter until well blended. Add a few grains of one-half of a teaspoonful of celery-salt, a dash of cayenne and a few drops of lemon juice. Cut the oysters in bits, put them in the sauce and when hot fill the bread shells, put on the crust cover, and if there be any sauce loft, pour it around the rolls. Serve very hot. Escalloped Oysters. -- One pint of oysters and six pounded crackers. Drain the liquor from the oysters and wash them in a bowl of clear water. Put a layer in a email dish, sprinkle with salt, pepper, a pinch of mace and bits of butter. Then cover with a layer of bread crumbs. Repeat this process till you have used the oysters. Have the top layer of crumbs thick enough to hide the oysters. Strain the liquor and pour over it, and let stand for a few minutes. Then pour over all half a cup of milk, and bits of butter at intervals to mako a rich crust. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes. Macaroni. -- Two ounces of cheese, one pint of milk, a scant ounce of butter, a pinch of salt, a little pepper. Boil the macaroni ten minutes, turn off the water and pour on the milk with half the cheese and butter and boil for five minutes. Then put the whole in a dish with the remainder of the cheese and cover tho top with a layer bread crumbs and bits of butter. Brown in the oven and serve at once. CAKES FROM BREAD DOUGH. A dainty produced from the bread-pan is a light cake that is delicious for tea. Take one cup of the light dough, add half pint, of warm milk, three eggs, sugar or syrup to sweeten, one cup raisins, a few spices, and flour to form a thick batter, as for cake. Pour into a greased tin, and allow to rise until very light, then bake slowly. In place of raisins, dry cherries stewed and sweetened with maple syrup are nice. Citron may be used and dried apples are equally good. The apples should be soaked for an hour in warm water, and used in the cake without previous cooking. Another favorite relished by the little folks, as well as "children of an older growth," is to knead up a quantity of dough with a little butter. Roll out very thin. Butter a flat tin, and lay in the dough, so it will cover the bottom and sides. Cut a long, narrow strip of dough, wet the edg»s, and press the fitiip along them firmly. Fill the center with apples, peeled, sliced, and sweetened with sugar, dotted with bits of butter, and flavored with cinnamon. The flavoring may be varied with lemon juice, vanilla or nutmeg. Allow it to become very light, then bake in a slow oven. This forms x favorite dessert, when served warm with cream, or a sweet sauce. Dried or canned fruits may be substituted in place of apples. When seasonable fresh currants are requi nuch less February and March when the sun is more powerful and the plants feel the heat, and start into new vigor. A plant lover can generally tell when these window treasures are suffering, and when they • are blossoming in with their environment. THE COMING CENTURY. A writer for the London Outlook has been amusing himself and his readers by a long glimpse into the future, and made a record, in the form of a diary or news report, of events supposed to occur in the year 2002. As will be seen, his imagination is of a scientific order and his mind under the spell of modern inventions. A gentleman, he says, recently undertook to walk on his electric boots through the passenger tunnel from Dover to Calais within an hour. He accomplished the feat in something over fifty-nine minutes. The daring, gethi THE S. S. LESSON. j 13. 1-3. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. In the next two verses he says that no manner of testimo iy or service amounts to anything apart from love. As "love" and not "charity" is the proper word, and it is so translated In the R. V., we will use it through this lesson. These first three verses might be summarized as--Love versus prophesies, tongues, knowledge, faith, goods, etc., and the whole chapter might be called, Lov* contrasted, analyzed, defended. It is said to be' the only chapter in all Paul's epistles that does not mention Jesus in' one or other of His titles, but it is a portrait so wonderful that one cannot fail to recognize the l.keness' even without the name. The Lord Jesus combined all in Himself, the picture is His, and without Him wo are notEing and can do nothing1 (Rom. vii, 18; John xv, 5). Until we are born again and thus become children of God nothing counts that we do, for "they that, are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. viii, 8). Then after we are born again only that which God works in us will count, as we saw in last week's lesson, and "God is Love" (I John iv, 8. 16). Note the oft repeated I, I, I of these verses and contrast Gal. ii, 20; I Cor. xv, 10, "Not I, but Christ who liveth in me ;" "Not I, but the grace of God which was 4-7. Love suffereth long and is kind ; love envieth not ; love vaunted not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh jked, thinketh no evil, at a perfectly beautiful section ave in these four verses, two of l we have quoted. Such love was never fully seen on earth except Christ Jesus, and only as He fills and lives in us can it be reproduced. Try to imagine a person who is always patient, never in word look or act unkind, never, in any v jealous or self Beekiaf, never under any circumstances provoked (R.V.), never thinking or saying f anyone, rejoicing only in things true and lovely and always meekly bearing, patiently enduring and ever hoping for the best, with a faith in God. It is too alto-lovely to come from earth, last quarter of the distance having been accomplished by the boots alono. A curious accident happened