Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 35, Number 18, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 June 1889 — Page 3

THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL. "WEDNESDAY. JUNE 19. 18S9.

THE SAVIOR'S BOYHOOD.

TALMAGE ON THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. The Life of Jesus as Village Lad Reviewed Early Impression That Brooght Result in Mankind lieIlgloua Thought and Notes.

Rev.Dr. Talmage baptized , tea infants ! last Sunday morning, and preached an interesting sermon on tho boyhood of Jesus Christ, which was heard by as many people &s could get into the tabernacle. The text was: And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was with him. Luke ii, 40, About Christ a3 a village lad I epeak. There is for the most part a silence more than eighteen centuries long about Christ between infancy and manhood. "What kind of a boy was he? Was he genuine boy at all, or" did there settle upon him from the start all the intensities of martyrdom? tVe have on this subject only a little gnesing, a few surmises, and here and there an unimportant "perhaps." Concerning what bounded that rxybood on both sides we have whole libraries of books and whole galleries of canvas and sculpture. Before the infant Christ in Mary's arms, or taking his fir?t sleep in the rough outhouse, all the painters bow, and we have Paul Veronese's "Holy Family" and Ferugino's "Nativity," and Angelico da Fiefole's "Infant Christ," and Rubens' "Adoration of the Magi." and Tintoret's '.'Adoration of the Magi," and Chiriandojo's "Adoration of the Magi," and Raphael's "Madonna," and Orcagua's "Madonna," and Murillo's "Madonna," and Madonnas by the schools of painting in all lights and shades, and with all styles of attractive feature and impressive surrounding, but pen and pencil and chisel, have with few exception passed by Christ the village lad. Yet by three conjoined evidences 1 think we can come to E accurate an idea of what Christ was as a boy as we can of what Christ was as a nan. First, we have the brief bible account. Then we have the prolonged account of w bat Christ was at thirty yeara of age. Now yoa have only to minify that account fomewhat and you find what he was at tea years of ags. Temperaments never change. A sanguine temperament never becomes a phlegmatic temperament. A Nervous temperament never becomes a lymphatic temperament. Religion changed one's affections and ambitions, but it is the same old temperament acting in a different direction. As Christ had no religious change, he was as a lad what he was as a man, only on not so large a trale. When all tradition and all art and all history . represent him as a blonde with golden hair I know he was in boyhood a blonde. We have, beside, an inspired book that Tas for the first three or four centuries tfter Christ's appearance received by many as inspired, and which gives prolonged account of Christ's boyhood, fcome ot it may be true, none of it may le true. It may be partly built on facts, or, by the passage of ages, some real facts .may have been distorted. But because b book is not divinely inspired we are not therefore to conclude that there aro not true things in it. Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" was not inspired, but we believe it, although it may contain mistakes. JIacauley's "History "of England" was not inspired, but we believe it, although it may have been marred with nany errors. The so-called apocryphal fospel in which the boyhood of Christ is dwelt upon I do not believe to be divinely inspired, and yet it may present facts worthy of consideration. Lecauso it represents the boy Christ as performing miracles some have overthrown that whole tprocryphal book. But what Tight have yoa to say that Christ did not perform miracles at ten years of age as well as at thirty? He was in boyhood as certainly divine as in manhood. Then, while a lad be must have had the power to work miracles, whether he did or did not work them. When, having reached manhood, Christ turned water into wine, that was taid to be the beginning of miracles. But that may mean that it was the beginning cf that series of manhood miracles. In a word, I think that the new testanent is only a small transcript of what Jesus said and did. Indeed, the bible declares positively that if all Christ rtid and said were written, the world would not contain the books. we are at liberty to believe or reject those parts of the apocryphal gospel which say that when the boy Christ with his mother passed a band of thieves he told his mother that two of them, Dumachus and Titus by name, would be the two thieves who afterward would expire on crosses beside Him. Was that more wonderful than gome of Christ's manhood prophecies? Or tho uninspired etory that the boy Christ made a fountain spring from the roots of a sycamore tree io that His mother washed His coat in tho stream was that more unbelievable than the manhood miracle that changed common water into a marriage beverage? Or the uninspired story that two sick children were recovered by bathing in the water where Christ was washed? Was that raore - wonderful than the manhood rairacle by which the woman twelve years a complete invalid should have been made straight by touching the fringe of Christ's coat? In other words, while I 'do not believe that any of the so-called apocryphal new te6tament is inspired, I believe much of it is true; just as I believe a thousand books, none of which are divinely inspired. Much of it was just like Christ Just as certain as the man Christ was the most of the time getting men out of trouble, I think that the boy Christ was the most of the time getting boys out of trouble. I have declared to you this day a boys' Christ. And the world wants Buch a one. He did not sit around moping over what was to be, or what was. From the way in which natural objects en wreathed themselves into his sermons after he had become a man I conclude there was not a rock or a hill or a cavern or a tree for miles around that he was not familiar with in childhood. He had cautiously felt his way down into the caves, and'had, with lithe and agile limb, gained a oise on many a hizh tree-top. His boyhood wag passed among gravd scenery, as most all the great natives have passed early life among the mountain. They mav live now oa the fiats, but they passed the receptive days of ladhood among the hills. Among the mountains of New Hampshire, or the mountains of Virginia, or the mountains of Kentucky, or the mountains of Switzerland or Italy or Austria or Scotland, or mountains as high and rugged as they, many of the .world's thrilling biographies begin. Our Lord's boyhood was passed in a neighborhood 1,200 feet above the level of the sea and surrounded bv mountains 500 or 600 feet still higher. Ik fore it could shine on the village where this boy slept the sun bad to climb far enough up to look over hills that held their heads far aloft. From yonder hight his eye at one sweep took in the mighty scoop of the valley!, and with another sweep took in the j

