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 BV) 4226.2) /T3x1925 
 
 Tyndall, Henry Myron, 1855- | 
 Tllustrative anecdotes for 
 preachers, Sunday school 
 
 
 
Ro ct aco dl 
 RENN ee RY 
 
 4! 
 
 
 

 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2022 with funding from 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 https://archive.org/details/illustrativeanecOOtynd 
 
ty 
 
 on 
 
 
 
 
 
‘ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 for Preachers 
 
 Sunday School Teachers 
 and the 
 
 FAMILY CIRCLE 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall, S. T. D., 
 PASTOR OF 
 
 THE PEOPLE’S TABERNACLE 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW YORK CITY. 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 
 FROM WHOM COPIES MAY BE HAD AT 
 56 Hast 102p STREET 
 NEW YORK. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1925, 
 BY HENRY M. TYNDALL. 
 
 PRINTED IN THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The task of many years is at last ended. This book of illustrative anecdotes 
 is now ready for the press. 
 
 The most of the stories comprising this volume appeared first in the “Little 
 Evangelist,” edited and published by the writer for more than thirty years. The 
 paper is small; and, beside going to its subscribers, for many years it was dis- 
 tributed by the missionaries of the People’s Tabernacle among the hundreds of 
 families they annually visited. Because this little sheet was the only religious 
 literature likely to enter the homes of many of these families great care was 
 taken to admit to its columns only the best of such stories as would illustrate 
 and emphasize some important gospel truth. 
 
 With the passing of the years, the paper has had among its readers an increas- 
 ing number of clergymen, and other Christian workers; and we early discovered 
 that its stories were prized by them, and used for illustrative purposes. At the 
 New York Public Library, where the paper has gone for a score of years, its 
 readers are so appreciative that it has been carefully preserved and bound into 
 volumes. If at any time a number is missing it is asked for that the annual vol- 
 ume may be complete. 
 
 The writer himself has fifteen bound volumes of the paper for reference, 
 and has made large use of the anecdotes therein in his sermonizing. But he 
 found that it is one thing to know that a story wanted is in these volumes, and 
 quite another matter to find it. At first he thought of having the volumes in- 
 dexed for his own use. And then a better thought came: “Why not republish 
 the best of these stories, and put them in book-form, well-indexed, and so make 
 them available for the use of others?” 
 
 This thought prevailed; and ten years ago the work was begun and con- 
 tinued week by week until more than five hundred pages had been electrotyped, 
 and made ready for the press. Then the war came on, and the cost of publica- 
 tion became so increased, and the exactions of parish duties, including co-opera- 
 tive housing, were so pressing that work on the book was suspended for five 
 years. The task was taken up anew the present year, and has been hurried on 
 to completion. 
 
 These anecdotes were gleaned from a wide range of reading, during the 
 course of many years. Not a few are original, and are but the rehearsal of facts 
 coming within the domain of the writer’s experience, or they are from sources 
 he deemed reliable. Other stories were written from notes taken by him when 
 hearing them narrated in some public discourse. 
 
 Of these anecdotes, nearly a hundred of the last have not appeared in the 
 “Little Evangelist ;” and, taken as a whole, it is safe to say that comparatively 
 few of them have ever before been published in any book of illustrations. 
 
 In this age of doubt, when so many are trying to satisfy their souls with a 
 naturalistic religion, we apprehend that some will look askance upon many of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the incidents related in this volume; because it is quite impossible to account 
 for the facts given without a belief in the supernatural. But the special provi- 
 dences herein narrated are so many, and.are so well attested, that we may in- 
 dulge the hope that this account of them will serve not only to strengthen the 
 faith of believers, but also help to put to flight the unbelief of doubters. 
 
 The leisure of long sea voyages, this year, in a cruise around the world, and 
 a trip to the land of the midnight sun, afforded the writer an opportunity of de- 
 voting several months to the indexing of the volume. This, we think, will be 
 found quite complete, and it will add much to the value of the book. 
 
 If this volume shall prove of interest to Christians generally, become a 
 source of instruction in the family circle, help preachers, Sunday-school teach- 
 ers, and others in Christian work to illustrate and enforce the truths of the glor- 
 ious gospel, then the Great Head of the church shall have all the praise, and the 
 
 prayer of the undersigned will be answered. 
 HENRY M. TYNDALL. 
 
 New York City, 
 October 21st, 1925. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 AASEDS | Me 
 
 REMARKABLE CONFESSION 
 GUILT. 
 
 A trusted $6,000-a-year manager of a 
 large business house, a man high in the 
 social circle of his city, was arraigned 
 in the criminal court on the charge of 
 having robbed his employers as well as 
 others. In the midst of the trial, with 
 some he had defrauded as his strongest 
 defenders, he made a clean breast of his 
 guilt. The staggering blow came hard- 
 est on his devoted wife. The man said: 
 “Your Honor, I want to confess my 
 guilt and shame before your court and 
 before the entire world. One thing I 
 want to ask, and that is that the good 
 Lord will give me strength to serve out 
 the sentence which you will impose, and 
 that I may be spared to make full resti- 
 tution to those whom I have robbed.” 
 In giving the reasons for his downfall 
 he said: “Gadding and guzzling marked 
 the beginning of my moral ruin; after- 
 ward the night life of the city, particu- 
 larly tangoing and drinking, completed 
 it. There are thousands of young busi- 
 ness men whose habits are leading them 
 along the same path I took. To them 
 I say: ‘Cut out the saloon and patron- 
 ize the library.’” The man said he could 
 not sleep, and in the agony of his guilt 
 he went to God in prayer and Christ 
 forgave him, and told him he must also 
 confess his sin to men, which he did 
 to the judge the next morning. His con- 
 fession gave him an inward peace that 
 was like paradise, and led him to pray 
 for length of life to make good every 
 loss caused by him. Confession to men 
 may lead to the sentence, and iron bars, 
 but confession to God brings pardon 
 and complete liberty. “If we confess 
 our sins, he is faithful and just to for- 
 give us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
 all unrighteousness.” (I John 1 :9.)— 
 Ferdinand C. Iglehart. | 
 
 OF 
 
 PUSS Sotee, MEMES 
 
 WHAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 A young man, arrested for swindling 
 his employer out of $30,000, sat alone in 
 a criminal’s cell out of which daylight 
 had faded. Cowering on his hard bed, 
 he pictured himself with the world out- 
 side full of warmth, and light, and com- 
 fort. The question came to him sharp- 
 ly, “How came you here?” 
 
 Was it really for the stealing of this 
 great sum? 
 
 Yes and no. 
 
 Looking back twenty years, he saw 
 himself a school-boy, ten years old. 
 He remembered his Uncle John—such 
 a queer, kind, forgetful old man. That 
 very morning his uncle had sent him to 
 pay a bill at the courtry store and there 
 were seventy-two cents left and Uncle 
 John did not ask for it. When they met 
 that noon, this boy, now in prison, stood 
 there under the beautiful blue sky, and 
 a great temptation came. He said to 
 himself, “Shall I give it back, or shall I 
 wait until he asks for it? If he never 
 asks that is his look out. If he does, 
 why, I can get it again together.” 
 
 He never gave back the money. 
 
 A theft of $30,000 brought this young 
 man to a prison door; but when a boy, 
 he turned that way when he sold his 
 honesty for seventy-two cents. 
 
 That night he sat disgraced, and an 
 open criminal, in his chilly cell. 
 
 Uncle John was long ago dead. The old 
 home was desolate, his mother broken- 
 hearted. The prisoner knew that what 
 brought him there was not the man’s 
 deed alone but the boy’s. 
 
 Had the ten-year-old boy been true 
 to his honor, life now would have 
 been different. One little cheating was 
 the first of many, until his character was 
 eaten out, could bear no test, and he 
 wrecked manliness and his life—Budzet. 
 
2 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 aoe bess 
 
 AFTER MANY YEARS 
 
 Telling of his early labors in his South 
 African missionary field, Aldin Grant, 
 of Zululand, said, not despondently or 
 sadly, but with ringing soldiery voice: 
 “I worked there as God gave me oppor- 
 tunity and ability for ten years, with 
 various interruptions and intermiss- 
 ons, yet at the end of that period I 
 could not point to a single convert in 
 all the field in all the years; nor could 
 I even point to a single one of my hear- 
 ers of whom I could confidently say 
 that he had been really interested or 
 benefited by my message during all the 
 time.” | | 
 
 “Yet,” he added, “in all that time it 
 never entered my head to doubt that I 
 and my fellow-workers were where God 
 had called us to labor, and were doing 
 what God had set us to do. We were 
 there giving God’s message, sowing the 
 seed of God’s truth. It was for one to 
 plant, for another to water, for God to 
 give—or withhold—the increase as 
 seemed best to him. Thirteen years, 
 added to that ten, have passed since 
 then,” the said, “there are now more 
 than thirty Christian churches with 
 hundreds of church members in that ap- 
 parently unfruitful field. It is good to 
 be in God’s field and work, whatever the 
 seeming results, for a time may be.” 
 
 That testimony of faith had been an 
 encouragement to me in days that would 
 have otherwise locked dark within the 
 past forty years. I am glad for that 
 missionary’s confidence in the mission- 
 ary’s God.—H. Clay Trumbull. 
 
 eeee4 
 
 “HONEST ABE LINCOLN” 
 
 One trait, which all agree was particu- 
 larly important, was Lincoln’s honesty. 
 It showed itself very plainly, of course, 
 in his business dealings. There is little 
 wonder that his neighbors dubbed him 
 “Honest Abe” when, after closing his 
 grocery for the night, he would walk 
 three miles to return six and a quarter 
 cents which he had taken by accident 
 from a customer. Another evening he 
 
 
 
 weighed out, he thought a half-pound of 
 tea. When he found the next day that 
 he had used a four ounce weight by mis- 
 take he promptly closed the shop and de- 
 livered the rest of the tea. This grocery 
 business came to an untimely end and 
 left Abe owing considerable money. 
 
 “That debt,” he afterward said to a 
 friend, “was the greatest obstacle I have 
 ever met in life. I had no way of specu- 
 lating and could not earn money except 
 by labor; and to earn by labor eleven 
 hundred dollars, besides my living, seem- 
 ed the work of a lifetime. There was, 
 however, but one way. I went to the 
 creditors and told them that if they 
 would let me alone I would give them all 
 I could earn over my living as fast as I 
 could earn it.” Under similar circum- 
 stances, many of Lincoln’s townspeople 
 would have “cleared out,” “Honest 
 Abe” was a member of Congress before 
 he got his debt wiped out. Half in earn- 
 est, he always called it the “national 
 debt.” 
 
 Even in times of need he never touched 
 money belonging to anybody else. When 
 the “town” of New Salem came to an 
 end, for instance, Lincoln had about six- 
 teen dollars belonging to the government 
 When, several years later, an agent at 
 last came for it, Lincoln took from his 
 trunk “an old blue sock with a quantity 
 of silver and copper coin tied up in it,” 
 the very coins he had received from the 
 people of New Salem while postmaster. 
 
 When he came to practice law he was 
 “Fonest Abe Lincoln” still. Unless he 
 was sure a man was in the right he 
 would not take charge of the case, even 
 though he was a personal friend, He 
 would sometimes leave a case in the 
 middle if he chanced to find that his 
 client was in the wrong. 
 
 epee 
 
 A CHILD’S REPROOF 
 
 Charles Spurgeon began to lead others 
 to Jesus when he was about six years 
 old. He was once at his grandfather’s, 
 who was a minister, and heard him griev- 
 ing over the evil habits of a certain 
 
 
 
 man in his church who went to the 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 3 
 
 public house to smoke his pipe and get 
 a mug of beer. Shortly after Charles 
 heard who the man was, he came to his 
 grandfather and said: “I’ve killed old 
 Rhodes. He will never grieve my poor 
 grandfather any more.” 
 
 “IT have not been doing any harm; 
 grandfather,” said the boy. “I have been 
 about the Lord’s work, that’s all.” 
 
 Not long after “Old Rhodes” came to 
 Charles’ grandfather and told him how 
 he was in the saloon when little Charley 
 walked in and said to him: “What doest 
 thou here, Elijah! sitting with the un- 
 godly, you a member of the church, and 
 break your pastor’s heart? I’m asham- 
 ed of you! I would not break my past- 
 or’s heart, I’m sure.” “Old Rhodes” was 
 angry at first and thought this was pretty 
 plain talk for a six-year-boy, but he 
 knew the child was in the right, and 
 he asked forgiveness for his fault, and 
 became a better man and a true Christ- 
 ian.— Selected. 
 
 abhi ly FE iach 
 
 HONOR DESERVED 
 
 Some years ago a steamer on Lake 
 Erie caught fire. They headed at once 
 for shore. On board was a man from 
 California with a heavy bag of gold. 
 He began to get it out of his trunk to 
 bind around him, when a little girl look- 
 ed into his face and said, “Will you save 
 me?” He looked first at his bag of gold, 
 which represented years of hard work, 
 and then at the pleading face. He drop- 
 ped his gold, and as the boat struck the 
 beach, he placed the little one on his 
 back, with her arms around his neck, 
 and leaped into the flood. He struggled 
 for shore, and was at last thrown up by 
 the breakers with his treasure on the 
 sand. Head got the little one on shore; 
 but he lost consciousness for a time. 
 
 Coming to, he saw, first of all, the 
 eyes of the dear child looking down into 
 his, and the tears of gratitude falling 
 on his face. Others who had reached 
 the shore with their effects, while the 
 cries of the drowning were ringing in 
 their ears, stood back, and instinctively 
 gave this hero the place of honor, It 
 
 was not demanded, but was given with- 
 out jealousy or envy. So it will be in 
 heaven with those who are “rich toward 
 God.” When I see Cary and Judson 
 and the great host of toilers who counted 
 not their lives dear unto them, that they 
 might follow Christ, not only in his serv- 
 ice, but in his suffering sacrifice; when I 
 shall see them coming with the dusky 
 throngs behind them, whom they have 
 won from solid heathenism, I shall 
 shrink back instinctively to give them 
 the place of honor.—E. O. Mallory in 
 Christian Alliance. 
 
 sibs Fy pith ols 
 
 A CHILD’S INFLUENCE. 
 
 Less than half a century ago, a Sune 
 day School superintendent in Jackson- 
 ville, Illinois, asked each one to bring a 
 new scholar to school the next Sunday. 
 Little Mary Paxton went home and ask- 
 ed her father to come to Sabbath School. 
 He was nearly forty years old, and so 
 ignorant that he could not read. He 
 was rough in appearance, and rude in 
 speech. He hated the church, and de- 
 spised Sunday Schools and religion and 
 everything good. But he loved his lit- 
 tle Mary, and when she took him by the 
 hand he did not resist. He went to Sab- 
 bath School, and was led to Christ. He 
 then learned to read for Christ’s sake, 
 and he finally came to be a Sunday 
 School evangelist. He founded fifteen 
 hundred Sunday Schools, into which 
 seventy thousand children were gather- 
 ed, and out of which sprang one hundred 
 churches. When little Mary was lead 
 ing her father to Sunday School, she 
 was leading a train of thousands up the 
 shining way that leads to God. It may 
 seem a small thing for a Christian boy 
 or girl to be always in the pew to cheer 
 the pastor while he preaches, and to be 
 always in the Sabbath School with a 
 knowledge of the lesson, and to be help- 
 fully present in at least one prayer- 
 meeting every week. But just such sim- 
 ple, faithful service as that is keeping 
 alive the Christian church—From Food 
 for Lambs, by Rev. A. M. Hills. 
 
4 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 PR ee 
 HIS MOTHER’S PRAYER DID IT 
 
 Hudson Taylor, founder of China In- 
 land Mission, says that about 1830 his 
 father became so interested in the spirit- 
 ual condition of China, that he was led te 
 pray that if God ever gave him a son, 
 he might be privileged to labor as a mis- 
 sionary there; a prayer unknown to the 
 son until after seven years of service in 
 that mission field. Though carefuily 
 trained to the study of God’s word anda 
 life of devotion, yet at the age of fifteen 
 the lad was a skeptic. 
 
 Of his conversion he says: “One day 
 which I shall never forget, when I was 
 about fifteen years old, my dear mother 
 being absent from home some eighty 
 miles away, I hada holiday. I searched 
 the library through for a book to while 
 away time. [I selected a gospel tract 
 which appeared unattractive, saying, 
 there will be an interesting story at the 
 commencement and a sermon or moral 
 at the end. I will take the former and 
 leave the latter for those who like it. I 
 littie knew what was going on in the 
 heart of my dear mother. 
 
 She arose from the dinner-table with 
 an intense yearning for the conversion of 
 her boy, and feeling that, being from 
 home, and having more leisure than she 
 otherwise would, there was a special op- 
 portunity afforded her of pleading with 
 God for me. She went to her bed-rcom, 
 and turned the key in the door, and re- 
 solved not to leave the room until her 
 prayers were answered. Hour after hour 
 did that dear mother plead for me, until 
 she could only praise God for the conver- 
 sion of her son. In the meantime, as I 
 was reading the tract, ‘The Finished 
 Work of Christ,’ a light was flashed in- 
 to my soul by the Holy Spirit, that there 
 was nothing to be done, but to fall on 
 my knees and accept this Saviour and 
 . his salvation, and praise God forever- 
 more. So while my mother was praising 
 _ God in her closet, I was praising Him in 
 the old ware house, where I had retired 
 to read my book. When I met my 
 mother at the door on her return with 
 the glad news, she said: “I know my 
 
 boy; I have been rejoicing for a fortnight 
 in the glad tidings you have to tell me!” 
 
 Many souls are lost for want of persis- 
 tent pleading with God in their behalf. 
 Time that might be used in prayer is con- 
 sumed in other ways, and souls and op- 
 portunities pass forever from our reach. 
 For those hours of pleading with God, 
 this faithful mother received not only 
 her son for God, but the great work God 
 put into his hands—China Inland Miss- 
 ion. Hudson Taylor has led out into the 
 heart of China more than one hundred 
 and seventy apostolic missionaries, none 
 of whom receive support except through 
 faith in God.—Anna Abrams. 
 
 ——9 
 THE SECRET OF ALL REVIVALS. 
 
 Late on a cold November night, I 
 was retiring to rest. There was a knock 
 at my door. A simple, praying, warm- 
 hearted man was introduced. After a 
 brief silence, he thus addressed me: 
 “My dear pastor, I am come to tell you 
 that God is about to revive His work 
 among us.” I asked him why he so felt. 
 “T went in the stable,” said he, “to care 
 for my cattle two hours ago, and there 
 the Lord has kept me until now, and I 
 feel we are going to have a revival.” 
 There could be no doubt as to his sin- 
 cerity, and that was the beginning of 
 the first revival under my ministry. 
 
 A few years after an aged man re- 
 nowned for piety came to my study. 
 Though poor in this world he was rich 
 in faith. In prayer he seemed to con- 
 verse with God. Said he: “I have called 
 to say, my dear pastor, that the Lord 
 is in the midst of us, and we shall soon 
 see the effect of His presence.” I asked 
 the venerable man why he felt so. His 
 reply was as follows: “Since twelve 
 o’clock last night the Spirit of God has 
 been so upon me that I have not been 
 able to do anything but pray and rejoice 
 in the prospect of a blessed refreshing 
 from the presence of the Lord..” And 
 that was the commencement of the first 
 revival in my present field of labor.— 
 Rev. N. Murray, D. D. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 5 
 
 denen | (lec 
 
 A WOMAN’S LOVE 
 
 A murderer sat in his cell in the gaol, 
 repeating over and over again to him- 
 self the sentence pronounced by the 
 judge, “You are to be hanged by the 
 neck till you are dead, dead, dead, and 
 may God have mercy on your soul.” 
 
 But there were no tears in his eyes, 
 and no penitence in his heart. His dark 
 visage, marred by many a scar from the 
 sabre of sin, looked blacker and viler 
 as he repeated the words, cursing God 
 and men. 
 
 Ministers had come to him with Gos- 
 pel messages of Divne mercy; but he 
 spurned their words, and told them to 
 come no more into his presence. 
 
 “Why, man,” said one, “you are con- 
 demned to die, in a few weeks you will 
 be launched into eternity—how can you 
 stand before God with all your unfor- 
 given sins on your soul?” 
 
 “That's my business, not yours. I 
 wish no further conversation with you,” 
 was his answer, as he waved his hand im- 
 patiently for them to depart. 
 
 A report of the interview was publish- 
 ed in the papers next day. Among those 
 wha read the account was a timid, del- 
 icate, Christian woman. The tears 
 dropped upon the paper as she read, and 
 a great desire came into her heart to 
 tell the poor condemned man that she 
 was sorry for him. But she said, check- 
 ing herself: 
 
 “T can’t do it. I was never in a gaol 
 in my life; and I wouldn’t know what to 
 say. And then, J should be sure to cry. 
 Oh, I wish I could go and speak a few 
 words to him without weeping.” 
 
 Her desire grew into a purpose, and 
 one morning she gathered a delicate 
 bouquet from her house plants, and 
 went to the gaol over the crisp, snowy 
 road. The jailer who admitted her con- 
 ducted her to the cell, and throwing 
 open a window through which, without 
 entering, persons may converse, he called 
 the prisoner by name, saying, “Here is 
 a lady who wishes to see you.” The 
 woman’s .courage .and .voice .entirely 
 failed her as she stood face to face with 
 
 the hard, dark-visaged murderer. She 
 could not utter a single word, but hand- 
 ing him the bouquet, she burst into tears. 
 
 The flowers and the weeping woman 
 brought a fiood of memories long buried, 
 a picture of a home embosomed in 
 flowers across the sea, and of a Christian 
 mother who wept over him at the part- 
 ing. And while the woman wept out- 
 side of the cell, he cried with a great, 
 deep, bitter cry, as the tears rained over 
 his face. “God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner.” And God heard the cry, and came 
 to the heart of the murderer with for- 
 giveness and peace. Human sympathy 
 and tears had broken his heart, and he 
 was led like a little child to Christ.— 
 Christian Commonwealth. 
 
 11 —— 
 
 THE BOY’S TWO BRICKS 
 
 In Rochester, New York, there was a 
 church called the “Brick Church,” be- 
 cause it was the first church built of 
 brick in that city. It was a small church 
 and not large enough to hold all the 
 people who came. Many meetings were 
 held to talk about building a new church, 
 but the work did not commence. No 
 One seemed ready to do his part. They 
 began to be discouraged, thinking they 
 would never have a new church. 
 
 The next morning after the last meet- 
 ing, very early, the pastor’s door bell 
 rang loudly. On opening the door the 
 servant found a small boy, who inquired 
 for Dr. Shaw. The servant told him he 
 had not come down, and asked what he 
 wanted. “I want to see Dr. S .” an- 
 swered the boy. Presently Dr. § 
 came to the door and found there a 
 little fellow with a wheelbarrow, three 
 times as large as himself and containing 
 two bricks, which he said he had brought 
 to build the new church with. 
 
 After breakfast Dr. S—— put on his 
 hat, walked out into the street and said 
 to one and another of his people as he 
 met them. “The church will be built. 
 The first load of bricks is already on 
 the ground.” The people took courage 
 and went forward. A large, beautiful 
 and convenient church was erected, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 where multitudes could gather to hear 
 words of life and veace. It was a little 
 thing for that boy to bring his two 
 bricks to build the church, but who will 
 say that God was not honored? It was 
 a little thing for a boy to expect his two 
 fishes and five loaves would help any, but 
 God honored him also.—Selected. 
 
 Sas) BA ero 
 
 REUBEN JOHNSON’S PARDON 
 
 When I was in Ohio a few years ago, 
 I was invited to preach in the State pris- 
 on. Eleven hundred convicts were 
 brought into the chapel, and all sat in 
 front of me. After I had got through the 
 preaching, the chaplain said to me: 
 
 “Mr. Moody, I want to tell you of a 
 scene which occurred in this room. A 
 few years ago our commissioners went 
 to the Governor of the State and got him 
 to promise that he would pardon five 
 men for good behavior. The Governor 
 consented with this understanding—that 
 the record was to be kept secret, and 
 that at the end of six months the five men 
 highest on the roll should receive a 
 pardon, regardless of who and what they 
 were. At the end of six months the pris- 
 oners were all brought into the chapel, 
 The commissioners came; the president 
 stood on the platform, and putting his 
 hand in his pocket, brought out some 
 papers, and said: 
 
 “‘T hold in my hand pardons for’ five 
 men.’ ” 
 
 The chaplain told me he never witness- 
 ed anything on earth like it. Every man 
 was as stillas death. Many were deadly 
 pale. The suspense was awful; it seem- 
 ed as if every heart had ceased to beat. 
 The commissioner went on to tell them 
 how they had got the pardon; but the 
 chaplain interrupted him. 
 
 “Before you make your speech, read 
 out the names. This suspence is awful.” 
 
 So he read out the first name, Reuben 
 Johnson will come and get his pardon;” 
 and he held it out, but none came for- 
 ward. 
 
 He said to the warden, “Are all the 
 prisoners, here?” 
 
 The warden fold them they all were 
 there. 
 
 Then he said again, “Reuben Johnson 
 will come and get his pardon. It is 
 signed and sealed by the Governor. He 
 is a free man.” 
 
 No one moved. The chaplain looked 
 right down where Reuben was. He was 
 well known; he had been nineteen years 
 there, and many were looking around to 
 see him spring to his feet. But he him- 
 self was looking around to see the fortu- 
 nate man who had got his pardon. 
 Finally the chaplain had caught his eye, 
 and said: 
 
 “Reuben, you are the man.” 
 
 Reuben turned around and looked be- 
 hind him to see where Reuben was. The 
 chaplain said the second time. “Reuben, 
 you are the man; and the second time he 
 looked around, thinking it must be some 
 other Reuben. He had to say three 
 times, “Reuben, come and get your 
 pardon.” 
 
 At last the truth began to steal over 
 the old man. He got up, came along 
 down the hall, trembling from head to 
 foot, and when he got the pardon he 
 looked at it, and went back to his seat, 
 buried his face in his hands and wept. 
 When the prisoners got into the ranks 
 to go back to the cells, Reuben got into 
 the ranks, too, and the chaplain had to 
 call him: 
 
 “Reuben, get out of the ranks; you 
 are a free man, you are no longer a 
 prisoner.” / 
 
 And Reuben stepped out of the ranks. 
 He was free! 
 
 That is the way men make out par- 
 dons; they make them out for good 
 character or good behavior; but God 
 makes out pardons for men who 
 have not got any character. He 
 offers a pardon to every sinner on 
 earth if he will take it, I do not care 
 who he is or what he is like. He may 
 be the greatest libertine that ever walked 
 the streets, or the greatest blackguard 
 who ever lived, or the greatest drunk- 
 ard, or thief, or vagabond. Christ com- 
 missioned His disciples to preach the 
 Gospel to every creature—D. L. Moody. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES v4 
 
 Th Ae 
 
 SILENT INFLUENCE 
 
 More than forty years ago at a great 
 English school (and in those days that 
 state of things was common), no boy 
 in the large dormitories ever dared to 
 say his prayers. A young new boy— 
 neither strong, nor distinguished, nor 
 brilliant, nor influential, nor of high rank 
 —came to school. The first night he 
 slept in his dormitory not one boy knelt 
 to say his prayers. But the new one 
 knelt down, as he had always done. He 
 was jeered at, insulted, pelted, kicked 
 for it; and so he was the next night and 
 the next. But after a night or two, not 
 only did the persecution cease, but an- 
 other boy knelt down as well as himself, 
 and then another, until it became the 
 custom of every boy to kneel nightly at 
 the altar of his own bedside. 
 
 From that dormitory in which my in- 
 formant was, the custom spread to other 
 dormitories, one by one. When that 
 young new boy came to school, no boy 
 said his prayers; when he left it, without 
 one act or word on his part beyond the 
 silent influence of a quiet and brave ex- 
 ample, all the boys said their prayers. 
 The right act had prevailed against the 
 bad custom of that little world. 
 
 A few months ago this little story was 
 
 published in “The Palm Branch” and a 
 short time afterwards the following note 
 was received which makes the story 
 more interesting: 
 
 “Concord, N. H., Jan., 1901.—I think 
 all who read the story of ‘Silent In- 
 fluence’ in the last ‘Palm Branch’, ought 
 to know that the boy who ‘dared to 
 say his prayers’ was Arthur P. Stanley, 
 afterwards Dean of Westminster, the 
 famous ‘Dean Stanley.””—The Palm 
 Branch. 
 
 clio SY pa e 
 
 ANSWERED PRAYER 
 
 In November, 1857, I was unexpect- 
 edly informed that the boiler of our 
 heating apparatus at Orphan House No. 
 1 leaked so that it was impossible to go 
 through the winter. Our heating appar- 
 
 atus consists of a large boiler, under 
 which fire is kept, and with which the 
 water pipes which warm the rooms are 
 connected. Hot air is also connected 
 with this apparatus. The leak was a 
 serious matter. After the day was fixed 
 for the work, a bleak north wind set in, 
 accompanied by the first really cold 
 weather. What was to be done? For 
 the children, especially the infants, I 
 felt concerned, that they might not suf- 
 fer through cold. But how were we to 
 obtain warmth? 
 
 The repairs could not be put off. I 
 asked the Lord for two things: that He 
 would change the north wind into a 
 south wind, and give the workmen ‘a 
 mind to work,’ for I remembered how 
 much Nehemiah accomplished in fifty- 
 two days, while building the walls of 
 Jerusalem, because ‘the people had a 
 mind to work.’ The evening before the 
 bleak north wind still blew; but on the 
 day when the fire was out, the south 
 wind blew, as I prayed. The weather 
 was so mild that no fire was needed. 
 The brickwork was removed, the leak 
 was found very soon, the boilermakers 
 began to repair. 
 
 About half past eight in the evening, 
 I was informed that the principal of the 
 firm from whom the boilermakers came, 
 had arrived to see how the work was 
 going on, and if he could in any way 
 speed the matter. I went immediately 
 into the cellar to see him, to expedite 
 the business. In speaking to him of this, 
 he said, ‘the men will work late this ev- 
 ening, and come early again tomorrow.’ 
 ‘We would rather, sir,’ said the leader, 
 ‘work all night.’ Then remembered I, 
 the second part of my prayer, that God 
 would give the men ‘a mind to work.’ 
 By morning the leak was stopped; with- 
 in thirty hours the brick work was up, 
 and the fire in the boiler—and all the 
 time the south wind blew so mildly there 
 was no need of a fire.—George Muller. 
 
 wy BRIO 
 THE SHEEP THAT WAS LOST 
 
 On the Aleutsch Glacier I saw 2 
 strange and beautiful sight—the parable 
 
8 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 of the “ninety and nine,” repeated to the 
 letter. One day we were making our 
 way with ice-ax and alpenstock down the 
 glacier, when we observed a flock of 
 sheep following their shepherd over the 
 intricate windings between crevasses, 
 and so passing from the pastures on one 
 side of the glacier to the pastures on the 
 other. The flock had numbered two 
 hundred all told. 
 
 But on the way one sheep got lost. 
 One of the shepherds, in his German 
 patois, appealed to us if we had seen it. 
 Fortunately one of the party had a field 
 glass. With its aid we discovered the 
 sheep up amid a tangle of brushwood on 
 the rocky mountain side. It was beauti- 
 ful to see how the shepherd, without a 
 word, left his hundred and ninety-nine 
 sheep out in the glacier waste, and went 
 clambering back after the lost sheep; and 
 he actually put it on his shoulders and re- 
 turned “rejoicing.” 
 
 Here was the Lord’s parable enacted 
 before our eyes, though the shepherd was 
 all unconscious of it. And he brought 
 our Lord’s teaching home to us with a 
 vividness which none can realize but 
 those who saw the incident.—Leaves of 
 Light. 
 
 Sees Ue 
 
 ONE GIRL’S INFLUENCE 
 
 A Boston lawyer, who has for forty 
 years been eminent in his profession, 
 and no less eminent in Christian work 
 and in princely gifts to the cause of ben- 
 evolence, tells the story of what fixed 
 his course of life. 
 
 “When he was a young man he once 
 attended a missionary meeting in Bos- 
 ton. A speaker at that meeting—a plain 
 man—said he had a girl in his domestic 
 services at a wage of less than $2 a 
 week, who gave $1 every month to mis- 
 sions; she also had a class of poor boys 
 in Sunday-school who never missed her 
 from her place. And he said of her: 
 “She is the happiest, kindest, tidiest girl 
 I ever had in my kitchen.” 
 
 The young man went home with these 
 broken sentences sticking in his mind; 
 “Class in Sunday school, Dollar a month 
 
 to missions, Happiest girl.” 
 
 The first result was that he took a 
 class in Sunday-school; the second was 
 a resolve that if the girl could give $1 
 a month to missions, he could and would. 
 These were the immediate effects of one 
 plain girl’s consecrated life. 
 
 But who can count, who can imagine, 
 the sum total? That lawyer was, for 
 almost half a century from this time, an 
 increasingly active force in every good 
 work within his reach.—Selected. 
 
 Bs uaa? 
 
 SCOTTISH HONESTY 
 
 At one time in the highlands of Scot- 
 land, to ask for a receipt or promissory 
 note, was considered an insult, and such 
 a thing as a breach of contract was 
 rarely heard of so strictly did the people 
 regard their honor. There is a story of a 
 farmer who had been to the lowlands, 
 and had there acquired worldly wisdom. 
 
 “After returning to his native place 
 he needed some money, and requested 
 a loan from a gentleman in the neighbor- 
 hood. The latter, Mr. Stewart, complied 
 and counted out the gold, when the far- 
 mer immediately wrote a receipt. “And 
 what is this man?’ cried Mr. Stewart, 
 on receiving the slip of paper. “That 
 is a receipt, sir, binding me to give ye 
 back your gold at the right time,’ replied 
 Donald. “Binding ye, indeed! Well, 
 man, if ye canna trust yoursel’, I’m sure 
 Pll na trust ye! Such as ye canna hae 
 my gold;” and, gathering it up, he re- 
 turned it to his desk and locked it up. 
 “But, sir, I might die,” replied the 
 needy Scot unwilling to surrender his 
 hope of the loan, ‘and perhaps my sons 
 might refuse it to ye, but the bit of paper 
 would compel them.’ ‘Compel them to 
 sustain their dead father’s honor?’ cried 
 the enraged Celt, “They'll need compell- 
 ing to do right if this is the road ye’re 
 leading them. Ye can gang elsewhere 
 for money, I tell ye; but ye’ll find nane 
 about here that’ll put more faith in a 
 bit of paper than a neighbor’s word of 
 
 honor and his love of the right.—Sel- 
 ected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 9 
 
 an A Gate 
 
 THE LITTLE BOY’S FISHES 
 
 A little boy lived in Galilee when Jesus 
 was teaching and preaching there, who 
 had a lunch. We know he was a poor 
 boy, because only the poorest people in 
 Galilee used to eat such barley cakes as 
 he had for lunch. The little fishes he 
 may have caught in the sea of Galilee. 
 Poor people who could not afford to 
 buy, caught these little fish, there being 
 many in that sea, and dried them to eat 
 with their barley cakes. 
 
 Just where this boy with his lunch 
 had started for that day, we are not told. 
 He may have started out to spend the 
 day fishing, or he may have brought 
 his lunch to sell to some of the many 
 travelers passing through Galilee at this 
 time, on their way to the feast at Jer- 
 usalem., It was quite a journey, and many 
 travelers would be weary and hungry 
 and glad to buy the little boy’s lunch. 
 But whatever he meant to do, the lunch 
 was used very differently from what he 
 expected. 
 
 Jesus needed food for the hungry mul- 
 titude, and this little boy was on hand 
 just at the right time ready to help with 
 what he had, though small. Jesus is 
 always needing “ready” people. There 
 are plenty of people who would be ready 
 if they could only do some great thing, 
 but why not be willing to do some little 
 thing to help, or give something as small 
 as the loaves and fishes to help along a 
 good work that Jesus is interested in. 
 Paul was a “ready” man, ready to preach, 
 ready to go or stay, ready to be bound, 
 ready to distribute or give. Ready boys 
 or girls grow up to be ready men like 
 Paul.—Selected. 
 
 eas Vo ae 
 
 HOW THE BALANCE CAME 
 
 On rent day we had only twenty-four 
 dollars, which I paid when the agent 
 came. He called the second time for the 
 balance, ($18,) but I hadn’t it. “When 
 will you have it?” he asked. I did not 
 know, but said, “Early in the week, if 
 possible,” “What do you call early in 
 
 the week,” he asked in a tone which tried 
 
 me. I gathered all my faith and answered 
 
 sharpely. “On Monday!” God only 
 
 knew where it could come from. I was 
 
 so utterly tired and tried that I only 
 
 i mentally, “Do let it come Mon- 
 ay,” 
 
 Yesterday a gentleman came to the 
 door whom I had never seen. He said, 
 “By request I leave this package.” I 
 opened it, and took out two cne-dollar- 
 bills, and sixteen dollars in silver. Ona 
 slip of paper was written: “Toward rent 
 for Faith Home.” I despatched R. joy- 
 fully to the office, and he brought back 
 the full receipt. 
 
 It was a joy-day. We do not know 
 where the money came from, God knows 
 and that is sufficient until He discloses 
 the avenue through which it came.—Mrs. 
 M. E. Caldwell. 
 
 REED) wees 
 A FATHER’S REGRET. 
 
 “T shall never forget,” wrote Norman 
 McLeod, the eminent Scotch preacher, 
 “the impression made upon me during 
 the first year of my ministry by a me- 
 chanic whom I had visited, and on 
 whom I urged the paramount duty of 
 family prayer. One day he entered my 
 study, bursting into tears as he said: 
 “You remember that girl, sir? She was 
 was my only child. She died suddenly 
 this morning. She has gone, I hope, to 
 God: but if so, she can tell him, what 
 now breaks my heart, that she never 
 heard a prayer in her father’s house, or 
 from her father’s lips! Oh, that she 
 were with me but for one day again!” 
 
 ey | 
 
 DISCOVERED IN THE BIBLE 
 
 “For then thou shalt make thy way 
 prosperous.” Some time ago an old man 
 living in New Jersey discovered about 
 $5,000 in a family Bible. The bank- 
 notes were scattered throughout the 
 book. In 1874 this man’s aunt died, and 
 one clause of her will read as follows: 
 “To my beloved nephew I will and be- 
 queath my family Bible and all it con- 
 
10 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 tains, with the residue of my estate after 
 my funeral expenses and just lawful 
 debts are paid.” The estate amounted to 
 only a few hundred dollars which was 
 soon spent; and her nephew neglected his 
 Bible for thirty-five years, not knowing 
 of the treasures it contained. He lived 
 in poverty all this time. At last, while 
 packing his trunk to move to his son, 
 with whom he expected to spend his few 
 remainng year's he discovered the money 
 hidden away in the Bible. Those who 
 neglect to read their Bibles lose even 
 greater treasures than those of this 
 world.—Selected. 
 
 a pee 
 LATIMER AND THE KING 
 
 “Our God is able to deliver us from 
 the burning fiery furnace; and he will 
 deliver us out of thine hands, O king; but 
 if not, be it known unto thee, O king, 
 that we will not serve thy gods, nor 
 worship the golden image that thou hast 
 set up.” Thus spake the noble men, Shad- 
 rach, Meshach, and Abednego so many 
 years ago, to the great King Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. How courageous they were! 
 How true to God! But not all the brave 
 true men lived back in the days of Dan- 
 iel. 
 
 While at Oxford, England, I took in 
 my hands the charred stump of a heavy 
 post to which the martyrs Cranmer, Rid- 
 ley, and Latimer were chained when 
 they were burned. I am reminded of 
 an incident that occurred when Latimer 
 preached a sermon before Henry VIII, 
 in which he boldly warned the king of 
 his sinful life. The king sent for him 
 and said, “Your life is in danger; you 
 must take back all you said when you 
 preach next Sunday.” 
 
 The chapel the next Sunday was 
 crowded. Latimer began, saying to him- 
 self: “Be careful, thou art in the presence 
 of a king; he can bring thy gray hairs 
 with blood to the grave. Hugh Lati- 
 mer, thou art in the presence of the 
 King of Kings; fear not them that kill 
 the body, but are not able to 
 kill the soul’? Henry sent for 
 him. “How durst thou insult thy mon- 
 
 arch so?” Latimer replied, “I thought 
 that if I was unfaithful to my God it 
 would be impossible to be loyal to my 
 king.” The king’s heart was touched, 
 and, embracing him, he said. “There is 
 one man left who is honest enough to 
 tell me the truth. 
 
 Yes it is always safe to please God 
 rather than man. Latimer was faithful 
 unto death, and in the resurrection morn- 
 ing will receive the crown of life. God 
 grant that each reader of this paper may 
 follow his example and receive the same 
 rich reward.—Rev. E. P. Hammond. 
 
 IPED ge etd 
 THE FATAL SLEEP 
 
 Some time ago a vessel had been off 
 on a whaling voyage, and had been gone 
 about three years. The father of one of 
 the sailors had charge of the light-house, 
 and he was expecting his boy to come 
 home. It was time for the vessel to 
 return. 
 
 One night there came up a terrible 
 gale. The father fell asleep, and while 
 he slept his light went out. When he 
 awoke he looked towards the shore and 
 saw a vessel had been wrecked. He at 
 once went to see if he could not save 
 some one who might still be alive. 
 The first body that came floating 
 towards the shore was, to _. his 
 great grief and surprise, the body of his 
 own boy! He had been watching for 
 that boy for many days. Now the boy 
 had at last come in sight of home, and 
 had perished because his father had let 
 his light go out! 
 
 I thought, what an illustration of fath- 
 ers and mothers to-day that have let 
 their lights go out! You are not train- 
 ing your children for God and eternity. 
 You do not live as though there were 
 anything beyond this life at all. You 
 keep your affections set upon things of 
 the earth, instead of on things above, 
 and the result is that the children do 
 not believe that there is anything in 
 Christianity. Perhaps the next day they 
 may die without God and without hope. 
 —D. LL. Moody. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES ll 
 
 Sat 7 Y Tybee 
 
 PARSON HAVEN’S VICTORY. 
 
 One of the most beautiful and thril- 
 ling narratives of James Havens, the 
 original of the “fighting Parson Magrud- 
 er,” who figures in Mr. Edward Eggle- 
 ston’s “Circuit Rider,” was related at 
 a recent conference by an old companion 
 /of Rev. Mr. Havens. 
 
 While still a young man, Havens was 
 once eating his breakfast at the cabin 
 of an old couple in a thinly settled 
 region, when the doorway was suddenly 
 darkened by a big ruffianly looking man, 
 who demanded: 
 
 a you Havens, the fighting preach- 
 er?” 
 
 “My name is Havens, and I am a 
 preacher,” said the circuit rider. 
 
 “Well, I reckon you'd better get 
 through your breakfast right smart, for 
 I’m goin’ to give you a good thrashin’.” 
 
 “Well,” returned Havens, “I don’t re- 
 member to have seen you before, and if 
 I’ve ever crossed your track, it was be- 
 cause you were up to some mischief that 
 called for discipline.” 
 
 “Hey? You pushed me over a high 
 bank an’ I got my face scratched up. 
 I’ve been lookin’ for you for some time, 
 an’ now I’m goin’ lam you!” 
 
 “Very well, come with me down in 
 the hollow,” said Havens, “and if you’ve 
 determined to thrash me, I'll give you a 
 chance. But let us get well away from 
 this cabin, where these old people won’t 
 have to see or witness the trouble.” 
 
 The preacher started off with the ruf- 
 fian down towards the woods. They 
 went part of the way in silence, the ruf- 
 fian now and then glancing at the 
 preacher, and seeing no sign of fear or 
 bravado in him. Presently the man 
 said: 
 
 “See here, Havens, you’d better go 
 back. I’am a hard fighter, and I’ll hurt 
 you, bad.” 
 
 “Oh, no,” said the preacher; “if you 
 want to fight, you’d better not stop on 
 my account.” 
 
 They went on and reached the seclu- 
 sion of the hollow. When they got there 
 the ruffian said: 
 
 “Let’s turn round, elder. 
 I’m a pretty mean man!” 
 
 “Well, let’s sit down here a minute.” 
 
 Havens led the way to a log, and both 
 sat down on it. Then, with a little talk, 
 the preacher drew from the fellow a con- 
 fession of the wild life he had led, and 
 spoke comforting words to him. Ina 
 little while both men were on their 
 knees, with faces bowed upon the log, 
 and the woods resounded with prayer 
 such as few but this pioneer exhorter 
 could offer. 
 
 The old people back in the cabin heard 
 it, and knew what turn the “fight” had 
 taken. They came down and joined the 
 “meeting,” and before long the fighter 
 was one of Haven’s most promising 
 converts.—-Youth’s Companion. 
 
 I tell you, 
 
 pases Bilt 7 pe a 
 
 BISHOP SIMPSON’S RECOVERY 
 
 In the fall of 1858, whilst visiting In- 
 diana, I was at an annual conference 
 where Bishop Janes presided. We re- 
 ceived a telegram that Bishop Simpson 
 was dying. Said Bishop Janes: “Let us 
 spend a few moments in earnest prayer 
 for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.” We 
 kneeled to pray; William Taylor, the 
 great California street-preacher was call- 
 ed to pray; and such a prayer I 
 never heard since. The impression seiz- 
 ed upon me irresistibly, Bishop Simp- 
 son will not die. I rose from my knees 
 perfectly quiet. Said I: “Bishop Simp- 
 son will not die.” “Why do you think 
 so?” “Because I have had a irresistible 
 impression made upon my mind during 
 this prayer.” Another said: “I have the 
 same impression. We passed it along 
 from bench to bench until we found 
 that a very large proportion of the con- 
 ference had the same impression. I 
 made a minute of the time of 
 day, and when I next saw Simpson, 
 he was attending to his daily 
 labor. I inquired of the bishop: “How 
 did you recover from your sickness?” 
 He replied: “I cannot tell.” “What did 
 your physician say?” “He said it was a 
 miracle.” I then said to the bishop: 
 “Give me the time and circumstances 
 
12 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 under which the change occurred.” He 
 fixed upon the day, and the very hour, 
 making allowance for the distance—a 
 thousand miles away—that the preachers 
 were engaged in prayer at this confer- 
 ence. The physician left his room, say- 
 ing to his wife: “It is useless to do any- 
 thing further; the bishop must die.” 
 In about an hour he returned, and start- 
 ed back, inquiring: “What have you 
 done?” “Nothing,” was the reply. “He 
 is recovering rapidly,” said the physi- 
 cian; “a change has occurred in the dis- 
 ease within the last hour beyond any- 
 thing I have ever seen; the crisis is past, 
 and the bishop will recover.” And he 
 did.—Bishop Bowman, of the M. E. 
 Church. 
 
 itineaS Y ded dal 
 WHY SHE SUFFERED 
 
 A friend of mine was telling me the 
 other day of a woman in North Carolina 
 who was suddenly paralyzed. She had 
 been a very active, noble Christian wo- 
 man. She had an ungodly husband, and 
 two worldly boys. Otherwise the home 
 was a very happy one. It was a great 
 blow to the family when she was strick- 
 en. For more than ten years she lay upon 
 the bed a paralytic. Oftimes it was re- 
 marked by those who would go and see 
 her perfect resignation, her beautiful 
 Christian love and fortitude, that it 
 seemed strange that one of her piety and 
 former usefulness should thus be shut 
 in. Sometimes she herself would say she 
 could not understand it though she was 
 perfectly willing to endure it. 
 
 Finally, light began to dawn. Her 
 husband, while sitting beside her bed 
 one night talking with her, gave his 
 heart to Christ and was saved. Not long 
 after this both these worldly boys: while 
 sitting around her bedside were saved. 
 One of them gave himself to the gospel 
 ministry and is @ very prominent 
 preacher in that State today. The other 
 has developed into a very active Christ- 
 ian worker as a layman in his church 
 and community. What a blessed minis- 
 try her shut-in life has been! 
 
 Surely no one will longer doubt the 
 wisdom of providence in closing her in. 
 There are thousands like her. Here and 
 there all through the earth there is to 
 be found the shut-in wife whose heart is 
 like an electric dynamo which generates 
 the current that sweeps along the wires 
 and finally shines out in the arc light of 
 the street and incandescent light of the 
 office, the hall of legislation or the 
 church.—Rev, Len G. Broughton. 
 
 e/g 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE 
 
 You have a faucet in your room. You 
 have only to turn the faucet, and you 
 have a stream of water, for that small 
 lead pipe connects you with all the water 
 of Croton Reservoir. You have not the 
 whole reservoir in your home, but so 
 long as your connection with it remains 
 perfect you are sure of water while any 
 remains in the reservoir. 
 
 Christ is the fountain of the water of 
 life. And what that lead pipe is to 
 Croton Reservoir, so faith is to Christ. 
 Enlarge the pipe and you get more 
 water. Increase your faith and you ob- 
 tain more grace and blessing. Some 
 one might ignorantly think that if he 
 drew water enough from the faucet to 
 have plenty to drink, and sufficient to 
 keep him clean, the supply would soon 
 be exhausted. So he must daily stint 
 himself in its use. He does not know 
 of the inexhaustible supply out of sight. 
 
 Just so with somé Christians. Their 
 souls are not half satisfied. But they 
 feel very unworthy; and they fear that 
 God is dealing with them now so liber- 
 ally that his mercies may yet fail them. 
 They do not see that all trusting in 
 Christ are connected with God’s unfail- 
 ing fullness of love, wisdom and power. 
 “For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the 
 fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Col.2:9. 
 “And of his fullness have all we re- 
 ceived.” Jno. 1:16. 
 
 Received not all his fullness, but of his 
 fullness. .This fountain is inexhaust- 
 ible. Draw on him freely. Eph. 3:20— 
 Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 SENOS 2 ra) 
 “ONLY A BOY.” 
 
 More than half a century ago a faithful 
 minister, coming early to his kirk, met 
 one of his deacons, whose face wore a 
 very resolute but distressed expression. 
 
 “I came early to meet you,” he said. 
 “I have something on my conscience to 
 say to you. Pastor, there must be some- 
 thing radically wrong in your preaching 
 and work; there has been only one per- 
 son added to the church in a whole year, 
 and he is only a boy.” 
 
 “I feel it all,” he said. “I feel it, but 
 God knows that I have tried to do my 
 duty, and I can trust Him for the re- 
 sults.” 
 
 “Yes, yes,” said the deacon, “but ‘by 
 their fruits ye shall know them,’ and one 
 new member, and he too only a boy, 
 seems to me rather a slight evidence 
 of true faith and zeal. I don’t want to 
 be hard, but I have this matter on my 
 conscience, and I have done but my duty 
 in speaking plainly.” 
 
 “True,” said the old man; “but ‘char- 
 ity suffereth long and is kind; beareth 
 all things, hopeth all things.’ Aye, there 
 you have it; ‘hopeth all things.’ I have 
 great hopes of that one boy—Robert. 
 Some seed that we sow bears fruit late, 
 but that fruit is generally the most prec- 
 ious of all.” 
 
 The old minister went to the pulpit 
 that day with a grieved and heavy heart. 
 He closed his discourse with dim and 
 tearful eyes. He wished that his 
 work was done forever, and that he was 
 at rest among the graves under the 
 blooming trees in the old kirkyard. 
 
 He lingered in the dear old kirk after 
 the rest were gone. He wished to be 
 alone. The place was sacred and inex- 
 pressibly dear to him. It had been his 
 spiritual home from his youth. Before 
 this altar he had prayed over the dead 
 forms of a bygone generation, and had 
 welcomed the children of a new gener- 
 ation; and here, yes, here, he had been 
 told at last that his work was no longer 
 owned and blessed. 
 
 No one remained. No one? “Only a 
 boy.” | 
 
 ANECDOTES ~ 13 
 The boy was Robert Moffat. He 
 watched the trembling old man. His 
 
 soul was filled with loving sympathy. He 
 went to him and laid his hand on his 
 black gown. 
 
 “Well, Robert?” said the minister. 
 
 “Do you think if I were willing to 
 work hard for an education, I could ever 
 become a preacher?” 
 
 “A preacher?” 
 
 “Perhaps a missionary.” 
 
 There was a long pause. Tears filled 
 the eyes of the old minister. At length 
 he said: “This heals the ache in my 
 heart, Robert. I see the divine hand 
 now. May God bless you, my boy. Yes, 
 I think you will become a preacher.” 
 Some few years ago there returned to 
 London from Africa, an aged mission- 
 ary. His name was spoken with rever- 
 ence. When he went into an assembly 
 the people rose; when he spoke in pub- 
 lic there was a deep silence. Princes 
 stood uncovered before him; nobles in- 
 vited him to their homes. 
 
 He had added a province to the 
 Church of Christ on earth, had brought 
 under the gospel influence the most sav- 
 age of African chiefs, had given the 
 translated Bible to strange tribes, had 
 enriched with valuable knowledge the 
 Royal Geographical Society, and had 
 honored the humble place of his birth, 
 the Scottish kirk, the United Kingdom, 
 and the universal missionary cause. 
 
 It is hard to trust when no evidence 
 cf fruit appears. But the harvests of 
 right intentions are sure. The old min- 
 ister sleeps beneath the trees in the hum- 
 ble place of his labors, but men remem- 
 ber his work, because of what he was 
 to that one boy and what that one boy 
 was to the world. “Only a boy.”— 
 Christian Messenger. 
 
 Ue OOS 
 A DEAD MOTHER’S INFLUENCE 
 
 It was the rough bar-room of a coun- 
 try tavern, on an emigrant thorougfare 
 west of the Mississippi. A wild-looking 
 man tossed off a whisky sling, and raised 
 his baby-boy to take the sugar at the 
 bottom. The child drank it with a relish, 
 
14 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and instead of thanks, looked into his 
 father’s face with a fearful oath—the 
 first oath these lips had ever uttered. 
 
 His sin-hardened father laid down the 
 cup and looked at the child, and then 
 about the bar-room—bottles, glasses, 
 cards, chairs. One thing more—a small 
 stand, holding an old family Bible that 
 had come with him across the ocean 
 years before. Wicked as he was, he had 
 never parted with this. 
 
 It was early in the morning, and no 
 customers coming in, and the oath 
 echoed through his ears again and again. 
 “It was as if I had been struck,” said he. 
 Away in Wales, many years before, his 
 mother taught him to pray. “But what 
 would she have felt,” said he, “if she 
 could have heard my child’s first words, 
 cursing me?” He deliberately took the 
 greasy pack of cards and threw them 
 into the open fire. Deliberately he car- 
 ried the jugs of liquor to the door, and 
 turned the poisons upon the ground. 
 He was known throughout the country 
 as “The Wild Man.” People were afraid 
 of him he was so ragged, profane, cross- 
 eyed, quick-witted and drunken. 
 
 This was nine years ago, and his lips 
 have never since known an oath nor a 
 dram. When not at work on his farm 
 he may be found praying with the hands 
 in a coal mine, settling the differences 
 of two neighbors, establishing a prayer- 
 meeting or a Sabbath-school in some re- 
 mote place, tenderly visiting a cold 
 Church member, or singing a soul-stir- 
 ring air at a camp meeting. Uneducated 
 and stammering as he is, God’s Spirit 
 goes with him and makes him a continu- 
 al messenger of the love of Christ.— 
 Selected. 
 
 eee Be ke 
 
 MARY’S HANDS 
 
 There was a young girl living on the 
 East-side, in New York, whose mother, 
 on her dying bed, called her to her side 
 and said, “Mary, my dear daughter, 
 there is one thing I want you to promise 
 me before I die, and that is with the 
 help of Jesus you will keep the family 
 together.” Mary replied, “Yes, mother, 
 
 I promise; Jesus and 1 will keep the 
 family together.” 
 
 After the death of her mother, Mary 
 had to work very hard, early and late, 
 to do for the younger children, and to 
 keep the home. For some two years 
 she worked beyond her strength. Final- 
 ly one day she had to give up. A physi- 
 cian was called. After examining Mary, 
 he shook his head, and said, “My child, 
 you cannot get well again, and will be 
 unable to live more than two or three 
 days.” 
 
 Mary had been a professing Christian 
 for some time, but when she heard the 
 decision of the doctor, she began to ask 
 herself if she was prepared to meet her 
 Lord. Then she thought of the Sunday- 
 school class which she had so irregularly 
 attended, and of her Bible that had been 
 neglected se much, and her thoughts 
 troubled her. So she sent for one of 
 her girl friends—one who used to sit by 
 her side in the Sunday-school class. 
 When she came Mary unburdened her 
 mind and said, “I have been thinking 
 that when I meet Jesus and he shall say 
 to me, ‘Mary, how about that Sunday- 
 school class from which you have been 
 absent so much and your Bible, that 
 you have read so little of late?? Then I 
 shall not know what to answer Him.” 
 And the tears stood for a moment in 
 her eyes, and then coursed down her 
 hollow cheeks. 
 
 Her visitor replied, “Let me see your 
 hands, Mary.” Mary held out her hands. 
 They showed the effects of the work 
 they had done for others. Instead of 
 being soft and white they were hard 
 and rough, and there were heavy cal- 
 loused ridges at the base of the fingers. 
 “Mary, if Jesus asks you about the Sun- 
 day-school class and your Bible, don’t 
 say a word, just show him your hands.” 
 
 When at last we meet Jesus, if our 
 hands are hardened with work done 
 for his sake, we need not fear that he 
 will question us about something we 
 were unable to do, for he will give us a 
 loving welcome to his rest and home.— 
 Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 ONLY A TALLOW-DIP. 
 
 The following was related in an evan- 
 gelistic meeting: A poor woman who 
 had been bed-ridden for years, lived near 
 the railroad track, a long way from any 
 other house. Near by was a deep gully 
 over which the railroad passed on a new, 
 substantial iron bridge, as was sup- 
 posed. There was a terrible wind one 
 night. This poor woman, as was often 
 the case, was alone. All at once she 
 heard a fearful crash; she felt sure it 
 was the bridge. She looked at the clock. 
 In ten minutes the through passenger 
 train would be along. What could she 
 do? Her son was away from home. 
 Praying earnestly to God for help, she 
 took the only light in the house, a tal- 
 low candle, and began to crawl (for she 
 could not walk) toward the railroad 
 track. How she ever got there she 
 never knew. 
 
 The track reached, she could hear the 
 roar of the coming train. She prayed 
 this prayer: “O God, help me to light 
 this candle, and keep it burning until 
 the engineer sees it; and make him see 
 it.’ God heard her prayer. The candle 
 was lighted, there was a lull; just then 
 she waved the candle—would the en- 
 gineer see it? She heard a grating 
 sound, she knew the brakes were set. 
 She lost consciousness then, but the 
 train came to a stand-still a few feet 
 from the yawning chasm. Hundreds of 
 lives were saved. This weak, sick 
 woman did what she could: God used 
 what she had. He will use what you 
 have for the saving of men, if you will 
 do your part—Union Gospel News. 
 
 a ac A i eo 2S 
 
 A SON OF GOD. 
 
 Henry M. Stanley tells that once in 
 the heart of dark Africa, a native was 
 dragged before him by some of his 
 followers for stealing a gun. Stanley 
 looked at the gun; it clearly belonged 
 to his expedition. The poor man who 
 had it was frightened at the mention of 
 Stanley’s name, and could hardly find 
 
 his voice or say a word, only “I am a 
 son of God, I would not steal!” This 
 he repeated again and again. It was all 
 he could say. 
 
 Stanley was interested, and it dawned 
 on him that this man was probably one 
 of the converts of some of the mission- 
 aries laboring in that region, and he ac- 
 cordingly gave him the gun and allow- 
 ed him to go, while they pursued their 
 way. 
 
 At the next station when they stopped 
 they found the gun waiting for them. 
 It appeared that the gun had probably 
 been lost. This man had found it, and 
 when he was set free he at once went 
 with it to the missionary for instruc- 
 tions, and by his direction it was sent 
 where Stanley would get it. 
 
 But what a light must have touched 
 that darkened son of Africa, who though 
 brought up in all vileness and theft and 
 sin, had come to realize the glorious dig- 
 nity of a divine paternity, and say, “I 
 am a son of God, I would not steal.”— 
 The Christian. 
 
 inn tie Fe 
 SAVED FROM HURRICANE. 
 
 To the editor of “The Christian” a sea 
 captain relates the following remarkable 
 incident. The God whom we serve is 
 abundantly able to protect all those who 
 take refuge in Him: 
 
 “We sailed from the Kennebec on the 
 first of October, 1876. There had been 
 several severe gales, and some of my 
 friends thought it hardly safe to go, but 
 after considerable prayer I concluded it 
 was right to undertake the voyage. On 
 the 19th of October we were about one 
 hundred and fifty miles west of the Ba- 
 hamas, and we encountered very dis- 
 agreeable weather. For five or six days 
 we seemed held by shifting currents, or 
 some unknown power, in about the same 
 place. We would think that we had sail- 
 ed thirty or forty miles, when on tak- 
 ing our observations we would find we 
 were within three or four miles of our 
 position the day before. This circum- 
 stance occuring repeatedly proved a trial 
 
16 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 to my faith, and I said within my heart, 
 ‘Lord, why are we so hindered and kept 
 in this position?’ Day after day we 
 were held as if by an unseen force, until 
 at length a change took place, and we 
 went on our way. Reaching our port they 
 inquired, ‘Where have you been through 
 the gale?’ ‘What gale?’ we asked. ‘We 
 have seen no gale.’ We then learned 
 that a terrible hurricane had swept 
 through that region, and that all was des- 
 olation. We afterwards learned that 
 this hurricane had swept around us, and 
 had almost formed a circle around the 
 place occupied by us during the storm. 
 A hundred miles ir one direction all was 
 wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the op- 
 posite direction all was desolation; and 
 while that storm was raging im all its 
 fury we were held in perfect safety, in 
 quiet waters, and in continual anxiety 
 to change our position and pursue our 
 voyage. One day of ordinary sailing 
 would have brought us into the track of 
 the storm and sent us to the bottom of 
 the sea. We were anxious to sail on, 
 but some unseen power held us where 
 we were, and we escaped.” 
 
 The captain was a prayerful man, 
 trusting in his Lord, though his faith 
 was tried, and he thought the Lord was 
 not helping him. Yet the Lord was 
 keeping his promise to him, “The be- 
 loved of the Lord shall dwell in safety 
 by him, and the Lord shall cover him 
 all the day long.” 
 
 eS 9 Ae ee 
 HOW THE PIGS WERE LED. 
 
 Two friends once entered Surrey 
 Chapel previous to going to India. One 
 was a Christian, the other not. Mr. 
 Rowland Hill preached from the text, 
 “We are not ignorant of his devices,” 
 and told this story: 
 
 “Many years ago I met a drover of 
 pigs in one of the narrow, streets of a 
 large town; and, to my surprise, they 
 were not driven, but quietly followed 
 their leader. The singular fact excited 
 my curiosity; and I pursued the swine 
 until they all quietly entered the butche- 
 ry. I then asked the man how he suc- 
 
 ceeded in getting the poor, stupid, stub- 
 born pigs so willingly to follow him; 
 when he told me the secret. He had a 
 basket of beans under his arm; and kept 
 dropping them as he proceeded, and so 
 gained his object. Ah, my dear hear- 
 ers, the devil has got his basket of 
 beans; and he knows how to suit hig 
 temptations to every sinner. He drops 
 them by the way; the poor sinner is 
 thus led captive by the devil at his will; 
 and if grace prevent not, he will get him 
 at last into his butchery, and there he 
 will keep him forever. Oh, it is because 
 we are not ignorant of his devices that 
 we are anxious this evening to guard 
 you against them.” 
 
 The Christian friend mourned over 
 this tale about the pigs; and feared it 
 would excite a smile but not produce 
 conviction in the mind of his unbelieving 
 companion. After the service they left 
 the chapel, and all was silent for a 
 season. 
 
 “What a singular statement we had to- 
 night about the pigs; and yet how strik- 
 ing and how convincing it was!” re- 
 marked the young man. His mind was 
 impressed—and he could not forget the 
 basket of beans, the butchery, and the 
 final loss of the sinner’s soul. He left 
 the country; but soon after corresponded 
 with his friend and referred to this ser- 
 mon as having produced an abiding im- 
 pression on his mind.—Selected. 
 
 35 —— 
 A NATICNAL DELIVERANCE. 
 
 “An answer to prayer,” says Le Clerc, 
 “may be seen by what happened on the 
 coast of Holland in the year 1672. The 
 Dutch expected an attack from their 
 enemies by sea, and public prayers were 
 ordered for their deliverance. It came 
 to pass that when their enemies waited 
 only for the tide, in order to land, the 
 tide was retarded, contrary to its usual 
 course, for twelve hours, so that their 
 enemies were obliged to defer the at- 
 tempt to another opportunity; which 
 they never found, because a storm arose 
 afterwards, and drove them from the 
 coast.” 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 BO 3 et 
 A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE. 
 
 In the winter of 1855, in the State of 
 Iowa, the snow fell early in November 
 to the depth of two feet. The storm 
 was such that neither man nor beast 
 could move, against it. 
 
 In a log cabin, six miles from her 
 nearest relative, lived a woman with five 
 children, ranging from one to eleven 
 years. The supply of food and fuel was 
 but scant when the snow began falling ; 
 and day after day the small store melted 
 away, until the fourth evening, when the 
 last provisions were cooked for supper, 
 and barely enough fuel remained to last 
 one day more. "That night, as was her 
 custom, the little ones were called around 
 her knee to hear the Scripture lesson 
 read, before commending them to the 
 Heavenly Father’s care. Then, bowing 
 in prayer, she pleaded as only those in 
 like condition can plead, that help from 
 God might be sent. While wrestling 
 with God in prayer, the Spirit took the 
 words of the Psalmist and impressed 
 them on her heart: “I have been young, 
 and now am old, yet have I not seen 
 the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg- 
 ging bread.” And again, these words 
 came as if spoken audibly : “The young 
 lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but 
 they that seek the Lord shall not want 
 any good thing.” Faith took God at His 
 word; and with an assurance that help 
 would come, she praised God who hear- 
 eth prayer and retired to rest without 
 a care or fear for the morrow. 
 
 When again the morning broke, that 
 mother arose, kindled her fire, and put 
 on the kettle as she had done on other 
 days before the food was gone. Just as 
 the sun arose, a man in a sleigh drove 
 up to the house, and hastening in in- 
 quired how they were getting along. 
 Her heart at first was too full for utter- 
 ance; but in a short time he was told 
 something of their destitution, and of 
 her cry to God for help. 
 
 He replied: “Last night about nine 
 o’clock, wife and I were both impressed 
 that you were in need. Spending almost 
 
 ANECDOTES 17 
 a sleepless night, I hastened at early 
 dawn, to come and inquire about the 
 case.’ 
 
 Then returning to his sleigh he took 
 into the house breadstuff, meat and gro- 
 ceries, so that mother had abundance to 
 prepare a breakfast for the little ones, 
 who had eaten the last bread the night 
 before. And as if to make the case 
 above mentioned a special providence, 
 without a doubt remaining, the individ- 
 ual who was thus impressed—and that 
 at the very hour that mother was cry- 
 ing to God—was a stranger to the 
 circumstances and surroundings of this 
 family. Indeed, he had never been in 
 that house before, nor had ever showed 
 any interest in the person referred to; 
 but he ever afterwards proved a friend 
 indeed. 
 
 Let skeptics ridicule the idea of a 
 special providence, or lightly speak of 
 prayer. One heart will ever believe 
 God’s ear in mercy is open to the cry 
 of the feeblest of His children, when in 
 distress their cry goes up for help t# 
 Him.—E. M. Dodson, Orworth, Kan. 
 
 — 37 
 BUILD HIGHER 
 
 A young lady was dying of consump- 
 tion. As she sat at the open window, 
 she saw a couple of little birds come 
 and build their nest on a branch not 
 high from the ground. Day by day she 
 watched them, and observed first the 
 nest, then the eggs, and then the nest- 
 lings. As she watched them day by 
 day, she used to shake her head, and 
 say, “Silly birds, why not build higher?” 
 And then when the little nestlings came 
 and began to show their heads above 
 the nest, the burden of her exclamation 
 was still, why not higher? 
 
 One morning when she took her ac- 
 customed seat at the window lattice, 
 she saw the nest all torn to pieces, and 
 the ground strewn with the feathers of 
 the poor little nestlings, and marks of 
 violence all around; and then she said, 
 “Ah, did I not tell you to build higher! 
 Had you built higher you would have 
 
 
 
18 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 been secure frcm harm, and this dire 
 mishap would not have befallen you.” 
 And you, my friends, when you come 
 to cross the river of death, if ever you 
 fail to get to the better land, when you 
 look back it will be with the bitterest 
 remorse that you will cry out, Why did 
 I not build higher? Why did I not lay 
 up my treasure in heaven, instead of 
 spending my time and my money on the 
 meat which perisheth, and on pleasures 
 which pass away in a moment!—Henry 
 Drummond. 
 
 Se auc}; peel 
 PRAYER FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 We know a preacher, still living, who 
 was appointed to the charge of a church 
 in Springfield, Ill. The church.seemed 
 very much depressed. Its life was ata 
 low ebb. It was in the midst of the har- 
 vest, in the hot weather, when things 
 seemed most depressed. The pastor, a 
 holy man of God, announced on Sabbath 
 evening to a small congregation of a 
 score or two of persons, “There will be 
 a prayer meeting in this church to- 
 morrow morning at sunrise for the re- 
 vival of the work of God and the con- 
 version of sinners.” 
 
 The people wondered at the notice, 
 and went home. The pastor went up 
 into his study, which was in the parson- 
 age by the side of the church, and gave 
 that night to prayer. Just as the East 
 began to lighten up a little with the 
 coming day he had the assurance that 
 his prayer was answered, and cast him- 
 self down on a sofa for a little rest. 
 Presently he awoke suddenly to see the 
 sun shining on the wall over his head. 
 He sprang up and looked out of the 
 window to see how late it was, when he 
 saw the sun just rising above the ho- 
 rizon. Looking down into the yard by 
 the church, he was overjoyed to see the 
 church crowded with people, and the 
 yard full, and teams crowding into the 
 street for a long distance. 
 
 God had heard his prayer, and had 
 sent out his Spirit into the community, 
 and there had been no sleeping in Spring- 
 field that night. People in the country 
 
 who knew nothing of the appointment 
 got up in the night, hitched up their 
 teams, and drove into town and to the 
 church to find out what the matter was. 
 A good man had taken hold of God. The 
 prayer meeting began, and was closed 
 that night at eleven o’clock. Several 
 souls were converted. A gracious work 
 broke out, and the community was great- 
 ly blessed. 
 
 The foregoing we certify to on the 
 highest authority, having it from the 
 lips of the man himself, whom every- 
 body knowing him believes as soon as 
 any thing outside of the Bible. We 
 greatly need earnest, persevering, be- 
 lieving prayer. One night of such pray- 
 er kept by all the church would startle 
 the nation. We sorely need a mighty 
 baptism of power. We have all the other 
 elements of success. We lack no ma- 
 chinery. We have truth, and the ex- 
 perience of its saving power and the ap- 
 pliances. What we now need is the out- 
 pouring of the Spirit upon us as a peo- 
 ple. One hour a day spent by the church 
 in earnest prayer for the revival of God’s 
 work would make the coming year the 
 most memorable in the history of the 
 church.—Bishop C. H. Fowler. 
 
 EAC eee 
 
 A GOOD EXAMPLE. 
 
 An old Scotch woman used to give a 
 penny a day for missions, and for the 
 sake of so doing went without some 
 things that she might otherwise have 
 had. One day a friend handed her a six- 
 pence, so that she might buy herself 
 some meat, as an unusual luxury. “Well 
 now,” thought the old woman, “I’ve long 
 done very well on porridge, and the Lord 
 shall have the sixpence, too.” 
 
 In some way the story came to the 
 ears of a missionary secretary, who told 
 it at a missionary breakfast. The host 
 was much impressed by the simple tale 
 and, saying that he had never denied 
 himself a chop for God’s Word, sub- 
 scribed £500 on the spot.. Several of the 
 guests followed his example, and £2,200 
 ie raised before the party separated. 
 —Sel. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 pales? (yp sche 
 THE SONG OF PEACE. 
 
 A snatch of Christian song put an end 
 to bloodshed in a way that could not 
 have been anticipated by the one who 
 taught the singer. The Cincinnati In- 
 quirer tells how the Apaches surrendered 
 to Lieutenant Ord, General Miles’ order- 
 ly in the Geronimo campaign. 
 
 Out in the middle of the desert, miles 
 from white men, Ord was surprised at 
 hearing the sound of a human voice. Ap- 
 proaching cautiously a thicket of cactus, 
 he distinctly heard sung the words: “O, 
 how I love Jesus!” 
 
 Fearful of treachery, he advanced cau- 
 tiously, but all the while that voice con- 
 tinued singing over and over again, “O’ 
 how I love Jesus!” 
 
 After crawling more than an hour, Ord 
 discovered that the singer was an Indi- 
 an. Covering him with his carbine, he 
 rushed at him, ordering him to sur- 
 render. The Apache threw up both 
 hands and made the sign of peace, con- 
 tinuing to sing “O, how I love Jesus!” 
 
 The lieutenant took the Indian back 
 to General Miles’ camp, where it was 
 learned through the interpreter that he 
 had been sent out by one of the Apache 
 chiefs to say that the Indians were ready 
 to treat for peace. He was the only 
 Indian in that party who could speak a 
 word of English and all that he could 
 say was: “O, how I love Jesus!” which 
 words he learned from a missionary. 
 
 Wikia 7 | par cated 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF A PICTURE. 
 
 Rev. Hunter Corbett, D. D. of Chefoo, 
 China, while visiting one of the mem- 
 bers of his flock by the name of Chang, 
 asked him how it was that he was led 
 to a knowledge of the truth. He replied 
 that some three years before, his neph- 
 ew, who had been attending the mission 
 school and was visiting him during vaca- 
 tion, said to him one day, “Would you 
 like to see your photograph two or 
 three years from now?” Mr. Chang re- 
 plied he would; and the lad showed him 
 a picture in his school book representing 
 
 ANECDOTES 19 
 an opium smoker in all tne wretc..edness 
 of the last stage of the vice. He glanced 
 at the picture, and became furiously 
 angry; but the lad took to his heels, and 
 kept at a respectful distance for some 
 days. 
 
 Mr. Chang was an inveterate smoker 
 of opium, and had squandered all his 
 property for the drug; and his case 
 seemed hopeless. But, notwithstanding 
 his rage, he could not dispel the vision 
 of the miserable creature represented by 
 the picture. It haunted him day and 
 night. So, in spite of himself, he took 
 the book, and read and re-read it. After 
 days and nights of torment and struggle, 
 he at last was willing to give up opium, 
 and all his sins, and through faith in 
 Christ he was set at liberty. 
 
 After his conversion, he went to see 
 an uncle of his, Mr. Yang, who also was 
 an opium user. He told him of the bless- 
 ings of the gospel, and what God had 
 done for him. He persuaded his uncle 
 with such earnestness that he also aban- 
 doned his sins, and became a Christian. 
 Some time after, they were both re- 
 ceived into the Church, and continue to 
 give evidence of the soundness of their 
 conversion. 
 
 Since then, at the home of Mr. Yang, 
 his wife, his son, his son’s wife, and six 
 others have been baptized as converts to 
 Christianity. Also the wife of Mr. 
 Chang, and several of his relatives are 
 seeking to know the way of life. 
 
 The results, so far as seen, amply re- 
 pay the lad for his faithfulness in the 
 wise use of a picture—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 PALI Y by sata 
 CHARACTER TESTED 
 
 The following is taken from “Fifty 
 Years among Authors and Book Pub- 
 lishers,” by J. C. Derbey. John Harper 
 was one of the members of the well- 
 known firm of that name. Is it a won- 
 der that God so greatly honored and 
 prospered such men? 
 
 “Neither he (John Harper) nor his 
 brothers ever worked on Sundays, even 
 
20 
 
 during their apprenticeship. It is told 
 of him that one Saturday evening, when 
 he was a j urneyman printer in the em- 
 ployment of Jonathan Seymour (of New 
 York city), he was informed that he 
 was expected to work next day on the 
 catalogue of an auction sale, which was 
 to be held on the following Monday. 
 ‘That I will not do,’ was the sturdy, 
 though respectful reply. ‘I will forfeit 
 my papers, but I will not work on Sun- 
 day.’ When the clock struck 12 that 
 night, John Harper laid down his com- 
 posing stick and went home, regardless 
 of the threat to discharge him. On 
 Monday morning Mr. Seymour, who 
 admired the pluck and moral courage 
 displayed by the young man, apologized 
 for having spoken harshly to him, and 
 made him foreman of a department. 
 When in business for himself Mr. Har- 
 per never allowed any work to be done 
 in the establishment on Sunday, and this 
 has uninterruptedly continued to be the 
 rule of the office.” 
 
 SEAS be oes 
 GUIDANCE CONFIRMED 
 
 One Saturday night in winter, when 
 a snowstorm had blocked all travel, Dr. 
 J. O. Peck felt impressed that he must 
 keep an appointment to preach the next 
 day some miles distance. He went to 
 the stable for a team, but the liveryman 
 said he could not get over the Holyoke 
 mountains. He replied, “Give me 
 the Arabian horse; he will go through if 
 anything can.” He started and for an 
 hour the Arabian plunged through the 
 drifts while he hung on behind to keep 
 the sleigh right side up. 
 
 The noble animal seemed to feel the 
 man’s burden, and struggled heroically. 
 So Dr. Peck talked to the Arabian and 
 petted him as they rested on the mount- 
 ain. Often as he sat down to empty his 
 boots of the snow, Satan plied him with 
 his mad folly, but he fought on with his 
 brave steed, reaching Chicopee Falls 
 about midnight. His host, surprised to 
 see him, said, “You were not expected. 
 There will be no service -tomorrow.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Then the tempter sorely thrust him on 
 his divine guidance. 
 
 He retired, but not tosleep. As he sat 
 reading and listening to the howling of 
 the storm the bell rang. Going to the 
 door he heard a voice call out of the dark- 
 ness, “Oramel!” Then two hackmen 
 brought in his only brother, sick emaci- 
 ated, just discharged from the army and 
 sent home as was supposed to die. Then 
 he knew God had sent him through that 
 mad storm to meet the sick soldier boy 
 and care for him.—Selected. 
 
 Py cit Is 
 GOD IS EVERYWHERE. 
 
 Lord Craven lived in London at the 
 time of the great plague raged there. His 
 house was located in that part of the city 
 since called Craven Buildings. To avoid 
 the threathened danger, his Lordship re- 
 solved to retire to his seat in the country. 
 His coach and six were accordingly at 
 the door, the luggage put up, and all 
 things ready for the journey. As he was 
 walking through the hall, with his hat 
 on, his cane under his arm, and putting 
 on his gloves, in order to step into his 
 catriage, he overheard his negro (who 
 served him as his postilion) saying to 
 another servant, “I suppose by my Lord’s 
 quitting London to avoid the plague, 
 that his God lives in the country, and 
 not in town.” The poor negro said this 
 in the simplicity of his heart, really be- 
 lieving in a plurality of gods. The speech 
 however, forcibly struck Lord C——, 
 and made him pause—. “My God 
 (thought he) lives everywhere, and can 
 preserve me in the city as well as in 
 the country. Till even stay where I am. 
 The ignorance of that poor fellow has 
 preached a sermon to me. “Lord pardon 
 that unbelief, and that distrust of thy 
 providence which made me think of run- 
 ning away from thy hand.” Immediately 
 he ordered the horses to be taken off 
 from the coach, and luggage to be 
 brought in. He continued in London— 
 was remarkably useful among his sick 
 neighbors—-and never caught the infec- 
 tion. Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 4 
 
 aA eer 
 
 THE REPRIEVE. 
 
 Sir Evan Nepean, of the Home De- 
 partment, relates the following respect- 
 ing himself: One night during his office 
 as Under Secretary, he felt the most 
 unaccountable wakefulness that could 
 be imagined; he was in perfect health, 
 had dined early, and had nothing what- 
 ever on his mind to keep him awake. 
 Still he found all attempts to sleep im- 
 possible, and from eleven till two in 
 the morning he never closed an eye. 
 
 At length, weary of this struggle, and 
 as the twilight was breaking (it was 
 summer), he determined to try what 
 would be the effect of a walk in the 
 park. There he saw nothing but the 
 sleepy sentinels. But in his walk, hap- 
 pening to pass the Home Office several 
 times, he thought of letting himself in 
 with his key, though without any partic- 
 ular object. The book of entries of 
 the day before still lay on the table, 
 and through sheer listlessness he open- 
 ed it. 
 
 The first thing he saw appalled him 
 —‘“A reprieve to be sent to York for 
 the coiners ordered for execution.” The 
 execution had been ordered for the next 
 day. It struck him that he had re- 
 - ceived no return to his order to send the 
 reprieve. He searched the “minutes.” 
 He could not find it there. In alarm 
 he went to the house of the chief clerk, 
 who lived in Downing Street, knocked 
 him up (it was then past three), and 
 asked him if he knew anything of the 
 reprieve being sent. “You are scarcely 
 awake,” said Sir Evan; “recollect your- 
 self; it must have been sent.” 
 
 The clerk said that he now recollect- 
 ed he had sent it to the clerk of the 
 crown, whose business it was to send 
 it to York, 
 
 “Good,” said Sir Evan, “but have you 
 his receipt and certificate that it is 
 gone?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “Then come with me to his house, we 
 must find him if it is early.” It was now 
 four, and the clerk of the crown lived 
 
 in Chancery Lane. There was no hack- 
 ney coach to be seen and they almost 
 ran. They were just in time. The 
 clerk of the crown had a country house, 
 and meaning to have a long holiday, he 
 was at that moment stepping into his 
 gig to go to his villa. Astonished at this 
 visit of the Under Secretary of the 
 State at such an hour, he was still more 
 so at his business. 
 
 “Heavens!” cried he, “the reprieve is 
 locked up in my desk!” It was brought. 
 Sir Evan sent to the post-office for the 
 truest and fleetest express. The reprieve 
 reached York next morning just at the 
 moment the unhappy men were ascend- 
 ing the cart. 
 
 With Sir Evan Nepean, we fully agree 
 in regarding this little narrative as one 
 of the most extraordinary that we ever 
 heard. 
 
 But what a lesson does it suggest to 
 Christians. To each of us is entrusted 
 a reprieve for lost sinners. Is it locked 
 up in our desk? Is it kept back when 
 they for whom it is designed are ready 
 to perish? Let us make haste ere it be 
 too late-—The Watchword. 
 
 ly 
 HER FAITH UNSHAKEN. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Wilson of Philadelphia, 
 had the following fact from the pastor 
 of the lady mentioned. The packet ship, 
 Albion, full of passengers from America 
 was wrecked about fifty years ago on 
 the coast of Ireland, and the news was 
 that all on board had perished. A min- 
 ister near Philadelphia on reading a 
 list of the lost, found among them the 
 name of one of the members of his con- 
 gregation, and went immediately to in- 
 form the wife of the sad fact. She had 
 been earnestly praying, during the voy- 
 age of her husband, and had received as- 
 surance of his safety amid great danger. 
 Hence, to the astonishment of her pas- 
 tor, after he had informed her of the 
 shipwreck, and showed her the list of 
 names of those who were lost, she told 
 him that it was a mistake; that her hus- 
 band had been in extreme peril, but was 
 
 
 
99 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 not dead. When the next tidings were 
 received, it proved that her husband was 
 among the passengers, and had been in 
 great peril; but that he had escaped, 
 and was the only one saved!—Sel. 
 
 HIDDEN MONEY 
 
 In 1730, a wealthy Quaker in Phila- 
 delphia, who intended to go to England 
 for several years, was perplexed in at- 
 tempting to decide what to do with a 
 large sum of money which he had. He 
 did not want to take it with him, and 
 was afraid to invest it in any business 
 in the colonies. 
 
 Being of a very suspicious temper he 
 would not intrust it to the keeping of 
 any of his friends. Finally he resolved 
 to bury it. If hidden, it would be safe 
 and undiminished when he came back. 
 He inclosed the coins in two earthen 
 jars, and, digging a hole in the cellar of 
 his stately house on Fourth Street, bur- 
 ied them and replaced the paving. 
 
 In the same year a poor young print- 
 er carried on his trade about a square 
 from this man’s house. He and his 
 wife lived so frugally that they tasted 
 meat but once a week. At the end of a 
 few months he found that he had a few 
 shillings to spare. 
 
 “What shall we do with it?” said his 
 wife, Deborah. 
 
 “Buy books,” said the young man, 
 promptly. 
 
 But he was a shrewd fellow. His 
 shillings would buy but a book or two— 
 meagre diet for his greedy brain. He 
 persuaded some other young mechanics 
 to add each the same amount to his 
 and to put the books on a shelf for the 
 use of the contributors and their friends. 
 
 The few shillings spent by Benjamin 
 Franklin that day gave being to the 
 great Philadelphia Library, which for 
 a hundred and fifty years has helped 
 countless men and women to know- 
 ledge. 
 
 The Quaker died in England, and his 
 family never found the money. Two 
 years ago, while Irish workmen were 
 digging in the cellar of a warehouse on 
 
 
 
 Fourth Street, they found the earthen 
 jars. 
 
 Only a few coins remained, and they 
 were soon spent for whiskey. The bulk 
 of the treasure being in bank-notes and 
 due-bills had crumbled to dust long ago. 
 It was a strange reproduction of the 
 story of the talent put out to usury, and 
 buried in a napkin—The Earnest 
 Christian. 
 
 DYING OF THIRST ’MID RIVERS 
 OF WATER. 
 
 A ship’s company had for several 
 days been allowed only half of their 
 usual supply of water. Land or a pas- 
 sing ship was anxiously looked for, but 
 neither appeared. The water-casks were 
 now nearly empty. The captain was 
 obliged at last to reduce the allowance 
 to one-half a pint a day per man. The 
 sufferings of the men, exposed to the 
 scorching heat of the equator with 
 hardly enough water to moisten their 
 swollen tongues, was almost unendur- 
 able. But one morning the man at the 
 look-out sighted a sail. Then all was 
 joy and excitement, for the sailors were 
 confident of obtaining a supply of water. 
 A signal of distress was run, aloft, and 
 as the vessels neared one another the 
 captain made known his desire for 
 water. When the captain of the ap- 
 proaching ship replied, “Don’t you know 
 where you are? You are in the mouth 
 of the Amazon. Let down your buckets 
 and dip it up!’ 
 
 So it proved. The mouth of the Am- 
 azon is 150 miles wide, and the flood of 
 fresh water, as it pours forth from that 
 mighty river, flows out and overlaps the 
 ecean for fifty leagues. So that crew 
 had been sailing for some time in fresh 
 water, yet were almost dying from 
 thirst. 
 
 Many are perishing from soul-thirst, 
 while, Christ, the water of life, whom 
 they do not recognize, is in their very 
 presence. “Have I been so long time 
 with you, yet hast Thou not known me, 
 Philip?” Jno. 14:9.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ee AQ Rowe” 
 THE BEDRIDDEN SAINT'S 
 PRAYER. 
 “Tn 1872 I went to London—a year 
 before Mr. Sankey and myself went 
 over-—to spend a few months in getting 
 acquainted with some of those men of 
 God who knew their Bibles a good dea} 
 better than some other Christians I had 
 met. 
 
 “I was in the old Bailey prayer meet- 
 ing one Saturday noon, where the 
 Sunday-school Union have meetings for 
 Sunday-school teachers, and at the close 
 of that meeting a minister wanted to 
 know if I would not preach for him on 
 the next Sabbath. I told him I would 
 be very glad to. I went to the north 
 end of London next morning and spoke, 
 with no unusual interest, in fact I 
 thought the service rather quiet. 
 
 “I was to speak again at 6.30 in the 
 evening, and that evening while I was 
 speaking it seemd as if the powers of the 
 unseen world fell upon me. The mighty 
 power of God seemed to lift the con- 
 gregation, and when I had got through 
 I asked those who would like to be 
 Christians to rise, and they rose by the 
 hundreds. 
 
 “I said to myself: “These people have 
 misunderstood the invitation.’s I said: 
 ‘would all those who want to become 
 Christians, who are not Christians, meet 
 the pastor and myself in the chapel back 
 of the pulpit?’ and they filled that room 
 full, aisles and all. I said: “These people 
 have misunderstood me again;’ and after 
 explaining the way of life the best I 
 knew how, I said: ‘To-morrow night 
 your pastor will be glad to meet you 
 here alone.’ I had to go to Dublin; but 
 the next Tuesday I got a telegram from 
 the pastor asking me to come back at 
 once. 
 
 “I went back and stayed there for ten 
 days, and they took 400 into that church, 
 and all the other churches round were 
 blessed more or less. 
 
 “Let me tell you the sequel of that. 
 There was a member of that church, 
 had been bedridden for years, and she 
 
 ANECDOTES 23 
 was becoming very much discouraged. 
 She thought she could do nothing, but 
 one day she thought she could pray, if 
 nothing else, and she prayed that God 
 would revive the church, and she poured 
 her heart out to God in prayer. 
 
 “She had seen something in some pa- 
 per that I had said or done in America, 
 and she prayed to God to send me to 
 that church. 
 
 “When her sister came home at noon 
 she said: ‘Who do you think preached 
 for us to-day?’ 
 
 “*T don’t know,’ was the reply. 
 
 “*Guess,’ said her sister. Finally she 
 guessed Mr. Moody from America, and 
 said: ‘I know what that means. It is 
 the answer to the prayer, God has sent,’ 
 and when they had brought her dinner, 
 she said: ‘No, I am going to fast.’ 
 
 “All that afternoon she was holding 
 me up to God in prayer, and when I was 
 preaching she was praying to God, be- 
 seeching, entreating the Lord to hear 
 the prayer and revive the work in that 
 church. 
 
 “T believe that it was not my preach- 
 ing, but the power of that woman’s pray- 
 ers that brought out this blessing. When 
 you and I get to heaven it may be that 
 we will find out those who have ac- 
 complished the most have been men and 
 women who were never heard of in their 
 services, but who in secret and at their 
 family altars prayed to God—D. L. 
 Moody. 
 
 coe 5() en 
 HOW IT BEGINS. 
 
 Give me a halfpenny, and you may 
 pitch one of these rings; and if it catches 
 over a nail, I’ll give you threepence.” 
 
 That seemed fair enough; so the boy 
 handed him the halfpenny and took the 
 ring. He stepped back to the stake 
 tossed the ring, and it caught on one of 
 the nails. 
 
 “Will you take six rings to pitch again 
 or threepence?” 
 
 “Threepence,” was the answer; and 
 the money was put into his hand. He 
 stepped off well satisfied with all he 
 
24 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 had done, and probably not having an 
 idea that he had done wrong. 
 
 A gentleman standing near hin. 
 watched him, and before he had time to 
 look about and rejoin his companions 
 laid his hand on his shoulder and said, 
 “My lad this is your first lesson in 
 gambling.” 
 
 “Gambling, sir?” 
 
 “You staked your halipenny and won 
 six halfpence, did you not?” 
 
 “Ves sir, I did.” 
 
 “Vou did not earn them, and they were 
 not given to you, You won them just as 
 gamblers win money. You have taken 
 your first lesson in their path. That 
 man has gone through it, and you see 
 the end. Now I advise you to go and 
 give his threepence back, and ask him 
 for your halfpenny, and then stand 
 square with the world, an honest boy.” 
 
 He hung his head, but raised it quickly 
 and his bright, open look, as he said, 
 “T’]] do it,” will not soon be forgotten. 
 He ran back, and soon emerged from 
 the ring looking happier than ever. He 
 touched his cap and bowed pleasantly as 
 he ran away to join his companions. 
 This was an honest boy, and doubtless 
 an honest man.—Selected. 
 
 —— 51 
 
 A LIFE FOR A LIE 
 
 It has been said that there never was 
 a lie that did not end in a broken head 
 for somebody. Often those who sin- 
 cerely believe a lie are the worst suffer- 
 ers by it. 
 
 We clip from a paper an example of a 
 little girl who lost her life by honestly 
 believing a lie her father told. 
 
 “A citizen of Oceanica, Md., had a 
 vicious kicking horse, which he was 
 anxious to sell. While trying to make a 
 bargain with a probable purchaser he 
 - remarked: ‘That horse is so gentle that 
 my little girl could go up behind him 
 and twist his tail, and he would not 
 raise a hoof. The little girl overheard 
 this lie, took it for the truth, and one 
 day on being left alone with the horse, 
 tried the experiment, and was killed by 
 
 
 
 a kick.” 
 
 That father’s lie cost him his child’s 
 life. Some people think lying is a little 
 sin; but indeed it is the seed and root 
 of every sin. Sin first came into this 
 world by a lie, and sin and lies have 
 gone hand in hand ever since. 
 
 We shall never get rid of sins till we 
 get rid of lies; therefore Christians are 
 to “put away lying, and speak every 
 man truth with his neighbor; and as 
 for those that love lies and make them, 
 when the Lord sweeps this world clean 
 of sin, “All liars shall have their part in 
 the lake which burneth with fire and 
 brimstone, which is the second death.” — 
 Selected. 
 
 Piatt ad Raat 
 REJECTING A CROWN 
 
 U. Bor, Sing, the heir of the Rajah of 
 Cherra, India, was converted by the 
 Welsh missionaries. He was warned 
 that in joining the Christians he would 
 probably forfeit his right to be king of 
 Cherra after the death of Rham Sing, 
 who then ruled, but who, eighteen 
 months afterward, died. The chiefs of 
 the tribes met and unanimously decided 
 that Bor. Sing was entitled to succeed 
 him, but that his Christian profession 
 stood in the way. Messenger after 
 messenger was sent, urging him to re- 
 cant. He was invited to the native 
 council, and told that if he would put 
 aside his religious profession they wouid 
 all acknowledge him as king. His an- 
 swer was: “Put aside my Christian pro- 
 fession? I can put aside my head-dress, 
 or my cloak; but as for the covenant I 
 have made with my God, I cannot for 
 any consideration put that aside!” 
 
 Another was therefore appointed king 
 in his stead. Since then he has been 
 impoverished by litigation about landed 
 property, till he is now in danger of ar- 
 rest and imprisonment; and Mr. EI- 
 liot, the Commissioner of Assam, has 
 appealed to Christians in this country 
 on his behalf. Here is a convert re- 
 jecting a crown for Christ!—Rev. A. 
 T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 me 53 
 
 FOR CHARLIE’S SAKE 
 
 The Morning Star narrates the fol- 
 lowing, which illustrates a highly im- 
 portant principle: 
 
 “The office door opened softly, and a 
 stranger in poor, soiled soldier’s clothes 
 walked in. The man who sat at the 
 desk was a lawyer—a judge—and he 
 was very busy over the papers of a 
 pending suit. It was in the days of the 
 civil war. 
 
 The stranger had borne his share of 
 the suffering that was in the land. He 
 had been wounded in battle, and weak 
 and emaciated, he was on his way back 
 to his native State and town. 
 
 But the busy judge scarcely raised 
 his eyes to look at him. The poor sol- 
 dier had taken off his cap, and stood, 
 feeling confusedly in his pockets. “I 
 have—I did have a—letter for you.” The 
 judge took no notice of the timid, hes- 
 itating words. 
 
 He was very busy, and he was con- 
 scious only of a feeling of annoyance 
 that a stranger should break in upon his 
 time. 
 
 The confused, nervous search in his 
 pockets continued, and the judge grew 
 still more annoyed. He was a humane 
 man, but he had responded to many 
 soldiers’ applications already—and he 
 was very busy just now. 
 
 The stranger came nearer and reached 
 out a thin hand. A letter, grimy and 
 pocket-worn, lay on the desk, addressed 
 to the judge. 
 
 “T have no time to attend to such’— 
 But the impatient sentence was checked 
 upon the good man’s lips. The hand- 
 writing on the letter was the handwrit- 
 ing of his son.. He opened the letter and 
 read: 
 
 “Dear Father.—The bearer of this is 
 a soldier discharged from the hospital. 
 He is going home to die.. Assist him in 
 any way you can, for Charlie’s sake.” 
 
 And then Judge A—forgot how very 
 busy he was. His heart went out to- 
 ward the poor sick soldier, and for Char- 
 
 ANECDOTES 2d 
 
 lie’s sake, his own soldier-boy far away, 
 he loaded him with gifts and acts of 
 kindness, and lodged him till he could 
 send him on his way rejoicing. 
 
 As the judge granted the request of 
 his son for this poor soldier, so God 
 pardons and saves us sinners for the 
 sake of his Son, our mediator, in whose 
 name we come, 
 
 ee 8 
 NOT JUSTICE, BUT PARDON 
 
 We are shocked when we hear men 
 talk of dealing with God on the basis 
 of their personal merits. The man who 
 thus speaks is either ignorant, willfully 
 deceived, a hypocrite or a fool. 
 
 In the days when Napoleon was First 
 Consul of France, a well-dressed girl, 
 fourteen years of age, presented herself 
 alone at the gate of the palace. By 
 tears and entreaties she moved the kind- 
 hearted porter to allow her to enter. 
 Passing from one room to another, she 
 found her way to the hall through which 
 Napoleon, with his officers, was to pass. 
 When he appeared, she cast herself at 
 his feet, and in the most earnest and 
 Moving manner cried, “Pardon, sire! 
 pardon for my father!” 
 
 “And who is your father?” asked Na- 
 poleon; “and who are you?” 
 
 “My name is Lajolia, but, sire, my 
 father is doomed to die,” she said with 
 flowing tears. 
 
 “Ah, young lady,” replied Napoleon; 
 “I can do nothing for you. It is the 
 second time that your father has been 
 found guilty of treason against the 
 State!” 
 
 “Alas,” exclaimed the poor girl, “I 
 know it, sire; but I do not ask for just- 
 ice—I implore pardon. I beseech you, 
 forgive, O forgive my father!” 
 
 Napoleon’s lips trembled, and his 
 eyes filled with tears. After a moment- 
 ary struggle of feeling, he gently took 
 the hand of the young maiden, and said: 
 
 “Well, my child, for your sake I will 
 pardon your father. That is enough. 
 Now leave me.” 
 
26 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Reader, whoever, you are, know that, 
 as a sinner against God, the cry from 
 your lips must always be, “Not justice, 
 but pardon.”-——Sel. 
 
 ey 
 
 A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD 
 THEM. Isa. 11:16 
 
 The above text of Scripture is well 
 illustrated by the following touching 
 little story related some time ago at a 
 Fulton Street prayer meeting: 
 
 “A dress-maker called on a very weal- 
 thy lady in a city not far from New 
 York, taking her little girl, five years 
 
 old, with her. The lady took a fancy to ~- 
 
 the child, and showed her over the 
 house. She expressed great admiration 
 at all she saw, and, particularly attract- 
 ed by the carpet, said to the lady: ‘Why, 
 Tt should think Jesus must come here 
 very often, it is such a nice house, and 
 such a beautiful carpet—He must come 
 here very often. He comes to our 
 house, and we have no carpet; I am 
 sure He must come here very often, 
 don’t He?’ The lady not answering, 
 the child repeated the question, when 
 the answer came, with deep emotion, 
 ‘I am afraid not.’ .The child left, but 
 God’s message was delivered. The lady 
 related the incident to her husband in 
 the evening, and both were led to seek 
 the Saviour.” 
 
 noe SEs 
 
 THE FIVE-CENT TEST 
 
 Some years ago, a shrewd old lumber 
 merchant named Aymer lived in New 
 York. He used to receive cargoes of ma- 
 hogany and logwood, and sell them at 
 auction. Such a cargo was one day to 
 be sold at Jersey City, and all hands 
 started from the auction room to the 
 place of sale. When passing through 
 the gate to the ferry, Mr. Aymer ob- 
 served one of the largest buyers slip 
 through without pa,ing the five cent 
 fare. So he told his auctioneer not to 
 accept a bid from that man. Surprised, 
 the auctioneer asked why, and remark- 
 
 ed he thought him good pay. Mr. Ay- 
 mer said he too had thought so, but 
 now had changed his mind, and would 
 not trust him a dollar. 
 
 A few months proved the correctness 
 of his opinion, for the slippery dealer 
 failed, and did not pay five cents on the 
 dollar. 
 
 “A straw will show which way the 
 wind blows.”—Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
 eee 5] ee 
 
 SHE RAN THE RISK 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Darnall, Presbyterian 
 pastor at Milton, N. C., relates the fol- 
 lowing incident, that actually occurred 
 among a certain congregation in North 
 Carolina: “A young lady at church gave 
 heed to a powerful and awakening ser- 
 mon, the preacher urging an immediate 
 acceptance of Christ, and warning of the 
 dangers of delay, and putting off for a 
 more convenient season. A few days 
 after, the young lady was dangerously 
 ill, and sent for the preacher to come 
 and see her. He went and found her at 
 death’s door, and yet she told him she 
 neither wished him to pray with or talk 
 to her; that she heard his sermon the 
 Sunday before, and at the time had writ- 
 ten with her pencil a certain sentence in 
 her hymn-book, and ever since then all 
 had been darkness, and her heart as hard 
 as stone. The preacher took the hymn- 
 book and read on the fly-leaf, in the 
 back of the book, the following fatal 
 sentence: ‘T’ll run the risk. A few 
 hours more and the young woman died 
 in the darkness of despair. She had 
 ‘run the risk.’”—Sel. 
 
 Sv BE 
 
 VALUE OF A WORD. 
 
 I have observed that a word cast in 
 by the by, hath done more execution in 
 a sermon than all that was spoken be- 
 side. Sometimes also, when I have 
 thought I did no good, then I did the 
 most of all; and at other times, when I 
 thought I should catch them, I have 
 fished for nothing.—Bunyan. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 mre FQ ce 
 
 ANSWERS TO PRAYER 
 
 A young man in the State of Indiana, 
 not long ago left home for a business 
 opening in Ohio. There, a gentleman 
 from his own native town found him, 
 and was shocked to discover that he had 
 become a profane swearer. Returning 
 home he felt constrained to tell his pious 
 parents of his awful degeneracy. They 
 said little, and, in doubt whether they 
 had understood him, he called next day 
 and repeated the statement. The father 
 calmly replied: “We understood you; 
 my wife and I spent a sleepless night on 
 our knees pleading in behalf of our son; 
 and about daybreak we received the as- 
 surance from God that James will never 
 swear again.” Two weeks after, the 
 son came home a changed man. “How 
 long since this change took place?” asked 
 his rejoicing parents. He replied that 
 just a fortnight before he was struck 
 with a sense of guilt so that he could not 
 sleep, and spent the night in tears and 
 prayers for pardon. Mark—+there had 
 been no time for any parerital appeal, or 
 even for a letter of remonstrance—while 
 they were praying for him, God moved 
 him to pray for himself. 
 
 A remarkable case of deliverance from 
 persecution and of punishment visited 
 upon cruel persecutors, is recorded of 
 the Jewish colony at Alexandria, about 
 two hundred before Christ. 
 
 Ptolemy Philopator furiously angry at 
 the refusal of the high-priest to permit 
 him to invade the temple courts of Jerus- 
 alem, on his return to Egypt flung into 
 prison all the Jews upon whom he could 
 lay his hands, There was at Alexandria 
 a huge hippodrome used for gladiatorial 
 shows, and here a host of captives were 
 confined. The king decreed that ele- 
 phants made furious by intoxicating and 
 stimulating drugs, should be let loose 
 upon them in the arena of this amphi- 
 theater, and trample them to death. For 
 two days his own drunken revels delayed 
 the execution of this horrid, decree, and 
 for two days there went up ceaseless 
 prayers to Israel’s God that He who de- 
 livered Daniel from the lions would 
 
 ANECDOTES 27 
 rescue his helpless people. 
 
 The third day came, and the infuriated 
 monsters were driven into the amphi- 
 theater and goaded forward to torture 
 the prisoners. But, wonderful to relate, 
 instead of attacking and destroying these 
 Jews, they turned madly upon the guards 
 and the spectators, killed many of them, 
 and drove the rest in terror from the 
 corridors! Ptolemy was so impressed 
 with this exhibition of power of the God 
 of the Jews that he released the prison- 
 ers and, like Ahasuerus, permitted them 
 to destroy their foes.—Arthur T. Pier- 
 son, D. D, 
 
 SPAREN ~ yak 
 
 COURAGE FOR THE RIGHT 
 
 A successful evangelist tells what 
 great results followed from a simple 
 stand for Christ when he was a com- 
 mercial traveller. 
 
 He had made a good sale, and the 
 merchant said, “It is your treat.” He 
 knew what that meant. There was a 
 saloon across the street, and he was ex- 
 rected to go across and “set up the 
 drinks” for the whole establishment. 
 “What is the use” he said to himself. 
 “This is one of the expedients of the 
 trade. I needn’t drink anything, I can 
 order the cigars, or a supper or—” 
 “Yes” something said to him, “you can 
 just sell out right here and make a 
 wreck out of it all.” 
 
 “Boys”, he said in the new inspiration 
 sent from above, “if I should do that I 
 would do the meanest thing in all the 
 world, and if you'll bear with me [ll tell 
 you why. I have just come up from 
 the very gates of death and hell through 
 strong drink, and if I did what you 
 ask, I’d do the meanest thing in all the 
 world both for you and me.” 
 
 Instantly the cashier leaped down 
 from the desk. ‘Have you got a pledge? 
 I’ll sign it.’ And the merchant after- 
 ward took the commercial traveller 
 aside to say, I'll promise you Pil never 
 drink another drop as long as I live.” 
 
 It pays to be outspoken for Christ. 
 Try it—Rams Horn. 
 
28 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 GOD KEPT THE TRAIN. 
 
 Not long ago an engineer brought his. 
 
 train to a stand at a little Massachusetts 
 village, where the passengers have five 
 minutes for lunch. A lady came along 
 the platform and said: “The conductor 
 tells me the train at the junction in P— 
 leaves fifteen minutes before our arrival. 
 It is Saturday night, that is the last train, 
 I have a very sick child in the car, and 
 no money for a hotel, and none for a 
 private conveyance for the long, long 
 journey into the country. What shail I 
 do?” “Well,” said the engineer, “I wish 
 I could tell you.” “Would it be possible 
 for you to hurry a little?” said the anx- 
 ious, tearful mother. “No, madam, I 
 have the timetable, and the rules say I 
 must run by it.” 
 
 She turned sorrowfully away, leaving 
 the bronzed face of the engineer wet 
 with tears. Presently she returned and 
 said, “Are you a Christian?” “ I trust I 
 am,” was the reply. “Will you pray 
 with me that the Lord may, in some 
 way, delay the train at the junction?” 
 “Why, yes, I will pray with you, but I 
 have not much faith.” Just then, the 
 conductor cried, ‘All aboard!” The poor 
 woman hurried back to her deformed 
 and sick child, and away went the train, 
 climbing the grade. “Somehow,” says 
 the engineer, “every thing worked to a 
 charm. As I prayed, I couldn’t help let- 
 ting my. engine out just a little. We 
 hardly stopped at the first station, peo- 
 ple got on and off with wonderful alac- 
 rity, the conductor’s lantern was in the 
 air in half a minute, and then away 
 again. Once over the summit, it was 
 dreadful easy to give her a little more, 
 and then a little more, as I prayed, till 
 she seemed to shoot through the air like 
 an arrow. Somehow I couldn’t hold 
 her, knowing I had the road, and so we 
 dashed up to the junction six minutes 
 ahead of time.” There stood the train, 
 and the conductor with his lantern on 
 hisarm. “Weil,” said he, “will you tell 
 me what I am waiting here for? Some- 
 how I felt I must wait for your coming 
 
 tonight, but I don’t kffew why.” “I 
 guess,” said the brother conductor, “it 
 is for this woman, with her sick and de- 
 formed child, dreadfully anxious to get 
 home this Saturday night.” But the 
 man on the engine and the grateful 
 mother think they can tell why the train 
 waited. God held it to answer their 
 prayers.—The Watchman and Reflector. 
 
 falta 7 pal 
 
 SPLITTING THE ROCK. 
 
 A few days ago I saw two men en 
 gaged in splitting a rock. The steel 
 wedge held by one man against the 
 stone received powerful blows from 2 
 sledge hammer wielded by the other. 
 Blow after blow was struck, yet no im- 
 pression seemed to be made upon the 
 rock. The man would stop a little to 
 take breath, and then go at it again 
 with no thought of discouragement. 
 Highteen times that sledge hammer 
 came down with no apparent result. 
 The nineteenth blow, however, started 
 a seam, and the twentieth laid the rock 
 open. 
 
 What if the man had yielded to dis- 
 couragement after the eighteenth blow? 
 The rock would have remained un- 
 broken, and his labor would have been 
 worse than wasted, for he would under- 
 take the next task of the kind with less 
 confidence. 
 
 Now, Jesus says, “Ask, and it shall 
 be given you; knock, and it shall be 
 opened unto you.” Our asking and our 
 knocking may be right enough, but if 
 they are not persevered in until a favor- 
 able issue is reached, we, too, shall be 
 injured instead of being benefited by 
 our effort. And just as in the break- 
 ing of the rock, every blow, from the 
 first to the last, contributed to produce 
 the desired result, so in our seeking 
 some blessing from God, every prayer 
 brings the blessing nearer. And if the 
 answer is long in coming, let us not 
 yield to the thought that it will never 
 come; but rather believe that it is ap- 
 proaching nearer and nearer, and may 
 be even now at hand.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
a 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 pas, Ween 
 
 ACQUAINTED WITH GOD 
 
 An infidel, on learning that a distin- 
 guished and intelligent lady was a be- 
 liever in the Holy Scriptures, professed 
 to be surprised, and asked her, “Do you 
 believe in the Bible?” 
 
 “Most certainly I do,” was the reply. 
 
 “Why do you believe it?” he inquired 
 again. 
 
 “Because IJ am acquainted with the 
 Author!” 
 
 This was her testimony, and all his 
 talk about the “unknown and, the un- 
 knowable” went for nothing in view of 
 the calm confidence born of her personal 
 acquaintance with God.—Sel. 
 
 ——--- 64 
 BENT NAILS. 
 
 Bob Mason and his uncle came down 
 from the city on the same car one even- 
 ing. “I saved my nickel,” said Bob, 
 with a chuckle, as they walked home 
 together. 
 
 “So I noticed,” was the grave reply. 
 
 “Well, I had it in my hand; ii the con- 
 ductor had asked me for it I should have 
 given it to him,” said Bob, rather sulkily. 
 “T don’t see why I was to blame.” 
 
 “Because you cheated,” answered his 
 uncle. “Just before the conductor got 
 to you he turned to help some one off. 
 You moved up where he had collected 
 fares, and appeared to be deeply engaged 
 in your paper. I know that you did not 
 say in so many words—‘I’ve paid my 
 fare,’ but you looked it as hard as you 
 could, and he apparently understood it 
 so. It was cheating, as I look at it.” 
 
 “Oh, well,” said Bob, carelessly; “it 
 was only a nickel anyway; the B. R. T. 
 will never know the difference.” 
 
 “But you will, my boy. Some one 
 wisely bids us to call nothing small in a 
 world where a mud creek swells into an 
 Amazon, and the stealing of a penny 
 may end on the scaffold. 
 
 “T remember when I was about your 
 age.” his uncle continued. “I was help- 
 ing a carpenter about a piece of work he 
 was doing for my father. I had made a 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 little mistake and was trying to pull out 
 a nail, 
 
 ““Draw it straight; don’t bend it,’ he 
 cautioned. 
 
 ““Why, what harm would it do? I 
 could straighten it, couldn't I? I asked. 
 ‘Possibly, but it would never| be as 
 strong. You would find it very apt to 
 bend again, and you would also find it 
 hard to drive it true.’ 
 
 “It is pretty much so with us; if we 
 yield to temptation in any way today, 
 we shall find we have weakened our- 
 selves, and it will be harder to hold true 
 tomorrow. 
 
 “Don’t deceive yourself by thinking 
 it is only a little thing, too small to make 
 any difference. I once saw a large and 
 seemingly strong telegraph pole come 
 suddenly crashing down without any 
 warning or visible cause. But investi- 
 gation showed that woodpeckers had cut 
 a nest just where the pole broke. 
 
 “So, little sins, as we mistakingly call 
 them, eat into our lives and weaken us. 
 Like the bent nail we are liable to break 
 at that place any time. The only sure 
 way to keep in the right path is never 
 to take the first step out. Remember 
 that, my boy.” 
 
 “T will,” replied Bob, gravely.—Ex. 
 
 A nt RB AES 
 
 IS THERE A LETTER FOR ME? 
 
 I was much touched by the following 
 incident, told by a gentleman from the 
 South in regard to the delight of the 
 colored people to receive letters. 
 
 The fact had been told to show the 
 laziness of the race, but the gentleman 
 saw sotnething deeper in the incident. 
 
 The postmaster of a village said one 
 colored man had come to the post-office 
 regularly twice a day for two years ask- 
 ing the question: ‘“‘Is there a letter for 
 me?’ Sometimes he would say, “I think 
 it will arrive by the next mail.” And 
 he said nothing pleased him like get- 
 ting a letter from the post-office; and a 
 paper with “John Smith Esq.” on it, 
 was an event in the family that went 
 on record. 
 
 I have not forgotten the circumstances 
 
30 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 of a young man in the army who re- 
 ceived no letters, and when his comrade 
 saw the tears fill his eyes when the mail 
 arrived, he wrote home to his mother 
 
 and told her of his orphan comrade. 
 
 “Mother,” he wrote, “do write to him, 
 and as his mother is dead, do mother 
 him a little.’ Very quickly a letter 
 came to the young man. As it was hand- 
 ed he said, “It is not for me. I have 
 no one that cares enough for me to 
 write.” But when he opened it and 
 saw, “My dear son,” he bowed his head 
 and wept like a child. Then lifting his 
 face, beaming with smiles, he said: “I 
 have got a mother!” 
 
 It is such a little thing to write a let- 
 ter! Such a little thing to send a paper! 
 —Sel. 
 
 eee 56 aaa 
 
 CHRIST AS A PROTECTOR 
 
 When I was in England a lady told 
 me a sweet story illustrative of what it 
 is to have Christ between us and every- 
 thing else. She said she was wakened 
 up by a very strange noise of pecking, 
 or something of the kind, and when 
 she got up she saw a butterfly flying 
 backward and forward inside the win- 
 dow-pane in great fright and outside a 
 sparrow pecking and trying to get in. 
 The butterfly did not see the glass and 
 expected every minute to be caught 
 and the sparrow did not see the glass 
 and expected every moment to catch the 
 butterfly; yet all the while that butter- 
 fly was as safe as if it had been three 
 miles away, because of the glass be- 
 
 tween it and the sparrow. So it is with 
 
 Christians who are abiding in Christ. His 
 presence is between them and every 
 danger. I do not believe that Satan un- 
 derstands about this mighty and invis- 
 ible power that protects us, or else he 
 would not waste his efforts trying to get 
 us. He must be like the sparrow—he 
 does not see it, and Christians are like 
 the butterfly—they do not see it, and so 
 they are frightened and flutter backward 
 and forward in terror; but all the while 
 Satan can not touch the soul that has 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ between itself and 
 him.—Selected. 
 
 C$ Ay fi al 
 SAVING HIS BOOTS. 
 
 A New York reporter had an extreme- 
 ly good time recently writing up the 
 story of a man who had gone to sleep, 
 drunk, upon the trolley tracks of upper 
 Broadway, taking great care to put his 
 new shoes out of harm’s way but allow- 
 ing his head to rest on the rail. The 
 fender of an approaching car threw him 
 from the tracks, inflicting a great scalp 
 wound. His shoes, however, were alto- 
 gether uninjured. 
 
 We can think of no greater folly than 
 the attempt to put one’s shoes out of 
 danger, disregarding altogether the safe- 
 ty of one’s head. But, after all, do we 
 not, every day, see people doing things 
 equally absurd? What about providing 
 for the safety and pleasure of the body 
 with utter disregard for the soul? We 
 plan to have seventy years of pleasure 
 and prosperity, while the preparation for 
 eternity is neglected. We plan to pro- 
 tect the trifling things we have ac- 
 cumulated here, jewels, money, houses, 
 land, and take no care to protect the im- 
 mortal. Is that saner than the sleepy 
 mutterings of a drunken man: “I will 
 save my new shoes. Never mind my 
 head.”——Christian Herald. 
 
 emcees ($5 seme 
 
 PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER. 
 
 Those who sometimes grow faint and 
 weary in their prayers for the souls of 
 others, should take heart in the experien- 
 ces of the celebrated George Mueller of 
 Bristol, England. It is related of him 
 that he prayed daily for thirty years for 
 ten persons, and eight of them were con- 
 verted. He prayed daily for eighteen 
 persons for twenty years, and fourteen 
 of them were converted. Yet many of 
 us grow weary in a few days or weeks 
 in not seeing the immediate answer to 
 prayers, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ae TNs nia 
 
 THE HOMELESS SINGER 
 
 On a cold, dark night, when the wind 
 was blowing hard, Conrad, a worthy 
 citizen of a little town in Germany, sat 
 playing his flute, while Ursula, his wife, 
 was preparing supper. They heard a 
 sweet voice singing outside, 
 
 Tears filled the good man’s eyes, as 
 he said, “What a fine, sweet voice! 
 What a pity it should be spoiled by be- 
 ing tried in such weather!” 
 
 “I think it is the voice of a child. 
 Let us open the door and see,” said his 
 wife, who had lost a little boy not long 
 before, and whose heart was open to 
 take pity on the little wanderer. 
 
 Conrad opened the door, and saw a 
 ragged child, who said, “Charity, good 
 sir, for Christ’s sake.” 
 
 “Come in, my little one,” said he; 
 “you shall rest with me for the night.” 
 
 The boy said, “Thank God!” and en- 
 tered. He was given some supper, and 
 then he told them he was the son of a 
 poor miner and wanted to be a priest. 
 He wandered about and sang, and lived 
 on the money people gave him. His 
 kind friends would not let him talk 
 much, but sent him to bed. When he 
 was asleep they looked in upon him, 
 and were so pleased with his pleasant 
 face that they determined to keep him, if 
 he was willing. 
 
 In the morning they found he was 
 only too glad to remain, 
 
 They sent him to school, and after- 
 wards he entered a monastery. There 
 he found the Bible, from which he 
 learned the way of life. He became the 
 great preacher and reformer, Martin 
 Luther. Little did Conrad and Ursula 
 think of what they were doing when 
 they cared for this “least of these my 
 brethren.”—Sel. 
 
 5 lh [a 
 
 THE REWARD OF FAITH. 
 One of our ministers and his faithful 
 wife narrated to me their experience in 
 testing God: “It was mid-winter, and 
 the cold wind was moaning its doleful 
 
 ANECDOTES ai 
 
 sound even to those who lived in the 
 midst of plenty. But in the pastor’s 
 home the last piece of bread had been 
 eaten for supper and only one armful of 
 wood remained. We said our evening 
 prayers and, of course, told Father all 
 about our need, and retired in full faith 
 that in some way he would provide. We 
 arose, kindled a fire, placed the kettle on 
 the stove, and went happily about the 
 house, believing that God would help. 
 A little later on I went to the front door 
 for something, and, on opening, lo! a 
 great. pile of goods came tumbling in— 
 flour, sugar, coffee, tea, potatoes, etc. 
 While we were rejoicing a stranger drove 
 up and inquired if Rev. lived there. 
 He said he had been impressed to bring 
 him a load of wood. A little later a 
 load of coal was sent, with the compli- 
 ments of a friend. And unto this day 
 we don’t know where the goods came 
 from only we do know that our dear, 
 tender, loving Father sent them.” 
 “Trust in the Lord and do good, so 
 shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily 
 thou shalt be fed.”—-A. W. Ballinger. 
 
 ELOEE i & BRAS 
 
 TRUST IN GOD REWARDED 
 
 During the last week of February, 
 1903, a very poor woman lost a purse 
 containing $40.00, which had been saved 
 by self-denial, and by means of which 
 she intended to visit relatives in the 
 West. She lost the money on a ferry- 
 boat plying between Brooklyn and New 
 York, and knew that someone in the 
 crowd picked it up, yet had such faith 
 in God that it would be restored to her, 
 that she was not distressed. 
 
 A gentleman who found it was so 
 much interested in the circumstances 
 under which she accumulated the money, 
 that with its return, he gave an addition- 
 al sum, with which to defray all her ex- 
 penses of travel. 
 
 The Lord by his providence, deprived 
 his poor saint of $40.00. The Lord by 
 his providence, quickly bestowed $80.60 
 upon the quiet trustful soul, which 
 waited for his salvation—Rev. A. &. 
 King, 
 
 
 
32 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ee yo cone 
 
 AT THINE OWN DOORS. 
 
 A rescue missionary was lecturing 
 where he was not accustomed to speak. 
 He said that every Christian however 
 poor or busy, could do personal work 
 for Christ, if willing. 
 
 After the lecture a woman said: 
 “What can I do? I ama poor widow 
 with five children to support. How can 
 I find time to go to any one about 
 Christ?” 
 
 “Does the milkman call at your 
 house?” 
 
 “Of course.” 
 
 “Does the baker?” 
 
 “Ves,” 
 
 “Does the butcher?” : 
 
 “Yes,” was the curt reply, and the 
 woman turned away. 
 
 Two years after, the man of God 
 spoke in the same place. After the ser- 
 vice a woman said: “I am the person 
 who was vexed with you when you ask- 
 ed whether the milkman and baker and 
 butcher visited me. But I went home 
 to pray. God showed me my duty. 
 Through my humble efforts five persons 
 have been led to the Saviour, and they 
 all are consistent working members of 
 the Church.”—Sel. 
 
 ey 5. 
 
 LOYAL TO HIS MOTHER 
 
 An exchange says, the late Dr. Hall 
 told of a poor woman who had sent her 
 boy to school and college. When he 
 was a graduate he wrote to his mother 
 to come, but she sent back word that she 
 could not, because her only skirt had al- 
 ready been turned once. She was so 
 shabby that she was afraid he would be 
 ashamed of her. 
 
 He wrote that he didn’t care anything 
 about how she went. He met her at the 
 station and took her to a nice place to 
 stay. The day arrived for his graduation 
 and he came down the broad aisle with 
 that poor mother, dressed very shab- 
 hily, and put her into one of the best 
 seats in the house. . 
 
 To her great surprise, he was the vale- 
 
 dictorian of his class, and carried every- 
 thing before him; he won a prize, and 
 when it was given to him he went down 
 before the whole audience and kissed 
 his mother, and said: “Here, mother, is 
 the prize. It is yours; I would not have 
 had it if it had not been for you.” 
 
 Aba, fiat as 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 
 
 An aged disciple once declared that it 
 would give him great joy if he but 
 knew that he had been instrumental in 
 saving one soul. But he was without 
 that happy knowledge. At his funeral 
 a man stood weeping sadly, a genuine 
 mourner. “You are a relative, I sup- 
 pose,” said one beside him. “No,” said 
 the man. “A very dear friend, doubt- 
 less,” remarked the person. “I can hard- 
 ly say that,” replied the man. “I never 
 spoke to him, but he was the means of 
 my salvation.” Ah! How many sweet 
 revelations will be in heaven to those 
 who are faithful in the Lord’s service 
 here.—Selected. 
 
 cece fF ees 
 
 FRANKLIN AND PRAYER 
 
 Franklin will not be accused of being 
 a Christian believer. Yet, in the Na- 
 tional Convention of 1787, at that mo- 
 mentous crisis when no progress seemed 
 to be making toward a closer bond be- 
 tween the confederated States, he arose 
 and addressed the President: “How has 
 it happened, sir, that, while groping so 
 long in the dark, divided in our opinions, 
 and now ready to separate without ac- 
 complishing the great objects of our 
 
 ‘meeting, we have not hitherto once 
 
 thought of humbly applying to the great 
 Father of Light to illuminate our under- 
 standings? In the beginning of the con- 
 test with Great Britain, when we were 
 sensible of danger, we had daily prayers 
 in this room, for divine protection. Our 
 prayers, sir, were heard and graciously 
 answered.” And Franklin then moved 
 that “henceforth prayers, imploring the 
 assistance of Heaven and its blessings 
 crt our deliberations, be held in this as- 
 sembly every morning, before we pro- 
 ceed to business.”—A. T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 33 
 
 TiO, f pala 
 
 A LOST OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 A man was justly condemned to die, 
 The time for the execution of the sen- 
 tence drew near. His friends had 
 tried in vain to induce the Governor to 
 grant him a pardon or even a reprieve. 
 One day as he was sitting in his lonely 
 cell, a stranger called on him, and kindly 
 conversed with him concerning the prep- 
 aration needful to meet his God. He 
 read the promises of God’s word to re- 
 penting sinners, and earnestly and feel- 
 ingly prayed that the Lord would have 
 mercy on him and bless him. 
 
 When his Christian visitor was gone, 
 the condemned man said to one of the 
 keepers, “Who was that kind gentleman 
 that called on me?” The keeper re 
 plied, “Didn’t you know who he was? 
 Why, that was the Governor.” “The 
 Governor! Oh, why did you not tell me 
 it was the Governor! Had I known he 
 was the Governor, I would have prayed, 
 and clung to his knees until he had par- 
 doned me.” 
 
 Just so, sinner, if you could but recog- 
 nize the presence of Jesus, the loving 
 Saviour, you too, would earnestly im- 
 plore his pardon. 
 
 He is with you. He stands knocking 
 at the door of your heart.—Rev. 3:20. 
 Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 77 
 WHITEFIELD AND THE ROBBER. 
 
 While journeying in Scotland in 1741, 
 Rev. George Whitefield learned of a wid- 
 ow with a large family whose landlord 
 was about to sell her furniture to pay the 
 rent. Whitefield had but little money, 
 but at once gave her five guineas to pay 
 her debt. Whitefield’s companion hint- 
 ed that he gave more than he ought. 
 Whitefield replied, “When God brings a 
 case of distress before us, it is that we 
 may relieve it.” 
 
 They soon met a highwayman who de- 
 manded all their money, which they re- 
 luctantly gave him. Whitefield at once 
 turned the tables on his companion, re- 
 
 
 
 minding him how much better it was for 
 the widow to have the money than the 
 robber. Presently the highwayman re- 
 turned, and demayded Whitefield’s good 
 coat and gave him in exchange his shab- 
 by one. They had not gone far on their 
 journey when they perceived the ma- 
 rauder galloping furiously after them. 
 Now fearing for their lives, they urged 
 their horses to all possible speed, and so 
 escaped him, and soon gained friendly 
 shelter. 
 
 Judge Whitefield’s surprise and thank- 
 fulness when removing the robber’s coat 
 he found a carefully wrapped parcel con- 
 taining a hundred guineas.—Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall. 
 
 LOOPY, [pace 
 
 WHY SHE DRESSED PLAINLY 
 
 In the American Messenger some 
 years ago, Annie A. Preston tells the 
 story of a Christian young woman who 
 came to a small city as a teacher in the 
 public school. Ip the course of time 
 she formed the acquaintance of a couple 
 who, although they were Christians, did 
 not go to church because they thought 
 themselves too poor to dress well enough 
 to be seen there. What did the young 
 teacher do about it? She stripped the 
 plume from her own hat, she attired 
 herself in a plain print gown, and per- 
 suaded the couple to accompany her to 
 the house of God. 
 
 Some time later this plain, sensible 
 young woman became the wife of a 
 judge who was also the president of a 
 railway. “She still kept up her attire 
 at church, and occupied her abundant 
 leisure in going among the poor. From 
 the most dressy church in the city we 
 have become the plainest, and from a 
 church of almost exclusive wealthy 
 people, we have a large membership 
 among the working classes. Our cold- 
 ness and purse-pride have been replaced 
 by enthusiasm for the Lord’s work. The 
 present prosperity of the church is all 
 due, under God, to the influence for 
 twenty years of that sensible, amiable 
 woman.” 
 
eee ig ee 
 
 THE SAVING HAND. 
 
 A five-year-old boy, Ivan Lynn Ash- 
 craft whose home is in Folsom, a little 
 hamlet in Delaware County, Pa., is 
 hailed as a true hero. He and his play- 
 mates were sporting about the edge of 
 a pond covered with thin ice, when lit- 
 tle Davy Ward, aged three, saw some 
 object upon the ice which he desired, 
 and reached out to get, and, losing his 
 balance, he fell and broke through the 
 icee When his older brother saw it, he 
 began to cry. A larger boy hastened 
 to the rescue, but broke in himself, and 
 barely escaped with his life. Then it 
 was that the little hero with great skill 
 and caution crept out to his,little friend, 
 and, using his own words, “When I 
 saw Davy bobbin’ up and down I jes’ 
 reached out my hand and grabbed his’n.” 
 Thus a life was saved, and thus honor 
 was gained. 
 
 We may not all have opportunity or 
 ability to save a boy from drowning in 
 a deep pool, but there are boys and 
 girls, men and women, perishing all 
 about us, and their going down means 
 an eternal ruin. What is needed in 
 those who would rescue is a mind to 
 appreciate the peril, a heart of compas- 
 sion for the perishing, and a hand ready 
 to reach out and save. The words of 
 this little child tell it all: “When I! 
 seen Davy bobbin’ up and down, I jes’ 
 reached out my hand and grabbed 
 his’n.”—The Presbyterian. 
 
 80 
 
 HE FORGOT TO BOW HIS HEAD. 
 
 Hurled down to death from the top 
 of a train because he forgot to bow his 
 head! 
 
 It was the duty of this man to stand 
 on the top of the train, watching through 
 the long miles of his run, lest accident 
 should come to any of the cars. By 
 night and by day he must be at his 
 post. Sometimes in the winter time 
 the tops of the cars were slippery and 
 dangerous. Now and then storms swept 
 down from the north, and he had to 
 
 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 cling with all his might to the standard 
 of the brake. It was none of these 
 things, however, which brought the 
 trainmen to his terrible end. He could 
 guard himself against ice and storm. 
 The trouble was that he forgot to bow 
 his head, 
 
 Just before the train reached a low 
 bridge the fringed out ends of a dozen 
 ropes stretched across the road dangled 
 in the face of the trainman. These were 
 the signal to him of the approach of the 
 girders of the bridge. Now was the 
 time for him to stoop and escape danger. 
 
 But he forgot! Wé6th awful force his 
 head struck the iron beams above him 
 and he was thrown, crushed and bleed- 
 ing, to the earth—killed because he for: 
 got to bow his head! ; 
 
 If we had only remembered the morn- 
 ing watch with God this morning, we 
 would have gone through the day safely. 
 Then our hearts would have been made 
 strong for all that might come to us. 
 We knew our weakness; we knew the 
 source of our strength; and yet some- 
 thing pushed the thought of the hour 
 with the Master out of our minds. Who 
 knows what it was? It matters not 
 now. The crisis came in a moment 
 when we were not aware of our peril, 
 and we went down, slain because we did 
 not stop to be with God. 
 
 “T do not need to give this time to 
 God! Iam strong enough to go through 
 the day without bending the knee before 
 I go!” 
 
 Did you say that? Think again. 
 Never deceive yourself like that. Think- 
 
 ing thus, thousands of stronger men 
 
 than you have gone down to ruin. 
 
 Give Him this one precious moment. 
 Bend the head in prayer and petition for 
 His help through the day. Then go out 
 safe in His keeping.—Selected. 
 
 ome 8] eee 
 
 HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE 
 UNLOVELY. 
 “It is impossible to love our enemies. 
 
 it is so contrary to nature to love the 
 unlovely that it is useless to try to obey 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 35 
 
 such a command.” 
 
 We hear this sometimes said even by 
 those who profess to love God, and they 
 express anger and impatience toward 
 others, apparently without feeling con- 
 demned, forgetting that obedience to 
 God’s commands is one of the essential 
 evidences of love. They do not realize 
 that no commands are laid down which 
 God will not give us power to obey. 
 
 At eighteen years of age I was teach- 
 ing a class of street arabs in a mission 
 Sunday school. 
 
 The work interested me deeply, and 
 with one exception the boys came to be 
 very dear to me. That one member of 
 the class was fairly loathsome. He con- 
 tinually squirted tobacco juice on the 
 floor and squinted one eye at his teach- 
 er whenever she glanced in his direction. 
 It seemed to me I could not endure the 
 sight of that boy. But I realized how 
 impossible it would be ever to benefit 
 him while his feeling of repulsion con- 
 tinued. Even though I could control 
 my voice and manner sufficiently to 
 treat him kindly and courteously, I 
 know he could not be deceived as to my 
 real attitude, because, whatever the ex- 
 ternal appearence, the heart reveals its 
 dislikes. 
 
 Going to my room and “shutting the 
 door,” I determined to settle the matter 
 between God and myself. He had seen 
 my heart stained with sin, and had for- 
 given and cleansed, and now it was for 
 me to forgive as I had been forgiven; 
 and that meant I was to look tenderly 
 upon that lost boy, whose opportunities 
 bore no comparison to those that had 
 always been mine. He was born un- 
 der conditions that should call forth my 
 pity and sympathy. Yet I could not by 
 any amount of reasoning work up one 
 spark of pity or love. The more clearly 
 I saw the duty of loving the unlovely 
 and seeking the lost to bring them to 
 know the Christ, the more I realized the 
 impossibility of feeling and doing as I 
 ought, by any effort or will of my own. 
 
 Then, with utter abandonment of my- 
 self to God, there went up the cry, 
 “Lord, I want to obey Thee! I want to 
 
 do Thy will! My whole nature turns 
 with abhorrence from that boy. I must 
 have a yearning desire for his salvation. 
 O Father, put into my heart the throb- 
 bing of Thine own divine love! Make 
 me to see as Thou seest, to feel as Thou 
 dost feel, that so I may be able to reach 
 this soul for whom Christ died!” 
 
 Instantly 1 was filled with peace and 
 rest, and believed God would do for me, 
 and in me, what I could not possibly do 
 for myself. Jesus could and would work 
 this miracle in my soul. 
 
 No longer did I strive with myself, 
 but just trusted Jesus to do the work 
 in his own time and way. The next 
 Sabbath I went to my class and with 
 such absorbing interest for each and all 
 of them that I failed to notice a solitary 
 disagreeable thing in this boy, and on 
 my return home wondered if he had been 
 different or if all the change was in my- 
 self. But I could not remember. 
 
 God fulfilled my desire, and gave from 
 the fountain of love in His own heart 
 the needed supply for my work, and also 
 gave blessed fruit from the seed sown.— 
 Mrs. James H. Earle, in Sunday School 
 Times, 
 
 ——— 82 — 
 
 THE SECRET OF SEPARATION 
 
 A traveler in Scotland once found in 
 a fisherman’s hut a striking picture of 
 the Saviour. “How did you obtain pos- 
 session of this picture?’ he asked the 
 owner. He replied, “I was ’way down 
 with the drink, when one night I went 
 into a ‘public,’ and there hung His pic- 
 ture. I was sober, and I said to the bar- 
 tender: ‘Sell me that picture; this is no 
 place for the Saviour.’ I gave him all 
 the money I had and took it home. I 
 dropped on my knees and cried, ‘O Lord 
 Jesus, pick me up again out of my sin.’” 
 The prayer was answered, and today 
 that fi-herman is the grandest man in 
 that little Scotch village. He was asked 
 if he had no struggle to give up liquor. 
 A look of exultation came over his face 
 as he answered: “When the heart is 
 opened to the Saviour, He takes the love 
 of drink out of it.”—Selected. 
 
—- 83 —— 
 
 AS KINGS GIVE 
 
 The death of an American woman in 
 Europe last year brought to her heirs 
 in this country an extraordinary collec- 
 ton of jewels and keepsakes, the sou- 
 venirs of a long and romantic career in 
 two hemispheres. The one object which 
 the owner had most prized in her life- 
 time was a bracelet of gold, set with 
 emeralds, and inclosing the miniature 
 portrait of a member of the Austrian 
 royal family, whom she had assisted 
 when he was in desperate peril. It had 
 been given to her by her family, in ap- 
 preciation of her vain endeavors to save 
 his life at the risk of her own. 
 
 This piece of jewelry among others 
 was submitted to the most expert valuer 
 in this city, the man to whose opinion 
 such firms as Tiffany and Co. submit 
 their stones for appraisal. He applied his 
 test for weight, cut, color, etc., to the 
 emeralds, balanced the gold against the 
 little brass weights in his scales, consid- 
 ered a minute, and then wrote upon the 
 sheet a valuation, which was so small a 
 fraction of the expected figures that the 
 eager customer uttered an outcry of dis- 
 mzy. 
 
 In response to protest he checked up 
 his work again, but found no errors. 
 The historical and personal association 
 attaching to the gift was a matter lying 
 outside his realm. That did not figure 
 in his estimate. There was so many 
 pennyweights of gold, of so many karats 
 fineness, at so much per pennyweight. 
 
 The emeralds weighed so much and were 
 
 worth so much. “They are not first- 
 rate stones, you see,” he explained. 
 
 “Not first-rate!” cried the owner. 
 “How can that be? They were a royal 
 sift!” 
 
 “Ah,” said the gray-haired connois- 
 seur, “I have handled many royal gifts 
 and long ago learned that kings keep 
 their best for themselves!” 
 
 It is not so with the bounty of our 
 King. The dearest of His possessions, 
 His only begotten Son, is His free Gift. 
 That Gift has been tested through the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ages and still shines without a flaw, and 
 with luster undimmed. Surely “not as 
 the world giveth, give I unto you.’”— 
 Selected. 
 
 ae 
 
 LOVE YOUR ENEMIES 
 
 During the war of the Revolution, 
 Peter Miller was the pastor of a small 
 Baptist Church in Pennsylvania. One 
 of his neighbors had been his inveterate 
 enemy for years and missed no oppor- 
 tunity of abusing the Baptists in general 
 and Miller in particular. Miller did not 
 retaliate, but he said more than once, 
 when the man was more abusive than 
 usual, “I shall get even with you yet.” 
 
 One day news reached Miller that his 
 enemy had been caught dealing with the 
 British. It was treason, and there was 
 no doubt of his guilt. Soon the inevit- 
 able came. The traitor was to be hang- 
 ed, Miller no sooner heard of it than 
 he set out on foot for Philadelphia, 
 thirty miles away, to plead with Wash- 
 ington for his life. 
 
 He was told that his plea was use- 
 less; Washington could not spare his 
 friend’s life. “Friend!” exclaimed the 
 worthy minister, “he is no friend of mine; 
 he is the only enemy I have in the 
 world.” 
 
 Washington looked at him searching- 
 ly. “Will you tell me,” he asked, “what 
 motive impelled you to walk sixty miles 
 to save the life of your enemy?” 
 
 The minister took his New Testament 
 from his pocket and showed to Wash- 
 ington the passage. “I grant you his 
 pardon,” was the laconic reply. 
 
 With the precious paper in his pocket 
 Miller hurried to the place of execution 
 and arrived just as the condemned man 
 was being carried to the scaffold. He 
 parece Miller running and recognized 
 
 im. 
 
 “There’s Peter Miller,” he said to his 
 guard, “he’s walked all the way from 
 Ephrata to have the pleasure of seeing 
 me hanged.” The words were scarcely 
 spoken before Miller reached his side, 
 and, producing the pardon, said, “Now 
 T have my revenge.”—My Paper. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES m 37 
 
 corres 5) mesma 
 
 LIVING BENEATH PRIVILEGE 
 
 A few days after General Lee had sur- 
 rendered and President Lincoln had is- 
 sued his proclamation of amnesty, a man 
 was riding on horseback along a road in 
 West Virginia. At a certain point a 
 man sprang out from the road-side and 
 seized his horse by the bridle. He had 
 on a tattered Confederate uniform, and 
 in his hand an old musket. With emaci- 
 ated face and hungry eyes, he cried: 
 “Give me bread. I do not wish to in- 
 
 jure you; but give me bread for I am 
 
 starving.” 
 
 The man on horseback answered him: 
 
 “Why do you not go to the village 
 yonder and get food.” 
 
 “I dare not; I would be shot.” 
 
 “What for? Tell me your trouble.” 
 
 The man then told his story, 
 
 “A few weeks ago,” he said, “I re- 
 solved to desert the Confederate service. 
 But when I came to the Federal pickets 
 I was told that an order had been is- 
 sued not to receive any more rebel de- 
 serters; and unless I went back I would 
 be fired upon.” 
 
 If he returned to his companions in 
 arms he would be shot as a deserter. 
 What could he do? 
 
 There was nothing for him but to take 
 to the woods and hide, and there he had 
 been living until starved almost to mad- 
 ness. The man on horseback said to 
 him: 
 
 “The war is over!” peace has come. 
 President Lincoln has pardoned the 
 rank and file of the Confederate army. 
 You can go home.” 
 
 “The war is over!” he replied. “It 
 cannot be. It cannot be.” 
 
 “Yes, the war is over,” and taking 
 from his pocket a newspaper, he showed 
 him the account of Lee’s surrender and 
 President Lincoln’s proclamation. Real- 
 izing the truth, the man flung his musket 
 from him and with a cry of joy, and 
 turning ran for his home. 
 
 Now what had so changed his feelings? 
 He had simply read in a newspaper the 
 announcement of the close of the war 
 
 and the return of peace to the land. He 
 had done nothing, nor could he do any- 
 thing, but simply enter into this new and 
 blessed condition of peace. So with the 
 Christian. Peace has been made with 
 God through Christ, and we are to enter 
 
 into its joy.—Sel, 
 
 eee eR cares 
 
 SHE GAVE HER CRUTCH. 
 
 The minister’s eyes swept with in- 
 tense searching the apathetic faces of 
 his stylish, worldly congregation. He 
 had made an impassioned appeal for 
 help in the support of a little mission 
 church among the mountains—a section 
 where rough men and women knew 
 scarcely anything of God and the relig- 
 ion of Christ. He had hoped to inspire 
 the people with the spirit of giving, to 
 make them feel that it was a sweet, 
 blessed privilege, and—he had failed. A 
 sense of deep desolation crept over him. 
 
 “God, kelp me!” his lips murmured 
 mutely. He could not see the bent 
 figure of little crippled Maggie in the 
 rear of the church—a figure that was 
 trembling under the fire of his appeal. 
 
 “Lord Jesus,” the little one was say- 
 ing, brokenly, “I ain’t got nothin’ ter 
 give. I want the people in the moun- 
 tains to hear ’bout my Saviour. Oh, 
 Lord, I ain’t got nothin’ ter——” 
 
 What was it that made the child 
 catch her breath as though a cold hand 
 had taken hold of her heart? “Yes, 
 you have, Maggie,” whispered a voice 
 from sOmewhere; “you’ve got your 
 crutch, your beautiful crutch that was 
 give ter you, and is worth a lot of shin- 
 in’ dollars. You kin give up your frien’ 
 what helps you to git into the park 
 where the birds sing, and takes you to 
 preachin’, and makes your life happy.” 
 
 “Oh, no, Lord,” sobbed the child, 
 choking and shivering. “Yes, yes, I 
 will; he gave up mor’n that for me.” 
 
 Blindly she extended the polished 
 crutch and placed it in the hands of the 
 deacon who was taking up the scanty 
 collection. For a moment the man was 
 puzzled; then, comprehending her 
 meaning, he carried her crutch to the 
 
38 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES : 
 
 front of the church and laid it on the 
 table in front of the old pulpit. The 
 minister stepped down from the rostrum 
 and held up the crutch with shaking 
 hands. The sublimity of the renunci- 
 ation unnerved him so that he could 
 not speak for a moment. 
 
 “Do you see it, my people,” he falt- 
 ered at last; “little Maggie’s crutch— 
 all that she has to make life comfort- 
 able? She has given it to the Lord, 
 and you-—” 
 
 There was a moment of silence. The 
 people flushed and moved restlessly in 
 their cushioned pews. 
 
 “Does any one want to contribute to 
 the mission cause the amount of money 
 this crutch would bring, and give it 
 back to the child who is so helpless 
 without it?” the minister asked gravely. 
 
 “Fifty dollars,’ came in the husky 
 tones from the banker. 
 
 “Twenty-five.” 
 
 “One hundred.” 
 
 And so the subscribing went on, un- 
 til papers equivalent to six hundred 
 dollars were lightly piled over the 
 crutch on the table. 
 
 “Ah! you have found your hearts— 
 thank God. Let us receive the benedic- 
 tion,” almost whispered the minister, as 
 he suddenly extended his hands, which 
 were trembling with emotion. Little 
 Maggie, absorbed in the magnitude of 
 her offering and the love that prompted 
 it, comprehended nothing that had tak- 
 en place. She had no thought for the 
 future, or how she would reach her 
 humble home, or of the days she would 
 sit helpless in her chair as she had done. 
 Christ had demanded her all, and she 
 had given it with the blind faith of an 
 Abraham. She understood no better 
 when a woman’s arm drew her into close 
 embrace, and soft lips whispered in her 
 ear, “Maggie, dear, your crutch has 
 made six hundred dollars for the mis- 
 sion church among the mountains, and 
 has come back to you again. Take it, 
 little one.” 
 
 Like a flash of light there came the 
 consciousness that in some mysterious 
 way her gift had been accepted of God 
 
 and returned to her, and with a cry of 
 joy the child caught the beloved crutch 
 to her lonely heart; then smiling 
 through her tears at the kind faces and 
 reverential eyes, she hobbled out of the 
 sanctuary.—Christian Observer. 
 
 peta ll 
 
 WILL TO DO AND KNOW 
 
 Rev. Geo. Bowen, for more than forty 
 years a missionary in Bombay, India, . 
 was born in the United States in 1816. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, he was led 
 to doubt the truth of Christianity, by 
 reading a chapter of Gibbons’ History; 
 but his soul was not at rest. One even- 
 ing, eleven years later, just before re- 
 tiring for the night, he said aloud, “If 
 there is a God who notices the desires 
 of men, I only wish He would make 
 known to me his will, and I shall feel 
 it my highest privilege to do it at what- 
 ever cost.” 
 
 Two or three days after, he went 
 some two miles to a public library where 
 he had gotten books before, and asked 
 for a certain volume. By mistake he 
 was given, as he found when nearly 
 home, “Paley’s Evidences of Christian- 
 ity.” 
 
 He did not intend to read it, but the 
 first sentence gained his attention, and 
 he at last gave the book a careful read- 
 ing; and was led to accept the Bible as 
 from God. 
 
 After reading the Scriptures, he gave 
 himself unreservedly to Christ. 
 
 His father was a wealthy man, but 
 the son gave up home, friends, fortune 
 and country; and consecrated his whole 
 life to laboring for the salvation of the 
 heathen. 
 
 In connection with the American 
 Board, he went to India in 1848, where 
 he labored in a most self-denying way 
 for more than 40 years. 
 
 God thus answered the prayer of this 
 doubting one through the librarian’s 
 mistake. We may rest assured that He 
 will, by some means, give every sincere 
 soul a knowledge of saving truth, if He 
 is asked to do it.—Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 THE QUARTER-DOLLAR SIN 
 
 Rev. Daniel Lindley, after an absence 
 of forty years—more than half of the 
 time passed as a missionary in Africa— 
 returned to this country and returned 
 to Athens, Ohio—the early home of his 
 childhood, the theatre of his youthful 
 days. He trod again the old Campus, 
 walked through the old college halls, 
 stood upon the cliff—the rocky rostrum 
 of college boys. He examined the old 
 paths, and inquired for the companions 
 of his youth. Changes had passed upon 
 every scene. He was asked to preach 
 at night, and to give some account of 
 his life in Africa. At the close of the 
 services, a very respectable and aged 
 gentleman approached, and desired him 
 to take a walk. 
 
 They passed on, and, when they had 
 reached a somewhat retired place, the 
 gentleman turned and said: 
 
 “Brother Lindley, if a man has ever 
 done wrong, has committted a sin, don’t 
 you think he should confess it?” 
 
 “Why, yes,” said Mr. Lindley, “if 
 thereby he may glorify God, if it will 
 make amends to the party wronged, or 
 do good to the party who sinned.” 
 
 “Well, that is just what I think. Iam 
 in that predicament. I have long de- 
 - sired and prayed for an opportunity to 
 make a confession and amendment to 
 you. When we were boys together fifty 
 year ago, we were playing together. 
 You dropped a quarter of a dollar, and I 
 snatched it up and put it in my pocket. 
 I claimed it as my own and kept it. It 
 was, perhaps, a little, mean, dirty trick; 
 and it has worried me and troubled me 
 ever since.” 
 
 “Oh, it was a small matter, and I have 
 no recollection of it,” said Mr. Lindley. 
 
 “Ah, you may call it a small matter, 
 but it has been a mighty burden for me 
 to bear. I have carried it now for fifty 
 years; I would not carry it for fifty more 
 for all the gold in California. And sup- 
 pose I had to carry it for fifty thousand 
 years, or for all eternity! No, sir, it is 
 no small matter; it has been growing 
 
 ANECDOTES 39 
 bigger and heavier, and I want to get rid 
 of it. I have no doubt you have forgot- 
 ten it, but I could never forget it. I 
 have not, for the last fifty years, heard 
 your name mentioned, or the name of 
 your father, or any of the family, but 
 that quarter has come in connection. 
 Why, the very buttons on your coat— 
 everything that is round—represents a 
 quarter. The moon and stars are mag- 
 nified and illuminated quarters. You 
 need not call it a little sin; if it was, it 
 bas grown mighty to plague me, and de- 
 servedly too. 
 
 With this the gentleman took from 
 his pocket-book a five-franc piece, worn 
 bright and smooth, and said; 
 
 “I wish you to take this; it belongs 
 to you, it is rightfully yours, and will be 
 no burden to you. And if this is not 
 enough I will give you more.” 
 
 Mr. Lindley accepted it, and the 
 gentleman raised himself erect and drew 
 a long breath, as a man who has thrown 
 off a heavy load. He was at last re- 
 lieved. 
 
 The sense of guilt is enduring and tor- 
 menting, and can only die or be re- 
 lieved by repentance, confession, amend- 
 ment or atonement. It needs not that it 
 be the theft, fraud or wrong, amounting 
 to a thousand, ten, twenty, fifty or a 
 hundred thousand dollars, in order that 
 the soul be oppressed by its burden; a 
 twenty-five cents—a quarter of a dollar 
 sin—may become larger than the globe, 
 weightier than many worlds, with a pun- 
 ishment like the sin of Cain—unendur- 
 able.—N. Y. Observer. 
 
 Ce sg ees 
 A LITTLE SLAVE’S FAITH 
 
 A missionary in India, passing one 
 day through the school-room, observed 
 a little boy engaged in prayer, and over- 
 heard him say, “Oh, Lord Jesus, I thank 
 Thee for sending big ship into my coun- 
 try and wicked men to steal me and 
 bring me here, that I might hear about 
 Thee and love Thee. And now, Lord 
 Jesus, I have one great favor to ask 
 Thee. Please to send wicked men with 
 
49 
 
 another big ship, and let them catch my 
 father and my mother, and bring them 
 to this country, that they may hear the 
 missionaries preach and love Thee.” 
 
 The missionary in a few days after 
 saw him standing on the sea-shore, look- 
 ing very intently as the ships came in. 
 
 “What are you looking at, Tom?” 
 
 “T am looking to see if Jesus Christ 
 answers prayer.” 
 
 For two years he was to be seen day 
 after day watching the arrival of every 
 ship. One day, as the missionary was 
 viewing him, he observed him capering 
 about and exhibiting the liveliest joy. 
 
 “Well, Tom, what gives you so much 
 joy?” 
 
 “Oh, Jesus Christ answers prayer. 
 Father and mother came in that ship,” 
 which was actually the case.—Sel. 
 
 90 —— 
 A PERILOUS PLANK 
 
 “We were on shipboard,” relates a 
 captain’s wife, “lying in a Southern har- 
 bor. We were obliged, first to make 
 our way ashore. ‘The waves were roll- 
 ing heavily. I became frightened at the 
 thought of attempting it, when one came 
 to me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid: I will 
 take care of you.’ 
 
 “He bore a peculiarly shaped dark- 
 lantern, only a single ray of light being 
 emitted from a small circular opening. 
 ‘Now,’ said he, ‘take my hand; hold fast, 
 do not fear. Do not look about you, or 
 on either side of you, only on the little 
 spot lighted by my lantern, and place 
 your footsteps firmly right there.’ 
 
 “T heard the rushing of the waters, and 
 was still conscious of fear; but by look- 
 ing steadily only where the light fell, and 
 planting my footsteps just there, hot 
 turning either to the right or the left, 
 clasping firmly the strong hand, the 
 danger was overcome, and the shore 
 reached in safety.” 
 
