Whatever else may be said of the Roman Catholic religion, the structure is consistent with itself. If Protestants had been as consistent in practice as are the Catholics, there would now be far less cause for alarm at the Catholic influence in the politics of the country. There can be no doubt that the conditions of which Protestants so loudly complain have been largely brought about by Protestant support of Catholic institutions. Everywhere Protestant business men are liberal contributors to Catholic enterprises of all kinds. Protestants are quite liberal in their patronage of Catholic schools, and it has come to be deemed the very acme of Christian liberality on the part of Protestant ministers and prominent Protestant journals to portray the good things in modern Catholicism; this, too, in the face of the Catholic boast that “Rome never changes.”
Catholic domination in the United States, and the government indorsement and enforcement of religious dogma emphatically Catholic in its origin, may well be styled an “image” to the papal “beast,” for the reason that the consummation has been brought about not so much by means of Catholic effort as through Protestant encouragement. Protestants are to-day more persistently aggressive in the support and advancement of doctrines and institutions essentially Catholic, than in any other lines. From year to year they are falling more and more into line with Catholic festivals, forms, and methods generally.
But to the question of consistency. While Catholics persistently, even by means of threatened boycott, solicit aid and support from Protestants for their various enterprises, they very rarely reciprocate by aiding any Protestant institution. From the Converted Catholic of February, 1894, we take the following, as illustrative of the Catholic position:—
Bishop Watterson, of Columbus, Ohio, in a sermon delivered in his cathedral, December 27, 1891, said he had been severely criticised by Catholics as well as Protestants for refusing to allow Roman Catholics to take part in entertainments, the proceeds of which were to be applied in aid of Protestant institutions that spread heresy and irreligion. The institution in question was a Protestant Episcopal Church in Columbus, where a festival was being held at which a Roman Catholic lady had promised to sing, but was compelled to refuse when threatened with excommunication by Bishop Watterson. This action of the bishop was in accordance with the rule laid down by Gury, the Jesuit theologian, who says: “Excommunicationem incurrunt non hæretici tantum, sed etiam eorum fautores”—“Not only heretics incur excommunication, but they also who favor them.”—Theol. Moral., p. 903.
Bishop Watterson in the same sermon said he feared the Protestants of Columbus would cease to aid the Roman Catholic institutions of the city, because he, as bishop of the diocese, refused to allow Roman Catholics to assist in the spread of heresy. Then he continued to his own people: “You are not to say ‘Godspeed,’ or to salute him who enters your house to spread the doctrines of heresy or irreligion. How much more so are you enjoined from assisting by your labor or coöperation the religion that opposes truth and the enemy of the church of Christ. The position I have taken is founded on the teachings of the church in all ages.”—Catholic News.
In the Cincinnati Western Christian Advocate, Jan. 20, 1892, Rev. D. H. Moore, D.D., the editor of that paper, relates his experience when he applied to Mr. R. R. Springer, the wealthiest Roman Catholic of Cincinnati, for a subscription towards the payment of the debt on Wesleyan College. Dr. Moore had been told by his friends that “Catholics never aid a Protestant cause,” but as he knew that Roman Catholics persistently and successfully sought Protestant aid, he could not believe they would refuse him, until he tried. He sent a courteous and earnest appeal to Mr. Springer, and received the following reply:—
Dear Sir: Your favor of the 5th inst., asking aid for your college, received. I fully believe in the great advantages of a liberal education for both sexes; but being a member of the holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, and believing that religious instruction should form an important part of education, I could not, with a clear conscience, aid in teaching what I did not believe in, thus confirming what you preface your letter with, “that Catholics never aid a Protestant cause.”
This, from your standpoint, may be regarded as illiberal, but is right, nevertheless, as we view our duty.
Yours truly, R. R. SPRINGER.
How God Answers Prayer
By T. Edwards
SOMETIMES God answers prayers at once, giving us what we seek. Sometimes he gives some better thing than we ask. Sometimes he answers by giving the very contrary of what we wished, and out of that springs the particular end for which we prayed. “I have prayed for thee,” said Christ to Peter, “that thy faith fail not;” and yet Peter fell. But through his fall, in which his faith seemed to fail, he was brought nearer to Christ, and made faithful to the end.—T. Edwards.