Mediterranean eea, and vou hear the grandeur of the cliffs and the surge of the great waters in his matchless sermonology. ne day I see that Divine boy, the wind flurrying His hair over His sun-browned forehead, standing on a hill-top looking off upon Lake Tiberias, on which at one time, according to profane history, are not four hundred four thousand ships. Authors have taken pains to say that Christ was not affected by these surroundings, and that He from within lived outward and independent of circumstances. f'o far from that being true, He was tho most sensitive being that ever walked the earth, and if a pale invalid's weak linger could not touch His robe without strength going out from Him, these mountains and seas could not have touched His eye without irradiating His entire nature with their magnificence. 1 I warrant that He had mounted and explored all the fifteen hills around Nazareth, among them Ilermon with its crystal coronet of perpetual snow, and Carmel and Tabor and Gilboa, and they all had their sublime echo in after time from tho Olivetic pulpit. And then it was not uncultivated grandeur. These hills carried in their arms or on their backs gardens, proves, orchards, terraces, vineyards, cactus, sycamores. These outbranching foliages did not have to wait for the floods before their silence was broken, for through them and over them and in circles round them and under them were pelicans, were thrushes, were sparrows, were nightingales, were larks, were quails, were blackbirds, were partridges, were bulbuls. Yonder the white flocks of sheep snowed down over the pasture lands. And yonder the brook rehearses to the pebbles its adventures down the rocky shelving. Yonder are the oriental homes, the housewife with pitcher on the shoulder entering the door, and down the lawn in front children reveling among the flaming flora. And all this spring and song and grass and sunshi ne and shadow woven into tho most exquisite nature that ever breathed or wept or sung or suffered. Through studying the sky between the hills Christ had noticed tho w eather signs, and that a crimson sky at night meant dry weather next day, and that a crimson sky in the morning meant wet weather before night. And how beautifully He made use of it in after years as He drove down upon the pestiferous Pharisee and Sadducee by crying out: "When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather, for the 6ky is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O, ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the 6ky, but can ye not discern the signs of the'times?" By day, as every boy has done, He watched the barnyard fowl at sight of overswinging hawk cluck her chickens under wing, and in after years He said: "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under hr wing!" By night He had noticed His mother by the plain candle light which, as ever and anon it was snuffed and the removed wick put down on the candlestick, beamed brightly through all the family sitting room as His mother M as mending His garments that had been torn during the day'n wanderings among the rocks or bushes, and years afterward it all came out in the simile of the greatest sermon ever preached: "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but in a candlestick, and it giveth light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine." Some time when His mother in the autumn took out the clothes that bad been put away for the summer he noticed how the moth miller flew out, and the coat dropped apart, ruined and useless, and so twenty years after Ha enjoined: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust can corrupt." His boyhood 6pent among birds and flowers they all caroled and bloomed again fifteen years after as He cries out: "Behold the fowls of tho air." "Consider the lilies." A great 6torm one day during Christ's boyhood blackened the heavens and angered the rivers. Perhaps standing in the door of the carpenter's shop He watched it gathering louder and wilder until two cyclones, one sweeping down from Mount Tabor and the other from Mount Carmel, met in the valley of Esdraelon and two heuses are caught in the fury and crash goes the one and triumphant stands the other, and He noticed that one hail shifting sand for a foundation and the other an eternal rock lor basis; and twenty jcars after He built the whole scene into a peroration of flood and whirlwind that seized His audienco and lifted them into the bights of sublimity with the two great arms of pathos and terror, which sublime words I render, asking you, as far as possible, to forget that you ever heard them before: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, aud the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, w hich built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the Hoods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell; and great was the fall of it." Yes, from the naturalness, the simplicity, the freshness of His parables and similes and metaphors in manhood discourse I know that He had been a boy of the fields, and had bathed in the streams and heard the nightingale's call and broken through the flowery hedge and looked out of embrasures of the fortress, and drank from the wells and chased the butterflies, which travelers sav have always been one of the flittering beauties of that landscape, and talked with the strange people from Damascus and Egypt and Sapphoris and Syria, who in caravans or on foot passed through His neighborhood, the dogs barking at their approach at sundown. As afterward He was a perfect man, in the time of which I speak He was a perfect boy, with the spring of a boy's foot, the sparkle of a boy s eye, tho rebound of a boy's life, and just the opposite of those juveniles who sit around morbid and unelastic, old men at ten. I warrant He was able to take His own part and to take the part of others. In that village of Nazareth I am certain there was what is found in all the neighborhoods of the earth, that terror of children, the bully, who seems born to strike, to punch, to bruise, to overpower the leas muscular and robust. The Christ who afterward, in no limited termn, denounced hypocrite and Pharisee, I warrant, never let such juvenile villain impose upon less vigorous childhood and yet go unscathed and undefended. At ten years He was in sympathy with the underlings as He was at thirty and thirtythree. I want no further inspired or uninspired information to persuade me that He was a splendid boy, a radiant boy. the grandest, holiest, mightiest boy of all the ages. Hence I commend Hirn as a boy's Christ. What multitudes between ton and fifteen years have found Him out as the one just suited by His own personal experience to help any boy. Let the world lookout how it treads on a boy, for that very moment it treads on Christ You strike a boy, you strike Christ; you insult a boy, you insult Christ; you cheat a boy, you cheat Christ. It is an awful and infinite mistake to come as far as manhood without a Christ when hero is a boy Christ. That was one reason, I suppose,, that Jonathan Edwards, afterward the greatest American logician and preacher of his time, becamea Christian at seven years of age; and Robert Hall, who afterward shook Christendom with his sacred eloquence, became a Christian at twelve years of age ; and Isaac Watte, j

