REPUTATIONS OF MEN(: Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage Tells i Us of the Truly Great Entered according to Act of the Pare) wiih the doctors in the temple. Then pewenyiok sO engrres ope acd oy - @ again Binappeate for eighteen long y Wm. Daily, of 'Toronto, at the p to thirty years of age artment of Agriculture, Ottawa.) Christ was politically and sociologi- "A despatch from Chicago says :--| cally an unknown factor in eastern Rev. Frank Me Witt Talmage preach-| life ed from the fuliowing text: Matthew| 1 the meantime who was this xi, "There hath iol risen Jct the Baptist? This second renter' than Johs ihe Bapt youn man, of about the same age "Gr as .jeusus, W lived of it. ieyers of Those stones will lift all generations higher in knowledge and in possibilities, Bigher than all sin: higher than all ure condemna- The Calvary stones best man that ever lived. to heater his' own ver went - on merits. If we over reach the city of the it 'must be through redcemed, what Christ has done for us dnd not through what we have done for our- selves This statement contains the Satins the essonce, of at? Yes! 'Yet, mntwithatention he that is least in sg ee t es, Se fHE GREATEST BOOK. great avoce grow bigge: and moe s.naliiy in the east. colossal the years pass a ac a hermit. But the voice he lifted ail from thei,' -- wrote the eid reached, not only echoed tained 11,100 Volumes and pher of Ro Burns, the |the villages, but also throughout the Was Prepared in China. mountain shetois sizo and their reputations lengthen in importance as the sun of their day sets and the long night of their they increase in| great capital itself. The rich and the poor, the old and the young, the government officials and the peasant alike left their homes to t separates us from them. Like! feet. Great crowds swarmed about the mythological heroes and heroines this strange porined wherever he . oc their leaders' brows become | wo 'They pressed into his caves uminous with crowns of gold. No A cathedral impresses us so much as oe they 'were igang ood meet reat echool pile that is covered ngs Sonn bass eS With moss ond creeping ivy. Man 8 seldom called great and t great until he has been dead at least ers by hundreds and thousands. Many of them were ready to bow down and worship him as a temporal. as well as a spiritual king. Yet when standi Tea ee ee ae Jesus appeared this illustrious lengthening shadows of many great reputations these imminent questions naturady ° arise in many minds: |render all for ohn What is true greatness? "What are |the Baptist, are wo willing to lay the elements which distinguish the |our fame, our wealti\ _ our entire life work at Jesus' BEARLESS FOR RIGHT. Great was John the Baptist! At the risk of kis life he was ready to denounce and attack the intrenched and the practically invulnerable sins of that day. He was'not cne of those men who always stop and ask. "Does it pay?" "before they attempt He truly noble from the merely selfishly famous ? JOHN 'THE BAPTIST'S GLORY. The purpose of this sermon is to show why John the Baptist was greater than all other men before Christ's Jordanic baptism--Johna the Baptist great, although he was so the sands of the wilderness, lying between the capital and Dead sca; so poor that his only gar- wents were the coarse skin of the wild benst, through the holes of Which stretched his long limbs and hairy chest; so poor that his only food was the grasshoppers or locusts and the honey which had been hid- den by the bees among the caverns and the hills. From the world's standpoint this is a we portrait of a preat man, But ow wonderful is its setting. The fabled portrait was cf a gold high places. evils as mighty in his Rape as liquor traffic is in ours and condoned crime thougti" the ceimiost was a king. He was ready to look the hideous monster sin squarely in the face and though his arm might seem to be as helpless and weak as the hand of a young girl striking at the wild beast leaping upon her in the Roman are- against = face with a silver frame, but the |M® He called a spade a spade, a portrait of John the Baptist is a jie & lie, an adultery an aduitery, silver face with » gold frame. Like d hypocrisy hypocrisy wherever they biel ae a ruby glowing red it is set in a circle of most precious diamonds. | He om sins Like a mirror of burnished brass, |Of the Jewish church. When" Tiered, pore and spotless, it reflects the|the governor, fell in love with his ight of a rising sun John |own brother's wifesand murdered the Baptist's glory that he was the Phillip that he might marry her, harbinger of a greater than himself i instantly hurled the divine As the direct forerunner of the Son condemnation against the ruler. Ile of God he caine at the supreme crisis | raised such a storm of popular in- of the world's history. jis name |dignation that Herod flung him into was thus linked with the most mom- [prison and afterward, at the behest entous of all events and derives a jot his step-daughter, luster from the connection. There jing before him at a drunken seems to be a natural law that great !he beheaded John and gave to her men should always be identified with j tho bloody trophy upon a charger. great events. ee . a Oh, my brother, dare we, With TRAINING FOR GREATNESS. John's courage, attack intrenched sin There must pe a training for great- wherever it may be found?