to a gentleman in Kensington yesterday. He was wearing one of his usual week's supply oi the well-known nimcipeiice ■ brown-paper overcoats. The tails of the coat caught fire in street, and the garment was burned to the waist, where the fireproof impregnation took effect. No 'DUbt some careless workman had mitted to dip the tails of the coat. The' other day the government inspector found that the nine-year-old Brown was one inch short of the standard height. He accordingly put in the electric elongator. But unfortunately he forgotten, and when taken out as found to have been stretched x feet. He is now in a very weak state, and' some time must elapse before he can be subjected to the contractor treatment. Mr. Electrisimus Smith was married to Miss Algebra Jones on Tuesday. The happy couple started immediately after the ceremony in a three-roomed aeroplane for the Bra- GRAINS OF GOLD. He that can have patience, can ave what he will.--Franklin. An extreme rigor is sure to arm everything against it.--Burke. Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him.--Charming. No hand can make the clock strike the hours that are past.--Byron. The sure way to miss success is to miss opportunity.--P. Charles. Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.--Vol- room hung with pictures is a n hung with thoughts.--Sir Joshua Reynolds. To be good and disagreeable, is high treason against the royalty of ' ie.--II. More. man's own good breeding is tho best security against other people's lanners.--Chesterfield, i are all excited by.the love of se, and it is the noblest spirits that feel it most.--Broadhurst. When a man has not a good rea->n for doing a thing, he has one good reason for letting it alone. -- Sir Walter Scott. The gain of lying is, not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we speak the truth.--Sir Wal-t Raleigh. Some reserve is a debt to prudence, as freedom and simplicity of onversation is a debt to good na-jre.--Shenstone. There is no impossibility to him who stands prepared to conquer every hazard--the fearful are tho fail-' .--Sarah J. Hale. A SHOCK-PROOF SUIT, r Humphrey Davy put a wire-gauze envelope around the miner's lamp, and thus removed the greatest danger of fire-damp explosions, 'rofessor ArtemiefT, of the Kief University, Russia, has devised a suit of clothes, likewise made of wire-e, which will protect the wearer from electric shocks of every kind. Wearing such a suit he received a shock from a condenser charged to 150,000 volts, and attracted sparks more than a yard long with his hands, without burning himself in the least. and it is not of earth ; it is wholly heavenly. It is a description of Him who came down from heaven, who while he lived on earth for over thirty years was at the same time in heaven (John iii, 13), of whom-it is written, "Yea, He is altogether love!y"(S. of Sol. v, 16). V 8. Love never faileth, but whether there be prophesies they shall fail' ; whether there be tongues they shall cease : whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away. He says: "I am the Lord. 1 change not" (Mai. iii, 6). He who says "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" is the only One who said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." And He is the same yesterday, to-dav and forever fiHeb. xiii, 5, 8; Jer. xxxi, 3). There will be no more need oi prophecy, for every prophecy shall have been fulfilled. There shall be but on« language, and all we now know by the word of God shall be actually realized in the kingdom. 9, 10. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. All that we know is found in the word of God, and there is to every statement and truth in such breadth and length and depth and height that we shall never while here grasp fully all that there is in any utterance of the Spirit. We may well say concerning all we have as yet learned, "Lo, these aro but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him" (Job xxivi, 1-1, R. V.). "The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. iv, 18). 11, 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. When once the glory and light oi heaven shine in our souls, the things which once occupied and interested us seem as the toys of childhood, and we wonder how we could ever have wasted our time on them. Yet doth not yet appear what we shall all our knowledge is- but partial. It be, and not till He shall appeal-shall we be like Him (I John iii, 2). The question is often asked. Shall we know each other in heaven? Is not the answer found hero? We cV' not know any one fully here, but w» shall know them fully there, and those whom we know here we shall Surely know better there. It refers to people as well as to truths. As Peter knew Moses and Elijah without an introduction, so I believe it shall be. 13. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest ol these is love. Faith looks to tho great sacrifice for pardon, love to a risen Christ gives us- fellowship with Him in suffering and service, while hope looks to His coming agaia. In I Thoss. i, 3, 9, 10, we see how they turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven, and so we read of their work of faith, labor of love and patience of hope. Tho love of, God is the greatest thing we ever heard of, the greatest thing ever, seen on earth (John iii, 16; I John iii, 16; Rom. v, 8), and yet of all' things the least understood or ap-* predated. On our part the greatest* thing isVaJith, for "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb.i xi, 6), but love is the foundation o* our faith, as it is written, "We have, known and believed the rove whicif God hath to vs" (I John iv, W).