Pike County Democrat, Volume 31, Number 25, Petersburg, Pike County, 26 October 1900 — Page 6

LESSONS OP COMFOBT. Dr. Talmage Draws a Text from Rescue of Joash. The House of David Saved from Extinction by Jehonheba’i Heroic Deed—Worlc of Soul Savina. [Copyright. 1900, by Louis Klopscb.J Washington. Oct ZL In this discourse on a neglected in? cident of the Bible Dr. Talmage draws some comforting lessons and shows that all around us are royal natures that we may help deliver. The text is 2 Kings 11:2, 3: “Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of ‘ Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him froip among the king's sons which were slain, and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not 6lain. And he was - with her hid in the house of the Lord

six years. Grandmothers are more lenient with their children’s Children than they were with their own. At 40 years of age if discipline be necessary chastisement is used, but at 70 the grandmother, looking upon the misbehavior of the grandchild, is apologetic and disposed to substitute confectionery fo^ whip. There is nothing more beautiful than childhood. Grandmother takes out her pocket handkerchief and wipes her spectacles and puts them on and looks down into the face of her mischievous and rebellious descendant and says: “I don’t think he meant to do it. Let him off this time. I’ll be responsible for his behavior in the future.” My mother, with the second generation around her, a .boisterous crew, said one day: “I suppose they ought to be disciplined, but I can’t do it. Grandmothers are not fit tq bring up grandchildren.” But here in my text we have a grandmother of a different type. I have been at Jerusalem, where the occurrence of the text took place, and the whole scene came vividly before me while I was going over the site of the ancient temple and climbing the towers of the king’s palace. Here in the text it is old Athaliah, the royal murderess. She ought to have been honorable. Her father was a king. Her husband was a king. Her son was a king. And yet we find her plotting for the extermination of the entire royal family, including her own grandchildren. The executioners* knives are sharpened. The palace is red with the blood of princes and princesses. On all sides are shrieks and hands thrown up and struggle and death groan. No mercy! Kill, kill! But while the ivory floors of the palaee run with carnage and the whole land 'is under the shadow of a gre'at horror a fleet-footed woman, a clergyman’s wife, Jehosheba by name, stealthily approaches the imperial nursery, seizes upon the grandchild that had somehow as yet escaped massacre, wraps it up tenderly but in haste, snuggles it against her, flies down the palaoe stairs, her heart in her throat lest she be discovered in this compassionate sbduotion. Get her >ut of the way as quick as you can, for die carries a precious burden, even a young king. With this youthful prize she presses into the room of the ancient temple, the church of olden time/ unwraps the young king and puts him down, sound asleep as he is ind unconscious of the peril that has been threatened, and there for six years he is secreted in that church apartment. Meanwhile old Athaliah smacks her lips with satisfaction and thinks that all the royal family are dead. But the six years expire, and it is time for young Joash to come forth and take the throne and to push back into disgrace and death old Ath

•nan. The arrangements are all made for political revolution. The military come and take possession of the temple, swear loyalty to the boy Joash and stand around for his defense. See the sharpened swords and the burnished shields! Everything is ready. Now Joash, half affrighted at the armed tramp of his defenders, scared at the vociferation of his admirers, is brought forth in full regalia. The scroll of authority is put in his hands, the coronet of government is put on his brow, and the people clapped and waved and ■huzzaed and trumpeted. “What is that?” said - Athaliah. “What is that sound over in the temple?” And she flies to see, and on her way they meet her and say: “Why, haven’t you heard? You thought you had slain all the royal family, but Joash has come to light.” Then the royal murderess, frantic with rage, grabbed her mantle and tore it to tatters and cried until she foamed at the mouth: “You have no right to crown my grandson. You have no right to take the government from my shoulders. Treason, treason!" While she stood there crying that the military started for her arrest, and she took a short cut through a back door of the temple and ran through the royal stables, but the battleaxes of the military fell on her in the barnyard, and for many a day when the horses were being unloosened from the chariot after drawing out young Joash the fiery steeds would snort and rear passing the place as they smell the place of the carnage. The first thought I hand you from this subject is that the extermination of righteousness is an impossibility. When a woman is good, she is apt to be very good, and when she is bad she is apt to be very bad, and this Athaliah was one of the latter sort. She would exterminate the last scion of the house of David, through whom Jesus was to come. There was plenty of work for embalmers and undertakers. She would cleave the land of all God fearing and God loving people. She would put an end to everything that could in any

