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OOR POVERTY OF AsKINC _ Ask . . . that your joy may be _ fulllâ€"John xvi. 24. _ Men reproach us for asking too _ much ; the divine complaint is that ‘ we do not ask enough. "He wants â€" gale carth and heaven, too," said \re man by way of criticism upon the » inordinate acquisitiveness of anâ€" _ ptherâ€"‘"Hae wants the earth and heaven, too." But God is chefly @ sorr{ because man wapnt only the arth and fail to put in any claim for heaven, with all the bounties c which it stands. The Bible fairâ€" yearns over our poverty of askâ€" Thy Holy Oneâ€"Peter here apâ€" plies to Christ words which in the efginal psalm refer to the writer of the psalm itself, as the omission of the capitals in the Old Testaâ€" ment quotation is intended to inâ€" dicats. The word "holy" as used in the psalm means "‘godly‘" or ‘beloved."" The term implies lovâ€" ing loyalty. â€" The application of these words to Jesus as the Mesâ€" sizh rather than to the psalmist himself is justified by Peter himâ€" self in verse 29, where he points out 23. Being delivered up â€" Surâ€" rendered, sacrificed., Peter would have his hearers distinctly underâ€" stand that it was by the determinâ€" counsel and foreknowlecg:e of l that Jesus had suffered by the of lawless men. By the exâ€" sion ‘"lawless r@n‘‘ is meant en who in what they were doing ere exceoding their legal rights id prerogatives. 24. Whom God raised upâ€"This is the climax and turning point of Peter‘s argument. God had reâ€" yersed the actions of those who plotted against the Christ. & 25. For David saithâ€"The referâ€" ence is to Psa. 16. 8f., which reads : Jesus of Nazarethâ€"Thus was he known to the people generally. Had Peter been addressing a company of disciples, he would perhaps have used the title of ‘‘Master‘‘ in reâ€" ferring to Jesus. } The Beginrings of the Christisn Churcho. Arcts 2.522â€"47. Golden / _ Adts 2. 49, Verso_ . â€"Â¥e men of Israel â€" Peter is still speaking in his adâ€" dress to the assembled multitude at Pentecost. â€" He has just quoted from the prophet Joel, and applies the prophecy of the outpouring of the divine Spirit to the phenomeâ€" non of the gift of tongues which bad so astonished and puzzled his hearers. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth : My flesh also shall dwell in safety. For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol ; er wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. BUYING FRIENDS. Yet I doubt if he could count u{)on their coming to his funeral, unless We wore assured of a wine supâ€" Friendship can neither be cajoled nor bribed. What we win by such frank commercial methods is merely a husk. Real friendship never crosses the doorsill of any life, save bis who has paid for it an inward price. _ Pleasure also has its outside and its inside. A child gets the outâ€" side of pleasure when he possesses & multitude of toys, and is not _ The quoted verses constitute one of the few passages in the Old Tesâ€" tament in which appears to be exâ€" pressed a definite hope of a future life. _ The Davidic authorship of the psalm is uncertain. The idea itself might well be found in a psalm of David, but the mode in which the author works out the idea seems to suggest a later period. â€" 26. Dwellâ€"Or, "tabernacle,"" that i. dwell temporarily as a sojourâ€" 27. Hadesâ€"The Hebrew Sheol, the mystical realm of departed spirits. ner THE 8. $. LESSON _ INTERNATIONAL LESSON, JAN. 17. a bottle or at the price of elaborâ€" ate hospitality. I knew a man who spent half a fortune in «‘Purchase not thy friend by gifts, lest when thou ceasest to give they cease to love.""‘ As if friends could really be won by champagne at $5 Our fault commonly is that we are satisfhed with externals. Real friendship is always an inward posâ€" gession. It is won in terms of soul. ome one says that there are two es to every question, and then gdds humorously, ‘‘The outside and the inside.‘"‘ The eternal emâ€" phasis of religion is upon the inâ€" wardness of things. have set Jehovah always before Of Invardness of Things Is Held Abovo the Externals. 41. There were added unto themâ€" The words italicized in our text aro omitted in the original, there beâ€" ing no grammatical complement to the verb ‘"added.‘‘ The senso is that this number were added to the membe=skip. _â€"40. This crooked generationâ€"Reâ€" ferring to the collective guilt of the nation. 