 “The next day my kind guide said, 
 “Would you Ike to see the way by which 
 you came last night? Then he showed 
 me where our vessel had been lying, 
 and the very narrow plank by which we 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 had reached the shore. He knew that 
 had I turned either to the right or left 
 I should, in all probability, have lost my 
 balance and gone over into those dark 
 waters; but by holding fast and treading 
 just where the light fell all danger would 
 be averted.” 
 
 The believer often comes to some 
 dark passage, or encounters some severe 
 trial, which so overshadows the way that 
 he fears to go forward less he fall. But 
 when he clasps the hand of his heavenly 
 Father, he is led gently over the rough 
 and dangerous places and landed safely 
 in some secure spot. The storms may 
 rage and angry waves threaten to en- 
 gulf, but if we keep our eye on Jesus we 
 shall outride the storms, and have an 
 abundant entrance into the heaven of 
 eternal rest.—Words of Life. 
 
 91 —— 
 PARENTAL HONOR 
 
 The words, “Honor thy father and thy 
 mother,” means four things—always do 
 what they bid you, always tell them the 
 truth, always treat them lovingly, and 
 take care of th:m when they are sick 
 or grown old. I never yet knew a boy 
 who trampled on the wishes of his par- 
 ents who turned out’ weil. God never 
 blesses a willfully disobedient son. 
 
 When Washington was sixteen years 
 old, he determined to leave home and be 
 a midshipman in the colonial navy. After 
 he had sent off his trunk, he bade his 
 mother good-bye. She wept so bitterly 
 because he was going away that he said 
 to the negro servant, “Bring back my 
 trunk. 1m not going to make my moth- 
 er suffer so by leaving her.” 
 
 He remained at home to please his 
 mother. 
 
 This decision led to his becoming a 
 surveyor, and afterwards a soldier. His 
 whole glorious career in life turned on 
 this one simple act of trying to make his 
 mother happy. And happy, too, is the 
 child who never had occasion to shed 
 tears for any act of unkindness to his 
 parents. Let us not forget that God has 
 said, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” 
 —Youth’s Companion. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 4l 
 
 dee oy Bl Ladi 
 SELF-DENIAL GIVING FOR 
 
 CHURCH BUILDING 
 
 The pastor of the People’s Tabernacle 
 of New York, writing in April 1900 of 
 the Easter offering made by his con- 
 gregation for their Church Building 
 Fund the previous week, said: 
 
 “This $271.85 was contributed by 365 
 persons, and we wish we could estimate 
 the value of these gifts by the self- 
 denial they cost. But this is impossible. 
 We do, however, know some facts 
 which show that these gifts were the 
 tributes of loving hearts. A few weeks 
 ago, we called upon one of the members 
 of the church. The carpetless floor 
 was scrubbed clean. Neither the hus- 
 band nor wife could find employment, 
 and they were so poor as to have 
 scarcely anything to eat, and as they 
 could not buy coal, she sat in a cold 
 room or went to a neighbor’s to warm. 
 Yet the offering from that family was 
 more than two dollars. 
 
 The family of a widow, who earns 
 her living at the wash-tub, with the 
 help of one daughter, while the other 
 goes to school, contributed $5.50. To 
 increase the size of their offering, the 
 girls did without sugar for a week. This 
 same family, not long ago, filled out 
 cards promising to give a dollar a week 
 to support the church. They were told 
 that that was too much for them, and 
 that they should give less than half of 
 that sum. 
 
 Lack of space will not permit us to 
 give other instances showing the self- 
 denial of the contributors to this Easter 
 offering, but God knows all about it, 
 and we believe that this cheerful and 
 generous giving by the poor will not go 
 unrewarded. The Lord will surely an- 
 swer their prayers, and dispose those 
 who are able to give large sums with 
 less self-denial to do so, and the $18,000 
 still needed to build the church will be 
 supplied.” 
 
 To the above we may now add, June 
 8, 1916, that the money needed for the 
 
 erection of the church was all volun- 
 tarily offered in answer to prayer. We 
 made no personal appeals nor did we 
 have fairs and festivals to raise money, 
 but rather prayer meetings. And 
 toward the last of the Fund money 
 came at the average rate of $50 a day 
 for more than 500 days, so that we had 
 sufficient when the corner stone was 
 laid, April 7, 1901, to erect the building 
 without debt.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 93 
 
 SAVED IN BATTLE BY PRAYER. 
 
 Within twenty miles of Augusta, Me., 
 seven brothers reside, whose ages vary 
 from sixty-three to eighty. They all 
 have a very firm belief in the power of 
 prayer. They are the sons of Enoch and 
 Mary Hallowell Merrill. All but one of 
 these brothers served in the Civili War. 
 During the darkest and most trying days 
 of the war, when five of the brothers 
 were still at the front, their grandfather, 
 Dean Hallowell, of Windsor, Me., was 
 deeply concerned for their safety, as well 
 as that of his son John, who was also a 
 volunteer for the Union cause. There 
 was much anxiety, much weeping, much 
 prayer for them. One morning the good 
 deacon hastened to his daughter’s home 
 and greeted her with these words: 
 “Polly, you needn’t worry any more 
 about the boys. God has told me they 
 are all coming back alive and so is John.” 
 His faith had prevailed, and so he cou! 
 take .this .welcome .assurance .to .the 
 daughter. James served four years. 
 Enoch and Melvin enlisted twice, and 
 all saw active service. Two only were 
 wounded, but the lives of more than one 
 was despaired of through illness, yet 
 death seemed to have no power to claim 
 them. John Hallowell, the deacon’s son, 
 is still living at an advanced age. 
 
 In striking contrast to this story of re- 
 markable preservation during the perils 
 of war, was the fate of the seven sons of 
 a near neighbor of the Merrills. These 
 also enlisted in the same war and went 
 to the front, but not one returned alive. 
 
 —Carrie H. Kendall. 
 
 
 
 
 
 { 
 
42 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Saag 4 ees 
 
 MONEY NOT THE OBJECT. 
 
 Twenty years ago, a discouraged 
 young doctor in one of our large cities 
 was visited by his old father, who came 
 from a rural district to look after his 
 boy. 
 
 “Well, son” he said, “how are you 
 getting along?” 
 
 “I’m not getting along at all,” was 
 the disheartened answer. “I’m not doing 
 a thing.” 
 
 The old man’s countenance fell, but 
 he spoke of courage, patience and per- 
 severance. Later in the day, he went 
 with his son to the “Free Dispensary,” 
 where the young doctor had an un- 
 salaried position, and where he spent 
 an hour or more every day. 
 
 The father sat by, a silent but in- 
 tensely interested spectator, while 
 twenty-five poor unfortunates received 
 help. The doctor forgot his visitor, 
 while he bent his skilled energies to this 
 task; but hardly had the door closed 
 on the last patient, when the old man 
 burst forth: 
 
 “T thought you told me you were not 
 doing anything!” he thundered. “Not 
 doing anything! Why, if I had helped 
 twenty-five people in a month as much 
 as you have in an hour, I would thank 
 God that my life counted for some- 
 thing.” 
 
 “There isn’t any money in it though,” 
 explained the son, somewhat abashed at 
 his companion’s vehemence. 
 
 “Money!” the old man shouted, still 
 scornfully. “Money! What is money 
 in comparison with being of use to your 
 fellow-men? Never mind about money; 
 you go right along at this work every 
 day. I’ll go back to the farm, and gladly 
 earn money enough to support you as 
 long as I live,—yes, and sleep sound 
 every night with the thought that I 
 have helped you to help your fellow- 
 men.” 
 
 That speech went into the bones of 
 the young doctor’s life, and strength- 
 ened him for a life of unselfish useful- 
 ness, But it had taken sixty years of 
 
 every day. Who wins? 
 
 noble living, struggling against sin and 
 self, pressing forward in paths of right- 
 eousness, bearing the cross, following 
 hard after the Perfect Man, to prepare 
 that old Christian to make the speech. 
 Then the moment came, and he was 
 ready to teach the glorious lesson. 
 —Selected. 
 
 sl 
 
 TWO MEN INSIDE. 
 
 An old Indian once asked a white man 
 to give him some tobacco for his pipe. 
 The man gave him a loose handfull from 
 his pocket. The next day he came back 
 and asked for the white man. “For.” 
 said he, “I found a quarter of a dollar 
 among the tobacco.” 
 
 “Why don’t you keep it?” asked a 
 bystander. 
 
 “T’ve got a good man and a bad man 
 here,” said the Indian, pointing to his 
 breast, “and the good man say, ‘It is not 
 mine; give it back to the owner.’ The 
 bad man say, ‘Never mind, you got it, 
 and it is your own now.’ The good man 
 say, ‘No, no! you must not keep it.’ 
 So I don’t know what to do, and I think 
 to go to sleep, but the good and bad 
 men keep talking all night, and trouble 
 me; and now I bring the money back 
 I feel good.” 
 
 Like the old Indian, we have all a 
 good and a bad man within. The bad 
 man is Temptation and the good man is 
 Conscience, and they keep talking for 
 and against many things that we do 
 Stand up for 
 duty; down with sin. Wrestle with 
 Temptation lawfully. Never, never give 
 up the war till you win.—Selected. 
 
 ae 96 —— 
 
 KIND SEVERITY. 
 
 The Christian Intelligencer records 
 this incident of a stage-coach trip in 
 Western Montana, twenty-five years 
 ago. A mother and her infant child were 
 the only passengers. A sudden change 
 of weather subjected the woman to 
 more exposure than she was provided 
 for, and before the journey was half 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 over the freezing cold began to creep 
 into her blood. She could protect her 
 babe, but her own life was in danger. 
 As soon as the driver knew how 
 severely she was suffering he gave her 
 all his extra wraps, and quickened the 
 pace of his team as much as possible, 
 hoping to reach warmth and refuge be- 
 fore her condition became serious. His 
 passenger’s welfare was now his only 
 thought, and by frequent inquiries he 
 sought to assure himself of her safety. 
 But the fatal drowsiness had stolen 
 over her, and when no answers were re- 
 turned to his questions he stopped, and 
 tore open the coach door. The woman’s 
 head was swaying from side to side. 
 
 Instantly he took the babe from her, 
 and bestowed it as comfortably as he 
 could in a furry bundle under the shelter 
 of the seat; then, seizing the mother 
 roughly by the arms, he dragged her 
 out upon the frozen ground. His 
 violence partly awakened her, but when 
 he banged the door together and sprang 
 to his box and drove on, leaving her 
 in the road, she began to scream. 
 
 The driver looked back and saw her 
 running madly after him. 
 
 “My baby! my baby! O my baby!” 
 
 The horror of her loss made her for- 
 _ get the cold. By and by, when certain 
 that she had warmed her blood into 
 healthy circulation the driver slackened 
 the speed of his horses and allowed her 
 to overtake him and resume her place 
 in the coach with her living and un- 
 harmed child. 
 
 Was the man cruel? That mother did 
 not say so when she knew—knew that 
 he had aroused her and brought her 
 back to life. He had done as God does 
 some times, to shake us out of soul- 
 lethargy and moral sleep. 
 
 When the sordid care and selfish suc- 
 cess are deadening every spiritual sense, 
 till our loyalty to Him, and even our 
 consciousness of right and wrong, are 
 being chilled to death, a sudden terror 
 is often the surest as well as the quick- 
 est rescue. A warning incident or shock 
 of misfortune may be the salvation of a 
 
 ANECDOTES 43 
 character, the restoration of a life worth 
 living. Such discipline is not God’s 
 cruelty. It is his kindness. 
 
 washed palo 
 
 A MOTHER OF MEN. 
 
 , Years ago a family of four—a father, 
 a mother, and two sons—dwelt in a 
 small house situated in the roughest 
 locality of the rocky town of Ashford, 
 Conn. The family was very poor. A 
 few acres of stony land, a dozen sheep 
 and one cow, supported them, The sheep 
 clothed them, and the cow gave milk and. 
 Gid the work of a horse in ploughing and 
 harrowing. Corn bread, milk and bean 
 porridge was their fare. The father be- 
 ing laid aside by ill-health, the burden of 
 supporting the family rested on the 
 mother. She did her work in the house, 
 and helped the boys do theirs on the 
 farm. Once, in the dead of winter, one 
 of the boys required a new suit of clothes, 
 There was neither money nor wool on 
 hand. The mother sheared the half- 
 grown fleece from the sheep, and in one 
 week the suit was on the boy. The shorn 
 sheep was protected from the cold by a 
 garment made of braided straw. The 
 family lived four miles from the “meet- 
 ing-house.” Yet every Sabbath the 
 mother and her two sons walked to 
 church. One of these sons became the 
 pastor of the church in Franklin, Conn., 
 to whom he preached sixty-one years. 
 Two generations went from that church 
 to make the world better. The other 
 son also became a minister, and then one 
 of the most successful of college presi- 
 dents. Hundreds of young men were 
 molded by him. That heroic Christian 
 woman’s name was Deborah Nott. She 
 was the mother of Rev. Samuel! Nott. D. 
 D., and of Eliphalet Nott, D. D., L. L. 
 D., president of Union College.—Sel. 
 
 A fact, not brought out in the preced- 
 ing narrative, rendering the heroism of 
 Deborah Nott the more conspicuous, is 
 that she was a highly-cultured woman. 
 It was largely under their mother’s tui- 
 tion that her sons were prepared for col- 
 lege.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
44 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 (eV OR tae 
 
 THE SWITCHMAN AND HIS 
 CHILD 
 
 On one of the railroads in Prussia a 
 switchman was just taking his place, in 
 order to turn a coming train, then in 
 sight, on to a different track, to prevent 
 a collision with a train approaching in a 
 contrary direction. Just at this moment, 
 on turning his head, he discovered his 
 little son playing on the track of the ad- 
 vancing engine. What could he do? 
 Thought was quick at such a moment of 
 peril. He might spring to his child and 
 rescue him; but he could not do this and 
 turn the points in time, and, for want of 
 that, hundreds of lives might be lost. 
 
 Although in sore trouble, he could not 
 neglect his greater duty; but, exclaiming 
 in a loud voice to his son, “Lie down!” 
 he went to his post, and saw the train 
 safely turned on to its proper track. His 
 boy, accustomed to obedience, did as his 
 father commanded him, and the fearful 
 heavy train thundered over him. Little 
 did the passengers dream, as they found 
 themselves quietly resting on that turn- 
 out, what terrible anguish their approach 
 had that day caused to one noble heart. 
 The father rushed forward to where his 
 boy lay, fearful lest he should find only a 
 mangled corpse; but, to his great joy 
 and gratitude, he found him alive and 
 unharmed. 
 
 The circumstances connected with this 
 event were made known to the king of 
 Prussia, who the next day sent for the 
 man, and presented him with a medal of 
 honor for his heroism. 
 
 The boy was saved from a horrible 
 death. What was it that saved him? 
 Prompt obedience to his father’s com- 
 mand. He did not hesitate; he did not 
 wait to ask why the command was given; 
 he simply heard and obeyed, and was 
 saved! 
 
 Dear reader, if you are still unsaved, 
 may you learn a lesson from this simple 
 tale. 
 
 God not only tells men how they may 
 be saved—He not only invites them to 
 come to Him, and even beseeches them, 
 
 through His servants, to be reconciled to 
 Him, but God also commands! “And 
 this is His commandment, that we should 
 believe on the name of His Son Jesus 
 Christ.” (1 John 3:23.) Just as the 
 switchman, in that moment of fearful 
 peril, commanded his son to do that 
 which alone could save him from death, 
 so God in infinite compassion commands 
 you to believe in Jesus—to trust in Him 
 as your Saviour because there is no 
 other way by which you can be delivered 
 from the awful punishment of sin. “The 
 wages of sin is death”’—eternal death, 
 but Jesus died—‘‘the just for the unjust,” 
 and therefore, “whosoever believeth in 
 Him shall receive remission of sins.” 
 (Acts 10 :43.)—Selected. 
 
 Sense ON ees 
 OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES 
 
 William Rippin was a watchmaker in 
 England. .Three or four years after he 
 began business he caught cold in his 
 eyes, and at the age of twenty-eight be- 
 came blind. .Did he therefore murmur 
 or repine? Not in the least. Without 
 delay he fell to learning his trade over 
 again, as it were, and soon grew as 
 clever as before; cleaning and repairing 
 watches, clocks and musical instru- 
 ments, and other articles, with a skill 
 that was little short of marvelous. The 
 only help he needed in taking a watch 
 to pieces and fitting it together again 
 was in the unpinning and pinning of the 
 hair-spring, which a sightless man could 
 
 not do, but which he taught his wife 
 ‘to do for him. There were often a 
 
 hundred watches at a time in his shop 
 waiting for repairs, many coming to him 
 from a distance of one hundred to two 
 hundred miles. Every watch he knew 
 by touch, every customer by voice. In- 
 telligent, handsome, five feet ten inches 
 in height, he was a striking figure, and 
 many who spoke with him were not 
 aware that he was blind. 
 
 _ Truly this blind William Rippin, find- 
 ing his work to his hand and doing it 
 ne his might, was every inth a hero.— 
 
 el. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 45 
 
 aa 100 —— 
 
 INSTANT SALVATION 
 
 Some years ago a messenger met me 
 hurriedly as I was going out of church 
 one Sunday morning, and begged me to 
 cross the street to see a man who was 
 said to be dying. I crossed the street, 
 entered the sick chamber, and drew 
 near the bedside of the young man, who, 
 as a commercial traveller, had been pass- 
 ing through the city and was taken 
 suddenly and seriously ill. I took him 
 by the hand and said, “You are very 
 BE Bate 
 
 “Yes,” and with a pitiful look he ad- 
 ded, “the physician says I have but a 
 few hours to live.” 
 
 I said, “Are you ready?” 
 
 “Oh no, no; I wish I had three weeks, 
 and I could be ready.” 
 
 Said I, “My dear friend, let me show 
 you that you only need three minutes in 
 order to be ready, if you will do what 
 God says.” And I then opened the 
 Scriptures and showed him how God 
 had laid our sins upon Jesus; and I said, 
 “Now the word is, ‘Behold the lamb of 
 God’; look unto Him, even with your 
 dying eyes, and say, ‘O lamb of God, 
 that taketh away the sin of the World, 
 - have mercy on me!’ Cast your soul on 
 Him.” I asked, “Is not that plain?” 
 
 “But tell me how to do it.” 
 
 So I turned to the tenth chapter of 
 Romans and read, “If thou shalt con- 
 fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
 and shalt believe in thy heart that God 
 hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved.” 
 
 “Now,” I said, “do you receive Jesus 
 Christ?” 
 
 “I do, according to the best of my 
 ability.” 
 
 “Then just open your mouth and 
 cenfess it, and God says you can be 
 saved.” It was all done in a few brief 
 moments.. 
 
 At six o’clock I returned, greatly anx- 
 ious to hear from the young man. As 
 I entered the house I met the landlady. 
 I asked, “How is he?” 
 
 “He is gone; but,” she added, “I wish 
 you could have been here and seen him 
 die. I never witnessed such a triumph- 
 ant death. It was amazing. After you 
 went out, he sent for my husband, who 
 had been for years a backslider, and 
 had not prayed. He said to him, “I 
 want you to kneel down by my bedside 
 and praise God that He sent a man who 
 told me how I could be saved in three 
 minutes.” 
 
 The poor man said, “I do not know 
 how to pray.” 
 
 “But you must.” And there, in spite 
 of his protestations, he compelled this 
 backslider to get down on his knees to 
 praise God that He saved him in three 
 minutes. It was a new life for him, as 
 well as for the other, 
 
 Five years afterwards, I was called to 
 preach in a strange place, and went 
 much against my will; for I was so 
 busy, I did not see how I could go. 
 In the course of my sermon I related 
 the story of the young man who had 
 been saved in three minutes. On the 
 Saturday following I was asked to at- 
 tend the funeral of a man who had died; 
 and as I drew near the corpse and 
 looked into his face, I said, “I know 
 that man; I knew him fifteen years ago 
 when, week after week, his Christian 
 wife used to rise in my meeting and re- 
 quest prayers for her husband. For 
 years I have not seen him; but here I 
 am called to attend his funeral.” And 
 while I was talking a young man step- 
 ped up to me and said: 
 
 “IT would like to see you a moment. 
 I heard you preach last Sunday and tell 
 the story about a man who was saved 
 in three minutes. When I got home I 
 was so filled with it that I said, ‘I will 
 go in and tell this sick man. I went in, 
 sat down by his bedside, and just told 
 the story as you had told it, about the 
 young man who was saved in three 
 minutes; and the grey-headed man said, 
 “That is remarkable, is it not? I could 
 do that.’ ” 
 
 He did just the same thing; he con- 
 fessed Christ, sent for his family, and 
 
46 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 they gathered around his bed; and 
 there, with his dying breath, he, too, con- 
 fessed Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. 
 And so God used that word twice, and 
 I have told it the third time now. Per- 
 chance some careless one or some 
 serious one—perchance some worldly 
 one, perchance some thoughtful one— 
 may just believe it, and in the silence of 
 this hour lift the eyes to Him who hung 
 on the cross, and is now on the throne, 
 and say, “O Lamb of God I trust Thee, 
 I take Thee!”—A. J. Gordon. 
 
 —— 101 —— 
 MANNA IN THE DESERT 
 
 A Christian physician relates this bit 
 of personal experience. God is certainly 
 a rewarder of all those who seek Him 
 diligently: 
 
 “I was going to California in the year 
 1850 across the plains. We had used up 
 all our provisions, Our last crust of 
 bread was gone. Starvation stared us 
 in the face. We were in a desert, far 
 from all human help. I felt if there 
 ever was a time when I should exercise 
 faith in God, now was the time. I went 
 out of the camp, and got down before 
 the Lord and besought him for deliver- 
 ence. While I was on my knees, plead- 
 ing for God to help us, I was directed 
 to go up a stream that ran near us, and 
 TY should find bread. I then arose and 
 started, feeling confident that my prayer 
 was answered and that we should find 
 help. It was then nearly dark, and I 
 went on until the last vestige of twi- 
 light had disappeared. It was quite 
 dark, but I pressed forward. Suddenly 
 as I went around a bend of the creek 
 I came upon a party of about forty men. 
 The first man I met was a college class- 
 mate of mine. .They were a party of 
 miners who were out prospecting, and 
 had become bewildered and lost. They 
 had wandered about, supposing they 
 were on the other side of the Nevada 
 Mountains. They were well supplied 
 with provisions, and were about to 
 throw away sacks of flour and other 
 articles, of which we stood in need. 
 
 They supplied our wants and we furn- 
 ished them with some boots and shoes, 
 which they greatly needed, and gave 
 them such information as to their 
 whereabouts and such directions as en- 
 abled them to reach the place they de- 
 sired. We were made a blessing to one 
 another and went on our way rejoicing. 
 I believe God sent us this help just as 
 truly as if he had rained us down bread 
 from Heaven.” 
 
 —— 102 —— 
 THE PRICE THAT WAS PAID 
 
 The Classmate tells a story of a 
 preacher of the Gospel who had gone 
 down into a coal mine during the noon 
 hour to tell the miners about Jesus 
 Christ. Meeting the foreman, he asked 
 him what he thought of God’s way of 
 salvation. 
 
 “Oh, it is too cheap; I cannot believe 
 in such a religion as that.” 
 
 Without an immediate answer to his 
 remark, the preacher asked: “How do 
 you get out of this place?” 
 
 “Simply by getting in the cage,” was 
 the reply. 
 
 “Well, that certainly is very easy and 
 simple. But do you not need to help 
 raise yourself?” said the preacher. 
 
 “Of course not,” replied the miner. 
 “As I have said, you have nothing to do 
 but get into the cage.” 
 
 “But what about the people who sank 
 the shaft and perfected all this arrange- 
 ment; was there much labor about it?” 
 
 “Indeed, yes; the shaft is eighteen 
 hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at 
 great cost to the proprietor.” 
 
 “Just so; and when God’s Word tells 
 you that whosoever believeth on the 
 Son of God hath everlasting life you at 
 once say: “Too cheap! too cheap!’ for- 
 getting that God’s work to bring you 
 and others out of the pit of destruction 
 and death was accomplished at a vast 
 cost, the price being the death of his only 
 Son. Men forget that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ himself purged our sins, and that 
 their part is but to accept what has been 
 done, and thank God for it.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 47 
 
 103 
 THIRSTING FOR SOULS 
 
 You will remember how Christ sat one 
 day at the well of Sychar weary and 
 athirst, but how He forgot His physical 
 thirst as He found a thirsting soul long- 
 ing for salvation, and found His meat 
 and drink in leading that soul to know 
 Him, and rejoice in His salvation. So 
 it was ever with Him. We could not 
 imagine Him ever once losing an offered 
 opportunity to win a soul. 
 
 I desire to relate to you an incident 
 which I believe will help us at this point. 
 I have it from the lips of the man him- 
 self of whom I am to speak, and who 
 lives in my own State of Illinois. Some 
 years ago this gentleman was stopped on 
 the street by an acquaintance, who said 
 to him, “Mr. R., how long have we 
 known each other?” After a moment’s 
 deliberation he replied that he thought 
 it was about fifteen years. “Well, Mr. 
 R., I believe you profess to be a Christ- 
 ian?” “Yes, sir,” was the reply. “Mr. 
 R., do you really believe that if I should 
 die to-day, without accepting Jesus 
 Christ as my Saviour, my soul would be 
 lost?” The sudden question startled 
 him, but Mr. R. said he was bound to 
 believe that it would be so. 
 friend replied, “Well, you may think you 
 believe it, but I do not believe that you 
 really do believe it. Why, sir, you and I 
 have walked these streets together; we 
 have sat at the same table; we have 
 talked about almost every subject under 
 heaven, and yet you have never once so 
 much as uttered one syllable to show 
 that you had any concern for my soul. 
 You may imagine that you are inter- 
 ested in my soul’s welfare, but I do not 
 believe it.” 
 
 In shame and humility Mr. R. con- 
 fessed that he had neglected many an of- 
 fered opportunity to say something of 
 his hope in Christ to the souls that were 
 near to him. Then he asked his friend 
 what had happened to arouse him con- 
 cerning his soul’s welfare. He replied 
 in substance as follows: “Yesterday, as 
 T sat in the car at the station at Chicago, 
 
 
 
 
 
 But the. 
 
 a gentleman came in and asked to share 
 my seat, and began a conversation which 
 was something like this: ‘Pleasant day.’ 
 “Yes, very pleasant.’ ‘Fine crops re- 
 ported.’ ‘So I understand.’ “We ought 
 to be thankful to the good Lord for all 
 his blessings.’ ‘Why, yes, I suppose we 
 ought.’ ‘My friend, are you a Chris- 
 tian?’ ‘Well, really, I—I think the 
 church is a good thing, but I never gave 
 much thought to this subject. ‘My 
 friend, as a sensible man, do you think 
 it wise to go on in life without giving 
 earnest thought to this subject?’ ‘No, 
 I can’t say that I do.’ ‘Dear friend, I 
 would like to pray with you.’ ‘Why, 
 really, I don’t know that I would object, 
 if we ever met in a proper place for 
 prayer.’ ‘Oh, we will never get a better 
 place than this. Put your head right 
 down here back of this seat.’ And Mr. 
 R., before I realized it, he had drawn me 
 down to his side and was praying for 
 the salvation of my soul, praying that 
 God would lead me to see the truth as 
 it is in Christ, giving me no peace until 
 I found it in Christ. I never heard such 
 a prayer as that, and I shall never for- 
 get it. Suddenly the brakeman called 
 out the name of the station, and he said, 
 ‘I must get out here. Good-bye. Remem- 
 ber, now is the accepted time—now is 
 the day of salvation.’ He was leaving the 
 car when I realized that I did not know 
 his name, and hurrying after him I call- 
 ed to him, as he stepped to the plat- 
 form, ‘Sir, will you kindly give me your 
 name?’ He answered, ‘My name is D. 
 L. Moody.’ “Mr. R.,” the friend con- 
 tinued, “there is one man in the world 
 who is interested in the salvation of my 
 soul. I have no reason to think any one 
 in this town is concerned about it. But 
 I am going to Chicago to find Mr. 
 Moody and settle this matter.” But 
 Mr. R. was too much of a Christian to 
 permit his friend to go away until he 
 had helped him and before they sepa- 
 rated his friend had given his heart to 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Brethren, that incident has been a 
 powerful sermon to me for years. It 
 has led me to speak to many a soul 
 
48 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 whom I would have passed by; so many 
 times I have found them wondering 
 why I had not spoken sooner. How is 
 it with you? Are there those who touch 
 your lives every day who could say that 
 you never revealed a real interst in 
 souls? If so, brethren, if so, I beseech 
 you to see to it that not another week 
 will pass without something being done 
 to show them that you have within you 
 something of Christ’s longing for souls 
 which impelled you to speak unto them. 
 —Sel. 
 
 ——- 104 —— 
 “STRONG IN THE LORD.” 
 
 Some thirty years ago, W. J. Davis, 
 an African missionary, related to Will- 
 iam Taylor, afterward known as the 
 missionary Bishop of Africa, the follow- 
 ing incident which occurred in his early 
 missionary experience. 
 
 “When I was stationed at Clarkebury 
 in 1832, the Tambokie Chief, ‘Vadana,’ 
 coveted a pot we daily used in our cook- 
 ing. He came and begged me every 
 day for that pot for along time. I gave 
 him many presents, but we could not 
 spare the pot, and I positively refused to 
 give it up. 
 
 “Finally the chief said, ‘Davis, I'll 
 have that pot!’ The next day Vadana 
 came with thirty of his warriors, all 
 armed with assagais—a kind of javelin, 
 their principal war weapon. 
 
 “They stood in defiant array before 
 me, and the chief said, ‘Davis, we have 
 come for that pot.’ 
 
 ““We need that pot,’ I replied, ‘for 
 cooking our food, and, as I told you be- 
 fore, I will not give it to you.’ 
 
 ““You must give it to us, or we'll 
 take it.’ 
 
 “*With thirty armed warriors against 
 one unarmed missionary, you have the 
 power to take it, but if that is the way 
 you are going to treat your missionary, 
 just give me a safe passage out of your 
 country, and I’ll leave you.’ 
 
 “Davis, are you not afraid of us?’ 
 demanded the chief sharply. 
 
 “*No, I’m not afraid of you. I know 
 you can kill me, but if I had been afraid 
 
 to die I never would have come among 
 such a set of savages as you are.’ 
 
 ““Davis,’ repeated the chief sternly, 
 ‘are you not afraid to die?’ 
 
 ““No! If you kill me I have a home 
 in heaven, where the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the weary are at rest.’ 
 
 “Then, turning to his men, the chief 
 said, “Well, this is a strange thing. 
 Here’s a man who is not afraid to die, 
 and we will have to let him keep his pot.’ 
 
 “When the chief was turning to go 
 away, he said, ‘Davis, I love you less 
 now than I did before, but I fear you 
 more.’ ” 
 
 The chief never gave the missionary 
 any further trouble about his pot, but 
 showed greater respect for him than ever 
 before.—The Christian. 
 
 en 105——- 
 
 WHAT: INFIDELITY DOES 
 
 After an infidel had concluded a lec- 
 ture in a village in England, he chal- 
 lenged those present to discussion. Who 
 should accept the challenge but an old, 
 bent woman, in antiquated attire, who 
 went up to the lecturer and said: 
 
 “Sir, I have a question to put to you.” 
 
 “Well, my good woman, what is it?” 
 
 “Ten years ago,” she said, “I was left 
 a widow, with eight children utterly un- 
 provided for, and nothing to call my own 
 but this Bible. By its direction, and 
 lcoking to God for strength, I have been 
 enabled to feed myself and family. I 
 am tottering to the grave; but I am per- 
 fectly happy, because I look forward to 
 a life of immortality with Jesus. That’s 
 what my religion has done for me. What 
 has your way of thinking done for you?” 
 
 “Well, my good lady, rejoined the 
 lecturer, “I don’t want to disturb your 
 comfort; but—” 
 
 “Oh! that’s not the question,” said 
 she, “keep to the point, sir. What has 
 your way of thinking done for you?” 
 
 The infidel endeavored to shirk the 
 matter again; the meeting gave vent to 
 uproarious applause, and the champion 
 had to go away discomfited by an old 
 woman. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 49 
 
 —— 106 —— 
 HUNGRY FOR KIND WORDS. 
 
 When the late C. P. Leland, so many 
 years the famous auditor of the Lake 
 Shore Railroad, was stricken with the 
 illness that finally ended his life, Mr. 
 Newell, the president, was very solicit- 
 ous as to his condition. He asked about 
 him frequently and went to see him 
 whenever he could. Mr. Newell was 
 stern and unappreciative, and practically 
 worked himself to death. 
 
 One morning he was shown into the 
 sick room, and made his usual inquiries. 
 
 Mr. Leland lay silent for a little space, 
 gazing fixedly at his chief. Then he 
 spoke. 
 
 “Mr. Newell,” said he, “I know that 
 the end of my life is very near. The 
 doctors have known it for some time, 
 but they only told me of it to-day. If 
 my work is ended here, I am ready to 
 go. But, before I go, may I ask you 
 just one question.” 
 
 “Certainly,” said Mr. Newell. 
 
 “IT have held an important position 
 under you for many years. It was a 
 work to which my life has been given; 
 into which my whole heart entered. 
 What I want to ask you is this: In ail 
 that work, in those long years of ser- 
 vice, has there ever been one little thing 
 of which you approved? One single bit 
 of that work that was worthy of your 
 commendation? One single item any- 
 where upon which you could lay your 
 finger and say, ‘This thing has been 
 well done?’ ” 
 
 Mr. Newell answered: “Leland, you 
 know that your work was well done, and 
 that it always met with my approval.” 
 
 “Then why did you not tell me so?” 
 
 The iron mask fell, Mr. Newell’s eyes 
 filled with tears. He took the hand of 
 the dying man in his. 
 
 Then he let the other for a moment 
 see into his soul. “ I have tried to do 
 these things, but I cannot. They will 
 not out. That is the only excuse I 
 have. I thought you knew how your 
 work has always seemed to me. [1 
 
 ought to have told you so. Is it too 
 late that I tell you now?” 
 
 Little words of kindness are worth 
 more than gold. They should have free 
 coinage.—Selected 
 
 —— 107 —— 
 A SUBMISSIVE WIFE 
 
 A good woman’s husband was spend- 
 ing an evening at a tavern. The con- 
 versation turned on their wives. The 
 husband said his wife was excellent, only 
 she was religious. “But,” said he, “such 
 is the command she has of her temper 
 that were I to take you home at mid- 
 night and order her to get a supper, she 
 would be all submission and cheerful- 
 ness.” The company regarded this as a 
 boast, and dared him to try it. The 
 bargain was made. 
 
 “Where is your mistress?” said the 
 husband to the servant who sat up for 
 him. 
 
 “Gone to bed, sir.” 
 
 “Call her up. I have brought some 
 friends home and desire supper.” She 
 came down and received the company, 
 told them she had some chickens ready, 
 and that supper should be got. It was 
 served with much cheerfulness. 
 
 One of them said to this lady: “Your 
 civility fills us all with surprise. Our 
 visit is in consequence of a wager, which 
 we have lost. As you cannot approve 
 our conduct, why so much kindness to 
 us?” 
 
 “Sir, when I married, my husband and 
 myself were unconverted. It pleased 
 God to call me out of that danger. My 
 huband continues in it. Were he to die 
 he must be miserable forever. I think 
 it my duty to render his present exist- 
 ence as comfortable as possible.” 
 
 This affected the whole company, and 
 left a deep impression on the husband’s 
 mind. 
 
 “Do you, my dear,” he said, “really 
 think I will be eternally miserable? [I 
 thank you for the warning. By the 
 grace of God I will change my conduct.” 
 He became a Christian and a good hus- 
 band.—Sel. 
 
—— 108 —— 
 A SERMON BY A HORSE 
 
 A young minister walked along a busy 
 street one raw November day. He was 
 discouraged and embittered, because he 
 thought he was being overworked, and 
 was not receiving the recognition he de- 
 served. His mood was bitter and rebell- 
 ious, a mood tha is found among min- 
 isters perhaps as often as among other 
 people. 
 
 Out of the din of the traffic there 
 came to his ears the rumble of a heavily 
 loaded dray and the sound of iron-shod 
 hoofs striking the pavement. A dray, 
 loaded with huge rolls of paper and 
 drawn by a pair of magnificient horses, 
 was coming briskly up a slight rise in 
 the street. The driver, a little wrinkled 
 Irishman, crouched lazily on his seat, 
 with the reins hanging loose from his 
 fingers. The two splendid beasts, with- 
 out a word or a touch from him were 
 doing their work with perfect intellig- 
 ence and willingness. The minister 
 paused upon the curb to watch them. 
 
 Suddenly the horse nearest to him 
 trod upon a slippery manhole cover, lost 
 his footing and went down on his side 
 with a resounding crash. A quick little 
 gasp of pity came from the watchers on 
 the sidewalk. But it was wasted pity. 
 For before the dray had lost its head- 
 way, before the little old driver had 
 gathered up his reins, the great horse, 
 with a violent scramble, got his feet 
 again, and threw himself into his collar 
 with an energy that threatened to tear 
 the heavy harness off his back. 
 
 As the dray topped the rise and rum- 
 bled round the corner, the minister turn- 
 ed slowly away. His eyes were moist 
 and his heart humbled. His impulse 
 was to follow that horse all day, and 
 learn his spirit of generous co-operation. 
 And that night as he knelt at his bedside, 
 he prayed a strange prayer: 
 
 “O, God, make me like that horse. 
 Teach me what You want me to do, and 
 help me to want to do it without being 
 driven. When I stumble, may I rise at 
 once and pull all the harder to make up 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 for lost time. Bless my life with a feel- 
 ing of harmony and co-operation with 
 Thyself. Amen.” 
 
 Neéxt Sabbath morning he preached a 
 sermon from the text, “Henceforth I call 
 you not servants; for the servant know- 
 eth not what his lord doeth; but I have 
 called you friends.” It was a good ser- 
 mon; the people spoke to him very 
 warmly about it after church. But the 
 minister knew in his heart that the ser- 
 mon really came from a great dumb 
 brute that had never been to church in 
 his life. —Youth’s Companion. 
 
 109 —— 
 
 KILLING THE GUIDE 
 
 Sir Samuel Baker relates the following 
 incident: 
 
 “Many year ago, when the Egyptian 
 troops first conquered Nubia, a regiment 
 was destroyed by thirst in crossing the 
 Nubian desert. The men, being upon a 
 limited allowance of water, suffered 
 from extreme thirst; and deceived by 
 the appearance of a mirage that exactly 
 resembled a beautiful lake, they insist- 
 ed on being taken to its banks by the 
 Arab guide. It was in vain that the 
 guide assured them that the lake was 
 unreal, and he refused to lose the prec- 
 icus time by wandering from his 
 course. Words led to blows, and he 
 was killed by the soldiers, whose lives 
 depended upon his guidance. The 
 whole regiment turned from the track 
 and rushed toward the welcome waters. 
 Thirsty and faint, over the burning 
 sands they hurried; heavier and heav- 
 ier their footsteps became; hotter and 
 hotter their breath as deeper they push- 
 ed into the desert, farther and farther 
 from the lost track, where the pilot lay 
 in his blood; and still the mocking spir- 
 its of the desert, the afreets of the mir- 
 age, led them on, and the lake, glisten- 
 ing in the sunshine, tempted them to 
 bathe in its cool waters, close to their 
 eyes, but never at their lips. At length 
 the delusion vanished—the fatal lake 
 had turned to burning sand! Raging 
 thirst, and horrible despair! the pathless 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 desert and the murdered guide! Lost! 
 lost! all lost! Not a man ever left the 
 Gesert, but they were subsequently dis- 
 covered, parched and withered corpses, 
 by the Arabs sent upon the search.” 
 
 So sin lures unwary souls from the 
 path of righteousness. The Holy Spirit 
 warns and entreats them. Him they 
 grieve and drive away, and when too 
 late they mourn their folly. 
 
 110 
 VICTORY OVER TEMPTATION 
 
 Wendell Phillips is an example of 
 what a rich young man may become who 
 resists the temptations of early dissipa- 
 tion. He developed a grand moral char- 
 acter, and must ever remain one of the 
 noblest figures in the history of New 
 England. An interesting story is re- 
 lated of his early boyhood: One day, 
 after hearing Dr. Lyman _ Beecher 
 preach, he repaired to his room, threw 
 himself on the floor, and cried, “O God, 
 I belong to thee. Take what is thine 
 own. I ask this, that whenever a thing 
 be wrong it may have no power of temp- 
 tation over me; and whenever a thing 
 is right it may take no courage to do it.” 
 “And,” observed Mr. Phillips, in later 
 years of life, “I have never found any- 
 thing that has impressed me as being 
 wrong, exerting any temptation over 
 me, nor has it required any courage on 
 my part to do whatever I believed to be 
 right,” In other words, in that supreme 
 hour his moral nature conquered and 
 subjugated his lower self. For him 
 thenceforth there was no compromise 
 with animalism, with selfishness, cupid- 
 ity, or, in a word, with any debasing in- 
 clination; they were suppliants at the 
 feet of his soul.—Selected. 
 
 —— 111 
 PROSPERITY AND LIBERALITY. 
 
 A London correspondent of the West- 
 ern Christian Advocate, writing some 
 years ago of the raising of a fund for the 
 extinction of debts on chapels, gives the 
 following incident: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ANECDOTES 5l 
 
 “A gentleman named Wilkes, who 
 has promised a subscription of one thou- 
 sand guineas to this fund, has a history 
 so remarkable as to be worth relating 
 across the Atlantic. Seven years ago he 
 was a journeyman mechanic. Having 
 invented and patented some kind of a 
 crank or spindle used in the cotton man- 
 ufacture, and needing capital to start 
 himself in the business of making them, 
 he made it a matter of earnest prayer 
 that he might be directed to some one 
 able and willing to assist him. In a sin- 
 gular and unexpected manner he fell in 
 with an elderly Quaker, a perfect strang- 
 er, who accosted him with the strange 
 inquiry: ‘Friend, I should like to know 
 if a little money would be of any service 
 to thee.’ Having satisfied himself as to 
 Wilkes’ genius and honesty, the Quaker 
 at once advanced him the required 
 amount. The praying mechanic started 
 in business on his own account, and 
 everything he has touched of late ap- 
 peared to prosper. 
 
 “Hearing of a field in Ireland offered 
 for sale, in which was a deserted mine, 
 he went over to see it; bought the field 
 for a small sum, recommenced working 
 the mine, and it now turns out to yield 
 abundance of excellent copper. For the 
 year 1852 he promised to give the Mis- 
 sionary Society a guinea a day; but such 
 abundance has poured in upon him dur- 
 ing the year, that he felt that to be be- 
 low his duty, and has, therefore, en- 
 larged his subscription for the present 
 year sevenfold. He is actually giving 
 to that noble cause seven guineas daily, 
 or upwards of $10,500 a year, during 
 this year, 1853; in addition to which he 
 has just given one thousand guineas to 
 the fund above referred to. It is pleas- 
 ing to add,” says the writer, “that this 
 remarkable man retains the utmost 
 simplicity.” 
 
 Would that liberality and prosperity 
 might ever go hand in hand. Often, as 
 wealth increases liberality is starved 
 out, and the rich give far less than the 
 poor in proportion to their means and 
 ability. 
 
52 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 112 —— 
 
 THE STORY OF A NEW TESTA- 
 MENT. 
 
 A little girl expressed to her parents 
 one day a wish that they would give her 
 two New Testaments. To the question 
 of her parents why it must be two New 
 Testaments, the child replied that one 
 was for herself and the other to send to 
 the heathen. 
 
 She was given the two volumes and in 
 one of them she wrote: “A little girl 
 who loves the Lord Jesus wishes with all 
 her heart that whosoever reads this 
 should also love and believe on Him.” 
 
 This New Testament went to India 
 and found its way to a station in the in- 
 terior. A Hindoo lady obtained it. She 
 could read, but was unable to write; and, 
 as she longed to be able to write, her at- 
 tention was immediately drawn to the 
 inscription on the fly-leaf. The large 
 and distinct characters of the child’s 
 hand-writing attracted her so much that 
 she tried to imitate them again and 
 again. i 
 
 Gradually the sense of the words made 
 an impression upon her, and the question 
 arose, “May not those words have been 
 written just for me?” She began then 
 earnestly to read the New Testament; 
 her eyes were opened, and she learned to 
 know and love her Saviour 
 
 Years passed. The little girl had 
 meanwhile grown up, and thought ne 
 more of the New Testament which she 
 had sent once upon a time to the heath- 
 en. But her love for missions had grown 
 up with her, and it was her deepest de- 
 sire to serve the Lord among the 
 heathen. She was accepted as a mis- 
 sionary, and sent to a rather out-of-the- 
 way station in India. 
 
 There she entered, one day, the house 
 ef a Hindoo Christian lady. In the 
 course of conversation the Hindoo lady 
 showed her visitor a book, a New Testa- 
 ment, and told how she, a Hindoo hea- 
 then, had been, by its means, brought to 
 Jesus, her Saviour. You may imagine 
 the joyful astonishment of the lady mis- 
 sionary when she recognized in the book 
 
 the same New Testament on whose fly- 
 leaf she had, many years ago, as a little 
 girl, written those words which had 
 served to show the poor Hindoo lady the 
 way to Jesus. Together they knelt 
 down, praised God’s wonderful ways, 
 and thanked Him who had drawn them 
 both to himself. 
 
 “Cast thy bread upon the waters, and 
 thou shalt find it after many days.’”— 
 Feuille Religeuse. 
 
 
 
 113—— 
 
 BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 
 
 A lady in Scotland, whose husband 
 had left her a competence, had two prof- 
 ligate sons who wasted her substance 
 with riotous living. When she saw that 
 her property was being squandered, she 
 determined to make an offering to 
 the Lord. She took twenty pounds and 
 gave it to the London Missionary So- 
 ciety. Her sons were very angry at this, 
 and told her she might as well cast the 
 money into the sea. “I will cast it into 
 the sea,” she replied, “and it shall be 
 my bread upon the waters.” 
 
 The sons, having spent all they could 
 get, enlisted in a regiment and were sent 
 to India. Their positions were far apart, 
 but God so ordered in His providence 
 that both were stationed near good mis- 
 sionaries. The elder one was led to re- 
 pent of sin and embrace Christ. He 
 shortly afterward died. 
 
 Meanwhile the widowed mother was 
 praying for her boys. One evening, as 
 she was taking down her family Bible to 
 pray, the door softly opened and the 
 younger son appeared to greet the aged 
 mother. He told her he had turned to 
 God, and Christ had blotted out all his 
 sins 
 
 Then he narrated his past history in 
 connection with the influence the mis- 
 sionaries of the Cross had on his mind; 
 while his mother, with tears of overflow- 
 ing gratitude, exclaimed: “Oh, my 
 twenty pounds! my twenty pounds! I 
 have cast my bread upon the waters, and 
 now I have found it after many days.”— 
 Gospel in All Lands. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 53 
 
 —— 114 — 
 
 HOW “BEN HUR” WAS WRITTEN 
 
 The Lutheran Observer tells the fol- 
 lowing interesting story: 
 
 “It is related that ‘Ben Hur’ was writ- 
 ten by Gen. Lew Wallace after investi- 
 gating a series of questions which were 
 propounded to him by Col. Ingersoll. 
 Gen. Wallace says he was going on an 
 eastern-bound train, and while going 
 through a drawing-room car he passed 
 the open door of a compartment in 
 which sat Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 
 ‘Come in,’ said the latter. ‘I’m lonely 
 in here, and want someone to chat with.’ 
 Wallace entered and seated himself. 
 ‘All right, Colonel,’ he said; ‘what shall 
 we chat about?’ Lots of things,’ re- 
 plied Ingersoll. ‘Is there a future life?’ 
 Looking out of the window dreamingly, 
 as the express sped on, he answered his 
 own query. ‘I don’t know—do you? 
 Is there a God? I don’t know—do 
 you? Was Christ the Son of God? I 
 don’t know—do you?’ He paused and 
 looked keenly at Wallace. The Gen- 
 eral was a little embarrassed by the 
 abruptness of the great infidel’s inter- 
 rogatories. He replied: ‘Really, Inger- 
 soll, I have never given much thought 
 or study to the questions you propound. 
 I had a Christian training, and I have 
 always tacitly accepted them.’ “Indeed!’ 
 said Col. Ingersoll. ‘Why, man, you 
 surprise me! They are vital issues. I 
 have studied the subject thoroughly. 
 Every man ought to. Now, take my 
 advice and look into the matter. You 
 will find you’ll agree with me.’ ‘I went 
 away from this interview both embar- 
 rassed and mortified,’ said the General, 
 ‘that I did not feel competent to discuss 
 so important a matter with so learned a 
 thinker. I ‘made up my mind that I 
 would never place myself again in so 
 embarrassing a situation. I took down 
 my books and read every authority I 
 could lay my hands on. After a year’s 
 study, so far from agreeing with the 
 great agnostic in his opinions, I wrote 
 “Ben Hur.” That is my reply to him.’ 
 
 “Those who have read ‘Ben Hur’ will 
 remember how powerfully the author 
 shows the sublimity of Christ’s charac- 
 ter and proves His divinity. The above 
 story reminds us of the story of Gilbert 
 West and Lord Lyttleton. They were 
 both infidels. In conversation one day 
 they agreed to take the two cardinal 
 facts in Christianity, and by disproving 
 them, to overthrow Christianity. Lord 
 Lyttleton selected the resurrection of 
 Christ, Gilbert West the conversion of 
 Paul. The separated and spent some 
 months in the study of their respective 
 subjects. They met again by appoint- 
 ment, when, lo and behold! to the 
 astonishment of each, they had both 
 been converted. Christianity  chal- 
 lenges investigaton. The more one 
 studies it, the stronger he will become 
 in faith.” 
 
 —— 115 —— 
 
 VOLTAIRE’S SNEER AT NEWTON 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton wrote a work upon 
 the prophet Daniel, and another upon 
 the Book of Revelation, in one of which 
 he said that in order to fulfil certain 
 prophecies before a certain date was ter- 
 minated, namely, 1260 years, there 
 would be a mode of traveling of which 
 the men of his time had no conception; 
 that the knowledge of mankind would 
 be so increased that they should be able 
 to travel at the rate of fifty miles an 
 hour. Voltaire, who did not believe in 
 the inspiration of the scriptures, got hold 
 of this and said: “Now, look at that 
 mighty mind of Newton, who discovered 
 gravity, and told us such marvels for us 
 all to admire. When he became an old 
 man, and got into his dotage, he began 
 to study that book called the Bible; and 
 it seems, that in order to credit its fab- 
 ulous nonsense, we must believe that 
 the knowledge of mankind will be so in- 
 creased that we shall be able to travel 
 at the rate of fifty miles an hour. The 
 poor dotard!” exclaimed the philosophic 
 infidel, Voltaire, in the self-complacency 
 of his philosophy..—-But who is the dot- 
 ard?—-Earnest Christian. 
 
54 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 116-—— 
 A WONDERFUL ANSWER TO 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, of the Re- 
 formed Church, a veteran of the “Arcot” 
 mission, India, some time ago in New 
 York City related the following personal 
 experience to strengthen the faith of his 
 Christian audience in the power of 
 prayer. 
 
 While upon a tour, which lasted five 
 months, he found himself overtaken by 
 the rainy season and on the outskirts of 
 the jungle. He applied to the authorities 
 for forty coolies or bearers. They were 
 furnished with a guard to prevent the 
 others from forsaking him. They had 
 not proceeded far before both guard and 
 coolies ran away rather than face the 
 terrors of the jungle at that season. 
 
 Proceeding as best he could to the 
 nearest station of the province, he de- 
 manded assistance. The governor said 
 “No” with emphasis, adding that not 
 a man could be obtained to enter the 
 dreaded jungle, where the ground was 
 covered with water, where lurked the 
 fever and man-eating tigers, more 
 ravenous than usual since the flocks 
 upon which they preyed had been driven 
 to the uplands. The doctor showed to 
 the governor a firman compelling every 
 one, under severe penalties for dis- 
 obedience, to assist him all he needed. 
 Under this pressure forty-four coolies 
 were obtained, divided into four com- 
 panies of eleven each, watched over by 
 the doctor’s four native assistants, the 
 doctor himself proceeding on horseback, 
 with a loaded revolver to menace the 
 men and kill wild beasts. The coolies 
 were paid full wages in advance, with 
 the promise of as much more at the 
 end of the journey. Their objective 
 point was the foot of a cataract about 
 sixty miles distant, where they ex- 
 pected to find a boat on which they 
 might float down the river. Above the 
 cataract not a boat could be found, and 
 the river had overflowed its bank. All 
 day they waded in the jungle under 
 alternations of heavy showers and a 
 
 broiling, sickening sun. Toward evening 
 the doctor met two hunters returning 
 from the examination of their traps, who 
 were now running to reach (if possible) 
 before nightfall the highlands. In 
 answer to questions the doctor was told 
 there was not a hill, not even a hillock, 
 on which he could spread his tents for 
 the night—nothing but water, water, 
 and endless stretches of it, like that 
 they were splashing through. What 
 could he do for himself and the band 
 that looked to him for leadership? 
 Nothing. Where on earth could he find 
 the means of reaching the cataract and 
 boat? Nowhere. Must they all perish? 
 
 In this extremity the doctor, on the 
 back of his horse, prayed to his covenant 
 God, saying in substance, “Oh, Lord, I 
 am helplesss to extricate myself from 
 this dangerous situation. Yet I am thy 
 servant, and in obedience to the com- 
 mand of the Lord Jesus have come to 
 India to preach the gospel to the 
 heathen. In his service I have been 
 brought into this difficulty and peril. 
 Be pleased to show me where I am to 
 go.’ Immediately an answer came, as 
 distinctly pronounced in the ear of his 
 soul as ever any words were spoken to 
 the ear of his body. “Turn to your 
 left, go to the river, and you will find 
 that which you need.” Immedately he 
 consulted his guides, who assured him 
 of the folly of proceeding in the di- 
 rection indicated. Then came the voice 
 the second time, repeating the direction 
 first given. Consulting the guides again 
 he was told that the river had over- 
 flowed its banks, and it was impossible 
 that a rescue could come from that 
 quarter. For the third time the voice 
 came, saying, “Turn to the left, pro- 
 ceed to the river, and you will find that 
 which you need.” 
 
 Then, as master in command for the 
 company, he gave the order to turn to 
 the left, and coming to the river—the 
 Godavery,—what did he see? The very 
 thing he needed most—a large flat-boat, 
 and in it two boatmen, who, mistaking 
 him for an English officer, began to 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 55 
 
 apologize for the boat’s appearance fn 
 such a strange spot. They said the 
 flood in the river had loosened the boat 
 from its moorings, and that the “devil 
 himself seemed to be in the boat,” for 
 despite their efforts to the contrary it 
 persisted in floating to the spot where 
 it was found. 
 
 Dr. Chamberlain, armed with author- 
 ity from the English government, took 
 possession of the boat, which he found 
 just broad enough to allow the spread- 
 ing of his tent, under which they safe- 
 ly rested that night undisturbed by the 
 hungry tigers. Next morning they be- 
 gan floating down the river until they 
 came to the next cataract, where they 
 found another boat, and with it relief 
 from all anxiety.—The Watchword. 
 
 —— 117 — 
 
 SAVED FROM WOLVES. 
 
 A little girl only nine years old, 
 named Sutherland, living at Platteville, 
 Col., was recently saved from death by 
 ferocious wolves as follows: The child 
 went with her father on a cold afternoon 
 to the woods to find the cattle, and was 
 told to follow the calves home, while the 
 father continued his search for the cows. 
 She did so, but the calves misled her, 
 and very soon she became conscious 
 that she was lost. Night came on, and 
 with it the cold of November and the 
 dreaded wolves. With a strange calm- 
 ness she continued on her uncertain way. 
 The next day, Sunday, at 10 a. m., she 
 reached, in her wanderings, the house 
 of John Beebe, near a place called Evans, 
 having traveled constantly eighteen 
 hours, and a distance of not less than 
 twenty-five miles. All night the wolves 
 growled around her, but harmed her 
 not, neither was she in the least 
 frightened by them. 
 
 All know that in ordinary cases fierce 
 packs of bloodthirsty wolves would de- 
 your a man, and even a horse. But this 
 little one was invincible in her trusting, 
 simple faith. The narrative states: 
 “She said that the wolves kept close to 
 her heels and snapped at her feet; but 
 
 her mother told her that if she was good 
 the Lord would always take care of her; 
 so she asked the Lord to take care of her, 
 and she knew the wolves would not 
 hurt her, because God wouldn't let 
 them!” The child was hunted for by a 
 great number of people, and being found 
 was restored shortly to her parents in 
 perfect health and soundness.—Selected. 
 
 —— 118 
 A LITTLE BOY’S FAITH 
 
 Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon used to tell 
 the following story of the faith of a little 
 boy in one of the schools of Edinburgh. 
 His teacher had charge of a certain 
 prayer-meeting which John attended. 
 One day, the boy came to his teacher 
 and said, “Teacher, I wish my sister 
 could be got to read the Bible; she 
 never reads it.” 
 
 “Why, Johnny, should your sister 
 read the Bible?” 
 
 “Because if she once read it I am 
 sure it would do her good, and she 
 would be converted and saved.” 
 
 “Do you think so, Johnny?” 
 
 “Yes, 1 do, sir; and I wish the next 
 time there was a prayer-meeting you 
 would ask the people to pray for my 
 sister, that she may begin to read the 
 Bible.” 
 
 “Well, well, it shall be done, John.” 
 
 So the teacher gave out that a little 
 boy was anxious that prayer should be 
 offered that his sister might read the 
 Bible. John was observed to get up 
 and go out. The teacher thought it 
 very rude of the boy to disturb the 
 people in a crowded room, and so the 
 next day, when the lad came, he said: 
 
 “John, I thought it very rude of you 
 to get up in the prayer-meeting and go 
 out. You ought not to have done so.” 
 
 “O, sir,” said the boy, “I did not mean 
 to be rude, but I thought I should like 
 to go home and see my sister reading the 
 Bible for the first time.” 
 
 True to his faith, when he reached his 
 home, he found the little girl reading 
 her Bible. 
 
 
 
56 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 119 —— 
 
 A DREADED DUTY AND SAVING 
 RESULTS 
 
 Normand Smith, Jr., of Hartford Ct., 
 was accustomed to take part of the ap- 
 prentices, whom he had in his business, 
 into his family, that he might watch 
 over their moral and religious welfare. 
 They were always present at family 
 worship. He had occasion to leave 
 home for a week or ten days, and his 
 wife, who had been searching her heart 
 of late, and endeavoring to make a per- 
 fect consecration of herself to the Lord, 
 suddenly found this question raised in 
 her mind: “Are you willing to pray in 
 your family during the absence of your 
 husband?” She shrank from such a 
 trial, for she was young, her disposition 
 - Was retiring and timid, and the appren- 
 tices were from sixteen to twenty years 
 of age. Her mental distress was great, 
 but she wisely carried the matter before 
 the Lord. Leaving all the household 
 matters with her widowed mother, who 
 resided with her, she gave up the day 
 to prayer, from the morning hour, and it 
 was not till late in the afternoon that 
 alone in her room with God, she felt 
 that she had gained the victory, and was 
 prepared for the dreaded duty. 
 
 Then great peace came at once into 
 her soul, and she realized the privilege 
 of presenting those young men to God 
 in prayer. To use her own words, in a 
 letter to the author: “In the morning 
 worship. I only had to open my mouth, 
 and God filled it. The room, and even 
 the house, seemed so full of God, that it 
 was impressed on my mind that God 
 was willing to do a work in the 
 family. So I invited Mr. Barrows (now 
 Rev. Prof. E. P. Barrows, D. D.) to call 
 at tea-time and converse with the young 
 men. He did so, and one of them gave 
 his heart to God during the conversa- 
 tion; and, before the week was out, two 
 others did the same, as did three of 
 their companions in the next house. One 
 of them soon began to prepare for the 
 ministry, and is now a settled pastor.” 
 
 When her husband returned to the city 
 he did not follow his usual custom of 
 going first to the store, but came direct- 
 ly to the house. Mrs. 8. said to him, “I 
 am afraid you will not believe what has 
 taken place in the family, during your 
 absence, if I tell you.” He replied, “I 
 am prepared to believe anything; for my 
 mental exercises were such, while I was 
 away, that I knew that something had 
 taken place, and I came directly to the 
 house, without going to the store, that 
 I might learn what had occurred.” 
 
 And this was the beginning of a prec- 
 ious revival of religion.—Sel. 
 
 —— 120 —— 
 A TRANSFORMED DEMON 
 
 When Robert Moffat proposed to go 
 to Africaner, the terrible demon of the 
 Dark Continent, he was warned that he 
 was an incarnate fiend, who would make 
 a virtue of cruelty, and murder him that 
 he might make a drum-head of his skin 
 and a drinking-cup of his skull. But 
 Moffat had faith in the gospel of the 
 grace of God. This Hottentot chief had 
 been driven north by Dutch invaders un- 
 til, taking his refuge beyond the Or- 
 ange River, he became a daring and 
 desperate outlaw, robbing and murder- 
 ing his victims, and swaying a wide re- 
 gion with the iron sceptre of terror. The 
 colonial government set a price upon 
 his capture, dead or alive, and hired 
 neighboring chiefs to make war upon 
 him; but in vain. In 1818 Moffat ven- 
 tured to take up his abode with Afric- 
 aner. A change took place in the di- 
 abolical ruffian, so complete that it was 
 a new creation. His outward and 
 inward life was transformed; he be- 
 came a man of peace; the helper, friend, 
 nurse of the missionary; a student of 
 the New Testament, an evangelist in 
 Spirit, a winner of souls. Robert Mof- 
 fat’s success was based on his confidence 
 in the power of the gospel to tame the 
 fiercest and most ferocious men, and he 
 saw that man, who in himself combined 
 wolf, bear, leopard and lion, turned into 
 a lamb.—Rev. A. T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 12] — 
 
 A STRANGE WARNING 
 
 “T think the most remarkable instance 
 of supernatural interference for the bene- 
 fit of humanity which I have personal 
 knowledge of,” said Mr. H——, “occur- 
 red when I was in the freight depart- 
 ment of the Providence and Worcester 
 Railroad. As the tracks entered the 
 depot here, some few rods up the road 
 there was a combination of switches, 
 which, if covered by a standing train, 
 could not be re-arranged; so that a 
 down train would, unless signaled to 
 stop, inevitably rush on to what stood 
 in the way. One night the freight train, 
 which always arrived in time to make 
 its changes and get out of the way be- 
 fore the Shore Line express should ar- 
 rive, was late. 
 
 “There was but twenty-five minutes 
 to make all arrangements and clear the 
 track. This was no unusual occurrence; 
 and as the signal red light at the mast- 
 head was up and brightly burning, there 
 was no apparent danger of any thing to 
 produce the slightest nervousness. The 
 delays very frequently occurred, and 
 were thus provided for by the signal. I 
 remember very distinctly, however, that 
 on this occasion I walked out to the very 
 end of the depot platform, and that I 
 suddenly hear in my ear these words, 
 twice repeated, and with impressive dis- 
 tinctness: 
 
 “ ‘TT——, the light will go out! H——, 
 the light will go out!’ 
 
 “The second was so positive, and 
 struck me with such strange power, that 
 I instantly looked at my watch, saw that 
 the Shore Line express was due in three 
 minutes, grabbed the red lantern on the 
 last car of the freight train, and ran up 
 the track with all the speed of which I 
 was capable. Along I fairly flew, im- 
 pelled by some strange intuition that 
 there,was danger, and never questioning 
 for an instant as I ran why I was run- 
 ning, or what I was to do. Arrived at 
 the first end of the curve near the Cor- 
 liss Engine Works, I stopped, and for 
 an instant turned and looked back at the 
 
 ANECDOTES 57 
 red light. It was burning; but in a sec- 
 ond it fluttered a little, and suddenly 
 went out. A world of emotions then 
 seemed to rush through my mind, for 
 the light on the oncoming express al- 
 1eady illuminated the rails. I swung my 
 lantern round and round, shouted, and 
 danced up and down in my terrible anx- 
 lety. It seemed a thousand years be- 
 fore I heard the whistle for ‘down 
 brakes.’ The fate of the crowded train, 
 the horrible telescoping of the cars as 
 they would inevitably crush into that 
 solid freight train, seemed to rise like 
 a vision of Hades before me. But at last 
 the engine was stopped. Without in- 
 dicating to him his previous danger, I in- 
 formed the enginer that the signal had 
 gone out, and that I was statoned to 
 warn him, and started back to the depot. 
 When I got to the switch, I found the 
 switchman running round and round it, 
 almost mad with terror, for he could not 
 light the treacherous lantern, and had 
 anticipated a most horrible disaster. 
 When he saw me, and heard that all was 
 safe, he put his arms around my neck, 
 and he—we—. Well, he cried like a 
 child, and I believe I offered up a pray- 
 er of praise and thanksgiving. I im- 
 mediately established a series of three 
 lights as signals, so that nothing of the 
 kind could possibly occur again. 
 
 “We examined the light, and could 
 see no possible reason why it should 
 have gone out. It was full of oil, with 
 a perfect wick, and there was no wind 
 blowing; although, if there had been, it 
 should have remained burning, as it had 
 before through many a storm. Now, 
 what was it that spoke in my ear? 
 What was it that forced me to save that 
 train? There were ordinarily but two 
 passenger cars on the express, and this 
 night there were seven, all full.”—Sel. 
 
 122 —— 
 A BRAND FROM THE BURNING. 
 
 “T don’t want to hear anything about 
 God nor religion nor the church,” ex- 
 claimed a sick man in response to a re- 
 mark by his missionary visitor from 
 
 
 
58 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the Tabernacle, and he emphasized his 
 declaration by turning his face to the 
 wall and motioned her away with his 
 hand. “The Bible is a humbug and all 
 the church is after is the money!” he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 Here was an immortal soul, perishing 
 in darkness and sin, and the missionary, 
 undaunted, would not be put off. She 
 accepted the chaallenge. “You say the 
 church is only after the money and you 
 will have nothing to do with it. Per- 
 haps you patronized the saloons when 
 you were well,—and he had—and I 
 would like to know what the saloon is 
 after.” 
 
 This was a home-thrust and it touched 
 a tender spot and he wilted at once, 
 and in an altered tone and with tears in 
 his eyes he replied, “You are right my 
 good woman. The saloon is after the 
 money.” She then said, “I don’t warit 
 you to believe that I am after your 
 money. What do you think I get for 
 the work I am doing?” “I don’t know, 
 but I suppose you are well paid,” he re- 
 plied. “Yes, I am,” she answered, “I 
 receive $5 per month and my board.” 
 “You don’t mean to say that you live on 
 $5 a month!” “Yes, I do, and I live 
 well too,” said she. 
 
 The barriers were now down and she 
 had access to his heart. She found that 
 he was in a serious condition of health, 
 likely to live but a short time, and yet an 
 avowed infidel. He was a man in middle 
 life, entirely friendless and destitute, and 
 occupied a furnished room in a wretched 
 tenement house. He remained there by 
 the sufferance of the poor woman who 
 owned the room, for he was unable long- 
 er to pay her anything. 
 
 The missionary learned that he had 
 nothing to eat, and she supplied him 
 with some suitable nourishment, and she 
 spoke to him of the love of God in 
 Christ, and offered up an earnest prayer 
 in his behalf and when she went away 
 he thanked her for her kindness and ask- 
 ed her to call again. 
 
 She did call again soon, and was glad 
 to note his changed spiritual condition. 
 
 He listened attentively to what she had 
 to say, and said “Amen” to her fervent 
 prayer, and thanked her for it. He was 
 willing to come to Christ, and was glad 
 to be shown the way. At a subsequent 
 visit he declared that he was trusting in 
 Jesus as his Saviour, and he gave evi- 
 dence of the wonderful change wrought 
 in him by himself offering an earnest 
 prayer to God, and that too in the pres- 
 ence of some of his former associates in 
 sin. 
 
 Through the persistent efforts of his 
 missionary friend, although his case was 
 incurable, he was admitted to a good 
 hospital, and ten days later the sick man, 
 Henry Wagner, passed from this world 
 of suffering to a better world, we trust, 
 “a brand plucked from the burning.” 
 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 4 93 
 JUDGE NOT 
 
 How often we misjudge people’s mo- 
 tives; and that, sometimes, because we 
 see at the moment but a part of what 
 they are about. If we knew the whole 
 of a matter, our opinions would often be 
 greatly changed. Amongst the lots put 
 up at an auction was one, “A pretty 
 pair of crutches.” In the crowd was a 
 poor cripple boy, and the crutches was 
 just the thing for him. He was the 
 first to bid for them. An elderly, well- 
 dressed man bid against him. There 
 were cries of “Shame, shame!” in the 
 crowd. The boy bid again; and so did 
 the old gentleman. The boy bid all he 
 had, but the old gentleman outbid him 
 once more, and the poor little lad turn- 
 ed away with tears in his eyes. The 
 crutches were knocked down to the 
 elderly man, who, to the great surprise 
 of all, took them to the poor little crip- 
 ple, and made him a present of them. 
 The crowd was now as enthusiastic in 
 their praise as they had just been with 
 their abuse, but the old gentleman heard 
 nothing of it; he had disappeared even 
 before the little boy could thank him. 
 To judge by a part is often to misjudge 
 the whole.—Sel. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ——— 124 —— 
 THE MISSIONARY’S DEFENCE. 
 
 The following occurence was related 
 by Missionary Von Asselt, a Rhenish 
 missionary in Sumatra from 1856 to 
 1876, on a visit to Lubeck: 
 
 “When I first went to Sumatra, in the 
 year 1856, I was the first European mis- 
 sionary to go among the wild Battas, 
 although, twenty years prior, two Amer- 
 ican missionaries had come to them with 
 the Gospel; but they had been killed and 
 eaten. Since then no effort had been 
 made to bring the Gospel to these people, 
 and, naturally, they had remained the 
 same cruel savages. 
 
 “What it means to stand alone among 
 a savage people, unable to make himself 
 understood, not understanding a single 
 sound of their language, but whose sus- 
 picious, hostile looks and gestures speak 
 only a too-well-understood language — 
 yes, it is hard for me to realize that. 
 The first two years which I spent among 
 the Battas, at first all alone and after- 
 ward with my wife, were so hard that 
 it makes me shudder even now when I 
 think of them. Often it seemed, as if 
 We were not only encompassed by hos- 
 tile men, but also by hostile powers of 
 darkness; for often an inexplicable fear 
 would come over us, so that we had to 
 get up at night and go on our knees to 
 pray or read the Word of God, in order 
 to find relief. 
 
 “After we had lived in this place for 
 two years we moved several hours’ jour- 
 ney inland, among a tribe somewhat 
 civilized, who received us more kindly. 
 There we built a small house with three 
 rooms—a living room, a bed room and a 
 small reception room—and life for us 
 became a little more easy and cheerful. 
 
 “When I had been in this new place 
 for some months, a man came to me 
 from the district where we had been, 
 and whom I had known there. I was 
 sitting on the bench in front of our 
 house, and he sat down besides me, and 
 for awhile talked of this, that, and the 
 other. Finally he began: 
 
 ““ Now, teacher, I have yet one re- 
 
 ANECDOTES 59 
 quest.’ 
 
 ‘And what is that?’ 
 
 “*T would like to have a look at your 
 watchmen close at hand.’ 
 
 “*What watchmen do you mean? I 
 do not have any.’ 
 
 “*T mean the watchmen whom you 
 station around your house at night, to 
 protect you.’ 
 
 “ “But I have no watchmen,’ I said 
 again; ‘I have only a little herdsboy and 
 a little cook, and they would make poor 
 watchmen.’ 
 
 “Then the man looked at me incredu- 
 lously, as if he wished to say: ‘Oh, do 
 not try to make me believe otherwise, 
 for I know better.’ 
 
 “ Then he asked: ‘ May I look through 
 your house, to see if they are hid there?’ 
 
 ““Yes, certainly,’ I said, laughing; 
 ‘look through it; you will not find any- 
 body.’ So he went in and searched in 
 every corner, even through the beds, but 
 came to me very much disappointed. 
 
 “Then I began a little probing myself, 
 and requested him to tell me the circum- 
 stances about those watchmen of whom 
 he spoke, and this is what he related 
 to me: 
 
 “* When you first came to us, teacher, 
 we wete very angry at you. We did 
 not want you to live amongst us; we did 
 not trust you, and believed you had 
 some design against us. Therefore we 
 came together, and resolved to kill you 
 and your wife. Accordingly, we went 
 to your house night after night; but 
 when we came near, there stood always, 
 close around the house, a double row of 
 watchmen with glittering weapons, and 
 we did not venture to attack them to 
 get into your house. But we were not 
 willing to abandon our plan, so we went 
 to a professional assassin (there still was 
 among the savage Battas at that time a 
 special guild of assassins, who killed for 
 hire any one whom it was desired to get 
 out of the way), and asked him if he 
 would undertake to kill you and your 
 wife. He laughed at us because of our 
 cowardice, and said, “I fear no God, and 
 no devil. I will get through those watch- 
 
69 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 men easily.” So we came all together 
 in the evening, and the assassin, swing- 
 ing his weapon about his head, went 
 courageously on before us. As we neared 
 your house, we remained behind, and 
 let him go on alone. But ina short time 
 he came running back hastily, and said, 
 “No, I dare not risk to go through alone; 
 two rows of big strong men there, very 
 close together, shoulder to shoulder, and 
 their weapons shine like fire.’ Then we 
 gave up killing you. But now, tell me, 
 teacher, who are these watchmen? Have 
 you never seen them?’ 
 
 “* No, I have never seen them.’ 
 
 “*And your wife did not see them 
 also?’ 
 
 “*No, my wife did not see them.’ 
 
 “* But yet we have all seen them; how 
 is that?’ 
 
 “Then I went in, and brought a Bible 
 from our house, and holding it open be- 
 fore him, said: ‘See here; this book is 
 the Word of our great God, in which he 
 promises to guard and defend us, and 
 we firmly believe that Word; therefore 
 we need not see the watchmen; but you 
 do not believe, therefore the great God 
 has to show you the watchmen, in order 
 that you may learn to believe.’” 
 
 125 
 THE POWER OF A SMILE 
 
 A young man was once confined in a 
 darkened chamber by a long and painful 
 illness. The inmates of the house were 
 distant relatives, and seemed to think 
 that they were doing their whole duty 
 toward the friendless youth by allowing 
 him to remain there. They seldom went 
 into his room, and his attendant was a 
 sad-faced woman who never smiled. 
 
 The young man became despondent, 
 and resolved to commit suicide. While 
 he was writing a note telling his reasons 
 for ending his life a knock was heard 
 upon the door, and a sweet-faced lady 
 entered. She was a neighbor, and hear- 
 ing of his illness had sought him out. 
 
 She smiled so sweetly that even be- 
 fore she spoke the young man gave up 
 
 the idea of the crime which he had con- 
 
 
 
 
 
 other side of the entrance. 
 
 templated. She spoke a few encourag- 
 ing words to him, and when she placed 
 her soft hand upon his thot forehead in a 
 motherly way he broke down and sobbed 
 like a child. She smiled again and knelt 
 in silent prayer by his bedside, with the 
 sweet love-token by which God spoke to 
 him still glowing upon her bright, wom- 
 anly face. 
 
 In that holy silence all his bitterness 
 of soul left him, and there came an in- 
 tense desire to seek and find Christ. The 
 repentant one felt the presence of God’s 
 Spirit, and his hungry soul cried out 
 for rest and peace. Ere the smile faded 
 from the upturned face of the Christian 
 woman the loving Saviour had entered 
 the open door of the seeking soul. 
 
 In a week’s time the young man left 
 the dim chamber of pain, and went out 
 into the great world to do the Master’s 
 work.—The American Messenger. 
 
 —— 126—— 
 HUMBLE WORK FOR CHRIST. 
 
 Humble work for Christ may be of vi- 
 tal importance. The way in which the 
 well-known song whose chorus begins, 
 “Let the lower lights be burning,” was 
 written, may be unknown to many. 
 Some years ago a steamer, in the midst 
 of a terrific gale, was trying to make the 
 harbor at Cleveland, Ohio. Two lights 
 ordinarily indicated the entrance to the 
 harbor—one, the upper light, on the 
 bluffs of the coast; the other, the lower 
 light, that of a beacon on a bar at the 
 The look- 
 out strained his eyes to catch the lights. 
 Finally he saw the upper light, but it 
 alone could not serve as a guide. Where 
 was the lower light? It had not been 
 attended to. Beaten by wind and wave, 
 the ship staggered on with its many pas- 
 sengers. If it missed the entrance there 
 was little hope of escaping the rocks. 
 Of a sudden, the lower light was kindled, 
 at last, but too late! They had missed 
 the entrance, and in the attempt to tack 
 about the ship went down with all on 
 board.—Selected. 
 
 mami Alena 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 127 —— 
 
 WHY HE WAS CRIPPLED 
 
 One of Dr. A. J. Gordon’s favorite say- 
 ings was that God never makes a half 
 providence any more than a man makes 
 a half pair of shears. A good many years 
 ago a little Scotch boy, four years old, 
 was caught in a threshing machine and 
 his right arm was torn off. That wasa 
 terrible accident in every sense of the 
 word, for the boy not only lost the use of 
 his arm, but was deprived of a future 
 livelihood. Iie was a farmer’s son, and 
 it was supposed could himself be noth- 
 ing but a farmer. Now, what would 
 happen to him when he grew up? 
 
 This problem the boy’s mother took to 
 heart. There she held her multilated 
 laddie, and prayed that God would make 
 him a prophet. As his service on the 
 farm was out of question, she prayed 
 that he might be used for a nobler hus- 
 bandry. Thus the boy grew up, with 
 his mother’s prayers of dedication ring- 
 ing in his heart, and in spite cf himself 
 they formed his life. He could not 
 evade them. Her prayers shut him in 
 with God. 
 
 The lad grew and studied, and was 
 admitted to the University of Edin- 
 burgh. He is the student of whom the 
 story has often been told, how Dr. 
 Blackie asked the country boy to rise 
 and recite. Geggie—for that was his 
 name—arose and held his book awk- 
 wardly in his left hand. 
 
 “Take your book in your right hand, 
 mon!” said the teacher, sternly. 
 
 “T hae noe right hand,” answered the 
 youth, holding up his stump. 
 
 There was a moment’s silence, which 
 was broken by the hisses of the class. 
 Tears of mortification were in the stu- 
 dent’s eyes. Then Dr. Blackie ran 
 down from his desk, and putting his 
 arm about the lad’s shoulder, as a 
 father might, said: 
 
 “T did not mean to hurt you, lad. I 
 did not know.” 
 
 Then the hisses were changed to loud 
 cheers, and Dr. Blackie thanked the stu- 
 
 ANECDOTES 61 
 
 dents for the opportunity of teaching a 
 class of gentlemen. 
 
 It was about the time that Maj. Whit- 
 tle came to the University, and in the 
 great awakening that followed Geggie 
 was the first to give himself up to the 
 service of Christ. 
 
 Sometime afterward Dr. Gordon 
 was telling the story to his congrega- 
 tion in Boston. There was an impres- 
 sive stillness, and after the service had 
 closed with more than usual solemnity, 
 a stranger walked up the aisle. The 
 congregation noticed that he had 
 only one arm. With a feeling of pecu- 
 liar presentiment Dr. Gordon came 
 down the pulpit stairs to meet him. 
 
 “I am your Geggie,” the stranger 
 said, with great emotion. 
 
 Dr. Gordon, with a ringing voice, 
 called his congregation back and told 
 them that his illustration was before 
 them. The student was asked to speak. 
 He related the story of his accident, 
 his mother’s prayers, and how he had 
 now consecrated his life. 
 
 As the congregation left the church 
 that morning, the thought came to more 
 than one: “Every man’s life is divinely 
 planned. If adversity is inevitable, 
 God makes the misfortune fit the plan. 
 Many a youth, without knowing it, is 
 working out the life to which his 
 mother’s piety devoted him; and her 
 vows and the Infinite Wisdom are parts 
 of a perfect providence.”—Selected. 
 
 —— 128 —— 
 THE VOICE OF GOD. 
 
 Those who believe only in the “sub- 
 jective” value of prayer, that is in its 
 effect on the one uttering the prayer, 
 might well consider the following inci- 
 dent which is vouched for by W. R. 
 Smith of Pryor, Oklahoma, in an article 
 written for the Evangelical Visitor. 
 
 Some years ago a missionary was | 
 traveling on foot in a thinly settled part 
 of one of the Western States. 
 
 Iie was weary in spirit and body, and 
 as he tramped along over the prairie 
 road, he lifted up his heart in prayer 
 
62 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 to God, that he would in his divine provi- 
 dence bring about such a condition that 
 would permit him to ride part of the 
 journey that yet remained before him. 
 On reaching the summit of a high hill 
 he saw a buggy apparently standing 
 still in the road, and headed in the same 
 way that he was going. 
 
 The preacher soon came up to it, and 
 found a man sitting on the seat, as 
 though waiting for someone. The man 
 spoke to the missionary, saying, “I did 
 not see you the first two times that you 
 called on me to stop, which I did, and 
 looked all around, but seeing no one, I 
 again drove on, but when you called me 
 the third time, I stopped again, and, look- 
 ing back, saw you on top of the hill, and 
 have waited for you.” “Well,” said the 
 preacher, “I did call, but not on you, but 
 to my heavenly Father, to send me an 
 opportunity to ride, for I was weary. I 
 did not speak above a whisper.” The 
 man said, “That is very strange, for I 
 heard a voice clear and distinct, calling 
 for me to ‘stop,’ and I did so. Three 
 times this voice spoke to me, saying each 
 time ‘stop.’ ” “What do you think it 
 meant?” “It means,” replied the mis- 
 sionary, “that the Holy Spirit called on 
 you to help answer my prayer.” The 
 preacher was invited into the buggy, and 
 rode several miles with the man, in 
 whom he found a friend and helper, in 
 sowing the good seed of the kingdom, in 
 these far western wilds. How true it is 
 that God still often movesin a mysteri 
 ous way his wonders to perform, and 
 help his wayworn children, when they 
 call to him for aid in time of need.— 
 Selected. 
 
 —— 129 —— 
 
 WRONG WITH THE STATE 
 
 In the city of Brooklyn, two or three 
 years ago, a detective went into a drug 
 store, laid his hand upon the shoulder of 
 a man about thirty years of age, and 
 said, “You are wanted.” “What do you 
 mean?” asked the man. “You know 
 what I mean. You were in the peniten- 
 tiary several years ago; you escaped and 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 went west. You married out there and 
 came back here and settled; and we 
 have been on your track ever since. 
 Now we have you. You need not deny 
 it.” He said, “That is true; I won't 
 deny it; but I would like to go home 
 and say good-bye to my wife and child.” 
 “All right.” They went to his home. 
 He met his wife and little child in the 
 parlor and said: “Wife, haven’t I been 
 a good father and worked hard to make 
 a living?” She replied, “Yes, what do 
 you mean?” “I mean that I am an es- 
 caped convict from the penitentiary. 
 Since I met you, your love for me has 
 made a different man out of me; but I 
 am an escaped criminal, and must go 
 back to the peniteniary.” He was all 
 right with his wife, child and neighbors, 
 but all wrong with the State of New 
 York. His being right with his wife 
 and child did not put him right with the 
 State of New York. You may be all 
 right with your friends and neighbors, 
 but all wrong with God; and, unless you 
 are born again, you can never get right 
 with God.—Selected., 
 
 omens 130) meee 
 
 WHY BUNYAN RETURNED. 
 
 It being well known to some of his 
 persecutors in London that Bunyan 
 was often out of prison, they sent an of- 
 ficer to talk with him on the subject. 
 Bunyan was at home with his family, 
 but so restless that he could not sleep; 
 he therefore acquainted his wife that, 
 though the jailer had given him liberty 
 to stay till the morning, yet, from his 
 uneasiness, he must immediately return. 
 He did so, and the jailer blamed him for 
 coming at so unreasonable an hour. 
 
 Early in the morning the messenger 
 came, and, interrogating the jailer, said: 
 “Are all the prisoners safe?” “Yes,” “Is 
 John Bunyan safe?” “Yes.” “Let me 
 see him.” He was called, and appeared, 
 and all was well. After the messenger 
 was gone, the jailer, addressing Bunyan, 
 said, “Well, you may go out again just 
 when you think proper, for you know 
 when to return better than I can tell 
 you.”—Sel, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 63 
 
 —— 131 -—— 
 
 HOW GOOD EXAMPLE HELPS. 
 
 A well dressed but unassuming man 
 walked quietly into the offices of the 
 American Committee for Armenian and 
 Syrian Relief, 70 Fifth Avenue, New 
 York, one day this week and inquired 
 for the secretary. He named a Middle 
 West State as his home and said he had 
 been thinking about making a contribu- 
 tion to help the Armenian refugees in 
 Turkey and had concluded from what 
 he had read in the newspapers that 
 money is badly needed now. “I can 
 give $5,000,” he said, “but I would like 
 to hear something about the facts.” 
 
 The assistant secretary of the commit- 
 tee, Walter Mallory, summarized the sit- 
 uation in accordance with information 
 which had been received in recent letters 
 and cablegrams. One of the facts stated 
 by Mr. Mallory is that there are about 
 a million Armenian and Syrian Christian 
 refugees in Turkey and Persia, largely 
 women and children, nearly all of whom 
 are destitute. Deported from their 
 homes by Turkish soldiers, many thou- 
 sands are suffering for lack of the bare 
 necessities of life. Then he began to tell 
 of sacrifices which contributors to the re- 
 lief fund had made. The visitor listened 
 to the story of a minister in Chio, who 
 had written that, from a salary of $80 
 a month, his wife and himself would 
 contribute $40 a month for six months. 
 “Well,” said the stranger, “if they can 
 make a sacrifice like that I think I can 
 give $10,000. 
 
 On the way to the office of Charles 
 R. Crane, the treasurer, the donor was 
 told of an old woman who wrote she had 
 no money, but would give her old Pais- 
 ley shawl—an heirloom which had been 
 in the family many years and had once 
 been her mother’s. He listened also to 
 a letter from the mother of a little girl, 
 four years, old, who had earned two 
 cents sweeping the sidewalk. She wanted 
 to give one cent to the Belgian babies 
 and the other to the starving Armenians. 
 “If other people are willing to give up 
 things,” commented the stranger, “I 
 
 ought to be willing to do the same. I 
 think that everyone ought to help save 
 this old Christian race. I believe I can 
 give $15,000.” Before he entered the 
 treasurer’s office the stranger seemed to 
 make some mental calculations and 
 when he wrote out his check it read 
 $18,000 “Under no circumstances is my 
 name to be made public,” said the 
 stranger, so the treasurer, to keep his 
 faith, personally deposited the check in 
 the bank.—The Christian Work, June 
 17, 1916. 
 
 —— 132 — 
 GOD IS NOT A MERCHANT 
 
 For by grace are ye saved through 
 faith, and not that of yourselves; it is 
 the gift of God. Eph. 2:8. 
 
 Once there was a poor woman stand- 
 ing before the window of a royal con- 
 servatory which looked into the public 
 street. It was the dead of winter, and 
 no flowers were in the garden, and no 
 leaves upon the trees. But in the hot- 
 house a splendid bunch of grapes hung 
 from the glass ceiling, basking in the 
 bright winter sun, and the poor woman 
 gazed at them until the water came into 
 her mouth and she sighed: “Oh, I wish 
 I could take it to my sick darling.” She 
 went home and sat down to her spin- 
 ning wheel, and wrought until she had 
 earned half a crown. She then went to 
 the king’s gardener, and offered that 
 sum for a bunch of grapes; but the 
 gardener received her unkindly and told 
 her not to come again. She returned 
 home and looked around her little cot- 
 tage to see whether there was anything 
 she could dispense with. It was a se- 
 vere winter, yet she thought she could 
 do without a blanket for a week or two; 
 so she pawned it for half a crown, and 
 went to the king’s gardener and now of- 
 fered him ten shillings. But the gardener 
 scolded her and took her by the arm 
 rather roughly and thrust her out. It 
 just happened, however, that the king’s 
 daughter was near at hand; and when 
 she heard the angry words of the gar- 
 dener and the crying of the woman, she 
 came up and inquired into the matter. 
 
64 
 
 When the poor woman had told her 
 story the noble princess said, with a 
 kind smile, “My dear woman, you are 
 mistaken; my father is not a merchant, 
 but a king; his business is not to sell, 
 but to give;” whereupon she plucked 
 the bunch from the vine, and gently 
 dropped it into the old woman’s apron. 
 So the woman obtained as a free gift 
 that which the labor of many days and 
 nights had been unable to procure. 
 
 The salvation of the soul is the great- 
 est thing you can desire. But you can- 
 not buy it with all the riches of the 
 world, with all the prayers you can 
 pray, with all the alms you can give, 
 with all the useful works you could 
 perform during a life as long as that 
 of Methuselah. The fact is, your soul’s 
 salvation is in the hands of a King, and 
 not of a merchant. If you receive it at 
 all, it must be as a gift, for you never 
 can buy it.—Sel. 
 
 13S 
 
 SAVED BY A SONG. 
 
 When the English steamer, Stella, 
 was wrecked on the Casquet Rocks, 
 twelve women were put into a boat, 
 which the storm whirled away into the 
 waters without a man to steer it, and 
 without an oar which the women could 
 use. All they could do was to sit still 
 in the boat, and let the winds and 
 waves carry them whither they would. 
 
 They passed a terrible night, not 
 knowing to what fate destiny was con- 
 ducting them. Cold and wet, they must 
 
 
 
 
 
 have been quite overcome but for the 
 
 courage, presence of mind and musical 
 gifts of one of their number. This one 
 was Miss Margaret Williams, a contralto 
 singer of much ability, well known as a 
 singer in oratorios. 
 
 At the risk of ruining her voice, Miss 
 Williams began to sing to her compan- 
 ions. Through the greater part of the 
 night her voice rang out over the waters. 
 She sang as much of certain well-known 
 oratorios as she could, particularly the 
 contralto songs of “The Messiah” and 
 “Elijah, and of several hyms. Her 
 voice and sacred words inspired the wo- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 men in the boat to endure their suffer- 
 ings. 
 
 At about four o’clock in the morning, 
 while it was still dark, a small steam 
 craft which had been sent out to try to 
 rescue some of the floating victims of 
 the wreck, coming to pause on the 
 waters, heard a woman’s strong voice 
 some distance away. It seemed to be 
 lifted in song. The men on the little 
 steam craft listened, and to their aston- 
 ishment heard the words, “Oh, rest in 
 the Lord,” borne through the darkness. 
 They steered in its direction, and before 
 long came in sight of the boat contain- 
 ing the twelve women, and they were 
 taken aboard. 
 
 If it had not been for Miss William’s 
 singing they would not have been ob- 
 served, and very likely would have drift- 
 ed on to death, as so many other victims 
 of the wreck did.—Selected. 
 
 Paes f44 
 A SUCCESSFUL SERMON | 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Talbot W. Chambers, 
 whose recent decease the church 
 mourns, a few years since prepared a 
 sermon in behalf of the cause of foreign 
 missions. The Board of the Reformed 
 Church was at the time largely in debt. 
 Dr. Chambers was to preach his sermon 
 on a Sunday evening. When the even- 
 ing arrived it was exceedingly stormy, 
 and the church was very sparsely at- 
 tended. The Doctor considered the 
 propriety of postponing the particular 
 service, and was advised to so do. He, 
 however, did not do it. At the close of 
 the service, as he was about to leave the 
 church, a gentleman, not connected with 
 the congregation, and not a resident of 
 New York, stopped him with the in- 
 quiry, “What did you say the amount 
 of the debt was?” He was answered 
 $53,000. “I will send you my check for 
 that amount,” the inquirer replied, and 
 he did. A note from Dr. Chambers to 
 his liberal friend would probably have 
 brought no such result, nor probably 
 would his sermon, if it had not been 
 heard.—Assembly Herald. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 65 
 
 —— 135 —— 
 
 THEIR BREAKFAST CAME. 
 
 In his biography of George Muller of 
 Bristol, England, Arthur T. Pierson, D. 
 D., gives the following illustration of 
 how God wonderfully provided for the 
 needs of the hundreds of orphans under 
 the care of Mr. Muller: 
 
 “On one occasion, when there were no 
 funds in hand to provide breakfast for 
 the orphans, a gentleman had occasion 
 to go to his office in Bristol early that 
 morning before breakfast, and on the 
 way the thought occurred to him, ‘T 
 will go to Mr. Muller’s orphan house 
 and make them a donation.’ Accord- 
 ingly he turned and walked about a 
 quarter of a mile toward the orphan- 
 age, when he stopped, saying to him- 
 self, ‘How foolish of me to be neglect- 
 ing the business I came out to attend 
 to! I can give money to the orphans an- 
 other time.’ 
 
 “He turned around and started back 
 toward his office, but soon felt he must 
 return. He said to himself, ‘The orphans 
 may be needing the money now. I may 
 be leaving them in want when God has 
 sent me to help them.’ So strong was 
 this impression that he again turned 
 around and walked back till he reached 
 the orphanages, and handed in the 
 money which provided them with break- 
 fast.” 
 
 In relating this incident to a large 
 gathering, Mr. Muller’s comment was, 
 “Just like my gracious heavenly Fath- 
 er!” and then proceeded to urge his 
 hearers to trust and prove what a faith- 
 ful covenant-keeping God He is to 
 those who put their trust in Him. 
 
 —— 136 —— 
 THE POWER HOUSE. 
 
 The power house is usually the small- 
 est and quietest building connected with 
 a factory. At one side, away from the 
 noise and clatter, the rattle and bang of 
 the machinery, is the power which 
 makes everything go The Everywhere 
 
 Evangelist tells of a man who learned 
 the way to the power house. 
 
 “Once upon a time an evangelist had 
 been booked for a meeting in a town, 
 but, finding that he could not go at the 
 time named, he sent a young preacher, 
 who had been with him in the work, to 
 begin, with the understanding he would 
 follow in a few days. The young man 
 began the meeting, but was soon told 
 that the evangelist would, in all proba- 
 bility, not be present at ail. What was 
 he to do? He had had but little experi- 
 ence and few sermons; and then, the 
 people had not engaged him to hold the 
 meeting. Must he retreat or must he 
 storm the fort? He determined to con- 
 tinue the meeting, after talking with his 
 heavenly Father about it. Great crowds 
 came to hear him; the people were 
 moved; the church was aroused and sin- 
 ners came to Christ. At the close of the 
 meeting the evangelist came and was 
 surprised, but delighted, to see that the 
 work had succeeded so well. The young 
 man, in relating his experience to the 
 evangelist, said: ‘Come and go with me 
 to the power house.” He went with him 
 to a little old-fashioned log-cabin and 
 there he found two old women who 
 trusted in Jesus. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘I came 
 each day, and here got down and to- 
 gether we talked with God; and after 
 receiving power I went into the pulpit, 
 and God blessed the words spoken 
 through His child.’ ”—Christian. 
 
 —— 137 —— 
 SAVED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER. 
 
 I had a singular experience, which is 
 very vivid to my mind. The precise 
 year I cannot say, and I may be mis- 
 taken in the name of the vessel. But 
 somewhere about the year 1860, the 
 bark Benjamin Burgess sailed from 
 Boston for Cienfugos. The crew were 
 mostly from the house of which I had 
 charge. There had been, and there still 
 was, a powerful religious influence per- 
 vading our house. I said to the men as 
 they were going on board: “Remember, 
 
66 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 I shall pray for you every day.” I made 
 it a practice, directly after 12 m., to re- 
 tire, and pray, and commune with God. 
 One day, after the bark had been gone 
 about six weeks, while bringing up be- 
 fore the Lord the different cases, this 
 crew was presented with unusual inter- 
 est. I was thrown into an agony of 
 feeling before God, and I cried to Him 
 to have mercy on that crew. Such were 
 my feelings. I noted the time. After 
 the terrible struggle in prayer for God to 
 save that crew, with strong cries and 
 tears, there came into my feeling a great 
 peace, as though prayer were answered, 
 and that crew made safe. 
 
 Unbeknown to me, the bark was char- 
 tered to go to Antwerp, and thence to 
 Boston. On their arrival back, I said: 
 “Boys, did you have a hard time in 
 either passage?” “Yes,” said they, “a 
 fearful time on the voyage from Cien- 
 fugos to Antwerp. We were being driven 
 upon the rocks in a terrible gale and 
 storm, Captain Snow said to us: 
 ‘Boys, there is no hope and no deliver- 
 ance, unless God helps us;’ and sure 
 enough, to our great astonishment, there 
 came a wind from off the shore, and we 
 were saved.” The day of my agony of 
 prayer before the Lord for that crew, 
 that they might be saved, was the day 
 they were having that terrible ex- 
 perience on the bark. I have no com- 
 ments to make on that experience. I 
 simply give the facts in the case.—N. 
 Hamilton, in Christian Witness. 
 
 138 —— 
 TAUGHT BY HIS HAND 
 
 Rev. E. P. Dunlap, D. D., for many 
 years a missionary in Siam, at a meet- 
 ing held some years ago, related the 
 following remarkable incident: 
 
 In one of the Southern provinces was 
 found an old man, the Lieut. Governor 
 of the province, who was already a 
 Christian. In his early life he was a 
 maker and worshiper of idols. One day 
 he was looking at his own hands, and 
 said to his wife, “These hands of ours 
 
 
 
 are very wonderful. There must be 
 some power above us to make such 
 hands. Gods that we make cannot do it. 
 Why should we worship them?” So 
 they decided not to worship them 
 any more, but to worship this unknown 
 power, under a name meaning the 
 “Supreme of the Universe.” 
 
 This they did for many years. One 
 day in Bangkok the old man saw a man 
 selling books, and said to him, “What 
 books are those you are selling?” The 
 man replied: 
 
 “The best of books, which tells us 
 about God who made all things. “That 
 is what I want,” the old man said, and 
 bought several, one being a Bible, which 
 he opened at the first chapter of Genesis, 
 and read with delight. He and his wife 
 read it and studied it carefully for 
 months. They then said, “We will wor- 
 ship the Supreme under the name of 
 Jesus, which they did for years. 
 
 Dr. Dunlap baptized them, and the 
 old man built a house for him and the 
 missionaries who came that way and 
 entertained them. One day he went to 
 a silver casket and took out some papers. 
 He told Dr. Dunlap that his friends 
 said to him, “What do you believe, 
 what must we believe if we do not 
 worship idols?” So without any help 
 from any one, lead by the Spirit of God 
 he had formulated a creed from the 
 Word of God. It began: 
 
 “I believe in God the father, I be- 
 lieve in God the Son; I believe in God 
 the Holy Spirit,” and so on, containing 
 all the essential points of our evan- 
 gelical faith. The one point of difference 
 was his refusal to eat things strangled, 
 in obedience to the first council of the 
 church at Jerusalem. 
 
 What a commentary upon the power 
 of God’s word and the necessity of giv- 
 ing it free circulation, without note or 
 comment. How true the promise, “My 
 word shall not return unto me void, 
 but it shall accomplish that which I 
 please and it shall prosper in the thing 
 SH Na I sent it.”—Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 
 all. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ego 2 
 COMPOUND INTEREST. 
 
 The Christian tells of a minister in 
 Ohio, who in 1860 was engaged to stated- 
 ly supply a congregation who were in 
 arrears for a whole year’s salary to their 
 former pastor, and were only able to 
 promise their “supply” five dollars a 
 Sunday till the old debt should be paid. 
 At the close of the year, only about 
 two-thirds of this amount had been paid. 
 So it was not strange their “supply” 
 soon found himself in arrears for many 
 things. That year the cost of his peri- 
 odicals alone had amounted to sixteen 
 dollars. This he could not pay, and as 
 none of them could be stopped without 
 payment of arrearages the debt must 
 continue to increase. 
 
 On New Year’s day the minister was 
 called to marry a couple, and gave the 
 fee, five dollars, to his wife, saying, “I 
 want you to get yourself a dress with 
 this.” There was a kind of material 
 much worn then, which she had very 
 much admired, a dress of which would 
 cost four dollars. So she went to the 
 Mission periodicals to find the address 
 of the Mission Secretary, thinking to 
 send the extra dollar there. But as she 
 glanced over its pages and noticed the 
 trials and straits of the missionaries, 
 and the embarrassment of the Board 
 that year, her heart was touched and 
 she felt that they needed the money 
 more than she did the dress, and instead 
 of the one she concluded to send the 
 five dollars, 
 
 She went to her husband and read 
 her letter to him. ‘O,” said he, “I am 
 afraid we are too poor to give so much.” 
 With a little feeling of disappointment 
 she said, “Well, give me the change and 
 I will send what I intended at first.” 
 “No,” said he, “you have given it, and 
 I dare not take it back.” 
 
 And so with a prayer that God would 
 accept and bless the gift she signed her 
 letter. “A Friend of Missions,” think- 
 ing, as no one would know the authcr, 
 that was the last she would hear about 
 it in this world. 
 
 ANECDOTES 67 
 
 The ladies of that congregation were 
 accustomed to meet weekly at the par- 
 sonage to sew for those in need. The 
 next week a lady who was visiting in 
 the place came with her friends, and as 
 she entered the parlor she tossed a 
 bundle into the lap of the minister’s 
 wife, saying, “Mrs. , here is a 
 present for you.” 
 
 The present was a dress pattern of 
 the same kind of material she had in- 
 tended to purchase. And as she thought 
 to herself, “God has given me this in 
 place of what I have given,” she was 
 reminded of the words, “Give, and it 
 shall be given you.” But that was not 
 the end, 
 
 A short time afterwards she received 
 a letter from the Secretary of the Board 
 of Missions, enclosing a printed copy 
 of her own letter, and asking if she was 
 the author of it; and added, “If so, a 
 large-hearted man in New York has 
 authorized me to send you twenty-five 
 dollars, with a special request that you 
 purchase a dress worth five dollars, and 
 give the rest to your husband and 
 children.” There was her five dollars 
 back, with four times as much more 
 added to it. 
 
 —— 140 -— 
 TRUE TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 When General Cass was stumping 
 Illinois in the interest of Buchanan, one 
 day after a political talk he said he 
 wanted to say a word to the young men. 
 This is what he said: “When I was yet 
 in my teens I made up my mind to go 
 to the west from my home in the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains in Pennsylvania. Our. 
 family was large and pvor, so I told 
 my mother that I must go. “Well, 
 Lewis,” she said, “if you are determined 
 to go I will do the best I can to fit you 
 out.” So in ten days she had my outfit 
 ready. I immediately dressed myself in 
 my new suit, which consisted of three 
 pairs of socks, four shirts, a new cap 
 and shoes and a suit of homespun, and 
 four dollars in money. 
 
 When she kissed me good-bye, she 
 
68 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 said, “Lewis, you are going away from 
 home and friends. I ask you to promise 
 me that you will keep away from the 
 dram shop and the gaming table, that 
 you will keep good company and go to 
 church on Sunday. Will you do ail 
 this? Answer me, Lewis,” she said, as 
 the tears were streaming down her 
 cheeks. I said, ‘Mother, I will.” And 
 I have kept my promise. Since then I 
 have sat at the tables of three kings in 
 Europe; I have ‘been intrusted with 
 many of the highest offices in my coun- 
 try and once was a candidate for the 
 presidency, and I owe it all to taking 
 that mother’s advice. I would say to 
 you young men, “Take your mother’s ad- 
 vice and you will bless the day you did 
 so when I am dead and gone.”—George 
 Quinan. 
 
 —— 141-—— 
 
 THE MISDIRECTED ENVELOPES. 
 
 James Jerrold was out of work. He 
 was a young married man. The dissolu- 
 tion of a firm threw him out of employ- 
 ment. Repeated failures to obtain work 
 nearly disheartened him. But his good 
 wife kept him hopeful, and daily prayer 
 preserved his strength and courage, for 
 James Jerrold believed in God. 
 
 One evening the mail brought him two 
 letters. One from Slater & Bunce offer- 
 ing him a situation and a large salary; 
 the other was from Wallace & Co. offer- 
 ing a situation and a small salary. He 
 did as doubtless hundreds of others 
 would have done. He wrote to Slater & 
 Bunce accepting their offer, and another 
 to Wallace & Co. declining. 
 
 The next day he received answers to 
 his letters. Slater & Bunce wrote their 
 regrets that he had declined their offer, 
 and Wallace & Co. named the time 
 when he should report for duty. 
 
 James had carelessly changed the en- 
 velopes in replying, and each firm had 
 received the letter intended for the 
 other. He hurried to the city to rectify 
 his mistake. He was too late. The 
 vacancy in Slater & Bunce had been 
 filled. Then James could only accept 
 
 the inevitable. He went to his new 
 work and small salary with a heavy 
 heart. Wallace & Co. were an old and 
 safe firm, and they were pleased with 
 him. One day James was startled by a 
 piece of news. He hurried home to tell 
 his wife. Slater & Bunce had failed. 
 James Jerrold’s mistake proved a bless- 
 ing in disguise.—Selected. 
 
 —— 142 —— 
 A FEARLESS CONFESSION. 
 
 It is recorded that Frederick the Great 
 of Prussia was once ridiculing Christ 
 and Christianity in the presence of a 
 gathering of his nobles and generals, 
 who were convulsed with laughter at 
 his coarse and impious witticisms, There 
 was one brave general, however, who 
 sat gloomily silent while the laugh went 
 around. 
 
 This was Joachin Ven Lietan, one 
 of the ablest and bravest of them all. 
 Unable longer to endure it, he “dares” 
 something for his Master, whom he 
 loved even more than he loved his king. 
 See him! With the utmost gravity he 
 arose from his seat, shakes his gray 
 head, and addressing the king, said in 
 solemn tone: 
 
 “Your Majesty knows well that in 
 war I have never feared any danger, and 
 everywhere I have boldly risked my life 
 for you and my country; but there is 
 One above us who is greater than you 
 and me, greater than all men; He is the 
 Saviour and Redeemer, who has died 
 also for your Majesty, and has dearly 
 bought us all with His own blood. This 
 Holy One I can never allow to be mock- 
 ed or insulted; for on Him repose my 
 faith, my comfort, and my hope in life 
 and death. In the power of this faith, 
 you undermine at the same time the 
 welfare of your state. I salute your 
 Majesty.” 
 
 The brave old general sat down. Fred- 
 erick looked at him in amazement and 
 unconcealed admiration, and then and 
 there apologized in the presence of those 
 whom he had entertained with his vul- 
 gar jests.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 69 
 
 eoeewe 143 
 HE SAID, “NO!” 
 
 The great Young Men’s Christian As- 
 sociation Convention, recently held in 
 Boston, brought delegates from all parts 
 of the world to testify to the value of 
 the Christian religion as the highest rule 
 of conduct for practical life. The fol- 
 lowing was told by one who had travel- 
 ed 8,000 miles to attend the meetings: 
 
 “My father was a rancher on a small 
 scale in Australia. He was an English 
 emigrant of sturdy yoeman stock, and 
 while the free life of a shepherd had 
 taught him tolerance and kindness, he 
 remained true in principal to the strict 
 lessons of his early yea4rs. 
 
 The nearest neighbor or station was 
 ten miles away, but the ranchmen used 
 to think nothing of riding twenty or for- 
 ty miles to a centrally located farm on 
 Saturday, to spend the night in carousal, 
 and ride back on Sunday. When the 
 men came together once a week this 
 way, drinking and gambling seemed in- 
 evitable. 
 
 “At last it was my father’s turn to en- 
 tertain. He must invite the herders of 
 the kraals and ranches within a radius 
 of nearly fifty miles. 
 
 “* Boys,’ he said to his two sons, my 
 brother and myself, ‘it’s the parting of 
 the ways. We either live as we have 
 ~ lived, simply in the fear of God, minding 
 our business, paying our debts, if we 
 can, saving our money, if possibie, and 
 being cut by every man around here, or 
 fall into the ways of our neighbors, and 
 drink and gamble ourselves into perdi- 
 tion. I am not going to break your 
 mother’s heart and I say, ‘No,’ even if 
 they burn us down.’ So it came about 
 that my brother and I divided the circuit 
 between us, and I rode to the north and 
 he to the south. To every ranchntan 
 this message went: ‘Father invites you 
 for Saturday and Sunday as_ usual. 
 There will be no cards or liquor—only 
 a quiet talk about old New England and 
 the welfare of the colony.’ 
 
 “We waited that Saturday afternoon 
 with trembling, not expecting a single 
 
 guest; but the whole section was repre- 
 sented. 
 
 “With mother opposite him, father 
 said grace at the table, and we boys saw 
 tears flow down rugged cheeks. That 
 night the men talked along about bush- 
 men and rabbits, and fences, and 
 
 ‘drought, and how to stand by each other. 
 
 “The next morning, as he did every 
 Sunday morning, father conducted pray- 
 ers, this time before fifty of the roughest 
 men I had ever seen assembled; and 
 there was singing of hymns, broken here 
 and there by sobs and tears. When they 
 parted, my father, although a recent 
 comer, was acknowledged leader of the 
 community 
 
 “That section became the most pros- 
 perous section in all the country around, 
 and I thought if Christian courage could 
 accomplish that, it was good enough to 
 live and die by. My father’s ‘No,’ was 
 the one thing needed to save the com- 
 munity, and it saved it.”——Youth’s Com- 
 panion. 
 
 dances 1a 
 THE MISJUDGED HEN. 
 
 One of the members of our church 
 living in the upper part of the city had 
 a hen which annoyed her by cackling as 
 though she had laid anegg. She would 
 seem to delight in getting into the pres- 
 ence of her mistress and then cackle as 
 if wonders had been done as regards 
 egg-laying. But diligent search failed 
 to discover any eggs. This kept on un- 
 til Mrs. Lion, decided the hen was prac- 
 ticing deception, and she so despised 
 liars that one day after the hen had de- 
 clared her egg-laying qualities with 
 more vehemence than usual, Mrs. Lion, 
 determined to no longer tolerate the 
 deceitful thing ‘and so the hen was 
 killed and prepared for the pot. But 
 the grief and surprise of the mistress 
 may be imagined when a few days later, 
 a nest full of beautiful eggs were found. 
 When Mrs. Lion saw she had so mis- 
 judged the faithful hen, her self-re- 
 proach made her nearly sick. 
 
 Moral:—Judge not.—Rev. 
 Tyndail. 
 
 H. M. 
 
70 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ——— 145 —— 
 
 HENRY RYAN’S VISIT TO ETHAN 
 ALLEN. 
 
 On one of the Lorenzo Dow’s erratic 
 evangelistic tours through New York 
 State he happened on a community 
 where a young Irish Catholic, Henry 
 Ryan, was teaching school. The fame 
 of Dow was in all the land in those 
 days, and the people gathered, coming 
 on horseback for many miles, to hear 
 him. Ryan had never attended any ex- 
 cept the services of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, but his curiosity to hear and 
 see Lorenzo Dow overcame his scru- 
 ples, and he became one of the attend- 
 ants on the meetings of the evangelist. 
 As he listened to what seemed to him 
 a new Gospel he became deeply con- 
 victed of sin, and at once renounced his 
 errors both of doctrine and life, and be- 
 came a very happy Methodist. 
 
 When his parents came to know of 
 his conversion they were very angry, 
 and after arguing with him in vain gave 
 him his choice between giving up his 
 new religion or forfeiting all associa- 
 tion with his home. As he would not 
 give up his religion, he was disowned, 
 and with the exception of his sister, 
 who went with him, saying she would 
 not belong to a church that was “desti- 
 tute of the grace of forgiveness,” he was 
 ever afterwards separated from his 
 family. 
 
 Ryan soon began to exhort, and not 
 long after was convicted that it was his 
 duty to become a preacher. A little 
 while later he became deeply in love 
 with Miss Huldah Lord, the daughter 
 of a wealthy gentleman who was very 
 much opposed to the Methodists, but 
 as his daughter’s heart was completely 
 given to Ryan he finally reluctantly con- 
 sented to their marriage. Mr. Lord 
 then offered to advance the money to 
 set his son-in-law up in business, on 
 condition that he would give up his 
 preaching, but Ryan would not do that, 
 and was proof against all persuasion. 
 
 <The territory of the New York Con- 
 
 ference at that time was very great, and 
 in the year 1800, the first year of Ryan’s 
 ministry, his circuit embraced a large 
 part of the State of Vermont. A great 
 test of faith came to him at the very 
 outset of his itinerancy. For some time 
 nothing had been paid on their salary, 
 and their funds were completely ex- 
 hausted. Hunger and starvation stared 
 them in the face, and there was now a 
 little child to suffer with them. Mrs. 
 Ryan had bravely tried to be a faithful 
 Methodist preacher’s wife, but when 
 she saw her little child hungry she; 
 urged her husband once more to give 
 up preaching and go home to her father 
 and set up in business. It was a dark 
 hour for Ryan, and he could see no light 
 in the sky. He felt that he did not dare 
 to give up his ministry, and yet he could 
 not let his wife and child starve. Final- 
 ly, just as the darkness was coming on 
 one evening, he said to his wife that he 
 would go alone into a forest nearby and 
 pray to God for guidance, and he felt 
 sure that they would be guided aright. 
 The hours wore on, but he did not re- 
 turn to the house, and Mrs. Ryan was 
 naturally almost crazy with anxiety. 
 She saw nothing of him until that long 
 sleepless night had passed and the morn- 
 ing dawned. Then, after having spent 
 the whole night in prayer, he came from 
 the woods and met her with a smiling 
 face, saying “I believe God will send us 
 help to-day. If help does not come to- 
 day I will take you to your father’s, and 
 go in business as he wishes me.” 
 
 The fragments left for breakfast were 
 soon eaten, and there was as yet no sign 
 of deliverance. About the middle of 
 the forenoon, however, a stranger rode 
 up to the door, and without alighting 
 from his horse inquired, “Does the 
 Methodist preacher live here?’* He 
 does,” was the reply, and Mr. Ryan 
 went to see what was wanted. The 
 stranger was none other than the far- 
 famed Revolutionary soldier and avow- 
 ed infidel, Colonel Ethan Allen, who, 
 having told his name, continued, I am 
 not a professor of religion, but I respect 
 brave men, and from all I can learn you 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 are no hypocrite, I want you to come 
 to my house and bring your wife with 
 you as my wife wants to get acquainted 
 with her.” And shaking hands with 
 Ryan the brusque old soldier left ten 
 
 dollars in his hand. From that time as 
 long as Ryan remained in that neigh- 
 borhood the family found a warm friend 
 and generous supporter in Ethan Allen. 
 
 Henry Ryan became one of the found- 
 ers of Methodism in Canada, and trav- 
 eled the Canada district as a presid- 
 ing elder for several years. He was a 
 very large man, being not only six feet 
 high, but became exceedingly broad and 
 corpulant, so that no one horse was able 
 to carry him around on his district. He 
 was compelled to use two, riding one 
 and leading the other, and thus chang- 
 ing his mount every other day. Some- 
 thing of the character of the work may 
 be imagined when it is stated that it 
 was no unusual occurrence for him to 
 start from Canada on horseback to at- 
 tend a session of conference at New 
 York or Baltimore; and he did it with 
 as much cheerfulness as the minister of 
 to-day would take a ticket for his state- 
 room in a Pullman car for his trip by 
 the night express. 
 
 Mrs. Ryan, ‘too, developed all the 
 courage of the heroine in the later years 
 of their life. On one occasion, when 
 she was alone with the children in the 
 Canadian woods, the house was filled 
 with Indians, painted and armed with 
 their scalping knives and tomahawks. 
 The Indians began to loot the house, 
 and she and the children were much 
 alarmed. Knowing that resistance was 
 useless, Mrs, Ryan called her terrified 
 children around her, took the large fami- 
 ly Bible from the stand, and commenced 
 reading it aloud. The Indians watched 
 her for a time, but as she calmly con- 
 tinued her reading they came to the 
 conclusion that she must be a witch, and 
 that, with the aid of her “Big Book,” 
 she was about to cast a spell upon them. 
 A panic seized them. They threw down 
 the things which they had collected and 
 fled from the house.—Sel. 
 
 ANECDOTES ‘ya 
 
 ea beees 
 HOW THE FOG WAS LIFTED. 
 
 Soon after his conversion Captain 
 Lewis W. Pennington was sent to sea in 
 command of the Morro Castle, of the 
 Ciyde Line. During this voyage an in- 
 cident occurred which made a deep im- 
 pression on his mind and led him to 
 meditate much on the unlimited power 
 
 of prayer. His vessel was bound from 
 New York to Charleston, N. C. For 
 two days and nights she had been sur- 
 rounded by a dense fog. 
 
 The captain, almost worn out by loss 
 of rest and anxiety, was about to enter 
 the pilot-house, about four o’clock in the 
 morning, when the thought occurred to 
 him that he had the privilege of commit- 
 ting the responsibility which was weigh- 
 ing upon him to an all-wise God. He 
 turned into his own room and, kneeling 
 down, besought God’s help. It was no 
 vague prayer, but a definite petition that 
 God would remove the fog. He felt as- 
 sured that his prayer was heard. Enter- 
 ing the pilot-house, his cheerful face was 
 noticed by the officers of the watch, who 
 inquired what had happened. The cap- 
 tain said that he expected the fog to 
 clear immediately. His attention was 
 called to the fact that there was no sun 
 nor any sign of anything that could lift 
 it. The captain told them that he had 
 prayed about it, and he believed that his 
 prayer would be answered. His hearers, 
 however, would have had more faith in 
 a gleam of sunshine, and one of them, as 
 he went out of the pilot house, muttered 
 an expression of contempt for prayer in 
 such cases. The captain followed him 
 to speak a word of reproof, when both 
 saw three vivid flashes of lightning, 
 which seemed almost to strike the ship. 
 The sailor stopped his ridicule and stag- 
 gered back in amazement as he saw the 
 fog completely dispersed by the electric 
 fiash, We understand that one of the 
 officers on board was so impressed with 
 the occurrence that it ultimately led to 
 his conversion—Selected. 
 
72. ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 147 — 
 THE FIVE-DOLLAR GOLD-PIECE. 
 
 “A friend,’ says a venerable clergy- 
 man, Rev. Mr. H 7; at a atime 
 when gold was scarce, made me a pres- 
 ent of a five-dollar gold-piece. I re- 
 solved not to spend it, and for a long 
 time carried it in my pocket as a token 
 of friendship. In riding about the coun- 
 try, I one day fell in with an acquain- 
 tance, who presented a subscription 
 book for the erectio of a church in a 
 destitute place. 
 
 “T can do nothing for you, Mr. B 
 said I; “my heart is in this good under- 
 taking, but my pocket is entirely empty ; 
 having no money, you must excuse me.” 
 
 “Oh, certainly,” said he; “all right, 
 sir. We know you always give when 
 it is in your power.” 
 
 “We parted; and after I had proceed- 
 ed some distance, I bethought me of 
 the piece of gold in my vest pocket. 
 “What,” said I to myself “I told that 
 man I had no money, when I had by me 
 all this time this gold pocket-piece. 
 This was an untruth, and I had done 
 wrong.” I kept reproaching myself in 
 this way until I stopped and took from 
 my pocket the five-dollar piece. 
 
 “Of what use,” said I, “is this piece 
 of money stowed away so nicely in my 
 pocket?” I made up my mind to turn 
 back, and rode as fast as I could until 
 I overtook Mr. B , to whom I 
 gave the coin, and resumed my journey. 
 
 “A few days after I stopped at the 
 house of a lady who treated me very 
 hospitably, for which I could make no 
 return, except in thanks and Christian 
 counsel. When I took leave, she slipped 
 into my vest pocket a little folded 
 paper, which she told me to give to my 
 wife. I supposed it was some trifle for 
 the children, and thought no more of it 
 until I reached home. I handed it to 
 my wife, who opened it, and to my as- 
 tonishment, it was a five-dollar gold 
 piece, the identical pocket-piece I had 
 parted with but a few days before. I 
 knew it was the same, for I had made 
 amark upon it; how this had been 
 
 
 
 
 
 %» 
 > 
 
 
 
 brought about wes a mystery, but that 
 the hand of the Lord was in it I could 
 not doubt. “See,” said I to my wife; 
 “I thought I gave that money, but I 
 only lent it; how soon has the Lord re- 
 turned it! Never again will I doubt his 
 word.” 
 
 “T afterward learned that Mr. B 
 had paid over the coin to the husband 
 of the lady at whose house I staid, along 
 with some other money, in payment for 
 lumber, and he had given it to his wife. 
 
 “Take my advice, and when appealed 
 to for aid, fear not to give of your pov- 
 erty; depend upon it the Lord will not 
 let you lose it, if you wish to do good. 
 If you wish to prosper, ‘Give, and it 
 shall be given unto you; for with the 
 same measure that ye mete, it shall be 
 measured to you again.’ ‘Trust in the 
 Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell 
 in the land and verily thou shalt be 
 fed.’ ”—Sel. 
 
 
 
 —— 148 —— 
 WHAT THE RAIN DID. 
 
 A merchant was one day returning 
 from market. He was on horseback, 
 and behind his saddle was a bag filled 
 with money. The ruin fell with vio- 
 lence, and the old man was wet to the 
 skin. At this he was quite vexed and 
 murmured because God had given him 
 such bad weather for his journey. He 
 soon reached the border of a thick 
 forest. What was his terror on behold- 
 ing on one side of the road a robber, 
 who, with a gun, was aiming at him, 
 and attempting to shoot him! But the 
 powder being wet with the rain, the gun 
 did not go off; and the merchant, giving 
 spurs to his horse, fortunately had time 
 to escape. As soon as he found himself 
 safe, he said: “How wrong was I not 
 to endure the shower patiently, as it 
 was sent by Providence! If the weath- 
 er had been dry and fair, I should not, 
 probably, have been alive at this hour; 
 the rain, which caused me to murmur, 
 came at a fortunate moment to save my 
 life, and preserve to me my property.” 
 
 —Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ogee AQ aan 
 
 THE ANGEL OF MERCY. 
 
 At the close of the first bloody day 
 of the battle of Fredericksburg, hun- 
 dreds of the Union wounded were leit 
 lying on the ground, and the road 
 ascending Mary’s Heights, All night 
 and most of the next day, the open 
 Space was swept by artillery shot from 
 both the opposing lines, and no one 
 could venture to the sufferer’s relief. All 
 that time their agonized cries went up 
 for “Water! water!” But there was no 
 one to help them, and the roar of the 
 guns mocked their distress. 
 
 At length, however, one brave fellow, 
 behind the stone ramparts where the 
 Southern forces lay, gave way to his 
 sympathy, and rose superior to his love 
 of life. He was a sergeant in a South 
 Carolina regiment, and his name was 
 Richard Kirkland. In the afternoon he 
 hurried to General Kershaw’s headquar- 
 ters, and finding the commanding officer, 
 said to him excitedly: 
 
 “General, I can’t stand this any long- 
 er. Those poor souls out there have 
 been praying and crying all night and 
 all day, and it’s more than I can bear. 
 I ask your permission to go and give 
 them water.” 
 
 “But, do you know,” said the gen- 
 eral, admiring the soldier’s noble spirit, 
 “do you know that as soon as you show 
 yourself to the enemy you will be shot?” 
 
 “Yes, sir; I know it; but to carry a 
 little comfort to those poor dying men, 
 1’m willing to run the risk.” 
 
 The general hesitated for a moment, 
 but finally said with emotion: 
 
 “Kirkland, it’s sending you to your 
 death, but I cannot oppose such a mo- 
 tive at yours. For the sake of it I hope 
 God will protect you. Go.” 
 
 Furnished with a supply of water, the 
 brave sergeant immediately stepped 
 over the wall, and applied himself to his 
 work of Christ-like mercy. Wondering 
 eyes looked on as he knelt by the nearest 
 sufferer, and, tenderly raising his head, 
 held the cooling cup to his parched lips. 
 Before his first service of love was 
 finished, everyone in the Union lines 
 
 ANECDOTES 13 
 understood the mission of the noble sol- 
 dier in gray, and not a man fired a shot. 
 He staid there on that terrible field an 
 hour and a half, giving drink to the 
 thirsty and dying, straightening their 
 cramped and mangled limbs, pillowing 
 their heads on their knapsacks, and 
 spreading their army coats and blankets 
 over them, as mother would cover her 
 child; and all the while he was so en- 
 gaged, until his gentle ministry was 
 finished, the fusilade of death was 
 hushed. 
 
 So it is on life’s battlefield. The can- 
 nonade of sin and wickedness is hushed 
 and powerless before the fearless Chris- 
 tian soldier who dares to do right, even 
 though his life hangs in the balance.— 
 N, W. Christian Advocate. 
 
 —— 150 —— 
 HOW A LITTLE GIRL WORKED. 
 
 “A little child shall lead them.” A 
 modern illustration is recounted in the 
 London Christian. There are ninety 
 villages belonging to the city of Tyre in 
 Syria, and not a Bible, was to be found 
 in any of them not so long ago. 
 
 But a little girl who had been taught 
 about Jesus in the British Syrian Sun- 
 day schools, at Beirut, went to Tyre, to 
 spend her summer holidays. She took 
 her Arabic Testament with her, and read 
 verses from it to the people. They be- 
 gan to get quite interested, and used to 
 look forward to her coming to them day 
 by day. But at last her holidays were 
 over, and they had to say goodby to the 
 Book and its little teacher. 
 
 They often thought and talked about 
 her and about the beautiful words she 
 used to read, until after two years they 
 felt they must get a teacher of their 
 own. So they wrote to Beirut, and ask- 
 ed for one to come: and who do you 
 think was sent? Why, this same little 
 girl, who had by this time left school 
 and was old enough to go as a teacher 
 herself; and she worked up quite a 
 flourishing school. 
 
 Now there are twenty-nine schools in 
 different places, in which 3,000 children 
 are being taught about Jesus.—Selected. 
 
74, ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ———- 151 ——— 
 
 FINDING THE LOST $20. BILL 
 
 Whether wisely or not, Mrs. Nathan 
 Bullock had signed a note with her 
 son, Walter, for $20. to enable him to 
 buy a horse. It was her motherly in- 
 stinct alone which prompted her to do 
 this, without the knowledge of her hus- 
 band. The title of their little home 
 stood in her name, and if that should 
 have to be mortgaged to pay the note, 
 it would indeed be a serious matter. 
 To guard against such liability she 
 treasured her small savings during the 
 summer, and by working industriousty 
 that autumn at fruit drying, she at last 
 had the satisfaction of knowing that 
 the $20 was on hand, in case her son 
 should be unable to pay the note when 
 it fell due. This $20 was in the form 
 of a bill, which was neatly folded and 
 carefully placed within her purse, which 
 was never out of the possession of the 
 owner, 
 
 One day toward the last of December, 
 Mrs. Powell, the daughter of Mrs. Bul- 
 lock, paid a visit to her mother. When 
 her daughter took her departure, since 
 she was to walk home, Mrs. Bullock 
 proposed to goa piece with her. When 
 they had reached a point in the rdad 
 marked by a large stone at the road- 
 side, they stood conversing for a few 
 moments, and just before separating the 
 thought came to Mrs. Bullock to make 
 her daughter a present of a dollar, 
 which she knew would be quite ac- 
 ceptable. She took out her purse, 
 handed the dollar to her daughter, 
 kissed her good bye, and returned to 
 her home. 
 
 Not long after, Mrs. Bullock had oc- 
 casion to open her purse again, and it 
 occurred to her to make sure of having 
 the $20 bill. it took but:a moment to 
 discover that it was missing. She 
 looked through the purse again and 
 again, but the bill was gone. The purse 
 had not left the custody of its owner, 
 neither had it been opened since she 
 gave the dollar to her daughter. She 
 went at once to the place where she had 
 parted with her daughter, thinking that 
 
 perhaps the bill had dropped from the 
 purse and had blown to the roadside, 
 and that possibly she might find it. The 
 search was in vain. 
 
 After her fruitless search she return- 
 ed home, and made known her loss to 
 her aged Christian mother, who resided 
 with her, and then had a good cry. The 
 loss represented the savings of half a 
 year. And the note would be due in 
 the spring, and what would she do? 
 Her mother encouraged her to think 
 that the bill would yet be found. It 
 may have been folded with the one she 
 gave her daughter. But when she saw 
 her daughter a few days later and 
 learned that she knew nothing of the 
 lost $20 bill, all hope in that direction 
 was gone. Winter storms came on and 
 to recover the bill from the road-side, or 
 from the fields into which it may have 
 blown seemed out of the question. 
 
 Although not a professed Christian, 
 Mrs. Bullock was a believer in the etti- 
 Gacy of prayer, so when her mother pro- 
 posed that they pray about it, she will- 
 ingly agreed She told the Lord all 
 about her trouble. She confessed she 
 had not served him, nor done as she 
 ought, but with humbled heart and 
 streaming eyes, she promised her Heav- 
 enly Father that if he would restore the 
 bill to her she would serve him there- 
 after and acknowledge to her friends 
 that he had answered her prayer. She 
 arose from her knees with a determina- 
 tion to be a Christian, and was com- 
 forted with the hope of finding the 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 She continued to make its recovery 
 the subject of her prayer for weeks fol- 
 lowing, and the wish for its restoration 
 was gradually transformed into a set- 
 tled conviction that God would in some 
 way restore it to her. Once or twice 
 when her way had led in that direction 
 she had crossed the field toward which 
 the wind was blowing the diay she lost 
 the money, thinking that possibly she 
 might find the lost bill. The weeks 
 passed on, the last of March came. 
 Thaws had succeeded the frosts of the 
 winter, and the rain and warm winds 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 had cleared the fields of snow excepting 
 in patches. 
 
 One day Mrs. Bullock felt that she 
 ought to go to her daughter’s. The dis- 
 tance not being greater than two miles 
 she walked. While at dinner, an im- 
 pulse came to her to return home. Her 
 daughter tried to dissuade her from go- 
 ing so early, and told her to wait a little 
 later, and Mr. Powell would take her 
 home. But Mrs. Bullock felt she should 
 go then and go she did. On her return 
 home she was overtaken by an acquain- 
 tance who invited her to ride which or- 
 dinarily she would have gladly done as 
 the roads were very muddy. But she 
 felt she ought to decline the invitation, 
 and she did so. 
 
 As she approached a point in the 
 road where by crossing the fields she 
 could reach her home, she yielded to 
 an impulse to go cross lots, notwith- 
 standing the bad walking. As she 
 picked her way across the field, she 
 scanned the ground in every direction 
 for the lost bill. When about half the 
 distance had been traversed, she spied 
 something fluttering from the top of the 
 stubble. She went to it, and lo, behold, 
 it was her long lost $20 bill! 
 
 Her heart was so full of rejoicing 
 that she could hardly restrain herself 
 from shouting aloud God’s praise, and 
 when she reached her home she and 
 her aged mother beglan to thank God 
 with so loud a voice that Mr. Bullock 
 came from the barn to find out what 
 the trouble was, and then he learned 
 for the first time of the loss of the $20 
 bill, and of its safe recovery after being 
 exposed to the freezing and thawing, 
 the snows and the rains of the open 
 fields for three months. He was obliged 
 to confess that it was marvelous; and 
 Mrs. Bullock, true to her vow, never 
 tired of telling how God had answered 
 her unworthy prayer; and ever after she 
 ascribed her conversion to the loss and 
 recovery of the $20 bill. 
 
 This is a true story, and the writer 
 gives it as he heard it from the lips of 
 Mrs Bullock, whom he had known all 
 his life—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 ANECDOTES 1 
 
 a——— 152 ——— 
 ONLY A BOY. 
 
 There is a striking story of a certain 
 missionary who was sent for, on one 
 occasion, to go to a little village in an 
 out-of-the-way corner of India, to bap- 
 tize and receive into church fellowship 
 sixty or seventy adult converts from 
 Hindooism. 
 
 At the commencement of the pro- 
 ceedings, he had noticed a boy about 
 fifteen years of age sitting in a back 
 corner, looking very anxiously and 
 listening very wistfully. He now came 
 torward, 
 
 “What, my boy! do you want to join 
 the church?” 
 
 “Yes, sir.” 
 
 “But you are very young, and if I 
 were to receive you into fellowship with 
 this church to-day, and then you were 
 to slip aside, it would bring discredit 
 upon this church and do great injury 
 to the cause of Christ. I shall be com- 
 ing this way again in about six months. 
 Now, you be very loyal to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ during that time, and if, 
 when I come again at the end of the 
 half year, I find you still steadfast and 
 true, I will baptize and receive you 
 gladly.” 
 
 No sooner was this said, then all the 
 people rose to their feet, and some 
 speaking for the rest, said, “Why, sir, 
 it is he that taught us all that we know 
 about Jesus Christ.” 
 
 And so it turned out to be. This was 
 the little minister of the little church, 
 the honored instrument in the hand of 
 God of saving all the rest for Jesus 
 Christ.—Forward. 
 
 153 —— 
 LIFE’S HARD JOURNEY. 
 
 Certainly if this pilgrimage were all 
 the way a way of ease, then we should 
 not much desire to hasten on it, or to 
 come to the end of it, or to see God in 
 heaven; too much satisfied with the 
 sweetness of the streams, we should 
 stay away from the fountain.—Dr. Chee- 
 ver. 
 
 
 
76 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 
 
 mn 154 
 CHRIST’S CONSTRAINING LOVE. 
 
 A friend of mine who has charge of 
 one hundred and fifty boys in a Reform 
 School, is accustomed, when they mis- 
 behave, to put them for a time on bread 
 and water. What do you think he does 
 himself in some of these cases? He 
 goes and puts himself with them on 
 bread and water! The boys in the 
 school see this, and they learn love of 
 their superintendent and father. Now, 
 when tempted to crime, they must say 
 to themselves—“If I do wrong, I shall 
 have to live on bread and water; but 
 the worst of all is, my father will come 
 and eat bread and water with me and 
 for my sake; and how can I bear that? 
 How can I bear to have my father who 
 loves me so well, confine himself to 
 bread and water for my sake!” 
 
 So Jesus puts Himself on pain and 
 shame and death that you might be for- 
 given and saved from sinning; and now 
 will you go on to sin more? Have you 
 no heart to appreciate his dying love? 
 Can you go on and sin yet more and 
 none the less for all the love shown you 
 on Calvary? 
 
 In that Reform School of which I 
 spoke, the effects roduced on even the 
 worst boys by the love shown them is 
 really striking. The Superintendent had 
 long insisted that he did not want locks 
 and bars to confine the boys. The Di- 
 rectors had said—“You must lock them 
 in; if you don’t they will run away.” 
 On one occasion, the Superintendent 
 was to be absent two weeks. A Direc- 
 tor came to him, urging that he must 
 lock up the boys before he left, for 
 while he was absent they would certain- 
 ly run away. The Superintendent re- 
 plied—I think not; I have confidence in 
 those boys. But, responds the Director, 
 give us some guarantee. Are you will- 
 ing to pledge your city lot, conditioned 
 that if they run away, the lot goes to 
 the Reform School Fund? After a little 
 reflection, he consents—“I will give you 
 my lot—if any of my boys run ‘away 
 while I am gone.” Before he sets off 
 he calls all the boys together; explains 
 
 to them his pledge; asks them to look 
 at his dependent family, and then ap- 
 peals to their honor and love for him. 
 “Would you be willing to see me strip- 
 ped of all my property? I think I can 
 trust you.” He went, returned a little 
 unexpectedly tand late on one Saturday 
 night. Scarce had he entered the yard, 
 when the word rang through the sleep- 
 ing halls—“Our father has come!” and 
 almost in a moment they were greeting 
 him and shouting, “We are all here! 
 we are all here!” 
 
 Cian not Christ’s love have as much 
 power as that? Shall the love the Re- 
 form School boys bear to their official 
 father hold them to their place during 
 the long days and nights of his absence; 
 and shall not Christ’s love to us restrain 
 us from sinning? What do you say? 
 Will you say thus: “If Christ loves me 
 so much, then it is plain he won’t send 
 me to hell, and therefore I will go on 
 and sin all I please.” Do you say that? 
 Then there is no hope for you. The 
 Gospel that ought to save you can do 
 nothing for you but sink you deeper in 
 moral and eternal ruin. Because you 
 are fully bent to pervert it to your utter 
 damnation! If those Reform School 
 boys had said thus—“Our Father loves 
 us so well, he will eat bread and water 
 with us, and therefore we know he will 
 not punish us to hurt us”—would they 
 not certainly bring a curse on themsel- 
 ves? Would not their reformation be 
 utterly hopeless? So of the sinner who 
 can make light of the Saviour’s dying 
 love. Oh, is it possible that when Jesus 
 has died for you to save your soul from 
 sin and from hell, you can do it again 
 and yet again? Will you live on in sin 
 only the more because He has loved you 
 so much? 
 
 Think of this and make up your mind. 
 “If Christ has died to redeem me from 
 sin, then away with all sinning hence- 
 forth and forever! I forsake all my 
 sins from this hour! I can afford to 
 live or to die with my Redeemer; why 
 not? So help me God, I’ll have no more 
 to do with sinning forever !”—President 
 Charles G. Finney. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 7 
 
 we 155 ——— 
 
 A WORD IN SEASON. 
 
 In the year 1861, I was present at a 
 drawing-room meeting presided over by 
 Sir Stevenson Blackwood. His wife, I 
 remember, a Duchess, was there. 
 Among those present was a young man, 
 seventeen years of age, named Archi- 
 bald G. Brown, who listened with im- 
 patience to the address. At the close 
 Mr. Blackwood put his hand on his 
 shoulder asking, “Are you a Christian?” 
 “I am not, and I do not wish to be,” 
 was the quick reply. Sir Stevenson, 
 looking at him out of his tender pene- 
 trating eyes, simply said, “How sad.” 
 These two words, as Mr. Brown said, 
 hooked themselves into his soul. They 
 remained there until he saw the way of 
 salvation through faith in Christ and 
 believed in Him. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Brown’s conversion, 
 he asked the superintendent of the Sun- 
 day school to be alowed to teach a 
 class. But, knowing what a wild life 
 he had led the superintendent responded 
 kindly, but decisively, “No, Archie, we 
 cannot let you teach.” Brown then 
 asked, “If I can collect a class, will you 
 give me a corner of the room to teach 
 in?” The next Sunday he came with a 
 
 class of boys he had picked up in the 
 - streets. From that starting point, he 
 went on until he had graduated trom 
 Mr. Spurgeon’s college, and was recom- 
 mended by him as pastor of the Stepney 
 Green Tabernacle, where he labored for 
 thirty years and gathered into church 
 fellowship six hundred souls. His 
 church was but a short distance from 
 Dr. Barnardo’s Edinburgh Castle, and 
 while holding meetings there I some- 
 times came in contact with him. His 
 heart was in deep sympathy with any 
 effort for the salvation of men. He has 
 I see, been holding meetings in Denver, 
 Col., on his way around the world. May 
 God’s blessings go with him. 
 
 Those two little words, “How sad,” 
 falling from the lips of one who longed 
 for his salvation, sent home by the Holy 
 Spirit, lead to these grand results. May 
 
 the Lord help us to watch for oppor- 
 
 tunities to speak “Just a word for 
 Jesus’—Rev. E. Payson Hammond. 
 
 —— 156 —— 
 WHY SHE PREVAILED. 
 
 Living in one of the towns of a West- 
 ern State was an excellent Christian 
 woman, who had a drunken, infidel hus- 
 band, for whom she had long prayed. 
 So mean ‘and wicked was he that he 
 would never allow her to mention Chris- 
 tianity in the house, and often abused 
 her. 
 
 An evangelist had been holding a 
 meeting in the town, and the last night 
 had come. Repeatedly this little Chris- 
 tian woman had been to the altar pray- 
 ing for this ungodly and unbelieving 
 husband. On this night in question, 
 she was again there, and realizing what 
 it meant for the meeting to close, ap- 
 pealed publicly to the evangelist not to 
 discontinue the services. Immediately 
 in the rear of the house, a man arose, 
 a drayman in the town, who had been 
 wicked, and made this statement: 
 
 “Last night I was passing a certain 
 house in this town, and as I was near 
 the fence, a voice attracted my atten- 
 tion out in the yard. Stopping, I heard 
 a woman praying for her wicked, 
 wicked husband, who was at that time 
 drunk and had driven her from the 
 house. Immediately I fell on my knees, 
 I had never prayed before, but I com- 
 menced to cry to God for mercy, and 
 he spoke peace to my soul. That woman 
 is she who has just spoken, and her 
 prayer woke me up, and I am saved.” 
 
 While he was speaking, and as he sat 
 down, the sound of footsteps on the 
 pavement, ‘as a man running, was heard; 
 and immediately in rushed a man in dis- 
 tress of mind, who at once passed up 
 the aisle and begged the people to pray 
 for him. It was the infidel husband of 
 the little praying woman. 
 
 Prayer had at last prevailed. Impor- 
 tunity in prayer had won her husband 
 at the last moment, and saved another 
 big sinner for good measure.—Cassius, 
 in Way of Faith. 
 
73 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 157 ——— 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 This is the title of a little book, quaint 
 and curious, by a very eccentric Congre- 
 gational minister in England, who died 
 in 1813. He was noted for his faith in 
 divine providence, even to the minutest 
 events of daily life, and used to write 
 his name thus: William Huntington, 
 S. S. 
 
 The S. S. meant Sinner Saved! The 
 book is an autobiography from this one 
 point of view, and every page discloses 
 events in answer to prayer for temporal 
 relief. There is space here for but a 
 brief extract, which may be taken as a 
 specimen of the entire volume. 
 
 Of a time when he was in great need, 
 he says: “However, I found that God 
 now began much to try my patience, and 
 that I ought to importune and watch, 
 and wait upon the Lord, and to keep my 
 eye fixed upon him, as a servant’s eye 
 is on the hand of his master, until I ob- 
 tained an answer. And I never waited 
 on his Blessed Majesty in vain; 
 for it was sure to come at length. Af- 
 ter putting up many petitions and 
 having been kept long in suspense, I one 
 night called on Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in 
 Chandler Street, Oxford Road, who 
 were great friends to me. Before I de- 
 parted, they generously niade me a 
 present of three guineas. I humbly 
 beg their pardon for mentioning their 
 names, and exposing their secret alms; 
 but as I prayed to my Father, which 
 seeth in secret, and in mercy rewarded 
 me openly, I therefore must proclaim it 
 upon the house-top, to encourage the 
 weak faith of others, that they make 
 God thcir Guardian and their Bank. 
 
 Again: “The next morning a person 
 knocked at my door, desiring to see me. 
 
 When he came into my study, I look- 
 ed at him, and perceived him to be a 
 gentleman that I had never seen before. 
 
 He told me that he once heard me 
 preach at Dr. Gifford’s meeting-house, 
 and once or twice in Margaret St. 
 Chapel, and that he had heard me great- 
 
 ly to his satisfaction; and the reason of 
 his coming to see me now was, that he 
 had been exercised, the last night with 
 a dream; that he dreamed the word of 
 God came to him, saying, ‘if thy brother 
 be waxen poor, thou shalt open thy 
 hand to thy poor brother,’ etc. He 
 asked me if there was such a portion 
 of scripture. I answered, the words 
 were these: (the whole connected pas- 
 sage being given.) He told me many 
 of these words came to him in his sleep; 
 and in the morning, when he awoke, he 
 felt the power of them. In wondering 
 who this poor brother could be, he in- 
 formed me, it was impressed on his 
 mind that I was the poor brother about 
 whom he had dreamed, and asked me 
 concerning my circumstances. I then 
 told him of the trial I was in, and as 
 he was fully satisfied it was of God, he 
 wondered much at it. At his departure 
 he gave me a pair of doeskin gloves, 
 two new white handkerchiefs, a guinea. 
 He then blessed me, and left me; and I 
 do not remember ever seeing him be- 
 fore that time, nor but once since. Thus 
 God, who had commanded a widow to 
 sustain Elijah, commanded this man to 
 relieve me. The next day, a friend told 
 me that a person had left a guinea with 
 him for me; and while at Mr. Byrch- 
 more’s, in Margaret Street, a lady came 
 to his door in a coach, inquiring for me. 
 When I went to the door, she put her 
 hand out, gave me a guinea, and then 
 ordered the coachman to drive away, 
 having done all the business God sent 
 her to do. 
 
 Thus our Most Bountiful Benefactor 
 answered these, my poor petitions, also, 
 after he had been pleased, for a time, 
 to exercise my faith and patience, in 
 order to encourage me to a stronger 
 confidence in his grace and providence. 
 At another time, when Providence had 
 been exercising my faith and patience, 
 till the cupboard was quite empty, in 
 answer to simple prayer, he sent me 
 one of the largest hams that I ever saw, 
 Indeed I saw clearly, that I had nothing 
 to do but to pray, to study and to 
 preach, for God took care of me and of 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 my family also, agreeably to his own 
 promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness, and all 
 these things shall be added unto you.” 
 —Selected. 
 
 —— 158 —— 
 WHY SHE SUCCEEDED. 
 
 A number of years ago in a New Eng- 
 land Sunday school a class of girls was 
 given to a young woman in her teens. 
 As fast as the girls were converted they 
 were taken out of her class and uncon- 
 verted girls took their place. Sixty- 
 three girls were under her instruction 
 and sixty-one of them were converted. 
 
 She was then put in charge of the in- 
 fant class. Some years afterward, dur- 
 ing her pastor’s absence, I supplied the 
 pulpit and was entertained at the home 
 of her father. The church had over 
 eight-hundred members, and the new 
 church seated 1,400, and was packed to 
 the door. 
 
 Two Sundays I visited the infant 
 class. There were two hundred and for- 
 ty-three in the class. The teacher said, 
 “I keep these children till they are ten 
 years old, and never expect one to leave 
 the class unconverted. I visit every 
 home that I may know the inside life 
 of the family, and win their confidence 
 and love. Then I invite the children to 
 my house, and talk and pray with them 
 and lead them to Jesus.” 
 
 The first Sunday I was under her fath- 
 er’s roof five children came to her house 
 to be taught the way to salvation. 
 
 One day at a meeting of ministers her 
 pastor was asked: “What is the secret 
 of the remarkable growth of your 
 church?” He replied: “The greatest 
 single human factor is Miss H , the 
 teacher of our infant class. One week 
 seven new families came to our church. 
 Not a church officer knew one of them. 
 We asked them how they happened to 
 come. Their reply was: ‘Our little chil- 
 dren got in Miss H’s infant class!’ ” 
 
 One may say, “She was rich and had 
 nothing else to do but call on the chil- 
 dren.” You are mistaken. She sup- 
 
 
 
 ANECDOTES 19 
 ported herself by teaching in the public 
 school and did all this work for Christ 
 outside of school hours. The next year 
 after I visited her church, she was in- 
 vited to address the International S. S. 
 Convention in Chicago. The next year 
 to address the convention in London. 
 
 She became so invaluable to her 
 church, that she was employed as assist- 
 ant pastor. Then Mr. Wanamaker heara 
 of her, and engaged her for fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars a year to labor in his great 
 school in Philadelphia. She does not 
 need to teach in the public schools any 
 more to earn her bread; she can give 
 her whole time to praying with the chil- 
 dren and talking to them about Jesus.— 
 Rev. A. M. Mills, in the Revivalist. 
 
 159 
 THE KIND OF MEN WANTED. 
 
 Rev. C. A. Dodds relates: “Last au- 
 tumn two brothers came from Mardin 
 to Adana. For quite a while they 
 hunted in vain for work. At last they 
 applied to a Moslem agha who owns a 
 village some hours from Adana. He 
 asked them, ‘What is your religion?’ 
 ‘We are Christians.’ ‘Yes, but Chris- 
 tians are of many kinds. What 
 kind are you?’ ‘We are Protest- 
 ants.” ‘What! are you Metheny’s 
 kind of Christians?’ ‘Metheny? Who’s 
 Metheny? We have heard of him.’ 
 ‘Why, Metheny of the Protestant Mis- 
 sion lat Mersina.’ ‘Oh, yes, yes, we 
 know the Mersina Protestants. That’s 
 the kind of Christians we are.’ ‘Well, 
 then, you’re just the kind of men I 
 want to work for me. I would like to 
 replace all the moslems in my village 
 with Christians of that brand. Bring 
 your families and come along.’ They 
 went, and have been working there ever 
 since, to the mutual satisfaction, we un- 
 derstand, of employer and employees.” 
 
 (The reference is to Dr. David Meth- 
 eny, who was many years medical mis- 
 sionary in Mersina, only a few miles 
 distant from the ancient Tiarsus, the 
 home of Paul.)—The Medical Mission- 
 ary. 
 
 
 
 
 
—— 160 — 
 THE RUNAWAY BOY. 
 
 A number of years ago, before any 
 railway came into Chicago, they used 
 to bring in the grain from the Western 
 prairies in wagons for hundreds of 
 miles, so as to have it shipped off by 
 the lakes. There was a farmer who 
 had a large farm out there, and who 
 used to preach the Gospel as well as 
 to attend to his farm. One day when 
 church business engiaged him, he sent 
 his son to Chicago with grain. He 
 waited and waited for his son to return, 
 but he did not come home. At last he 
 could wait no longer, so he saddled his 
 horse and rode to the place where his 
 son had sold the grain. He found 
 that he had been there and got the 
 money for his grain; then he began 
 to fear that his boy Had been murdered 
 and robbed. At last with the aid of a 
 detective, they tracked him to a gam- 
 bling den, where they found he had 
 gambled away the whole of his money. 
 He had fallen among thieves and like 
 the man who was going to Jericho, they 
 stripped him, and then they cared no 
 more for him. What could he do? He 
 was ashamed to go home and meet his 
 father and he fled. The father knew 
 what it ‘all meant. He knew the boy 
 thought he would be very angry with 
 him. He was grieved to think his boy 
 should have so little confidence in him. 
 That is just exactly like the sinner. He 
 thinks because he has sinned God wiil 
 have nothing to do with him. 
 
 But what did the father do? Did he 
 Say, “Let the boy go?” No, he went 
 from town to town, from city to city. 
 He would get the ministers to let him 
 preach, and at the close he would tell 
 
 his story. “I have got a boy who is a 
 wanderer on the face of the earth some- 
 where.” He would describe his boy 
 and say: If you ever hear of him or 
 
 see him will you not write to me? At 
 last he found he had gone to California, 
 thousands of miles away. Did the 
 father say, “Let him go,” No, off he 
 went to the Pacific coast, seeking the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 boy. He went to San Francisco, and ad- 
 vertised in the newspapers that he 
 would preach at such a church on such 
 a day. When he had done, away under 
 the gallery, there was a young man who . 
 waited until the audience had gone 
 out; then he came toward the pulpit. 
 The father looked and saw it was his 
 own boy, and he ran to him and pressed 
 him to his bosom. Tke boy wanted to 
 confess but not a word would the father 
 hear. He forgave him freely and took 
 him home once more. 
 
 I tell you, Christ will welcome you 
 this minute if you will come. Say, “I 
 will arise and go to my father.” May 
 God incline you to take this step. There 
 is not one whom Jesus has not sought 
 far longer than that father. There has 
 not been a day since you left him but 
 he has followed you—Christian Herald. 
 
 161 
 RECOVERY FROM INSANITY. 
 
 A most remarkable case of recovery 
 from insanity is given by President Wil- 
 liam M. Brooks, of Tabor College, 
 Iowa: 
 
 “A young lady of my acquaintance, of 
 ia finished education, lost her reason in 
 the winter of 1871-2, and in August, 
 1872, was placed in the institution for 
 the insane, at Mt. Pleasant, Ia. No 
 encouragement was given of her recov- 
 ery, and a year later, when her father 
 visited her, in June, 1873, she appeared 
 so badly, that he said it would be a 
 relief to know that she was dead. Soon 
 after, Mrs. H., the wife of the Baptist 
 minister, who had long known and loved 
 her, being shut up for days in a dark 
 room, because of inflamed eyes, felt 
 drawn out in special prayer in her be- 
 half, and finally sent for the father and 
 told him of her exercises, and of the 
 assurance gained that his daughter 
 would be fully restored. 
 
 “In a few days, came news of a sud- 
 den change for the better, and in a little 
 over two months she returned home 
 well, and is now teaching with all her 
 powers in full vigor.” 
 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 o——- 162 —— 
 
 A LITTLE CHILD’S TESTIMONY. 
 