wise interfere with her imperial criminality. She folds her hands and says: “The work is done. It is completely done.” Is it? In the swaddling clothes of that church apartment are wrapped the cause of God and the cause of good government. That is the scion of the house of David. It is Joash. the God worshiping reformer. It is Joash, the friend of God. It is Joash, the demoralizer of Baalitish idolatry. Bock him tenderly, nurse him gently. Athaliah, you may kill all the other children, but you cannot kill him. Eternal defenses are thrown all around him, and this clergyman’s wife, Jehosheba, will snatch him up from the palace nursery and will run down with him into the house of the Lord, and there she will hide him for six years, and at the end of that time he will come forth for your dethronement and obliteration. Well, my friends, just as poor a botch does the world always make of extinguishing righteousness. Superstition rises up and says: “I will just put an end to pure religion.” Domitian slew 40,000 Christians, Diocletian slew 844,

uuu vnnsuans. Ana ine scyme oi persecution has been swung through all ages, and the flames hissed, and the guillotine chopped, and the Bastile groaned, but did the foes of Christianity exterminate it? Did they exterminate Alban, the first British sacrifice, or Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, or John Oldcastle, the Christian nobleman, or Abdallah, the Arabian martyr, or Anne Askew or Sanders or Cranmer? Great work of extermination they made of it. Just at the time when they thought tl^ey had slain all the royal family of Jesus some Joash would spring up and out and take the throne of power and wield a very scepter of Christian dominion. a Infidelity says: “I will exterminate the Bible,” and the Scriptures werethrown into the street for the mob to trample on, and they were piled up in the public squares and set on firet, and mountains of indignant contempt were hurled on them, and learned universities decreed the Bib'.e out of existence. Thomas Paine said: “In my ‘Age of Reason’ I have annihilated the Scriptures. Your Washington is a pusillanimous Christian, but I am the foe of Bibles and churches.” Oh, how many assaults upon that word! All the hostilities that have ever been created on earth are not to be compared with the hostilities against that book. Said one man in hia infidel desperation to his wife: “You must not be reading that Bible,” and he snatched it away from her. And though in that Bible was a lock of hair of the dead child—the only child that God had ever giveg them—he pitched the book with its contents into the fire and stirred it with the tongs and spat on it and cursed it and said: “Susan,never have any more of that damnable stuff here.” How many individual and organized attempts have been made to exterminate that Bible? Have its enemies done it? Have they exterminated the American Bible society? Have they exterminated the British and Foreign Bible society ? Have they exterminated the thousands of Christian institutions whose only object is to multiply copies of the Scriptures and spread them broadcast around the world? They have exterminated until instead of one or two copies of the Bible in our houses we have eight or ten, and we pile them up in the corners of our Sabbath-achool rooms and send great boxes of them everywhere. If they get on as well as they are nbw going on in the work of extermination* I do not know but that our children may live to see the millennium, Yea, if there should come a time of persecution in which all the known Bibles of the earth should be destroyed, all these lamps of life that blaze in our pulpits and in our families extinguished, in the very day that infidelity and sin should be holding jubilee over the universal extinction there would be in some secret closet of a backwoods church a secreted Bible, and this Joash of eternal literature would come out and come up and take the throne, and the Athaliah of infidelity and persecution would fly out of the back door of the palace and drop her miserable carcass under the hoofs of the horses of the king’s stables. You cannot exterminate Christianity! You

