Pike County Democrat, Volume 25, Number 51, Petersburg, Pike County, 3 May 1895 — Page 7

<Efotfifcr damitg Jraurrat M. KeO. STOOPS, Editor tad Proprietor. PETERSBURG. - • - INDIANA. SIGNS AND OMENS. Oh American Statesman Who Does Not - Believe In Them. Do public men bel ieve in signs and omens? This is a question which is often discussed* but no conclusive answer can be, or, at l«»st, has been given, except that which may be drawn from individual cases. On the occasion of his last visit to Washington, ex-Senator Ransom, of North Carolina, if 1 discussed most entertainingly upon it, in the presence of a few friends gath- | ered in his old committee-room at the | capitol, and shed seme light upon the subject. The conversation eame about by his statement that he intended to Start for his new post of duty as minisffvter to Mexico on a Friday. “O, aren't yon afraid," exclaimed one of the party, “to begin such an important and extended trip on that

-day? “No,” the new minister answered. *‘I do not recognize any difference between Friday and the other days of the week; I don’t believe that it can have the slightest possible influence in determining the issue of an enterprise projected or begun on that day. In fact,” he continued in a contemplative mood, “I think I am not given to guiding my actions by any sign or omen. Only to-day, coming down to the eapitol, my companion saw a funeral procession coming up the avenue, evidently bound for Oak Hill cemetery. ■Georgetown. Said he: ‘Senator, let • turn off here so as to avoid meeting it. Ton know it’s dangerous.* I said to him: ‘Look i*p the avenue. There are at least a thousand people in sight, many of whom must unavoidably meet the procession. Before it reaches Georgetown it will have met hundreds of people. Do you believe that all of them are to be afflicted with sudden -death because of the presence of this funeral procession in their way? i don’t, and we won’t change our route.’ And we didn’t. t “There are some old saws,” the exsenator went on to say, “that have a basis of sound reason, or had, for their existence, which may not be generally known. That one which goes, ‘It is unfortunate to meet a lady when starting on a journey,’ is based on a very *good reason. Ladies are so attractive that the would-be traveler is likely to be beguiled into a conversation with one he may meet on his way to the station, which will, prevent him from reaching there in time to take his train •or boat, and he is thereby delayed, probably to his embarrassment or loss. Therefore, it may be unfortunate to meet a lady in those circumstances. “There is another that ’*as a historic -and philosophic basis—‘vo put one’s cock on wrongside out is * sign of good luck. That had its origii«in the olden times, before the moderr conveniences of gas and electric lighting were added to the appliances of hone and hotel life. Therefore, the r«an who rose early in the morn, before daylight, and dressed himself, not stopping to discover whether or not his hose was strictly in order, because of the dili- * genee implied in that action was often enabled to score a triumph over a business rival who waited until he could determine that every article was in order. Hence the proverb, which simply mean;! that a hustler, as we would term him in these days, is bound to succeed. “The same is true of the saying that •it is unlucky for a rabbit to cross your path.’ This has the respectability of age as a warrant for its circulation, but it has long lost its force, or should have done so. ^ Rabbits haunt their warrens, generally until dusk, and