 One Saturday night, a woman called 
 upon me to see if I would aid her, as 
 she said they had scarcely anything in 
 the house to eat. After talking a little 
 with her, trusting that she and her hus- 
 band were the sober, worthy people that 
 she claimed they were, I gave her a 
 small sum of money which she said was 
 sufficient to supply present needs. Mon- 
 day morning I called at their home, the 
 cheerlessness of which was about what 
 I had expected to find. The husband 
 
 accounted for his poverty from lack of 
 
 work, and as neither he nor his wife 
 looked like drinking persons it seemed 
 quite likely true, 
 
 After some minute’s conversation, I 
 told him he could clean off the snow in 
 front of one of our Tabernacles, and to 
 pay him for it I laid a twenty-five-cent 
 piece upon the table. Their little girl, 
 about two years old, no sooner saw the 
 color of that coin than she surprised me 
 with the exclamation, “Some beer!” 
 “Some beer now!” “Now get some 
 beer!” The mother tried to hush up 
 the child, and threatened to whip her if 
 she did not be still, but it was no use. 
 The little one dodged around a chair, 
 and said, “A pint of beer!” 
 
 The mother tried to explain the con- 
 duct of the child by saying that she had 
 been across the hall to their neighbor’s 
 a good deal, and that they were great 
 beer drinkers. This explanation was 
 hardly satisfactory. I said nothing then, 
 but at a subsequent time I had a talk 
 with the husband alone, and urged him 
 to go without the beer if he had been 
 using it, and tried to show him the dan- 
 ger the child was in. But he persisted 
 he had not bought any beer in two or 
 three months. Not a great while after- 
 wards, however, one of the officers of 
 the church saw him come out of a saloon 
 one Sunday with a pail wrapped up with 
 a newspaper, which has become so 
 fashionable for beer carriers on that day. 
 
 This fact, together with the child’s 
 testimony, removed all doubts respect- 
 
 8 
 
 ing the beer-drinking of the family, who 
 are now removed from the neighbor- 
 hood.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —— 163 —— 
 
 LED BY PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Quite a number of years ago, a brother 
 minister related to the writer an experi- 
 ence which he had soon after beginning 
 his ministry. He had felt that he ought 
 to become a preacher, but, at times, was 
 uncertain whether God had really called 
 him to the work. He was married, his 
 means were very moderate and for what 
 preaching he had already done he had 
 received but little pay. In order to be as- 
 sured that God wanted him to continue 
 in the work, he resolved to institute a 
 certain test—he would continue preach- 
 ing until the food which was already in 
 the house was exhausted; then, if it were 
 God’s will that he should continue to 
 preach, he would look to Him for a fur- 
 ther supply of provisions Of course he 
 told his wife of his plan. After a few 
 days, she informed her husband that 
 there was no longer any food in the 
 house. Accordingly, the minister went 
 apart and prayed that God would send 
 provisions to his family as an indication 
 that he should continue in his work, if 
 it were indeed God’s will he should do so. 
 
 Not long after, two men, living some 
 distance away, drove up to the house 
 with a load of provisions such as farmers 
 usually have in store. Both of them 
 were ungodly men. They told the pas- 
 tor that they had been suddenly troubled 
 about him that morning, so much so that 
 they could not go to work as usual until 
 they had brought him something to eat. 
 They did not know whether he was des- 
 titute or not, but they felt that they 
 must take him some provisions. 
 
 The minister was now completely con- 
 vinced that it was God’s will that he 
 should go on with his work. He after- 
 wards told the writer that those men 
 who came to him so opportunely re- 
 minded him of the ravens that fed Elijah 
 in the wilderness. And little wonder !— 
 Rev. C. H. Wetherbe. 
 
82 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 6d ees 
 
 AN ARMY MIRACULOUSLY 
 DELIVERED. 
 
 The following is taken from an epistle 
 of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aure- 
 lius, who was born in the year 121 and 
 died in the year 180: 
 
 The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius 
 Antonius, to the people of Rome, and to 
 the sacred senate, greeting: I explained 
 to you my grand design, and what ad- 
 vantages I gained on the confines of 
 Germany, with much labor and suffer- 
 ing, in consequence of the circumstance 
 that I was surrounded by the enemy; I 
 myself being shut up in Carauntum by 
 seventy-four cohorts, nine miles off. 
 
 And the enemy being at hand, the 
 scouts pointed out to us, and our gen- 
 eral Pompeianus showed us, that there 
 was close on us a mass of a mixed mul- 
 titude of 977,000 men, which, indeed, we 
 saw; and I was shut up by this vast 
 host, having with me only a batallion 
 composed of the first, tenth, double and 
 marine legions. Having then examined 
 my own position, and my host, with 
 respect to the vast mass of barbarians 
 and of the enemy, I quickly betook my- 
 self to prayer and to the gods of my 
 country. But being disregarded by 
 them I summoned those who among us 
 go by the name of Christians. 
 
 And having made inquiry, I discov- 
 ered a great number and vast host of 
 them, and raged against them, which 
 was by no means becoming; for after- 
 wards I learned their power. Where- 
 fore they began the battle, not by pre- 
 paring weapons, nor arms, nor bugles; 
 for such preparation is hateful to them, 
 on account of the God they bear about 
 in their conscience. Therefore it is 
 probable that those whom we suppose 
 to be atheists, have God as their ruling 
 power entrenched in their conscience. 
 For having cast themselves on the 
 ground, they prayed not only for me, 
 but also for the whole army as it stood, 
 that they might be delivered from the 
 present thirst and famine. For during 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 five days we had got no water, because 
 there was none, being in the heart of 
 Germany, and in the enemy’s territory. 
 And simultaneously with casting them- 
 selves on the ground, and praying to 
 God (a God of whom I am ignorant), 
 water poured from heaven upon us, most 
 refreshingly cool, but upon the enemies 
 of Rome a withering hail. 
 
 And immediately we recognized the 
 presence of God following on the prayer 
 —a God unconquerable and indistruc- 
 tible. Founding upon this, then, let us 
 pardon such as are Christians, lest they 
 pray for and obtain such a weapon 
 against ourselves. And I counsel that 
 mo such person be accused on the ground 
 of his being a Christian. But if any one 
 be found laying to the charge of a 
 Christian that he is a Christian, I desire 
 that it be made manifest that he who is 
 accused as a Christian, and acknowl- 
 edges that he is one, is accused of noth- 
 ing else than only this, that he is a Chris- 
 tian; but that he who arraigns him be 
 burned alive. And I further desire, that 
 he who is entrusted with the government 
 of the province shall not compel the 
 Christian, who confesses and certifies 
 such a matter, to retract; neither shall 
 he commit him. 
 
 And I desire that these things be con- 
 firmed by a decree of the senate. And I 
 command this my edict to be published 
 in the Forum of Trajan, in order that it 
 may be read. The prefect Vitrasius 
 Pollio will see that it be transmitted to 
 all the provinces found about, and that 
 no one who wishes to make use or pos- 
 sess it be hindered from obtaining a 
 copy from the document I now publish. 
 
 —— 165 —— 
 IMPRESSED TO GIVE £100. 
 
 I was engaged in an effort to build 
 Sunday schools in the south of London. 
 A benevolent friend promised a hundred 
 pounds if I could get nine hundred 
 pounds more within a week. I did my 
 utmost, and by desperate efforts, with 
 the assistance of friends, did get eight 
 hundred pounds, but not one penny 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 more. We reached Saturday, and the 
 terms of all the promises were that un- 
 less we obtained a thousand pounds that 
 week we could not proceed with the 
 building scheme, and the entire enter- 
 prise might have been postponed for 
 years, and, indeed, never be accom- 
 plished on this large scale. 
 
 On Saturday morning one of my prin- 
 cipal church officers called, and said he 
 had come upon an extraordinary busi- 
 ness; that a Christian woman in that 
 neighborhood whom I did not know, of 
 whom I had never heard, who had no 
 connection whatever with my church, 
 had that morning been lying awake in 
 bed, and an extraordinary impression 
 had come to her that she was at once to 
 give one hundred pounds. She naturally 
 resisted so extraordinary an impression 
 aS a Caprice or a delusion. But it re- 
 fused to leave her; it became stronger 
 and stronger, until at last she was deep- 
 ly convinced that it was the wiil of God. 
 What made it more extraordinary was 
 the fact that she had never before had, 
 and would, in probability, never again 
 have one hundred pounds at her dis- 
 posal for any such purpose. But that 
 morning she sent me the money through 
 my friend, who produced it in the form 
 of crisp Bank of England notes. From 
 that day to this I have no idea whatever 
 who she was, as she wished to conceal 
 her name from me. Whether she is 
 alive, or in heaven, I cannot say; but 
 what I do know is that this extraor- 
 dinary answer to our prayers secured 
 the rest of the money, and led to the 
 erection of one of the finest schools in 
 London, in which there are more than 
 a thousand scholars today.—Rev. Hugh 
 Price Hughes. 
 
 ———— 166 ——= 
 PROTECTIVE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 John Brentz of Wurtemburg, a friend 
 of Luther and a reformer of the first 
 rank, was an object of peculiar hatred 
 to Charles V. and the Papists. The em- 
 peror made more than one special effort 
 to get him into his hands. On the last 
 
 83 
 
 of these occasions a troop of Spanish 
 cavalry was employed for the purpose. 
 The colonel, on his way to Stuttgard, 
 supped at Munich with the Elector, and 
 mentioned at table the purport of his ex- 
 pedition, A cousin of the Duchess of 
 Wurtemburg being present, slipped out 
 and sent warning to the duke, who, in 
 his turn, warned the faithful minister 
 whom he was quite unable to protect. 
 
 Brentz immediately cast himself upon 
 God in prayer and at once received on 
 his mind an impression as distinct as if 
 a human voice said to him, “Take a loaf 
 of bread and go into the upper town, 
 and where thou findest a door open, 
 enter and hide thyself under the roof.” 
 
 He at once acted accordingly, and 
 found only one door, and that the last, 
 open. Unnoticed he climbed to the top, 
 crept on all fours behind lumber and 
 straw, and lay hid in a corner, 
 
 Next day the imperial troop entered, 
 and setting a close watch at all the gates, 
 entered every house, and examined every 
 room, probing bed-chests and straw-loits 
 with their swords and spears. 
 
 Brentz, listening to words spoken out- 
 side, knew from day to day that the 
 search was still proceeding. For four- 
 teen days it continued, till every house 
 had been examined, that in which he lay 
 hid being one of the last visited, the 
 spears thrust into the straw coming as 
 near to him as possible. Then with joy 
 he heard the word of command, “March! 
 he is not here!” He had not wanted food 
 during this long concealment. The loaf 
 he took with him as directed, would have 
 been altogether insufficient, but the very 
 first day, to his amazement, a hen came 
 up to the garret and laid an egg, and 
 that without any of the usual cackling. 
 Next day she did the same, and so on 
 for fourteen days in succession. The 
 fifteenth day she did not come, and 
 Brentz heard the people in the street say, 
 “They are gone at last!” although he 
 was afraid to venture out until the eve- 
 nine. She had fulfilled her commission 
 with the egg of the previous day.—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 167 —— 
 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 
 
 “The writer’s brother, when superin- 
 tendent of a Sunday school, felt a strong 
 impulse, one Sunday evening, to call on 
 a member of his Bible class, whom he 
 had never visited before and to inquire 
 if he was in any need. He found him 
 very ill. Though the mother and sister 
 seemed in comfortable circumstances, 
 he felt constrained to inquire if he could 
 aid them in any way. ‘They burst into 
 tears, and said that the young man had 
 been asking for food which they had no 
 power to supply, and that, on Monday, 
 some of their goods were to be taken 
 in default of the payment of rates. 
 When he knocked at the door they were 
 on their knees in prayer for help to be 
 sent. By the aid of a few friends the 
 difficulty was at once met—but the 
 timely succor was felt to be the Divine 
 response to prayer. 
 
 “With that brother, the writer was 
 once climbing the Cima di Jazzi, one of 
 the mountains in the chain of Monte 
 Rosa. When nearly at the top, they 
 entered a dense fog. Presently the 
 guides faced right about and grounded 
 their axes on the frozen snow-slope. 
 The brother—seeing the slope still be- 
 yond, and not knowing it was merely 
 the cornice, overhanging a precipice of 
 several thousand feet—rushed onward. 
 The writer will never forget their cry of 
 agonized warning. His brother stood a 
 moment on the very summit, and then 
 the snow yielding, began to fall through. 
 One of the guides, at great risk, rushed 
 after him and seized him by the coat. 
 This tore away, leaving only three inch- 
 es of cloth, by which he was dragged 
 back. It seemed impossible to be near- 
 er death and yet escape. On his return 
 home, an invalid member of his congre- 
 gation told him that she had been much 
 in prayer for his safety, and mentioned 
 a special time when she particularly 
 was earnest, as if imploring deliverance 
 from some great peril. The times cor- 
 responded! Was not that prayer instru- 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 mental in preserving that life?” 
 —Dr, Newman Hall. 
 
 ———— 168 ——— 
 
 CONSECRATED TO GOD. 
 
 Give your heart to God and then fill 
 your life with good works. Consecrate 
 to him your store, your shop, your bank- 
 ing house, your factory, and your home. 
 They say no one will hear it. God will 
 hear it, That is enough. 
 
 In the latter part of the last century a 
 girl in England became a kitchen-maid 
 in a farm-house. She had many styles 
 of work and much hard work. Time 
 rolled on, and she married the son of a 
 weaver of Halifax. They were industri- 
 ous; they saved money enough after 
 awhile to build them a home. On the 
 morning of the day when they were to 
 enter that home, the young wife arose 
 at four o’clock, entered the front door- 
 yard, knelt down, consecrated the place 
 to God, and there made this solemn vow: 
 “O Lord if thou wilt bless me in this 
 place, the poor shall have a share of it.” 
 
 Time rolled on and a fortune rolled in. 
 Children grew up around them, and they 
 all became affluent, one a member of 
 Parliament, in a public place declared 
 that his success came from that prayer 
 of his mother in the door-yard. All of 
 them were affluent. Four thousand hands 
 in their factories. They built dwelling 
 houses for laborers at cheap rents, and 
 when they were invalid and could not 
 pay they had the houses for nothing. 
 One of these sons came to this country, 
 admired our parks, went back, bought 
 land, opened a great public park, and 
 made it a present to the city of Halifax, 
 England They endowed an orphanage, 
 they endowed two almshouses. All Eng- 
 land has heard of the generosity and 
 good works of the Crossleys. Moral: 
 Consecrate to God your small means ani 
 your humble surroundings, and you will 
 have larger means and grander surround- 
 ings. “Godliness is profitable unto all 
 things, having promise of the life that 
 now is and of that which is to come.”— 
 Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 85 
 
 —— 169 —— 
 THE LATCH-STRING. 
 
 One of the solitary habitations in the 
 back settlements was occupied by a 
 Quakers family, who lived in such secure 
 simplicity that they had hitherto had no 
 apprehension of danger, and used neither 
 bar nor bolt to their door, having no 
 other means of securing their dwelling 
 from intrusion than in drawing in the 
 leathern thong by which the wooden 
 latch inside was lifted from without. 
 The Indians had committed frightful 
 ravages all about, burning and murdering 
 without mercy. Every evening brought 
 new tidings of horror, and every night 
 the unhappy settlers surrounded them- 
 selves with such defences as they could 
 muster—even then, for dread, scarcely 
 able to sleep. 
 
 The Quaker and his family, who had 
 hitherto put no trust in the arm of flesh, 
 but had left all in the keeping of God, 
 believing that man often runs into his 
 own injury, had used so little precaution 
 that they had slept without even with- 
 drawing the latch, and were as yet un- 
 injured. Alarmed, however, by the fears 
 of others, and by the dreadful rumors 
 that surrounded them, they yielded to 
 their fears on one particular night, and 
 before retiring to rest drew in the string, 
 and thus secured themselves as well as 
 they were able. 
 
 In the dead of night, the Quaker, who 
 had not been able to sleep, asked his 
 wife if she slept; and she replied that 
 she could not, for her mind was uneasy. 
 Upon this he confessed that the same 
 was his case, and that he believed that 
 it would be safest for him to rise and 
 put out the string of the latch as usual. 
 On her approving of this, it was done, 
 and the two again lay down, commend- 
 ing themselves to the keeping of God. 
 
 This had not occured above ten min- 
 utes, when the dismal sound of the war- 
 whoop echoed through the forest, filling 
 every heart with dread, and almost im- 
 mediately afterward they counted the 
 footsteps of seven men pass the window 
 of their chamber, which was on the 
 
 ground floor and the next moment the 
 door string was pulled, the latch lifted 
 and the door opened. A debate of a few 
 minutes took place, the purport of which, 
 as it was in the Indian language, was 
 unintelligible; but that it was favorable 
 to them was proved by the door being 
 again closed, and the Indians retiring 
 without crossing the threshold. 
 
 The next morning they saw the smoke 
 rising from the burning habitations all 
 around them; parents were weeping for 
 their children who were carried off, and 
 children were lamenting over their par- 
 ents who had been cruelly slain. 
 
 Some years afterward, when peace 
 was restored, and the colonists had oc- 
 casion to hold conference with the In- 
 dians, this Quaker was one appointed 
 for that purpose, and speaking in rela- 
 tion to the Indians, he related the above 
 incident; in reply to which the Indian 
 observed, that by the simple circum- 
 stance of putting out the latch-string, 
 which proved confidence rather than fear, 
 their lives and property had been saved; 
 for that he himself was one of that mar- 
 auding party, and that on finding the 
 door open it was said, “All these people 
 shall live; they will do us no harm, for 
 they put their trust in the Great Spirit.” 
 ~——Selected. 
 
 —— 176 -—. 
 THE ESCAPE OF THE SPREE. 
 
 Mr. D. L. Moody and others, who 
 were on the disabled steamer Spree, be- 
 lieved that the vessel was providentially 
 saved in answer to prayer. In the midst 
 of a severe storm, on November 27, 
 1892, the main shaft broke, and plunged 
 through the bottom of the ship. The 
 water-logged vessel rolled fearfully, and 
 the decks were washed by the waves. 
 The passengers became greatly alarmed, 
 the indications being that the vessel 
 would sink before help could reach it. 
 On Sunday, at Mr. Moody’s suggestion, 
 a prayer-service was organized. Every 
 person on board attended, except the of- 
 ficers and crew, who could not leave 
 their posts. 
 
96 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Gen. O. O. Howard, who was one of 
 the passengers, says: “It was the most 
 impressive religious gathering any of us 
 ever attended. Jews, Catholics, and all 
 others forgot differences in creeds and 
 denominations. There was no room for 
 them in such an hour. Mr. Moody read 
 the ninety-first and one hundred and 
 seventh Psalms, which one of the Gere 
 mans translated verse by verse for his 
 countrymen. Mr. Moody offered a most 
 fervent prayer, and made a short address, 
 God heard us and answered us. I went 
 to my stateroom to rest after the meet- 
 ing, and I was asleep when some one 
 touched me. I ‘awoke to find a sweet, 
 fond little German girl, the daughter of 
 one of the passengers, by my cot. She 
 could not understand a word of English, 
 but my daughter had drilled her to say 
 four English words, which was the mes- 
 sage she brought me, ‘The steamer is 
 coming,’ and then she added her Ger- 
 man ‘hallelujah.’ ” 
 
 Mr. Moody says of the rescue: “There 
 never was a more earnest prayer to God 
 than that of those seven-hundred souls 
 on that helpless, almost sinking ship in 
 mid-ocean, Sunday evening, November 
 27, when we met in the saloon to im- 
 plore God’s help; and God answered us, 
 as I knew He would. He sent us a rescu- 
 ing ship, and He calmed the sea, and for 
 a week it was ‘as smooth as it is in this 
 harbor, though there were storms all 
 around us. It was the grandest test of 
 prayer I ever knew; my son was with me. 
 He is a student in Yale College, and the 
 learned professors there have instilled 
 in him some doubts about God’s direct 
 interference in answer to prayer. After 
 we had prayed that Sunday night, I had 
 reached a point where I cared not 
 whether it Was God’s will that we should 
 go up or down. I determined to go to 
 rest as though we were sailing safely on 
 our way. My boy couldn’t rest. We 
 were fast drifting out of the track of 
 vessels, and our peril was extreme. 
 About 2:15 o’clock he came and woke 
 me, telling me to come on deck. There 
 he pointed out to me an occasional 
 
 glimpse of a tiny light that showed over 
 
 the veaves as our ship rolled heavily 
 from side to side. ‘It is our star of Beth- 
 lehem,” he cried, ‘and our prayers are 
 answered.’ Before daylight the Huron, 
 whose masthead light it was, had 
 reached us, and the waves had stilled 
 and the winds were hushed by Divine 
 command, while we were drawn out of 
 the direct peril to this safe haven.” 
 
 The Spree arrived at Queenstown 
 December 2, with her stern thirty in the 
 water, nothwithstanding her pumps had 
 been steadily worked from the moment 
 of the disaster—Northwestern Chris- 
 tion Advocate. 
 
 ——171 —— 
 
 CAN CHRISTIANS SACRIFICE? 
 
 People talk of the sacrifice I have 
 made in spending so much of my life in 
 Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice 
 which is simply paid back as a smali 
 part of a great debt owing to our God, 
 which we can never repay. Is that a 
 sacrifice which brings its own blest re- 
 ward in healthful activity, the con- 
 sciousness of doing good, peace of 
 mind, and a bright hope of a glorious 
 destiny hereafter? Away with the 
 word in such a view, and with such a 
 thought! It is emphatically no sacri- 
 fice. Say, rather it is a privilege. An- 
 xiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, 
 now and then, with a foregoing of the 
 common conveniences and charities of 
 this life, may make us pause, and cause 
 the spirit to waver and the soul to sink, 
 but let this only be for a moment. All 
 these are nothing when compared with 
 the glory which shall hereafter be re- 
 vealed in and for us. I never made a 
 sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk 
 when we remember the great sacrifice 
 which he made who left his Father’s 
 throne on high to give himself for us: 
 “Who being the brightness of the 
 Father’s glory, and the express image 
 of his person, and upholding all things 
 by the word of his power, when he had 
 by himself purged our sins, sat down on 
 the right hand of the Majesty on high.” 
 
 — David Livingston. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “IS THIS GOD?” 
 
 It was one of Victor Hugo’s fine 
 thoughts, when he saved the life of a 
 mouse and quoted the Divine kindness 
 as his reason: “To that little being I am 
 Frovidence. [I treat it as, more than 
 once, God has treated me.” 
 
 The world has heard of the starving 
 child who looked up to her lady bene- 
 factor and asked: “Are you God’s wife?” 
 Even more effecting, not to say startling 
 in its simplicity, was the similar child- 
 like question that surprised Mr. J. H. 
 Hanan, when he saved nine souls adrift 
 on the sinking “Caspian.” 
 
 Mr. Hanan, a wealthy Englishman, 
 with a party of American friends whom 
 he had invited to join him on his yacht 
 “Sagamore,” was returning from the 
 West Indies, when, about half a day’s 
 sail north of Bermuda, his lookout sight- 
 ed a floating wreck. 
 
 For his prompt rescue of the famished 
 crew and passengers of the little ship 
 he is to receive the Albert medal, but, 
 deeper than his sense of this distinguish- 
 ed honor the lesson of innocent faith 
 that he learned then touched him with 
 its revelation and reward. The truth 
 that every human helper of human suf- 
 fering is a representative of Divine Prov- 
 idence was brought home to him in a 
 way he will never forget. 
 
 For nine days the disabled “Caspian” 
 had been tossing on the bounding waves, 
 carried no one knew whither, and despair 
 had come to every soul on board, except 
 the captain’s wife, Mrs. Gordon. As the 
 crew afterward testified this brave wom- 
 an prayed, and impressed her own 
 resolute Christian trust upon her child, 
 Helen Sylvia Gordon, a bright little girl 
 of four years. Hour by hour she had 
 promised to her: 
 
 “God will save us; He will not let us 
 die.” 
 
 When all had been safely transferred 
 from the wreck to the deck of the “Saga- 
 more,” Mrs. Gordon fell on her knees, 
 weeping for jov, her face buried in her 
 hands, while Mr. Hanan held her child 
 
 87 
 
 in his arms. “God has answered my 
 prayer!” was all she could say. 
 
 The child nestled closely to Mr. Hanan 
 sobbing in sympathy. Tears rolled down 
 the strong man’s cheeks and were in the 
 eyes of everyone on board. 
 
 Then little Helen looked up to her de- 
 liverer, and asked: 
 
 “Mamma, is this God?” 
 
 To a friend Mr. Hanan tried to inti- 
 mate something of his feeling when the 
 innocent eyes gazed into his, with that 
 unexpected question. 
 
 “Talk of medals and rewards,” he said. 
 “As for the decoration of Queen Vic- 
 toria I shall welcome it, of course. Such 
 a tribute is one of which any man may 
 be proud. But beyond that, the greater 
 than that, in my mind, is the memory 
 of one thrilling moment—the vibration 
 of gratitude thrown from thankful hearts 
 into my own. It was the moment when 
 little Helen nestled in my arms, asking 
 in her childlike simplicity, ‘Mamma, is 
 this God.’ ”—Selected. 
 
 173 ——— 
 BROTHER WILL. 
 
 _ Just at break of day of a chilly morn- 
 ing the people of a little hamlet on the 
 coast of Scotland were awakened by the 
 booming of a cannon over the stormy 
 waves. They knew what it meant, for 
 they had heard before the same signal 
 of distress. Some poor souls were out 
 beyond the breakers perishing on a 
 wrecked vessel, and in their last ex- 
 tremity calling wildly for human help. 
 The people hastened from their houses 
 to the shore. Yes, out there in the dis- 
 tance was a dismantled vessel pounding 
 itself to pieces, with perishing fellow- 
 beings clinging to the rigging; every 
 now and then some one of them was 
 swept off by a furious wave into the 
 sea. The life-saving crew were soon 
 gathered. : 
 
 “Man the life-boat!” cried the men. 
 
 “Where is Hardy?” 
 
 But the foreman of the crew was not 
 there, and the danger was imminent. 
 Aid must be immediate or all was los*. 
 
 
 
ag ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 The next in command sprang into the 
 frail boat, followed by the rest, all tak- 
 ing their lives into their hands in the 
 hope of saving others. Oh, how those 
 on the shore watched their brave loved 
 ones as they dashed on, now over, now 
 almost under the waves! They reached 
 the wreck. Like angels of deliverance 
 they filled their craft with almost dying 
 men—men lost but for them. Back 
 again they toiled, pulling for the shore, 
 bearing their precious freight. The first 
 man to help them land was Hardy, 
 whose words rang above the roar of the 
 breakers: 
 
 “Are all here? Did you save them all?” 
 
 With saddened faces the reply came: 
 
 “All but one. He couldn’t help him- 
 self. We had all we could carry. We 
 couldn’t save the last one.” 
 
 “Man the life-boat again!” shouted 
 Hardy. “I will go. What! leave one 
 there to die alone! A fellow-creature 
 there and we on the shore! Man the 
 life-boat now! We'll save him yet.” 
 
 But who was this aged woman with 
 worn garments and disheveled hair, who 
 with agonized entreaty fell upon her 
 knees beside this brave man? It was his 
 mother. 
 
 “Oh, my son! Your father was 
 drowned in a storm like this. Your 
 brother Will left me eight years ago, 
 and I’ve never seen his face since the 
 day he sailed. You will be lost, and I 
 am poor. O stay with me!” 
 
 “Mother,” cried the men, “where one 
 is in peril there’s my place. If I am 
 lost, God will surely take care of you. 
 
 The plea of earnest faith prevailed. 
 With a “God bless you, my boy!” she 
 released him and speeded him on his 
 way. 
 
 Once more they watched and prayed 
 —those on shore—while every muscle 
 was strained toward the fast sinking 
 ship by those in the life-saving boat. It 
 reached th3 vessel. The clinging figure 
 was lifted to its place, where strong 
 hands took it in charge. Back came the 
 boat. How eagerly they looked and 
 called in encouragement, then cheered 
 
 as it came nearer. 
 
 “Did you get him?” was the cry from 
 the shore. 
 
 Lifting his hand to his mouth to trum- 
 pet the words on in advance of the land- 
 ing, Hardy called back: “Tell mother it 
 is brother Will.”—Selected 
 
 srt fe 
 NEW ENGLAND, HOW SAVED. 
 
 At an early date in our history, 1746, 
 the French fitted out a powerful fleet 
 for the destruction of New England. 
 This fleet consisted of forty ships of 
 war, and seemed to all human judgment 
 a sufficient force to render that destruc- 
 tion certain. It was put under the 
 command of the resolute and experi- 
 enced Duke d’Anville, and set sail on its 
 terrible errand, from Chedabucto, in 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 In the meantime, our pious fore- 
 fathers, apprised of their danger, and 
 feeling that their safety was in God, 
 appointed a season of fasting and pray- 
 er, to be observed in all their churches.” 
 
 While the Rev. Mr. Prince was offici- 
 ating in Old South church (Boston), on 
 this fast-day, and praying most fervent- 
 ly to God to avert the dreaded calamity, 
 the wind suddenly rose (the day had till 
 now been perfectly clear and calm), and 
 became so powerful as to rattle violently 
 all the windows in the building. The 
 man of God startled for a moment, 
 paused in his prayer, and cast a look 
 round upon the congregation. He then 
 resumed his supplications, and besought 
 Almighty God to cause that wind to 
 frustrate the object of their enemies, 
 and save the country from conquest and 
 popery. The wind increased to a tem- 
 pest, and that very night the greater 
 part of the French fleet was wrecked on 
 the coast of Nova Scotia. The Duke 
 d’Anville, the principal general, and the 
 second in command, both committed 
 suicide. Many died with disease, and 
 thousands were consigned to a watery 
 grave. The enterprise was abandoned, 
 and never again resumed.—Sel. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE. 
 Years ago when slavery was permit- 
 
 ted in America, a strange incident took — 
 
 place. 
 
 A lady who owned slaves and had 
 educated and treated them kindly, sud- 
 denly died, when the estate was sold by 
 her trustees in order that the money it 
 fetched might be divided amongst her 
 numerous relatives. In the auctioneer’s 
 advertisement, the slaves—men, women 
 and little children—were treated in the 
 same way as the horses and cows, only 
 considered more valuable. In the list 
 was: 
 
 Lot 41.—Julia; a beautiful young 
 woman, aged fifteen, fairly educated, al- 
 most white, perfect in form, teeth sound, 
 hair three feet long, and without a fault. 
 
 Unknown to her, a free colored young 
 man thought of her very much, and in- 
 tended to save up money to buy her from 
 slavery, and try to win her to be his 
 wife, having already saved nearly a hun- 
 dred dollars for that object. In strength 
 he was almost a giant, and in trade a 
 skilful joiner who had a good prospect 
 of making money. It was a terrible blow 
 when he read the advertisement of the 
 sale, but he quickly resolved what to do. 
 He was present at the auction, and when 
 Julia was ordered to step on the block, 
 the crowd pushed nearer to view her. 
 The bidding commenced, and she was 
 finally “knocked down” for $750 to a 
 cruel-looking man, who at once paid the 
 money, and having taken possession of 
 her, led her away as if she had been 
 nothing more than a beautiful two- 
 legged beast. The young giant followed 
 and at a convenient opportunity, show- 
 ing himself to the slave-owner, offered 
 to take the place of the heart-broken 
 girl, The man at first would not hear 
 of it though he admitted the young join- 
 er was worth five times more than he 
 had given for the girl. At length he 
 consented to the exchange. Legal papers 
 were drawn up, and when the substitute 
 placed “the freedom” in the hands of 
 
 the astonished girl, together with his 
 
 ANECDOTES 89 
 $100, he gently said, “Julia, in your fu- 
 ture for my sake keep from all wrong; 
 while I live I shall always feel glad that 
 I have taken your place, and one day we 
 shall meet each other before the throne 
 of God, when we shall both be free for 
 evermore!” And with another word, 
 “Farewell!” spoken gently but sadly, he 
 turned away—a slave! 
 
 Still a mighty joy filled his heart, and 
 though the skin of his face was almost 
 black, there was a glory in his expres- 
 sion which astonished his master, and 
 almost made him afraid. On the jour- 
 ney up the Mississippi the steamer came 
 in collision with a hugh raft of wood, 
 and in the confusion several passengers 
 were drowned, one of them being the 
 newly-made slave. His owner returned 
 to New Orleans to claim the girl as his 
 slave, but believing she was free 
 through the substitute, she resisted him, 
 and at once ran to the judge. The de- 
 cision was, that as the slave-owner had 
 accepted the joiner in exchange for the 
 girl, she was free; and she left the court, 
 saying to the master who had sought to 
 drag her away, “The law says I am free, 
 for he whom I shall forever love took 
 my place and made me free!” 
 
 That touching story will help you to 
 see that your soul is free from the pen- 
 alty to which you are condemned, if you 
 believe the Gospel which proclaims it. 
 Had the girl not believed that the sub- 
 stitution of the other had given her free- 
 dom, she would have allowed herself to 
 be dragged into slavery. She believed 
 that the act of the other one had given 
 her a just claim to be a free woman, and 
 the law upheld her. Likewise, the Gos- 
 pel declares that God’s dear Son took our 
 place, and laid down his life for us, and 
 that whosoever believes this shall be up- 
 held in salvation by the power of God.— 
 The Watchword. 
 
 176 —— 
 A MEMORY OF PICKETT’S 
 BRIGADE. 
 
 Tt was years after the war, and some 
 veterans of both sides were exchanging 
 
 
 
90 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 reminiscences at a banquet given by the 
 Board of Trade of New York. It was 
 presided over by the first president, 
 Colonel J. J. Phillips, colonel of the 
 Ninth Virginia Regiment, Pickett’s di- 
 vision, 
 
 “There is nothing else so terrifying 
 as a night attack,” said Colonel Phillips. 
 “The imagination works with intense 
 activity in the darkness, and even in 
 peaceful times adds infinitely to the 
 fear of perils, real or fancied. How 
 much more are the horrors of warfare 
 increased when the opposing forces are 
 hidden from sight, when the first an- 
 nouncement of hostile intention is the 
 thunder of guns, the cflack of rifles, the 
 flash through darkness—for it is the 
 darkest possible night that is always 
 selected. 
 
 “One of these night attacks in partic- 
 ular—on the Bermuda Hundred lines in 
 1864—-I shall never forget; not because 
 of its startling horrors, but because of a 
 peculiar and sacred circumstance, al- 
 most resulting in the compulsory dis- 
 obedience of orders, the obeying, as it 
 were, of a higher than earthly command. 
 
 “The point of attack had been care- 
 fully selected, the awaited dark night 
 had arrived, and my command was to 
 fire when General Pickett should signal 
 the order. There was that dread, inde- 
 scribable stillness—that weird, ominous 
 silence that lalways settles over every- 
 thing just before a fight. It was so 
 thick they could cut it with a knife; so 
 heavy it weighed you down as if worlds 
 were piled upon you; so all-pervasive 
 that it filled creation for you. You felt 
 that nowhere in the universe was there 
 any voice or motion. 
 
 “Suddenly that awesome silence was 
 broken by the sound of a deep, full 
 voice rolling over the black void like 
 the billows of a great sea, directly in 
 line with our guns. It was singing the 
 old hymn, ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul.’ I 
 have heard that grand old music many 
 times in circumstances which intensified 
 its impressiveness, but never had it 
 seemed so solemn as when it broke the 
 stillness in which we waited for the 
 
 order to fire. Just as it was given there 
 fang through the night the words: 
 Cover my defenceless head 
 With the shadow of thy wing. 
 ““Ready—aim to the left, boys—fire,’ I 
 said. 
 
 “The guns were shifted, the volley 
 blazed out swerved aside, and that de- 
 fenceless head was covered with the 
 shadow of His wing.” 
 
 A Federal veteran who had been lis- 
 tening looked up suddenly and, cfasping 
 the colonel’s hand, said: 
 
 “T remember that night, colonel, and 
 that midnight attack which carried off 
 so many of my comrades. I was the 
 singer.” 
 
 There was a second of silence; then 
 “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” rang across 
 that banquet board as on that black 
 
 night in 1864 it had rung across the lines 
 
 at Bermuda Hundred.—La Salle Cor- 
 bell Pickett, in Lippincott’s. 
 
 —— 177 
 PREACHING. 
 
 On 4 certain occasion Gladstone said: 
 “One thing I have against the clergy, 
 both of the country and in the towns. 
 I think they are not severe enough on 
 congregations. They do not sufficient- 
 ly lay upon the souls and consciences of 
 their hearers their moral obligations, 
 and probe their hearts and bring up their 
 whole lives and actions to the bar of 
 conscience. The class of sermons which 
 I think are most necded, are of the 
 class which once offended Lord Mel- 
 bourne. He was seen coming from 
 church in the country in a mighty fume. 
 Finding a friend, he exclaimed, ‘It is too 
 bad I have always been a supporter of 
 the church, and I have always upheld 
 the clergy, but it is really too bad to 
 have to listen to a sermon like that we 
 have heard this morning. Why the 
 preacher actuclly insisted upon apply- 
 ing religion to a man’s private life! 
 But that is the kind of preaching which 
 I like best, the kind of preaching which 
 men need most, but it is, also the kind 
 of which they get the least.” 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 178 —— 
 
 FIFTY DOLLARS OR FIFTY 
 CENTS. 
 
 There is on the banks of the Con- 
 necticut a small church, which, though 
 weak and feeble, still, with the help of 
 2 Home Missionary Society, supported 
 a minister and maintained regular div- 
 ine worship. 
 
 About the time when it became nec- 
 essary to pay the minister’s salary, 
 there moved into the place a man who 
 gained his living by carting coal, and 
 by other similar labor. It was noticed 
 that this man was very regular in his 
 attendance at church, and was never 
 absent from the prayer-meeting, but, in 
 a pecuniary po nt of view, was not con- 
 sidered a valuable acquisition. It was 
 a custom, when the salary was due, for 
 one of the deacons to collect all he could 
 from the people, and then get the bal- 
 ance from the Home Missionary So- 
 ciety. In accordance with this custom, 
 one fine morning, Deacon A., a man of 
 considerable means and considerable 
 penuriousness, started forth, subscrip- 
 tion paper in hand, to see how much he 
 could squeeze out of the parish for the 
 support of the minister. The first per- 
 son he met was the above-mentioned 
 coal-carter, moving along the road 
 with a cart-loa! of that material. 
 The deacon considered within himself 
 that it might be worth while to ask him 
 to contribute, seeing that he was a good 
 sort of a person, and every little helps, 
 and so accosted him with, ‘““Good morn- 
 ing, Mr. B., are you willing to give any- 
 thing toward the support of the pas- 
 tor?” at the same time handing him the 
 paper. The man stopped, stood thought- 
 fully for a moment or two, drew a pen- 
 cil out of his rocket, and with his dirt- 
 begrimed hand he headed the list with 
 the sum of fifty dollars. 
 
 The deacon was so taken by surprise 
 that he could scarcely believe the evi- 
 dence of his eyes, and thinking the man 
 had made a mistake, and not wishing 
 to take the advantage of him, he asked 
 him, “Did you mean that for fifty 
 
 91 
 
 cents?” 
 
 The coal-carter turned, drew himself 
 up to his full height, and with great 
 earnestness replied: 
 
 “I do not value the gospel at fifty 
 cents a year!” 
 
 This answer placed the case in a new 
 light. The deacon went immediately to 
 the pastor, related the incident, and 
 said: 
 
 “Tf that man can give fifty dollars, I 
 can give five hundred dollars.” 
 
 The same spirit actuated the rest of 
 the parish on hearing the story, and in 
 a few days the salary was raised by the 
 people themselves without the necessity 
 of applying for outside aid. 
 
 Reader, it becomes you to consider 
 the question suggested by this incident. 
 At how much do you “value the gos- 
 pel?” for upon your answer may depend 
 your fate for eternity. If by a whole- 
 souled christianity you prove that you 
 have consecrated time, influence, 
 money, all that you have and are, to 
 the service of the master, at that dread 
 hour all will be well. But if not, then 
 this question may well startle you, for, 
 according to your valuation of Christ 
 here will be his valuation of your ser- 
 vices there.—Selected. 
 
 —— 179 ——— 
 
 WOOLEY’S CONVERSION. 
 
 For years, John, G. Wooley, the dis- 
 tinguished temperance lecturer and elo- 
 quent Prohibitionist, was a helpless, 
 hopeless victim of the appetite for strong 
 drink. Although he was the possessor 
 of one of the brightest intellects in his 
 profession, and commanded a Yaw prac- 
 tice of $25,000 a year, and was the mas- 
 ter of an eloquence that enabled him to 
 sway audiences at will, yet he had fallen 
 to the very depths of woe and helpless- 
 ness. 
 
 How he rose out of this helpless, hope- 
 less state is told by his own pen in the 
 “Ram’s Horn” and we give it below in 
 the hope that it may be used to help 
 other poor souls who are still held by 
 the grip of a like habit, more remorse- 
 less and firm than the chains that bound 
 
92 
 
 Prometheus to the rock on Mount Cau- 
 casus. He says: 
 
 It is enough to say, and so much I 
 think is perfectly true, that when I went 
 to bed on the night of the 30th of Janu- 
 ary, 1888, perfectly conscious that I was 
 a slave of alcohol and ruined beyond re- 
 trieve. I had had many chances, and 
 had forfeited them all. I had suffered 
 beyond any power of description, but 
 had never acknowledged myself beaten. 
 But this was defeat, utter, merciless, 
 hopeless. No business offer would have 
 tempted me to try again. I knew the 
 old fight was done, and that the next 
 thing was to be something else, death 
 or something. Every fiber of me quiv- 
 ered with a sense of something new im- 
 pending. I thought the situation over 
 with the desperate calm that I have seen 
 in men who, waiting in their cells with 
 the eye of the death-watch at the wicket, 
 listened to the finishing strokes upon the 
 gallows that at daybreak was to end all. 
 
 I had had high ideals, but no principles 
 and had drifted to ruin, not only against 
 reason and interest but against inclina- 
 tion, for lack of landmarks. I saw this 
 clearly. Shame and sorrow unutterable 
 submerged me like a tidal wave. I 
 prayed. Despair made me do it; nothing 
 else. I had no creed, no “faith.” I suf- 
 fered, that was all. The cry brought 
 help. “I remembered God,” and my 
 broken heart yearned toward him as if 
 I had always known him. The Spirit 
 bore witness with my spirit that I was 
 born of him, not because of anything 
 that was happening then (the whole ex- 
 perience was absolutely void of any 
 definitions or any theology), but just be- 
 cause I WAS. 
 
 What followed was simply a decision 
 that seemed to be endorsed by omnipo- 
 tence. I awakened my wife and told 
 her,—her faith was instantaneous and as 
 conclusive as my own. The decision 
 drew, like a magnet, scriptures that I 
 had learned in childhood, experiences 
 that had not interested me before, ser- 
 mons and teachings, and old feelings of 
 my own, long lost to my mind. We rose 
 from our bed, brought from my trunk 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a little Bible given me by my mother on 
 my fourteenth birthday, which by some 
 good providence had clung to me 
 through all the years, opened at ran- 
 dom, and read the forty-third chapter 
 of Isaiah, which begins like the roll of 
 a street organ: “But now thus saith the 
 Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he 
 that formed thee, O Israel; fear not for I 
 have redeemed thee; I have called thee 
 by my name; thou art mine.” And when 
 the sun rose that morning we two were 
 bending over that book weeping to- 
 gether.—Religious Telescope. 
 
 180 —— 
 
 FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 
 
 In the quaint old Flemish city of 
 Bruges, during the persecution of the 
 Protestants in the sixteenth century un- 
 der the Duke of Alva, a young girl, 
 Weynken Van Reneses, not quite eigh- 
 teen years of age, met death most 
 courageously. 
 
 She was head nurse in the family of a 
 burgomaster and was greatly beloved by 
 her mistress and the little ones. Weyn- 
 ken was the owner of a New Testament. 
 left her by her father, who had received 
 it from the hands of Tyndale. She had 
 been feeding upon this secret treasure 
 daily, when the duke’s decree was pub- 
 lished, declaring all possessors of the 
 Word of God to be heretics punishable 
 with death. 
 
 When a friar came to the house and 
 accused her, she refused to consent to 
 the subterfuge with which her mistress 
 sought to shield her, but boldly con- 
 fessed her faith in Christ. This confes- 
 sion she reiterated when brought before 
 the “Council of Blood,” which sentenced 
 her to be immured alive in the city wall. 
 
 She was allowed one week. At the 
 end of that time, as she stood opposite 
 the excavation made ready to receive her, 
 she was offered life if she would recant, 
 but she refused. Again she was tempted 
 after being lowered into the tomb, but 
 she would not deny her Lord, and the 
 cruel work was completed.—Christian 
 Endeavor. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ‘—-— 18] ——— 
 
 A LITTLE GIRL’S FAITH. 
 
 The Rev. Matthew Hale Smith, in his 
 Marvels of Prayer, relates the follow- 
 ing: “I came home one night very late, 
 and had gone to bed to seek needed rest. 
 The friend with whom I boarded awoke 
 me out of my first refreshing sleep, and 
 informed me that a little girl wanted to 
 see me, I turned over in bed, and said: 
 ‘I am very tired, tell her to come in the 
 morning, and I will see her.’ 
 
 My friend soon returned and said: ‘I 
 think you had better get up. The girl is 
 a poor little suffering thing. She is thin- 
 ly clad, is without bonnet or shoes. She 
 has seated herself on the doorstep, and 
 Says she must see you, and will wait till 
 you get up.’ 
 
 I dressed myself, and opening the out- 
 side door I saw one of the most forlorn 
 looking little girls I ever beheld. Want, 
 sorrow, suffering, neglect, seemed to 
 Strive for the mastery. She looked up 
 to my face, and said: ‘Are you the man 
 that preached last night, and said that 
 Christ could save to the uttermost?’ 
 
 “Yes.’ 
 
 “Well, I was there, and I want you to 
 come right down to my house, and try to 
 Save my poor father.’ 
 
 -‘What’s the matter with your father?’ 
 
 ‘He’s a very good father when he don’t 
 drink. He’s out of work, and he drinks 
 awfully. He’s almost killed my poor 
 mother; but if Jesus can save to the ut- 
 termost, He can save him. And I want 
 you to come right to our house now.’ 
 
 I took my hat and followed my little 
 guide, who trotted on before, halting as 
 she turned the corners to see that I was 
 coming. Oh, what a miserable den her 
 home was! A low, dark, underground 
 room, the floor all slush and mud—not 
 a chair, table, or bed to be seen. A bit- 
 ter cold night, and not a spark of fire on 
 the hearth, and the room not only cold, 
 but dark. In the corner, on a little dirty 
 straw, lay a woman. Her head was 
 bound up, and she was moaning as if in 
 agony. As we darkened the doorway a 
 
 ANECDOTES 98 
 feeble voice said: ‘O my child! my child! 
 why have you brought a stranger into 
 this horrible place?’ Her story was a 
 sad one, but soon told. Her husband, 
 out of work, maddened with drink, and 
 made desperate, had stabbed her because 
 she did not provide him with a supper 
 that was not in the house. He was then 
 upstairs, and she was expecting every 
 moment that he would come down and 
 complete the bloody work he had begun. 
 While the conversation was going on 
 the fiend made his appearance. A fiend 
 he looked. He brandished the knife, still 
 wet with the blood of his wife. 
 
 The missionary, like the man among 
 the tombs, had himself belonged to the 
 desperate classes. He was converted at 
 the mouth of a coal-pit. He knew the 
 disease and the remedy—knew how to 
 handle a man on the border of delirium 
 tremens. 
 
 Subdued by the tender tones, the mad- 
 man calmed down, and took a seat ona 
 box. But the talk was interrupted by 
 the little girl, who approached the mis- 
 sionary, and said: ‘Don’t talk to father; 
 it won’t do any good. If talking would 
 have saved him, he would have been 
 saved long ago. Mother has talked to 
 him so much and so good. You must 
 ask Jesus who saves to the uttermost to 
 save my poor father.’ 
 
 Rebuked by the faith of the little girl, 
 the missionary and the miserable sinner 
 knelt down together. He prayed as he 
 never had prayed before; he intreated 
 and interceded, in tones so tender and 
 fervent, that it melted the desperate man, 
 who cried for mercy, And mercy came. 
 He bowed in penitence before the Lord, 
 and laid down that night on his pallet 
 of straw a pardoned soul. 
 
 Relief came to that dwelling, The 
 wife was lifted from her dirty couch, 
 and her home made comfortable. On 
 Sunday, the reformed man took the hand 
 of his little girl and entered the infant 
 class, to learn something about the 
 Savior ‘who saves to the uttermost.” He 
 entered upon a new life. His reform was 
 thorough. He found good employment, 
 
94 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 for when sober he was an excellent work- 
 man; and next to his Savior, he blesses 
 God for the faith of his little girl, who 
 believed in a Savior able to save to the 
 uttermost all that come unto God by 
 Him.” 
 
 —— 182 —— 
 
 A STRANGE HARVEST. 
 
 It is related that a Bible colporteur in 
 Spain one day entered the little village 
 of Montalborejo in Toledo province and 
 - offered his Bibles for sale. Among others 
 he sold a large Bible intended for family 
 use. The village priest heard of his 
 presence, and ran to the colporteur. He 
 tore the book out of the buyer’s hand, 
 and angrily exclaimed, “These books of 
 the devil shall never enter my parish.” 
 He roused the people, and especially the 
 pious women, to anger, and they took 
 up stones and cast them at the inoffen- 
 sive man. 
 
 Six weeks later the colporteur was 
 again on the road leading to the self- 
 same village. Gladly would he have 
 avoided it had he been able to find a 
 roundabout way. Approaching the vil- 
 lage at dusk, he hoped the inhabitants 
 would fail to recognize him. To his 
 astonishment the very first man he met 
 at the city gate detained him with the 
 question: 
 
 “Are you not the man who sold the 
 Bible?” 
 
 “Yes I am the man.” 
 
 “Then welcome to our village; every 
 one of us desires to purchase your 
 book,” was the amazing reply. In his 
 utmost astonishment, the man inquired: 
 
 “Are you not the selfsame people who 
 only a few weeks ago cast stones at 
 me?” 
 
 “Most certainly,” answered the man, 
 “but a great change has come over us, 
 so that each and every one desires one 
 of your books.” 
 
 A merchant of the village had picked 
 up the book in the market place, con- 
 cluding that the paper might be used. 
 
 Accordingly leaf after leaf was torn 
 out to serve as wrappers for salt, sugar, 
 
 rice or other groceries, thus entering 
 every hut in the village. 
 
 Through this means, the people be- 
 came acquainted with the Gospel, and 
 were burning to learn more of the 
 wondrous Message which had been con- 
 veyed to them by the leaves of that 
 Bible, which the priest thought he had 
 destroyed beyond recall. The village 
 ultimately became a center of Christian 
 activity.—Sel. 
 
 —— 183 —— 
 A TRANSFORMED MAN. 
 
 Dean Hodges at a meeting of the 
 Massachusetts Prison Association, re- 
 lated this suggestive incident illustrative 
 of the power of kindly deeds to reach 
 the worst men. He said: “I have a 
 friend in London who has spent forty 
 years in prison; and not as the keeper 
 of the prison either. He spent those 
 forty years in prison because he could 
 not get out Eight times he told me, 
 he was flogged. And now that man is 
 a decent Christian citizen. When I 
 saw him he had upon his cap the letters 
 ‘P. G. B.’ which he told me signified 
 Prison Gate Brigade. That man goes 
 every morning to the gate of one of the 
 London prisons and watches for men to 
 come out that he may try to get hold of 
 them. What was it that transformed 
 him? Not his eight floggings. The 
 effect of all that, so far as I could learn, 
 was to harden him. He had not found 
 in all his long vears of experience, a 
 reformatory that reformed, or a peni- 
 tentiary that made men penitent. But 
 one day when he came out from one of 
 these terms of service, he was met at 
 the gate by a Christian brother, who be- 
 longed to the Salvation Army, who took 
 his arm and said ‘Come with me, and 
 let me see if something cannot be done 
 for you.’ And so the man found a 
 friend; and by and by that friend led 
 him to his friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who cared for such as he. The conse- 
 quence was that the man’s heart was 
 touched and he was made over into a 
 better man.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 a ET pect 
 WAS IT THE HAND OF GOD? 
 
 Col. Henry Watterson, the gallant 
 soldier of the Confederacy, and for 
 many years recognized as one of the 
 most able editors of America in his 
 paper the “Louisville Courier Journal” 
 has this to say respecting a critical per- 
 iod in the history of our Country: 
 
 On the morning of Feb. 3, 1865, upon 
 a steamer lying at anchor in Hampton 
 Roads off Fortress Monroe, Abraham 
 Lincoln, attended by William H. Sew- 
 ard, met three Confederate commission- 
 ers, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert M. 
 T. Hunter and John A. Campbell, ap- 
 pointed by Jefferson Davis, “for the 
 purpose,” as Mr. Davis wrote, “of se- 
 curing peace to the two countries,” but 
 as Mr. Lincoln had written, “with the 
 view of securing peace to the people of 
 Our one common country.” 
 
 There had been many epistolary and 
 verbal exchanges between the two 
 capitals, Washington and Richmond, 
 before this fateful conference had come 
 to pass. The parties to it were per- 
 sonally well known to one another, Mr. 
 Lincoln and Mr. Stephens were, indeed, 
 old friends. The proceedings were in- 
 formal and without ceremony. At the 
 outset it was agreed that no writing or 
 memorandum should be made of what 
 might be said or done. It is known, 
 however, that at a certain point the 
 President of the United States and the 
 Vice President of the Southern Confed- 
 eracy, sitting a little apart from the 
 rest, Mr. Lincoln took up a sheet of 
 paper and said, by way of completing 
 the unreserved conversation that had 
 passed between them, “Stephens, let me 
 write ‘Union’ at the top of this page and 
 you may write below it whatever else 
 you please.” He had already com- 
 mitted himself, in the event that the 
 Southern armies laid down their arms, 
 and the Southern States returned to the 
 Union, to the payment of $400,000,000 
 for the slaves. 
 
 That such an opportunity for the 
 South, then on the verge of collapse, 
 
 ANECDOTES 95 
 to end the war should have been refused 
 will remain forever a mystery bordering 
 on the supernatural. 
 
 Two months later Lee surrendered. 
 Instead of achieving an honorable peace 
 on favorable terms, the Confederacy 
 went down in total shipwreck—van- 
 quished—the waves of passion and 
 plunder for ten succeeding years sweep- 
 ing over the stricken survivors as they 
 floundered in the sea of reconstruction; 
 the Christ man who had thrown out a 
 life line gone, no one left having the will 
 and the power to stay the fury of the 
 elements, 
 
 Was it the hand of God? Could it 
 have been that God deemed the South 
 not sufficiently punished? Who shall 
 tell us? 
 
 Iwo years before the end of the 
 Napoleonic drama Matternich, speaking 
 for the allied sovereigns, offered the 
 Corsican adventurer peace with the 
 recognition and confirmation of his dy- 
 nasty and a larger France than he had 
 found when he overthrew the Directory, 
 created the empire and ascended the 
 throne, and Napoleon rejected it with 
 scorn. He preferred (and took the road 
 to ruin. He was war mad. He could 
 not see Elba and St. Helena looming 
 through the powder clouds of trium- 
 phant battle. So he rushed upon 
 Waterloo. What fate was it that 
 brought the rains that night before the 
 battle, delaying the attack and thus con- 
 verting a probable victory into a dis- 
 astrous defeat? 
 
 Was it the hand of God? Had God 
 decided against world conquest and de- 
 creed that Bonaparte should sleep in 
 the grave with Tamerlane the Great? 
 Who shall tell us? 
 
 —— 185 —— 
 WHAT A DEAF MUTE DID. 
 
 A great evangelistic service was be- 
 ing held, and testimonies were called 
 for, One man arose and spoke as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 “J was saved five weeks ago by a 
 deaf mute. He couldn't talk the Gos- 
 
96 
 
 pel, but he wrote a line which was the 
 means in God’s hands of saving me. 
 
 “T was at a railway station, and about 
 to take a train. I was ragged, dirty 
 and partly drunk. This deaf and dumb 
 man came up to me, and, taking a piece 
 of paper from his pocket, wrote on it, 
 ‘Jesus is my Saviour. He helps me 
 every day. Read John 3: 16.’ And he 
 put this note in my dirty pocket. I 
 had just enough money to pay my way 
 to the next station. It seemed as 
 though I was more hungry and miser- 
 able that night than ever before. 
 
 “I put my hand in my pocket, and 
 felt the piece of paper, pulled it out and 
 read it. I could not remember what 
 John 3: 16 was, and I was weak and 
 faint, but I was bound to find it out. 
 I went to a house and before I could 
 say what I wanted to the woman who 
 came to the door, she said sharply, ‘No 
 beggars allowed here.’ I said ‘I am not 
 begging, but I want to look at your 
 Bible a minute” The woman was 
 startled, and shut the door in my face. 
 I went to the next house, where they 
 handed me a Bible. I looked at the 
 words and handed the. Bible back. 
 
 “T slept that night in an old shed 
 down by the river, but it was the hap- 
 piest night of my life. I read the paper 
 over and over, and thought of John 3: 
 16; and now I am a saved man, and I 
 can say, as could the deaf mute, ‘Jesus 
 is my Saviour. He helps me every day.” 
 
 The effort of the deaf and dumb man 
 was not a very great one. He did not 
 write very much on that little slip of 
 paper, but God used it to save a soul. 
 Are you and I ready to preach the Gos- 
 pel in this simple way?—Selected. 
 
 —— 186 —— 
 OVERCOME BY KINDNESS. 
 
 There was in a barracks an incorrigi- 
 ble soldier, whe had been fined, impris- 
 oned, flogged, and put on extra drill, 
 but all to no purpose. His colonel, 
 seeing him one day in the guardhouse 
 for some misdemeanor, said to him, 
 “What! You here again?” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “Yes, sir,” he replied, with a dogged 
 hardihood that showed he cared for no 
 punishment. 
 
 The Colonel turned to the sergeant, 
 and said: “I don’t know what to do 
 with this fellow. We've flogged him, 
 fined him, imprisoned him, put him on 
 extra drill; in fact, we’ve tried every- 
 thing” 
 
 “No, sir,’ answered the sergeant, 
 touching his cap with the military sa- 
 lute. “There is one thing you have not 
 tried; you’ve never forgiven him.” The 
 Colonel held down his head, somewhat 
 ashamed, and after consultation with his 
 brother officers, returned to the soldier, 
 and said to him: “There, sir, you may 
 go; you’re forgiven; you will not be pun- 
 ished for this.” A new light seemed to 
 break upon the mind of that man, and 
 from that time, two years past, there 
 has not been a better man in the regi- 
 ment.—Se\ected. 
 
 187 —— 
 THE SKY TELEGRAM. 
 
 A gentleman while buying a paper 
 from a newsboy one day said to him, 
 “Well, my boy, do you ever find it hard 
 to be good?” “Yes, sir,” responded 
 the little fellow. “Well, so do I. But I 
 have found out how to get help; do you 
 want to know how?” “Yes, sir.” “Then 
 just send a telegram.” The boy looked 
 up in amazement. The gentleman 
 touched the boy’s forehead with his fin- 
 ger and said, “What do you do in 
 there?” “Think,” said the boy. “Well, 
 can God see what you think?” “I sup- 
 pose He can.” “Yes, He can and does. 
 Now, when you want help to sell papers 
 or to be a good boy, you just send a sky 
 telegram this way; just think this 
 thought quickly, ‘Jesus, help me,’ and 
 God will see it and send the help.” 
 
 A few weeks later he met the same 
 little newsboy on the street, who rushed 
 up to him and said: “Say, mister, I’ve 
 been trying the sky telegram the last 
 few weeks and I’ve sold more papers 
 since I’ve been doin’ that than I ever 
 did before.”-—Evangelist. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 aa § Yea 
 IMPRESSED TO GIVE $5. 
 
 The following, taken from the ‘Pioneer 
 Preacher,’ by Rev. Sherlock Bristol, re- 
 counts an experience of his student days 
 at Oberlin. He was formerly a home 
 missionary in the Northwest, and resid- 
 ed the last we knew at Saticoy, Cal. We 
 most emphatically believe that God of- 
 ten thus influences the minds of men 
 to provide for those who trust in Him. 
 But for this faith we should be burdened 
 with anxiety from which we are now 
 happily free: ! 
 
 “Nothing special occured during my 
 Junior year, save that I was wonderfully 
 provided for financially. Strange it was, 
 but true, that when I came to need 
 money or books, or clothing, somehow 
 they came, And I noticed, too, that God 
 held them back just long enough to en- 
 able me to appreciate their value, and 
 thus properly estimate the love of the 
 giver. And I used often to wonder if 
 the commandment to pray and to pray 
 oiten, did not arise in part from the 
 yearnings of the great paternal heart for 
 converse with his children. 
 
 “I ought not here to omit the men- 
 tion of a special providence, supplying 
 special need of so marked a character 
 that 1 was compelled to say, “This is the 
 finger of God.’ 
 
 “I had borrowed five dollars of a Mr. 
 Penfield, a student. One day he came 
 to me in haste and said, ‘My people are 
 sick and I must start for home this 
 noon, and shall need that five dollars 
 to pay my fare.’ I went at once to get 
 it, but I could neither get it where it 
 was due me nor borrow it. Just then 
 money had become very scarce in Ober- 
 lin. The bell rang for twelve o’clock, the 
 stage threw off its mails at the post- 
 office and was rushing to the hotel to 
 change horses, then rush back, take its 
 mails and go on. I was returning to 
 Tappan Hall and saw Mr. Penfield 
 standing in the south door waiting for 
 his money. What should I say to him? 
 That the Lord had failed me this time? 
 What a disappointment to him, and what 
 
 ANECDOTES 97 
 influence would that failure have on my 
 faith and his? But I saw a man running 
 toward the hall, who reached it simul- 
 taneously with myself. Before I had 
 time to speak to Penfield the stranger 
 cried out, ‘Is there a man by the name 
 of Bristol here?’ ‘That is my name,’ I 
 said, “and I am the only one of that 
 name in college,’ ‘Well,’ said he, hand- 
 ing me five dollars, ‘I suppose this be- 
 longs to you,’ ‘Who gave it to you?’ 
 ‘Don’t know. Just as I left Cleveland 
 a gentleman handed me this and said 
 to give it to a man in Oberlin by name 
 of Bristol. That is all I know about it,’ 
 and he turned and ran back to the post- 
 office. I handed it over to Penfield, and 
 went to my room to thank God for the 
 gift, and also for this helper of my faith. 
 
 “Years after, in passing through 
 Cleveland, I met a lawyer by the name 
 of Sterling, and he asked, ‘Did you, 
 some two years ago, receive five dollars 
 from me?’ I said I had no recollection 
 of it, but told him of receiving five dol- 
 lars of a stranger as narrated above. 
 ‘Do tell!’ said he, ‘I sent that five dol- 
 lars and it has troubled me more than 
 any five I ever lost or thought I lost. 
 Thus it was: I was standing by the 
 Weddle House as the stage was start- 
 ing off one morning, gazing upon the 
 passengers filling up the coach. As the 
 driver was gathering up his lines a pas- 
 senger thrust his head out of the win- 
 dow and asked, ‘Does this coach pass 
 through Oberlin?’ ‘Yes,’ said the driver. 
 At once I drew out my purse, and hand- 
 ing the stranger five dollars said, ‘Give 
 this to a student by the name of Bristol 
 there; they all know him.’ The driver 
 cracked his whip and the stage was off. 
 I was confounded at what I had done, 
 and said to myself, ‘What a fool I was 
 to give that five dollars to a total stran- 
 ger? He will forget the name, and if 
 he don’t he will have no time to look 
 up Mr. Bristol; the stage only stops 
 to change horses. Ten to one he will 
 keep it. Surely I am a fool” A hun- 
 dred times I said this of my action, and 
 wondered at its precipitancy, It seemed 
 
98 
 
 as if for an instant another will had con- 
 trol of my hand and my purse. So you 
 received it after all, and just when you 
 needed it, too,’ and he went away in 
 deep meditation. Of course such sing- 
 ular interpositions are rare, but do not 
 some such occur in every life, enough 
 to startle us out of our materialism, 
 with the conviction, ‘Thou God seest 
 me’ ?” 
 commame 189 commen 
 
 THE SLAVE-MOTHER’S PRAYER. 
 
 Years ago, when slavery existed in this 
 country, a mother in Virginia was in 
 great distress, for she had just learned 
 that her son was to be torn from her and 
 be sold. Many times before she had been 
 obliged to give up her dear children to 
 satisfy the greed of the slave-dealer, and 
 her grief and disappointment were now 
 greatest because her master had prom- 
 ised her that this, her last child, should 
 remain with her to comfort her old age. 
 But because of financial reverses his 
 promise was to be broken, and, along 
 with other slaves, her boy was advertised 
 to be sold. 
 
 The day for the sale had at last come, 
 and after several slaves had been struck 
 off to the highest bidder, her boy was put 
 upon the block. He was a manly-look- 
 ing fellow of about twenty years, and 
 was rightfully the pride of his mother’s 
 heart. As the auctioneer, in a business- 
 like way, called attention to his sinewy 
 limbs and athletic frame, the heart of the 
 mother was well nigh bursting with an 
 agonizing desire that God would in some 
 way spare her boy. The buyers realized 
 that a prize was to be had, and the bid- 
 ding, which began at a thousand dollars, 
 was active. Soon $1,200 was reached, 
 $50 being offered at a time, then the ad- 
 vance was slower. 
 
 When the bids dropped to $5 the 
 mother knew that the critical moment 
 was approaching. She withdrew from 
 the crowd, and going into the court- 
 house she dropped upon her knees, and 
 lifting her hands and streaming eyes 
 toward heaven, she exclaimed, “Oh Lord 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Jesus, if I were on the throne in your 
 place, and you were down here having 
 your only son sold as a slave, I would 
 help you if I could. You can help me, 
 and Oh, I pray that you will!” 
 
 Jesus heard that prayer, and one of 
 whose presence she knew nothing heard 
 it also. A rough hand was laid gently 
 upon her shoulder, and the slave-buyer 
 said, “Cheer up, aunty, the boy shall be 
 yours.” 
 
 We should ever remember that Jesus 
 can sympathize with us whatever our 
 trouble. For he was tempted in all 
 points like as we are. And if we go to 
 him for help with the confidence of this 
 slave-mother, we may rest assured that 
 we shall not go in vain.—Selected. 
 
 —— 190 ——= 
 
 SAVED BY A CHILD. 
 
 “God’s work in the world has not been 
 given alone into the hands of those who 
 have years and wisdom. Even the lit- 
 tle children have a share in it, and by 
 their very innocence and trustfulness 
 sometimes touch hearts that are closed 
 to all other influences. A beautiful in- 
 stance is recorded in the columns of an 
 Eastern paper. 
 
 During a recent panic, a merchant, 
 becoming discouraged, imagining that 
 his credit was gone and that business 
 men distrusted him, and loosing faith 
 in himself, decided to end his troubles 
 by taking his own. life. Going to his 
 home, he took a pistol from a desk 
 drawer and made his way toward a piece 
 of woods, intending to shoot himself. 
 Suddenly he felt a soft hand slip into 
 his own, and a childish voice asked 
 sweetly. 
 
 “Can I go with you to the woods, 
 Mr. ? There are such pretty 
 flowers there, and my mamma won’t let 
 me go alone.” 
 
 She was the daughter of one of his 
 neighbors. Her trust in him, her faith 
 that he would bring her safely back, 
 changed the whole aspect of life for 
 him, and saved him from the sin that 
 he had been about to commit.—Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ——— 19] —— 
 PRAYER AND REVIVALS. 
 
 One hundred thousand persons were 
 reported as having connected them- 
 selves with churches as the result of the 
 revival which broke out at Rochester, 
 N. Y., in 1830, under the labors of 
 Charles G. Finney, and spread through- 
 out that region of the state. Mr. Fin- 
 ney attributed his success to the spirit 
 of prayer which prevailed, as the fol- 
 lowing from his autobiography will 
 show. Is this not now the great need 
 of the church? 
 
 “When I was on my way to Roch- 
 ester, as we passed through a village, 
 some thirty miles east of Rochester, a 
 brother minister whom I knew, seeing 
 me on the ca.ial-boat, jumped aboard tao 
 have a little conversation with me, in- 
 tending to ride but a little way and 
 return. He, however, became interested 
 in conversation, and upon finding where 
 I was going, he made up his mind to 
 keep on and go with me to Rochester. 
 We had been there but a few days 
 when this minister became so convicted 
 that he could not help weeping aloud, 
 at one time, as he passed along the 
 street. The Lord gave him a powerful 
 spirit of prayer, and his heart was 
 _ broken. As he and I prayed together, 
 I was struck with his faith in regard 
 to what the Lord was going to do there. 
 I recollect he would say, ‘Lord, I do 
 not know how it is; but I seem to know 
 that Thou art going to do a great work 
 in this city.’ The spirit of prayer was 
 poured out powerfully, so much so, that 
 some persons stayed away from the pub- 
 lic services to pray, being unable to 
 restrain their feelings under preaching. 
 
 And here I must introduce the name 
 of a man, whom I shall have occasion 
 to mention frequently, Mr. Abel Clary. 
 He was the son of a very excellent man 
 and an elder of the church where I was 
 converted. He was converted in the 
 same revival in which I was. He had 
 been licensed to preach; but his spirit 
 of prayer was such, he was so burdened 
 
 1 
 
 ANECDOTES 99 
 
 with the souls of men, that he was not 
 able to preach much, his whole time 
 and strength being given to prayer. 
 The burden of his soul would frequent- 
 ly be so great that he was unable to 
 stand, and he would writhe and groan 
 in agony. I was well acquainted with 
 him, and knew something of the won- 
 derful spirit of prayer that was upon 
 him. He was a very silent man, as al- 
 most all are who have that powerful 
 spirit of prayer. 
 
 The first I knew of his being in Roch- 
 ester, a gentleman who lived about a 
 mile west of the city, called on me one 
 day, and asked me if I knew a Mr. 
 Abel Clary, a minister. I told him that 
 I knew him well. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘he 
 is at my house, and has been there for 
 some time, and I don’t know what to 
 think of him.’ I said, ‘I have not seen 
 him at any of our meetings.’ ‘No,’ he 
 replied, ‘he cannot go to meeting, he 
 says. He prays nearly all the time, 
 day and night, and in such an agony of 
 mind that I do not know what to make 
 of it. Sometimes he cannot even stand 
 on his knees, but will lie prostrate on 
 thd floor, and groan and pray in a 
 manner that quite astonishes me.’ I 
 said to the brother, ‘I understand it: 
 please keep still. It will all come out 
 right; he will surely prevail.’ 
 
 I knew at the time a considerable 
 number of men who were exercised in 
 the same way. A Deacon P , of 
 Camden, Oneida County; Deacon T ' 
 of Rodman, Jefferson County; a Deacon 
 B , of Adams, in the same County; 
 this Mr. Clary, and many others among 
 the men, and a large number of women 
 partook of the same spirit, and spent 
 a great part of their time in prayer. 
 Father Nash, as we called him, who in 
 several of my fields of labor came to 
 me and aided me, was another of those 
 men that had such a powerful spirit of 
 prevailing prayer. This Mr. Clary con- 
 tinued in Rochester as long as I did, 
 and did not leave it until after I had 
 left. He never, that I could learn, ap- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
100 
 
 peared in public, but gave himself 
 wholly to prayer. 
 
 I think it was the second Sabbath 
 that, I was at Auburn at this time, I 
 observed in the congregation the solemn 
 face of Mr. Clary. He looked as if he 
 was borne down with an agony of 
 prayer. Being well acquainted with 
 him, and knowing the great gift of God 
 that was upon him, the spirit of prayer, 
 I was very glad to see him there. He 
 sat in the pew with his brother, the 
 Doctor, who was also a professor of 
 religion, but who knew nothing by ex- 
 perience, I should think, of his brother 
 Abel’s great power with God. 
 
 At intermission, as soon as I came 
 down from the pulpit, Mr. Clary, with 
 his brother, met me at the pulpit stairs, 
 and the Doctor invited me to go home 
 with him and spend the intermission 
 and get some refreshments. I did so. 
 
 After arriving at his house we were 
 soon summoned to the dinner table. We 
 gathered about the table and Dr. Clary 
 turned to his brother and said, ‘Brother 
 Abel, will you ask the blessing?’ Broth- 
 er Abel bowed his head and began, audi- 
 bly, to ask a blessing. He had uttered 
 but a sentence or two when he broke 
 instantly down, moved suddenly back 
 from the table, and fled to his chamber. 
 The Doctor supposed he had been taken 
 suddenly ill, and rose up and followed 
 him. In a few moments he came 
 down and said, ‘Mr. Finney, brother 
 Abel wants to see you.’ Said I, ‘What 
 ails him.’ Said he, ‘I do not know; but 
 he says you know. He appears in great 
 distress, but I think it is the state of his 
 mind.’ I understood it in a moment, 
 and went to his room, He lay groaning 
 upon the bed, the Spirit making inter- 
 cession for him, and in him, with 
 groanings that could not be utter- 
 ed. I had barely entered the room, 
 when he made out to say, ‘Pray, brother 
 Finney.’ I knelt down and helped him 
 in prayer, by leading his soul out for 
 the conversion of sinners. I continued 
 to pray until his distress passed away 
 and then I returned to the dinner table. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 I understood that this was the voice 
 of God. I saw the Spirit of prayer was 
 upon him, and I felt his influence upon 
 myself, and took it for granted that the 
 work would move on powerfully. It 
 did so. The pastor told me afterward, 
 that he found that in the six weeks 
 that I was there, five hundred souls had 
 been converted.” 
 
 —— 192 —— 
 FARRAGUT’S TURNING POINT. 
 
 Admiral Farragut tells this story of 
 his boyhood: “When I was a boy I 
 was with my father on board a man-of- 
 war. I had some qualities that I 
 thought would make a man cf me. I 
 could swear like an old salt, could drink 
 as stiff a glass of grog as if I had dou- 
 bled Cape Horn, and could smoke like a 
 locomotive. I was great at cards and 
 fond of gaming in any shape. At the 
 close of dinner one day, father turned 
 everybody out of the cabin, locked the 
 door, and said, ‘David what do you 
 mean to be?? 
 
 ““*T mean to follow the sea.’ 
 
 ““Follow the sea! Yes, to be a poor, 
 -niserable drunken sailor before the 
 mast. Be kicked and cuffed about the 
 world, and die in some fever hospital 
 in a foreign land. No, David, no boy 
 ever trod the quarter deck with such 
 principles as you have and such habits 
 as you exhibit. You'll have to change 
 your whole course ‘of life, if you ever 
 become a man.’ 
 
 “My father left me and went on deck. 
 I was stunned by the rebuke and over- 
 whelmed with mortification. A poor, 
 miserable, drunken sailor before the 
 mast. Be kicked and cuffed about the 
 world and die in some fever hospital. 
 This is to be my fate, thought I. I'll 
 change my life at once. I’ll never utter 
 another oath, never drink another drop 
 of liquor, and never gamble! I have 
 kept these three vows ever since. Short- 
 ly after I had made them I became a 
 Christian. Thiat act was the turning 
 point in my destiny.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 =——— 193 —— 
 SUBMISSION. 
 
 “For me, I feel that nothing can be 
 easier than to fulfill the duty which lies 
 before me in life,” said P——, a young 
 Christian, in a college prayer meeting. 
 “I have given up my plans for entering 
 into business, I shall devote my life to 
 preaching the gospel. I have divided the 
 day into periods. So many hours for 
 prayer, so many for biblical study, so 
 many for work and necessary recreation. 
 I shall make it an absolute rule to speak 
 with kind entreaties to evil-coers, never 
 to allow my temper to be disturbed, and 
 to occupy myself wholly in works of 
 kindness and charity. I have begun this 
 carefully-ordered life, and find it easy 
 and full of sweetness.” 
 
 The next day P received a tele- 
 gram that his father was dying. He 
 hastened home,.to find him dead and in- 
 solvent. He left the care of his help- 
 less brothers and sisters on P . He 
 was forced to go to work as a bookkeep- 
 er, and to postpone his preparation for 
 the ministry. His life for two years 
 was a hard one; seventeen hours of lab- 
 or, and an unhappy, quarrelsome family 
 at home. At the end of that time an 
 accident disabled him for months. He 
 was confined to bed, suffering great pain 
 at intervals, and surrounded by the di- 
 rest poverty, which he could do nothing 
 to relieve. He grew bitter and skeptical. 
 
 “Can there be a just God?” he said to 
 a friend, “My purposes were good. He 
 has thwarted them all. I might have 
 been a pillar in God’s house. He has 
 left me a useless lump of clay by the 
 wayside.” 
 
 “He gave you the opportunity to 
 preach submission and patience as you 
 could have done in no pulpit,” was the 
 answer. “You are a lump of clay and 
 he the potter. It does not matter 
 whether you are made into a rare por- 
 celain vessel or an earthen one, pro- 
 vided you hold his purity and love and 
 give it to the world.” 
 
 The rebuke had its effect. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Years af- 
 
 101 
 
 
 
 terwards P gained his wish and 
 became a Christan minister. He de- 
 clared that at no time of his life was 
 he brought so near to God in humility 
 and love as during the years when he 
 was debarred from openly proclaiming 
 his name, 
 
 There are few of us who do not at 
 some time in our lives complain that 
 God has restrained and thrust us into 
 the background when we would have 
 rendered him service. The roots of the 
 tree, could they reason, would doubtless 
 rebel when they are buried in the dark, 
 damp earth, but out of it they gather 
 the life and sweetness for the flower 
 and fruit. Obedience is true religious 
 service, and experience is often the best 
 scholarship of life. 
 
 —Youths Companion. 
 
 ESS 7 eee 
 THE FIRST OFFER. 
 
 A clergyman was visiting a man of 
 business and the following conversation 
 substantially occurred: 
 
 “It is true,’ said the merchant, “I 
 am not satisfied with my present condi- 
 tion. I am not ‘of a settled mind in re- 
 ligion,’ as you express it. Still I am not 
 utterly hopeless. I may yet enter the 
 vineyard, even at the eleventh hour.” 
 
 “Ah! your allusion is to the Saviour’s 
 parable of the loitering laborers who 
 wrought one hour at the end of the day. 
 But you have overlooked: the fact that 
 these men accepted the first offer. 
 
 “Is that so?” 
 
 “Certainly; they said to the lord of 
 the vineyard, ‘No man hath hired us.’ 
 They welcomed the first offer immedi- 
 ately.” 
 
 “True; I had not thought of that be- 
 fore. But then the thief on the cross, 
 even while dying, was saved.” 
 
 “Yes, but it is likely that even he had 
 never rejected the offer of salvation as 
 preached by Christ and His apostles. 
 Like Barabbas, he had been a robber by 
 profession. In the resorts to which he 
 had been accustomed the Gospel had 
 never been preached. Is there not some 
 
102 
 
 reason to believe that he, too, accepted 
 the first offer?” 
 
 “Why, you seem desirous to quench 
 my last spark of hope.” 
 
 “Why should I not? Such hope is 
 illusion. You had really no promise of 
 acceptance at some future time. Now is 
 the accepted time! Begin now.” 
 
 “How shall I begin?” 
 
 “Just as the poor leper did when he 
 met Jesus by the way and committed 
 his body to the great Physician in order 
 to be healed. So commit your soul to 
 Him as a present Saviour. Then serve 
 Him from love. The next—even the 
 most common—duty of life that you 
 have to perform, do it as a service to 
 Him. Will you accept the first offer? 
 Your eyes are open to see you peril. 
 Beware of delay!” 
 
 “You are right; may God help me. I 
 fear I have been living in a kind of 
 dreamy delusion on this subject.” Ex. 
 
 —— 195 —— 
 DELIVERED FROM PIRATES. 
 
 Thrilling experiences with river pi- 
 rates are narrated by the Rev. W. H. 
 Dobson of Yeungkong, South China. Af- 
 ter a day spent at Macao, en route from 
 Hongkong to Yeungkong, with his help- 
 ers, they and their boat were in the 
 hands of a robber band for two nights 
 and a day and were then cast adrift 
 with only the foresail and no oars. They 
 finally dropped anchor near a place 
 called Wongchung, a noted pirate nest. 
 Two miles from there was a chapel. Mr. 
 Dobson sent a messenger with his card 
 to the preacher or elder asking him to 
 come and see him. The elder did so, 
 accompanied by a bodyguard, armed, as 
 the country was infested by robbers. 
 The only way for Mr. Dobson to get his 
 boat into Kongmoon, twenty miles 
 away, was to leave the crew and start 
 from the chapel, two miles distant to 
 get help. “I went into my bunk room,” 
 writes Mr. Dobson, “and asked God if 
 there was anything I could do for these 
 “ people before I left, and immediately 
 the answer came—‘In all thy ways ac- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 knowledge Him, and he will direct thy 
 paths.’ So, calling the crew together, 
 I called their attention to the fact that 
 the light had been burning before their 
 ship’s idol all during the robber raid, 
 and that the idol had in no wise helped 
 them; but now, if they would consent to 
 blow out the light and not light it again 
 all night, I would ask the true God to 
 guard them all during the night, and 
 give them an easy means of getting into 
 Kongmoon on the morrow. They im- 
 mediately went and blew out the light. 
 Then I asked God to protect them and 
 take them to Kongmoon, and further 
 said that I asked this in order that those 
 who were standing around might know 
 that our God is a true God, who hears 
 and answers prayer.” 
 
 Mr. Dobson left the crew and went 
 on to the village and the gates were 
 locked behind him. On leaving next 
 morning, to his surprise the boat on 
 which he was traveling stopped where 
 the junk he had left the night before 
 lay at anchor. He asked whether they 
 lad been molested. They replied, “No, 
 indeed, we had a fine rest, doctor.” “I 
 asked them,” said Mr. Dobson, “to 
 whom we prayed last night, and then 
 they said, ‘Heavenly Father.’ The first 
 thing they saw in the morning was 
 two launches, towing boats full of sol- 
 diers, who promised to take them into 
 Kongmoon that afternoon.” Kongmoon 
 was reached in safety. 
 
 106 
 HIS VERY OWN. 
 
 I was told once of an old man in a 
 Yorkshire village, whose son had been 
 a sore grief to him. One day a neigh- 
 bor inquired how he was doing. “Oh, 
 very bad!” was the answer. “He has 
 been drinking again, and behaving very 
 rough.” “Dear, dear!” said the neigh- 
 bor, “if he was my son I would turn 
 him out. “Yes,” returned the father, 
 “and so would I if he was yours. But, 
 you see, he is not yours, he is mine.” 
 
 —Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 197 -——- 
 
 THE STORY OF “PASS IT ON.” 
 
 Once when I was a schoolboy, go- 
 ing home from a far away little town 
 in which I dwelt, I arrived at Bristol 
 and got on board the steamer with just 
 enough money to pay my fare; that be- 
 ing settled I thought, in my innocence, 
 that I had paid for everything in the 
 way of meals. I had what I wanted 
 as long as we were in smooth water; 
 then came the rough Atlantic and need 
 of more. I had been lying in my berth 
 for hours wretchedly ill and past caring 
 for anything, when in came the steward 
 and stood beside me. 
 
 “Your bill, sir,” said he, holding out 
 a piece of paper. 
 
 “JT have no money,” said I, in my 
 wretchedness. 
 
 “Then I shall keep your luggage. 
 What is your name and address?” I 
 told him. Instantly he took off the 
 cap he wore with the gilt band about it, 
 and held out his hand. I should like to 
 shake hands with you,” he said. Then 
 came the explanation—how that some 
 years before a little kindness had been 
 shown by my father to his mother in 
 the sorrow of her widowhood. “TI never 
 thought the chance would come for me 
 to repay it,” said he pleasantly, “but 
 I’m glad it has.” 
 
 As soon as I got ashore I told my 
 father what had happened. 
 
 “Oh,” said he, “see how a bit of kind- 
 ness lives! Now he has passed it on 
 to you. You remember if you meet 
 anybody who needs a friendly hand, 
 you must pass it on to them.” 
 
 Years had gone by. I had grown up 
 and quite forgotten it all, when one day 
 I had gone to the station of one of our 
 main lines. I was just going to take 
 my ticket when I saw a lad, a gentle- 
 man he was, trying to keep back the 
 troublesome tears as he pleaded with 
 the booking clerk. 
 
 “What’s the matter, my lad?” I 
 asked. 
 
 “If you please, sir, I haven’t money 
 
 10. 
 
 enough to pay my fare. I have all but 
 a few pence, and I told the clerk if he 
 will trust me I will be sure to pay him.” 
 Instantly it flashed upon me the for- 
 gotten story of long ago. Here, then, 
 was my chance to pass it on. I gave 
 him the sum needed, and then got into 
 the carriage with him. TI told the little 
 fellow of long ago and of the kindness 
 to me. “Now, today,” I said “I pass 
 it on to you; and remember, if you 
 meet with anybody who needs a kindly 
 hand, you must pass it on to them.” 
 —Purity Advocate. 
 
 —— 198 —— 
 / “ALMOST UP! ALMOST UP!” 
 
 Mr, E. P. Smith relates that, during 
 the terrible charge up Missionary Ridge, 
 four soldiers were seen bearing back a 
 comrade on a blanket. When they laid 
 their burden down, he knelt by him, and 
 said: 
 
 “Sergeant, where did they hit you?” 
 
 “’Most up the Ridge, sir.” 
 
 “I mean, Sergeant, where did the ball 
 strike you?” 
 
 “Within twenty yards of the top, al- 
 most up.” 
 
 “No, no! Sergeant, think of yourself 
 for a moment; tell me where you are 
 wounded ;” and turning back the blanket 
 I found his upper arm and shoulder 
 mashed and mangled by the shell. Turn- 
 ing his eye to look for the first time up- 
 on his wound, the Sergeant said: 
 
 “That is what did it! I was holding 
 the standard to my blouse, and making 
 for the top. I was almost up when that 
 ugly shell knocked me over. If they 
 had let me alone a little longer, two 
 minutes longer, I should have planted 
 the colors on the top. Almost up! Al- 
 most up!” 
 
 His own regiment, rallying around the 
 colors that had dropped from his shat- 
 tered arm, were even then shouting the 
 victory for which he had given his life; 
 and he was dying without the sight. 
 
 The Lord calls for men who shall be 
 good soldiers of the cross of Christ, and 
 they are to endure hardness, and count 
 
104 
 
 not their lives dear unto themselves. 
 And when assailed by foes on every 
 hand, they are still to keep pressing on- 
 
 ward and upward; and if stricken, and 
 
 pierced, and wounded, and sore, they 
 are still to press forward, until the vic- 
 tory is gained. And when such a one 
 finds himself borne down by his adver- 
 saries, assailed in reputation, wounded 
 in feelings, crippled and hindered and 
 crushed, if the question comes, “Where 
 did they hit you?” his answer is, “Al- 
 most up! Almost up!”—Selected. 
 
 —— 199 —— 
 THE LINE FENCE. 
 
 A good lawyer learns many lessons 
 in the school of human nature; and thus 
 it was that Lawyer Hackett did not fear 
 to purchase the tract of land which, 
 says the Lewiston Journal, had been 
 “lawed over” for years. 
 
 Some of the people wondered why 
 he wanted to get hold of property with 
 such an incubus of uncertainty upon it. 
 Others thought that perhaps he wanted 
 some legal knitting work, and would 
 pitch in red-hot to fight that line fence 
 question on his own hook. 
 
 That’s what the owner of the adjoin- 
 ing land thought. So he braced himself 
 for trouble when he saw Hackett com- 
 ing across the fields one day. 
 
 Said Hackett, “What’s your claim 
 here, anyway, as to this fence?” 
 
 “T insist,” replied the neighbor, “that 
 your fence is over on my land two feet 
 at one end and one foot at least at the 
 other end.” 
 
 “Well,” replied Hackett, “you go 
 ahead just as quick as you can and set 
 your fence over. At the end where 
 you say that I encroach on you two 
 feet, set the fence on my land four 
 feet. At the other end push it on my 
 land two feet.” 
 
 “But,” persisted the neighbor, “that’s 
 twice what I claim.” 
 
 “T don’t care about that,” said Hack- 
 ett. “There’s been fight enough over 
 this land. I want you to take enough 
 so you are perfectly satisfied, and then 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 we can get along pleasantly. Go ahead 
 and help yourself.” 
 
 The man paused abashed. He had 
 been ready to commence the old strug- 
 gle, tooth and nail, but this move of the 
 new neighbor stunned him. Yet he 
 wasn’t to be outdone in generosity. He 
 looked at Hackett. 
 
 “Squire,” said he, “that fence ain’t 
 going to be moved an inch. I don’t 
 want the land. There wasn’t nothin’ in 
 the fight, anyway, but the principle of 
 the thing.” 
 
 —— 200 —— 
 RETURNING THANKS. 
 
 A sweet little girl was invited to take 
 lunch with a friend. She had always 
 been used to hearing a blessing asked 
 before commencing to eat, but~as she 
 waited quietly the gay talking did not 
 cease, and the waitress commenced to 
 pass the cold chicken. She watched 
 each one help themselves, and saw no 
 heads bowed in thankfulness. Finally 
 it came to her, and she fooked at the 
 dish and saw a wing, the part of which 
 she was partial. She looked at her 
 hostess, then, before taking any, bowed 
 her little head and said in a low voice, 
 “Thank you, Jesus, for my wing, any- 
 way.”’—Christian Advocate. 
 
 201 —— 
 
 A LIE IS FOREVER. 
 
 A little girl, whom, we know, came in 
 her night clothes very early to her 
 mother one morning, saying: 
 
 “Which is worst, mamma, to tell a 
 lie or steal?” 
 
 The mother, taken by surprise, replied 
 that both were so bad she couldn't 
 tell which was the worst. 
 
 “Well,” said the little one, “I’ve been 
 thinking a good deal about it, and I’ve 
 concluded its worse to lie than to steal. 
 If you steal a thing you can take it back, 
 ‘less you’ve eaten it; and if you’ve eaten 
 it you can pay for it. But’”—and there 
 was a look of awe in the little face—‘a 
 lie is forever.”—Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ——— 202 -—— 
 GOD’S CARE IN LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 Some writer has truly said: ‘The 
 things we call little and commonplace, 
 like the little jeweled axles in the wheels 
 of our watches, are the very pivots on 
 which the greatest spiritual experiences 
 turn; and trusting God for a headache 
 or a dollar, may teach us to trust him 
 for all the fulness of his grace and 
 power.” In like manner the following 
 experience in my early Christian life 
 
 did much to teach me how to trust God 
 
 for greater things. 
 
 I had been a Christian less than three 
 years, when one summer, with a journey 
 before me, I was resting in a village in 
 Ohio. The seven dollars necessary for 
 my railway fare I put to one side in my 
 purse, and in one-way and another I 
 spent all the money I had remaining. 
 As I was retiring for the night, with 
 my trunk packed, and expecting the 
 omnibus to call for me in the forenoon, 
 the thought occurred to me that it would 
 be better to count that money and see if 
 it were all right. I did so, and to my 
 dismay found it some cents short. I 
 racked my memory in vain to remember 
 where I had spent it, or what had become 
 of it. I felt I could not tell any one 
 my difficulty, and how was I to leave 
 in the morning with not enough money 
 to pay my fare? Then, like many Chris- 
 tians, I began to worry. After a long 
 time I fell asleep, and on awaking in 
 the morning, my difficulty like a cloud 
 came upon me. It occurred to me to 
 tell God all about it, and in so doing 
 I had peace and quietness. In about 
 half an hour I heard a rap at my door, 
 and on opening it, found a gentleman 
 there who handed me the exact sum, 
 twenty-three cents. I asked him why 
 he did it. He replied one day in an 
 emergency he had borrowed it of me, 
 and had forgotten all about it until a 
 little ago. I had forgotten all about it, 
 too, but God had not, and when I cried 
 unto him he delivered me by reminding 
 this brother of that sum. But my 
 story is not finished. In departing a 
 
 105 
 
 friend, who was in poor circumstances, 
 gave mea dollar. I refused to take it, 
 feeling hers was the greater need, as- 
 suring her that I had enough. But she 
 urged me to, saying, “You may need 
 it to get lunch on the way.” I took it 
 reluctantly to please her, secretly resolv- 
 ing in some way to return it. When I 
 reached the city I found, to my astonish- 
 ment, the fare was eight dollars instead 
 of seven. Had not this dear woman 
 given me the dollar I would have been 
 alone in the great city without enough 
 money for the rest of my journey. How 
 God’s care humbled me. He not only 
 gave me the few cents I thought I 
 needed, but supplied a need which he 
 alone foresaw, and of which I was ig- 
 norant. It madea great impression on 
 my mind. How true it is that he “is 
 able to do exceeding abundantly above 
 all that we ask or think.” 
 —Mrs. M. B. Fuller. 
 
 we COD 
 AT YOUR OWN DOOR. 
 
 Sopha had been praying for twelve 
 years to become a foreign missionary. 
 One day she had so prayed, and the 
 Heavenly Father seemed to say: “Sopha, 
 stop; where were you born?” 
 
 “In Germany, Father.” 
 
 “Where are you now?” 
 
 “In America, Father.” 
 
 “Well, are you not a foreign mission- 
 ary already?” 
 
 Then the Father said: 
 the floor above you?” 
 
 “A family of Swedes.” 
 
 “And who above them?” 
 
 “Why, some Switzers.” 
 
 “Who in the rear?” 
 
 “Italians.” 
 
 “And a block away?” 
 
 “Some Chinese.” 
 
 “And you have never said a word to 
 these people about my Son! Do you 
 think I will send you thousands of miles 
 to the foreigner and heathen when you 
 never care enough about them at your 
 own door to speak with them about their 
 souls?”— Selected. 
 
 “Who lives on 
 
106 
 
 —— 204 — 
 QUENCH NOT THE CPIRIT. 
 
 “My children,” said the old man, “the 
 words of your dying father will be few. 
 I wish them to sink deep into your 
 hearts.” Then raising himself a little in 
 his bed, with a degree of strength which 
 he had not been able to command for 
 several of the last weeks of his sickness, 
 he proceeded: 
 
 “When young, I enjoyed religious 
 privileges, and was the subject of occa- 
 sional serious reflection. When just en- 
 tering my sixteenth year, religious im- 
 pressions were made on my mind with 
 unusual force. I seemed to hear a voice 
 continually saying to me, ‘Seek religion 
 now.’ I was unhappy; my former amuse- 
 ments lost their relish. Still I was not 
 willing wholly to relinquish them and 
 obey the voice which urged me to seek 
 religion immediately. One day, after 
 much reflection, I deliberately promised 
 to God, that as soon as the season of 
 youthful amusement was past, I would 
 give myself to religious pursuits. My 
 anxieties immediately left me; I returned 
 to my amusement, and the whole sub- 
 ject was soon forgotten. 
 
 “When at twenty-five the monitory 
 voice returned, reminded me of my 
 promise, and again pressed upon me the 
 importance of eternal things. Though 
 I had not thought of my promise for 
 years, I acknowledged its obligations, 
 but an immediate fulfillment seemed 
 more impracticable than it did nine years 
 before. I vowed with increased solem- 
 nity, that, when the cares of a rising 
 family should subside, I would certainly 
 attend to the concerns of religion. 
 
 “Again I applied myself to worldly 
 avocations, and soon buried all thoughts 
 of the admonition I had received. At 
 fifty when you my children, were di- 
 minishing instead of increasing my cares, 
 this heavenly monitor returned. ‘Fulfill 
 your promise, seek religion now,’ was 
 continually pressing upon my mind. I 
 knew that I had made such a promise, 
 but I felt dissatisfied that its fulfillment 
 should be claimed so soon. I regretted 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 that I had not attended to the subject be- 
 fore, when I could have done it with 
 less difficulty; but such was the extent 
 and pressure of my business, that to do 
 it then seemed impossible. The gubject 
 made me unhappy, and, after much de- 
 liberation, I sought relief to my troubled 
 feelings by most solemnly renewing my 
 promise to God. I said, When the pres- 
 sure of my business is past, I will devote 
 my whole attention to a preparation for 
 eternity. 
 
 “No sooner had I fixed my mind on 
 this course than my anxieties left me; 
 the strivings of the Spirit ceased in my 
 bosom, and ceased forever. When sick- 
 ness warned me of approaching death, 
 I sought to fix my feelings on this sub- 
 ject, but it was in vain. There was a 
 gloom and terror drawn around religion, 
 at which my soul shuddered. I felt that 
 I was forsaken of God, but it did not 
 move me. I had no love to God, no repen- 
 tance for sin, nor wish to forsake it. I felt 
 nothing but the sullen gloom of despair. 
 I knew I was in the hands of a justly 
 offended God, from whom I expected no 
 mercy, and could ask none. With these 
 feelings I am now about to enter the 
 eternal world. To you, my children, I 
 can only say, Profit by my example: 
 quench not the Spirit; seek religion now, 
 if you would avoid a miserable eternity; 
 ae not off the concerns of your soul 
 till”’— 
 
 The sentence died upon his lips; his 
 strength, which had been all summoned 
 to make this last effort, suddenly failed; 
 he fell back upon his bed, and, with a 
 groan that seemed to speak the pains of 
 another world, the immortal spirit took 
 its flight from that body which it had 
 inhabited nearly fourscore years, to re- 
 ceive according to that it had done. 
 
 This little narrative I had from a 
 grandson of the old man, who stood by 
 his dying-bed. He was a minister of the 
 gospel, and dated his first permanent 
 conviction of his sin, and exposure to 
 eternal ruin, from the solemnities of that 
 awful scene. The descendants of the 
 old man were numerous, many of whom 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 became hopefully pious; several were 
 first awakened by this dying charge. 
 —Selected. 
 
 —— 205 —— 
 FIRST SIGHT OF MOTHER. 
 
 A minister living in an Indiana vil- 
 lage received a call one night from a 
 parishoner. “Will you go to Indian- 
 apolis for me?” he asked. “We have 
 decided to send Johnnie there for an 
 operation. We have received encourage- 
 ment that he may yet be made to see.” 
 
 Johnnie had been born without sight 
 and now, a little lad of six, bright and 
 sunny, and hardly realizing that he 
 lacked anything to make life happy, he 
 was facing a future of darkness, little 
 hope till now having been given to the 
 parents that anything could be done for 
 his eyes. 
 
 “Go with my wife and Johnnie,” said 
 the father. “I cannot go; I dare not go. 
 But stay with her till it is over, and 
 either rejoice with us or comfort us and 
 send me word as fast as the lightning 
 can bring it.” 
 
 The minister went and stayed with 
 the lad while the oculist, not over-confi- 
 dent, began his work, and, till at last, 
 with a thrill of triumph in his tone, he 
 said: “The boy will see.” 
 
 The glad wire tingled with the mes- 
 sage to the father; and the minister, with 
 the overjoyed mother, retired to wait for 
 the time when the bandaged eyes could 
 bear light enough for a first look at the 
 beautiful world. 
 
 At last came the notification of the ex- 
 pected test. In the dimly lighted room 
 the mother and the minister stood 
 breathless while the doctor carefully 
 raised the shade. The little lad, over- 
 whelmed by the sudden possession of a 
 new sense, cast a bewildered look from 
 one to the other of the three. 
 
 “Johnnie,” said the minister, “this 
 is your mother.” 
 
 The little arms went up and clasped 
 her neck, the happy boy verifying his 
 new sense by those already tested; and 
 
 107 
 
 caressing the loving face that he saw 
 leaning above him, he cried: “Oh, 
 mother! Is this really you, or is it 
 heaven?” 
 
 It was, indeed, like a glimpse into 
 heaven. “TI felt,” said the minister, “as 
 if I had witnessed something of the glad 
 bewilderment of a newly-translated soul 
 into its first sight of our Heavenly 
 Father.”-——-Youth’s Companion. 
 
 —— 206 —— 
 
 SAVED BY SONG. 
 
 On board the ill-fated steamer Seawan- 
 haka was one of the Fisk University 
 singers. Before leaving the burning 
 steamer and committing himself to the 
 merciless waves, he carefully fastened 
 upon himself and wife life-preservers. 
 Some one cruelly dragged away that of 
 the wife, leaving her without hope, ex- 
 cept as she could cling to her husband. 
 This she did, placing her hands firmly 
 on his shoulders and resting there until 
 her strength becoming exhausted, she 
 said, “I can hold no longer!” “Try a 
 little longer,” was the response of the 
 weary and agonized husband; “let us 
 sing ‘Rock of Ages.’” And as those 
 sweet strains floated over those troubled 
 waters, reaching the ears of the sinking 
 and dying, little did they know, those 
 sweet singers of Israel, whom they com- 
 forted. 
 
 But lo! as they sung, one after an- 
 other of those exhausted ones were seen 
 raising their heads above the overwhelm- 
 ing waves, joining with a last effort in 
 this sweet, dying, pleading prayer: 
 
 “Rock of Ages cleft for me. 
 Let me hide myself in thee.” 
 
 With the song seemed to come strength; 
 another and yet another was encouraged 
 to renewed effort. Soon in the distance 
 a boat was seen approaching! Singing 
 still, they tried, and soon with super- 
 human strength laid hold of the life boat. 
 This is no fiction; it was related by the 
 singer himself, who said he “believed 
 Toplady’s sweet ‘Rock of Ages’ saved 
 many amfiother besides himself and 
 wife.”— Western. 
 
108 
 
 —— 207 —— 
 GUIDED ARIGHT. 
 
 “I will guide thee with mine eye.” 
 If one will yield himself to the guidance 
 of the Holy Spirit and seek only to 
 glorify God in all, he will often be able 
 to look back over the way passed and 
 see clearly that God was leading him 
 although at the time he was entirely 
 unconscious of it. 
 
 This afternoon there were two fam- 
 ilies on whom I intended to call as I 
 started forth. But I had prayed for 
 guidance at morning worship, and had 
 now an unusual desire to be led aright. 
 Passing down a certain street to call at 
 one of the homes thought of, it occurred 
 to me to stop and see a lady living 
 across the street. I had known her for 
 some time, but had never called upon 
 her. Yielding to the impulse I went, 
 and in response to my inquiry was told 
 by her sister, who had come to care 
 for her, that Mrs. D was very 
 ill, but would see me. She was thank- 
 ful indeed for the call, and said, “The 
 Lord sent you.” After speaking some 
 words of comfort and encouragment, 
 prayer was offered, and when I left she 
 was more cheerful in mind, and I was 
 grateful for being led to make the visit. 
 
 No one was at home at either of the 
 two places where I intended to call, but 
 calls were made upon three families 
 where I had no thought of going, and at 
 all the places there were marked indica- 
 tions that my coming was well-timed. 
 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 —— 208 —— 
 
 THE LITTLE GIRL’S PRAYER. 
 
 The late Doctor Krummacher, chap- 
 lain to the king of Prussia, in referring 
 to faith and prayer, writes as follows: 
 
 “A little incident occurs to me which 
 I can hardly withhold, on account of its 
 simplicity and beauty. The mother of 
 a little girl, only four years of age, had 
 been, for some time, most dangerously 
 ill. 
 
 “The physician had given her up, 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 When the little girl heard this, she went 
 into an adjoining room knelt down and 
 said: 
 
 “‘Dear Lord Jesus, O 
 mother well again.’ 
 
 “After she had thus prayed, she said, 
 as though in God’s name, with as deep 
 a voice as she could: ‘Yes my little 
 child, I will do it gladly!’ This was 
 the little girls amen. She rose up 
 joyfully ran to her mother’s bed, and 
 said: ‘Mother you will get well!” 
 
 “And she recovered, and is in health 
 to this day. It is, then, always per- 
 mitted for me to pray thus uncondition- 
 ally respecting temporal concerns? No; 
 thou must not venture to do so, if whilst 
 you doubt. 
 
 “But shouldst thou ever be inclined by 
 God’s Spirit to pray thus, without doubt 
 or scruple, in a filial temper, and with 
 simplicity of heart, resting on the true 
 foundation, and in genuine faith, then 
 pray thus by all means! None dare 
 censure thee; God will accept thee.” 
 
 —— 209 
 SAVE SOMEBODY’S BOY 
 
 An excited crowd was collecting on 
 Mill Street, Rochester, N. Y. A gentle- 
 man having just arrived by the train was 
 attracted to the spot. He inquired the 
 cause of the excitement, and was inform- 
 ed that a boy was drowning in the whirl- 
 pool. Quickly divesting himself of his 
 coat, and throwing down his traveling 
 bag, he plunged into the raging waters. 
 
 For a time he was lost to view, and 
 anxious hearts were throbbing with fear 
 lest he had sacrificed himself. Soon, 
 however, he appeared with the lad in his 
 strong grasp. Ready hands were ex- 
 tended to him, and both were safely land- 
 ed. Clearing the water from his eyes 
 so that he could see, the man exclaimed, 
 “Merciful God, this is my boy!” 
 
 Thousands are going to destruction 
 about you. Be willing to sacrifice your- 
 self if need be to save them, and you 
 will save those that are dear to Christ, 
 and also perhaps especially dear to 
 yourself.__Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 make my 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 =—— 210 —— 
 THE CONGREGATION OF FOUR. 
 
 Religion was at a very low ebb in a 
 town in Vermont. The discouraged 
 pastor gave notice that the usual weekly 
 prayer meeting in the red school-house 
 would be discontinued, as so few at- 
 tended. It was winter, and a deep 
 snow lay on the ground. There was a 
 praying old lady in the church, who un- 
 dismayed by the pastor’s notice, and in 
 fact inspired by it with a new earnest- 
 ness, took her lantern on the usual 
 evening, plodded her way to the school- 
 house, and there spent an hour in 
 wrestling prayer for a revival. On her 
 way home, being exhausted, she stopped 
 at a good deacon’s to rest. Astonished 
 to find her out alone, in such weather 
 and at such an hour, he asked, “Where 
 have you been mother?” “Why, to the 
 prayer meeting,” she replied. “I thought 
 that was given up,” said the deacon. 
 “Not at all.” “Indeed! Who was there?” 
 “Why God, the Father, was there; God, 
 the Son, was there; God, the Holy Spirit 
 was there; and unworthy I was permit- 
 ted to be there! We had a most blessed 
 time, and next week we are to have 
 another meeting.” Next week came, the 
 word had been passed around, and the 
 red school-house was crowded with 
 penitent professors of religion who, con- 
 fessed their past coldness, and renewed 
 their consecration. A revival of great 
 interest followed.—Selected. 
 
 211 —— 
 A BANK SAVED BY FAITH. 
 
 In an English town a report got out 
 that the bank was about to fail. Five 
 hundred people ran for their deposits 
 on the same day. The pastor of the dis- 
 senting church in the town was invited 
 by the bank directors to meet them. 
 They said to him, “Sir, if these people 
 press us to the wall, they will lose their 
 money. If they don’t press us, we will 
 pay every dollar.” The pastor said, “I 
 will help you; I have some money, and 
 I trust you.” He went home, got his 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 money, came to the bank door, and 
 standing on the step said: “Friends, you 
 all know me; I have been living here 
 twenty-five years, and I believe in this 
 bank. Here are three hundred pounds 
 that I am going to deposit. I believe 
 the bank is good.” In less than thirty 
 minutes every one of those people had 
 dispersed, and the bank was save by 
 faith, Unbelief as to that bank was 
 about to ruin it. The moment faith was 
 implanted, the bank was saved. Rail- 
 roads are saved by faith. Steamboats 
 are saved by faith. Your business, 
 friend, is saved by faith. Every good 
 thing on earth is saved by faith.—Sel. 
 
 —— 212 ——_ 
 
 “I DID STEAL THAT SHEEP.” 
 
 A writer in the Baptist Weekly tells 
 a story of a circumstance which occurred 
 at Oswego, and which illustrated the 
 practical shrewdness of an old minister 
 named Amasa Brown. 
 
 “A member of the church charged an- 
 other with stealing a sheep. The culprit 
 denied the charge. Both were men of 
 influence. The church was divided. A 
 council was called, and Mr. Brown was 
 there. There were no witnesses except 
 as to character. It was the word of one 
 man against another. One was a slan- 
 derer, or the other a thief. Elder Brown 
 suggested a most extraordinary measure 
 to elicit the facts in the case. He called 
 the two men to the rostrum before the 
 pulpit, and directed the man who made 
 the charge to engage in prayer—and re- 
 quested the council and audience t? look 
 him in the face while praying. He made 
 an earnest prayer. He appealed to the 
 Lord as one who knew the charge was 
 true. Then the other was called on to 
 follow. He made a regular prayer for 
 the church, the pastor, etc., and then 
 said: ‘As touching this matter of the 
 sheep, O Lord-a-hum, as to touching— 
 touching this-ah’—when he sprang to 
 his feet, and exclaimed, ‘Brethren, I can- 
 mot pray. I did steal that sheep!’ So 
 the matter was settled.” 
 
110 
 
 —— 213 —— 
 
 THE GINGER-BREAD STRUGGLE, 
 
 Dr. Cyrus Hamlin has told in a five- 
 minute speech how it was he came to 
 be a missionary. He said: “In the vast 
 majority of cases missionaries are made 
 by the influence of the family. My wid- 
 owed mother made me a missionary. She 
 had me read every Sunday out of the 
 ‘Panoplist’ and then later out of the 
 ‘Missionary Herald.’ We had in those 
 days in our town a missionary contribu- 
 tion box, a cent box, and we were en- 
 couraged to earn some special cents for 
 that box. I remember well one occasion 
 which was, I think, a turning point in 
 my experience. When the fall muster 
 came every boy had a pocket full of cents 
 to spend. My mother gave me seven cents 
 to spend, saying, as she gave them: “Per- 
 haps you will put a cent or two into the 
 contribution box in Mrs, Farrar’s porch 
 on the common.’ 
 
 “So I began to think as I went along, 
 shall I put in one, or shall it be two? 
 Then I thought two cents was pretty 
 small, and I came up to three—three 
 cents for the heathen and four cents for 
 ginger-bread; but that did not sound 
 right, did not satisfy me, so I turned it 
 the other way, and said four cents shal 
 go for the heathen. Then I thought, the 
 boys will ask me how much I have to 
 spend, and three cents is rather too small 
 a sum to talk about. I said, ‘T’ll put the 
 whole in.’ So in it all went. When I 
 told my mother some years aiterward 
 that I was going to be a missionary, 
 she broke down, and said. ‘I have al- 
 ways expected it.’ ” 
 
 —— 214 —— 
 SHUT UP WITH A BIBLE. 
 
 When Nicholas I. became Emperor of 
 Russia his first task was to put down a 
 formidable sedition among the aristoc- 
 racy of hisrealm. Many nobles detected 
 in guilt, and many who were simply sus- 
 pected, were thrown into prison. One, 
 who was innocent, was by nature a man 
 of fiery temper; his wrongful arrest in- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 furiated him, and he raved like a wild 
 animal, Day after day, brooding over 
 his treatment, he would stamp, shriek- 
 ing through his cell, and curse the Em- 
 peror and curse God. Why did he not 
 prevent this injustice? 
 
 No quiet came to him save in the in- 
 tervals of exhaustion that followed his 
 fits of rage. A visit from the venerable 
 clergyman on the ninth day of his con- 
 finement produced no softening effect. 
 The good man’s prayer was heard with 
 sullen contempt. The divine words, 
 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest,” sounded like mockery to the em- 
 bittered prisoner. The aged minister 
 went away, leaving a Bible in the cell, 
 which he begged the prisoner to read. 
 
 As soon as the minister was gone the 
 angry nobleman kicked the Bible into a 
 corner. What to him was the word of 
 God, who let tyrants abuse him? But 
 when the terrible loneliness of succeed- 
 ing days had nearly crazed him he 
 caught up the Bible and opened it, and 
 his first glance fell on the middle of the 
 fiftieth Psalm: “Call upon me in the day 
 of trouble; I will deliver thee.” The 
 text surprised and touched him, but his 
 pride resented the feeling, and he 
 dropped the book. 
 
 The next day desperation drove him 
 again to the only companion of his soli- 
 tude, and from that time he read the 
 Bible constantly. Then he began to 
 study it, and commit whole chapters to 
 memory. The story of the Savior’s life 
 changed him. He saw himself a fellow 
 sufferer with the Christ who was un- 
 justly accused and slain. 
 
 Revengeful rage gave way and the 
 spirit of a martyr took its place. Like 
 the persecuted Christians shut up in the 
 Roman catacombs, he forgave his ene- 
 mies. An unworldly joy took up the 
 time he had once spent in harsh thoughts 
 and words. The shadows of wrong and 
 death vanished in the new light that 
 shone upon him from beyond. 
 
 The company of a book—the Book in 
 all the world that could have done it— 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 had given the proud noble another heart. 
 
 Madame Dubois, once a beloved prison 
 missionary in New York, from whose 
 writings this story is taken, was in Rus- 
 sia when the condemned man’s aunt and 
 sister, with whom she was visiting, re- 
 ceived a letter which was believed to be 
 his last. It was the outpouring of an 
 exalted soul superior to fate. 
 
 He had undergone his trial, and un- 
 able to prove his innocence, had been 
 sentenced to death. On the day set for 
 his execution, while the ladies of the 
 mansion walked in tears through the 
 crape-hung parlors, suddenly the sight 
 of their doomed kinsman himself aston 
 ished them at the door! 
 
 It was an unhoped for deliverance at 
 the last moment. When the jailer’s keys 
 unlocked the prisoner’s cell, instead of 
 the messenger of death, the Czar of Rus- 
 sia stood before him. A conspirator’s 
 intercepted letter had placed the inno- 
 cence of the suspected nobleman beyond 
 question, and the Czar made what 
 amends he could by bestowing upon him 
 a splendid castle and a general’s com- 
 mission. 
 
 Seventy-five years have passed since 
 then, and with them the life of the al- 
 most martyred Russian; but the fruits 
 of his devout fidelity and kindness 
 among his fellowmen, the hospital he 
 built for the sick and friendless—and 
 the very Bible he was shut up with in 
 his own distress—still bear witness to a 
 consecration that was worth all its per- 
 sonal cost.-—The Youth’s Companion. 
 
 —— 215 —— 
 WHAT HE HAD LEFT 
 
 After Jeremy Taylor had been turned 
 out of his plundered home, yet in his 
 sore persecution for Christ’s sake he by 
 the grace of God was able to say: “I 
 am fallen into the hands of publicans and 
 sequestrators, and they have taken all 
 from me. What now? Let me look 
 about me. They have left me the sun 
 and moon, a loving wife, and many 
 friends to pity me, and some to relieve 
 me; and I can still discourse, and, un- 
 
 lil 
 
 less I list, they have not taken away 
 my merry countenance, and my cheerful 
 spirit, and a good conscience; they have 
 still left me the providence of God and 
 all the promises of the gospel, and my 
 religion, and my hopes of heaven, and 
 my charity to them, too; and still I sleep 
 and digest, I eat and drink, I read and 
 meditate. And he that hath so many 
 causes of joy, and so great, is very much 
 in love with sorrow and peevishness, 
 who leaves all these pleasures, and 
 chooses to sit down upon his little hand- 
 ful of thorns. 
 
 —— 216 —— 
 “HEREIN IS LOVE.” 
 
 A gentleman who was a professed 
 Christian was taken seriously ill. He 
 became much troubled about the little 
 love he felt in his heart for God, and 
 spoke of his experience toa friend. This 
 is how the friend answered him: “When 
 I go home from here, I expect to take 
 my baby on my knee, look into her sweet 
 eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and, 
 tired as I am, her presence will rest me; 
 for I love that child with unutterable 
 tenderness. But she loves me little. If 
 my heart were breaking it would not 
 disturb her sleep. If my body were 
 racked with pain, it would not interrupt 
 her play. If I were dead, she would 
 forget me in a few days. Besides this, 
 she has never brought me a penny, but 
 was a constant expense to me. I am 
 not rich, but there is not money enough 
 in the world to buy my baby. How is 
 it? Does she love me? or do I love her? 
 Do I withhold my love until I know 
 she loves me? Am I waiting for her to 
 do something worthy my love before 
 extending it?” 
 
 This practical illustration of the love 
 ot God for His children caused the tears 
 to roll down the sick man’s face. O, I 
 see,” he exclaimed, “it is not my love to 
 God, but God’s love for me, that I should 
 be thinking of. And I do love Him now 
 as I never loved Him before.” “Herein 
 is love, not that we loved God, but that 
 He loved us.” I John 4:10.—Selected. 
 
112 
 
 aa 217 ——— 
 
 A SECOND CHANCE. 
 
 In Florence, Italy, one of the treasures 
 of art admired by thousands of visitors 
 is Michael Angelo’s representation in 
 marble of the young David. The shep- 
 herd boy stands with firm foothold, the 
 stone grasped tightly in his right hand, 
 ready to be sped on its holy errand. 
 When the statue was unveiled, three 
 hundred and fifty years ago, it caused 
 an unparalleled sensation among ail lov- 
 ers of art. The work is, indeed, a mar- 
 velous piece of sculpture. 
 
 But the strangely winning thing in the 
 story of that statue is that it was the 
 stone’s second chance. A sculptor be- 
 gan work on a noble piece of marble, but, 
 lacking skill, he only hacked and marred 
 the block, It was then abandoned as 
 spoiled and worthless, and thrown away. 
 
 For years the block lay in the back 
 yard, soiled and blackened, half hidden 
 among the rubbish. At last Michael 
 féngelo saw it and at once perceived its 
 possibilities. Under his skillful hands 
 the stone was cut into the fair and mar- 
 velous beauty which appears in the 
 statue of David. 
 
 In like manner,*when a life has been 
 spoiled by unskilled and unscrupulous 
 hands, so that it seems as if all were lost, 
 there is one, the Great Sculptor, who can 
 take the marred, disfigured block, now 
 lying soiled amid the world’s rubbish, 
 and from it carve yet a marvel of beauty. 
 —Selected. 
 
 —— 218 —— 
 ARE YOU WATCHING. 
 
 A young lady whose parents had died 
 while she was an infant had been kindly 
 cared for by a dear friend of the family. 
 Before she was old enough to know him, 
 his business took him to Europe. Regu- 
 larly he wrote to her through all the 
 years of his absence, and never failed 
 to send her money for all her wants. 
 Finally a word came that during a cer- 
 tain week he would return and visit her. 
 He did not fix the day nor hour. She re- 
 ceived several invitations to take pleas- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 ure trips with her friends during that 
 week. One of those was of so pleasant 
 a nature that she could not resist accept- 
 ing it. During her trip he came, in- 
 quired as to her absence, and left. Re- 
 turning, she found this note: 
 
 “My life has been a struggle for you, 
 might you not have waited one week 
 for me?” More she never heard, and her 
 life of plenty became a life of want. 
 
 Jesus has not fixed the day or hour of 
 His return, but He has said, ‘“‘Watch!” 
 and should He come today would He 
 find us absorbed in thoughtless dissipa- 
 tion?—British Evangelist. 
 
 219 —— 
 
 BELIEVING IN THE BIBLE. 
 
 During Mr, Moody’s meetings in New 
 York City, a man brought a difficult 
 passage to him with this question: 
 
 “How do you explain that 
 Moody?” 
 
 “T don’t explain it.” 
 
 “Well, how do you interpret it?” 
 
 “I don’t interpret it.” 
 
 “How do you understand it?” 
 
 “I don’t understand it.” 
 
 “Well, what do you do with it?” 
 
 “I don’t do anything with it.” 
 
 “You don’t believe it, do you?” 
 
 “Certainly I believe it. There are lots 
 of things I believe that I don’t under- 
 stand. There are a good many things 
 in astronomy, a good many things about 
 my own system that I don’t understand, 
 yet I believe them. I am glad there are 
 heights in that book which I have’nt 
 been able to climb, I am glad there are 
 depths I haven’t been able to fathom. It 
 is the best proof that the book came from 
 God.” 
 
 “But you don’t believe in the Old 
 Testament just as you do in the New 
 Testament?” 
 
 “Yes, I do. We have one Bible, not 
 two. The very things in the Old Testa- 
 
 
 
 Mr. 
 
 ment that men cavil at the most today © 
 
 are the things the Son of Man set His 
 seal to when He was down here, and it 
 isn’t good policy for the servant to be 
 above his Master. The Master believed 
 these things.”—Selected. 
 
 —! 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 220 —— 
 THE BIRD ONLY HURT ITSELF. 
 
 “Having returned from a visit to a 
 poor widow in trying circumstances, I 
 felt that I had utterly failed in my at- 
 tempts to comfort or uplift her heart; 
 and sat down dispirited, to think how 
 I could best reach her case. A robin 
 just then happened to fly into the room, 
 and in its efforts to escape again, dashed 
 itself madly against the walls and ceil- 
 ing, until its poor little head and wings 
 were sore and bleeding. On my at- 
 tempt to catch and set it free, it only 
 redoubled its frantic efforts, and when 
 in my hand, struggled so violently, as 
 only to hurt its bruised sides more. Ah! 
 I thought thus it is with that poor widow 
 —with us all, when the Lord ‘straitens’ 
 us with trouble. 
 
 “We dash and wound our poor hearts 
 against the firm wall of -his will; we 
 think of nothing but escape, and struggle 
 madly against the kind and most gentle 
 hand that only holds us with its whole- 
 some strength, whose ‘end’ and aim is 
 but to restore us to the bright pure air 
 of his mercies, that we may sun our 
 hearts with his presence and wing our 
 way more freely toward Himself. 
 
 “T returned, read the text again, and 
 - applied my illustration as simply as pos- 
 sible to the poor woman. Presently the 
 dull eye began to brighten, the hard 
 countenance to grow tender, and tears 
 dropped on the poor worn cheek, as she 
 murmured a promise that she would 
 hope for the future, and try and trust 
 the wise hand which held her.”—Se- 
 
 —— 221 —— 
 THROW THE REINS TO JESUS. 
 
 Professor Drummond was staying 
 with a lady whose coachman had signed 
 the pledge, but afterward had given 
 away to drink again. This lady said to 
 the professor: “Now this man will drive 
 to the station; say a word to him if you 
 can. He is a good sort of fellow, and 
 really wants to reform, but he is weak.” 
 While they were driving down, the pro- 
 
 118 
 
 fessor tried to think how he could intro- 
 duce the subject. Presently the horses 
 bolted. The driver held on to the reins 
 and manipulated them well. The car- 
 riage swayed about, and the professor 
 expected every moment to be upset, but 
 presently the man drew the horses up, 
 and streaming with perspiration, said: 
 “I say, that was a close shave. Our trap 
 might have been smashed into match- 
 wood, and you wouldn’t have given any 
 more addresses.” “Well,” said Profes- 
 sor Drummond, “how was it that it did 
 not happen?” “Why,” was the reply, 
 “because I knew how to manage the 
 horses.” “Now,” said the professor, 
 “look here, my friend; I will give you a 
 little bit of advice. Here’s my train 
 coming. I hear you have been signing 
 the pledge, and breaking out again, Now 
 I want to give you a bit of advice. Throw 
 the reins of your life to Jesus Christ’; 
 and then he jumped down and got into 
 the train. The driver said afterward 
 that it came upon him like a flash of 
 lightning. He saw where he had made 
 a mistake, from that day he has ceased 
 to try to manipulate his own life, but 
 gave the reins to Jesus Christ. The 
 story bears its own moral. One need 
 not add a word; only let us learn its 
 lesson, and carry out the professor’s ad- 
 vice.—Selected. 
 
 — 222 —— 
 
 TEMPTATION RESISTED. 
 
 We have read a story, vouched for by 
 a southern banker as true, that, during 
 the time of the Civil War, a steamer 
 stopped at a landing on the Mississippi 
 River, when a planter came to the cap- 
 tain and said, “I will give you ten thous- 
 and dollars to take a boat-load of cotton 
 to New Orleans.” “I cannot do it,” re- 
 plied the captain. “For I have strict 
 orders not to allow a single bale of cot- 
 ton on board.” The cotton was worth 
 nothing to the planter without a market 
 and he increased his offer. I will give 
 
 you twenty thousand dollars.” “Can’t 
 do it,” was the prompt reply. “Thirty 
 thousand dollars.” “Can’t do it.” The 
 
114 
 
 planter followed the captain on board 
 offering him successively larger sums 
 until he had reached one hundred thous- 
 and dollars. “My orders are strict,” said 
 the captain, “and I cannot disobey 
 them.” “Then I will give you a hundred 
 and ten thousand dollars,” said the plant- 
 er. The captain rose to his feet and his 
 face hardened, as, reaching his hand into 
 a drawer, he took out a revolver, and 
 leveling it at the planter said, “Get off 
 
 this boat, or I will kill you, You are 
 getting too close to me.” 
 That captain was wise. He began to 
 
 feel the fascination of the temptation. 
 He began to feel down in his heart that 
 he wanted that money, that there was 
 danger, he might yield, and that the only 
 safety lay in removing the temptation 
 absolutely, ridding himself of it or get- 
 ting entirely away from it. What a glori- 
 ous thing it would be if all Christians 
 would set themselves to defend their 
 innocence with the determination of that 
 captain —Rev. G. B. F. Hallock, D.D. 
 
 —— 223 —— 
 THE SAVED HAND. 
 
 Some years ago a minister of the gos- 
 pel was preaching about the benefits of 
 blessings that may be obtained through 
 prayer. “I once knew a little boy,” said 
 he, who had a very bad sore on his right 
 hand. It got worse in spite of all that 
 was done for it. At last it began to 
 mortify, and the doctor said it would 
 have to be taken off, in order to save 
 his life. 
 
 “The day was fixed for the operation. 
 The little boy was a Christian. He had 
 a little, retired, shady spot, in a corner 
 of his father’s garden, where he used 
 often to go and take his book when he 
 wanted a quiet time for reading. 
 
 When he heard the doctor say that 
 his hand must be cut off, he felt very 
 sad; he did not like to lose his right 
 hand. So he went to that quiet, shady 
 spot in the garden, and there he kneeled 
 down and prayed that God would make 
 his hand better, and let it get well again 
 without having to be cut off, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “The next day, when the doctor came 
 to look at his hand, he was very much 
 surprised to find it looking a great deal 
 better. The next day it was better still; 
 and the third day, he said he thought it 
 was going to get well, and that it would 
 not be necessary to have it taken off. 
 
 “This little boy grew to be a man. 
 He became a minister; and this,” said 
 the speaker, holding up his hand, “‘is 
 the right hand that was saved, through 
 prayer from being cut off. And I hold 
 up this hand before you as a proof of the 
 blessings that may be obtained in an- 
 Swer to prayer.” 
 
 “In everything, by prayer and suplica- 
 tion, with thanksgiving, let your re- 
 quests be made known to God.” [Phil. 
 iv., 6.]—Selected. 
 
 —— 224 —— 
 
 RELY ON YOURSELF. 
 
 Nothing better could happen to the 
 young man who has the right kind of 
 grit than to be thrown on the world and 
 his own resources. A well-to-do judge 
 once gave his son $1,000 and told him 
 to go to college and graduate. The son 
 returned at the end of the first year, his 
 money all gone and several extravagant 
 habits. At the close of the vacation the 
 judge said to his son: 
 
 “Well, William, are you going to col- 
 lege this year?” 
 
 “I have no money, Father.” 
 
 “But I gave you $1,000 to graduate 
 on.” 
 
 “It is all gone, Father.” 
 
 “Very well, my son, it is all I could 
 give you; you can’t stay here; you must 
 now pay your own way in the world.” 
 
 A new light broke in upon the vision 
 of the young man. He accommodated 
 himself to the situation; and again left 
 home, made his way through college, 
 graduated at the head of his class, stu- 
 died law, became governor of the State 
 of New York, entered the Cabinet of the 
 President of the United States, and has 
 made a record that will not soon die, 
 for he was none other than William 
 Seward.—Self Help. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 og tad 5 ce 
 THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 A remarkable testimony to the power 
 of conscience is found in the so-called 
 Conscience Fund of the United States. 
 This fund was started in 1811, when a 
 letter was received containing five dol- 
 lars, which the writer confessed having 
 taken from the Government. This was 
 given to the Treasury, and records of 
 such contributions have been kept ever 
 since, although the money itself is not 
 kept separate. Nothing further was re- 
 ceived until 1827. From that date until 
 the present year only one year has passed 
 without additions to the conscience fund. 
 During the last fiscal year, $54,923.15 
 was received, including one contribution 
 of $30,000 and another of $10,000. It was 
 the largest income during any one year. 
 The total fund now is $498,763.54. 
 
 It has been truly said that the con- 
 science fund preaches a sermon. It shows 
 that there are men and women who are 
 not satisfied with ill-gotten gains, but 
 who feel the constraining influence of a 
 desire to be honest. Square dealing is 
 essential to a mind of peace, and the 
 trequent contributions to the conscience 
 fund demonstrate that not until a wrong 
 is rectified can the human mind find 
 rest.—American Messenger. 
 
 —— 226 
 
 SAVED BY PRAYER. 
 
 I was taught as a child to read the 
 Bible, and I have never been able to 
 shake off those early influences. I have 
 always believed in God’s providential 
 care, I have always felt that God was 
 about my path. For instance, when the 
 expedition in search of Emin Pasha was 
 nearly annihilated for want of food, I 
 left Bonny with the invalids and about 
 a biscuit a day for their allowance. About 
 a dozen men accompanied me on a des- 
 perate and final quest for food, and day 
 after day we met with no success. 
 
 We had been nine days away from 
 camp, and I felt that perish we all must 
 unless help came from God. I began to 
 
 
 
 115 
 
 pray, “O Lord help us! Do not let these 
 poor innocent people perish. I have had 
 light and knowledge, and have sinned 
 much against thee, but these men know 
 very little, and I have brought them here 
 into the desert, for which they are not re- 
 sponsible. Do not let the innocent suf- 
 fer with the guilty.” 
 
 All night I prayed, and when the 
 morning light glinted through the trees 
 I called to the men to begin to march. 
 I felt sure we should find food that day. 
 Before we had gone half a mile we saw 
 stretching out before us a small grove 
 of ripe bananas. We were not follow- 
 ing any track. I was steering by the 
 compass, and if we had gone 500 yards 
 to the right or left we should likely have 
 missed this beautiful sight. At once we 
 began to pull them and roast them, and, 
 having eaten a good meal, we got 150 
 loads of ripe bananas, with about sixty 
 pounds to the load, and the expedition 
 was saved.—Henry M. Stanley. 
 
 ——- 227 —— 
 SAVED BY A BEAR. 
 
 Ignaus, an Arctic mail carrier, whose 
 six dogs died in one night from some 
 poison in a frozen fish which was a part 
 of his supplies, was a hundred miles 
 from a trading post, and the cold forty 
 degrees below zero. 
 
 Broken-hearted after his dogs, the 
 poor fellow would have given up and 
 died had he not had a wife and a little 
 babe awaiting him at the end of his 
 route, but even the thought of those 
 who were dear to him failed sometimes 
 to keep his mind from wandering. 
 
 Before his loss he had the variation 
 of talking to his dogs, who seemed al- 
 most human. Now, no sound, except 
 the cracking of the ice; no sight but 
 snow, snow, snow, in great stretches of 
 dazzling whiteness; its crisp crust, many 
 feet thick, was as solid as a glacier. 
 
 At last the poor man felt that he could 
 not bear it any longer. He had light- 
 ened the load on his sledge, and drew it 
 after him day by day, and slept in his 
 fur bag on it at night. He cried to the 
 
116 
 
 Great Father in agony of pleading, “Oh, 
 leave me not alone so long; send some 
 one, oh, send me some one, or I die!” 
 
 Once more at night he lay down in 
 his fur bag and slept. But what was 
 this pushing him over? I=gnaus opened 
 his eyes, and there stood before him a 
 great bear. Evidently the brute was 
 curious; he had never seen anything 
 like it before. 
 
 Strangely enough, Ignaus was not 
 afraid. He rose and fed the bear with 
 frozen fish from the sledge; the creature 
 acted like a great wild dog, and when 
 satisfied lay down on his side while Ig- 
 naus satisfied his own hunger; then 
 when he started on his walking again, 
 the bear trotted beside him. 
 
 The Great Father sent him, thought 
 Ignaus. At night again he fed the bear, 
 and the warmth of the shaggy brute put 
 new life into Ignaus. 
 
 When within five miles of the trading 
 post suddenly the bear turned toward a 
 great forest in the distance, and Ignaus 
 saw him no more. 
 
 Reaching the post, the president, when 
 he heard how Ignaus had come across 
 vast solitudes of ice and snow without 
 his dogs, said, “He is the bravest man 
 of the north; surely the good God sent 
 the bear to save his reason.” 
 
 —Home Guard. 
 
 —— 228 —— 
 
 HOLD UP THE LIGHT. 
 
 The famous Eddystone light-house of 
 the coast of Cornwall, England, was first 
 built in a fanciful way, by the learned 
 and eccentric Winstanley. On its sides 
 he put various boastful inscriptions. He 
 was very proud of his structure, and 
 from his lofty balcony used boldly to 
 defy the storm, crying, “Blow, O winds! 
 Rise, O ocean! Break forth, ye ele- 
 ments, and try my work!’ But one fear- 
 ful night the sea swallowed up the tower 
 and its builder, 
 
 The light-house was built a second 
 time of wood and stone by Rudyard. 
 The form was good, but the wood gave 
 hold for the elements, and the builder 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and his structure perished in the flames. 
 
 Next the great Smeaton was called. 
 He raised a cone from the solid rock 
 upon which it was built, and riveted it 
 to the rock; as the oak is fastened to 
 the earth by its roots. From the rock 
 of the foundation he took the rock of 
 the superstructure. He carved upon it 
 no boastful inscription like those of Win- 
 stanley, but on its lower course he put, 
 “Except the Lord build the house, they 
 labor in vain that build it;” and its key- 
 stone, above the lantern, the simple 
 tribute, “Laus Deo!” and the structure 
 still stands, holding its beacon light to 
 storm-tossed mariners, 
 
 Fellow-workers for the salvation of 
 men, Christ, the Light, must be held up 
 before men or they will perish. Let us, 
 then, place Him on no superstructure of 
 our own device. Let us rear no tower 
 of wood, or wood and stone. But taking 
 the word of God for our foundation, let 
 us build our structure upon its massive, 
 solid truth, and on every course but 
 Smeaton’s humble inscription, and then 
 we may be sure that the light-house will 
 stand.—Selected. 
 
 229 ——— 
 
 UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD. 
 
 While traveling in a coal mine dis- 
 trict I noticed how very dingy the town 
 appeared. The coal dust seemed to 
 blacken the buildings, trees, shrubs, 
 everything. But as a foreman and I 
 were walking near'the mines I noticed 
 a beautiful white flower. Its petals were 
 as pure as if it were blooming in a daisy 
 field. 
 
 “What care the owner of this plant 
 must take of it,” said I, “to keep it so 
 free from dust and dirt!” 
 
 “See here,” said the foreman, and tak- 
 ing up a handful of coal dust, he threw 
 it over the flower. It immediately left 
 the flower as stainless as before, 
 
 “It has an enamel,” the foreman ex- 
 plained, “which prevents any dust from 
 clinging to it. I think it must have been 
 created for such a place."—Dr. T. L. 
 Cuyler. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 250 
 KATE SHELLY’S BRAVERY. 
 
 In 1898 Miss Shelly won a gold medal 
 from the Iowa Legislature, “and a wealth 
 of admiration from all who read of her 
 heroic act.” The facts are these: In a 
 fearful thunder-storm and a torrent of 
 falling rain, she looked out of her win- 
 cow in the darkness of the night, and 
 by the vivid flashes of lightning shining 
 on the scene, she saw that a railroad 
 bridge near her home had been swept 
 away by the storm. Just then she saw 
 the headlight of a locomotive swifty ap- 
 proaching the spot where the bridge had 
 just been swept away, and plunge into 
 the abyss below. She lighted her lan- 
 tern, and, alone, amidst the thunder and 
 lightning, and storm, she crept up a 
 rocky steep and with her clothes torn 
 to rags, and lacerated flesh, she reached 
 the rails, and on her hands and knees 
 crept out to the last tie of the fallen 
 bridge, swung the lantern back and 
 forth over the abyss, until she heard the 
 faint voice of the engineer, who, though 
 in the greatest peril himself, cried to 
 her to go quickly and give the alarm to 
 save the express train, which was thea 
 coming toward that perilous spot, and 
 summon help also, to rescue him. 
 
 - She started for the nearest station, a 
 mile away. To reach that station she 
 had to cross a high trestle bridge of five 
 hundred feet in length. She had gone 
 but a few steps when a gust of wind put 
 out her lantern, which she then threw 
 away, knowing that she could not relight 
 it in the storm. She then dropped upon 
 her hands and knees, and crept along 
 from tie to tie over the trestle. Her way 
 was lighted only by frequent flashes of 
 lightning. After crossing the bridge she 
 hastened along the rails by the flashes 
 of lightning to the station, and with what 
 strength she had left told her story, and 
 then fell in a dead faint at the station- 
 agent’s feet. 
 
 Help went quickly to the poor en- 
 gineer’s rescue, and telegrams flew up 
 and down the line, notifying all that the 
 
 
 
 
 
 ANECDOTES 117 
 
 bridge was gone. While Miss Shelly lay 
 yet unconsicous, the express train came 
 rushing into the depot. When the pass- 
 engers learned what perils the brave girl 
 had passed through to save them, and 
 saw her lying still in an unconscious 
 state, they took her up tenderly, and 
 bathed her torn and bleeding limbs, and 
 soon brought her back to consciousness. 
 Oh, how the scene beggars description, 
 as the men and women gathered about 
 the brave girl of sixteen, looking upon 
 her pale face, her torn and bleeding 
 form. As they think how she went 
 through all this to save their lives, words 
 are too weak to express the deep grati- 
 tude of their hearts, They laid a sub- 
 stantial expression of their appreciation 
 at her feet. Then as the best they could 
 do, they embalmed her memory in their 
 warmest affections, while the world 
 placed a wreath of lasting honor on her 
 brow. And Kate Shelley, living or dy- 
 ing, with her approving conscience, can 
 say: “I did what I could.” 
 
 What an example to all Christians, 
 who see so clearly the dark abyss just 
 a step before unconverted men, and they 
 rushing with great speed toward it. Let 
 us swing the lamp of truth before them, 
 and cry with great earnestness: “Danger 
 ahead! Bridge gone! No crossing but 
 through the bleeding victim of Cavalry!” 
 May we all learn a lesson of sacrifice 
 and effort to save others, from this inci- 
 dent, that, in the coming day Christ, may 
 say of us: “They have done what they 
 could.”—Selected. 
 
 —— 231 —— 
 
 SPOILING OUR FASCINATION. 
 
 Sir James Thornhill was the person 
 who painted the inside of the cupola of 
 St. Paul’s, London. After having finished 
 one of the compartments he stepped 
 back gradually, to see how it would look 
 at a distance. He receded so far (still 
 keeping his eye intently fixed on the 
 painting) that he was almost to the very 
 edge of the scaffolding without perceiv- 
 ing it. Had he continued to retreat, 
 half a minute more would have com- 
 
118 
 
 pleted his destruction, and he would 
 have fallen to the pavement underneath, 
 A person present, who saw the danger 
 the great artist was in, had the happy 
 presence of mind to suddenly snatch up 
 one of the brushes and spoil the painting 
 by rubbing it over. Sir James, trans- 
 ported with rage, sprang forward to 
 save the remainder of the piece. But 
 his rage was soon turned to thanks when 
 the person told him: 
 
 “Sir, by spoiling the painting I have 
 saved the life of the painter. You were 
 advanced to the extremity of the scai- 
 fold without knowing it. Had I called 
 to you to apprise you of your danger 
 you would naturally have turned to look 
 behind you, and the surprise of finding 
 yourself in such a dreadful situation 
 would have made you fall indeed. I 
 had, therefore, no other way of retriev- 
 ing you but by acting as I did.” 
 
 Similar, if I may so speak, is the meth- 
 od of God’s dealing with His people. We 
 are all naturally fond of our own legal 
 performances. We admire them to our 
 ruin, unless the Holy Spirit retrieve us 
 from our folly. This He does by mar- 
 ring our best works—that is, by show- 
 ing us their insufficiency to justify us 
 before God. When we are truly taught 
 of Him we thank Him for His grace, 
 instead of being angry at having our 
 idols defaced. The only way by which 
 we are saved from everlasting destruc- 
 tion is by being made to see that “by 
 the deeds of the law there shall no flesh 
 be justified.”—Toplady. 
 
 — 232 —— 
 THE BODY ONLY A TENEMENT. 
 
 When his age was eighty years, John 
 Quincy Adams was met on the streets 
 of Boston by an old friend, who, taking 
 his hand, said, “Good morning! And 
 how is John Quincy Adams, today?” 
 
 “Thank you,” the ex-president replied. 
 “John Quincy Adams, himself, is quite 
 well, sir. But the house in which he 
 lives at present is becoming dilapidated. 
 It is tottering upon its foundation. Time 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and season have nearly destroyed it. Its 
 roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls 
 are much shattered and it trembles with 
 every wind. The old tenement is be- 
 coming almost uninhabitable, and I think 
 
 - John Quincy Adams will have to move 
 
 out of it soon.” 
 
 A short time after this interview, the 
 venerable ex-president was seized with 
 a paralytic stroke in the house of repre- 
 sentatives, and his last words were: 
 “This is the last of earth; I am content.” 
 —selected. 
 
 name 253 —— 
 MOTHER TOLD ME. 
 
 Mr. William Taylor, the evangelist, 
 often called “California Taylor,” had at 
 one time been separated for three years 
 from his wife and family. When at last 
 he met them in Sydney, the father would 
 not have known his boys had he met 
 them in the street, apart from their 
 mother, nor would the children have 
 recognized their father, With tears of 
 tender joy the parent embraced his sons, 
 saying to one of them, “Ross, do you 
 know me?” “Yes, papa.” “How do you 
 know me?” “Mother told me it was 
 you.” The boy received his father by 
 faith, and his faith was based on his 
 mother’s testimony. She could not be 
 mistaken, and she would not mislead or 
 deceive her sons on such a point, and the 
 boy knew he might trust her word; so 
 he loved the stranger at once, and re- 
 ceived him as his father. “Mother told 
 me so.” Faith or trust in God enters the 
 heart just in this way—‘faith cometh 
 by hearing.” How do I know God is my 
 father, and loves me? Jesus, the son of 
 God, “told me so.” He said, “the father 
 himself loveth you.” He could not be 
 mistaken, because he must know his 
 father’s heart.—Selected. 
 
 —— 234 —— 
 
 Unbelief, in distinction from disbelief, 
 is but a confession of ignorance where 
 honest inquiry might have found the 
 truth. “Agnostic” is but the Greek for 
 “Ignoramus.”—Tryon Edwards. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —— 235 —— 
 LOUISA OSBORNE’S GIFT. 
 
 “In the beautiful Island of Ceylon, 
 many years ago, the native Christians, 
 who had long worshiped in bungalows 
 and old Dutch chapels, decided that 
 they must have a church built for them- 
 selves. Enthusiastic givers were each 
 eager to forward the new enterprise. 
 But, to the amazement of all, Maria 
 Peabody, a lone orphan girl, who had 
 been a beneficiary in the girl’s school 
 at Oodooville, came forward and offered 
 to give the land upon which to build, 
 which was the best site in her native 
 village. 
 
 Not only was it all she owned in this 
 world, but far more, it was her marri- 
 age portion, and in making this gift in 
 the eyes of every native she renounced 
 all hopes of being married. As this al- 
 ternative in the East was regarded as 
 an awful step, many thought her beside 
 herself, and tried to dissuade her from 
 such an act of renunciation. “No,” said 
 Maria, “I have given it to Jesus, and as 
 he has accepted it, you must.” 
 
 And so today the first Christian 
 church in Ceylon stands upon land giv- 
 en by a poor orphan girl. 
 
 The deed was noised abroad, and 
 came to the knowledge of a young theo- 
 logical student, who was also a benefi- 
 ciary of the mission, and it touched his 
 heart. -Neither could he rest until he 
 had sought and won the rare and noble 
 maiden, who was willing to give up so 
 much in her Master’s cause. 
 
 Some one in the United States had 
 been for years contributing twenty dol- 
 lars annually for the support of this 
 young Hindoo girl, but the donor was 
 unknown. Rev. Dr. Poor, a missionary 
 in Ceylon visited America about that 
 time, longed to ascertain who was the 
 faithful sower and report the wonderful 
 harvest. 
 
 Finding himself in Hanover, N. H., 
 preaching to the students of Dartmouth 
 College, he happened in conversation to 
 hear some one speak of Mrs. Peabody, 
 and repeated “Peabody”; what Pea- 
 
 119 
 
 body?” “Mrs. Maria Peabody, who re- 
 sides here, the widow of a former Pro- 
 fessor,” was the answer. “Oh! I must 
 see her before I leave,” said the earnest 
 man, about to continue his journey. | 
 
 The first words, after an introduction 
 at her house, were: “I have come to 
 bring you a glad report, for I cannot 
 but think that it is to you we in Ceylon 
 owe the opportnuity of educating one 
 who has proved as lovely and consistent 
 a native convert as we have ever had. 
 She is exceptionally interesting, devot- 
 edly pious, and bears your name.” 
 
 “Alas!” said the lady, “although the 
 girl bears my name, I wish I could claim 
 the honor of educating her; it belongs 
 not to me, but to Louisa Osborne, my 
 poor colored cook. Some years ago in 
 Salem, Mass., she came to me, after an 
 evening meeting saying; “I have just 
 heard that, by giving twenty dollars a 
 year one can support and educate a child 
 in Ceylon, and I have decided to do it. 
 They say that along with the money, I 
 can send a name, and I have come, mis- 
 tress, to ask you if you would object to 
 my sending yours.” “At that time,” con- 
 tinued the lady, “a servant’s wages 
 ranged from a dollar to a dollar and a 
 half a week, yet my cook had for a 
 long time been contributing half a dol- 
 lar each month at a monthly concert for 
 foreign missions. There were those who 
 expostulated with her for giving away 
 so much for one in her circumstances, 
 as a time might come when she could 
 not earn. ‘I have thought it all over,’ 
 she would reply, and concluded I would 
 rather give what I can while I am earn- 
 ing, and then if I lose my health and 
 cannot work, why, there is the poor- 
 house, and I can go there. You see 
 they have no poor-house in heathen 
 lands, for it is only Christians who care 
 for the poor.” 
 
 In telling this story, Dr. Poor used 
 to pause at this point and exclaim: “To 
 the poor-house! Do you believe God 
 would ever let that good woman die in 
 the poor-house? Never!” 
 
 The missionary learned that the last 
 
120 
 
 known of Louisa Osborne, she was re- 
 siding in Lowell, Mass. In due time 
 his duties called him to that city. At 
 the close of an evening service before a 
 crowded house he related among mis- 
 sionary incidents, as a crowning tri- 
 umph, the story of Louisa Osborne and 
 Maria Peabody. The disinterested de- 
 votion, self-sacrifice and implicit faith 
 and zeal of the Christian giver in favor- 
 ed America had been developed, matur- 
 ed and well-nigh eclipsed, by her faith- 
 ful protege in far-off benighted India. 
 His heart glowing with zeal and deeply 
 stirred by the fresh retrospect of the 
 triumph of the Gospel over heathenism, 
 he exclaimed: “If there is any one 
 present who knows anything of that 
 good woman, Louisa Osborne, and will 
 lead me to her, I shall be obliged.” 
 
 The benediction pronounced and the 
 crowd dispersing, Dr. Poor passed down 
 one of the aisles, chatting with the pas- 
 tor, when he espied a quiet little figure 
 apparently waiting for him. Could it 
 be? Yes, it was a colored woman, and 
 it must be Louisa Osborne. With quick- 
 ened step he reached her, exclaming in 
 tones of suppressed emotion: “I be- 
 lieve this is my sister in Christ, Louisa 
 Osborne?” “That is my name,” was 
 the calm reply. “Well, God bless you, 
 Louisa, you have heard my report, and 
 know all; but before we part, probably 
 never to meet again in this world, I 
 want you to answer one question. “What 
 made you do it?” With downcast eyes, 
 and in low trembling voice she replied: 
 “Well, I do not know, but I guess it was 
 my Lord jesus.” 
 
 They parted only to meet in the 
 streets of the New Jerusalem, for the 
 missionary returned to his adopted 
 home, where ere long the loving hands 
 of his faithful native brethern bore him 
 to his honored grave. The humble 
 handmaiden of the Lord labored meekly 
 on awhile, and ended her failing days 
 not in a poor-house verily, but, through 
 the efforts of those who knew her best, 
 in a pleasant, comfortable Old Ladies’ 
 home. “Him that honoreth me I will 
 honor.”—The Christian Giver. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —— 236 —— 
 AN HONEST MAN. 
 
 An incident, which exhibits the sterl- 
 ing integrity of a man who could with- 
 stand the temptations of weaith rather 
 than do the smallest act of injustice, 
 is told in Mr. H. M. Chittenden’s “His- 
 tory of Steamboat Navigation on the 
 Missouri River.” The principal actor 
 was one of the early settlers of St. Louis, 
 a Mr. LeBarge, who had purchased a 
 small tract of land for which he paid 
 twenty-five dollars. 
 
 Land was then of very little value, 
 and transfers were often made without 
 deed and with no more formality than 
 in exchanging cattle or horses. In this 
 way Mr. LaBarge traded his land on 
 what is now Cedar Street, St. Louis, to 
 Chaurin Lebeau for a horse. 
 
 Long afterward, when these transac- 
 tions were almost forgotten, and the 
 property had become very valauble, a 
 lawyer presented himself to the old 
 gentleman and asked him if he had ever 
 owned any land on Cedar Street. Mr. 
 LeBarge replied in the affirmative, and 
 discribed its locality. The lawyer then 
 asked him when and how he disposed of 
 it. He could not at first recall, but 
 Mrs. LeBarge remembered the circum- 
 stances and related them to the lawyer, 
 at the same time remarking to her hus- 
 band that that was the way they got 
 their horse to set themselves up on the 
 farm with. . 
 
 The lawyer then assured Mr, Le- 
 Barge that the title to this property was 
 still vested in him, and that he could 
 hold it against all comers, for there was 
 absolutely no record of the conveyance 
 in existence. 
 
 The old gentleman, with a look of 
 indignation, asked the lawyer if he took 
 him for a thief. 
 
 “I traded that land,” said he, “to 
 Chaurin Lebeau for a horse, which was 
 worth more to me than the land was. 
 I shall stand by the bargain now. If 
 Chaurin Lebeau’s children have no title, 
 tell them to come to me and I will make 
 them a deed before I die.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a £37 —— 
 LESSONS OF TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 My boyhood’s home was on the New 
 England seacoast, at a point where Long 
 Island Sound opens into the Atlantic 
 Ocean. Seventy-five or a hundred years 
 ago there was, ina New England village, 
 no such wide distance between the rich 
 and the poor as nowadays there is in 
 many a prosperous community. Few 
 families had household servants. Serv- 
 ants, indeed, were not then known there 
 as a class. Families who were “better 
 off” than their neighbors were accus- 
 tomed to call on the women and girls of 
 those neighbors to act as “help” in 
 household work, such as washing and 
 baking and house-cleaning and sewing 
 and nursing. Men and boys who were 
 not in any particular trade, or who 
 were not on the water as sailors or 
 coasters, were accustomed to do service 
 for their well-to-do neighbors as “help” 
 in planting and harvesting and wood- 
 chopping, and other odd jobs. Thus, 
 while most were enabled to get along 
 day by day moderately well, there was 
 at times a family where a widow and 
 her fatherless children, or others, would, 
 through special circumstances, be press- 
 ed for means of support beyond the 
 knowledge of their neighbors. 
 
 Such a family lived not far from my 
 mother and grandmother, in a house 
 often pointed out to me as I heard the 
 story afterward. The mother and her 
 two children served and trusted God, 
 and did the best they could for them- 
 selves, as they found opportunity, in do- 
 ing such work as their neighbors could 
 furnish them. 
 
 But at one time the mother found her- 
 self in extremity. As a stormy night 
 shut in she had not a particle of food for 
 the next day’s need. When they lay 
 down that night, she prayed with her 
 children, without telling them of her 
 helplessness—for, indeed, she was not 
 helpless while she trusted God as her 
 helper. With the new, bright morning 
 the mother prayed for their daily bread, 
 
 121 
 
 assured that her Father could supply 
 it—as he alone knew how. 
 