who divided with Charles Wesley, the dominion of holy song, became a Christian at nine years of age, and if in any large religious assemblage it were asked that all the men and women who learned to love Christ before they were fifteen years of age would please lift their right hand, there would be enough hands lifted to wave a coronation. What is true in a religious sense is true in a secular sense. Themistocles amazed his school fellows with talent which in after years made the world 6tare. Isaac Newton, the boy, bv. driving pegs in the side of a house to mark the decline of the sun, evidenced a disposition toward the experiments which afterward showed the nations how tho worlds swing. Kobert Stephenson, the boy, with his kite on the commons experimented with electric currents and prophesied work which should yet make him immortal. "Get out of my wav!" said a rough man to a boy, "get out of my way 1 What are you good for, anyhow ?" The boy answered: "They make men out of such things as we are." Hear it, fathers, mothers! Hear it, philanthropists and patriots ; hear it, all the young ! The temporal and eternal destiny of the most of the inhabitants of this earth is decided before fourteen years of ace. Behold the Nazareth Christ, the village Christ, tho country Christ, the boy Christ But having shown you the Divine lad in the fields, I must show you Him in the mechanic's shop. Joseph, His father, died very early, immediately after the famous trip to the temple, and this lad had not only to support Himself, but support Hi3 mother, and what that is some of you know. There is a royal race of boys on earth now doing the same thing. They wear no crown. Thev have no purple robe adroop from their shoulders. The plain chair on which they sit is as much unlike a throne as anything you can imagine. But (od knows what they are doing and through what sacrifices they go, and through all eternity God will keep paying them for their filial behavior. They shall get full measure of reward, the measure pressed down, shaken together and running over. They have their example in this bov Christ taking care of His mother. He had been taught the carpenter's trade by His father. The boy had done the plainer work at the shop, while His father had put on the finishing touches of the work. The boy also cleared away the chins and blocks and shavings. He "helped hold the diflfereut pieces of work w hile the father joined them. In our day we have all kinds of mechanics, and the work is divided up among them. But to be a carpenter in Christ's boyhood days meant to make plows, yokes, shovels, wagons, tables, chairs, sofas, houses, and almost everything that was made. Fortunate was it that the boy had learned the trade, for, when the head of the family dies, it is a grand thing to havo the child able to take care of himself and help take care others. "ow that Joseph, his father, is dead and the responsibility of family support comes down on this boy, I hear from morning till night his hammer pounding, his saw vacillating, his ax descending, his gimlets boring, and standing amid the dust and debris of the shop I find the preBpiration gathering on his temples and notice the fatigue of his arm, and as he stops a moment to ret I see him panting, his hand on his side, from the exhaustion. Now he goes forth m the morning loaded with implements of work heavier than any modern kit of tools. Under the tropical sun ha swelters. Lifting, pulling, adjusting, cleaving, splitting all day long. At nightfall he goes home to the plain supper provided by his mother, and sits down too tired to talk. Work 1 work! work! You cannot tell Christ anything now about blistered hands, or aching ankles, or bruised fingers, or stiff joints, or rising as tired in the morning as when you laid down. While j et a boy He knew it all, He felt it all. He suffered it alL The boy carpeuter! The boy wagon-maker ! Tho boy house-builder ! O, Christ! we have have seen Thee when full-grown in Pilate's police court; we havo seen Thee when full grown Thou were assassinated on Golgotha, but O, Christ, let all the weary artisans and mechanics of the earth see Thee while yet undersized and arms not yet muscularized, and with the undeveloped strength of juvenescence, trying to take Thy father's lace in gaining the livelihood for the amiiy. But, having seen Christ the boy of the fields and the boy of the mechanic's shop, I show you a more marvelousscene Christ the smooth-browed lad among the longbearded, white-haired, high-foreheaded ecclesiastics of the temple. Hundreds of thousands of strangers had come to Jerusalem to keep a great religious festival. After the hospitable homes were crowded with visitors, the tents were spread all around the citv to shelter immense throngs of strangers. It was very easy among the vast throngs coming and going to lose a child. More than two million people have been known to gather at Jerusalem for that national feast. You must not think of those regions as sparsely settled. The ancient historian Josephus says there were in Gallilee 2H0 cities, the smallest of them containing 1-5,000 people. No wonder that amid the crowds at the time spoken of Jesus, the boy, was lost. His parents, knowing that he was mature enough and agile enough to take care of himself, are on their way home without any anxiety, supposing that their boy is coming with some of the groups. But after a while they suspect he is lost, and with flushed cheek and a terrorized look they rush this way and that, saying: "Have you seen anything of my boy? He is twelve years of age, of fair complexion, and has blue eyes and auburn hair. Have you Been him since we left the city?" Back they go in hot haste, in and out the streets, in and out the private houses and among the surrounding bills. For three days they search and inquire, wondering