BE GLAD, MY HEART, AND SING.
By S. H. Rhodes; J. O. Beard
BY S. H. RHODES AND J. O. BEARD.
I HAVE found the wondrous secret
Of abiding in the Lord,
For I've drunk from life's pure fountain,
And am feasting on his word.
Yes, I've found the strength and sweetness
Of confiding in my Lord,
Since I've buried self with Jesus,—
Since I've hid my life in God.
All my weaknesses I've brought him,
All my sins laid at his feet,
And he bears them for me always;
Thus each day he makes life sweet.
All my fears and griefs I tell him,
All my cares upon him lay,
And my burdens press but lightly,
For he walks with me each day.
By his grace I have my being,
And in him I live and move.
E'en his very mind he gives me,
That through me may shine his love.
For my words I take his wisdom;
All my works are by his power,—
For my labor asking nothing,
Only guidance every hour.
O my heart, he is thy portion,
Thy blest Saviour, and thy King!
He it is who heals and saves us.
O my heart, be glad and sing!
THE CHILDREN FOR CHRIST.
By Andrew Murray
OH, let us not hinder, but help our children to come to Jesus! For child religion may be hindered. The words of Jesus suggest the thought. The child is weaker than the older disciple, is, under his influence, can be kept back by him. God has given the making of the children into the hands of their elders. And the natural religiousness of the child, his simple faith and sense of love and duty to Jesus, may be terribly checked by the example and conduct of those around him. And so Jesus says, "Forbid them not." The word means (as it is elsewhere translated) hinder them not. The religion of the child is feeble, and can so easily be hindered. Christian parents are appointed as guardians to watch and foster its growth. All growth comes from within, and depends upon a healthy life. But young and feeble growth needs to be preserved from danger without, and to have provided for it the sustenance it demands.
Often parents have been bitterly disappointed in their children; when young, they could feel so deeply and speak so beautifully; but they had not lived long before all was lost. It was probably because parents trusted to what was a blessed, but still only a feeble, beginning. They did not watch over the evil influences which the young plant could not yet resist. They allowed the spirit of the world in their own religious life, or in their friends'; they allowed company, or pleasure, and the enjoyment of the world, to choke the good seed; they failed to supply the needful nourishment. There was not, as the child grew up, any more the personal speaking of this blessed Jesus, the helping of faith and obedience by the fellowship and example of a warm, living Christianity—a living love to Jesus. The child's religion disappeared, because the parents hindered it in coming to Jesus.
How different the result is when this coming to Jesus is in a right spirit fostered and encouraged, not only in the little ones, but in the growing boy and girl through the years that lead to maturity! We need to be kept from right hand as well as left hand errors. On the one side, we must beware of despising a child's religious impressions as of little value. Like all beginnings of life and growth, they may be feeble and easily lost; they are still of infinite value as the preparation for that which abideth forever. We must, on the other side, be kept from overestimating or trusting in it. We must remember that the tender plant needs unceasing watching, and that only in the congenial atmosphere of a home holy to the Lord and wholly dedicated to his service, can we count on its ripening fruit to eternal life.—Andrew Murray.
HOW LITHOGRAPHY WAS INVENTED.
THE romantic story of Aloys Senefelder, the inventor of the modern art of lithography, illustrates the truth that many, if not, indeed, most, of the discoveries in the arts which embellish our civilization, or in the sciences which conduce to the comfort of our existence, and the extension of its scope and usefulness, are the results of fortunate chance. About the year 1796 Senefelder was residing in Munich, in great poverty. He was an artist of considerable genius, though his talent led him rather to drawing and engraving than to color. Indeed, there must have been many times during this period of his career, when he was unable to purchase painting materials, which in those days were very dear. At all events, he certainly was too poor to pay for printing and reproducing the work of his pencil, and he endeavored to devise some means of doing this himself. He could not afford the expense of copper plates, and he set himself to discover some cheaper substitute. Unlike the English painter, William Blake, who believed that he was spiritually aided in his labors, Senefelder was a practical man, and sought to accomplish his end by purely practical methods. He brooded over the subject for many months, lounging slowly along the narrow streets of the quaint old town, or plodding for miles into the environs, always with drooping head and introverted gaze, forever pondering the one thought.