cannot kill Joash! The second thought I hand you from my subject is that there are opportunities in which we may save royal life. You know that profane history is replete with stories of strangled monarchs and of young princes who have been put out of the way. Here i» the story of a young king saved. How Jehosheba, the clergyman’s wife, must have trembled as she rushed into the imperal nursery and snatched up Joash! How she hushed him lest by his cry he hinder th4 escape! Fly with him, Jehosheba! You hold in your arms the cause of God and good government. Fail, and he is slain. Succeed, and you turn the tide of the world’s history in the right direction. It seems as if between that young king and his assassins there is nothing but the frail arm of a woman. But why should we spend our time in praising this bravery of expedition when God asks the same thing of you and me? All around us the*imperial children of a-great Sing. They are born of Almighty parentage and will come to a throne if permitted. But sin, the old Athaliah, goes forth to the massacre. Murderous temptations are out for the assassination. Valens, the emperor, was told that there was somebody in his realm who would usurp his throne and that the name of the man who should be the usurper would begin with the letters T, H, E, 0, D, and the edict went forth from the emperor’s throne: “Kill everybody whose name begins with T, H, E, O, D.” And hundreds were slain, hoping by that massacre to put an end to that one usurper. But sin is more terrific in its denunciation. It matters not how you spell your name, you come under its knife, under its sword, under its doom, unless there be some omnipotent relief

brought to the rescue. But. oie.«.tu ur they went God, there is such a thing as delivering a royal soul. Who vi'iif snatch away Joaah? Can yon imagine any subli^ than this soul saving? That1 flushed Paul's cheek with ent that was what led Munson t life amid Bornesian canni was what sent Dr. Abeel t under the consuming skies that was what gave courage in the third century. er work as what usiasm; risk his Is; that preach China; Phocas the military officers eatue to pupMm to death Christ’s sakeNm-jiut them to bed light rest, while he him>ut and in his own garden dun his grave and then came back and saft: “I am ready.” But were shocked at the idea of taking the life of their host. He said: ‘‘It is the will of God that I should die,” and he stood on the margin of his own grave, and they beheaded him. You say it is a mania, a foolhardiness, a fanaticism. Rather would I call it a glorious self-abnegation, the thrill of eternal satisfaction, the plucking of Joash from death and raising him to

coronation. The third thought I hand to you is that the church of God is a good hiding place. When Jehosheba rushes into the nursery of the king and picks ’ up Joash, what shall she do with him? Shall she take him to some room in the palace? No, for the official desperadoes will hunt through every nook and corner of that building. Shall she take him to the residence of some wealthy citizen? No; that citizen would not dare to harbor the fugitive. But she has to take him somewhere. She hears the cry of the mob in the streets; she hears the shriek of the dying nobility; so she rushes with Joash unto the room of the temple, into the house of God, and there she puts him down. She knows that Athaliah and her wicked assassins will not bother the temple a great deal. They ar6 not apt to go very much to church, and so she sets down Joash in the temple. There he will be hearing the songs of the worshipers year after year; there he will breathe the odor of the golden censers; in that sacred spot he will tarry, secreted until the six years have passed and he come to enthronement. Would God that we were all as wise as Jehosheba and knew that the church of God is the best hiding piped Perhaps our parents took us there in early days. They snatched us away from the world and hid us behind the baptismal fonts and amid the Bibles and psalm books. G glorious inclosure! We have been breathing the breath of the gulden censers all the time, and we have seen the Lamb on the altar, and we have handled the vials in which are the prayers of all saints, and we have dwelt under the wings of the cherubim. Glorious inclosure! When my father and mother died and the property was settled up, there was hardly anything left. But they endowed us with a property worth more than any earthly possession because they hid us in the temple. And when days of temptation have come upon my sodl I have gone there for shelter, and when assaulted of sorrows I have gone there for comfort, and there I mean to live, I ifant, like. Joash, to stay until coronation. O men of the world outside there, betrayed, caricatured and cheated of the world, why do you not come in through the broad, wide-open door of Christian communion? 1 wish 1 could act the part of Jehosheba to-day and steal you away from your perils and hide you in the "temple. How few of us appreciate the fact that the church of God is a hiding place! There are many people who put the church at so low a mark that they begrudge it everything, even the few dollars they give toward it. They make no sacrifices. They dole a little out of their surplusage. They pay their butcher’s bill, and they pay their doctor’s bill, and they pay their landlord, and they pay everybody but the Lord, and they come in at the last to pay the Lord in His church, and frown as they say: “There, Lord, it is. Send me a receipt in full and don’t bother me soon again.” There is not more than one man out of a thousand that appreci

