The Literary Digest of May 21 puts the title above in the form of a question, and then gives the answer in the words of Professor Lobstein, of the University of Strasburg, whom the Digest calls “a leading representative of modern theology.” He tells us in so many words that the modern method of Biblical interpretation, which he calls the “historical method” is based upon ideas that are in deadly hostility to the old theory of inspiration, or, in fact, to any divine inspiration, demanding that the books of the Bible be judged by exactly the same literary and historical rules and canons that obtain in the investigations of any of the literary remains of antiquity.
That is, the Bible is to be treated and regarded exactly as we would regard Herodotus, Tacitus, Pliny, or any other heathen writer. One of the results of this is that—
these writings [the Scriptures] themselves, as well as the persons and the events therein described, become decidedly more human, and that the difference that has all along been thought to exist between Biblical and secular history now practically disappears.
And this method utterly destroys Christian fundamentals; for instance, we are told that—
It is now seen that the claim that Jesus was born of a virgin has no right to be regarded as one of the fundamentals of Christian faith.
The resurrection of Jesus is “beyond solution,” and “the same is also true concerning the sacrificial value of the death of Christ.” Yet we are told that this does not destroy “religious faith.”
Another modern theologian, Professor Bousset, is quoted as saying in an address that—
we can speak of the divinity of Christ only in a modified sense, and the Pauline doctrine of atonement does not represent the original faith of Christianity.
What the result of this modern method of modern theology is, Prof. Goldwin Smith has told us in an article in the North American Review for May, on the “Immortality of the Soul.” He says:—
It would seem that we have come practically to a point at which, evolution and the higher criticism having between them done the work of demolition; and the work of reconstruction, if it is ever to be done, being still in the future, no small part of educated mankind has renounced, or is gradually renouncing, the hope of a future life, and acting on the belief that death ends all.
Modern theology leaves the dark world with no sure guide, leaves the sick and sinful soul without a Saviour, the future as uncertain as their own voices and theories. Yet men will have religion of some sort, and Protestantism having proved false to its Standard, those who would believe in something turn to the Roman Catholic Church. Professor Smith says:—
It would not be surprising if in this dissolution of the ancient faith and failure of familiar supports, there were to be a partial reaction in favor of churches which, like the Roman Catholic or the Eastern church, can pretend to offer the assurance of authority and to still the disquieting voice of reason while they lap the disturbed soul in the soothing element of religious esthetics. A tendency of this kind is already seen in ritualism, which bids the doubting take refuge in the sacerdotalism and sacramentalism of the Middle Ages.
And the “more sure word of prophecy” teaches the same thing. Revelation 18, as well as chapters 13 and 17, declare that all the world will drink of the wine of Rome’s fornication, and will perish at last in her corruption, or heed God’s call to “come out of her” and stand on the basis of the inspired Word of God, despite the criticism of modern theologians. God’s Book will stand.
“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Rev. 3:10.
“The wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10.
“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” 1 Peter 1:24, 25.
“The flesh profiteth nothing; the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.
WHERE CORRUPTION IS KING.
The condition of municipal and state politics is set forth in the following editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle, of June 30. It shows also the small chance of justice being done where the political ring is in such well-nigh complete control. That Mr. Folk will ever be made governor is extremely unlikely. He would not have been made circuit attorney if the “boodle ring” had suspected he would take the stand he has. We quote:—
The exposure and ruthless pursuit of the Missouri boodlers is disclosing the existence of a very grave condition of affairs in that commonwealth, and indicating the probability that conditions are equally bad in other places where they have not been brought to light. It is doing more than that. It is showing that honest service of the public by prosecuting officers, such as has been rendered by Circuit Attorney Folk, can only be given at the peril of the faithful official. Four years ago Joseph W. Folk was a young attorney of little prominence, who was nominated and elected prosecuting attorney for St. Louis on the regular boodle city ticket. He did not, we believe, seek the nomination, but was picked out as “available” by the machine and nominated on the general assumption that he would discharge the duties of his office in the usual perfunctory way. Long immunity had made the boodlers so bold that it did not occur to them that there would be any trouble in controlling any official. When elected he simply went ahead and did his duty for his client, as all attorneys ought to do it, and the world knows the rest. Money has not saved any man. Crimes were unearthed and proved, and the guilty convicted. Thus far, we believe, nearly all who have stood trial have been saved from the penitentiary by the courts, which many Missourians believe to be as corrupt as the St. Louis House of Delegates and the Missouri Legislature.