One morning, as he was about setting out upon his daily stroll, he paused a moment on the threshold of his dwelling. It was early autumn, and there had been a storm overnight. The early sun glittered upon the yet undried puddles in the street, and the leaves shorn from the old lindens were scattered upon the sidewalks. One large leaf lay upon the stone step at the artist's feet. Mechanically he stooped and picked it up. Where it had reposed, he beheld its perfect outline, with every rib and vein, drawn upon the smooth surface of the stone in the rain-dissolved dust.
For a moment he stood twirling the leaf in his fingers, studying the impression on the stone with eyes in which the light of a new hope glowed and deepened. Then he turned about and hurriedly reentered the house. He had conceived an idea. It was simply to use smooth slabs of the cheap stone, similar to the doorstep, in place of the costly metal plates. His idea went no farther at that time. Thus far accident had guided him. But observe how accident was to befriend him yet more effectually.
Senefelder was not acquainted with the composition of the varnish used by engravers for etching, so he invented a species of crayon made of wax and tallow. One morning his mother entered the room where he was at work, and asked him to write out the family washing list. Senefelder tumbled over the litter on his table in search of paper and ink, but, finding none, he caught up a bit of his crayon and scrawled the list upon a smooth block of his stone. Some days later, having need of the block of stone, he was about to clean off the list of stockings, sheets, and shirts, when it occurred to him that the body of the stone might be eaten down by dilute nitric acid, leaving the greasy lines of his crayon writing in relief. The experiment was successful; but it was not till 1798 that, in his discovery of the natural repulsion between water and oily substances, the well-nigh perfect modern art of lithography was born.
Senefelder's doorstep was of the argillaceous limestone variety, still regarded as the best for lithographic purposes. The most perfect specimens are quarried near Solenhofen, Bavaria, though a coarser species is obtained in several parts of Europe and America. The stones are sawn to a thickness of two and a quarter to two and a half inches, those of a pearl gray tint giving by far the best results. Not only are they harder and more enduring, but their hardness of grain records the artist's lines and touches with almost microscopic exactitude. The soft buff yellow stone, on the other hand, produces coarser work, more easily effaced. While the hard gray stone will print some nine or ten thousand impressions, the yellow block will begin to blur and blotch in less than half that number of impressions.—From How Chromo-Lithographs are Made, in Demorest's Family Magazine.
TWO WAYS.
In these days, when so many sincere people are trying to help their weaker brothers, this incident, true in every detail, may have its significance and use:—
Three years ago the pastor of a city church appealed to the members of his congregation to take a more active part in helping the poor and the criminal classes. The next day two young married women, wealthy and gently bred, went to him in response to his appeal. He sent them to the women's ward of the city prison. They went together, separated after being taken to the ward by an attendant, and in an hour or two met again at the gate.
"Tell me how you were received and what you did," said Mrs. C. anxiously. She was a timid, diffident woman.
"The work is, of course, new to me," said Mrs. V., "and I know nothing of the habits and minds of these women, nor what would appeal to them. The gulf between us seems so wide that I concluded the more direct and plain I made my condemnation of their evil habits of conduct the better.
"At the window of each cell I spoke kindly but firmly to the occupant, and told her I had come to talk about her life and its sinfulness. One of them was stolid and dumb. Two were really abusive. I do not feel sure that one of the four or five with whom I talked was impressed by the truths I told her.
"I shall come again," she continued, "but I believe it to be useless. Between us and them there certainly is a great gulf, and I do not see how it is to be covered."
The two women walked in silence for a while, and then Mrs. V. said, "What did you do?"