- Like ness. The occasion docs not create/John the Baptist, are we great ; it only develops and pro-|enough and brave enough, no _-- It cannpt create or make wkat the direct cost may up- greatencss out of common clay. We be, rinciples of gospel do not assert that history can play |¢ in the diame, ae vot in a Handel's "Messiah"' plate or blow a bugle the city hall--aye, through Pres . i sacred aisles of the church it- yenny whistle or catch thunderbolts | ¢, Dare we do this even though with oa straw hat or shoot masto- ',, its - sa dons with pins or strar eke i one [unsheutio oie pallies alae vith age webs ie id , 4 5 | death and wave it over our heads and the heads of our loved ones? GREAT IN DEATH , though John tho Baptist was in life, he was also great jn arms |death., Like the pioneer who enters ithe American forests and cuts away and pulis up the stumps the home and plants the in order that his children may said that when worlds are shuttlecocke and the universe is a playground and all anfinity is abla aze with the c gods themselves must take T the sport. needs stronger than yours or mine to pitch fslands for quoits, to bowl down mountains the trees for tenpins, to swing hemispheres as | and builds an hin eg hurls the hammer, le orn, with stamp of foot, to make the [reap the harvests after the father is submerged continent Atlantis, which !gone, so John the Baptist, not once stretched between the old world himself, but for those who should ond the new, with a dying gurgle come after him, lived his life and at sink and disappear, But John's needs bring great men from obscur- | death was as DeneSelant 'in its re ity into prominence. 'The occasion |cults as that mother's death might furnishes the opportunity. 'be which would bring together -- the Great men are produced only by} warring factions of her family and This premise be-|pounite them beside the altar of her what greater event casket. lf you follow the teachings of the Rible very carefully you will find there Was a war, a@ rivalry, a jeal- Hfe of eternal joy ousy, between the followers of Jesus inve we except that which revolves | 4.) about tho personnlity of him ho | Christ and the followers of John. ' There was no war between John and a was once baptized by John the B nor in tne river Jordan ? ' nee Christ. No sooner did Jesus appear hope have we of ever meeting our | than John bent the knee and render- oved ones, our parents and our ,¢d unto him full and complete obedi- friends who have gone beyond except |CMce- | Dut this obedience was not through the Divine Being of whom {true in reference to the Johannian John the Baptist was the direct foro- | School. In the fourth chapter of John we find that in order to still runner? Oh, my friends, as John this rivalry Christ with his followers the Baptist's name was great by be- ing linked to the name cf ore left the southern regions of Judaea Christ at his first coming, wiil v and travelled north and went not make your name great by hing through Samar no sooner Rut au was John the Baptist dead than his world for Christ's second coming ? {disciples took the headless trunk of his bedy and buried it and 'went A FORERUNNER OF GOOD. and told Jesus."~ by h, s John the Baptist was a direct fore John's death all thege factions wens your toward preparing the runner. was more than that. |p, res aled. The Johannian school be- Ife was ready to sink and submerge | came in toto the "school of the and entirely cover up his individual- Nazar not a blessed ity with the personality of esus Sei showent that if we live for Christ { hrist. He was ready to let Christ ni id t th . i be all in all. Wanted to be this side o @ grave we may Sti continue to live in inflmence for merely a footlight to make the di- vine face shine forth the more clear- hy. He was willing to decrease so that the glory of his = four might increase. » lik Baptist, sink our individualities Christ's or do we. 