 She asked her children to go down to 
 the shore before breakfast, and get some 
 clean sand from the beach for their sit- 
 ting room floor. Before the days of 
 woolen carpets, in the humbler New 
 England homes they were accustomed 
 to strew sand on the floor, and to orna- 
 ment the borders by arranging it in 
 figures with a broom. When the chil- 
 dren had gone, the mother again kneeled 
 and prayed for their daily bread, After 
 this she spread the breakfast-table, for 
 which she had no food. 
 
 Suddenly the children returned with- 
 out the sand, but bringing gleefully a 
 fine fish, which they had found in a hol- 
 low of the beach, as left by the outgoing 
 tide after the storm, and which they 
 together had captured. As with a great- 
 ful heart she thanked God for his good- 
 ness, and then began to prepare the fish 
 for their breakfast, when she was called 
 to the door by a visitor. 
 
 A man from the country above the vil- 
 lage had called to say that on one occa- 
 sion her husband, now dead, had done 
 some work for this man for which he 
 had not been paid. The man had now 
 brought a bushel and a half of corn-meal 
 to give the widow on account, promising 
 to bring more by and by. As with swell- 
 ing heart the mother thanked the donor, 
 and brought the meal into their now 
 doubly glad home, she told the children 
 of how God had answered her prayer, 
 and they kneeled together to give him 
 thanks. 
 
 Then she hastily made a “johnny- 
 cake” of the Indian-meal, and baked it 
 by the fire, while she broiled the fish for 
 their breakfast. Together they asked 
 God’s blessing on that God-given meal, 
 and thenceforward they both served and 
 trusted God more fully and joyously 
 than ever. 
 
 The village neighbors, when they 
 learned of God’s care of one whom they 
 had unintentionally neglected, resolved 
 henceforward to minister more faith- 
 fully to her whom God had privileged to 
 
122 
 
 represent him .in their community. 
 When I heard that story from dear 
 mother, it didn’t seem any more strange, 
 or any less true, than the Bible stories. 
 Indeed, it didn’t seem so very strange 
 anyway. It seemed just like God. And 
 I think so still. I’ve never had reason 
 to think differently — H Clay Trumbull. 
 
 238 —— 
 WARNED IN A DREAM. 
 
 Both scripture and experience teacn 
 us that though “a dream cometh through 
 the multitude of business,” and is often 
 but the broken minglings of fantastic 
 fancies, yet there are times when men 
 are warned of God in dreams, as in the 
 case of Joseph; and to disregard such 
 warnings is dangerous in the extreme. 
 The eminent English evangelist, Will- 
 iam Haslam, relates the following in- 
 stance which occurred within his own 
 circle of acquaintance. 
 
 “A careless, worldly man in my parish 
 dreamt one night that he was in the mar- 
 ket-hall of a certain town. He was sur- 
 prised to see in a wall a doorway which 
 he had never noticed before,—so much 
 so, that he went forward to examine it, 
 and found that it really was a door, and 
 that it opened to his touch. He went 
 inside, and there he saw an oppressive 
 and strange scene. There was a number 
 of men and women walking about, who 
 appeared to be very woeful and in great 
 agony of pain. They were too dis- 
 tressed to speak, but he recognized most 
 of them as persons who had been dead 
 some time. They looked mournfully at 
 him as if sorry he had come there, but 
 did not speak. He was much alarmed, 
 and made his way back to the door to 
 escape, but he was stopped by a stern, 
 sullen-looking porter, who said, in a 
 sepulchral voice: ‘You cannot pass!’ 
 He said, ‘I came in this way, and I want 
 to go out.” ‘You cannot,’ said the sol- 
 emn voice. ‘Look, the door opens only 
 one way; you may come in by it, but 
 you cannot go out.’ It was so, and his 
 heart sank within him as he looked at 
 that mysterious portal. At last the por- 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ter relented, and as a special favor let 
 him go forth for eight days. He was so 
 glad at his release that he awoke. 
 
 “When he told me the dream I warned 
 him and begged him to give his heart to 
 God. ‘You may die,’ I said, ‘before the 
 eighth day.’ He laughed at the idea, 
 and said he was ‘not going to be fright- 
 ened by a dream.’ ‘When I am con- 
 verted,’ he continued, ‘I hope I shall be 
 able to say that I was drawn by love, 
 and not driven by fear.’ ‘But what,’ I said, 
 ‘if you have been neglecting and slighting 
 God’s love for a long time, and he is now 
 moving you with fear to return to him?’ 
 Nothing would do; he turned a deaf ear 
 to every entreaty. When the eighth day 
 arrived, being market day, he went to 
 the hall as usual, and looked at the wall 
 of which he had dreamt with peculiar in- 
 terest; but seeing no door there he ex- 
 claimed, ‘It’s all right; now I will go 
 and have a good dinner over it, with a 
 bottle of wine!’ 
 
 “Whether he stopped at one bottle or 
 not, I cannot tell; but late on Saturday 
 night, as he was going home, he was 
 thrown from his horse and killed. This 
 was the end of the eighth day.”—The 
 Christian. 
 
 eae oy Xe 0 | ed ona 
 
 SEAMEN NOT ATHEISTS. 
 
 It is not often that you find a seafar- 
 ing man who is an atheist. Addison tells 
 us of a time when he was on board ship, 
 and there was a passenger on deck who 
 was an infidel. He was reported to the 
 captain as an atheist, and neither he nor 
 the sailors could make out what sort of 
 a strange fish that might be, and asked 
 him what he meant. They were told 
 that he did not believe in God. A storm 
 ceming on, the men proposed that they 
 should pitch him overboard, seeing he 
 did not believe in God Almighty; but he 
 was soon cured of his unbelief, for, when 
 things looked threatening, the first per- 
 son who was down on his knees, crying 
 for mercy in great terror, was the preci- 
 ous atheist, who soon got rid of his athe- 
 ism when he felt in danger of his life— 
 Spurgeon. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 240 —— 
 A STORY OF FAITH. 
 
 Dr. F. W. Krummacher relates this 
 beautiful and simple story of faith of 
 Rev. Mr. Henke: 
 
 A Christian friend came one day to 
 this man of God, who unhesitatingly in- 
 vited him to dine with him, although 
 he knew not what to set before him. 
 When the bell rang at noon, the servant 
 passed several times through the room, 
 with an anxious countenance, in order, 
 unobservedly, to beckon her master out. 
 Henke, however, was not aware of her 
 meaning, and only reminded her at last, 
 that it was time to lay the cloth. The 
 servant was perplexed and requested 
 her master to step out to her for a mo- 
 ment. “Sir,” she began in a mournful 
 voice, “you wish me to lay the cloth, but 
 don’t you know we have scarcely a piece 
 of dry bread in the house, and you sent 
 your last penny to a sick person this 
 day?” “Ah,” answered Henke, with a 
 smile, “is that all you have to say to 
 me? Do but lay the cloth as usual, it 
 will be time enough for the meat when 
 we sit down to the table.” 
 
 The maid, not a little astonished, did 
 as she was told. “Let us take our seats,” 
 said the friendly host, with a cheerful 
 countenance. They sat down to the 
 empty table, and the worthy childlike 
 man offers up a prayer. On his saying 
 “Amen!” the door bell is rung, and 
 there is a basket with abundance of food, 
 which a neighbor had felt constrained to 
 send to him. Calmly, as if nothing par- 
 ticular had happened, Henke ordered all 
 the diskes to be filled; and then looking 
 smilingly at the astonished servant, he 
 said: “Well, have you still anything to 
 object to our kind entertainer?” 
 
 These, says Dr. Krummacher, are 
 valuable facts; but such things cannot 
 be imitated. It is certainly easy to or- 
 der the cloth to be laid; but nothing is 
 accomplished by that. However, if you 
 possess anything of Henke’s faith, then 
 do not hesitate to order the cloth to be 
 laid. A Royal Host will provide the 
 feast.—Selected. 
 
 123 
 
 —— 241 —— 
 THE TRACK WAS CLEARED. 
 
 The following remarkable incident 
 was related in the writer’s hearing some 
 years ago, by the Rev, Dr. Bryan, of 
 East Bay City, in the course of a sermon 
 preached before a conference of the 
 Methodist Church, in northern Mich- 
 igan: 
 
 “I was once returning home from one 
 of the southern States, on a train of 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, and was con- 
 gratulating myself upon the excellent 
 progress I was making in the direction 
 of my own home-state, when the train 
 upon which I was riding suddenly re- 
 duced speed, and was run off upon a 
 siding at a dull, desolate way-station. 
 
 No one seemed able to explain our 
 mysterious delay. The passengers 
 quickly left the coaches and stood by 
 the track-side in a quandary. While 
 they thus waited a fast freight came up 
 and drew off upon another siding, and 
 a little later an “accommodation train” 
 did likewise. The mystery deepened, and 
 not a little impatience was manifesting 
 itself among the waiting passengers, 
 when suddenly tiere came a roar and 
 flash out of the south, and a “lightning 
 express” dashed up the line, like a 
 thunderbolt out of the sky, and disap- 
 peared in a cloud of dust and smoke. 
 
 It was then that the conductor of our 
 waiting train dropped lightly from the 
 steps of one of the coaches, and pointing 
 in the direction of the fast receding 
 train explained: “Yonder goes the Su- 
 perintendent’s Special; he has heard that 
 his son is dying 1,000 miles away, and 
 has ordered every train off the road, that 
 he may get through to his boy”! 
 
 Fellow Christian, the same God who 
 holds the worlds in his palm, and feeds 
 the fishes a mile beneath the sea, is your 
 Father, and in your trouble or peril He 
 will order every obstacle from His path 
 that He may fly to your side, on the 
 swift wings of His love! “A thousand 
 shall fall at thy side and ten thousand 
 at thy right hand, but it shail not come 
 nigh thee.”—Rev. Stanley G. Tyndall. 
 
124 
 
 ——~ 242 —— 
 A MOTHER’S FAITH. 
 
 In a sketch of the life of Beate Paulus, 
 the wife of a German minister who lived 
 on the borders of the Black Forest, are 
 several incidents which illustrate the 
 power of living faith, and the providence 
 of a prayer-hearing God. 
 
 Though destitute of wealth, she much 
 desired to educate her children; and five 
 of her boys were placed in school, while 
 she struggled, and prayed, and toiled, 
 not only in the house, but out of doors. 
 
 “On one occasion,” writes one of her 
 children, “shortly before harvest, the 
 fields stood thick with corn, and our 
 mother had already calculated that their 
 produce would suffice to meet all claims 
 for the year. She was standing at the 
 window casting the matter over in her 
 mind, with great satisfaction, when her 
 attention was suddenly caught by some 
 heavy, black clouds with white borders, 
 drifting at a great rate across the sum- 
 mer sky. ‘It is hail-storm!’ she ex- 
 claimed, in dismay; and quickly throw- 
 ing up the window, she leaned out. 
 Her eyes rested upon the frightful mass 
 of wild storm-clouds, covering the west- 
 ern horizon, and approaching with rapid 
 fury. 
 
 “*O God!’ she cried, ‘there comes an 
 awful tempest, and what is to become 
 of my corn?’ The black masses rolled 
 nearer and nearer, while the ominous 
 rushing movement that precedes a 
 storm, began to rock the sultry air, and 
 the dreaded hailstones fell with violence. 
 Half beside herself with anxiety about 
 those fields, lying at the eastern end of 
 the valley, she now lifted her hands 
 heavenward, and wringing them in ter- 
 ror, cried: ‘Dear Father in heaven, what 
 art thou doing? Thou knowest I can- 
 not manage to pay for my boys at 
 school, without the produce of those 
 fields! Oh! turn Thy hand and do not 
 let the hail blast my hopes!’ Scarcely 
 had these words crossed her lips, when 
 she started, for it seems as if a voice had 
 whispered in her ear: ‘Is my arm short- 
 ened that it cannot help thee in other 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 ways?’ Abashed, she shrank into a 
 quiet corner, and there entreated God to 
 forgive her want of faith. In the mean- 
 time the storm had passed. And now 
 various neighbors hurried in, proclaiming 
 that the whole valley lay thickly covered 
 with hailstones, down to the very edge 
 of the parsonage fields; but the latter 
 had been quite spared. The storm had 
 reached their border, and then suddenly 
 taking another direction into the next 
 valley. Moreover, that the whole vil- 
 lage was in amazement, declaring that 
 God had wrought a miracle for the sake 
 of our mother, whom he loved. 
 
 At another time she found herself un- 
 able to pay the expenses of the child- 
 ren’s schooling; and the repeated de- 
 mands for money were rendered more 
 grievous by the reproaches of her hus- 
 band who charged her with attempting 
 impossibilities, and told her that her 
 self-will would involve them in disgrace. 
 She, however, professed her unwavering 
 confidence that the Lord would soon in- 
 terpose for their relief, while his answer 
 was: “We shall see; time will show.” 
 
 In the midst of these trying circum- 
 stances, as her husband was one day sit- 
 ting in his study, absorbed in medita- 
 tion, the postman brought three letters 
 from different towns where the boys 
 were at school, each declaring that un- 
 less the dues were promptly settled, the 
 lads would be dismissed. The father 
 read the letters with growing excite- 
 ment, and spreading them upon the 
 table before his wife as she entered the 
 room, exclaimed: “There, look at them, 
 and pay our debts with your faith! I 
 have no money nor can I tell where to 
 go for any.” 
 
 “Seizing the papers, she rapidly glances 
 ed through them, with’a very grave face, 
 but then answered firmly: Its all right; 
 the business shall be settled. For He 
 who says: “The gold and silver are 
 mine,’ will find it an easy thing to pro- 
 vide these sums.’ Saying which she 
 hastily left the room. 
 
 “Our father readily supposed she in- 
 tended making her way to a certain rich 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 friend who had helped us before. He 
 was mistaken, for this time her steps 
 turned in a different direction. We had 
 in the parsonage an upper loft, shut off 
 by a trap-door from the lower one, and 
 over this door it was that she now knelt 
 down, and began to deal with Him in 
 whose strength she had undertaken the 
 work of her children’s education. She 
 spread before Him those letters from the 
 study-table, and told Him of her hus- 
 band’s half-scoffing taunt. She also re- 
 mined Him how her life had been re- 
 deemed from the very gates of death, 
 for the children’s sake, and then declared 
 that she could not believe that He meant 
 to forsake her at this juncture; she was 
 willing to be the second whom He 
 might forsake, but she was determined 
 not to be the first. 
 
 In the meanwhile, her husband waited 
 down stairs, and night came on; but she 
 did not appear. Supper was ready, and 
 yet she stayed in the loft. Then the 
 eldest girl, her namesake Beate, ran up 
 to call her; but the answer was: ‘Take 
 your supper without me; it isnot time 
 for me to eat.’ Late in the evening the 
 little messenger was again dispatched, 
 but returned with the reply: ‘Go to bed, 
 the time has not come for me to rest.’ 
 A third time, at breakfast next morning, 
 the girl called her mother. Leave me 
 alone,’ she said; ‘I do not need break- 
 fast; when I am ready I shall come.’ 
 Thus hours sped on; and downstairs her 
 husband and children began to feel 
 frightened, not daring, however, to dis- 
 turb her any more. At last the door 
 opened, and she entered, her fact beam- 
 ing with a wonderful light. The little 
 daughter thought that something extra- 
 ordinary must have happened; and run- 
 ning to her mother with open arms, 
 asked eagerly: ‘What is it? Did an 
 angel from heaven bring the money?’ 
 ‘No, my child,’ was the smiling answer; 
 but now I am sure that it will come.’ 
 She had hardly spoken, when a maid 
 in peasant costume entered, saying: “The 
 master of the Linden Inn sends to ask 
 whether the frau Pastorin can spare time 
 
 125 
 
 to see him?’ ‘Ah, I know what he wants,’ 
 answered our mother. My best regards, 
 and I will come at once.’ Whereupon 
 she started, and mine host, looking out 
 of the window, saw her from afar, and 
 came forward to welcome her with the 
 words: ‘O madam, how glad I am you 
 have come!’ Then leading her into his 
 back parlor, he said: ‘I cannot tell how 
 it is, but the whole of this last night 
 I could not sleep for thinking of you. 
 For some time I have had several hun- 
 dred gulden in that chest, and all night 
 long I was haunted by the thought that 
 you needed this money, and that I ought 
 to give it to you. If that be the case, 
 there it is—take it; and do not trouble 
 about repaying me. Should you be able 
 to make it up again, well and good; if 
 not, never mind.’ On this my mother 
 said: “Yes, I do most certainly need it, 
 my kind friend; for all last night I too 
 was awake, crying to God for help. 
 Yesterday there came three letters, tell- 
 ing us that all our boys would be dis- 
 missed unless the money for their board 
 is cleared at once.’ 
 
 “Ts it really so?’ exclaimed the inn- 
 keeper, who was a noble-hearted and 
 Christian man. ‘How strange and won- 
 derful! Now I am doubly glad I asked 
 you to come!’ Then opening the chest 
 he produced three weighty packets, and 
 handed them to her with a prayer that 
 God’s blessing may rest upon the gift. 
 She accepted it with the simple words; 
 ‘May God make good to you this service 
 of Christian sympathy; for you have ac- 
 ted as the steward of One who has 
 promised not even to leave the giving 
 of a cup of cold water unrewarded.’ 
 
 “ ‘Flusband and children were eagerly 
 awaiting her at home; and those thres 
 dismal letters still lay open on the 
 table when the mother, who had quitted 
 that study in such deep emotion the 
 day before, stepped up to her husband, 
 radiant with joy. On each letter she 
 laid a roll of money, and then cried: 
 ‘Lock, there it is! And now believe 
 that faith in God is no empty mad- 
 ness!’ ”—-Wonders of Prayer. 
 
126 
 
 —— 243 —— 
 SAFE AND SMOOTH NOW. 
 
 How blessed is the thought that the 
 terrible mystery which once affrighted 
 the souls of men has been dispelled. 
 One tells of a dark pool in the neighbor- 
 hood of his native place, which was 
 said to be unfathomable. It was im- 
 possible to see an inch into the awful 
 black waters. The young people looked 
 upon its frowning face with a shudder, 
 and were mortally afraid of standing on 
 its brink. 
 
 One day, a boy, braver than his fel- 
 lows, ventured to put his foot over the 
 edge, when, to his surprise, he found 
 the water quite shallow. Encouraged 
 by this, he waded in very slowly and 
 cautiously, feeling his way, and though 
 the water deepened, it was so gradual 
 that in the middle of the pool it only 
 reached up to his waist. He walked 
 from one end of it to the other, and dis- 
 pelled forever the mystery, so that the 
 smallest boy delighted to wade in the 
 black water. 
 
 So Jesus has sounded the lowest 
 depths of the darkness which we call 
 death, and now we know that following 
 in His steps we have nothing to fear. 
 The bottom is good, the waters shall 
 not overflow us, and His own hand shall 
 lead us through. 
 
 In the old days in the South a gentle 
 Christian lady lay on her death-bed. At 
 the last her mind wandered, and she 
 fancied herelf in the carriage returning, 
 perhaps after night-fall, from a long 
 journey. 
 
 _ Presently she murmured with a smile, 
 speaking to the coachman, as_ she 
 thought: 
 
 “The carriage goes smoothly now; 
 we must be nearly home, ar’n’t we, 
 Dave?” ‘The old colored coachman sat 
 weeping in the room, and hearing the 
 question, he sobbed out: 
 
 “*Taint po’ Dave, Mistis; de Lord 
 done tuck holt er de lines;” and hearing 
 that precious word of faith, the aged 
 saint fell into quiet sleep, and passed 
 out into the Home beyond. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Yes, the way is safe, for Jesus has 
 gone before, and the carriage goes 
 smoothly there, because, when human 
 hands are loosened, He holds the lines 
 and guides the trusting soul into His 
 own eternal rest.—Selected. 
 
 BEI, J ick 
 AN ALPINE HUNTERS’S ESCAPE. 
 
 An Alpine hunter, ascending Mount 
 Blanc, in passing over the Mer de Glace, 
 lost his hold, and slipped into a fright- 
 ful crevasse. Catching in his swift de- 
 cent against the points of rocks and pro- 
 jecting spars of ice he broke his fall, 
 and reached the bottom alive, but only 
 to face death in a more terrible form. 
 On either hand the icy walls rose high, 
 and above he saw only a strip of blue 
 sky. At his feet trickled a little stream 
 formed from the melting glacier. There 
 was but, one possible chance of escape— 
 to follow this rivulet, which might lead 
 to some unknown crevice or passage. 
 
 In silence and terror he picked his 
 way down the mountain side till his 
 further advance was stopped by a giant 
 cliff that rose up before him, while the 
 river rolled darkly below. He heard 
 the roaring of the waters, which seemed 
 to wait for him. What should he do? 
 Death was beside him and behind him, 
 and he might fear, before him. There 
 was no time for reflection or delay. He 
 paused but an instant, and plunged into 
 the stream. One minute of breathless 
 suspense a sense of darkness and cold- 
 ness, and yet of swift motion, as if he 
 were gliding through the shades below, 
 and then a light began to glimmer faint- 
 ly on the waters, and the next instant 
 he was amid the green fields and the 
 flowers, and the summer sunshine of 
 the vale of Chamouni. 
 
 So it is when believers die. They 
 come to the bank of the river, and it is 
 cold and dark. Nature shrinks from the 
 fatal plunge. Yet, one chilly moment, 
 and all fear is left behind, and the 
 Christian is amid the fields of the para- 
 dise of God.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 245 —— 
 ONE NEGRO’S CONSCIENCE. 
 
 Some years ago, when visiting a lit- 
 tle town in Western Ohio, I found a 
 colored man who made an impression 
 upon me which I shall never forget. 
 This man’s name was Matthews. When 
 I saw him he was about sixty years of 
 age. In early life he had been a slave 
 in Virginia. 
 
 As a slave Matthews had learned the 
 trade of a carpenter, and his master, see- 
 ing that his slave could earn money for 
 him by taking contracts in various parts 
 of the country where he lived, permitted 
 him to go about to do so. Matthews, 
 however, soon began to reason, and 
 naturally reached the conclusion that if 
 he could earn money for his master, he 
 could earn it for himself. 
 
 So, in 1858, or about that time, he 
 proposed to his master that he would 
 pay $1,500 for himself, a certain amount 
 to be paid in cash and the remainder to 
 be paid in yearly installments. Such a 
 bargain as this was not uncommon in 
 Virginia then. The master, having im- 
 plicit confidence in the slave, permitted 
 him, after this contract was made, to 
 seek work wherever he could secure the 
 most nay. The result was that Mat- 
 thews secured a contract for the erection 
 of a building in the State of Ohio. 
 
 While the colored man was at work in 
 Ohio the Union armies were declared 
 victorious, the Civil War ended and free- 
 dom came to him, as it did to 4,000,000 
 other slaves. 
 
 When he was declared a free man by 
 Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation, Mat- 
 thews still owed his master, according 
 to the antebellum contract, $300. As 
 Mr. Matthews told the story to me, he 
 said that he was perfectly well aware 
 that by Lincoln’s proclamation he was 
 released from all legal obligations, and 
 that in the eyes of nine-tenths of the 
 world he was released from all moral 
 obligations to pay his former master a 
 single cent of the unpaid balance, But 
 he said that he wanted to begin his life 
 of freedom with a clear conscience. In 
 
 ANECDOTES 123i 
 order to do this, he walked from his 
 home in Ohio, a distance of 300 miles, 
 much of the way over the mountains, 
 and placed in his former master’s hand 
 every cent of the money that he had 
 promised before to pay for his freedom. 
 
 Who will be brave enough to say that 
 such a man is not fit to use the ballot, 
 is not fit for citizenship?—Booker T. 
 Washington. 
 
 Bete AR ee 
 
 “NOW OR NEVER.” 
 
 There are points on the bleak British 
 coast where certain hardy adventurers 
 gain a scant livelihood by hunting the 
 eggs of the rockbirds, which build their 
 nests and rear their young along the 
 face of those dangerous cliffs. 
 
 The method ts to secure a strong rope 
 at the top and let it drop to the desired 
 level down the wall of the precipice. 
 The egg hunter then lowers himself at 
 will, and searches out the nesting places 
 of the sea birds, as he descends. 
 
 One day an egg-hunter had made the 
 descent, and, in his effort to swing him- 
 self in on a narrow “shelf,” gained the 
 rock but lost the rope. He stood like 
 one fascinated and watched the slow vi- 
 brations of the rope as it swung out over 
 the sea, and at every vibration becoming 
 more remote from his grasp. As death 
 stared the man in the face, his mind con- 
 centrated upon the one possible means 
 of escape, and the thought flashed into 
 his mind: “Yonder rope is swinging 
 nearer to me this instant than it ever 
 will again, soon it will be too late; it 
 is now or never,” and springing from 
 the rock-shelf, he flung himself out over 
 the sea, seized the rope as it approached 
 his eager hand, and was saved! 
 
 Unbeliever, is it not true that the 
 mercy of God and the offer of life 
 through His Son are coming nearer to 
 you today than they may come again? 
 Opportunity is a fleeting thing. Why 
 delay? Cast yourself upon His love now. 
 There is no time like the present. “Now 
 is the accepted time; now is the day of 
 Salvation.”—Rev. Stanley G. Tyndall. 
 
128 
 
 ype 
 “IN PERILS BY THE HEATHEN.” 
 
 I wish I could give you a glimpse of 
 the real condition of that land with: 
 out the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Go 
 with me into Central Africa. You find 
 the people absolutely naked in body. 
 Go with me into one of their huts, cir- 
 cular in form, in shape like a beehive; 
 the only opening a little hole two and 
 a half feet high by a foot wide, into 
 which you crawl on your hands and 
 knees. When you are inside, and your 
 eyes have become accustomed to the 
 semi-darkness, and your nostrils to the 
 almost overpowering stench, if you can 
 become used to it, what a scene of fil- 
 thiness greets you! You will understand 
 when I say I have counted at night, be- 
 ing called to attend to their sick, as 
 many as eleven persons and seventeen 
 goats in a hut fifteen feet in diameter. 
 
 Is it any marvel to you that, living thus 
 with their beasts for generations, they 
 become beastly, beastly in thought, 
 beastly in conversation, beastly in every 
 appearance?—for the same law works 
 in Africa as America; the man becomes 
 what his associates are. Is it any 
 wonder that amid the putrefying atmos- 
 phere of such moral conditions love is 
 throttled to death? Is it any wonder that 
 in some tribes when any are sick they 
 take them to the bush and build a fire 
 beside them and leave them? 
 
 These people did not want me there 
 any more than the world wanted its 
 first great missionary, Christ. They tried 
 their best to get rid of me, held councils 
 of war to decide what to do with me. 
 Finally, several of the natives came to 
 me and said that they had decided to 
 kill me if I remained in their midst 
 more than three days. .I felt I was in 
 the place God wanted me to be, and 
 that it is the safest place in the world, 
 as it is also the sweetest. I would to 
 God we could get rid of the notion of 
 saying, “Thy will be done” with a groan, 
 as though it was necessarily a hard 
 thing God asked of us. God’s will is 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 in the sunshine as well as in the shadow. 
 God’s will is in the laughter, and the 
 joyfulness and the gladsomness of life 
 as much, as in the sorrow and afflictions 
 of life. 
 
 I sent word back to them, “I am 
 here to tell you about God. I expect to 
 stay.” They threatened all manner of 
 things. But at the end of the time they 
 came to the conclusion that it was nu 
 use; so they issued an order that any- 
 one found bringing food to the white man 
 should be killed, and for nearly two 
 months that order was rigidly enforced. 
 It would have fared very ill with me if 
 it had not been for a divine provision. 
 An old woman used to pass my hut to 
 and from her work in the field. Every 
 time she passed she managed secretly to 
 drop a root of cassava, the root from 
 which our tapioca comes, before my 
 door. I roasted that root, and it en- 
 abled me to eke out my slender supply 
 of provisions throughout those months. 
 God’s ravens are not dead yet. When 
 we get to the end of ourselves, we find 
 God there every time, if we are looking 
 for Him. 
 
 The greatest difficulty of all in con- 
 nection with the work of Christ in Af- 
 rica is that which comes from the mul- 
 tiplicity of the language there. I had no 
 word of their language and no way of 
 getting it except through actual contact 
 with the people, as it had never been 
 written before. The first word I got was 
 the word ‘“Nachow,” which means; 
 “What is it?’ And I flung that word 
 at them, pestered them with it on every 
 possible occasion, as I pointed to tang- 
 ible things about me, and listening care- 
 fully for their reply, would jot it down 
 phonetically. In that way in the course 
 of the years, I obtained a vocabulary and 
 grammar of the langauge. 
 
 I spent four years alone, burying five 
 companions, and others had to return 
 home; had fever myself between thirty 
 and forty times; was several times am- 
 bushed by the natives; three times at- 
 tacked by lions, several times by rhi- 
 noceri; for fourteen months I never saw 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a piece of bread; for two months I had 
 nothing to eat but native beans and sour 
 milk. I had to eat anything from ants 
 to rhinoceri. Do not misunderstand me 
 now; I am not posing as a martyr; I en- 
 joyed it. But let me say this my friend; 
 I would gladly go through the whole 
 thing, with my eyes wide open to it, if 
 I could have the joy I had of bringing 
 salvation to the people. And do you 
 know there are two hundred, possibly, 
 such tribes in the Dark Continent with- 
 out a written language, much less a 
 Messenger of the Cross. 
 
 I do not ask you to pity the heathen. 
 Pity is a weak thing that spreads itself 
 in tears, and then forgets the object of 
 it. .But I do ask you with all the 
 strength of my heart that you simply 
 treat Jesus Christ right. Is it right?— 
 I submit to you that it is not right to re- 
 ceive eternal life from those scarred 
 hands, and then give Him the spare 
 change we happen to have left after we 
 have supplied our luxuries. I submit it 
 is not right to receive Heaven at the 
 price He paid for it and then give Him 
 the odds and ends, the convenient ser- 
 vice, that cost us nothing. My friends 
 the crumbs that fall from your laden 
 tables are not enough, and they will 
 not do to meet the need of the lost world 
 groping in its ignorance, in its blind- 
 ness, without God. You have no right 
 to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ afresh 
 upon the cross of your convenience.— 
 W. R. Hotchkiss, In Christian Work. 
 
 —— 248 —— 
 THE CHILD HEROINE. 
 
 We have read a touching incident 
 about three little children, who, last au- 
 tumn, late in the season, wandered alone 
 in a dreary region of New Brunswick. 
 The sun had already sunk in the west, 
 and the gloom of evening was spreading 
 itself over the surrounding country. 
 
 The night came on fast; and feeling 
 sure that they could not get home before 
 daybreak, the eldest (a girl of only six 
 years) quietly placed the two little ones 
 in a sheltered nook on the sea-beach; 
 
 129 
 
 and fearing the cold chilly night for the 
 younger children, Mary stripped off 
 most of her own clothes to keep them 
 warm. 
 
 She then started off to gather dry 
 seaweed, and whatever else she could 
 find to cover them with. Having ten- 
 derly in this way wrought for some time 
 to make them a nest, she at last fell 
 down exhausted with the cold, and half 
 bare to the cold inclement night. 
 
 That evening the loving father and 
 tender mother sat up wondering at their 
 children’s long absence; the hours drag: 
 ged slowly past with anxious watching, 
 and silent listening for the well-known 
 little pattering feet. In vain the fond 
 parents’ eyes pierced through the dark- 
 ness. At length they roused the neigh- 
 bors with their anxious inquiries after 
 their lost ones. All that night was pass- 
 ed in searching, and in tears, till early in 
 the morning, lying fast asleep, and some- 
 what numbed with cold, were found lit- 
 tle Johnny and Lizzie. But, ch! a 
 touching spectacle lay near them; their 
 little savior was stiff, cold and dead on 
 the seaweed which the poor little child- 
 heroine had not strength to drag into 
 the nook, where those she so deeply 
 loved, and died to save, were sleeping. 
 Thus this little New Brunswick girl died 
 in her successful and self-sacrificing en- 
 deavor to save her brother and sister. 
 
 Does not this recall the love of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ to you who read? 
 Mary went to the full extent of human 
 love in dying for her little brother and 
 sister. ‘Greater love hath no man than 
 this, that a man lay down his life for 
 his friends.” Yet the Lord Jesus laid 
 down his life for his enemies; for 
 “scarcely for a righteous man will one 
 die; yet peradventure for a good man 
 some would even dare to die; but God 
 commendeth His love toward us,” etc. 
 He makes no mistakes, Yet how many 
 listen to this story with more emotion 
 and interest than they do to the story of 
 the cross, where the love of Jesus, the 
 Son of God, is told in letters of blood. — 
 Dawn of the Morning. 
 
130 
 
 | canleieg) io ulate! 
 THE SPIRIT’S GUIDANCE. 
 
 The last Sabbath of August, 1911, it 
 was the writer’s privilege to attend a 
 camp meeting at Alton, N. Y. In the au- 
 dience, which gathered at the morning 
 service, it was good to see the faces of 
 many whom he had known for thirty 
 or forty years. At the close of the ser- 
 vice he accepted the cordial invitation 
 of Mrs. Gardner Barrett, to go home with 
 herself and husband and take dinner. In 
 the course of the meal mention was 
 made of an experience connected with 
 Mrs. Barrett’s conversion, which oc- 
 curred more than thirty years ago, and 
 which illustrates how the free Spirit of 
 God may sometimes be pleased to work. 
 
 In the winter of 1879 religious meet- 
 ings were being held at York Settle- 
 ment. The services continued night af- 
 ter night. Much prayer had been of- 
 fered for the salvation of sinners, and 
 a feeling of seriousness pervaded the 
 meetings, and the impenitent were in- 
 terested, but none of them had yet yield- 
 ed to Christ. Mrs. Barrett, then a young 
 woman and not long married, had not 
 attended the services. But one after- 
 noon she felt strangely drawn to go to 
 the meeting that evening, and after a 
 little persuasion her husband accom- 
 panied her. 
 
 At the beginning of the service that 
 evening several prayers were offered, 
 and the writer prayed that God would 
 in that meeting bring some soul to re- 
 pentance. After he arose from his 
 knees he felt a persuasion, amounting 
 to certainty, that some one would come 
 to Christ before the meeting closed. 
 And furthermore he felt impelled to 
 stand up and declare it. A natural dis- 
 inclination to do a thing so strange 
 caused him to hesitate. And then the 
 thought came, “If you, a Christian, 
 hesitate to stand up and make yourself 
 conspicuous by declaring that some one 
 will come to Christ before this meeting 
 closes, how can you expect that person 
 to have the courage to publicly take 
 such a stand for Christ?” With that 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 thought, up he got and declared that 
 some one would come to Christ before 
 the meeting closed. 
 
 Having done this he had not the least 
 anxiety regarding the outcome, that he 
 would be found a false prophet, although 
 he had no idea who the repentant person 
 would be. In.fact what he had done 
 seemed to have passed out of his mind, 
 so interested was he in the services of 
 the evening which followed. 
 
 When the opportunity was given for 
 any who would come to Christ to mani- 
 fest it by coming forward, Mrs. Barrett 
 arose and went across the room to where 
 her husband sat, and urged him to come 
 with her. When he declined, she ex- 
 claimed aloud, “I must die alone, and J 
 will seek the Lord alone!” She went 
 forward, kneeled down, yielded herself 
 to Christ, and was soon rejoicing in Him 
 as her Saviour. And during ali these 
 years since she has lived a consistent 
 Christian life—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —— 250 
 THE REFINER. 
 
 A lady in Dublin became interested 
 in the meaning of the following text. 
 “For he is like a refiner’s fire. And He 
 shall sit as a refiner and purifier oi 
 silver.” She called upon a silversmith 
 and asked him to explain the process ot 
 refining, which he did. “But do you sit, 
 sir, while you are refining?” she asked. 
 “O, yes madam, I must sit, with my eye 
 steadily fixed on the furnace, since if the 
 silver remain too long, it is sure to be 
 injured.” She at once saw the beauty 
 of the text. Christ sees it needful to 
 put His children into the furnace, but 
 he is seated by the side of it and will 
 permit them to remain in it no longer 
 than is best. The lady was leaving, and 
 had got as far as the door of the shop, 
 when the man called her back and said 
 he had forgotten to tell her how he 
 knew when the process of purifying was 
 complete—it was when he saw his own 
 image reflected in the silver. O, yes, 
 when Christ sees His own image in His 
 people, then his work of purifying is ac- 
 complished.—_Spurgeon. * 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —— 251 ——. 
 WHY SHE WAS THANKFUL. 
 
 In a small, dark room in a crowded 
 tenement one of the missionaries of the 
 People’s Tabernacle found a_ poor 
 German washer-woman, whose spirit of 
 thankfulness ought to rebuke many of 
 us. She is a widow, and previous to 
 her husband’s death was the support of 
 the family during the eight years of his 
 life as an invalid. She said, “It had 
 been so long since I had had a new 
 dress that last summer I began asking 
 the Lord if He wouldn’t please give me 
 one so that I might go to church. He 
 did not answer right away, but after a 
 while one of the families that I work for 
 had to move, and gave me four days’ 
 work, and then I bought the new dress. 
 And only a few days ago I was given 
 another extra day’s work, and I used the 
 dollar and a quarter for a new hat, so 
 now I can go anywhere. 
 
 For two years this woman because of 
 a strange hoarseness has been obliged 
 to speak only in a whisper, and so has 
 been unable to get work excepting from 
 those who know her, and yet all through 
 the call that dark morning, she was con- 
 stantly praising the Lord for His good- 
 ness to her, and said with a reverent 
 upward glance, “These things were a 
 present from Him to me.” 
 
 After a prayer of praise and thanks- 
 giving had been offered, she hastily 
 opened a drawer and presented her vis- 
 itor two quarters saying, “I want you to 
 take this and use it for your church or 
 Sunday school, or wherever you think 
 it will do the most good.” In reply to 
 some objection she answered “Oh, I 
 give money to my church too and I 
 want you to use this for yours.” 
 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 —— 252 —— 
 ETERNITY. 
 
 A young French nobleman came to 
 consult a physician, bringing letters 
 from the French emperor, Napoleon ITI. 
 The emperor had a warm regard for 
 this young man, and the doctor wanted 
 to save him. He examined him and 
 
 131 
 
 found there was something upon his 
 mind. 
 
 “Have you lost property?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “Have you lost any relations?” 
 
 “Not within the last three years.” 
 
 “Have you lost any reputation in your 
 own country?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 The doctor studied for a few moments 
 and then said: 
 
 “IT must know what is on your mind: 
 I must know what is troubling you.” 
 
 Then the young man said: 
 
 “My father was an infidel; my grand- 
 father was an infidel, and for the last 
 three years these words have haunted 
 me: ‘Eternity, and where shall it find 
 me?’ I walk about in the daytime, I lie 
 down at night, and it comes upon me 
 continually: ‘Eternity, and where shall 
 I spend it?’ Doctor, is there hope for 
 me?” 
 
 The doctor said: 
 
 “Sit down and be quiet. A few years 
 ago I was an infidel. I did not believe 
 in God and was in the same condition 
 in which you now are.” The doctor 
 took down his Bible and, turning to the 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, read: “He 
 was wounded for our transgressions; He 
 was bruised for our iniquities; the chas- 
 tisement of our peace was upon Him, 
 and with His stripes we are healed.” 
 When he had finished the young man 
 said: 
 
 “Do you believe that He voluntarily 
 left heaven, came down to the earth, 
 and suffered and died that we might 
 be saved?” 
 
 “Certainly I believe it. That brought 
 me out of infidelity, out of darkness into 
 light.” And the doctor preached to his 
 patient salvation and Christ his only 
 Saviour, after which doctor and patient 
 both knelt in prayer. 
 
 When Mr. Moody was in London in 
 1867, he learned that a letter had been 
 received by Dr, Whinston from that 
 young nobleman telling him that the 
 question of “eternity and where he 
 should spend it” was settled and troube 
 led him no more.—Selected. 
 
182 
 
 worm 253 ae 
 THE LOST CHILDREN PRAYED. 
 
 Dr. Robert Turnbull the distinguished 
 author and preacher, of Philadelphia, 
 Boston, and Hartford, did not remove 
 to America until he was nearly twenty- 
 five years old, It was while he was still 
 a little boy in his Scottish home that 
 the incident occurred of which he told 
 us that memorable Monday morning. 
 
 On a wintry day Robert and his little 
 sister strayed out from their home for a 
 walk on the moor. As it drew toward 
 dark, on the short winter’s day, a driving 
 snowstorm came on. Soon the children 
 were blinded and dazed by the chilly 
 storm. With no well-defined road over 
 the moor, and with all land marks shut 
 out from sight by the falling snow, the 
 children were soon bewildered. As they 
 looked about them, and turned from side 
 to side in search of the way, they quick- 
 ly lost all knowledge of the points of 
 compass, and were helpless as to the 
 direction they should take. They 
 realized that they had lost their way, 
 and they dared not move in any direc- 
 tion. Yet these were children who had 
 been taught that their Father in heaven 
 could help them. 
 
 “Robbie let us pray,” said the sister; 
 and they dropped together on their 
 knees on the snowy moor, as if in their 
 home bedroom. 
 
 “We only knew “the Lord’s Prayer,’ ” 
 said Dr. Turnbull, as he told the story; 
 “and we said that prayer together. But 
 God knew what we really meant. ‘Please 
 show us the way home’: and He 
 answered us accordingly. 
 
 “As we rose from our knees and 
 peered about through the driving snow, 
 my sister, keener-eyed in her faith, 
 called out gleefully: ‘There’s .Old 
 Maggie, Robbie. She’ll show us the 
 way.’ And we sprang toward her, call- 
 ing out as we pressed on, “Maggie, 
 Maggie.’ ” 
 
 “Old Maggie,” said the narrator, “was 
 a humble neighbor, and in a sense a de- 
 pendent of ours, who was often at our 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 house to perform service or to receive 
 supplies. There she was just before us 
 now in the driving snow, breasting the 
 storm, with her plaid about her. As we 
 called to her she did not look back, but 
 pressed on, while we with our tired 
 little feet followed after as best we 
 could, glad of her safe lead. But sud- 
 denly Old Maggie disappeared. Be- 
 wildered again we stopped and looked 
 about us in the snow. To our wonder 
 and delight, there just before us was our 
 dear home which we were seeking. 
 Maggie was gone. Her mission for now 
 was performed. God had used her lead 
 to answer our prayer that he would 
 show us the way home.” 
 
 As we looked into the Christ-lighted 
 face of good Dr. Turnbull when he bore 
 this testimony, we all felt that it was no 
 mere fancy of the brain that had misled 
 him. It was but an added evidence of 
 God’s goodness to his trustful children in 
 their need, and we were glad that we 
 also had such a loving Father. The im- 
 pression of that recital has been with us 
 ever since in all these years. And now 
 as the close of life’s wintry day comes on, 
 and the snows of age dim my eyes. Iam 
 glad of my confidence that my Father 
 will not leave his child without a guide 
 until I am finally in the place which he 
 has prepared for me and for mine.— 
 Rev. H. Clay Trumbull. 
 
 —— 254 — 
 WHO STOPPED THE TRAIN? 
 
 The following record of God’s care, of 
 one of his children is vouched for by 
 our friend Miss Mary A. French, a mis- 
 sionary to India, who since her return 
 some years ago has continued her work 
 for the Master through the Postal Tract 
 Mission and in other channels as the 
 Lord has opened the way. 
 
 Miss Margaret C., while in Boston, 
 Mass., received word that her mother 
 was dying in Nova Scotia, about fifty 
 miles from Halifax. She started at once 
 and took a through train for Halifax— 
 the first she could get. 
 
 She asked the conductor if he would 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 stop the train for her when they reached 
 her destination. He refused positively. 
 He said his orders were to go through to 
 Halifax and he certainly should obey 
 them. 
 
 “Well,” she replied significantly, there 
 is a higher power superintending this 
 train.” So she ceased pleading with 
 him, and looked to the Lord to stop 
 that train so as to let her come to her 
 dear mother’s side before she passed 
 away: About midnight the train began 
 to slow up. The conductor came to her 
 and said, “Here you are just where you 
 wanted to stop. There is a freight train 
 on the track, and we have got to wait. 
 But we are not accustomed to stop here 
 and there is no one at the station. You 
 will be obliged to alight entirely alone, 
 and it is not safe for you to stop here at 
 this time of the night.” 
 
 But as she got off the train she met 
 her brother at the steps. - Although he 
 knew that train did not stop, and did 
 not know she was on it, he had been 
 obliged by some irresistible impression 
 to get up and dress to go to that train. 
 
 While he was dressing his wife 
 awaked and asked him why he was going 
 to meet that train. “You know,” she 
 urged, “that train does not stop here.” 
 
 “Yes, I know it, but I cannot sleep. 
 I feel as if I must go, and I am going.” 
 
 He harnessed his horses, drove to the 
 station and brought his sister home in 
 time to see her mother and minister to 
 her before she died. 
 
 Now who stopped that train? We 
 need not suppose, as some would scoff- 
 ingly suggest, that God needed to block 
 a railroad in order to answer that girl’s 
 prayer. It is enough that He who knows 
 the end from the beginning, and who 
 foresaw the consequence of the careless 
 act of some one connected with that 
 road, should have moved his child to 
 take the one train that could bring her 
 to her mother’s bedside, and sent her 
 brother to meet her at the desired time. 
 While sufficient faith can remove 
 mountains, the mountains are not moved 
 needlessly; and sometimes it would 
 
 ANECDOTES 138 
 seem that God impels his children to ask 
 
 for things that are already on the way.— 
 The Christian. 
 
 —— 255 —— 
 THE BIBLE AND THE ROBBERS 
 
 A native, Christian preacher in Persia 
 was overtaken by night while traveling, 
 and attacked by a band of ferocious 
 Mohammedan robbers. When these men 
 found that the captive taken in the dark 
 was poor, they were inclined to kill him. 
 One of the robbers exclaimed, ‘He is a 
 Gheber; let’s kill him anyhow.’ Ina 
 moment fifty men had drawn their 
 swords to purge the earth of such a 
 wretch. 
 
 ‘The frightened Christian had no 
 weapons; but he had a Bible, which he 
 had been taught to regard as a sword 
 for spiritual warfare. Drawing his Bible 
 from his bosom, he cried :— 
 
 “Mien, you make a great mistake! 
 Do you not see that I am a man of the 
 Book? This is the Book that your 
 prophet repeatedly declared to be true.’ 
 
 “The flash of the light on the edges 
 of the Bible caught the gaze of the men: 
 light seemed to blaze from the Book. 
 The swords dropped, and several of the 
 robbers came closer to examine the vol- 
 ume curiously, without daring to touch 
 it. They dragged the preacher to their 
 village, that the mullah might say 
 whether to spare the man for the sake 
 of the Book. 
 
 “It is indeed the Book,’ said the 
 mullah, after making sure that it con- 
 tained the law, the Psalms, and New 
 Testament, as the Koran says it does; it 
 is the Book, and whoever unjustly kills 
 one of the people of the Book, him will 
 God smite.’ 
 
 “So it came to pass that the poor 
 preacher, so nearly murdered in the rob- 
 bers’ pass, finished his evening an 
 honored guest in the village, reading to 
 his wild hosts psalm after psalm by the 
 flickering light of the oil wick. And as 
 each of the beautiful psalms came to an 
 end, the robbers, with one accord, said 
 ‘Amen!’ ”—Bible Society Record. 
 
134 
 
 —— 256 —— 
 THE MOUNTAIN DRIVER. 
 
 “My Adirondack driver, old Harvey, 
 had driven me for hundreds of miles 
 over those mountain roads; we had been 
 about everywhere together; and I had 
 broached the subject of religion in an 
 indirect way; I had gone away around 
 a barn to talk about these things to 
 
 im, 
 
 But I had never until a week before 
 his death come right to the point of try- 
 ing to grip his soul with my own per- 
 sonal touch, and I talked to him in a 
 low voice as I sat on the front seat next 
 to him all that drive through about be- 
 coming a Christian. I did not make 
 much progress, but I said: “I am going 
 to preach down in the mountain church 
 next Sunday night. Won’t you come 
 and hear me?” “Well” he said, “if you 
 put it that way, I will come.” 
 
 The next morning one of my neigh- 
 bors in the mountains said, “Did you 
 hear that Harvey was very sick?” I said, 
 “No; I will go and see him.” I went 
 straight to his house, and the son said: 
 “You cannot see him this morning. He 
 is critically ill, and the doctor said no 
 one must go in but the nurse.” I went 
 the next day, and he was worse, and still 
 they wouldn’t let me in. 
 
 The third day I went, and the little 
 granddaughter came with tears rolling 
 down her face and said, “Grandpa has 
 just died.” The next day was Sunday, 
 and I went down to the mountain 
 church, and preached the sermon I had 
 prepared with Harvey in mind. 
 
 I had imagined him sitting in the pew, 
 and my preaching the word, trying to 
 get seed into the soul, but old Harvey 
 was not there. I couldn’t see those 
 people; that was what might be called 
 an absent minded sermon; my mind ran 
 down the road to the little mountain 
 house where old Harvey, my Adiron- 
 dack driver, lay cold in death. The next 
 morning, when we held his funeral ser- 
 vice and they asked me to take part, 
 I said, “I cannot speak, and I cannot 
 pray even; I do not feel that I am wor- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 thy to go before the throne; I will just 
 read a few passages of Scripture.” 
 When I fell in line with the country 
 folk trying to do what they do, though 
 I dislike it, and walked around his cas- 
 ket, as I drew near, I did not see the 
 plate. I only saw instead the inscrip- 
 tion on that casket put there by Divine 
 hands, and it read, “A lost opportunity.” 
 
 Friends, there are men dying down 
 in your town, and in your little coun- 
 try village, and in family, and in church; 
 and in every case it is a lost opportunity. 
 God help us to enter into this work of 
 soul winning with all the passion of our 
 hearts!—Rev. John Balcom Shaw, D. D. 
 
 — 257 — 
 ANOTHER CALL. 
 
 Some are called to preach, some to 
 business, some to keep house. Our calls 
 are various as our talents. Only let us 
 be sure that we attend prayerfully to the 
 divine voice. 
 
 More than half a century ago, a young 
 student of Phillips Academy was called 
 upon to endure a bitter trial. It was the 
 desire of his heart to go through college 
 and become a minister of the Gospel. 
 But his health failed, and he was forced 
 to give it up. 
 
 One evening, alone in his room, in 
 sore distress, he threw himself flat upon 
 the floor, his soul crying out in voiceless 
 agony, “O God, I cannot be thy mini- 
 ster! {£ cannot be thy minister!” 
 
 Suddenly there came to him a new 
 hope—a vision of serving God in busi- 
 ness with the same devotion as if 
 preaching, a perception that making 
 money for God might be to him a sacred 
 calling. Springing to his feet, he joy- 
 fully exclaimed: “O God, I can be thy 
 minister. I will go back to Boston. I 
 will make money for God, and that 
 shall be my ministry.” 
 
 This earnest young student was none 
 other than Alpheus Hardy, the merchant 
 prince of Boston, one of the noblest phil- 
 anthropists of the century—B. M. 
 Brain. 
 
 - 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 mI, df: Gee 
 PARENTAL LOVE. 
 
 For a little while imagine yourself to 
 be seated around the table oi an Ameri- 
 can boarding-house, where the inmates 
 are spending an hour or two in the eve- 
 ning relating the more remarkable events 
 that have occurred to them; imagine that 
 you are listening to one of the guests 
 there: 
 
 My name is Anthony Hunt. Ii am a 
 drover, and I live many miles away up- 
 on the western prairie. There wasn’t a 
 house in sight when we moved there, 
 my wife and I; and we haven’t many 
 neighbors, though those we have are 
 good men. 
 
 One day about ten years ago, I went 
 away from home to sell some fifty head 
 of cattle—fine creatures as ever I saw. 
 I was to buy some groceries and dry 
 goods before I came back and, above 
 all, a doll for my youngest child, Dolly 
 (she never had a shop-doll of her own, 
 only the rag-babies her mother made 
 her). Dolly could talk of nothing else 
 and went down to the very gate to call 
 after me to “buy a big one.” 
 
 Nobody but a parent can understand 
 how my mind was on that toy, and how, 
 when the cattle were sold, the first thing 
 I started off to buy was Dolly’s doll. I 
 found a large one, with eyes that would 
 open and shut when you pulled a wire, 
 and had it wrapped up in paper, and 
 tucked it under my arm while I had the 
 parcels of calico, and delaine, and tea, 
 and sugar put up. It might have been 
 more prudent to have stayed until morn- 
 ing, but I felt anxious to get back, and 
 eager to hear Dolly’s prattle about the 
 doll she was so eagerly expecting. 
 
 I mounted a steady-going old horse of 
 mine and, pretty well loaded, started for 
 home. Night set in before I was a mile 
 from town, and settled down dark as 
 pitch while I was in the midst of the 
 wildest bit of road I know of. I could 
 have felt my way through, I remembered 
 it so well, and it was almost like doing 
 that when the storm that had been brew- 
 ing broke, and the rain fell in torrents, I 
 
 135 
 
 was five, or maybe six miles from home, 
 too. I rode on as fast as I could; but 
 suddenly I heard a little cry, like a 
 child’s voice. I stopped short and lis- 
 tened. [ called and it answered me. I 
 couldn’t see a thing; all was dark as 
 pitch. I got down and felt around in 
 the grass; called again, and again was 
 answered. 
 
 Then I began to wonder. I’m not 
 timid; but I was known to be a drover, 
 and to have money about me. I thought 
 it might be a trap to catch me, and there 
 to rob and murder me. I am not super- 
 stitious—not very—but how could a real 
 child be out on the prairie in such a 
 night at such an hour? It might be 
 more than human. The bit of coward 
 that hides itself in most men showed 
 itself to me then, and I was half inclined 
 to run away. But once more I heard 
 the piteous cry, and, said I: “If any 
 man’s child is here-abouts, Anthony 
 Hunt is not the man to let it lie here 
 and die.” 
 
 I searched again. At last I bethought 
 me of a hollow under a hill, and groped 
 that way. Sure enough, I found a little 
 dripping thing, that moaned and sobbed 
 as I took it in my arms. I called my 
 horse, and he came to me, and I mounted, 
 and tucked the little soaked thing under 
 my coat as best I could, promising to 
 take it home to mamma. 
 
 It seemed tired to death, and soon 
 cried itself to sleep against my bosom. 
 It had slept there over an hour when I 
 saw my own windows. There were 
 lights in them, and I supposed my wife 
 had lit them for my sake; but when I 
 got into the door-yard, I saw something 
 was the meatter, and stood still with 
 dead fear of heart five minutes befere 
 I could lift the latck. At last I did it, 
 and saw the room full of neighbors, and 
 my wife amid them weeping. When 
 she saw me she hid her face. 7 
 
 “Oh, don’t tell him,” she said; “it will 
 kill him.” 
 
 “What is it, neighbors?” I cried. 
 
 And one said: “Nothing now, I hope. 
 What’s that in your arms?” 
 
136 
 
 “A poor lost child,” said I. “I found 
 iton the road. Take it, will you? I’ve 
 turned faint.” And I lifted the sleeping 
 thing, and saw the face of my own child, 
 my little Dolly. It was my darling, and 
 no other, that I had picked up in the 
 drenched road. 
 
 My little child had wandered out to 
 meet papa and the doll, while her moth- 
 er was at work, and for her they were 
 lamenting as for one dead. 
 
 I thanked God on my knees before 
 them all. 
 
 It is not much of a story, neighbors; 
 but I think of it often in the nights, and 
 wonder how I could bear to live now, 
 if I had not stopped when I heard the 
 cry for help upon the road—‘the little 
 baby-cry, hardly louder than a squirrel’s 
 chirp.” 
 
 Is God less pitiful than man? “Like 
 as a father piticth his children, so the 
 Lord pitieth them that fear him.” Did 
 you notice the last sentence in that 
 man’s story? “It is not much ofa story, 
 neighbors; but I think of it often in the 
 nights, and wonder how I could bear to 
 live now if I had not stopped when I 
 heard that cry for help upon the road.” 
 
 To me that sentence explains the 
 whole story of redemption. That man’s 
 love for his child was such that life 
 would have been intolerable to him had 
 he failed to save her. 
 
 Sinner? God the Father listened to 
 the cry for help, the piteous wail of 
 misery that ascended to Him from His 
 lost children; and he sent His Son to 
 seek and to save that which was lost.— 
 Selected, 
 
 ——: 259 ——— 
 FETTERED FOR ANOTHER. 
 
 More than eighty years ago, a fierce 
 war raged in India between the Eng- 
 lish and Tippoo Sahib. On one occa- 
 sion, several English officers were taken 
 prisoners; among them was one named 
 Baird. One day a native officer brought 
 in fetters to be put upon each of the 
 prisoners, the wounded not excepted. 
 Baird had been severely wounded, and 
 was suffering from pain and weakness. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. I 
 
 A gray-haired officer said to the na- 
 tive official, “You do not think of put- 
 ting chains upon that wounded man?” 
 
 “There are just as many pairs of fet- 
 ters as there are captives,” he replied; 
 “and every pair must be worn.” 
 
 “Then, said the noble officer, “put 
 two pairs on me; I will wear his as well 
 as Imy own.” This was done. Strange 
 to say, Baird lived to regain his free- 
 dom — lived to take that city; but his 
 noble friend died in prison. 
 
 Upon his death he wore two pairs of 
 fetters! But what if he had worn the 
 fetters of all in the prison? What if in- 
 stead of being a captive himself, he had 
 quitted a glorious palace to live in their 
 loathsome dungeon, to wear their chains 
 to bear their stripes to suffer and die 
 for them, that they might go free, and 
 free forever! ) 
 
 Such a thing has been done, “There 
 is one God, and one Mediator between 
 God and man, the man Christ Jesus”; 
 “who gave Himself a ransom for all.” 
 
 —— 260 —— 
 SO NEAR HOME, YET LOST. 
 
 Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, afterwards a 
 pastor in New York, says, “When 
 after safely circumnavigating the globe, 
 the Royal Charter went to pieces in 
 Moelfra Bay, on the coast of Wales, it 
 was my melancholy duty to visit and 
 seek to comfort the wife of the first 
 officer, made by that calamity a widow. 
 The ship had been telegraphed from 
 Queenstown, and the lady was sitting 
 in the parlor expecting her husband, 
 with the table spread for the evening 
 meal, when the messenger came to tell 
 her he was drowned. Never can I for- 
 get the grief, so stricken and tearless, 
 with which she wrung my hand as she 
 said, ‘So near home, and yet lost.’ That 
 seemed to me the most terrible of human 
 sorrow. But ah! that is nothing to the 
 anguish which must wring the soul 
 which is compelled to say at last, ‘Once 
 I was at the very gate of heaven, and 
 had almost entered in, but now I am 
 
 in hell.’ 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 261 —— 
 TAKING ANOTHER’S WHIPPING. 
 
 It is the self sacrificing people that 
 are happy, for God pays so largely, so 
 gloriously, so magnificently, in the deep 
 and eternal satisfactions of the soul. 
 Self sacrifice! We all admire it in 
 others. How little we exercise of it! 
 How much would we endure? How 
 much would we risk for others? 
 
 A very rough schoolmaster had a poor 
 lad that had offended the laws of the 
 school, and he ordered him to come up. 
 “Now,” he said, “you take off your coat 
 instantly and receive this whip.” The 
 boy declined and more vehemently the 
 teacher said, “I tell you, now take off 
 your coat, Take it off instantly!” The 
 boy again declined. It was not because 
 he was afraid of the lash; he was used 
 to that in his cruel home. But it was 
 for shame. He had no undergarments, 
 and when at last he removed his coat 
 there went up a sob of emotion all 
 through the school as they saw why he 
 did not wish to remove his coat, and 
 as they saw the shoulder blades almost 
 cutting through the skin. 
 
 As the schoolmaster lifted his whip to 
 strike, a roseate, healthy boy leaped up 
 - and said; “Stop, schoolmaster; whip me. 
 He is only a poor chap: he can’t stand 
 it. Whip me.” “Oh,” said the teacher, 
 “it’s going to be a very severe scourging! 
 But if you want to take the position of 
 a substitute you can do it.” The boy 
 said: ‘I don’t care; whip me. [Ill take 
 it; he’s only a poor chap. Don’t you 
 see the bones almost come through the 
 flesh? Whip me.” And when the 
 blows came down on the boy’s shoulders, 
 this healthy, robust lad made no outcry; 
 he endured it all uncomplainingly. We 
 all say ‘Bravo!’ for that lad, Bravo! 
 That is the spirit of Christ! Splendid! 
 How much scourging, how much chas- 
 tisement, how much anguish will you 
 and I take for others? 
 
 Oh, that we might have something of 
 that boy’s spirit! Aye, that we might 
 have something of the spirit of Jesus 
 Christ; for in all our occupations and 
 
 137 
 
 trades and business, and all our life— 
 home life, foreign life—we are to re- 
 member that the sacrifice for others wiil 
 soon be over.—Selected. 
 
 —— 262 —— 
 CHRISTIANS IN STRANGE 
 COMPANY. 
 
 A story is told of a gentleman who 
 had a beautiful singing canary. A 
 friend wanted to try if he could teach 
 his sparrows to sing by keeping the 
 canary with them. He borrowed it, and 
 placed it in the cage with his sparrows. 
 Instead, however, of teaching them to 
 sing, the poor bird got so timid among 
 the strange birds that it stopped singing 
 altogether, and did nothing but chirp 
 like the sparrows. The owner then took 
 it back; but still it would not sing. It 
 then occured to him to put it beside 
 another canary, which sang well. This 
 had the desired effect, and regaining the 
 old note, it sang as beautifully as ever. 
 
 Many Christians go, like the canary, 
 into the strange company and atmos- 
 phere cf worldlings, and consequently 
 they do not only not teach the world 
 to sing their happy, glorious notes of 
 praise, but they cannot sing the old 
 songs of praise in a strange land them- 
 selves, and soon they learn the sorrow- 
 ful note of the world. The best thing 
 for such is to go back again into the 
 more genial society of happy rejoicing 
 Christians, among whom they will soon 
 learn to sing the glorious notes of praise 
 again.—Selected. 
 
 263 ——e 
 
 “A man looked up the record of 7,125 
 church members as shown in Church 
 statistics and found that in a year they 
 added to the Church 344 persons who 
 confessed their faith in Christ. He 
 looked up the records of 137 life insur- 
 ance agents and found that they in the 
 same year induced 2,462 persons to con- 
 fess their faith in life insurance — per- 
 suaded that number to insure their 
 lives.”—-The Continent. 
 
 
 
138 
 
 —— 264 —— 
 THE NOBLEMAN’S OFFER. 
 
 Lord C was an earnest Chris- 
 tian, heartily engaged in seeking to do 
 good, both to the poor of London and 
 among the tenants on his other large 
 estates. And like many other Christian 
 workers, he was often deeply grieved to 
 find that so few seemed impressed with 
 the message of God’s love and the offers 
 of His grace. Thinking over the mat- 
 ter in his own mind, he fixed upon a 
 plan that he hoped might teach a lesson 
 of faith which would not be lightly 
 forgotten, and at the same time im- 
 press the importance of now accepting 
 the gracious offers of salvation. 
 
 The session of Parliament being over, 
 he started for his country seat. The 
 morning after his arrival he had the 
 following notice posted up in various 
 places through the village that lay upon 
 his estate, and also on the large gate oi 
 his private grounds, so that every one 
 could see it. It fixed on a date some 
 ten or twelve days in advance, and read 
 as follows: 
 
 
 
 NOTICE, 
 
 Lord C will be present with his 
 steward at his office in the village, be- 
 tween the hours of 9 and 12 on Tues- 
 day, the 14th inst., and will then and 
 there pay freely all accounts and debts, 
 to whomsoever due, of any of his ten- 
 ants who cannot discharge their obliga- 
 tions. To avail themselves of this offer 
 the applicants must present their ac- 
 counts in the form of separate bills, con. 
 taining the exact statement .of the 
 amount and nature of the debts owing 
 to each creditor; and they must also 
 give a statement of their own means 
 and whatsoever property they have—C. 
 
 Very soon crowds began to gather 
 around the various placards through the 
 village and at the office, and curiosity 
 and astonishment possessed them all. 
 Every one was asking: “What does this 
 mean?” But to one and all the steward 
 had but one and the same answer to 
 give: “That is Lord C ’s signature, 
 and the notice speaks for itself. That is 
 
 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 all I know about it.” Any further ex- 
 planation he reiused to give, nor would 
 he answer any questions on the subject. 
 He merely said he was ordered to put 
 up the notice, and that was all he could 
 say. 
 
 Lhe day appointed by the notice rap- 
 idly drew on, and the excitement of the 
 tenants increased. Some, as they read 
 the last clause of the notice, seemed to 
 think it meant that they must give up 
 all that they had if they would claim 
 the offered benefit. And as they were 
 not insolvent, they concluded they would 
 not reply. Some gathered up their ac- 
 counts and made out the required state- 
 ments, but concluded to wait and see 
 how others might fare, intending, if 
 they succeeded, to present their list of 
 hopeless debts. Some again planned to 
 keep back part of their assets; wh'le 
 others, deterred by argument or ridicule, 
 gave up all thought of the matter; and 
 still others thought the idea so stranze 
 that they said it was only some unac- 
 countable whim of Lord C , and 
 not worth a moment’s thought or notice. 
 “But there’s his own signature; he’ll 
 never dishonor that,” said a neighbor; 
 and so the discussion went on to th 
 end. 
 
 At last the day came, and the crowd 
 of tenants and lookers-on gathered about 
 the office. All their efforts to gain fur- 
 ther information had been in vain, and 
 now they had all come together to see 
 the result. A little before the appointed 
 hour Lord C "Ss carriage drove up, 
 and from it he stepped into the office, 
 and the door was closed and locked 
 after him. Precisely at nine a step came 
 from the inner room, and they heard 
 the bolt thrown back, so that any one 
 could enter. Men looked at each other 
 and waited, none being willing to go in 
 first, fearing either to confess their pov- 
 erty and indebtedness, or to meet the 
 ridicule that might follow an unsuccess- 
 ful application. “Do you go and try, 
 Jones,” said one to his neighbor. “I’m 
 not so poor as you think for,” was the 
 answer. “Do you go,” was said to an- 
 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 other, “I guess I’ll wait and see what 
 others do,” was the reply. “Why don’t 
 you try it?” said a fourth. “Well,” said 
 the one spoken to, “there’s plenty of 
 time yet.” And so the time passed on 
 while each looked to see what others 
 would do, and so waited and did not 
 go in. 
 
 It was nearly eleven o’clock, when an 
 old couple from the poorhouse came up 
 to the office. “Is it true,” they asked, 
 “that Lord C—__— has offered to pay 
 all our debts?” “Well, yes; but he 
 hasn’t paid any yet.” “Has any one 
 been in to see if he would do it?” “No, 
 not yet.” Just then the notice on the 
 office door caught the old man’s eyes. 
 It was faded by exposure to the 
 sun and rain, but still perfectly plain. 
 “Why, wife, that’s his lordship’s signa- 
 ture,” said the old man. “Thank God. 
 we can die free from debt.” And they 
 both started for the door of the office. 
 “That’s right, old man, you go in first 
 and let us know how you fare. Don’t 
 think yourself out of the poorhouse yet.” 
 “Guess he’ll find himself fooled after 
 all.” These were some of the comments 
 that fell on their ears as they entered, 
 but, disregarding them all, in they went. 
 
 Within the office they found only 
 Lord C and his steward. The old 
 man laid his statements on the table, 
 saying, “There, my lord, are my debts. 
 I have no property, but live in the poor- 
 house, But it matters little, if I can 
 but die free from debt.” “Why shouid 
 I pay your debts?” asked Lord C 
 “I do not know, except that you say 
 you will; and I know your signature 
 and believe your promise.” “That is 
 enough,” said Lord C And by 
 his direction the steward then made up 
 the account of the old man’s debts and 
 then drew a check for the amount, which 
 he handed to Lord C , and he 
 signed it and passed it to the old man, 
 who warmly thanked his benefactor, 
 and then started for the door, saying, 
 “I must go now and tell my neighbors.” 
 “No,” said the nobleman, “you must not 
 tell them; they must trust my word for 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 themselves, as you have done.” And 
 so the old couple were shown into an- 
 other room, to wait till twelve, while 
 Lord C » being satisfied that pov- 
 erty was their misfortune and not their 
 own fault, ordered the lease of a nice lit- 
 tle place to be made out to them for 
 life, and added this to the check he had 
 given them. 
 
 Outside the office time wore away, 
 and as the old couple did not come 
 forth, all the people concluded they had 
 failed and there was nothing in the mat- 
 ter. The hour of twelve drew near, men 
 looked at each other, but did not go in. 
 At last the hour rang out from the 
 church clock; and with the last stroke 
 from the bell the door opened, and the 
 old man and his wife came out. “How 
 is it, how is it?” cried the people. “Have 
 you got the money?” The old man 
 showed them his check. “Good,” he 
 said, “as solid gold.” At the same mo- 
 ment the nobleman came out, and as 
 he entered his carriage there was a rush 
 of the crowd to it, each one pressing for- 
 ward with his statement, and crying, 
 “My lord, will you not pay my debts?” 
 “Here is my account; will you examine 
 my statement?” 
 
 “Friends,” was the reply, “it is after 
 twelve o’clock. The hour is past. It is 
 too late!” And he drove away. 
 
 “Now is the accepted time; now is the 
 day of salvation!” “Strive to enter in 
 at the strait gate; for many, I say unt> 
 you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able, when once the master of the 
 house is risen up and hath shut the 
 door !”—~Selected. 
 
 —— 265 —— 
 
 “Tohn Knox was famous for his earn- 
 est prayer. Queen Mary said that she 
 feared his prayer more than she did all 
 the armies in Europe. One night in the 
 days of his bitterest persecution, while 
 he and his friends were praying to- 
 gether, Knox spoke out and declared 
 deliverance had come. He could not 
 tell how. Immediately the news came 
 that Queen Mary was dead.” 
 
 
 
140 
 
 ——— 266 ——— 
 A WAGON-LOAD OF FOOD. 
 
 “A young minister and his wife were 
 sent on to their first charge in Vermont 
 about the year 1846. On the circuit 
 were few members, and most of these 
 were in poor circumstances. After a 
 few months the minister and his wife 
 found themselves getting short of pro- 
 visions. Finally their last food had been 
 cooked, and where to look for new sup- 
 ply was a question which demanded im- 
 mediate attention. 
 
 “The morning meal was eaten, not 
 without anxious feelings; but this young 
 servant of the Most High had laid his 
 all upon the altar, and his wife also 
 possessed much of the spirit of self-sac- 
 rifice; and they could not think the 
 Savior who had said to those he had 
 called and sent out to preach in his 
 name: ‘Lo! I am with you alway,’ would 
 desert them among strangers. After 
 uniting in family prayer he sought a 
 Sanctuary in an old barn, and there com- 
 mitted their case to God:—his wife met 
 her Savior in her closet and poured out 
 her heart before him there. 
 
 “That morning a young married 
 farmer, a mile or two away, was going 
 with a number of hands to his mowing 
 field, but as he afterward told the minis- 
 ter, he was obliged to stop short. He 
 told his hired help to go on, but he must 
 go back—he must go and carry provis- 
 ions to the minister’s house. He re- 
 turned to the house, and telling his wife 
 how he felt, asked her help in putting up 
 the things he must carry. He harnessed 
 his horse to his wagon; put up a bushel 
 of potatoes, meat, flour, sugar, butter, 
 etc. He was not a professor of religion. 
 The minister’s wife told me there was 
 a good wagon-load. He drove it to the 
 house, and found that his gifts were 
 most thankfully received. This account 
 was received from the minister himself, 
 —David Y.—, who died in Chelsea, 
 Mass., in Dec. 1875,—and subsequently 
 from his wife,—and communicated to 
 a correspondent of ‘The Christian.’ ” 
 
 —Selected. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 wm 26] meee 
 COMING TO THE FATHER. 
 (A Lincola Story.) 
 
 Hon. John G. Cooper, an Ohio Con- 
 gressman, in his address at the Gospel 
 Mission of Washington, D. C., on the 
 evening of January 14, 1917, used this 
 incident to illustrate the verse, “No man 
 cometh unto the Father but by me.” 
 He said: “Once during the Civil War, 
 the Army of the Potomac was about 20 
 miles south of Washington. A private 
 soldier from Penngylvania received a 
 letter from his home, saying, ‘Your wife 
 is dying, do come and see her.’ An or- 
 der had just been issued that no more 
 furloughs should be granted to either 
 privates or officers of the Army of the 
 Potomac. The night after getting the 
 letter the soldier slipped through the 
 lines and walked all the way to Wash- 
 ington. He went at once to the White 
 House. The guard refused him admit- 
 tance. He showed the guard the letter 
 and the guard said, ‘I am very sorsy, 
 but my orders are positive and I cannot 
 let you pass.’ 
 
 “The soldier turned away weeping 
 and sobbing. A little boy ran up to 
 him, saying, ‘Soldier, what is the mat- 
 ter; oh, why do you cry so?’ ‘I need 
 to see the President. My wife is dying; 
 oh, what shall I do?? The boy took the 
 soldier’s hand and said to him, ‘I can 
 take you to the President; he is my 
 papa.” But the guard refused to let 
 them pass. Just then Mr. Lincoln came 
 to the door and little Tad called, ‘Papa, 
 papa, this soldier is a friend of mine. 
 The guard will not let him pass. He 
 needs to see you, papa; do see my sol- 
 dier.’ 
 
 “Mr. Lincoln said: ‘Guard, let the boy 
 and the soldier come to me,’ and the 
 matter was easily arranged and the sol- 
 dier sent on to his home in Pennsyl- 
 vania. So,” said the Congressman, “jus- 
 tice and law guard the portals of heaven 
 against us, but the grace, love and tend- 
 erness of the Son of God gain us admit- 
 tance to the favor of God and eternal 
 life.”’—-The Presbyterian. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 208 —— 
 A PRINTER’S SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 The following incident was related by 
 John B. Gough, and is found in his 
 book, “Platform Echoes”: 
 
 About fifty men were employed in a 
 printing establishment in New York. One 
 of them had permission to sleep on the 
 papers, under a bench, to save the ex- 
 penses of lodging—he spent no money 
 except for the commonest necessaries 
 of life. His fellow-workers set him 
 
 down as a mean man, a cowardly sneak, | 
 
 because, while they insulted him, he did 
 not resent it. He bore all their persecu- 
 tion patiently, and they left no stone 
 unturned to annoy him in his business. 
 This went on for months. It was the 
 custom of the men in this office to have 
 an annual picnic, or excursion party. 
 One pay-day in the month of June, 
 the men were standing around the im- 
 posing-stone, when some one proposed 
 that the excursion should take place the 
 following month. “Very good.” “Then 
 we shall make up our committee—com- 
 mittee on invitation and finance.” “What 
 will you give?” was asked, “and you? 
 and you?” This man stood, “sent to 
 Coventry,” isolated, alone. Some one 
 asked him how much he would sub- 
 scribe for the picnic. He quietly refused 
 to give anything for any pleasure ex- 
 cursion. The man who had asked him 
 said something so grossly insulting that 
 his patience was exhausted, and he 
 struck him and sent him to the floor. 
 
 Then he said: “Now, gentlemen, I 
 am no fighter; I did not seek this quar- 
 rel, but matters have come to a crisis. 
 You have treated me shamefully for 
 months, and I have borne it patiently. 
 Now I suppose the place will be too hot 
 to hold me, and I must find some other 
 position. I have never told you why I 
 have been obliged to appear to you 
 mean and avaricious, but I will do so 
 now. I have a sister, whom I love, and 
 I have been supporting her at a board- 
 ing-school; this I found comparatively 
 easy, but my sister has become blind. 
 
 141 
 
 My poor little, blind, orphan sister is 
 without a friend on earth, except my- 
 self to care for her. i have ascertained 
 that in Paris there resides a physician 
 who has been very successful in curing 
 the form of blindness with which my 
 sister is afflicted; and, gentlemen, I have 
 been starving myself for months to raise 
 the money necessary to take her to 
 Paris; and by the help of God I will do 
 it yet, in spite of your opposition.” 
 
 The man whom he had knocked down 
 then said: “Look here, will you shake 
 hands with me? From my heart and 
 soul I beg your pardon. Now, men, we 
 will have no excursion this year, but I 
 ask every man in this shop to put down 
 ten dollars on that imposing-stone.” 
 
 “Gentlemen, I do not ask for your 
 money.” 
 
 “Down with the money, every man of 
 you.” 
 
 In a fortnight, every man in that shop 
 waited upon him on board the ship with 
 his sister. Two years afterwards they 
 gladly welcomed him as he brought her 
 back with sight restored, like one com- 
 ing from the pool of Siloam. 
 
 come 209 ome 
 A CHEERFUL GIVER. 
 
 In a certain church a man regularly 
 gave every Sabbath five dollars for the 
 support of the church. A poor widow, 
 who supported herself and six children 
 by washing, was as regular as the rich 
 man with her offering of five cents, 
 which was all she could spare from her 
 scant earnings. One day the rich man 
 came to the minister and said the poor 
 woman ought not to pay anything, and 
 that he would pay the five cents for her 
 every week. The pastor called to tell 
 her of the offer, which he did in a con- 
 siderate manner. Tears came to the 
 widow’s eyes as she replied: “Do they 
 want to take from me the comfort I 
 experience in giving to the Lord? My 
 health is good, my children keep well, 
 and I receive so many blessings that I 
 feel I could not live if I did not make 
 my little offering to Jesus.” 
 
142 
 
 —— 270 —— 
 VISIONS OF HEAVEN AND HELL. 
 
 In the “Life of William Tennent,” 
 that zealous, devoted minister, and the 
 friend and fellow-laborer of Whitefield, 
 the author of his memoirs, gives an ac- 
 count of Tennent being three days ina 
 trance. 
 
 He became prostrated with fever, and 
 by degrees sank under it, until, to ap- 
 pearances, he died. In laying him out, 
 one felt a slight tremor under the left 
 arm, though the body was cold and stiff. 
 The time for the funeral arrived, and 
 the people were assembled. But a phy- 
 sician, Tennent’s friend, pleaded that the 
 funeral might be delayed. 
 
 Tennent’s brother remarked: “What! 
 a man not dead who is cold and stiff as 
 a stake?” The doctor, however, pre- 
 vailed; another day was appointed for 
 the funeral. 
 
 During the interval, various efforts 
 were made to discover signs of life, but 
 none appeared save the slight tremor. 
 For three days and nights his friend, 
 the physician, never left him. Again 
 the people met to bury him, but could 
 not even then obtain the doctor’s con- 
 sent. For one hour more he pleaded; 
 when that was gone he craved half an 
 hour more. That being expired, he im- 
 plored a stay of fifteen minutes, at the 
 expiration of which Tennent opened his 
 eyes. 
 
 The following brief account is given 
 in Mr. Tennent’s own language, and 
 was related to a brother minister: As 
 to dying, I found my fever increase, and 
 i became weaker and weaker, until all 
 at once I found myself in heaven, as I 
 thought. I saw no shape as to the 
 Diety, but glory all unutterable. I can 
 say as Paul did, I heard and saw things 
 unutterable. I saw a great multitude 
 before His glory, apparently in the 
 height of bliss, singing most melodious- 
 ly. I was transported with my own 
 situation, viewing all my troubles ended, 
 and my rest and glory begun, and was 
 about to join the great and happy multi- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 tude, when one came to me, looked me 
 full in the face, laid his hand upon my 
 shoulder, and said: “You must go back.” 
 
 These words went through me; noth- 
 ing could have shocked me more. 
 
 I cried out: “Lord, must I go back?” 
 With this shock, I opened my eyes in 
 this world. When I saw I was in this 
 world, I fainted, then came to, and faint- 
 ed again several times, as one probably 
 would have done in so weak a situation. 
 
 For three years the sense of Divine 
 things continued so great, and every- 
 thing else appeared so completely vain, 
 when compared to heaven, that could 
 I have had the world for stooping down 
 for it, I believe I should not have 
 thought of doing it. 
 
 To the friend who wrote his memoirs 
 Mr. Tennent, concerning) this experi- 
 ence, once said: “I found myself, in an 
 instant, in another state of existence, 
 under the direction of a superior being, 
 who ordered me to follow him. I was 
 accordingly wafted along, I know not 
 how, till I beheld, at a distance, an in- 
 effable glory, the impression of which 
 on my mind, it is impossible to com- 
 municate to mortal man. 
 
 “Such was the effect on my mind of 
 what I had seen and heard, that if it be 
 possible for a human being to live en- 
 tirely above the world, and the things of 
 it, for some time afterward I was that 
 person. 
 
 “The ravishing sounds of the songs 
 and hallelujahs that I heard, and the 
 very words that were uttered were not 
 out of my ears, when awake, for at 
 least three years. All the kingdoms of 
 the earth were in my sight as nothing 
 and vanity. So great were my ideas of 
 heavenly glory, that nothing which did 
 not in some measure relate to it, could 
 command my serious attention.” 
 
 Mr. Tennent lived a number of years 
 after this event, and died in the triumphs 
 of a living faith, March 8, 1777, aged 71 
 years; his mortal remains being interred 
 at his chapel, in Freehold, N. J. He 
 was an able, faithful preacher; and the 
 Divine presence with him was frequent- 
 
. ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ly manifested in his public and private 
 ministrations. In personal appearance, 
 he was tall, erect, and of spare visage, 
 with bright, piercing eyes, and grave, 
 solemn countenance.—Selected. 
 
 — 271— 
 A BASKET OF WATER. 
 
 An eastern king was once in need of 
 a faithful servant anda friend. He gave 
 notice that he wanted a man to do a 
 day’s work, and two men came and 
 asked to be employed. He engaged 
 thein both for certain fixed wages, and 
 set them to work to fill a basket with 
 water from a neighboring well, saying 
 he would come in the evening and see 
 their work. He then left them to them- 
 selves and went away. 
 
 After putting in one or two bucketfuls 
 one of the men said: 
 
 “What is the use of doing this use- 
 less work? As soon as we put the water 
 in on one side it runs out on the other.” 
 
 The other man answered: 
 
 “But we have our day’s wages, haven’t 
 we? The use of the work is the mas- 
 ter’s business, not ours.” 
 
 “I am not going to do such fool’s 
 work,” replied the other man, and 
 throwing down his bucket, he went 
 away. 
 
 The other man continued his work 
 till, about sunset, he exhausted the well. 
 Looking down into it, he saw some- 
 thing shining at the bottom. He let 
 down his bucket once more and drew 
 up a precious diamond ring. 
 
 “Now I see the use of pouring water 
 into a basket!” he exclaimed to him- 
 self. “If the water had brought up the 
 ring before the well was dry, it would 
 have been found in the basket. The 
 labor was not useless after all.” 
 
 But he had yet to learn why the king 
 
 had ordered this apparently useless task. 
 
 It was to test their capacity for per- 
 fect obedience, without which no ser- 
 vant is reliable. 
 
 At this moment the king came up to 
 him, and, as he bade him keep the ring, 
 he said: 
 
 1438 
 
 “Thou hast been faithful in a little 
 thing; now I see I can trust thee in 
 great things. 
 
 “Henceiorward thou shalt stand at 
 my right hand.” 
 
 Is not this a good lesson to teach us 
 to be faithiul in small duties of each 
 day, as weil as the large ones; to do 
 everything, no matter) how small, as 
 unto our heavenly Master? Little acts 
 of duty or kindness go a great way 
 when done for Jesus’ sake.—Selected. 
 
 —— 272 —— 
 AN INVITATION PROMPTLY AC- 
 CEPTED. 
 
 Bishop C. C. McCabe related this ex- 
 perience, which will be appreciated by 
 all those who are engaged in Christian 
 work: 
 
 “I am sometimes startled at the ease 
 with which a soul can be won. Not 
 very long ago, in a strange city, as the 
 hackman got down off his box and 
 opened the door to let me out, I dropped 
 a quarter in his hand, and, as I did so, 
 I grasped his hand and said to him, 
 “Good-night; I hope to meet you again 
 in glory.” I had often done that, and 
 I thought nothing of it in this case. I 
 went into the house, met my host, and 
 retired to my room for the night. About 
 midnight, my host knocked at my cham- 
 ber door and said: “Chaplain, that hack- 
 man has come back, and he says that 
 he has got to see you tonight. I told 
 him that he had better wait until morn- 
 ing, but he said, “No, sir; I must see 
 him tonight, and I know that he will be 
 willing to see me.” When the hackman 
 came up, a_ broad-shouldered, rough- 
 looking man with a whip in his hand, 
 he stood there in my presence with the 
 tears rolling down his cheeks like rain. 
 Said he: “If I meet you in glory, I have 
 got to turn around. I have come to ask 
 you to pray with me.” What a privilege 
 it was to pray with that man; what a 
 privilege to point him to Jesus; and yet 
 I never saw him before in all my life. 
 There are ten thousand men in this 
 country who were never invited to come 
 to Christ.” 
 
144 
 
 — 2/3 — 
 
 THE WEALTH OF OLD MAN 
 JONES. 
 
 “There is one thing that I can’t un- 
 derstand,” said my friend with a ques- 
 tioning mind. 
 
 “What is that, Hanson?” I asked. 
 
 “About old man Jones, down there at 
 the foot of the hill. If there are any 
 Christians in this country, he is one. 
 He has prayed twice a day for forty 
 years, and proved his faith by his works. 
 He has worked hard, and has been am- 
 bitious to lay up something for his fam- 
 ily, yet he is exceedingly poor, has al- 
 ways been poor—often his family lack 
 the bare necessities of life. That little 
 cabin with the rocky patch of ground 
 around it is all he has to show for a 
 life of drudgery. Yet the Bible says 
 that all things work together for the 
 good of those who love the Lord, and 
 to him that asketh it shail be given. 
 How do you explain it?” 
 
 “Let us go down and talk with him 
 about it,’ I replied. 
 
 The old man warmly welcomed us 
 into his simple cabin, and set chairs for 
 us by the open fireplace, for it was a 
 frosty November day. 
 
 “I’m glad to see you, Will.” He ail- 
 ways called me Will. “I have been 
 wanting to tell you about a letter I got 
 two weeks ago from Dave. Dave has 
 professed religion, and joined the 
 church.” The old man’s eyes grew 
 bright, but his voice shook a little. “I’ve 
 been praying for that boy for many 
 years, and I knew the Lord would save 
 him.” The light on the face furrowed 
 by care and toil and age was good to 
 see. “I’m perfectly happy now,” he 
 continued. “Mary married a good man, 
 and they have a good home, Sam is 
 preaching the gospel, and now Dave 
 has chosen that better part. The Lord 
 is wondrous good to his servants, and I 
 can say with David, ‘The Lord is my 
 shepherd, I shall not want.’?” And he 
 repeated the whole Psalm. 
 
 “But haven’t you often needed things 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 that you did not get?” inquired my 
 friend. 
 
 “Oh, yes! certainly, there have been 
 many times in our lives when we did 
 not have all the worldly goods we want. 
 ed, but some way we pulled through,” 
 replied the old man cheerfully. ‘Per- 
 haps it was the result of bad manage- 
 ment, perhaps it was best so, but that 
 matters little. The Lord has made us 
 so rich in everything else we do not 
 mind a little poverty.” 
 
 As we climbed the hill my friend was 
 silent. When we reached the summit 
 we looked back at the little cabin at the 
 foot. 
 
 “I understand now,” said my friend. 
 —William H. Hamby. 
 
 bl if Wn 
 FELLOWSHIP THAT MEANS 
 
 SOMETHING. 
 
 The Rev. F. B. Meyer recently told 
 a London audience how he managed to 
 get workingmen into his church. When 
 he held the first meeting in his church 
 for workingmen, he said: “‘(Men, we 
 won't call one another brethren, but we 
 will call each other brother.” The next 
 day, as Mr. Meyer was going through 
 one of the slums, a scavenger shouted 
 off his cart, “Good morning, Brother 
 Meyer.” And then the preacher knew 
 that he was the king of the situation. 
 He replied, “Good morning, brother.” 
 Then the scavenger got down from his 
 cart, and came up to him, when Mr. 
 Meyer took his hand. But he drew it 
 back, and said, “Excuse me; my hand 
 is not fit for the likes of you to take.” 
 The preacher said: “There is lots of 
 soap and water at Christ Church. Give 
 me your hand.” So they shook hands 
 together, and went down the yard. They 
 met four other men, and the scavenger 
 held up his hand before them, and said: 
 “Look here, mates, the new parson that 
 has come has shaken hands with that 
 hand.” They said: “Well, if he has 
 done that, he will do.” If we want peo- 
 ple to love cur God, we must have fel- 
 lowship with them.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 US are ih. 
 A CHILD IN A CREVASSE. 
 
 A Highland widow, bearing her only 
 son, a babe, in her arms, went away to 
 seek assistance from a relative to pay 
 her rent. She was suddenly overtaken, 
 in a wild glen among the mountains, by 
 what was long recalled by her fellow- 
 villagers as “the first May storm.” Af- 
 ter attempting in vain for some time, 
 with her infant in her arms, to buffet 
 whirling eddies, she wrapped her child 
 in her own cloak and laid him carefully 
 down among the heather and ferns in 
 the deep cleft of a rock, with the inten- 
 tion, it is supposed, of making her own 
 way home, through the drifting sleet, 
 and obtaining succor for her little one. 
 She was found by the anxious neighbors 
 next morning, stretched cold and stiff 
 on a snowy shroud. But the cries of 
 the babe directed them to the crevasse 
 close by where it lay all unconscious 
 of its danger, and from which it was 
 rescued in safety. 
 
 Many long years afterward that child 
 returned from distant lands a disabled 
 soldier, covered with honorable wounds. 
 The first Sabbath of his home-coming 
 he entered the Gaelic Church, Glasgow, 
 to get shelter from a heavy fall of snow. 
 It was on a cOmmunion Sabbath. The 
 subject of the discourse was the Love 
 of Christ. In illustrating the self-sacri- 
 ficing nature of that “love which seeketh 
 not her own,” the preacher narrated the 
 above story of the Highland widow 
 whom he had known in his boyhood. 
 And he asked: “If that child is now 
 alive, what would you think of his heart 
 if he did not cherish an affection for his 
 mother’s memory, and if the sight of the 
 poor tattered cloak which she wrapped 
 around him, in order to save his life at 
 the cost of her own, did not fill him 
 with gratitude too deep for words? 
 
 “Vet, what hearts have you, my hear- 
 ers, if, over those memorials of your 
 Saviour’s sacrifice of Himself, you do 
 not feel them glow with deeper love, 
 and with adoring gratitude?” 
 
 145 
 
 A few days after this a message was 
 sent by a dying man, requesting to see 
 the clergyman. The request was com- 
 plied with. The sick man seized the 
 minister by the hand, and gazing in- 
 tently on his face, said: “You do not, 
 you cannot recognize me, but I know 
 you. I have been a wanderer in many 
 lands. I have visited every quarter of 
 the globe, and fought and bled for my 
 country. I came to town a few days 
 ago in ill-health, On Sunday I entered 
 your church—the church of my country- 
 men—where I could once more hear, in 
 the language of my youth, the Gospel 
 preached. 
 
 “I heard you tell the story of the 
 widow and her son.” Here the voice of 
 the old soldier faltered, his emotion al- 
 most choked his utterance; but recov- 
 ering himself for a moment, he cried: “I 
 am that son!” and burst into a flood of 
 tears, 
 
 “Ves,” he continued, “I am that son! 
 Never did I forget my mother’s love. 
 
 “Though I never saw her, dear to 
 me is her memory, and my only desire 
 now is to lay my bones beside hers in 
 the old churchyard among the hills. 
 But, sir, what breaks my heart and cov- 
 ers me with shame is this, until now I 
 never saw, with the eyes of the soul, 
 the love of my Saviour in giving Him- 
 self for me, a poor, lost sinner. I con- 
 fess it, I confess it!” he cried, looking 
 up to heaven, his eyes streaming with 
 tears; and pressing the minister’s hand 
 close to his breast, he added: “It was 
 God that made you tell that story. 
 Praise be to His holy name, that my 
 mother has not died in vain, and that 
 the prayers which I was told she used 
 to offer for me have been answered; for 
 the love of my mother has been blessed 
 by the Holy Spirit in making me see, 
 as I never saw before, the love of the 
 Saviour. I see it; I believe it. I have 
 found deliverance in old age where I 
 found it in my childhood—in the cleft 
 of the rock; but it is the Rock of Ages.” 
 —Rev. W. Adamson, D.D. 
 
146 
 
 mem 276 —— 
 A SINGLE SOUL. 
 
 “Ruth, I have tickets for the concert 
 of the Bell-Ringers on Wednesday night. 
 Can you go?” Alice said to a friend as 
 she stopped at her gate. 
 
 “It is prayer meeting night.” 
 
 “I know; but they sail for Europe 
 Friday night, and this is their last con- 
 cert.” 
 
 “But I never stay away from prayer 
 rueeting for anything.” 
 
 “But this is a sacred concert—and 
 only once. We can worship just as well 
 there.” 
 
 So reluctantly, and against her con- 
 victions, Ruth consented. 
 
 That night the girl dreamed that an 
 angel in shining raiment stood before 
 her, and asked gently: “Where are you 
 going tomorrow night?” 
 
 And she answered, “I thought I would 
 go to the concert.” 
 
 Then the angel said sadly, “Have you 
 so little appreciation of the value of a 
 single soul?” 
 
 Vividly the vision came back to Ruth 
 the next morning as she lay saying soft- 
 ly to herself, wondering what it could 
 mean,—‘‘So little appreciation of the 
 value of a single soul.” 
 
 She decided she must take back her 
 promise to attend the concert and go to 
 the prayer meeting. 
 
 Ruth sat in the house of prayer with 
 a strange joy in her soul, singing: 
 “Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 
 Grace to cover all my sins; 
 
 Let the healing stream abound, 
 
 Make and keep me pure within. 
 Thou of life the fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take of Thee, 
 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 
 Rise to all eternity.” 
 
 As the music ceased the young girl 
 sprang impulsively to her feet. 
 
 “I meant to hear the Bell-Ringers to- 
 night,” she said, “but I decided that I 
 would rather come to prayer meeting; 
 and I am happier here than I should 
 have been at the concert; and I am sure 
 no music could be sweeter to me than 
 the hymn we have just sung.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 As the hour for closing drew near, the 
 pastor arose and invited any who would 
 give themselves to Christ to come for- 
 ward. 
 
 As he waited in silence, a lady in 
 mourning walked slowly up the aisie, 
 and kneeling, was shown the way of sal- 
 vation. 
 
 When the service was ended a friend 
 came to Ruth and said: 
 
 “The lady who went forward wishes 
 to be introduced to you.” 
 
 Much astonished, the girl went to re- 
 celve an introduction to Mrs. Walters. 
 
 “I wanted to tell you,” the lady said, 
 “that I owe the fact of my being a 
 Christian tonight to your testimony. I 
 have not been inside a church for ten 
 years. I came here to please a friend, 
 and when you said you would give up a 
 concert for a prayer meeting, and no 
 music could be sweeter to you than the 
 hymn, 
 
 ‘Jesus, lover of my soul,’ 
 I thought to myself, ‘There must be 
 something in religion, and I am going to 
 have it.’ So, I wish to thank you that 
 it is because of your testimony that [ 
 shall go home tonight a servant of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 
 Ruth held out her hand and pressed 
 gratefully that of her new friend. 
 
 She knew now the meaning of the 
 angel’s message. 
 
 She could not tell Mrs. Walters how 
 nearly she had proved recreant to her 
 trust, nor of the'dream that had influ- 
 enced her in the true direction, so she 
 answered simply: 
 
 “T thank you for telling me this. I 
 shall never forget it.” 
 
 Yet she little guessed what cause she 
 would have to always remember it. 
 
 Ruth’s home was close beside the rail- 
 road track. About midnight she was 
 awakened by a horrible crashing sound. 
 Looking from the window, she could see 
 where the midnight express and the 
 11.30 freight had collided. 
 
 The cries of the frightened and the 
 piercing shrieks of the wounded made 
 her shudder. But she bravely put away 
 all thought of self, and calling her 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 father, was soon ready to go with him 
 to the rescue. 
 
 And the first face that looked inte 
 hers as she stood beside the burning 
 train was that of Mrs. Walters. Pale 
 and peaceful it was, though showing 
 how intensely she suffered. 
 
 She was extracted and borne to Ruth’s 
 home The power of speech was almost 
 gone. She rallied a little as they laid 
 her on Ruth’s couch. 
 
 Taking her hand and pressing it to 
 her lips, she whispered feebly: 
 
 “Child, ’'m going—it was my last 
 chance—what if you had not spoken— 
 what if I had not taken it?” 
 
 And kneeling there beside the dead, 
 the tears raining down her face, Ruth 
 promised her Father to always do her 
 duty; always to give her testimony; 
 always to appreciate the value of a sin- 
 gle soul—Mrs. A. C. Morrow. 
 
 SS fray na 
 A MILLIONAIRE’S SAVING. 
 
 A story is found in the memorials of 
 the late William E. Dodge of a boy in 
 dirt and rags who came into his Sunday 
 school class one day. The other scholars 
 were not disposed to give a seat, but 
 their teacher arranged a place in one 
 corner, and after school learned from 
 the boy something of his history. It 
 was the old story of a drunken father 
 and wretched home. Mr. Dodge told 
 the boy to come to his home the next 
 Sunday morning, and here he received 
 
 a suit of clothes that made a marked 
 
 difference in his appearance, and also in 
 his reception at the school. But the 
 following Sunday he came again in the 
 same miserable plight as at first, only, 
 if possible, looking more woe begone. 
 His father had seized the clothes and 
 sold them for rum. Mr. Dodge provid- 
 ed another suit, but took the precaution 
 to have his scholar come regularly to 
 his house before school, put on the Sun- 
 day suit, and stop to exchange it again 
 before returning home. 
 
 When summer came his father took 
 him out of the city for a few months; 
 but, on leaving, the boy asked for a 
 
 147 
 
 New Testament, and he said he would 
 try to learn some verses while absent. 
 in the fall he was in his old seat again, 
 his face beaming with joy to find him- 
 self again in school. As the class was 
 being dismissed he asked his teacher 
 somewhat diffidently if he would be 
 willing to wait a few minutes to hear 
 him recite a few verses. Mr. Dodge 
 gladly consented, and sat down expect- 
 ing the task to be soon over. “Where 
 shall we begin?’ ‘“O, anywhere, sir; 
 perhaps at the first chapter of John.” 
 For twenty minutes the boy continued 
 to recite, needing only an occasional 
 prompting of a word. The church ser- 
 vices were then to begin, and they were 
 compelled to go; but Mr. Dodge agreed 
 to remain again the next Sunday. This 
 was continued for several weeks, chap- 
 ter after chapter being repeated with 
 wonderful accuracy. 
 
 In the course of time the family 
 moved away, and Mr. Dodge lost sight 
 of the scholar who had so greatly in- 
 terested him. Many years after, as Mr. 
 Dodge was sitting in his office, a tall, 
 fine-looking, well-dressed young man ap- 
 proached him, and said, “You do not re- 
 member me?” “No, I can hardly recall 
 your face.” “Do you recollect a little 
 ragged boy named , who came to 
 your Sunday school class one day?” 
 “Certainly I do.” “I am that boy.” 
 
 And then, with some _ pardonable 
 pride, and to Mr. Dodge’s surprise and 
 delight, he told how he had succeeded 
 in obtaining work in a large manufac- 
 turing establishment, how he gradually 
 won his way up to a responsible posi- 
 tion, and how finally the original part- 
 ners relinquished one branch of their 
 business and handed it over to himself 
 and one or two others of their principal 
 assistants. He had now become a mem- 
 ber and officer of a church, a teacher in 
 the Sunday school, and had a family of 
 his own, 
 
 Such acts make rich men honorable, 
 and when earthly wealth is left behind 
 such deeds live as wellsprings of per- 
 petual gladness in the paradise of God. 
 —Our Young Folks. 
 
 
 
148 
 
 ——- 278 ~— 
 OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN 
 WEALTH. 
 
 Very early in my ministry I came 
 into close fellowship with a cultured 
 young man who had inherited a pros- 
 perous business. He took me into his 
 confidence and confessed that he had 
 been definitely called to the ministry, 
 but added: “I have refused the call be- 
 cause I am unwilling to go through life 
 in poverty. I have determined to be 
 rich.” He thought he recognized busi- 
 ness ability in me and urged me to go 
 into business with him. When I re- 
 fused, he remarked, “You’re a fool.” 
 
 I moved after a couple of years to an- 
 Other place, and I heard as years went 
 by of a number of fires in which that 
 man’s mill had been burned and of other 
 reverses. I went to India and the man 
 and the story were well-nigh forgotten. 
 But a little while after I was elected to 
 my present office in the Auditorium, 
 Chicago, I was taken by a friend into 
 the basement of one of Chicago’s great 
 buildings to see its wonderful machin- 
 ery. As I walked around I came upon 
 the once wealthy friend of my early 
 ministry working with a shovel in that 
 basement on very small pay as a day 
 laborer. I tell this sad story to say that 
 both experience and observation have 
 assured me that God cares for the needs 
 of all who are wholly true to his call 
 to the ministry, but, alas for those who 
 disobey and forget that “obedience is 
 better than” wealth!—Frank W. Warne. 
 
 —— 279 —— 
 A SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 A general, after gaining a great vic- 
 tory, was encamping with his army for 
 the night; and had ordered sentinels to 
 be stationed around the camp as usual. 
 One of the sentinels, as he went to his 
 station, grumbled to himself, and said: 
 “Why could not the general let us have 
 a quiet night’s rest for once, after beat- 
 ing the enemy? I’m sure there’s nothing 
 to be afraid of.” The man then went 
 to his station, and stood for some time 
 looking about him. It was a bright 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 summer night, but he could see nothing 
 anywhere; so he said: “I am terribly 
 tired; I shall sleep for just five minutes.” 
 
 Presently he started wp, dreaming 
 that some one had pushed a lantern be- 
 fore his eyes, and he found that the 
 moon was shining upon him through the 
 branches of the tree above him. The 
 next minute an arrow whizzed past his 
 ear, and the field was alive with soldiers, 
 who sprang from the ground where they 
 had been silently creeping forward, and 
 rushed toward him. Fortunately the 
 arrow had missed him, so he gave the 
 alarm to the other sentinels and the 
 army was saved. 
 
 Our whole life is a war with evil. Just 
 after we have conquered it, it sometimes 
 attacks us when we least expect it. Jesus 
 said to us: “Watch therefore; for ye 
 know neither the day nor the hour 
 wherein the Son of man cometh.”—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 —— 280 —— 
 
 KEEP YOUR WORD. 
 
 A story is told of a gentleman who 
 visited President Lincoln, and who was 
 in the habit of making promises more 
 freely than he kept them. In order to 
 induce one of Mr. Lincoln’s boys to sit 
 on his lap, the gentleman offered to give 
 him a charm which he wore on his 
 watch-chain. The boy climbed into his 
 lap. Finally the gentleman arose to go, 
 when Mr. Lincoln said to him “Are you 
 going to keep your promise to my boy?” 
 “What promise?” said the visitor. 
 “You said you would give him that 
 charm.” ‘Oh, I could not,” said the 
 visitor. “It is not only valuable, but I 
 prize it as an heir-loom.” “Give it to 
 him,” said Mr. Lincoln sternly. “I would 
 not want him to know that I entertained 
 one who had no regard for his word.” 
 The gentleman colored, undid the charm 
 and handed it to the boy, and went away 
 with a lesson which he was not likely 
 soon to forget, and which others may 
 profit by learning. 
 
 Be slow to promise, but never fail to 
 perform a promise which you have made. 
 —The Armory. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ——— 281 —— 
 
 WHAT CAME OF A LITTLE BAG 
 OF RICE. 
 
 Rice is in one sense the most valu- 
 able cereal in the world. A greater 
 number of people subsist on it than on 
 wheat or corn; more than four hundred 
 millions of human beings use it as their 
 chief article of food. It is not a native 
 of America, but is of Asiatic origin. How 
 do you suppose it came to be cultivated 
 here? 
 
 The story is an interesting one, and 
 shows what great results sometimes 
 grow from small causes. One little can- 
 vas bag once held all the rice seed there 
 was in America. I will tell you how 
 it happened. 
 
 In the time of the early settlement of 
 the country, the people did almost any- 
 thing to get a living. Those of South 
 Carolina, besides cultivating the ground, 
 made tar and pitch from the pine for- 
 ests, and sometimes they hunted and 
 fished. It was very hard work to earn 
 a subsistence, so hard, in fact, that there 
 was one man who thought there ought 
 to be an easier way. 
 
 This man’s name was Thomas Smith. 
 He had once lived on the island of 
 Sumatra, where a great deal of rice is 
 grown. He remembered that it was 
 cultivated on wet or marshy ground. 
 Now a large portion of South Carolina 
 is low, moist land. Smith thought there 
 was no reason why rice would not grow 
 in Carolina as well as in Sumatra. 
 
 It happened just at this time that a 
 ship from this very island of Sumatra 
 came to Charleston, where Smith lived. 
 The captain and he were old friends, 
 and Smith told him how much he was 
 in need of some rice seed. 
 
 “Why,” said the captain, “the cook 
 must have some and you shall have it.” 
 
 Upon investigation it was found that 
 the cook had just one little bag of rice 
 seed. This the captain gave to his 
 friend who sowed it in a wet plot of 
 ground that lay to the rear of his garden. 
 
 The seed sprouted and grew finely, 
 
 ANECDOTES. 149 
 and a large crop was harvested. Smith 
 distributed a part of it among his neigh- 
 bors, and a great deal of rice was raised 
 that year. Soon everybody who had 
 wet lands turned them into rice fields, 
 and now rice is one of the great prod- 
 ucts of the South. Nearly a hundred 
 million pounds are produced annually, 
 all of which came from that little bag 
 of rice from the far-away island.—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 —— 282 —— 
 PRESERVED FROM WOLVES. 
 A remarkable case of the preservation 
 
 of the life of a little girl of nine years 
 from ferocious forest wolves occurred 
 in Platteville, Colo. The parents of the 
 child were named Sutherland, and the 
 instance was fully narrated in the Den- 
 ver News. The child went with her 
 father one cold afternoon to the woods 
 to find the cattle, and was told to fol- 
 low the calves home while the father 
 searched for the cows. She obeyed, but 
 the calves misled her, and soon she was 
 lost. Night came on, and with it the 
 November cold and the dreaded wolves. 
 With a strange calmness she continued 
 on her uncertain way. The next day, 
 Sunday, at ten, she reached the house 
 of John Beebe, near the village of 
 Evans, having traveled eighteen hours, 
 and a distance of at least twenty-five 
 miles. All night the wolves growled 
 around her, but harmed her not; neither 
 was she frightened by them, though 
 Colorado wolves are far from harmless. 
 In ordinary cases fierce packs of blood- 
 thirsty wolves will devour a man, or 
 even a horse. But this one was in- 
 vincible in her trusting, simple faith. 
 
 The narrative states: “She said the 
 wolves kept close to her heels and 
 snapped at her feet; but her mother had 
 told her that if she was good the Lord 
 would always care for her, and so she 
 knew the wolves would not hurt her, 
 because God wouldn’t let them!” 
 
 The child was hunted for by a large 
 party, and when found was restored to 
 her parents in health and soundness.— 
 Selected. 
 
150 
 
 promemen 233 —mme 
 
 WHEN HE WAS A BOY. 
 
 Six thousand persons inside, and two 
 thousand outside of Spurgeon’s Taber- 
 nacle in London waiting to hear some- 
 body preach, The preacher was a strong 
 man, and very plain, very simple—the 
 children could understand. The truths 
 he taught were strong and simple, and 
 very piain. 
 
 Years ago when he was a boy, he was 
 a strong boy, wilful, impetuous. His 
 father was a farmer and stone mason 
 and died when little Dwight was four 
 years old. His mother was very poor. 
 Soon after her husband’s death, his 
 creditors rushed upon her and seized 
 for debt everything she owned; every- 
 thing but her children—seven sons and 
 two daughters, the eldest a boy of fii- 
 teen. The oldest boy was his mother’s 
 stay and hope. But he ran away; he 
 ran away from his widowed mother, his 
 small brothers and sisters, because his 
 mind was filled with the folly of trashy 
 books he had been reading. He thought 
 he had but to run away from home to 
 make a fortune. 
 
 As little Dwight crowded in among 
 the others about his mother in that 
 poor home and studied the sorrow in 
 her voice and in her face, as children 
 know how to do, and knew that his 
 lost brother was breaking her heart, 
 God was making him ready to seek 
 wanderers the world over; he was learn- 
 ing what it was to be lost away from 
 home, the agony of the hearts that love 
 the lost, and, by and by, he learned 
 how the Father in Heaven grieves over 
 the children lost away from His home. 
 The little fellow often and often ran 
 eagerly to the post office for tidings of 
 the wandering brother, and came back 
 sadly with the hard words: “No letter.” 
 When the wind was high, and the house 
 shook, the mother knelt among her chil- 
 dren and prayed for the boy away from 
 home. 
 
 Ts it any marvel that the man with 
 the thousands crowding about him to 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 listen to the story of God’s love for 
 runaway sinners should pray in such 
 dead earnest for every lost man among 
 them? 
 
 One day the watching mother sat at 
 her door alone; a stranger came to the 
 door and stopped, she looked at him, 
 she thought she had never seen him 
 before. He stood, tall and bearded, with 
 tears rolling down his face. When she 
 saw his tears, she exclaimed: “Oh, it is 
 my lost son!” And then Dwight knew 
 how a mother forgives, how she rejoices 
 as the angels do, over the lost come 
 home again. 
 
 Dwight grew older, fond of fun, 
 rather than study, but finding work 
 enough to do on the small farm. He 
 did not care for school, and perhaps the 
 reason was the rattan that had a sharp, 
 decided way of coming down on the 
 back of the disobedient or idle boy. 
 
 After a while a lady taught the school, 
 and she opened the school with prayer. 
 The school went quietly on and there 
 was no rattan; at last the rules were 
 broken, and Dwight was the first boy 
 to do it; then, sure that the rattan would 
 be brought out, he lifted himself into a 
 defiant attitude and waited. But no 
 rattan came. After school she told the 
 disobedient boy that she loved him, and 
 had prayed to be able to rule him and 
 all the school by love, instead of the 
 force of the rattan, and asked him to 
 try to love her and be a good boy. He 
 never disobeyed again. 
 
 When he was seventeen he started 
 for Boston to look for work. Like other 
 homeless boys he had failure, discour- 
 agement, and long waiting. He says: 
 “I went to the post office two or three 
 times a day to see if there was a letter 
 for me. I had not any employment and 
 was very homesick and so went con- 
 stantly to the post office. At last, how- 
 ever, I got a letter. It was from my 
 youngest sister, the first letter she ever 
 wrote me. I opened it with a light 
 heart, thinking there was some good 
 news from home, but the burden of the 
 whole letter was that she had heard 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 there were pickpockets in Boston, and 
 warned me to take care of them. [ 
 thought I had better get some money 
 in hand first, and then 1 might take care 
 of pickpockets.” 
 
 At last, an uncle, a shoe dealer, con- 
 sented to take the country boy into his 
 store; but the condition was that Dwight 
 would regularly attend the Mount Ver- 
 non church and Sunday school, There 
 he found his devoted Sunday school 
 teacher, Mr. Edward Kimball. So in- 
 terested did he become in the rough 
 country boy that one day he went into 
 the store and behind the counter where 
 Dwight stood, and with his hand on 
 Dwight’s shoulder talked to him about 
 Christ. Not long afterward the boy 
 took a stand for Christ. God chose Mr. 
 Kimball to touch his heart. 
 
 Long afterward God chose this boy 
 to touch the heart of Mr. Kimball’s son, 
 a boy of seventeen; his own age, when 
 Mr. Kimball found him. 
 
 In his eagerness Dwight longed for 
 work for Christ, but he was so ignorant, 
 so little able to express himself in fitting 
 words, that for a year after he desired 
 it he was not admitted to the member- 
 ship of the church. His English was 
 so poor that he was not allowed to con- 
 fess his faith in Christ. When, years 
 afterward, thousands crushed and 
 crowded to hear his words, whose Eng- 
 lish did he speak? 
 
 The church thought he would never 
 have “clear and decided views of gospel 
 truths,” that he would never “fill any 
 extended sphere of public usefulness.” 
 It is the Holy Spirit who takes the 
 things of Christ and shows them to His 
 disciple. It is the Holy Spirit who 
 teaches in that same hour of demand 
 what the disciple shall speak, and it is 
 the Lord who works with and confirms 
 the disciple’s word. 
 
 In Chicago, when he was nineteen, 
 he went to work in dead earnest. He 
 opened a Sunday school in a vacated 
 saloon, in the neighborhood of two hun- 
 dred saloons and gambling dens. Some- 
 one found him, holding a colored child, 
 
 151 
 
 and reading by the light of tallow can- 
 dles, the story of the Prodigal Son to 
 the few children he had gathered. 
 
 “I have got only one talent. I have 
 no education; but I love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and I want to do something for 
 Him.” 
 
 Before fifteen years all Great Britain 
 was moved by the power God had given 
 to this man who began his teaching 
 with the colored child upon his lap, the 
 light of tallow candles, and the rather 
 labored reading of the Prodigal Son. 
 
 Has this man, Dwight L. Moody, 
 ever spoken to you?—Selected. 
 
 EMSA OR ACE EE 
 AN UNKNOWN HELPER. 
 
 When I was in Australia a few years 
 ago I went to see a lady to whom I had 
 a letter of introduction. I was shown 
 into the parlor, and presently a young 
 lady came in and took me to where her 
 aunt was in bed, and she told me how 
 her aunt has been an invalid for twenty- 
 five years. Her aunt told me that she 
 had been one of eleven brothers and 
 sisters, ten of whom were all strong and 
 healthy, but they all were dead except 
 her. She said: “Mr. Stock, the Lord 
 wants me. I am his remembrancer, and 
 f am kept alive.” 
 
 She told me that her niece would pro- 
 cure all the missionary journals and 
 read them aloud to her, and as they 
 would come to a certain part where 
 there was need she would say, “Stop a 
 moment, my dear,” and then pray for 
 a blessing upon the place or person she 
 had just heard about. 
 
 I felt as for a moment the vale that 
 hides the invisible God was withdrawn. 
 It is not in our great gatherings, it is 
 not in our great organizations, it is in 
 the quiet, silent prayers of God’s people 
 that blessing will come, and, therefore, 
 when you hear of these missions that 
 we all pray for, remember that, though 
 we stay home in the ordinary humble 
 life of love, our prayers may be the 
 means of bringing this or that soul into 
 the kingdom.—Eugene Stock. 
 
152 
 
 —— 285 ——-- 
 HONORABLE LABOR. 
 
 There are some people who seem to 
 regard labor as dishonorable and be- 
 neath their proper dignity. They are 
 mistaken in this estimate, for God has 
 ordered that men should labor. A Puri- 
 tan minister named Carter, coming upon 
 a Christian brother who was busily em- 
 ployed in his work as a tanner, clad in 
 the begrimed and filthy garments ap- 
 propriate to his calling, gave him with 
 his salutation a friendly slap upon the 
 shoulder. The tanner looked back and 
 Said to the minister: 
 
 “Oh, sir, I am ashamed that you 
 should find me employed in this way.” 
 
 “My friend,” said the minister, “may 
 the Saviour when He comes find me 
 doing just:so.” . 
 
 “What! doing such dirty work?” 
 
 “Yes,” said the minister, “faithfully 
 performing the duties of my calling.” 
 
 Dirty work sometimes makes clean 
 money and no man has a right to be 
 ashamed of faithfully following an hon- 
 est calling. 
 
 Years ago a student from one of the 
 southern States came to attend the 
 Theological Seminary at Andover. 
 When winter set in he purchased a cord 
 of wood for his stove. But how to pre- 
 pare it for his fire was the: difficulty. 
 He could find no extra hand to chop 
 it for him. There were no circular saws 
 and wood-splitting works going then. 
 In his perplexity he went to Professor 
 Stuart to advise him. The learned pro- 
 fessor, who knew how to use his hands 
 as well as his head, made short work 
 of the matter. 
 
 “Young man,” said he, “I am in want 
 of a job myself; and if you have no ob- 
 jections, I will saw the wood for you, 
 and split it myself.” 
 
 The student concluded that he would 
 not trouble Professor Stuart to saw the 
 wood for him, but preferred to do it 
 himself. 
 
 A story is told of a young gentleman 
 who purchased some provisions in a 
 Boston market, and, when looking 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 around for some one to carry home his 
 purchase, at last found a quiet man who 
 was willing to do it, and he was so 
 pleased with his conversation and ap- 
 pearance, that thinking he might be 
 glad to employ him again, he asked him 
 his name, After some questioning he 
 found out the man who had served him 
 so satisfactorily was “Billy Gray,” the 
 merchant prince of Boston, the sails of 
 whose ships whitened every sea, and 
 who perhaps could have bought out a 
 hundred such men as the one whom he 
 consented to serve. 
 
 Are there other examples? Yes, “for 
 the Son of Man came not to be minis- 
 tered unto but to minister, and to give 
 His life a ransom for many.” Let Him 
 be our pattern and example.—Selected. 
 
 —— 286 —— 
 SAVED BY BLOOD. 
 
 Here in New York, in Bellevue Hos- 
 pital, a man gave his blood to save the 
 life of a stranger, who was brought in 
 unconscious and rapidly approaching 
 death. There was but one possible 
 chance, the transfusion of healthy blood 
 into his veins. William Vanderbilt, a 
 young German in the hospital, being 
 treated for an injured foot, offered to 
 give his blood, He was laid with his 
 strong left arm near the limp right arm 
 of the dying man, The surgeon opened a 
 vein in the arm of the unconscious man 
 and let out a quantity of blood. Then 
 he inserted a tube, the other end of 
 which connected with a vein in the arm 
 of the German. For fifteen minutes the 
 blood flowed from the strong man into 
 the body of the dying one. The effect 
 was marvelous; the feeble pulse became 
 nearly normal, a flush came to the pallid 
 face, and the man breathed regularly. 
 The tube was removed, and he opened 
 his eyes and spoke. The German was 
 pale and weak, but revived after a rest 
 and a meal. The other man rallied 
 rapidly. He owes his life to the Ger- 
 man stranger whose blood saved him 
 from the grave. What should his grati- 
 tude be! 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 287 —— 
 SPLICING THE LADDER. 
 
 One night the large and splendid 
 sailors’ home in Liverpool was on fire, 
 and a vast multitude of people gathered 
 to witness the conflagration. The fury 
 of the flames could not be checked. It 
 was supposed that all the inmates had 
 leit the burning building. Presently, 
 however, two poor fellows were seen 
 stretching their arms from an upper 
 window, and were shouting for help. 
 What could be done to save them? 
 
 A stout marine from a man-of-war. 
 
 lying in the river said, “Give me a long 
 ladder and I will try it.” 
 
 He mounted the ladder. It was too 
 short to reach the window. “Pass me 
 up a small ladder,” he shouted. 
 
 It was done. Even that did not reach 
 to the arms stretched frantically out of 
 the window. The brave marine was 
 not to be balked. He lifted the short 
 ladder up on his own shoulders, and, 
 holding on by a casement, he brought 
 the upper rounds within reach of the 
 two men, who were already scorched 
 by the flames. 
 
 Out of the window they clambered 
 and creeping down over the short lad- 
 der, and then over the sturdy marine, 
 they reached the pavement, amid the 
 loud hurrahs of the multitude. 
 
 It was a noble deed, and teaches a 
 noble lesson. It teaches us that when 
 we want to do good service to others, 
 we must add our own length to the 
 length of the ladder. 
 
 Harry Norton saw that his fellow- 
 clerk, Warren Proctor, was becoming a 
 hard smoker and a hard drinker, al- 
 though he was only sixteen years old. 
 When he urged him to stop smoking 
 and drinking, Warren replied: 
 
 “Why, you sometimes take a cigar 
 and a glass of wine yourself.” 
 
 “If you will sign a pledge never to 
 smoke a cigar or touch a drop of liquor, 
 I will do the same,” was the reply. 
 
 The bargain was made, and Harry 
 
 158 
 
 saved his friend by adding the length of 
 his own example to the length of the 
 ladder. 
 
 It is a noble thing to be unselfish and 
 to give up gratifications for the sake of 
 other people. : 
 
 When the great Christian sage of old 
 said, “It is not right to drink wine by 
 which my weak brothers stumble,” he 
 added the length of his own influence to 
 the ladder for saving otlkers from 
 drunkenness. 
 
 I could tell of two Christian lads, 
 well educated and refined, who go 
 every Sabbath to a mission school in a 
 dirty, degraded street, that they may 
 encourage some poor ragged boys to 
 go there, too. Those two boys have the 
 spirit of Jesus Christ. They are not 
 selfish, and they mean that the poor, 
 ignorant lads shall climb up in the world 
 over them. 
 
 That is the way to imitate the divine 
 Master, Who gave Himself that men 
 might climb out of the folly and degra- 
 dation of sin into heaven itself—Dr. T. 
 L. Cuyler. 
 
 —— 288 —— 
 A BALL, A DOLL AND A MAN. 
 
 One day in Chautauqua, N. Y., the 
 late Henry Drummond told this true 
 story about a ball, and a doll, and a 
 man. A great steamer had started from 
 Liverpool to New York. Among the 
 passengers was a little boy and his sis- 
 ter. One day the boy lost his ball over- 
 board; he rushed to the captain, beg- 
 ging him to stop the ship and get it. 
 The captain laughed, and told him it 
 would never do to stop a steamship for 
 the sake of a ball. The boy argued a 
 little, and grumbled a good deal, and 
 told his sister that he believed the rea- 
 son the captain did not stop his ship 
 was because he could not; he believed it 
 was wound up some way, so that it 
 would have to keep going until it ran 
 down, or else he would never have leit 
 a great splendid rubber ball like that in 
 the ocean. 
 
154 
 
 Two days afterwards the little girl’s 
 dollie fell overboard. She ran crying 
 to the captain to beg him to stop the 
 steamer. “That won’t do any good,” 
 her brother shouted to her; “he can’t 
 stop it; don’t you know about my ball?” 
 
 But the little girl made her pitiful 
 prayer to the captain, who ran to the 
 engine room, peeped down, and saw the 
 dollie within reach. “Wait a min- 
 ute,” he said to the little girl, and the 
 ship went steadily on its way; but in 
 a few minutes the captain came back 
 with the dollie in his arms, all dripping 
 with salt water, but safe. 
 
 On the next day there went a cry 
 over the deck of that steamer, “Man 
 overboard!’ Instantly a bell rang in 
 the engine room, short, sharp orders 
 were given and obeyed, and the great 
 ship stood still in mid-ocean, while the 
 life-boat was launched and slipped out 
 after the drowning man. Then there 
 was one very much astonished boy on 
 board! As soon as the steamer reached 
 New York, or as soon afterwards as 
 possible, the boy received a handsome 
 new ball from the captain with a note 
 
 xpressing his regret that he could not 
 accommodate his passenger and stop 
 the ship to get the one life in the ocean. 
 
 I wonder if you could think why Pro- 
 fessor Drummond told this story? 
 
 “To please the children,” one little 
 girl said when I asked her, which was 
 a good answer, but he had even a better 
 reason than that; and he pleased the 
 grown people too. He told it to illus- 
 trate different ways in which God 
 answers our prayers. The captain 
 thought it not best to stop his great 
 ship for the sake of a ball, yet the boy 
 received from him in due time a newer 
 and better one than he had lost. It 
 was not necessary to stop the ship in 
 order to answer the little girl’s prayer 
 she begged him to do it, but that was 
 because she did not understand his 
 power to save the dollie without that; 
 the thing she prayed for she received, 
 though not in the way she asked. 
 
 Yet the moment came when—because 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a human life was in peril—even the 
 great engine had to be silenced, and the 
 course of the ship changed, because the 
 captain hac power to do it.—Selected. 
 
 —— 289 —— 
 FIDELITY OF A DOG. 
 
 The Heppner, Oregon, Gazette tells a 
 story of a dog’s double devotion, which 
 will tend to increase the regard of all 
 lovers of dogs for those faithful 
 creatures. 
 
 Mr. James Kinney, the chief shepherd 
 of the flocks of Mr. Thomas Quade, had 
 occasion lately to change camp from the 
 mountain range to his feeding grounds. 
 The distance was three miles, One of 
 the collies had at the range a litter of 
 five puppies, seventeen days old, which, 
 as she was needed in the drive, she had 
 to leave behind. The first night, as 
 soon as the sheep were folded at the 
 feeding ground and her responsibilities 
 over, she went straight back through a 
 driving snow-storm to her young, and 
 spent the night with them. 
 
 Next morning, however, true to her 
 master, she was at the corral bright and 
 early for her duties. She remained all 
 day, guarding and herding the sheep, 
 and at nightfall started back to her 
 babies. 
 
 This continued for eleven days. On 
 the morning of the twelfth day the dog 
 was late at the corral, and Mr. Kinney 
 felt some uneasiness about her. After 
 a little time she appeared, bringing one 
 of her pups, which had now grown to 
 considerable size, in her mouth. She 
 had struggled all the three miles with 
 it, over a rough road. It was evidently 
 her intention to bring the pups all up to 
 the corral, one at a time, without sacri- 
 ficing any of her time with the sheep. 
 
 Somewhat conscience-stricken at his 
 neglect of the litter so far, Mr. Kinney 
 hitched up a wagon and went to the 
 range after them. He secured them all, 
 and gave them and their mother a warm 
 nest close to the hearth in the farm- 
 house. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ——290 —— 
 THE STORY OF A BIBLE. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, in one of his 
 campaigns, was engaged in taking a 
 German fortress which had resisted his 
 efforts for six months. When at last 
 it was taken by storm the soldiers 
 rushed into the towns and laid hands 
 on whatever of value they could. In 
 the French army was a German named 
 Krause, and he, like the rest, sought 
 out a house which he thought might be 
 worth looting. On entering he was ac- 
 costed by a boy of six years, who, hold- 
 ing up a Bible, said: “Here, I will give 
 you this, though I like it very much, 
 only do nothing to my dear mother.” 
 
 The soldier took the book, and on 
 opening it was arrested by the words 
 he read, and, much to the surprise and 
 relief of the widowed mother and her 
 four young children, he said, “I will 
 take nothing if you will let me have this 
 Bible.” He placed the book in the 
 breast of his tunic, and left the house, 
 keeping guard outside, and so prevent- 
 ing any of his comrades from entering 
 until the soldiers were called to their 
 quarters. 
 
 Meanwhile a body of Germans were 
 advancing to the relief of the town, but 
 arrived just too late to prevent its fall. 
 They, however, attacked the French, 
 and during the progress of the fight 
 Krause was struck in the breast and 
 fell to the ground. For a while he was 
 unconscious, but on regaining con- 
 sciousness he was much surprised to 
 find that, instead of being wounded, the 
 missile had lodged in the Bible which 
 he had received from the boy. Thus the 
 book had been instrumental first in 
 softening his heart and saving the 
 widow’s family from danger, and then 
 in saving the life of the recipient. 
 
 Krause afterwards became an officer, 
 and seven years later he wrote a letter 
 to the boy who handed him the Bible, 
 enclosing a considerable sum of money, 
 “as a reward to the noble boy, who, 
 seven years ago, gave his dearest pos- 
 
 155 
 
 session as a ransom for his mother, and 
 thereby saved the life of this grateiul 
 friend, Edelrich Krause.” 
 
 This is a very remarkable incident, 
 and though such a coincidence is hardly 
 likely ever to happen again, yet similar 
 results are being seen every day. Many 
 a hard heart has been softened by a 
 passage from the Bibie, and many who 
 have set out to commit a wrong have 
 been stopped at the remembrance of a 
 text they learned in childhood. 
 
 Although the soldier did not go to his 
 quarters that night with so much “loot” 
 as his companions, he, no doubt, was 
 often glad to think that he had left the 
 widow’s home untouched, and thus 
 saved her and her children from sorrow. 
 No doubt that Bible was treasured and 
 often shown by Krause to friends as the 
 savior of his life, but, better still, he 
 accepted the gospel message which the 
 book contained, and so it became the 
 way to a life better and more lasting 
 than that which had been preserved to 
 him by its protection from the bullet — 
 The Little Christian. 
 
 — 29i—— 
 
 THE DANGER OF WRONG AD- 
 VICE. 
 
 Many years ago, when Dakota terri- 
 tory was being settled, a young woman 
 leit her home to visit her father and 
 mother. She was the mother of a little 
 child and was anxious for her parents to 
 see her little one. Her father returned 
 from the post office and reported an 
 approaching blizzard from the north- 
 west, The young mother, against the 
 advice of her father, cut her visit short 
 and decided to hasten home. When she 
 had traveled on her homeward journey 
 some thirty or forty minutes, the bliz- 
 zard broke upon the country in all its 
 fury. She became greatly agitated, for 
 she feared that the train might be snow- 
 bound. She asked the trainmen repeat- 
 edly not to forget where she was to 
 leave the train, and they assured her 
 they would not forget. A traveling man 
 sitting behind her calmed her fears with 
 
156 
 
 the statement that he was going far be- 
 yond her station, and would tell her 
 when to leave the train. The engine be- 
 gan to lose power. The train was run- 
 ning late. After a long, tiresome jour- 
 ney they came to the station preceding 
 the one where she desired to leave the 
 train. The traveling man said, “The 
 next stop is your station. Get your wraps 
 and bundles ready.” So she got ready. 
 In about forty minutes the train came 
 to a standstill. No station had been 
 called, but the traveling man said, “This 
 is your station, madam.” She hurriedly 
 left the train. After a while the train 
 pulled out and probably thirty or forty 
 minutes later the trainman called the 
 station at which the woman had intend- 
 ed leaving. The traveling man sprang 
 to his feet. “Haven’t you made a mis- 
 take?” he cried. “No, sir. I know every 
 station on this line,” said the trainman. 
 “Where is the woman who is to leave 
 here?” The traveling man answered, “I 
 thought we stopped at that station thir- 
 ty minutes ago, and I told her to get 
 off.” “We didn’t stop at any station 
 thirty minutes ago,” the brakeman said. 
 “Something went wrong with the engine 
 and we stopped to fix it. We were out 
 on the open prairie, and it is miles to 
 the nearest house, and in such a blizzard 
 I don’t see how that woman can escape 
 death.” When they reached the station 
 the conductor telegraphed the division 
 superintendent the situation and the lat- 
 ter answered by wire, “Spare no ex- 
 pense. Take an engine and a car and 
 every available man and find that 
 woman.” They searched many hours 
 in that blinding blizzard. About day- 
 light they found her and her baby fro- 
 zen to death. She had followed the 
 wrong advice and it had cost her life. 
 
 To our church members everywhere 
 I would say: Beware of the temptation 
 to lead unclean, compromised, godless 
 lives, the examples of which may ruin 
 others for eternity. If there are such 
 among you, clean up, for Jesus’ sake, and 
 let us take America for Christ!—Rev. 
 French E. Oliver. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 a 92 ee 
 
 THE NEED OF SELF-CONTROL. 
 
 A celebrated trainer of wild animals 
 says: “In some curious, incomprehen- 
 sible way, wild animals know instinc- 
 tively whether men are addicted to bad 
 habits. It is one of the many problems 
 that are beyond human understanding. 
 For those who are in the least. inclined 
 to drink, or who live a loose life, a wild 
 animal has neither fear nor respect. He 
 despises them with all the contempt of 
 his nature and recognizes neither their 
 authority nor their superiority. If a 
 man has begun to take just a little in- 
 toxicating liquor or has deviated from 
 the straight road, animals will discover 
 it long before his fellow-men. The qual- 
 ity in the trainer which dominates the 
 animal nature within himself is precisely 
 the quality which dominates the animals 
 he trains. If he yields to the brute with- 
 in him, no matter how little, his perfect 
 poise and self-mastery are gone and the 
 keen instinct of the wild beast recognizes 
 this instantly. Brutes seem to under- 
 stand man’s degradation to their level, 
 and. his life is in danger every moment 
 he is in their cage.’—The Baptist and 
 Reflector. 
 
 —— 293 —— 
 A SENSIBLE CHOICE. 
 
 John Nelson, the Yorkshire mason, 
 who was a co-worker with John Wes- 
 ley, possessed convictions and earnest- 
 ness that should characterize every 
 Christian of today. 
 
 When threatened with dismissal be- 
 cause of his refusal to work on Sunday, 
 he said: “I would rather have my wife 
 and children beg their way barefoot to 
 Heaven than to ride in a coach to Hell. 
 I will run the risk of wanting bread 
 here rather than the hazard of wanting 
 water hereafter.” 
 
 It is interesting to relate that Nel- 
 son’s employer admired his earnest 
 steadfastness so much that he increased 
 his wages and stopped all work on Sun- 
 day.—Pacific Ensign. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 AEG TY aca 
 JOHN V. FARWELL’S START. 
 
 The millionaire philanthropist, John 
 V. Farwell, founder of the great whole- 
 sale dry goods house of Chicago bearing 
 his name, a leader in religious work, and 
 the founder of the Chicago Young Men’s 
 Christian Association, told in the ‘“Sat- 
 urday Evening Post,” some years ago, 
 how he got his start in a business career. 
 
 “Strange as it may seem, I got on the 
 track to business success through being 
 discharged. 
 
 “I came to Chicago in 1845 with less 
 than four hundred dollars in my pockets. 
 My resources consisted of an iron con- 
 stitution, a fairly good education, and a 
 strong religious belief. 
 
 “T at once set out earnestly to seek 
 employment, and finally secured a posi- 
 tion in the city clerk’s office. By virtue 
 of the position I was soon assigned to 
 make reports of the meetings of the city 
 council, securing for this work extra pay 
 to the amount of two dollars the meet- 
 ing. Soon, however, I ran across a snag 
 that caused me to meet with shipwreck. 
 In my office reports of the council pro- 
 ceedings I narrated things exactly as 
 they occurred and this did not please 
 certain aldermen. Although IJ received 
 more than an inkling of this, I continued 
 to make accurate reports, and the first 
 thing I knew I was discharged from 
 the employ of the city. 
 
 “The blow was a severe one, as work 
 was hard to find; and I was, for a time, 
 deeply discouraged, but with the elasti- 
 city of youth I quickly rallied and soon 
 found a position as book-keeper for a 
 dry goods firm. It was in this place 
 that I determined to become a mer- 
 chant, and although my salary was very 
 small, the work gave me an insight into 
 the dry goods business. After a time 
 I was offered a position with another 
 house at the magnificent salary of $600 
 the year, which enabled me to save a 
 good deal of money. Within five years 
 of my arrival in Chicago I was made a 
 partner in this firm. Ten years later 
 
 157 
 
 two young men, whose names are now 
 generally familiar, were also admitted 
 to the firm. These two men were Mar- 
 shall Field and Levi Z. Leiter, and I do 
 not go beyond the truth in claiming to 
 have given them their primary educa- 
 tion in business. I have sometimes 
 wondered what would have been my lot 
 if I had stayed in the city clerk’s office.” 
 
 —— 295 
 A TRUE STORY. 
 
 Robert Stephens tells the story of his 
 salvation thus: I was born in a poor 
 man’s home on the coast of Cornwall, 
 Hngland. When nine years of age I 
 was sent into a shipbuilding yard to 
 work for my living. My surroundings 
 were of the sinful kind. Soon my young 
 life drank in these influences. I drifted 
 along to the age of seventeen, At that 
 time I used to go out after supper with 
 the young men of my age, and spend the 
 evenings on the streets in some kind of 
 street pleasure. I was out on this mis- 
 sion one evening, and a party of us were 
 standing by a store window when a 
 party of Methodists came by, going 
 home from their prayer-meeting. When 
 they reached us they stopped, for some 
 reason I do not know. One of the party, 
 an old man, came up to me, and putting 
 his hands on my shoulder, and calling 
 me by name, said: “I don’t know why, 
 but I always pray for you.” When he 
 had said this he lifted his hand, and the 
 prayer-meeting crowd passed down the 
 street. I looked after them in the dark- 
 ness, saying, “I wonder why that old 
 fellow prays for me?” 
 
 The work was done. Conviction for 
 sin followed. A desire to be saved en- 
 tered my life, and two weeks after that 
 I found Christ. The old man is in 
 heaven long ago. I am here, doing 
 what I can to make the world better. 
 
 Only a word—that was all. But as a 
 result of that word thousands will be 
 in heaven, for the old man started forces 
 to work that evening which will never 
 stop—no, never.—N. C, Christian Advo- 
 cate. 
 
 
 
158 
 
 comme 296 
 BURKE THE BURGLAR. 
 
 Valentine Burke was his name. He 
 was an old-time burglar, with kit and 
 gun always ready for use. His picture 
 adorned many a rogue’s gallery, for 
 burke was a real burglar and none of 
 your cheap amateurs. He had a cour- 
 age born of many desperate “jobs.” 
 Twenty years of his life Burke had 
 spent in prison, here and there. He was 
 a big, strong fellow, with a hard face, 
 and a terrible tongue for swearing, es- 
 pecially at sheriffs and jailers, who were 
 his natural born enemies. There must 
 have been a streak of manhood or a 
 tender spot somewhere about him, you 
 will say, or this story could hardly have 
 happened. 
 
 It was twenty-five years or more ago 
 that it happened. Moody was young 
 then, and not long in his ministry. He 
 came down to St. Louis to lead a union 
 revival meeting, and the Globe-Demo- 
 crat announced that it was going to 
 print every word he said, sermon, pray- 
 er, and exhortation. Moody said it made 
 him quake inwardly when he read this, 
 but he made up his mind that he “would 
 weave in a lot of scripture for the Globe- 
 Democrat to print, and that might count, 
 if his own words should fail.” He did 
 it, and his printed sermons from day to 
 day were sprinkled with Bible texts. 
 The reporters tried their cunning at put- 
 ting big, blazing headlines: at the top 
 of the columns, Everybody was either 
 hearing or reading the sermons. Burke 
 was in the St. Louis jail, waiting trial 
 for some piece of daring. Solitary con- 
 finement was wearing on him, and he 
 put in his time railing at the guards or 
 damning the sheriff on his daily rounds. 
 It was meat and drink to Burke to curse 
 a sheriff. Somebody threw a Globe- 
 Democrat into his cell, and the first 
 thing that caught his eye was a big 
 headline like this: “How the jailer at 
 Philippi got caught.” It was just what 
 Burke wanted, and he sat down with a 
 chuckle to read the story of the jailer’s 
 discomforture. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “Philippi!” he said; “that’s up in 
 Illinois. I’ve been in that town.” 
 
 Somehow the reading had a strange 
 look, out of the usual newspaper way. 
 It was Moody’s sermon of the night 
 before. “What rot is this?” asked 
 Burke. “Paul and Silas—a great earth- 
 quake—what must I do to be saved? 
 Has the Globe-Democrat got to print 
 such stuff?” He looked at the date. Yes, 
 it was Friday morning’s paper, fresh 
 from the press. Burke threw it down 
 with an oath, and walked about his ceil 
 like a caged lion. By and by he took 
 up the paper, and read the sermon 
 through. The restless fit grew on him. 
 Again and again he picked up the paper 
 and read its strange story. It was then 
 that a something, from whence he did 
 not know, came into the burglar’s heart, 
 and cut its way to the quick. “What 
 does it mean?” he began asking. ““Twen- 
 ty years and more I’ve been burglar 
 and jail bird, but I never felt like this. 
 What is it to be saved anyway? I’ve 
 lived a dog’s life, and I’m getting tired 
 of it. If there is such a God as that 
 preacher is telling about, I believe I'll 
 find it out, if it kills me to do it.” He 
 found it out. 
 
 Away toward midnight, after hours 
 of bitter remorse over his wasted life, 
 and lonely and broken prayers the first 
 time since he was a child at his mother’s 
 knee, Burke learned there is a God who 
 is able and willing to blot out the dark- 
 est and bloodiest record at a single 
 stroke. Then he waited for day, a new 
 creature, crying and laughing by turns. 
 Next morning when the guard came 
 around Burke had a pleasant word for 
 him, and the guard eyed him in wonder. 
 When the sheriff came, Burke greeted 
 him as a friend, and told him how he 
 had found God, after reading Moody’s 
 sermon, “Jim,” said the sheriff to the 
 guard, “you better keep an eye on 
 Burke. He’s playing the pious dodge, 
 and first chance he gets he will be out 
 of here.” 
 
 In a few weeks Burke came to trial; 
 but the case, through some legal entan- 
 element, failed, and he was released. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Friendless, an ex-burglar in a big city, 
 known only as a daring criminal, he had 
 a hard time for months of shame and 
 sorrow. Men looked at his face when 
 he asked for work, and upon its evidence 
 turned him away. But poor Burke was 
 as brave as a Christian as he had been 
 as a burglar and struggled on. Moody 
 told how the poor fellow, seeing that 
 his sin-blurred features were making 
 against him, asked the Lord in prayer if 
 he wouldn’t make him a better-looking 
 man so that he could get an honest job. 
 You will smile at this, I know, but 
 something or somebody really answered 
 the prayer, for Moody said a year from 
 that time when he met Burke in Chi- 
 cago he was as fine a looking man as 
 he knew. I cannot help thinking it was 
 the Lord who did it for him, in answer 
 to his childlike faith. Shifting to and 
 fro, wanting much to find steady work, 
 he went to New York, hoping far from 
 his old haunts to find peace and honest 
 labor. He did not succeed, and after six 
 months came back to St. Louis, much 
 discouraged, but still holding fast to the 
 God he had found in his prison cell. One 
 day there came a message from the 
 sheriff that he was wanted at the court 
 house, and Burke obeyed with a heavy 
 heart. 
 
 “Some old case they’ve got against 
 me,” he said, “but if I’m guilty Ill tell 
 them so. I’ve done lying.” 
 
 The sheriff greeted him _ kindly. 
 “Where have you been Burke?” 
 
 “In New York.” 
 
 “What have you been doing there!’ 
 
 “Trying to find a decent job.” 
 
 “Have you kept a good grip on the 
 religion you told me about?” 
 
 “Ves,” answered Burke, looking him 
 steadily in the eye. “I’ve had a hard 
 time, sheriff, but I haven’t lost my re- 
 ligion.” 
 
 It was then the tide began to turn. 
 
 “Burke,” said the sheriff, “I have had 
 you shadowed every day you were in 
 New York. I suspected that your reli- 
 gion was a fraud. But I want to say 
 to you that I know you've lived an 
 honest Christian life, and I have sent 
 
 ANECDOTES 159 
 for you to offer you a deputyship under 
 me. You can begin at once.” 
 
 He began. He set his face like a 
 flint. Steadily, and with dogged faith- 
 fulness the old burglar went about his 
 duties until men high in business began 
 to tip their hats to him, and to talk of 
 him at their clubs. Moody was passing 
 through the city and stopped off an hour 
 to meet Burke, who loved nobody as 
 he did the man who converted him. 
 Moody told how he found him in a close 
 room upstairs in the court house serving 
 as trusted guard over a bag of dia- 
 monds. Burke sat with a sack of gems 
 in his lap and a gun on the table. There 
 were $60,000 worth of diamonds in the 
 sack, 
 
 “Moody,” he said, “see what the grace 
 of God can do for a burglar. Look at 
 this! The sheriff picked me out of his 
 force to guard it.” 
 
 Then he cried like a child as he held 
 up the glittering stones for Moody to 
 see. Years afterwards the churches of 
 St. Louis had made ready and were 
 waiting for the coming of an evangelist 
 who was to lead the meeting; but some- 
 thing happened that he did not come. 
 The pastors were in sore trouble, until 
 one of them suggested that they send 
 for Valentine Burke to lead the meet- 
 ings for them. Burke led night after 
 night and many hard men came to hear 
 him, and many hearts were turned, as 
 Burke’s had been, from lives of crime 
 and shame to clean Christian living. 
 There is no more beautiful or pathetic 
 story than that of Burke’s gentle and 
 faithful life and service in the city where 
 he had been the chief of sinners. How 
 long he lived I do not recall, but Moody 
 told me of his funeral, and how the rich 
 and the poor, the saints and the sinners, 
 came to it; and how the big men of the 
 city could not say enough over the cof- 
 fin of Valentine Burke. And to this day 
 there are not a few in that city whose 
 hearts soften with a strange tenderness 
 when the name of the burglar is recalled. 
 And now Moody and Burke are met, no 
 more to be separated.—Prof. H. H. 
 Mamill, D.D. 
 
160 
 
 — 297 ——. 
 WHAT WILL THE PEOPLE SAY? 
 
 This question can poison our existence 
 and shorten our life. 
 
 To thousands who have accustomed 
 themselves to listen to the opinion of 
 others more than upon their own peace 
 of soul, does this question became a 
 curse. 
 
 What are the people who today live, 
 and tomorrow may be dead? Shail 
 my welfare lie in the hands of such who 
 are as chaff? Shall I, in order to please 
 them, offer up my happiness of life? Will 
 those people, upon whom we bestow 
 such attention, stand by us when we 
 are most miserable? Our misery to them 
 is as pleasing as our happiness; both 
 furnish topics of conversation. 
 
 A missionary once related the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 “A king’s son was a prisoner, who, 
 after several years, was released upon 
 the condition that he permit himself to 
 be led at the hour of noon through the 
 city. » 
 
 ““Oh,’ said the young man, ‘how will 
 the people look?’ 
 
 “*You do not yet know how you will 
 be led,’ answered the king. 
 
 “When the hour arrived, he gave him 
 a vessel filled to the brim with milk in 
 his hands. 
 
 ““As soon as you spill a drop you 
 must die,’ said he 
 
 “Close behind the young man walked 
 the executioner with dagger in hand, to 
 stab him as soon as a drop fell to the 
 earth. 
 
 “From far the people had come to- 
 gether to see the king’s son upon his 
 perilous journey; head by head the 
 crowd stood upon the streets. All the 
 windows were crowded and some even 
 climbed upon the roofs. When the youth 
 had passed through the terrible ordeal, 
 the king stepped to him and said: 
 
 ““Well, what kind of faces did the 
 people make?” 
 
 “Oh, king,’ answered the youth, ‘I 
 saw not one. I only saw my life in my 
 hat.ds and death behind me.’ ” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Let us be like this youth; let us not 
 look around, but take care of ourselves, 
 for we carry the happiness of lives ever 
 with us; and it is only by walking very 
 carefully and heeding the Divine voice 
 that says, “This is the way, walk ye in 
 it,’ that we can safely reach the goal 
 which is life eternal.—Selected. 
 
 —— 298 —— 
 FERVENT PRAYER. 
 
 It is related that on a certain occasion 
 a messenger was sent to Martin Luther 
 to inform him that his beloved friend 
 Melancthon was dying. Luther at once 
 hastened to his sickbed, and found him 
 presenting the usual premonitory symp- 
 toms of death. 
 
 He mournfully bent over him; and 
 sobbing, gave utterance to a sorrowful 
 exclamation. It roused Melancthon from 
 his stupor, he looked into the face of 
 Luther, and said, ‘““O Luther, is this you! 
 Why do you not let me depart in 
 peace?” 
 
 “We cannot spare you yet, Phillip,” 
 was the reply. And turning around, he 
 threw himself upon his knees, and 
 wrestled with God for his recovery for 
 upwards of an hour. He went from his 
 knees to the bed, and took his friend 
 by the hand, 
 
 Again he said, “Dear Luther, why do 
 you not let me depart in peace?” 
 
 “Oh, no, Phillip, we cannot spare you 
 yet from the field of labor,” was the re- 
 ply. 
 
 Luther then ordered some soup; and 
 when Melancthon declined to take it, 
 saying, “Dear Luther, why will you 
 not let me go home and be at rest?” 
 
 “We cannot spare you yet, Phillip,” 
 was the reply. He then added, “Phillip, 
 take this soup; or I will excommunicate 
 you!” Methancthon took the soup. | 
 
 He soon commenced to grow better: 
 regained his wonted health; and labored 
 for years afterwards in the cause of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 When Luther returned home, he said 
 to his wife with abounding joy, “God 
 gave me my brother Melancthon back 
 in direct answer to prayer.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —-~ 299 —— 
 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 
 
 A large opera house in Washington 
 City was filled with people. Five hun- 
 dred members of a Woman’s Congress 
 occupied the first floor. Flags and 
 flowers beautified the stage, which was 
 rendered doubly attractive by the ele- 
 gant presence of a number of ladies 
 officiating. Suspended above a brilliant 
 scene, the insignia of the society shone 
 out in electric splendor. The United 
 States Marine Band delighted every 
 listener with a perfect melody that filled 
 the building to its remotest corner. 
 
 A young woman was seated with 
 strangers, her relative having left her 
 to return later in the evening. They 
 were in one of the upper circles, to 
 which the general public was admitted. 
 Attracted by the conversation of two 
 ladies, she could scarcely do less than 
 explain to them certain points in the 
 program which they did not seem to 
 understand. They had attended a 
 “Woman’s Rights” convention the pre- 
 vious week. They also discussed the 
 Daughters of the American Revolution. 
 As they talked on, embracing Rebecca 
 in the conversation, she observed that 
 they wanted every one in society, re- 
 ligion, and everything else, to do just 
 as he pleased. They didn’t “believe any- 
 thing” themselves, but they “didn’t want 
 to interfere” with anyone. 
 
 “You surely believe the Bible, don’t 
 you?” said Rebecca, much distressed. 
 
 “Parts of it, but purely as history,” 
 answered they. 
 
 “Oh, I feel very sorry for you,” said 
 Rebecca, earnestly. “I feel very sorry 
 for you.” 
 
 “You belong to some church, then?’ 
 remarked one of the ladies in some 
 amusement. 
 
 “Yes, I am a Presbyterian.” “We 
 know that is a strong church, of many 
 influential members, but we know little 
 else about it,” was the reply. 
 
 “Katherine,” said an old gentleman to 
 his wife that night, “my mind is made 
 up, I am with you at last, I have decided 
 
 ANECDOTES 161 
 for Christ and the Church.” 
 
 The invalid wife wept tears of joy. 
 “Tell me, dear, what helped you to this 
 decision? I know it was God’s Spirit, 
 but tell me about it.” 
 
 “Only the simple faith and earnest 
 testimony of a girl talking to some 
 strong-minded women from _ SBoston, 
 who were down at the Congress tonight. 
 I sat behind them and heard what they 
 said.” 
 
 The Boston ladies returned to their 
 homes. Again and again the words 
 came back to them, “I feel very sorry 
 for you,” and “Yes, I believe every word 
 of it is true and the word of God.” 
 Finally one of them spoke of this to the 
 other, who confessed the same experi- 
 ence. “Suppose we read it and see if 
 we can find anything in it for us?” They 
 read and God opened their eyes to be- 
 hold wondrous things. .They found 
 something in it for them. Their souls 
 were saved—their lives changed. 
 
 Rebecca may never know how far her 
 words went. She returned to her home 
 unconscious of having done anything 
 for the advancement of Christ’s King- 
 dom, yet she had been the instrument. 
 in God’s hands of helping to bring three 
 souls to the Saviour. Let us weigh our 
 words and be wise, that we may be 
 among the blessed who turn many to 
 righteousness.——Presbyterian. 
 
 —— 300 —— 
 
 “We are only unlighted candles until 
 Christ lights us. There is no shining 
 light in us in our natural, unspiritual 
 state. Christ himself is the Light of the 
 World—the only self-igniting, self-sus- 
 taining light ‘He is the true light, 
 which lighteth every man that cometh 
 into the world. He is the brightness of 
 the Father’s glory. In Him the perfect 
 light of God’s own life and love shone © 
 over the earth. For a time He was in 
 the world, and the brightness streamed 
 far abroad. Then, before He went 
 away, He lighted a cluster of lamps and 
 left them burning. ‘Now ye are the 
 light of the world.’ He said to His 
 disciples.”—Selected. 
 
162 
 —— 301 —— 
 THE ARTIST AND THE GIPSY 
 GIRL, 
 
 Many years ago in the old city of Dus- 
 seldori, a town of Rhenish Prussia, there 
 dwelt an artist by the name of Stenburg. 
 A Roman Catholic, he had been taught 
 their doctrines, but knew nothing of 
 Christ as his own Saviour from the guilt 
 and power of sin. He had been engaged 
 to paint a great picture of the crucifixion, 
 and this he was doing—not from any 
 real love to Christ or faith in Him, but 
 for money and fame, But in mercy God 
 brought this man to know the wondrous 
 love which led Jesus Christ to suffer that 
 awful death of the cross; and how this 
 was done this story will tell. 
 