37. Pricked in their heartâ€"Conâ€" scienceâ€"stricken, realizing in a measure the enormity of the crime committed by their nation in putâ€" ting the Messiah to death. 38. In the name of Jesus Christâ€" Thus making a public confession of their belief in the divinity and Messiahship of Jesus, which was the burden of Peter‘s sermon and the basis of the Christian Church. 39. And to all that are afar offâ€" To future generations, as well as to those whom Peter addressed, this promise was given. Jehovah saith unto _ my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. _ But he saithâ€"This second quotaâ€" tion is from Psa. 110, where the original verse quoted reads : 34. For David ascended notâ€"The argument of verse 29 is continued, it being pointed out that David could not be the object of certain prophetic utterances of the psalm quoted. 31. Spake of the resurrection of the Christâ€"The application of the psalmist‘s words to the resurrecâ€" tion of Jesus from the dead is hardâ€" ly warranted by the original meanâ€" ing of the psalm, which is primarâ€" ily a prayer for preservation from Geathy â€"and"an expression of confiâ€" ‘d»enoe in Jehovah that this prayer will be granted. Concerning this point Protessor Bartlet, in his Commentary on Acts, New Century Bible Series, says: "Such free use of the Old Testament was quite common among the Jews; and inâ€" deed the New Testament writings contrast most favorably in this reâ€" spect with contemporary usage, so far as known to us. The idea lyâ€" ing behind the parallel perceived, even in such a case as the present, is usually profound, admitting of suggestive restatement in terms of our own more rigorous literary meâ€" thods. Thus, on the assumption that the psalm was Davidic and Messianicâ€"things taken for grantâ€" ed by Jewish opinion at the timeâ€" Peter was justified by the Semitic idea of almost personal identity beâ€" tween parent and offspring (even to remote generations, see verse 30), in using the psalm to prove, (1) that David‘s true scion, the Mesâ€" sizh, could not be holden of death, 1 and (2) that Jesus, whom death had. not been able to hold, was indeed‘ Messiah. Behind all this lies, both in the psalm and in Peter‘s mind, the deep principleâ€"upon which all really dependsâ€"that God_ cannot leave to destruction ‘His Holy One,‘ with whom he is in special covenant relation.‘" 32. Whereofâ€"Or, of whom. 33. By the right hand of God exâ€" altedâ€"Exalted by God‘s power to be & prince and Saviour. the fact that certain things menâ€" tioned in the psalm were not true of the writer. I was amused at the evident disâ€" gust of one of the squirrels in the park. He had seized eagerly the empty shell which had been flung him. . But after satisfying himself that the shell was empty he turned angrily away. To such chagrin mulâ€" titudes come at length. The ery of Eeclesiastes is a specimen cry of disappointed manhood. â€"No man can really feed his life on externals. We need to be sure that the shell includes the kernel of joy, else "all is vanity and vexation of spirit."" George Clarke Peck, D. D. Pharisaism is by no means an anciâ€" ent spirit. It is as modern as this morning. Men still broaden their phylacteries instead of their souls. A man can only weigh what he is, whether on a scale or in the scales of eternity. Not the form, but the force of goodness; not the shell, but the strength of truth ; not the pretence, but the power of a good life, is the real thing. é amused by any of them. He has gotten the inwardness of pleasure when, by virtue of a happy heart, he finds happiness in the simplest flower or toy. The fault of our pleasureâ€"loving age is not that it seeks pleasure, but that it concerns itself with the lesser gifts of joy. Real joy is of the heart. It is nevâ€" er bo; i of a multitude of scenes, or a multiplicity of sensations.. He who cannot find material for hapâ€" piness in his own garden in some choice book or in a little group of frends will never find it by going #&broad for it. Goodness also has its outside and its inside. _ Respectakility is the shell of goodness; manhood is its soul. But, by an inveterate pracâ€" tice, most people are still chiefly concerned with the EXTERNALS OF GOODNESS. Public storyâ€"tellers still earn a good livelihood in Japan. In Tokio alone 600 of them ply their trade, provided with a small table, a fan, and a paper rapper to illustrate and emphasize the points of their fang. The velocity of wind varies very considerably, according to the strength at which it is blowing. A gentle breeze travels five miles an hour, or