As the result of all this Attorney Folk will be nominated for governor of Missouri and elected, a result absolutely forced by the people against every effort of the machine. He has even been spoken of as a presidential candidate, a position which he had the sense to absolutely refuse. Having thus become suddenly a large political factor, but without anything in the nature of a machine to support him, he has become the common target for the knocks, not only of the recognized boodlers, but for every man who calls himself a politician, and who therefore fights every man who will not in one form or another pay for support. It is said in St. Louis that the politicians of the state, even those assumed to be decent, are allied with the boodlers to belittle Mr. Folk in every possible way; to attack his faithful discharge of his duty as a political play to the mob, and to associate with him, on the state ticket, candidates who will be able to prevent him as governor from carrying on the work of purifying the state. Doubtless he has the people with him now, but the machine will be in action when the people have cooled off. Time will show whether he is strong enough to hold the people by the force of his own personality, and have his way regardless of a machine. It is unnecessary to say that the unabashed boodlers propose to have a successor to Mr. Folk in the office of Circuit Attorney, who will see that they have no further trouble.
CONSUMPTION FROM CATTLE.
Of the utmost interest and value to all humanity is the report of the British Royal Commission which for three years has studied the subject that tuberculosis in cattle is akin to human tuberculosis, that tuberculosis imparted to cattle by virus of human origin is precisely like that of bovine origin, and that presumably the reverse process is possible.
The commission was appointed because of the sensational report made by Professor Koch, of Berlin, at the Congress on Tuberculosis in London in July, 1901, that there was no proved connection between animal and human disease of that nature. Commenting at the time upon Koch’s announcement, the World called for a prompt inquiry, and—because of the danger that the report might lead to laxness in inspection of food supplies—it added:—
Meanwhile there is no reason to relax our inspection of milk or meat, or to pause in the policy of destroying tuberculosis herds. Even if doctors disagree, laymen will not need to be convinced that neither the milk nor the meat of fevered, diseased animals is fit for human food.
In effect this is the conclusion of the British commission, which states that “it would be very unwise to frame or modify legislative measures in accordance with the view that human and bovine tubercle bacilli are specifically different, and that the disease caused by one is wholly different from the disease caused by the other.”—New York World.
ROMAN CATHOLIC INTOLERANCE.
A PROPOSITION in the Catholic party in the German Reichstag, the Literary Digest of May 21, tells us, aroused much debate “in the course of which Representative Sattler quoted from a work of a Jesuit father, Lucca, which appeared in Rome as late as 1901, in which death for heresy is asserted to be fully established by the church. The Cologne Volkszeitung, next to the Germania, of Berlin, the leading Catholic Church paper of the country, quotes this passage from Lucca’s “Institutiones Juris Ecclesiastici” (vol. i., p. 261 et seq.):—
The church has decided upon various punishments for the heretics: (1) The secular government must, at the command and by the direction of the church [ex mandato et commissione ecclesiae], inflict the punishment of death on heretics, and can not refuse to take charge of those that have been handed over to the secular arm by the church for death; (2) this punishment is to be inflicted not only on the adults who have fallen away from the faith, but also on those who have been baptized and with their mother’s milk have imbibed heresy and when grown up pertinaciously adhere to it.
The paper above, and other politicians, declare that this is not the doctrine of the church of to-day, because “ecclesiastico-political conditions have changed to such an extent. It regrets that a denunciation of the book has not appeared in journals of the order [of Jesuits].”
There is reason why it is not denounced. Lucca is logically right, tho now practically wrong; that the logical action of the church of Rome against heretics can not now be enforced, and it would be folly to attempt it; but Lucca’s doctrine is true, and its logic, from the very nature and fundamentals of Rome’s claims, is inexorable. The Jesuits know this, and they hope to see the day soon dawn when the world-kingdoms shall have yielded to the voice of the siren of apostasy, and the doctrine will be both practical and timely.
We readily, gladly, concede that there are many Roman Catholics who would not persecute or prosecute heretics, but they are better than their creed or its logic. The persecution is in the errors, the false theories, the false assumptions; and good men are transformed into demons by yielding to its perverted gospel.
“Rome never changes.” Lucca is right in his statement from the standpoint of the Roman Church, and the time will come—a little season—when it will be demonstrated to be once more practical. It is in respect to this last recrudescence of the Papacy that God sends out to the world His last great threefold warning in Rev. 14:6-14.