 One beautiful spring morning Sten- 
 burg was seeking recreation in the forest 
 near Dusseldorf when he came upon a 
 gipsy girl plaiting straw baskets. She 
 was gifted with more than the usual 
 beauty of her race, and Stenburg was so 
 impressed by it, that he determined to 
 engage her as a model for a picture of a 
 Spanish dancing girl. So he bargained 
 with Pepita, for that was her name, to 
 come thrice a week to his studio to pose 
 as a model. 
 
 At the appointed hour she arrived; 
 and as her great eyes roved round the 
 studio she was full of wonder, while 
 looking at the pictures. The large one 
 (the crucifixion) caught her eye. Gazing 
 at it intently, she asked in an awed voice, 
 pointing to the figure on the cross in the 
 centre, “Who is that?” 
 
 “The Christ,” answered Stenburg 
 carelessly. 
 
 “What is being done to Him?” 
 
 “They are crucifying Him.” 
 
 “Who are those about Him with the 
 bad faces?” 
 
 “Now, look here,” said the artist, “I 
 cannot talk. You have nothing to do 
 but stand as I tell you.” The girl dared 
 not speak again, but she continued to 
 gaze and wonder. 
 
 Every time she came to the studio, the 
 fascination of the picture grew upon her. 
 Then again she ventured to ask a ques- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 tion, for she longed to learn more of its 
 meaning. 
 
 “Why did they crucify Him? Was 
 He bad, very bad?” 
 
 “No, very good.” 
 
 That was all she learned at one inter- 
 view, but it added a little to her knowl- 
 edge of that wonderful scene. 
 
 At last, seeing she was so anxious to 
 know the meaning of the picture, Sten- 
 burg one day said, “Listen; I will tell 
 you once for all; and then ask no more 
 questions ;” and he told her the story of 
 the cross—new to Pepita, though so old 
 to the artist that it had ceased to touch 
 him. He could paint that dying agony, 
 and not a nerve of his quiver; but the 
 thought of it wrung her heart. Tears 
 filled her eyes, and she could hardly con- 
 trol her emotion. 
 
 Pepita’s last visit to the studio had 
 come, She stood before the great pic- 
 ture, loth to leave it. “Come,” said the 
 artist, “here is your money, and a gold 
 piece over.” 
 
 “Thanks, Master.” Then, again turn- 
 ing to the picture, said: “You must love 
 Him very much when He has done all 
 that for you; do you not?” 
 
 Stenburg could not answer. Pepita 
 with a sad heart went back to her people. 
 But her words pierced Stenburg like an 
 arrow. God’s Spirit sent the gipsy giri’s 
 words home to his heart. He could not 
 forget them. “All that for you,” rang 
 in his ears. He became restless and sad. 
 He knew he did not love the crucified 
 One; and Rome can give no reali rest to 
 the troubled heart. Her votaries never 
 know the peace of God. 
 
 Some time after this Stenburg was led 
 to follow a few poor people who gathered 
 in a retired place to hear the Bible 
 read and the gospel preached. There for 
 the first time he met those who had a 
 living faith, and heard the simple gos- 
 pel. He was made to realize why Christ 
 hung upon the cross for sinners; that 
 he was a sinner, and therefore Christ 
 was there for him, bearing his sins. Thus 
 God led the artist to the knowledge of 
 salvation, and he began to know the love 
 
 of Christ and could say, “He loved me, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 and gave Himself for me.” 
 
 And now he longed to make that won- 
 drous love known to others; but how 
 could he do it? Suddenly it fashed upon 
 him. He could paint. His brush could 
 tell out the love of Christ. Praying for 
 God’s help in the work, he painted as 
 never before, and the picture was placed 
 among other paintings in the famous 
 gallery of Dusseldorf. Underneath he 
 placed the words :— 
 
 “All this I did for thee; what hast thou 
 done for Me2” 
 
 Eternity alone will tell how many were 
 led to Christ by the words and the pic- 
 ture. 
 
 One day Stenburg saw a _ poorly- 
 dressed girl weeping bitterly as she stood 
 by the picture. It was Pepita. 
 
 - “O master! if He had but loved me 
 so,” she cried. 
 
 Then the artist told-her how He did 
 die for her, poor gipsy girl though she 
 was, as much as for the rich and great. 
 Stenburg did not weary now of answer- 
 ing all her eager questions. He was as 
 anxious to tell as she to hear of the love 
 of Christ; and as it was presented to 
 her, she received it, and went from that 
 room a sinner saved, rejoicing in that 
 wonderful love. Thus the Lord used 
 Pepita’s words to bring the artist to 
 Himself, and then used the artist’s 
 words by which to reveal Himself to 
 her. 
 
 Months afterward Stenburg was sud- 
 denly called one night by a dark-looking 
 stranger to visit a dying person. Fol- 
 lowing his guide through the streets into 
 the country, and then beyond into the 
 deep forest, at last they came to a few 
 poor tents in a sheltered spot. In one 
 of these he found Pepita dying in pover- 
 ty. but happy in the precious love of 
 Christ. He saw her die praising her 
 saviour for His love, knowing that He 
 had taken all her sins away, and that 
 she was going into His blessed presence 
 to be forever with Him. 
 
 Long after this, when the artist, too, 
 had gone to be with the Lord, a wealthy 
 young nobleman found his way into that 
 
 ANECDOTES 163 
 picture gallery, and as he gazed upon 
 the picture and the words underneath 
 it, God there and then spoke to his heart. 
 It was Count Zinzendorf, who from that 
 day became an earnest Christian, and 
 also became the father of the Moravian 
 missions by means of which God led 
 thousands of souls to Himself. Such 
 are the wonderful ways of God!—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 ——- 302 —— 
 
 A VOICE WITHIN. 
 
 When I was a little boy in my fourth 
 year, one fine day in spring my father 
 led me by the hand to a distant part of 
 the farm, but soon sent me home alone. 
 On the way I had to pass a little pond, 
 then spreading its waters wide; a rho- 
 dora in full bloom, a rare flower which 
 grew only in that locality, attracted my 
 attention, and drew me to the spot. I 
 saw a little tortoise sunning himself in 
 the shallow waters at the roots of the 
 flaming shrub. I lifted the stick I had 
 in my hand to strike the harmless rep- 
 tile; for, though I had never killed any 
 creature, yet I had seen other boys do 
 so, and I felt a disposition to follow thetr 
 wicked example. 
 
 But all at once something checked 
 my little arm, and a voice within me 
 said clear and loud: “It is wrong!” I 
 held my uplifted stick, in wonder at the 
 new emotion, the consciousness of an 
 involuntary but inward check upon my 
 actions, till the tortoise and the rhodora 
 both vanished from my sight. I has- 
 tened home and told the tale to my 
 mother, and asked what it was that told 
 me it was wrong, She wiped a tear from 
 her eye, and taking me in her arms, 
 said: “Some men call it conscience, but 
 I prefer to call it the voice of God in 
 the soul of man. Tf you listen and obey 
 it, then it will speak clearer and clearer, 
 and always guide you right; but if you 
 turn a deaf ear or disobey, then it will 
 fade out, little by little, and leave you in 
 the dark without a guide. Your life de- 
 pends on heeding that little voice.”— 
 Dean Farrar. 
 
164 
 emcee 303 —— 
 FAITHFULNESS TO A FELLOW- 
 BOARDER. 
 
 According to Oriental thought and cus- 
 tom, one with whom you “break bread,” 
 or with whom you sit at meat, is, by 
 that very fact, in covenant with you, 
 and you have sacred duties toward him 
 that must not be shirked or evaded. Yet 
 many a Christian in a Christian com- 
 munity will sit at the same table with 
 another, as a fellow-boarder, for weeks 
 or months, without knowing anything 
 of his religious or spiritual views or 
 wants. Both will talk freely on ordi- 
 nary subjects, but the subject of chief 
 importance is not named or considered. 
 Is this right? Will any Christian say 
 that it is? Is it right toward either 
 party? How much is lost on both sides 
 by such a course? 
 
 For a long time I and my family lived 
 at a boarding-house in a New England 
 city. There was, during that period, a 
 season of special religious interest, or a 
 general revival, in that city. There sat 
 at the same table with us a gentleman 
 and his wife, who, as we knew, were not 
 professing Christians, or church mem- 
 bers, and had never expressed to us any 
 particular interest in the revival move- 
 ment in the city. One noonday I sug- 
 gested to my wife that we ought to 
 speak to our table neighbors personally 
 on the subject, and urge them to sur- 
 render themselves to Chirst. As she 
 agreed with me as to our duty, I pro- 
 posed that while I would go up to the 
 gentleman’s place of business and have 
 a loving talk with him, she should 
 seck out the wife in her room, and plead 
 with her for Christ. This was agreed to. 
 Then we knelt together and asked God’s 
 blessing on our efforts, and on those in 
 whose spiritual welfare we were inter- 
 ested. 
 
 The gentleman was a bank officer. I 
 called there just after bank hours, know- 
 ing that he would be disengaged. As I 
 asked him for an interview, he invited 
 me into the directors’ room, and closed 
 the door. When I spoke of my loving 
 interest in him, and of my purpose in 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 calling, he burst into tears, and said that 
 he was so glad I had come. Then he 
 told me how he had longed, day after 
 day, for some one to speak to him on 
 this subject. When men came in who 
 were prominent and active in the prayer 
 meetings, he had tried, in vain, to lead 
 the conversation to the point of a per- 
 sonal word, but had always failed. How 
 adroit some Christians are in avoiding 
 the subject of personal religion in busi- 
 ness places and in business hours! I 
 found this man longing to be helped 
 into the kingdom, and giad to learn the 
 way. That was an ever-to-be remcm- 
 bered conversation for Christ. 
 
 When I went back to the house, at 
 the close of the afternoon, my wife told 
 me, with a cheerful face, of her experi- 
 ence, After my leaving her, as she was 
 preparing to go to the room of the wife 
 she had on her heart, there was a knock 
 at her door. As she opened the door 
 that wife came in, and, bursting into 
 tears, she asked if her friend wouldn’t 
 help her to Christ. She had longed to 
 be spoken to by someone, and now she 
 could bear this no longer. The two 
 wives went on their knees together, and 
 they rose with glad and grateful hearts. 
 
 That husband and wife soon stood up - 
 and confessed their faith together, as 
 they connected themselves with the 
 church. They were active for Christ in 
 all the years until they entered into rest. 
 And their children were prominent and 
 useful in Christ’s service after them.— 
 H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. 
 
 304 
 
 A fire occurred in a crowded hall ina 
 southern city. The audience caught a 
 glimpse of a blaze behind the platform. 
 Everybody shrieked and began to rush 
 for the doors. A lady in a room off the 
 platform seized a sheet of music, and 
 coming forward, bowed calmly, smiled, 
 and began to sing. Her steady voice 
 and smiling face convinced the panic- 
 stricken people that there was no dan- 
 ger. They stopped and settled quietly 
 into their seats. The fire was put out. 
 A fatal panic was averted by a brave 
 heart and a cool head. 
 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 305 —— 
 ACCEPTING THE LAST OFFER. 
 
 One Sunday I passed with a near rela. 
 tive. There I met a gentleman whom 
 I had never seen before, but who was 
 connected with my relative. I sat with 
 him at the table, and we had pleasant 
 conversation. In the evening this gen- 
 tleman was out at a church service, and 
 the lady of the house was suffering with 
 a headache. I urged her to retire, while 
 I would sit up and close the house after 
 the visitor came in. As I did this, I sat 
 by the sitting-room fire, on the cold win- 
 ter night. When the visitor was in, and 
 the house was closed, we still sat to- 
 gether there. 
 
 He spoke of the service that he had 
 attended, and he was evidently much 
 impressed by the sermon. 
 
 “You don’t often hear a sermon like 
 that, especially from such a minister,” 
 he said. “The minister brought us right 
 up face to face with the Judgment Seat, 
 and there he left us. There were no 
 soft words to ease us down, such as, 
 ‘But I trust this is not for you, my 
 brethren.’ ” 
 
 Then, as if soliloquizing, as he sat 
 there looking into the fire, he added: 
 
 “TI tell you, in the great day, we who 
 go over to the left hand will not feel 
 very kindly toward the men who have 
 glossed this thing over, when they had a 
 chance to tell us the plain truth.” 
 
 The impressed man was much older 
 than myself, old enough, perhaps, to be 
 my father, but he had been brought to 
 my side in a condition of mind to need 
 help; and I was there to speak for Jesus. 
 It was not a question of seniority, nor of 
 long acquaintance, to be considered by 
 one who represented the Eternal. Lay- 
 ing my hand lovingly on his knee, as 
 he sat by my side looking thoughtfully 
 into the fire, I said: 
 
 “My friend, what do you mean by 
 speaking of ‘we who go over to the left 
 hand’? You belong on the right hand, 
 and you ought to recognize this. The 
 judge is your Saviour. You ought to 
 
 165 
 
 trust Him fully as such.” 
 
 “I suppose I ought to,” he responded. 
 
 “Well, do you not?” 
 
 “IT can’t say I do.” 
 
 At this 1 drew my chair around so 
 that I could look directly into his face, 
 and I said earnestly, feeling the full 
 force of my words: 
 
 “This is God’s doing, and you must 
 recognize it. God has brought us to 
 this house to meet for the first time in 
 our lives. He has planned it so that you 
 should go out to that evening service, 
 and hear that impressed appeal. And 
 now, while all others in the house are 
 asleep, you and I sit here facing the 
 question of questions for your soul. I 
 cannot leave you until you settle it. I 
 speak for the Saviour when I urge you 
 to commit yourself to Him for now and 
 forevermore,” 
 
 Then reaching out my hand, I said: 
 
 “My friend, you realize what all this 
 means, and its importance. Now, prom- 
 ise me that this night, before you sleep, 
 you will, on your knees, tell your loving, 
 longing, waiting Saviour, that you’ve 
 delayed this thing altogether too long 
 but that you won’t do so any longer. 
 Tell Him that you trust Him because He 
 is the Savious, and you are one whom He 
 wants to save. Give me your hand on 
 this, my friend, and then go to your 
 room and do what you know to be your 
 duty.” 
 
 My companion evidently felt that it 
 was a crisis hour with him, and he could 
 not evade the sense of this. My hand 
 was outstretched to him. For some time 
 he said not a word, but I saw that he 
 was quivering with intense emotion. 
 Meanwhile I was praying in my heart 
 for a blessing on him in conflict of soul. 
 Then, with a convulsive movement that 
 shook his strong frame, he put out his 
 right hand and clasped mine as though 
 it were for life. I realized that he had 
 given himself to his Saviour. Rising, I 
 asked God’s blessing on him, and bade 
 him good night, and we parted. I went 
 to my room for the night, and to pray 
 for him, and he went to his room to pray 
 for himself. 
 
166 
 
 Before he came downstairs in the 
 morning I left for my home, I never 
 saw him again. Before the day closed 
 he left that house for his home. By a 
 severe railroad accident, on his way 
 home, he was fatally injured, and soon 
 he was with the Saviour to whom he 
 had intrusted himself. A younger brother 
 of his was an office-bearer in one of the 
 Fifth Avenue churches in New York. 
 When he learned that the loved brother 
 had thus committed himself to the 
 Saviour while he was yet in life and 
 strength, he was indeed rejoiced and 
 grateful. And we thanked God to- 
 gether.—H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. 
 
 —— 306 —— 
 THE INFIDEL PRAYED. 
 
 I remember, says the bishop of Sas- 
 katchewan, many years ago listening 
 with great delight to a story I heard 
 from a missionary in North Canada. He 
 said that some years before then a hum- 
 ble missionary was travelling through 
 the Canadian backwoods. He lost his 
 way, but presently was rejoiced at the 
 sight of a glimmering light. Soon reach- 
 ing it, to his surprise he found a large 
 congregation of settlers gathered around 
 a fire listening to an able discourse. To 
 the horror of the missionary he found 
 the man was trying to prove that there 
 was no God, no heaven, no hell, no 
 eternity. A murmur of applause went 
 through the audience as the orator 
 ceased. 
 
 The missionary stood up and said: 
 “My friends, I am not going to make a 
 long speech to you, for I am tired and 
 weary, but I will tell you a little story. 
 A few weeks ago I was walking on the 
 banks of the river not far from here. I 
 heard a cry of distress, and to my horror 
 I saw a canoe drifting down the stream 
 and nearing the rapids. ‘There was a 
 single man in the boat. 
 
 “In a short time he would near the 
 waterfall and be gone. He saw his dan- 
 ger and I heard him scream, ‘O God, if 
 I must lose my life, have mercy on my 
 soul!’ I plunged into the water and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 reached the canoe. I dragged it to land 
 and saved him. The man whom I heard 
 when he thought no one was near, pray- 
 ing to God to have mercy on his soul, 
 is the man who has just addressed you, 
 and has told you he believes there is 
 neither God, nor heaven, nor hell.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 —— 307 —— 
 
 GOD HELPS WHEN NEEDED. 
 
 What a deal of useless worrying we 
 might save ourselves if we would al- 
 ways carefully remember that God’s 
 blessing of help comes to us on time— 
 just when it is needed by us! We may 
 get glimpses of some coming trial and 
 then we begin to fear that we shall not 
 be able to bear it. We worry lest we 
 will not have sufficient grace to endure 
 the ordeal. We get prematurely faint 
 and feel sick beforehand. Thus we take 
 on ourselves grievous burdens which 
 not only illy prepare us for the trial, 
 but which we cannot do without sinning 
 against God, for we indulge in unbelief 
 and carry a burden which God forbids 
 us to shoulder. Dr. A. Maclaren says: 
 “I remember that one of the martyrs, 
 who was to be burned on the following 
 morning, thought that he would try 
 himself; and, there being a large fire in 
 the cell, he put his foot into it to see 
 whether he could bear to have it burnt, 
 and soon shrank back. Therein he was 
 foolish, for, when he went out the next 
 morning to stand on the fagots and 
 burn, he stood like a man and burnt 
 bravely to the death for the Master. 
 The fact was, his Lord did not call him 
 to burn his foot in the stove, and so He 
 did not help him to bear it; but when 
 He called him to give his whole body 
 to the flames, then grace was given.” 
 This is a very impressive and vital les- 
 son. If we unadvisedly bring trouble 
 and suffering upon ourselves, with no 
 call from God behind our step, then we 
 have our pains for our folly; but when 
 we, in the line of duty, get into the fire, 
 we may well expect God’s sustaining 
 grace.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 308 —— 
 SABBATH-KEEPING BARBER. 
 
 A barber who lived in Bath, in the last 
 century, passing a church one Sunday 
 peeped in just as the minister was giv- 
 ing out his text from Exodus xx. 8: 
 “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
 Holy.” 
 
 He listened long enough to be con- 
 vinced that he was breaking the law of 
 God by keeping his shop open on that 
 sacred day. He became uneasy, and 
 went with a heavy heart to his Sunday 
 task. At length he opened his mind to 
 the clergyman, who immediately ad- 
 vised him to close his shop on the Sab- 
 bath. He replied that beggary would 
 be the consequence; he had a flourish- 
 ing trade, but it would be almost lost. 
 
 The clergyman told him that he must 
 not confer with flesh and blood; but 
 trust in God, who requires from us no 
 more than is for our good. 
 
 The barber could not bring his mind 
 to this at once. He sounded his cus- 
 tomers, and soon found they would em: 
 ploy another, should he close on the 
 Sunday. At length, after many a sleep- 
 less night, spent in weeping and pray- 
 ing, he determined to cast all his care 
 upon God, as the more he reflected, the 
 more his duty became apparent. He 
 discontinued Sunday dressing, went con- 
 stantly to church, and very soon became 
 the happy possessor of that “peace of 
 God” which the world can neither give 
 nor take away. 
 
 The consequences he foresaw actually 
 followed; his genteel customers left him, 
 as he was nick-named a “Puritan” or 
 “Methodist.” He was obliged to give 
 up his fashionable shop; and in the 
 course of years became so much reduced 
 as to take a cellar under the market- 
 house, and there shave the farmers. 
 
 One Saturday evening, at dusk, a 
 stranger from one of the coaches, asking 
 for a barber, was directed by the hostler 
 to the cellar opposite. Coming in 
 hastily, he requested to be shaved 
 quickly, while they changed the horses; 
 adding, “I do not like to violate the Sab- 
 
 167 
 
 bath.” 
 
 This was touching the poor barber 
 on a tender chord; he burst into tears, 
 asked the stranger to lend him a hali- 
 penny to buy a candle, as it was not 
 light enough to shave him with safety. 
 He did so, revolving in his mind the 
 extreme poverty to which the poor man 
 must be reduced before he could make 
 such a request. 
 
 When shaved, he said, “There must 
 be something extraordinary in your nis- 
 tory, which I have now not time to near. 
 Here is half-a crown for you. When I 
 return, I will call and investigate your 
 case. What is your name?” 
 
 “William Reed,” said the astonished 
 barber. 
 
 “William Reed!” echoed the strang- 
 er—“William Reed! By your dialect 
 you are from the west.” “Yes, sir, 
 from Kingston, near Taunton.” 
 
 “William Reed, from Kingston, near 
 Taunton! What was your father’s 
 name?” ‘Thomas, sir.” 
 
 “Had he any brother?” “Yes, sir, 
 one, after whom I was named; but he 
 went to the Indies, and as we have never 
 heard from him, we suppose him to be 
 dead.” 
 
 “Come along—follow me,” said the 
 stranger; “I am going to see a person 
 who.says his name is William Reed, of 
 Kingston, near Taunton. Come and 
 confront him. If you prove to be in- 
 deed him you say you are, I have glor- 
 ious news for you; your uncle is dead, 
 and has left you an immense fortune, 
 which I will put you in possession of, if 
 all legal doubts are removed.” 
 
 He went by the coach, saw the pre- 
 tended William Reed, and proved him 
 to be an imposter. This stranger, who 
 was a pious attorney, was soon legally 
 satisfied of the barber’s identity; and 
 told him he had advertised for him in 
 vain. Providence had now thrown him 
 in his way in a most extraordinary man- 
 ner, and he had great pieasure in trans- 
 ferring a great many thousand pounds 
 to a worthy man, the rightful heir of 
 the property. “Man’s extremity is 
 God’s opportunity.”—Herald of Mercy. 
 
168 
 
 2s SOO Maes 
 “WHEN PEACE LIKE A RIVER.” 
 
 “It Is Well With My Soul” was writ- 
 ten by H. G. Spafford and the popular 
 tune to which it is always sung is one 
 of P. P. Bliss’s best compositions. 
 
 Mr. Spafford was a member of the 
 Chicago bar and an elder of the Presby- 
 terian Church. 
 
 He had been successful in_-his profes- 
 sion, but had made some unfortunate in- 
 vestments, and when the financial panic 
 of 1873 seriously disturbed the business 
 of the country Mr. Spafford found that 
 his savings of many years had been 
 swept away. 
 
 The members of his family were pros- 
 trated by this disastrous turn in their 
 affairs and he acceded to the wish of 
 helpful friends that they should visit Eu- 
 rope and thus be removed for some time 
 from scenes of his financial ruin. 
 
 Mrs. Spafford and her four children 
 took passage on the French liner to 
 Havre, and the story of that voyage is 
 one of the most appalling of the calami- 
 ties of the sea. 
 
 When in mid-ocean and in the black- 
 ness of a November night in 1873, the 
 steamship collided with the Glasgow 
 clipper Loch Earn and in twelve min- 
 utes the former went down, carrying to 
 death 250 souls, and among them were 
 Mr. Spafford’s four daughters. 
 
 Mrs. Spafford sank with the vessel 
 but floated again, and was finally res- 
 cued. 
 
 The saved were taken to Havre, and 
 from that city she sent a message to her 
 husband in Chicago: 
 
 “Saved, but saved alone. 
 I do?” 
 
 This message of fearful import—“‘‘suf- 
 ficient to drive reason from her throne” 
 —was the first notice Mr. Spafford had 
 that his dear ones were not as happy as 
 when he parted with them a few days 
 before in New York. 
 
 In his unutterable sorrow, Mr. Spaf- 
 ford did not chant a dirge to impossible 
 hope. 
 
 When he reflected that his property 
 
 What shail 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 was lost in destruction’s waste, that his 
 wife was painfully prostrated, and that 
 his four children were buried in the dark 
 waves of the sea, there came from his 
 heart a song of trust and resignation 
 that had many times encircled the globe: 
 
 When peace like a river attendeth my 
 way, 
 
 When sorrows like sea billows roll, 
 
 Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me 
 to say, ‘ 
 
 It is well, it is well with my soul. ,-— 
 
 When Mr. Spafford returned from 
 Hiavre with his invalid wife he said to 
 his friends: 
 
 “I never felt more like trusting God 
 than I do now.” 
 
 Spafford’s hymn of resignation, with 
 its fine musical setting by the lamented 
 Bliss, is one of the most helpful of the 
 many Gospel songs written during the 
 past quarter of a century. 
 
 One Sunday evening a service of song 
 was given in one of our large city 
 churches at which the story of “It Is 
 Well With My Soul” was told and the 
 lines sung with great tenderness of ex- 
 pression by the audience and choir. 
 
 Attending the service was a gentleman 
 who had suffered financial reverses in 
 the panic of 1893. 
 
 When he heard the story of Spafford’s 
 heavy affliction and joined in singing 
 the hymn so pathetically inspired, he 
 said to his wife on return home from 
 the service: 
 
 “T will never again complain of my 
 lot. If Spafford could write such a beau- 
 tiful resignation hymn when he had lost 
 ali his children, and everything else save 
 his wife and character, I ought surely to 
 be thankful that my losses have been so 
 light.”——Philadelphia Press. 
 
 —— 310 —— 
 NO LOST EFFORT. 
 
 A young Sunday school teacher in 
 Boston had in her class a boy who 
 seemed fairly incorrigible. Still she 
 clung to him. She prayed for him every 
 day, and often a dozen times a day. She 
 had moments of discouragement when 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 suc heard how he was going from bad 
 to worse in his daily life. 
 
 Finally he was arrested as an accom- 
 plice in a burglary, and sent to prison 
 ior two years. She did not give him up 
 then, but visited him often in prison, 
 always finding him hard, sullen and de- 
 fiant. 
 
 After his release from prison he dis- 
 appeared, and no one knew where he 
 went, but everyone was confident that 
 he had gone to destruction. 
 
 Years passed, and the teacher mar- 
 ried and went far from her native town 
 to live. She had grown children of her 
 own when she and her husband went 
 to the Pacific slope to visit relatives and 
 friends. They found the town or city 
 in which one of their friends lived great- 
 ly agitated over the liquor question. 
 
 “We are trying to elect a ‘no license’ 
 mayor,” said the gentleman they were 
 visiting. “He is coming to dinner this 
 evening, and I'll be glad to have you 
 meet him.” 
 
 When he came she saw a tall, fine- 
 looking man, whom she would have said 
 at once she had never met before. 
 
 “Why,” he said, as he grasped her 
 hand, “are you not Miss M rae 
 
 “I was Miss M ” she replied. 
 
 “And you lived in Boston?” 
 
 “Yes, I did.” 
 
 “And you taught a class in a Sunday 
 school called the West End Mission?” 
 
 “Ves,” 
 
 “And there was a bad boy in the class 
 named Roger Martin.” 
 
 “There was a boy of that name in the 
 class. I have never forgotten him.” 
 
 “And yet you don’t know when he 
 stands before you, for I am that same 
 Roger Martin.” 
 
 Miss M Ss unceasing prayers had 
 been heard and answered. 
 
 “IT tried to forget you and all your 
 teachings,” said Mr. Martin. “TI tried to 
 forget God, I lived a wicked life for 
 fifteen years after I left my home, but 
 in all those years of sinfulness I could 
 not forget your loving patience, nor 
 some of the things you had said to me. 
 I feel that I owe my final conversion and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 169 
 
 acceptance of God to you. I wrote and 
 told you so when I was converted, but 
 the letter came back to me through the 
 dead-letter office. I wanted you to know 
 that after many days and years God 
 had answered your prayers for me, and 
 that none of your efforts in my behalf 
 were lost.” 
 
 “I never felt that they were lost,” said 
 Mrs. H , “and I have been pray- 
 ing for you all these years.”—The Parish 
 Visitor, 
 
 
 
 —— 311 —— 
 
 HOW THE DELIVERANCE CAME. 
 
 At one time, Rev. William Hunting- 
 ton testifies he was in debt to the sum 
 of twenty pounds. “This sum,” says 
 he, “hung long in hand. I looked differ- 
 ent always, and chalked out different 
 roads for the Almighty to walk in; but 
 His paths were in the deep waters, and 
 his footsteps were not known. No 
 raven came, neither in the morning, nor 
 in the evening. There was a gentle- 
 woman at my house on a visit, and J 
 asked her if she had the sum of twenty 
 pounds in her pocket, telling her at the 
 same time how I wanted it. She said 
 she had not, if she had, I should have 
 it. A few hours afterward the same 
 woman was coming into my study, but 
 she found it locked, and knocked at the 
 door. I let her in, and she said, ‘I am 
 sorry to disturb you.’ I replied: ‘You 
 did not disturb me; I have been beg. 
 ging a favor of God, and had just fin- 
 ished when you knocked. That favor 
 I have now got in faith, and shall short- 
 ly have in hand, and you will see it.’ 
 The afternoon of the same day, two 
 gentlemen out of the city came to see 
 me; and after a few hours’ conversa- 
 tion they left me, and to my great sur- 
 prise each of them at parting put a let- 
 ter into my hand, which, when they 
 were gone, I opened, and found a ten- 
 pound note in each. I immediately sent 
 for the woman upstairs, and let her read 
 the letters, and then sent the money to 
 answer that demand.—Life of William 
 
 Huntington. 
 
170 
 
 —— 312 —— 
 WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 I was deeply interested in a work in 
 which I was unable to take a part; but 
 - it came to my mind one morning to offer 
 a certain sum of money to help those 
 who could work. On second thoughts 
 the act appeared imprudent; but if we 
 hesitate to act upon our first thoughts 
 when they spring from love to God, the 
 judgment becomes obscured rather than 
 enlightened. To end the strife, I prayed 
 God to make his acceptance so evident 
 to me that I could not err; for the joy 
 of giving the sum that first presented 
 itself overcame every prudential consid- 
 eration. I asked him to send to me that 
 morning one of the least probable per- 
 sons connected with the work, the least 
 likely, because he had visited me two 
 days previously, and I knew him to be 
 fully engaged from dawn to night. So 
 entirely did I anticipate his arrival as 
 hours drew on, that when a lady arrived 
 from the country to see me, I told her 
 I was expecting a person on business, 
 and should be glad if when he arrived 
 she would wait in my bedroom until his 
 departure. 
 
 Almost immediately there was a ring 
 at the door. The lady left the room, as 
 my God-sent messenger entered, with a 
 degree of embarrassment quite unusual 
 to him. He apologized for calling again 
 so soon, referring to his recent visit, 
 and added: “Nor can I tell you why I 
 am here. I had not the least intention to 
 come in this direction when I left the 
 house this morning; but when I reached 
 the summit of the hill I felt drawn round 
 in a contrary direction with a power I 
 never experienced before, and | conse- 
 quently obliged to descend, and my feet 
 impelled to your house, and my thoughts 
 to you, and here I am.” 
 
 I listened with a joyful heart, and re- 
 lated to him the combat over my offer- 
 ing and my prayers, and placed into his 
 hand the envelope addressed to him, 
 with instructions as to the branch of the 
 work for which its contents were de- 
 signed, at the same time saying that I 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 had been waiting for him. The matter 
 was more deeply interesting to me, as 
 the messenger, in spite of himself, was 
 much afraid of the work of the Spirit in 
 the common things of every day life. 
 His moistened eyes and tremulous voice 
 in prayer told me the Lord had used this 
 experience for His glory.—A. Shipton. 
 
 313 
 THE DANGER OF IT. 
 
 A young lady in Morristown, N. J., 
 grasped the guy-wire on the electric 
 light pole in front of her father’s house 
 to see if she could get a slight shock. 
 Her hand was suddenly contracted by a 
 powerful current which swept through 
 her body. The young girl screamed in 
 agony. She writhed and twisted and 
 fell to the ground, but she could not re- 
 lax her hold upon the live wire, which 
 was burning her hands, for she had 
 reached up with her left hand to tear 
 her right hand away. Men and boys 
 ran toward her, but no one dared to put 
 out a hand to save the girl. Then he: 
 mother ran out. “Oh, mamma,” cried 
 the girl, “save me! My hands are burn- 
 ing up!” The mother qaickly grasped 
 her daughter around the waist but was 
 hurled to the ground as if by a blow of 
 a club. Finally a man came up with 
 presence of mind enough to take an ax 
 and sever the wire. He was in time to 
 save the girl’s life, but she was fearfully 
 burned. 
 
 The incident suggests tragedies that 
 are taking place every day before our 
 eyes. Many people are willing to tamper 
 with sin, and run the risk of a slight 
 shock. A boy likes to drink a glass of 
 wine that will make his nerves tingle, 
 and many are asking themselves, “How 
 far can I go in the wrong way without 
 being overthrown?” ‘That is the way the 
 devil fishes for men and women. People 
 grasp his wires and get a slight shock, 
 and only laugh at danger; but some day 
 they take hold of a live wire that has all 
 the fire of hell in it, and they are struck 
 through and through with death. It is 
 better not to play with the devil’s wires 
 at all—J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 
 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 314— 
 FORGIVENESS WITH GOD. 
 
 Some years ago a city missionary in 
 Boston found a young girl in a police 
 prison. She had been arrested the night 
 before with a number of companions— 
 men and women—in a disorderly house. 
 The missionaries found her broken down 
 with shame and despair, wretched and 
 hopeless. She told her sad story. A 
 few months before she had come from 
 the country to the city to obtain greater 
 freedom and more renumerative employ- 
 ment than the narrow sphere of her 
 father’s farm offered. She found work 
 in the city hard to get, and wages small, 
 and fell into a sad state of disappoint- 
 ment. Too proud to go home and con- 
 fess failure, in an evil hour she listened 
 to the tempter, and was led into sin. 
 A career of a few months found her 
 abandoned, with character gone, without 
 friends, cast upon the pitiless world, 
 from which she took the only refuge 
 open to her—membership in a commun- 
 ity of sin. Shamed and penitent, she was 
 hopeless as towards God and her earthly 
 father. The missionary urged her to tell 
 her name and her father’s address, that 
 he might communicate with him, and 
 arrange for her return to her country 
 home. But, no; she had disgraced her 
 father’s name, done him foul wrong, and 
 would reveal neither her name nor her 
 father’s residence. Besides. she said, 
 “My father is a good man, a Christian— 
 an office bearer in the church. I am 
 sure that he would not take me back. I 
 know what he will do if he should hear 
 of my fall—he will count me as dead; 
 my name will never be mentioned by 
 him, nor in his presence; he will cast 
 me out of his heart and life.” 
 
 After many days, and much entreaty, 
 the missionary prevailed upon the poor 
 girl to reveal her father’s name and ad- 
 dress. Immediately he wrote the father 
 the story; how he had found his 
 daughter, and what was her present 
 state of mind; entreating him to write to 
 his child and take her back. The next 
 day’s post brought a letter from the 
 
 171 
 
 father, on the outside of which, in large 
 letters, was written the word, “Immedi- 
 ate.” Inside, in substance, was this: 
 My darling child: I am sorry for you. 
 Notwithstanding all that has befallen 
 you, I love you with all my heart. As 
 God forgives my sins, so do I freely fore- 
 give your offense against me and our 
 good name. Do not delay a moment. 
 Come to me. All that love can do to 
 restore and make you right again shall 
 be done.” 
 
 ‘That was forgiveness. Where was it? 
 An experience in the fallen daughter’s 
 heart, a swelling love in her father’s 
 heart? The coming of that letter re- 
 vealed to the child the state of her 
 iather’s mind toward her. It opened the 
 door of her prison house of shame and 
 despair. It set her free to go home. 
 That is what the Psalmist meant when 
 he said: “There is forgiveness with 
 Thee’. That is what Jesus meant when 
 he said: “He hath sent Me to preach 
 glad tidings to the poor, to heal the 
 brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to 
 the captives, the recovery of sight to the 
 blind, to set at liberty them that are 
 bruised, to preach the acceptable year 
 of the Lord.” (Luke 4; 18-20.)—Geo. F. 
 Pentecost, D. D. 
 
 —— 315 —— 
 
 WHY HE DECLINED. 
 
 When General Grant was in Paris, the 
 President of the Republic, as a special 
 token of respect, invited him to occupy 
 a place on the grand stand to witness 
 the great racing which occurs in that 
 country on Sunday. It is considered a 
 discourteous act to decline such an invi- 
 tation from the head official of the re- 
 public. Such a thing had never been 
 heard of, but General Grant in a polite 
 note declined the honor, and said to the 
 French President: “It is not in accord- 
 ance with the custom of my country or 
 with the spirit of my religion to spend 
 Sunday in that way.” And when Sab- 
 bath came that great hero found his way 
 to the American Chapel, where he was 
 one of its quiet worshippers.—Selected. 
 
172 
 
 —— 316 —— 
 DREAMS FROM GOD. 
 
 All dreams that make you better are 
 from God. How do I know it? Is not 
 God the source of all good? It does 
 not take a very logical mind to argue 
 that out, 
 
 Tertullian and Martin Luther be- 
 lieved in dreams. The dreams of John 
 Huss are immortal. St. Augustine, the 
 Christian father, gives us the fact that 
 a Carthagenian physician was persuad- 
 ed of the immortality of the soul by an 
 argument which he heard in a dream. 
 The night before his assassination the 
 wife of Julius Caesar dreamed that her 
 husband fell dead across her lap. It is 
 possible to prove that God does appear 
 in dreams to warn, to convert, and to 
 save men. My friend, a retired sea cap- 
 tain, and a Christian, tells me that one 
 night while on the sea, he dreamed that 
 a ship’s crew were in great suffering. 
 Waking up from his dream, he put about 
 the ship, tacked in different directions, 
 surprised everybody on the vessel—they 
 thought he was going crazy—sailed on 
 in another direction hour after hour, and 
 for many hours, until he came to the 
 perishing crew, and rescued them and 
 brought them to New York. Who con- 
 ducted that dream? The God of the sea. 
 
 In 1695 a vessel went out from Spit- 
 head for the West Indies, and ran 
 against the ledge of rocks called the 
 Caskets. The vessel went down, but 
 the crew clambered up on the Caskets, 
 to die of thirst and starvation, as they 
 supposed. But there was a ship bound 
 for Southampton that had the captain’s 
 son on board. This lad twice in one 
 night dreamed that there was a crew 
 of sailors dying on the Caskets. He 
 told his father of his dream. The ves- 
 sel came down by the Caskets in time 
 to find and rescue those two dying men. 
 Who conducted that dream? The God 
 of the rock, the God of the sea. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Bushnell, in his mar- 
 velous book entitled, “Nature and the 
 Supernatural,” gives the following that 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 he got from Captain Yount, in Califor- 
 nia, a fact confirmed by many families: 
 Captain Yount dreamed twice one night 
 that one hundred and fifty miles away 
 there was a company ef travelers fast in 
 the snow. He also saw in the dream 
 rocks of a peculiar formatios, and tell- 
 ing his dream to an old hunter, the 
 hunter said: “Why, I remember those 
 rocks; those rocks are in the Carson 
 Valley Pass, one hundred and fifty miles 
 away.” Captain Yount, impelled by his 
 dream, although laughed at by his neigh- 
 bors, gathered men together, took mules 
 and blankets, and started out on the 
 expedition, traveled one hundred and 
 fifty miles, saw those very rocks which 
 he had described in his dream, and find- 
 ing the suffering ones at the foot of 
 those rocks, brought them back; to con- 
 firm the story of Captain Yount. Who 
 conducted that dream? The God of the 
 snow, the God of the Sierra Nevadas. 
 God has often appeared in dreams to 
 rescue and comfort. You have known 
 people—you have seen people—go to 
 sleep with bereavements inconsolable, 
 and they awakened in perfect resigna- 
 tion because of what they had seen in 
 slumber. Dr. Crannage, one of the most 
 remarkable men I ever met—remarkable 
 for great benevolence and great philan- 
 thropics—at Wellington, England, 
 showed me a house where the Lord had 
 appeared in a wonderful dream to a 
 poor woman. The, woman rheumatic, 
 sick, poor to the last point of destitu- 
 tion. She was waited on and cared for 
 by another poor woman, her only at- 
 tendant. Word came to her one day 
 that this poor woman had died, and the 
 invalid of whom I am speaking lay 
 helpless upon the couch, wondering what 
 would become of her. In that mood 
 she fell asleep. In her sleep she said 
 the angel of the Lord appeared, and 
 took her into the open air, and pointed 
 in one direction, and there were moun- 
 tains of bread, and pointed in another 
 direction and there were mountains of 
 butter, and in another direction land 
 there were mountains of all kinds of 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 worldly supply. The angel of the Lord 
 said to her: “Woman, all these moun- 
 tains belong to your Father, and do you 
 think that He will let you, His child, 
 hunger and die?” Dr. Crannage told 
 me, by some divine impulse he went 
 into that destitute home, saw the suffer- 
 ing there, and administered unto it, car- 
 ing for her all the way through. Do 
 you tell me that that dream was woven 
 cut of earthly anodynes? Was that the 
 phantasmagoria of a diseased brain? No; 
 it was an all-sympathetic God address- 
 ing a poor woman through a dream. 
 Furthermore, I have to say that there 
 are people in this house who were con- 
 verted to God through a dream. The 
 Rev. John Newton, the fame of whose 
 piety fills all Christiandom, while a pro- 
 fligate sailor on shipboard, in his dream, 
 thought that a being approached him 
 and gave him a very beautiful ring, and 
 put it upon his finger, and said to him: 
 “As long as you wear that ring you will 
 be prospered; if you lose that ring you 
 will be ruined.” In the same dream 
 another personage appeared, and by a 
 strange infatuation persuaded John 
 Newton to throw that ring overboard, 
 and it sank into the sea. Then the 
 mountains in sight were full of fire, and 
 the air was lurid with consuming wrath. 
 While John Newton was repenting of 
 his folly in having thrown overboard 
 the treasure, another personage came 
 through the dream, and told John New- 
 ton he would plunge into the sea and 
 bring the ring up if he desired it. He 
 plunged into the sea and brought it up, 
 and said to John Newton: “Here is that 
 gem, but I think I will keep it for you, 
 lest you lose it again’; and John New- 
 ton consented, and all the fire went out 
 from the mountains, and all signs of 
 lurid wrath disappeared from the air; 
 and John Newton said that he saw in 
 his dream that that valuable gem was 
 his soul, and that the being who per- 
 suaded him to throw it overboard was 
 Satan, and that the one who plunged 
 in and restored that gem, keeping it for 
 him, was Christ. And that dream makes 
 
 173 
 
 one of the most wonderful chapters in 
 the life of that most wonderful man. 
 
 A German was crossing the Atlantic 
 Ocean, and in his dream he saw a man 
 with a handful of white flowers, and he 
 was told to follow the man who had 
 that handful of white flowers. The Ger- 
 man, arriving in New York, wandered 
 into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, 
 and Mr. Lamphier—whom many of you 
 know—the great apostle of prayer meet- 
 ings, that day had given to him a bunch 
 of tuberoses. They stood on his desk, 
 and at the close of the religious services 
 he took the tuberoses and started home- 
 ward, and the German followed him, 
 and through an interpreter told Mr. 
 Lamphier that on the sea he had 
 dreamed of a man with a handful of 
 white flowers, and was told to follow 
 him, Suffice it to say, through that 
 interview and following interviews, he 
 became a Christian, and is a city mis- 
 sionary preaching the gospel to his own 
 countrymen. God in a dream! 
 
 John Hardock, while on shipboard, 
 dreamed one night that the day of judg- 
 ment had come, and that the roll of the 
 ship’s crew was called except his own 
 name, and that these people, this crew, 
 were all banished; and in his dream he 
 asked the reader why his own name was 
 omitted, and he was told it was to give 
 him more opportunity for repentance. 
 He woke up a different man. He be- 
 came illustrious for Christian attain- 
 ment. If you do not believe these things 
 then you must discard all testimony, and 
 refuse to accept any kind of authorita- 
 tive witness. God in a dream!—T. 
 De Witt Talmage. 
 
 a 317 
 
 When Louis Napoleon was in prison 
 and everybody laughed at his foolish at- 
 tempts upon France, he kept saying: 
 “Who knows? I am the nephew of my 
 uncle, and I may yet sit upon the im- 
 perial throne.” And he did. Who knows 
 what we may become if we aim right 
 and act right? It is worth while to try 
 for the highest and the best.—Selected. 
 
174 
 
 —— 318 —— 
 “ABIDE TILL THE MORROW” 
 
 The beautiful valley of Wyoming, on 
 the banks of the Susquehanna River, in 
 Luzerne Co., Pa., has long been known 
 alike to the students of history and lov- 
 ers of poetry and song. 
 
 It was in the beginning of July, 1778, 
 that an aged saint, who, with his four 
 sons, lived on a mountain overlooking 
 the valley, found that his barrel of meal 
 was nearly exhausted, and bade his sons 
 fill their sacks with grain, and early in 
 the morning descend the long road to 
 the mill in the valley. As requested, 
 before daylight each of the boys had 
 fed his horse, and they were all pre- 
 pared by sunrise for their journey. And 
 as the day would be too far spent to 
 have their grain ground, they were ac- 
 customed as such times to spend the 
 night near the mill in Wyoming. 
 
 As the patriarch came forth in the 
 morning from the closet of prayer, and 
 said to his waiting sons, “Not to-day!” 
 the young men were greatly surprised. 
 
 “But, father, our supply is used up, 
 and why should we delay?” they said, 
 as they turned and gazed over the val- 
 ley, which lay in calm and quite peace- 
 fulness before them. 
 
 “Not to-day, my sons,” repeated with 
 emphasis by the man of prayer, satisfied 
 the youth that the father meant what 
 he said. He added: “I know not what 
 it means; but in my prayer my mind 
 was deeply impressed with these words: 
 ‘Let them abide till the morrow.’” 
 
 Without charging their venerated 
 parent with superstition or ignorance, 
 the obedient sons yielded to his word, 
 unloaded their beasts, placed them in 
 their stalls, and waited for another 
 morning to come. 
 
 That memorable night a horde of 
 savages, with torch and tomahawk, en- 
 tered Wyoming Valley, and commenced 
 their work of destruction; and it is said 
 that before the bloody drama ended, 
 not a house, barn, church, school or 
 mill, escaped the flames; and few of the 
 inhabitants escaped the sudden and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 deadly blows of the savages. From one 
 end of the valley to the other the set- 
 tlers were butchered or burned with re- 
 morseless fury. 
 
 In the morning at sunrise, the father 
 and sons were standing on the highest 
 point, and lo! the valley was filled with 
 volumes of ascending smoke and flames. 
 The awful truth flashed on their minds. 
 The aged saint kneeled down with his 
 sons on the mountain-top, and in hum- 
 ble, adoring prayer, thanked God for the 
 promise: “The angle of the Lord en- 
 campeth round about them that fear 
 Him.”—Dr. W. H. Van Doren. 
 
 wwe 319 —_ 
 THE COW CAME BACK. 
 
 A poor man in China went to pray to 
 an idol that had been placed outside the 
 temple. I do not know what he asked 
 for, but he promised if his idol would an. 
 swer him he would give him his cow. 
 
 The man’s prayer was answered, but 
 he repented of his bargain, and, as he did 
 not wish to part with his cow he went 
 to the idol/again to let him off. He said: 
 “I know I promised to give you my cow, 
 but I am very poor. I have only ore 
 cow; if I give it to you how shall I get 
 my fields plowed?” and so on, asking to 
 be allowed to keep the cow. The idol 
 would not let him off, but said the cow 
 must be kept. At last the man could do 
 nothing else but tether the cow to the 
 idol’s chair and go sorrowfully home, 
 wondering how he was to get on with- 
 out her. 
 
 He sat down in his room to think over 
 his troubles, and lo! he had not sat long 
 before he heard a great shouting. He 
 went to the door to see, and there was 
 his cow coming along the road, as fast 
 as it could, dragging the idol after it. 
 How the people laughed, and how glad 
 the poor man was! It never occurred 
 to him that the cow brought the idol. 
 No, indeed! He thought it was the idol 
 that had repented of his hardness of 
 heart and had brought his cow back to 
 him.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 320 —— 
 WHY THE CLOCK STRUCK 
 THIRTEEN 
 
 The following thrilling narrative ap- 
 peared recently in the Southern Cross, 
 and is vouched for by the Rev. S. C. 
 Kent, a veteran Victorian clergyman, 
 who says that he heard the Rev. J. 
 Bounsall, of Ottery, St. Mary, Devon, 
 narrate the story at his own table, in 
 the year 1844, as having occurred, in 
 Cornwall, where he had been resident. 
 
 It was about the midnight hour, in 
 the town of Plymouth, many years ago, 
 he said, when two men stood close to 
 the great clock of the town. It struck 
 the hour. Both men heard it and re- 
 marked to each other that it had struck 
 thirteen times instead of twelve. One 
 of these men was a gentleman by the 
 name of Captain Jarvis. 
 
 It was not very long afterward that 
 this same Captain Jarvis awoke very 
 early one morning, got up, dressed, and 
 went down to the front door of his 
 house. When he opened it, what was 
 his surprise to find his groom standing 
 there, with his horse saddled and bridled 
 ready for him to mount. 
 
 “I had a feeling that you would be 
 wanting your horse, sir,” he said, “so 
 I could not stay longer in my bed, and 
 just got it ready for you!” 
 
 The captain was astonished at first, 
 and then mounted the horse and rode 
 off. He did not direct his steed where 
 to go, but just let him go wherever he 
 chose, Down to the riverside they 
 went, close to the spot where the ferry- 
 boat took passengers across. What 
 then, was the captain’s amazement when 
 he saw the ferryman there waiting with 
 his boat to ferry him across—at that 
 early hour. 
 
 “How are you here so early, my 
 man?” he inguired at once. 
 
 “I couldn’t rest in my bed, sir, for I 
 had a feeling I was wanted to ferry 
 some one across.” 
 
 The captain and horse both got in the 
 boat and were safely conveyed to the 
 other side. 
 
 175 
 
 Again the horse was given his own 
 way as to where he should go. On and 
 on they went, until at length they came 
 to a large country town. 
 
 The captain asked a passer-by if there 
 was anything of interest going on in 
 the town. 
 
 “No, sir; nothing but the trial of a 
 man for murder.” 
 
 The captain rode to the place where 
 the trial was going on, dismounted, and 
 entered the building. As he walked in 
 he heard the judge say, addressing the 
 prisoner: “Have you anything to say 
 for yourself—anything at all!” 
 
 “I have nothing to say, sir, except 
 that I am an innocent man, and that 
 there is only one man in all the world 
 who can prove my innocence; but I do 
 not know his name, nor where he lives. 
 Some weeks ago we stood together in 
 the town of Plymouth when it was mid- 
 night, and we both heard the great 
 town clock strike thirteen, instead of 
 twelve, and remarked it to one another. 
 If he were here the could speak for me 
 but my case is hopeless, as I cannot get 
 him.” 
 
 “JT am here! I am here!” shouted 
 the captain from behind. “I am the 
 man who stood at midnight beside the 
 great Plymouth clock, and heard it 
 strike thirteen instead of twelve. What 
 the prisoner says is absolutely true; I 
 identify him as the man. On the night 
 of the murder, at the very time it was 
 committed, that man was with me, at 
 Plymouth, and we remarked to each 
 other how remarkable it was that the 
 clock should strike thirteen at the mid- 
 night hour.” 
 
 The condemned man was thus proved 
 innocent, and was at once set free. 
 
 Who can fail to see the hand of a 
 gracious God in this story? In the 
 first place, who arranged that these two 
 men should meet exactly at the same 
 time that night? Who awakened the 
 captain at that very early hour that 
 summer morning? Who caused him to 
 go down stairs to the front door? Who 
 awakened the groom and gave him no 
 rest until he saddled his master’s horse? 
 
176 
 
 Who guided the horse, which his mas- 
 ter would not guide, till they came to 
 the river where the ferryboat was? 
 Who awakened the ferryman and sent 
 him down to the river’s side? And who 
 guided horse and man to take the road 
 that led to town where the condemned 
 man was being tried for murder, al- 
 though perfectly innocent? And, lastly, 
 who influenced the captain to go into 
 the building and hear the trial at the 
 very most opportune moment he could 
 possibly have appeared? 
 
 It was the great, all-kind, all-merci- 
 ful, all-powerful One, who knew the 
 terrible straits that poor prisoner should 
 be in, and prepared a wonderful de- 
 liverance! 
 
 We do not know the after life of that 
 man, but we can well believe that he 
 would never after doubt the presence of 
 his God, and His power and love. 
 
 —— 321 —— 
 THE GREED OF GOLD 
 
 Years ago, in a southwest Georgian 
 county, an old couple, with an only son, 
 lived in a rude log cabin in the woods. 
 It is related that the old man was a 
 miser and drove his son from home to 
 make his living in the world at a very 
 tender age. 
 
 Years passed and the boy was given 
 up by his parents, they thinking that he 
 was dead. 
 
 One stormy night a tall, bearded 
 stranger knocked at the door of the 
 little cabin, and asked for shelter. 
 
 It was grudgingly given him by the 
 old couple, but when the stranger show- 
 ed them a bag of gold which he carried 
 in his valise they were over-joyed. 
 
 That night, as the guest was sleeping, 
 the old man crept to his side, There was 
 the glitter of a keen blade in the dark- 
 ness and then— 
 
 When the morning came the old 
 woman looked on the dead man’s face 
 and screamed with terror. 
 
 “God have mercy on us!” she cried. 
 “We have killed our boy—our son that 
 was lost!” 
 
 It was so. They had not recognized 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 him when he entered, and he probably 
 thought to deceive them until morning, 
 and then have a happy family reunion.— 
 Atlanta Constitution. 
 
 —— 322 —— 
 
 HIS DEAD BABY’S SHOES 
 
 A minister, who was my neighbor in 
 the City of Brotherly: Love, told the 
 fcllowing story to a large congregation: 
 “We had in the City of Philadelphia a 
 man who was secretary and treasurer in 
 one of our great institutions. I suppose 
 there is scarcely a man in this city that 
 would equal him as a financier. Cer- 
 tainly not one who could surpass him. 
 He was a college graduate, and had all 
 the fine instincts of a gentleman. But 
 strong drink claimed him as its victim. 
 He drank and drank until he had to 
 move into a very humble home. When 
 his baby died, they had no clothing to 
 put on him to make ready for the grave. 
 We furnished the clothes. Somebody 
 said that, although the child’s feet were 
 hidden by the dress, they were bare, 
 and that we should put shoes on the 
 little feet. I got some white kid shoes 
 and slipped them on the little icy feet. 
 An old-time friend said, ‘Get the father 
 and bring him in. Maybe if he sees 
 the baby, he will come back to him- 
 self... We brought the father in. He 
 stood beside the little casket for a mo- 
 ment, and looked down into the sweet 
 face of his child. Then he began to 
 shake with great emotion. The tears 
 just ran down his cheeks. The friends 
 said to us, ‘Leave him alone,’ and we 
 went out and left him alone with his 
 child. He ran his fingers over the folds 
 of the little white dress and underneath, 
 and took off from those icy feet the 
 white kid shoes and crammed them in 
 his pocket. When I took his baby to 
 the grave the father was insensible from 
 drink. He had pawned the little white 
 kid shoes and had spent the money in 
 a saloon. This man’s heart had at one 
 time been as large and as full of love 
 as your father’s heart.”-—Rev. J. M. 
 Farrar, D, D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 SOC Cee 
 JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 John Wesley, the founder of M stho- 
 dism, was born June 17th, 1703, at Ep- 
 worth, a small town in Lincolnshire, 
 England, of which his father, Samuel 
 Wesley, was rector. 
 
 On the 9th of February, 1709, Hettie 
 Wesley, one of John’s sisters, was awak- 
 ened in the night by pieces of burning 
 wood falling in her bedroom. Before 
 she had aroused her father the fire had 
 been seen from the street, and the usual 
 crowd and uproar ensued. As soon as 
 Mr. Wesley had opened his bedroom 
 door, he found the whole house in a 
 blaze. Bidding his wife and two daugh- 
 ters hasten down stairs, he rushed up to 
 the nursery where the five little ones 
 were sleeping. The nurse snatched up 
 the baby, calling the others to follow 
 her. Three of them did so; but John 
 slept soundly, and was not missed in 
 the confusion until the others had all 
 reached a place of safety. This was not 
 an easy thing to do; for the doorway was 
 in flames, and a northeast wind blew 
 them inward fiercely. The children got 
 out of the windows; but Mrs. Wesley, 
 fearing to clamber out, made a desperate 
 effort and “waded through the fire.” 
 
 As soon as John was missed the rector 
 ran back into the house, but found to his 
 dismay that the stairs would not bear 
 his weight; so—there being no fire es- 
 capes in these days—he gave the boy up 
 for lost, and, kneeling down, commended 
 his soul to God, The rest we shall tell 
 in John’s own words: 
 
 “I remember all the circumstances as 
 well as though it were but yesterday. 
 Seeing the room was very light I called 
 to the maid to take me up. But, none 
 answering, I put my head out of the cur- 
 tains and saw streaks of fire on the top 
 of the room. I got up and ran to the 
 door, but could get no farther, all beyond 
 it being in a blaze. I then climbed up 
 on a chest which stood near a window. 
 One in the yard saw me, and proposed 
 running to fetch a ladder. Another an- 
 swered, ‘There will not be time; but I 
 
 ANECDOTES 177 
 have thought of another expedient. Here 
 I shall fix myself against the wall; lift 
 a light man and set him on my shoul- 
 cers!’ They did so and took me out of 
 the window. Just then the whole roof 
 fell in; but it fell inward, or we had all 
 been crushed at once. When they 
 brought me into the house where my 
 father was, he cried out, ‘Come neigh- 
 bors, let us kneel down! Let us give 
 thanks to God! He has given me all my 
 eight children. Let the house go—I am 
 rich enough!’ ” 
 
 The frightened, half-clad women and 
 children were taken in by different neigh- 
 bors, who took care of them till their 
 house was fit to live in again. In a few 
 months the family had once more settled 
 down into that quiet order which had 
 been so sadly interrupted. 
 
 Although John was only six and a half 
 years old, his danger and deliverance 
 made a deep impression on his mind. He 
 often referred to it, and once had a seal 
 engraved bearing the representation of 
 a burning house and the motto, “Is not 
 this a brand plucked from the burning?” 
 —Selected. 
 
 —— 324 —— 
 THE PRAYING BOY, JAMIE 
 
 In a very small village there lived a 
 little Scotch boy named Jamie. His 
 mother loved him, and he loved his 
 mother. The little boy wanted to be a 
 sailor. 
 
 And his mother at last said, “Jamie, 
 you shall go.” 
 
 She gave him her blessing and added: 
 “Jamie, wherever you are, whether at 
 sea or land, never forget to acknowl- 
 edge your God; and give me a promise 
 that you will kneel down every night 
 on shipboard and say your prayers and 
 trust in God.” 
 
 Little Jamie looked up to his mother, 
 the tears trickling down his cheeks, 
 and said, “Mother, I promise you I 
 will.” 
 
 The boy went on board a ship bound 
 for India. They had a good captain 
 and some very good sailors, and when 
 little Jamie knelt down by his locker at 
 
178 
 
 night no one laughed at him. 
 
 But coming back from India some of 
 the sailors deserted and the captain had 
 to get fresh ones. Among them was a 
 very bad fellow. The first night, when 
 the sailors had gone to their berths, see- 
 ing little Jamie kneel down to say his 
 prayers, the bad man went up to him, 
 and, giving him a box on the ear, said: 
 “None of that here!” 
 
 Now, among the crew, there was a big 
 sailor, a swearing man, and he said to 
 the man who struck the boy, “Come on 
 deck, and I will give you a thrashing!” 
 
 Now, we do not say it was right to 
 fight, but these men did fight, and the 
 big sailor beat the one who had boxed 
 the little fellow. 
 
 Then they came back again into the 
 cabin, and he who had beaten the other 
 man said: “Now, Jamie, say your 
 prayers, and if he dares to touch you I 
 will dress him!” 
 
 Well, the next night Jamie said to 
 himself: “I don’t like to make any dis- 
 turbance on board ship, so I won’t kneel 
 down before the sailors; I will get into 
 my hammock to say my prayers!” 
 
 But when the big sailor saw Jamie get 
 into his hammock without saying his 
 prayers he went up and took him by the 
 neck and dragged him out of it and said 
 to him: ‘“Kneel down at once, sir. Do 
 you think I am going to fight for you, 
 and you not say your prayers after all, 
 you young rascal?” So Jamie knelt to 
 pray again, 
 
 Now hear what happened later. 
 
 Some years ago a very large steam- 
 boat was built—the Great Eastern. 
 Who do you think was the captain of 
 that great ship? They wanted the 
 cleverest captain they could find in Eng- 
 land, and they selected little Jamie, now 
 grown up to be a brave and clever sailor. 
 
 When the great ship came back, after 
 fulfilling her mission, the captain knelt 
 before Queen Victoria, who said, “Rise, 
 Sir James Anderson.” He was none 
 other than the little boy who prayed 
 every night by his locker. 
 
 You may not always have some kind 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES, 
 
 friend to stand by you to take your part 
 when others are mocking and jeering 
 you, but you can remember that God, 
 wha, hears your prayers, will take care 
 of you, whether at home, at school or at 
 play. Never be ashamed to pray.—Sel. 
 
 oe 325 
 
 WHO CLOSED THE SWITCH? 
 
 A most remarkable incident happened 
 many years ago on a railway in eastern 
 Missouri and was told in a railway 
 paper. One summer morning a twelve- 
 car train containing the members of a 
 Sunday School was bound for a picnic 
 at a point about fifty miles distant. Al- 
 though the sky was cloudless when the 
 excursion started, the train had not pro- 
 ceeded more than half way when a 
 thunder-storm broke. The rain fell in 
 torrents. The engineer was worried for 
 fear the terrific downpour might cause 
 a washout or spreading of the rails, and 
 he slowed down to about thirty-five 
 miles an hour. As the train swung 
 around a curve and approached a small 
 station which it was to pass without 
 stopping, the engineer, peering through 
 the broken curtain of rain, saw that the 
 switch just ahead was open. It meant a 
 terrible disaster. He closed the throttle 
 and put on the brakes in an instant. 
 
 “Better stick to it,” he shouted to the 
 fireman, “hundreds of children on 
 board.” 
 
 “I mean to,” was the answer. 
 help us all!” 
 
 His last words were drowned by a 
 terrific crash of thunder which came 
 with a flash of lightning that seemed to 
 strike the ground just ahead of the en- 
 gine. The next thing they knew they 
 were past the station, still riding safely 
 on the main-line rails. 
 
 The train came to a stop and the en- 
 gineer and conductor hurried back to 
 discover what had happened and how 
 the train had passed the open switch. 
 They found that the lightning had 
 struck squarely between the switch and 
 the rail and had closed the switch. “It 
 was the act of God,” said the engineer. 
 —Rev. J. M. Farrar, D, D. 
 
 “God 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 326 —— 
 A BISHOP’S APPEAL TO A NEGRO. 
 
 Bishop Asbury saw a negro of bad 
 character sitting on the bank of a creek 
 fishing. The man was quite alone. It 
 was just possible that he might be will- 
 ing to talk, and that precious seed might 
 be dropped. The good old minister 
 stopped his horse, tied it to a tree, and 
 sat down beside the negro. At first 
 sheer surprise sealed the poor slave’s 
 lips; but as his new friend spoke, the 
 kindness of the tone and the brotherli- 
 ness, free from any mark of conscious 
 condescension, melted the man’s heart. 
 He listened as if the story of the love of 
 Jesus at last seemed real. Tears came 
 to his eyes as Asbury besought him to 
 forsake his evil life and seek God’s for- 
 giveness. But whether there was any 
 resolve underneath the emotion, Asbury 
 could not discover. He left the district, 
 and did not see the negro again for 
 twenty years. But he was ultimately 
 sought out by an old colored Christian, 
 who had journeyed seventy miles to 
 have an interview and to tell of harvest 
 following seed-time. The visitor was 
 the negro found once with his rod by 
 the stream, and by earnest appeals won 
 for the Saviour. This man had since 
 been the instrument of leading many 
 others into the light. Greater is the 
 worker’s reward than his expectations, 
 if, in season and out of season, he is 
 ready to rescue.—Christian Herald. 
 
 —— 327 —— 
 WHY HE REPROACHED HER. 
 
 The story is told of a society girl, a 
 worldly church member, who, at an 
 evangelistic meeting, approached an ac- 
 quaintance of hers and asked him if he 
 would not come to Christ. He turned 
 upon her, and with flashing eyes and 
 bitter tones said: 
 
 “You are the last person in the world 
 that should ask me to become a Chris- 
 tian! You are the one who came to my 
 home and persuaded myself and my 
 wife to play our first game at cards. 
 Nor were you satisfied until we would 
 
 179 
 
 play for something more than fun, just 
 to add zest to the game. We kept on 
 until the gambling spirit so possessed 
 me that in the trains I would induce fel- 
 low-passengers to play, and would fleece 
 them of their money and then get off at 
 the next station. Until you yourself get 
 right with God you are the last one 
 on earth that should ask me to bea 
 Christian!” 
 
 Without a word but with crimson 
 face and downcast eyes she walked 
 away. 
 
 Two minutes later a wrinkled old 
 woman approached the same man. With 
 tremulous voice and with tears coursing 
 down her furrowed cheeks, she asked 
 him if he would not go forward with her 
 and yield himself to Christ. He knew 
 this old lady. She was his washer- 
 woman, and he knew her to be a sincere 
 Christian. He listened attentively as 
 she pleaded with him to accept her dear 
 Jesus as his Saviour. Presently he 
 yielded and together they went to the 
 front where he knelt in prayer and soon 
 after he was rejoicing in the favor of 
 God. 
 
 That man was Charles Kittridge, one 
 of the five men who afterwards formed 
 the society among commercial travelers 
 known as “The Gideons.”—Rev. H. M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 —— 328 —— 
 
 A DAZZLING ARGUMENT. 
 
 “You teach,” said the Emperor Trajan 
 to Rabbi Joshua, “that your God is 
 everywhere, and boast that He resides 
 among your nation. I should like to 
 see Him.” “God’s presence is, indeed, 
 everywhere,” replied Joshua; “suppose 
 we try first to look at his ambassadors.” 
 The Emperor consented. The Rabbi 
 took him in the open air at noonday and 
 bade him look at the sun in the meridian 
 splendor. “I cannot,” said Trajan; “the 
 light dazzles me.” “Thou art unable,” 
 said Joshua, “to endure the light of one 
 of His creatures, and canst thou expect 
 to behold the resplendent glory of the 
 Creator? Would not such a sight anni- 
 hilate thee?”—Hebrew Tales. 
 
180 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ones GZ mm 
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 
 
 In a little dingy shop, in a blind alley, 
 and in London’s great city, a tiny boy 
 sat perched upon a table, which served 
 as a counter. A tall stranger entered, 
 and seeing only the child, said kindly— 
 
 “All alone? Run and tell mother I 
 want to see her!” 
 
 The child jumped off his perch and 
 called out lustily, “Mother, a kind man 
 wants you, make haste!” 
 
 The stranger smiled, and was smiling 
 as the mother came into the shop. 
 
 “What can I do for you, sir?” she 
 asked. 
 
 “I heard in the neighborhood,” he an- 
 swered, “that you are in trouble. Here 
 is One way out of it”-——he placed a small 
 bag of money before her—“and here is 
 another’—putting into her hand a book. 
 “The first will save your little business, 
 this’—touching the book—“will show 
 you how your soul may be saved. Put 
 your trust in God, and—farewell!” 
 
 “Mother, said the child, anxiously, 
 “why are you crying? That man had 
 such a kind face—who was he, mother?” 
 
 “The good Samaritan, my child, with- 
 out a doubt,” said the mother. 
 
 Twenty-five years afterward a new 
 minister came to a certain church, and 
 before the sermon he told his people the 
 above little story.. “My mother,” he 
 continued—“for I was the child—said 
 that stranger’s kindness had touched her 
 soul; she paid her debts, and she sought 
 and found her Saviour.We never met the 
 noble stranger, but neither I nor mine, 
 will ever cease to pray for the eternal 
 peace of him and his. He was, indeed, 
 the Good Samaritan; and without any 
 words of his own, but just one gracious 
 deed, he won a soul for God.” 
 
 After the service an elderly gentleman 
 accosted the minister—“You have spo- 
 ken of my brother,” said he; “he is one of 
 your mother’s chief creditors, and on the 
 morning of the day he visited her, he 
 was greatly moved by the words, ‘Pure 
 religion and undefiled before God and 
 the Father, is this: To visit the father- 
 less and widows in their affliction.’ He 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 acted instantly upon this, with what re- 
 sult you know. Just before his death he 
 built this church.” 
 
 “How wonderful are God’s ways!” 
 cried the young minister. “Truly He 
 Himself has appeared unto me—in His 
 good Samaritan!”—M. G. Gerds. 
 
 330 —— 
 INFLUENCE OF A GOOD BOOK. 
 
 I lost my sainted mother when I was 
 a youth, but not before the instruction 
 I had received from her beloved lips 
 had made a deep impression upon my 
 mind; an impression which I carried 
 with me into a college (Hampden, Sid- 
 ney), where there was not then one 
 pious student. There I often reflected, 
 when surrounded by young men who 
 scoffed at religion, upon the instruction 
 of my mother, and my conscience was 
 
 requently sore distressed. I had no 
 Bible, and dreaded getting one, lest it 
 should be found in my possession. 
 
 At last I could stand it no longer, 
 and therefore requested a particular 
 friend, a youth whose parents lived near, 
 and who often went home, to ask his 
 pious and excellent mother to send me 
 some religious books. She sent me “Al- 
 leine’s Alarm,” an old black book, which 
 looked as if it might have been handled 
 by successive generations for a hundred 
 years. 
 
 When I got it, I locked my room and 
 lay upon my bed reading it, when a 
 student knocked at my door; and al- 
 though I gave him no answer, dreading 
 to be found reading such a book, he 
 continued to knock and beat the door 
 until I had to open it. He came in, 
 and seeing the book lying on the bed, 
 he seized it, and examining its title, he 
 said, “Why, Hill, do you read such 
 books?” 
 
 I hesitated, but God enabled me to be 
 decided, and tell him boldly, but with 
 much emotion, “Yes, I do.” 
 
 The young man replied with much 
 agitation, “Oh, Hill, you may obtain 
 religion, but I never can. I came heré 
 a professor of religion; but through fear 
 I dissembled it, and have been carried. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 along with the wicked, until I fear there 
 is no hope for me.” 
 
 He told me that there were two 
 others, who he believed were somewhat 
 serious. We agreed to take up the sub- 
 ject of religion in earnest, and seek it 
 together. We invited the other two, and 
 held a prayer-meeting in my room on 
 the next Saturday afternoon. 
 
 And oh! what a prayer meeting! We 
 tried to pray, but such a prayer-meeting 
 I never heard the like of. We knew 
 not how to pray, but tried to do it. It 
 was the first prayer-meeting that I ever 
 heard of. We tried to sing, but it was 
 in a suppressed manner, for we feared 
 the other students. But they found us 
 out, and gathered round the door, and 
 made such a noise that some of the 
 officers had to disperse them. 
 
 And so serious was the disturbance 
 that the President, the late excellent 
 Rev. Dr. John B. Smith, had to invest- 
 igate the matter at prayers, that eve- 
 ning, in the prayers hall. When he de- 
 manded the reason of the riot a ring- 
 leader in wickedness got up and stated 
 that it was occasioned by three or four 
 of the boys holding prayer-meetings, 
 and they were determined to have no 
 such doings there. The good President 
 _ heard the statement with deep emotion, 
 and looking at the youths charged with 
 the sin of praying, with tears in his 
 eyes, he said: 
 
 “Oh, is there such a state of things in 
 this college? Then God has come near 
 to us. My dear friends, you shall be 
 protected. You shall hold your next 
 meeting in my parlor, and I will be one 
 of your number.” 
 
 Sure enough, we had our next meet- 
 ing in his parlor, and half the college 
 was there; and there began the glorious 
 revival of religion, which pervaded the 
 college and spread into the country 
 around. 
 
 Many of those students became min- 
 isters of the gospel. The youth who 
 had brought me “Alliene’s Alarm” from 
 his mother was my friend, the Rev. C. 
 Stitt, who is preaching in Virginia. 
 And he who interrunted me in reading 
 
 181 
 
 the work, my venerable and worthly 
 friend, the Rev. Dr. H., is now president 
 of a college in the West.—Rev. Dr. Hill. 
 
 —— 331 —— 
 THE PRINT OF THE NAILS. 
 
 There is a strange legend of old St. 
 Martin. He sat one day in his monas- 
 tery cell, busily engaged in his sacred 
 studies, when there came a knock at 
 the door. “Enter,” said the monk. The 
 door opened and there appeared—a 
 stranger of lordly look, in princely attire. 
 “Who art thou?” asked St. Martin. “I 
 am Christ,” was the answer, 
 
 The confident bearing and the com- 
 manding tone of the visitor would have 
 overawed a less wise man. But the 
 monk simply gave his visitor one deep, 
 searching glance and then quietly asked, 
 “Where is the print of the nails?” He 
 had noticed that this one indubtiable 
 mark of Christ’s person was wanting. 
 ‘There were no nail-scars upon those 
 jeweled hands. And the kingly mien 
 and the brilliant dress of the pretender 
 were not enough to prove his claim 
 while the print of the nails was want- 
 ing. Confused by this searching test- 
 question, and his base deception ex- 
 posed, the prince of evil—for he it was 
 —-quickly fled from the monk’s cell. 
 
 This is only a legend, but it suggests 
 the one infallible test that should be 
 applied to all truth and to all life. There 
 is much in these days that claims to be 
 of Christ. There are those who would 
 have us lay aside the old faiths, and ac- 
 cept new beliefs and new interpretations. 
 How shall we know whether or not to 
 receive them? The only true test is that 
 with which St. Martin exposed the false 
 pretentions of his visitor: “Where is the 
 print of the nails?” Nothing is truly 
 Christ which does not bear this mark 
 upon it. A gospel without a wounded, 
 dying Christ is not a gospel. The atone- 
 ment lies at the heart of Christianity. 
 The cross is the luminous centre, from 
 which streams all the light of joy, peace 
 and hope. That which does not bear the 
 marks of the Lord Jesus cannot be of 
 Him.—J. R. Miller, D. D. ar iar 
 
182 
 
 —— 332 — 
 UNCONSCIOUSLY INFLUENCED. 
 
 God has the power of influencing the 
 minds of men to do things which they 
 do unconscious that they are under any 
 influence but that of their own desires. 
 A remarkable illustration of that power 
 is given by Bishop Bedell in his remin- 
 iscences of Bishop Chase of Ohio. He 
 says that Bishop Chase was staying at 
 the house of a Mr. Beck of Philadelphia, 
 when a letter reached him from a friend 
 in Europe. The letter referred to some 
 property in America which was claimed 
 by a poor friend of the writer, but the 
 claim could not be substantiated because 
 certain documents could not be found. 
 The letter had been sent to Bishop 
 Chase’s home in Ohio, forwarded thence 
 to Washington; missed him there and 
 followed him to Philadelphia. The 
 Bishop mentioned the matter incident- 
 ally to Mr. Beck as merely a matter of 
 romantic interest. But Mr. Beck ex- 
 claimed, to his surprise, “Why, I know 
 all about those documents, and I am the 
 only man in the world who does know. 
 I have them here, and have had them 
 forty-three years, not knowing to whom 
 they belonged.”—Christian Herald. 
 
 ——- 333 —— 
 A WILLING SACRIFICE. 
 
 Some years ago a minister was called 
 to see a little girl seven years old, who 
 was dying. She lived in a back street. 
 When the minister got there a woman 
 showed him where the child was, and 
 he sat down to talk to her. 
 
 “What do you want, darling?” 
 
 “Well, sir, I wanted to see you before 
 I died.” 
 
 “Are you dying?” 
 
 “Yes, sir.” 
 
 “Would you not like to get well 
 again?” 
 
 “T hope not, sir.” 
 
 “Why not?” 
 
 “Oh, sir, ever since I became a Chris- 
 tian I have been trying to bring father 
 to church, and he won’t come; and I 
 think if I die you will bury me, won’t 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 you?” 
 
 “Yes, darling.” 
 
 “Well, I have been thinking if I die 
 father must come to the funeral; then 
 you will be able to preach the gospel to 
 him, and I should be willing to die six 
 times over for him to hear the gospel 
 once.” 
 
 She died as she expected, and just be- 
 fore the time she was to be buried the 
 minister was himself taken sick, and 
 could not attend the funeral. But some 
 time afterward a rough looking man 
 called upon him and held out his hand.” 
 
 “You don’t know me?” 
 
 “No, I don’t.” 
 
 “I am the father of Mary—the father 
 she died for. I heard as how she said 
 she would die for me six times if I could 
 hear the Gospel once. It nearly broke 
 my heart. Now I want to join the in- 
 quirers’ class.” 
 
 He did join, and became a true friend 
 of Christ. That little girl was truly 
 walking in the footsteps of the Saviour, 
 because she was willing to die even, in 
 order that her father might be saved 
 from his sins. If we do not need to die 
 for others, we should at least try to be 
 like Christ in living for them and in do- 
 ing ail that we can to lead them to be 
 Christians.—Selected. 
 
 —— 334 — 
 A DAY AT A TIME. 
 
 It is a blessed secret, this of living by 
 the day. Any one.can carry his burden, 
 however heavy, till nightfall. Any one 
 can do his work, however hard, for one 
 day. Any one can live sweetly, patient- 
 ly, lovingly and purely till the sun gets 
 down. And this is all that life ever 
 really means to us, just one little day. 
 
 Do to-day’s duty, fight today’s tempta- 
 tions, and do not weaken and distract 
 yourself looking forward to things you 
 cannot see and could not understand if 
 you saw them. God gives nights to 
 shut down the curtain of darkness on 
 our little days. We cannot see beyond. 
 Short horizons make life easier, and give 
 us one of the blessed secrets of brave, 
 true, holy living.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 w= 335 —— 
 
 POWER OF THE STORY OF THE 
 LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Bishop Whittle is moved to tell an 
 incident which illustrates the power of 
 the gospel if it once gets access to a 
 man’s heart. He says in a letter to the 
 Churchman: 
 
 Thirty-seven years ago I knew a great 
 orator of the Lower Sioux—Red Owl. 
 He never attended church, for he was 
 afraid he would lose his influence among 
 his people. One day he carne into the 
 schoolroom and stopped before a pic- 
 ture of the “Ecce Homo,” and asked: 
 
 “What is that? Why are his hands 
 bound? Why are the thorns on his 
 head 2” 
 
 Red Owl was so touched by the story 
 of the love of “the Son of the Great 
 Spirit” that he came again and again 
 to ask about Jesus. 
 
 One day I was going to Wabasha’s 
 village and saw on the prairie a new- 
 made grave; over it was a plain wood 
 cross. I learned that Red Owl was 
 dead. He had been taken ill suddenly, 
 and when dying he said to his young 
 men, “That story which the white man 
 has brought into our country is true; 
 I have it in my heart. When I am dead 
 I wish you would put a cross over my 
 grave that the Indians may see what 
 is in Red Owl’s heart.” 
 
 The power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth; to the Jew 
 first, and also to the Greek. 
 
 —— 336 —— 
 
 A PASSION FOR SOULS, 
 
 David Brainerd used to say, “I care 
 not where I go, or what hardships I 
 endure, so long as I can see souls won 
 to Christ. When I sleep I dream of 
 these things, and when I awake it is 
 my first thought. All my desire is the 
 conversion of souls, and all my hope is 
 in God.” Such was his zeal that he 
 would often go out into the forest and 
 wrestle with God until his clothes were 
 
 ANECDOTES 183 
 
 wet with perspiration, and frequently 
 he spent the whole night in prayer. Af- 
 ter every such season of protracted 
 prayer there was usually a great out- 
 pouring of the Spirit, and those stolid 
 Indians to whom he preached would be 
 mightily moved by the word of God 
 and brought into the kingdom by scores. 
 
 Nor is this passion for souls a thing 
 of the past. Not long since a young 
 man said to me, “I lie awake night after 
 night, and wet my pillow with tears, as 
 I think of the perishing souls around 
 me.” The same young man is now 
 planning to go to Africa as a mission- 
 ary, “because,” as he says, “I cannot 
 bear to remain in this country while in 
 other lands many millions of people 
 have never even heard of Jesus.”—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 —— 337 —— 
 HE DID NOT FORGET. 
 
 In 1880 a young girl by the name of 
 Miss Burch, of Ashford, England, stoor 
 in a crowd in London, watching f ¢ 
 arrival of the guests at one of che 
 Queen’s receptions. She saw an old man 
 stagger and then fall to the ground. 
 Some laughed at him, for they thought 
 that he was intoxicated; but she tenderly 
 cared for him, giving him water. Soon 
 he revived and told her that he had been 
 unexpectedly taken ill. He took her ad- 
 dress and said that he would never for- 
 get her kindness. 
 
 Twelve years passed, when one day 
 a letter came asking her to go to certain 
 lawyers. There she learned that the 
 old gentleman had died and left her over 
 seven hundred thousand dollars. This 
 was a large reward for a glass of water 
 and a helping hand in the hour of need. 
 
 Such kindness may not be always 
 thus rewarded; but if you are led by, 
 listen to, love, and live, for God you 
 will be respected by all good people in 
 this world. “And when the chief Shep- 
 herd shall appear, ye shall receive a 
 crown of glory that fadeth not away.”— 
 Rev. C. H. Tyndall, D. D. 
 
184 
 
 woe 338 
 
 RESTRAINED FROM MURDER. 
 
 One day, in my professional residence 
 at Sedalia, Missouri, I had occasion to 
 go to an adjacent town some miles dis- 
 tant. The engagement being very press- 
 ing, I could not wait for the regular pas- 
 senger train, but was forced to make my 
 way there in the caboose of the fast 
 freight. There were several other gen- 
 tlemen in the caboose when I boarded 
 it. Among them I particularly ob- 
 served one who appeared to be a Car- 
 penter, laboring under the burden of a 
 heavy bag of tools. 
 
 It happened that on one side of the 
 caboose stood a tub of fat, oily refuse, 
 used, no doubt, for oiling the wheels 
 and parts of the common freight ma- 
 chinery. The atmosphere being very 
 warm, this oily matter had melted and 
 became very sloppy. During the prog- 
 ress of the journey, the carpenter, shiit- 
 ing his position from one side of the car 
 to the other, very unfortunately stumb- 
 led over this tub of melted grease 
 splashing a large part over the clean 
 floor of the caboose. He lamented the 
 accident very sorrowfully, and pro- 
 ceeded, with a few old sacks that were 
 lying in one corner, to correct the mis- 
 chief as quickly as possible. 
 
 At that moment, however, the con- 
 ductor of the train came in. The car- 
 penter stammered out some apologies; 
 but the conductor, a hot-tempered man, 
 flared up in an instant at the sight of 
 that monstrous grease spot on the im- 
 maculate floor of his caboose and for 
 fully five minutes he showered upon that 
 unfortunate carpenter such a torrent of 
 the vilest abuse that it causes an invol- 
 untary shudder even now as I recollect 
 it. 
 
 At the next station, the carpenter sig- 
 nified his intention of getting off. He 
 appeared to be very weak, and his coun- 
 tenance showed an unusual paleness, 
 whether on account of the sultry con- 
 dition of the atmosphere or the fierce 
 onslaught of that brutal conductor I 
 was not then in a position to know. At 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 any rate, prompted by a disinterested 
 and generous motive, | went up to that 
 gentleman as the train was slowing up, 
 and, in a kindly manner offered to assist 
 him and his heavy burden from the steep 
 platform. He looked at me with a most 
 peculiar look of surprise, which, since 
 he said nothing, 1 immediately con- 
 strued into an acceptance of my ser- 
 vices, and helped the poor fellow from 
 the car. The train pulled out, and I 
 thought no more of my friend the car- 
 penter. 
 
 Six years after I was walking, one 
 evening, along the streets of Sedalia, 
 when I observed some one coming rap- 
 idly along the pavement behind me. 
 When he had caught up with me he 
 tipped his hat very respectfully, and en- 
 quired: 
 
 “Sir, are you Dr. Y——?2” calling me 
 by name. I answered in the affirma- 
 tive. 
 
 “Don’t you recognize me?” 
 that I did not, 
 
 He then explained that he was my 
 friend the carpenter whom I had as- 
 sisted from the platform of the fast 
 freight on a certain hot day in August, 
 over six years ago. I, of course, recol- 
 lected the incident immediately, and ex- 
 pressed great pleasure to have met him. 
 
 “Oh, sir!” he went on in a most 
 earnest manner, “but you did a most 
 wonderful service for me that day by 
 your kind offer of assistance. It was 
 only a little act; bitt, sir, that little act 
 saved me from being a murderer.” 
 
 I was naturally much surprised at 
 such an announcement, and became 
 greatly interested in the story, but he 
 continued: 
 
 “T had intended, sir, in the bitterness 
 of my soul, to have revenge on that dog 
 of a conductor. In fact, my mind had 
 already been fully made up to bury that 
 heavy hammer I had with me in his 
 head. But your kind words, breaking 
 so unexpectedly on my dark, gloomy 
 feelings, arrested my unworthy purpose. 
 I was ashamed; but I determined to 
 show myself a man, and keep back the 
 mad impulse that was gainine its con- 
 
 I replied 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 trol over me. I did it, sir, and am a 
 free man today; God bless you! I 
 Shall never forget it.” 
 
 My heart was too full for reply. I 
 extended my hand, and as the unre- 
 Strainable tears sprang up in each 
 other’s eyes, we warmly grasped hands 
 and parted, and as I walked home that 
 evening, more slowly than usual, i 
 thought how sweet life would be, if, 
 without such ostentatious philanthropy, 
 for which we sometimes have such an 
 extravagant regard, we might begin to 
 cultivate such a spirit of kindly forbear- 
 ance and helpfulness, one toward an- 
 other, that as the humdrum minutes of 
 daily life go ticking fast away, we might 
 have them filled up by just such little 
 offerings of love and kindness.—Sun- 
 day School Times. 
 
 —— 339 —— 
 
 THE GOLDEN RULE. 
 
 A beautiful and inspiring incident is 
 recorded concerning Alfred the Great, 
 king of England, while in retreat at 
 Athleney, in Somersetshire, after his 
 forces had been completely routed by 
 the Danes. He and his royal family 
 were forced prisoners within the walis 
 of their little castle there, with little 
 hope of immediate release or prospect of 
 food. One day while discussing their 
 straitened condition, a poor beggar 
 knocked at the door and asked for alms. 
 The queen responded, informed the man 
 of their own plight, and stated that they 
 had only one-half loaf of bread leit, 
 which would be inadequate to their pres- 
 ent needs, to say nothing about the 
 future. Their friends had gone out in 
 search of food, but had very poor pros- 
 pect of finding any. They could do 
 nothing for the beggar. But the kine 
 overheard the conversation at the door, 
 and said to his queen: “Give the poor 
 man half of the loaf. He who could feed 
 the five thousand with five loafs and two 
 fishes can certainly make that half of a 
 loaf suffice for our necessities.” 
 
 The half loaf was given, the man was 
 relieved of his hunger, and the king’s 
 compliance with the Golden Rule was 
 
 ANECDOTES. 185 
 soon rewarded with an ampie store of 
 fresh provisions which lasted them for 
 the eitire time spent in that memorable 
 rétreat.—Selected. 
 
 Se Agee 
 
 SOMETHING ALWAYS GIVES 
 WAY. 
 
 A Christian woman in a town in New 
 York State desired to obtain a school 
 liouse for the purpose of starting a Sun- 
 day School, but was refused by a skep- 
 tic trustee. Still she persevered, and 
 asked him again and again. 
 
 “I tell you, Aunt Polly, it is of no use; 
 once for all I say to you, you cannot 
 have the school house for such a pur- 
 pose!” 
 
 “I think I am going to get it,” said 
 Aunt Polly. 
 
 “T should like to know how, if I do 
 not give you the key.” 
 
 “I think the Lord is going to unlock 
 tr 
 
 “Maybe He will,’ said the infidel, 
 “but I can tell you this—He will not 
 get the key from me.” 
 
 “Well, I am going to pray over it, 
 and I have found out from experience 
 that when I keep on praying something 
 always gives way.” And the next time 
 she came the infidel gave way, and she 
 received the key. More than this, when 
 others opposed the school he sustained 
 her, and great good was done for per- 
 ishing souls. “Something gives way.” 
 Sometimes it is the man’s will, and 
 sometimes it is the man himself, But 
 God always finds the way.—Selected. 
 
 341 
 
 “HOW CAN I KEEP SILENT?” 
 
 A faithful and venerable soldier of the 
 cross was reproached by a friend be- 
 cause on every occasion and under all 
 circumstances he seo ie to bring 
 Christ into the conversation. The old 
 man’s voice trembled with emotion as he 
 answered: “How can I keep silent on 
 that theme when I see souls perishing all 
 around me because Christ has been’ so 
 persistently kept out of their lives?’— 
 Selected, 
 
 
 
 
 
186 
 
 By Peat 
 A NOBLE SACRIFICE 
 
 ‘(One of the banks in the city of Den- 
 ver was in danger of failing. A line of 
 men and women stretched for more than 
 a block. All were anxious for their 
 money. Some of the women were cry- 
 ing, for the bank might close its doors 
 at any moment and they would lose 
 their money. 
 
 One man had stood in line since five 
 o’clock in the morning, and was near 
 the window where the depositors were 
 being paid. In a few minutes more he 
 would have his money. He felt some 
 one pulling at his coat, and, looking 
 around, recognized a fellow-workman. 
 
 “Ah, Jim, that you? Did not know 
 that you were about.” “Just came to 
 town last night. Will the bank hold 
 out?” “TI hope it will till I get my 
 money. I have two hundred in there.” 
 “We have three hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars.” “Why don’t you get in line 
 then?” “There is no show. The line 
 goes clear around to B. Street, and my 
 rheumatism cuts like a knife. I could not 
 stand in line half an hour.” 
 
 His wife was by his side crying, the 
 baby in her arms. The man moved up 
 one more step, and then called softly to 
 his friend, “Jim, here! Come into my 
 place.” “I won’t do it; it isn’t fair.” 
 The generous offer touched his heart, 
 and tears came into his eyes. “It’s all 
 right, old boy. You have got Mary and 
 the babies, and, don’t you see, I have 
 neither wife nor chick in the world. 
 Come, man! I’m strong and it’s little 
 that you can do. Creepin here.” And 
 he pulled his friend into his place, while 
 he went and stood at the end of the line. 
 
 In an hour the bank suspended pay- 
 ment. Scores were unable to get their 
 meney, and among them the noble soul 
 who sacrified his that he might shield 
 his friend from sorrow. This is like 
 Christ, who drew us into His place, 
 while He stepped into ours and took 
 upon Himself all the consequences of 
 our failures; for “surely He hath borne 
 our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”— 
 Rev. C, H. Tyndall, D. D. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 mee BAB tent 
 HE WOULD NOT FIGHT. 
 
 There were some Friends or Quakers 
 from South Carolina in the battle at 
 Gettysburg, who were forced into the 
 ranks, but who, from the beginning to 
 the end, refused to fight. They were 
 from Guilford county, which was mostly 
 settled by their sect, and as the writer 
 can testify by personal observation, 
 presented the only region in that state 
 where the evidence of thrift, which free 
 labor gave in a land cursed with slavery, 
 might be seen. These excellent people 
 were robbed and plundered by the Con- 
 federates without mercy. About a dozen 
 of them were in Lee’s army at Gettys- 
 burg and were among the prisoners cap- 
 tured there. They had steadily borne 
 practical testimony to the strength of 
 their principles in opposing war. They 
 were subjected to great cruelties. One 
 of them who refused to fight was or- 
 dered by his colonel to be shot. A squad 
 of twelve men was drawn up to shoot 
 him. They loved him as a brother be- 
 cause of his goodness, and when ordered 
 to fire every man refused. The re- 
 mainder of the company was called up 
 and ordered to shoot the first twelve if 
 they did not execute the order. The in- 
 tended victim folded his hands, and 
 raised his eyes saying: “Father forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do.” 
 
 The entire company threw down their 
 muskets and refused to obey the order. 
 The exasperated captain, with a horrid 
 oath, tried to shoot him with his pistol. 
 The cap would not explode. Then he 
 dashed upon him with his horse, but the 
 meek cOnscript was unharmed. Just 
 then a charge of some of Mead’s troops 
 drove the Confederates from their posi- 
 tion, and the Quaker became a prisoner. 
 He and his co-religionists were sent to 
 Fort Delaware, when the fact was made 
 known to some of their sect in Philadel- 
 phia. It was laid before the President, 
 and he ordered their release.—Lossing’s 
 Field Book of the Civil War. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ea Gad ener 
 IN THE UNLIGHTED CHURCH. 
 
 Three miles to the evening appoint- 
 ment and a heavy rain. The ‘young 
 home missionary was tired and the 
 night was near. The morning service 
 at Bolton had brought out a bare dozen 
 through the rain, and the afternoon ser- 
 vice, which had brought him five miles 
 through the mud, had been little larger. 
 “Don’t go over to Kenwood tonight,” 
 the people said. “What’s the use? 
 There won’t be anybody out. The 
 church won’t even be lighted.” 
 
 Half-tempted not to go, the young 
 preacher hesitated. The dull clouds 
 shut in closer and the night was de- 
 scending early. Within the fire was 
 bright, and without the rain was heavy 
 and the mud deep. But something 
 pulled at his heart-strings. ‘There 
 might be some one there,” he said. “TI 
 think I ought to go.” 
 
 He never remembered the ride as un- 
 pleasant; rather there was an anticipa- 
 tion of something good at the end that 
 made him more cheerful than usual. And 
 when the end of the journey drew near 
 he felt less tired than when he started. 
 
 There was no light in the church. 
 He saw that as he entered the strag- 
 gling little settlement, and he drove to 
 his stopping place and put up his horse. 
 
 “We didn’t hardly look for you,” 
 said his host. “It’s such a bad night. 
 There won’t be anybody out. You 
 must be wet. Here, I’ll take care of the 
 horse; you go in and get dry.” 
 
 “Thank you!” said the preacher. 
 
 “T’ll just run over to the church a 
 minute and be sure there’s no one 
 there.” 
 
 He pushed open the door; the little 
 room was empty enough. The tick of 
 the little nickel clock on the cabinet or- 
 gan sounded very loud in the silence. 
 He gropped forward to the pulpit, and, 
 kneeling a moment, asked God’s bless- 
 ing on the work of the day. Then, his 
 eyes a little more accustomed to the 
 darkness within, he moved toward the 
 door. 
 
 Just inside he met a man and a woman 
 
 187 
 
 who had come from a cabin some dis- 
 tance away. 
 
 “We thought it was a pity if you 
 should come not to have anyone here,” 
 explained the man apologetically. 
 
 “It was kind to think of me in that 
 way,’ said the preacher. “And it would 
 be good if I could say something that 
 would reward you for coming through 
 the rain. You came because you 
 thought of me and did not want me to 
 fail of some hearers. But have you no 
 need of your own?” 
 
 There was silence in the darkness and 
 the clock ticked on. After an interval 
 the woman said: “It was a year ago 
 today the baby died.” | 
 
 “It was that that brought you,” said 
 the minister, “Yes, and I know the 
 word you want to hear. No, we will 
 not light the lamps. Sit here while we 
 talk a little.” 
 
 There in the dark they sat and talked 
 till the place seemed light with the 
 beautiful truths to which they listened. 
 
 When at last he said, “Let us pray,” 
 they knelt together and the man and 
 the woman were in tears, but the tears 
 were the welling forth of a new hope. 
 
 “It was her little angel brought you 
 through the rain,” said the woman. “I 
 somehow know’d you’d come, and we 
 was so hungry for comfort.” 
 
 Six months later the rough man lay 
 dying. He clasped the hand of the 
 preacher as the end drew near and said: 
 
 “Parson, you ’member that night— 
 and what brought you? It sorter like 
 that to me. Kinder dark, but seems 
 like she’s guidin’ me—like she did you 
 that night.”—Youth’s. Companion. 
 
 SH 345 on 
 
 Remember the good old rabbi who 
 was awakened by one of his twelve sons 
 saying, “Behold! my eleven brothers 
 lie sleeping, and I am the only one who 
 wakens to praise and pray.” “Son,” 
 said the wise father, “you had better be 
 asleep too, than wake to censure your 
 brothers.” No fault can be as bad as 
 the feeling which is quick to see and 
 speak of other people’s faults —Selected. 
 
188 
 
 pee SAG ares 
 THE NEGLECTED TREASURE. 
 
 A traveler who had been walking for 
 hours on a hot, dusty summer day, and 
 who longed for a draught of fresh water, 
 knocked at the door of a wayside cot- 
 tage. The parents of the family resid- 
 ing there had just been quarreling, and 
 the frightened children, ragged and half- 
 starved looking, were crouching in a 
 corner. It was evidently not the place 
 where the inmates were accustomed to 
 sing, “Home, Sweet Home.” The 
 stranger drank the water which was 
 given him in a broken cup, and, as he 
 handed the cup back, he spied through 
 the half-opened door a Bible high upon 
 a shelf. Before passing on his way he 
 thanked the inmates, spoke kindly to 
 them, and sang a little Christian song 
 to the children, and added, with a 
 bright look, “Dear friends, I know what 
 would help you. There is a treasure in 
 this house of which you are not aware, 
 and which would at once make you 
 rich and happy. Will you search for 
 it?” 
 
 His parting words, though not un- 
 derstood, were not forgotten. When 
 the wife was not looking the husband 
 searched for the hidden treasure, and, 
 when the husband was out to work, the 
 wife did the same. At last she discov- 
 ered it; it was the Bible on the sheif 
 which her mother had given her as a 
 gift on her wedding day, and which had 
 lain for years unopened. She “hap- 
 pened” to cast her eye upon it, and the 
 thought occurred, “What if this is the 
 treasure that the stranger meant?” She 
 took it down from its perch with trem- 
 bling fingers, and a kind of choking in 
 her throat, and found, in her mother’s 
 hand-writing, on the fly-leaf: “The 
 word of thy mouth is better to me than 
 thousands of gold and silver.” She 
 began eagerly to read it, and found it 
 all new and very wonderful. By and 
 by she began to pray, and to read it to 
 her children. One day her husband 
 came home raging like a wild beast. 
 She answered his questions gently and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 meekly, and marking the surprise in his 
 eyes, she said, “I have found the treas- 
 ure that the stranger spoke of;” and, at 
 the same time, laid the Bible reverently 
 down before him on the table. He bit 
 his lip and was silent. Soon they be- 
 gan to read it together, and to pray to 
 God with tears in their eyes that He 
 would bless the message of His wonder- 
 ful love to their souls. Gradually the 
 light of Divine love entered their 
 hearts, the light that shone from the face 
 of Jesus Christ, and with the light there 
 came a simple trust and peace that 
 passeth ail understanding. All things 
 soon became new, both within and with- 
 out—looks, tones, ways, as well as 
 hearts, and that lowly home was 
 changed by the proper use of that “neg- 
 lected treasure” into a little nook of 
 paradise.—Joseph Sanderson, D. D. 
 
 PUNY, 
 SHE READ WITH HER LIPS. 
 
 I have read of a poor blind girl in 
 France who obtained the gospel. of 
 Mark in raised letters, and learned to 
 read it with the ends of her fingers. By 
 the peculiar character of her daily toil 
 her fingers became calloused and her 
 sense of touch diminished till she couid 
 not distinguish the letters. One day 
 she cut the skin from the ends of her 
 fingers to increase their sensibility, 
 only, however, to destroy it. She felt 
 that she must now give up her beloved 
 book, and weeping, pressed it to her 
 lips, saying, “Farewell, farewell, sweet 
 word of my Heavenly Father, food for 
 my soul! I must part with thee!” But 
 to her surprise, her lips, more delicate 
 than her fingers, discerned the form of 
 the letters. She read “Gospel accord- 
 ing to Mark.” Her soul, overflowing 
 with gratitude, pours out thanks before 
 the throne of her Father in heaven. All 
 night she perused with her lips the holy 
 book, and her heart overflowed with joy 
 at the new acquisition, 
 
 Oh for such a love for God’s word in 
 the hearts of God’s people! Shall we 
 wait for disasters before we know our 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 privileges and cultivate our true de- 
 lights? 
 
 In urging Christians to love the 
 Word, I am really urging them to love 
 the Lord more. When they are filled 
 with His love they will love His love- 
 letters. When they feel that no love- 
 relation is so grand and so absorbing as 
 that which binds them to the Saviour, 
 they will then feel that no words are so 
 sweet as His, no books so precious as 
 that which speaks of Him and speaks 
 from Him to the saved soul. And so, 
 conversely, if the Bible is not lovingly 
 pondered, then there is but little force 
 in the love for Jesus, the appreciation of 
 His glorious presence is dull, and the 
 thoughts of His wooing and winning 
 work for the soul are benumbed.—Rev. 
 Howard Crosby, D. D. 
 
 ey a 
 HELPFUL VISIONS. 
 
 Recently an old man gave us the 
 story of his wonderful career. In an 
 hour of temptation he determined to 
 disappear from his home and city, to 
 forswear every duty and to turn his 
 back on honor. In his madness he 
 went to the railway station, for the new 
 career was now to begin. But suddenly 
 as he stepped from the carriage he 
 thought he saw his old father, long 
 since dead, standing in the door of the 
 station, The father lifted his right 
 hand, and the youth heard a voice say- 
 ing, “My son, go back! Go back!” The 
 man turned and fled as though an 
 angel with a flaming sword had waved 
 it in his face. An hour later, and once 
 more he had taken up his accustomed 
 task. But from that day he looked 
 back to the event as to a moment when 
 his feet stood on the edge of a preci- 
 pice. He tells us that forty years have 
 come and gone since that weak hour 
 and that he still believes that vision 
 was vouchsafed to preserve his soul. 
 Perhaps you and I think it was an illu- 
 sion; that conscience and memory, in 
 a moment of great excitement, clothed 
 some aged stranger with the likeness of 
 a revered father. But so far as the ex- 
 
 189 
 
 planation is concerned we neither know 
 nor care what it was. One thing is 
 certain, an angel with a flaming sword 
 stood in a man’s way, and barred his 
 feet back from the path of death.—Rev. 
 Newell Dewight Hillis, D. D. 
 
 PE (ude 
 WHAT A TRACT DID. 
 
 Rev, N. Watts, being appointed to 
 preach at Newbold, near Rugby, as his 
 custom was, distributed tracts from 
 house to house. At one house a very 
 sullen man was having his tea. When 
 Mr. Watts invited him to the preach- 
 ing he said, “I sha’n’t come.” “Well, 
 now,” said Mr. Watts, “come, and we 
 will try to do you good.” “I sha’n’t 
 come,” he replied. “Then perhaps you 
 will read this tract,” said Mr. Watts, 
 and without waiting for a reply wen 
 to the next door. Some time after, 
 while Mr. Watts was leading a prayer- 
 meeting at Rugby, this man stood up 
 in the gallery and praised God for what 
 He had done for his soul, stating that it 
 was through reading the tract left him 
 at the time spoken of. What encour- 
 agement to tract-distributors to ,per- 
 severe in their good work!—Selected. 
 
 350 —— 
 GOD’S CARE AND THE SPIDER. 
 
 Why do we doubt the special prov- 
 idences of God? Was it strange that 
 Molinoeus, taking refuge in an oven in 
 the night of the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, should be spared? “O God,” 
 he prayed, “cover me with thy hand!” 
 And while he prayed a spider wove its 
 web across the oven’s mouth; a gust of 
 wind filled the web with dust; the dew 
 came down and in the early morning 
 glistened upon it. The fugitive’s heart 
 stood still as the footfall of his pursuers 
 came nigh; but seeing the spider’s web, 
 they said, “He is not here,” and passed 
 on. Thus the God who hears the chirp 
 of the sparrow hearkens to His people’s 
 cry. “Are you not of more value than 
 many sparrows, and shall He not care 
 for you?”—Selected. 
 
 
 
190 
 
 —— 351 —— 
 HOW SHE WON TWO. 
 
 A college friend of mine told me, a 
 little while ago, how he became a Chris- 
 tian. His teacher came along and 
 dropped a note behind him on the seat, 
 so no one else could see it. He picked 
 it up. It read: “Dear Charles, as you 
 are specially good in mathematics, I 
 want to propound the following prob- 
 lem: ‘What shall it profit a man if he 
 shall gain the whole world and lose his 
 soul?’ ” That word put in that way led 
 me to accept Christ, he said, and my 
 seatmate whose name was Ripley, and 
 who was the best mathematician in the 
 class, came out for Christ about a year 
 after, and this was the story he told. 
 He said: “I accidentally looked over 
 your shoulder, and caught the first line 
 of that note, ‘Dear Charles, as you are 
 especially good in mathematics.’ It 
 raised all the jealousy in me, for I be- 
 lieved I was a better mathematician 
 than you, and I was just mean enough 
 to look over your shoulder and read the 
 rest of it. It went like an arrow into 
 my heart, and I was never able to shake 
 it out.” About a year after he accepted 
 Christ and told what it was that set 
 him to thinking.-—Howard Pope. 
 
 —— 352 —— 
 
 THE PRAYING SOLDIER'S 
 COURAGE. 
 
 It takes courage to be a Christian 
 anywhere, but more under circum- 
 stances like these than you can imagine. 
 During the Civil War a soldier went to 
 his chaplain and said to him, “Chaplain, 
 I am the only man in our tent who is 
 a Christian and every night when [ 
 kneel down to say my prayers the boys 
 make fun of me and throw their shoes 
 at me and bother me so I do not know 
 what to do. What must I do about 
 it?’ The chaplain told him to wait 
 until he got under his blanket at night 
 and say his prayers to himself. A very 
 poor piece of advice, I think, for a 
 preacher to give. A few days after- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 wards he met the soldier and asked 
 him how he came out. “Well,” he 
 said, “your plan didn’t work at all. I 
 waited until the lights were out and 
 tried to pray under my blanket. The 
 boys were all laughing because they 
 thought they had whipped me out. I 
 lay there and thought to myself, ‘You 
 coward, you are willing to stand up 
 on the battlefield and let them shoot 
 at you because you love your country 
 but you are not willing to get down on 
 your knees and pray to the Lord be- 
 cause you are afraid somebody will dis- 
 turb you.’ I just threw the blanket off 
 and got down on my knees and prayed 
 aloud for every soldier in the tent.” 
 “Well, how did that do?” inquired the 
 chaplain, “They all listened,” he said, 
 “and every night, now, when I kneel 
 down to pray they kneel with me and 
 we have regular family worship there 
 together.” It took courage, and the 
 man had it. That is exactly what you 
 
 eed, my friend, to make you come out 
 on the Lord’s side and take your stand 
 for Christ as you ought to do.—Rev. 
 H. M. Wharton, D. D. 
 
 —— 353 —— 
 
 WHAT CAME OF A TRACT. 
 
 Early in 1819, while waiting to see 
 a patient, a young physician in New 
 York took up and read a tract on Mis- 
 sions, which lay in the room where he 
 sat. On reaching home he spoke ta his 
 wile of the question that had arisen in 
 his mind. As a result they set out for 
 Ceylon, and later, India, as foreign mis- 
 sionaries. For thirty years the wife, 
 and for thirty-six years the husband, 
 labored among the heathen, and then 
 went to their reward. Apart from what 
 they did directly as missionaries, they 
 left behind them seven sons and two 
 daughters. Each of these sons married, 
 and with their wives and both sisters, 
 gave themselves to the same mission 
 work. Already have several grand- 
 children of the first missionary become 
 missionaries in India. And thus far 
 thirty of that family—the Scudders— 
 have given 529 years to India missions. 
 —Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 354 —— 
 REPROVING IN LOVE. 
 
 John Wesley, having to travel for a 
 considerable distance in a stage coach, 
 fell in with a pleasant and well-informed 
 officer. His conversation was sprightly 
 and entertaining, but frequently min- 
 gled with oaths. 
 
 When they were about to take the 
 next stage Wesley took the officer apart 
 and, after expressing the great pleasure 
 he had enjoyed in his company, told 
 him he was thereby encouraged to ask 
 him a favor. “I would take pleasure in 
 obliging you,” said the officer, “and I 
 am sure you will not make an unreason- 
 able request.” “Then,” said Wesley, 
 “as we have some time to travel togeth- 
 er, | beg that if I should so far forget 
 myself as to Swear in your company 
 you will kindly reprove me.” 
 
 The officer immediately saw the mo- 
 tive, felt the force of the request and, 
 smiling, said none but Mr. Wesley 
 could have conveyed a reproof in such 
 a manner.—Ernest .L. Rand. 
 
 350 
 TRUE LOVE. 
 
 One day when I was in Brooklyn I 
 Saw a young man going along the street 
 without any arms. A friend who was 
 with me pointed him out and told me 
 his story. 
 
 When the war broke out he félt it to 
 be his duty to enlist and go to the front. 
 He was engaged to be married and 
 while in the army letters passed fre- 
 quently between him and his intended 
 wife. After the battle of the Wilder- 
 ness the young lady looked anxiously 
 for the accustomed letter. For a little 
 while no letter was received. At last 
 one came in a strange hand. She 
 opened it with trembling fingers and 
 read these words: “We have fought a 
 terrible battle. I have been wounded 
 so awfully that I shall never be able to 
 support you. A friend writes this for 
 me. I love you more tenderly than ev- 
 er but I release you from your prom- 
 ise. I will not ask you to join your life 
 
 
 
 
 
 191 
 
 with the maimed life of mine.” 
 
 That letter was never answered. The 
 next train that left, the young lady was 
 on it. She went to the hospital. She 
 found out the number of his cot and 
 she went down the aisle between the 
 long rows of the wounded men. At 
 last she saw the number and, hurrying 
 to his side, she threw her arms around 
 his neck and said: “I'll not desert you. 
 I'll take care of you.” He did not re- 
 sist her love. They were married and 
 there is no happier couple than this one. 
 
 We are dependent on one another. 
 Christ says, “I’ll take care of you. Vl 
 take you to this bosom of Mine.” That 
 young man could have spurned her 
 love; he could, but he didn’t. Surely 
 you can be saved if you will accept the 
 Saviour’s love. If God loves us, my 
 friends, He loves us unto the end. “For 
 God so loved the world that He gave 
 His only begotten Son that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish but 
 have everlasting life.’-—D. L. Moody 
 
 —— 356 —— 
 A GREAT PRAYER MEETING: 
 
 The world’s largest prayer meeting: 
 Where is it to be found? In Christian 
 America or in Europe? Not so, but in 
 “heathen” Korea. Rev. A. J. Brown, 
 Der iesdy si 
 
 “T attended the prayer meeting in the 
 Yua Mot Kol Church in Seoul. It was 
 a dark and rainy night. A Korean 
 was to lead and the people did not 
 know that a traveler from the West 
 would be present but I found about 
 1,000 ‘Christians assembled. No visitor, 
 however distinguished, would bring out 
 1,000 American church members on 
 prayer meeting night in any city in the 
 United States but 1,200 people packed 
 the Syen Chyun Church the evening we 
 spent there. 
 
 “Tt was worth going far to hear these 
 Christians pray. They bow with their 
 faces to the floor as those who know 
 what it is to have daily audience with 
 God. This spirit of prayer pervades 
 their daily lives.” 
 
192 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ——- 357 —— 
 A REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 
 
 The conversion of Eugene Reveil- 
 laud, the French journalist, politician, 
 orator and patriot, was as sudden and 
 astonishing as that of Paul of Tarsus. 
 
 He retired to his bed on the 13th day 
 of July, 1878, an unbeliever, a free- 
 thinker, and rose the next morning a 
 subdued and rejoicing disciple of Jesus 
 Christ. In the night-watches the Spirit 
 of God had fallen upon him in over- 
 whelming power, convicting, conquer- 
 ing and converting him. 
 
 The next morning he entered a Prot- 
 estant church, and to the astonishment 
 of all present asked permission to speak. 
 
 “A miracle!” he exclaimed. “Is not 
 my conversion a miracle? I had fallen 
 asleep yesterday on thoughts altogether 
 secular. I do not remember that I had 
 once raised my soul to God in all that 
 day. At night God visited me by His 
 Spirit, and by His divine baptism I have 
 been regenerated. I have now the sense 
 of God’s favor, of His pardon, of His 
 love. I am converted, I am saved.”— 
 Dr. A. J. Gordon. 
 
 A very striking and suggestive fact 
 with regard to M. Reveillaud’s conver- 
 sion was the method employed by the 
 Holy Spirit to open his eyes to the truth. 
 He was, we understand, an unbeliever; 
 not an infidel—an unbeliever, not be- 
 cause of enmity to the truth, but because 
 he had never really understood the 
 Christian religion, 
 
 On that night, as the writer has heard 
 him tell, after waking, he found his 
 mind repeating the “apostle’s creed” al- 
 most unconsciously and without any 
 reason for doing so that he knew of. But 
 when he came to the words, “I believe 
 in the Holy Ghost,” a light flashed upon 
 his mind. He was wide awake in a 
 moment. 
 
 “I believe in the Holy Ghost.” He 
 felt that he had at last struck the true 
 chord. He had found the truth that he 
 needed, the truth which his country 
 needed. 
 
 And when Eugene Reveillaud went 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 through France preaching the Gospel of 
 the Holy Ghost, which is the Gospel of 
 Christ’s Kingdom in the hearts of men, 
 thousands believed and found peace and 
 joy through a new-born faith in Christ. 
 —Sabbath Reading. 
 
 —— 358 —— 
 THE WARNING REFUSED. 
 
 Years ago a corps of civil engineers 
 came to a little town in a valley in 
 Pennsylvania and went up into the 
 mountains and examined the dam which 
 controlled the waters of the stream 
 which flowed down into the valley. They 
 came back to the valley and said to the 
 people of the town, “That dam is unsafe. 
 The people in the valley are in constant 
 danger.” The people said to them, 
 “You can’t scare us.” That fall the men 
 came back to the valley and examined 
 the dam again and said to the people in 
 the valley, “We warn you people again, 
 you are in danger every hour.” They 
 laughed at them again and said, “Scare 
 us if you can.” The men went up again 
 in the spring and warned the people 
 again, but the people said “That is a 
 chance. We have been hearing that so 
 many times. Scare us if you can.” 
 
 It was not fifteen days later that a 
 boy with a horse on the dead run came 
 down into the valley shouting, “Run for 
 your lives! The dam is gone and the 
 water is coming!” The people only 
 laughed at him; but he did not wait to 
 hear their laughter; he went on down 
 the valley shouting the warning. In 
 a very few minutes the dirty water came 
 and in less than thirty minutes after the 
 water struck the town Johnstown was in 
 ruins with more than 3,700 of those who 
 had been in the town in the presence 
 of God. 
 
 You have been reproved many a time 
 yourself, and frightened many a time 
 yourself and you sit out there and say, 
 “Scare me if you can.” “Get me by 
 frightening me if you can.” But on 
 God’s judgment day you will run and 
 call for the rocks and the mountains to 
 hide from God’s just fire your little 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 soul. God gets closest to the man who 
 is honest with his own soul, and is in 
 need of Christ. God help you to pray 
 about this, “I am not to be frightened 
 into Christianity.” 
 
 “He that being often reproved and 
 hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be 
 destroyed and that without remedy.” 
 Prov. 29:1—Rev. Sam. Jones. 
 
 —— 359 —— 
 A BLACKSMITH’S REMINISCENCE 
 
 I was standing about the blacksmith 
 shop of Mr. T. D. Chase—at the cross- 
 roads, some five miles from Peekskill- 
 on-Hudson, this beautiful October 
 moming and in a reminiscent manner 
 he spoke of his present happy life and 
 home, as compared to that of former 
 times, 
 
 “See the difference,” he said. “There 
 goes the daughter of a Peekskill rum- 
 seller. Did you notice, she salutes me 
 with, “Good morning, Mr. Chase.’ Years 
 ago, when in her father’s bar-room, 
 standing, or rather leaning against a 
 post, for support, upon my saluting her, 
 she replied, ‘How dare you, a drunken 
 bum, speak to me?’ I replied that I 
 got the rum from her father. 
 
 “The incident comes back like a flash; 
 the rum-seller, to pacify me, gave me 
 more drink. It was then from the rum- 
 seller, ‘Chase, what will you have?’ 
 It is to-day as I pass him on the street 
 ‘How do you do, Mr. Chase?’ Quite a 
 difference between being a slave to him 
 and a fellow man. 
 
 “About a year after I stopped enrich- 
 ing rum-sellers I was in the restaurant 
 of John Garrison getting a clam chow- 
 der, when in walked a white-aproned 
 rum-seller whom I had once helped to 
 support. He called to the restaurant 
 keeper for ‘a fine porterhouse steak.’ 
 After a while he noticed me and said, 
 ‘I am glad you have stopped drinking, 
 as you got pretty low down, but after a 
 while you can take a drink once in a 
 while” It being winter time and the 
 Hudson River frozen, I said to him— 
 ‘Suppose I go down to the whari, jump 
 
 198 
 
 upon the ice, go out and out, all the 
 time the ice cracking beneath my 
 weight, until it occurs to me that it is 
 best to go back to the shore which I 
 do with difficulty, and finally land safe 
 on the dock. Do you think it would be 
 sensible for me to venture out again?’ 
 The rum-seller made no reply. The res- 
 taurant keeper was in the habit of tak- 
 ing a drink occasionally. He told me 
 sometime afterward that the reply to 
 that rum-seller so convinced him of the 
 truth that from that minute until his 
 death he was a total abstainer.”—Wm. 
 T. Totten. 
 —— 360 —— 
 
 THE UNDEFENDED BRIDGE. 
 
 At the battle of Waterloo a certain 
 skilled officer and a small company of 
 picked men were sent by the Duke of 
 Wellington to guard a certain bridge. 
 
 They had not long been there when 
 they heard the sound of guns; and soon 
 their ears told them that a fierce battle 
 was raging. Officers and men grum- 
 bled. “Fighting going on, and we not 
 there,” said they. “The Duke needs 
 all the men he can get, yet here are we 
 doing nothing!” 
 
 At last the officer gave orders to go to 
 join the fray, and joyfully did his men 
 obey. Just as they arrived, they saw 
 that the enemy were in full flight; also 
 that many of them were making for the 
 bridge that they had left unguarded. 
 
 Hastily they returned, but it was too 
 late. The enemy were in possession, 
 and, knowing its value to the retreating 
 army, they defended it well. The Duke 
 had special reasons for placing good 
 soldiers at that point, but officers and 
 men felt sure he had made a mistake, 
 and that they could arrange things bet- 
 ter. Obedience to orders was disre- 
 garded, with the result we have seen. 
 
 St. Peter begs believers, “as obedient 
 children” (1 Peter 1, 14) to do various 
 things. Are we not often inclined to 
 imitate the officers and men at Waterloo, 
 who were sure they knew better than 
 their commander, and did well to be 
 disobedient ?—Selected. 
 
194 
 
 —— 361 —— 
 ROBERT MORRISON’S HELPER. 
 
 Robert Morrison, the noted mission- 
 
 ary, wrote to friends in England, asking 
 for an assistant. 
 
 In response a young man from the 
 country came and offered himself. He 
 was an earnest Christian but was rough 
 and unpolished. He was introduced to 
 the gentlemen of the Board and had a 
 long talk with them. They then asked 
 him to call again in an hour or two and 
 they would give him an answer. In 
 talking the matter over after he was 
 gone they came to the conclusion that 
 this young man would not do to go asa 
 helper to Dr. Morrison. Finally they 
 said to Dr. Phillips, one of their mem- 
 bers: “Doctor, you see the young man 
 when he calls again and tell him that 
 we do not think him fit to be a mission- 
 ary; but that if he would like to go out 
 as a servant to the missionary we will 
 send him.” The Doctor did not much 
 like to do this but he did it. He told 
 the young man just what the Board had 
 said. 
 
 Now many a young man would have 
 been .angry on hearing this but this 
 young man did not feel or act so. After 
 hearing what the Doctor said his an- 
 swer was: “Well, sir, if the gentlemen 
 don’t think me fit to be a missionary I 
 will go as a servant. I am willing to be 
 a hewer of wood or a drawer of water 
 or do anything to help on the cause of 
 my heavenly Master.” 
 
 He was sent out as a servant but he 
 soon got to be a missionary and turned 
 out to be the Rev. Dr. Milne, one of 
 the best missionaries that ever went to 
 that country.—Selected. 
 
 362 ——— 
 
 PENITENTS ALWAYS WELCOME 
 
 At the close of the twelfth century 
 Richard, son of Henry II, conspired 
 against his father and took refuge in a 
 walled city to which the king laid siege. 
 In the course of the campaign Richard 
 was wotnded unto death and, being 
 overwhelmed with contrition, sent a 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 messenger to his father asking that he 
 might be permitted to see his face. His 
 request was refused. Once and again he 
 sent his humble appeal in vain. At 
 length a procession passed through the 
 gateway of the city under a flag of truce 
 bearing the dying prince upon a stretch- 
 er; but ere it had reached the royal pa- 
 vilion he had breathed his last. As the 
 bearers waited there they heard from 
 within a strong cry like that of David, 
 “QO Richard, my son, my son, would 
 God I had died for thee!” 
 
 The Lord, with whom we have to do, 
 makes no such mistakes. He knows the 
 deep secrets of the heart and, where 
 there is true penitence, He has sworn by 
 Himself that He will not reject it—Rev. 
 David James Burrell, D. D. 
 
 —— 363 —— 
 HOW HE FOUND CHRIST. 
 
 Ata Moody Meeting.—I have made a 
 great many speeches in my life and some 
 from this platform but this is the first 
 time I have ever spoken at a religious 
 meeting. For months I have been per- 
 plexed very much on the subject of 
 Christianity. I had been looking for- 
 ward to the meetings of Mr. Moody and 
 determined to attend them. When [ 
 first came I thought to sneak in and 
 take a back seat but I changed my mind 
 and said I would go onto the platform 
 and identify myself with these meet- 
 ings. This I have.done, with the excep- 
 tion of one evening. This was the first 
 victory over my pride. 
 
 Yesterday Mr. Moody came to my 
 house and I joined with him in prayer— 
 the first time I ever bowed my knee to 
 God or man in my life. This was my 
 second victory. Last night I got up and 
 asked the prayers of God’s people. This 
 was my third victory. I feel now per- 
 fectly satisfied; the burden is rolled off 
 and all gone and I feel that I could run 
 or fly into the arms of Jesus Christ. 
 This is my fourth victory. May God 
 give us all strength to be true to our 
 convictions.—Ex-Attorney Gen’l Geo. H. 
 Williams, Portland, Ore. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 th Lode Wl elas 
 AFTER MANY DAYS. 
 
 Nine or ten years ago Dr. Len 
 Broughton, visited a district in the 
 mountains of southwest Virginia, hold- 
 ing a three days’ mission for the deep- 
 ening of spiritual life. The people were 
 exceedingly poor, but living pure, whole- 
 some lives. He was entertained by a 
 family living in a house of only three 
 rooms, where his deepest interest was 
 awakened by one whom he took to be a 
 daughter of the family. 
 
 Speaking of her to the minister of the 
 place, he was told that she was the most 
 remarkable girl in that country. She 
 had never had more than three months 
 schooling in her life, and was not a 
 daughter, but only a servant, in receipt 
 of $4.00 per month. 
 
 Out of this she gave every month one 
 dollar to her church (being the largest 
 contributor), one dollar to foreign mis- 
 sions (being again, the largest contrib- 
 utor), two dollars to her family, her 
 father being very poor, and the family 
 very large. How, then, did she clothe 
 herself? By taking in work and sitting 
 up far into the night. 
 
 The room occupied by Dr. Broughton 
 was the girl’s, and there he found her 
 Bible. It was marked on every page, 
 and almost at every verse, but it was 
 at Mark 16:15 that he found, as he be- 
 lieved, the secret of her life. Over 
 against the “Go ye into all the world,” 
 eic., was written in firm, clear hand, 
 “Oh, if I could!” 
 
 He felt he must follow this up, and 
 so he spoke to her about it, whereupon 
 she broke into crying. 
 
 “Don’t cry, come to business,” said 
 he; but the crying went on all the same, 
 and he had to try again later on, when 
 she told him her story. 
 
 At fourteen she was converted at a 
 meeting, and when she reached home 
 she found a tract lying there, entitled, 
 “China’s Call for the Gospel.” Nobody 
 knew anything about it—whence it 
 came, who brought it, or how long it 
 had been there. Yet it was that that 
 
 ANECDOTES. 195 
 shaped all her after life. She showed 
 Dr. Broughton the tree where for ten 
 years she had prayed the Lord to send 
 her to China. 
 
 But a great change had come over her 
 recently. Exactly two weeks before 
 Dr. Broughton’s coming she had come 
 to the conclusion that she had misunder- 
 stood God’s purpose for her—that, 
 after all, His plan was that she should 
 be a missionary for Him in the kitchen. 
 At once her prayer became, “Make me 
 willing to be a missionary for Thee in 
 the kitchen!” She told how the Lord 
 had answered her prayer, but now Dr. 
 Broughton’s first sermon had brought 
 back the old longings stronger than 
 ever. 
 
 “TI have been so miserable that I al- 
 most wish you hadn’t come,” she said. 
 
 His reply was that she must come off 
 at once with him and be trained. He 
 felt so sure that God had sent him to 
 help this chosen servant of His into her 
 true path that she must do it even if he 
 had to sell his own clothes. She follow- 
 ed him in a few days to Atlanta. His 
 people responded nobly to his appeal. 
 She was sent 1,000 miles to Brooklyn 
 for training, and at the end she came out 
 first of all the students. For seven 
 years she did good work in China, came 
 home on furlough, and has now just re- 
 turned for her second term of service. 
 
 The point to be noted, especially, is 
 this: For ten years she had longed for 
 the big thing. Then she was brought to 
 willingness to accept the little thing— 
 to shine for God in that narrow home 
 as kitchen maid; and as soon as she 
 reached that point, God Himself sent 
 her out to China. 
 
 “He that humbleth himself shall be 
 exalted.”’—Selected. 
 
 ——— 365 —— 
 
 A WRONG RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 “Some people’s religion is just like a 
 wooden leg. There is neither warmth 
 nor life in it; and, although it helps you 
 to hobble along, it never becomes a 
 part of you, but has to be strapped on 
 every morning.” 
 
196 
 
 ae 366 ——— 
 SUBMISSION TO GOD. 
 
 What a blessing my late friend, Dr. 
 Moon, of Brighton, has been, the pro- 
 jector of the great Moon System to aid 
 the blind to read the Word of God, the 
 greatest system of its kind, in my opin- 
 ion, ever devised. When twenty-three 
 years of age he was struck with total 
 blindness. He besought God, when the 
 symptoms were coming on, that He de- 
 liver him from this curse of total blind- 
 ness. He was an educated man, just at 
 the beginning of his true service of God 
 and man. But the blindness continued. 
 What did he do? It is one of the sub- 
 limest things in history. He looked up to 
 God and said: “My heavenly Father, 
 I thank Thee for the talent of blindness. 
 May I so invest that talent that at the 
 coming of the Lord Jesus He may re- 
 ceive His own with usury.” 
 
 Is not that profoundly, sublimely and 
 ecstatically heavenly? And the Lord 
 at once taught him that He had permit- 
 ted the blindness that he might min- 
 ister to the millions of blind people in 
 the world; and Dr. Moon used his in- 
 ventive faculties and devised this beau- 
 tiful system, containing only a very few 
 characters in combination. According 
 to the account which I received last year 
 that system has been utilized in 492 lan- 
 guages and dialects. So that after this 
 man went to God in heaven a few years 
 ago he must have found thousands of 
 people from that day coming to heaven 
 through reading the raised characters 
 by which he made it possible to com- 
 mtne with the Word of God. By tak- 
 ing blindness as a talent from God, and 
 using it for God, he accomplished far 
 more for God and man than he ever 
 could have done if he had followed out 
 the devices and desires of his own heart. 
 —A. T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
 —— 367 —— 
 WHOSE BOY IS IN DANGER? 
 
 Rev. Cortland Myers, of Boston, re- 
 lates the following story as told by a 
 ship’s surgeon: 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “On our last trip a boy fell over- 
 board from the deck. I didn’t know 
 who he was and the crew hastened out 
 to save him. They brought him on 
 board the ship, took off his outer gar- 
 ments, turned him over a few times and 
 worked his hands and his feet. When 
 they had done all that they knew how 
 to do I came up to be of assistance and 
 they said he was dead and beyond help. 
 I turned away, as I said to them, ‘I 
 think you have done all you could,’ 
 but just then a sudden impulse told me 
 I ought to go over to see what I could 
 do. I went over and looked down into 
 the boy’s face and discovered that it 
 was my own boy. Well, you may be- 
 lieve I didn’t think the last thing had 
 been done. I pulled off my coat and 
 bent over that boy; I blew into his nos- 
 trils and breathed into his mouth; I 
 turned him over and over and simply 
 begged God to bring him back to life 
 and for four long hours I worked, until, 
 just at sunset, I began to see the least 
 flutter of breath that told me he lived. 
 Oh, I will never see another boy drown 
 without taking off my coat in the first 
 instance and going to him and trying 
 to save him as if I knew he were my 
 own boy.” 
 
 oom 368 ——= 
 
 WHEN FAILURE WINS. 
 
 Apparent failure may really spell suc- 
 cess. Some years ago a genius sent a 
 raft of logs from Canada to New York. 
 This method of transporting logs was 
 then unknown. When near New York 
 a great storm snapped the cables that 
 bound the logs and they were scattered 
 far and wide. The Chief of the Hy- 
 drographic Department at Washington 
 heard of the accident and sent word to 
 shipmasters the world over to watch 
 out for the logs, noting the latitude and 
 longitude in which they were discov- 
 ered. Hundreds of captains reported, 
 with the result that remarkable discov- 
 eries were made as to the courses of 
 ocean currents. Joggins lost his raft 
 but the world gained new knowledge of 
 marine geography and navigation. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Perhaps your raft has been destroyed. 
 You had hoped great things for it; but 
 the logs are not lost. You will find 
 them scattered all through your life and 
 perhaps in a time of storm they will 
 save you from shipwreck. They have 
 gone into the building up of your char- 
 acter. Also, and more important, they 
 will save some other fellow from disas- 
 ter. Columbus failed in finding a back 
 door to India but he discovered Amer- 
 ica. The Spanish court could see in 
 Columbus’ discovery merely a few Indi- 
 an souvenirs but to the world it meant 
 a vast continent.—Rev. Charles Stetzle. 
 
 369 
 SAVED BY A THREAD. 
 
 A tall chimney had been completed 
 and the scaffolding was being removed. 
 One man remained on the top to super- 
 intend the process. A rope should have 
 been left for him to descend by. His 
 wife was at home washing when her 
 little boy burst in with “Mother, moth- 
 er, mother, they have forgotten the rope 
 and he’s going to throw himself down!” 
 She paused; her lips moved in the ago=- 
 ny of prayer and she rushed forth. 
 
 A crowd was looking up to the poor 
 man who was moving round and round 
 the narrow cornice, terrified and be- 
 wildered. It seemed as if at any mo- 
 ment he might fall or throw himself 
 down in despair. His wife from below 
 cried out, “Wait, John!” The man be- 
 came calm. “Take off thy stockings; 
 unravel the worsted.” And he did so. 
 “Now tie the end to a bit of mortar and 
 lower gently.” Down came the thread 
 and the bit of mortar swinging back- 
 wards and forwards. Lower and lower 
 it descended—eagerly watched by many 
 eyes. It was now within reach and was 
 gently seized by one of the crowd. They 
 fastened some cord to the thread. “Now 
 pull up.” The man got hold of the 
 cord. The rope was now fastened on. 
 “Pull away again.” He at length 
 seized the rope and made it secure. 
 There were a few moments of suspense 
 and then amidst the shouts of the peo- 
 
 
 
 
 
 ANECDOTES 197 
 ple he threw himself into the arms of 
 his wife, sobbing “Thou’st saved me, 
 Mary!” The worsted thread was not. 
 despised; it drew after it the cord, the 
 rope, the rescue! 
 
 Ah! My friend, thou mayest be sunk 
 very low down in sin and woe but there 
 is a thread of divine love that comes 
 from the throne of heaven and touches 
 even thee. Seize that thread. It may 
 be small but itis golden. Improve what 
 you have, ‘however little, and more shall 
 be given. That thin thread of love, if 
 you will not neglect it, shall lift even 
 you up to God and glory. “Who hath 
 despised the day of small things?’—— 
 Newman Hall. 
 
 ——— 370 —— 
 
 “GOD USE THIS STAMMERING 
 TONGUE.” 
 
 One day during his great mission in 
 London, Mr. Moody was holding a 
 meeting in a theatre packed with a most 
 select audience. Noblemen and noble- 
 women were there in large numbers. 
 A prominent member of the royal family 
 was in the royal box. Mr. Moody arose 
 to read the Scripture lesson. He at- 
 tempted to read Luke 4:27, “And many 
 lepers were in Israel in the time of 
 Eliseus the prophet.” When he came 
 to the name Eliseus he stammered and 
 stuttered overit. He went back to the 
 beginning of the verse and began to 
 read again but again when he reached 
 the word “Eliseus” he could nof get over 
 it. He went back and began the third 
 time to read the verse but again the 
 word “Eliseus” was too much for him. 
 He closed the Bible with deep emotion 
 and looked up and said, “Oh, God! Use 
 this stammering tongue to preach 
 Christ crucified to these people.” The 
 power of God came upon him and one 
 who heard him then and had heard 
 him often at other times said to me af- 
 terward that he had never heard Mr. 
 Moody pour out his soul in such a tor- 
 rent of eloquence as he did then, and 
 the whole audience was melted by the 
 power of God.—R, A. Torrey, D. D. 
 
198 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 371 ——. 
 “THEY DID NOT FIND IT OUT” 
 
 Evangelist “Billy” Sunday tells the 
 story of a certain man, a professing 
 Christian, whose business required him 
 to spend some months among the lum- 
 ber-jacks of the far Northwest. 
 
 Knowing how rough and godless 
 many of these men are, and how they 
 ridicule sacred things, a friend said 
 to him, “What did the jackies do to 
 you when they found out you were a 
 Christian?” 
 
 And the traveler answered with a 
 touch of shameless pride, “They did 
 net do anything, for they did not find 
 it out!” 
 
 How glaring the contrast between 
 his cowardly silence and the witness- 
 jearing of a Western traveling man! 
 In the office of a rude hotel several 
 miners were gambling. As they became 
 intoxicated, they began to swear, par- 
 ticularly taking in vain the name of 
 Jesus. 
 
 The Christian traveler was writing 
 his daily letter to the house. He sat 
 still a moment, wondering whether to 
 leave the room or rebuke these strangers 
 for their profanity. Finally he walked 
 over and said: “Pardon me, boys, but 
 this Jesus Christ whose name you are 
 coupling with such vile oaths is my 
 Saviour, and it hurts to hear you use 
 His name so. He’s done too much for 
 us all to be given such treatment. If 
 you must swear, can’t you leave the 
 name of Jesus out?” 
 
 Rough as they were, the men saw the 
 genuineness of the man who spoke, and 
 saying, “All right, pard; we'll see what 
 we can do,” they quieted down, and 
 swore no more. 
 
 Does the world know you are a Chris- 
 tian? Do the members of your frater- 
 nity, lodge, or social circle know it? If 
 they do not, how does it happen? [It 
 cannot be that you are ashamed of it. 
 
 Let us live so true to Him that, 
 whether our acquaintances know much 
 about us or little, they will at least 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 know that we dearly love our Lord.— 
 Christian Endeavor World. 
 
 — 3/2 — 
 
 THE WARNING VOICE HEEDED. 
 
 If we speak to another of God’s good- 
 ness to us perhaps that other will be 
 led to speak of God’s kindness to him. 
 
 Returning from a vacation a few 
 years ago, in the train between Albany 
 and New York, I got in conversa- 
 tion with a man occupying the seat in 
 front of mine. He was, as I learned, a 
 Mr. Edwards of Albany, a keeper in 
 the penitentiary in that city. Although 
 he felt too unworthy to esteem himself 
 a Christian, yet he believed in God, and 
 in prayer; and in speaking of God's 
 goodness to him he related the follow- 
 ing occurrence: 
 
 About a year previous he wanted to 
 go by trolley from Albany to Kinder- 
 hook, and hailed a car intending to 
 take it. The conducter stopped, and he 
 began to run to get aboard the car when 
 a voice seemed to say to him, “Do not 
 go! Do not go!” He yielded to the 
 warning, and motioned to the conduc- 
 tor to go on, and the car sped on with- 
 out him. After the car was gone he 
 felt foolish and disappointed, for he 
 wanted to go to Kinderhock, and to 
 wait for another car would make it so 
 late that he abandoned the purpose al- 
 together; but he could not understand 
 why he had not gone when the chance 
 was his. 
 
 As he was standing on the stoop of 
 his house, not long after, some one pass- 
 ing asked him if he had heard of the 
 accident. Then, to his surprise, he 
 learned that that car had come into 
 collision with another car. Three or 
 four persons had been killed outright 
 and others were injured. When Mr. 
 Edwards heard of this disaster which he 
 so mercifully escaped, he said he knelt 
 down where he was standing and 
 thanked God for that warning which he 
 thought more than likely was the means 
 of saving his life-—Rev. H. M. Tyndall., 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 373 —— 
 PRAY YOUR OWN PRAYERS. 
 
 In my boyhood days after I had been 
 converted, I had a great desire to be 
 useful in the work of the Lord, but al- 
 most despaired doing so because of my 
 inability to express myself publicly, 
 either in testimony or prayer. I could 
 not think of enough words to make a 
 testimony or prayer two minutes in 
 length. 
 
 While attending a United Brethren 
 Quarterly Conference, at the close of 
 the morning session the presiding elder 
 stated that in the afternoon a “love 
 feast” would be held, meaning a prayer 
 and testimony meeting. I was iil at 
 ease for some time wondering what I 
 should say when called upon to offer a 
 prayer. I then remembered that in the 
 library at home was a paper containing 
 one of Henry Ward Beecher’s sermons, 
 at the beginning of which was a short 
 prayer. Immediately a decision was 
 made to go home and commit that 
 prayer to memory before the afternoon 
 service. 
 
 After arriving home I went to my 
 room, read the prayer over a few times, 
 then kneeled and repeated it until I felt 
 assured that I could make use of it in 
 the afternoon. After services had be- 
 gun, I silently repeated the prayer to be 
 sure that it was still at my command. 
 When called upon to pray I broke forth 
 with the following words of Henry 
 Ward Beecher: 
 
 “O Lord God Almighty, bless our 
 nation; bless the President of the 
 United States and his cabinet; bless the 
 Vice-president, the Senate and the 
 House of Representatives. Bless the 
 governors of the various States and— 
 a-n-d—.” 
 
 This was all I could remember of the 
 prayer. After some little hesitation I 
 had to drop down to my own words 
 and common language, which indeed 
 seemed very flat to me, and, no doubt, 
 to those who were listening. The fall 
 from Henry Ward Beecher’s fluent 
 language to my small vocabulary was 
 
 199 
 
 so great that it cured me for life. Feel- 
 ing so chagrined over my failure in the 
 meeting I was for a time in great trial, 
 but the Lord comforted me when I de- 
 cided thereafter to pray my own prayers 
 and not the prayers of some one else, 
 to be myself and not try to be Henry 
 Ward Beecher or some other noted 
 man. 
 
 I decided to pray my short prayer and 
 to say what I had to say in testimony, 
 and, when through, to sit down and 
 rest assured that I had done the will of 
 God so far as was required of me. In 
 doing this, the Lord helped me and in- 
 creased my talent on these lines as I 
 obeyed him and did my duty. Although 
 he never did see fit to give me a gift of 
 speech as he has given to many others, 
 yet I learned that it is the prayer of 
 faith that counts instead of the ability 
 to offer a prayer of many words. 
 
 —E. E. Byrum. 
 
 tla yp at 
 A LOAN TO THE LORD. 
 
 A poor man with an empty purse 
 came one day to Michael Feneberg, the 
 godly pastor of Seyg, in Bavaria, and 
 begged three crowns that he might fin- 
 ish his journey. It was all the money 
 Feneberg had, but as he besought him 
 so earnestly in the name of Jesus, he 
 gave it. Immediately after he found 
 himself in great outward need, and see- 
 ing no way of relief, he prayed, saying; 
 “Lord, I lent Thee three crowns; Thou 
 hast not yet returned them, and Thou 
 knowest how I need them. Lord, I 
 pray Thee, give them back.” 
 
 The same day a messenger brought a 
 money-letter, which Gossner, his assist- 
 ant, handed over to Feneberg, saying, 
 “Here, father, is what you expended.” 
 The letter contained 20 thalers, or about 
 $146, which the poor traveler had begged 
 from a rich man for the vicar; and the 
 childlike old man, in joyful amusement, 
 cried out, “Ah, dear Lord, one dare ask 
 nothing of Thee, for straightway Thou 
 makest one feel so much ashamed!’ 
 —Selected. 
 
200 
 —— 375 —— 
 
 THE DOXOLOGY IN EMPTY 
 FLOUR BARREL, 
 
 It is one thing to trust God when the 
 flour-barrel is full, when there is money 
 in the bank to fail back on and when 
 the wages are coming in regularly. 
 
 It is quite another thing to trust God 
 when the barrel is empty, the money in 
 the bank gone, and no wages coming 
 in. Under these conditions one is apt 
 to find that what was supposed to be 
 faith in God was simply faith in a full 
 flour-barrel. 
 
 I heard the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, 
 of the China Inland Mission, say, 
 “When I came to a place of testing 
 where my faith was most needed, I 
 found it gradually going; then I learned 
 to look less to my faith, and to depend 
 more on God’s faithfulness.” 
 
 Only as we come to God’s Word and 
 plant our feet upon the promises shall 
 we find faith abiding in times of testing. 
 
 The flour may be gone; the money 
 may be gone, the salary gone; but God 
 is there. 
 
 I know this to be true. I had often 
 Said in public talks, “It takes real faith 
 in God to be able to put your head into 
 an empty flour-barrel and sing the dox- 
 ology.” My wife had heard me say 
 this and not long since she called me to 
 the kitchen. I said, “What do you want 
 me for?” 
 
 she replied, “I want you to come out 
 here and sing.” I thought this queer, 
 so I went out to see what it all meant. 
 
 In the center of the floor there was 
 an empty flour-barrel she had just dusted 
 out. 
 
 “Now, my dear,” said she, “I have 
 often heard you say one could put his 
 head into an empty flour-barrel and 
 sing, ‘Praise God from whom all bless- 
 ings flow,’ if he believed what God said. 
 Now here is your chance; practice what 
 you preach.” 
 
 There was the empty flour-barrel 
 staring at me with open mouth; my 
 pocket-book was empty as the barrel; 
 I was not on a salary, and knew of no 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 money that was coming in. I do not 
 know that my wife enjoyed my preach- 
 ing, but she was evidently bent on en- 
 joying my practicing. I looked for my 
 faith and could not find it; I looked for 
 a way of escape, but could not find that, 
 my wife blocking the door of exit with 
 the dust-brush covered with flour. 
 
 I said, “I will put my head in and 
 sing, on one condition.” 
 
 “What’s that?” said my wife. 
 
 “The condition that you will put your 
 head in with me. You know how you 
 promised to share my joys and sor- 
 rows.” 
 
 She consented; so we put our heads 
 in and sang the long-metre doxology. I 
 will not say what else we did, but we 
 had a good time; and when we got our 
 heads out we were a good bit powdered 
 up, which we took as a token that there 
 was more flour to follow. 
 
 Sure enough, though no person knew 
 of our need or the empty barrel, the 
 next day a grocery man called with a 
 barrel of flour for the Gibbuds! Who 
 sent it, or where it came from, we do 
 not know to this day, save that we 
 know that our heavenly Father knew 
 that we had “need of these things.” 
 
 I have joined with a thousand voices 
 in singing the grand old doxology; I 
 have sung it in many a fine church 
 building, also in the open air under the 
 blue canopy of heaven; but there is 
 something very peculiar about the 
 sound of the song when sung in an ermp- 
 ty flour-barrel under the foregoing con- 
 ditions. I have repeated the experience 
 once or twice since with the same result 
 though now I never spend any time in 
 looking for my faith; I simply apply for 
 flour at Phil. 4:19, and then sing, 
 “Praise God from whom all blessings 
 flow.” Bread, butter, beef, beans, and 
 all our needs we find can be supplied 
 from the same place. 
 
 In days gone by we have trusted in a 
 good salary, but that sometimes failed 
 to materialize; we have trusted in a 
 good committee, but they did not al- 
 ways know when rent was due. But 
 the Lord knows when the first day of 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 the month comes around, and He has 
 never failed to send us our rent money 
 before it was due. “Trust in the Loxd, 
 and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the 
 land, and verily (in ‘truth,’ the margin 
 says) thou shalt be fed,’ the Douay 
 version reading, “Thou shalt be fed 
 with its riches.” 
 
 There is board and lodging for any- 
 body who will “trust in the Lord and 
 do good.”—H. B. Gibbud. 
 
 —— 376 ——= 
 
 HOW A TEACHER FAILED. 
 
 Mrs, Barney of Rhode Island tells the 
 following incident: 
 
 “My business in W. C, T. U. work 
 called me to Pitsburgh, where I was met 
 by a young friend who took me to her 
 home in one of the public carriages 
 found at the station. As I got into the 
 carriage I noticed the very disreputable- 
 looking driver and the very shabby car- 
 riage. I wondered at my friend select- 
 ing that particular outfit. As I turned 
 to my friend, I found her weeping bit- 
 terly. ‘Mary, what is it?’ She replied, 
 ‘O, Mrs. Barney, look at that dreadful 
 driver! He was once my Sunday school 
 scholar and look at him now!’ I 
 thought: ‘You may well weep.’ She 
 continued, ‘I went away to college and 
 was gone four years. When I came 
 back he had become a common drunk- 
 ard. I went to him, and said, “O Jack, 
 I see you are going wrong; do you for- 
 get all my teachings?” He replied: 
 “Miss Mary, you had your chance with 
 my life and you failed to use it for good. 
 You taught the Bible as if it were a bit 
 of Roman or Greek history. You never 
 got any Christ into your lessons or any 
 Christ into me. Too late to talk to me 
 now.’ ” 
 
 “Fellow teacher, in God’s eternal day 
 will any soul look into your face or mine 
 and say: ‘You had your chance with 
 my life and you failed. You never had 
 Christ in your lesson and there is no 
 Christ in me.’ Rather let us strive to 
 be able to say: ‘Dear Lord, here is every 
 soul committed to my care. I have 
 
 ANECDOTES 201 
 done my best to make them honorable 
 citizens of the Republic of the United 
 States and glorious citizens of the King- 
 dom of God.” 
 
 —— 3/7] —— 
 
 HOW “SAFE IN THE ARMS OF 
 JESUS” CAME TQ-BE 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 The blind hymn writer, Fanny Cros- 
 by, in telling how one of her most 
 beautiful and tender hymns, “Safe in 
 the Arms of Jesus,” came to be written, — 
 says: 
 
 “Mr. W. H. Doane, the author of 
 the music, came to my home one morn- 
 ing, and he said he was anxious to get 
 the next train for Cincinnati, his home, 
 and he was very anxious as well that I 
 should write a hymn to a melody which 
 he had just written, and which he 
 played. Then he said: “In order to do 
 this we have only forty minutes. Can 
 you do it?” I smiled, and said, “We 
 will try.” So I ran upstairs to my room, 
 and, as I always do, knelt down and 
 asked divine assistance. I finished the 
 hymn in less than fifteen minutes. But 
 I believe the Holy Spirit dictated that 
 hymn. It was born for a mission, and 
 that was to comfort sad and lonely 
 hearts. 
 
 “I have heard a great many stories in 
 regard to that hymn. Dr. John Hall, 
 of New York, once told me that he went 
 one day to visit one of his parishioners 
 whose little girl was lying in bed very 
 ill. The gentleman came in tears into 
 the reception room, and Dr. Hall asked, 
 “Has the little one gone home?” “No,” 
 replied the anxious father, “but she 
 wants to do something that I cannot do. 
 I never sang a song in my life, and 
 she won’t be comforted until I sing 
 ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” “Never 
 mind,” said Dr. Hall, “I will go up and 
 sing it for her,” and he went up where 
 the little sufferer was, and sang the 
 hymn until he came to the third line of 
 the last verse, when the little spirit 
 plumed its wings, flew away home, ana 
 was “safe in the Arms of Jesus.” 
 
202 
 
 ean 378 ——— 
 HERO OF “PUNCHEON CAMP.” 
 
 Once when I was on a preaching tour 
 through the mountains, a humble, un- 
 lettered young man joined the church. 
 Amoung a hundred others he made no 
 impression on me, unless it was by his 
 homeliness. On a subsequent visit he 
 met me at the church on the Middle 
 Fork of the Kentucky River and urged 
 me to visit his Sunday School on Pun- 
 cheon Camp. I was astonished that he 
 had a Sunday School anywhere, espe- 
 cially on the Puncheon Camp. 
 
 It was several miles from where he 
 worked (as a hired man) among a 
 sparsely settled people, in a narrow val- 
 ley. between big mountains. He urged 
 so persistently that I promised to stop 
 on the Puncheon Camp Creek at nine 
 o’clock Thursday morning on my way 
 to Jackson. I could hardly believe that 
 a Sunday School could be gathered at 
 nine o'clock on a week day out of those 
 wild, rough mountains. I did not know 
 the man. 
 
 It was blazng hot; I came near hav- 
 ing a sunstroke as I crossed the moun- 
 tain at the head of the Puncheon Camp 
 though I started early. By nine o’clock 
 I came in sight of the old deserted house 
 where the Sunday School was taught. 
 Imagine my astonishment when I saw 
 an anxious crowd of men and women 
 and children filling the house, porch and 
 yard at nine o’clock in the morning. 
 They had climbed the mountains and 
 crossed the streams on foot to hear the 
 Gospel. 
 
 My friend was there and made a place 
 big enough for me to stand in a crowd 
 that filled every inch of space both in- 
 side and outside the house. His equip- 
 ment for the Sunday School consisted 
 of one small copy of Gospel Hymns 
 (“words only’) and a small ten-cent 
 Testament. Out of these he taught the 
 Puncheon Campers to sing and to love 
 Jesus. He led the singing and I 
 preached. A hundred earnest, eager, 
 hungry people sitting on the floor and 
 porches of a mountain cabin would make 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the dumb speak and the stones ery out 
 if others were silent, 
 
 That poor, untutored lad, Lewis Hens- 
 ley, who had spelled out the story of 
 Jesus’ love to the simple mountain folk, 
 had sowed the seed of the kingdom. I 
 don’t remember the sermon but I do 
 remember that when I was done some 
 eighteen souls, some well stricken in 
 years, some in the dew of youth, came 
 forward to say they believed in Jesus. 
 It was not far from there to heaven that 
 day.—Edward O. Guerrant. 
 
 ——— 379 
 
 SANKEY AND THE GIPSY BOY 
 
 While holding meetings at Burdett 
 Road, London, in 1874, Mr. Moody 
 and Mr. Sankey one Saturday took a 
 drive out to Epping Forest. “There 
 we visited a gipsy camp,” says Mr. 
 Sankey, “and while stopping to speak to 
 two brothers who had been converted 
 and were doing good missionary work, 
 a few young gipsy lads came up to our 
 carriage. I put my hand on the head 
 of one of them and said: ‘May the 
 Lord make a preacher of you, my boy!’ 
 