'ec some of the ancient forerunners of the east pre- ing the gh chariots, wish to be Oo gorgeously to lw nas sO much noise that people pier be watching us and admiring strides iustead of turning their eyes toward the royal Master w are that Christ after we are dead? John the aptist, great before his sacrifice! John, the Baptist, great after he was martyred! A THOUGHT ILLUSTRATED. Perhaps I can illustrate the Bible thought in a simple way pushed workmen ascend the scaffolding and lay on one layer of stone and. then go to their rest. Another group lay another layer of stone upon the ceding inyer and then go to their t. And so the work i the trying see preach so that men may wall -- higher and higher, cach is or silt at his | of devotees and baptized his follow- ti was ready, and cried ready, to sur-} oo. ke J then hit at that sin,. The greatest book ever -- was portance was included in this mar- velous collection, which consisted of 22,877 books, bound into 11,100 volumes. It was prepared by order = Young Lo, the seco ond Emperor of tho i tion Chin, the leading scholar of the fifteenth century, whe organized the work under naverex subdirectors and a staff of 2,169 -- ee critics, readers copyi It was begun in 1303 and fiuished in 1407. No additions have been made to it since the latter ate. In 1562 100 clerks were employed ¥ fire at the time of the capture of Peking wa "the overthrow of the ing dynasty in 1644, and on the re-establishment of order the other copy was found to be lacking 2,422 volumes, whose contents were lost forever, 'Uhe remainder of the set, 20,455 volumes, was deposited in the Han-lin Yuan, the imperial acad- emy, Which was situated just north of the British legation at Peking. During the siege of the legation at Peking. During the siege of the leration in 1900 the Chinese soldiers set the building on fire as 3 means of forcing the foreigners to leave the British legation, and the most val- uable coilection of Chinese literature pie up in the ruins by foreignern, Chinese and coolies and are pro bly in the British eentiest, ; Maven, the Peking correspondent of the London Times, secured a doz- en volumes or more and other for- cigners were fortunate enough to ob- tain an example, Tu-tien" is lost forever. --_4-----__--. GLIMPSE AT JAPAN'S NAVY. An Englishman Testifys to Its _ Efficiency. The rapid adaptation of Japan to the demands ef modern has been | cone of the miracles of our times. Some have regretted this as, the dearostian of an old and pic-! turesque Oriental culture; others have hailed and go as far as to see in Japanese | statesmanship a powe the How peril' ef China into a formidable danger for the Western nations, Such cars. however, is detertinined whether London Daily Mail. Mr. been one of the very few foreigners | f ere take ¢ a cruise Ja fecle. see lf bes to give a account of what will happen inh the "renl thing' arrives. He found a striking demonstration of navi strength and efficiency. "'All the ships, save ohe, were English bu he tells us, "and the Japanese auth- orities are quite Se none of their large ves shall arg elsewhere ta Ti 'he sailors, made up of the = con- scripts, serving four years, and vol- unteors, serving seven, are a sturdy, efficient lot and are well fed and ad- mirably handled. or the gun prac- tice Mr. Stead says: 'The men are all armed with Murata rifles, invented and manufactured in Japan and short bayonets for over an hour work of 'alming, loading, and cleaning the guns in the turrets, casements, and batteries was carried on seriously. Many of the com- mands contain English words, and it very curious to hear them. cleaning and repolring of the as also to the protection ef the gun crews during on After describing the- various prac- tice drills, which were admirably earried through, by saxing : nel Japan and their ships, and they will well should ever the occasion arise."' HE TOOK TIE \HINT. "Yes,'"' she said, in something he said, songs are very beeutiful."' "Beautiful!" be exclaimed, enthus- iastically! '* 'beautiful' hardly = d scribes them. They are--thcy are-- answer to "the old say, fine sermon ?" group of workmen etatiting upon aiwell, compared with them, the songs are Wwe tiying to preach so that, as loftier écatfolding than that of the | of o-d: are trash, the veriest en cenosasbenen ding laborers. Well, the great | trash.' auditors cried, "Let us go and aight wall of 'progress has been builded in| 'I agree with you; yet the old Philip ! pe our hearers may ane, this way. ach generation hig al songs sometimes contain sentiments "Come. Iet us enlist under the b sents a batch of workmen, each lay-/of which one eannot' wholly ap- ner of Jesus?" er of stone the completed ongk of | prove." A FAMOUS PERSONALITY. the preceding gencration. 'The col- et think you are mistaken But Ict us inquire little more! !¢se boy of to-day Knows more of| "I w you an filustration, geography, more of chemistry, more esus |O'-astronoiny, more of alli the scienc- es, than the ablest man living three centuries ago. y? Because absorbed the compact knowledge | « the last' 800 years, which the a close] how 7m =" = v ang ., aaptiag P a was an Seaman wn mam et the "a er in a country villag: extent. of Christ's earthly ministry over only a short period of thtée or four. years. We road of Jesus w) Then h Wangipenra , years loigr, when, as a boy, he hrist's sacrifice was tale sgn 'the |to. the H give There is 'Home, Sweet instance for i ot?" "Why no ilo thar dl she said glancing at the which "was marking the hour armily. that song Which sa: place like home. You do not 'be- lieve og do you?" BELA savored soupuael a hollow cough, arose, and went silently out pe ' ae stones were the year 80 A, D.