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE.
The following editorial from Word and Way is given, not because, in itself, the one case is more striking than others that might be given, but because it is indicative of the condition of things in the world at the present time; and, further, because the Word of God has pointed out these conditions as heralds of the approaching end:—
The judge of the criminal court of Jackson County, this state [Missouri], sentenced, the other day, a self-confessed criminal to a term in the state prison, and then paroled him. It was nominally a parole, but practically a pardon. Judging from his record the young man is a moral pervert. He was charged with highway robbery. After committing the crime he eluded the officers of the law, and after a long and expensive search he was found in a distant state and arrested. After much delay and difficulty he was brought to Kansas City. Then followed months of dilly-dallying in the courts. Just a few days ago the case came to trial. As the sequel shows, there was an understanding among the court, the state's attorney and the defendant's counsel, that the defendant should plead guilty, receive sentence, and then be paroled. The court gave as a reason for the parole the youth of the criminal and the respectability of his family. The indictment was for highway robbery, but the statute law of the state expressly provides that this particular crime is not parolable. So, in order to save the criminal from the penalty of his crime, the charge of highway robbery was changed by the consent of the court to a parolable misdemeanor. It is no wonder this arbitrary and unreasonable action of the court has been the subject of much comment and adverse criticism. For one thing there was nothing extenuating in the age of the offender. He is no child. He is 23 years old, has a divorced wife and two children. As to the respectability of his family, his father is respectable if wealth constitutes respectability. Being wealthy, the father is influential, for money is power. A while back he was indicted for the crime of bribery. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to a term in the penitentiary. The case was appealed and reversed on a point not affecting the nature and fact of his crime. So he is only technically out of the penitentiary. And this is what our honorable court would hold up before the world as an example of respectability, and make a partial reason for turning loose a self-confessed criminal on society. And then there is the precedent. The court is under solemn obligation to be impartial. Is the public to expect that hereafter our honorable criminal court is going to parole, on the score of youth and respectable (?) connection, all criminals who happen not to be grayhaired and infirm with age?
There are few things more discouraging in the work of dealing with the criminal aspects of society than the dilatory and capricious conduct of the courts.
This condition is faithfully portrayed in the prophetic Word (See Micah 7: 2-7, and other scriptures), and the context shows that these are last-day conditions.
THE WAR IN THE ORIENT.
The movements of the Japanese in Manchuria are puzzling both friends and enemies. The Russian reports indicate that the Russian troops are preventing the advance of their enemies toward the Russian headquarters, while reports from Japanese sources indicate that the Japanese continue to advance and the Russians to retire. The Japanese continue to land men at Dalny, preparatory to the final advance on Port Arthur. Refugees from the latter place tell of continual fighting in that vicinity, and the latest reports state that the Japanese have carried the second line of the Port Arthur defenses. The Japanese have captured Mo Tien Pass and on July 8 entered Kiaping after severe fighting. They have now crossed the entire peninsula with the exception of a few miles between Kaiping and Niewchwang. The Russian Vladivostock fleet slipped out of the trap laid for them by the Japanese, and claim to have sunk at least two torpedo-boats in getting away. The Russian Baltic fleet is now said to be under orders to sail for the East on July 28.
The Danish steamer Norge, which left Copenhagen on June 22, was wrecked on the Isle of Rockall, 200 miles west of Scotland, on June 28. The vessel carried nearly 800 passengers. A few boat-loads of these have reached shore after long battles with the wind and waves. One of these boats was eight days on the open sea. The number who went down with the ship is now believed to be about 700. This is one of the most terrible steamship disasters that has ever occurred, and is second only to the burning of the steamer General Slocum in Long Island Sound.
The candidates chosen at the conventions of the various parties are for president and vice-president, respectively, as follows: Republican, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Warren Fairbanks; Democratic, Alton B. Parker and Henry G. Davis; Populist, Thomas E. Watson and Thomas H. Tibbles; Socialist, Eugene V. Debs and Benjamin Hanford; Prohibitionist, Silas C. Swallow for president.
A fund to stimulate study and research to determine the cause and cure for cancer was established some time ago in England. At a meeting of medical men in London, on July 8, the statement was made that radium had been found to have no curative effect in the treatment of that disease, tho much had been hoped for it. A serum had been discovered, which it was hoped would give good results.