 “Fifteen years later, when Gipsy 
 Smith made his first visit to America, 
 I had the pleasure of taking him for a 
 drive in Brooklyn. While passing 
 through Prospect Park he asked me: 
 ‘Do you remember driving from Lon- 
 don one day to a gipsy camp at Epping 
 Forest?’ I replied that I remembered. 
 ‘Do you remember a little gipsy boy 
 standing by your carriage,’ he asked 
 again, ‘and you put your hand on his 
 head, saying that you hoped that he 
 would be a preacher? ‘Yes, I remem- 
 ber it very well.’ ‘I am that boy,’ 
 said Gipsy Smith. My surprise can 
 better be imagined than described. 
 Little had I thought that the success- 
 ful evangelist and fine Gospel singer of 
 whom 1] had heard so much was the 
 little boy I had met in the gipsy camp. 
 Truly God had granted my wish and 
 
 had made a mighty preacher of the gip- 
 sy boy.” 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 380 ——— 
 SHE SAVED THE TRAIN. 
 
 One day in September, 1893, a little 
 girl, named Jennie Creek, was strolling 
 through the woods near her home in 
 Indiana, when she noticed the smell of 
 burning wood. She looked for the 
 cause, and to her surprise she saw that 
 the railroad bridge which spanned the 
 big river was on fire. Into her soul 
 came a great horror. She knew that in 
 five minutes the eastbound Chicago ex- 
 press would come dashing along at a 
 terrific speed, bearing its load of passen- 
 gers from the World’s Fair. 
 
 There she stood alone, a little girl 
 eleven years old. There was no one 
 near to call upon for help. Suddenly 
 she heard the whistle of the train. It 
 was rushing fast toward the burning 
 bridge. What should she do? But Jen- 
 nie was a Christian girl, and in this 
 moment of agony she prayed, “Lord 
 Jesus, help me. Tell me what to do.” 
 She realized that she must stop the 
 train; but how? She knew that a red 
 flag was the sign of danger; if she only 
 had something red. The next second 
 she remembered her underskirt of red 
 flannel. She ripped off her dress, tore 
 off her petticoat and ran toward the 
 train, shouting and waving the garment 
 as she ran. 
 
 The train was thundering along to 
 certain destruction, when into the eyes 
 of the engineer came a flash of red. In 
 an instant he saw a little gizl waving 
 the signal. The engine was reversed, 
 but not a second too soon. Half a min- 
 ute more and the train would have 
 crashed headlong into the river with a 
 terrible loss of life. The passengers 
 showered her with blessings, and car- 
 ried her through the cars in triumph on 
 their shoulders. 
 
 Among the passengers were some dis- 
 tinguished people from France, who had 
 come to attend the World’s Fair. A 
 few months afterward Jennie received 
 a letter with a strange-looking post- 
 mark. It was about the first letter she 
 had ever received. It was from Presi- 
 
 208 
 
 dent Carnot of France. It called her a 
 brave, good girl, and told her she had 
 been chosen a member of the Legion of 
 Honor. She was offered an education 
 in the best schools of France at the ex- 
 pense of the government. Then when 
 the great Paris Exposition occurred in 
 1900, the French government invited 
 her to visit France as the guest of the 
 nation, showing that after seven years 
 those grateful foreigners had not for- 
 gotten the little girl who stopped their 
 train at the burning bridge. 
 
 Yes, they were grateful to her; but 
 Jennie was thankful to God who had an- 
 swered her prayer in that moment of 
 perplexity, and had shown her what ta 
 do.—Rev. H. W. Pope. 
 
 —— 381 —— 
 
 SAVED FROM DEATH IN A 
 TRUNK. 
 
 A special despatch to the New York 
 Herald from Saginaw, Mich., February 
 17, 1914, tells the following beautiful 
 story: 
 
 Monday, while Mrs. Michael Hart 
 was busy with her housework she 
 missed her two children, Mary, eight 
 years old, and Leon, six. At first she 
 was not alarmed, but the continued ab- 
 sence of the children frightened her, 
 and she hurried from one room to the 
 other without finding them. She was 
 quite sure they had not leit the house, 
 as their coats and hats were not gone. 
 
 Suddenly she lifted the lid of a trunk 
 and screamed. Two little forms, hands 
 clasped on their breasts, two little chil- 
 dren seemingly wax, she saw. Physi- 
 cians were called, and the unconscious 
 children were revived just in time. 
 
 The children told how they had 
 prayed, “Jesus, tell ma we are in the 
 trunk and tell her to come quick.” 
 
 “We were afraid Jesus was not listen- 
 ing,” said Mary, “and we asked Him to 
 take us to heaven if we were going to 
 die. I made Leon fold his hands across 
 his breast like people in coffins and I 
 folded mine, too. Then we waited.” 
 
204 
 
 ——- 382 —— 
 A HEBREW’S SEARCH FOR THE 
 BLOOD OF ATONEMENT. 
 
 In the spring of 1898 I was holding 
 some gospel meetings in San Francisco, 
 and several times addressed the Jews 
 attending a “Mission to Israel.” On one 
 occasion, having concluded my dis- 
 course, the meeting was thrown open 
 for discussion with any Hebrews who 
 desired to ask questions or state diffi- 
 culties, as also for any who had been 
 brought to Christ to relate their con- 
 versions. 
 
 The experience of one old Jew inter- 
 ested me greatly, and as nearly as I can, 
 I give his remarks in his own words, 
 though not attempting to preserve the 
 inimitable Hebrew-English dialect. 
 
 He said: “This is Passover week 
 emong you, my Jewish brethren, and 
 as I sat here I was thinking how you 
 will be observing it. You will have put 
 away all leaven from your houses; you 
 will eat the “motsah” (unleavened 
 wafers) and the roasted lamb. You will 
 attend the synagogue services, and 
 carry out the ritual and directions of 
 the Talmud; but you forget, my breth- 
 ren, that you have everything but that 
 which Jehovah required first of all. He 
 did not say, ‘When I see the leaven put 
 away, or when I see you eat the motsah, 
 or the lamb, or go to the synagogue; 
 but His word was, ‘When I see the 
 blood I will pass over you.’ Ah, my 
 brethren, you can substitute nothing for 
 this. You must have blood, blood, 
 BLOOD!” 
 
 As he reiterated this word with ever- 
 increasing emphasis, his black eyes 
 flashed warningly, and his Jewish hear- 
 ers quailed before him. 
 
 “Blood!” It is an awful word, that, 
 for one who reveres the ancient oracle, 
 and yet has no sacrifice. Turn where 
 he will in the book, the blood meets him, 
 let him seek as he may, he cannot find 
 it in the Judaism of the present. ; 
 
 After a moment’s pause, the patri- 
 archal old man went on somewhat as 
 follows: “I was born in Palestine, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 nearly seventy years ago. As a child 
 I was taught to read the Law, the 
 Psalms, and the Prophets. I early at- 
 
 tended the synagogue and learned He- 
 brew from the Rabpis. At first I Le- 
 lieved what I was told, that ours was 
 the true and only religion, but as I grew 
 older and studied the Law more intent- 
 ly, I was struck by the place the blood 
 had in all the ceremonies outlined there, 
 and equally struck by its utter absence 
 in the ritual to which I was brought up. 
 
 “Again and again I read Exodus xii. 
 and Leviticus xvi., xvii., and the latter 
 chapters especially made me tremble, as 
 I thought of the great Day of Atone- 
 ment and the place the blood had there. 
 Day and night one verse would ring in 
 my ears. ‘It is the blood that maketh 
 an atonement for the soul!’ I knew I 
 had broken the law. I needed atone- 
 ment. Year after year, on that day, I 
 beat my breast as I confessed my need 
 of it; but it was to be made by blood, 
 and there was no blood! 
 
 “In my distress, at last, I opened my 
 heart to a learned and venerable rabbi. 
 He told me that God was angry with 
 His people. Jerusalem was in the hands 
 of the Gentiles, the temple was des- 
 troyed, and a Mohammedan mosque was 
 reared up in its place. The only spot 
 on earth where we dare shed the blood 
 of sacrifice, in accordance with Deuter- 
 onomy xii. and Leviticus xvii., was des- 
 ecrated, and our nation scattered. That 
 was why there was no blood. God had 
 Himself closed the way to carry out 
 the solemn service of the great Day of 
 Atonement. Now, we must turn to the 
 Talmud, and rest on its instruction, and 
 trust in the mercy of God and the merits 
 of the fathers. 
 
 “T tried to be satisfied, but could not. 
 Something seemed to say that the law 
 was unaltered, even though our temple 
 was destroyed. Nothing else but blood 
 could atohe for the soul. We dared not 
 shed blood for atonement elsewhere 
 than in the place the Lord had chosen. 
 Then we were left without an atone- 
 ment at all? 
 
 “This thought filled me with horror. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 205 
 
 In my distress I consulted many other man the agitated appeal, “Yet more, O 
 
 rabbis. I had but one great question— 
 Where can I find the blood of atone- 
 ment? 
 
 “I was over thirty years of age when 
 I left Palestine and came to Constanti- 
 nople, with my still unanswered ques- 
 tion ever before my mind, and my soul 
 exceedingly troubled about my sins. 
 
 “One night I was walking down one 
 of the narrow streets of that city, when 
 I saw a sign telling of a meeting for 
 Jews. Curiosity led me to open the 
 door and go in. Just as I took a seat 
 I heard a man say, ‘The blood of Jesus 
 Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all 
 sin.’ It was my first introduction to 
 Christianity, but I listened breathlessly 
 as the speaker told how God had de- 
 clared that ‘without shedding of blood 
 is no remission’; but that He had given 
 His only begotten Son, the Lamb of 
 God, to die, and all who trusted in His 
 blood were forgiven all their iniquities, 
 This was the Messiah of the fifty-third 
 of Isaiah: this was the Sufferer of 
 Psalm xxii. Ah, my brethren, I had 
 found the blood of atonement at last. I 
 trusted it, and now I love to read the 
 New Testament and see how all the 
 shadows of the law are fulfilled in Jesus. 
 His blood has been shed for sinners. It 
 has satisfied God, and it is the only 
 means of salvation for either Jew or 
 Gentile.” 
 
 Reader, have you yet found the blood 
 of atonement? “Behold the Lamb of 
 God, who taketh away the sin of the 
 world” (John 1:29). Are you trusting 
 in God’s smitten Lamb?—the ever-suffi- 
 cient, all-availing sacrifice? Rev. H.A. 
 Tronside 393 
 
 EARNESTNESS. 
 
 When Xavier was preparing to £0 
 forth upon his mission through the East, 
 his friend Rodriguez, who shared 
 his apartment in the Hospital at Rome, 
 was awakened in the night by his earn- 
 est exclamations. He heard him toss- 
 ing restlessly on his couch; and at times 
 there came from the lips of the sleeping 
 
 
 
 
 
 my God! yet more!” 
 
 It was not until many months after- 
 wards that he revealed the vision. He 
 had seen in his slumber the wild and 
 terrible future of his career spread out 
 before him. There were barbarous re- 
 gions, islands, and continents, and 
 mighty empires which he was to win to 
 his faith. Storms, indeed, swept around 
 them, and hunger and thirst were every- 
 where, and death in many a fearful form; 
 yet he shrank not back. He was willing 
 to dare the peril, if he could but win the 
 prize. Nay, he yearned for still wider 
 fields of labor, and with an absorbing 
 passion, that filled every faculty, and 
 haunted him even in his slumber, he ex- 
 claimed, “Yet more, O my God! yet 
 more!” The incident furnishes a fine il- 
 lustration of Christian earnestness.— 
 Selected. 
 
 —— 384 ——. 
 
 BIBLE READING IN A CHIMNEY. 
 
 Now that the Bible is an open book 
 in so large a part of the world, it is hard 
 to realize to what devices the Christians 
 of former times were forced to resort 
 in order to enjoy their precious copies 
 of God’s Word. One famous Bible still 
 in existence was preserved by being 
 baked inside a loaf of bread. Rev. 
 George Whalpton of the French Metho- 
 dist Evangelistic Mission tells how an 
 old woman in a Norman village gave 
 him a smoked Bible with an interesting 
 history. 
 
 It belonged to the great-grandfather 
 of “la mere Vardon” (Mother Vardon), 
 who, at the beginning of the last cen- 
 tury, used to hide it up the great chim- 
 ney of his cottage, in a niche made by 
 the removal of a brick. In order to read 
 the book without incurring the certain 
 danger of imprisonment or even of a 
 cruel death, he would close the shutters, 
 lock his door, put out the fire, and get 
 up into the chimney, where with the 
 daylight which reached him from above, 
 he strengthened his heart by the pre- 
 cious promises of God’s Word. 
 
 —Selected, 
 
206 
 
 —— 385 —— 
 
 A DANIEL EXPERIENCE OF 
 TO-DAY. 
 
 The victorious life which The Sunday 
 School Times is teaching was, to my 
 husband and myself at the time of this 
 experience, quite in its infancy, and we 
 both had a burning desire to know God 
 more thoroughly. On our knees with 
 our Bibles and putting the promises to 
 the test we came to have many experi- 
 ences like the following: 
 
 My husband, on account of ili health, 
 was acting as superintendent of a silver 
 mine near Leadville, Colorado, I re- 
 maining in Illinois. The mining camp 
 was quite far up the trail from where 
 he was “batching it” with a friend. 
 
 One morning he arose, and, having 
 finished breakfast and devotions, started 
 to leave the cabin. As his hand reached 
 the latch, it was supernaturally held; 
 he could not touch the latch. He re- 
 turned to his seat to think, believing that 
 it was the hand of God. Then he prayed 
 about it, asking for light in the reverent 
 but familiar way we had come to feel 
 toward God. 
 
 He then opened his Bible, saying, “I 
 recognize thy hand; will you choose to 
 show me by a passage of Scripture that 
 you are here, that I am right, and you 
 are leading me?” He opened to a pass- 
 age speaking of where meat was cook- 
 ing on a fire. At this he thanked God, 
 saying, “I recognize the answer,’ for he 
 was then boiling on the stove some 
 meat for his friend’s return at noon. 
 
 Rising, he went to the door, but with 
 the same success as before. Again he 
 returned to his seat, saying, “Perhaps I 
 am to be detained to meet some one 
 here On business to-day.” He spent 
 some time talking it over with the Mas- 
 ter; then saying, “Unless I am to go 
 now it will be too late to start,” he went 
 to the door and passed out naturally. 
 
 Going to where his pony was tied he 
 started up the trail, and, being a close 
 observer and a geologist, he soon no- 
 ticed two sets of tracks in the light 
 snow which had fallen through the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 night, and which he had never seen be- 
 fore. He dismounted and examined 
 them closely. 
 
 As he reached the camp a great shout 
 arose as the great doors burst open, 
 from a hundred thankful men. Then 
 followed explanations. Two immense 
 mountain lions had passed the very time 
 Mr. Perry usually arrived, for he was 
 methodical almost to the minute. “We 
 supposed, of course, one had eaten the 
 pony and you were eaten by the other.” 
 Of all the lions seen by the men, none 
 had ever been so large. 
 
 As their superintendent told them of 
 the wonderful providence, godless men 
 though they were, they accepted it as 
 God’s hand. For “no manner of hurt 
 was found upon him, because he had 
 trusted in his God” (Dan. 6:23).—Mrs. 
 Frances Perry, in Sunday School Times. 
 
 —— 386 
 DELIVERANCE FROM WANT. 
 
 At one time I was recounting to a 
 Christian friend some of our remarkable 
 deliverances from want, by which he 
 was so much affected that he even wept. 
 While I was speaking, as if to confirm 
 my statement, I received a letter con- 
 taining a check for five hundred ducats. 
 At another time I was in need of a large 
 sum, but did not know where to obtain 
 ten ducats. The steward of the orphan- 
 age came, but having no money for 
 him, I asked him to come again after 
 dinner and in the meantime gave my- 
 self to prayer. When he came in the 
 afternoon all I could do was to ask him 
 to come again in the evening. In the 
 afternoon I was visited by a friend with 
 whom I united in prayer to God. As 
 I accompanied my friend to the door on 
 his departure, I found the steward 
 standing on one side, and on the other 
 a person who put into my hands a hund- 
 ted and fifty ducats. On another occa- 
 sion the superintendent began to pay 
 the laborers with only fourteen ducats, 
 but before he got through he received 
 enough to complete the cae 
 A. H. Franke. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —— 387 ——- 
 BRICK WITHOUT STRAW. 
 
 A few days ago, being in the store of 
 a Jewish bookseller in this part of the 
 city, and the conversation leading to 
 Biblical questions, the bookseller, who 
 has drifted away from the faith of his 
 fathers, made the remark that there is 
 no evidence that the Israelites ever were 
 in Egypt. We told him he was quite 
 mistaken; that not only is there evi- 
 dence of the Hebrews having dwelt in 
 Egypt, but also the spades of the exca- 
 vators are helping to confirm in cer- 
 tain minute particulars the statements 
 of Scripture, touching their residence in 
 that land. And then we referred to the 
 following facts: 
 
 Since 1883 a society known as the 
 “Egypt Exploration Fund,” composed 
 of Profs. Petrie, Naville and others, has 
 been at work in Egypt; and one of their 
 discoveries is the site of the ancient city 
 of Pithom. 
 
 In the first chapter of Exodus we are 
 told that “the Egyptians made the chil- 
 dren of Israel to serve with rigor; and 
 they made their lives bitter with hard 
 bondage, in mortar and in brick.” 
 
 Now, it was not customary for the 
 Egyptians to lay their brick in mortar, 
 but in mud, which was a fair substitute 
 for taortar. But in Pithom, one of 
 Pharaoh’s treasure cities, built we are 
 told in Exodus by the Israelites, it has 
 been discovered that the bricks are laid 
 in mortar instead of mud. 
 
 Furthermore, the lower courses of the 
 foundation walls of this same _ store- 
 city are made, it is said, of brick in 
 which straw was mixed with the clay; 
 but in the upper courses of the walls the 
 straw disappears, and the bricks are 
 made of the Nile mud, without the help 
 of straw to hold it together. This is 
 surely an interesting verification of the 
 statement in Exodus, that one of the 
 oppressive measures of Pharaoh was to 
 refuse finally to supply the Hebrews 
 with straw for their brick, and yet to re- 
 quire them to produce the same number 
 as before—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —— 388 ——— 
 AM 1 BETTER OFF? 
 
 The following story is told of Jacob 
 Ridgeway, a wealthy citizen of Phila- 
 delphia. “Mr. Ridgeway,” said a young 
 man with whom the millionaire was 
 conversing, “you are more to be en- 
 vied than any one I know.” “Why so?” 
 responded Mr. Ridgeway; “I am _ not 
 aware of any cause for which I should 
 be envied.” “What sir!” exclaimed the 
 young man in surprise. “Why, you are 
 a millionaire! Think of the thousands 
 your income brings every month!” 
 “Well, what of that?” replied Mr. Ridge- 
 way. “All I get out of it is my victuals 
 and clothes, and I can’t eat more than 
 one man’s allowance, and wear more 
 than one suit of clothes at a time. Pray 
 can’t you do as much?” “Ah, but,” 
 said the youth, “think of the hundreds 
 of fine houses you own, and the rentals 
 they bring you.” “What better am I 
 off for that?” replied the rich man. “I 
 can only live in one house at a time; 
 as for the money I receive for rents, 
 why I can’t eat or wear it; I can only 
 use it to buy other houses for other peo- 
 ple to live in; they are the beneficiaries, 
 not I.” “But you can buy splendid 
 furniture, and costly pictures, and fine 
 carriages and horses—in fact, anything 
 you desire.” “And after I have bought 
 them,” responded Mr. Ridgeway, “what 
 then? I can only iook at the furniture, 
 and pictures, and the poorest man, who 
 is not blind, can do the same. I can 
 ride no easier in a fine carriage than 
 you can ride in an omnibus for five 
 cents, without the trouble of attending 
 to drivers, footmen, and hostlers; and 
 as to anything I ‘desire’ I can tell you 
 that the less you desire in this world, 
 the happier you will be. All my wealth 
 can’t buy a single day more of life— 
 can not buy back my youth—can not 
 procure me power to keep off the hour 
 of death; and then what will all avail, 
 when in a few short years at most, I 
 must lie down in the grave and leave it 
 all forever? Young man, you have no 
 cause to envy me.”—Selected. 
 
208 “ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 pa, eae 
 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 The Denver News reports the follow- 
 ing story related by attorney J. W. 
 Donovan, in a case in the recorder’s 
 court, which shows how a touch of 
 nature makes the world akin, and de- 
 velops beneath a rough exterior the 
 principles of tender sympathy and kind 
 charity: 
 
 On a hot day in July, 1860, a herds- 
 man was moving his cattle to a new 
 ranch further north, near Helena, Texas, 
 and passing down the banks of a stream, 
 his herd became mixed with other cattle 
 that were grazing in the valley, and 
 some of them failed to be separated. 
 The next day about noon a band of 
 about a dozen Texas rangers overtook 
 the herdsman and demanded their cat- 
 tle, which they said were stolen. 
 
 It was before the day of law and 
 court-houses in Texas, and one had 
 better kill five men than steal a mule 
 worth five dollars, and the herdsman 
 knew it. He tried to explain, but they 
 told him to cut it short. He offered to 
 turn over all the cattle not his own, but 
 they laughed at the proposition, and 
 hinted that they usually confiscated the 
 whole herd and left the thief hanging 
 on a tree, a warning to others in like 
 cases. 
 
 The poor fellow was completely over- 
 come. They consulted apart for a iew 
 minutes, and then told him if he had 
 any explanations to make or business 
 to do, they would allow him ten minutes 
 to do so and defend himself. 
 
 He turned to the rough faces and 
 commenced: “How many of you have 
 wives?” Two or three nodded. “How 
 many of you have children?” They 
 nodded again. 
 
 “Then I know whom I am talking 
 to, and you'll hear me;” and he con- 
 tinued, “I never stole any cattle. I 
 have lived in these parts over three 
 years. I came from New Hampshire. 
 I failed in the fall of °57, during the 
 panic. I have been saving. I have no 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 home here; my family remain East, 
 for I go from place to place. These 
 clothes I wear are rough, and I am a 
 hard-looking customer; but this is a 
 hard country. Days seemed months to 
 me, and months like years. Married 
 men, you know that. But for letters 
 from home (here he pulled out a hand- 
 ful of well-worn envelopes and letters 
 from his wife) I should get discouraged. 
 I have paid part of my debts. Here 
 are the receipts,” and he unfolded the 
 letters of acknowledgment. “I expect 
 to sell out and go home in November. 
 Here is the Testament my good old 
 mother gave me; here is my little girl’s 
 picture,” and he kissed it tenderly, and 
 continued, “now, men, if you have de- 
 cided to kill me for what I am inno- 
 cent of, send these home, and send as 
 much as you can from the cattle when 
 I am dead, Can’t you send half the 
 value? My family will need it.” 
 
 “Hold on, now; stop right thar!” said 
 arough ranger. “Now, I say, boys,” he 
 continued, “I say, let him go. Give us 
 your hand, old boy; that picture and 
 them letters did the business. You can 
 go free, but you’re lucky, mind ye.” 
 
 “We'll do more than that,” said a 
 man with a big heart, in Texan garb, 
 and carrying the customary brace of 
 pistols in his belt; “let’s buy his cattle 
 here and let him go.” 
 
 They did, and when the money was 
 paid over and the man about to start 
 he was too weak to stand. The long 
 strain of hopes and fears, being far 
 away from home under such trying cir- 
 cumstances, the sudden deliverance from 
 death, had combined to render him help- 
 less as a child. He sank to the ground 
 completely overcome. An hour later, 
 however, he left on horseback, for the 
 nearest staging route, and, as _ they 
 shook hands and bade him good-bye, 
 they looked the happiest band of men 
 I ever saw. 
 
 —— 390 —— 
 THE WIDOW’S MEAL. 
 I remember being much struck long 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 years ago oy an incident related to me 
 by a Highland shepherd on my uncle’s 
 estate of Arndilly, the facts of which he, 
 a good Christian man, was quite pre- 
 pared to vouch for. 
 
 Up on a lone hillside, and far removed 
 from any other dwelling, there lived, 
 about the middle of the century, a poor 
 lone widow, who for many a long year 
 had learned to rest, in every difficulty 
 and in all her need, upon Him who has 
 somewhere said: “Let thy widows trust 
 in me.” It was the depth of winter 
 when the incident that I am going to re- 
 late occurred, and the poor woman’s 
 stock, never very abundant, was, I sup- 
 pose, reduced to its lowest by the diffi- 
 culty of finding any employment at that 
 season of the year. Unlike the widow 
 in the Hebrew story, she actually found 
 her barrel of meal fail, and when she had 
 finished the last handful she went to 
 bed, possibly with the hope that she 
 might be more fortunate in earning a 
 few pence on the morrow. 
 
 But when the morrow came a terrible 
 snow-storm swept over the land, and 
 the lane leading to her little cot 
 was almost blocked with the snow. It 
 was quite beyond her slender powers to 
 battle with the raging storm, and make 
 her way to some neighbor’s house, 
 where at least she would be made wel- 
 come to a dish of porridge. There was 
 One only Friend to whom she could ap- 
 ply, and in Him she had the most perfect 
 confidence. 
 
 Accordingly she filled her pan with 
 water, and put it on the fire, and actually 
 put the salt in the water. “Noo,” she 
 said to herself, “I'll jist gang ben, and 
 ask the Loord for the meal.” So she 
 retired into her inner chamber, and there 
 “with praise and thanksgiving she made 
 her wants known unto the Lord.” She 
 hadn’t been long on her knees when 
 there came a loud knock at the door. 
 “Na, na, Loord!” she exclaimed. “Thou 
 cans’ na hae sent the answer sae soon!” 
 
 But the knocking continued, and, on 
 her opening the door, a buxom farmer’s 
 lass, who lived some little distance off, 
 
 ANECDOTES 209 
 
 flung down a sack of meal on the floor, 
 exclaiming: “Father sent ye that; and 
 I think ye may be very grateful to me 
 for bringing it here through all this 
 terrible storm. Whatever possessed my 
 father I don’t know, but all the morning 
 he has been dinning into me about that 
 sack of meal, and, snow or no snow, I 
 must be sure and fetch it up to you; 
 but it’s been a pretty hard job getting 
 through the storm, I can tell you.” 
 
 So she was rattling on, when a glance 
 at the old woman fairly overawed and 
 silenced her. There she stood with up- 
 lifted hands and eyes bedimmed with 
 tears of grateful praise, as she exclaimed: 
 
 “He’s aye the same, Jeanie! He’s aye 
 the same! Many a lang year hae I 
 trusted Him, and I ne’er found Him fail; 
 and He’s na failed me noo. Look at 
 yon pot on the fire, Jeanie. I put on the 
 water, and I put in the sait, and ne’er 
 a grain o’ meal had I in the hose. Sae 
 I was jist asking the Loord to send me 
 the meal, when I heard ye knock at the 
 door, and noo here comes the meal, jist 
 while I was asking for it.”--W. Hay M. 
 H. Aitken. 
 
 —— 391 —— 
 
 AN AFRICAN LAKE. 
 
 Of a lake in Central Africa, Rev. R. 
 Stewart Wright says: “When this lake 
 was first discovered there was no out- 
 let, and the water was brackish. When 
 Cameron and Stanley visited the lake 
 it was commencing to dribble into the 
 Lukuga, and thence into the Congo. 
 Shortly afterward it burst the barrier 
 and flowed out in a full stream, which 
 it has maintained ever since. Eighteen 
 years ago, when I first lived on the 
 shore, the water was still slightly min- 
 eral; today, however, it is pure and 
 wholesome. Fish abound, and afford 
 sustenance to many of the people, as 
 well as to innumerable birds.” 
 
 Many lives are suffering for want of 
 an outlet. Beneficence to others reacts 
 upon the quality and happiness of our 
 own. lives. 
 
210 
 
 —— 392 —— 
 SPECIAL PROVIDENCES OF 
 GOD. 
 
 The following events transpired un- 
 der my own observation in the town of 
 Allen, Allegany, N. Y. Although 
 many years have passed away since 
 their occurrence, they are still fresh in 
 my memory. 
 
 There was a neighbor of ours, by the 
 name of Peter Jones, then in the prime 
 of life, very ambitious, an honest and 
 honorable man in his dealings with men, 
 as far as I knew, but greedy of gain and 
 very irreligious. Although he would 
 scorn the idea of robbing his fellow man, 
 yet he would rob God by breaking His 
 holy Sabbaths, apparently taking pride 
 in doing secular work on the day which 
 God has sanctified, and commanded to 
 keep holy. He was not satisfied with 
 what he could make by working six 
 days in a week, and often would also 
 work on the Sabbath. 
 
 Finally, he conceived and put in oper- 
 ation a plan to increase his worldly in- 
 terest and make property faster than his 
 more moral neighbors. He said he was 
 going to keep a separate account of his 
 Sunday labor, and at the close of the 
 year see how much he had made by it, 
 while others were losing their time, 
 thinking perhaps he would prove the 
 falsity of the declaration of the Bible 
 that, “godliness is profitable unto ail 
 things; having the promise of the life 
 that now is, and of that which is to 
 come.” He succeeded in putting in six 
 acres of wheat, and one acre of potatoes, 
 and prepared the ground on the Sab- 
 bath. What he could not do in season 
 alone, he changed works with some of 
 his ungodly neighbors and paid the work 
 back again on the Sabbaths. An early 
 frost came and killed the potatoes be- 
 fore they matured, not injuring others 
 in the neighborhood materially. His 
 wheat was good, harvested and stacked 
 in season, and in good order. About one 
 week after it was stacked a whirlwind 
 or hurricane passed directly over the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Stacks, catrying both stacks almost en- 
 tirely away. 
 
 But little of it was ever discovered, 
 and that was several miles away in the 
 big swamp. No other damage was done 
 by the tornado except tearing down or 
 twisting about a narrow strip of tim- 
 ber in its course. Mr. Jones very ir- 
 reverently remarked that “the old gen- 
 tleman was most too hard on him.” But 
 a short time after the gale he was 
 doomed to suffer a still heavier afflic- 
 tion. One of his children, a beautiful 
 little boy, fell backwards into a vessel of 
 hot water and was so badly scalded 
 that it lived but a few days. Mr. Jones 
 quite naturally considered these misfor- 
 tunes and afflictions as the just judg- 
 ment of God for his impious conduct, 
 and from that time ceased working on 
 the Sabbath, began to attend the means 
 of grace, and at a protracted meeting in 
 that vicinity soon after, was hopefully 
 converted, and made a public profession 
 of religion, and united with the church. 
 When God’s judgments are abroad in 
 the earth the people will learn right- 
 eousness.—D, Reynolds. 
 
 — 393 —— 
 
 THE BEST ARGUMENT. 
 
 The late Dr. Bernardo, of London, the 
 great philanthropist, relates that he was 
 once standing at his front door on a bit- 
 ter day in winter, when a little ragged 
 chap came up to him and asked for an 
 order of admission into his home. 
 
 To test the boy, he pretended to be 
 rather rough with him. 
 
 “How do I know,” he said, “if what 
 you tell me is true? Have you any 
 friends to speak for you?” 
 
 “Friends!” the little fellow shouted; 
 “Tf these rags’—waving his arms about 
 as he spoke—“won’t speak for me, 
 nothing else will.” 
 
 So your very needs are the strongest 
 appeal to the Saviour. And if you come 
 to Him with all your heart, just be- 
 cause you need Him, you shall have His 
 sympathy and love.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ae) ea 
 UNSELFISH SUCCESS. 
 
 No man in English-speaking countries 
 has so richly earned the title of “the chil- 
 dren’s friend” as a poor man in London 
 known by the very common name of 
 George Smith. He was the son of a 
 brickmaker, and at the tender age of four 
 years he was put to work in the yard 
 with a host of other children not much 
 older than himself. The heavy lumps of 
 clay which he was compelled to carry 
 for fourteen hours a day injured his 
 spine and dwarfed his growth. 
 
 In very busy seasons the little fellows 
 were allowed an extra sixpence if they 
 continued their work far into the night. 
 George was fond of reading, and his 
 hard-earned bits went for books, by 
 means of which he gained much prac- 
 tical information. He had suffered so 
 much in his early years that long before 
 he had attained his majority he had set 
 for himself a life-task of seeking to bet- 
 ter the condition of the hordes of over- 
 worked children in England. With so 
 much earnestness did he enter into his 
 purpose that, although without money, 
 friends or education, he compelled his 
 countrymen to listen to the pitiful story 
 of the children’s woes and wrongs. By 
 his own persistent efforts he finally in- 
 Guced Parliament to pass an act by 
 which three thousand little waifs were 
 freed from the labor that was crushing 
 out their lives, and were sent to school. 
 His next step was to seek legislation 
 liberating the sixty thousand children 
 employed on canal boats, whose servi- 
 tude in England was no better than that 
 ef our former slaves in the rice-fields. 
 In this case as in the other, he ceased 
 from his efforts only when he had gained 
 the victory sought. 
 
 This is a grand record for a poor un- 
 lettered man, for, though grown old and 
 eray-haired in service, he is still wretch- 
 edly poor. He has had no time to make 
 money or to earn fame, for his whole 
 life and energy have been given to his 
 one noble purpose. Though all leading 
 men in England know him and have felt 
 
 2i1 
 
 his power and influence, George Smith 
 has never yet asked a personal favor 
 from one of them. 
 
 The histories of men who through 
 their own persevering efforts have 
 achieved honor and riches are legion, but 
 it is seldom that the youth of our land 
 have the privilege of studying the record 
 of a life so poor and obscure, yet so rich 
 in its goodness and greatness. In the 
 higher, better life to which all unselfish 
 service for God and human welfare 
 tends, the noble deeds of such men as 
 poor George Smith shall have an abun- 
 dant reward. We cannot help believing 
 that in the spiritual kingdom the one 
 who makes the greatest sacrifice for 
 others is the one who will receive the 
 richest blessings from God. The law of 
 this world is, “He that saveth his life 
 shall lose it,” but the law of the larger 
 life reads, “He that loseth his life shall 
 keep it alive.”—Forward. 
 
 395 
 THE ORIGINAL “ROCK OF AGES.” 
 
 Burrington Coombe is a deep ravine 
 in the grim and frowning Hill known as 
 Black Down, which rises to the height 
 of 1,100 feet, and is the highest sum- 
 mit of the beautiful Mendip Range. It 
 is within an easy walk of Blagdon 
 Church, of which Augustus Toplady 
 was for some time curate in sole charge. 
 The whole scene is most picturesque and 
 romantic. At one point is a grand crag 
 ef mountain limestone eighty feet in 
 height. Right down the center of this 
 mass of stone is a deep fissure, wherein 
 grow, like little children playing in the 
 arms of men in armor, soft and delicate 
 ferns and wild flowers. 
 
 Toplady was one day overtaken by a 
 tremendous thunderstorm, from which 
 he sought refuge in this glen, between 
 two massive piers of limestone rock. 
 While the storm raged it inspired in his 
 soul the idea of this hymn, “Rock of 
 Ages,” which he wrote at once on the 
 spot. Years afterward he died in full 
 confidence in the everlasting shelter of 
 which he had thus sung.—Selected. 
 
 
 
 
 
212 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 396 ——— 
 A MOTHER’S TRUST. 
 
 A troubled Christian mother sent for 
 me in great distress. Her only son had 
 been for a time wayward and dissipated. 
 She had prayed for him earnestly and 
 constantly. After a while he had been 
 brought into the church and had become 
 an active Christian worker. This gave 
 her joy unspeakable. But now he had 
 fallen back again. He had seemingly 
 abandoned his faith, and had become a 
 reprobate. He had left his home, and 
 had enlisted in the navy, and had sailed 
 for the Far East. The poor mother was 
 almost broken-hearted and was well-nigh 
 in despair. 
 
 I asked that mother if she had less 
 reason to trust God now than before, as 
 she prayed for the boy of her love. She 
 replied that, of course, she hadn’t as 
 much ground for faith now that her son 
 seemed a reprobate as while he was an 
 active Christian worker. 
 
 “Is the difference in God, or in your 
 boy?” I asked. 
 
 “The difference is in my boy,” she 
 said, “and that’s what’s troubling me.” 
 
 “On whom did your faith rest, when 
 your boy was doing best?” 
 
 “On God, of course.” 
 
 “And has God changed?” 
 
 “Of course not.” 
 
 “Then why is your faith lessened?” 
 
 “Then you are looking at your boy as 
 the ground of your faith, instead of at 
 God?” 
 
 “Do you mean to suggest,” said the 
 anxious mother, “that even now, while 
 my poor boy is in his present state, I 
 can look up to God and pray for my 
 boy as trustfully as I prayed for him 
 while he was active in Christian work? 
 Do you mean to suggest that?” 
 
 “If your faith rests upon God for your 
 God-given boy, you can pray to God for 
 your boy just as confidently now as be- 
 fore for all that he can do for you or 
 your boy. But you must look to God and 
 not at your boy for hope while you 
 pray.” 
 
 “Then T’ll do that,” said the anxious 
 
 intimate friend. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 mother. And she turned again to God 
 in need and in trust. 
 
 Two months or so after that, that 
 mother sent for me again. She had re- 
 ceived a letter from her son that glad- 
 dened her heart. It was a letter full of 
 penitence and of good purposes, and of 
 hope andtrust. It told a touching story. 
 
 About the time when the mother 
 turned anew to God, anxiously but in 
 trust, in her New England home—be- 
 fore, of course, he could have had any 
 word from her about it—as he was on 
 the deck one sunny afternoon in those 
 far-off Chinese waters, a call seemed to 
 come to him from God summoning him 
 to return from his evil courses to his 
 better self, and to God and to his old 
 faith in God. 
 
 Overpowered by his feelings, that 
 prodigal son went down into the forecas- 
 tle and prostrated himself before God, 
 confessing his sin, and asking pardon 
 and help to do differently. And then he 
 wrote as a penitent child to his mother, 
 asking her to pray for him, telling of 
 his sorrow and of his new purpose of 
 living a new life by God’s help. That 
 mother gained, in consequence, new rea- 
 son for having faith in God for her son 
 as for herself. Would that every parent 
 had learned that lesson as thoroughly 
 as she learned it. That returning prod- 
 igal became again active in Christ’s 
 work; and in that work he was engaged 
 when God called him away from earth 
 with its temptations. Such faith as that 
 mother’s for child as well as for self 
 God always enjoins and honors.—H. 
 Clay Trumbull. 
 
 —— 397 —— 
 HOW I WON MY NEIGHBOR. 
 
 It happened on the wild shores of the 
 Georgian Bay, and my neighbor was an 
 We settled there be- 
 fore I was married, and my neighbor ex- 
 pected to be among the guests at my 
 wedding, but when the time came I 
 could not invite him, and he was grieved 
 and offended, refusing to be reconciled 
 by my rather cool approaches. How- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ever, I was to make an appeal that he 
 could not withstand. 
 
 It was winter. Snow deep enough to 
 hide the stumps lay upon the ground. 
 We were in need of fodder, and, hearing 
 of some for sale at a distance of fourteen 
 miles, we hired a team one morning, and 
 set off for a load. Passing the door of 
 my neighbor, I did not even look that 
 way, little thinking that I should soon 
 be a beggar at his table. 
 
 It soon began to snow, and the cold 
 grew intense, as we made our way along 
 the winding bush road at a very toilsome 
 pace. Leaving the bush, we started 
 across a lake on which the newly formed 
 ice was not very strong, but we reached 
 our destination safely, put on our load, 
 and after dinner were ready to return. 
 We started, but soon upset our load, 
 and, by the time we drew part of it 
 back to the barn, and reloaded, the short 
 winter’s day was drawing to a close, 
 and we were forced to remain for the 
 night. 
 
 Food was scarce in that backwoods 
 home, so after a light breakfast we were 
 again upon the lake, our struggling 
 horses making desperate efforts to drag 
 their half-load through the two feet of 
 fresh-fallen snow, while we contended 
 with Jack Frost for the possession of 
 our members. Then, too, the ice began 
 to crack, threatening each moment to 
 give way beneath the tramp of the 
 horses’ feet. 
 
 I found a place of prayer in the shelter 
 of our load, lifting my soul to God, who 
 was just then preparing me for restora- 
 tion to my neighbor. It was noon again 
 when we reached the shore, but our 
 tired team could not pull the load up the 
 bank, so our much-handled hay was 
 again unloaded, carried up the bank, and 
 once more loaded. The road was now 
 almost impassable, and, coming to an 
 Indian stable, we there left our burden, 
 starting for home with the emptied 
 sleigh. 
 
 By eight o’clock we reached the team- 
 ster’s home, but mine was three miles 
 farther on. I was not accustomed to 
 hardship, and found myself scarcely able 
 
 ANECDOTES 213 
 to walk. Making a brave attempt, how- 
 ever, I soon came in sight of my offended 
 neighbor’s light. Just here the road ran 
 through his field, and I soon lost the 
 beaten track, and struggled almost vain- 
 ly to make headway. I fell repeatedly, 
 and with some difficulty rose again. My 
 Strength was all but gone. A feeling of 
 despair began to creep over me. Again 
 I fell, and thought I could rise no more. 
 I lay for some time, looking wistfully 
 towards my neighbor’s house, who had 
 been in my thoughts all the time. Should 
 I call and ask for warmth at his fireside? 
 Would he admit me, and be reconciled, 
 or should I be spurned? My need de- 
 cided me, and I seemed to get strength 
 with the decision. 
 
 I was shortly at his door. He opened 
 to me with an uninviting look. His 
 manner was in keeping with the Decem- 
 ber air, and his eye was unpitying. But 
 I began my appeal, which resulted in my 
 being seated at a refreshing repast in a 
 very short time, while interest and sym- 
 pathy overflowed, and I knew that I had 
 won my neighkor. Nor have I ever re- 
 gretted the toil and weariness through 
 which it was brought about, for I entered 
 again a kingdom of friendship and love 
 from which I had been excluded.—Wm. 
 Harker in S. S. Times. 
 
 —— 398 —— 
 THE SWEETEST VERSE. 
 
 A young Christian, at the death-bed 
 of an aged saint, said to him, “Shall I 
 read to you the sweetest verse of the 
 Bible?” “Yes.” The young man read 
 the second verse of John 14, “In my 
 Father’s house are many mansions; if 
 it were not so I would have told you; 
 for I go to prepare a place for you.” 
 “No,” said the dying man, that is not 
 the sweetest verse. Read on.’ The 
 young man read, “And if I go and pre- 
 pare a place for you, I will come again 
 and receive you unto myself, that where 
 I am, there ye may be also.” “That is 
 the sweetest verse,” said the dying man. 
 “Tt is not the mansions, it is Himself 
 I want.”—Selected. 
 
214 
 
 ——-- 399 ——— 
 AN OPPORTUNITY LOST. 
 
 I once had a friend who was a very 
 bright scholar. He entered college at 
 an earlier age than most men are able 
 to enter. He was a young fellow of 
 good habits but without settled princi- 
 ples. After he had been in college 
 awhile it began to be rumored about 
 that he was thinking of becoming a 
 Christian. Some one came to me and 
 said, “Frank is thinking of becoming a 
 Christian,” but I was not a Christian 
 myself and was not greatly interested 
 in the information. If I had been a 
 Christian, I believe I could have spoken 
 the word that would have brought him 
 over the line, but not being a Christian 
 and not being interested in the matter, 
 I said nothing to him about it. After 
 a few days of indecision, he decided the 
 wrong way. He became infatuated with 
 a beautiful actress and followed her 
 about the country. He never married 
 her but he got to going to the bad. He 
 graduated from college a moral wreck. 
 Not long after graduation he married 
 the daughter of one of the best families 
 in one of our eastern states. Of course, 
 the marriage was unhappy. 
 
 One day he and his young wife were 
 preparing to go out riding together. The 
 carriage stood at the door and he stood 
 by it waiting for his wife. She did not 
 appear. He hurried up to her dressing- 
 room and went in. The servants heard 
 sharp words, then they heard the crack 
 of a revolver, and as they rushed into the 
 room, that beautiful young wife lay dead 
 upon the floor with a bullet through her 
 brain. Whether she shot herself or 
 whether he shot her, it was difficult to 
 say. The coroner’s verdict was that she 
 died by her own hand. At all events, he 
 became a haunted man. Not long after, 
 he came to the house of a friend and 
 said, “John, can I spend the night with 
 youe” “Certainly,” he replied. “Can I 
 have the room next to yours?” “Why, 
 Frank, you can have anything in 
 the house,” They sat up late into the 
 night talking and then retired. The 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 host had fallen asleep when suddenly he 
 was awakened by a constant rapping at 
 his door. “What is it, Frank?” he cried. 
 “Are you there, John?” the wretched 
 man calied. “Yes, can I do anything for 
 you?” “No, I only wanted to know that 
 you were there.” The host fell asleep 
 again but was soon awakened by an- 
 other rap at his door. “What is it, 
 Frank?” he called. “Are you there, 
 John?” “Yes. Are you sick, can I do 
 anything for you, Frank?” “No, I only 
 wanted to know that you were there.” 
 Again he fell asleep, and again he was 
 awakened by the same woeful call. All 
 the night through the man haunted by 
 evil memories would come and wake him 
 by a rap on the door to find if he was 
 there. He could not bear to be alone a 
 moment. 
 
 The next day he left. He went west 
 to San Francisco, took a steamer on the 
 Pacific Ocean, and when several days 
 out jumped overboard. To-night his 
 body rests beneath the waters of the 
 Pacific Ocean. If I had been a Chris- 
 tian in the early days, I might have led 
 that friend to Christ and saved all this 
 frightful, awful tragedy.—R. A. Torrey. 
 
 400 —— 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S LOVE. 
 
 A gentleman, who thought Christian- 
 ity was merely a heap of puzzling prob- 
 lems, said to an old minister, “That is a 
 very strange verse in the ninth chapter of 
 the Epistle to the Romans, ‘Jacob have 
 I loved, but Esau have I hated.’ ” 
 
 “Very strange,” replied the minister; 
 “but what is it, sir, that you see most 
 strange about it?” 
 
 “Oh, that part of course,” said the 
 gentleman, patronizingly, and with an 
 air of surprise, “ ‘Esau have I hated’ is 
 certainly very strange.” 
 
 “Well, sir,” said the old minister, 
 “how wonderfully are we made, and how 
 differently constituted. The strangest 
 part of all to me is that He could have 
 loved Jacob.” 
 
 There is no mystery so glorious as the 
 mystery of God’s love.—Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 401 —— 
 HOW HIS CALL CAME. 
 
 One of our Sunday-school teachers 
 was telling me recently how it was that 
 he became actively interested in Chris- 
 tian work. His sympathies for some 
 time had favorably disposed him toward 
 such work, but he felt his inefficiency, 
 and he was so closely tied to his busi- 
 ness that he had but little time at his dis- 
 posal. 
 
 For some time the refrain of that 
 hymn, “The Master wants workers,” had 
 been running through his mind. He 
 seemed unable to dismiss the thought, 
 and in that mental attitude he attended 
 the service at the 104th Street Taber- 
 nacle. That very hymn, “The Master 
 wants workers,’ was announced and 
 sung, and a request was made for 
 teachers for the Sunday school at. Taber- 
 nacle No. 2, which was just to be opened. 
 He was so impressed by this fact that 
 he decided to go asateacher. He went, 
 and was given a lot of unmanageable 
 boys, which so discouraged him that he 
 resolved not to go again. But that 
 night, in a dream, he saw one of those 
 very boys beckoning him with his hand 
 to come. He told his wife his dream, 
 and she, bursting into tears, said, “There 
 is more in this dream than you think. 
 You better go back to the class.” Her 
 counsel prevailed, and he came, and is 
 now very thankful that he did so, and 
 so are we, for he has been of great serv- 
 ice in the work. 
 
 The pastor of the People’s Tabernacle 
 first wrote and published the above story 
 September 4, 1897; and now, twenty 
 years later, October 15, 1917, he would 
 add: That Sunday school teacher was 
 Mr. C. H. Busch, who has continued 
 loyally at his post from that day to this, 
 and for the past nineteen years has been 
 also a faithful Elder of the Church. His 
 good wife, ever an inspiration to him, 
 shortly after became a Sunday school 
 teacher also, and she was eminently use- 
 ful in the Church in many ways, until 
 called to her reward, February 9, 1912.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 216 
 
 —— 402 —— 
 A HUMBLE GIRL’S FAME. 
 
 One of the grandest women of whom 
 literary Europe is now talking was the 
 daughter of a family so poor that her 
 little cradle was rocked by a waterfall, 
 by means of a wheel attached to a rocker, 
 while her mother toiled in the fields. 
 
 As the child grew up she mended her 
 father’s nets in winter, oiled his great 
 boots so that he could stand in the icy 
 water to fish, dug the potatoes, cut the 
 wheat, gathered pine needles to fill the 
 beds, sheared the sheep, and spun until 
 her hands were bleeding. 
 
 At sixteen she went out to service, 
 and at twenty she married a poor peas- 
 ant lad who had loved her from child- 
 hood. Until very recently she regularly 
 swung the flail on the threshing flccr, 
 mowed the hay with a scythe, and bound 
 the sheaves in time of harvest. For 
 twelve years after her marriage, so stern 
 was her poverty, she never saw a news- 
 paper or a book, a Bible or a hymn-book, 
 the things above all else she craved. 
 
 Uncomplainingly, however, she en- 
 dured her lot, and from the darkness 
 rose—a poet. A special messenger was 
 lately sent by the Empress of Germany 
 to find this unknown writer of verses 
 which had so moved her. The messen- 
 ger found a woman of forty in a poor vil- 
 lage home near the Russian border. She 
 was weak and feeble, but her soul was 
 full of song which all the hardships of a 
 bitter life could not quench. The world 
 wondered at and appreciated the peas- 
 ant-poet, and now Johanna Ambrosius is 
 finding her lot easier and her friends 
 wonderfully multiplied. What a lesson 
 in encouragement her life contains for 
 those who, because they are born amid 
 poor surroundings, feel that “it isn’t 
 worth trying” to fill any special state in 
 life or to strive to reach a higher plane. 
 
 Had Johanna simply accepted her lot 
 and left. her talent to lie unused, she 
 would never have been heard of and the 
 world would have missed a great in- 
 spiration.—Christian Herald. 
 
216 
 
 so A pant 
 WINNING AN ENEMY. 
 
 We quote from the Manchester Times 
 an anecdote of the late William Grant, 
 of the firm of Grant Brothers, a man re- 
 markable for the great liberality of his 
 nature. “Many years ago a warehouse- 
 man published a scurrilous pamphlet, in 
 which he endeavored, but very unsuc- 
 cessfully, to hold up the house of Grant 
 Brothers to public ridicule. William 
 remarked that the man would live to re- 
 pent what he had done; and this was 
 conveyed by some tale-bearer to the 
 libeler, who said, ‘Oh, I suppose he 
 thinks I shall some time or other be in 
 his debt; but I will take good care of 
 that.’ It happens, however, that a man 
 in business cannot always choose who 
 shall be his creditors. The pamphleteer 
 became a bankrupt, and the brothers 
 held an acceptance of his which had been 
 indorsed to them by the drawer, who had 
 also become a bankrupt. The wantonly- 
 libeled men had thus become creditors 
 of the libeler! They now had it in their 
 power to make him repent of his audac- 
 ity. He could not obtain his certificate 
 without their signature, and without it 
 he could not enter into business again. 
 He had obtained the number of signa- 
 tures required by the bankrupt law, ex- 
 cept one. It seemed folly to hope that 
 the firm of ‘the brothers’ would supply 
 the deficiency. What! they who had 
 cruelly been made the laughing-stock of 
 the public, forget the wrong and favor 
 the wrong-doer. 
 
 “He despaired. But the claims of a 
 wife and children forced him at last to 
 make the application. Humbled by 
 misery, he presented himself at the 
 counting-house of the wronged. Mr. Wil- 
 liam Grant was there alone, and his first 
 words to the delinquent were, ‘Shut the 
 door, sir!’—sternly uttered. The door 
 was shut, and the libeler stood trembling 
 before the libeled. He told his tale, 
 and produced his certificate, which was 
 instantly clutched by the injured 
 merchant. ‘You wrote a pamphlet 
 against us once?’ exclaimed Mr. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Grant. The supplicant expected to see 
 his parchment thrown into the fire. But 
 this was not its destination. Mr. Grant 
 took a pen, and writing something upon 
 the document, handed it back to the 
 bankrupt. He, poor wretch, expected 
 to see ‘rogue, scoundrel, libeler,’ in- 
 scribed; but there was, in fair round 
 characters, the signature of the firm. “We 
 make it a rule,’ said Mr. Grant, ‘never 
 to refuse signing the certificate of an 
 honest tradesman, and we have never 
 heard that you were anything else.’ The 
 tears started into the poor man’s eyes. 
 ‘Ah,’ said Mr. Grant, ‘my saying was 
 true! I said you would live to repent 
 writing that pamphlet. I did not mean 
 it as a threat. I only meant that some 
 day you would know us better, and be 
 sorry you had tried to injure us. I see 
 you repent of it now.’ ‘I do, I do!’ said 
 the grateful man; ‘I bitterly repent it.’ 
 ‘Well, well, my dear fellow, you know us 
 now. How do you get on? What are 
 you going to do?’ The poor man stated 
 that he had friends who could assist 
 him when his certificate was obtained. 
 ‘But how are you off in the meantime?’ 
 And the answer was, that, having given 
 up every farthing to his creditors, he 
 had been compelled to stint his family of 
 even common necessaries, that he might 
 be enabled to pay the cost of his certifi- 
 cate. ‘My dear fellow, this will not do; 
 your family must not suffer. Be kind 
 enough to take this ten-pound note to 
 your wife from me; ‘There, there, my 
 dear fellow. Nay, don’t cry, it will be 
 all well with you yet. Keep up your 
 spirits, set to work like a man, and you 
 will raise your head among us yet.’ The 
 overpowered man endeavored in vain to 
 express his thanks; the swelling in his 
 throat forbade words. He put his hand- 
 kerchief to his face, and went out of the 
 door crying like a child.” 
 
 NEI) We 
 FOR LACK OF A TOUCH. 
 
 Two professional men were lingering 
 together at the restaurant table after 
 luncheon and exchanging scraps of ex- 
 
aah ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 perience. The talk turned to things re- 
 ligious. “I became a Christian when I 
 was twelve years old,” said one, “and 
 I’ve never for one instant been sorry 
 that I made a stand so early.” 
 
 His companion’s eyes took on the 
 dreamy expression of one who is looking 
 far back into the past. “It was differ- 
 ent with me,” he said, at length. “I did 
 not make a public profession of religion, 
 and, indeed, did not become a Christian, 
 until after I had been graduated from 
 college and from the medical school. 
 There were many times when I was 
 almost persuaded and when I needed 
 just a touch to bring me to a decision, 
 but nobody ever gave me that touch— 
 not even my Christian father. 
 
 “IT can remember yet,” he continued, 
 
 “how I used to sit in the back seat of 
 the old meeting house, when special ser- 
 vices were being held, and wish that 
 some one would come and speak to me. 
 I was waiting only for a word of invita- 
 tion, and I was hungry for it. It never 
 came, though, and so, through my own 
 fault, of course, I missed all those years 
 of Christian disciple-ship, growth, and 
 joy.” 
 A little touch may turn the course of 
 a life for eternity. And a touch is such 
 a little thing! The query suggests it- 
 self, what is our part of the responsi- 
 bility for a life which takes the wrong 
 course because of the touch we did not 
 give?—Forward. 
 
 Biscay faa 
 BULLET-PROOF. 
 
 The following story of the narrow es- 
 cape of an American sailor in Chile, told 
 in the Boston Transcript, shows the 
 respect commanded by the American 
 and British flags: 
 
 One of the men had gone ashore and 
 become somewhat hilarious, and one of 
 the police officers, instead of warning 
 him not to make a noise in the street, 
 drew his sword and knocked him down. 
 The American got up, and promptly 
 knocked the policeman down in return. 
 He was arrested, tried, and condemned 
 
 S17 
 
 to be shot the next morning. 
 
 Mr. Loring, the American consul, ex- 
 postulated with the authorities, saying 
 that it would be monstrous to put a man 
 to death for such an offense; but they 
 paid no attention to him. On the day 
 specified the sailor was brought out and 
 pinioned, in readiness for execution. 
 
 The English consul, preparing to hoist 
 the Union Jack, saw a crowd in the 
 field opposite, and realized that the exe- 
 cution was about to take place. He 
 rushed over to the American consul, 
 and cried: 
 
 “Loring! You’re not going to let them 
 shoot that man?” 
 
 “What can I do?” was the answer. 
 “I have protested against it. I can do 
 no more.” 
 
 “Give me your flag!” cried the Eng- 
 lishman. 
 
 With the two flags in his hand, he 
 ran to the field, elbowed his way through 
 the crowd and soldiery, and reached the 
 prisoner. He folded the American flag 
 about him, and laid the Union Jack over 
 it. He stepped back and faced the offi- 
 cers and soldiery. 
 
 “Shoot if you dare,” he shouted, 
 “through the heart of England and 
 America!” 
 
 The man was not shot. 
 
 “The name of the Lord is a strong 
 tower: the righteous runneth into it, 
 and is safe.” Prov. 18:10. 
 
 406 —— 
 
 THE FROZEN CREW. 
 
 The record of the party finding Sir 
 John Franklin, reads: “We found the 
 ship, an English vessel, crowded up in 
 the ice. It had been there thirteen years 
 and the sailors cried when they saw it. 
 We climbed in and saw the captain 
 sitting at a table, with his hat and over- 
 coat on, and pen in hand. The last 
 words he had written were: “My wife 
 froze last night.” The sailors were 
 sitting around frozen. Are there not 
 churches in the same condition? Their 
 members have the semblance of life, 
 but are dead—frozen perhaps. 
 
 
 
218 
 
 —— 407 —— 
 THE JEWISH BROTHERS. 
 
 The late Dr. Capadose, a converted 
 Israelite and Christian minister to Hol- 
 land, used to relate the following touch- 
 ing incident: 
 
 “My worthy grandfather was a very 
 affectionate but passionate man. He 
 had a brother for whom he felt a tender 
 love. They had once fallen into a dis- 
 pute with each other, and had returned 
 to their respective homes in a rage. This 
 happened on a Friday. At the close of 
 the day, when it began to grow dark, 
 my good grandmother, like another 
 Martha, began to make all things ready 
 for the Sabbath. She called out, ‘My 
 beloved joseph, it is already dark; come 
 and light up the Sabbath lamp.’ But 
 he, sunk in profound sadness, paced the 
 room backward and forward, to the in- 
 creasing anxiety of the good old wom- 
 an, who exclaimed, ‘See! the stars are 
 already in the firmament, and our Sab- 
 bath lamp is still dark.’ My grandfather 
 then took his hat and staff, and with 
 visible perturbation hurried out of the 
 house; but in a few minutes he returned 
 with tears of joy in his eyes. ‘Now, my 
 beloved Rebecca,’ cried he ‘now I am 
 ready.’ He offered up the prayer, and 
 with evident feelings of delight kindled 
 the lamp. He afterward made known 
 his dispute, adding, ‘it was impossi- 
 ble for me to offer up the prayer and 
 light the lamp before I was reconciled 
 with Isaac.’ 
 
 ““But how came it to pass that you 
 returned so quickly?’ 
 
 “ ‘Why,’ said he, ‘Isaac, like me, could 
 not rest—it was with him as it was with 
 me—he also could not enter upon the 
 Sabbath without being reconciled. We 
 met each other in the street—-he was 
 coming to me, I was going to him—we 
 fell into each other’s arms weeping.’ 
 
 “When, many years after, I first read 
 in the gospel of our Lord the words: 
 “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the 
 altar, and there rememberest that thy 
 brother hath ought against thee; leave 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 there thy gift before the altar, and go 
 thy way; first be reconciled to thy 
 brother, and then come and offer thy 
 giit,’ this event, which had affected me 
 when a child, presented itself anew to 
 my mind, and I thanked God that He 
 had still left such indications of life amid 
 so much death in that people who are 
 my flesh and bones.”—Selected. 
 
 —— 408 
 
 THE POOR BLACKSMITH’S 
 POWER WITH GOD. 
 
 In a certain town, says Rev. Chas. G. 
 Finney, there had been no revivals for 
 many years; the church was nearly run 
 out, the youth were all unconverted, 
 and desolation reigned unbroken. There 
 lived in a retired part of the town, an 
 aged man, a blacksmith by trade, and 
 of so stammering a tongue that it was 
 painful to hear him speak. On one Fri- 
 day, as he was at work in his shop, 
 alone, his mind became greatly exer- 
 cised about the state of the church, and 
 of the impenitent. His agony became 
 so great that he was induced to lay 
 aside his work, lock the shop door, and 
 spend the afternoon in prayer. 
 
 He prevailed, and on the Sabbath, 
 called on the minister and desired him 
 to appoint a conference meeting. After 
 some hesitation, the minister consented, 
 observing, however, that he feared but 
 few would attend. He appointed it the 
 same evening, at a large private house. 
 When evening came, more assembled 
 than could be accommodated in the 
 house. All was silent for a time, until 
 One sinner broke out in tears, and said 
 if any one could pray, he begged him to 
 pray for him. Another followed, and 
 another, and still another, until it was 
 found that persons from every quarter 
 of the town were under deep convictions. 
 And what was remarkable was that 
 they all dated their conviction at the 
 hour when the old man was praying in 
 his shop. A powerful revival followed. 
 Thus this old stammering man pre- 
 vailed, and as a prince, had power with 
 God. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 BY ti 409 —— 
 PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. 
 
 In the early days of Mr. Moody’s 
 work in Chicago, a reckless, worthless 
 Scotchman used to hang around the 
 Tabernacle. He was a desperate fellow, 
 feared by his own companions. He 
 would carry a dagger in his stocking, 
 and many were afraid that he would 
 draw that dagger upon them. He 
 seemed to have an especial spite against 
 the meetings that were going on. One 
 night he stood outside the Tabernacle 
 with a pitcher of beer in his hands offer- 
 ing a drink to every man that came out 
 of the building. At other times he 
 would go into the inquiry meetings and 
 try to interfere with the workers. 
 
 One night Major Whittle was talking 
 to two young men, who were more or 
 less interested, and this jeering Scotch- 
 man was interfering. Finally Major 
 Whittle turned to the two young men 
 and said, “Young men, if you set any 
 value on your souls, I advise you to 
 have nothing to do with that man.” 
 This seemed only to amuse the Scotch- 
 man. But God was working. Over in 
 Scotland was an earnest Christian 
 mother who was praying for her way- 
 ward son. One night he went to bed 
 ‘as godless as ever, but in the middle of 
 the night he was aroused from his 
 sleep. He awakened under conviction 
 of sin, and as he lay there in bed the 
 Holy Spirit brought to his mind a pas- 
 sage that he had forgotten was in the 
 Bible. He did not even know it was 
 there at all, though doubtless he had 
 heard it some time in his boyhood. It 
 was Romans 4:5, “But to him that 
 worketh not, but believeth on Him that 
 justifieth the ungodly, his faith is 
 counted for righteousness.” The Holy 
 Spirit made clear the meaning of the 
 verse to him. Then and there, with- 
 out getting out of bed, he believed on 
 Him that justifieth the ungodly and 
 found peace. 
 
 He at once became as active in the 
 cause of Christ as he had been active in 
 the cause of the devil. For nearly 
 
 ANECDOTES 219 
 
 thirty years he has been a member of 
 Chicago Avenue Church and is to-day a 
 deacon in the church. 
 
 some time after his conversion he 
 went back to Scotland to visit his old 
 mother. They had glad times of Bible 
 reading and prayer together, but there 
 was another wayward son, a sailor, sail- 
 ing the sea somewhere, they knew not 
 where. One night the old mother and 
 the converted son knelt down and be- 
 gan to cry to God for the wandering 
 son and brother. That very night he 
 was in the China Seas, though they did 
 not know it, and while they prayed in 
 Scotland, the Spirit of God fell in the 
 China Seas and that son and brother 
 was converted there on the deck of the 
 ship. 
 
 He returned to Scotland and told his 
 mother the good news. He entered the 
 Free Church college and commenced to 
 study to be a foreign missionary. He 
 was sent out by the missionary society 
 of the Free Church of Scotland, and 
 after years of faithful service laid down 
 his life as a missionary in India.—R. A. 
 Torrey. 
 
 ——~— 419 -—— 
 
 CONTINUING IN PRAYER. 
 
 I asked Mr. Muller a short time be- 
 fore he died if he had asked anything of 
 God that had not been granted, and he 
 told me he had prayed sixty-two years, 
 three months, five days, two hours— 
 with his mathematical precision—for 
 two men to be converted, and there were 
 no signs of that happening. I said: 
 “Do you expect God to convert them?” 
 “Certainly. Do you suppose that God 
 would put upon His child for sixty-two 
 years the burden of two souls if He had 
 no purpose of their salvation? I shall 
 meet them in heaven certainly.” Shortly 
 afterward he died, and I was preaching 
 in his pulpit, in Bristol, and referred to 
 this occurrence. As I was going out a 
 lady said: “One of these men was my 
 uncle, and he was converted, and died 
 a few weeks ago.” I understand that 
 the other man, a man in Dublin, was 
 also brought to Christ.”-—-A. T, Pierson 
 
220 
 
 oan | a 
 “I DON’T KNOW!” 
 
 It was one of those delightful autumn 
 days and the Westchester Presbytery 
 was enjoying its noon recess. Several 
 candidates had been examined for ordi- 
 nation, among them young Stanley 
 Phraner, son of one of our best-known 
 and best-loved ministers. In answer to 
 several questions about future affairs I 
 noticed that he answered firmly, “I do 
 not know.” We took a little stroll along 
 the country road that passed the church, 
 and I asked him why he had made that 
 answer, “I do not know.” He said: 
 
 “That is a lesson I learned at sea. I 
 will tell you the whole story. 
 
 “One summer when a college student 
 at Princeton, I thought I would vary my 
 vacation by taking a trip as a sailor. 
 The invitation of a sea captain, known 
 to our family, offered the opportunity. 
 I started from New York on a three- 
 masted schooner bound for the island 
 of Porto Rico. Being good at figures, 
 the captain asked me to do his naviga- 
 tion for him. He gave me a chart, an 
 almanac, a book of logarithms, and a 
 quadrant. He showed me how to use 
 these things, and this was the formula 
 by which I was always to work: 
 
 “‘Secant your latitude, co-secant 
 your polar distance, take the co-sine of 
 one-half the sum and the sine of the 
 remainder.’ 
 
 “So day after day, under the watch- 
 ful eye of the captain, I calculated the 
 ship’s position. The captain was always 
 careful to note that the rule had been 
 followed exactly. So one day I asked 
 him: 
 
 _ “Captain, why do you secant your 
 latitude?” > 
 
 “I don’t know!” said the captain 
 bluntly. 
 
 “Well, can you tell me why you co- 
 secant your polar distance?” 
 
 “I don’t know! Except—except— 
 well, that’s the rule. Young man, you 
 want to know too much, Do as I tell 
 you, follow the rule, all sailors use it. 
 Trust your book of logarithms and you 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 will make port all right.’ 
 
 “So day by day I put down the posi- 
 tion on the chart. On the fourteenth 
 day out I went to the captain and ven- 
 tured my first forecast. 
 
 “*To-night if the wind holds fair,’ 
 I said, ‘we ought to make the Sail 
 Rock passage into the Caribbean Sea.’ 
 That night I watched eagerly, and sure 
 enough about eleven o’clock we sighted 
 the great white rock looming up in the 
 ocean, and next day we entered the 
 harbor of Mayaguez. Along the shore 
 giant palms waved their lofty plumes 
 in the soft breeze. Beyond, we could 
 see the groves of orange and banana 
 trees and all the tropical verdure of the 
 island, while from bluff to bluff of the 
 headlands on either shore of the harbor 
 arose a mighty rainbow arch, which, 
 reflected on the sea beneath, formed a 
 circle of wondrous light into which we 
 slowly drifted that Sabbath evening as 
 we came to anchor in the harbor of our 
 destination. The rule was right, and 
 by it we made port. When I got back 
 to Princeton I was able to study out 
 some of the reasons why of the rule that 
 could not be explained at sea, but had 
 to be followed in simple trust.” 
 
 In the school of the sea this Prince- 
 ton student had learned to say “I don’t 
 know!” It is a lesson in the faith-life 
 worth the learning. How many queries 
 rise in our Christian thinking and liv- 
 ing when we ought just to set to our 
 seal that God is true and that His prom= 
 ises are sure. 
 
 Why did holy angels fall from heaven? 
 
 “T dont know!” 
 
 How was it sin entered Eden? 
 
 “IT don’t know!” 
 
 Why is it some wicked people seem 
 to prosper while some very good people 
 suffer? 
 
 “T don’t know!” 
 
 How can one reconcile man’s free 
 will and God’s sovereignty? 
 
 “TI don’t know!” 
 
 For the present I can get along with- 
 out knowing some of these things, for I 
 
 walk by faith and not by sight. We 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 seek a better country, we are still at 
 sea. We have not yet reached the home 
 port—God’s haven of eternai rest. Our 
 book is the Bible, God’s own word. 
 The Gospel rule is, “Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved.” When at last we enter the 
 City of Light we may learn many a 
 reason why that cannot be given now. 
 ““For now we see through a glass 
 darkly; but then face to face; now I 
 know in part; but then shall I know 
 even as also I am known.”—John §&. 
 Allen, D, D. 
 
 peren toreat 2 
 “YOUNG FELLER, YOU’RE AFIRE, 
 THERE!” 
 
 It was a crisp morning on the 29th of 
 November, 1881. 
 
 Having held a Gospel Temperance 
 meeting with the men of Bennett’s 
 Camp the evening before, Bro. Mills 
 and I had walked down to the track of 
 the Saginaw Bay and Northwestern 
 Logging R. R., and were waiting for 
 the next logging train to take us to Pin- 
 conning, Michigan, near the shore of 
 Lake Huron. 
 
 Several stout woodsmen near us were 
 trundling pine logs upon the skid-ways 
 _-beside the railroad, when an old man ap- 
 peared, walking down the track, accom- 
 panied by a boy of seventeen. Smoke 
 was pouring from the mouth of the man, 
 but this seemed to surprise no one. A 
 glance of the campmen at the boy, how- 
 ever, from whose right hip-pocket smoke 
 was also issuing, led one of them to 
 shout, “Young feller, you’re afire, there!” 
 
 The lad quickly pulled a pipe from 
 the smoking pocket, and beat out the 
 fire from his clothing, which, having 
 caught from his pipe, had, until the 
 woodsman’s warning, smouldered un- 
 observed. 
 
 This little incident occasioned me to 
 wonder greatly— 
 
 1st. That any one should be more 
 alarmed to see smoke coming from a 
 man’s pocket than from his mouth. 
 
 2d. That the consumer of tobacco in 
 
 ANECDOTES 221 
 
 pipes and cigars seems to forget that 
 every time he puffs smoke from his 
 mouth he burns a hole in his pocket. 
 
 3d. That so many behave as though 
 their heaith is better than they need, 
 and therefore deliberately and repeatedly 
 pOison themselves. 
 
 4th. That persons of usually neat 
 habits will, by tobacco smoking, make 
 of themselves nuisances to others. 
 
 5th. That the wide extent of this 
 evil should occasion any one to think 
 lightly of it. 
 
 6th. That so many should pretend 
 that it is necessary to practice that 
 which everybody knows needs to be 
 abandoned. 
 
 Young fellow! Old fellow! Any 
 fellow who may be “afire there,” God 
 designed your person and your purse 
 for a nobler sacrifice than to become a 
 holocaust upon the altar of the filthy, 
 unhealthy, and unwealthy tobacco 
 abomination —William F. Davis. 
 
 LSS Tees 
 
 ABIDING INFLUENCE. 
 
 The promise of influence belongs to 
 every faithful child of God. Frances 
 Willard, in this illustration, gave an 
 instance of its fulfilment: A young 
 nobleman found himself in a little vil- 
 lage off in Cornwall. It was a hot day, 
 and he was thirsty. He rode up and 
 down the village street seeking in vain 
 for a place where something stronger 
 than water could be had. At last he 
 stopped and made impatient inquiry of 
 an old peasant who was on his way 
 home after a day of toil: “How is it 
 that I can’t get a glass of liquor 
 anywhere in this wretched village of 
 yours?” he demanded harshly. The 
 old man, recognizing his questioner as 
 a man of rank, pulled off his cap and 
 bowed humbly, but nevertheless there 
 was a proud flash in his faded eyes as 
 he answered quietly: “My lord, some- 
 thing over a hundred years ago a man 
 named John Wesley came to these 
 parts.” And with that the old peasant 
 walked away. 
 
7 Aa 
 
 Aen ay ee 
 LINCOLN AND TEMPERANCE, 
 
 A more astute politician than Lincoln 
 America has not produced, and a greater 
 temptation never came to any mere pol- 
 itician than came to Lincoln the day 
 after his nomination for the presidency 
 by the Republican National Convention, 
 which met in the “Wigwam,” in Chi- 
 cago, 1860. It occurred in connection 
 with the visit of the committee appointed 
 by the convention to notify Lincoln of 
 his nomination. A number of the citizens 
 ef Springfield, knowing Lincoln’s total 
 abstinence habits, and believing that he 
 would in all probability have no liquors 
 in the house, called upon him, and sug- 
 gested that perhaps some members of 
 the committee would be in need of some 
 refreshment, wine, or other liquors. “I 
 haven’t any in the house,” said Lincoln. 
 “We will furnish them,” said the vis- 
 itors. “Gentlemen,” replied Lincoln, “TI 
 cannot allow you to do what I wiil not 
 do myself.” Some democratic citizens, 
 however, who felt that Springfield had 
 been honored by the nomination, sent 
 several baskets of wine to Lincoln’s 
 house, but he returned them, thanking 
 the senders for their intended kindness. 
 
 After the formal ceremonies connected 
 with the business of the committee of 
 notification had passed, Lincoln re- 
 marked that, as an appropriate conclu- 
 tion to an interview so important and in- 
 teresting, he supposed good manners 
 would require that he should furnish the 
 committee something to drink; and 
 opening a door, he called out, “Mary! 
 Mary!” A girl responded to the call, 
 to whom Lincoln spoke in an under- 
 tone. In a few minutes the maid en- 
 tered bearing. a large tray containing 
 several glass tumblers and a large 
 pitcher, and placed it upon the centre 
 table. Lincoln then arose, and gravely 
 addressing the distinguished gentlemen, 
 said: “Gentlemen, we must pledge our 
 mutual healths in the most healthy 
 beverage God has given to man. It is 
 the only beverage I have ever used 
 or allowed in my family, and I cannot 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 conscientiously depart from it on the 
 present occasion; it is pure Adam’s ale 
 from the spring.” And, taking a tumb- 
 ler, he touched it to his lips, and pledged 
 them his highest respects in a cup of cold 
 water. A few months later he started 
 on his journey to Washington to take 
 his seat as President of the United 
 States, 
 
 In a number of cities his visit was 
 honored with grand banquets at which 
 wine was served, but of which he never 
 partook. On one occasion, being urged 
 to drink a glass of wine, he replied, “For 
 thirty years I have been a temperance 
 man, and I am too old to change.” It 
 is declared that actions speak louder than 
 words. The cause of temperance would 
 possibly have been victorious had the 
 actions of all temperance men been as 
 consistent and as persistent against the 
 liquor traffic as their utterances have 
 been. But when men’s acts and words 
 are in accord, great is their power. Such 
 were Abraham Lincoln’s. He not only 
 abstained from the use of intoxicating 
 liquors, but he was bold in publicly ad- 
 vocating total abstinence—David D. 
 Thompson. 
 
 Mibouane Wp aah 
 
 AN UNDERGROUND CITY. 
 
 In Galicia, in Austrian Poland, there 
 is a remarkable underground city, which 
 has a population of over 1,000 men, 
 women, and children, scores of whom 
 have never seen the light of day. It is 
 known as “The City of Salt Mines,” 
 and is situated several hundred feet be- 
 low the earth’s surface. It has its town 
 hall, theatre, and assembly room, as 
 well as a beautiful church, decorated 
 with statues, all being fashioned from 
 the pure crystalized rock salt. It has 
 well graded streets and spacious squares 
 lighted with electricity. There are 
 numerous instances in this underground 
 city where not a single individual in 
 three or four successive generations has 
 ever seen the sun, or has any idea of 
 how people live in the light of day.— 
 Christian Herald. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 e416 oe 
 THE CAPTAIN AND THE 
 (QUADRANT. 
 
 A godly man, the master of an Ameri- 
 can ship, during one voyage found his 
 ship bemisted for days and he became 
 rather anxious respecting her safety. 
 He went down to his cabin and prayed. 
 The thought struck him, if he had with 
 confidence committed his soul to God, 
 he might certainly commit his ship to 
 Him; and so accordingly he gave all 
 into the hands of God and felt at per- 
 fect peace; but still he prayed that if 
 He would be pleased to give a cloudless 
 sky at twelve o’clock he should like to 
 take an observation to ascertain their 
 real position, and whether they were on 
 the right course. 
 
 He came on deck at eleven o’clock, 
 with the quadrant under his coat. As 
 it was thick drizzling the men looked 
 at him with amazement. He went to 
 his cabin, prayed, and came up. There 
 seemed still to be no hope. 
 
 Again he went down and prayed, and 
 again he appeared on deck with his 
 quadrant in his hand. It was now ten 
 minutes to twelve o'clock, and still 
 there was no appearance of a change; 
 but he stood on the deck, waiting upon 
 the Lord, when, in a few minutes, the 
 mist seemed to be folded up and rolled 
 away as by an omnipotent and invisi- 
 ble hand; the sun shown clearly from 
 the blue vault of heaven and there stood 
 the man of prayer with the quadrant in 
 his hand, but so awe-struck did he feel, 
 and so “dreadful” was that place, that 
 he could scarcely take advantage of the 
 answer to his prayer. He, however, 
 succeeded, although with trembling 
 hands, and found to his comfort that all 
 was well. But no sooner had he fin- 
 _ished taking the observation than the 
 mist rolled over the heavens and it be- 
 gan to drizzle as before. 
 
 This story of prayer was received 
 from the lips of the good Captain Cras- 
 by, who was so useful in the Ardrossan 
 awakening; and he himself was the man 
 
 223 
 
 who prayed and waited upon his God 
 with quadrant in his hand,—Selected. 
 
 aoe 417 
 
 “I DON’T KNOW HIM!” 
 
 A beautiful young mother in New 
 York City returning to the building in 
 which her little infant lay asleep was 
 appalled to see the building in flames. 
 The firemen could not restrain her and 
 she dashed through the fames and res- 
 cued her child, but in doing so she 
 was so severely burned that her face 
 was horribly disfigured for life. When 
 she looked at her face in the glass after 
 it was healed, she was shocked at her 
 disigurement, but was comforted by the 
 thought that when her little daughter 
 grew up she would appreciate the sac- 
 rifice that her mother had made to res- 
 cue her. The little child did grow up to 
 be a young woman of uncommon beau- 
 ty. She was much admired and petted. 
 
 One day there was an excursion up 
 the river and both mother and daughter 
 went. The beautiful daughter was on 
 the front deck surrounded by a host of 
 admirers, laughing and talking. The 
 disfigured mother was on the rear deck 
 looking after the wraps and other things. 
 The mother had occasion to go to the 
 front deck to speak to her daughter. 
 As she drew near, a gay young man 
 asked the beautiful young girl, “Who 
 is that hideous looking woman com- 
 ing?” In a low tone the beautiful 
 daughter said, “I don’t know.” But the 
 words were not so low but what the 
 mother caught them and that loving 
 heart was broken by the gross ingrati- 
 tude of the daughter for whom she had 
 sacrificed so much. 
 
 How we shudder at the thought of 
 such awful ingratitude, but are we not 
 guilty of a grosser ingratitude toward 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? 
 His visage was more marred than any 
 man’s and His form more than the sons 
 of men, and yet how many to-day are 
 ashamed of Him and say, “I do not know 
 Him.”—— Rev. R. E. Torrey 
 
224 
 
 ieee 
 SNATCHED FROM DEATH. 
 
 When we escaped from Van in the 
 spring of last year, all but dead from 
 the dread typhus fever, I was carried in 
 the only horse litter the caravan boasted. 
 Pneumonia followed typhus, and parotid 
 abscess succeeded that. When our 
 journey out of the ravaged city began, 
 I had fallen off from 186 pounds to 95. 
 
 On our perilous trip through the 
 Turkish lines to the southern part of 
 Russia we came to a spring that was 
 poisoned with the bacillus of dysentery. 
 Forty thousand people were said to 
 have died of dysentery as a result of 
 this. I and other missionaries were in- 
 fected. 
 
 In the old Turkish custom house at 
 the foot of Mt. Ararat we found a Red 
 Cross hospital, and the student who 
 was acting as surgeon operated on my 
 parotid abscess as best he could. At 
 Igdir I was taken to the officer’s hos- 
 pital and treated with every courtesy, 
 and I shall never cease to be grateful 
 for the kindness of the Russian doctor 
 and his lovely wife, who spoke French 
 and interpreted for me. After the agony 
 I had suffered at the hands of the 
 surgeon on Ararat, his gentle touch and 
 sympathy were greatly appreciated. I 
 regret having lost their names. 
 
 Only military telegrams could go 
 through, so the doctor very kindly tele- 
 graphed the American Consul, Mr. Wil- 
 loughby Smith, in Tiflis, to secure me a 
 bed and the best surgical attention in 
 Tiflis, 
 
 When I arrived in the military am- 
 bulance train, I found an automobile 
 awaiting me and was taken at once to 
 the city hospital, where I had the best 
 of care. In spite of the efforts of several 
 physicians, my fever and dysentery con- 
 tinued, and I suffered agony twenty 
 times a day. I was unable to take 
 nourishment for four days and was a 
 mere skeleton, spanning my biceps with 
 my thumb and forefinger, and the calf of 
 my leg with thumb and second finger, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 The doctors became discouraged at 
 the lack of results from their remedies, 
 and told the nurses they need not in- 
 sist on my taking them if they dis- 
 tressed me, as I was too far gone to be 
 helped. They had told my sister that 
 I might die at any day and she would 
 better be prepared for it. 
 
 My pocket Bible (American Revised 
 Version) was one of the five things we 
 had saved. At my request it was 
 brought to me, and before opening it 
 I prayed that God would guide me to 
 the message He wished me to have. Al- 
 most too weak to lift the little book, I 
 let it fall open on my chest and putting 
 my finger on it turned it up to see the 
 message. I found I had put my finger 
 on the eighth verse of the twenty-eighth 
 chapter of Acts, and read: “And it was 
 so, that the father of Publius lay sick 
 of a fever and dysentery: unto whom 
 Paul entered in, and prayed, and laying 
 his hands on him healed him.” 
 
 I did not know that the word “dysen- 
 tery” was in the English translation of 
 the Scriptures. I said to myself, “What 
 does this mean? I asked God to guide 
 me to the message He wanted me to 
 have and must believe that He has done 
 so.” Did it mean that He wanted me to 
 claim my healing from Him? I replied, 
 “Lord, I can’t; I am too weak; I haven't 
 faith to lay hold.” 
 
 The answer came to me as clearly 
 and distinctly as if some one spoke, “It 
 is not your faith, but the faith of Jesus 
 Christ.” Like a flash came the picture 
 of the seminary room when I was 
 studying Greek under Professor Wil- 
 liam Max Muller, and came upon that 
 phrase, “The faith of Jesus Christ,” 
 which Professor Muller said could only 
 be translated that way. I did not re- 
 member whether it was Romans 3:22, 
 or Galatians 2:20 (I think the thought 
 occurs in both), but it was so clear to 
 me that I replied, “Then, Lord Jesus, 
 Thou must do it all. The faith must be 
 Thine, and the works Thine. I can do 
 nothing. I leave it to Thee.” 
 
 A few minutes later a severe spasm 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 of pain made me want to call the nurse; 
 but I said to myself, “You said you 
 would leave it to Jesus. Why don't 
 you?” I didn’t call the nurse. Nor did 
 I need another dose of medicine. 
 
 From that hour I was healed. Ap- 
 petite returned, and I regained seventy- 
 eight pounds in a strange land among 
 a people of strange tongue. God knew 
 all about an individual and spoke to him 
 in the twentieth century. Jesus Christ, 
 the same yesterday, and to-day, and for- 
 ever, wrought as He did on the shores 
 of Galilee, and fulfilled His promise, “Lo, 
 I am with you all the days even unto the 
 end of the age.”’—Rev. Clarence D. 
 Usher, M. D., in Sunday School Times, 
 Oct. 21, 1910. 
 
 —— 419 —— 
 
 NO THANKS TO BENEFACTOR. 
 
 I will tell you a story about a gentle- 
 man in Detroit who saved the life of a 
 little girl, The gentleman told me the 
 story himself one morning at his break- 
 fast-table. 
 
 About nine years ago he saw one day 
 a horse running away, with only a little 
 gir! in the wagon. In a way which it 
 would take too long to tell he stopped 
 the horse, and thus saved the child’s life; 
 but in doing so was kicked by the horse 
 so badly that they thought him dead. 
 
 For days he lay like a dead man, with- 
 out speaking, hardly breathing. And 
 what do you think were the first words 
 he said? They were these: “Is the 
 little girl safe?” 
 
 And then he said, “Bring her to me; 
 I want to see her.” 
 
 “We don’t know where she is.” 
 
 “What!” he said, “don’t know where 
 she is? Hasn’t she been here to thank 
 me for saving her life?” 
 
 “No. Her father came, and they 
 drove way, and we have never seen 
 them. Perhaps they are afraid you will 
 make them pay.” 
 
 “Oh, no,” said Mr. B., “I don’t want 
 their money; only I would give any- 
 thing to see that little girl.” 
 
 Nine years have now passed away, 
 
 ANECDOTES. 220 
 and Mr. B, has been suffering ever since. 
 He has never been well; and all because 
 he saved that child’s life. He told me, 
 with a great deal of feeling, that he still 
 had the strongest desire to see her. He 
 could scarcely keep the tears from his 
 eyes as he spoke of her. “Oh!” said he, 
 “it seems so strange that she never 
 even in all these years thanked me for 
 what I did for her. It must be she lives 
 somewhere not far from here, and knows 
 where I live.” 
 
 Though your sins helped to crucify 
 the loving Saviour, still you need not 
 fear to go and thank Him; you will 
 find Him far more anxious to meet you 
 than the gentleman in Detroit was to see 
 the little girl; for his words are, “Him 
 that cometh unto Me I will in no wise 
 cast out.”’—Rev. E. Payson Hammond. 
 
 i450 
 LOVE’S ACCENT. 
 
 Talmage tells a story of a boy who, 
 having left home to seek a fortune, 
 soon found himself in needy circum- 
 stances. Then he wrote his father this 
 appeal: “Dear Father—I am sick and 
 lonely, without one single cent. Send 
 me some money quick.—Your son, 
 John.” Now the father was illiterate 
 and could not read, so he went to a 
 great strapping butcher, and asked him 
 to read the letter. The butcher had a 
 gruff way of reading, and a loud voice. 
 When he had finished reading John’s 
 letter the father was angry, and declared 
 he would not send a penny, even if the 
 boy starved to death. He had never 
 heard such an impudent demand for 
 money. On his way home the father 
 thought the butcher might have made 
 a mistake in reading, and the desire to 
 hear the letter read again overcame him. 
 A baker, with a Iow voice and plaintiff 
 tone, was next asked to read the son’s 
 letter. When he concluded, the father 
 said, with tears in his eyes, “My poor 
 boy! I'll send him all the money he 
 wants.” The baker had read word for 
 word the letter as it was read by the 
 butcher; the only difference was in the 
 tone of his voice.—Selected. 
 
 
 
226 
 
 ——— 421 —— 
 AN UNSELFISH INVENTOR. 
 
 Many dairymen in America use the 
 milk-test machine. It has been called 
 “an implacable promoter of honesty.” 
 Before it was invented, poor milk and 
 rich milk, honest milk and adulterated 
 milk were upon the same level. It is 
 simple, inexpensive and accurate, de- 
 termining in a few moments the exact 
 amount of butter fat in the milk. It 
 is used not only by large butter-and- 
 cheese-makers, but by the farmer who 
 has milk to sell and who is protected 
 by it. It was invented by Professor 
 Babcock, of the University of Wisconsin. 
 He knew its value to farmer and dairy- 
 man. He also knew its possibilities of 
 fortune for himself. This invention has 
 “increased the wealth of nations by 
 many millions of dollars and made con- 
 tinual new developments possible in but- 
 ter-and-cheese making.” All this Pro- 
 fessor Babcock knew it would do when 
 he announced his discovery, in a little 
 bulletin, sixteen years ago, to the farm- 
 ers of Wisconsin. But at the bottom of 
 that bulletin he added the brief and un- 
 selfish sentence, “This test is not pat- 
 ented.” With that sentence he cheer- 
 fully let a fortune go. He wanted his 
 invention to help other people rather 
 than make himself rich. 
 
 To-day the State of Wisconsin calls 
 this inventor “the first citizen of the 
 commonwealth.” A beautiful bronze 
 medal was struck in his honor in 1901, 
 bearing the substance of a resolution 
 passed by the legislature recognizing 
 “the great value to this state and to the 
 whole world in the inventions of Pro- 
 fessor Stephen Moulton Babcock, and 
 his unselfish dedication of these inven- 
 tions to the public service.” There are 
 many millionaires in the United States. 
 In fact, there is no great credit in Amer- 
 ica in being a millionaire. But a medal 
 like that is a finer distinction than any 
 fortune. It is a good thing to record it 
 before the eyes of American youth, asa 
 modern object lesson in the old Bible 
 truth that “to serve others is the truest 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 greatness of man.’’—Forward. 
 genes 42D mtn 
 LIKE JESUS BEST. 
 
 Dr. Wilbur Chapman says a boy who 
 had been operated upon by Dr. Lorenz 
 said as soon as he came out of the in- 
 fluence of the anaesthetic, “It will be a 
 long time before my mother hears the 
 last of this Doctor.” The operation 
 was a success. When the plaster cast 
 was taken off a friend came to take him 
 home. In doing so, he called the boy’s 
 attention to the grandeur of the hos- 
 pital, but though the boy admired it, 
 he said, “I like the Doctor best.” He 
 spoke of the nurses, and though inter- 
 ested, he said, “they are nothing com- 
 pared to the Doctor.” It was a great 
 joy to the mother when she saw the 
 boy’s foot entirely cured, but all that 
 the boy could say to the mother was, 
 “You ought to know the Doctor that 
 made me walk.” There is none of us 
 but for whom Jesus Christ has done ten 
 thousand times more than the doctor 
 did on that boy. Perhaps we have not 
 yielded ourselves to Him nor spoken of 
 Him. It should be now with us as 
 with the apostle; we ought “to pre- 
 sent our bodies a living sacrifice” to 
 Him.—Selected. ( 
 
 rng cares 
 NO SACRIFICE FOR CHRIST. 
 
 James Chalmers, of New Guinea, of 
 whom Robert Louis Stevenson said, 
 “He’s as big as a church,” and who was 
 finally clubbed to death and eaten by 
 cannibals, declared that “the word ‘sac- 
 rifice’ ought never to be used in Christ’s 
 service,’ and in a speech in Exeter Hall 
 fifteen years before his death, he ex- 
 claimed: “Recall the twenty-one years, 
 give me back all its experiences, give me 
 its shipwrecks, give me its standings in 
 the face of death, give it me surrounded 
 with savages with spears and clubs, give 
 it me back with the spears flying about 
 me, with the club knocking me to the 
 eround—give it me back, and I will still 
 be your missionary.” 
 
 ’ 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 pe 424 
 A STORY WON THE MOB. 
 
 On one occasion a mob of the inhabit- 
 ants of a walled town of India surround- 
 ed Dr. Jacob Chamberlain of the Arcot 
 Mission and his native assistants and 
 threatened them with violence, because 
 they had taught of another God than 
 theirs. Dr. Chamberlain tells what fol- 
 lowed: 
 
 “We had gone to the market place and 
 I had endeavored to preach to them of 
 Christ and His salvation, but they would 
 not hear. They ordered me to leave the 
 city at once, but I had declined to leave 
 until I had delivered my message. The 
 throng was filling the streets. They told 
 me if I tried to utter another word I 
 should be killed. There was no rescue; 
 they would have the city gates closed 
 and there should never any news go 
 forth of what was done. I must leave 
 at once, or I should not leave alive. I 
 had seen them tear up the paving stones 
 and fill their arms with them to be 
 ready, and one was saying to another, 
 ‘You throw the first stone and I will 
 the next!’ 
 
 “By an artifice, I need not stop here 
 to detail, I succeeded in getting permis- 
 sion to tell them a story before they 
 stoned me, and then they might stone 
 me if they wished. They were standing 
 around me ready to throw the stones 
 when I succeeded in getting them to 
 let me tell the story first. 
 
 “T told them of the love of the Divine 
 Father that had made us of one blood, 
 who ‘so loved the world that He gave 
 His only begotten Son that whosover 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life.’ I told them of 
 that birth in the manger of Bethlehem, 
 of the wonderful childhood, of the mar- 
 velous life, of those miraculous deeds, 
 of the gracious words that He spake. 
 I told them the story of the Cross, and 
 pictured in the graphic words that the 
 Master Himself gave me that day, the 
 story of our Saviour nailed upon the 
 cioss, for them, for me, for all the 
 world, when He cried in agony, ‘My 
 
 227 
 
 God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me!’ 
 
 “When I told them that I saw the 
 men go and throw their stones in the 
 gutter and come back, and down the 
 cheeks of the very men that had been 
 clamoring the loudest for my blood I 
 saw the tears running and dropping off 
 upon the pavement that they had torn 
 up. I told them that I had finished my 
 story and that they might stone me; 
 but no, they did not want to stone me 
 now; they did not know what a wonder- 
 ful story I had come to tell them.” 
 
 ADS eee 
 A GLEAM ACROSS THE WAVE. . 
 
 The Rev. Spencer Compton, an earn- 
 est evangelical Episcopal minister at 
 Boulegne, France, relates the following 
 incident: “During a voyage to India I 
 Sat one dark evening in my cabin feel- 
 ing thoroughly unwell, as the sea was 
 rising fast, and I was but a poor sailor. 
 Suddenly the cry of “Man overboard!” 
 made me spring to my feet. I heard a 
 trampling overhead, but resolved not to 
 go on deck, lest I should interfere with 
 the crew in their efforts to save the 
 poor man. “What can I do?” I asked 
 myself, and instantly unhooking my 
 lamp I held it near the top of my cabin 
 and close to my bull’s eye window, that 
 its light might shine on the sea, and as 
 near the ship as possible. In a half 
 minute’s time I heard the joyful cry, 
 “It’s all right; he’s safe,” upon which 
 I put my lamp in its place. 
 
 The next day, however, I was told 
 that my little lamp was the sole means 
 of saving the man’s life. It was only 
 by the timely light which shone upon 
 him that the knotted rope could be 
 thrown so as to reach him. 
 
 Christian worker, never despond, nor 
 think there is nothing for you to do 
 even in dark and weary days. “Look- 
 ing unto Jesus,” lift up your light; let 
 it so “shine” “that men may see;” and 
 in the bright resurrection morning what 
 joy to hear the “Well done!” and to 
 know that you have unawares “saved 
 some soul from death.”—Selected. 
 
228 
 
 SAG eet 
 OLD RATTLE-BONES. 
 
 Come with me to England. Here is 
 a true story: Four horses and a stage 
 coach come up to a hotel and the boys 
 are on the green playing ball. They 
 all lay down the bat and bail to see the 
 people get off the coach. One man 
 gets down very slowly. He looks pale, 
 body all bent over. When he gets 
 down from the stage some crutches are 
 put under his arms and he looks at a 
 house a little way distant and goes along 
 very slowly. And the boys ali stand 
 and look at him; they don’t know who 
 he is, and finally one of them, Freddie, 
 cries out, “Go it, old rattle-bones!” 
 and then all of them called out, “Go 
 it, old rattle-bones! Go it, old rattle- 
 bones!” This gentleman (for he was 
 a gentleman) turned around and looked 
 at them, as much as to say, “Boys, if 
 you knew what brought me here you 
 wouldn’t call me “old rattle-bones!” 
 The boys then went to playing ball 
 again and the gentleman went on. When 
 he got to the house Mrs. Williamson 
 came to the door and said: “Mr. John- 
 son, you look ill.” “Yes, the doctor says 
 I can live but a little while, and I thought 
 I must come home and see Freddie be- 
 fore I die. I have been suffering for ten 
 years, since I saved his life when he 
 was a baby.” “Yes, we know all about 
 it, Mr. Johnson; my dear Freddie would 
 have lost his life if it had not been for 
 you.” 
 
 “Where is he?” 
 
 “He is playing ball, I will send for 
 him.” 
 
 She invited Mr. Johnson in, and did 
 everything she could for him. 
 
 But I want to go back a little. Ten 
 years before a baby carriage started out 
 from that house and Mrs. Williamson 
 said to the servant, “Take good care of 
 the little boy, Bessie; you know he is 
 our only child.” Away went Bessie 
 along the bank of the river. She acci- 
 dentally dropped her handkerchief, and 
 as she turned round to pick it up let go 
 of the perambulator, and it being on a 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 little incline, ran down the bank and 
 the baby was thrown into the water. 
 Bessie gave a shriek, which attracted 
 the attention of Mr. Johnson, who was 
 coming along, and as he was a great 
 swimmer he plunged into the water, 
 and after a good deal of difficulty he 
 brought Freddie to shore. It was a 
 cool day and Mr. Johnson caught a 
 dreadful cold, chronic rheumatism came 
 on and the doctors told him he had bet- 
 ter go to the south of France. He did 
 not get any better, and the doctors there 
 told him he would have to die and if he 
 had any matters to attend to he had 
 better do so at once. He said: “I want 
 to see that boy, Freddie, who caused 
 ine all this pain; I want to hear him 
 thank me for all the sufferings I have 
 endured.” So he came from France 
 across the English Channel to that town 
 and Freddie was the boy who called 
 him “old rattle-bones.” He was the 
 one when he got off the stage to call 
 out “Go it, old rattle-bones!” When 
 he asked for Freddie, Mrs. Williamson 
 said, “I will send for him. Bessie, tell 
 Freddie a gentleman wants to see him; 
 tell him Mr. Johnson has come.” 
 
 Bessie went out and called him, 
 “Come home, Freddie, Mr. Johnson has 
 come.” 
 
 Freddie began to think, “It must have 
 been Mr. Johnson that I called old rat- 
 tle-bones; I don’t want to see him.” 
 
 He felt just as Adam did when he 
 disobeyed God. Freddie did not start 
 to run home at all. The servant went 
 into the house. 
 
 “Where is Freddie? Did you tell him 
 to come home?” 
 
 “Yes, mum.” 
 
 “Why didn’t he come?” 
 
 “T don’t know, mum.” 
 
 “Didn’t he start to come home?” 
 
 “No, mum.” 
 
 She didn’t know he had called Mr. 
 Johnson “old rattle-bones.” 
 
 “Go and get him.” 
 
 Bessie went to the door and there 
 was Freddie coming up the steps as 
 though he had leaden boots on. She 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 didn’t know what the matter was, he 
 came up the steps so slowly. Bessie 
 said, “Why don’t you hurry? Go and 
 wash your face and hands. A gentle- 
 man in the parlor wants to see you.” 
 
 Freddie didn’t hurry a bit. He was 
 ashamed to see the man who had nearly 
 died to save him, and whom he had in- 
 sulted. After a long time he went into 
 the parlor and began to cry. His 
 mother said, “Freddie, what are you 
 crying about? I thought you would be 
 glad to see Mr. Johnson. You have heard 
 us tell how he saved your life when you 
 were a baby, and we thought you would 
 be so glad to see him.” 
 
 But Freddie cried the more. 
 
 “Why, what is the matter, Freddie?” 
 
 Mr. Johnson knew what the matter 
 was. It was Freddie who had called him 
 the name. Freddie said, “Oh, mother, it 
 was I who called out, ‘Go it, old rattle- 
 bones!’ when he got off the stage. I 
 am so ashamed. Mr. Johnson, will you 
 forgive me?” 
 
 Jesus loved us and gave Himself for 
 us. Have you gone to Jesus and thanked 
 Him? Have you really come to Jesus 
 and given yourself to Him?—Rev. E. 
 Payson Hammond. 
 
 aay ad 
 “THE BOOK OF HEAVEN.” 
 
 Rev. Egerton R. Young, the mission- 
 ary to the Indians in the far northern 
 wilderness of British America, tells in 
 one of his addresses, this touching story: 
 
 “Often have I been made ashamed 
 of the littleness of my love by the de- 
 votion of these Indians, and by their 
 love for the Bible. Let me give you 
 an incident. One of our Indians with 
 his son came away down from the dis- 
 tant hunting-grounds to fish on the 
 shores of our great lakes. This man 
 and his son came down to fish, and 
 they made splendid fisheries, put up 
 the white fish on a staging where the 
 foxes and wolves could not reach them, 
 and one night the father said: ‘My son, 
 we leave to-morrow morning early; 
 put the book of heaven in your pack; 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 we go back one hundred and forty miles 
 to our distant hunting-ground to join 
 the mother and the others in the wig- 
 wam-home.’ So the young man put 
 his Bible in his pack that they might 
 take it home. Later on, along came an 
 uncle and said to the young man: 
 ‘Nephew, lend me the book of heaven 
 that I may read a little; I have loaned 
 mine. So the pack was opened and 
 the Bible was taken out, and the man 
 read for a time and then threw the Bible 
 back among the blankets and went out. 
 
 “The next morning the father and 
 son started very early on their home- 
 ward journey. They strapped on their 
 snowshoes and walked seventy miles, 
 dug a hole in the snow at night, where 
 they cooked rabbits, and had prayers 
 and lay down and siept. The next 
 morning, bright and early, after prayers, 
 they pushed on and made seventy miles 
 more and reached home. That night 
 the father said to his son: ‘Give me 
 the book of heaven, that the mother 
 and the rest may read the word and 
 have prayers.’ As the son opened the 
 pack, he said: ‘Uncle asked for the 
 bock two nights ago and it was not put 
 back.” The father was disappointed, 
 but said little. The next morning he 
 rose early, put a few cooked rabbits in 
 his pack and away he started. He 
 walked that day seventy miles and 
 reached the camp where he and his son 
 had stopped two nights before. The 
 next day he had made the other seventy 
 miles and reached the lake and found 
 his Bible in his brother’s wigwam. The 
 next morning he started again and, 
 walking in the two days one hundred 
 and forty miles, was back at home once 
 more. That Indian walked on snow- 
 shoes two hundred and eighty miles 
 through the wild forest of the North- 
 west to regain his copy of the word of 
 God. Could we do that much to regain 
 our Bibles? Oh, the power of the gospel! 
 It can go down very low and reach men 
 deeply sunken in sin, and can save them 
 grandly, and make them devout students 
 and great lovers of the blessed Book!” 
 
 229 
 
Binsiay TR 
 
 THE DANGER OF EVIL 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 St. Augustine, in speaking of his 
 very intimate friend Alypius, who oc- 
 cupies a large part of the story of his 
 early life, its yearnings and struggles, 
 tells us that this young man had gone 
 before him to study law at Rome, and 
 was there carried away with excessive 
 eagerness to the combats of the gladia- 
 tors. “For,” to quote the Confessions, 
 “being utterly averse from, and de- 
 testing such spectacles, he one day met 
 by chance certain of his acquaintances 
 and fellow students coming from din- 
 ner, who with a familiar violence haled 
 him, refusing and resisting, into the 
 amphitheater, during the progress of 
 those deadly entertainments. Again 
 and again did he protest, ‘Though you 
 drag my body there, and there set me 
 down, you cannot force me to turn eyes 
 or mind upon those horrors. I shall 
 then be absent while I am present, and 
 so shall overcome both you and them.’ 
 They, hearing this, bore him on never- 
 theless, desirous perhaps to try that 
 very thing, whether he could do as he 
 pretended. 
 
 “When they had arrived and had 
 taken their places as they could, the 
 whole place kindled with the savage 
 pastime. But he, closing the passages 
 of his eyes, forbade his mind to range 
 abroad,—and would that he had stopped 
 his ears also! For in the fight when 
 one fell, a mighty cry of the whole 
 people striking him strongly, overcome 
 by curiosity, and prepared as it were, 
 to despisé and rise superior to the scene 
 whatever it might be, even when dis- 
 closed to him, he cpened his eyes, and 
 was at once stricken with a deeper 
 wound in his soul than was the other in 
 his body, and he fell more miserably 
 than he on whose fall that mighty noise 
 was raised . . . For as soon as he saw 
 that blood he therewith drank in sav- 
 ageness, nor turned he away, but fixed 
 his eyes upon it, frenzied unawares, and 
 was delighted with the wicked fight, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. . 
 
 intoxicated with the bloody pastime. 
 Why say more? He beheld, he shout- 
 ed, he caught fire; he carried thence 
 with him the madness which should 
 goad him to return, not with them only 
 who had first drawn him thither, but 
 even before them,—yea, and to draw 
 in Others.’ How evidently genuine 
 a narrative? How true to our common 
 nature! Have we not read precisely 
 like accounts of the experience of our 
 own countrymen who have been enticed 
 to witness the scenes of a Spanish bull- 
 fight?-—Rev. Charles Mirivale, D. D., 
 Dean of Ely. 
 —— 429 —— 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT POWER. 
 
 It is said that the late Charles Reade, 
 of England, the eminent novelist, was 
 led to study the Old Testament by a re- 
 mark of the late, famous Matthew Ar- 
 nold, the remark being, according to a 
 writer in the “Andover Review,” in 
 these words: “The old Bible is getting 
 to be to us literary men of England a 
 sealed book. We may think we know 
 it. We were taught it at home. We 
 hear it read in church. Perhaps we can 
 quote some verse, or even passage; but 
 we really know very little of it. I wish, 
 Reade, that you would take up the Old 
 Testament and go through it as though 
 every page of it were new to you—as 
 though you had never read a line of it 
 before. I think it will astonish you.” 
 
 Mr. Reade did so. He entered upon 
 the task with such zeal as characterized 
 his other work. The result was he not 
 only became astonished at his discov- 
 eries, but the study led to his conver- 
 sion. He opened his heart to the truths 
 and lessons of the Old Testament, and 
 found that they were full of a mighty, 
 convincing power, before which he hum- 
 bly bowed, and by which he was 
 brought into the kingdom of which the 
 
 prophets foretold with graphic interest 
 
 and eloquence. And there are many 
 others today, who if they would devout- 
 ly search those ancient Scriptures, 
 would find them the power of God, “even 
 unto salvation.”—-C. H. Wetherbe. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —— 430 —— 
 SOLDIERS AND ALCOHOL. 
 
 At a temperance meeting held some 
 years since, in the State of Alabama, 
 Col. Lehamowski, once a Polish count, 
 and who served many years in Bona- 
 parte’s armies, addressed the meeting. 
 He arose before a large audience, tall, 
 erect and vigorous, and with the glow 
 of health on his face, and said: 
 
 “You see before you a man seventy- 
 nine years old. I have fought two 
 hundred battles, have fourteen wounds 
 upon my body, have lived thirty days 
 on horse flesh, with the bark of trees 
 for bread, snow and ice for drink, the 
 canopy of heaven for my covering, 
 without stockings or shoes on my feet, 
 and with only a few rags to cover my 
 body. In Egypt I have marched for 
 days with the burning sun upon my 
 naked head, feet blistered in the hot 
 sand, and with my eyes, my nostrils 
 and my mouth filled with dust, and 
 thirst so tormenting that I have torn 
 open the veins of my arms, and sucked 
 my own blood. Do you ask how I 
 could survive all these horrors? I an- 
 Swer, next to the kind providence of 
 God, I owe my preservation, my health, 
 my vigor, my all, to this fact, that I 
 never drank a drop of spirituous liquor 
 in all my life.” And he added: “Baron 
 Larry, chief of the medical department 
 of the French army, has stated it as a 
 fact that the six thousand survivors who 
 safely returned from Egypt were all 
 men who abstained wholly from the use 
 of ardent spirits.’"—H. L. Hastings. 
 
 ute pce 
 PULL OUT THE NAIL HOLE. 
 
 John B. DeMotte, A. M., gives this 
 little story of father’s teaching, 
 
 “My boyhood home was not far south 
 of the great chain of North American 
 Lakes. Our fuel was poles cut from a 
 neighboring tamarack swamp. It was 
 my business, after they had been brought 
 to our yard, to saw them to proper 
 length for the stoves. They were long 
 
 231 
 
 and slick and hard to hold. One morn- 
 ing, when I was in a hurry to be off 
 fishing, they seemed to be especially 
 aggravating. Getting the saw fast, I 
 jerked about until finally I plunged the 
 teeth some distance into one of my feet, 
 making an ugly gash. My father saw 
 the exhibition of my temper, but said 
 nothing until I had finished my work 
 and my passion had subsided. Then 
 he called me to him. 
 
 “John,” said he, very kindly, “I wish 
 you would get the hammer.” 
 
 “Yes. sir.” 
 
 “Now a nail and a piece of pine board.” 
 
 “Here they are.” 
 
 “Will you drive the nail into the 
 board?” 
 
 It was done. 
 
 “Please pull it out again.” 
 
 “That’s easy.” 
 
 “Now, John’—and my father’s voice 
 dropped to a lower, sadder key—‘pull 
 out the nail hole.” 
 
 Ah! boys and girls, every wrong act 
 leaves a scar. Even if the board were 
 a living tree, yea, a living soul, the scars 
 remain. 
 
 sos AGD sees 
 A WORTHY CONFESSOR. 
 
 It was a fine reply which Basil, of 
 Caesarea, made when the Emperor 
 Valens sent by his prefect, endeavoring 
 by threats to compel him to receive 
 acknowledged Arians into the fellow- 
 ship of the Church. The prefect de- 
 manded whether he alone when ail 
 others obeyed the Emperor, dared to 
 wish to have any other religion than 
 that of his master. Basil replied that 
 he had nothing to be afraid of; posses- 
 sions, of which men might deprive him, 
 he had none, except his few books and 
 his cloak. An exile was no exile for 
 him, since he knew the whole earth was 
 the Lord’s. If torture was threatened, 
 his feeble body would yield to the first 
 blows; and as for death, that would only 
 bring him nearer to God after whom he 
 longed. The prefect gave up the case. 
 It was vain to threaten such a man. 
 
232 
 
 Peay Fee 
 NAPOLEON’S OPINION OF 
 CHRIST. 
 
 _ When Napoleon was at Saint Helena, 
 in the enforced retirement that followed 
 his boisterous campaigns, he faced, with 
 all the powers of his mighty intellect, 
 the problem of the Unaccountable Man. 
 Not a few of his devoted friends had been. 
 carried away on the flood-tide of infi- 
 delity which, at that time, was sweeping 
 everything before it. On one occasion, 
 when General Bertrand had been speak- 
 ing of Jesus as a man of commanding 
 genius, Napoleon interrupted him and 
 Said: 
 
 “I know men; and I tell you Jesus 
 Christ was more than a man. Super- 
 ficial minds see a resemblance between 
 him and the founders of empires; but 
 there is the distance of infinity between 
 them. As for me [I recognize those 
 great men as beings like myself; they 
 have performed their lofty parts, but 
 there was nothing to prove them divine. 
 They have had foibles which ally them 
 with me. It is not so with Christ. 
 Everything in Him astonishes me. His 
 spirit overawes me; His will confounds 
 me; He stands a being by Himself. His 
 thoughts and principles are not to be 
 explained by human organization or 
 the nature of things. His birth and 
 the history of His life, the profundity of 
 His doctrine which grapples with the 
 mightiest difficulties and solves them; 
 His gospel, His kingdom, His march 
 across the ages; these are too deep a 
 mystery for me! They plunge me into 
 reveries from which I find no escape. 
 The nearer I approach Him, the more I 
 perceive that everything is above me. 
 
 “Who will presume to lift his voice 
 against an intrepid voyager who re- 
 counts the marvels of lands which he 
 alone has had the boldness to visit? 
 Christ is that voyager. I search in vain 
 through history to find his peer. He 
 died an object of contempt, and left a 
 Gospel which has been called ‘the fool- 
 ishness of cross. What a mysteri- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES Fae 
 
 ous symbol! And what a tempest it 
 provoked! On the one side all the 
 furies; on the other gentleness and in- 
 finite resignation. And with what re- 
 sult? You speak of Caesar and Alex- 
 ander, of their conquests and the en- 
 thusiasm which they enkindled in the 
 hearts of their soldiers; but can you 
 conceive of a dead man making con- 
 quests with an army devoted to his 
 memory? Can you conceive of Caesar 
 from the depth of his mausoleum 
 watching over the destinies of Rome? 
 Yet such is the history of the Christian 
 invasion and the conquest of the world. 
 Such is the power of the Christian’s 
 God! 
 
 “We have founded empires, Caesar 
 and Alexander and Charlemagne and I; 
 we have founded empires upon force; 
 but Christ has founded an empire on — 
 love. And at this hour, millions would 
 die for him. What a proof of his divin- 
 ity! Now that I am at Saint Helena, 
 chained upon this rock, where are my 
 friends? My life once shone with a 
 royal brilliance; but disaster overtook 
 me and the gold became dim. Behold 
 the destiny of him whom the world 
 calls Napoleon the Great! What an 
 abyss between my misery and the eter- 
 nal reign of Christ!” 
 
 For a moment the exiled Emperor 
 was silent and then, with a broken voice, 
 he added, “My friends, if you do not 
 perceive that Jesus, Christ is God, I did 
 wrong to place you in command of my 
 army. ’—David James Burrell, D. D. 
 
 Patactlag FY 
 CARRIE WEBB’S RESTORATION. 
 
 Miss Carrie C. Webb, who believes 
 that she experienced the faith-cure re- 
 cently while sojourning at Northport, 
 L. I., has returned to her home, 418 
 Gold Street, Brooklyn, and many friends 
 and neighbors have called to see her and 
 hear her remarkable story. She is twen- 
 ty-three years old and of slender form. 
 She had been a teacher in the Hanson 
 Place Baptist Church for several years, 
 and her father is a deacon in the Bed- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ford Avenue Baptist Church, whose 
 venerable pastor, the Rev. Dr. Hutch- 
 ings, with many members oi his congre- 
 gation, are firm believers in the efficacy 
 of prayer in removing disease. Two 
 months ago Miss Webb went to spend 
 the summer at her brother’s house at 
 Northport, and her condition, physical- 
 ly and mentally, was such that her 
 friends never expected to see her come 
 back alive. She has, however, returned 
 with her mind bright and clear, and her 
 health apparently fully restored. This 
 is Miss Webb’s explanation of how the 
 change was brought about: 
 
 “I had been declining in health for 
 nearly seven years, suffering constantly 
 from bronchitis and a severe cough. My 
 mind became affected, and I had strange 
 and uncontrollable fancies, and became 
 morbid and despondent. I was at last 
 attacked with neuralgia, and ofen prayed 
 that I might die, as I became a burden to 
 my family. One day, soon after I arrived 
 at Northport, and while I was lying on a 
 lounge in the library, at my brother’s 
 house, my eye lighted on a book on the 
 faith-cure. I read it. That same after- 
 noon my brother asked me if I had ever 
 thought of faith-cure, and I told him 
 about the book incident, adding that I 
 had never thought of it in connection 
 with myself. I said I did not think I had 
 sufficient faith to receive such a bless- 
 ing. He told me to think over and pray 
 about the matter; and three days after 
 I went to him and told him I was ready 
 to be anointed. My brother sent for the 
 Presbyterian minister of the village, and 
 when he arrived we went into the 
 library. The service was very impress- 
 ive, and I wept all the time it was going 
 on, and when he was pouring oil on my 
 head. I did not feel any better the next 
 day, but rather worse. 
 
 “Just one week after the anointing I 
 awoke in unusual pain and prayed to 
 God to let me die. Then I suddenly 
 thought it would be better for me to pray 
 for health; and I prayed and cried for 
 three hours. Finally, when I arose and 
 stood erect, I felt a sensation of health 
 
 233 
 
 and strength I had not known for seven 
 long years. I realized that I was well 
 again and that my prayer had been an- 
 swered. Not only had my pains all van- 
 ished but the cloud also disappeared 
 from my mind. The cure was genuine 
 and complete. I have not had a pain or 
 ache since that morning of prolonged 
 prayer.”—~New York Sun. 
 
 435 
 HE CHOOSES THE WEAK. 
 
 A touching story is told in connection 
 with the work of the Countess of Hunt- 
 ingdon among the colliers in the Engiish 
 Black Country. Finding that many of 
 these poor miners had never heard the 
 name of God or of Christ, she sent out 
 preachers to hold meetings among them 
 in the open air. Whitefield, Venn, the 
 Wesleys were among her helpers. 
 
 In a cabin on her estate there was a 
 crippled blind girl, named Eliza Poulard, 
 who heard of this great work. She was 
 carried to the castle, and asked to see 
 Lady Huntingdon. 
 
 “Can I help?” she inquired, humbly. 
 “IT never have done anything for God.” 
 
 The servants would have driven her 
 away, but the countess interfered. “She 
 is lame and blind, and scared at her own 
 voice,” they said. 
 
 “God calls His own messengers,” re- 
 plied the countess. “Carry her to the 
 meeting to-night at the mines.” 
 
 “Now,” says the old chronicler, 
 “Fliza, in her solitude, had learned many 
 hymns, and her voice was of that tone 
 that it would wring the heart of a beast. 
 When she sang of Christ upon the cross, 
 the women cried out and the men wept 
 sore. No words of the preachers were as 
 powerful as the song of the poor cripple, 
 lying on her pallet. They carried her 
 from one place to another, and many 
 people were converted by her.” 
 
 It is said that when Lady Huntingdon 
 told her of the souls she had influenced 
 for good, her poor ugly face grew beauti- 
 ful as an angel’s. 
 
 “Who would have thought he would 
 have chosen me?” she said.—Sel. 
 
 
 
 
 
234 
 
 wm 436 —-— 
 ON JOHN BROWN’S BODY. 
 
 There is no more interesting man in 
 our history than plain old John Brown, 
 whose “body lies a-moulding in the 
 grave.” His son John tells a story of his 
 own boyhood which shows the strange 
 character of the grim yet tender father. 
 
 He says he was first put to the tan- 
 ning business, and for three years his 
 chief duty was to attend to the grind- 
 ing of bark with a blind horse. Boy- 
 like, he took spells of play when his 
 father was absent, and frequently for- 
 got to supply the machine with the nec- 
 essary bark. 
 
 “But the creaking of the hungry mill 
 would betray my neglect, and then 
 father, hearing this from below, would 
 come up and stealthily pounce upon me 
 while at a window looking upon outside 
 attractions. He finally grew tired of 
 these frequent slight admonitions for 
 my laziness and other shortcomings, 
 and concluded to adopt with me a sort 
 of book account something like this: 
 John, Dr. 
 
 For disobeying mother.... 8 lashes 
 
 For unfaithfulness at work 3 “ 
 
 For telling .a lie. 52. .42.. Ee 
 
 “This account he showed me from 
 time to time. On a certain Sunday 
 morning he invited me to accompany 
 him from the house to the tannery, say- 
 ing that he concluded that it was time 
 for a settlement. He went into the up- 
 per or finishing room, and after a long 
 and tearful talk over my faults he 
 again showed me my account, which 
 exhibited a fearful footing up of debits. 
 I had no credits or offsets, and was, 
 of course, a bankrupt. I then paid about 
 one-third of the debt, reckoned in 
 strokes from a nicely prepared blue- 
 beech switch, laid on ‘masterly.’ 
 Then, to my utter astonishment, father 
 stripped off his shirt and, seating him- 
 self on a block, gave me the whip and 
 bade me ‘lay it on’ to his bare back. I 
 dared not refuse to obey, but at first I 
 did not strike hard. ‘Harder,’ he said, 
 ‘harder! harder!’ until he received the 
 balance of the account. Small drops of 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 blood showed on his back where the tip 
 end of the tingling beech cut through. 
 Thus ended the account and the settle- 
 ment.”—Selected. 
 
 smmame 437 —— 
 THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 
 
 A colonel in the Turkish army once 
 asked Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, in Constanti- 
 nople, for a proof that the Bible is the 
 word of God. Dr. Hamlin did not imme- 
 diately answer; but, learning that the 
 colonel was a traveling man, he said to 
 him: “Have you ever been in Bab- 
 ylon?” “Yes,” replied the colonel, “and 
 I will tell you a curious incident. The 
 ruins of Babylon abound in game; and 
 once, engaging a skeikh with his fol- 
 lowers, I arrived among the ruins for a 
 week’s shooting. At sundown the 
 Arabs, to my amazement, began to 
 strike their tents. I went to the skeikh 
 and protested most strongly. I was 
 paying him handsomely, but I now of- 
 fered to double the amount; but nothing 
 I could say had any effect. ‘It is not 
 safe,’ said the sheikh. ‘No mortal flesh 
 dare stay here after sunset. Ghosts and 
 ghouls come out of the holes and cav- 
 erns after dark, and whomsoever they 
 capture becomes one of themselves. No 
 Arab has ever seen the sun go down on 
 Babylon.’ ” 
 
 Dr. Hamlin took out his Bible and 
 read from the thirteenth of Isaiah: 
 “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, 
 the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall 
 be as when God overthrew Sodom and 
 Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, 
 neither shall it be dwelt in from genera- 
 tion to generation; neither shall the 
 Arabian pitch tent there, . but 
 wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, 
 eon and wolves shall cry in their 
 castles, and jackals in the pleasant pal- 
 aces.” (Isaiah, 13:19.) “That is his- 
 tory you have been reading,” said the 
 Turk. “No,” said Dr. Hamlin, “it is 
 prophecy. Those words were written 
 when Babylon was in all her glory; and 
 you know what Babylon is today.” The 
 colonel was silent, and they never met 
 again.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 we ed ggie 
 WHAT THE BIBLE CAN DO. 
 
 The Bible is a book you can recom- 
 mend, it is really a wonderful book, and 
 has accomplished great things, and is 
 still working miracles in the lives of 
 those who read it. Here are some iacts 
 of what it did in a prison, 
 
 There was in one of the cells a man 
 who had been five times convicted of 
 burglary. He was most troublesome, 
 and the prison punishment and the 
 chaplain’s warnings and persuasions 
 
 seemed to have no effect whatever on 
 
 his hardened conscience. On one occa- 
 sion the chaplain was going round the 
 cells, and when he came to this one he 
 was wondering what he would say; 
 opening the door he greeted him by 
 name and in a cheery tone said: “T’ll 
 tell you what is the matter with you— 
 you want making new inside.” 
 
 The remark seemed to strike the 
 prisoner as a good joke, and he answer- 
 ed: “Well, governor, I think you are 
 about right.” The chaplain was rather 
 surprised at this answer, and asked him 
 if he knew how it could be done. “Not 
 likely,” he replied. The chaplain said, 
 “But yeu could. Listen to this,” and he 
 read to him that verse in Ezekiel 36: “A 
 new heart also will I give you, and a 
 new spirit will I put within you; and I 
 will take away the stony heart out of 
 your fiesh.” 
 
 The prisoner admitted that that would 
 be making new inside, but that it was 
 not possible for him, ‘‘You are wrong, 
 my lad,” answered the chaplain, and 
 then told him that he knew men who 
 had been so changed, and reminded him 
 that the words were God’s words. Then 
 he handed him his own Bible, and turn- 
 ing down the leaf at the third chapter 
 of John’s Gospel, left it with him to read 
 for himself. 
 
 Three days later he saw the man 
 again, and was struck with the change 
 in his face and manner. “What is it?” 
 he said. The prisoner replied, “What 
 is it? It is the Book!” Then he told 
 how he had read the verses over and 
 
 ANECDOTES 230 
 over, and every time they seemed to be 
 more wonderful than before. Then 
 thera came back to him recollections of 
 what he had heard when he was a boy, 
 and his bitter, hard heart was broken, 
 and with prayers and tears he cried for 
 mercy, and soon found forgiveness 
 through the blood of ‘Christ, 
 
 Now for the change—the harvest of 
 the little seed. Whereas he had been a 
 hopeless case, and a constant anxiety to 
 the officials, now he was willing to do 
 anything for anybody. One day he re- 
 marked: “I’m glad my sentence is a 
 long one, because the prison is the hap- 
 piest place I have found on earth.” 
 
 “Is not my word like as a fire? saith 
 the Lord; and like a hammer that break- 
 eth the rock in pieces?” Jer. 23:29.— 
 Selected. 
 
 ea oe 
 CALM IN THE STORM. 
 
 A short time since, I took ship at 
 Providence, Rhode Island, at evening 
 tide. The steamer carried over a thou- 
 sand souls. 
 
 As we moved down the river and out 
 into the deep, joy, animation and music 
 filled that gliding palace, while pyramids 
 of electric lamps poured a flood of golden 
 light upon us in the cabin. 
 
 I moved out upon the deck, and all 
 was dark. Great angry billows rolled 
 tempestuously about us, while rushing 
 winds tore their way over the hurricane 
 deck. 
 
 It was a wild storm without. 
 
 It was all peace and joy within. 
 
 Strange phenomenon! Why, amidst 
 such a storm, should there be such a 
 calm? 
 
 Ah! something weird was playing 
 with the hearts of men. 
 
 It held us mentally, as it were, in a 
 Haven of Calms, landlocked from a rag- 
 ing sea of fear. 
 
 There was supreme faith in an in- 
 visible pilot at the wheel. 
 
 Something above reason saw some- 
 thing beyond the range of vision, “as 
 seeing Him who is invisible,” and we 
 were at rest.—S. L. Mershon. 
 
236 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 comes 4.4.0) mmmmne 
 THE WALL OF FAITH. 
 
 The following instance of God’s care 
 of those who put their trust in him is 
 from an old writer on the Providence of 
 God. 
 
 In a small cottage on the southern 
 shores of the Baltic lived many years 
 ago a pious widow named Bertha 
 Schmidt, with her son Karl and his bride. 
 A pretty picture in summer was that 
 little dwelling, peering out from the ema 
 bowering vines. One morning brought 
 sad news to that cottage home. A hos- 
 tile army was approaching the city of 
 Stralsund, and might be looked for at 
 any hour. In every house there was 
 gloom, The day passed in dreadful sus- 
 pense, and night closed in over the 
 watching city. 
 
 As night deepened there came on a 
 terrific storm of snow and wind, which 
 made the scene still more desolate and 
 fearful. But how is it within the wid- 
 ow’s cottage? Karl had for a while 
 busied himself with barricading the 
 doors and windows, so as to offer some 
 obstruction to the soldiery, and had 
 done the best he could to defend his 
 mother and his bride. Then he sank 
 down into gloomy silence, while his 
 young wife sat by him pale and tremb- 
 ling; but the aged widow sat with her 
 eyes fastened upon her Bible. She 
 raised her eyes, and with a bright coun- 
 tenance, she repeated these lines: 
 
 “Round us a wall our God shall 
 rear, 
 
 And our proud foes shall quail 
 with fear!” 
 
 “What! dear mother,” replied Karl, 
 “is your faith as strong as that? Do 
 you really expect God will build a wall 
 round our poor hut, strong and high 
 enough to keep out an army?” 
 
 “Has not my son read,” replied the 
 mother, “that not a sparrow falls to the 
 ground without our Father?” 
 
 Karl made no reply, and the little 
 family sank again into silence. Just at 
 midnight there was a lull in the storm, 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 and they heard the great clock striking 
 the hour of twelve. At the same mo- 
 ment, the faint sound of martial music 
 caught their watchful ears, The fatal 
 time had apparently come, They drew 
 closer together, and as the aged mother 
 returned the pressure of her son’s hand, 
 she again repeated: 
 
 “Round us a wall our God shall 
 
 rear, 
 And our proud foes shall quail with 
 fear!” 
 
 The music drew nearer, mingled with 
 a confused sound of trampling and 
 shouting. Soon shrieks were heard, and 
 the crackling of flames told that the 
 work of destruction was going on, But no 
 hostile foot invaded the widow’s dwell- 
 ing; it stood quiet and unharmed amid 
 the uproar, as if angels were encamping 
 round it, At length the tumult died 
 away—the storm ceased—and a death- 
 like silence fell upon the scene. After 
 waiting several hours, Karl ventured to 
 unclose a shutter; but the light came 
 dimly through the snow, which was 
 heaped to the top of the window! He 
 cautiously opened the door, but he was 
 obliged to cut his way. He stood silent 
 with astonishment and awe at the sight 
 before him. Huge drifts of snow had 
 completely encircled the cottage, and 
 made it in appearance a mere mound of 
 snow, They had indeed been hidden by 
 “a wall,” and had dwelt safely in the 
 pavilion of the Most High. Karl led his 
 aged mother out to behold her “wall of 
 faith.” The pious widow wept as she 
 looked up to heaven, and gently ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 “Faithful is He who hath promised; 
 He also hath done it.” 
 
 BN CY int 
 
 THE WORK OF ONE CONVERT. 
 
 We should be, each one of us, mis- 
 sionaries of the truth of the blessed gos- 
 pel that we profess to enjoy in our own 
 personal experiences, The progress of 
 the Kingdom of God to-day, in the 
 world, as it was in New Testament 
 times, is dependent upon the personal 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 testimony and personal work of every 
 individual who professes to be a dis- 
 ciple of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I went to Italy in 1886. Arriving at 
 Milan, I was appointed to a district and 
 I could not speak the Italian language 
 at all, I must learn it. How should I 
 learn it? I soon found out that a young 
 lady wanted lessons in English, so I 
 said I could give her some lessons in 
 English if she would teach me Italian. 
 We soon agreed and went to work. As 
 soon as she could read a little I got 
 her an English New Testament and for 
 myself an Italian New Testament. Of 
 course as we read along, I had to ex- 
 plain and preach to her first the Word 
 of Truth. Then as I began to write a 
 few brief sermons, I had to preach them 
 to her first so that she might correct 
 the language, and thus the truth came 
 into her heart, 
 
 We kept up the acquaintance, She 
 rose up from one position to another in 
 her profession as teacher in the public 
 schools, and finally became the direct- 
 ress of the Normal College in the city 
 of Milan, and she had no less than seven 
 hundred young ladies under her care, 
 preparing to be public school teachers 
 in Italy. Thus she was exerting a 
 tremendous influence, and that seed of 
 truth which I dropped into her heart 
 was exerting its influence in the hearts 
 of hundreds in her school. 
 
 The Jesuits became alarmed and got 
 after her. They made trouble for her 
 and she was suspended for awhile, but 
 she took up the cudgel in the public 
 press and fought her case through and 
 appealed to the Counsel of State and 
 was reinstated in her position in that 
 great institution in the city of Milan. 
 
 It is just this. When we are work- 
 ing for that single man or single wom- 
 an, we do not know where our influence 
 will end. Only let us do our duty and 
 God will take care of the rest. There 
 are enough here in this room to-day, if 
 filled by the Spirit of the Master, to go 
 into this great city and do wonders in 
 His name—‘“For greater things than 
 
 237, 
 
 these shall ye do because I go to my 
 Father.”—Rev. William Burt, D. D. 
 
 SS aaa heres 
 AN ANSWERED PRAYER. 
 
 A well-known physician connected 
 with the Chicago Foundling’s Home is 
 authority for the following account of 
 ail answered prayer, This Home, which 
 is one of the largest of its kind in the 
 Middie West, was founded more than a 
 quarter of a century ago on faith that 
 the Lord in answer to prayer would pro- 
 vide for its needs, It has been con- 
 ducted ever since on this basis. Its 
 large building and its ever-increasing 
 work is sufficient testimony that the ex- 
 péctations of its founders have been ful- 
 filled, says Orin Edson Crooker, in S. S. 
 Times. 
 
 In its early days the Home occupied a 
 rented building upon which the rent had 
 become $650 in arrears. The owner 
 politely but firmly refused to extend 
 further credit beyond a certain date. 
 
 “The Lord will provide before that 
 time,” said those in charge. “We will 
 all pray for money to carry the Home 
 through the crisis.” 
 
 The days passed until only one re- 
 mained, but the $650 had not yet been 
 provided. 
 
 “We will pray that it may come in 
 to-morrow morning’s mail,” the devoted 
 workers said as they redoubled their 
 efforts, 
 
 Next morning the postman came, but 
 brought no communication containing 
 money. When only an hour or two re- 
 mained a special messenger called at 
 the door with a letter. 
 
 “A year ago,” it read, “I was elected 
 to a certain public office which I did not 
 want and which I have filled against my 
 will, I have just received compensation 
 for my labors, and am glad to turn it 
 over to your institution to use as you 
 think best.” 
 
 The check was for $650. It came 
 from Carter H. Harrison, Sr., the father 
 of ex-Mayor Harrison of Chicago. 
 
238 
 
 —— 443 —-— 
 
 DELIVERED FROM THE FIRE. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Fletcher, the pious 
 vicar of Madely, England, relates that 
 going into the pulpit one Sabbath morn 
 ing, he could recollect no part of his 
 sermon, not even the text. Feeling ex- 
 ceedingly perplexed in his mind, and 
 not willing to dismiss the people without 
 Saying anything, he thought that he 
 would endeavor to make a few remarks 
 upon the morning’s lesson, which was 
 respecting the three worthies who were 
 cast into the furnace of fire. Finding 
 uncommon and unexpected enlargement 
 of spirit in so doing, he announced to 
 the congregation at the close that if 
 there was any person present to whom 
 those remarks more particularly applied, 
 he desired that they would call upon 
 him, in the course of the week. On 
 Wednesday a woman called and in- 
 formed him that she had been under se- 
 rious impressions for some time; but 
 that her husband, who was a butcher, 
 constantly opposed her and forbade her 
 attending any of the religious meetings, 
 even at the parish church, on Sunday; 
 that on the last Sabbath morning he told 
 her that if she should presume to go to 
 church, he would build up a great fire 
 in the oven, and throw her into it, as 
 soon as she came home. But she re- 
 solved to go, and, says she, “Sir, while 
 you were speaking of the three young 
 men who were thrown into the fiery fur- 
 nace, because they would not sin against 
 Cod, I thought it was just my case, 
 and it pleased the Lord then and there 
 to set my soul at liberty. I went home 
 with a light heart, trusting that the 
 Lord would be with me. When I came 
 near the: house I saw the flames issuing 
 from the oven, and knowing what a man 
 my husband was, I expected to be im- 
 mediately thrown into it. But what 
 was My amazement upon opening the 
 door, instead of being thrown into the 
 oven, to find my husband upon his knees 
 crying for mercy.” Says Mr. Fletcher, 
 “I then knew why I had forgotten my 
 sermon, and was led to speak upon 
 something else.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 SUBUE/ 0 U Wolevaaae 
 HOW TO CONTROL YOUR 
 TEMPER. 
 
 [here occurs to me the image of a 
 visitor who called one evening, and who 
 wished to know what he was to do in 
 order to control and suppress an un- 
 governable temper. For years it had 
 tortured him past all bearing, and, 
 what was worse, for years it had been a 
 source of pain and discomfort in his 
 home. When his anger was kindled, 
 he was by his own confession a terror 
 to wife and children, and, seeing that 
 he had recently become a Christian, he 
 felt acutely the stain such actions fixed 
 on garments that should have been un- 
 spotted by the world. “What must I 
 do? I can’t go on in this way, and yet 
 though I feel it is wrong I can’t help 
 myself.” 
 
 The first suggestion I ventured was 
 based on the regard he had expressed 
 for his pastor. “What would be the 
 effect,” said I, “on you, if I were to 
 appear at the moment the storm was 
 about to burst? Think!” 
 
 He thought and then said, “It 
 wouldn’t burst. I should stop it.” 
 “Well, then, try this plas. Force 
 
 yourself at the moment of peril into the 
 conscious presence of God, and say as 
 you feel the uprising passion, ‘O God, 
 make me master of myself.’ Pray that 
 prayer; and pray, morning by morning, 
 that you may so pray in your time of 
 need; and in due season you will ob- 
 tain the perfect mastery of your- 
 self you seek.” He promised. I watched. 
 He prayed. He conquered; once, twice, 
 thrice, and then failed; but he renewed 
 the attempt, and triumphed again, and 
 years afterward I knew him as one of 
 the most serene of men; and when he 
 died no phase of his character stood out 
 more distinctively than his perfect self- 
 control, and no fact in his life was re- 
 membered with deeper gratitude by his 
 bereaved wife than that memorable vice 
 tory won by prayer in the early days 
 of his discipleship to the Lord Jesus.— 
 Rev. F. Clifford, D. D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ROSEY a veal 
 THE BLIND MAN’S TESTIMONY. 
 
 In 1885 I preached one Sabbath at 
 Summerset, N. Y., and was entertained 
 at the home of Mr. Arnold, an elder of 
 the church, who related the following 
 interesting incident. 
 
 Among his acquaintances was a blind 
 man whose blindness was the result of 
 cataract. 
 
 He was very poor, yet managed to pro- 
 vide for his family (in whom were sev- 
 eral children that he had never looked 
 upon) by traveling about the country 
 led by the hand of his boy, selling ex- 
 tracts and essences. 
 
 By some means, he heard of the skill 
 of Dr. Ryder, an eminent occulist of 
 Rochester, N, Y. So he went to 
 Rochester to consult the doctor regard- 
 ing his eyes. He said, “Doctor, I have 
 heard of your skill in treating the blind. 
 But I am a poor man and can’t see how 
 I can pay you for it, yet I am so anxious 
 to see again, and I thought perhaps you 
 might help me.” 
 
 After examining his eyes, the doctor 
 told him that he could restore his sight. 
 And said to him, “I can bestow a great 
 benefit upon you, and you, although a 
 poor man, can do much for me. I will 
 operate upon your eyes, and treat them 
 until they are well; and all I ask of you 
 in return is to tell people who did it.” 
 
 It is needless to say that the blind 
 man gladly consented to the arrange- 
 ment. The operation was highly suc- 
 cessful; and the joy of the man in being 
 permitted to see again is more easily 
 imagined than described. 
 
 One day Mr. Arnold saw some one 
 coming who resembled the blind man. 
 But noticing that he had no one to lead 
 him, and not having heard of his re- 
 covering his sight, he did not know 
 what to make of it. Presently the man 
 came up, and, with radiant face, told 
 how he had received his sight, We need 
 not say that he highly praised the kind- 
 ness and skill of Dr. Ryder.. 
 
 ANECDOTES 239 
 
 Mr. Arnold’s aged father who also 
 was blind from cataract, listened with 
 eager interest to the testimony of the 
 man who had been blind. Faith came 
 by hearing; and he would not rest sat- 
 isfied until Dr. Ryder was called to op- 
 erate upon his eyes also. 
 
 Does not this incident illustrate how 
 the Great Physician deals with those 
 who apply to him for relief? 
 
 He heals us of the fatal malady of sin, 
 and gives us spiritual eye-sight; and all 
 he asks in return is, that we glorify him 
 by telling what great things he hath 
 done for us. 
 
 Surely gratitude to our Deliverer will 
 make us glad to recommend him to 
 others, And they, hearing what the 
 Lord has done for us, will not rest sat- 
 isfied until they also have come to him. 
 
 Let us then, “sing forth the honor of 
 his name, and make his praise glorious.” 
 And others, hearing, will believe, and 
 they too will “taste and see that the 
 Lord is good.”—Rev. Henry H. Tyndall. 
 
 Sea AG eres 
 HIS RECOMMENDATION, 
 
 The newspapers some years ago re- 
 lated the following anecdote of Stephen 
 Girard, the Philadelphia Philanthropist. 
 One Saturday he ordered all his clerks 
 to come on the morrow to his wharf to 
 help unload a newly arrived ship. One 
 young man replied quietly: “Mr. Girard, 
 I can’t work on the Sabbath.” “You 
 know the rules.” “Yes, I know. I have 
 a mother to support, but I can’t work 
 on Sabbaths.” ‘Well, step up to the 
 desk, and the cashier will settle with 
 you.” For three weeks the young man 
 could find no work; but one day a bank- 
 er came to Girard to ask if he could 
 recommend a man for cashier in a new 
 bank. This discharged young man was 
 at once named as a suitable person. 
 “But,” said the banker, “you discharged 
 him.” “Yes, because he would not work 
 on Sabbaths. A man who would lose 
 his place for conscience’ sake would 
 make a trustworthy cashier.” And he 
 was appointed.—Frank E, Adams. 
 
240 
 
 LANGE EB RE LSS 
 A CONVERTED INFIDEL. 
 
 If you had been in Toledo a few years 
 ago and stood in the basement of the 
 United Brethren Church you would have 
 witnessed a strange scene. You would 
 have seen an old man in his seventy- 
 third year, with no other witness but 
 God and the janitor consigning his books 
 to the flames of the furnace. It was an 
 infidel library, the accumulation of years 
 and from every quarter of the earth, and 
 the old white-haired man was the once 
 infidel Marshall Waggoner, who had as- 
 sailed the Christ-faith all the way from 
 youth to tottering old age; but whose 
 heart God had touched and whose eyes 
 God had opened. It did seem that all 
 hope was taken away but God gloriously 
 saved him. His Christian wife—God 
 bless the faithful woman who keeps her 
 trust in Christ in spite of all the ridicule 
 and indifference of an unbelieving hus- 
 band. She was true to the end, and on 
 dying bed she asked him to accept her 
 Saviour. 
 
 The spirit of his departed wife never 
 left him. He fought against it but no 
 use. He said he walked the floor at 
 times like a maniac, At last he stood 
 face to face with the real issue, the 
 Waterloo of many a lost soul, the thing 
 that’s keeping many of you away from 
 God, no matter what your peculiar diffi- 
 culty may be. It was simply whether 
 or no he could face the world. If at 
 such a late hour he should renounce his 
 infidelity and become a Christian man. 
 He looked himself over from head to 
 foot, thought of all the past and said he 
 had never been a coward, and while his 
 gramaphone, of which he was very fond 
 was playing “Rock of Ages Cleft for 
 Me,” he crept into the cleft of the riven 
 rock and the great God who saves to 
 the uttermost touched him and you 
 could have gone to that little church 
 until recently when God called him 
 home and you would have found him 
 earnestly working for God and weeping 
 and praying that men might come to 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 Christ. There’s all the hope in the world 
 for you, if you will only get the victory 
 over your will.—Rev. P. J. Gilbert. 
 
 ire AsG Sere 
 THE KING’S VICTIM. 
 
 The celebrated beauty, Madame Mus- 
 ard, the lawful wife of Alfred Musard, 
 and mistress of Wm. III., King of Hol- 
 land, found the way of the transgressor 
 hard. She and her husband bought the 
 villa of the Grand Duke of Tuscany on 
 Lake Como; also a sumptuous railway 
 car, built for the Duc de Morny, by 
 which they traveled to their Chateau 
 on the Seine. The horses that drew 
 their splendid phaeton in Paris were 
 valued at 20,000 francs, at least; and the 
 elegance of their turnout surpassed any- 
 thing seen in the streets of Paris up to 
 that time. 
 
 “At the opera the diamonds of Mme. 
 Musard and her sumptuous toilets were 
 the centre upon which all eyes were 
 fixed. The luxury of the couple was 
 overwhelming.” 
 
 She was exceedingly beautiful; but 
 no one knew it better than herself. She 
 used to spend hours before her mirror 
 in self admiration. 
 
 The King was so smitten by her 
 charms that he used frequently to aban- 
 don his kingdom, and visit her a day 
 or two atatime. He, it was, who sup- 
 plied her with all the luxury in which 
 she lived, ) 
 
 She used to say: “When I die, I want 
 a have all my diamonds laid out on the 
 
 ed.” 
 
 But God did not permit her to have 
 even this slight consolation in her dying 
 moments. 
 
 For, “Still in the prime of mature 
 beauty, Mme, Musard was smitten with 
 blindness, at thirty-seven, and died rav- 
 ing mad in a private asylum.” 
 
 She died in a straight jacket, cursing 
 the king who had accomplished her ruin, 
 
 Beauty of face, without beauty of 
 soul, is dangerous. Too often it proves 
 a curse to its possessor, and also a snare 
 to others. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 The king who brought her to ruin was 
 later called to meet the King of 
 Kings, who will “give to every man ac- 
 cording as his work shall be.” 
 
 The consequences of sin will, sooner 
 or later, overtake every sinner, be he 
 prince or beggar.—Rev. H. M. Tyndall. 
 
 Us Vie 
 
 SEND PROVISIONS TO CALEB. 
 
 God has resources at his command 
 of which we are sometimes forgetful. 
 He once used ravens to supply his ser- 
 vant with food. They could be so used 
 again if God chose. 
 
 And while God usually provides for 
 the needs of his children by what are 
 called natural means, yet, at times, he 
 is pleased to so depart from this method, 
 that the supernatural becomes clearly 
 apparent in his providing care. 
 
 He may still speak.to the ear with 
 audible voice as he did to the child 
 Samuel. 
 
 He may unerringly guide a horse so 
 that it will choose its way aright, and 
 stop at the door where help is needed. 
 We may be sure that God is still abund- 
 antly able, as well as willing, to care 
 for all those who put their trust in him. 
 
 The following experience, from Golden 
 Gleanings by David Heston, ought to 
 encourage us to have more confidence 
 in God as the hearer and answerer of 
 prayer. 
 
 A clergyman residing near Bath, Eng- 
 land, awoke one night with an impres- 
 sion on his mind: “Send provisions to 
 Caleb.” Not knowing any one of that 
 name, he settled off again to sleep, but 
 not to rest. “Send provisions to Caleb,” 
 again sounded in his ear, sleeping or 
 waking; and, uneasy in his mind, he ad- 
 dressed his wife, inquiring if she knew 
 any one of that name. The reply was 
 in the negative, and not seeing how to 
 help himself in the darkness of night, 
 he once more endeavored to compose 
 himself to sleep. 
 
 It was, however, in vain. “Send pro- 
 visions to Caleb,” continued to haunt 
 him, until at last, unable to rest, he rose, 
 
 ANECDOTES 241 
 
 called up his coachman, and descending 
 to the larder, filled a hamper with bread, 
 meat and other food, telling the man he 
 must go and find out where “Caleb” 
 lived, in full belief some one of that 
 name was in great need. 
 
 “With all my heart, sir,” said the 
 man, “if you will tell me where; but 
 how in the name of goodness am I to 
 find Caleb in the darkness of night, 
 with no one about who could help or 
 direct me?” 
 
 “It matters not,’ said his master, 
 “saddle the horse and start. Take the 
 basket, and lay the bridle across the 
 horse’s neck; my impression of duty is 
 so strong, that I believe, in our ignor- 
 ance, the horse will be guided aright.” 
 
 It was snowing fast, and in the piti- 
 less night the kind-hearted coachman 
 sallied forth on his apparently hopeless 
 errand; but it did not turn out so. On 
 went the horse, unguided, turning nei- 
 ther to the right nor left for some miles, 
 when suddenly, coming to a barren 
 heath, he turned out off the road, and 
 through the deep snow, went across the 
 common, where was no beaten track, 
 and then stopped suddenly before a 
 little hovel, which would have been 
 passed unnoticed but for his sudden 
 halting. “Does any one named Caleb 
 live here?” shouted the coachman; when 
 a voice replied, “Yes, indeed, you are 
 all right—our prayers are answered!” 
 It was found that this poor and aged 
 man, living in this lowly abode, had 
 been brought very low through sick- 
 ness and poverty, and that he and his 
 family were none of them able to seek 
 help. They had been for some days in 
 a most destitute condition; how to make 
 their case known they knew not, and 
 they had just been praying to their 
 Heavenly Father either to send re- 
 lief, or enable them to submit to His 
 will and die, This circumstance was 
 some time after narrated at a meeting, 
 when a gentleman rose and said, “That 
 is quite true, for I know Caleb, and have 
 heard him.speak of this fact as a proof 
 that God hears and answers prayers.” 
 
242 
 
 eo Oita 
 THE BIBLE FINDS US. 
 
 I believe the Bible because “it finds 
 me.” Those are the words of Coleridge; 
 and I make them mine. The Bible 
 found me on a memorable day more 
 than fifty years ago. It found me per- 
 plexed with a boy’s fear of the un- 
 known. It calmed my fears and gave 
 me the hope that maketh not ashamed. 
 It has found me once and again in the 
 Vale of Baca and wiped away my tears. 
 It has found me and upheld me in 
 seasons of weakness and discourage- 
 ment. It has found me and never 
 failed me. And, when I come to the 
 border line between time and eternity 
 it shall find me there, and give me a 
 rod and staff to lean on. Oh, blessed 
 Book! May my right hand forget its 
 cunning and my tongue cleave to the 
 roof of my mouth if I forget thee! 
 
 The Bible is its own best witness. The 
 search-warrant is yours. Christ said, 
 “Search the Scriptures.” Search, 
 therefore, with a mind open to convic- 
 tion, and I am confident you will arrive 
 at the same conclusion that has forced 
 itself upon me. The Bible is a book to 
 live by and to die by. It is worthy to be 
 received as an infallible rule of faith and 
 practice. It is true and trustworthy 
 every way. It is the veritable Word of 
 God.—Rev. D. J. Burrell, D. D 
 
 — 451 
 IT WORKS WONDERS. 
 
 Some years ago, says the Public 
 Leader, a lady, who tells the story her- 
 self, went to consult a famous physician 
 about her health. She was a woman of 
 nervous temperament, whose troubles— 
 and she had many—had worried and ex- 
 cited her to such a pitch that the strain 
 threatened her physical strength and 
 even her reason. She gave the doctor 
 a list of her symptoms, and answered 
 the questions, only to be astonished at 
 the brief prescription: “Madam, what 
 you need is to read your Bible more.” 
 
 “But doctor,” began the» bewildered 
 patient. “Go home and read your Bible 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 an hour a day,” the great man reiterated, 
 with kindly authority. Then come back 
 to me a month from today.” And he 
 bowed her out without possibility of fur- 
 ther protest. At first his patient was in- 
 clined to be angry. Then she reflected 
 that, at least, the prescription was not an 
 expensive one, Besides, it certainly had 
 been a long time since she had read the 
 Bible regularly, she reflected with a pang 
 of conscience. Worldly cares had crowd- 
 ed out her prayer and Bible study for 
 years, and though she would have re- 
 sented being called an irreligious woman, 
 she had undoubtedly become a most 
 careless Christian. She went home and 
 set herself conscientiously to try the 
 physician’s remedy. In one month she 
 went back to his office. “Well,” he said, 
 smiling, as he looked at her face, “I 
 see you are an obedient patient, and 
 have taken my prescription faithfully. 
 Do you feel as if you needed any other 
 medicine now?” 
 
 “No, doctor, I feel like a different per- 
 son. But how did you know this was 
 just what I needed?” For answer, the 
 famous physician turned to his desk. 
 There, worn and marked lay an open 
 Bible. “Madam,” he said, with deep 
 earnestness, “if I were to omit my daily 
 reading of this book I should lose my 
 greatest source of strength and skill. I 
 never go to an operation without read- 
 ing my Bible.” 
 
 “T never attend a distressing case with- 
 out finding help in its pages. Your case 
 called not for medicine, but for source 
 of peace and strength outside your own 
 mind, and I showed you my own pre- 
 scription, I knew it would cure.” “Yet 
 I confess, doctor,” said the patient, “that 
 I came very near not taking it.” 
 
 “Very few are willing to try it, I find,” 
 said the physician, smiling again. “But 
 there are many, many cases in my prac- 
 tice where, if tried, it would work won- 
 ders.” 
 
 This is a true story. 
 
 The physician has died, but his pre- 
 scription remains, It will do no one any 
 harm to try it—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 pee a2 ee 
 THE WITHIN GREATER THAN 
 THE WITHOUT. 
 
 In his “Education and Life,” Doctor 
 Baker tells the story of a hero worthy to 
 stand among earth’s greatest names. 
 Here is the incident as he gives it. 
 
 “A young man had met with mis- 
 fortune, accident and disease, and was 
 suffering from a third paralytic stroke. 
 He had lost the use of his voice, of his 
 legs, and of one arm. A friend visited 
 him, one day, and asked how he was. 
 He reached for his tablet and wrote: 
 
 ‘All right, and bigger than anything 
 that can happen to me.’ ” 
 
 A man who could make a response 
 like that would not be content with 
 words. By sheer force of will, hold- 
 ing himself to slowly increasing physi- 
 cal and mental exercises,: he set about 
 recovering the use of his body and final- 
 ly actunlly compelled the dormant nerve 
 centres to awake and resume their work. 
 Later he wrote: 
 
 “The great lesson it taught me is, 
 that man is meant to be and ought to 
 be stronger than anything that can 
 happen to him. Circumstances, fate, 
 _ luck, are all outside, and if he cannot 
 always change them he can always 
 beat them. If I couldn’t have what I 
 wanted, I decided to want what I had, 
 and that simple philosophy saved me.’” 
 
 instal 1 las 
 A CHILD'S QUESTION. 
 