| of heaven is greater is and the original draft were destroyed | 88° b. ever made was destroyed, including the Encyclopaedia Maxima. ad daha ral hundred volumes were afte rd but the "Yung-lo m John the apc in anit 2 d ro & = 2 eS the "'Yung-lo Ta-tien," ur "Encly-|from the mow*'far along the floor clopacdia Maxima," which was de-/a@ pitch-ho which it was push- stroyed during the recent troubles in|ed and then along an alley until the Peking. It was o most wonderful|mangers -weto reached. Think of work and its destruction is the most|that! Take a: who. was not appalling literary catastrophe the|robust in health,' of in of sick- world has ever scen. It contained |ness when the boys and women folks the best selections from all the class-|may be _ do chores, cal, historical, philosophical and/| what a piece of. work it would be to literary works | ever _published, Pon feed a lot-of Of The straw shed hina, vy, in that barn ; iy. trology, geography, the "occult All straw u ust be carried fifty sciences, micdicine, religion, ie or sixty feet fore reachin: biography and the arts. Eve stables. = : Now, a itt foresight would "hav obviated |g it this un When the Terk is built is the "tone o fix things for t ecds rn : m. the w to the big floor_xghence it s di- rectly to the. ing alley. Even this is work enough for us. The straw shed is within: six feet of the horses. No hard work about bedding the horses there. THEN iN THE HOUSE, too, how terribly contrived are rooms in many Not long as house where the kitchen was hardly big enough for a woman to turn around i y Wife said it never would do for her. The stove took up the most of the room, and she being a woman of generous proportions must have a little room for herself. The-sink, table and cup- board utilized almost oll the space the stove did not monopolize. Every farm house showid have a geod big kitchen. If we are going to shorten any of the rooms let it be the par- great mis- moult be handy to civilization ! it as a great advance, | © the have in mind one | well what- ever y used for , coo! must be brought » I have personal | he of that farm she contracted h she has since A we shoul rewk] provision for the "supply of our farm houses. Tre well should be near to the | kitehen door, and easily appr sched. No woman or man either s be "expected toc roup aht steps. It issmuch better if Gue be ithe that |ironing board, a sewing machine; be | low table at which she may sit down than tn Great Bri-ito cut out and make garments | | | / i are} with pride in sheet traditions' out a shelf for plants in winter and do! a with all ee sentiments it contains?' | he ' fa ot r Stend has i: ° ight. sew so that he can bring r to organize , Water into the house should be held in abeyance until i FROM SOVE GOOD SPRING. 'How much work this will save for the house-wife, who can tell! While the farmer is getting his the Japanese up-to-date tools for use in growing have a creative genius, capable of | pis crops, he should not forget to taking se initiative, or are only | provide everything as modern for cle oe imita {hi as he can. More than one sw auctessful they shave been terauinds is'as bare of convenieneds atarene, in one po oint at least, is!) 8 those of Gifty years ago were. related by Mr, Alfred Stead in the | ° The man who will | oan. all needed money into farm tools or his own use and negicct his wife who is expected to keep up her en |of the work, ought to be ashamed of self What should the farmer's wife have e of conveniences in the A good kitchen tabic upon iit," | Which to do her making of pies and bread; a sink to wash dishes in; an a for herself and family; a large cupboard for dishes; a place to stow away ket- Ues basin and kettle covers; and plenty of low, easy chairs to sit in when sewing or doing similar work. These do not. cost much at present, They may be pure ne at a time if the farmer does not feel able to get them all at once. By getting now and then some such things for the housework, in a little while ev- erything needed will be supplied. - More than one woman has been broken down physically by being compelled to Afo her work under dis- advantage, Most Women are ready Special attention was paid to the | and willing not only to do their own SUNS, | work in the house, but also to = 'a hand when outside work press and it is not right that she vt | be required to scrub any way she can n the house and then HELP HER HUSBAND OUT. But no farmhouse is compicte with- stand of some kind for them in summer. The farmer who is handy with tools cap himself fix up a nice stand and also rig up a shelf jn the bay window, cr in some othé@r sun- shiny place for the flowers. It -- secms as if the farmers of the country