tnen tney begin running about in search of food. In olden times traveling was dangerous, even in broad daylight, and to have a rabbit cross one’s path meant that he was likely to be •caught after dark, and bad luck, cither in the shape of injury "from robbers, or damages or delay through bad roads, was almost certain to befall the traveler. “But that simple signs or omens in these days of practical things can affect one's interests, either for good or bad, I don’t believe.” concluded the senator.—Washington Post. A Lightning Stroke. During a storm in the West Indies, a laborer, who was working in an open cornfield, was killed by a flash of lightning. The Hash was of a most peculiar form, seeming to swing quickly back and forth and up and down, sweeping around the laborer and filling the air with flame. Examination disclosed a serious external injury to the right side of the head, the ear was almost torn away and the hair on that side, which was unusually long, was removed as completely as though shaved with a razor. An autopsy, made soon after death, showed an extensive fracture of the skull, the bones being fall of fine jagged cracks and fissures running down to the bridge of the nose. The brain was very soft, the blood quite thin and watery, with only a few dote in the region of the heart It was said by bystanders that the flash seemed, to come from the ground up to the man’s head.’ This was thought to account for the extreme shattering of the skull and the peculiar state of the brain.—!£. Y. Ledger. Wanted to Help. Mrs. Van Mission—What are yd® reading, my pet? Little Daughter—I is readin’ a long article ’bout hour to roast a turkev. “What for?” “I thought ne:c’ time you went slumpin' I’d ask to go wrf yon, and w*ile yon was distributin’ tracts, I’d tell ’em how to roast a turkeys”—Good News. » —Frederick Barbarossa had, according to a cotemporary historian, a beard that reached down to his knees. “A story longer than the king’s beard”

j AS IT OFTEN HAPPENS. JIT W. J. LASIPTUN.

\ WAS nineteen, and pretty Lois Tanner was three years my junior. Sweet sixteen! Is t here in all this world anything sweeter? There k may be other | sweet sixteens, b n t the comparative degree of the adjeetive in this connection has grown rusty from long disuse and sweet sixteen

remains positive in kmd and superlative in degree. And Lois Tanner was sixteen. From the first day of our meeting— we were the children of wealthy parents and were summering by the sea— some intangible influence, some inexplicable force seemed to draw us to each other and to ran the lines of our lives parallel., For two years we had known each other, and one day—it was the third suinmer after our meeting— we sat on the rocks by the shore and as the waves beat in rhythmical measures upon the silver sands, stretching out at our feet. 1 looked into her sweet blue eyes and knew that Laches is as ahe drew two threads front Clotho’s spindle was twisting them into one cord, forever indivisible. In early youth, how far the eyes, undimmed by years, can see into the future, and how keen is young love to decipher the handwriting on the wall.

‘“Lois,” I said, as we sat there in the fading twilight, “do you know how long we have known eachVther?” “Does it seem long, MrsssBelden?” ahe replied, with a coy little&fcnile. “It has been two entife'years, Miss Tanner,” said 1, falling into her mock formality of manner. T « “And one learns a great, deal in two years,” she; added. “In one direction I have learned nothing, Lois,” 1 said, with a quietness 1 did not feel. “Why, Jack!” she exclaimed, “I don’t see how you could stand still.” “But I have.” I insisted. “Ho#?” and her eyes looked her guilelessness. ~ “In loving you, Lois,” I broke forth. “I couldn’t love you any more in a thousand years than I loved you after our first meeting.” “Oh, Jack!” she cried, nervously; “what made you say that?” “Why shouldn’t 1 say it?*! I answered, with a dogged resolve not to be put down by any woman’s whim. “Because, Jack,” she said, very earnestly, 4'papa has been saying all along that you and I were together too much, and the first thing the family knew there would be a case of puppy love to cure.” “Did your father say that?” I asked, with the anger showing in my face. “He did, Jack, and he says—” “Well, I don’t want to hear what he says, or has said or will say,” I interrupted. “If he says anything like that be doesn’t know what he is talking about and hasn’t the most remote idea of what a man truly in love with the one woman in all the world for him, feels.” “Papa isn’t so awfully bad, Jack,” she said, in extenuation of the paternal weakness. “I never thought he was, either, until you told me w*hat you have,” I admitted. “But. Lois,” and I grew hard again, “you must know that no father who regards the future happiness of his daughter can take the position he does and assume to dictate the course of two lives which in the nature of things must be independent of his.” “Papa says your papa said the same thing and agreed witn him thoroughly,” she replied, arguing as iromen do. “Lois,” I said in my firmest tone, “don’t speak to me about your father again. If you do I shall be tempted to do him some bodily injury.” > The dear little woman laid her hand on my arm restrainingly and smiled with such irresistible sweetness that I even forgot the.wound my own father had given me. “Let it go, dear,” she pleaded. “They have forgotten they were ever young.” “Do you remember what I said a few