 Rev. E. Payson Hammond relates the 
 following incident: 
 
 “When I was passing a house in 
 Harrisburgh, a gentleman tapped on 
 the window and called me in, saying, 
 ‘Last Sunday my little boy came from 
 one of your children’s meetings and sit- 
 ting down looked for a while into the 
 open-fire as if something troubled him. 
 Finally looking up he asked, ‘Father, 
 how old are you?? When I replied, 
 “I am fifty-six years old.” He quickly 
 answered, ‘Why father, you are most 
 
 243 
 
 as old as grandfather was when he died. 
 Don’t you think it is about time for 
 you to become a Christian?’ Then 
 coming closer to me he laid his head 
 on my shoulder and bursting into tears 
 he begged of me to kneel down and ask 
 God to forgive my sins and make me a 
 Christian. 
 
 “His father’s heart was melted and he 
 gave himself to Jesus. In closing with 
 deep emotion he said, ‘I have heard 
 many a sermon, but never a one so ten- 
 der as when my son with his heart 
 burning with love for Jesus, after ask- 
 ing that question, “Father, how old are 
 you?” begged me to come to Christ and 
 be saved.’ ” 
 
 i ee 
 THE MASTER’S HAND, 
 
 A strange instrument hung on an old 
 castle wall, so the legend runs, No one 
 knew its use. Its strings were broken 
 and covered with dust, Those who 
 saw it wondered what it was and 
 how it had been used. Then, one day, 
 a stranger came to the castle gate and 
 entered the hall, His eyes saw the ob- 
 ject on the wall and, taking it down, 
 he reverently brushed the dust from its 
 sides and tenderly reset its broken 
 strings. Then chords long silent awoke 
 beneath his touch, and all hearts were 
 strangely thrilled as he played. It was 
 the master, long absent, who had return- 
 ed to his own. 
 
 It is but a legend, yet its meaning is 
 plain. In every human soul there hangs 
 a harp, dust-covered, with strings 
 broken, while yet the Master’s hand has 
 not found it, Is your soul-harp hang- 
 ing silent on the wall? Have you learn- 
 ed the secret of glad, happy days? 
 
 Open your hearts every morning to 
 Christ. Let Him enter and repair the 
 strings which sin has broken, and sweep 
 them with His skillful fingers, and you 
 will go out to sing through all the day. 
 Only when the song of Gods love is 
 singing in our hearts are we ready for 
 the day.—Selected. 
 
244 
 
 at AREER 
 THE WAY UP. 
 
 When the artist Sidney Cooper was 
 ninety-five years old he said, “I attrib- 
 ute my long life to the merciful care of 
 God’s providence; for he was the Father 
 of the fatherless boy and has preserved 
 him through all his trials and difficulties, 
 prosperities, sunshine, and shadow.” 
 That other ambitious boys might be 
 helped he gave an art school to the city 
 of Canterbury, where he spent his earli- 
 est days in poverty. 
 
 Once when a boy he was on the 
 grounds of Canterbury Cathedral sketch- 
 ing the beautiful outlines of the bell-tow- 
 er on a slate. A gentleman noticed the 
 quality of his work and gave him pencil 
 and paper. His lack of a knife brought 
 him a friend, as he tells the anecdote: 
 
 “Having no knife, I tried every means 
 I could think of to get a point, push- 
 ing back the wood from the lead, etc.,; 
 but nothing seemed to answer, and I 
 was in despair. I was trying one day, 
 with poor success, to rub one to a point 
 on the stone coping, when a gentleman 
 happened to pass by; I asked him if he 
 would cut my pencils. 
 
 ““O yes’, said he. ‘What are you draw- 
 ing?’ 
 
 “I gave the usual answer, ‘The Great 
 Church, sir.’ 
 
 “He cut one pencil; I gave him an- 
 other, and he cut that; then another, 
 and yet another, until he had cut six. 
 Then he said he could not stop any 
 longer. I found out from one of the 
 vergers that he was Mr. Hamilton, who 
 taught French at the King’s School, 
 and every morning as he passed to the 
 school he cut my pencils. Then came 
 several days when he did not pass, and 
 IT learned that he was ill, to my great 
 griefi—more, I fear, for my sake than 
 for his; for I could not cut my pencils, 
 and could not get on with ‘Bell Harry’ 
 on account of breaking so many points. 
 At last one day a very serious looking 
 man sauntered by with his hands clasp- 
 ed behind his back. I could see that 
 he was a clergyman of some sort. When 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 he had got a few yards away I gained 
 courage and ran after him, calling out. 
 
 “Sir, sir’ 
 
 “He turned round and said, “What, 
 my boy?’ 
 
 “*Please sir, have you a knife?’ 
 
 “*Yes, my little man,’ said he, ‘what 
 do you want?’ 
 
 “I told him and he cut all my pen- 
 cils—twelve—and then, coming up to 
 the coping where I was established, he 
 looked at my drawing. 
 
 “Very good, my boy,” he said, and 
 passed on. 
 
 It was no other than Archbishop 
 Manners Sutton who thus aided the 
 young artist. His patronage, moreover, 
 led to young Cooper being admitted to 
 Dr. Pierce’s house, from the windows 
 of which he continued his sketches, One 
 of the drawings was also bought by the 
 archbishop for five pounds. 
 
 The boy worked at his trade of 
 coach-painter, eking out his wages by 
 drawing pencil sketches for sale to tour- 
 ists, until at length his efforts to be an 
 artist were rewarded with success. His 
 career was long and honorable. The 
 Royal Academy honored him with its 
 membership and the queen made him 
 a Knight of the Victorian order.—The 
 Classmate, 
 
 ~-——- 456 ——— 
 HEROISM OF JACOB KENOLY. 
 
 Jacob Kenoly, a poor black boy, came 
 to the Southern Christian Institute for 
 training. He was there four years and 
 received a two-fold vision. First, a 
 vision of obligation. “My Christian 
 education is a gift from the Christian 
 Woman’s Board of Missions, hence I 
 owe it to some one, As I have received 
 so must I give.” Second, a vision of 
 duty. “I owe this to my people in 
 Africa, who have never heard of Christ. 
 This became the passion of my soul.” 
 
 For this end he toiled and saved until 
 he thought he had money enough to 
 pay his passage to Africa. A supposed 
 missionary to one of the islands roomed 
 with Jacob on the way and won his con- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 fidence, but when he left the vessel he 
 carried with him all of Jacob’s earthly 
 belongings, Jacob Kenoly landed in 
 Monrovia, Liberia, July 26, 1905, with- 
 out money, without clothes, excepting 
 the one working suit, without books, 
 not even a Bible left him. All he had 
 left was his education and trade, and 
 the truths of the Bible in memory, and 
 God’s love for men in his heart. 
 
 Near his hut on the mountain side 
 was a cave. Here Jacob lived a year. 
 Six months he taught and studied. For 
 ten weeks he was down with the fever, 
 but taught the wild boy who waited on 
 him, For four months he, with his 
 twenty boys, cleared the land and 
 raised a crop which surprised the na- 
 tives. 
 
 At last, broken in health, he was com- 
 pelled to abandon his hut in the wilder- 
 ness and come back to the coast. He 
 came to a settlement of American Li- 
 berians, the descendants of those col- 
 onized from the United States in 1822. 
 Here he rented a building and repaired 
 it with his own hands, made desks and 
 seats and has gathered a school of over 
 fifty students. 
 
 At last Jacob is getting recognition. 
 The Government of Liberia offered him 
 fifty acres of land for his school, Chris- 
 tian friends have sent him a little money 
 from time to time. His scholars are 
 writing letters of thanks for his great 
 work among them. 
 
 To his former teacher at the Southern 
 Christian Institute he writes: “I was 
 lonely and prayed with my face toward 
 America, and thought of my teachers 
 and the beautiful land.” 
 
 During all he has not written one 
 word of complaint. He has never asked 
 a gift, considering it but honor to sac- 
 rifice for Christ, In one letter he says: 
 “I want to teach six months, but am 
 afraid I will have to stop and pick cofs 
 fee, as my clothing will not hold to- 
 gether that long.” 
 
 Twice he has had opportunity to 
 work his passage back to the United 
 States. He has been offered a good 
 salary at another mission. Yet he re- 
 
 ANECDOTES 245 
 ‘mains faithful to his self-appointed 
 task.—Caroline Atwater Mason. 
 
 ad yy 
 THE WAY INDICATED, 
 
 An open door which no man can shut, 
 and a closed door which no man can 
 open, are indications of God’s way. Rev. 
 
 One morning at a hotel at Denver 
 I enquired of the Lord what I should 
 do that day. The answer came to my 
 heart: “Write to Marion, and to Mrs. 
 Reynolds, and finish your article for the 
 Advocate.” I wrote the letters and was 
 writing the article when I remembered 
 I had promised to call upon a friend the 
 next time I was in Denver, and started 
 to goto her. But I thought: “I asked 
 the Lord what I should do, and He told 
 me to write, He could have told me to 
 call on Mrs, Silvey if that was what 
 He had wanted.” So I obeyed Him and 
 went on with my writing, Just as I fin- 
 ished Mr. Morrow came in to take me 
 to the train. As we entered the depot 
 I met the friend on whom I intended to 
 call. She and her husband were going 
 to a wedding, in the same city and at 
 the same hotel where we had meant to 
 stop. She invited us to the wedding, and 
 we had a long visit together. “I have 
 been so busy all day I have not sat down 
 a moment,” she said. Then I saw the 
 providence, and that my call upon her 
 would have been no comfort to either of 
 us, and I could say, like one of old, 
 “Blessed be the Lord God . which 
 led me in the right way.” Gen, 24:48.— 
 Mrs. Abbie C. Morrow. 
 
 —— 458 —— 
 
 JENNY LIND’S CONSCIENTIOUS- 
 NESS. 
 
 Once, at Stockholm, Jenny Lind was 
 requested to sing on the Sabbath, at the 
 king’s palace, on the occasion of some 
 great festival. She refused; and the king 
 called personally upon her—in itself a 
 high honor—and, as her sovereign, com- 
 manded her attendance. Her reply was 
 —‘“‘There is a higher King, sir, to whom 
 I owe my first allegiance.” And she re- 
 fused to be present.—Selected, 
 
246 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Semi fee 
 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 
 
 A word fitly spoken is like apples of 
 gold in pictures of  silver.—Prov. 
 XXV. : II. 
 
 The marginal reading is very beauti- 
 ful: “A word spoken upon his wheels.” 
 How much this suggests to the mind. 
 You have heard of the little village 
 maiden in Scotland who was so simply 
 devoted to God and her humble work 
 that her minister, Leigh Richmond, 
 wrote a tract about her and called it 
 the Dairyman’s Daughter, 
 
 A few years later, a noble son of an 
 aristocratic family, who was fast going 
 to wreck through dissipation, got hold 
 of this tract and read it one night in his 
 room. It broke his heart completely 
 and brought him to Christ. This was 
 William Wilberforce, a name of love 
 known all over the world. There were 
 three steps in this: There was first the 
 village maiden, next the humble pastor, 
 and then William Wilberforce. He soon 
 after wrote an account of his conversion, 
 and it came into the hands of another 
 minister, who was half asleep himse]f 
 and whose people were wholly so. He 
 read the tract that had aroused Wilber- 
 force, and it struck fire in him and com- 
 pletely woke him up, and be became the 
 great Thomas Chalmers, who stirred 
 up the clergy of Scotland to arise and 
 strike off the fetters that were on them, 
 and they organized the Free Church of 
 Scotland, which has since been sending 
 light all over the world. It was a little 
 word, but how it went. It was truly on 
 wheels. It was a living word that God 
 inspired, and it is traveling yet. 
 
 When that simple maiden gets home 
 in heaven what a grand reception there 
 will be for her! I know there are very 
 many who will be glad to shake hands 
 with her and say, “Thank God for you.” 
 That is the meaning of this text. A word 
 on wheels will never stop. 
 
 The invitation you give out to night, 
 the quieting word you speak to some 
 anxious soul, the comfort you give to 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 some trembling heart,—God hangs them 
 on the wall in beautiful frames. They 
 are fruits that you will yet feed upon, 
 apples which will recompense you here- 
 after. You will find them again as 
 pictures on the holy walls, gold which 
 shall be holy treasure, apples on the 
 holy table. They are on wheels of liv= 
 ing power and they will go on forever. 
 —Rev. A, B. Simpson. 
 
 a AG ee 
 GOLD MINE FOR WHISKEY. 
 
 Some of the richest gold mines in 
 America are in the neighborhood of 
 Cripple Creek, Colorado, from which it 
 is estimated that gold has been taken 
 worth over $150,000,000. Nearly the 
 whole of the land in which the best pay- 
 ing mines are situated was once owned 
 by a man named Bob Womack, who is 
 now sixty years of age, poverty-stricken, 
 and lying waiting for death in a charit- 
 able institution at Colorado Springs. 
 From a child Bob literally took no 
 thought for to-morrow, but developed 
 early in life a recklessness and a liking 
 for drink that ultimately caused his ruin. 
 He had a notion that gold was to be 
 found on his farm but was not believed. 
 Before long practically all his farm was 
 mortgaged, and had passed out of his 
 hands. At last one hill was left, which 
 he was certain contained gold that he 
 declared he would, stick to under all cir- 
 cumstances. But, driven crazy by the 
 thirst for whiskey, and being without 
 money, he went to a saloon and begged 
 for a drink. It was refused him, and the 
 half-insane man staggered from saloon 
 to saloon pleading for whiskey. Finally, 
 he found a man who said he would sell 
 him whiskey for Womack’s Hill. An 
 exchange was made, the land passing 
 from the owner to the saloon keeper for 
 a bottle of whiskey, The hill obtained 
 for a bottle of whiskey was soon known 
 all over the whole country, and on its 
 banks was built a city called Cripple 
 Creek. Strong drink is indeed a mocker. 
 —Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 4G] eco 
 WE GET WHAT WE GIVE. 
 
 There is nothing more mysterious 
 about the spiritual realm than about the 
 natural realm. Both are God’s realms 
 and are controlled and governed by His 
 universal laws. When Louis Agassiz 
 was ten years old his mother took him 
 to Grindelwald. He had never heard 
 of the famous Echo Valley and the 
 mother explained to him that yonder 
 in the mountains there dwelt a boy who 
 would answer him when he spoke. So 
 Agassiz cried out and there came the 
 answering echo, Then he called, “Who 
 are you?” and the answer catne back, 
 “Who are you?” With tears in his eyes 
 the little fellow turned to his mother 
 and said, “I don’t think that’s a very 
 nice kind of a boy.” And then his 
 mother explained that the mountain boy 
 answered in just the same way he was 
 addressed. “Tell him something nice,” 
 she said, “and you will find him answer- 
 ing you in the same spirit.” So Agassiz 
 called out again, “Come, and I will 
 show you my treasures,” and the echo 
 came back, “Come, and I will show 
 you my treasures,” and Agassiz found, 
 as his mother had said, that the answer 
 of the mountain boy was invariably the 
 same in kind as the words that went 
 forth from him. 
 
 This simple story illustrates most 
 truly the exact working of the law in 
 every realm of life. If as you confront 
 life the cry goes up from your heart, 
 “Life is hard, Life is cruel, Life is un- 
 satisfying,” invariably the answer comes 
 back to you from Life, “Life is hard, 
 Life is cruel, Life is unsatisfying.” Or 
 if your attitude toward life finds expres- 
 sion in the words, “Life is good, Life is 
 sweet, Life is satisfying,’ the answer 
 of Life is that Life is good, is sweet, 
 is satisfying. Life is what we make it. 
 We get from Life what we give to it. 
 As you face your fellows, if your secret 
 thought is, “I distrust you, I am sus- 
 picious of you, I have nothing in com- 
 mon with you, you are not my brother,” 
 
 ANECDOTES. 247 
 the answering thought invariably comes 
 back to you from your fellows, “I dis- 
 trust you, I am suspicious of you—you 
 are not my brother.” But let the cry 
 of your soul be, “I believe in you, I 
 sympathize with you, I love you,” and 
 your fellows answer you in kind, “I be- 
 lieve in you, I sympathize with you, I 
 Jove you.” We get from others, in the 
 long run, just what we give.—Rev. J. H. 
 Randall, D. D. 
 
 nV inane 
 CAREY’S PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 One hundred years ago there was an 
 English lad named Carey who was never 
 discouraged. He would do what he set 
 out to do, no matter what the diffi- 
 culties. He tried to climb a tree; he 
 fell, and limped away, Next day he 
 tried that tree again, and climbed to the 
 top. It was his day of testing. 
 
 A few years later that lad became a 
 missionary. After arduous labor he had 
 translated the Bible into the native 
 tongue. The type was ready, the print- 
 ing machine installed. Then, before a 
 single copy was printed, fire destroyed 
 both translation and printing outfit. 
 
 But Carey, the lad, had climbed trees 
 in spite of repeated falls. And Carey, 
 the man, undaunted, began at the begin- 
 ning once more, and in two months the 
 work of translation was under full head- 
 way. He had run with the footmen and 
 had not been weary; so he was able, 
 when need arose, to contend with horses. 
 
 Is it plain? Inability to endure the 
 small discouragements of life, failure to 
 meet the trivial responsibilities of to- 
 day, unfit a man for larger responsibili- 
 ties and patient endurance in later 
 years; and he who stands the test put 
 upon him in the smaller things of life 
 is thereby fitted to encounter problems 
 and cares which await him as he grows 
 older. 
 
 To-day is our testing time. What does 
 it foretell? Are we weary as we run 
 with the footmen? Then what of the 
 days when we contend with horses?— 
 Selected. 
 
248 
 
 Seay Yer 
 MARY JONES’ BIBLE. 
 
 In the year 1802, Thomas Charles, 
 of Bala, a minister of the established 
 church, who labored in connection with 
 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, and 
 was accustomed to travel far and near 
 preaching the Gospel of Christ, met a 
 young girl named Mary Jones, who at- 
 tended upon his ministry, and inquired 
 of her if she could repeat last Sunday’s 
 text. She hesitated, and when pressed 
 to answer him, she burst into tears and 
 said: 
 
 “The weather, sir, has been so bad 
 that I could not get to read the Bible.” 
 
 He learned in conversation with her, 
 that she was accustomed to travel seven 
 miles to find a Bible in which she could 
 read and look out the text from which 
 the minister had preached. That week 
 the rain had prevented her from making 
 this journey, 
 
 Mr. Charles, touched by this evidence 
 of the pressing need of Bibles, soon 
 came to London to see what could be 
 done about providing Bibles for the 
 Welsh. On the 6th of December, 1802, 
 he met a committee of the Religious 
 Tract Society and told the story of the 
 need of Welsh Bibles, the failure to ob- 
 tain them through other channels, and 
 begged that some new and extraordi- 
 nary means might be adopted to accom- 
 plish the object. A conversation of 
 some length occurred. It was found 
 that the want was not confined to Wales, 
 and after discussing the matter, a min- 
 ister named Joseph Hughes suggested, 
 “Surely a society might be formed for 
 the purpose. And if for Wales, why 
 not for the world?” 
 
 The matter was canvassed. They met 
 again May 12, 1803. Among other in- 
 stances, illustrating the need of Bibles, 
 another minister, Mr. Knight, related 
 that a man in Novia Scotia had traveled 
 sixty miles over the snow to obtain a 
 Bible. 
 
 On the 7th of May, 1804, some three 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 hundred gentlemen met at the London 
 Tavern, and then and there organized 
 the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 On the third of September they voted 
 to issue a number of stereotyped Bibles 
 and Testaments, and among them 
 twenty thousand Welsh Bibles and five 
 thousand Welsh Testaments, In Sep- 
 tember, 1805, the first stereotyped edi- 
 tion of the New Testament was printed, 
 and the first part of the Bible ever pub- 
 lished for the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society was issued from the University 
 Press at Cambridge. Other editions fol- 
 lowed in rapid succession. In July, 
 1806, the Welsh Bibles were finished 
 and started for Wales. “When the ar- 
 rival of the cart was announced which 
 carried the first sacred load, the Welsh 
 peasants went out in crowds to meet it, 
 and welcomed it as the Israelites did 
 the ark of old, and drew it into the 
 town, and bore off every copy as rapidly 
 as they could be dispersed.” 
 
 Other loads of Bibles followed, and 
 among them was one for little Mary 
 Jones, so that she could read the min- 
 ister’s text without travelling seven 
 miles over the country to find a Bible. 
 Since that time there has been no dif- 
 ficulty in obtaining Bibles for Wales, 
 and during the eighty-one years of the 
 existence of that Society, upward of one 
 hundred million copies of the Scriptures 
 in hundreds of languages or dialects 
 have been sent forth to the world. At 
 the present time, from that one Society 
 there are sent out about thirty thousand 
 copies of the Scriptures each week, or 
 some five thousand copies every day. 
 And the moving spring which started 
 all this mighty machinery was the tears 
 of Mary Jones, who wept because the 
 stormy weather had kept her from going 
 seven miles on foot to read thé Bible. 
 
 The Word of the Lord was precious 
 in those days, and we may be sure that 
 little Mary Jones prized her Bible, It 
 has been preserved, and now after so 
 many years that very book has been 
 brought back and is kept among the 
 cherished treasures of the British and 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Foreign Bible Society. On the blank 
 leaf is a simple record written as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 “Born 16th December, 1784.” 
 
 “I have bought this in the 16th year 
 of my age. I am the daughter of John 
 Jones and Mary Jones his wife: The 
 Lord may give me grace. Amen.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 osu Wea 
 
 A PURCHASED LIFE. 
 During the Reign of Terror in France 
 
 —between June, 1793, and June, 1794—a > 
 
 young man, by the name of Loizerolles, 
 was brought before the Revolutionary 
 ‘Tribunal and condemned to death. His 
 father, a venerable, white-haired old man, 
 would not allow himself to be separated 
 from his son, but accompanied him to 
 prison. On the day appointed for his ex- 
 ecution the young man, exhausted by the 
 strain upon his nerves, fell asleep in his 
 dungeon, and the father kept watch, be- 
 side him. Shortly afterwards the jailor, 
 in company with some soldiers, present- 
 ed himself at the door, holding in his 
 hand a paper containing a list of the un- 
 happy persons who were that day to suf- 
 fer death. 
 
 Coming up to the unfortunate con- 
 demned ones, he called out the names 
 from his list, ticking them off with a 
 pencil as they answered. But when he 
 came to the name of “Loizerolles,” no 
 one rose to reply to it. A sudden 
 thought took possession of the breast of 
 the aged father, and he replied to the call 
 when it was made the second time, 
 
 He joined the ranks of the condemned, 
 who were setting out on the sad journey 
 to the scaffold. He did not dare to em- 
 brace his son, for fear of awakening him, 
 and arousing the suspicion of the guards, 
 but in a low voice addressing his com- 
 panions in captivity, who were looking 
 at him with tearful eyes, he said, ““When 
 he awakes, I conjure you to calm him, 
 and prevent any imprudent despair of 
 his from rendering my sacrifice useless. 
 I have the right to be obeyed. Tell him 
 
 249 
 
 I forbid him to endanger the life which 
 I have a second time given him.” He 
 then went out with the crowd of doomed 
 men, and laying his head upon the scaf- 
 fold, murmured these words: “Lord 
 watch over and protect my son.” 
 
 Had he not a claim that the son whose 
 life he had purchased by the sacrifice of 
 his own should make good use of it? 
 That is Christ’s claim on every Christian. 
 It is “the reasonable service,” incumbent 
 on every one who lives because of the 
 death of Him who gave “his life a ran- 
 som for many.” Matt. 20:28.—Selected. 
 
 ala A iil 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE 
 FOR EVIL. 
 
 Writing to a brother minister, Jan- 
 uary 14th, 1914, the Rev. Aguilla Webb 
 of Louisville, Kentucky, in the course of 
 his letter says: 
 
 “I was hurt on the 7th of March. I 
 was in the train coming from Cincinnati 
 to Louisville, when a boy threw a rock 
 and hit me on the left side of my head 
 
 just above the temple. This blow blind- 
 
 ed my left eye, and partly paralyzed my 
 left side. I was out of my pulpit for 
 six months.” 
 
 The boy who threw that stone had 
 no special spite against the minister. 
 But absence of malice did not lessen 
 the injury. Probably the boy to this 
 day has no idea of the harm he did. But 
 sins of ignorance are to be condemned. 
 
 The devil used that boy in a minute’s 
 time to silence the preaching of the gos- 
 pel for six months and perhaps to crip- 
 ple the preacher for life. The boy was 
 willing to sin, and “one sinner destroy- 
 eth much good.’’ Eccles, 9:18. God 
 alone can measure the result of that one 
 wrong act, 
 
 The boy at least knew what he did 
 to be wrong; and in John 3:20 we read, 
 “Tf our heart condemn us, God is great- 
 er than our heart and knoweth all 
 things.” God knows the evil conse- 
 quences of every sin, and He will judge 
 unrepentant sinners according to their 
 deeds.—Rev. Henry M, Tyndall. 
 
250 
 — 466 —— 
 
 REVIVAL INCIDENTS. 
 
 One day there was sent up to my 
 room a card announcing the presence 
 in the hotel office of a gentleman whose 
 name was not familiar to me. When I 
 met him, he introduced himself as Mr. 
 M. He told me that his wife was a 
 former member of my church, When 
 I asked him about his own church con- 
 nection, he said, with a good deal of 
 bitterness, “I have no use for such 
 things, and I am, myself, an infidel.” 
 He then began to speak so blasphemous- 
 ly of God that I told him he must either 
 cease such conversation or leave the 
 hotel, He then apologized and said that 
 he was on his way to pawn his over- 
 coat to secure money enough to fill a 
 prescription which the doctor had given 
 him for his son, who was supposed to 
 be dying. I offered him the money, 
 which he would not take, and with an 
 apology for his conversation, in which 
 he explained that his concern had almost 
 made him lose control of himself, he 
 went away. 
 
 The following Friday I was speak 
 ing to men in a great assembly, when I 
 saw this man hand a slip of paper to 
 one of the ushers, When I opened it, 
 it read as follows: “Will you please 
 pray for a boy who is dying? This re- 
 quest is sent by a believing mother and 
 carried by an unbelieving father.” The 
 boy had pleura-pneumonia in its worst 
 form. The doctors called this morn- 
 ing and announced that his case was 
 hopeless. “No human power,” he ha¢ 
 said, “can save the boy, so far as I can 
 see.’ 
 
 At twenty-five minutes to one o’clock, 
 in the public meeting, I called upon 
 Major Cole to pray, and such a prayer 
 I had never before heard, It seemed 
 to open the heavens and to bring down 
 upon us a flood of glory. He asked 
 God to raise the boy from his deathbed 
 that he might save the father, And 
 this is what came as aresult: Between 
 half past twelve and one o’clock the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 condition of the boy suddenly and mir- 
 aculously changed. Before the day 
 was past, he was out of danger. In an 
 incredibly short space of time he was 
 moving about the house, and soon was 
 in the city at his business, 
 
 I know the father and have met the 
 mother of this boy. They have ever 
 since been my personal friends. In- 
 stantly the father was driven to his 
 knees, and in the process of time was 
 brought to see Christ as his Saviour. 
 I saw him stand before a great assem- 
 bly of Christians, and say: “God has 
 led me from the darkness of infidelity 
 to the brightness of faith, and I do now 
 accept Jesus Christ as my personal 
 Saviour. He raised my boy literally 
 from death and I cannot but believe in 
 Him.”—J. Wilbur Chapman, D, D. 
 
 467 —— 
 IN THE MAELSTROM OF SIN. 
 
 Accompanied by ten Canadians, Mr. 
 Ogden was once making the descent of 
 the Columbia River. When at last they 
 reached the rapids, his companions, to 
 escape the labor of carrying the boat 
 and baggage around, signified their in- 
 tention of shooting the rapids. Conse- 
 quently Mr, Ogden landed and pursued 
 a narrow path far up the rocky ledge 
 bordering the river. As he watched the 
 boat, he saw it shoot forward like an 
 arrow as it cleared the first part of the 
 rapids, Suddenly it stopped. He saw the 
 brawny arms of the Canadians vigorous- 
 ly ply the oars. The course of the boat 
 seemed now uncertain. Finally, in spite 
 of the united efforts of the boatmen, 
 he saw the boat gradually sweep a broad 
 curve. Faster and faster, human effort 
 was unavailing, the boat went round, 
 and round, the circle growing smaller, 
 and smaller, till reaching the centre, it 
 was suddenly swallowed up. 
 
 Just so is it with the backslider. He 
 tries to shoot the rapids of worldliness 
 but is eventually engulfed by the mael- 
 strom of sin and sinks to endless ruin.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall, 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ae gal 
 THE CURE OF BAD TEMPER. 
 
 I was more than 50 years old before 
 I had any idea that God could change 
 my temper. I was brought up that 
 IBY be bio ht gle g 
 You will all be reading, I suppose, 
 about Samuel M. Hopkins, who is the 
 head of the Hopkins system of theology, 
 whom Mrs, Stowe tells about. He was 
 a man of violent temper, and he had a 
 brother-in-law who was an infidel and 
 lawyer—I don’t mean to say that they 
 always go together. 
 to stir up Hopkins and make him com- 
 mit some sin, and then he would glory 
 over it. One night he went over to 
 have some transaction in the transfer of 
 some property, and his brother-in-law 
 made the transaction as exasperating as 
 possible. After a while, Hopkins, crazy 
 with impatience, just slammed the door 
 and went home. The man turned to 
 his wife and remarked, “Maria, that 
 man is a professing Christian. I make 
 no professions like that, but I be- 
 have a great deal better.’ Hopkins 
 went home and said. “What have I 
 done? I have failed again, and brought 
 contempt upon the name of the Lord.” 
 He spent the night in prayer and said, 
 “Lord, there is to be an end of this.” 
 “Faithful is he that calleth you who 
 also will do it.” “Lord, I am going 
 to trust you for the rest of my life, never 
 to lose my temper.” He never did, He 
 was never known to speak above a cons 
 versational tone, even under provocation, 
 from that time on. And they used to 
 say' of him in his old age, “If I had such 
 a natural disposition as Dr. Hopkins I 
 could be a good man, too.” As soon as 
 it was light he went to his brother-in- 
 law’s house, rang him up, to ask his for- 
 giveness. When he left, his brother-in- 
 law turned to his wife and said, “He has 
 got something that I don’t known any- 
 thing about. He has got a spirit that 
 I know nothing about, and I think I had 
 better seek that spirit where he has got 
 it.’ And in five minutes they were on 
 their knees before God, and he found 
 
 He used to love | 
 
 ANECDOTES 251 
 
 Christ, and he became a minister of the 
 gospel himself.—Rev. Dr. A. T. Pierson. 
 
 ———- 469 ——— 
 JACOB HODGE’S CONVERSION, 
 
 Years ago, the pastor of the Presby- 
 terian Church, in Canandaigua, N. Y., 
 was preaching the funeral sermon of a 
 colored man, a member of his church. 
 During the discourse, pointing to the 
 coffin, he exclaimed, ‘There lies the 
 right hand of my power in the work of 
 the Lord in Canandaigua!” 
 
 The deceased had been eminent for 
 his zeal and love for Christ; and his un- 
 tiring efforts, continued for many years, 
 contributed greatly to the upbuilding 
 of the kingdom of the Redeemer. Yet 
 that man came from the Staté Prison 
 at Auburn. He was a murderer, He 
 had been used as a tool by several other 
 persons. The crime was committed in 
 Orange County, N. Y. Two men anda 
 woman were hanged, and this colored 
 man, Jacob Hodge, was sentenced to 
 Auburn Prison for life. 
 
 While in prison he was wrought upon 
 by the Spirit of God, and powerfully 
 convicted of his sins. After seeking the 
 Lord for six months, so earnestly that 
 he often forgot to eat the supper placed 
 in his cell, he at last was able to rejoice 
 in the pardoning mercy of God. The 
 change in him was so wonderful, and 
 so apparent to all, that sometime after 
 his conversion, through the petitioning 
 of the faculty and students of Auburn 
 Theological Seminary, the Governor 
 pardoned him. 
 
 He had been forgiven much and he 
 loved much. After his release, he re- 
 moved to Canandaigua and lived a most 
 devoted Christian life. As to his useful- 
 ness the words of his pastor, which we 
 have quoted, are sufficient evidence. 
 
 In 1886, the writer heard Rev. Mr. 
 Stowe of Canandaigua relate the facts 
 above, and he was so impressed by the 
 account as an illustration of the power 
 of the grace of God that he made note 
 of the same.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
252 
 
 a gL) eee 
 THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 
 
 A pious man in the western part of 
 this state was sick with consumption. 
 Hie was a poor man, and sick for years. 
 An unconverted merchant in the place 
 had a kind heart and used to send him 
 now and then something for his com- 
 iort, or tor his family, He felt grate- 
 ful for the kindness, but could make no 
 return, as he wanted to. At length he 
 determined that the best return he could 
 make would be to pray for his salva- 
 tion; he began to pray, his soul kindled, 
 he got hold of God. There was no re- 
 vival there, but by and by, to the as- 
 tonishment of everybody, this merchant 
 came right out on the Lord’s side. The 
 fire kindled all over the place, and a 
 powerful revival followed, and multi- 
 tudes were converted, 
 
 This poor man lingered in this way 
 for several years, and died. After his 
 death, I visited the place, and his widow 
 put into my hands his diary. Among 
 other things, he says in his diary: “I 
 aim acquainted with about thirty minis- 
 ters and churches.” He then goes on 
 to set apart certain hours in the day 
 and week to pray for each of these min- 
 isters and churches, and also certain 
 seasons for praying for the different 
 missionary stations. Then followed, un- 
 der different dates, such facts as these: 
 “To-day,” naming the date, “I have 
 been enabled to offer what I call a pray- 
 er of faith for the outpouring of the 
 Spirit on church, and I trust in 
 God there will soon be a revival there.” 
 Under another date, “I have to-day 
 been able to offer what I call the prayer 
 of faith for such a church, and there will 
 soon be a revival there.” Thus had he 
 gone over a great number of churches 
 recording the fact that he had prayed 
 for them in faith that a revival might 
 soon prevail among them. Of the mis- 
 sionary stations, if I recollect right, he 
 mentioned in particular the mission at 
 Ceylon. I believe the last place men- 
 tioned in his diary, for which he offered 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the prayer of faith, was the place in 
 which he lived. Not long atter noting 
 these facts in his diary, the revival com~- 
 menced, and went over the region of 
 country, nearly, I believe, if not quite, 
 in the order in which they had been 
 mentioned in his diary; and in due time 
 news came from Ceylon that there was 
 a revival of religion there. The revival 
 in his own town did not commence till 
 after his death. Its commencement was 
 at the time when his widow put in my 
 hands the document to which I referred. 
 She told me that he was so exercised 
 in prayer during his sickness that she 
 often feared that he would pray him- 
 self to death. The revival was exceed- 
 ingly great and powerful in all the re- 
 gion; and the fact that it was about 
 to prevail had not been hidden from this 
 servant of the Lord,. According to His 
 word, the secret of the Lord is with 
 them that fear Him. Thus this man, 
 too feeble in his body to go outside of 
 his house, was yet more useful to the 
 world and the church of God than all 
 the heartless professors of the country. 
 Standing between God and the desola- 
 tions of Zion, and pouring out his heart 
 in believing prayer, as a prince he had 
 power with God, and prevailed.—Charles 
 G. Finney. 
 
 SESE 15 eee 
 
 HAS YOUR VERSE CHANGED? 
 
 A writer in the Alliance Weekly tells 
 the following story of how a little child 
 was used to lead a mother back into the 
 light, 
 
 A poor woman in one of Mr. Whittle’s 
 meetings in Glasgow was brought into 
 light by a little verse in the fifth chap- 
 ter of John, “Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, he that heareth My word, and be- 
 lieveth on Him that sent Me, hath ever- 
 lasting life, and shall not come into con- 
 demnation; but is passed from death 
 unto life.” 
 
 The evangelist gave her the verse, 
 written on a little card and sent her 
 home rejoicing, with her little son. They 
 both went to bed that night, happy as 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 angels. But in the morning she came 
 down to breakfast gloomy as ever, her 
 face all clouded and her heart utterly 
 discouraged. She had had a night of 
 conflicts, doubts and fears, and when 
 her little boy asked what was the mat- 
 ter, she could only burst into tears and 
 say, “Oh, it is all gone. I thought I 
 was saved, but I feel just as bad as 
 ever.” 
 
 The little fellow looked bewildered 
 and said, “Why, mother, has your verse 
 changed? I will go and see.” He ran to 
 the table and got her Bible with the lit- 
 tle card in it, and turned it up and read, 
 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that 
 heareth My Word, and believeth on Him 
 that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and 
 shall not come into condemnation; but 
 is passed from death unto life.” 
 
 “Why, mother,” he said, “it is not 
 changed a bit. It is just,the same as it 
 was last night; it is all right.” And 
 the mother looked with a smile at the 
 little preacher whose simple trust was 
 used of God to save her; and taking 
 him in her arms, she thanked God that 
 her precious verse was still the same, 
 and her peace as unchanged as the ever- 
 lasting Word of God. Is this what the 
 apostle means? We are justified, now 
 let us have and hold fast to the peace. 
 It is not merely forgiveness, but it is an 
 everlasting decree. Let us walk in the 
 strength of it, and never allow the 
 shadow of a doubt or fear to cross the 
 sunlit sky of our heaven. 
 
 ard yh 
 SWIMMING TO CHURCH. 
 
 A little girl named Nyangandi, who 
 lived near the Ogowee River, West 
 Africa, came one Saturday in her little 
 canoe with two bunches of plantains to 
 sell to the missionary. 
 
 When she was going away, Mrs Bach- 
 elor said to her: “Now you must not 
 forget that to-morrow will be the Sab- 
 bath day, and you have already promised 
 to come every time.” 
 
 “Yes,” she said, “I will surely come 
 if I am alive.” 
 
 ANECDOTES. 253 
 
 And she did, But no one knew 
 how she got there, until at the close 
 of the service she told the girls that in 
 the night her canoe had been stolen, and 
 none of her friends would lend her one; 
 but she had promised to come to church, 
 and so she felt she must. How did she 
 come? Well, she swam! 
 
 The current was swift, the water deep, 
 and the river fully a third of a mile 
 wide; but by swimming diagonally she 
 succeeded in crossing the river, 
 
 If this little heathen girl, who knew 
 so little about the gospel, could take 
 so much pains to keep her word, and 
 the holy Sabbath day, how much more 
 should favored English children (also 
 adults) keep the fourth and ninth com- 
 mandments ?—Selected. 
 
 fn Ayo 
 DESTROYERS OF CHURCHES. 
 
 The case is mournful. Certain min- 
 isters are making infidels, Avowed 
 atheists are not a tenth as dangerous as 
 those preachers who scatter doubt and 
 
 stab at faith. A plain man told us the 
 
 other day that two ministers had de- 
 rided him because he thought we should 
 pray for rain. A gracious woman be- 
 moaned in my presence that a precious 
 promise in Isaiah, which had comforted 
 her, had been declared by her minister 
 to be uninspired. It is a common thing 
 to hear working-men excuse their wick- 
 edness by the statement that there is 
 no hell, “The parson says so.” 
 
 But we need not prolong our mention 
 of painful facts. Germany was made 
 unbelieving by her preachers, and Eng- 
 land is following in her track, Attend- 
 ance at places of worship is declining, 
 and reverence for holy things is vanish- 
 ing; and we solemnly believe this to be 
 largely attributable to the skepticism 
 which has flashed from the pulpit, and 
 spread among the people. Possibly the 
 men who uttered the doubt never in- 
 tended it to go so far; but none the less 
 they have done the ill, and cannot undo 
 it. Their own observation ought to 
 teach them better—C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
254 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ny eee 
 FAITHFULNESS. 
 
 It is said that the late Josiah Quincy 
 was at one time conversing with Daniel 
 Webster upon the importance oi doing 
 even the smallest thing thoroughly and 
 well, when the great man related an in- 
 cident concerning a petty insuraiice case 
 which was brought to him while a young 
 lawyer. The fee promised was only 
 twenty dollars. Yet to do his client full 
 justice, Webster found he must journey 
 to Boston and consult the law library. 
 This involved an expense of about the 
 amount of his fee, but, after hesitating 
 a little, he decided to go to Boston and 
 consult the authorities, let the cost be 
 what it might. He gained the case. 
 Years after this Webster was passing 
 through the city of New York, An im- 
 portant insurance case was to be tried 
 that day, and one of the counsel had 
 been suddenly prostrated by illness. 
 Money was no object, and Webster was 
 asked to name his terms and conduct 
 the case. 
 
 “It is preposterous,” he said, “to ex- 
 pect me to prepare a legal argument at 
 a few hours’ notice.” 
 
 But when they insisted that he should 
 look at the papers, he consented. It 
 was his old twenty-dollar case over 
 again, and having a remarkable mem- 
 ory, he had all the authorities in his 
 mind, and he took the case and won it. 
 The Court knew he had no time for 
 preparation, and was astonished at the 
 skill with which he handled the case. 
 
 “So, you see,” said Webster, “I was 
 handsomely paid, both in fame and 
 money: for that journey to Boston;” and 
 the moral is that good work is rewarded 
 in the end, though, to be sure, one’s 
 own approval of self should be reward 
 enough. 
 
 Faithfulness in spiritual things corre- 
 sponds to thoroughness in material 
 things and has its own rewards. 
 
 Faithfulness in little things brings 
 rule over great things, Faithfulness in 
 the least leads to faithfulness in the 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 most. Faithfulness on earth gives a 
 place “with Him,” over the earth. Faith- 
 fulness unto death wins a crown of life. 
 —Selected. 
 
 wy iff 
 
 GOD’S LAW. 
 
 Some time since a visitor at the Ob- 
 servatory at Harvard University was 
 desiring to look through their great 
 telescope. Consulting a book of astro- 
 nomical tables, his friend said: “A star 
 will pass across the field of vision at 
 5:20 o'clock.’ The instrument was ad- 
 justed and the visitor, lying upon his 
 back, applied his eye to the glass, his 
 friend meanwhile standing with a small 
 hammer in his hand and with his eye 
 fixed on a tall chronometer clock. At 
 precisely 5.20 o’clock the observer said: 
 “There!” At the same instant his 
 friend’s hammer struck the table. The 
 exclamation and the hammer stroke 
 were absolutely simultaneous, although 
 the man at the telescope could not see 
 the clock, nor the man with the ham- 
 mer the star. It was a wonderful coin- 
 cidence—that passage of the star hun- 
 dreds of millions of miles away across 
 the object glass of that telescope, at the 
 instant when the second hand marked 
 the hour 5:20 o’clock. 
 
 The wonder seems greater when we 
 know that the book in which was the 
 predicted position of that distant star 
 was published ten years before, the fore- 
 cast being based on calculations running 
 back a thousand years. In the same 
 book were other tables predicting celes- 
 tial movements a thousand years still 
 in the future—movement which we may 
 be assured will prove as certain in fact 
 and as exact in time as that which has 
 just been noted. So is the law of God, 
 and so absolute the obedience of Nature 
 to His decree. But the God of Nature 
 and the God of grace are one; and His 
 relations to redemption are equally def- 
 inite, and are sustained by no less power 
 than those which bind the universe 
 about His feet.—The Pacific. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 476 —— 
 A KINGLY ELEVATOR BOY. 
 
 I suppose that the only way for us to 
 find out the men among us who dwell 
 in the uplands of life, and breathe 
 habitually a purer air than that of the 
 market place, is to note those, who, 
 when the chance comes for a noble 
 deed—-great or small—do it, simply and 
 naturally, without any preparation. It 
 is a real king’s business to be kingly, 
 and when the chance comes to him for 
 his own work, he does it and goes on 
 his way and says nothing about it. 
 
 For example, there was a lean, freckled 
 boy who a year or two ago ran the ele- 
 vator up and down in an old shackly 
 office building in Philadelphia. I often 
 went up in it, but certainly I never sus- 
 pected “Billy” of any noble quality 
 which raised him above other boys, high 
 as was Saul among his brethren. 
 
 But one day the old house began to 
 shudder and groan to its foundations, 
 and then one outer wall after another 
 fell amid shouts of dismay from the 
 crowds in the streets. And Billy, as 
 these walls came crashing down, ran 
 his old lift up to the topmost story and 
 back again, crowded with terrified men 
 
 and women. He did this nine times. 
 _ Only one side of the building was now 
 standing. The shaft of the elevator was 
 left bare, and swayed to and fro, The 
 police tried to drag the boy out of it, 
 the mass of spectators yelled with hor- 
 ror as he pulled the chain and began to 
 rise again over their heads. 
 
 “Ther’s two women up ther yet,” said 
 Billy stolidly, and went on up to the 
 top facing a horrible death each minute 
 and knowing that he faced it. Presently 
 through the cloud of dust the lift was 
 seen coming jerkily down with three 
 figures on it. As it touched the ground 
 the whole building fell with a crash. 
 The women and boy came out on the 
 street unhurt and a roar of triumph arose 
 from the mob. 
 
 But it was six o’clock and Billy slip- 
 ped quietly away in the dusk and went 
 
 255 
 
 home to his supper. For your real hero 
 does not care for the shouts and clapping 
 of hands.—Rebecca Harding Davis, in 
 The Interior. 
 
 eS pel 
 ACCUSED BY CONSCIENCE, 
 
 When a guilty conscience is awaken- 
 ed it makes its possessor too miserable 
 to live. The Baltimore correspondent 
 of The New York Times stated this in- 
 cident a few years ago: 
 
 After traveling all over the world in 
 a vain effort to still the twinges of con- 
 science and avoid a man and a woman 
 who he believed were proclaiming him 
 everywhere as a murderer, Edward 
 Rogers, aged thirty-five years, who killed 
 James Hoban in a quarrel in a saloon 
 here November 24, 1897, surrendered to 
 the police at Erie, Penn., and was 
 brought to Baltimore to-day. He con- 
 fesses his crime, but declares he never 
 saw Hoban before the night he killed 
 him. 
 
 Rogers says he left Baltimore that 
 night for New Orleans, where he got a 
 job on a steamer. He made two trips 
 around the Horn to San Francisco, but 
 he imagined that a man by the name 
 of Barney and a woman whom he calls 
 Nellie always confronted him. 
 
 “When on ship,” he said, “it was 
 not so bad, but whenever I went ashore 
 Barney and Nellie were sure to find 
 me out, and every one I met on the 
 street seemed to point their fingers at 
 me and say. ‘There goes a murderer.’ 
 I then shipped aboard the transport 
 ‘Grant’ and went to Manila. Aboard 
 were Gen. Lawton and his family. There 
 it was all the same. All were against 
 me and seemed to point a finger of 
 scorn. Returning to this country Il 
 made my way East, but it was the same 
 old story. 
 
 “T left my last job at Buffalo, and 
 then made my way to Erie. There again 
 I encountered Barney and Nellie, and 
 knowing that sooner or later I would 
 
256 
 
 NR ane 
 CAPTURING A LAWYER 
 
 A few years since, when a pastor in 
 Boston, Mass., I became very much in- 
 terested in a young man who was just 
 finishing his theological course in the 
 Boston University. The young fellow 
 was so enthusiastic, so optimistic, so 
 bubbling over with faith in God and love 
 for men, and so sure that God was 
 stronger than the devil, that it was a 
 delight to have fellowship with him. 
 
 When his theological course was com- 
 pleted, he went to Cincinnati to begin 
 his ministry in a plain little chapel in 
 one of the suburbs of that city. There 
 were few members in his little church, 
 and all of them were poor. The out- 
 look would have been very unpromising 
 to many young college men, but to 
 my young friend the difficulties in 
 the way only inspired him to greater 
 exertion. I shall never forget the first 
 letter I had from him after he reached 
 the field. It ran like this: 
 
 “My Dear Friend: 
 
 “I am on the ground at last, and am 
 beginning to get the lay of the land. 
 It seems good after being in school so 
 long to feel that at last you are on the 
 track and have fair chance at the race. 
 I imagine that I feel like a hound that 
 has been chafing in his kennel for a long 
 time and is, at last loose, with the game 
 in sight. The ministry never seemed 
 so precious and splendid to me as now, 
 and by the help of God I am determined 
 to win victory for my Master. I have 
 been looking over my field here and am 
 strongly impressed that my success in 
 getting a strong hold on this commun- 
 ity depends on my capturing for the 
 Lord the most prominent man there is 
 in this part of the city. The most wide- 
 ly-known man here, and the man of 
 most influence, is Judge——, a distin- 
 guished lawyer of Cincinnati, Indeed he 
 is the most famous criminal lawyer in 
 this part of the country. He has the 
 reputation of being a hardened, sinful 
 man, and there is not the slightest evi- 
 dence to show that he has a thought of 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 becoming a Christian, Yet I feel that I 
 must win him, and do it at once. You 
 may think I am foolish about this, and I 
 am astonished at myself; but after all, 
 God is willing to save him as he is to 
 save anyone else, and I believe he is as 
 willing to help me secure this man’s con- 
 version as he was to help Paul and Silas 
 with the jailer at Philippi. Anyhow I 
 am in for this one thing, day and night, 
 and scarcely think of anything else. 
 
 “Pray for me as you never did before; 
 for this means everything to me. If God 
 gives me this man in answer to my work 
 and prayer at the very beginning of my 
 ministry, I shall feel that everything is 
 possible after that.” 
 
 This letter impressed me deeply. The 
 holy audacity of the young fellow almost 
 took my breath away, and I waited the 
 future development with most prayerful 
 interest. 
 
 About ten days later I received a sec- 
 ond letter, in which ran these lines: “I 
 could stand it no longer, and so have 
 been to see Judge . I just opened my 
 heart and told him all about it. I told 
 him I could hardly sleep or eat on his 
 account, but was praying for him all the 
 time. Every thing I intended to say 
 went out of my head, and I just blun- 
 dered on, trying to tell him how much he 
 owed the Lord, and what a great chance 
 there was for him to change the whole 
 community by swinging about and giv- 
 ing his heart to Christ. 
 
 “He was the most astonished-looking 
 man I ever saw. He looked at me at 
 first like you have seen a great St. Ber- 
 nard dog look at a young puppy that 
 runs to him on the street. Still he was 
 not offended, but treated me kindly, and 
 I believe that God will give him to me 
 yet.” 
 
 This was getting to be interesting. 
 What a battle royal it was for a human 
 soul. On one side the most successful 
 criminal lawyer of the Ohio River Val- 
 ley—-a middle-aged man hedged about 
 by evil associations and chained by evil 
 habits. On the other hand, this ruddy 
 young David with his sling, 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 I did not hear from the battlefield 
 again for three or four weeks, and I was 
 becoming anxious, when one morning I 
 reccived a letter which brought me to 
 my feet, It began: “ “Thanks be to God 
 who gives us the victory through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Judge-—— sent for 
 me to come and pray with him last night. 
 He was under deep conviction, and was 
 mourning over his sins. He told me he 
 had not had a moment’s rest since the 
 day I first came to see him and told 
 him I was praying for him. I prayed 
 over him and cried over him, and I be- 
 lieve he is happily converted to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He will make a public 
 confession in the church and he and his 
 wife will at once unite with it. Whata 
 glorious day that will be for this com- 
 munity. My joy is beyond words. I 
 never can believe anything too hard for 
 God again.” 
 
 Judge—— became a power for good, 
 and was influential on many a platform 
 in giving his testimony for ‘Christ. I am 
 sure you will not be astonished, after 
 this incident, to know that this heroic 
 youth is one of the most successful evan- 
 gelistic missionaries in China; here in 
 the populous Hing-hua district, the Rev. 
 William N. Brewster has led literally 
 hundreds of the natives to the foot of 
 the Cross.—Rev. Louis Albert Banks. 
 
 woe 479 
 GOOD EXAMPLE HELPS. 
 
 At a communion service held at Camp 
 Dix, N. J., on a Sabbath in January, 
 1918, the Rev. W. T. Wilcox told the 
 following touching story. 
 
 In its application, he reminded the 
 soldiers present that they were met to 
 honor the sacrifice of Christ; and so 
 doing they should expect that others in- 
 fluenced by their example would also 
 fall in line, and thus the number of His 
 followers would go on multiplying. 
 
 “Over in France two American soldiers 
 were seated at a little iron table placed 
 on the sidewalk, eating a luncheon. 
 Glancing into the street, they saw a de- 
 crepit old horse dragging an old cart, 
 
 ANECDOTES. 257 
 on which there was a coffin draped with 
 the French tri-color, Behind the cart 
 followed a little old woman, with head 
 bowed, a picture of grief. A mother 
 was following the body of her soldier 
 boy to the grave. She was alone, an 
 only mourner. The American soldiers 
 arose, took off their hats, and fell in 
 behind the little mother, to honor the 
 memory and sacrifice of that French 
 soldier. Other Americans saw the act 
 and joined the silent procession. French 
 soldiers, wounded and on leave, limp- 
 ed in behind, and soon hundreds were 
 following that body to the grave. When 
 it was lowered to his last resting place, 
 the little mother looked around and saw 
 a great company had honored her boy! 
 He had not died in vain! People were 
 grateful, hearts were tender and respon- 
 sive. And she knew that the simple act 
 of devotion on the part of the two Am- 
 erican soldiers had resulted in this dem- 
 onstration. She knelt down beside the 
 grave and kissed the hands of the two 
 American boys.” 
 
 —— 480 —— 
 GO ON WID DAT PRAYER. 
 
 A poor, ignorant old colored man 
 who had been a slave came to Miss M. 
 Waterbury, a lady missionary among 
 the freedmen, and asked to be taught to 
 pray. She began to teach him the Lord’s 
 prayer, sentence by sentence, explain- 
 ing it to his entire satisfaction until she 
 came to the one on forgiveness. “What 
 dat mean?” said he. “That you must 
 forgive everybody or God will not for- 
 give you.” “Stop, teacher, can’t do dat,” 
 and he went away. After vacation he 
 appeared again, saying: “Now go wid 
 dat prayer; I dun forgive him, Ole mas- 
 sa once gib me five hundred lashes, and 
 hit me wid a crowbar, an’ t’row me out 
 for dead, and I meet him an’ said: 
 ‘How’d ye?? Now go on wid that pray- 
 er.” It might be well for many another 
 besides the colored man to think very 
 seriously of those whom they refuse to 
 forgive before they go on “wid dat 
 prayer.”—Selected, ik 
 
258 
 
 comme 49] ---— 
 EMMA JONES’ SUBSTITUTE. 
 
 In New York State was a teacher who 
 had a peculiar way of punishing pupils 
 for whispering—he made them stand 
 on a block in front of the school, until 
 they saw another scholar whisper, when 
 they would speak the name of the new 
 culprit, who would then have to stand 
 on the block. When school closed at 
 four o’clock, the one then on the block 
 had to be punished for all the rest. 
 One afternoon there was a bad boy on 
 the block, and it looked as though he 
 would have to take the punishment, 
 but he had his eyes wide open to find 
 somebody whispéring. The last class 
 was spelling and a little girl did not 
 speak very loud, so the teacher thought 
 she spelled a word wrong. He put it 
 to the next. 
 
 “That is right,” said the teacher, “go 
 up.’ 
 
 The little girl said in a whisper, “I 
 spelt it in the same way.” 
 
 “Emma Jones whispered,” said the 
 boy on the block, and Emma Jones had 
 to stand on the block, and the clock 
 struck four. The teacher said he was 
 very sorry to punish her, but he could 
 not help it as it was a rule of the school. 
 
 He was just ready to strike when a 
 big boy jumped up and said, “Will 
 you please let me be punished for Emma 
 Jones?” 
 
 “Have you whispered?” 
 
 “No, sir; please let me take the pun- 
 ishment for her sake.” 
 
 He took the punishment for Emma 
 Jones,,and blow after blow was laid 
 upon his hands, just the same as though 
 he had whispered. 
 
 After school was over, she ran up to 
 him, and burst into tears and said, “I 
 will thank you just as long as I live.” 
 
 But that was not much compared with 
 what Jesus suffered. He let them drive 
 nails through His hands and through 
 His feet; let them press the crown of 
 thorns down into His brow; and yet 
 some of you have not thanked Him. If 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 you should die to-day you would not go 
 to heaven.—Rev, E. Payson Hammond. 
 
 a 04 
 SEEING THE HEATHER BELL. 
 
 It is said that a year or two ago a 
 great naturalist went into the Highlands 
 of Scotland with his microscope to 
 study the depth of color, the delicacy 
 of form, the beauty, charm and dainti- 
 ness of the little heather bell; and that 
 he might see all its glory, he lay down 
 with his face in front of the little 
 heather bell so that he might see it 
 without plucking it; so that he might 
 see it with its natural life in it. 
 
 He had adjusted his instrument, and 
 was gazing at the heather bell, lost, 
 absorbed, revelling in the beauties in 
 front of him, when all at once a shadow 
 played over the instrument. He thought 
 at first that it was a passing cloud, but 
 it staid there. Turning around he saw a 
 fine specimen of the Highland shepherd. 
 Reaching over, he plucked a little 
 heather bell and handed it and the mi- 
 croscope to the shepherd that he, too, 
 might see something of its beauty. 
 
 When the microscope was adjusted 
 so that the shepherd might see the little 
 heather bell through such an intrument 
 for the first time in his life, he looked 
 at it a long time, and then the tears 
 streamed down his rugged face. He 
 handed both microscope and heather bell 
 back to the naturalist and said, “I wish 
 you had never showed me.” 
 
 “Why,” said the naturalist. 
 
 “Because that rude foot has trodden 
 on so many of them. That’s why,” he 
 said. 
 
 And when you take the microscope 
 of His Word and get a vision of God, of 
 Jesus, then you will whip yourself that 
 you have lived one moment of any day 
 without giving to Him the place that 
 He should occupy in your heart and in 
 your life. It is this vision that makes 
 Jesus so wonderful. O. Holy Spirit, 
 open our eyes that we may see!—-Gipsy 
 Smith, 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ees agg 
 
 PATIENT PLODDING. 
 
 A little while betore his death, Wil- 
 liam Carey said to his son, Eustace, 
 “Ii, alter my removal, anyone should 
 think it worth while to write my life, 
 I will give you a criterion by which you 
 may judge of its correctness, If he 
 gives me credit for being a plodder he 
 will describe me justly. Anything be- 
 yond this will be too much. I can plod; 
 I can persevere in any definite pursuits 
 To this I owe everything.” 
 
 That old pioneer of South Africa, 
 Robert Moffat, when interviewing a 
 young candidate for work on his field 
 was asked by the young man what the 
 first qualification was. Moffat replied, 
 “Patience.” Thinking thjs a very com- 
 mon virtue, the young man requested 
 the second qualification, to which Mof- 
 fat replied, “Patience.” Seeking to 
 evade the point of the old missionary’s 
 remarks, and evidently underestimating 
 its value, he still asked for a third quali- 
 fication, to which the veteran missionary 
 is reported to have replied, “Everlast- 
 ing patience.’’ 
 
 Patient plodding was the secret by 
 which the old pioneers laid the founda- 
 tion of missionary service. Shall we be 
 considered out of date when we suggest 
 that these are still prime qualifications 
 for missionary efforts? We like to see 
 the dashing energy and the quick intel- 
 lect and ready mind, but when we select 
 missionaries, we would look most eager- 
 ly for some evidence of staying powers. 
 We never yet knew a man to fail that 
 knew how to plod. The success in the 
 older fields came in this way, The vic- 
 tory in the new fields, presenting afresh 
 the problems of by-gone days, will 
 come in the same manner. These strenu- 
 ous days with lightning methods have 
 furnished no short cut to spiritual re- 
 sults, and the need of patience for 
 fruition in Christian work still remains. 
 Oh, for more patient, plodding mission: 
 aries.—Selected., 
 
 259 
 
 i ys 
 
 “HE SET MY FEET UPON A 
 ROCK.” 
 
 I remember at Stonehaven, when I 
 was minister there, I was swimming 
 out in the clear, cool bay, when the 
 water got suddenly choppy and my 
 strength seemed suddenly to go from 
 me, You that are swimmers know the 
 sensation. Exhausted, the waves flap- 
 ping on your face in repeated blows as 
 if to stun you, and beat you back to the 
 current that was ready to seize you. No 
 one in sight. Wearily on and on; but 
 you know you are making little or no 
 progress, and the feet and body go 
 Geeper and deeper in the water. You 
 cannot swim any longer; you have lost 
 the power of prostration and progres- 
 sion, and you are now erect and merely 
 paddling with your hands. 
 
 I had almost given up, when suddenly 
 there came to my foot the sensation of 
 solidity amid the waves. Oh, what I 
 telt as I stood there to recover breath, 
 rescued from death! How solid the rock 
 felt! How I thanked God that that 
 rock had just been placed out in the 
 bay for me, and that He had taken my 
 sinking feet and fixed them there. That 
 is the nearest that I can give to the sen- 
 sation of the soul when Christ lays hold 
 of you, saves you, and sets your feet on 
 the Rock of Ages.—John Robinson. 
 
 —— 485 —— 
 NO APOLOGY NEEDED, 
 
 Dr, Pentecost was one day speaking 
 with a business man about becoming a 
 Christian. Before leaving he began to 
 apologize for introducing the subject, 
 whereupon the merchant stopping him 
 said very earnestly, “Don’t ever apolo- 
 gize, Dr. Pentecost, for speaking to a 
 mar: on that subject. I’ve been wait- 
 ing for twenty years for some one to 
 speak with me about my soul.” Most 
 people are just as willing to talk on 
 that subject. You won’t have to apolo- 
 gize for it very often during a lifetime. 
 
260°. 
 
 nice Reaeene 
 ENCOURAGED BY A DREAM 
 
 In the New York Observer, of June 
 13th, 1907, Rev. George H. Wallace, who 
 has so many times preached in the 
 People’s Tabernacle, gives the following 
 interesting account of a dream he had 
 in his college days: 
 
 Illustrations of faith are not far to 
 seek in any and every walk of life. Our 
 whole lives in one way or another are 
 lives of faith and hope, so much so that 
 we fail to make notes of, and so they 
 do not impress us and we very soon for- 
 get all about them. Once in a while, 
 however, some more beautiful and strik- 
 ing example of it affects us, so we cher- 
 ish it as an aid and inspiration. Such 
 an illustration came to me in a dream, 
 and I do not recall any that I have heard 
 or read that more aptly illustrates the 
 nature and help of faith, 
 
 It occurred during my college days. 
 Not being born with a gold or any other 
 kind of a valuable spoon in my mouth, 
 I had worked my way along, with some 
 outside help, to and through a college 
 course. Several times I was close run 
 financially, and then I had recourse to 
 what might ‘be called heroic measures, 
 to replenish a fast emptying pocketbook. 
 I had made up my mind that if I was 
 compelled to leave college after the 
 years of preparation made and the self- 
 denying efforts put forth, it would be 
 for good. I would devote my life to 
 self and money making. 
 
 It was during one of those anxious 
 times when funds were low and the 
 future looked dark and discouraging, 
 and I had pondered much over the mat- 
 ter, that one night I had the following 
 dream: 
 
 I was in a deep valley, not very wide, 
 but with high and steep sides, so deep 
 and perpendicular that it was impos- 
 sible to climb them. The valley was 
 very rough and uneven, filled with great 
 hillocks, huge rocks, ravines and pitfalls. 
 There were trees there, some green and 
 growing, but most of them burnt and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES — 
 
 blackened. I was looking for some way 
 to get out of my prison house, and on 
 top of the level above and beyond. 
 But no opening presented itself. To go 
 ahead was simply a repetition of what 
 I had passed through, and of what 
 was now around me. To climb was 
 impossible, so rocky and clean-cut were 
 the sides, 
 
 While I was anxious over my pre- 
 dicament, and thinking out some plan 
 that might prove feasible, I looked up 
 ingo the heavens. Suddenly out from 
 a cloud right over my head began to 
 descend a rope, seemingly slowly un- 
 wound by invisible hands. .Steadily it 
 descended till the end of it was about 
 the height of my knees or a little high- 
 er. I did not seem afraid, but watched 
 the curious action with wondering‘ eyes 
 and mind. When it stopped, I began 
 to examine it more closely and found, 
 to my astonishment, that it was made 
 of the finest silk, of every color and 
 shade. It was a beautiful piece of work- 
 manship, and about two inches in thick- 
 ness. On the end was a cross-bar, as 
 if designed to hold on by or sit on. I 
 pulled on the rope; I tested it with my 
 whole weight, but though its upper end 
 was in cloud and mystery, it held firm 
 and strong. 
 
 Whether a voice spoke to me or 
 whether I instinctively placed myself 
 on the cross-bar, I do not distinctly re- 
 member, but with every confidence, 
 and without fear, I sat upon the bar 
 and held the rope in my hands, In- 
 stantly it began slowly to ascend, and 
 when it had risen as high as my cliff 
 barriers it swung me over onto them 
 and into the middle of a meadow of 
 green grass. I alighted from the rope 
 and instantly it ascended out of sight. 
 I looked around and, separated from me 
 only by the width of a roadway, was 
 a white wooden building—a church. 
 After this I awoke. 
 
 In thinking over the dream, I said to 
 myself, that rope symbolizes faith; the 
 valley of dreariness and desolation, my 
 
—_ 
 
 present condition; the deliverance and 
 the church are the outcome of it all. 
 My hopes and ambition will be gratified. 
 My faith was strengthened; I went on 
 encouraged; difficulties were overcome 
 and I finished my course. Nor was the 
 story yet finished. After three years of 
 seminary life, my first call and my first 
 parish and my first Church fulfilled the 
 picture of my dream. The building 
 was the same, and in the same position 
 in a place in which I had never been, 
 in. a church I had never seen. Shall 
 we call it coincidence or providence? 
 
 I have had several pastorates since 
 then, and a varied experience of disap- 
 pointment and sorrow, but in them all 
 I have tried to comfort and inspire my- 
 self by recalling that strange dream of 
 college days. Perhaps this telling of it 
 
 may help and encourage others in pass- - 
 
 ing through troubles and trials, touch- 
 ing to their faith in God, and work on; 
 by and by they shall be lifted out and 
 over them ail and be placed in a place 
 of safety and success. 
 
 Ee Ty eee 
 HE GAVE HIS LIFE. 
 
 General Averill, who commanded the 
 United States Army in Arizona, told 
 this striking story. 
 
 While he was there an Indian slew 
 a white man, and then made his escape 
 to the woods. It was deemed necessary 
 to make example of the murderer, in 
 order to save other lives. Orders came 
 from Washington to demand the mur- 
 derer from his tribe and to inform them 
 that unless he was delivered on a cer- 
 tain day war would be made on the 
 whole tribe. The Indian chiefs with 
 their followers hunted for the murderer 
 for several days, but failed to find him. 
 They held a council, and sent a deputa- 
 tion to the commander of the United 
 States troops, saying they could not 
 _ discover the fugitive, but would con- 
 tinue the search, and would deliver him 
 as soon as he could be found, But the 
 commander said his orders were impera- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 261 
 
 tive, and that unless the man was 
 brought in, dead or alive, he should com- 
 mence war on the day named. An- 
 other fruitless search was made, and 
 another council was held, when one of 
 the warriors said, “We cannot find this 
 man, and they will make war upon our 
 tribe; our women and children will be 
 killed; take me and shoot me, and lay 
 my body down before the officers.” 
 And, after awhile, this was done. The 
 warrior was shot, and his body was laid 
 at the feet of the officers. 
 
 The noble act of this Indian in dying 
 to save his people reminds us of the 
 atonement of Christ; but it has this 
 difference—that while the Indian died 
 for his friends, “God commendeth his 
 love toward us, in that, while we were 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom. 
 v. 8).—Ernest H. MacEwen. 
 
 eee AGH cae 
 
 WHICH WAY ARE YOU GOING? 
 
 A little girl went home from church 
 one Sunday full of what she had seen 
 and heard. A day or two afterward, 
 when talking with her father, who was 
 not a godly man, she said suddenly, 
 “Father, do you ever pray?” He did 
 not like the question, and in a very 
 angry manner asked her: 
 
 “Is it your mother or your aunt who 
 has put you up to this?” 
 
 “No, father,” said the little child; 
 “the preacher said all good people pray, 
 and those who do not pray can not be 
 saved, Father, do you pray?” 
 
 This was more than the father could 
 stand, and in a rough way he said: 
 
 “Well, you and your mother and your 
 aunt may go your way and I will go 
 mine.” 
 
 “Father,” said the little creature with 
 great simplicity, “which way are you 
 going?” 
 
 The question pierced his heart. It 
 flashed upon him that he was in the 
 way to death, and be began to pray for 
 mercy. 
 
 Which way are you going?—Selected. 
 
262 
 
 TAG 
 PRAYER FOR MEN AND MONEY. 
 
 “It is not lost time to wait upon 
 God. May I refer to a small gathering 
 of about a dozen men in which I was 
 permitted to take part some time ago, 
 in November, 1886, We in the China 
 Inland Mission were feeling greatly the 
 need of Divine guidance in the matter 
 of organization in the field and in the 
 matter of reinforcement and we came 
 together before our Conference to spend 
 eight days in united waiting upon God, 
 four alternate days being days of fast- 
 ing as well as prayer. This was No- 
 vember, 1886, when we gathered to- 
 gether; we were led to pray for a hun- 
 dred missionaries to be sent out by our 
 English Board in the year 1887, from 
 January to December. And, further 
 than this, our income had not been 
 elastic for some years; it had been about 
 22,000 pounds; and we had, in connec- 
 tion with that Forward Movement, to 
 ask God for 10,000 pounds, say $50,- 
 000, in addition to the income of the 
 previous year. More than this, we were 
 guided to pray that this might be 
 given in large sums, so that the force 
 of our staff might not be unduly oc- 
 cupied in the acknowledgment of con- 
 tributions. 
 
 “What was the result? God sent us 
 offers of service from over six hundred 
 men and women during the following 
 year, and those who were deemed to be 
 ready and suitable were accepted, and 
 were sent out to China; and it proved 
 that at the end of the year exactly one 
 hundred had gone. What about the 
 income?, God did not give us exactly 
 the 10,000 pounds we asked for, but 
 He gave us 11,000 pounds, and that 
 11,000 pounds came in eleven coniri- 
 butions; the smallest was 500 pounds, 
 say $2,500, the largest was $12,500, or 
 2,500 pounds. We had a thanksgiving 
 for the men and the money that was 
 coming in November, 1886, but they 
 were all received and sent out before 
 the end of December, 1887. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “The power of the living God is avail- 
 able power. We may call upon Him 
 in the name of Christ, with the assur- 
 ance that if we are taught by the Spirit 
 in our prayers, those prayers will be 
 answered.”’—Hudson Taylor, 
 
 —— 490 
 COMMONPLACE DUTIES. 
 
 The noble Christian life is not neces- 
 sarily one of heroic deeds, but one anima- 
 ted by the spirit of devotion, a life of 
 commonplace duties done and burdens 
 borne forthe glory of God. In one of Mu- 
 rillo’s paintings we see the interior of a 
 convent kitchen, and there at work are 
 white winged angels. One serenely 
 puts the kettle on the fire, another with 
 heavenly grace lifts a pail of water, and 
 a third is busy at the dresser. As you 
 see them all so cheerily working, you 
 forget the soiled pans and the sooty 
 pots, and kitchen drudgery seems Just 
 a natural and beautiful work for angels. 
 The spirit glorifies the task. 
 
 A woman who had cheerfully borne 
 many hardships said that she had been 
 helped through life by some words 
 spoken to her as a child by her father, 
 the village doctor. She came to his 
 office one day thoroughly exasperated. 
 “What is the matter, Mary?” 
 
 “T am tired to death. It’s making 
 beds and sweeping floors and washing 
 dishes all day and every day, and what 
 does it all amount to? Next day there 
 are the same beds to make and floors to 
 sweep and dishes to wash again; and 
 I’m sick and tired of it.” 
 
 “Look here, my child; do you see 
 those little empty vials? They are 
 worthless things in themselves; but in 
 one I put a deadily poison, in another 
 a sweet perfume, in a third a healing 
 medicine. The vials are nothing; it is 
 the thing in them that hurts or helps. 
 So those homely tasks of yours count 
 for little themselves; it is the petulance 
 or sweet patience or loving zeal that 
 you put in them that makes your life 
 a bane or a blessing.’”—Rev. E. C. 
 Murray, D. D. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 49] —— 
 NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. 
 
 The late Dean Stanley, speaking on 
 the subject of the substantial unity of 
 all true Christians, illustrated it by the 
 following anecdote: 
 
 It is said that John Wesley once, in 
 the visions of the night, found himself, 
 as he thought, at the gates of hell. 
 Knocking at the entrance, he asked who 
 were within. ’ 
 
 “Are there any Roman Catholics 
 here?” 
 
 “Yes,” was the answer; 
 many.” 
 
 “Any Church of England men?” 
 
 “Yes, a great many.” 
 
 “Any Presbyterians?” 
 
 “Yes; a great many.” 
 
 “Any Wesleyans, or Baptists, or In- 
 dependents?” ‘ : 
 
 “Yes; a great many.” 
 
 Disappointed and dismayed at the re- 
 plies he received, he turned his steps 
 upward, and found himself at the gates 
 of Paradise, where, knocking at the 
 gate, he repeated the same questions: 
 “Any Wesleyans, Baptists, Indepen- 
 dents, Presbyterians, Church of Eng- 
 land men, or Roman Catholics here?” 
 _And to each of these questions came 
 back the same answer. 
 
 “No, not one of any of these denomi- 
 nations.” 
 
 “Whom have you then?” he asked 
 in astonishment. 
 
 “Not one, was the answer, “of any 
 of the names you have mentioned. The 
 only name of which we know anything 
 here is the name of Christian. We are 
 all Christians here; and of these we 
 have a great multitude, whom no man 
 can number, from every kindred, and 
 nation, and tribe, and tongue, all one 
 in Christ, bearing His name, filled with 
 His spirit, and loving, and serving, and 
 enjoying Him forever!” 
 
 The anecdote reminds one of the re- 
 mark of good old John Newton: “If I 
 ever reach heaven,” he said, “I expect 
 to find there three wonders. First, to 
 
 “a great 
 
 263 
 
 meet some I had never thought to see 
 there; second, to miss some I had ex- 
 pected to see there; and third, and the 
 greatest wonder of all, to see myself 
 there.” This is the true Christian 
 spirit, and it corresponds to the teach- 
 ings of the Master who said, “Judge 
 not that ye be not judged.”—Selected. 
 
 sasaki th 
 FACE YOUR TROUBLES. 
 
 “I had ploughed round a rock in one 
 of my fields for five years,” said a farm- 
 er, “and I had broken a mowing ma- 
 chine knife against it, besides losing the 
 use of the ground in which it lay, all 
 because I supposed it was such a large 
 rock that it would take too much time 
 and labor to remove it. But to-day 
 when I began to plough for corn, I 
 thought that by and by I might break 
 my cultivator against that rock; so I 
 took a crowbar, intending to poke 
 around it and find out its size once for 
 all; and it was one of the surprises of 
 my life to find that it was little more 
 than two feet long. It was standing 
 on its edge and so light that I could 
 lift it into the wagon without help. 
 
 “The first time you really faced your 
 trouble you conquered it,” I replied 
 aloud, but continued to enlarge upon 
 the subject all to myself, for I do believe 
 that before we pray, or better, while we 
 pray, we should look our trouble square- 
 ly in the face. 
 
 a 93 rm 
 A SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 
 
 What constitutes a spirit of prayer? 
 President Charles G. Finney answered 
 this question as follows: “Prayer is the 
 state of the heart. The spirit of prayer 
 is a state of continual desire for the sal- 
 vation of sinners, It is something that 
 weighs one down. It is the same, so 
 far as the philosophy of mind is con- 
 cerned, as when a man is anxious for 
 some worldly interest. Anxiety for 
 souls is the subject of his thoughts all 
 the time. This is properly praying with- 
 out ceasing.”—Selected, 
 
264 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 UE Pai 
 THE SAVIOUR OF KURDISTAN. 
 
 Knee deep in the waters of the upper 
 Tigris stood a poor Kurdish washer- 
 woman plying her vocation. Although 
 her pay was but a pittance, she wrought 
 daily at her hard task for her own live- 
 lihood, for the education of her bright 
 little boy, and for charity. In the win- 
 ter, when blocks of ice from the streams 
 in the Taurus Mountains came floating 
 down the river, she still was there, labor- 
 ing with strong arms and a stronger 
 love. 
 
 The missionary from Kharput, mak- 
 ing his annual visit, saw in his congre- 
 gation a face that fascinated him, In 
 it suffering and sorrow and hope and 
 patience and passionate devotion seemed 
 to have wrought their perfect work. At 
 the close of the meeting he said to the 
 native pastor: “Bring that woman to 
 me,” 
 
 In mean attire and trembling, the 
 woman stood before him, holding with 
 one hand her little boy. The mission- 
 ary spoke Armenian; she understood 
 the Kurdish. He addressed her through 
 the native pastor. 
 
 “Mother, do you love Jesus?” 
 
 “IT do,” she said, “I do.” 
 
 “How much would you give to Him?” 
 asked the missionary. 
 
 “Oh, missionary,” she cried, “I have 
 nothing! Yet all I earn I give, saving 
 only enough for food for this little boy 
 and myself.” 
 
 “Would you give your little boy?” 
 he asked. 
 
 “He is my all—my life!” she cried. 
 
 “Think well of it to-night and pray,” 
 said the missionary. “I return to Khar- 
 put to-morrow.” 
 
 And the widow went out, sobbing: 
 “My only son, my Thomas!” 
 
 The remaining hours of the mission- 
 ary’s visit were very busy ones, and 
 when the morning came and his horse 
 was saddled, he had forgotten about 
 Thomas. He reproached himself after- 
 ward, but it was true—he forgot, The 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 journey was long. The mountain full 
 of brigands. There was so much of 
 preparation for the journey, so much of 
 necessary adjustment of the work of the 
 mission, so much of admonition, direc- 
 tion and advice, that Thomas and his 
 mother, with the wonderful light in her 
 eyes, passed wholly from his mind. 
 
 But just as he was about to start, the 
 group of mission workers and converts 
 who had assembled to bid him farewell 
 divided to make room for her to ap- 
 proach him—and there was the mother 
 and Thomas. 
 
 At the missionary’s feet she laid the 
 little bundle of clothing on which she 
 had worked all night. She laid one 
 hand on her boy’s head, and with the 
 other pointing upward, said two words: 
 “Thomas—Christos.” Then she went 
 back to her lonely home, But not to a 
 narrowed or mournful life; hers was the 
 joy of one who had made the supreme 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Thomas developed all those powers 
 which the missionary had discerned in 
 promise in his face, and had seen in full 
 development in the face of his mother. 
 He led his class. He advanced by leaps 
 and bounds. He was valedictorian at 
 his graduation. He pushed straight on 
 in his Bible study, and when he gradu- 
 ated he went back to his old home, 
 where the mother waited for him, and 
 then far beyond into the Kurdish moun- 
 tains to a town which, for its Christian 
 faith in early ages, had been named 
 Martyropolis. There he began anew the 
 preaching of a Gospel that once made 
 its followers faithful unto death, and 
 they call him “The Prophet of Kur- 
 distan.” 
 
 The black year 1895 came round, and 
 with it the awful massacres. Many 
 thousand Christians gave their lives for 
 their faith. Eight hundred of the mem- 
 bers of the churches located close to 
 him perished. Twenty-seven teachers 
 and preachers died at their posts; 
 Thomas was shot and cruelly cut, and 
 left for dead. With bleeding wounds 
 and broken bones and a fractured skull 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 they bore him fifteen hours’ journey— 
 two long days—to where he could have 
 the protection of a British consul and 
 the care of a European surgeon, And 
 Thomas, against all probabilities, re- 
 covered, 
 
 Back he went into the mountains 
 where he had worked before. He 
 gathered the scattered, frightened Chris- 
 tians and inspired them with new cour- 
 age and hope. He protected the wid- 
 ows; he fed the orphans. He gave him- 
 self without fear or fatigue to a work 
 that brought new life to crushed and 
 broken hearts. The sacrifice of his own 
 mother bore its abundant fruit in the 
 comfort he brought to hundreds of wid- 
 ows and orphans, and they called him 
 the saviour of Kurdistan.—Selected. 
 
 ae AOS 
 PRESCOTT’S PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Some years ago a student in college 
 lost one of his eyes by a missile thrown 
 by a class-mate. His other eye became 
 so affected by sympathy that its sight 
 was endangered. The best oculists 
 could not relieve him. He was sent to 
 Europe for medical treatment and 
 change of climate, and tarried there 
 three years, when he returned with only 
 part of an eye, just enough to serve 
 him in traveling about, but too little 
 for reading. His father was an eminent 
 jurist, and designed his son for the bar, 
 but this calamity quenched his aspira- 
 tions in that direction. He resolved to 
 devote himself to authorship in the de- 
 partment of historical literature. He 
 spent ten years in laborious systematic 
 study of the standard authors before he 
 even selected his theme. Then he spent 
 another ten years in searching archives, 
 exploring masses of manuscripts, official 
 documents, and correspondence, con- 
 sulting old chronicles, reading quanti- 
 ties of miscellaneous books, and taking 
 notes—all through the eyes of others— 
 before his first work was ready for the 
 press—“Ferdinand and Isabella.”’ Pres- 
 cott was forty years of age when he 
 gave this remarkable history to the 
 
 
 
 265 
 
 public. Then followed his “Mexico,” 
 “Peru,” and “Philip the Second’— 
 works that have earned for him the 
 reputation of a profound historian on 
 both sides of the Atlantic. Noble work 
 for any man with two good eyes! Noble 
 work for a man with none!—Selected. 
 
 meee OG en 
 DOING PERSONAL WORK. 
 
 It has always been the Master’s way 
 to speak to individuals, and it is also a 
 difficult way. Most Christian workers 
 find it easier to save souls by whole- 
 sale, speaking from a pulpit or plat- 
 form, than to deal individually with 
 men as they have opportunity, whether 
 in the street, in the home, in the office 
 or the shop. And yet many of our 
 great men whose lives have been lived 
 in the open have been glad to under- 
 take personal work. 
 
 I have been told that the pastor of 
 the First Presbyterian Church of In- 
 dianapolis tells that after a meeting one 
 night in his church, a young student 
 came to him with “intellectual diffi- 
 culties’—-he was not fully persuaded 
 that Jesus Christ was the Saviour. One 
 of the pastor’s elders standing by over- 
 heard some of the conversation, and as 
 he finally left the meeting, asked for 
 the name and address of the young man. 
 The next night, the church officer climb- 
 ed the stairway of the boarding-house 
 of the young student, and after con- 
 versation and prayer was able to dispel 
 all of his difficulties, and upon his knees 
 the young man gave his heart to Jesus 
 Christ. The church officer who follow- 
 ed up the seeding-sowing of the pastor 
 was none other than Benjamin Harrison, 
 at one time President of the United 
 States — John Willis Baer, 
 
 —— 497 
 THE DARKEST DAY. 
 
 “The darkest day in any man’s 
 earthly career is that wherein he first 
 fancies that there is some easier way of 
 gaining a dollar than by squarely earn- 
 ing it.”’—-Horace Greeley. 
 
 
 
266 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 cuearame 498, me 
 
 THE HINDU IDEA OF SIN. 
 
 The people in India have no idea of 
 sin as we understand it from the Word 
 of God. Stealing is no sin until found 
 out. There is the caste we generally 
 call the “Thief Caste,” and in some 
 places the men of that caste must sleep 
 at the Public Rest House during nights 
 and are counted in the evening. Thus 
 they are kept under watch as it were. 
 We speak to them of sin and they will 
 answer that “our god was a thief, why 
 should we give up stealing?” 
 
 Once we came to a village, and a 
 farmer told us that the farmers were 
 very big sinners, because they cut the 
 grass and it cried out; they could see 
 the tears of the grass fall on the ground. 
 They took the life of the grass, his idea 
 of sin. 
 
 And how often have we seen the 
 storekeepers steal and deceive all day, 
 and then to atone for it all take a hand- 
 ful of sugar and feed the ants along the 
 roadside in the evening. And again 
 the well-to-do man sometimes employs 
 a poor man to lie on his cot for a couple 
 of hours in order that the bedbugs may 
 be satisfied with his blood that the rich 
 man may sleep in peace the rest of the 
 night. 
 
 But the crowning of all these things 
 is that we never saw a hospital for man 
 built by the Hindu, but we saw a fine 
 stone building as a hospital for animals 
 in which were halt, blind and lame old 
 oxen, cows and buffaloes, with a good 
 native doctor to look after them. 
 
 There is no compassion on the suffer- 
 ing humanity of which the following 
 will be enough to convince you: During 
 the famine of 1897 we were living in a 
 native house in the town, and one night 
 a young starved girl, about eighteen 
 years old, had fallen into an open ditch 
 alongside the street and was found there 
 in the morning, still alive, by the mis- 
 sionaries. But none of the people going 
 backward and forward, nor any of the 
 
 storekeepers sitting around, would give 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 her a helping hand. They said, “She 
 is not one of ours.” 
 
 The poor girl died in the government 
 hospital after three days. 
 
 These are some of the ideas of sin 
 among our Hindu people. Do you think 
 they need the Gospel?—-Missionary Wit- 
 ness, 
 
 —— 499 ——- 
 
 COMING. 
 
 There was an old turnpike man on a 
 quiet country road, whose habit was to 
 shut his gate at night and take his nap. 
 One dark wet night I knocked at his 
 door, calling: 
 
 “Gate—gate!” 
 
 “Coming,” said the voice of the old 
 man. 
 
 Then I knocked again, and once more 
 the voice replied: “Coming.” This 
 went on for some time, till at length 
 I grew quite angry, and jumping off my 
 horse, opened the door and demanded 
 why he cried “Coming” for twenty 
 minutes, but never came. 
 
 “Who’s there?” said the old man, in 
 a quiet, sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes. 
 “What d’ye want, sir?” Then awaken- 
 ing: “Bless yer, sir, and yer pardon; 
 I was asleep. I got so used to hear- 
 ing *em knock that I answer ‘Coming’ 
 in my sleep, and takes no more notice 
 about it.” 
 
 So it is with too many hearers of the 
 gospel, who hear by habit and answer 
 God by habit, and at length die with 
 their souls asleep.—Selected. 
 
 500 -—— 
 
 ESTIMATES OF VALUE. 
 
 A man who was a lawyer for ten 
 years, then a physician, and later a 
 preacher, said he found men would pay 
 about 90 cents on a dollar to save their 
 property, 50 cents to save their lives, and 
 10 cents to save their souls. But if all 
 would pay 10 cents on the dollar the 
 cause would be amply provided for, and 
 empty Lord’s treasuries would be the 
 exception.—Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ——=— 501 —— 
 THE LAST MESSAGE. 
 
 When Mrs. Johnson, the prisoner’s 
 friend, was dying her last thoughts were 
 still of the cause to which she had de- 
 voted her life. She talked about it to 
 the Bishop of Rochester, who was with 
 her, declaring that the inspiration of her 
 life had been her unwavering faith in 
 an accessible spot in every soul, no mat- 
 ter how sunk in sin that soul might be. 
 
 “Don’t you believe it is there?” she 
 asked. 
 
 The bishop hesitated. ‘Perhaps’ he 
 answered, gravely, “it is more truly a 
 matter of hope than faith.” 
 
 Then she replied instantly, 
 couldn’t do the work.” 
 
 Several years ago one of our prison 
 chaplains told the story of a man who 
 taught him the faith that Mrs. Johnson 
 declared necessary. 
 
 He was a man who had been convict- 
 ed of robbing a bank and sent to prison 
 for a long term. After he had been 
 there awhile another man was accused 
 of complicity. The second man had a 
 wealthy father; if the son could be con- 
 victed the father would indemnify the 
 bank for its loss. 
 
 One day two unscrupulous lawyers 
 went to the prison to see the convict. 
 They sat on the edge of his bed and 
 talked to him a long time. They both 
 could and would procure a pardon for 
 him, they declared, if he would only 
 testify that the second man was guilty. 
 
 As soon as they were gone the prison- 
 er sent for the chaplain. The poor fel- 
 low was weak and ill, and seemed to 
 be terribly excited. 
 
 “Don’t let me see those men again!” 
 he cried. “They offer me pardon, and 
 God knows I would like to be free; but 
 I can’t do it. Arnold wasn’t with us. 
 He wanted to go, but I said, ‘Arnold, 
 you have a father and mother. Don’t 
 go!’ and he didn’t. Do you understand 
 what I say? He wasn’t with us!” 
 
 The chaplain quieted him and prom- 
 ised that he should not be troubled 
 
 “you 
 
 267 
 
 again, and after a little while went away. 
 A few nights later there came an ur- 
 gent call; the convict was dying of 
 hemorrhage. When the chaplain reach- 
 ed him he was beyond speech, but he 
 made a sign for paper. The warden 
 handed him his passbook and pencil. 
 With a supreme effort the weak hand 
 wrote four words—the burden of all his 
 thoughts: “Arnold is not guilty.” 
 
 He died a few hours later; but be- 
 neath the common convict, paying the 
 just penalty of his crime, had been re- 
 vealed, dimmed and blurred, it is true, 
 but not destroyed, the spirit of a hero. 
 —Youth’s Companion. 
 
 —— 502 
 
 LINCOLN’S RELIGIOUS 
 
 DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 In 1860 in a conversation with Mr. 
 Bates, State Superintendent of Public 
 Schools, Lincoln said: “I am not a 
 Christian, God knows I would be one.” 
 Then taking a New Testament from 
 his pocket he began to protest against 
 the opposition of certain clergymen to 
 his candidacy. Mark his language. 
 “These men well know that I am for 
 freedom in the territories, freedom 
 everywhere so far as the Constitution 
 and the laws will permit, and my op- 
 ponents are for slavery. They know 
 this and yet with this book in their 
 hands, in the light of which human bon- 
 dage cannot live a moment, they are go- 
 ing to vote against me. . . Iam 
 nothing, but the truth is everything. I 
 know I am right, for I know liberty is 
 right, for Christ teaches it and Christ 
 is God!” This conviction, like leaven 
 wrought slowly its own blessed effect 
 in his soul. 
 
 His confession is noteworthy. “When 
 I was first inaugurated I did not love 
 my Saviour, but when God took my 
 son I was greatly impressed; but still 
 Tf did not love him; but when I stood 
 on the battle-field of Gettysburg I gave 
 my heart to Christ, and I can now say 
 I do love the Saviour.”—-Wm, P. Bruce. 
 
 
 
268 
 —— 503 —— 
 STOPPED BY THE HAND OF 
 GOD. 
 
 The London Methodist Times con- 
 tains a story of a remarkable deliver- 
 ance, as related by Father Williams, an 
 old Irish Methodist preacher, and jotted 
 down by his daughter, Mary, who 
 sought by encouraging its recital to win 
 his mind away from weary and despond- 
 ing thoughts, 
 
 “Well,” Mr. Williams began slowly, 
 “you remember it happened that night 
 of the meeting in James Humphries’ 
 barn. We always looked back to that 
 meeting as the climax of the great revi- 
 val in our part of the country. In our 
 neighborhood it made itself felt about 
 Christmas. They would tell you now- 
 a-days that you must not on any account 
 plan special services for such a time, 
 because everybody is too busy. I dare 
 say it may be so—that if everything is 
 dead and cold, and you have to work 
 up an interest and enthusiasm, every- 
 body is too busy. 
 
 “In our case we forgot everything, 
 and gave up everything in the way of 
 social preparation and festivity, and just 
 opened our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s 
 influence. And surely the very windows 
 of heaven were opened too, and such a 
 blessing was poured out upon us as there 
 was hardly room enough to contain. 
 
 “Nothing stopped our getting to the 
 meetings, neither darkness, nor cold, 
 nor distance, If we hadn’t means to 
 drive, we walked, and every one who 
 had a horse that could be ridden, or a 
 seat to spare upon a car, took those who 
 could neither walk nor drive. 
 
 “Well, as I was saying, it was the 
 night of that meeting in the barn at 
 Humphries’ place, at Ballyconneil—a 
 big, draughty outhouse, with rat holes 
 in the floor, and all the rafters hung 
 with cobwebs. They had a number of 
 tallow dips stuck in tin sconces round 
 the wails, and young Humphries would 
 go around during the singing and snuff 
 them. The window slits were stuffed 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES © 
 
 with straw to make it possible for us to 
 stay in the place at all. Mind you, we 
 thought of none of these things at the 
 time. It was only as I looked back in 
 after years, when I heard people grumb- 
 ling that the cause couldn’t grow be- 
 cause they hadn’t the right accommo- 
 dation, that my mind took in all these 
 points. 
 
 “Well, Mary, it was a wonderful 
 meeting, The penitent form was filled, 
 and before long sinners were weeping 
 their way to the cross in every part of 
 the building. We were all busy, pointing 
 them the way. 
 
 “Every now and again, with a great 
 burst of ‘Hallelujah! praise the Lord!’ 
 some one would break out into a prayer 
 or hymn of thanksgiving, because an- 
 other soul had found peace with God. 
 Sometimes with one consent the whole 
 body of people broke into a hymn. 
 
 “We had none of Sankey’s at that 
 time, and we didn’t want them, Our 
 old hymn book gave us, ‘Come ye sin- 
 ners, poor and needy’, and ‘How happy 
 every child of grace,’ and many another 
 that carried our burden of penitence or 
 intercession or rejoicing, and they were 
 sung in our families till we knew them 
 by heart. 
 
 “At last, however, the meeting was 
 over, and we tore ourselves away. Out- 
 side, we found the night was as dark as 
 pitch. I never have experienced, be- 
 fore or since, such utter blackness. By 
 a great deal to do we got everybody on 
 the right car or the right horse, and set 
 them going. Then three or four of the 
 younger men—your Uncle John was one 
 of them—and I, started to walk home. 
 The roads were deep in mud, but the 
 rain had ceased. 
 
 “So deep was the gloom that it 
 seemed to make no difference whether 
 we walked under the trees or not, noth- 
 ine but the swish of the wind through 
 the bare twigs told us we were near 
 them. We took one another’s arms and 
 sang as we walked, ‘My God the spring 
 of all my joy,’ and hymns like that. 
 Three or four miles along the road we 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 came to a white gate, for which we had 
 kept a sharp lookout. It opened into a 
 held which was the beginning of short 
 cut to our homes. We turned in at the 
 gate, and, as we believed, took the right 
 direction, We knew there were several 
 fields to cross and several hedges to 
 climb, and we came to them one by one. 
 
 “We went forward more silently than 
 before, but without any misgiving, till 
 suddenly, with the strongest impression 
 I ever felt in my life, we were all stop- 
 ped dead short. No one was first, no 
 one was last to stop. We were as if 
 rooted to the spot, unable to stir hand 
 or foot. A sense of the immediate pres- 
 ence of some extreme danger was all 
 that we could at first discern in our 
 minds. What it was we did not even 
 stop to think. 
 
 “After what seemed a long, time, but 
 I suppose was only a minute or so, your 
 uncle broke the deathlike stillness by 
 quoting the words, ‘Call unto me, and 
 I will answer thee; and show thee great 
 and mighty things which thou knowest 
 not.’ Bending down, we laid our black- 
 thorn sticks on the wet ground, and 
 each man, keeping his hand on the 
 shoulder of his neighbor, we knelt and 
 p:ayed. We cried to the Father of the 
 spirits of all flesh that He would enlight- 
 en our darkness of body and mind, that 
 fie would show us our danger, what- 
 ever it was, and point out to us the way 
 of safety. Then we waited in silence, 
 looking upward as if by instinct. After 
 a minute there appeared to us, descend- 
 ing out of the blackness of darkness, a 
 great ball of fire. 
 
 “Slowly it descended, and, within 
 three feet of where we knelt, to our un- 
 utterable horror, it descended still— in- 
 to the yawning gulf of a great disused 
 quarry pit, where a twenty-foot depth 
 of water had accumulated. 
 
 “Without a sound it vanished, With- 
 out a sound, and still keeping touch of 
 one another, we rose as rigidly as we 
 had knelt, and each one turning upon 
 the spot our feet covered, we strode in 
 silence away. We had had instant de- 
 
 269 
 
 liverance from a sudden and violent 
 death, made more terrible by every cir- 
 cumstance of darkness and helplessness. 
 
 “The quarry pit was known to all of 
 us, but we had not the faintest idea that 
 we had wandered in the direction of it. 
 How we could have gone so far astray 
 { have always been at a loss to imagine, 
 unless it was in the same Way that peo- 
 ple wander round in a circle when the 
 will is not consciously. used to direct 
 the walk. However that may be, cer- 
 tain) it is when the hand of God seized 
 and stopped us, another movement on 
 our part must have fixed our earthly 
 doom,”—Selected. 
 
 
 
 504 —— 
 
 SUCCESSFUL MEN WHO WERE 
 NOT RICH. 
 
 We have fallen under a universal 
 witchcraft, declares Francis Bellamy in 
 Everybody’s Magazine. A sense of the 
 power and luxury in money, beyond all 
 the wonder tales, has suddenly come to 
 us. It has turned our fashionable so- 
 ciety into a materialism which is no 
 longer ashamed of its poverty of ideals. 
 It is hard and merciless of heart; it is 
 skeptical of unworldly motives; its 
 smartest relish is for the strokes and 
 ruses of the manipulators of finance. 
 
 In times like these it is good to re- 
 member Agassiz, who refused to lecture 
 at five hundred dollars a night because 
 he was too busy to make money; 
 Charles Sumner, who declined to lec- 
 ture at any price because, he said, as 
 Senator all his time belonged to Massa- 
 chusetts; Spurgeon, who refused to 
 come to America to deliver fifty lectures 
 at one thousand dollars a night, saying 
 he could do better—he could stay in 
 London and try to save fifty souls, and 
 Emerson, who steadfastly declined to 
 increase his income beyond one thou- 
 sand two hundred dollars, because he 
 wanted his time to think. Such stories 
 of fine haughtiness did hot seem quix- 
 otic to the young men in college thirty 
 years ago. A generous idealism was 
 abroad, and it was unshamed. 
 
270 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 505 —— 
 HE LOST HIS SOUL 
 
 There was in Ohio a certain young 
 man by the name of McClure, a Chris- 
 tian, very active, as bright and talented 
 as any of the early lights of Oberlin. 
 He taught school and was always suc- 
 cessful; was a member of the church, 
 and taught in the Sabbath school, and 
 was always loved by the people. His 
 friends urged him to go to Oberlin 
 college and prepare himself for the min- 
 istry, Then the thought came to his 
 mind. “If I go to Oberlin I will never 
 be anything but Rev. Sam. McClure; 
 but if I study law, I may become judge, 
 a great politician, and a wealthy man.” 
 He would study on it for a while, and 
 then go back to his law books. Finally, 
 one night he went into his office, piled 
 up his law books on the table before 
 him, sat down in a chair, leaning his 
 face in his hands, and meditated until 
 the city clock struck twelve and lifted 
 a law book over his head, slammed it 
 down and said, “I will have my law, 
 come heaven or hell.” He had no more 
 than spoken the words until he felt a 
 cold chill run down his back and go all 
 over him, and then he felt what he had 
 done. He went to the church officers 
 and said, “Take my name off of the 
 church record. My soul is utterly hard- 
 ened and steeled against God. If I 
 should see as many people as could 
 kneel between here and Cleveland (a 
 distance of forty-two miles) kneeling 
 and kegging me to pray for them, my 
 heart would be utterly unmoved.” 
 
 Oh, the man had settled it! He had 
 settled it! He lived to become a judge, 
 “Honorable Judge McClure”; he lived 
 to amass two hundred thousand dollars; 
 he also became profane and drunken, 
 and one day as he was sitting in his soft- 
 cushioned carriage, which was drawn 
 up to his residence to take him to an 
 afternoon entertainment, an arrow from 
 God Almighty struck his heart, and he 
 died in an instant. He lost his soul 
 for $200,000. Who knows but what 
 God wanted him to become some great 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 President Finney, and like a flaming 
 angel to herald the Gospel until hun- 
 dreds’ and thousands should turn to 
 righteousness and receive a crown of 
 fadeless glory, and shine as the stars 
 forever and ever?—A. M, Hills. 
 
 —— 506 —— 
 
 JOY AMIDST AFFLICTION. 
 
 “IT remember one time while conduct- 
 ing meetings in Connecticut that one of 
 the pastors asked me if I would see a 
 young woman who had been an invalid 
 for many years. We called upon her 
 and found her lying upon her bed ina 
 little room, outside of which she had 
 not been for 16 years. During all that 
 time she had not known what it was 
 to be without pain, It was a fearful 
 species of rheumatism from which she 
 was suffering and her limbs were drawn 
 and distorted in the most inconceivable 
 way. One eye was blind and the other 
 was slowly losing its sight. She could 
 only use one muscle of her entire body, 
 and by it she could lift her head about 
 an inch from the pillow. They prepared 
 her bed by lifting her by some me- 
 chanical device fastened to the ceiling 
 above. 
 
 “As I stood there I could almost see 
 the pain go shooting through her poor 
 quivering frame, but on her face was 
 an expression it would have paid you 
 to have gone thousands of miles to see, 
 and when we had talked awhile she 
 said, “Do you sing?’ and my friend who 
 was with me said ‘A little, what would 
 you like to have us sing?’ And what do 
 you suppose she said? She said sing 
 for me “There’s Sunshine in My Soul 
 Today.” Think of it! And just before 
 we kneeled to pray she said, ‘I feel so 
 very sorry for strong people who do not 
 know Christ.’ My brother, you may 
 never have an experience like that, but 
 if you do, you’ll need something better 
 than your infidelity and agnosticism 
 and your unbelief or any power this 
 world can give to keep a light heart 
 within your breast.”——W. E. Biederwolf, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 mmm 507 ——— 
 
 “LOOK PLEASANT!” 
 
 An elderly woman, the widow of a 
 soldier who had been killed many years 
 before, went into a photographer’s to 
 have her picture taken. She was seated 
 before the camera wearing the same 
 stern, hard, forbidding look that had 
 made her an object of fear to the chil- 
 dren living in the neighborhood, when 
 the photographer, thrusting his head out 
 of the cloth, said, suddenly, “Just 
 brighten your eyes a little.” 
 
 She tried, but the dull and heavy look 
 still lingered, 
 
 “Look a little pleasanter,” said the 
 photographer, in an unimpassioned but 
 confident and commanding voice. 
 
 “See here,” the woman replied sharp- 
 ly, “if you think that an old woman who 
 is dull can look bright, that one who 
 feels cross can beconie pleasant every 
 time she is told to, you don’t know any- 
 thing about human nature. It takes 
 something from the outside to brighten 
 the eye and illuminate the face.” 
 
 “Oh, no, it doesn’t! It’s something 
 to be worked from the inside. Try it 
 again,” said the photographer, good- 
 naturedly. 
 
 Something in his manner inspired 
 faith, and she tried again, this time with 
 better success. 
 
 “That’s good! That’s fine! You look 
 twenty years younger,’ exclaimed the 
 artist, as he caught the transient glow 
 that illumined the faded face. 
 
 She went home with a queer feeling 
 in her heart. It was the first compli- 
 ment she had received since her husband 
 passed away, and it left a pleasant mem- 
 ory behind. When she reached her 
 little cottage she looked long in the 
 glass, and said: “There may be some- 
 thing in it, but I’ll wait and see the 
 picture.” 
 
 When the picture came, it was like 
 a resurrection. The face seemed alive 
 with the fire of youth. She gazed long 
 and earnestly, then said in a clear, firm 
 voice: “If I could do it once, I can do 
 it again.” Approaching the little mirror 
 
 271 
 
 above her bureau, she said: “Brighten 
 up, Catherine!” and the old light flashed 
 up once more. 
 
 “Look a little pleasanter!” she com- 
 manded, and a calm and radiant smile 
 diffused itself over her face. 
 
 Her neighbors, as the writer of this 
 story has said, soon remarked the 
 change that had come over her face. 
 
 “Why, Mrs. A., you are getting 
 young. How do you manage it?” 
 
 “It is almost all done from the inside. 
 You must brighten up inside and feel 
 pleasant.”—Rev. E. P. Hammond. 
 
 —— 508 —— 
 
 POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 In an address delivered some years 
 ago, the Rev. J. A. Worden, D. D., of 
 Philadelphia, related the following inci- 
 dent as illustrating the power of small 
 things: 
 
 The superintendent of a large iron 
 foundry in that city was showing a 
 gentleman through the various depart- 
 ments. In the machine shop an im- 
 mense beam of steel suspended from the 
 roof arrested the attention of the gentle- 
 man. He attempted to push it, but was 
 unable to do so, whereupon the super: 
 intendent, a practical mechanic, said, 
 “Would you like to see me start that 
 beam swinging with the aid of an ordi- 
 nary cork?” “Yes,” was the answer. 
 “Then, if you can spare twenty minutes 
 we will have it in motion,” ‘The super- 
 intendent instructed one of the work- 
 men to get the cork and suspend it by 
 a thread parallel with the beam. This 
 being done he set the cork in motion 
 so that it struck the beam in the centre. 
 For ten minutes the little cork was kept 
 swinging backward and forward, strik- 
 ing always in the same place, and now 
 that immense weight of steel began to 
 tremble, and before the twenty minutes 
 had passed was swinging like the pen- 
 dulum of a clock. The cork, striking 
 the rough fibres of the steel, had caused 
 them to vibrate until the whole mass 
 had been set in motion. 
 
‘272 ¢ ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 509 -— 
 
 JOHN PATERSON’S ESCAPE, 
 
 Among all the wonderful escapes of 
 the Scottish Covenanters, when for con- 
 science sake they were hunted like par- 
 tridges upon the mountains, few were 
 more wonderful than those recorded of 
 John Paterson, a small farmer at Penny- 
 venie, near the Crag of Benbeoch. 
 
 It was when the dreadful Claverhouse 
 and his fierce troopers were harrying 
 the country-side, and carrying off to 
 prison all who took part in the forbid- 
 den “field-preaching,” or who were sus- 
 pected of favoring those who did. But 
 so hungry were the people for the Word 
 of Life, and the teaching of their be- 
 loved minister, that, in spite of the 
 danger, they continued to assemble for 
 prayer and preaching in the secluded 
 glens and hollows of the mountains. 
 One such meeting-place was called the 
 Black Glen, and here a goodly number 
 were once gathered around the preacher, 
 when suddenly a scout, placed to watch 
 on the hill above, descried in the dis- 
 tance the gleam of armour. 
 
 “The sodgers! the sodgers!” he cried, 
 rushing down among the people. 
 
 Instantly the little party broke up, 
 and the poor, harassed worshippers hur- 
 ried away to their various homes or 
 hiding-places, 
 
 John Paterson, however, who was one 
 of them, had to cross a boggy moor, 
 and was scon espied by Claverhouse 
 and his men, who, with a wild yell, set 
 off in pursuit. 
 
 On and on they rushed, and on fied 
 ' poor John, calling earnestly upon God 
 to deliver him. 
 
 At first he kept well ahead, the 
 horses and their heavy riders sinking 
 in the boggy ground, but feeling his 
 strength beginning to fail and know- 
 ing the bog would soon end, and then 
 they would be upon him, John resolved 
 to lie down in a deep furrow that crossed 
 the moor, in the faint hope thus to es- 
 cape his pursuers, But scarcely had he 
 done so, and pulled the moss and long 
 
 ANECDOTES. ~ 
 
 grass together above him, when a deep, 
 savage bay rang out across the moor. 
 
 “That sound,” said John, “struck on 
 my heart like a death-knell.” 
 
 And well it might, for the soldiers 
 had brought dogs to track him! Guided 
 by their keen sense of smell, they came 
 on straight and sure toward the furrow. 
 
 John cried once more on God to save 
 him, then was about to rise lest the 
 hounds should tear him as he lay, when 
 suddenly there was a quick rushing 
 sound in the grass at his head, and a 
 fox dashed out close past him. 
 
 Away went horses, dogs, and men 
 after the fox, and John was saved, for 
 they never came back that day! 
 
 ‘Thus as of old God saved His prophet 
 by the ravens, so surely did He then 
 save His praying servant by the fox. 
 
 Another escape was even more won- 
 derful. The cruel Claverhouse was so 
 angry at Paterson’s escaping him that 
 he set a watch upon his movements, so 
 that poor John dare not remain at home, 
 but was obliged to hide among the 
 rocks of Benbeoch, visiting his home 
 only by stealth. 
 
 The first time he ventured from his 
 hiding-place on one of these visits, the 
 dragoons saw him as he was crossing 
 the moor toward the little white farm- 
 house, where his dear wife, Isabel, was 
 watching for him from the window. 
 Fortunately seeing them, he fled quick- 
 ly back toward his hiding-place, 
 
 But the troopers on their strong 
 horses soon gained upon him, and as 
 strained up toward the friendly rocks, 
 he heard them leaping the stone wall 
 that girdled Benbeoch. 
 
 “Ah, surely it is all over with me 
 now!” he thought, for he knew they 
 would have no mercy; only that week 
 Claverhouse had hung one poor man at 
 his own door. 
 
 On galloped the troopers, and on 
 panted John, crying as he ran, “O 
 Lord, deliver me, for Thy name’s sake!” 
 Just then his foot slipped, and he fell 
 heavily to the ground. 
 
 “Another moment and they will be 
 
“ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 273° 
 
 on me,” thought the poor fellow, when 
 suddenly the solid earth parted, and he 
 felt himself sinking through the grass 
 and heather, down, down among loose 
 soil and stones. 
 
 “Where am I going?” he gasped for 
 he knew every foot of Benbeoch, and 
 was sure no hole existed there. 
 
 He was right; but he did not know 
 that underneath stretched a large dry 
 cavern, and that he had fallen just where 
 the roof was too thin to bear the sudden 
 crash, 
 
 Verily the God in whom he trusted 
 had made a new thing, and caused the 
 earth to open her mouth and swallow 
 him up, sooner than he should fall into 
 the hands of his enemies. 
 
 When John came to himself, for he 
 was bruised and stunned by the fall, 
 and saw where he was, and heard the 
 angry shouts of the baffled troopers, who 
 with all their searching could not find 
 where he had disappeared, he fell on 
 his knees and praised and blessed God 
 for his wonderful preservation. 
 
 By and by, when all was quiet, he 
 ventured to climb the sides of the hole 
 and peer out, and seeing nothing but 
 the purple heather and the blue sky 
 above, he presently scrambled out. Sud- 
 denly pitiful sobs and cries fell on his 
 ear, and he saw his poor wife, Isabel, 
 coming toward him, wringing her hands 
 and wailing, for she thought the soldiers 
 had killed her dear husband, and ex- 
 pected every minute to find his dead 
 body among the heather. 
 
 Oh, how glad she was when she 
 heard his voice, and saw him standing 
 there alive and well! 
 
 Then John helped her down into the 
 cave, and told her how he had escaped 
 the crfiel soldiers; and kneeling down, 
 they joined together in thanking and 
 praising God. 
 
 By degrees they carried some bedding 
 and other things into the shelter so 
 wonderfully provided, and John and 
 many another poor Covenanter hid there 
 in safety so long as Claverhouse remain- 
 ed in the country.—Sylvia Penn. 
 
 —— 510 —— 
 POWER OF LOVE. 
 
 A little fellow, four years old, was 
 brought from the slums to a Chicago 
 orphan home. This is how The Life- 
 Boat tells the story: 
 
 When he was brought up to be put 
 in bed, had his bath, and the matron 
 opened up the sweet little cot to put 
 him between clean white sheets, he 
 looked on in amazement. He said, “Do 
 you want me to get in there?” “Yes.” 
 “What for?” “Why, you are going to 
 sleep there.”” He was amazed beyond 
 description. The idea of going to sleep 
 in such a place as that—he did not know 
 what to make of it. He had never slept 
 in a bed in his life before, never. 
 
 He was put to bed, and the matron 
 kissed him good night—a little bit of a 
 chap, only four years old, and he put 
 up his hand and rubbed off the kiss. 
 He said, “What did you do that for?” 
 But the next morning he said, “Would 
 you mind doing that again?—what you 
 did to me last night?” He never had 
 been kissed before and did not know 
 anything about it, 
 
 It was only about a week later, the 
 matron said, that the little fellow would 
 come around three or four times a day 
 and look up with a soft look in his face 
 and say, “Would you love a fellow a 
 little ?” 
 
 After a few weeks a lady came to 
 get a child, and was looking for a boy, 
 so the matron brought along this little 
 chap, and the lady looked at him. She 
 said, “Tommy, wouldn’t you like to 
 go home with me?” He looked right 
 down at the floor. She said, “I will 
 give you a hobby-horse and lots of play- 
 things, and you will have a real nice 
 time, and I will give you lots of nice 
 things to do.” He looked right straight | 
 at the floor—did not pay any attention 
 to it at all. She, talking, persuading 
 him, and bye and bye the little fellow 
 looked up into her face and said, “Would 
 you love a fellow?” I want to tell you, 
 my friends, there is a tremendous 
 pathos in that. 
 
274 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 511 —— 
 THE MILLER’S STORY. 
 
 Permit me to repeat a story my pas- 
 tor, Duncan Dunbar, used to tell for the 
 benefit of certain churches. 
 
 A worthy miller was once pained by 
 hearing that the minister was going 
 away for want of support, the church 
 having decided they could no longer 
 raise his salary. He called a meeting 
 and addressed his brethren very modest- 
 ly, for he was one of the poorest among 
 these comfortable farmers. He asked 
 if want of money were the only reason 
 for this change, and if all were united 
 in desiring the services of the pastor, 
 could they still keep him. There was 
 but one voice in the reply. The pastor 
 was useful and beloved; but the flock 
 was so poor! 
 
 “Well,” replied the miller, “I have 
 a plan by which I can raise the salary 
 without asking one of you for a dollar, 
 if you will allow me to take my own 
 way to do it, I will assume the re- 
 sponsibility for one year. Have I your 
 consent?” ¥ 
 
 Of course they could not refuse this, 
 although they expressed surprise, know- 
 ing the miller to be but a poor man. 
 
 The year drew to a close. The min- 
 ister had been blessed in his labors, and 
 no one had been called on for money. 
 When they came together the miller 
 asked the pastor if his wants had been 
 supplied and his salary promptly met. 
 He replied in the affirmative. When the 
 brethren were asked if they were any 
 poorer than at the beginning of the 
 year, each one replied, “No,” and asked 
 how they could be, when their church 
 privileges had been so mysteriously paid 
 for. He asked again: “Is there any man 
 here any poorer for keeping the minis- 
 ter?” and the reply was the same as 
 before. 
 
 “Then,” he said, “brethren, I have 
 only to tell you that you have paid the 
 salary the same as you always did, only 
 more of it, and with greater prompt- 
 ness. You remember you gave me per- 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 mission to take my own way in this 
 matter; and I have done so. As each 
 one of you brought his grist to mill, I 
 took out as much grain as I thought 
 your proportion, and laid it away for 
 the salary. When the harvest was over, 
 I sold it, and have paid the minister 
 regularly from the proceeds. You con- 
 fess that you are no poorer; so you never 
 missed it, and therefore made no person- 
 al sacrifice. 
 
 “Now I propose that we stop talking 
 about poverty, and about letting our 
 minister go, and add enough to his 
 salary to make us feel that we are do- 
 ing something.” Mr. Dunbar used to 
 say, with a sigh, “Oh for a miller in 
 every church!”—G, F. Love. 
 
 — 512 —— 
 
 NOT KNOWING THEIR VALUE. 
 
 A poor old widow, living in the 
 Scottish Highlands, was called upon 
 one day by a gentleman who had heard 
 that she was in need. The old lady 
 complained of her condition, and re- 
 marked that her son was in Australia 
 and doing well. 
 
 “But does he do nothing to help 
 you?” inquired the visitor. 
 
 “No, nothing,” was the reply. “He 
 writes me regularly once a month, but 
 only sends me a little picture with his 
 letter.” 
 
 The gentleman asked to see one of 
 the pictures that she had received, and 
 found each one of them to be a draft 
 for ten pounds. 
 
 That is the condition of many of God’s 
 children. He has given us many “ex- 
 ceeding great and precious promises,” 
 which we either are ignorant of or fail 
 to appropriate. Many of them seem 
 to be pretty pictures of an ideal peace 
 and rest, but are not appropriated as 
 practical helps in daily life. And not 
 one of these promises is more neglected 
 than the assurance of salvation. An 
 open Bible places them within reach 
 of all, and we may appropriate the 
 blessing which such a knowledge brings. 
 —Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 UNUSED ABILITY WASTED. 
 
 The unused eye soon loses its sight, 
 as the fish in mammoth caves have lived 
 so long in the dark that their eyes are 
 gone, or, if they are there, they are 
 sightless. The inused arm becomes 
 powerless. The unused talent, when 
 searched for, is not to be found. Of 
 the unused coin covered with rust it 
 is said: “The rust upon your unused 
 coin is to witness against you at the 
 judgment seat of Christ.” Two men 
 were walking together along the high- 
 way. One of them espied a ten-dollar 
 gold-piece on the ground. He stooped 
 and picked it up and quickly placed it 
 in his pocket. His companion said to 
 him: “Fred, what are you going to do 
 with that gold-piece?” Fred answered 
 frankly: “Why, I am geing to keep it, 
 to be sure.” As they walked further 
 along the way Frank reached down 
 and picked up a clod of earth and hastily 
 placed it in his pocket. Fred, noting 
 the act, said: “Frank, what was that 
 you picked up?” Frank replied that it 
 was a clod of dirt. Fred at once said, 
 “And what are you going to do with it, 
 Frank?” He answered: “Why, to be 
 sure, I am going to keep it.” “Why 
 so? What good is a clod of dirt?” 
 ““Why, my brother, is not a clod of dirt 
 just as good to keep as a gold piece?” 
 
 Talents are for use, not to be wrapped 
 in napkins. Money is not to be put by 
 for rust to gather upon it, but to be 
 used in helping to spread abroad the 
 Master’s kingdom. Use your lips, your 
 hands, your feet, your eyes, your brain, 
 for God, and the salvation of men, that 
 when He cometh and reckoneth with 
 thee, thou mayest say, “Master, the five 
 pounds which thou gavest me have 
 gained other five pounds.” Then will 
 come the cheering words, “Well done, 
 good and faithful servant.”—Selected. 
 
 —-- $14 ----- 
 YOU’LL SWEAR WITHOUT ME. 
 
 Several boys in the upper part of 
 New York were playing with their tops, 
 
 ANECDOTES 2/5 
 and one of the number, feeling cha- 
 grined at his inability to come up to the 
 mark of his playmates, began to swear 
 roundly. 
 
 A Sunday-school boy promptly said, 
 “Johnnie, if you swear I won't play 
 with you.” 
 
 Johnnie very curtly answered, “I 
 don’t care, and I’ll swear as much as I 
 have a mind to.” 
 
 Willie said, “Well, you'll swear with- 
 out me;” and, picking up his tops, he 
 put them in his pockets and moved on 
 for home. 
 
 Johnnie saw Willie would do as he 
 said, and feeling somewhat ashamed at 
 his conduct, called out, “Willie, if 
 you'll come back and play, I won’t 
 swear any more.” 
 
 Willie came back, and saying, “John- 
 nie, my Sunday-school teacher says 
 swearing is very wicked and wrong, 
 and I dare not play with any boy who 
 is wicked,” resumed his play. 
 
 This was a little hero who was not 
 afraid to stand up like a brave soldier 
 for the cause of pure speech and right 
 morals, and in obedience to the com- 
 mand of God.—Presbyterian, 
 
 — 515 —— 
 
 LINCOLN’S OPINION. 
 
 General John H. Littlefield, who 
 studied law under Lincoln, tells an 
 anecdote which many lawyers of today 
 might note with profit, as follows: “All 
 clients knew that with ‘Old Abe’ as 
 their lawyer they would win the case, 
 if it was fair; if not, it was waste of 
 time to take it to him. After listening 
 some time one day to a would-be client’s 
 statement, with his eyes on the ceiling, 
 he suddenly swung around in his chair, 
 and exclaimed, ‘Well, you have got a 
 good case in technical law, but a pretty 
 bad one in equity and justice. You'll 
 have to get some other fellow to win 
 this case for you. I couldn’t do it. All 
 the time while standing talking to that 
 jury I'd be thinking, “Lincoln, you’re 
 a liar,” and I believe I should forget 
 myself and say it out loud,’” . 
 
276 ’ 
 
 ame 516 ——— 
 HUDSON TAYLOR’S TRAINING, 
 
 While Hudson Taylor, the famous 
 founder of the China Island Mission, 
 was deliberating on going to that coun- 
 try as a missionary, to trust God for his 
 maintenance, the thought occurred that 
 he better begin by seeing if he could 
 trust Him for his support while still in 
 England. If his faith should prove un- 
 equal to the test at home then he had 
 better not go abroad. He was em- 
 ployed in a dispensary as a doctor’s as- 
 sistant, but he determined he would not 
 ask his employer for his salary, though 
 due and he needed it, but he would 
 trust God to bring the matter to the 
 doctor’s remembrance, and thus prepare 
 himself to trust Him in China. The 
 following story shows how he succeeded, 
 
 “At Hull my kind employer, busily 
 occupied, wished me to remind him 
 when my salary became due, I deter- 
 mined to ask God to bring the fact to 
 his recollection, and so encourage me 
 by answering prayer. At the end of a 
 certain quarter, when my salary was 
 _ due, one Saturday night I found myself 
 possessed of only a single coin—one 
 half-crown piece. Still I had hitherto 
 had no lack, and I continued in prayer. 
 
 “That Sunday was a very happy one. 
 After divine service in the morning, the 
 rest of the day was filled with gospel 
 work in lodging-houses in the lowest 
 part of the town as usual. It seemed 
 as though heaven had begun below. 
 After my last service at ten o’clock that 
 night, a poor man asked me to go and 
 pray with his wife as she was dying, 
 and the priest had refused to come with- 
 out a payment of one shilling and six- 
 pence, which the man could not pro- 
 duce, as the family were starving. It 
 flashed into my mind at once that all 
 the money I possessed was the solitary 
 half-crown, and that it was in one coin, 
 and, moreover, that though I had gruel 
 sufficient for supper and breakfast, I 
 had nothing for dinner the next day. 
 
 “At once there was a stoppage of the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 flow of joy in my heart. Instead of re- 
 proving myself, I began to reprove the 
 poor man. I found he had applied to 
 the relieving officer, and had been told 
 to come at eleven the next morning; 
 but he feared his wife might not live 
 through the night. ‘Ah,’ thought I, 
 ‘if only I had two shillings and a six- 
 pence instead of this half-crown, how 
 gladly would I give these poor people 
 one shilling!’ The truth of the matter 
 was that I could trust God plus one 
 shilling and sixpence, but could not 
 trust Him only, without any money. 
 
 “My conductor led me into a court 
 where, on my last visit, I had been 
 roughly handled. I followed up a 
 miserable flight of stairs, and into a 
 wretched room and oh, what a sight pre- 
 sented itself to us! Four or five starved- 
 looking children stood about, and on a 
 wretched pallet lay the poor mother, 
 with a tiny babe, thirty-six hours old, 
 moaning at her side. ‘Ah,’ thought I, 
 ‘if I had two shillings and a sixpence 
 instead of half a crown, how gladly 
 would I give one shilling and sixpence 
 of it.’ Still unbelief prevented me from 
 relieving their distress at the cost of all 
 I possessed. 
 
 “Strange to say, I could not comfort 
 these poor people. I told them not to 
 be cast down, for they had a kind, lov-. 
 ing Father in heaven; but something 
 said to me, ‘You hypocrite, speaking 
 about a kind, loving Father when you 
 are not prepared to trust Him without 
 half a crown!’ I was nearly choked. 
 If I had only had a fiorin and a six- 
 pence!—but I was not yet ready to 
 trust God without the sixpence. 
 
 “In those days prayer was a delight 
 to me; and I tried to pray, but when I 
 opened my lips with ‘Our Father which 
 art in heaven,’ prayer seemed a mock- 
 ery, and I passed through such a time 
 of conflict as I have never experienced 
 before or since. I arose from my knees 
 in great distress of mind. 
 
 “The poor father turned to me and 
 said, ‘Sir, if you can help us, for God’s 
 sake, do!’ and the word flashed into my 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 mind, ‘Give to him that asketh of thee’; 
 and in the word of a king there is 
 power. Slowly taking the half-crown 
 from my pocket, I gave it to the man, 
 Saying that I was giving him my all, 
 but that God was really a Father and 
 might be trusted. All the joy came 
 back to my heart, and the hindrance to 
 blessing was gone—gone, I trust, for 
 ever. 
 
 “Not only was the woman’s life saved, 
 but I was saved too. My Christian life 
 might have been a wreck had the striv- 
 ing of God’s spirit not been obeyed. As 
 I went home, my heart as light as my 
 pocket the lonely streets resounded 
 with a hymn of praise. As I kneit at 
 my bedside, I reminded the Lord that 
 ‘he who giveth to the poor lendeth to 
 the Lord’; and with peace within and 
 peace without, I spent a restful night. 
 
 “Next morning, at breakfast, I was 
 surprised to see my landlady come in 
 with a letter in her hand. I could not 
 recognize the handwriting or the post- 
 mark, and where it came from I could 
 not tell. On opening the envelope I 
 found, inside a sheet of blank paper, a 
 pair of kid gloves, and as I opened 
 them, half a sovereign fell to the ground. 
 ‘Praise the Lord!’ I exclaimed; ‘four 
 - hundred per cent for twelve hours’ in- 
 vestment! How glad the merchants of 
 Hull would be to lend their money at 
 such a rate! I then and there deter- 
 mined that a bank which could not 
 break should have my savings—a de- 
 termination I have not yet learned to 
 regret.” 
 
 —— 517 —— 
 
 THE WARM-HEARTED WORLD. 
 
 The last time that Frances E. Wil- 
 lard spoke to a Washington audience 
 she told of a Chicago bootblack who, 
 with his kit on his shoulder and a pack- 
 age of newspapers under his arm, 
 stopped at the call of a man with a 
 clubfoot. He worked away at the 
 man’s shoes, giving them as fine a 
 polish as he could, and when the job 
 
 277 
 
 was done the man threw him double 
 pay, saying, “No change; I made you 
 more work than most folks do.” 
 
 Quick as a flash the little fellow 
 handed back half the money, saying 
 with eyes full of earnest sympathy, 
 “Oh, mister, I couldn’t make money 
 out of your trouble.” 
 
 Not far from Washington there lives 
 a boy who has to bear the heavy bur- 
 den of deformity, but so bravely does he 
 bear it that he is the very heart of his 
 home, the brightest and the cheeriest 
 and most helpful one in the household. 
 
 A while ago he went out and hunted 
 up a situation for himself, so that he 
 might pay his share of the family ex- 
 penses, 
 
 Somebody asked him, “Don’t you 
 find it rather disagreeable, going about 
 as you have to, now?” 
 
 He looked up with his bright, flash- 
 ing smile, and answered quickly, “Oh, 
 no; everybody is kind to a fellow in 
 my fix,” with a slight gesture toward 
 his back. 
 
 There is plenty of love and sympathy 
 in the world, after all, if our eyes are 
 open to see them.——Selected. 
 
 —— 518 ——. 
 THE LUXURY OF GIVING. 
 
 Few men, if any, in modern times, 
 can be counted more successful in their 
 chosen sphere, or more highly honored 
 therein, than the Rev. Charles Spur- 
 geon. May this not be regarded as a 
 fulfilment of God’s promise of over- 
 flowing blessing upon those who bring 
 in all the tithes? (Mal. 3 : 10.) 
 
 Speaking of his youth Mr. Spurgeon 
 says: “I knew a lad in Christ once who 
 adopted the principle of giving a tenth 
 to God. When he won a money prize 
 for an essay on a religious subject he 
 felt he could not give less than one-fifth 
 of it. He has never since been able to 
 deny himself the pleasure of having a 
 fifth to give. God has wonderfully 
 blessed that lad and increased his means 
 and his enjoyment of that luxury of 
 luxuries— the luxury of doing good.” 
 
278 
 exsm $19 ——~ 
 FAMILY RESEMBLANCE, 
 
 A lady in Germantown, Pa., was res- 
 cued from an embarrassing position 
 recently by the fortunate presence of 
 one of her children. Her husband, who 
 is a traveling man, before leaving on a 
 journey, gave her a check for household 
 expenses during this absence. As he 
 had before always given her currency, 
 she had not had occasion to go to his 
 bank. Accompanied by her little 
 daughter, she went to the paying tell- 
 er’s window and presented the check. 
 To her astonishment, the teller declined 
 to pay it. He admitted that there were 
 plenty of funds in the account on which 
 it was drawn, but it was a rule of the 
 bank never to cash a check for a 
 stranger. She indignantly told him 
 she was not a stranger, but the wife of 
 the drawer of the check. That might 
 be, he said, but he did not know her, 
 and therefore could not pay. She ar- 
 gued with him for some time, but with- 
 out avail, and was leaving the bank 
 very much crestfallen, when her child 
 made some remark to her, addressing 
 her as “Mamma.” ‘The teller looked 
 closely at the child, and then said he 
 would honor the check. Asked why he 
 had changed his mind, he answered, “I 
 have known the signer of the check for 
 many years, and that little lady is so 
 like him that I am sure her mamma is 
 his wife.” So the check was duly hon- 
 
 ored. What a blessing it would be if . 
 the Christian so clearly bore the like- © 
 
 ness of his heavenly Father, that he 
 would at once be recognized by his 
 character and conduct. Such likeness 4 
 is possible to all. 
 
 ja and said, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “I was a country boy who had come 
 into the city, A salesman asked me if 
 I wouldn’t go to his church. It was a 
 quiet, old-fashioned meeting. There 
 was a handsome old man of about 
 seventy-five years of age, who got up 
 and in the gravest way said he was just 
 waiting for God to take him; and he 
 had lived his life; that God had been 
 good to him; that religion was a good 
 thing to die by. I sat ’way back, and 
 I scliloquized: ‘Well, old man, you 
 can’t touch me; you have lived your 
 life; you haven’t any sympathy with 
 a big boy; it has passed over my head.’ 
 
 “Soon after a younger fellow got up; 
 he was perhaps thirty-five; and he said, 
 ‘I have just begun the Christian life. 
 Two years ago I was converted; I had 
 just begun business, and I had had a 
 prejudice against religion, I am a great 
 deal happier; I am a better business 
 man.” 
 
 “I listened to him,’ continued Mr. 
 Wanamaker, “and I said to myself, 
 ‘There you are; you want to be a busi- 
 ness man, and he tells you how you 
 can be a better business man. He tells 
 you that religion is good to live by. 
 Another man tells you it’s good to die 
 by.’ ‘Now, do you ever intend to be 
 a Christian?’ ‘Yes.? ‘Well, if it is a 
 good thing, why don’t you be it right 
 away?’ I said ‘Yes, I will.’ I waited 
 till everybody went out except the jani- 
 tor and the old minister; and as the 
 latter came down the aisle he met a 
 country boy coming up, and I was the 
 chap. I simply said to him, ‘I have 
 settled to-night to give my heart to 
 God” And he reached out his hand, 
 ‘God bless you, you will never 
 
 “We all with unveiled face, behold- 4 regr et it. That was the whole business.” 
 
 ing as in a mirror the glory of the’ 
 Lord, are transformed into the same 
 image.” (2 Cor. 3: 18, R. V.)—Chris-, 
 tian Herald. 
 
 —— §20 —— 
 WANAMAKER’S CONVERSION. 
 John Wanamaker once said: 
 
 —— §21 —— 
 AGASSIZ ON MAKING MONEY. 
 
 Agassiz said, “I have no time to 
 
 waste in making money. Life is not 
 
 sufficiently long to enable a man to get 
 wee and do his duty to his fellow man 
 the same time.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ———= 522 —— 
 LOVE WON! 
 
 “A little daughter born this morning. 
 I dedicate her to the Lord and His 
 service.’ Such was the entry in the 
 diary of the father of Sarah J. Smith, 
 who became world-famed as a model 
 prison officer until her death about fif- 
 teen years ago. At an early age she 
 became aware of her father’s dedication 
 of his infant daughter; rooting itself in 
 her mind it became the key-note of her 
 long and useful life. From an obituary 
 notice in the Chicago Inter-Ocean, the 
 following incident is taken. Sarah 
 Smith was placed at the head of a prison 
 Reformatory, the whole undertaking be- 
 ing, as it were, on trial. 
 
 “In the spring of 1869 the Reforma- 
 tory was declared ready for the recep- 
 tion of the women of Jeffersonville, the 
 most hardened, debased, and undisci- 
 plined—scarcely a vestige of woman. 
 As the carriages containing the prison- 
 ers drew up before the door, Sarah 
 Smith stood in the doorway dressed in 
 her Quaker costume (which she always 
 wore) with snow-white cap and hand- 
 kerchief, and with a fine physique and 
 noble beauty, her handsome face, as 
 she stood there feeling the force of her 
 position, and the work before her was 
 illuminated by a sacred light direct from 
 the Holy Ghost, under whose inspira- 
 tion she was then acting. 
 
 The first one brought in by four stal- 
 wart officers was a woman passed mid- 
 dle age, manacled hand and foot. She 
 was a murderess, had been incarcerated 
 seventeen years, a most terrible char- 
 acter, the terror of all convicts and of- 
 ficers. As they brought her in they in- 
 quired for the cell in which she was to 
 be placed (feeling doubtless as many do 
 now, that women could never manage 
 those terrible creatures). 
 
 With compassion beaming out of her 
 eyes, she directed her to be set down 
 and the chains removed. They looked 
 astonished and demurred, when in the 
 full dignity of her strength she replied: 
 
 279 
 
 “I command you to unloose her, take 
 off every chain, and let her free; she is 
 my prisoner, not yours.” 
 
 And as the last chain fell, she stepped 
 forward, took the vile creature into her 
 arms and said: “My poor child I re- 
 ceive thee into my arms as my child, 
 and I will be a mother to thee and I 
 know thou wilt to me be a faithful 
 child”; and imprinting a kiss on her 
 forehead (the first doubtless that she 
 had received in many years), she said, 
 “Let us pray.” Together they kneeled, 
 while Mrs. Smith asked the power to 
 care for the poor woman, and then ris- 
 ing with her arms still around her, they 
 walked to the cell, the hardened woman 
 a broken penitent soul. 
 
 In three weeks she gave every evi- 
 dence of being converted to God. For 
 fourteen years she led a meek, humble, 
 
 self-denying life—Faith and Work. 
 
 —— 523 —— 
 A “RARE” SIN. 
 
 I asked a question some years ago of 
 a person whom I believed to be one of 
 the most covetous individuals in my ac- 
 quaintance, and [ received from him a 
 singular reply. 
 
 I said: “How was it that St. Francis 
 de Sales, who was an eminent confessor 
 to whom persons went in the Romish 
 Church to confess their sins, found that 
 persons confessed to him in private all 
 sorts of horrible sins, such as adultery, 
 drunkenness, and murder, but never 
 had one person confessed the sin of 
 covetousness ?” 
 
 I asked this friend whether he could 
 tell me why it was, and he made me this 
 answer, which certainly did take me 
 rather aback. 
 
 He said: “I suppose it is because the 
 sin is so extremely rare.” 
 
 Blind soul! I told him that, on the 
 other hand, I feared the sin was so very 
 common that people did not know 
 when they were covetous, and the man 
 who was most covetous of all was the 
 last person to suspect himself of it.— 
 Chas, H. Spurgeon. 
 
280 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Reon eee 
 “NOTHING LEFT TO DO” 
 
 Some years ago there lived in one 
 of the towns of northern Germany a 
 young man who had been brought up 
 in the Roman Catholic religion. He 
 believed, however, neither in that nor 
 in any other, but had long cast off all 
 thoughts of God, and lived in sin so 
 open and so terrible that he was re- 
 markable amongst the ungodly and the 
 depraved as one who outdid them all, 
 How wonderful are the ways of God! 
 Like him who slew the giant with his 
 Own sword, so God made use of the ex- 
 ceeding sinfulness of this young man to 
 awaken in hii. the first desire for salva- 
 tion. He became alarmed at his own 
 wickedness. “I am worse than any 
 other,’ he thought. “If it is true that 
 the wicked go to hell, and only the 
 good to heaven, it is plain where I am 
 going. If ever a man is lost eternally, 
 I must be that man!” 
 
 Night and day did this thought haunt 
 the wretched sinner; his peace was 
 gone, and he found no pleasure even in 
 sin. “If only,” he thought, “it were 
 possible to be saved!” What could he 
 do? He had been told of penances and 
 prayers, of convents where monks spent 
 their days in works that might at last 
 atone for sin, and he felt that no labor 
 would be too great, no torture too se- 
 vere, if only he might have the faint 
 hope of pardon at last. He resolved to 
 become a monk, but he wished first to 
 know in what convent in the whole 
 world the rule was the strictest and the 
 penances the most terrible. If it were 
 at the other end of the earth he would 
 go to it, and, then he would spend the 
 rest of his days in penance and in 
 prayer, He was told in answer to his 
 inquiries that the convent under the 
 strictest rule was a monastery of La 
 Trappe, distant about 1,500 miles from 
 his home. He could not afford to pay 
 the expenses of his journey, and he 
 therefore resolved to walk the whole 
 way, begging as he went. This alone 
 would be the beginning of a penance, 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 and might gain him one step toward 
 heaven, 
 
 It was a long, weary journey, each 
 day beneath a hotter sun and through 
 strange lands. He felt scarcely alive 
 by the time that he came in sight of 
 the old building where he hoped to gain 
 rest for his soul—for his body it mat- 
 tered not. Having rung at the gate, he 
 waited till it was slowly opened by an 
 aged monk, so feeble and infirm that he 
 seemed scarcely able to walk. 
 
 “What is it you want?” asked the 
 old monk. 
 
 “I want to be saved,” replied the Ger- 
 man. “I thought that here I might find 
 salvation.” The old monk invited him 
 to come in, and led him into a room 
 where they were alone together. “Tell 
 me now what you mean,” said the old 
 monk, 
 
 “T am a lost sinner,” began the Ger- 
 man. “I have lived a life more wicked 
 than I can tell you. It seems to me 
 impossible that I can be saved, but all 
 that can be done I am ready to do. I 
 will submit to every penance, I will 
 complain of nothing, if only I may be 
 received into the order. The harder the 
 work, the worse the torture, the better 
 will it be for me. You have only to 
 tell me what to do, and whatever it may 
 be I will do it.” 
 
 I would ask you who read this story, 
 have you known what it is thus to feel 
 yourself a lost sinner? To know that 
 you are in the road at the end of which 
 there is but one place, and that place 
 the eternal lake of fire? To feel that 
 all toil, all suffering, all torture here, 
 would be but an exchange too welcome 
 could you but gain by it the faintest 
 hope of escaping from everlasting de- 
 spair? If you are still without Christ, 
 you are, whether you know it or not, 
 in this dark road, with its one terrible 
 end; and should God in His great 
 mercy have awakened you, so that you 
 know the danger and the hopelessness 
 of your position, you will be in a state 
 to welcome as a voice from God the 
 wonderful words which were spoken in 
 answer to the trembling sinner—spoken 
 
-t ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 by the old monk of La Trappe. “If 
 you tell me to do the most fearful pen- 
 ance, I am ready to do it,” the German 
 had said, and the old monk replied, 
 “If you are ready to do what I tell you, 
 you will go straight home again, for 
 the whole work has been done for you 
 before you came, and there is nothing 
 left for you to do. Another has been 
 here, and has done the work instead, 
 and it is finished.” 
 
 “It is finished?” 
 
 “Yes, it is finished. Do you not 
 know that God sent down His own Son 
 to be the Saviour of the world? Did 
 He not come? Did He not finish the 
 work the Father gave Him to do? Did 
 He not say on the Cross, ‘It is finished?” 
 “What was finished?’ He had under- 
 taken to bear the full punishment of 
 sin, and He had borne it, and God was 
 satisfied with the work done by His Son. 
 And do you know this—Where is Jesus 
 now?” 
 
 “He is in Heaven.” 
 
 “He is in Heaven, 
 there? 
 
 But why is He 
 Why is Jesus in the glory? 
 Because He has finished the work. He 
 would not be there otherwise. He 
 would still be here, for He undertook 
 to do it all, and He would not go back 
 to His Father till all was done. I look 
 up, and see Jesus in Heaven, and I say, 
 He is there, because He has done it all, 
 and there is nothing left to do. He is 
 there because God is satisfied with His 
 work. And, oh! dear friend, why 
 should you and I try to do that work 
 which the Son of God alone could do, 
 and which He has done? If God had 
 left it for us to do, we could never do 
 it; were we to perform all the penances 
 that ever had been or could be perform- 
 ed, they would be utterly useless to us. 
 And as it is they are more than useless, 
 they are fearful sins in the sight of God. 
 In doing them, instead of gaining any- 
 thing, you would be but adding the 
 crowning sin to your evil life. It would 
 be to say, Christ has not done enough. 
 it would be to cast contempt upon the 
 blessed, perfect work of the Son of God, 
 and to dare to attempt to add to that 
 
 -siOnary’s tent, some years ago, 
 
 ANECDOTES © 281 
 
 which He had said is finished. Yes! 
 herein Christ is insulted, and God is 
 made a liar and were it not that I am 
 so old that I can scarcely walk to the 
 gate, my escape would testify against 
 the place. I would not remain here 
 another day. As it is, I must wait till 
 the Lord comes to fetch me; but you 
 can go and I beseech you to go thank- 
 ing God that His Son has done all for 
 you, and that the punishment of your 
 sins is for ever past. And remember 
 always that Christ is in Heaven.” 
 What astonishing tidings for the 
 poor, weary sinner! Did he believe 
 them? He did, and after a short time 
 of rest, during which he learned more of 
 the gospel, he returned to his own land, 
 there to make known amongst sinners, 
 lost as he had been, the news of that 
 love and grace of which he had first 
 heard in the monastery of La Trappe. 
 There he was employed in this blessed 
 work but a short while since, and prob- 
 ably is still there. May the voice from 
 La Trappe reach the heart of some 
 weary sinner here, and may the “good 
 news of the glory of Christ” bring peace 
 and joy to many who, instead of walking 
 1,500 miles to hear it, have the gracious 
 message brought to them! It is sent 
 to you from the glory where Christ is, 
 the message of the Father’s love made 
 known in the person of His Son.—F. B. 
 
 — 525 —— 
 
 A Chinese Nicodemus came to a mis- 
 and 
 asked about many things he did not 
 know. The missionary tried to teach 
 him about God, but the man refused to 
 believe anything he could not see and 
 understand. The missionary pointed to 
 a pot of water boiling over the fire, and 
 said: “Can you tell me how a cold 
 match, cold charcoal, and cold water 
 can in a few minutes develop light, fire, 
 heat and steam? When you can tell me 
 how this water is made into invisible 
 steam and then condenses into water 
 again, I will tell you how God gives us 
 life when we believe in Jesus Christ.— 
 Sunday School Times. 
 
282. 
 tet As 
 
 } em 526 —— 
 
 WILLIAM HONE AND 'THE BIBLE 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury once gave the fol- 
 lowing illustration of the power of the 
 Scriptures over this well-known author. 
 
 You must often have heard of a fa- 
 mous writer and clever man of the name 
 of Hone. He was imprisoned in his 
 early days for blasphemous writings, 
 parodies of the Scriptures and the Prayer 
 Book. He was an inveterate infidel. 
 My friend, Mr. Plumpter, who was 
 member for Kent, told me this story. 
 On one occasion he went to the Religi- 
 ous Tract Societys meeting. There was 
 one vacant place, and he sat down. 
 After two or three minutes he looked to 
 see who was on his right-hand side, and 
 to hig astonishment he saw this man 
 Hone. Hone touched him and said, “E 
 will speak to you afterwards.” 
 
 When the meeting was over Hone 
 took him into an adjoining window re- 
 cess and said, “Mr. Plumpter, I saw 
 your astonishment, and well you might 
 be astonished at seeing me in this place, 
 but let me tell you the history of it. 
 Two years ago I was down in the coune 
 try; I lost my way; at last I came to a 
 cottage with a garden in front. I opened 
 the wicket because I saw a little child 
 sitting on the stone at the front door. 
 I asked the child the way. The child 
 was reading something, and I said, 
 ‘What are you reading?’ She said, ‘The 
 New Testament.’ He said, ‘I took the 
 book and threw it down in disgust, and 
 said, ‘You foolish little thing, how is 
 it you read such stupid, abominable 
 books as these?’ And the child said to 
 me with the utmost simplicity, ‘Oh, sir, 
 pray don’t speak to me in that way. It 
 is the only comfort we have. I have a 
 mother, and mother is lying sick in bed.’ 
 
 “I went home sad and went to bed, 
 and said to myself, ‘If this book can 
 bring consolation to this child and 
 there must be something in it.” He read 
 it to himself and this was the result. 
 He said, “Mr. Plumpter, here I am and 
 { thank God for it. I have lived to see 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the horrible abomination of my former 
 years.” The Bible did ali that and it will 
 do a great deal more. 
 
 —— 527 me 
 
 SOPHIA HOLMES. 
 
 One of the oldest servants i: the em- 
 ploy of the Unitec States Government 
 Was an aged ncgress, Sophia Holmes, 
 who served as janitress in the Treasury 
 Building. The story of her life is quite 
 romantic. Her husband, a slave, ac- 
 companied his master to the war asa 
 body servant; and, when the master 
 was killed, the negro seized his rifle, 
 mounted his horse, and led the column 
 on te victory. The black man’s body 
 was riddled with bullets; and he died 
 within two months, leaving Sophia 
 with two children to support. 
 
 Prominent men in Washington se- 
 cured work for her among the women 
 who were called “Uncle Sam’s scrub 
 brigade,” she being assigned to the 
 Treasury Building. One night, when 
 Sweeping, she tound a box packed with 
 bank-notes that had been overlooked in 
 locking up the vaults at the end of the 
 days work. She trembled with excite- 
 ment, knowing that the contents of the 
 box must be exceedingly valuable, and 
 did not dare go home to her children. 
 
 Evening came on, midnight passed, 
 and at two o’clock in the morning the 
 old woman wag startled by hearing 
 General Spinner going to his office. 
 He had a dream that something was 
 wrong at the Treasury, and was so rest- 
 less that he rose and went down to the 
 building. Scphia followed him, told 
 her story, and was kept a prisoner until 
 the money was counted. The box con- 
 tained $180,000. Then she was sent 
 home in General Spinner’s carriage, and 
 was afterward rewarded with a position 
 for life. 
 
 When asked if she was not tempted 
 to take some ot the notes, she said 
 proudly, “I’d rather leave my children 
 the legacy of a white soul than all the 
 gold and bank-notes the Treasury ever 
 held.”—Congregationalist. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 528 —— 
 THE CAPTAIN AND THE 
 STOWAWAY. 
 
 The Cyprian, commanded by Capt. 
 John Alexander Strachan, left Liver- 
 pool, on Thursday, October 13, 1881, for 
 the Mediterranean. She had not long 
 left port when she encountered a heavy 
 gale, which gradually increased to a 
 perfect hurricane, At length, her steer- 
 ing-gear having been carried away, and 
 one boiler-tube having burst, the vessel 
 became unmanageable, and was driven 
 ashore on the coast of Carnarvonshire. 
 Cn board the ill-fated steamer there 
 were in all twenty-eight persons, includ- 
 ing one poor stowaway. 
 
 Before the ship struck, the lifebelts 
 were distributed amongst the crew, one 
 being reserved for Capt. Strachan; and 
 one after another the crew had plunged 
 into the boiling surf, to be hurdled by it 
 to the shore, as offering the only chance 
 of saving their lives. The captain re- 
 mained by his vessel to the last, and 
 was then about to follow the example 
 of the others, when for the first time he 
 caught sight of the poor, shivering 
 stowaway, whom, terror had now driven 
 forth from his hiding-place. Many a 
 man would have left him to take his 
 chance, consoling himself with the re- 
 flection that he had no business to be 
 there. But the noble captain had not 
 even a word of anger or of blame for 
 the little terrified waif. Taking the 
 lifebelt intended for himself, he fastened 
 it securely round the lad, and told him 
 to leap into the sea, He himself fol- 
 lowed, but without a lifebelt. There 
 was a fierce struggle for life amidst the 
 boiling surge; but at length the boy 
 was cast upon the shore, whilst the 
 noble hearted captain perished amid the 
 breakers. 
 
 Was it not a wonderful thing that the 
 captain should give up his life for such 
 a one as the poor stowaway? What 
 a clear illustration of the doctrine of 
 substitution, or one laying down his 
 
 ANECDOTES. 283 
 life for another’! 
 
 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left 
 His Father’s throne, was made in the 
 likeness of men, and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross; 
 —and for what? To save His enemies. 
 
 He became our Substitute, in order 
 that we, the lost—we sinners, we, His 
 enemies—should be redeemed by His 
 precious blood, and should enter into 
 His glory. Was ever love like this?— 
 Cheyne Brady. 
 
 —— 529 —— 
 A TWICE-BORN FILIPINO 
 
 A Methodist missionary, Joshua F. 
 Cottingham, of the Philippine Islands, 
 tells the following story of a life trans- 
 formed by Christ: 
 
 “At forty-four he seemed like an old 
 man. Sin had made fearful inroads 
 upon him. 'Two women not his wives 
 had gone ahead of him to a better or 
 worse world. He was a gambler, cock- 
 fighter and worse. The Spanish Gov- 
 ernment had had him in jail. The 
 Aguinaldo Government released him 
 only to find they had made a mistake and 
 soon imprisoned him again. Some Am- 
 erican soldiers released him and he im- 
 mediately showed his gratitude by open- 
 ing a saloon a la Americana. The sa- 
 loon and its attending evils became so 
 bad that even the soldiers could not 
 stand it and the old man was imprisoned 
 again. In prison some one gave him 
 some Scripture in Spanish, which he 
 read and by it was converted. When 
 released he sought a missionary and was 
 baptized. Now for seven years this man 
 hag preached for us. There is no con- 
 gregation which does not want him. 
 There are no preachers nor missionaries 
 who do not love him. He has had at 
 least a thousand converted under his 
 preaching. Tithing Bands and preach- 
 ers called into the ministry are fruits 
 of his work and Victorino Jorda’s face, 
 once drawn with sin, has taken on a 
 Christian smile, and his home is a happy 
 one with a wife whom he dearly loves.— 
 Missionary Review of the World. 
 
284 
 
 —— 530 —— 
 THE LAWYER’S CONVERSION 
 
 In the midst of a sermon, a good many 
 years ago, a distinct impression came 
 into my mind that this was the hour for 
 the everlasting decision of a multitude of 
 souls. There was something in the omi- 
 nous stillness of the assembly, and al- 
 most pitiful appeals in some of the up- 
 turned faces, which made this conviction 
 irresistible. I remember how inade- 
 quate all my well-prepared arguments 
 seemed, when they came to endure this 
 supreme ordeal. That strange colloquy 
 with one’s self, of which every preacher 
 is often conscious, got to be something 
 overwhelming toward the close, “I have 
 done my best.” “No, you haven't.” “I 
 have taken away every excuse for un- 
 belief.” “No, some of them are going 
 out in rebellion.” ‘Well, what more 
 can J do?” “Give them Bible promises 
 enough to float upon, if they haven't 
 yet grasped one of the planks in your 
 sermon.” 
 
 This was my last thought. And then, 
 there I stood and delivered about all the 
 precious promises of the Bible, as it 
 seemed to me. They kept coming to 
 me, in rich and embarrassing confusion; 
 promises to the backslider; promises to 
 the hardened sinner; promises to the 
 chief of sinners; promises to everybody. 
 ‘Then I closed with a brief prayer, and 
 invited those who were ready to begin 
 at once the Christian life to meet me in 
 the prayer room. 
 
 About forty were there, among them 
 one of the prominent lawyers of the 
 town. After a few words of personal 
 conversation with each of them, I in- 
 quired if any of them would like to say 
 anything to us all, as a first confession 
 of Christ, on the very day of the surren- 
 der of their hearts to Him. 
 