"Oh, so little!" exclaimed the other. "I only went to one cell. I saw a poor woman who had been convicted of larceny. Her defense was that her child was starving, and so her sentence was light. When I saw her, I10thought I might be where she is if God had given me poverty and a hungry child—"
"Ridiculous!" said Mrs. V. indignantly. "You could never have been a thief!"
"God only knows. At any rate I could not preach to her. So I only talked of her child, and told her about my little Jack, and said how sorry I was she could not be with her baby. I am going to see it, and I shall go to-morrow to tell her about it."
Mrs. V. visited the prison twice after this first interview, and lectured the women, but, finding that she was received coldly, she abandoned them, and ever after spoke of the criminal classes as "hopeless."
Mrs. C. looked after the poor baby while its mother was in prison. When the woman was released, she took her into her house, contrary to Mrs. V.'s advice, and gave her work and a home.
"I cannot think she will steal from me," she said smiling. She taught and watched over her as tenderly as a sister.
The poor thief is now a member of the church, earnest and hopeful in her struggle to do right and to make a good man of her boy.
We cannot stand upon a height and order our brother out of vice.
Christ, let us remember, when he blessed the weak and helped the wicked, first laid his loving hands upon them.—Selected.
BAD BOOKS.
By Coleridge
NEVER, under any circumstances, read a bad book, and never spend a serious hour in reading a second-rate book. No words can overstate the mischief of bad reading.
A bad book will often haunt a man his whole life long. It is often remembered when much that is better is forgotten; it intrudes itself at the most solemn moments, and contaminates the best feelings and emotions. Reading trashy, second-rate books is a grievous waste of time, also.
In the first place, there are a great many more first-rate books than ever you can master; and, in the second place, you cannot read an inferior book without giving up an opportunity of reading a good one.
Books, remember, are friends; books affect character; and you can as little neglect your duty in respect of this as you can safely neglect any other moral duty that is cast upon you.—Coleridge.
NOTES ON THE KONGO.
By Nora A. Gordon
BY NORA A. GORDON.
The Kongo Independent State comprises the greater part of the immense basin of the Kongo River. This State was founded by Leopold II., king of the Belgians, and has 1,508,000 square miles of territory, and the estimated population is between forty and fifty millions.
For one hundred miles from its mouth the Kongo River is navigable, then for more than two hundred miles it rushes through tremendous mountain gorges in a series of cataracts and falls. Stanley Pool is the starting point of the upper half of the Kongo, which is navigable for more than a thousand miles.
Through the cataract region travelers are taken in hammocks, made of thick canvas cloth and suspended from a bamboo pole, with a man at each end as carrier. All goods for transportation are packed into sixty-pound loads and taken by men, as there are no beasts of burden, and only recently the new railroad, which is in process of construction, has been completed for thirty miles. The roads are narrow, zigzag footpaths, winding around great rocks, over hills and young mountains, and through the plains and valleys.
In going to and fro the traveler often sees elephants, buffaloes, deer, and monkeys, while the more dreaded leopard prowls around at night in search of sheep, goats, etc., for food. Snakes allow themselves to be seen occasionally. The great boa constrictor winds himself around his victim and crushes him, while the bite of the cobra is very poisonous.
In the line of real pests, centipedes, jiggers, white ants, and red ants, or drivers, are the most dreaded. The bite of the centipede is painful and poisonous. The jigger is a small, harmless creature, which looks like a flea. Instead of biting, he enters the flesh, especially the feet, and when completely covered by the warm skin, he begins to enlarge, until a tiny sack is formed, and, if left long enough, instead of the original jigger there come out of this sack dozens of full-grown jiggers, each one eager to increase his kind in a similar manner. All decent people keep themselves free of them, but the lazy, nude waifs found in every town and village allow their toes to be eaten off, and their feet, elbows, and fingers to remain in a chronic state of sores, caused by these creatures.
Tin trunks and tin-lined cases are used in Kongo, for white ants devour everything like wood, cloth, shoes, etc., which they can11find. Travelers have awakened in the morning and found shoes and other things left on the ground in their tents the night before totally destroyed. The ants go through houses, eating the heart out of timbers, boards, etc.