“DO YOU LOVE HIM?” I ASKED. - moments ago?” I asked, returning- to the previous subject. “What did you say?” she replied, trembling a little, I thought, for she surely could not have forgotten so soon. “I said, darling”—it was the first time I had ever called her that, and it almost frightened me—“I said that there was one thing I had not learned in the last two years, and that was to love you better than 1 did when I first met you. Doyou think I should have learned?” “Perhaps, Jack,” she blushed, “if you had, you would have gone ahead of me in the class.” . * “Oh, Lois,” 1 began, to say, and then began to stammer and grow red in the face. I could feel the blood fly along my neck, and my hands shook so 1 could not have nut them out to her if

she had asked me to. I had sever spoken of lore to a woman, and now my inexperience was painful to me. I knew that the brave man could win a triumph now, but I was not brave. On the contrary, I was a coward., an arrant coward, and in my fear I slipped down off the rock, where we had been sitting, and walked out upon -the sand. * “Where are you going. Jack?” she called to me. “I don't want to be left here all alone. I’m sure Charlie Verder wouldn’t treat me like that.” That was enough to set me wild. Verder was the one fellow I dreaded, and he hadn’t known her six months, either. I went back to the rock and stood at the foot of it, just near enough to touch the hem of her gown—such a sweet, white gown with a bit of blue showing through it as the blue sky peeps in and out from the fleecy white clouds. “Do you like him?” I asked suddenly. “Not any more, I guess, than you like Mattie Swann.” she retorted, with a perk of her nose and a shake of her fluffy hair. “Then you like him pretty well,” I said in worse humor than ever, and quite insistent upon nagging her all I could.

“Perhaps I do,” she snapped, “and if I do. I’m sure he is a very meefeilow.” “Not any nicer fellow than'flattie Swann is a girl/' I put in as meairas I knew how. “Well, I don't care,” she said, as she slipped off of the rock and touched the sand as lightly as a thistle down. “Pm going home, and when you get me to come away off down here in this lone* some place again at this time of day, or any other time, I think you’ll know it.” Then she started off along the beach toward the row of cottages. It was a mile or more, and I thought I would keep within call, so 1 let her get some distance ahead of me. I poked along behind, gazing out to sea and wonder*

HURRYING AJ.OXG AS IF SHE WAS AFRAID. mg' where all the beauty of the purple shadows had gone, and why it was the wares looked so cold and cruel and clammy. They were the same: shadows and the same wares, and there I was, and—but where was Lois? Fifty yards up the shore and hurrying along as if she were afraid of twilight ghosts or other strange inhabitant of the crepuscular air. I looked orer my shoulder nervously, and all around, and shivered. What it was 1 don’t know, but On the instanf I called to her and went after my call as fast as 1 erer ran after a football. “Lois, Lois,” I kept on calling, but she gare no heed. Her face was set away from me and she was going with it rapidly. But not so fast that I could not ca\ch her in the next fifty yards or so. . “Oh, Mr. Belden,” she said in a tone of pretty surprise.as I came up panting by her side, “how you frightened me. I had no idea you were on the beach this evening.” “Oh, Lois, Lois,” I pleaded, though I puffed as I did so. -“Don’! talk like that. We are not children to let a trifle come between us and our love. You know I love you and 1 know I love you. It was because I love you. so that I grew wild with jealousy when you spoke of Verder. 1 don’t care a rap of my finger for Mattie Swann, even if you do like Charlie Verder.” “Mr. Belden,” she began very stiffly— “Call me Jack,” I cried with all my feeling come again. “Call me Jack, as you have always called me.” “Perhaps I’d better,” she said coldly. “You have acted so childishly that Mr. seems scarcely an appropriate, title.” “You shan’t talk that way to me, Lois Tanner,” I exclaimed as I stepped in front of her and blocked her path. “I- have done wrong, and I apologize humbly for it. Now as a lady you cannot do otherwise than accept it.” “I accept the apology, and pray, let that end the matter.” “No. it shall not. I insist upon your accepting the apology and the apologizer as well. I want you, Lois, and that's what I started to tell you down there on the rocks. Answer me now with only the sea and sky and the sweet twilight as witnesses.” I was about to take her hand and more tenderly urge my claim to an answer, when she gave a slight scream and sprang to one side as if she had stepped on a mouse in the sand. “Look there,” she whispered, pointing to> a couple seated on an old spar half in the sand, and uthich until then was not visible. I looked and saw Verder and Miss Swann, very close together and talking earnestly. But it was too dark for them to see, and when Lois and I walked by them in the duskier shadows of the later evening, she had promised to be my wife, and though the great sun of the, heavens had'Set over the world and the earth was dull of shadows, the greater sun of love had risen in our hearts and they were filled with the light inextinguishable. That was a dozen years ago, and today Lois is the proud and. happy mother of three of the prettiest and sweetest children in the world except four that I am the proud and happy father of. She is Mi-s. Charles Veider and Mrs. Belden was Miss Swanu.—Detroit Free Press.