thereabouts; a brisk wind at ten miles an hour. _ When a storm is blowing the velocity of the wind is about fifty miles an hour, and it is difficult to make headway against it when walking. Boisterous puffsâ€"spoken of as "blowing great guns‘"â€"attain a velocity of anyâ€" thing from eighty to one hundred miles an hour. STREET CORNER NOVELTIES Will the world‘s wood supply of wood ever become exhausted ? This is becoming one of the questions of the day. In consquence of the enormous consumption of wood all over the world for the manufacture of paper, for wood paving, for heatâ€" ing, for construction, and so many other purposes, this material is becoming scarcer and hence more valuable every day.. In France many large companies have been formed for the purpose of acquirâ€" ing and cutting down some of the most beautiful forests in the counâ€" try, and the question of preserving the forests has become a pressing one. The French Society for the protection of Forests has petitioned the French Parliament to pass a law restricting the felling of trees, which it says, is a menace to public health, trees being the great puriâ€" fiers of the atmosphere. It‘s usually the man who opens his mouth widest who drinks in most seandal. When a sermon only reaches back to Saturday night you can‘s expect it to last much beyond Monday morning. It‘s a sad day when a man lets his interests determine his princeiâ€" ples. _ | _ & aA #4: _ Religion has no home in the man who does not show his religion at home. You cannot improve the breed by polishing the brass on the harness. The secret of success lies someâ€" where between wishing and willing. _.The saddest slavery is that of beâ€" ing ruled by our pleasures. faa\é;sianotixer man‘s faith:" The fool is known by offering his forethought after the event. _ Toâ€"morrow‘sâ€"â€" burdens _ always prove too much for toâ€"day‘s back. If you would be farsighted. you must learn to live on the heights. The sins we wink at toâ€"day are the ones we wed toâ€"morrow. Many think they are shining when they are only glaring. _ $ Honey on the lips does not cure hatred in the hoart. Good nature ought to be natural to the good. 5 t an. Charity always goes farther than it is sent. Coals of fire are not intended for roasting purposes. . Equally sudden, and almost as sensational in its way, was the birth of the modern Greek Empire. After the yoke of the Turks had been thrown off in the War of Independâ€" ence, the country became a repubâ€" lic. But the people soon tired of that democratic form of governâ€" ment, and promptly proceeded to assassinate their first and only Preâ€" sident. Then they met together amicably, elected a King, and settled themâ€" selves down to be ruled by him in a quiet orderly and contented fashion. Love leads; greed drives. Truth hid in the heart never stays secret. By a strange irony of fate, too, its birth took place amid the ruins of the Third French Empire, itself the creation of a day, or rather, to be strictly accurate, of a night. France went to bed on the evening of December 1st, 1851 a republic. When it awoke next morning it was an empire. During the hours of darkness Paris had been occupied by troops, and the Princeâ€"President had become Napoleon III. Then came the historic ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors at Verâ€" sailles. Paris had just been capâ€" tured by King William of Prussia, and it was held to be a fitting time and place to proclaim him the first German Emperor. Never since‘the dawn of history was an empire born more dramatically. Germany, for example! Prior to January 18th, 1871, the German Empire, as we know it toâ€"day, had no existence. Instead, was a jumble of _ kingdoms, states, _ duchies, grandâ€"duchies, and principalitiesâ€" all joined together by a like languâ€" age and common political aspiraâ€" tions, it is true, but otherwise quite separate and district. _ Retire at Night a Republic, Awake in the Morcing ara Empire. Most Empires grow by impercepâ€" tible degrees.. Some, however, like Bulgaria, are born in a day. WORLD‘S WOOF SUPPLY. VELOCITY OF WIND. SENTENCE SERMONS. MUSHROOM EMPIRES. Not long ago, it may be rememâ€" bered, a Russian Pole committed isuicide in a _ London synagogue. Some time previously he had been placed in his coffin as dead, but he revived when being screwed down. The horror of that awful event so preyed on his mind that he went mad, and eventually took his own life. Eight years back the police found a child apparently dead in