The Kaw River, which flows through Kansas City, Kansas, has overflowed its banks, flooding a large section of the city. It is reported that 10,000 persons are homeless as a result. An appeal has been made to the government for rations for the homeless people.
Persia, the land of ancient history and prophecy, has decided to reorganize its army and put it on a fighting basis. The shah has asked the Austrian Government for a number of military officers to direct in that work.
Reports from Persia tell of the renewal of Turkish atrocities upon the Armenian inhabitants of the province of Van. Armenian bishops in Persia have appealed to the United States to intervene in behalf of Armenia.
The British have captured the fort occupied by the Tibetans, and have sent another invitation to the Tibetan ruler to negotiate over the matters in dispute.
The Chicago Limited on the Wabash Road was wrecked at Litchfield, Ill., on July 3, with the result that 20 persons were killed, and a large number were injured.
Cholera is reported to be raging in Persia. There are said to be 300 deaths daily in the city of Teheran, and the plague is spreading northward.
RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE HOME CIRCLE.
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
MOTHER, Bobbie has my best necktie, and I want you to make him give it up.
Willie ran screaming into the parlor, and Bobbie called mockingly after him:—
“Cry-baby! mama don't care,—I asked her.”
“Well, Bobbie Jones, it doesn't happen to be mama's necktie, 'cause it's mine.”
Mrs. Jones was in the parlor entertaining callers, when the angry, tear-stained face of her eldest son appeared in the door.
“Never mind, Willie, never mind, don't be naughty; Bobbie may wear your tie,—his is dirty; now run away.”
But Willie did not run away; he purposed to reason the case with his mother.
“Yes, Bob's is dirty 'cause he crumpled it all up with his sweaty fingers, and that's just what he'll do to mine, and I tell you, mama, it isn't fair to let him take it.”
Mrs. Jones turned to one of her callers: “Do you ever have such trouble with your boys, Mrs. Blake? Willie seems to be growing more and more selfish every day.”
“Pardon me, Mrs. Jones, but Willie has my sympathy. Indeed he does not seem selfish to me, he simply has a strong sense of justice, that's all.”
“Justice?” Mrs. Jones repeated the words with a look of astonishment. “I'm sure I try to be just to my children, and to teach them to be just to one another.”
Mrs. Blake did not reply further, and thought it best to cut her call short. But the words had made a deep impression upon the heart of her hostess. Was it possible that she was not just to either of her children? Willie was getting old enough to feel a sense of proprietorship in his few possessions, which Bobbie did not seem inclined to respect. Had she failed in comprehending her duty as a Christian mother? She felt that the reproof of her neighbor was merited; and she determined to profit by it. After that, her two boys were taught to respect the rights of each other. When Bobbie wanted to borrow Willie's toys, he was expected to acknowledge his brother's right of ownership by asking him courteously; then, if the request was at all reasonable, it should always be as kindly granted. Children have a much keener sense of justice than they are credited with; and there is nothing which seems such an outrage of their sense of justice and right, as the indiscriminate use of that which they consider their personal property without consulting them.
There are many mothers,—fathers too, for that matter,—who forget or ignore the fact that each member of the family, from baby Bess to the gray-haired grandfather, have individual rights which the other members of the home circle are in duty bound to respect.
“I can understand,” says some one, “that the older members of the family have certain rights, but when it comes to little children,—why, I just can't understand what rights a three-year-old child can possibly have, which the others are bound to respect; why, the idea seems almost ridiculous!”
Does it? Do you forget that the hour for the little one's bed time belongs exclusively to her; an hour when even the most pressing duties should not interfere with the one sacred duty of making it—the hour of eventide—the sweetest of all the day to the little one. Neither business nor pleasure, fastidious guest, nor transient caller, should be allowed to cheat the baby lips of their good-night kiss, or the eager little ears of the expected story.
Yes; the children—all of them—have their rights which should be held as sacred as those of the grown-up members of the family.
Once, in the long ago, there lived a child,—a gentle, blue-eyed little girl. The chance came one day for her to go some distance from home to do chores for a lady who agreed to pay her three shillings a week. In those days it was a very rare thing for a child to earn money, and it was prized accordingly.
But O, how homesick she was! Still she was no baby; and very faithfully did the child wash dishes and sweep, and run errands, until she was the proud possessor of the fabulous sum of three dollars. Out of this she bought a pair of pretty little slippers, and took the remainder home, in a neat purse, which was a present for her extra faithfulness and diligence.
How happy she was as she showed her hard-earned money to the dear father and mother.