The red ants, or drivers, are somewhat different. They are often seen crossing the paths. They are large, with a pair of pincers in the head; and let these once close together, they do not let go, but have to be pulled apart by main force. All kinds of food and insects are swept away by them. In passing through a locked fowl house where the victims cannot escape, only feathers and bones are left to tell the story. Natives sometimes get rid of their prisoners by putting them in the drivers' march. The climate of the Kongo is very trying, and fevers are inevitable, but not necessarily fatal. All foreigners, and natives too, have their share of fevers.
People born in a Christian country can form no conception of the moral ruin, awful misery, and degradation of heathenism. On coming for the first time in actual contact with it one is overwhelmed by its magnitude.
There are twelve missions at work in this State, three Roman Catholic and nine Protestant. One of the most successful is that of the Baptist Missionary Union, which has already established nine mission stations, beginning at the mouth of the great river and extending many hundreds of miles into the interior. More workers and money are needed, for the great masses of heathen have not been reached. Who are willing to give themselves to this cause? Those who have nothing to do at home are not needed abroad. Special gifts, though exceedingly useful, are secondary. A missionary's life is more commonplace than is supposed. Plod rather than cleverness is often the best missionary equipment. The "special gift" is the gift of the Holy Ghost, which our Heavenly Father will give to them that ask him. Do not go without that.
The population of the Kongo State is made up of many tribes, which differ from one another in personal appearance, language, industry, tattooing, and mode of dress, or, rather, their want of dress; for some wear loin cloths; others, a few spires of grass, bracelets, beads, and anklets; while there are some who seem to vie with one another in taking around the least possible burden in the shape of clothing. Tribes are divided up into clans, or families, and these do not huddle together, as is supposed, but in building their towns each clan will select its site and settle just a short distance from another, and so on. Here and there in the valley, and on the tops and sides of the hills where the soil is fertile, are found these towns or villages. They are nothing more than clusters of grass huts surrounded by gardens, and mango, zinsafu, and palm trees.
The houses are generally nicely built, especially those belonging to the king and his wives. Each wife has her own house, and where there are eight, ten, or whatever number of wives, the same number of houses are built near the king's house, and all are surrounded by a closely built grass fence. Thus the "king's place" is separated from the other housefolk.
The average size of a Kongo house is about nine by twelve feet for the ground floor, and, in order to permit a person six feet tall to stand erect in it, there would have to be an opening made in the roof for his head to pass through. If a person should sit in the little opening called the door, it would be impossible for even a child to pass in or out. There is no window for ventilation. The furnishings of a man's house are his gun, hunting bag, a water bottle, several fetiches, and a bed made by driving some sticks into the ground, covering them over with pieces of board, and spreading a mat on top of these; and if the man of the house possesses a blanket, this is added. There is no pillow. The furnishings of a woman's house are somewhat different. She has no gun nor hunting bag, but, instead, hoes with handles two feet long, wood baskets, and cooking pots.
There are no homes; they have no word in their language for such a place, and family discipline is unknown to them. An angry child falls to the ground, yells, kicks, froths at the mouth, and, if touched by his mother, fights and bites. A father, on being asked to send his child to school, answers, "Ask the child's chief; I am only his father."
Men and boys are the lords. They trade, fish, mould in brass and iron, make cloth, and sit around and smoke, while the wives and sisters, with the babies strapped to their backs, work the farms, make the guanga (bread), make all the pots and water bottles of clay, and do the cooking. Women and children eat together, while the wives must prepare their nicest pots of food for their husbands, who are not wanting in words to express their displeasure if the food does not suit their palates.
It is believed that the heathen do love one another, but their love, mixed with a superstitious fear of some unknown dreaded calamity, makes them hunt and kill each other as witches. They believe that death is not natural, and if a person dies, some witch has "eaten his life away."