Regent‘s Park. The body was reâ€" moved to Marylebone â€" Mortuary, and placed in a coffin to await an inquest. When the coroner and jury arrived, the child> was alive and well in its grim surroundings. A wellâ€"known character in Guernâ€" sey used to be an old soldier who had been cast into and redeemed from the grave. After a sanguinâ€" ary battle in the Crimea he was picked up with scores more to be thrown into the huge trench where the dead were to lie. Before the work could be completed, one of the burial party thought he obâ€" served a movement in this man‘s body. Efforts at revivification were successfully attempted, and the solâ€" dier lived to fight again many anâ€" cther day. A similar instarce is recorded of a French soldier at the Battle of Borny, near Metz, but he revived in the mortuary, thanks to the delay of the burial party in arâ€" riving. But they had been the means of saving that soldier‘s life. The warmth of their little bodies had had a reanimating effect upon his. More important still, however, they had nibbled his calves, and so brought him to. He was breathing slowly when found, was nursed back to convalescence, and went forth bravely to rejoin his regiment at Meerut. ; Somewhere in England is a cerâ€" tain Trooper Holmes, who, accordâ€" ing to evidence in the possession of the Society for the Prevention of Premature Burial, was "‘dead‘‘ yet is alive. Grievously wounded in the Afghan War of 1878, he was beâ€" ing brought down to Deolali, en route for England, when he appearâ€" ed to relinquish hold on life. There were difficulties in the way of an immediate interment, so the body was laid in the field mortuary. There it remained for three days. On the third day the surgeons went to perform a post mortem examinaâ€" tion. They raised the tarpaulin beâ€" neath which the body reclined, and were horrified to see hundreds of field mice, with which the district is infested, scurry from beneath the covering. The wellâ€"kpmaz. instance of the membe rMumhefs euescroe e wndy a C 2oo V y wecul ldall in the family vault, was visited by the sexton for the purposes of plunâ€" der and revived, is too well known to need to be told at length. She is by no means the only perâ€" son living in England who has been certified to be dead. There lives a lady in Holland Road, Kensingâ€" ton, who possesses, in the form of a death certificate, a memento of a miraculous escape from the grave. The doctor had certified, the lady was laid in her coffin, and about to be screwed down, when her daughâ€" ter, who could not believe her dead, placed brandy to her lips. The cofâ€" fn figure sat up, and is alive toâ€" day to show her friends her own death certificate. STIMULANTS FOR A CORPSKE. One that has recently greatly exâ€" cited the public mind is that of a woman residing with her husband and children near Accrington, Engâ€" land. She lay as dead ; her husband had prepared her for the interment, and the poor creature came to life while actually being measured by the undertaker for her coffin. The doctor in attendance upon the unâ€" fortunate woman had been comâ€" pletely deceived by her symptoms, and certified her death. A still more startling clause had a place in the last testament of Miss Frances Power Cobbe, who ordered that her windpipe be sevâ€" ered before her body was commitâ€" ted to the ground. %’he, like Spenâ€" cer, feared that she would be buriâ€" ed alive. Bhe had reason. A kinsâ€" woman of hers, a famous heiress, was declared to be dead, placed in her coffin, and made ready for buriâ€" al. The hearse was at the door, the funeral guests all assembled, when by some merciful Providence a friend insisted on having one last look at the body. The supposed corpse revived under this inspecâ€" tion, and lived to marry and become the mother of twentyâ€"two children. This sort of story may read like the weird material of which gruesome fiction is made, but it is only one of many similar cases. ‘ When the will of Herbert Spenâ€" cer was published, a asmile was proâ€" voked by one of its provisions. The aged philosopher had directed that, preparatory to cremation, his body should lie in a coffin with a loose lid, and easily opened from the inâ€" side. â€" Instances of Miraculous Escapes Vrom Being Promaturely Buricd. soME TRHR "RETURNED TO LIFE*" STORIES. BURIED ALIVE ROMANGES BATTLEFIELD MYSTERIES LIFE SAVED BY MICK. Only blind beggars are allowed to solicit alms in the streets of Madrid. ‘My infant, madam,"‘ said the lady in the bus with