do not understand the value "of plants and flowe' should, So farm ho baro of these beautiful things! they may be mych happi the means of knitting the héarts and lives of the young folks to the farm This is a point not to be overlooked. The winter months on the farm need pb possible source of attraction, and flowers go fe far in that direction. What shall .the farmer's wife have on her flower shelves? I think she if. there be Toon, . kinds. of ous plants as ae Pon For 'the Souteide in summer, there mm: ges sweet as | biel stalk becomes ,to something under a century. The great Peteates of profitable sil- sqomasking is to know ar when the has reached the pro ge. Oem is in its best coalition when are es Tee the roast- ig st If the corn is put in the silo when too green it is less aig and the silage becomes too sour. If allowed to pass the igiared stag "= oO kee both extre: Get the' silo filled an the corn is a with frost. While filling i. = keep "a the silo spreading and Pee srs the edges near the wall. It is edges imperative that "the and corners be well pac In finishing run oat nen through the cutter np the _-- surface is covered a a foot deo "Weighing is 'not necess ne When beginning to feed thro off the straw and manage so a oar can be fed off every day or two and there will be no moldy silage. Do not cut down and feed in sec- tions. It will spoil. oth = secretly and there will be no wa Heneraber that cows can not main- tain a good flow of milk on short feed Never forget to look after the comfort of the cows and see that every storm finds them in their Stalls. If you have found by testing that unprofitable cow In to an unsuspecting neighbor, but fatten her and send her to the shambles a en LOTS OF WORK AHEAD. Surveying of the Empire Takes Time to Accomplish. "There are many parts of the Em- * Lieutenant-General Sir. W. G. io. "They have not even finished the Ovitinae Survey of the United Kingdom, on which they have been at work for the last 118 years, wonder," added the witness, much they have spent on that The survey of the United Kingdom, which is proceeding as briskly now as it century ago, is | costing the country £230,000 a year. | During the past decade the work has jinvolved a total expenditure of £2 300,000. officers and men of the Royal gineers, and 2,254 civil assistants and labourers "he uninitiated might be excused for buppasing that such an arm kers would be equal to preparing a relate map of these islands in But i quiry in official quarters justifies the al = door-steps and the trees, The plans survey of Ireland at present being made indicate every tiny holding in the c Ther are aS many as 1, 800 of these -- enclosures on one "of the plans. such labourious work."' it is winied officially, "has been met with on the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain." to make a hill drawing from the field sketches. pire of which there are no suitable | * Wil A ROGUE 18 MAS ASTER PECULIAR 'THINGS ARE LIA- BLE TC RAPPER. Some Captains Ot Vessels Make Dishonesty Pay Them Well. re diem Fe sf merchant vessels have : lafees. dria anyone else ~ for exercise rogue inany ad them do not fail to work the | ficld to the fullest extent. The ways in which a skipper can build i / a eae re numerous. First of all there is tho iniquitous system of commissi If the owners order the stores to be of u certain price and quality, the sup- pliers find it advisable to: concilate the,captain, or there ll be om- plaints. To compensate for this outlay, the supplier probably has to send in a part of the stores of qual- ity inferior to that agreed, Hi ee on the quality, amd there is no complaint from him. Some skippers go farther. Fifty pounds' worth of stores are some- times sent in, and the m r .signs mas a gid for pee mid --_ again: the pay mo than half tho senciies t pode "into the skipper's pocket. t is surprising, too, to notice how onicity certain articles in _ of cutlery linen will w er be lost or damaged, Tablecloths, knives and forks, and the like, find. their way to the home of the cap- tain. The wives and families of ply of provisions at the end of oyage, which means that the skip per has pinched the food supply at sea. * ROGUP'S ADVANTAGE, In those cases where shipowners allow a sum of money to the master for provisions, the dishonest mander will grind quality and quan- tity to the lowest point, thus add- ng to the banking account standing in his wife's name. The men may grumble, but the skipper has the car of and the "common ance. 