Christianity makes a wonderful change in the manners and customs of these people. Christians separate themselves, and will accept of no such compromises as church festivals, dances, theaters, etc., for the young. All are one in Christ, and if any member seeks amusement among his former companions, he is severely disciplined. A Christian man builds a taller house than a heathen, with respectable sized door and one or two windows, goes to school, buys his wife a dress, fondles his children, helps his wife on the farm, and goes to the mission and learns how to make stools, tables, and a different kind of bed. Every night he collects the people of his town together, sings, prays, and talks with them about Jesus. After he has learned to read, he carries around his little book (generally the translation of John's Gospel), and when his caravan halts for rest or to camp, he takes out his book and reads and talks to the carriers. Thus the gospel is carried to regions beyond. A Kongo Christian is fearless, and ever on the alert to do good.
One evening in a town near Lukungu the native preacher was beating the empty tin as usual to remind the people that it was time for the evening devotions, when a State official with his caravan came into the town. When the people had assembled, and the official, who was a Roman Catholic, had settled in his quarters, the preacher went out and said, "White man, come in and bring your men; this is the time for prayers."
A number of wicked chiefs with their guns waited upon a preacher in another town fifteen miles from Lukungu, and told Lutete that if he persisted in ringing the bell and preaching to the people, they would shoot him. Lutete answered, "If you wish to shoot me, that is your palaver; I must do God's work." For some unexpected reasons, the chiefs did not carry out that threat. Lutete is still in the same town, as pastor of a church with one hundred and forty members, and there are at present five village schools in the district.—Spelman Messenger.
GIRDLING THE HOLY LAND.
THERE is now a great railway system in the course of construction, which will girdle the Holy Land from one end to the other. A French company has secured a concession for a line from Beyrout to Damascus, and has already commenced work on a narrow-gauge road. An English syndicate is now building a railway from Haifa to Damascus, which will be about one hundred and forty miles long, starting from Haifa, finding its way along the northern base of the range of Carmel to the plain of Esdraelon, through the valley east of Nazareth. Leaving Mount Tabor it will cross the River Jordan on a trestle, and then to the point known as Majemeh, where the Little Jordan joins the greater river. At this point the road will border on the southern shore of Galilee, and almost without a curve along the famous wheat region, biblically known as the plains of Bashan, thence to the southern gate of Damascus.—St. Louis Republic.
VALUE OF LISTERINE.
Listerine, says the Annals of Hygiene, is one of the most essential of toilet articles. Its formula is composed entirely of antiseptic properties, making it invaluable as a disinfectant. It is a delightful dentifrice; it cleanses the teeth thoroughly, hardens the gums, and leaves the breath pure and sweet. A little listerine added to the bath keeps the skin soft and velvety, and the aroma it imparts clings daintily to the person, suggesting the odor of wild thyme. Its mission is to cleanse and purify, and to add that delicate finish so necessary to a lady’s toilet.
FILTH IN MILK.
THE amount of filth in milk as delivered by farmers to condensed milk factories is disgusting, but the process of manufacturing, and the admirable and scrupulous cleanliness in every department of these factories, makes it much less dangerous than milk containing similar filth and not subject to cleansing and heating. I have seen men while milking, deliberately dip their fingers in the milk, and then continue the milking, practically washing both their hands and the cow's teats in the milk which someone was expected to drink.—Annals of Hygiene.
THE CULTIVATION OF CLOVES.
THE small evergreen tree from which cloves are taken was originally a native of the Spice Islands, but it is now cultivated in warm climates in all parts of the world. The clove of commerce is the unopened flower of the tree. They are quite small, but grow in large clusters along the branches. After gathering, the buds are smoked by a wood fire and dried in the sun. Both the taste and the smell of the cloves depend upon the quantity of oil they contain. Sometimes the oil is separated from the cloves before they are sold, and the odor and taste are in consequence much weakened. If you desire to know something of the form of the bud in the natural state, soak a few cloves for a short time in hot water. The petals of the flower will soften and readily unroll.—Selected.
ADULTERATION OF FOODS.