dignity, "apâ€" propriated and clawed your muff, not from mere wantonness, but unâ€" der the impression that it was a pussy cat, as I have no doubt it once was." Not a moment was to be lost. He had at first snatched up a blanket to cover his egress, but now, droppâ€" ing it, he raised the window, and out he bounded, sans everything but a very short undergarment, and thus, with hair almost on end, he dashed upon a full paradeâ€"ground. The shouts _ which _ bailed. him brought out the whole barracks to see what was the matter, and the dignified captain pulled a sergeant in front of him to hide himself. ‘All T‘ve got to thay, then, ith," said ‘the lieutenant, ‘‘that you might thafely have done it ; for T‘ll thware there wathn‘t a thingle grain of powder in it." _ The captain has never spoken of nervousress since. ‘Because there were no sharpâ€" shooters in front to stop a reâ€" treat,""‘ answered the captain. ‘‘Why didn‘t you thpit on it?‘ inquired the lieutenant. "Thpit on the canister !‘‘ shouted he in return. Saying this, he walked deliberâ€" ately into the captain‘s quarters, where a fire was burning on the hearth, placed in its hottest centre a powder canister, and instantly retreated. There was but one mode of egress from the quarters, and that was upon the parade ground, the road being built up for deâ€" fence. The occupant took one look at the canister, comprehended the situation, and in a moment dashed at the door, but it was fastened on the outside. "Charley, let me out, if you love me!‘‘ shouted the captain. ‘"I want to try and experiment thith morning and thee how exâ€" theedingly cool the captain can be." The next morning a number of soldiers wre assembled on the parâ€" ade and talking in clusters, when along came the lisping lieutenant. Lazily opening his eyes, he remarkâ€" ed :â€" "How!?"‘ said the captain, winkâ€" ing at the cirele; "why, take it cool, and spit on the fusee.‘" ‘‘Why nervousness is all nonâ€" sense. I tell you, lieutenant, no brave_ man will be nervous."‘,._ _ > ‘‘Well," inquired the lisping friend, "how would you do thpose a company of tharpthootherth, and where it wath thertain if you put out your nothe you‘d get pepperâ€" ed ?" The party broke up, and all reâ€" tired except the patrol. itthelf i r j drop itthelf in a walled angle, in How a Lisping Licutenant Got Even With His Tormentor. A good story is told of a lisping ofâ€" ficer being victimized by a brother officer (who was noted for his cool deliberation and strong nerves), and his getting square with him in the following manner. The cool joker, the captain, was always quizzing the lisping officer, a lieuâ€" tenant, for his nervousness, and said one day in the presence of his company :â€" ‘Why nervousness is all nonâ€" The effect of a tragedy of this sort in another family was to make it a soletun rite for the head of the house to plunge a knife into the bheart of any member of the family who died. It was done once too ofâ€" ten. The weapon pierced the breast of a beautiful girl who was, in reaâ€" lity, not dead, but in a trance. She gave one terrible groan and expirâ€" ed, and her father, who had innoâ€" cently struck the blow, died soon afterwards, raving.â€"London Anâ€" swers. It is always hard to prove a case of a person having been buried alive there are obvious difficulties in the way, and so distressing a subject is naturally avoided by reâ€" latives. Still, there is indubitable evidence as to its having occurred in many instances. Doctors say that, could the battlefields speak, the world would be shocked by the frightful stories of men who have been cast into their graves alive to awake in the tomb and be stifled by the superincumbent earth. A TRAGIC NOTE. Unimpeachable authority exists for the story of a girl having been prematurely interred in New York, and of her having afterwards reâ€" vived. When the coffin was opened it was found that her shroud had been torn to shreds and the fingers of both hands eaten off. A similar thing occurred at Camâ€" bridge, where the deputy coroner was called upon to inquire into the death of Uharles Lawrence, a Great_ Eastern Railway fireman. The coroner, however, was so well satisfied with the evidence of the do tor that death was due to valvuâ€" lar disease of the heart, that he deâ€" clined to hold an inquest. It was as well that he did. Five days afâ€" terwards Charles Lawrence stalkâ€" ed out of his coffin, and went to work, thell with an inth futhee thould CHILD NXOT TOâ€" BEAME THE COOL CAPTAIN. Cf the Sexes, Women