'The mates have occasionally to be kept quiat, which deprives the chief of a small portion of his hard-carned pilferings, but that is only a small drawbac only the provisions, but also port, to the common danger; the captain pockets the proceeds an accounts for the deficiency under the head of "dirty weathcr," or some- thing of that nature. Again, repairs at forcign ports nun up the expenses from time to time. BOLD BUCCANEERS. Some of the depredations of skip- pers, in ------ with the cargo, are en take your trent away if on are not in the swim. For instance, it seems incredible that a captain could appropriate ten ingots of copper--yet this was ac- tually done. The information was given by one of the men who helped to carry them a at an Anneri- can : pped; "they had £2 'each for the neipings, and the copper fetched £28. One skipper found it necessary to: aavenaption that they, or rather their}throw overboard no fewer than} successors, will be still engaged in| gfty bags of good- Russian wheat: the undertaking another' century} gurj a storm; a sudden modcra- nence, tion of the gale saved the greater The explanation is that the larger part of the cargo from the saime scale maps show such details as the | fate, was a loss; but it is! number of steps to a house, the po-|yot uncommon to throw over some sition o fire plugs, and the arrange-| of the cargo to lighten the vessel, ment 6 trees in fields and allot-| and there are losses as Well as gains ? Obviously these maps C@Nn/ jin all businesses. the strange be 'rendered inaccurate and out-of- part of the affair was that, ose date with utmost facility, necessitat- bags of wheat were thrown over ng a resurvey and a recount of the | overal days after the gale, and about 1,500 miles from the suppos- ed spot--in fact, when the vessel was a long way out on another voyage. How was that SEBMS TO PAY. The bags had been removed = anid hidden, in the anticipation of being able to dispose of them at the end of the next trip; but, to the dismay of the skipper, the vessel was sen _--_ ballast to a port where there was no chance of seliing the ill- less populous districts of Canada, ee the whole of South Africa north { Cape Colony are in a strictly geo- craphicns sense, this day. What detailed maps exist have been prepared from sketches made by travellers and explorer p-- INGENIOUS SCHEMF, The French railway companics have issu to fi stations an album which contains pictures of every possible article that a traveler is likely to have about him. the great number of passengers who it is are unable to speak French, often found difficult to trace lost articles pie the description given Now all that a passenger has to do is to itiey to the missing articles in thqyalbuin, A railway time-table--Twenty min- | P* utes for dinner. The thread of a love story usually winds up with a tie. Everything comes to m who waits, but this doesn t Thetude books that have been borrow A farmer has econ eeeing his to the editor Owing to tire." Almost microscopical thoyg) the ,otten goods. If the bags were per- attention paid to Great Be an is, | mi itted to remmin in their place of the Ordnance Survey ig- oo long they might be nores the rest of the Bonin. ihe idiscovered, so they were thrown over | are 3,200,000 square miles of Aus- | the side at night. ratia, New Zealand, and adjacent | An "advance" on account to pay islands, which have not yet been sur- | to men who desire to go -- at veyed, and an accurate map of -- the ort of call gives the dishonest former country is unobtainable. The master another opportunity of mak- ing a little by charging interest. It may be that the men are entitled to an giiogenen and thus no interest can be charged but if the port be a foreign one, the captain does not fail to change the meney for -them and charge a high rate of exchange. "If I could get a master's birth,"' once said a mate who had held but had babe to obtain the coveted posi- tion, "I would make cnough in five years to turn up seafaring and = re- and as he was "ia knew what he was tolkin Further, in support of his he mentioned a captain who, in a dozen years had acquired property to the value of for thou- and pounds, This was more than his a amounted to in the whole , to say nothing of the = fact that he had kept a family in good Style oll the time. me ant it, TEACHERS ACCEPT CHARITY, $34 a year is the salary of a cor tified teacher in th Government schools in the rural districts of Russia. The teachers ave forced to local paper. Ile wrote asking how to get rid of wasps. soothing answer came in the n issue of the paper, 'Kill them." The "tlh accept the charity of relatives or = their pupils parents. The fact have been ian d by a Spee cat Conn mission comes aftc Bobbie Why, U, and dad told Sis after breakfast and dinner, too, HER LIT LITTL E BROTHER. Mr. ig or--Can't puzzle you with thie mipneret: eh? + T? Well, now what that prety soon you' be coming *|years without reconciliation to some captains have an abundant ~ com- e Seeniaor LESSON, covenant made w his son, who would be Yaraala Mes- ie and the kingdom of righteous- as recorded in our last lesson in this book {chapter vii), we read of David's at prosperity and righteous reign (viii. ,15), Then comes the record of his great sin and repentance, the sin of Amnon and his death at the hands of his brother Absalom, after