ates what the church is. Where _are the souls that put aside one-tenth for Christian institutions—one-tenth of their income? Where are those who, having put aside that one-tenth, draw upon it cheerfully? Why, it is pull and drag and hold on and grab and clutch, and giving is an affliction to most people, when it ought to be an exhilaration and a rapture. Oh, that God would remodel our souls on this subject and that we might appreciate the house of God as the great refuge! If your children are to come up to lives of virtue and happiness, they will come up under the shadow of the church. If the church does not get them, the world will. Church of God, be a hiding place to all these people! Give them a seat where they can rest their weary souls. Flash some light from your chandeliers upon their darkness. Witksome soothing hymn hush their griefs. Oh, church of God, gate of Heaven, let me go through it! All other institutions are going to fail, but the church of God— its foundation is the Rock of Ages, its charter is for everlastings years, its keys are held by the universal Proprietor, its dividend is Heaven, its president is God! Sure as thy truth shall last. To Zion shall be given The highest glories earth can yield And brighter bliss of Heaven. God grant that all this audience, the youngest, the eldest, the worst, the best, may find their safe and glorious hiding place where Joash found it—in the templet Not Headqvartera. “What did her father say?” “He said he couldn’t understand why I came to him—all his property was in his wife’s name.*’—Cleveland Plain Dealer.

HOfflHi 1111. It Has Been Formed to Maintain the Territorial Integrity of" the Chinese Empire. ALSO TO KEEP LITTORAL PORTS OPEN. The Term of the Acreemat ci Arrived at Between Lord Saiiakary and Count Von Hatafeldt, the Geranaua Ambassador to the Baalish l Court. London, Oct. 21.—Germany and England have formed an alliance to maintain territorial integrity of China and to keep ports open. The terms of this agreement, which was arrived at October 16 between Lord Salisbury and Count Von Hatzfeldt, German ambassador to England, are officially given out as follows:

me uerman government and bet British majesty's government being desirous to maintain their interests in China and their rights under exist* ing treaties, have agreed to observe the following principles regarding 9 mutual poliey in China: Terms of the Agreement. “Firstly—It is a matter of joint permanent international interest thal the ports on the rivers and litteral oi China should remain free and opes to trade, and to throw every othei legitimate form of economic activity for the peoples of all countries without distinction; and the two governments agree on their part to uphold the same for all Chinese territory at far as they can exercise influence. “Secondly—Both governments agree that they ■will not, on their part, make use of the present complication to obtain for themselves any territorial advantage in Chinese dominion, and will direct their policy towards maintaining undiminished the territorial condition off the Chinese empire. “Thirdly—In case of another powsr making use of the complications in China in order to obtain, under ■ny form whatever, such territorial advantages, the two contracting parties reserve to themselves the right to come to a preliminary understanding regarding the eventual steps to be taken for the pretection to their own Interests in China. “Fourthly—The two government* will communicate this agreement to the other powers interested, especially Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, and invite them to accept the principles recorded in it.” AS VIEWED AT WASHINGTON. The So-Called Alliance la Line With the American Poller. Washington, Oct. 21.—The state department here has not yet been advised officially of the terfhs of the alliance reported from London to have been reached betoveen Germany and England to maintain territorial integrity of China and to keep ports open. While the move gives general satisfaction here, the officials say that it probably is a misnomer to call it an alliance. What probably has happened, they say, has been a reaffirmation of principles already agreed upon, not only being England and Germany, but between all of the great powers interested in China. Again, the officials point to the note of Secretary Hay, of July offered, defining the position of the United States, and declaring it to be its policy, among other things, to “preserve territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed to friendly powers by treaty and international laws and safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese empire.” The records show that all the great powers accepted the principle of this guarantee of territorial integrity. Their expressions on the point of commercial freedom were not quite as explicit as in the case of territorial integrity, and it appears from a study of the British-German agreement, above referred to, that particulai care has now been taken to clear up any* doubts on this point.