if ho has been trampled under foot of some of tho throngs or has ventured on the cliff or fallen off a precipice. .Send through all the streets and lanes of the city and among all the surroundirg hills that most dismal sound, "A lost" child! A lost child!" And lo, after three days they discover him in the great temple, seated among the mightiest religionists of all the world. Tho walls of no other building ever looked down on such a scene. A child twelve frearB old surrounded by septuagenarians, ie asking his own questions and answering theirs. Let me introdueo you to some of these ecclesiastics. This is the great Rabbin Simeon! This is the venerable Iiillel! This is tho famous Sharamal! These are tho sons of the distinguished Betirah. What can this twelve-year lad teach them, or what questions can ho ask worthy their cogitation? Ah, tho first time in all their lives these religionists Lave found their match and more than their match. Though so young, he knew all about the famous temple under whose roof they held that most wonderful discussion of all history. He knew the meaning of every altar, of every sacrifice, of every golden candlestick, of every embroidered curtain, of every crumb of shew bread, of every drop of oil in that sacred edifice. He knew all about God. He knew all about man. He knew all about heaven, for he came from it. lie knew all about this world, for He made it He knew all worlds, for they were only the sparkling morning dewdrops on the lawn in front of His heavenly palace. Put these . seven bible words in a w reath of emphasis: "Both hearing them and" asking them questions." I am not so much interested in the questions they asked Him as in the questions He aeked'them. He asked the ques

tions not to get information from the doctors, for He knew it already, but to humble them bv showing them the hight and depth and length and breadth of their own ignorance. While the radiant boy thrusts these self-conceited philosophers with the interrogation point, they put the forefinger o! the right hand to the temple as though to start their thoughts into more vigor, and then they would look upward and then they would wrinkle their brows, and then by absolute silence or in positive words confess their incapacity to answer tho interrogatoryt Whilo any one of a hundred questions about theology, about philosophy, about astronomy, about time, about eternity, ho may have balked them, disconcerted them, flung them flat Behold the boy Christasking questions and listen when your child asks questions.. He has the right to ask them. The more he asks tho better. Alas, for the stupidity of the child without inqnisitiveness i It is Christianlike to ask questions. Answer them if you can. Do not say : "I can't be bothered now." It is your place to bo bothered with questions. If you are not able to answer, surrender, and confess your incapacity, as I have no doubt did Rabbin, Simeon and Iiillel and Shammai ana the sons of Betirah when that splendid boy, sitting or standing there with a garment reaching from neck to ankle, and girdled at the waist, put them to their very wit's end. It is no disgrace to say : "I don't know." The learned doctors who environed Christ that day in the temple did not know, or they would not have asked him any questions. The only being in the universe who never needs to say "I do not know" is the Lord Almighty. The fact that they did not know sent Keppler and Cuvier and Columbus and Humboldt and Herscheland Morso and Sir William Hamilton, and all the others of the world's mightiest natures, into their life-long explorations. Telescope and microscope and stethoscope aud electric battery and all the scientific apparatus of all the ages are only questions asked at the door of mystery. Behold this Nazarene lad asking questions, giving everlasting dignity to earnest interrogation. But while I see the old theologians standing around the boy Christ I am impressed as never before with the fact that what theology most wants is more of childish simplicity. The world and the church have built up immense systems of theology. Half of them try to tell what God thought, what God planned, what God did 500,000,000 years before the small star on which we live was created. I have bad many a sound sleep under sermons about the decrees of God and the eternal generation of the Son, and discourses showing who Melchisedek wasn't, and I give a fair warning that if any minister ever begins a sermon on such a subject in my presence I will put my head down on the pew in front and go into the deepest slumber I can reach. Wicked waste of time, this trying to scale the unscalable and fathom the unfathomable while the nations want the bread of life and to be told how they can get rid of their siDS and their sorrows. Why should you and I perplex ourselves about the decrees of God ? Mind your own business and God will take care of His. In the conduct of the universe I think He will somehow manage to got along without us. If you want to love and serve God, and bo good and useful and get to heaven, I warrant that nothing which occurred eight hundred quintillion of years ago will hinder vou a minute. It is not the decrees of God" that do us any harm; it is our own decrees of sin and folly. You need not go any further back in history than about; l,Säß years. You see this i3 the year ISSfV" Christ died about thirty-three" years of age. You subtract thirty-three from J, SSS.) and that makes it only l,S-r.t years. That is as far back as you need to go. Something occurred on that day under an eclipsed sun that sets us all forever free if with our whole heart and life we accept the tremendous proffer. Do not let the presbyterian church, or tho methodistchurch, or the Lutheran church, or the baptist church, or any of the other evangelical churches, spend any time in trying to fix up old creeds, all ot them imperfect, as everything man does is imperfect. I move a new creed for all the evangelical churches of Christendom ; only three articles in the creed, and no need of any more. If I had all the consecrated people of all denominations of the earth on one great plain, aud I had voice loud enough to put it to a vote, that creed of three articles would be adopted with a unanimous vote, and a thundering aye that would make tho earth quake and the heavens ring with hosanna. This is the creed I propose for all Christendom : Art. 1. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in'Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Art 2. This is a faithful faying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 6inners, even the chief. Art. 3. Worthy i3 the lamb that was plain to receive blessing and riches and honor and glory and power, world without end. Amen.