But one day, not long afterward, when she returned from an errand to a neighbor's, she missed seventy-five cents from her jealously-guarded store. An older sister had needed some gay ribbons, and had been allowed to abstract the sum without a word to the heart-broken little owner. A few days after this, the dear, hard-working father asked her to borrow the remainder of her little store. Proud and happy as a Rothschild, she loaned it to him. But when, weeks afterward, the young money-lender timidly suggested that it would be well to repay the amount borrowed, the dear father (just to every one save to the tender child of his care) only replied by asking her if she had not as good food and clothes as the other children!
O, the apostle knew the need of an admonition on this line, when he wrote: “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”
Then there are the dear, white-haired grandma and grandpa, whose very presence is a benediction,—have they any “rights”? Have they earned any? Ah, whose love and faithfulness and tenderness and toil, in the years that have sped by like a shadow, have laid the very foundations of our home to-day? We know very well that many of our good things have come from their loving hands. Then let the best room and the easiest chair be given them, and grudge them not a tender word and a loving kiss, so shall their pathway to the silent tomb be smoothed and cheered.
But, finally, shall I give you the key to the whole situation? Shall I reveal in one word the blessed secret which lies at the foundation of every happy home? the word which expresses the Alpha and Omega of all true happiness? the word which is the foundation stone of all earth's joys?—That word is unselfishness
Yes, because selfishness is at the bottom of all the trouble that ever cursed our earth, of all the wars which ever raged: of all the tears which ever fell, and of all the misery of all the families of earth.
COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.
By David Paulson
BY DAVID PAULSON, M.D.
There are some young people who possess such superficial minds, that it is apparently impossible for them to regard the subject of engagement and marriage in any other light than as being suitable topics for their cheap jokes and silly jests. This article, however, is written for that class of young people who are determined to make an eminent success both of this life and the one which is to come. This class of youth regard all of God's arrangements as being too sacred to be treated in a light, trifling, or commonplace manner. The marriage relation is regarded by God as being so sacred that He could properly select it as a fit illustration of His own relation to His church. And this it always would be if young people would allow God to carry out His plan in every step which leads up to marriage, and then continue to maintain the same attitude toward Him ever afterward.
It is utterly impossible for any young couple after allowing the enemy to control them at almost every turn of the road during courtship, to expect that God will then suddenly take the helm and guide them the moment the marriage ceremony is performed. Engagements that are persistently cultivated from a cheap, chaffy, worldly basis, account to a large extent for the present comparative scarcity of typical and ideal marriage relations.
It is God's purpose that a Christian home should have in it as one of its attractions such a liberal instalment of heaven that, if some storm-tossed wanderer should tarry in it for even a short time, he would get such a breath of the fragrant atmosphere of heaven that he could immediately determine whether he should really desire to bask continually under the fulness of such blessed influences throughout all eternity. Instead of this being the case, in altogether too many homes we find abundant evidence that they are being cursed more or less with half-concealed friction and often in addition, serious plague spots that only the records of God will eventually fully reveal.
Many who would scorn to utter a falsehood in reference to any other subject apparently suffer no pangs of remorse for telling frequently the most deliberate untruths with reference to their own intentions regarding marriage. Thousands of young people who at least pretend to be guided by principle in other less important things are perfectly willing to be led by impulse and sentiment in regard to this question which has the greatest11possible bearing upon their present happiness, as well as upon their future destiny.
In marriage, as well as in other things, there is only one way of being absolutely right; while there are thousands of ways of being wrong. Just to the extent that we succeed in living out the program that God has ordained for us, just to that extent we shall find that our lives are crowned with both happiness and success. On the other hand, just to the degree that we deviate from the path that Providence has arranged for us, just to that degree we shall reap trouble, misery, and sin. Those who recognize this truth the most clearly are the ones who will have the least desire to take a single step in any direction without having the blessed assurance that it has the divine approval. Such individuals soon tower head and shoulders over their fellow-men. They unconsciously lead a long procession of humanity to higher and still higher mental, moral, and physical attainments. Their selfish associates soon begin to regard them as objects of envy because of the inexplicable large number of good fortunes which befall them, often without any apparent effort on their part to secure them. All those who are willing to place all their plans freely in God's hands, and are determined to recognize the same guiding Hand in the selection of what should be their closest associate throughout all time and eternity,—such young people will secure heights of permanent happiness and usefulness which those who are guided merely by impulse and sentiment can never experience, even temporarily.