TALMAGE’S SERMON. , 7^7^' _ -- ■ ; ■■ .v * ' The Bible the Great Need of the Anxious SooL The Love of Christ t Ulamontl Field Id Which All May Mte-Tlw Church | the Ordained Mmmmm of Seeking the Ueao. h Kev„ T. DeWitt Talma ge preached on “Salvation” in the Academy of music. New Yorls city, taking for his text: Seek ye the Ix>rtl while be may be found.— ktifth It., A Isaiah stands head and shoulders above the other Old Testament authors in vivid descriptiveness of Christ. Other prophets give an outline of onr : Savior’s features. Some of them | present, as it were, the side face of j Christ; others a bust of Christ; bnt j Isaiah gives ns the full-length portrait j of Christ. Other scripture writersgxcel in some things. Ezekiel more weird, David more pathetic, Solomon more j epigrammatic, liabakkuk more snb- j lime; bnt when yon want to see Christ coming out from the gates of prophecy in all his grandeur and glory, yon in- j voluntarily turn to Isaiah. So that j if the prophecies in regard to Christ j might be called the “Oratoria of the Messiah,” the writing of Isaiah is the I

“Hallelujah Chorus,” where ail the batons wave and all the trumpets come in. Isaiah was not a man picked up out of insignificance by inspiration, lie 'was known and honored. Josephus and Philo and Sirach extolled him in their writings. What Paul was among the apostles Isaiah was among the I prophets. My text finds him standing on a mountain of inspiration, looking out into the future, beholding Christ ad* vancing and anxious that all men might know Him; His voice rings down the ages: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” “Oh,” says some one, “that was for olden times.” No, my hearer. If you have traveled in other lands you have taken a circular letter of credit from some banking house in New York, and in St. Petersburg, or Venice, or Borne, or Melbourne, or Calcutta; you presented that letter and get financial help immediately. And I want you to understand that the text, instead of being appropriate for one age, or for one land, is a circular letter for all ages and for all lands, and wherever it is presented for help, the help comes.” “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” 1 come to-day with no hair-spun theories of religion, with no nice distinctions, with no elaborate disquisition; but with an urgent call to personal religion. The Gospel of Christ is a powerful medicine; it either kills or cures. There are those who say: “I would like to become a Christian. 1 have been waiting a good while for the right kind of influences to come;” and still you are waiting. You are wiser in worldly things than you are in religious things. If you want to get to Albany you go to the Grand Central depot, or to the steamboat wharf, and, having got your ticket, you do not sit down on the wharf or sit in the depot; you get aboard the boat or train. And yet there are men who say they are waiting to get to Heaven—waiting, waiting, but not with intelligent waiting, or they would get on. board the line of Christian influences that would bear them into the kingdom of God. Now you know very well that to seek a thing is to search for it with earnest endeavor. If you want to see acertain man in this city, and there is a matter of ten thousand dollars connected withyour seeing him,and you can not at first find him, you do not give up the search. You look in the directory, but can not find the name; you go in circles where you think, perhaps, he may mingle, and, having found the part of the city where he lives, but perhaps not knowing the street, you go through street after street, and from block to block, and you keep on