THE BIBLE AND MAN'S AGE. Various Opinions I'pon a Mneh-IHscusned Subject Fruitless Theories. Tha Christian at Work. The estimated period of man upon the earth has varied from the 800,000 years of the scientists, as noted by Prof. Newberry, to the o.fXK) years of Fesher's chronology, which the devout archbishop is thought to have obtained from the bible. But man is now by the consensus of scientific opinion placed at the beginning of the present period, the post-glacial epoch. What was that period? M." Forel, tho French geologist, places it at 100,000 years ago, with scarcely any in agreement with him. M. Marlot estimates it at from 16,000 minimum to 27,000 years maximum. M. Arcelin places the minimum at 12.500 J years. This represents a very moderate antiquity, and corresponds almost with the date's of Manetho. The time of the present glacial epoch is variously calculated from glacial action, from lako excavations (if they were excavations), from moss and silt deposits, and especially from the conical accumulations deposited by the Tiniere, and by the deposits of the Savonue and other rivers. The tendency is marked to a recent period for, . man, say from 22,000 maximum years to 12,000 minimum ; and this has the concurrence of most geologists of to-day. M. Qnatrefages holds to it. M. Arcelin accepts tho minimum of 12,500 years ; Winchell and Hall placo the time at from 12,000 to 21,000 years; and this, wo think, has tho concurrence of lie Conte. But differing as these scientists do among themselves, in one thing they are in entire accord that the Uesher chronology is not worth serious attention. That chronology places the creation of man at 4,004 B.C., making the time to Jhe present, allowing for three years errcr in our Christian chronology, . 5,80) years. The biblo is not a geological book. . Though it affords us some glimpses, it gives no dates as to the processes and periods of creation and the incoming of man; and no sorvico is done the bible by attempting to fasten the Ussher chronology upon the mind of to-day. It Is one of the errors that havo extended to our own time, that the - maintenance of the authority of the scriptures requires the aceptance of Archbishop. Ussher' chronology. But we know now that the bible is not a manual of geology or ethnology. We know now that it discloses the mind of God as to the duties God requires of man. And, accepting this, it only remains to bo said that if we obey its commands in this regard, tho teachings, the

discoveries; and we may add, the mistakes of science may all be left to that time which tests all ambiguities, sifts error and etablshes the truth. Religious Thought and Note. It ia estimated that the Protestant churches of the United States contribute annually $11,250,000 for foreign missions. Last year there were reported forty-seven Protestant Jewish missionary societies and spending nearly $T00,000 annually. In the last half dozen years the work in this field has nearly doubled. The Jewish population of the earth is about 6,400(00. There is, then, one missionary to about 16,!76 Jews. Religious Jlentld. The Rev. John Jasper, of "sun do move" fame, baptized 2S.5 colored converts in the James river recently. The Rev. Richard Wells, pastor of the Lbenezer church, baptized nearly live hundred. The baptizing took place in the river near the free bridge, and Pastor Wells was continuously at work immersing candidates from 11 a. m. until 3:30 in the afternoon. Of the late Father Damien the Religion Herald (congregational) says: "Another father of the Roman catholic church has taken his place. Let us remember this. Amid all the superstitions and spectacular contradictions to Christianity iu that church, it has on its records many of the noblest examples of the spirit of true and undefiled religion the world has ever witnessed." The statistics of the United presbyterian church were ready in advance of the meeting of the assembly. They show that the body has 753 ministers, of whom 243 are "without charge," t)3 congregations, and 101,c33 communicants, aa increase of 2.SSG for the year. There has been a gain in the contributions for home and foreign missions, church extension, education auJ ministerial relief. The total contributions for all purposes is $1,110,S53, an increase of about 0,000. The church is getting so old that she is sterile, and sons are not being born into the ministry iu proportion to membership as in the past The old mothers in former generations thought the greatest thing this side of the kingdom of heaven for a woman to do was to raise a minister of Jesus Christ and live to hear him preach. Many of such have departed from the world, saying, "Let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." The Prcshyteriayt. Beginning with the seminary year of 1580-90, the trustees of Hartford theological seminary have voted to open all courses of instruction to women on the tame terms as to men. This action is taken to meet the needs specially of women who are desirous of preparing themselves for Christian teaching, for the missionary field, or for any religious work other than the pastorate. Letters of inquiry and requests for catalogues should be addressed either to the president, the Rev. C. D. Hartranft, D. D., or to the registrar, Frof. Waldo S. Pratt, Hartford, Conn. Why is it that one of the oldest missionary organizations in the world should show signs of weakness and decay? Here comes, limping along in a half-paralyzed sort of way, the London missionary society, bearing the record of nearly a century's approved and divinely accepted labor, saying that its regular receipts do hot permit enlargement of its work; that $50,000 are needed to meet its present actual needs, and that an additional annual income is needed to maintain the efficiency of its present missions; while an extended work is left as a pleasant day dream for the future by such as can work themselves up to it What does this mean? X. Y. Evangelist. We have each one of ns a tendency, both conscioas and unconscious, to imitate the words and deeds, and even te thoughts, of those with whom we associate. But we imitate not only others, hut ourselves also; and hence, by our voluntary acts, we are placing the fetters of habit on our future lives and binding our future conduct by our present acts and thus narrowing