which Absalom fied to the king of Geshur and remained there three years, but through the plonitinig of _ wise woman of Te- koa,, employed by oab, he came back to erewens and dwelt whole his father, after which, thrqugh Joab's intercession, the Absalom signi- fies "fatner of peace," but his con- duct suggests one who is of his fa- ther the devil (John viii., 44). king's kiss to Absalom was the lov- ing kiss of a heartbroken father wel- coming his erring son, but the kiss of Absalom (if he did kiss his fa- ther) was like the kiss of Judas when he betrayed his Master. ha is the third time in fourteen yea that we have had this portion ot this chapter maleic a lesson in- stead of the much more helpful portion following, but w are asked to-day to study verse 23, which is some improvement. The story of Absalom is one of 4e ceit and lying and treachery and re- bellion even against his own father. Perhaps there was no one more chem His unscrupulous self-seeking, even at the cost of his father's life, is suggestive of the devil, who would if possible dethrone God, and who will yet seek to do so ere the age closes. Make a careful and pray- erful study of the following passages a and be ever on your guard against all such manifestations. Isa. xiv 3, 14; Dan. vii., 25; viii 24,95: xi., 26 II Thess ii., 3, 4; Rev. ii., £ i., xix., 19, 20. There are many foreshailowings on a small scale--nolit who will not Stake up a unter 'without first con- sidering how it may aficct their own political prospect; those who, for their own ends, by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple; those who under pretense of worshipping God have only in view their own promotion and pos- sibly the overthrow of some just person. 'How desperately wicked must have been the heart of Absa- lom, who, with profession of devo- jtion to God on his lips and his fa- ther's blessing sounding in his ears, goes forth to carry out his. devilish | designs against his father. Yet | there is an ever increasing multitude ; Who are disobedient to parents and jin open ae arene God (IT. the work of righteous- i 8 be peace and the effect of ightcoveness quictness and assur or forever (Isa. ix., 6, 7; xxxii., BA ). many ahithophels a the name signi- fies) who in relation to the king who while lly prof g legianee, are really on the side the enemy. t us turn from dark picture of self and sin to faithful few who said to David isd ythis dark hour, "Rehold thy ser- vants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint," who said, "As and as my lord the liveth, surely in what the king shall be, N or life, even there i will thy ser- vanes be" (verses 21 mere ciety stight it looked dark for David, but God had promis- ed that the kingdom would be estab- lished forever, and there were some who had -faith in God and were also ready to die with David rather than live with Absalom. The time was, and in China only two years ago, when to live meant to deny Christ' but many confessed Him and died for Him, Sce in Rev. xiii, 15-17 » a de scription of coming days, and sec in oe xiv, 9-11; xv. 2-4, the future of tho who deny Christ in order to live am the future of such as die for fi (Ruth i, 16 17; Il, Kings ii, 2, 6, 9), and may our determined stand be that of Paul in Phil, i 20; fii. 8-10. Note David's submission and recognition of God in this great trial "Behold, here am JI, Iet Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him" (verses 25, 26). same brook Kidron (verse 23; John xviii, 1) went the son of David on the night of the agony in Gethsemane and the betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and the faithful followers were very few: From the same Olivet (verse 30) the rejected Christ returned to His homo in Heaven, and to the same Olivet will He come again to overthrow His enemies and estab'ish the prom ised Lingdom with -- By a center (Acts ech » 4) therefore let us obey gh 1xi q David's going barefoot is pon i of his acknowledgement that this was all of God, and God must man- it is purpose, and it becomes us to off our shoes in His presence, as He said to Moses and to Joshua (Ex. i, & ¥. a We have come to i place of gre rest when, with truo re ge and vabrolute confide nee in God, « by day with unshod text, "acknowledging that the whole life and all its service, passive r active, are of God, He appointed and prepared for us and we ott --__4+-------- SOLD BY THE SHOCK. Af went on a visit to @ friend. After dinner the husband- --. requested to be shown round the After visiting several places they finally reached the electric lighting works 2 "What d' ve | cate this place, Dan? queried the f "This is cated. the electric plant,'* was the reply eR 'Plant! Phat do they grow? 'They grow currents.' "How do they sell 'em--by the "They 'aaa' seu 'em by the bushel; 'the stock," aaa ae Text of the Lesson , II, Sam. xv. eye Golden Text, Rp = ops te After the criti bry pansion 2 ith id concerning