THE Pennsylvania State Board of Health has been doing good work in the chemical examination of foods upon the market. The Annals of Hygiene gives the following:—
Take, for example, the results obtained in the examination of canned peas. Of forty-three samples of these goods put up in this country, 67.4 per cent were colored with copper, and the amount of copper contained in many of the samples was large. Of thirty-six samples of French peas purchased in this country, all were found to be colored with copper except one, and that was colored with zinc. Further, the amount of copper in these samples was quite large. Obviously, the salts are used solely to secure and preserve in the vegetables a green color, thus adding to the attractiveness of their appearance. It may, indeed, be granted, as stated in the Bulletin, that the occasional use of a small quantity of a copper or zinc salt will not be accompanied by any practical injury to health, but certainly the regular and long-continued use of such metallic salts must, at least, be regarded as prejudicial to health. In any event, the consumer has a right to know the character of the material he is purchasing for his table, and may justly demand protection from such possible sources of danger.
THE COMPLAINERS.
By Christian Advocate
If you go to a hotel or boarding house, you will find generally that those who are most comfortably circumstanced when at home find the least fault with the table, the service, the environment. If they are not suited, they go elsewhere; if there is nowhere else to go, they are too well bred to make public their discomfort; and if they cannot quietly improve their surroundings, they bear patiently what cannot be helped. Invariably a loud-mouthed complainer is not as well served at home as in the hotel or boarding house with which he or she finds fault. This applies as well to boys and girls in boarding schools as to adults in hotels.—Christian Advocate.
THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
By J. P. Henderson
BY ELDER J. P. HENDERSON.
THE love of Christ constraineth me,
It keeps me from the wrong;
From sin's dread hour it sets me free,—
It daily is my song.
To walk with Christ I must in love
Yield to his righteous will;
My steps and ways he'll then approve;
My heart with joy he'll fill.
I must in love remember well
In him to e'er abide,
And always act in ways to tell
Of Jesus by my side.
I must in love to Christ my Lord
Yield all, and evermore;
Then he will guide me by his word
Safe to the brighter shore.
West Union, Iowa.
INFLUENCE OF A LIFE.
WHAT David Livingstone is to the tribes of Africa, Henry Martin is to the people of Persia. These clever Mohammedans could argue point by point in favor of their own religion; but the fact of this noble, self-sacrificing life, so like the Christ he came to commend, either convinced them or sent them away baffled. The fact that so few were converted under Martin, and that so few have been won since, shows what a difficult task the church has before her. This work is not to be done at our ease, with the mere surplus of our wealth and the fragments of our time. It demands all the energy, and faith, and prayers of the church. It is a dead lift, demanding the redeeming grace of the Almighty God working through man doing his best. The church of Christ is slowly awakening to this fact.—The Church Monthly.
Apples of Gold Library
By Editor
ENVELOPE SERIES
Published monthly. Subscription price, 10 copies of each number for one year, postpaid, $1.00.
THIS Library is designed especially for use in daily, personal correspondence. Each number will contain from four to eight pages, of a size convenient to go into a number six envelope without folding. It is printed on thin super-calendered paper, and two or more numbers can be put in with an ordinary letter without increasing the postage.
The leading themes of the gospel will be presented in such a way as to arrest the attention and be helpful to all. These little leaflets should be circulated by the thousands.
The numbers now issued bear the following titles:
No. 1.—Looking unto Jesus.
No. 2.—The Christian's Privilege.
No. 3.—The Sure Promises of God.
No. 4.—How to Get Knowledge.
No. 5.—The Church and the World (poetry).
No. 6.—The Elect of God.
No. 7.—How Esther Read Her Bible.
No. 8.—The Thief on the Cross.
No. 9.—The Eleventh Hour.
These will be sent to any address at the rate of 50 cents per hundred, assorted numbers, or $4.00 per thousand, postpaid.
This small volume presents a series of pictures of life in the Fijian and Samoan Islands of the South Pacific. They are most interesting and graphic, and convey a large amount of information respecting these islands—their history, their geography and scenery, their products, the character and customs of the people, their evangelization by missionaries, and many other things. During the past year the attention of this world has been attracted toward Samoa by the political troubles there between its rival kings; and this pleasant volume will meet the public interest thus created, with its vivid and entertaining sketches. It is attractively illustrated.—The Lutheran Observer.