the area of the activity of our wills. If our daily actions be true and strong and noble, and our thoughts are high and pure, we are rendering it day by day more difhcult for us to do anything false, or weak, or base, or to nourish low or impure thoughts; but if our deeds and thoughts be low and bad, we are placing the possession of virtue and nobility further and further out of our reach, till at last it becomes a moral impossibility. Lord Justice Fry. The Brav Horseman of the Conemaagh. As come the lightning' angry flash. Or simoon's devastating Mast, Or cyclone's fearful, deadly crash, Denth-dealiDga'l. So came the flood from Conemangh's crest With dreadful thrall. Within the depth of Ometnaugh's lake, (Kfjit by lordliojs for pleasure's sake); Ten thousand demons held In check Waiting the hour That should their prison fetters break And free tboir power. The hour came with lightning flash, And like the Moodbouud free'd from leash, Ten thousand death-bolts forth did rush From Conemaugh's portals. Overwhelming in one mighty crash Ten thousand mortals. Along the path of Coneruaugh's flood, In happy, trusting qui-ttide. Ten thousand peaceful heartb-stone tood No frar of harm. Sheltered, the preclons household broodBy parent arm. The mighty wave kept on its way, With power no mortal arm could star; Poing It fell work that fateful day In one short hour. The old and young alike to slay "With deadly power. In one short hour five thousand fell. How many more no tongue can tell; A startled woild still heeds the knell Of death's black pall, While stricken hearts with sorrows swell We're brothers all. When death's dread presence hovers near, And many hearts aro still'd with fear, Great souls arise to do and dare Mid dangers rife, Who, sinking self, for others careIn saving life. Among the brare of deathless fa na. We one who boro aa unknown nurae ; "Fly! fly:" he cried, as on he came Oa reeking steed. On, on his course, as meteor flame; O, glorious deed. "Fly to the hills, O fly," he cried, "Fly for your lives from thn coming tide." For other's lives this hero died Not for his own. On, on, he sped on his f arful rid To the great unknown. To eertain death, but intent to eae His fellow man from a watery grave This hero died, as die the brave And cow, I ken, Hath eternal life, for the life he gave. "Amen," "Amen." V. D. Kerr. Indianapolis, June 10.

A Hard Heart Softened. Young Lady "Father, this is scandalous! The idea of a man of your standing coming home in this condition!" Old Oentleman "Couldn't (hie) help it, m' dear. Met zee young feller 1 wouldn't let you marry, an (hie) had some drinks wiz him, and he's such good feller I said he (hie) could marry yon right off, m' dear." "Mercy! Where ia he?-' "Duuno, m' dear. P'liceman took 'm off (hie) in wheelbarrow." An Unpromising Match. IN. Y. Weekly. Mrs. Ilenpeck "My dear, yon will make a sad mistake if yoa marry Mr. Meek. He has no beard, and he wears a wir." Pauchter " What difference- does that make?" "Hugh! You try managing a husband with no hair of his own, and you'll find out." Full of Pathos avnd Indignation, New Albany Ledger. If Mr. Harrison was not responsible for th failure to appoint Mrs. Da la Hunt postmaster at C'annelton was Mr. Cleveland responsible for the failure to appoint her four years ago? If he was not what becomes of Senator Harrison's speech where he slopped over on the Cannelton postoffice? Tfo More Sales. IN. Y. Weekly.) Confectionery and ice-cream man "We'll lose ten of our best customers pext week." Assistant "We will? Are they going to Oklahoma?" "2o; they're coing to get married."

PRETTY GOWNS AXD LiCES.

WHAT WILL BE WORN AT RESORTS. Cotton Fabrics and Woolen Goods Stripes Combination Colors Pretty Paraaols Belts sdlk Stockinet Head Coverings How to Wear the flair, Etc. Straight lines prevail in almost all dresses for street wear. Heayy eilks and fiatins, intended for more dressy occasions, are also made with the same straight line?, but soft materials exhibit all the deft draping which the French modiete does to perfection. A swaying fold here and there, and a few broken lines, will compose a drapery most artistic in effect, yet almost impossible to imitate. Many of the season's dresses are finished in border fashion, with tho regular woven borders, ribbons, a band of contrasting goods, silk passementerie, Spanish flounces, or with silk fringe having deep netted heading, like that of former days. Lace promises to continue its reign in popular favor, and many colored, as well as black lace dresses, will appear during the season. Flouncing lacea are still in fashion, but fish-net and piece-laces aro amone the newer fancies, and the figured fish-nets are newer than the plain patterns. The coarse, plain designs are trimmed very prettily by running ribbons through the meshes, and many of the figured examples have several rows of ribbons sewed on them. Old-fashioned oilboiled ribbon, with corded edge, is coming in favor again, and many lace dresses are being trimmed with it. It has the recommendation of being cheap, but time generally proves that cheapness is not a good recommendation, particularly in novelties. It is difficult to pay which is the prettiest of the charming cotton fabrics that improve each season, until we wonder it perfection will never be reached in the harmony of color and perfection of design. However, there is one dissatisfaction in them. They are offset b so many beautiful inexpensive woolen goods -which need no laundering, and keep their color so much better, that it seems as if fewer cottons were worn, j-et they are-marvels of prettiness. Many of the salines are in Persian allover designs, others are Japanese. Hair lines are not forgotten, single flowers and dainty sprays appear on every shade of back-ground, cross hues and borders are also well represented. Corded stripes are seen in Scotch ginghams; shaded stripes, combinations of green and rose, blue and brown, yellow, or red, cross-bars, plaids, plaiu stripes, stripes of two colors divided by a line of white, plain shales of blue, gray, pink, various shades of green and yellow, with or without borders, are among the multitude of designs offered. These gowns are chiefly made after plain models. FuU sleeves are used on all styles of dresses. They are either puffed at the top, or top and