God, who alone knows our entire future career, and who only can understand all our needs, and who is intimately acquainted with every human soul, He alone is fully qualified so to guide two human beings that such a union shall result as will add to the sum total of their usefulness, and to the happiness of all those who shall be brought in contact with them.
Some will undoubtedly say that this is altogether too much to expect here in this sinful world; but it is well for such to remember that it is no greater miracle to be divinely guided eventually as was Elijah, even from this earthly life into our heavenly existence.
It is safe to say that those who would be willing to deal with their own soul's salvation in the same frivolous manner that the average couple conduct their engagement would be certain to make a dismal failure of their salvation; but this is equally true of the large number of wretched and unsatisfactory marriages that are so easily recognized on every hand.
God bestows happiness in a literal manner upon His children, but they are never going about seeking their own happiness, but instead, that of others. So the first question that must be raised with reference to marriage is this: Will this step that I am contemplating increase my usefulness in serving humanity? There are scores of what were once most excellent workers, who can readily trace the decline of their missionary usefulness to their courtship and marriage. Complications which they either did not anticipate, or refused to recognize, gradually entangled themselves about their feet, and possibly souls have gone down to ruin because a certain young couple were determined to be united, regardless of all consequences. God who can make even the wrath of men to praise Him, undoubtedly in His infinite wisdom and love will bring some great good out of these ill-matched marriages, if those who have entered into these unsuitable relations will begin at once to seek for the necessary supplies of grace to enable them to make their little desert “blossom as the rose.”
There is another question which is closely connected with this one, and that is, Will this step increase my spirituality? There are hundreds of young people who know full well that their Christian experience received its deadly wound during their courtship, and that it was still further paralyzed by the unhappy and unsatisfactory marriage that followed.
Another question which every young person should ask themselves before taking a single step in the path that leads to the marriage relation is: Am I a mature individual, or am I only a child? Premature marriages are, with very few exceptions, physiologically wrong, and therefore they must necessarily be wrong in other respects; for the Author of physiological law is the Author of moral law, and neither can be violated with impunity. Our divorce courts are overflowing with the wretched results of child marriages.
Shall we who are living in an age of such possibilities be content to trail after the devil's banner in engagements and marriages? or shall we commit this question into God's hands just as we do the keeping of our souls, and then resolutely cultivate such noble principles in regard to the marriage relation that even our wicked associates will intuitively avoid speaking of it in our presence in a low and vulgar manner?
The young people who cultivate each others' acquaintance from a noble, dignified, and Christian standpoint, would not dread to have the last trumpet call them to their better home at any stage of it. If the admonition, “To live each day as tho it were the last” does not include the engagement period, then why not? Those who, by God's grace, are determined to live up to those principles which apply before marriage will find it perfectly natural to adhere to those divinely-appointed principles which apply after marriage.
The step from earth to heaven will not change our characters. Some will find when too late that heaven has no place for those who have persisted in perverting any God-given functions of the human body from their divinely-appointed purposes. Sin will have no place in heaven, for God has allotted us a sufficient length of time here below to become everlastingly cured of the disposition to sin. Just to the extent that the spirit of serving self is eradicated from our lives, just to that extent the spirit of genuine love for humanity will fill its place, and heaven will begin to bud and blossom in our hearts, for we shall never be fitted to enjoy heaven outside of ourselves until we have first begun to experience some of its satisfying joys within ourselves.
WORK OF WOMAN.
By M. Elisabeth Burns-Howell
BY M. ELISABETH BURNS-HOWELL.
“After this manner in the old time the holy women adorned themselves.”
WORK of woman? Life-work: To bear and to rear,
To succor and strengthen, to comfort and cheer;
To labor and live, for the child of her heart,
And shrink not to suffer if pain be her part.
Work of woman? Love-work: Created to love,
And loving, to guide to the haven above,
With steps strong and steady, and eye set on high,
Her heart by the hearth-stone, she mounts to the sky.
Work of woman? Wife-work: Devotedly true
To share and to sympathize, eager to do,
With good heart and glad heart, for him whom she loves,
Companion and consort and comrade she proves.
Work of woman? Health-work: To soothe and to heal,
To look up, and lift up; and often to kneel,
With head bowed and heart bowed, to seek at the throne
The grace that is given for healing alone.
Work of woman? School-work: The home is her school,
All nature her Primer, her Bible the rule
That she solves problems by. She teaches and learns
Life lessons of patience and power, by turns.