LONDON PRESS ON THU TREATY. Moat Remarkable Success Score# Since the Treaty of Berlin. London, Oct. 22.—All thh morning papers dilate upon the high import ance of the Anglo-German agreement. The Daily Telegraph, which describes it as “the most remarkable success scored by British diplomacy since the Berlin treaty,” says: “The significant circumstance of its publication clearly suggests that it was initiated by Lord Salisbury at the moment when an ill-considered call waa made for his retirement from the foreign office.” Although without much effusive praise of Lord Salisbury's diplomacy, most of the papers warmly approve the agreement and recognize in it a warning to other powers, especially Russia Recall of Speck You Sterabera>., Berlin, Oct. 22.—The statement published in certain German papers that Gen. Speck von Sternberg, former charge d’affaires in Washington, waa recalled because “too friendly towards America,” is characterized in orncial circles here as “sheer nonsense.” His appointment as German consul general in Calcutta, one of the most desirable positions in the German service, is not only regarded as a promotion, but is officially described as a “recognition of his excellent services In Washington.”

At the Seaside Hop. “Who is that hatchet-faced old ladj keeping watch over those two prettj girls so strictly? She can’t be then mother.” “No. Those girls are the Rockslej heiresses, and she’s their daenna.” “H’m! She looks like a female detective brought in to watch the silver.” “Well, it is her duty to keep an eyt on the spoons.”—Puck. jp Sleeps Inside the Gan. The largest cannon in the world war taken by the British when India was conquered. The cannon was cast atfout the year 1500 and waa the work of a chief named Chuleby Koomy Khan oi Ahmednugger. The inside of the gut is fitted up with seats and is a favorite place for the British officers to go for a quiet noonday sleep.—Chicago Tribune. The Menial's Retort. iThe Eskimo housewife was shouting up the back stairs. “Mary.” she cried, “it’s time you were getting breakfast.” The hired girl snorted petulantly. “Aw, you make me tired,” she exclaimed, “calling me before February every morning!” Such is life in 88 degrees 35 minntes. north latitude.—Up to Date. -7fAn Object Lesson. A school inspector, finding a class hesitating over answering the question: “With what weapon did Samson slay the Philistines ?”■ and wishing to prompt them, significantly tapped his own cheek and asked: “What is this?" The whole class instantly answered: “The jawbone of an ass!”—Tit-Bits. k Q Boycotted. • u Grocer—No, sir, we cannot give yot credit. This is a strictly cash store and we do not give credit to anyone. 51 Customer (drawinghimself up proudly)—Then, sir, you cannot have my trade, for I never have cash to pay to anybody.—Somerville Journal. j