bottom, tucked above and below the elbow, shirred, cut in leg-o'-mutton style, or gathered in each seam to the elbow, and the fullness fastened in fold-like puti's to the shoulder. Directoire coats, both long and short, and with or without capes, are a striking feature in spring fashions. A very stylish costume has a dress of tan-colored cloth made with a plain 6kirt and round waist, and a directoire coat of plum-colored cloth reaching to the knees. The coat has broad pocket laps, large revers, buttons, and quadruple cape of plum-colored cloth, and a hat also of the cloth accompanies it. There are a few novelties seen which find admirers. Among them are belts of leather cutwork lined with a contrasting color. A fashionable shoemaker has successfully introduced a country shoe for ladies, which is composed of colored leather, with sewing, lacing and heels of a contrasting color. For example, a pair of maroon leather shoes have white heels lacing ribbon and sewing, while a pair of white kid are ornamented in the same manner with red. Silk stockings are shown in great variety. Stripes and blocks are both seen, and some of those in plain light tints have delicate embroidery running from the knee to the toe. White hose are more in demand than formerly, and they are promised a higher place in favor in the near future. Farasols are veritable things of beauty this year, but most unfortunately many of them are too frail to be joys for more than a season. Pretty examples are composed of a succession of crepe lisse ruffles ; others are of net gathered full at the top, fastened again in the center, and allowed to fall according to their own sweet wills to the edge. Fringe with netted beading surrounds a model in white silk, and a heavily brocaded green border is seen on another white ground. Frames covered with black or white net have bunches of fruit, garlands of flowers and trailing vines ornamenting their soft Burfaccs. lieside these dainty parasols for carriage use, there are innumerable pretty ideas in thoso for more substantial purposes. Long sticks are in the lead, and if not the extreme directoire style an unusually long stick is the rule. Tarasols covered with India silk matching a dress, complete a costume, and silk of any color, stripe or design may be appropriately used. Lace covers abound, and may be movable if desired. Sun 6hades and parasols with fointed sticks . are also fashionable ; in act, the world oi fashion has reached the stage when any heirloom may be resurrected from garret or cellar and brought into active use without deviating from the rules of Lady Fashion. For covering the head when leaving the ball-room, there are laco hoods lined with silk, and finished with long, bow-like ends. The hair may be worn high or low to please the fancy. The Psyche knot is declining, truly so, for it has gone down to the nape of the neck, and threatens to go still lower, in the form of the catagan braid. High hair-dressing displays a great variety of jeweled combs and pins, and for full dress pompons of feathers and lace are used also. The Greek bandeau forms another modo of hair decoration, but is becoming to very few faceB. Bine and green is a new combination of color, said to havo been suggested by the forget-me-not. Many other llowers have given admirable suggestions for good combinations of color. Fashion Notes. The directoire gowns teach a woman what it is to have" coat tails. A dress of India filk is, without exception the coolest one possible. Tennis blouses for boys are made of Filk and wool striped material. Dresses of China silk are worn by infants just put into short clothes. Alpaca dresses have their places in the world's history this season. Golden brown and terra cotta are the favorite colors for interior decoration. Ribbons add more grace and charm to maimer dress than any other garniture. Twenty-one is the orthodox age for a girl to assume the responsibilities of a bonnet Bed-room furniture of white wood has been lavishly indulged in for summer houses this -season.' Fashion's decree this season allows ladies more comfort than they have had for many a long year. ' A charming baby frock recalls the good little women and men in Hoppner's pictures, with its hkh-w&istcd stiio oi a todice. little mors

3 than a tucked and embroidered yoke, and iti rather long Ekirt of embroidered m&insock. Flower brooches are the daintiest and prefc tiest of anything m jewelry to be worn at the throat. The last novelty in hats is the Nice hat, ex tremely flat and broad-brimmed, with very iow crown. It is of open-work straw, with gold thread passed in and out of the holes in the) straw, and is trimmed with a profusion f flow ers, laid over the brim and turned up into aa aigrette at the back. The short cape or pelerine, and the mantelefc with loose sleeves hanzing from the shoulders, are favorite styles of mantles this summer. Young ladies, however, very generally prefer wearing no extra mantle whatever, especially with the bodice opening over the chet with' revers, or merely trimmed with revers, and the wide sash crossed over at the waist in fronL Nothing could be daintier for a damsel of one or two your old than a little smock oC white washing silk gathered into circular rowa of smocking at the throat, the white stitche being further ornamented Ly dainty broidery in gohj-colored p';!k. A pretty finish to the throat is formed by an inch or so of the m&te rid being left unsmocked and plaited back ward aud forward into a becoming tiny ruche. Sashes, though exhibited in every fabric, are now very generally of the softest silks, and frequently of the same silk as the dress. When a bouü'ant style of dress, or the tournure, was more pronouncedly in fashion, stiff ribrons, such as moire, Turc satin and brocade were ia favor, but with the directorie and empire eüect, with their straight lines pnd nnlooped draperies, softer sashes look far better. Pretty bloue-waisted frocks for boys or gir are made, either in pink, blue or white, smocked at the throat, and with the short skirt -composed simply of a nine-inch flounce of embroidery, the bodice eominc some way below the waist. A monthly gown deserves notice for the quaintness of its yoke oi valenciennee lace, fashioned like a wide vandyked collar, finished round the points with a frill of narrow lace.