"Jottings from the Pacific, Fiji and Samoa," by Emma H. Adams, is included among the volumes of a Young People's Library series; but we do not see any reason why the parents of young people may not join in a careful perusal of this special issue. It contains a pleasing record of observations and incidents in the Fijian and Samoan Islands; and one enjoys what is written all the more because of the simplicity and directness of the author-narrator's style. It occurs to us that a missionary society meeting could be made doubly interesting by the reading aloud of many passages from this book.—The Interior.
This book is one volume of the Young People's Library series. It contains 160 pages, is fully illustrated, and will be sent postpaid for 60 cents. Send for circular giving complete list of books published in the Library, with press notices and description of each book. Address,
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LABORING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
THE labors of Mr. Charles Wesley had been very extended and arduous during the early part of the year 1743, and, by the divine blessing, eminently successful. From the west of England he proceeded to the colliers of Staffordshire, who had before been visited, and found that the society of Wednesbury had increased to more than three hundred, of whose religious state he speaks, in his journal, with strong feelings of joy. At Walsall he preached on the market-house steps.
“The street was full of fierce Ephesian beasts (the principal man setting them on), who roared and shouted, and threw stones incessantly. At the conclusion a stream of ruffians was suffered to beat me down from the steps. I rose, and, having given the blessing, was beat down again; and so a third time. When we had returned thanks to the God of our salvation, I then from the steps bade them depart in peace, and walked through the thickest of the rioters. They reviled us, but had no commission to touch a hair of our head.”
He then proceeded to Birmingham, Nottingham, and then to Sheffield. Here the infant society was as “flock among wolves; the minister having so stirred up the people that they were ready to tear the Methodists in pieces. At six o’clock I went to the society house, next door to our Brother Bennet’s. Hell from beneath was moved to oppose us. As soon as I was in the desk, with David Taylor, the floods began to lift up their voice. An officer in the army contradicted and blasphemed. I took no notice of him but sang on. The stones flew thick, striking the desk and the people. To save them, and the house from being pulled down, I gave out that I should preach in the street, and look them in the face. The whole army of the aliens followed me. The captain laid hold on me, and began rioting; I gave him, for answer, ‘A Word in Season, or Advice to a Soldier.’ I then prayed, particularly for his majesty King George, and ‘preached the gospel with much contention.’ The stones often struck me in the face. I prayed for sinners, as servants of their master, the devil, upon which the captain ran at me with great fury, threatening revenge for abusing, as he called it, ‘the king, his master.’ He forced his way through the brethren, drew his sword, and presented it to my breast. I immediately opened my breast, and fixed my eyes on his, and, smiling in his face, calmly said, ‘I fear God, and honor the king.’ His countenance fell in a moment; he fetched a deep sigh, and, putting up his sword, quietly left the place. He had said to one of the company, who afterward informed me, ‘You shall see if I do but hold my sword to his breast, he will faint away.’ So, perhaps, I should had I only his principles to trust to; but if at that time I was not afraid, no thanks to my natural courage. We returned to our Brother Bennet’s, and gave ourselves up to prayer. The rioters followed, and exceeded in outrage all I have seen before. Those at Moorfields, Cardiff, and Walsall were lambs to these. As there is no ‘king in Israel,’ I mean no magistrate in Sheffield, every man doeth as seemeth good in his own eyes.” The mob now formed the design of pulling down the society house, and set upon their work, while Mr. Charles Wesley and the people were praying and praising God within. “It was a glorious time,” says he, “with us; every word of exhortation sunk deep, every prayer was sealed, and many found the Spirit of glory resting upon them.” The next day the house was completely pulled down, not one stone being left upon another. He then preached again in the street, somewhat more quietly than before; but the rioters became very noisy in the evening, and threatened to pull down the house where he lodged. He went out to them and made a suitable exhortation, and they soon afterward separated, and peace was restored.
At five the next morning he took leave of the society in these words, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”—Life of Wesley.