More Quickly Gire in to Inevitable. _A British medical man thus tells his experience of how men and woâ€" men face death: Tell the man of higher type and greater intelliâ€" genee, he says, that he is facing death, and he begins to fight, deâ€" mands a consultation, talks about going to specialists and fights grimâ€" ly to the finish. Tell a woman the same facts, and she lies back to await her fate. All women are fatâ€" alists. On the other hand, tell a man that bhe has one chance in a thousand to recover if he will unâ€" dergo an operafion, and he will trust to his own strength and enâ€" durance rather than undergo the knife. The woman will choose the thousandth chances, and submit to the operation with astounding calmnoss. More aches than help come from the honey the preacher puts into his sermon on Saturday night. It‘s no use preaching against the sins of people in a way that proâ€" vokes them to profanity. There never was a church that went down except it had first failâ€" ed to get down and serve men. It‘s a waste of time to fix up your statistics for the benefit of the recording angel. _ # * Many a man thinks he is a saint because he has dreams of heaven every Sunday. _ > x The man who talks to please himâ€" self soon has an audience well pleased with itself. ___ _ 2e _ One resolution to do the right thing is worth a bushel of resoluâ€" tions not #o do wrong things. _ The worst of all failures are those who can never fail because they never try. 7 & The man who has nothing but reâ€" flection puts his headligat on the caboose. If your faith does not justify itâ€" self by its fruits there‘s little use worrying over its roots. He does not know what forgiveâ€" ness is who is too lazy to resent & wrong. > s l Trying to get even with an enemy is a sure way of sinking below him. To praise a good action is to parâ€" ticipate in its repetition. s words to wash the world. _ The cynic is one who has found stolen fruits not so sweet. __. It takes adversity to show whethâ€" er we have any real prospetity. He cannot defend the truth who is afraid of any truth. _ s Getting sore at the world is & ready way of faming yourself{ in the race. call others sodless. Hatred always hinders. _______ Giving grudgingly is sowing sparâ€" ingly. He who has nothing to do always does worse than nothing. & "‘Such machines would cost, if thoroughly well madeâ€"and they must be for military purposes â€" £1,500 each, and each one would be able to land, say, twenty men on the English coast in one night. To take 100,000 soldiers across in the darkness of one night would reâ€" quire 5,000 machines, costing sevâ€" en and a half millions sterling.‘"" Sir Hiram Maxim is by no means sceptical as to the possibiliâ€" ties of a German aerial invasion. "I should say there is no doubt about it,""‘ bs said, "that machines could be built toâ€"day of from 80 to 100 horsepower, slightly larger than the Wright machine, whick would travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour, carry a load of half a ton, and remain in the air five hours at a time. "‘The best thing that could hapâ€" pen to awaken the public in Engâ€" land to a sense of its position is that someone, preferably a Frenchâ€" man or a German, should have the goodness to direct a large dirgible balloon to hang over the Bank ~t England. The excitement it would create would be wonderful, ana i0 would bring home to the minds of the people of England that wo could not always have England to ourselves." There could be no doubt that no country could now be considered by those who were building aeroâ€" planes and dirgible balloons as having any frontiers at all. We could all be overlooked and spied upon, and in all probability it would be dirgibles capable of carâ€" rying besides equipment a weight of between 1,300 pounds and 1,400 pounds, that could make themâ€" selves‘ extremely disagreceable. "I think it is remarkable,""‘ said his Grace, "how little attention the subject has attracted, and how very casual has been the attitude of the British public in regard to this really momentous question.‘‘ Duke of Argyll Speaks on PossSle Aerial Invasion. The Duke of Argyll had somé trenchant things to say of the genâ€" eral apathy of Great Britain in matters appertaining to aeroplanâ€" ing and ballooning in proposing the toast of the Aero Club of the Unitâ€" ed Kingdom at the annual dinnoer at the Ritz Hotel, London, a few days ago. ipv will not make you Godlike to HOW THEY FACE DEATH. SENTENCE SERMONS. NO FRONTIERS NOW.