searcinng lor weeks and for months. You say: “It is a matter of §10,000 whether I see him or not.” Oh, that men were as persistent in seeking for Christ! Had yon one-half that persistence you would long ago hare found him who is the joy of the forgiven spirit. We may pay our debts, we may attend church, we may relieve the poor, we may be public benefactors, and yet ail our life disobey the text, never seek God, never gain heaven. Oh, that the Spirit of God would help me", while I try to shown you, in carrying out the idea of my text, first, how to seek the Lord,and in the next place, when to seek him. I remark, in the first place, you are to seek the Lord through earnest and believing prayer. God is not an autocrat or a despot seated on a throne, with His arms resting on brazen lions, and a sentinel pacing up and down at the foot of the throne. God is a father seated in a bower, waiting for His children to come and climb on His knee, and get His kiss and His benediction. Prayer is the cup with which we go to the “fountain of living water,” and dip up refreshment for our thirsty soul. Grace does not come to the heart as we set a cask at the corner of the house to catch the rain in the shower. It is a pulley fastened to the throne of God, which we pull, bringing the blessing. I do not care so much what posture you take in prayer, nor how large an amount of voice you use. You might get down on your face before God—if you did not pray right inwardly, there would be no response. You might cry at the top of your voice, and unless you hadp believing spirit within, your cry would not go further up than the shout of a plow boy to his oxen. Prayer must be believing, earnest, loving. You are in your house some summer day, and a shower comes up, and a bird, affrighted, darts into the window, and wheels about the room. You seize it. You smooth its ruffled plumage. You' ffeel its fluttering heart. You say: “Poor' thing, poor thing!” Now, a prayer goes out of the storm of this world the window of God’s

mercy, and. He catches it, fad He feels its fluttering poise, and He pots it in His bosom of affection and safety. Prayer is warm, ardent, | pulsating exercise. It is an electric | battery which, touched, thrills to the j throne of God! It is the diving bell j in which we go down into the depths ■ of God's mercy and bring np “pearls of great price.” There was an in- j stance where prayer made the waves ’ of the Gennesaret solid as stone pavement. Oh, how many wonderful 4 things prayer has accomplished! Have j you ever tried it? In the days when the Scotch covenanters were perse- j cuted, and the enemies were after \ them, one of the head men among the j Covenanters prayed: “Oh, Lord, we \ be as dead men unless Thou shalt help ! us! Oh, Lord, throw the lap of ThvJ cloak over these poor things!" Anu-: instantly a Scotoh mist enveloped and hid the persecuted from their persecutors—the promise literally fulfilled: •‘While they are yet speaking 1 will