Work of woman? Brainwork: To think and to know,
To search laws of life, that her household may go
The windings about of that intricate way
Of wisdom and truth, and of duty each day.
Work of woman? Hand-work: To make or to mend,
To do little deeds, from dawn to day’s end;
To fashion wee garments from foot up to head,
To spin or to weave, or to bake daily bread.
Work of woman? Heart-work: To lead to the light,
To point to the sun, and sing songs in the night;
To rock at the cradle, and pillow tired heads,
And hear baby prayers beside baby beds.
San Francisco, Cal.
WHERE TOM FOUND HIS MANNERS.
Tom’s father was a rich man, and Tom lived in a large house in the country. He had a pony and many other pets, and wore fine clothes. Tom was very proud of all the fine things his father’s money bought. He began to think that being rich was better than being good. He grew very rude, and was cross to the servants. Once he kicked Towser, but the dog growled, and Tom was afraid to kick him again.
One day when Tom was playing in the yard, he saw a boy standing by the gate. He was ragged and dirty, his hat was torn, and his feet were bare. But he had a pleasant face. In one hand he carried a pail half full of blackberries.
“Go away from here,” said Tom, running to the gate. “We are rich, and we don’t want any ragged boys around.”
“Please give me a drink,” said the boy. “If you are so rich you can spare me a dipper of water.”
“We can’t spare you anything,” said Tom. “If you don’t get away I will set the dogs on you.”
The boy laughed, and walked away, swinging the tin pail in his hand.
“I think I will get some blackberries, too,” said Tom to himself. He went out of the gate into the lane leading to a meadow where there were plenty of berries.
Tom saw some fine, large ones growing just over a ditch. He thought he could leap over it very easily. He gave a run and a very big jump. The ditch was wider than he had thought, and instead of going over it, he came down in the middle of it.
The mud was very thick and soft, and Tom sank down in it to his waist. He was very much frightened, and began to scream for help. But he had not much hope that help would come, for he was a long way from any house.
He screamed until he was tired. He began to think he would have to spend the night in the ditch, when he heard steps on the grass. Looking, he saw the ragged boy he had driven from the gate a short time before.
“Please help me out,” said Tom, crying. “I will give you a dollar.”
“I don’t want the dollar,” said the other boy. Lying down flat on the grass, he held out both of his hands to Tom, and drew him out of the ditch.
Tom was covered with mud, his hat was gone, and one shoe was lost in the ditch. He looked very miserable.
“Who is dirty, now?” asked the boy.
“I am,” said poor Tom; “but I thank you very much for helping me out of the mire. And I am sorry I sent you away from the gate.”
“The next time I come, perhaps you will treat me better,” said the boy. “I am not rich, but I am stronger than you are, and I think I have better manners.”
“I think so, too,” said Tom.
The next day when Tom saw the boy going by the gate, he called him in, showed him his rabbits, doves, and ducks, and gave him a ride on his pony.
“You have good manners, now,” said the boy.
“Yes,” said Tom, “I found them in the ditch.”
—Sunday-school Visitor.
PAPER CAR-WHEELS.
Just what a paper car-wheel is, and how it is made, is thus explained editorially in Railways and Locomotive Engineering (January):—
“The material of the paper-wheel is a calendared rye-straw board or thick paper made specially for the purpose at the company’s paper-mills. This is sent to the works in various sizes suitable for the dimensions of the wheel center to be made. The first operation is for two men standing beside a pile of the boards to brush over each sheet a coating of flour paste, until a dozen are pasted into a layer. A third man transfers this layer to a hydraulic press, where a pressure of five hundred tons or more is applied. After solidifying under this pressure for two hours, the 12-sheet layers are kept in a drying-room heated to a temperature of 120° F. Several of these layers are in turn pasted together, dressed, and given another drying. This is kept up until a circular block is formed, containing from 120 to 160 sheets, varying from four and one-half to five and one-half inches in thickness, and as compact as seasoned hickory.”
“The blocks are then turned in a lathe slightly larger than the tire, and the hole is bored for the cast-iron center. In turning, the paper blocks make a shaving that resembles strips of leather. The center and the tire are forced on under a powerful hydraulic press.”
“The average life of the tire of a paper wheel is about 300,000 miles. That represents about 1¼-inch wear. The centers do not seem to be affected by service, and they are always good for renewal of tires unless some accident happens to them.”