Wan WmHic the I.nnndry. .The little girl tu inclined to answer the «oor bell about as soon as it sounded., and aometimes she gave answers to whoever inigbt be there that were curious. One day the man who collects the packages of !ann* ary was at the door and asked if the laundry >»• ** a>oea Cofee Agree with Yont If not, drink Grain-0—made from pun A lady writes: “The first time I made Grain-0 1 did not like it, but after vs ing it one week nothing would induce me to go hack to coffee. ” It nourishes and feeds the system. Children can drink it freely with great benefit. It is the strengthening sub* stance of pure grains. Get a package to-day from your grocer, follow directions in making, and you willhaveadeliciousand healthful tablebeveragefor old and young. J5cand 25c. , “What wholesome truth,” asked the Sab* bath-school teacher, nervously, “is taught by the store of Jonah and the whale!” The serious child with the tall brow did not \^S hard to keep a good man down! But merely: “I don’t know!** Ihis was thought to be very remarkable tn one so young.—Detroit Journal. Business Opportunities on the line of the Chicago Great Western Ry in Illinois. Iowa. Minnesota and Missouri. First class open* ings in growing towns for all kinds of business and for manufacturing. Our list includes locations for Blacksmiths, Doctor* Dressmakers, Furniture, Grain and Live Stock Buyers, General Merchandise, Hardware, Harness, Tailors Cold Storage, Creameries and Canning Factories. Write fully in regard to your requirements so that we may advise you intelligently. Address W. J. Reed, Industrial Agent. C. G. W. Ry_ 601 Endicott Big., St. Paul, Minn. rp*to.Date Enterprise. Mr. Oldham—Oh, I don’t know that 1 have much to complain of in a business way; l am holding my own. * - Mrs. Oidham—That won’t do, John. II you want, to be a successful business man to-day you must strive to hold as much as possible of every body else’s.—Richmond Di* Each package of Putnam’s Fadelksi Dtbs colors more goods than any other dyv and colors them better too. Sold by a]] druggists. < “Do you believe in luck?_ “Depends on who is dealing, stacker, sagely.—Town Topics. asked Edgely, replied

THE TURN OF LIFE. The Most Important Period in a Woman’s Existence.—Mrs. Johnson Tells How She Was Helped Over the Trying Time.

Owing1 to modern methods of living, not one woman in a thousand ap* proaches this perfectly natural change without experiencing a train of very annoying, and sometimes painful symptoms. ^ Those dreadful hot flashes, sending &he blood surging to the heart until it seems ready to burst, and the faint feeling that follows, sometimes with chills, as if the heart were going to stop for good, are only a few of the symptoms of a dangerous nervous trouble. The nerves are crying out for assistance. The ~ cry should be heeded in time. Lydia EL Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was prepared to meet the needs of woman’s system at this trying period of her life. The three following letters are guaranteed to be genuine and true, and still further prove what a great mecJcine Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound is for women. Mar. 13,1897. “ Dear Mbs. Pinkham :— I have been sick for a long time. I was taken sick with flooding. All my trouble seemed to be in the womb. I ache all the time at the lower part of the womb. The doctor says the womb is covered with ulcers. I suffer with a pain on the left side of my hack over the kidney. I am fifty years old and passing through the change of life. Please advise me what to do to get relief. Would like to hear from you as soon as possible. ”— Mbs. Charlotte Johnson, Monclova, Ohio. Jan. 23, 1898. “ I have been taking your remedies, and think they have helped me a great deal. I had been in bed for ten weeks when I began taking your Vegetable Compound, but after using it for a short time I was able to be np aronnd the house. The aching in the lower part of womb has left me. The most that troubles me now is the flowing. That is not so bad, but still there is a little * every day. I am not discouraged yet, and shall continue with your medicine, for I believe it will cure me.”—Mbs. Charlotte Johnson, Monclova,Ohio. April 13, 1900. “ I send yon this letter to publish for the benefit of others. I was sick for about nine years so that I could not do my work. For three months I could not sit up long enough to have my bed made. I had five different doctors, and all said there was no help for me. My trouble was change of life. I suffered with ulceration of the womb, pain in sides, kidney and stomach trouble, backache, headache, and disxiness. I am well and strong, and feel like a new person. My recovery is a perfect surprise to everybody that knew me. I owe all to Lydia B. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. 1 would not do without your medicine for anything. There is no need of women suffering so much if they would take your remedies, for they are a sure cure.”—Mbs. Charlotte Johnson, Monclova, Ohio. When one stops to think about the good Mrs. Johnson derived from Mrs. Pinkham’s advice and medicine, it seems almost beyond belief; yet it is all true as stated in her three letters published above at her own request. As a. matter of positive feet, Mrs. Pinkham has on file thousands of letters from women who have been safely carried through that danger period “ Change of Life." Mrs. Johnson’s cure is not an unusual one for Mrs. Pinkham’s medicine to accomplish. $5000 REWARD.—’ are not genuine, or were published before ‘ * LYDIA E. PI the writer's ial