near. . Have you ever tried the power of prayer? God says: “He is loving and faithful and patient.” Do you believe that? You are told that' Christ came to save sinners. Do you believe that? You are told that all you have to do to get the pardon of the Gospel is to ask far it. Do you believe that? Then come to him and say: “Oh, Lord! I know thou canst not lie. Thou hast told me to come for pardon, and I could get it. I come, Lord. Keep thy promise, .and liberate my captive soul.” Oh, that you might have an altar in the parlor, in the kitchen, in the store, in the barn, for Chriat will be willing to come again to the manger to hear prayer. He would come to your place of business, as he confronted Matthew, the tax commissioner. If a measure should come before congress that you thought would ruin the nation, how you would send in petitions and Remonstrances! And yet there has been enough sin in your heart to ruin it forever, and you never remonstrated or petitioned against it. If your physical health failed, and you had the means, you would go and spend the summer in Germany, and the winter in Italy, and you would think it a very cheap outlay if you had to go all around the earth to get back your physical health. Have you made any effort, any expenditure, any exertion for your immortal and spiritual health? Oh, that you might now begin to seek after God with earnest prayer. Some of you have been working for years and years for the support of your families. Have you given onehalf day to the working out of your salvation with fear and trembling? You came here with an earnest purpose, I take it, as I hare coma hither with an earnest purpose, and we meet face to face, and I tell you first of all, if you want to find the Lord, you must pray, and pray and pray. I remark again, you must seek the Lord through Bible study. The Bible is the newest book in the world. “Oh,” yon say, “it was made hundreds of years ago, and the learned men of King James translated it hundreds qf years ago.” I confute that idea by telling you it is not five minutes old. when God, by his blessed spirit, retranslates it into the heart. If you will, in the' seeking of the way of life through Scripture study, implore God’s light to fall upon the page, you will find that these promises are not one second old, and that they drop straight from the throne of God into your heart. When people are anxious about their’ souls, there are those who recommend: good books. That is all right. But 1' want to tell you that the Bible is the best book under such circumstances. Baxter wrote “A Call to the Unconverted,” but the Bible, is the best call to the unconverted. Philip Doddridge wrot%,‘*The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul,” but the Bible is the best^rise and progress. John Angell James wrote “Advice to the Anxious Inquirer,” but the Bible is the best advice to the anxious inquirer.

Oh, the Bible is the very book you need, anxious and inquiring' soul! A dying soldier said to his mate: “Comrade, give me a drop!” The comrade shook up the canteen and said: “There isn’t a drop of water in the canteen.” “Oh,” said the dying soldier, “that’s not what I want; feel in my knapsack for my Bible,” and his comrade found the Bible, and read him a few of the gracious promises, and the dying soldier said: “Ah, that’s what I want. There’s isn’t anything like the Bible for a dying soldier, is there, n&y comrade?” Oh, blessed book while we live! Blessed book when we die! 1 remark again, we must seek God through church ordinances. “What,” say you, “can’t man be saved without going to church?” I reply, there are men, I suppose, in glory, who haTe never seen a church, but the church is the ordained means by which we are to be brought to God; and if truth affects us. when we are alone, it affects us more mightily when we are in the assembly—the feelings of others emphasize our own feelings. The great law of sympathy comes into play, and a truth that would take hold only with the grasp of a sick man, beats mightily against the soul with a thousand heart-throbs. When you come into the religious circle, come only with one notion, and only for one purpose—to fihd the way to Christ. When 1 see people critical about sermons, and critical about tones of voice, and critical about sermonic delivery, they make me think of a man in prison. He is condemned to death, but an officer of the government brings a pardon and puts it through the wicket of the prison, and says: “Here is your pardon. Come and get it.” “What! Do you expect me to t^e that pardon offered with such a voice as you have, with such an awkward manner as you have? I would rather die than so compromise my rhetorical notions!” Ah, the man does not say .that; he takes it! It is his life. He does not care how it is handed to him. And if, to-day, that pardon from the throne of God is offered to our souls, should -V":'

■.».. -7" we not seize it regardless of til* non-essentials? Bat come see to the lent pert of mj text. Iti tells us when we are to seek the Lord, “While He may be fcuad." When is that? Old age? You may not see old age- To-morrow? You may not see to-morrow. To-night? You may not .see to-night- Now! O, if I could only write on every heart, in three eapital letters, the word N-O-W— Now! Sin is an awfpl disease. ,I hear people say with a toss of the hgad and with a trivial manner: “Oh, yes, I’m a sinner.” Sin is an awful disease. It is leprosy. It is dropsy. It is consumption. It is all moral Asorders in one. Now you know there is a crisis in a disease. Perhaps you have had some illustration of it in your family. Sometimes the physician has called, and. he has .looked at the patient and said: “That case waa siinnle enouorh:

but (he crisis has passed. If you had called me yesterday, or this morning, I could hare cured the patient. It is too late now; the crisis has passed.** Just so it is in the spiritual treatment of the soul—there is s cnsts. There are some here who can remember instances in life when, if they had bought a certain property, they would hare become Tery rich. A few acres that wonld hare cast them almost nothing' were offered them. They refused them. Afterward a large rillage or city sprung up on those acres of ground, and they see phat a mistake they made in not buying the property. There was an opportunity of getting it. It never came back again. And so it is in regard to a man’s spiritual and eternal fortune. There is a chance; if yon let that go, perhaps it never cornea back. Certainly, that one never cornea back. A gentleman told me that at the battle of Gettysburg he stood upon a height looking off upon the conflicting armies. He, said it was the moat exciting moment of his life; now one army seeming to triumph, and now the other. Alter awhile the host wheeled in such a way that be knew in five minutes the whole question would - be decided. He said the emotion was almost unbearable. There is just such a time to-day with you. The forces of light on one side, the forces death on the other side, and in a few moments the matter will be settled for eternity. There is a time which mercy has set for leaving port. If you are on board before that, you. will get a passage for Heaven. If you are not op board, you miss your passage for Heaven. As in law courts, a case is sometimes adjourned frdm term to term, and from year to year, till the bill of costs eats up the entire estate, so there are men who are adjourning the matter of religion from time to time, and from year to year, until heavenly bliss is the bill of costs the uian will have to pay for it. Why defer this matter, ob, my dear hearer? Have you any kla that sin will wear out? that it will evaporate? that it will relax its grasp? that you may find religion as a man accidental* ly finds a pocket-book? Ah, no! No man ever became a Christian by accident, or by the relaxing of sin. The embarrassments are all the time increasing. The hosts of darknes are recruiting, and the longer you postpone this matter the steeper the path will become. I ask those men wfto are before me now, whether in the tea or fifteen years they have passed in the postponement of these matters, they have come any nearer God or Heaven? I would not be afraid to challenge this whole audience, so far as they may not have found the peace of the Gospel, in regard tot the matter. Your hearts, you ate willing frankly to tell me, are becoming harder and harder, and that if you come in Christ it will be more of an undertaking now than it would have been before. The throne of judg

ment will soon be set; and, if you have anythin? to do toward your eternal salvation, yon had better do it now, for the redemption of your soul is precidus; and it eeaseth forever. Oh, if men could only catch one glimpse of Christ, 1 know they would love Hi m! Your heart leaps at the sight of a glorious sunrise or sunset. Can you be without emotion as \Jbe sun of righteousness rises ^behind Calvary and sets' behind Joseph’s sepulcher? He is a blessed Saviour! Every nation has its type of beauty, there' is German beauty, and Swiss beauty, and Italian beauty, and French beauty; but I care not in what land a man first looks at Christ, be pronounces Him “chief among ten thousand, and <4he One altogether loyely.” The diamond districts of Brasil are carefully guarded, and a man does not get in there except by a pass from the government, but the love of Christ is a diamond district we may all enter and pick up treasures for eternity. ‘ Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” » Take the hint of the text that I have no time to dwell upon—the hint that there is a time when He can not he found. There was a man in this city, eighty years of age, who said to i clergyman who came in: “Do you think that a man eighty years of age can get pardoned?” Oh, yes,” said the clergyman. The old man said: “I can’t; when I was twenty years of age—l am now eighty years— the spirit of God came to my soul, and 1 felt the importance of attending to these things, but 1 put it off. 1 rejected God, and since then I have had no feeling.” “Well,” said the minister, “wouldn’t you like to have me pray with you?” *‘Y es, ” replied the old man, * ‘but it will do no good. You can pray with me if yon like to.” The minister knelt down and prayed, and commended the man’s soul to God. It seemed to have ‘no effect upon him. After swhile the last hour of the man's life same, and through his delirium a spark of intelligence seemed to flash, and with his last breath he said: “I (shall never be forgiven!” “Oh, seek tin Lord while He may be found.” —Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality.—Lincoln