HEARD AT A SODA FOUNTAIN. Knjllshns She is Spoke" in Indianapoltf) To-I.iy. "To-morrow niht I shill be in heaven!" We turned with a start to look at the speaker. She was a young damsel abont fifteen years cf ace, gurronnled by several companions cf the same age. he did not look as if in a decline, 60 we immediately thought of suicide. The reply caiue scarcely le?s startling: "You mean thing: I'm dyicg to go!'' We had heard of people going to die, but of no one who was vi e vert-a inclined, so w turned to listen. "I have to go up now and ha" cy dress tried on. It fita te-riectly heavenly." Evidently that wa a correct fit for a drefs intended for heaven. '"Who's Dan goicg to toke?" inquired a fresh voice. Things grew more perplexing; evidently fan was bound for heaven, too. "I don't know; mean oid thine : I'll kill him next time I see him. I'd Lke to kill that whol crowd of boys!-' Had we come acros a female nihilist? "I know you'ii eroy yotir.-eh"," saii No. 2. "I've been there and they alw ays have Hart . music" . . "I hope they'll dance the York. Fn just crazy to dance it." Iid the young hestlien think heaven was a place for dancing? We watched for torus ei. pjanatiou of tiie mystery but none came. There was a sudden rry of, '"There comes Don now!" "Hurry up, girls!' "l eave yours and come on," and a ru-h for the door ensued, as a cigarette gunri-i hy a miniature youth cams into view, and (hey passed cut of su;ht. We sat and watched the sunset as it gilded the top of the travistVr car, and we could not ' help admiring be L ng!i.-h of to-day which h who lists may hear, bat which no one ein nn demand, unless fully initiated. Mi-s Smith. Something of a Failure. ( Detroit Free Pri-s 1 "My friend." he said, as be. entered a shoe maker flop, "I should like to fcicyou a fone." "How much you tharce?" "Not a red cent." "Vhas it a nie song?" "Yeryni"e. I am sure you will be please t with it.'" "Vhell. go ahead." The man drew a long breath and started off. It was an awful noise. It was intended to hit the shoemaker rislit off his bench. It did so, aud after the first versa he seid: "May pe voj hafsomc ob.'ect?" "I have, my dear sir. While I don't charjr anything for sininc: I do charge '2't cents tr fetip." "1 fee. Vhcll, T vhp.s coin? down to ?pnnwells fordis atternoon. While I doan' shsrij you to come in I make you pay 50 cent to get out" And he stepped out and locked tb dor. and for two hours the itinerant talked with an inquiring public through a broken pane of glass and freely acknowledged that there were better games thau his. The Money SnveJ. !X. Y. Werklr.l "Detective "I have discovered, sir, that your confidential bookkeeper. Mr. De Clerk, is s defaulter to the extent of many thousands of dollars. As he has lived plainly, and has not gambled in stocks, he mut still have all your money in his possession, but if we arrest him, you will never get it, of course; and if w corner birn and try to compromise for half or two-thirds, he will probably skip to Canada with the whole boodle." Business Man "My goodness! Mr. Pe Clerk!" Mr. De Clerk "Yes, sir." Bus;nes Man "Mr. De Clerk, a few days ago I refused you the hand of my daughter, and I afterward employed this gentleman, who is a detective, to look closely into your personal character and past history. His report refers in such detail to your correct habits and business aptitude that I have changed my mind. You shall have her." o Objection to Children. IN". Y. 'Vet-Mr. 1 Fond Mother (accompanied by smsll ooH "I see you take children at this hotel?" Summer Hotel Proprietor l glaacine genially at many little boarders ) "Oh. yes, madam, of course. How do you do, my little man?" Small Cherub ".Voce o' your bus'ness." Proprietor "I beg your pardon, msdain: I Faid we took children, and we do, but it is my duty to warn j-ou that we have measles, an! whooping-couib. and chicken-pox, and scarlet fever, and smallpox in the hotel, and fivs children have something that looks lik Asiatic cholera Thank fate, she's gone." Nature's Grand Cathedral. Puck.1 "Are you going to church to-day?" asked Mr. Orthodox of Mr. Freethink. "No," said Mr. Freethink, emphatically; T shall worship in the grand cathedral of nature." Half an hour later Mr. Freethink was seated at a rickety deal table under a dusty tree, listening to the no'es of a whecy orchestrion, and drinking something tnat looked like Deer. At the Philadelphia rostofHce. ruck. "Here are ten two-cent stamps," said a woman at the stamp window; "give me the 20 cents I paid for them." "We don't do that, mad.iru," replied the official. "You don't!" she exclaimed. "I thought John Wanamaker's rule was to refund th money if purchased articles were returned." A Oeneron l'hrtlclan. IK. Y. Weekly. Mrs. Blinkers "Well, did you go to the dew tor to see about that bee-sting on little Johnny?" Mr. Blinkers "Yes. He said we should put mud on it. He charccd me $2 for the prescription, but he gave me the laud for nothing." Cause and Eft Vet. K. Y. Weekly Enamored Youth "Yonr father seems worried about something to-night." Sweet Girl "Yes, poor pa, has so many bnsi. liess cares." Little Brother "That ain't it. He's mad because the big dog he boucht didn't come." 77 Tha I.at Chance. IPuck. Miss Lillie "And so Mr. Tlutterby proposed to you lust evening! Ilüly, what did you think of it at the time?" Miss Tose (with firmness V "That it should be the last evening he'd propose to anybody. Didn't I except?" - Contacloua Contiguity. IS. Y. tfun.) Annt (to niece seated in the parlor with her beau "Why do you both talk so low?" Niece "Herbert has a cold, and I think ( muit have caught iL".