 “Yes,” said the lawyer, instantly, “? 
 shall be very glad of such an opportun- 
 ity. EF want to confess, with the deep- 
 est sorrow, that I have kept up this fight 
 against God for twenty years. It is just 
 twenty years this winter since the con- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 viction came to me, sharp, cleat and ur- 
 gent, that 1 ought to be a disciple of 
 Christ. The next thought was that, if 
 I were a Christian at all I must be a 
 minister. At that I rebelled, and there 
 I have stood, in square hostility to the 
 Spirit of God, ever since. This morning, 
 when you reached a certain place in your 
 sermon (he described exactly the mo- 
 ment when the impression already men- 
 tioned was made upon my own mind), 
 I was convinced that this was the time, 
 and the only time in my life, for the sur- 
 render of my soul to God. I listened 
 for pardon. But in vain. Not a word 
 you said seemed to meet my case. To 
 my consternation, you were coming to 
 a close. I tried to remember your ar- 
 guments and I could not apply a single 
 word to myself. Then when I thought 
 all was over with me, you began to re- 
 peat those wonderful promises of the 
 Bible. I leaned over the pew, as you 
 noticed, determined to catch something 
 I could live on. But even here I was 
 disappointed. Your texts did not apply 
 to me. I was not at all sure that I was 
 “hungry and thirsting after righteous- 
 ness,” that I was “returning from my 
 backslidings,” that I was of the “broken 
 and contrite heart.” At last you actu- 
 ally closed your sermon without a word 
 for me. The harvest was passed, the 
 last harvest, and my soul was not saved. 
 Then I reached out, as if by main 
 strength, and seized upon a promise 
 broad enough, and strong enough, to 
 hold even me from sinking in despair: 
 “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
 wise cast out.” 
 
 “That’s my promise,” said the lawyer. 
 “You didn’t mention it. Yours were all 
 too good for me, but here is one I can 
 depend on. In no wise. No matter how 
 I come, no matter when I come, I am not 
 to be cast out. Inno wise. Here I am. 
 I ask the Lord, What wilt Thou have 
 metodo? I am not to be cast out. In 
 no wise. I depend on that blessed 
 promise.” 
 
 He was never cast out, and never will 
 be. The Lord has had a good deal for 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 him to do. And I believe I never have 
 thrown into the close of a sermon, since 
 that day, a double handful of promises, 
 without putting that in among them, 
 Him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
 wise cast out.”—Wolcott Calkins: 
 
 531 
 KEEP AT IT! 
 
 Years ago there was, in a certain 
 village, a young physician who seemed 
 to be a confirmed skeptic. At last, to 
 the surprise of good people, he presented 
 himself to the church committee as a 
 candidate for church membership, and 
 when asked what called his attention to 
 the personal claims of Christ, he an- 
 swered, “For years I have sat by my 
 office window, and each Friday evening, 
 in winter and summer, in storm and fair 
 weather, I have seen good deacons 
 G and P walk past to the 
 church prayer-imeeting, and their con- 
 stant going made me think.” It was not 
 what they said, for he had not heard 
 them say anything, but it was their 
 “keeping at it,’ which shattered the in- 
 fidelity of his heart. 
 
 Those who have influence in this 
 world for good are not the brilliant, now 
 warm and now cold people, but the 
 steady ones, who “keep at it” year in 
 and year out, whom the pastor and the 
 Master can depend upon. We once 
 asked a friend about a Christian brother 
 whom we had not seen for years, and 
 his quick answer was, “Oh, he’s all 
 right; hell stand without hitching.” The 
 silent eloquence of such lives influences 
 men. It is not a question of place, or 
 gifts , or opportunities, but of “keeping 
 at it.’ Not to keep at it, is to throw 
 away the past, the present and the 
 future. 
 
 It is not the first blow upon the drill 
 which opens the rock. It may take one 
 hundred blows, but the first blow, which 
 seems to make no impression, is as im- 
 portant as the last one when the rock 
 opens. Without the first blow the last 
 one would have produced no effect; in- 
 deed, without the first, the last would 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 285 
 
 not have been. It is the continuation 
 of little blows which severs the rock, but 
 the workman must keep at it. 
 
 The first stroke of the brush does not 
 bring out the immortal picture, or even 
 an idea of what is in the artist’s mind, 
 but the final touch of the brush, which 
 seems to breathe with life, could not 
 have produced its results without that 
 first seemingly idealess stain upon the 
 canvas. 
 
 Young people are not in any too much 
 of a hurry to do something, for nothing 
 is more fatal to manhood than content- 
 ment to do nothing, but young people 
 are frequently in too much of a hurry 
 to see the results of what they are try- 
 ing to do. Proceed at once, and keep at 
 it, is the law of success. 'There is bless- 
 ing in “keeping at it.’ — Rev. Smith 
 Baker, D. D. 
 
 —— 532 —— 
 CAN YOU UNDO? 
 
 “The evil that men do lives after 
 them.” 
 
 A visitor in a hospital found a young 
 man near death. 
 
 “Can I do anything for you?” he in- 
 quired, as he bent over the cot. 
 
 “Oh, sir,” cried the man, “can you 
 undo?” 
 
 In response to a kindly word ke 
 opened his heart and unburdened his 
 soul to the visitor. He told how he 
 had led this companion and that one 
 astray; how he had ruined this pure life 
 and that one. 
 
 “Oh, sir, can you undo this awful 
 work that I have done? Can God undo 
 it?” 
 
 No one, not even God, can undo what 
 sin has done. God will forgive the pen- 
 itent, but forgiveness can not take away 
 the smart from the soul of a converted 
 man who sees the evil he has done and 
 can not remedy. One reason why the 
 world grows better slowly is that men 
 do more harm in their riotous youth 
 than they can cancel in the days of their 
 sober manhood.— Canadian Epworth 
 Era. 
 
286 
 
 SF) 
 IN THE TIGER’S JUNGLE. 
 
 The wife of Dr. John Scudder, the 
 pioneer medical missionary to India 
 from America, once passed a night of 
 peril in a tiger jungle that greatly 
 strengthened her faith in God and 
 proved the power of Divine protection. 
 
 While undertaking an important jour- 
 ney across India, he contracted jungle 
 fever, and became so ill that his life 
 was despaired of. When Mrs. Scudder 
 learned of his condition she decided to 
 go to him at once, notwithstanding the 
 fact that the journey was a difficult and 
 dangerous one. A tent having been 
 Joaned her by a friend and provisions 
 prepared, bearers were engaged, and she 
 started without delay, accompanied only 
 by her little son. In her anxiety to 
 reach her husband before death ensued, 
 she determined to travel by night as 
 well as by day. This greatly enhanced 
 the danger, as much of the way led 
 through dense jungles infested by wild 
 beasts, which as a rule, keep under 
 cover during the daytime, but come out 
 at night to seek their prey. 
 
 All went well until one night, in the 
 worst part of the jungle, the bearers 
 became so terrified at the roaring of 
 tigers and other wild animals that they 
 ran away and left the missionary alone 
 with her little child. With none to 
 protect her, she spent that long and 
 lonely night in prayer, pleading again 
 and again the precious promises record- 
 ed in the Word. Ever and anon she 
 heard not only the tramp of elephants 
 that could crush out her life in an in- 
 stant, but also the low, menacing growls 
 of tigers as they prowled around her 
 tent. “All night long,” says her biog- 
 rapher, “they seemed to be circling 
 round the little spot, but—ah! wonder- 
 ful ‘but’—God held them back. There 
 was an inner circle. “The angel of the 
 Lord encampeth round about them that 
 fear Him, and delivereth them.’ ” 
 
 Perilous as her position was, no harm 
 came either to her or to her child. Next 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 morning the journey was resumed, and 
 when at length she reached her destina- 
 tion it was to find the crisis passed and 
 Dr, Scudder out of danger.—Selected. 
 
 rn S54 
 THE PRECIOUS BLOOD. 
 
 A lady came to me once when I was 
 preaching some years ago in a western 
 city, and asked me if I wouldn’t talk 
 to her husband; that when she spoke 
 to him on religion he paid no attention, 
 and she might as well talk to a post. 
 I told her she had better pray God to 
 convince and convict him. 
 
 They used to come to the meetings 
 together, and often as I was speaking I 
 would see her eyes close and her lips 
 move, and I knew she was praying God 
 to convict him. They came about a 
 dozen times during the winter. 
 
 One night, after he had taken his 
 seat, I noticed that his eyes looked as if 
 he had been weeping. I gave out one 
 hymn after another, all bearing on the 
 Atonement, as that was the subject for 
 the sermon. When TI gave out the text, 
 “The precious blood,” I saw him cover 
 his face and bow his head, and he 
 fairly wept aloud. He followed me 
 into the inquiry room after the meet- 
 ing was over, and said to me: 
 
 “Mr. Moody, this has been the most 
 extraordinary day in my life. When I 
 got up this morning the words ‘Prec- 
 ious blood’ cam¢ into my mind. When 
 I went down town to my place of busi- 
 ness the words ‘Precious blood’ were 
 ringing in my mind, and all during the 
 day it was ‘Precious blood, precious 
 blood.’ They followed me here to: 
 night, and when you gave out your text, 
 ‘The precious blood,’ I could hardly 
 stay in my seat. I can’t understand it.” 
 
 “Well,” I said, “I can’; and after 
 talking with him for a while he ac- 
 cepted Christ then and there. 
 
 He is now dead, but when I was 
 passing through that city years after I 
 asked about him, and they told me in 
 all the years he had lived he had never 
 lost his hold on Christ.—D. L. Moody. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 535 —— 
 AUGUST HERMAN FRANCKE, 
 
 About the close of the seventeenth 
 century, just about the year 1695, 
 August Herman Francke, in the city 
 of Halle, became impressed with the ig- 
 norance, poverty, destitution, and es- 
 pecially the wickedness, of the little 
 children that were playing in the 
 streets, without father or mother, with- 
 out any domestic ties, and without any 
 of the influences whatever of a home 
 properly organized and administered. 
 He felt deeply impressed that God had 
 a work for him to do. He asked him- 
 self, “How can I do that work?” At 
 first he simply set up in his own house 
 a box for voluntary contributions, with 
 these inscriptions: “But whoso hath 
 this world’s goods, and seeth his broth- 
 er have need, and shutteth up his bow- 
 els of compassion from him, how dweli- 
 eth the love of God in him?” “Every 
 man, according as he purposeth in his 
 heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, 
 nor of necessity, for God loveth a cheer- 
 ful giver.” 
 
 It was three months before any offer- 
 ings were laid in that box, except of 
 the most trivial character; but at last 
 a benevolent woman put into it what 
 was still a very small sum, only about 
 the equivalent of $3.48 in American cur- 
 rency, but when Francke took it from 
 the box he said, “This is a glorious cap- 
 ital! With this, with the help of God, 
 I will begin a school for orphans.” So 
 with a grand, simple faith in the leader- 
 ship of God, he went forward, asking 
 no one for any contributions or help in 
 any way. He set apart a room in front 
 of his own study, gathered children, 
 hired a teacher, and went forward. It 
 soon became perfectly obvious to him 
 that as he had not the children under 
 his own control, he could not therefore 
 regulate their conduct and help shape 
 their character; that he must have the 
 sole charge of his orphans. So he un- 
 dertook this work, depending only on 
 the unseen God. So rapidly did the 
 
 287 
 
 work grow upon his hands, that three 
 years after the first thought of it came 
 into his mind, he bought the Golden 
 Eagle Hotel, which was offered for sale, 
 with its grounds, and prepared it for 
 the purpose of an orphan asylum. 
 
 It soon became perfectly obvious also 
 that he could not have the girls and 
 boys in the same building, and do jus- 
 tice to their training. Another building 
 must therefore be erected. So he under- 
 took it by simple faith in God, without 
 means, without human following; more- 
 over, he was a man who attracted the 
 animadversion and even hatred of 
 many, by the pungency and pointedness 
 with which he rebuked worldliness and 
 wickedness, even in the church of God. 
 But Francke laid the foundation of his 
 orphan house, and on the very day on 
 which he laid that foundation stone, a 
 workman brought an old Weimar coin 
 to him, which had been picked up in the 
 rubbish. He cleaned it off, and read 
 upon it this inspiring inscription: “Je- 
 hovah conditor, condita, coronide cor- 
 onet!”? which may be freely rendered, 
 “Let Jehovah who has laid the founda- 
 tion stone of the building add the cap- 
 stone to the building.” And in that con- 
 fidence the building went on. 
 
 I add the statistics of the work of 
 Francke at his death, in 1727, thirty- 
 two years after he had entered upon this 
 work—and he entered upon it just as 
 his life had passed its meridian, being 
 
 32 years old when he began, and 64 
 
 years old when he died. He had in his 
 orphan house 100 boys and 34 girls 
 under his sole charge; he had in his 
 German school, 1,725 children; in his 
 Latin school, 400 children; in the Pae- 
 degogium, 82; in all 2,200 children, with 
 175 teachers. He fed 225 students at his 
 free tables, and 148 scholars at noon, 
 212 scholars at night; yet he had not a 
 dollar in the world. All that colossal 
 work that he began in early life, and 
 matured in the course of thirty-two 
 years, was a work of faith, prayer, and 
 dependence on an unseen God.—Arthur 
 T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
288 
 
 —— 536 -—— 
 WILLIE LEAR THE SUBSTITUTE 
 
 Willie Lear lived near Palmyra, Mis- 
 souri. In 1862 he was a young man of 
 about eighteen years of age. Like most 
 of those who lived in his neighborhood, 
 he sympathized with the south in the 
 civil war, which was at that time in pro- 
 gress. The Union forces occupied Pal- 
 myra, and had control of the district. 
 Outrages were committed on both sides, 
 and many indefensible deeds are record- 
 ed in the local histories of those sad 
 times, Union men were shot down from 
 behind hedges, and Union men were 
 driven away from their homes and some- 
 times foully treated. 
 
 To avenge these things, and to check 
 them, the Federal commander arrested 
 and imprisoned a large number of the 
 citizens. They were all charged with 
 being “guerillas,” and, after trial by 
 courtmartial, were all sentenced to be 
 shot. Willie Lear was among the num- 
 ber. 
 
 After this condemnation, the General 
 decided to select ten of the number of 
 those condemned for immediate execu- 
 tion, and reserve the remainder under 
 hope of pardon, if outrages in the neigh- 
 borhood ceased, or for future punishment 
 if not. These ten were drawn by lot. 
 Willie Lear was not of this number. 
 
 And now comes the story told to the 
 writer, first by a native of Missouri, and 
 confirmed by a Union soldier who stated 
 that he was present at the execution. 
 
 A neighbor of Lear’s, who was among 
 the number to be shot, was terribly cut 
 up by the thought of his situation. He 
 was the father of a large family, a poor 
 man, and the thought of the helpless con- 
 dition in which he would leave his loved 
 ones was very distressing to him. 
 
 Lear saw all this, and it deeply moved 
 him. He stepped forward to the com- 
 manding officer and offered to take his 
 neighbor’s place. The officer had no ob- 
 jection. The order had been issued that 
 ten men of the number should be shot, 
 and if that number was made up, the 
 law would be satisfied. ‘The neighbor, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 undoubtedly with the deepest gratitude, 
 accepted Lear as his substitute, and so, 
 by the acquiescence of the three parties 
 concerned, the representative of the law, 
 the condemned by the law, and the satis- 
 fier of the law by substitution, the mat- 
 ter was settled. 
 
 Willie Lear took the place of his friend 
 in line with the nine men drawn up be- 
 fore a detachment prepared with loaded 
 rifles, and at the command, “Fire!” he, 
 with the others, fell, riddled with bul- 
 lets, his blood soaking the earth. 
 
 As the man for whom he died looked 
 upon that blood, and beheld that man- 
 gled body, what would be his thought, 
 what expression would he be apt to 
 make? 
 
 Would he not say, with streaming 
 eyes, “He died for me. I owe my life 
 to him. O! that I could do anything to 
 show my gratitude to one who has done 
 so much for me!” If he were asked, 
 “How is it that you are delivered from 
 the sentence that was hanging over 
 vou?” 
 
 Would he be apt to ignore the work of 
 his substitute by magnifying the impor- 
 tance of some fancied work of his own 
 in the acceptance of the substitute? 
 Would he say, “Oh, I was saved by my 
 faith, and by my determination to live 
 a better life? It is all by faith and the 
 development of character.” Would he 
 have been so ungrateful as to leave out 
 all mention of the death of that noble 
 young man in his stead as the alone 
 cause of his escape? If he would, he 
 was not worth dying for, and it was a 
 curse to his family and the community 
 that he was spared. But no. He never 
 returned such answers: he could not 
 treat the act of his friend with such in- 
 difference. 
 
 Men for whom Christ died on the 
 cross talk that way; but this man, as 
 the story goes, never did. He never 
 tired of telling of how Willie Lear had 
 saved him, and gladly acknowledged 
 his obligation to him. 
 
 Do you believe that Jesus Christ died 
 for your sins? Do you believe that, be- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 cause He died for sins, and you have ac- 
 cepted Him, your sins are forgiven? 
 Believing in Him you are confessing 
 Him and striving to show your grati- 
 tude by a life consecrated to His ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Let us who are Christ’s never tire of 
 telling the story of redemption by His 
 blood; let us never rob Him of his glory 
 as our only Saviour and Redeemer, by 
 attributing our salvation from sin, and 
 our hope of eternal life, to anything else 
 than His death upon the cross for our 
 sins. 
 
 Hold fast to the simple testimony of 
 the Word, “Christ also hath once suf- 
 fered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
 that he might bring us to God” (I Peter 
 ili, 18)—D. W. Whittle. 
 
 — §37 —— 
 
 THE HACKMAN’S VISIT. 
 
 The following story is told by Bishop 
 McCabe: 
 
 “T am sometimes startled at the ease 
 with which a soul can be won. And I 
 am often humiliated when I think of 
 the many times and the many oppor- 
 tunities in my life which I have wasted 
 and not used for the winning of souls 
 to Christ. : 
 
 “I want to illustrate the ease with 
 which a soul can be won. Not very 
 long ago, in a strange city, as the hack- 
 man got down off his box and opened 
 the door to let me out, I dropped a 
 quarter in hig hand, and as I did so I 
 grasped his hand and said to him: 
 ‘Good-night! I hope to meet you in 
 glory.’ I had often done that, and 
 thought nothing of it. I went into the 
 house, met my host, and retired to my 
 room for the night. About midnight 
 my host knocked at my chamber door 
 and said: 
 
 “‘Chaplain, that hackman has come 
 back, and says that he has got to see 
 you to-night. I told him that he had 
 better wait until morning, but he said: 
 “No, sir, I must see him to-night.” ’ 
 
 “When the hackman came up, a 
 broad-shouldered, rough-looking man, 
 
 ANECDOTES 289 
 with a great whip in his hand, stood 
 there in my presence with the tears 
 rolling down his cheeks like rain, He 
 said: 
 
 ““If I meet you in glory I have got 
 to turn around. Pray with me.’ 
 
 “What a privilege it was to pray with 
 that man; what a privilege to point him 
 to Jesus! And yet I never saw him be- 
 fore in my life. ‘There are 10,000 men 
 in this country that have not had an 
 invitation to come to God in all their 
 lives.”—S. S. Times. 
 
 —— 538 —— 
 THE TWO CONFESSIONS. 
 
 At the beginning of the Reformation 
 there was a monk, Martin of Basle, who 
 came to the knowledge of the truth but 
 was reluctant to confess it. He wrote 
 his confession on a leaf of a parchment: 
 “O most merciful Christ, I know that I 
 can be saved only by the merit of thy 
 blood. Holy Jesus, I acknowledge thy 
 sufferings for me. I love thee! I love 
 thee!” Then he removed a stone from 
 the wall of his chamber and deposited 
 his confession there. It was not diss 
 covered for more than a hundred years. 
 In the meanwhile no one know that 
 Martin of Basle had found the riches of 
 Christ. 
 
 About the same time, however, there 
 was another monk, Martin of Wittem- 
 berg, who reading an old copy of the 
 Scripture, saw clearly the great truth 
 
 of justification by faith. He said, “My 
 
 Lord has confessed me before men. I 
 will not shrink from confessing him 
 before kings.” ‘On the door of the royal 
 church he nailed his ninety-five theses. 
 In the Diet of Worms he witnessed a 
 noble confession. The world reveres 
 the memory of Martin of Wittemberg ; 
 but as for Martin of Basle, who cares 
 for him? The manly thing is to make 
 confession of one’s faith, The manly 
 thing is to speak out. “Who now is on 
 the Lord’s side?” “With the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness, but with 
 mouth confession is made unto salva- 
 tion.”’—Selected. 
 
290 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 —— 539 —— 
 A GOVERNOR’S REVENGE. 
 
 A few years ago, while Robert Stew- 
 art was governor of Missouri, a steam- 
 boat man was brought in from the peni- 
 tentiary as an applicant for a pardon. 
 He was a large, powerful fellow, and 
 when the governor looked at him, he 
 seemed strangely affected. He scruti- 
 nized him long and closely. Finally, 
 he signed the document that restored 
 the prisoner to liberty. Before he 
 handed it to him he said: “You will 
 commit some other crime, and, be in the 
 penitentiary again, I fear.” 
 
 The man solemnly promised that he 
 would not. The governor looked doubt- 
 ful, mused a few minutes, and said: 
 
 “You will go back on the river and 
 be a mate again, I suppose?” 
 
 The man replied that he would. 
 
 “Well, I want you to promise me 
 one thing,” resumed the governor, “I 
 want you to pledge your word that, 
 when you are mate again, you will 
 never take a billet of wood in your 
 hand and drive a sick boy out of a 
 bunk to help you load your boat on a 
 stormy night.’ The steam boat man 
 said that he would not, and inquired 
 what the governor meant by asking 
 him such a question. 
 
 The governor replied: “Because, 
 some day, the boy may become a gov- 
 ernor, and you may want him to pardon 
 you for a crime. One dark, stormy 
 night, many years ago, you stopped 
 your boat on the Mississippi river to 
 take on a load of wood. There was a 
 boy on board who was working his 
 passage from New Orleans to St. Louis, 
 but he was very sick of fever, and was 
 lying in a bunk, You had plenty of 
 men to do the work, but you went to 
 that boy with a stick of wood in your 
 hand and drove him with blows and 
 curses out into the wretched night, and 
 kept him toiling like a slave until the 
 load was completed. I was that boy. 
 Here is your pardon. Never again be 
 guilty of such brutality.” 
 
 Was not that a noble revenge ?—Sel. 
 
 ANECDOTES ~ 
 
 —— 540 
 THE NEED OF WATCHFULNESS. 
 
 A gentleman in India once raised a 
 tiger cub. His kindness seemed to 
 eradicate the ferocity of his nature, and 
 it grew up as a pet. One day its owner, 
 being alone with it in his library, ca- 
 ressed it and gave it his hand to lick. 
 The rough tongue of the animal grazed 
 his skin, and gave it its first taste of 
 blood. Then its ferocious nature awoke. 
 Fury gleamed in its eyes, and crouch- 
 ing itself, it made ready to spring upon 
 its master. Fortunately the gentleman 
 had a loaded pistol on his table and 
 saved his life by shooting his former 
 pet. 
 
 Let this fact illustrate a valuable 
 truth. Let the sleeping ferocity of the 
 tiger, waked by the taste of blood, stand 
 for a figure of that slumbering passion 
 in your breast which needs but the 
 taste of strong temptation to rise into 
 a fearful life, and break over the feeble 
 defences which a maltreated conscience 
 and pride of character may have built 
 up in the soul to protect its virtue. One 
 moment of triumphant passion may 
 suffice to undo the work of half a life- 
 time.—Selected. 
 
 Bay 5 pth 
 
 MORE THAN SKIN DEEP. 
 
 Jeremiah was right (Jer. 13:23). We 
 cannot change the skin, nor can we 
 change the life. Experiments have 
 shown that the color of a person is deep- 
 er than the skin. 
 
 In treating a negro it was found neces- 
 sary to replace portions of his skin with 
 pieces taken from two white persons. 
 These pieces darkened and at length be- 
 came as black as the negro’s skin. The 
 experimenters then transferred pieces of 
 black skin to the body of a white sub- 
 ject, and these pieces gradually became 
 as white as the rest of the skin of the 
 patient. It took some weeks to perfect 
 this change in color. The negro’s color 
 is therefore internal.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 ome 4.2 mm 
 A HINDU BOY’S FAITH 
 REWARDED. 
 
 Well digging under a tropical sun is 
 hard work, and becomes dreadfully dis- 
 couraging ag day after day passes and 
 no sign of water appears. 
 
 They had been digging for days, the 
 father and son, with occasional help of 
 other laborers; they had gone down 
 about forty-five feet and there was not 
 a sign of water, A heathen neighbor, 
 well versed in Hindu lore and the prac- 
 tice of bribing the gods (through their 
 agents) to render service to those in 
 need, came to the discouraged diggers 
 at this point and assured them that, by 
 going through certain performances in 
 the name of one of their popular gods, 
 and by giving a certain sum of money, 
 water would surely come into the well. 
 
 The son, a boy of seventeen years, 
 one who was opening his heart to the 
 Gospel message and seeking to know 
 the true God, urged his father not to 
 believe the idle tale of the neighbor, 
 but the father believed and determined 
 to try the suggested remedy that water 
 might quickly appear in the well. In 
 vain did the lad plead with his father 
 to ask God to send the water, but the 
 father simply scathed his son for daring 
 to suggest to him that he knew any- 
 thing about a living and true God. 
 
 So, the father had his idolatrous per- 
 formance over the well. All the points 
 were faithfully carried out, and then, 
 he waited. He looked into the deep 
 hole to see the signs of water trickling 
 in. But alas! there were no signs; the 
 bottom was still as dry as ever. Dis- 
 gusted with the whole affair the father 
 declared that he would dig in that place 
 no more and that in the morning they 
 would start digging in a new spot. 
 
 Right here witness the faith of the 
 young lad, just stepping out of heathen 
 darkness! “Father,” said he, “now let 
 me pray to the true God and He will 
 send water into the well.” 
 
 The unbelieving father bade him pray 
 
 291 
 
 on if he wanted to, and the boy did pray. 
 He took his copy of one of the Gospels 
 and went off by himself where he prayed 
 and read God’s word for an hour and a 
 half. He asked God to prove to him, a 
 poor, ignorant boy, that He was really 
 the true and living God, by sending 
 water into the well. What happened? 
 Did God deign to hear that boy’s prayer 
 and to answer? He did, and when the boy 
 went to look he found sweet water trick- 
 ling in, water which continues to flow in 
 and makes the well a first-class one for 
 irrigating and all other purposes. When 
 the father saw the water he turned to 
 his son and said, “Now you can be bap- 
 tized and be a Christian.” Yes, the God 
 of Elijah still answers prayer !—Jose- 
 phine Trumbull, in India Alliance. 
 
 —— 543 —— 
 
 DON’T WORK ON HIS KNEES. 
 
 “Hall Caine, the last time he was in 
 Philadelphia spent the evening with me 
 at the University Club,” said a Phila- 
 delphia journalist. His conversation 
 was very brilliant. It was very strik- 
 ing. 
 
 “Hall Caine said that we could learn 
 a lesson from the very lowliest. He said 
 a bishop could learn a lesson from a 
 convict. On that point he told me a 
 true story. 
 
 “A bishop riding in his carriage on 
 the Isle of Man, came to a convict in 
 
 his striped clothes, on his knees, break- 
 
 ing stones on the road, 
 
 “The bishop talked to the convict a 
 little while, giving’ him some advice and 
 encouragement. Then, as he got ready 
 to drive on, he said with a smile and 
 a sigh: 
 
 “‘*Ah, my man, I wish I could break 
 up the stony hearts of my people as you 
 break those rocks on the highway.’ 
 
 “From his lowly attitude the convict 
 looked up at the proud bishop in mag- 
 nificent equipage. 
 
 “Perhaps sir,’ he said, ‘you don’t 
 work on your knees.’ ”—Selected, 
 
202 
 
 remrascat 4. 4. omen 
 A DISCOURAGED PREACHER. 
 
 Bishop Simpson, in one of his Yale 
 lectures, uttered the following on the 
 discouragements, of a preacher: 
 
 “While the young minister should 
 be guarded against self-conceit, he is 
 also to be cautioned against discourage- 
 ment. Eminence is not gained at once. 
 The orators of today, like the orators of 
 old, struggle with difficulties. The 
 preacher who seems to speak with ease 
 and power, has gained his position by 
 long-continued effort. The work he 
 does today is not of today. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds was requested, it is said, by 
 a nobleman, to paint for him a picture 
 of his daughter. The picture was com- 
 pleted, and the bill presented, amount- 
 ing to fifty guineas. The nobleman ob- 
 jected to paying so large a price, say- 
 ing that it cost the artist the labor of 
 only a few days. Sir Joshua replied 
 that he was mistaken. It had taken 
 him forty years to paint that picture. 
 So the sermon of today or the work of 
 today, though just planned or executed, 
 is really the work of years of thorough 
 culture. 
 
 “I presume there are but few young 
 men who have not felt a sense of dis- 
 couragement when Iistening to the ef- 
 fort of superior thinkers or orators. 
 They should remember, however, first, 
 that possibly they may equal these ora- 
 tors or thinkers at some future period, 
 and their examples should be a stimu- 
 lus; secondly, that God gives but few 
 such men. to his church, and there is 
 plenty of room for earnest workers, 
 even if not so highly talented. 
 
 “Let me again speak of myself. The 
 only severe temptation I ever had to 
 quit the active work of the ministry 
 was during my first year of preaching. 
 A church was finished. on the circuit 
 on which I traveled and an eminent 
 minister* was called to the dedication. 
 He was a man of great mental power, 
 an acute and original thinker, but of 
 delicate health. For some years he had 
 been troubled with doubts and perplex- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ities, partly owing to his ill health, and 
 partly to some theological works which 
 he had read. But now his health had 
 improved, and he had emerged from his 
 doubts into a clear, strong faith, and he 
 was enjoying the sacred influence of 
 the Holy Spirit. During the services he 
 preached five sermons, full of thought, 
 most forcible in expression, and accom: 
 panied with divine unction. I thought 
 then that I had never heard such ser- 
 mons, and I still think I have heard 
 but few equal to them. The effect 
 upon me was one of humiliation and Gis- 
 couragement. I felt that I had no right 
 to stand in the sacred desk and utter 
 my thoughts, when the service of such 
 men could be secured. I resolved to 
 close my connection wish the gircuit at 
 the end of the year. I did not dare 
 think of ceasing to preach; but I 
 thought I would be a local preacher, I 
 would support myself by another pro- 
 fession, and preach whenever and 
 wherever I could find a place to do 
 good. I mentioned my purpose to but 
 one friend, who had heard these ser- 
 mons as well as myself; and he pro- 
 tested most emphatically against my 
 leaving. 
 
 “Before the year closed I had a most 
 interesting service, at which I invited 
 a brother minister, one year older than 
 myself, to preach, though I knew noth- 
 ing of his qualifications. The congre- 
 gation was unusually large and intel- 
 ligent. Before he had proceeded far, 
 I discovered that I had made a mis- _ 
 take. His thoughts were crude and 
 disjointed, and he murdered the king’s 
 English. I was deeply mortified. I 
 got my head down behind the pulpit, 
 and as he proceeded it got lower and 
 lower. I was chagrined and vexed, 
 and said to myself, ‘As long as the 
 church has room for such ministers, I 
 will stay and preach on” It was the 
 last temptation I ever had. Since I 
 have been bishop it has been my lot to 
 give that minister an appointment. He 
 has never excelled as a_ preacher. 
 Though T have kept his name strictly 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 to myself, I never met him without feel- 
 ing a sense of gratitude to him, for 
 through his stumbling, though without 
 knowing it, he was the cure of my dis- 
 couragement.” 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR’S PLAN. 
 
 A pastor sometime ago in the Ameri- 
 can Messenger gave an account of a re- 
 vival in religion that took place in his 
 own parish. 
 
 Two young ladies called on him one 
 day to inquire what special work he 
 could give them to do for Christ. He 
 said to them, “Why not try the Sav- 
 iour’s plan of work?” “What is that?” 
 “The united prayer plan as recorded in 
 Matt. xviii: 19, ‘If two of you shall agree 
 on earth as touching anything that they 
 shall ask, it shall be done for them of 
 My Father, which is in Heaven.’” One 
 of them spoke up and said, “We can 
 do that.” 
 
 Immediately the pastor and the two 
 young ladies wrote down the names of 
 seven lady friends, who were attend- 
 ants at church and Sunday-school, but 
 none of whom had made any profession 
 of being Christians. So the three made 
 a prayer union; each one took the list 
 of seven names and promised to work 
 as well as pray that the seven might be- 
 come out and out Christians. 
 
 For several weeks there did not seem 
 to be any apparent. success but the two 
 young ladies continued patiently and 
 lovingly their efforts. At last one 
 wrote a note to one of the seven urging 
 her tenderly and earnestly to give her 
 thoughts to her soul’s salvation. A few 
 days after this the young lady met the 
 writer of the note and asked, “Will you 
 not try to lead my sister Maggie to 
 Christ? When she comes, I will; I can- 
 not corme and leave her.” Maggie was 
 one of the seven. As soon as they could, 
 the two young ladies visited Maggie 
 and found her reading a book on the 
 subject of religion. Soon Maggie and 
 her sister gave themselves to Christ as 
 their Saviour; others followed. At the 
 next communion there were more than 
 
 ANECDOTES. 293 
 thirty that confessed Christ and were 
 received into membership of the church. 
 
 Among the number were six of the 
 seven for whom the two young ladies 
 agreed to pray. Before a year passed, 
 the seventh became a hopeful and 
 earnest Christian. 
 
 The Lord has promised His blessing 
 upon His plan of prayer union. He ex- 
 pects that every Christian will be inter- 
 ested in the spiritual welfare of those 
 around him. Why should not every 
 Christian put into daily practice the de- 
 sire of their own hearts for God’s salva- 
 tion to be the portion of all. 
 
 546 
 
 SHE MADE A MISTAKE. 
 
 Doctor Arnot was accustomed to tell 
 a story of a poor woman who was in 
 great distress because she could not pay 
 her landlord his rent. The doctor put 
 some money in his pocket, and went 
 round to her house, intending to help 
 her. When he got there he knocked 
 at the door. He thought he heard some 
 movement inside; but no one came to 
 open the door. He knocked louder and 
 louder still, but yet no one came. Fin- 
 ally he kicked at the door, causing some 
 of the neighbors to look out and see 
 what was going on, but he could get 
 no entrance. At last he went away, 
 thinking his ears must have deceived 
 him, and that there was really no one 
 there. 
 
 A day or two afterward he. met the 
 woman in the street, and told her what 
 had happened. She held up her hands 
 and exclaimed: 
 
 “Was that you? I was in the house 
 all the while; but I thought it was the 
 landlord, and I had the door locked!” 
 
 Many people think the grace of God 
 is coming to smite them. My dear 
 friends, it is coming to pay all your 
 debts !—Selected. 
 
 
 
 
 
 547 — 
 
 I would rather have a church of five- 
 and-twenty members than a crowd of 
 twenty times that number.—Dr. John 
 Hall. 
 
 
 
294 - ILLUSTRATIVE 
 sabe yf Sa 
 TRUE TO PRINCIPLE, 
 
 In the town where I was born, a lit- 
 tle way of Boston, there was a boy by 
 the name of Henry. When I was twelve 
 years old, my father took me to an 
 academy, more than fifty miles from 
 home, But Henry learned a trade. The 
 prospect was that he would be a me- 
 chanic, and I should be a scholar. Henry 
 worked well; he talked well; he read 
 and studied evenings; he went to po- 
 litical meetings. A mutual friend of 
 ours encouraged him to speak at these 
 meetings, but with a sob in his heart, 
 he said, “How can I ever be anything, 
 when my father is a drinking man?” 
 He solemnly signed the pledge of total 
 abstinence; he began to make short 
 speeches; the men said, “Let us send 
 him to the Legislature.” 
 
 At every step he did his best. Final- 
 ly Massachusetts sent him with a peti- 
 tion to Congress. John Quincy Adams 
 from Massachusetts invited him to din- 
 ner. While at dinner, Mr, Adams fill- 
 ed his glass, and turning to the young 
 mechanic, said, “Will you drink a glass 
 of wine with me?” He hated to re- 
 fuse; there was the ex-President of the 
 United States; there was a great com- 
 pany of men, All eyes were upon him. 
 And so he hesitated and grew red in 
 the face, and finally stammered out, 
 “Excuse me, sir, I never drink wine.” 
 
 The next day this anecdote was pub- 
 lished in a Washington paper. It was 
 copied all over Massachusetts, and the 
 people said, “Here is a man that stands 
 by his principles. He can be trusted. 
 Let us promote him.” And so he went 
 up higher. He was made Congressman, 
 then a Senator, and finally Vice-presi- 
 dent of the United States. That boy 
 was Henry Wilson.—Selected. 
 
 wo 549 
 THE EDUCATED MAN AND THE 
 COAL DRIVER. 
 
 Christian man, is your religion genu- 
 ine? There was once a man in my con- 
 gregation who could talk eloquently, 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 and seemed to know the Bible from 
 Genesis to Revelation. He could quote 
 the pot ., and a stranger would be 
 charmec. by his eloquent utterances. 
 And yet when he had talked in a prayer 
 meeting, the life of the meeting had 
 gone, All knew that in his life there 
 was something unsavory, that he would 
 Crink before the bar with worldly 
 friends, and that he was not as honest 
 as he might be. His good grammar 
 and fluent utterances did not make 
 amends for the weakness of his character. 
 
 There was another man in that con- 
 gregation who would sometimes come 
 to prayer-meeting with a circle of coal 
 dust around his hair. He was a coal 
 cart driver, and he was now and then 
 so hurried to get to prayer-meeting that 
 he did not make his toilet with as much 
 care as he ought. But the people learned 
 ever to listen when he talked. And 
 why? Because they knew that he lived 
 every day for God. He would pick up 
 a tramp on the road, give him a ride on 
 his cart, that he might talk to him about 
 Jesus. His religion was real. I would 
 rather have good religion in bad gram- 
 mar than bad religion in good grammar. 
 —A. J. Gordon. 
 
 —— 550 —— 
 CAST ALL UPON CHRIST 
 
 “A man carrying a burden was over- 
 taken by a rich man who was driving 
 along and invited to get up behind him 
 in the carriage which he thankfully did. 
 After awhile the rich man looked around 
 and saw the burden still strapped to the 
 traveler’s back: he therefore asked him 
 why he did not lay down his pack on the 
 seat behind him. But he answered that 
 he could not think of doing that; it was 
 quite enough that he himself should be 
 allowed to sit behind in the carriage, 
 without putting his burden on the seat 
 also, Thus often do believers fear to 
 lay too much on the Lord who has bid- 
 den us “cast all our care upon him,” 
 and assures us that “he careth for us.” 
 He who carries us will carry our burden 
 also.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ———~ 551 —— 
 GOD’S OPEN DOOR 
 
 A young member of my church once 
 came to me with the following: 
 
 “I must either lose my place or break 
 the Sabbath,” 
 
 “Let your place go,” we instantly re- 
 plied. “If you think that God can’t 
 Open a door as quickly and widely as 
 any mortal can shut it, then you might 
 hesitate.” 
 
 He gave up his place for conscience’ 
 sake, and flung himself entirely on the 
 Lord to provide for him. That young 
 man at this hour has an “Hon.” pre- 
 fixed to his name, has built a church 
 with his own money, and is worth half 
 a million in property, gained by steady, 
 regular industry. 
 
 We note another instance of a door, 
 apart from any supernatural cause, be- 
 ing opened when all hope had died out. 
 A silver smith, after years of appren- 
 ticeship, who had established a Chris- 
 tian character, was enabled to buy out 
 his employer, residing in a small vil- 
 lage. His credit, not cash, was the 
 basis of the purchase. Among the hum- 
 ble stock was an antique bronze statue 
 that for nearly an age had stood in the 
 front window as a sign. The dust of 
 years had settled on its limbs, and it 
 was likely to descend an heirloom to 
 his grand-children. He had invested 
 all his money, and spent more in orna- 
 menting a purchased cottage. He and 
 his little family had the prospect of los- 
 ing their little home. The mortgage 
 was due, and must be paid. 
 
 Friend after friend was besieged in 
 vain. The day and hour approached 
 for the law’s plowshare’s turning him 
 and his olive plants out of their nest. 
 The doors, behind and before, were shut 
 and barred. On the morning of the fa- 
 tal day, at sunrise, a stranger knocked 
 at his office-door. Admitting him, he 
 inquired if $500 would purchase that 
 antique piece of bronze. He took the 
 money, delivered the useless piece of 
 brass, and paid the debt. Whence the 
 
 295) 
 
 stranger came, or whither he went, the 
 astonished but grateful young man 
 never knew to this day. 
 
 “I have been young, and now am 
 old,” writes the inspired Psalmist, “vet 
 have I not seen the righteous for- 
 saken,”—-Rev. Dr. Van Doren. 
 
 —— 552 —— 
 DRAWING AND HOLDING. 
 
 Dr. Henry van Dyke tells about a 
 layman who came to his study, from 
 one of the churches in the Murray Hill 
 neighborhood, to inquire about a pastor 
 to fill the vacant pulpit. He asked Dr. 
 van Dyke if he could recommend some- 
 one. The Doctor told him he could 
 recommend a dozen. The gentleman 
 seemed surprised at that, for he could 
 hardly believe there were a dozen min- 
 isters in the land fit to minister to so 
 important a congregation. Dr. van 
 Dyke named one after another; to each 
 one the preacher-hunter made some ob- 
 jection. One had a weak voice, an- 
 other wore a black cravat in the pulpit, 
 and another had a disagreeable delivery. 
 
 At last the gentleman said, “What 
 we want in our church is a minister 
 that will draw.” “Oh, no, my Chris- 
 tian friend,” said the Doctor, “what 
 you want is a church that will hold. 
 You haven’t got it. Twenty conegrega- 
 tions have passed through your chufch 
 because you have not had a church that 
 will hold. You want a church that 
 
 will hold the people when they get into 
 
 it. The minister cannot hold them. 
 Success depends not half so much upon 
 the minister as upon you, the church.” 
 
 Every church member should be a 
 drawing card. By the magnetism of 
 his spiritual personality, by the efficacy 
 of his prayers, by the power of his sanc- 
 tified effort, he should draw the people 
 from all classes to the house of the 
 Lord. “Let your light so shine that 
 others may see your good works and 
 elorify your Father which is in Heaven.” 
 Then shall the church of God prosper 
 greatly and Mount Zion shall rejoice.— 
 Christian Advocate. 
 
296 
 
 ———- 553 —— 
 HE SAVED SEVENTEEN LIVES. 
 
 A most dramatic and thrilling inci- 
 dent occurred at the close of Dr. Tor- 
 rey’s first meeting in Los Angeles, He 
 was preaching upon “Soul Winning,” 
 and closed the sermon with an account 
 of the rescue of seventeen persons from 
 Lake Michigan by Edward Spencer, 
 September 8, 1860. He spoke as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 “Before I close I wish to relate an 
 incident that 1 suppose I have told more 
 than a hundred times, yet I never tell 
 it without its doing me good, and if it 
 does the speaker good, it will doubtless 
 help you. 
 
 “Twelve miles north of Chicago lies 
 Evanston. At Evanston, the North- 
 western University, one of the largest 
 in the Methodist denomination, is lo- 
 cated. Years ago, when the University 
 was young, before it had attained to the 
 dignity of a university, but was simply 
 a country college, two strong, husky 
 farmer boys came to the college from 
 Iowa, Will and Ed Spencer. Ed Spen- 
 cer was a famous swimmer. One morn- 
 ing word came to the college that there 
 was a wreck north of Evanston, near 
 Winnetka. The college boys, with the 
 people of the town, hurried along the 
 shore. When they reached the place 
 they found planks and spars and other 
 pieces of wreckage being driven ashore 
 from the Lady Elgin to which were 
 clinging men and women. Ed Spen- 
 cer, the famous swimmer, threw off his 
 coat and superfluous garments, tied a 
 rope around his waist, threw an end 
 to his comrades on the shore, jumped 
 into the breakers and swam out. He 
 grasped one who was struggling in the 
 waters, gave the signal and was brought 
 to shore. Again and again and again 
 he swam out, until he had brought a 
 fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a 
 ninth and a tenth safe to shore. He 
 then seemed completely exhausted. His 
 comrades had built a fire of logs on 
 the shore, and he tottered to the fire and 
 
 wistful eyes. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 stood by it, trying to get a little warmth. 
 into his perishing members. As he 
 stood there, he looked out again over 
 the lake and saw others struggling in the 
 water. fle said, ‘Boys, I am going 
 in again.’ ‘No, no, Ed,’ they cried, 
 ‘Your strength is all gone. You can- 
 not swim out again. You will only 
 throw your own life away.’ ‘I will 
 try anyway,’ he cried. 
 
 “Again he sprang into the breakers 
 and swam out and grasped one who was 
 drowning and brought him safely to 
 shore. And again and again and again 
 and again, until he had brought an 
 eleventh, a twelfth, a thirteenth, a four- 
 teenth and a fifteenth safe to share. 
 Then strength seemed all gone. He 
 tottered once more to the fire and stood 
 there, pale and trembling and cold. It 
 seemed as if the hand of death was 
 already upon him. He could scarcely 
 stand. Looking out again over the 
 water he saw a spar rising and falling 
 upon the waves. Then he saw a man’s 
 head above the spar. He said, ‘Boys, 
 there is a man trying to save himself,’ 
 and he watched the spar as it drifted 
 toward the point to go beyond which 
 meant certain death. He looked again 
 and saw a woman’s head beside the 
 man’s. He cried, ‘Boys, it’s a man 
 trying to save his wife. Vl help him,’ 
 ‘No, no, Ed,’ they cried. ‘You could 
 never reach him. You could do no 
 good, You would only throw your own 
 life away.’ ‘I will try,’ he cried, and 
 again sprang into the awful breakers. 
 
 “Summoning his fast-dying strength, 
 he reached the spar and placed his 
 hands upon it and brought it around 
 the point to a place of safety. He was 
 then pulled through the breakers. Ten- 
 der hands lifted him from the shore and 
 carried him to his room in the college. 
 They laid him upon his bed and for 
 awhile he seemed to fall asleep. His 
 brother Will went over and sat down 
 by the fire that they had kindled in the 
 grate. Looking up he saw Ed stand- 
 ing, looking down into his face with 
 ‘Will,’ he said, ‘do you 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 think I did my best?’ ‘You saved 
 seventeen, his brother replied. ‘I 
 know it. I know it,’ he cried; ‘but I 
 was afraid I did not do my very best. 
 Do you think I did my very best?’ 
 
 “Will took him back and laid him 
 on the bed. ‘Through the night he 
 tossed in semi-delirium. Will held his 
 hand and tried to calm him. He said, 
 ‘Ed, you saved seventeen.’ ‘I know 
 it. I know it. But, oh, if I could 
 only have saved just one more!’ 
 
 “Men and women of Los Angeles, 
 we are standing beside a stormy sea— 
 the sea of life. There are wrecks every- 
 where. Men and women are going 
 down, they are going down! They are 
 going down! Let you and me plunge 
 in again, and again and again, until 
 every last ounce of strength is gone, 
 and when at last in sheer exhaustion 
 we sink upon the shore let us cry in 
 the earnestness of our love for lost 
 souls: ‘Oh, if I could only have saved 
 just one more!’ ” 
 
 All over the tabernacle people were 
 in tears. Hundreds rose to their feet to 
 sonsecrate themselves to the work of 
 soul winning. At that point, President 
 Baer stepped up behind Dr. Torrey and 
 whispered: ‘“‘The man who sat next 
 me says Ed Spencer is in the building 
 at this moment.” Dr. Torrey at once 
 stepped to the front of the platform and 
 said, “I am often asked what became 
 of Ed Spencer. He was a physical 
 wreck the rest of his life. He had to 
 give up his preparation for the minis- 
 try. He is now a resident of Califor- 
 nia, and I am told that he is in the 
 building at this moment. If he is, will 
 he please come to the platform?” Rev. 
 Mr. Cleveland, who had pointed him 
 out to Dr. Baer, went to him where he 
 sat near the platform, and he was im- 
 mediately brought to Dr. Torrey’s side. 
 The whole audience sprang to their 
 feet, burst into applause and waved 
 their handkerchiefs. People were over- 
 come, bathed in tears in every part of 
 the building. Dr. Torrey placed his 
 hand around his shoulder and the whole 
 
 ANECDOTES 297 
 audience bowed in prayer, aS he asked 
 that God would make Ed Spencer’s 
 last days his best days. Mr. Spencer 
 whispered, “He has!” From every part 
 of the building they flocked to the front 
 to shake the hero’s hand, and hundreds 
 of people were moved as they never had 
 been moved before in their lives. 
 
 954 —— 
 
 THE GHOST OF LOST OP- 
 PORTUNITIES. 
 
 The words, “redeeming the time,” are 
 not fairly translated. They mean, 
 “buying up the opportunity.” Be on 
 the lookout for opportunities. The sad- 
 dest part of our record, I fear, is that 
 we have let precious opportunities flow 
 by us, never to be recalled. Think of 
 the opportunities you have had to say a 
 word to an impenitent soul, or some 
 word of comfort to a friend, or to tes- 
 tify for Christ. The specter I most fear 
 is the ghost of lost opportunities. Be 
 on the lookout for opportunities, and 
 you will never know just what blessing 
 is going to burst on you. A poor itin- 
 erant Methodist minister went to Col- 
 chester to preach. It was a cold day, 
 and he found only fifteen or twenty peo- 
 ple in that primitive little chapel. He 
 went up into the pulpit and took for his 
 text, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” 
 The whole sermon was only a repetition 
 of the one thought, look to Christ. “A 
 young lad up in the gallery looks very 
 
 
 
 sad. He will never get any comfort 
 
 until he looks to Christ.” | Heaven 
 knows who that boy in the gallery was; 
 the world knows; but from that day 
 Charles H, Spurgeon never saw that 
 preacher again. He went his way. He 
 did his work. Spurgeon has already 
 met him in heaven, I doubt not. Oh, 
 would not life be worth living if a stray 
 shot of ours should bring a Spurgeon 
 to the Saviour? Who knows! Who 
 knows! If you have consecrated your- 
 self to the work of lifting up the Savs 
 iour, how do you know who is to look 
 to him and be saved?—Theodore L. 
 Cuyler. 
 
298 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 pommmneee J) ame 
 
 LINCOLN AND THE BIBLE 
 
 William H. Herndon, his old law 
 partner, somewhere declares that Mr. 
 Lincoln read less and thought more than 
 any other man of his sphere in America. 
 A few books, however, he read and re- 
 read with loving care. The Bible and 
 Shakespeare’s works were scarcely ever 
 out of his mind; he was fond of the 
 poems of Burns and Hood, and he found 
 delight in the verses of Bryant and 
 Whittier, and of Holmes, whose “The 
 Last Leaf” he knew by heart, and used 
 often to repeat with deep feeling. Many 
 of his published writings bea: witness 
 to Mr. Lincoln’s close and reverent ac- 
 quaintance with the Bible, and nothing 
 is more certain than that the most vital 
 influence in his life and conduct during 
 his last years, was his belief in and de- 
 pendence upon a personal God. It was 
 an influence whose force was felt by 
 all who shared or came into close touch 
 with his daily life. Joshua F. Sipeed, a 
 friend of Mr. Lincoln’s youth, being in 
 Washington in the summer of 1864, was 
 invited out to the Soldiers’ Home to 
 spend the night. Entering the Presi- 
 dent’s room unannounced, he found him 
 sitting near a window, intently reading 
 his Bible. 
 
 “I am glad to see you so profitably 
 engaged.” 
 
 “Yes,” was the reply, “I am profit- 
 ably engaged.” 
 
 “When I knew you in early life,” con- 
 tinued Speed, “you were a skeptic and 
 so was I. If you have recovered from 
 your skepticism, I am sorry to say that 
 I have not.” 
 
 “You are wrong, Speed,” said the 
 President, placing his hand on his 
 friend’s shoulder, and gazing earnestly 
 into his face. “Take all of this Book 
 upon reason that you can, and the bal- 
 ance on faith, and you will live and die 
 a happier man.” 
 
 Save for an occasional visit to the 
 theatre, there was little recreation in Mr. 
 Lincoln’s life in the White House. He 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 dined at six o’clock, and spent most of 
 his evenings in his office. “There,” John 
 Tiay writes, “he was not often suffered 
 to be alone. He frequently passed the 
 evening with a few friends, in frank 
 and free conversation.”—Galusha A. 
 Grow, Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, 1861-1863. 
 
 —— 956 —— 
 THE CHILD AND THE QUEEN 
 
 How strikingly true it is, from the fol- 
 lowing incident, that out of the mouths 
 of babes is ordained praise. Befurchte, 
 gardener te Elizabeth, consort of Fred- 
 erick II., had one little daughter, with 
 whose religious instruction he had taken 
 great pains. When this child was five 
 years of age, the Queen saw her one day 
 while visiting the royal gardens at Shon- 
 hausen, and was so much pleased with 
 her that, a week afterward, she ex- 
 pressed a wish to see the little girl again. 
 The father accordingly brought his art- 
 less child to the palace, and a page con- 
 ducted her into the royal presence. She 
 approached the Queen with untaught 
 courtesy, kissed her robe, and modestly 
 took the seat which had been placed for 
 her, by the Queen’s order, near her own 
 person. From this position she could 
 overlook the table at which the Queen 
 was dining with the ladies of her court, 
 and they watched with interest to see 
 the effect of so much splendor on the 
 simple child. She looked carelessly on 
 the costly dresses: of the guests, the 
 gold and porcelain on the table, and the 
 pomp with which all was conducted; 
 and then, folding her hands, she sung 
 with a clear childish voice, these words: 
 
 Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 
 
 Are all my ornament and dress: 
 
 Fearless, with these pure garments on, 
 
 I'll view the splendors of Thy throne! 
 All the assembly were struck with sur- 
 prise at seeing so much feeling, pene- 
 tration, and piety in one so young. Tears 
 filled the eyes of the ladies, and the 
 Queen exclaimed, “Ah, happy child! 
 How far we are below you!”—American 
 National Preacher. F 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 et 0] 
 
 WHY HE TOOK A FLOGGING. 
 
 Bronson Olcott, the teacher, had his 
 boys make rules for the conduct of the 
 school, and attach penalties. One little 
 fellow had been guilty of a second of- 
 fence, punishable by a public flogging. 
 “Now,” said his teacher, ‘the rules com- 
 pel me to inflict chastisement, but I 
 cannot bear to inflict this punishment 
 upon you: I am going to have you 
 punish me instead.” To the astonish- 
 ment of the boys, and especially of the 
 offender, he put the rod into his hands 
 and said, “Now lay that rod upon my 
 back.” The lad of course touched him 
 very lightly. “No,” he said, “that 
 won't do. You must hit me as hard as 
 you think you ought to be hit.” per- 
 sisting, until that boy laid stripes upon 
 him with sufficient force to vindicate 
 the law of the school and punish the 
 offence. Meanwhile, the lad was cry- 
 ing and sobbing under the thought that 
 he was punishing his innocent teacher 
 for his own offence. From that time 
 he was never known to violate another 
 rule—Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
 —— 558 —— 
 A HIDDEN TREASURE. 
 
 My employer said to me one day, 
 “What a lucky fellow that L——- is. 
 He recently saw a picture covered with 
 cobwebs and dirt, which he bought for 
 a mere trifle. It did not appear to have 
 any value. When cleaned, it proved 
 to be the work of a master, and of great 
 value, so that he was immediately after 
 offered a large sum for it.” 
 
 I thought of the time I was in the 
 devil’s second-hand shop; I cannot un- 
 derstand what God ever saw in me that 
 was of value, but he bought me, not a 
 low figure—the price of his own Son. 
 He has put me in the hands of an ex- 
 pert cleaner, and I expect to hang in 
 the gallery of heaven one of these days, 
 a wonder for adoring angels. 
 
 As some one has uniquely put it, 
 “He took me out of the mire and put 
 me in the choir.”—Selected. 
 
 299 
 
 ———— 959 —— 
 HARMONIC LIVES 
 
 While I was attending school in Illi- 
 nois our teacher one day, while teaching 
 some of the elements of music or ex- 
 piaining some musical terms, undertook 
 to emphasize her instruction by a prac- 
 tical illustration. To impress upon our 
 minds the nature of a chord, she asked 
 one of the scholars—a young lady of 
 music ability—to step to the organ and 
 to play a chord. Mattie did so. Then, 
 aiter she had struck several different 
 chords, the teacher said, “Now play a 
 discord.” Mattie tried to do so, but 
 it was not so easy for her; and, after 
 several unsuccessful attempts, she col- 
 ored up and went to her seat in con- 
 fusion. Siome of the scholars naturally 
 tittered, and Mattie herself felt very 
 much embarrassed. But I have often 
 thought since that day how satisfying 
 it would be could we reach such a final 
 harmony with God and goodness that 
 we should actually forget how to strike 
 sin’s discord at all—Rev. E. B. Tre 
 Fethern. 
 
 —— 560 —— 
 LINCOLN’S ADVICE 
 
 It became the duty of President Lin- 
 coln to send a letter of censure to a 
 young officer accused of quarreling with 
 another. This is what he wrote: 
 
 “The advice of a father to his son, 
 ‘beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, 
 being in, bear it that the opposed may 
 beware of thee,’ is good, but not the 
 best. Quarrel not at all. No man re- 
 solved to make the most of himself can 
 spare time for personal contention. 
 Still less can he afford to take all the 
 consequences, including the vitiating 
 of his temper, and the loss of self-con- 
 trol. Yield larger things to which you 
 can show no more than equal right, 
 and yield lesser ones though clearly 
 your own. Better give your path to a 
 
 dog than be bitten by him in contest- 
 
 ing for the right. Even killing the 
 dog would not cure the bite.”—Sel. 
 
306 
 
 —— 561 —— 
 A CHILD’S SONG. 
 
 One day, nearly half a century ago, 
 a Gypsy wagon stopped before a doc- 
 tor’s door in a little Hertfordshire town. 
 There was a sick child inside. The 
 doctor went to the door of the cart and 
 looked at her. His verdict was instant: 
 “Smallpox. Get out of the town at 
 once.” 
 
 Under the doctor’s directions the 
 father drove his wagon to an unfre- 
 quented lane, where he set up his tent. 
 He kept the wagon at some distance 
 and used it for the sick-room, and 
 there he, the father, remained to care 
 for the suffering child. In a few days 
 another child became ill. The father 
 took him, too, not allowing his wife to 
 come near. She cooked the food for 
 the sick ones, and wandered up and 
 down the fane almost distracted with 
 grief. In her anxiety she crept closer 
 and closer to the wagon where her 
 sick children lay, and so, probably 
 through her mother-love, exposed her- 
 self constantly to contagion. 
 
 One morning she knew that the fatal 
 disease had found her, too. The father 
 was desperate. He loved his wife de- 
 votedly, and had tried his best to save 
 her. Day and night for a month he 
 had nursed his children alone. Now 
 the wife was dying. From the first 
 there was no hope for her or the baby. 
 Sitting by her bed, the husband asked 
 her if she believed in God. Once, years 
 before, he had been in prison upon some 
 charge or other, and had heard the 
 chaplain preach from the text, “I am 
 the good Shepherd.” He could not 
 read, and there had been no one to help 
 him, but the sermon had made a deep 
 impression on him, and through all his 
 subsequent years of wandering he had 
 not forgotten it. 
 
 “Do you try to pray?” he asked. 
 
 “Yes,” she answered, but always 
 there comes a black hand before me, 
 and a voice says, “There is no mercy 
 for you.” Her husband hurried out- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 side that she might not see his face. 
 
 He was so utterly alone in his terrible 
 need! His wandering life had left him 
 small opportunity to form any perma- 
 nent friendships in any of the places 
 he visited, and his race was never res 
 garded with favor. Now, moreover, the 
 terrible disease from which his wife 
 was dying and his children suffering, 
 still further cut him off from human 
 help. Then from the wagon he heard 
 his wife’s voice: 
 
 “I have a Father in the promised land, 
 
 My Father calls me; I must go 
 
 To meet Him in the promised land.” 
 
 The feeble voice sang the words 
 clearly. The man ran back. “Where 
 did you learn that?” he cried. 
 
 The dying woman lifted her eyes to 
 his, all the trouble gone from them. 
 One Sunday when she was a child, she 
 told him, her father had pitched his 
 tent upon a village green. The chil- 
 dren were going to chapel, and the 
 Gypsy child had followed them and 
 heard them sing those words. Today 
 they had come back to her with a won- 
 derful message. 
 
 “I am not afraid to die now,” she 
 said. “It will be all right. God will 
 take care of my children.’ A day or 
 two later she died—quiet and unafraid. 
 
 No minister, teacher or missionary 
 had ever come near her life, but through 
 a child’s song, heard twenty years be- 
 fore, the mighty Love had met the 
 seeking soul and given it peace. The 
 dying woman was the mother of the 
 famous evangelist, “Gipsy” Smith— 
 Youth’s Companion. 
 
 —— 562 —— 
 
 “GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN 
 TO YOU.” 
 
 There is a good story told of a cer- 
 tain Christian bishop, who was noted 
 for liberality. One day he was on a 
 journey with his servant. Some poor 
 people applied to them for help. The 
 bishop told his man to give them all 
 the money they had in their purse, 
 which was three silver crowns; but the 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 servant thought he knew better than 
 his master, so he only gave them two, 
 and kept the other crown, as he told 
 his master, to pay for their lodging at 
 night, 
 
 Soon after this a rich nobleman met * 
 
 the bishop, and knowing what a good 
 and charitable man he was, he ordered 
 his steward to give two hundred crowns 
 to the bishop’s servant for his master’s 
 use. As soon as he received the money 
 he ran with joy to tell his master about 
 he 
 
 “Ah,” said the bishop, “you see how 
 wrong you were in not giving the three 
 crowns to those poor people, as I told 
 you. If you had done this, we should 
 have received three hundred crowns 
 from our friend, instead of two hun- 
 dred.” 
 
 And no doubt he was right in saying 
 this; for it was God that put it into 
 the heart of the nobleman to give this 
 money to the bishop, and he could as 
 readily have put it into his heart to 
 give three hundred as _ two.—Rev. 
 Richard Newton, D. D. 
 
 —— 563 —— 
 
 FRIGHTENED TOO EASILY 
 
 During the Civil War in the United 
 States, General Butler sent a portion of 
 his troops against an earthwork held by 
 the Confederates. It was very early in 
 the war. The troops were raw volun- 
 teers, and in a few minutes they came 
 running back into the camp, defeated 
 and badly frightened. One man in 
 the action, who afterward proved his 
 bravery in more than one battle, was 
 asked by General Butler to give some 
 account of the battle, and he reported 
 that it was a very large fort, “I should 
 think about 13 feet high, and they 
 had mounted on it some 15 or 20 
 guns; there was a ditch in the front, 
 and if we had got up to it, it would 
 have been impossible for us to climb 
 up to it so as to get in”? This was the 
 most moderate report given by any of 
 those present at the engagement, and 
 yet the next day after the engagement, 
 
 301 
 
 General Butler investigated and found 
 that instead of 15 or 20 guns (some had 
 said 30) there were only 3 six-pounder 
 field pieces, and instead of being 13 
 feet high, the fort was so low that they 
 had had to dig an excavation to let the 
 wheels down, so as to bring the gun 
 carriages below the top of the parapet 
 to protect them from the fire of the 
 Federal troops. “Afterward,” says 
 General Butler, “I rode my horse at 
 full trot over those 13 feet high para- 
 pets.” 
 
 The same evening, General Butler 
 sent an officer to look over the ground 
 around the fort, and this officer after a 
 careful examination approached nearer 
 and nearer, hearing no sound, and at 
 last boldly advanced to the breastwork, 
 looked over it, and walked in to find 
 not a soul there. The enemy had been 
 as badly scared as the attacking party 
 had been, and no one seems to know 
 whether they ran away before the 
 Federal troops did, or afterward.— 
 The Armory. 
 
 ee BE Aen 
 A DOLLAR AND HALF A WEEK 
 
 When a boy, I worked in a grocery 
 store in a country town. One of my cus- 
 tomers was an old man who they told 
 me was worth $100,000, and had no one 
 in the world to care for but himself, and 
 yet he’d buy scrapings from the butter 
 tubs at ten cents a pound, when butter 
 was thirty cents a pounds. 
 
 One day he came in and said, “It 
 cost me $1.55 to live last week, and I 
 can’t afford to spend more than $1.50; 
 haven’t you got some scrapings you 
 can sell for eight cents?’”’ And I scraped 
 him up two and a half pounds, putting 
 in a little more of the wood. I used to 
 think he was very foolish, and that if I 
 was worth as much as he was, I’d spend 
 more than $1.50 a week. 
 
 For years I lived on less than $1.50 
 per week spiritually! But I have found 
 that my Father is rich, and I have been 
 drawing largely ever since.—J. W. Bo- 
 them. 
 
302 
 
 —— 565 —— 
 AFRAID OF THE WET. 
 
 The crew of a certain life-saving sta- 
 tion on the New England coast has 
 many times proved itself brave and 
 efficient in time of need, but of late its 
 skill and bravery have been useless, like 
 so much treasure locked in a vault. 
 There has been no wreck. The sea has 
 been kind as a big dog. 
 
 Inaction had inevitably bred soit 
 habits of life, and the idle crew had 
 given the summer visitors much to 
 joke about. Their satirical comments 
 were rather ungrateful, for the practice 
 drills of the crew were a part of the 
 entertainment of the seaside resort. 
 
 Twice a week the crew pulled out 
 the brass cannon, shot a rope over a 
 dummy mast which is set up on a 
 point of land, and then practiced sliding 
 down in the breeches buoy. The small 
 boys of the place were glad to play the 
 part of the rescued mariners, and alto- 
 gether this serious drill, required by 
 law, was a pretty holiday sport. 
 
 One rainy day at the appointed time 
 the crew failed to appear at practice. 
 The summer boarders on the hotel ver- 
 anda waited in vain for the exhibition 
 which should vary the monotony of a 
 dull day. Finally, one of them went 
 over to the quarters of the crew to 
 learn the reason. 
 
 “I say, aren’t you going to practice 
 today?” 
 
 “No, sir!” 
 
 “Why not?” 
 
 Then the brave life saver, hero of 
 many rough seas, made an explanatory 
 gesture toward the weather and said: 
 
 “What, in this rain?”—Youth’s Com- 
 panion. 
 
 — 566 —— 
 HOW CARVOSSO PREVAILED 
 FOR HIS CHILDREN 
 Carvosso, noted for the earnestness 
 and faith of his prayers, tells as follows 
 
 of the conversion of his children: 
 “I had always prayed for my children, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 but now I grasped the promise, with the 
 hand of faith, and retired daily at special 
 seasons to put the Lord to his word. 
 I said nothing of what I felt or did, to 
 any one but the searcher of hearts, with 
 whom I wrestled in an agony of prayer.” 
 
 About two weeks after he was called 
 from his work, to pray with his daugh- 
 ter, who became a seeker of Christ. His 
 oldest son was converted at the same 
 time. 
 
 Regarding his younger son he says: 
 “T laid hold, by iaith, on the promise 
 which I had while pleading for my other 
 children. One day while I was wrest- 
 ling with God, in mighty prayer for 
 him, these words were applied with 
 power to my mind: ‘There shall not 
 a hoof be left behind.’ Soon after he 
 yielded, and obtained the knowledge of 
 salvation by the remission of sins. 
 
 “A dull and careless way of praying 
 for our friends will avail nothing. It 
 may conceal hypocrisy, or strengthen 
 deception concerning our own piety, 
 but it will not move God nor convert 
 a single soul. Our friends know that 
 we are not in earnest, and care little 
 for it. But, let us take hold of the 
 matter in a spirit corresponding to the 
 magnitude of the object to be secured, 
 
 and there will be a movement!” Pre- 
 vailing Prayer, by Wigle. 
 —— 567 —— 
 SHALL WE RECEIVE GOOD, AND 
 NOT EVIL? 
 
 The famous Oriental philosopher, 
 Lokman, while a slave, being presented 
 by his master with a bitter melon, im- 
 mediately ate it all. “How was it pos- 
 sible,” said his master, “for you to eat 
 so nausous a fruit?” Lokman re- 
 plied, “I have received so many favors 
 from you, it is no wonder I should, for 
 once in my life, eat a bitter melon from 
 your hand.” The generous answer of 
 the slave struck the master so forci- 
 bly that he immediately gave him his 
 liberty. With such sentiments should 
 man receive his portion of sufferings at 
 the hand of God.—Bishop Horne. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 568 —— 
 WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH 
 TOBACCO? 
 
 Dr. E. N. Robinson says: “The 
 medical name for tobacco is nicotin or 
 nicotina, named for Joel Nicot who first 
 introduced it into Europe in the year 
 1560. A chemical examination of a 
 tobacco leaf shows its surface dotted 
 with minute glands which contain an 
 oil found in no other plant, the pro- 
 portion being 7 per cent of the whole 
 weight of the leaf. This oil is nicotin, 
 one of the subtlest of poisons, 
 
 The nicotin in one cigar if extracted 
 and administered in a pure state would 
 kill two men. Bocarme, of Belgium, 
 was murdered in two and one-half 
 minutes by a little nicotin. The In- 
 dians used to poison their arrows by 
 dipping them into nicotin, convulsions 
 and death being the result of these ar- 
 row wounds,” 
 
 Another physician says: “If we wish 
 
 at any time to prostrate the powers of © 
 
 life in the most sudden and awful man- 
 ner we have but to administer a dose of 
 tobacco and the object is accomplished.” 
 
 One drop of the crude oil has been 
 known to almost instantly kill a New- 
 foundland dog. Many of our most em- 
 inent physicians regard much of the 
 invalidism and also the positive ill 
 health of women as due to the poisoned 
 atmosphere created around them by the 
 smoking members of their household. 
 The effect of tobacco on the heart is 
 caused by paralyzing the minute vessels 
 which form the batteries of the nervous 
 system. Smoking causes insanity, epil- 
 epsy, chorea, apoplexy, organic diseases 
 of the heart, congestion of the brain, 
 consumption and cancer. It affects the 
 muscles, causing muscular rheumatism 
 and acts on the nerves of the eyes in 
 such a way as to produce amaurosis. 
 (Diminution or complete loss of sight.) 
 
 Prof. Laflin says: “Cigarettes create 
 a thirst for strong drink, containing as 
 they do five poisons, one in the paper, 
 the oil of nicotin, saltpetre to preserve 
 the tobacco, opium to make it mild and 
 the oil in flavoring.” The economy of 
 the human system is such that a per- 
 
 303° 
 
 son can by beginning with small doses 
 and gradually increasing become accus- 
 tomed to the rankest poison. Then they 
 are slaves to it, which is proved in an 
 effort to discontinue the habit. You 
 cannot afford to trifle with deadly pois- 
 ons. Tobacco is a poison weed, a thing. 
 It never shall be said of me again: 
 “There is a man mastered by a thing.” 
 “The Son of God came, that he might 
 destroy the works of the Devil.” 
 
 —— 569 —— 
 GOD HONORS OUR FAITH. 
 
 Sir William Napier was one day tak- 
 ing a long walk near Freshport, when 
 he met a little girl about five years old, 
 sobbing over a broken bowl. She had 
 dropped and broken it in bringing it 
 back from the field to which she had 
 taken her father’s dinner in it, and she 
 said she would be beaten on her return 
 for having broken it; then, with a sud- 
 den gleam of hope, she innocently looked 
 into his face and said: “But ye can 
 mend it, can’t ye?” Sir William ex- 
 plained that he could not mend the 
 bowl; but the trouble he could mend 
 by the gift of a sixpence to buy another. 
 However, on opening his purse, it was 
 empty of silver, and he had to make 
 amends by promising to meet his little 
 friend in the same spot at the same hour 
 next day, and to bring the sixpence with 
 him, bidding her, meanwhile, tell her 
 mother she had seen a gentleman, who 
 would bring her the money for the 
 bowl next day. The child, entirely 
 trusting him, went on her way com- 
 forted. On his return home he found 
 an invitation awaiting him to dine in 
 Bath the following evening to meet 
 someone whom he especially wished to 
 see. He hesitated for some little time, 
 trying to calculate the possibility of 
 giving the meeting to his little friend of 
 the broken bowl and of still being in 
 time for the dinner party in Bath; but, 
 finding that this could not be, he wrote 
 to decline accepting the invitation on 
 the plea of a “pre-engagement,” saying 
 to one of his family as he did so, “I can- 
 not disappoint her, she trusted me so 
 implicitly.”—Selected, 
 
304 
 | —— 570 —— 
 “HAVE YE BROUGHT THE 
 BREAD?” 
 
 (This question was put to a visitor who 
 knocked at the door of Mr. Muller’s 
 orphanage many years ago. The visi- 
 tor was at the time an unbeliever and 
 on one occasion had said to a friend 
 when out of work that God does not do 
 anything for him. The friend aston- 
 ishingly cried out, “Oh, my man, my 
 man, you will talk differently from that 
 one of these days.” He, however, re- 
 peated the assertion with more empha- 
 sis declaring that God does not do a 
 ha’penny worth for him; but since he 
 is out of work anyhow, and no signs of 
 any for weeks, he was going down to 
 Bristol to look up George Muller and 
 his orphans and see if it was really true 
 what they talk about, that God does 
 give them daily bread and money for 
 all their needs. His friend told him that 
 he had better go. So he went, walking 
 the whole distance, 186 miles. He 
 reached the Orphanage in the early 
 morning, footsore and dusty, and 
 knocked at the door. A woman opened 
 it and looked at him as though expect- 
 ing something. 
 
 “Have ye brought the bread?” 
 
 “What bread?” 
 
 “Why, the bread for the children; it 
 was to come, and it is five minutes of 
 the time.” 
 
 “T don’t understand, woman, what 
 you mean.” 
 
 “I mean the bread for the children; 
 it is now about time for breakfast and 
 the bread must come, and I thought 
 that you were the man that was to bring 
 it.” 
 
 “Well, my good woman, I have no 
 bread, I am not in that way. I ama 
 stranger. I came to see Mr. Muller and 
 his Orphanage.” 
 
 “Oh,” she said, “walk in;” so he was 
 introduced to Mr, Muller. He went in 
 and found many children waiting for 
 their breakfast. Mr. Muller seemed to 
 be calm but expecting something, when 
 the woman who had introduced the 
 stranger suddenly came rushing in and 
 said, ‘The bread has come!” and sure 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 enough, there was a cart load of bread, 
 plenty and to spare; and at the proper 
 time the children were put down at the 
 tables and enjoyed their meal of bread 
 and milk, The visitor thought this was 
 rather strange, but said nothing. 
 
 Mr. Muller afterward took him aside 
 and told him that they absolutely knew 
 nothing of where that bread was to 
 come from, but had been spending the 
 time just before the meal in prayer for 
 it. Then looking up to his visitor he 
 Said: 
 
 “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ?” 
 
 “Not at all,” said the man, “but I 
 have come up to see this Orphanage and 
 find out for myself if there is such a 
 thing as God’s hearing prayer, anyway.” 
 
 “Oh, my dear friend,” said Mr. Mul- 
 ler, “then you have much to learn, and 
 if you will come with me this forenoon 
 you will be likely to get something to 
 confirm within you a belief in Jesus 
 Christ and the power of prayer. I have 
 to meet to-day a note of £5,000 (about 
 $25,000) at twelve o’clock. I don’t know 
 where a penny of it is coming from, but 
 it is certainly coming.” So they went to 
 the post-office. Mr. Muller asked for 
 his mail but got only one letter, and that 
 was from India. He opened it in his 
 visitor’s presence; it contained a draft 
 for exactly £5,000. 
 
 The man had no more to say. He re- 
 turned to his home filled with different 
 thoughts, a new life sprang up within 
 him, In relating the story to his friend 
 he said, with tears in his eyes, “And do 
 you know, I found that not only did 
 God care for Mr. Muller’s orphans, but 
 he had looked out for my family all the 
 days I was gone.” 
 
 He is now a member of the Church 
 of England and a servant of God, and 
 believes that God does answer prayer 
 and care for all his children—John K. 
 Hastings. 
 
 —— 571 —— 
 
 THE HUNTER’S STORY. 
 
 The following anecdote was told to 
 Dr. J. Todd by an old hunter in the 
 forests of America: “I had been cut all 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 winter alone trapping for furs. It was 
 in March, when I was hunting beaver, 
 just as the ice began to break up, and 
 on one of the farthest, widest lakes I 
 ever visited. I calculated there could 
 be no human being nearer than one 
 hundred miles. I was pushing my canoe 
 through the loose ice, one cold day, when 
 just around a point that projected into 
 the lake, I heard something walking 
 through the ice. It made so much noise, 
 and stepped so regularly, that I felt sure 
 it must be a moose. I got my rifle 
 ready, and held it cocked in one hand, 
 while I pushed the canoe with the other. 
 Slowly and carefully I rounded the 
 point, when, what was my astonishment 
 to see, not a moose, but a man, wading 
 in the water—the ice water! He had 
 nothing on his hands or feet, and his 
 clothes were torn almost from his limbs. 
 He was walking, gesticulating with his 
 hands, and talking to himself. He 
 seemed to be wasted to a skeleton. With 
 great difficulty I got him into my canoe, 
 when I landed and made up a fire, and 
 got him some hot tea and food. He had 
 a bone of some animal in his bosom, 
 which he had gnawed almost to nothing. 
 He was nearly frozen, and quieted down, 
 and soon fell asleep. I nursed him like 
 an infant. With great difficulty and in 
 a roundabout way I found out the name 
 of the town from which he came. Slow- 
 ly and carefully I got him along, around 
 falls, and over portages, keeping a reso- 
 lute watch on him, lest he should es- 
 cape from me in the forest. At length, 
 after nearly a week’s travel, I reached 
 the village where I supposed he lived. 
 
 I found the whole community under 
 deep excitement, and more than a hun- 
 dred men were scattered in the woods 
 and on the mountains seeking for my 
 crazy companion, for they had learned 
 that he had wandered into the woods. 
 it had been agreed upon that if he was 
 found, the bells should be immediately 
 rung and guns fired; and as soon as I 
 landed a shout was raised, his friends 
 rushed to him, the bells broke out in 
 loud notes, and guns were fired, and 
 their reports echoed again and again in 
 forest and on mountain, till every seeker 
 
 305 
 
 knew that the lost one was found. How 
 many times I had to tell the story over. 
 I never saw people so crazy with joy; 
 for the man was of the first and best 
 families, and they hoped his insanity 
 would be but temporary, as I afterward 
 learned it was. How they feasted me, 
 and, when I came away, loaded my 
 canoe with provisions and clothing, and 
 everything for my comfort. It was a 
 time and place of wonderful joy. They 
 seemed to forget everything else, and 
 think only of the poor man whom I had 
 brought back.” 
 
 The old hunter ceased, and I said, 
 “Doesn’t this make you think of the fif- 
 teenth chapter of Luke, where the man 
 who lost one sheep left all the rest and 
 sought it, and brought it home rejoic- 
 ing; and of the teaching of our Saviour, 
 that there is joy in heaven over one re- 
 penting, returning sinner?” “Oh, yes; 
 I have often compared the two, and 
 though I don’t suppose they ring bells 
 and fire guns in that world, yet I have 
 no doubt they have some way of making 
 their joy known.” 
 
 —— 572 —— 
 THE UNUSED UMBRELLA 
 
 A youth was lately leaving his aunt’s 
 house after a visit, when, finding it be- 
 ginning to rain, he caught up an um- 
 brella that was snugly placed in a cor- 
 ner, and was proceeding to open it, 
 when the old lady, who for the first 
 time observed his movement, sprang to- 
 ward him, exclaiming: “No, no; that 
 you never shall! Ive had that umbrella 
 twenty-three years, and it has never 
 been wet yet; and I’m sure it sha’n’t 
 be wetted now.” 
 
 Some folk’s religion is of the same 
 quality. It is none the worse for wear. 
 It is a respectable article to be looked 
 at, but it must not be dampened in the 
 showers of daily life. It stands in a 
 corner, to be used in case of serious ill- 
 ness or death, but it is not meant for 
 common occasions, We are suspicious 
 that the twenty-three-year-old gingham 
 was gone at the seams, and if it had 
 been unfurled it would have looked like 
 a sieve.—C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
306° 
 
 —— 573 —— 
 WONDERFUL ANSWER TO 
 PRAYER IN LEYDEN 
 
 We could not leave Holland with- 
 out making a visit to the spot from 
 which our Pilgrim Fathers started on 
 their voyage to the New World. In 
 1574 Leyden was besieged by the Span- 
 ish forces under Vasdez, but for tour 
 months the inhabitants resisted these 
 cruel invaders. At last when sum- 
 moned to surrender, Vanderdoes sent 
 back the answer that when provisions 
 failed they would devour their left 
 hands, and keep their right hands to 
 preserve their liberties with. They 
 were forced to eat all the cats and 
 dogs to keep from starving. Finally 
 a carrier pigeon flew over the heads of 
 their enemies and brought the glad 
 news that the Prince of Orange was 
 coming with two hundred boats loaded 
 with provisions, that he had cut his 
 way through the dykes, and as Ley- 
 den was lower than the ocean they 
 would soon be flooded to the city gates. 
 But the water did not rise high enough. 
 Away in the distance beyond the walls 
 of the city, they saw bread and food in 
 abundance, but this only maddened the 
 Starving multitude, and some of them 
 begged the Burgomaster to surrender 
 to the Spanish, hoping that though cap- 
 tured, their lives might be spared, and 
 bread given to their starving children, 
 but his answer was this: “I have sworn 
 to defend this city and with God’s help 
 I mean to do so.” Many cried to the 
 Lord for help, and their prayers were 
 answered, A wind arose, a storm from 
 the ocean drove the water faster 
 through the dykes; on and on they 
 rushed till they reached the haughty 
 Spaniards and drowned them in a 
 watery grave. The flotilla glided over 
 them, and carried food to the hungry 
 people. 
 
 It is no wonder that the citizens cele- 
 brated each year the day on which God 
 answered their prayers and sent deliv- 
 erence to them, October 3, 1574. Let 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 us thank God that our forefathers, not 
 so very long after, emigrated from a 
 place like that to our American shores 
 that they might worship God according 
 to the teachings of his word. May I 
 ask if my young friends have made any 
 real sacrifices for Christ? Have you 
 thought much of the great sacrifice he 
 made for us? Do you love him for it? 
 You may not be called upon to live for 
 days and weeks without any food, as 
 were the people in Leyden, nor to leave 
 your home, as were the Pilgrim Fathers; 
 yet Jesus says to all those who truly 
 love him: “Take my yoke which is 
 easy and my burden which is light.” 
 The small burdens he calls upon us to 
 carry are small in comparison with the 
 heavy burden of sin he bore for us on 
 the cross.—Rev. E, P. Hammond. 
 
 Sauk By atetaes 
 “BUTTON-COAT” CHRISTIANS. 
 
 An incident is related which occurred 
 during Mr. Finney’s meetings in New 
 York City, and which well illustrates the 
 value of a little tact in the great strug- 
 gle for souls. The big cutlery firm of 
 Sheffield, England, had a branch house 
 in New York. The manager was a part- 
 ner of the firm, and very worldly. One 
 of his clerks, who had been converted in 
 the meetings, invited his employer to 
 attend. One evening he was there and 
 sat just across the aisle from Mr. Arthur 
 Tappan. He appeared affected during 
 the sermon, and Mr. Tappan kept his 
 eye on him. After the dismissal, Mr. 
 Tappan stepped quickly across the aisle, 
 introduced himself, and invited him to 
 stay to the after-service. The gentle- 
 man tried to excuse himself and get 
 away, but Mr. Tappan caught hold of 
 the button on his coat and said, “Now, 
 do stay; I know you will enjoy it!” and 
 he was so kind and gentlemanly that the 
 cutlery man could not well refuse. He 
 stayed and was converted. Afterward 
 he said, “An ounce of weight upon my 
 coat-button saved my soul!” 
 
 We need more button-coat Christians. 
 —Selected, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 575 —— 
 THE LORD’S FISH. 
 
 While spending a few days recently 
 at the Catharine Mission in New York 
 an instance of the Lord’s dealing with 
 his children was narrated which we 
 chronicle for the encouragement of our 
 readers. 
 
 A New York clergyman had received 
 On one occasion a ten-dollar gold piece, 
 
 and as he had not often had a gold. 
 
 piece in his pocket it felt good there. 
 He started for home with the money, 
 and on reaching the corner of the street 
 where he lived put his hand into his 
 pocket to get his keys, and went to his 
 house, passed inside and turned on a 
 light, 
 
 The thought occurred to him to look 
 at the gold piece again, but on putting 
 his hand inside his pocket he found it 
 gone. He immediately returned to the 
 corner where he had taken out his keys 
 and searched for several minutes for the 
 piece that was lost, but in vain, although 
 it was an unfrequented locality, and 
 there was no one in sight who might 
 have picked it up. 
 
 “I thought,’ said the clergyman, “of 
 the fish that the Master had told the 
 disciple to catch and to take from his 
 mouth the tax money ‘for thee and me,’ 
 and I said to the Lord, ‘Lord, if thou 
 hast a fish that needs that money more 
 than I do, grant that he may get it.’” 
 
 Some months later a poor woman 
 who had been attending the clergyman’s 
 preaching desired to unite with the 
 church, and in telling her pastor some 
 of her experiences, she said: 
 
 “God has revealed himself to me in 
 such a marvelous way in the last few 
 months that I feel I must tell you about 
 it. We were strangers in the city, my 
 husband had ‘been sick and out of work 
 for several weeks, although a good me- 
 chanic and sober and industrious. At 
 last he became so discouraged that he 
 left the house one morning resolving 
 not to return until he had found some- 
 thing. He went away without break- 
 fast in order that the children might 
 have what little there was, and he did 
 not return to dinner or supper. 
 
 ANECDOTES 307 
 
 “TI was much alarmed, and finally near 
 ten o’clock at night I started out, with 
 the few cents I had left, to go to a near 
 by grocery store, to see if I could not 
 get something suitable for a supper for 
 husband in case he should come home 
 weary and hungry. 
 
 “Just as I reached the corner of the 
 street I looked down, and there in the 
 glare of the street light I saw a ten- 
 dollar gold piece and it looked as large 
 as the moon! I picked it up; and as 
 there was no one in sight to whom it 
 might belong, I took it with me to the 
 grocery and gave it to the grocer for 
 some things for supper, and when he 
 gave me the change, I knew it was 
 good.” 
 
 Returning home, the woman prepared 
 supper and had it on the table for her 
 husband when he returned at about elev- 
 en o’clock with twenty-five cents as the 
 price of his day’s effort at finding work. 
 She told him what she had found, and 
 they both got down on their knees and 
 gave thanks to God for what seemed 
 to them the miraculous provision he had 
 made for them and their little ones. 
 
 “We had never given much atten- 
 tion to matters of religion up to that 
 time,” said the woman, “although 
 brought up to believe in God; but from 
 that day my husband began to attend 
 church.” | 
 
 A little inquiry as to the time of find- 
 ing and the location where the money 
 was found, convinced the clergyman that 
 is was his own lost gold piece that had 
 been the source of so much happiness 
 to this poor family. 
 
 “I did not tell the woman that it was 
 my gold piece,” said the clergyman, “but 
 I thanked God for sending along the 
 right fish.”—H. B. H. 
 
 —-— 576 — 
 
 / HIS GREATEST DISCOVERY. 
 
 Sir James Simpson, the great Edin- 
 burgh physician, who first discovered 
 and used chloroform as an anaesthetic, 
 was once asked this question: “What 
 would you consider the greatest dis- 
 covery you ever made?” He replied: 
 “That I have a Saviour.” 
 
308 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —— 577 —— 
 A MOTHER’S INFLUENCE. 
 
 “IT have long felt,” says the Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, “that until the fathers and 
 mothers are better men and women, 
 our schools can accomplish comparative- 
 ly little. I believe that any improve- 
 ment that could be brought to bear on 
 the mothers, more especially, would ef- 
 fect a greater amount of good than any- 
 thing that has yet been done.” 
 
 An obscure and pious woman lived in 
 a city in the south of England. History 
 is silent respecting her ancestry, her 
 place of birth, or her education, She 
 had an only son, whom, in his infancy, 
 she made it her great business to in- 
 struct and train up in the nuture and 
 admonition of the Lord. At seven years 
 of age his mother died, and a few years 
 after he went to sea, and became at 
 length a common sailor in the African 
 slave trade. He scon became a great 
 adept in vice—a most horribly profane 
 swearer; and though younger than many 
 of his companions in years, he was one 
 of the oldest in guilt. 
 
 But he could not shake off the re- 
 membrance of his pious mother’s in- 
 structions. Though dead and in her 
 grave, she seemed to be speaking to him 
 still. After many alarms of conscience, 
 and many pungent convictions, he be- 
 came a Christian, and subsequently a 
 devoted minister of the gospel. 
 
 In addition to his great ministerial 
 labors, few writers have done more to 
 promote the truths of religion. He was 
 eminently useful in religious conversa- 
 tion; and John Newton’s hymns are of a 
 truly elevated and Scriptural character. 
 
 Let us follow that mother’s influence 
 still farther. Her son was the instru- 
 mental means of the conversion of Clau- 
 dius Buchanan, who subsequently be- 
 came a minister of the gospel, and went 
 to the East Indies. Here he occupied 
 a responsible station; and his labors in 
 behalf of the English population, and 
 for the improvement of the moral and 
 Spiritual condition of the natives, are 
 deservedly ranked among the noblest 
 achievements of Christian philanthropy. 
 Elis little work entitled, “The Star in the 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 East,” was the first thing that attracted 
 the attention of Adoniram Judson to a 
 mission in the East Indies. Hence, 
 had it not been for that mother’s faith- 
 fulness, Dr, Buchanan might not have 
 been converted, nor that train of causes 
 put in operation which are now shedding 
 so much light on Burmah and the sur- 
 rounding regions.—Selected. 
 
 — 578 
 PRESERVED FROM BULLETS. 
 
 In the Civil War the rebels made an 
 attack upon one of our regiments doing 
 picket duty on the Maryland side of the 
 Potomac. There were three houses, 
 standing upon the Virginia shore, which 
 afforded shelter to the enemy, and it 
 became necessary to have them re- 
 moved. The colonel tried the effect of 
 shelling them; but, owing to the short 
 range of his guns, and the great dis- 
 tance, could not demolish them. The 
 only thing accomplished by this was 
 driving the enemy out of them, to the 
 shelter of the woods beyond. The colo- 
 nel asked for volunteers to cross the 
 river and burn the buildings. Only two 
 men came forward, one a private, the 
 other an orderly sergeant. The colonel 
 gave the command to the sergeant, and 
 told him to select as many men as he 
 needed, and go. Selecting three men 
 from his own company to manage the 
 boat and assist him, the brave fellows 
 departed on their perilous mission. Be- 
 fore they reached the middle of the 
 stream they were greeted with a shower 
 of bullets; volley followed volley, each 
 passing over their heads without touch- 
 ing a man. 
 
 As they neared the shore, the house 
 immediately in front of them, which was 
 a large brick one, offered them shelter 
 for landing; and it was not many min- 
 utes after before the smoke issuing from 
 the roof showed their work was accom- 
 plished there, The next house was soon 
 in flames also; but the third stood some 
 distance from the river; to get to it they 
 must cross a ploughed field directly un- 
 der the fire of the musketry. Here, as 
 in crossing the river, they were made 
 the target for the enemy’s bullets. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Strange to say, this forlorn hope re- 
 turned uninjured, and were received 
 with enthusiastic cheers from their brave 
 comrades. The young sergeant, on be- 
 ing complimented upon his courage, and 
 interrogated as to the source of it, re- 
 plied: “It is not in me; give God the 
 glory. When I started, I committed my 
 beloved wife and child to his fatherly 
 care should I never return. I breathed 
 a prayer for myself and the little band 
 with me. I went further: I entreated 
 that we might all return in safety; and 
 as I stepped from that boat, these words 
 of the ninety-first Psalm came forcibly 
 to my mind: “A thousand shall fall at 
 thy side, and ten thousand at thy right 
 hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 
 Only with thane eyes shalt thou behold 
 and see the reward of the wicked. Be- 
 cause thou hast made the lord, which is 
 my refuge, even the Most High, thy 
 habitation, there shall be no evil befall 
 thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
 thy dwelling.” I received it as an answer 
 to my prayer; and though we could 
 hear the bullets whizzing by, almost 
 touching us, I felt no more fear of them 
 than if they had been hailstones.—A. C. 
 Thompson, D, D. 
 
 —— 579 —— 
 
 BLIND JOAN WASTE 
 
 Among many who suffered martyr- 
 dom in the reign of Queen Mary, Joan 
 Waste, a poor woman, deserves never to 
 be forgotten. Though blind from her 
 birth, she learned at an early age to knit 
 stockings and sleeves, and to assist her 
 father in the business of rope-making 
 and always discovered the greatest aver- 
 sion to idleness and sloth. After the 
 death of her parents, she lived with her 
 brother; and, by daily attending the 
 church, and hearing divine service read 
 in the vulgar tongue, during the reign 
 of King Edward, became deeply im- 
 pressed with religious principles. This 
 rendered her desirous of possessing the 
 word of God; so that at length, having 
 by her labor earned and saved as much 
 money as would purchase a New Testa- 
 ment, she procured one, and as she could 
 
 309 
 
 not read it herself, got others to read 
 it to her, especially an old man seventy 
 years of age, the clerk of a parish in 
 Derby, who would read a chapter to 
 her almost every day. She would also, 
 sometimes, give a penny or two (as she 
 could spare) to those who would not 
 read to her without pay. By these 
 means she became well acquainted with 
 the New Testament, and she could re- 
 peat many chapters without book; and 
 daily increasing in sacred knowledge, 
 she exhibited its influence in her life, 
 till, when she was about twenty-two 
 years of age, she was condemned for 
 not believing the doctrines of transub- 
 stantiation, and burned at Derby, Au- 
 gust 1, 1556.—Selected. 
 
 —— 580 —— 
 
 HOW TO COME TO CHRIST. 
 
 The Rev. David Nelson relates that 
 after attending a brilliant party at the 
 house of a young man of wealth, when 
 the crowd had dispersed, he sat down 
 with him for the purpose of religious 
 conversation. His young friend acknowl- 
 edged that he would gladly become a 
 Christian if he knew what to do. 
 
 “Suppose,” said Dr. Nelson, “the Lord 
 Jesus stood in this room, and you knew 
 it was the Lord Jesus, and he should 
 look kindly on you, and stretch out his 
 hands toward you, and should say, 
 ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest,’ what would you do?” “I would go 
 to him, and fall down before him, and 
 ask him to save me,” was the reply. 
 “But what if your gay young compan- 
 ions were in the room, and they should 
 point and laugh at you?” “I should not 
 care for that. I should go to the Lord 
 Jesus.” “Well, the Lord Jesus is really 
 in this room, though you cannot see 
 him; and he stretches out his hand to 
 you, and says, ‘Come unto me’; and you 
 should believe what he says in his let- 
 ter, the Bible, as much as though you 
 heard the words.” Soon after the con- 
 versation, Dr. Nelson had the pleasure 
 of meeting this young man at the table 
 of our Lord. 
 
310 
 
 mm 581 —— 
 
 THE BOY AND THE MAN 
 
 John Newton, who ran away to sea, 
 and then to Africa, so that, as he said, 
 “I might be free to sin,’ was sold at 
 last to a negress, herself a slave. He 
 sank so low that he lived only on the 
 crumbs that fell from her table and on 
 the raw yams that he dug by stealth 
 at night. His clothing was reduced to 
 a single shirt, which he washed in the 
 ocean, hiding among the trees while it 
 dried. Yet he never thought of the 
 better life. When he escaped from his 
 drudgery he went with the natives, ac- 
 cepting their horrid superstitions and 
 living their base life. It does not seem 
 possible for a civilized man to have 
 sunk so low. But the power of Jesus 
 laid hold of him, and he became a sea 
 captain. Afterward he was ordained 
 as a clergyman of the Church of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 If we think his life meant nothing 
 to us, we are mistaken, for it was he 
 who wrote the hymn that we have 
 often sung, “Safely Through Another 
 Week.” He was also the author of 
 “Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare,” 
 “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, 
 Zion City of Our God,” “One There is 
 Above All Others Well Deserves the 
 Name of Friend,” “How Sweet the 
 Name of Jesus Sounds on a Believer’s 
 Ear,” and this other one, which I sus- 
 pect must have been his own favorite, 
 “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the 
 Sound, That Saved a Wretch Like Me.” 
 
 In the church in London of which he 
 was rector, you can still read the epi- 
 taph he wrote for himself: “Sacred to 
 the memory of John Newton, once a 
 libertine and blasphemer, and slave of 
 slaves in Africa, but renewed, purified, 
 pardoned, and appointed to preach that 
 gospel which he labored to destroy.” — 
 Exchange, 
 
 —— 582 —— 
 PREACHING FOR A CROWN 
 
 Two clergymen happened to meet, 
 ene Sabbath morning, in a certain dis- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 trict of Wales. For a time they travelled 
 the same road, the one on foot, the 
 other on horseback, Though strangers 
 to each other, they entered into con- 
 versation, and it appeared that both were 
 on their way to preach, “Our profes- 
 sion,’ said the one on horseback, “is 
 one of great drudgery, and by no means 
 profitable. I never get more than half 
 a guinea for preaching a sermon. 
 
 “You preach for half a guinea?” said 
 the one on foot; “I preach for a crown.” 
 “Preach for a crown! You are a dis- 
 grace to your cloth.” “Perhaps so; 
 and you may think I am a still greater 
 disgrace, when I tell you that I am now 
 walking nine miles to preach, and have 
 but seven pence in my pocket to bear 
 my expenses out and in, ‘and I do not 
 expect to receive even that amount 
 from those I go to serve. But I look 
 forward to that crown of glory which 
 my Lord and Saviour will bestow upon 
 me when he makes his appearance be- 
 fore an assembled world.” 
 
 The horseman, it may be well sup- 
 posed, did not care to continue the 
 conversation with one who was ready 
 to disgrace his cloth by preaching for 
 a crown. The foot-soldier was the 
 Rev. Howell Davies, a man whose la- 
 bors were greatly blessed to the revival 
 of religion in Wales. He had four 
 stated places for preaching, besides 
 often preaching in barns and on com- 
 mons and hill sides. He had more than 
 two thousand communicants in his 
 church. On communion days the church 
 was frequently emptied twice, to make 
 room for a third congregation to par- 
 take of the Supper.—Selected. 
 
 583 —— 
 
 HONORING HIS MOTHER. 
 
 
 
 “When General Garfield became Pres- /~ 
 
 ident of the United States, he insisted 
 upon having his dear old mother beside 
 him while he gave his first address. 
 When he had made his speech, he turned 
 round before all the people and kissed 
 his mother. All the best men and wo- 
 men have been dutiful, obedient, will- 
 ing, loving children.” 
 
 in 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 eal SES 
 BROWN WAS WANTED. 
 
 I will tell you a little anecdote which 
 I have often told before; it brings to 
 your mind more clearly than any other 
 means your right to believe in Christ. 
 I am speaking to those who say, “I have 
 no right to trust Christ.” But if Christ 
 commands you to do it, and if, moreover, 
 He tells you, “you are condemned al- 
 ready because you do not believe,” you 
 certainly have a right to believe. Sit- 
 ting one day in court with a judge in- 
 teresting myself with some trials that 
 were going on, there was wanted a wit- 
 ness. I am not clear about his name, 
 but I think it was Brown. So it was 
 said from the bench that Brown was 
 wanted next. The usher down in the 
 court cried out, “Brown!” Someone near 
 the door cried, “Brown!” and I could 
 hear them calling out in the street two 
 or three times, “Brown! Brown! 
 Brown!” The court was very crowded. 
 Sy-and-by there came in at the court 
 door, with a great deal of difficulty, a 
 little, ugly, mean-looking creature. He 
 came pushing and elbowing his way. 
 There was a fine, tall gentleman stand- 
 ing in the court looking on. He did 
 not like to be pushed about, and he said 
 in a very peremptory manner, “Who are 
 you?” “Brown,” said the man, “I am 
 Brown.” “Well, but,” said the other, 
 “who is Brown?” “Nobody,” said he, 
 “only I was told to come.” It was won- 
 cerful how everybody made way for 
 Brown, because he was told to come. 
 They just cleared a lane for him, and I 
 do not suppose for my lord and duke 
 they would have made room, they were 
 so tightly packed; but Brown must 
 come in anyhow, because he was 
 wanted. It did not matter how poor 
 he looked, how ragged, how greasy, 
 how dirty, Brown was wanted and he 
 had aright to come. So now, God com- 
 mands you to trust Christ. But you 
 say, “There is a big sin standing up.” 
 And He says, “Who are you?” You say, 
 “A poor sinner.” “And what is a poor 
 sinner?” says He. “Nothing at all,” 
 you say; “but Jesus Christ told me to 
 
 311 
 
 trust in Him. If He is wrong I leave 
 the blame with Him, I will not keep 
 back from Him.”—-Spurgeon. 
 
 —— 585 —— 
 WHY HE WAS PARDONED. 
 
 In the early part of the reign of Louis 
 XVI a German prince, traveling 
 through France, visited the arsenal at 
 Toulon, where the galleys were kept. 
 The commandant, as a compliment to 
 his rank, said he was welcome to set 
 free any one galley-slave whom he 
 should choose to select. 
 
 The prince, willing to make the best 
 use of the privilege, spoke to many of 
 them in succession, inquiring why they 
 were condemned to the galleys. Injus- 
 tice, oppression, false accusations, were 
 assigned by one after another as the 
 causes of their being there. In fact, 
 they were all injured and _ ill-treated 
 persons. 
 
 At last he came to one, who, when 
 asked the same question, answered to 
 this effect: “Your highness, I have no 
 reason to complain; I have been a very 
 wicked, desperate wretch. I have de- 
 served to be broken alive on the wheel. 
 I account it a great mercy that I am 
 here.” The prince fixed his eyes upon 
 him and said: “You wicked wretch! 
 It is a pity you should be placed among 
 so many honest men. By your own 
 confession, you are bad enough to cor- 
 rupt them all; but you shall not stay 
 with them another day.” Then turning 
 to the officer, he said: “This is the man, 
 sir, whom I wish to be released.” 
 
 Was not this a wise decision? Must 
 not all who hear the story allow that 
 the man who was sensible of his guilt, 
 and so submissive to his punishment, 
 was, in all probability, the most worthy 
 of pardon, and the most likely not to 
 abuse it? 
 
 Sense of sin is the first step toward 
 forgiveness. There is hope for a man 
 who confesses his guilt, and feels that 
 punishment is his desert. And the 
 deeper the conviction of sin, the more 
 hopeful often is the condition. 
 
 Selected. 
 
312 
 
 ——— 586 —— 
 TRUST IN PROVIDENCE. 
 
 I have a story which I think will in- 
 terest you if you will try to listen to it, 
 of a man in London, fifty years or more 
 ago, at a time when there used to be not 
 £5 notes only, but £1 notes. Well, 
 there were two gentlemen who had met 
 each other walking about in the streets. 
 One was a minister of some chapel, and 
 he did not know the other when he 
 came up and spoke to him, but the gen- 
 tleman knew him very well. They 
 walked along and began to talk, and at 
 last the gentleman introduced the min- 
 ister into his house. The minister hard- 
 ly knew what to make of it. He was 
 very friendly with him, but he did not 
 quite understand him. He took him up 
 into the upper rooms and then he sat 
 down with him in the parlor, and he 
 said, “You wonder why I am showing 
 you these things. Now, you don’t re- 
 member me, but I remember you.” 
 He said, “Many years ago I came to this 
 town of London as a workman”— (an 
 iron workman, I think he-was)— and 
 then he went on to say that he had come 
 all the way from Scotiand, and brought 
 his wife with him, and they had lived 
 in London. He had been ill and out of 
 work for some months. He had pawned 
 his things; nobody had beiriended him, 
 and he had been reduced from a state 
 of being comparatively well-off as a 
 working man till he had got lower and 
 lower, and did not know what to do. 
 He had no bread in the house—nothing 
 at all—and he did not know where to 
 get anything. It was a Sunday morn- 
 ing, and he set off with the intention of 
 going and drowning himself. 
 
 He got up early in the morning, and 
 went on till he passed a chapel where 
 this minister was preaching. He went 
 past it, and he saw people going in. 
 In some places they preached early in 
 the morning. And he said, “Well, I 
 will just go and sit down there before 
 I drown myself;” and he went in and 
 sat down, and the sermon of that min- 
 ister went home to his heart. The min- 
 ster told him of God’s loving-kindness 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 and tender mercy to the poor sinner, 
 until the thought of that love entered 
 into the heart of that poor man. And 
 he said at the close of the sermon, 
 “Now, my dear friends, put the God 
 of Israel to the test, and see if it is 
 not as I have said. I have been telling 
 you of His love, and now I ask you to 
 come to Him now, and put Him to the 
 test, and see whether it is not as I have 
 said.” And this poor man said to him- 
 self, “Well, I will go home, and I will 
 put my trust in Him. He says that He 
 will listen to the voice of those who 
 come to Him. Well, I will put Him to 
 the test.” He went straight to his wife 
 and he said, “Let us have a little reading 
 of the Bible.” She was touched to the 
 heart, for they had come from Scotland 
 and used to read the Bible, but for many 
 years they had forgotten it entirely. 
 The wife agreed directly, and she won- 
 dered what it was that had induced 
 him. And then he read a chapter, and 
 knelt down and earnestly besought God 
 to forgive him his sin, and also that 
 He would give him food and show him 
 how to go on. 
 
 Well, there was no food to eat on 
 that day. They prayed again and again 
 that God would send them a deliver- 
 ance from their trouble; that He would, 
 in some way, help them out of their 
 trouble, and earnestly begged God to 
 forgive them their sin. Next day, in 
 the morning, there came a letter in the 
 house. It was a long time since they 
 had had a letter from anybody. They 
 opened it and found it came from a man 
 who knew them years back, and knew 
 that they were in trouble, and he said, 
 “Tf have heard of such and such a place 
 where they are seeking a workman. If 
 you go there you will find, I think, that 
 the master of the place will give you 
 employment, and here is a one-pound 
 note to help you in the meantime.” The 
 man felt he had put the God of Israel 
 to the test, and God had answered his 
 prayer. He went to the place indicated ; 
 and as he was really a good workman, 
 he was employed, and soon got on. Af- 
 ter a few years he became foreman; af- 
 ter that, partner in the business; and af- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ter that, I believe, he was pretty much 
 the sole manager of it; and when he met 
 the minister, he was a rich man. And 
 he said to the minister, “All this is ow- 
 ing to your sermon that day. It was, 
 through Jesus Christ, blessed to my 
 soul. Now I have left off my wicked 
 ways; I have come and trusted in God, 
 and I have not only blessings around 
 me, but I have a hope of blessedness 
 hereafter in the world to come.” 
 —Sewell. 
 
 —— $87 ——— 
 THE UNGROUND GRIST. 
 
 My father was a man of prayer, and 
 in our home the family altar was never 
 permitted to fall down, nor its fires to 
 expire or grow dim. Around that altar 
 our dependence on God was constantly 
 acknowledged, and the Divine blessing 
 continually invoked. Nor was that 
 blessing sought in vain, but mercies 
 new and fresh, from day to day, were 
 granted in answer to a father’s prayers. 
 
 One bright morning in the spring of 
 1850, after commending us to the Div- 
 ine protection, my father put two bush- 
 els of rye into his wagon and started 
 for the grist-mill, a few miles distant 
 from our home. When more than half- 
 way there he had to cross a bridge, 
 along the sides of which there were no 
 railings, but only some logs laid upon 
 the end of the planks. 
 
 When on the middle of this bridge 
 the horse stopped and began to back. 
 My father leaped from the wagon, and 
 the horse continued backing till the 
 hind wheels went over the logs and off 
 the edge of the bridge, and the wagon 
 seat and grain bag tumbled out and 
 fell into the stream. At this moment 
 the horse stopped, the forward wheels 
 caught on the logs, and the hinder part 
 of the wagon hung over the edge of the 
 bridge, being held by the horse and by 
 the forward wheels. 
 
 Four or five men soon came to the 
 rescue, the wagon was lifted back, the 
 grist fished up from the water, and in 
 half an hour my father was on his way 
 back home to dry his grist and get it 
 
 ANECDOTES. 313 
 ready for grinding again. 
 
 There was a mystery about this whole 
 transaction. We could not imagine 
 what had made the horse back when 
 upon the bridge. He showed no signs 
 of fright, and had never acted so before. 
 My father was troubled. He had earn- 
 estly prayed that morning that the angel 
 of the Lord might encamp around about 
 us that day, and now to be subjected to 
 such an accident and so much inconven- 
 ience, was something of a trial to his 
 faith, though it did not shake his con- 
 fidence in God. 
 
 He returned home, and we went to 
 work to dry our grain and prepare it 
 for grinding; but when we spread out 
 the rye upon a cloth to the sun to dry, 
 we noticed, scattered all through it, 
 fragments of a fine glittering substance, 
 which on examination proved to be 
 glass! Thousands and thousands of 
 little fragments and splinters of broken 
 glass were mingled with those two 
 bushels of rye—enough to have caused 
 the death of all our family, and a hun- 
 dred others, if the grain had been 
 ground, and baked and eaten. 
 
 We were amazed at this revelation; 
 and with what grateful hearts we knelt 
 around the family altar and thanked 
 God for His wonderful providence 
 which had so strangely preserved our 
 lives! 
 
 But how came the glass thus mingled 
 with the grain? It was all explained 
 very soon. The rye had been kept in 
 an open barrel, and over this barrel our 
 neighbors had smoothed axe-handles, 
 using pieces of glass to scrape and pol- 
 ish them. These pieces of glass were 
 thus broken and splintered, and the frag- 
 ments dropped unnoticed into the 
 grain, and were measured up and placed 
 in the bag to be carried to the mill. 
 
 No one suspected the danger, and it 
 that grist had been ground no human 
 power could have averted the calamity, 
 or saved our family from the terrible 
 influence of a poison so deadly as pow- 
 dered glass. God, in His providence, 
 interposed and preserved our lives— 
 truly it is but right that they should be 
 consecrated to His service.—Selected. 
 
314 
 
 —— 588 —— 
 HE GOT IN. 
 
 Gipsy Smith tells this incident of the 
 early life and ministry of the late Rev. 
 Charles A. Berry, one of England’s 
 greatest preachers of the past genera- 
 tion. Dr. Berry received a call to be- 
 come the successor of Henry Ward 
 Beecher soon after his death, but de- 
 clined the call. When Dr. Berry was a 
 young minister just out of the divinity 
 hall where he had been taught and im- 
 bued all the modern ideas about culture 
 as a substitute for Calvary, he set out to 
 revolutionize everything in sight. 
 
 He proposed to throw down every- 
 thing he found standing and to build 
 up everything that was new. 
 
 One night as the town clock was toll- 
 ing the midnight hour, for he was emi- 
 nently a student and loved to burn the 
 midnight oil, he heard a ring at the 
 door. Answering the call in person, 
 he found a young girl with an old Lan- 
 cashire shawl thrown over her head, 
 standing at the door. 
 
 “Be you the preacher?” she asked. 
 
 He replied that he was a minister. 
 
 “I want you to come and get my 
 mother in.” 
 
 “Why, you need a policeman for 
 that.” 
 
 “Oh, I don’t mean that, sir; my 
 mother is dying and I want you to come 
 and get her into heaven.” 
 
 “Where do you live?” 
 
 When she gave the street and number, 
 he knew that it was about a mile and a 
 half away. 
 
 “Is there no minister who lives nearer 
 to your home than that?” 
 
 “My mother wants to see you, and 
 said that she could not rest until she 
 could see you.” 
 
 The young minister did not like the 
 thought of walking the streets of the city 
 at midnight with a girl with a shawl 
 over her head. It was a risky thing to 
 do; but she was persistent, and there 
 seemed nothing else to do. 
 
 He went and found the poor mother 
 tossing and groaning upon a comfort- 
 less bed in a house of shame. She told 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 him that she knew she was dying, and 
 that she wanted to know what she must 
 do to be saved. He began to give her 
 some of the beautiful ideas about Chris- 
 tian culture which he had learned about 
 Jesus as the perfect example, etc. 
 
 “That’s not for the likes of me,” she 
 said. “I’m a sinful woman and I’m 
 dying, and I want to know what I must 
 do to be saved, for my guilty conscience 
 tells me I am lost.” 
 
 The minister told at the first how he 
 was puzzled; then his faith leaped over 
 the years of scholastic training, back to 
 the simple faith of his childhood, which 
 he had heard from his mother’s lips-- 
 the story of Bethlehem and Calvary, 
 and the blood that cleanseth from all 
 sin. 
 
 “That’s what I need, that’s what I 
 need!” said the dying woman. “Tell 
 me some more.” And he went on and 
 told her more. 
 
 “And so,’ he confided to a brother 
 minister, “I got her in, and—I got in 
 myself.” 
 
 —— 589 —— 
 NOBILITY OF CHARACTER. 
 
 As an illustration of the ruling spirit 
 of considerateness in a noble character, 
 we may cite the anecdote of the gallant 
 Sir Ralph Abarcrombrie, of whom it is 
 related that, when mortally wounded in 
 the battle of Aboukir, he was carried in 
 a litter on board the Foudroyant, and 
 to ease his pain a'soldier’s blanket was 
 placed under his head, from which he 
 experienced considerable relief. 
 
 He asked what it was. 
 
 “It’s only a soldier’s blanket,” was 
 the reply. 
 
 “Whose blanket is it?” said he, half 
 lifting himself up. 
 
 “Only one of the men’s.” 
 
 “I wish to know the name of the man 
 whose blanket this is.” 
 
 “It is Duncan Roy’s of the Forty- 
 second, Sir Ralph.” 
 
 “Then see that Duncan Roy gets his 
 blanket this very night.” 
 
 Even to ease his dying agony, the 
 General would not deprive the private 
 soldier of his blankets for one night. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 590 —— 
 A BLESSING AND A PENNY. 
 
 The heart of a child stores up experi- 
 ences that are to be the memories of 
 after years, and happy is he who counts 
 among them as kind an act as that re- 
 corded by Dwight L. Moody. He said: 
 
 “There were nine of us children, and 
 my widowed mother had great difficulty 
 in keeping the wolf from the door. 
 My next older brother had found a 
 place for me to work during the winter 
 months in a neighboring village about 
 thirteen miles away, and early one No- 
 vember morning we started out together 
 on our dismal journey. That was the 
 longest journey I ever took; for thir- 
 teen miles was more for me at ten than 
 the world’s circumference has ever been 
 since. 
 
 “When at last we arrived in the town 
 I had hard work to keep back my tears, 
 and my brother had to do his best to 
 cheer me. Suddenly he pointed to some 
 one and said: “There’s a man that'll 
 give you a cent; he gives one to every 
 new boy that comes to town.’ 
 
 “I was so airaid that he would pass 
 me that I planted myself directly in his 
 path. He was a feeble, old, white-haired 
 man. As he came up to us my brother 
 spoke to him, and he stopped and 
 looked at me. ‘Why, I have never seen 
 you before. You must be a new boy,’ 
 he said. He asked me about my home, 
 and then laying his trembling hand 
 upon my head, he told me that although 
 I had no earthly father, my heavenly 
 Father loved me, and then he gave me 
 a bright, new cent. I do not remember 
 what became of that cent, but that old 
 man’s blessing has followed me for over 
 fifty years, and to my dying day I shall 
 feel the kindly pressure of that hand 
 upon my head.” 
 
 —— 591 —— 
 
 GRATITUDE HOW EXPRESSED. 
 
 A rich youth in Rome was suffering 
 from a dangerous illness; at length he 
 recovered, and regained his health. 
 Then he went for the first time into the 
 garden, feeling, as it were, born again; 
 and he was full of joy, and praised God 
 
 315 
 
 with a loud voice. He turned his face 
 to heaven and said: “O Thou all-suffi- 
 cient Creator, could man recompense 
 Thee, how willingly would I give Thee 
 all my possessions!” 
 
 Hermas, who was called the herd- 
 man, heard this, and said to the rich 
 youth: “All good gifts come from 
 above; thither thou canst send nothing. 
 Come, follow me.” 
 
 The youth followed the pious old man, 
 who took him to a dark hut, where was 
 nothing but misery and wretchedness. 
 The father was stretched on a bed of 
 sickness, the mother wept, the children 
 were destitute of clothing, and crying 
 for bread. 
 
 The youth was deeply touched. Her- 
 mas said: “See here an altar for thy 
 sacrifice. See here the Lord’s brethren 
 and representatives.” 
 
 Then the rich youth assisted them 
 bountifully, and provided for the sick 
 man’s wants. And the poor people 
 blessed him, and called him an angel 
 of God. 
 
 Hermas smiled, and said: “Thus turn 
 always thy grateful countenance first 
 to heaven and then to earth.”—F. A. 
 Krummacher. 
 
 se |e peas 
 “MY BOAT IS SO SMALL?” 
 
 The fishermen of Brittany are wont 
 to utter this simple prayer when they 
 launch their boats upon the deep: “Keep 
 me, my God; my boat is so small, and 
 thy ocean is so wide.” How touchingly 
 beautiful the words and the thought! 
 How wise and appropriate the prayer! 
 
 Might not the same petition well be 
 uttered with the same directness by us 
 every day of our lives: “Keep me, my 
 God; my boat is so small”—I am so 
 weak, so helpless, so easily carried by 
 the winds and tossed by the waves? 
 
 “And Thy ocean is so wide”’—the 
 perils are so many, the rocks are so fre- 
 quent, the currents of temptation are so 
 resistless, the tides of evil are so treach- 
 erous, the icy mountains of disaster are 
 so threatening, that except thou, the 
 Lord, dost keep me, I must utterly per- 
 ish.—Rev. G. B. F. Hallock, D. D. 
 
316 
 
 —— 593 —— 
 HOW CONVICTED OF SIN. 
 
 Let us illustrate my way of convict- 
 ing persons of sin. How would I at- 
 tempt to convict a person of ignorance? 
 If a little sprig of a fellow comes where 
 I am, thinking that he knows every- 
 thing, and that he is going to teach me 
 everything, it is not necessary for me 
 to say to him, “You are a popinjay, sir; 
 you are a conceited fool!” One of the 
 best ways to deal with him is to assume 
 that he knows everything. I introduce 
 one subject, and assume that he is fam- 
 iliar with it, and question him upon it 
 till he begins to say to himself, “I do 
 not know quite as much as I thought I 
 did.” I at once pass from that to an- 
 other subject, and assume that he knows 
 something on that, and push him along 
 till he begins to boggle, and feel that 
 he is not half so wise as he thought he 
 was. And by the time I have swamped 
 him on half-a-dozen subjects, he will be 
 quite crestfallen, and have some idea of 
 his ignorance. 
 
 And if a man comes to me and says, 
 “I cannot see that I am a sinner,” I say, 
 “Then you do not need any change nor 
 repentance. But you ought to act like 
 a Christian, if you cannot see that you 
 are a sinner. Do you pray?” “Well, I 
 —yes.” “Do you enjoy prayer?” “I 
 cannot say that I do.” “But why not?” 
 “Well, my thoughts wander, and I do 
 not seem to be speaking to anybody, 
 and nobody seems to hear me.” “Ha! 
 you do not think that you are sinful; 
 but the moment you attempt to speak to 
 God He is nothing to you, and you are 
 nothing to Him. You are from Him; 
 and your breath is from Him; the boun- 
 ties that every day shower upon you are 
 from Him; and yet, according to your 
 own admission, nothing is so foreign to 
 your nature as communion with Him; 
 and when you address a few words to 
 Him, your thoughts are roving from one 
 end of the earth to the other!” “And 
 how is it,” I say, “in respect to Christ, 
 His sacrifice, His resurrection and His 
 ascension? What are your feelings to- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ward Him?” “Well, I want to love the 
 Saviour.” “Do you love the Saviour?” 
 “I cannot say that I do.” “You protess 
 to have no sense of sinfulness, and yet 
 you admit that you have no love toward 
 the Saviour who died for you, and who, 
 having ascended to heaven, there inter- 
 cedes in your behalf!” But I say still 
 further, “Take the idea of a Christian 
 life as the rule of your conduct, and at- 
 tempt to govern yourself by the law of 
 gentleness, meekness, and love for one 
 day.” The moment he does this he finds 
 himself in difficulty; and at the end of 
 the day he comes back and says, “Oh, 
 I broke it here, and I broke it there. I 
 found myself unequal to the task.” I 
 do not care which one of the fundamen- 
 tal precepts of Christ a man undertakes 
 to follow, he needs undertake to follow 
 it but one day to have revealed to him . 
 the barrenness of his spiritual life and 
 the sinfulness of his nature.—Beecher. 
 
 594—— 
 AN UNEXPECTED QUESTION. 
 
 One morning about twenty years ago 
 a lawyer on the way to his office stop- 
 ped outside a barber’s shop door to get 
 a “shine.” 
 
 The little bootblack who plied his 
 trade there was no stranger to him, al- 
 though he knew him only by his street 
 name. This morning the boy was un- 
 usually silent. The lawyer missed his 
 bright remarks, and began to rally him 
 a little, when suddenly the boy looked 
 up in his face and said: 
 
 “Mr. Bartlett, do you love God?” 
 The lawyer was an upright, self-re- 
 specting man, but neither a church at- 
 tendant nor much given to religious 
 thought, and he took the question at 
 first as an attempt at a joke on the part 
 of the boy; but he soon found that it 
 was meant in all seriousness. No one 
 had ever asked him the question before 
 the same way, and it staggered him. 
 “Why do you ask me that, Bat?” he 
 said, after a rather awkward pause, 
 “What difference does it make to you?’ 
 “Well, I’! tell you, sir. Me mothe: 
 an’ me’s got to get out; for the place 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 we live in ’ll be tore down pretty soon, 
 an’ a feller like me can’t pay much rent. 
 Mother does all she can, but you see 
 there’s three of us, an’ me grandmother’s 
 lame. I dunno what to do. Yesterday 
 I heard two men talkin’, an’ one of ’em 
 said God would help anybody that loved 
 Him, if they’d tell Him they was in the 
 hole. I thought about it ’most all night, 
 an’ this mornin’ I made up my mind I’d 
 lay for somebody that knew Him well 
 enough to ask Him.” 
 
 The lawyer was embarrassed. All he 
 could say to the threadbare little boot- 
 black was that he had better ask some- 
 one else. He had better keep inquiring, 
 he told him, for in a city of so many 
 churches he would surely find the sort 
 of person he wanted. He thrust a dol- 
 lar into the boy’s hand and hurried 
 away. 
 
 But all that day he found his thoughts 
 reverting to the bootblack and his 
 strange question. “A fine position for an 
 educated man in a Christian country!” 
 he said to himself. “Struck dumb by an 
 ignorant street arab! I could not an- 
 swer his question. Why not?” 
 
 The lawyer was an honest man, and 
 his self examination ended in a resolu- 
 tion to find out the reason why. That 
 evening he went, for the first time in 
 many years, to prayer-meeting, and 
 frankly told the whole story, without 
 sparing himself. From that day life 
 had a new meaning for him, and a 
 higher purpose. 
 
 A few days later, at a conference of 
 ministers of different denominations in 
 the same city, the lawyer’s strange ex- 
 perience was mentioned by the pastor 
 who gave him his first Christian wel- 
 come. Immediately another minister 
 told of a young man of his congregation 
 who had been awakened to a religious 
 life by the same question put to him 
 by the same little bootblack. The in- 
 terest culminated when a third declared 
 that he had a call from the bootblack 
 himself, who had been brought to his 
 study by a man who had appreciated 
 his unexpected question, and knew how 
 to befriend him. 
 
 Such an incident could not be allowed 
 
 ANECDOTES 317 
 to end there. The boy was helped to 
 good lodgings, and to patronage which 
 enabled him to provide better for his 
 “family.” At last he had found some- 
 body who loved God; and in time he 
 had learned to love Him himself, and 
 “know Him well enough to ask Him.” 
 Opportunities for a decent education 
 were opened to him, and he showed so 
 much promise that his lawyer friend 
 took him in, first as an office-boy, and 
 finally as a student. 
 
 Many would recognize the bootblack 
 today if his name were given, not only 
 as a member of the bar in successful 
 practice, but as a church member and a 
 worker in Sunday Schools. He loves 
 boys, and the few who knew that he 
 was once a bootblack understand his in- 
 terest in little fellows who need a friend. 
 Helping them is for him loving God in 
 the most effectual way.—Youth’s Com- 
 panion. 
 
 —— 595 —— 
 
 AN ARTIST’S FIND 
 
 Do you remember the story of the 
 portrait of Dante which is painted on 
 the walls of the Bargello, at Florence? 
 For many years it was supposed that 
 the picture had utterly perished. Men 
 had heard of it but no one living had 
 ever seen it. But presently came an 
 artist who was determined to find it 
 again. He went into the place where 
 tradition said that it had been painted. 
 The room was used as a storeroom for 
 lumber and straw. The walls were 
 covered with dirty whitewash. He had 
 the heaps of rubbish carried away, and 
 patiently and carefully removed the 
 whitewash from the wall. Lines and 
 colors long hidden began to appear, 
 and at last the grave, lofty, noble face 
 of the great poet looked out again upon 
 the world of light. 
 
 “That was wonderful,” you say; “that 
 was beautiful!” Not half so wonder- 
 ful as the work which Christ came to 
 do in the heart of man—to restore the 
 forgotten image of God and bring the 
 divine image to the light—Van Dyke. 
 
318 
 
 mam 596 —— 
 
 AGASSIZ AND OKEN DINING 
 ON POTATOES 
 
 An interesting fact, not without its 
 moral, is told by Agassiz, of his visit, 
 when a young man, to the great Ger- 
 man naturalist, Professor Lorenz Oken. 
 The professor received his guest with 
 warm enthusiasm, but with apparent 
 embarrassment. He showed his visitor 
 the laboratory, and the students at work; 
 also his cabinet; and lastly, his splen- 
 did library of books pertaining to zoo- 
 logical science, a collection worth some 
 seven thousand dollars, and well worthy 
 the glow of pride which the owner 
 manifested as he expatiated on its ex- 
 cellence. The dreaded dinner-hour came, 
 and now the embarrassment of the great 
 German reached its maximum point. 
 “M. Agassiz,” said he, with evident per- 
 turbation, “to gather and keep up this 
 library exacts the utmost husbandry of 
 my pecuniary means. To accomplish 
 this, I allow myself no luxury what- 
 ever; hence my table is restricted to the 
 plainest fare. Thrice a week our din- 
 ners boast of meat; the other days we 
 have only potatoes and salt. I very 
 much regret that your visit has occurred 
 on a potato day.” And so the splendid 
 Switzer and the great German, with his 
 students, dined together on potatoes and 
 salt—New York Independent. 
 
 597 —— 
 
 THE SPOILED PICTURE. 
 
 Sir James Thornhill was the person 
 who painted the inside of the cupola 
 of St. Paul’s, London. After having 
 finished one of the compartments, he 
 stepped back gradually to see how it 
 would look at a distance. He receded 
 so far (still keeping his eye intently 
 fixed on the painting), that he got al- 
 most to the very edge of the scaffolding 
 without perceiving it; but he continued 
 to retreat, half a minute more would 
 have completed his destruction, and he 
 must have fallen to the pavement un- 
 derneath. A person present, who saw 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the danger the great artist was in, had 
 the happy presence of mind to suddenly 
 snatch up one of the brushes, and spoil 
 his painting by rubbing it over. Sir 
 James, transported with rage, sprang 
 forward to save the remainder of the 
 piece. But his rage was soon turned 
 into thanks, when the person told him, 
 “Sir, by spoiling the painting I have 
 saved the life of the painter. You had 
 advanced to the extremity of the scaf- 
 fold without knowing it. Had I called 
 out to you to apprise you of your dan- 
 ger, you would naturally have turned 
 to look behind you, and the surprise of 
 finding yourself in such a dreadful sit- 
 uation would have made you fall in- 
 deed. I had, therefore, no other method 
 of retrieving you but by acting as I did.” 
 Similar, if I may so speak, is the method 
 of God’s dealing with His people. We 
 are all naturally fond of our own legal 
 performances. We admire them to our 
 ruin, unless the Holy Spirit retrieve us 
 from our folly. This He does by marr- 
 ing, as it were, our best works; by show- 
 ing us their insufficiency to justify us 
 before God. When we are truly taught 
 of Him, we thank Him for His grace, 
 instead of being angry at having our 
 idols defaced. The only way by which 
 we are saved from everlasting destruc- 
 tion, is by being made to see that “b 
 ‘tthe deeds of the law no flesh shall be 
 justified.”—Salter. 
 
 598 —— 
 THE NEGRO’S ADVICE. 
 
 A young minister received a call from 
 two different societies at once, to be- 
 come their pastor. One was rich, and 
 able to give him a large salary, and 
 was well united; the other was poor, 
 and so divided that they had driven 
 away their minister. In this condition 
 he applied to his father for advice. An 
 aged negro servant who overheard what 
 they said, made this reply: ‘Massa, 
 go where there is the least money and 
 the most devil.” He took the advice, 
 and was made the happy instrument of 
 uniting a distracted church, and con- 
 verting many souls to Christ.—Selected. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ‘eo SITE TATY 599 WIEST IR: 
 
 THE WORTH OF IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 An old reader of The Christian 
 living in Newburyport, Mass., recently 
 told us the following incidents in his 
 experience. He said: 
 
 Some three or four years ago I was 
 riding on my bicycle down the street 
 on which my factory is located, when 
 I saw a man with bent head walking 
 slowly in front of me. He was a strang- 
 er, but I somehow felt the impression 
 that he was in trouble, and so I jumped 
 off my bicycle at once, stepped up be- 
 hind him, and putting my hand on his 
 shoulder, said: 
 
 “Is there anything the matter with 
 you?” 
 
 He turned around with a white face 
 and said: 
 
 “Yes, there is.” 
 
 “Well,” said I, “come right into my 
 office and tell me about it.” 
 
 I took him into the office, and he 
 told me he was a stranger in town, hav- 
 ing just come there on the previous 
 day; that his wife was sick, and they 
 had no money and nothing to eat in the 
 house. This was about nine o’clock in 
 the morning. I gave him four dollars 
 myself, and afterwards telephoned to 
 friends of mine so that we were able to 
 make up about eighteen dollars for him; 
 but after I had given him the four dol- 
 lars he said to me: 
 
 “Do you believe in prayer?” 
 
 I told him yes, and he said: 
 
 “Well, I want to tell you something. 
 This morning about four o’clock my 
 wife and I got out of bed and got down 
 on our knees and asked God to send us 
 some help to-day.” 
 
 ‘The other incident related by our 
 friend was of a somewhat different char- 
 acter. 
 
 He had occasion to borrow large 
 sums of money during the year, and on 
 one of these occasions he tried to get a 
 thousand dollars from the bank, but 
 they talked the matter over with him 
 and said, “We ‘think you are in too 
 many things, and unless you can get 
 out of some of them we do not feel like 
 
 ANECDOTES. 319 
 increasing your loans. We know you 
 are all right, but we doubt your ability 
 iy carry so much as you are trying to 
 
 0.” 
 _ “Well, it was a pretty serious situa- 
 tion for me, and I went down to my 
 factory, and as I always took the Lord 
 into my partnership, I got down on my 
 knees and said, ‘Now, Lord, I have got 
 to ave this money, and they won’t 
 give it to me at the bank, and you'll 
 have to furnish it.’ ” 
 
 “It wasn’t very long before I saw a 
 man coming down the street, and he 
 came into my office and said, ‘Is your 
 name B—?’ TI said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Well,’ he 
 said, “I am a stranger in this town, but 
 everyone I have talked with speaks 
 well of you, and I have a little money 
 that I want to place in good hands, and 
 I want to know if you can use it’ I 
 asked him how much he had, and he 
 said a thousand dollars. I took it and 
 it has been paying him interest ever 
 since.” 
 
 A successful business man used to 
 give to every boy in his employ a pocket 
 copy of the book of Proverbs, saying 
 that it was the best collection of busi- 
 ness maxims he knew. The wise au- 
 thor of that collection tells us, “In all 
 thy ways acknowledge Him, and He 
 shall direct thy paths,” and that “All” 
 applies to business methods as well as 
 other “Ways.”—The Christian. 
 
 —— 600 
 
 “MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.” 
 
 Over the door of a church in Ham- 
 burg is a piece of statuary. In a mar- 
 ble chair sits a man upon whose knee 
 rests a parchment. On this parchment 
 his eyes are fixed, and in his right hand 
 he holds a pen with which he seems 
 to be writing. It is John, the evangel- 
 ist. He thinks himself alone. Yet 
 he is not. An angel stands behind him 
 gazing intently over his shoulder upon 
 the parchment, and with his right hand 
 he guides the pen. Without the Holy 
 Spirit’s guidance man’s work is but as 
 the morning cloud and the early dew. 
 — G. Frederick. 
 
 
 
320 
 
 —601— 
 THINGS WROUGHT BY PRAYER. 
 
 James has a most remarkable passage 
 on prayer, and the Revised version 
 gives an excellent rendering. It reads: 
 “The supplication of a righteous man 
 availeth much in its working.” Elijah, 
 a man of like passions, is cited in illus- 
 tration of a man who “prayed fervent- 
 ly,” and who obtained an answer to his 
 prayers. 
 
 God works mysteriously, and prayer 
 is answered in unanticipated ways. 
 Chaplain McCabe was taken from Libby 
 Prison to the hospital, being ill with 
 typhoid fever. After he had been made 
 as comfortable as possible, Major Gen- 
 eral Powell, a dear friend, said: “Chap- 
 lain, there is a letter for you; would you 
 like to hear it read?” The letter was 
 written by Dr. Isaac Cook, a member 
 of the same Conference as the Chaplain. 
 The writer said that a session of the 
 Conference had just been held, and that 
 when McCabe’s name was called some- 
 one answered, “He is in Libby Prison.” 
 The bishop who was presiding spoke of 
 the time when Paul and Barnabas were 
 prayed out of prison, and suggested 
 that prayer be offered for Chaplain Mc- 
 Cabe. ‘Two hundred and fifty preach- 
 ers then went down on their knees and 
 asked for the release of their brother. 
 Chaplain McCabe said: “I was used to 
 suffering; I could endure loneliness 
 without tears, but I was not used to 
 tenderness, and that tender letter broke 
 me down. The tears rolled down my 
 cheeks like rain. As soon as I could 
 control myself, I began to sing. I broke 
 out into a profuse perspiration and the 
 tide was turned. In the evening the 
 doctor came and felt my pulse and start- 
 ed back in surprise. ‘Why,’ said he, 
 ‘there’s a big change in you. That last 
 medicine has helped you wonder- 
 fully.” The recovery was rapid. 
 Twelve days later he was informed that 
 he had been exchanged, and was able 
 to leave the hospital. 
 
 Henry M. Stanley has said: “When 
 oft-repeated instances of the efficacy of 
 prayer were remembered, I have mar- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 veled at the mysterious subtleness with 
 which the answer has been delivered.” 
 Then there is an illustration from his 
 own experience: “Constrained at the 
 darkest hour to humbly confess that 
 without God’s help I was helpless, I 
 vowed a vow in the forest solitudes that 
 I would confess His aid before men. A 
 silence, as of death, was round about 
 me; it was midnight; I was weakened 
 by illness, prostrated by fatigue, and 
 ‘worn with anxiety for my white and 
 black companions whose fate was a 
 mystery. In this physical and mental 
 distress I besought God to give me back 
 my people. Nine hours later 
 we were exulting with rapturous joy. 
 In full view of all was the crimson flag 
 with the crescent, and beneath its 
 waving folds was the long-lost rear 
 column.” 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, in the dark hour 
 of the Nation’s history, said to Bishop 
 Simpson, who had called upon him: 
 “Bishop, I feel the need of prayer; will 
 you pray with me?” The two men fell 
 on their knees before God, and implored 
 His help in that time of peril. Audible 
 “Amens” were uttered by Lincoln re- 
 peatedly while the bishop was praying. 
 The great President also said that he 
 felt confident that things would go ail 
 right at Gettysburg. Said he to Gen- 
 eral Sickles: “I told God if we were to 
 win the battle He must do it, for I had 
 done all I could. I told Him that this 
 was His war, and our cause was His 
 cause.” Then, having laid the mat- 
 ter before God, he admits that confi- 
 dence and peace came to him. 
 
 D. L. Moody went to England in 
 1872, and was determined, his son said, 
 mot to get into work, if he could help 
 it. But at the close of a service in the 
 Old Bailey prayer meeting, the Rev. 
 Mr. Lessey, pastor of the church in the 
 morth of London, asked him to preach 
 the next Sunday. He consented, and 
 preached twice. At the close of the 
 evening service he asked those who 
 would like to become Christians to rise. 
 It looked as if the whole congregation 
 rose to its feet. Mr. Moody was stag- 
 gered, and thought he was not under- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 stood. The pastor of the church could 
 afford no explanation, for never before 
 had he seen it in this wise. Then Mr. 
 Moody invited all who wanted to be- 
 come Christians to step into the inquiry 
 room, ‘The people went in, and crowd- 
 ed the room, so that extra chairs had to 
 be taken in to seat them. Neither Mr. 
 Moody nor the pastor had expected such 
 a blessing. “They had nct realized that 
 God can save by hundreds and thous- 
 ands as well as by ones and twos.” 
 
 Meetings were held for ten days and 
 four hundred persons were received into 
 the membership of that church. _ 
 
 Later the secret of this phenomenal 
 success was discovered. ‘There was a 
 woman belonging to that church who 
 was bedridden, but she had been earn- 
 estly praying that God would revive her 
 church. When her sister told her, at 
 the close of the morning service, that 
 Mr. Moody, of America, had preached, 
 the sick woman said: “I know what 
 that means; God has heard my prayers!” 
 Great was her faith, and many were 
 blessed. Truly, in ways unnumbered 
 and in such a manner as He sees best, 
 God answers prayer—New York Ob- 
 server. 
 
 —602— 
 THE PEDDLER’S WINDOW. 
 
 It was a long time age, some cen- 
 turies in fact, that a peddler, with his 
 pack and dog, sought shelter from the 
 rain, at the close of a summer day, in 
 an angle of St. Mary’s Church, Lam- 
 beth, England. 
 
 “Come in out of the rain,” said the 
 hospitable curate. “Stay for vespers, 
 and I will talk with you.” The invi- 
 tation was as thankfully accepted as it 
 had been kindly given. 
 
 “How are you getting on?” asked 
 the minister, when the service was over. 
 
 “Not at all well. I am having a 
 hard time of it, and am ready to give 
 
 Ds 
 “Well, but do you ask God to help 
 you in your business?” 
 
 When the “outdoor merchant” an- 
 _ swered “No,” the minister said: “Try 
 doing that and see what it will accom- 
 
 ANECDOTES 321 
 plish for you. Each morning, before you 
 start out, ask God’s blessing on your 
 work.” 
 
 Years afterwards the same peddler re- 
 turned to St. Mary’s to thank the cur- 
 ate for having so hospitably entertained 
 him, and even more, for the good ad- 
 vice with which he had sent him on his 
 way. He had followed the advice, and 
 had been successful; and as an expres- 
 sion of his gratitude for what had been 
 done for him, he gave to the church a 
 parcel of land, not far away and on the 
 same shore of the Thames, accompany- 
 ing the gift with the condition that 
 there should be placed in the church a 
 window of stained glass representing a 
 peddler with his pack and dog. 
 
 The “Peddler’s Acre,” now a closely 
 built part of the city of London, is still 
 owned by the church, to which it yields 
 a handsome annual revenue; and the 
 token of the peddler’s devout thankful- 
 ness for his prosperity, the quaint por- 
 trait of peddler and dog, still glows in 
 colored glass above the south aisle of 
 old St. Mary’s Church.—The Youth’s 
 Companion. 
 
 —603— 
 
 HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR SOUL? 
 
 One day as Felix Neff was walking in 
 a street in the city of Lausanne, he saw, 
 at a distance, a man whom he took for 
 one of his friends. He ran up behind 
 him, tapped him on the shoulder before 
 looking in his face, and asked him: 
 
 “What is the state of your soul, my 
 friend?” 
 
 The stranger turned. Neff perceived 
 his error, apologized, and went his way. 
 About three or four years afterward, a 
 person came to Neff and accosted him, 
 saying that he was indebted to him for 
 inestimable kindness. Neff did not rec- 
 ognize the man and begged he would 
 explain. The stranger replied, 
 
 “Have you forgotten an unknown 
 person, whose shoulder you touched in 
 a street in Lausanne, asking him, ‘How 
 do you find your soul?” It was I; your 
 question led me to serious reflection, 
 and now I find it is well with my soul.” 
 —Selected, 
 
322 | 
 
 —604— 
 
 SCRATICHING THE SCALES OFF 
 THE DRAGON’S BACK. 
 
 Nestling in a valley of western China 
 is the glorious village of Tai-wan. Just 
 over the hills, which crowd about the 
 green valley, flow the wide, muddy 
 waters of the Yangtse. Every morning 
 the inhabitants of the village pour 
 down from the heights to the river 
 banks, to fill their water buckets. Then 
 back again, each trudges, toiling up over 
 the ascent, and down again into the 
 valley. 
 
 For one thousand years this weary, 
 climbing route has marked the path of 
 Tai-wan’s water system. 
 
 One autumn a boy went out from 
 the mission primary school in the vil- 
 lage to enter advanced institutions fur- 
 ther down the river. When he returned 
 to his village, schooled in the science 
 and learning of the West, he was given 
 a civic reception. 
 
 Chen, the young scholar, regarded his 
 home village with new eyes. The mayor 
 of the town was present at the recep- 
 tion, and it was to him that Chen spoke. 
 
 “Do you see that long line of water 
 bearers climbing the hills from the 
 river?” he asked. 
 
 “I see,” answered the mayor, 
 what of it?” 
 
 “They work too long and too hard,” 
 Chen announced. “Their backs are bent 
 with toil. The long, tiresome walk 
 keeps them so worn that they are fit for 
 nothing but to carry their buckets of 
 water twice each day.” 
 
 “But what would you do?” asked the 
 mayor. “They must have water.” 
 
 “I would cut a road straight through 
 the hill from the village to the river,” 
 said Chen. “Then the work of the car- 
 riers would be light, and they could 
 give extra time to other tasks. The 
 whole village would benefit by the sav- 
 ing of toil and labor.” 
 
 “A wonderful idea! Wonderful!” 
 gasped the mayor. “T’ll order the road 
 cut at once.” 
 
 And he did. 
 
 For months the coolies dug that path 
 
 “but 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 through the hill, carrying away the 
 earth in their little shoulder baskets. 
 Finally the road was completed, and 
 all the village flocked through the cut 
 to the river’s edge. Beside the easy 
 journey, they had now an open outlet 
 to communication with the rest of the 
 people who lived along the mighty 
 Yangtse. 
 
 For two months the village of Tai- 
 wan light-heartedly made the shortened 
 trip for water. 
 
 Then one day the mayor woke up with 
 a boil on his nose. 
 
 “Aha!” cried the old native doctor. 
 “You have a boil on your nose!” 
 
 “Yes,” admitted the mayor, “I have 
 a boil on my nose.” 
 
 “And it is a deadly boil,” announced 
 the old doctor. “It is the kind the 
 Dragon sends when he is angry.” 
 
 “What have I done to arouse the 
 Dragon?” asked the trembling mayor. 
 
 “You dug a road through the hill,” 
 answered the doctor. “You dug deep, 
 and you scraped some of the scales 
 from the Dragon’s back as he lay buried 
 beneath the earth.” 
 
 “But what can I do to put back the 
 scales?” 
 
 “There is but one thing,” replied the 
 doctor. “Order the road filled up, or 
 you will not only have a boil on your 
 nose, but you will be covered with 
 boils.” 
 
 The earth was carried back in the 
 little shoulder baskets by the coolies. 
 And to-day if you go to the village of 
 Tai-wan you will see a line of men and 
 women trudging up and over the hill to 
 fill their two buckets with river water, 
 and toiling wearily back up again, and 
 down the slope into the village.—James 
 Lewis, in World Outlook. 
 
 —605— 
 
 You do not need to defend the Bible 
 any more than a poodle dog need defend 
 a lion. Unchain the lion and he will 
 defend himself. So give the Bible freely 
 to the people, and let them read it, and 
 it will impress upon their minds the 
 great truth: it is the “word of the Lord, 
 which liveth and abideth forever.” © 
 
 bd 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 706s 
 CAREY AND MISSIONS IN INDIA. 
 
 Few biographers are more crowded 
 with instruction for us than the life of 
 William Carey, the greatest pioneer of 
 modern missions. When it is studied, 
 how it dwarfs into insignificance the 
 petty lives of the world’s Napoleons 
 and Alexanders. 
 
 One of the first things worth imitat- 
 ing in it is the fact that he was a shoe- 
 maker; but he was a shoemaker in the 
 same way that Jesus was a carpenter. 
 He kept on cobbling shoes even after 
 he became a preacher, for his preacher’s 
 salary was only $50 a year; but he said, 
 “My business is preaching the gospel. 
 I cobble shoes to pay expenses.” 
 
 The next fact to notice is that he did 
 not confine his thoughts to a narrow 
 village round, but he was a world- 
 brooder. He hung a map of the world 
 by the side of his cobbler’s bench, and 
 filled it with information of foreign 
 lands. In those days, when British 
 foreign missions lived only in his own 
 mind, he became a missionary enthu- 
 siast. 
 
 Then, he knew how to make his own 
 great idea the thought of others. His 
 chance came to preach before his asso- 
 ciation of preachers at Nottingham, and 
 he chose the text which is our scripture 
 lesson for the day, developing it under 
 the two famous heads, “Attempt Great 
 Things for God,” “Expect Great Things 
 from God.” Carey knew how to 
 set men to thinking, and the result 
 of that sermon was the first British for- 
 eign missionary society, with Carey and 
 a ship’s surgeon, John Thomas, as its 
 first missionaries, They set sail for 
 India on ‘June 13th, 1793—a historic 
 date. 
 
 For more than four decades Carey’s 
 life was given heroically and success- 
 fully for India. Like Paul, his “one 
 thing I do” included many things. 
 His mission was self-supporting. For 
 a time he managed an Indigo factory. 
 The greater part of his life, however, 
 he was professor of Indian languages 
 in the government college. His salary 
 
 323 
 
 was $7,500; but he and his family lived 
 on $200, and he gave all the rest to the 
 various missionary enterprises in which 
 he was engaged. 
 
 Dr, Carey or the “consecrated cob- 
 bler” (as Sydney Smith derisively dub- 
 bed him) was deservedly given the de- 
 gree of Doctor of Divinity at Brown 
 University and was one of the world’s 
 greatest linguists. His first notable 
 achievement was the translation of the 
 entire Bible into Bengali, and he trans- 
 lated the Bible, in whole or part, into 
 twenty-four Indian languages or dia- 
 lects. In addition, he established many 
 schools, and a college. His natural 
 history studies were extensive, and were 
 very beneficial to Indian agriculture. 
 
 Among Dr. Carey’s noblest accom- 
 plishments was the ending of the sacri- 
 fice of children, and of the infamous 
 “sutte,” the burning of widows upon 
 the funeral pyres of their husbands. It 
 was during his life also that freedom 
 to do missionary work was granted 
 throughout India.—Amos R. Wells. 
 
 —607— 
 
 LIBERAL TO THE DEVIL, STINGY 
 WITH GOD 
 
 A man once said to Sam Jones: 
 “Jones, the church is putting my assess- 
 ment too high.” Jones asked, “How 
 much do you pay?” “Five dollars a 
 year,” was the reply. “Well,” said 
 Jones, “how long have you been con- 
 verted?” “About four years,’ was the 
 answer. “Well, what did you do before 
 you were converted?” “I was a drunk- 
 ard.” ‘How much did you spend for 
 drink?” “About $250 a year.” “How 
 much were you worth?” “I rented land 
 and plowed a steer.” “What have you 
 got now?” “I have a good plantation 
 and a pair of horses.” “Well,” said Sam 
 Jones, “you paid the devil $250 a year 
 for the privilege of plowing a steer on 
 rented land, and now you don’t want to 
 give God who saved you, five dollars a 
 year for the privilege of plowing horses 
 on your own plantation. You are a 
 rascal from the crown of your head to 
 the sole of your foot.”—Selected. 
 
324 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —608— 
 GENUINE REPENTANCE. 
 
 An instructive example in the rec- 
 ords of genuine repentance was that 
 of a Kaffir soldier who came to mission- 
 ary Clarke some time ago to inquire 
 how he could obtain peace of mind. He 
 was a young man, a strong young man, 
 a hero in South African wars, and his 
 body was marked with many scars. His 
 abundant woolly hair was built up in 
 an enormous cone like a helmet on the 
 top of his head. Great heavy rings hung 
 in his ears, and around his neck, and on 
 his breast and arms and ankles were 
 fantastic chains and bracelets and rings 
 and gree-gree charms, carved by him- 
 self with superstitious labor and pains, 
 out of metal and bone. 
 
 He was a thoughtful idolater, con- 
 scious of wrong-doing and the need of 
 every way he knew to appease the dark 
 deities whom he supposed he offended. 
 He told the missionary so, and that all 
 he had done only made him more dis- 
 satisfied and wretched. 
 
 “My soul is empty,” he said. “There 
 is nothing in the old religion that can 
 fill it.” 
 
 “Come to the great God who made 
 heaven and earth. His pardon will give 
 you peace,” said Mr. Clarke. 
 
 “Tell me about Him, I want to know.” 
 
 “He sent His Son into the world to 
 give His life for you and me, because 
 all are sinners and must have a Sav- 
 ior. Jesus Christ is that Savior, the 
 only One who can help you.” 
 
 “What does He want me to do?” 
 
 “He wants you to believe that He is 
 your Savior, and give yourself up to 
 Him, and throw all your old gods 
 away.” 
 
 The missionary spoke solemnly and 
 tenderly, and the Kaffir sat in deep 
 thought. A struggle was going on with- 
 in him, and tears began to roll down 
 his cheeks. 
 
 “It is not your oxen,” continued Mr. 
 Clarke, “nor costly presents, nor great 
 deeds, that can bring you the forgive- 
 mess of God. All your sins, all your old 
 life, must be put away, and you must 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 begin anew. It is your heart that Christ 
 wants. It has been bound by a slave 
 of Satan, the father of sin, and until you 
 get loose from him and give yourself 
 to Christ, you can have no peace.” 
 
 The poor African prayed, in a voice 
 broken by sobs, “O God help me to 
 break the bonds of Satan!” 
 
 “And now, if you wish to be the dev- 
 il’s servant no longer, are you willing 
 to be Christ’s? Can you say, ‘Lord, 
 take me, take me all.’” After a moment 
 of silence the Kaffir raised his head, and 
 showed an altered face. The look of 
 trouble was gone. 
 
 “I do,” he said. “I give myself up to 
 God, give Him all.” 
 
 “Then you are a new man?” 
 
 eso 
 
 “A Christian, you are not a heathen 
 any more?” 
 
 SNo 
 
 “Then you give up everything that 
 is heathen, the wild dances, the fight- 
 ing, and the beer drinking, and the gree- 
 grees?” 
 
 The Kaffir looked at his barbarous 
 ornaments. 
 
 “Yes, master, I now throw them all 
 away,” and forthwith he began to tug 
 at his bracelets. The chains from his 
 neck, and the rings from his ears. His 
 mind, enlightened by grace, had trav- 
 eled faster that the missionary led 
 him. He saw the cords of Satan, not 
 only in his vices but in his decorations. 
 They meant idolatry, and he hated them 
 now. One thing more remained—his 
 tall head-dress, It was so packed and 
 woven that it could not easily be pull- 
 ed down. The converted Kaffir drew 
 his knife from his belt to cut it off. Mr. 
 Clarke told him that if the head-dress 
 seemed to him to be really a part of 
 his old pagan life and habit, it was 
 right to sacrifice it, and he would help 
 him. Nothing short of this would sat- 
 isty the young man, and a pair of 
 Scissors was brought, by the aid of 
 which he was very soon eased of what 
 was no longer a pride but a_ burden. 
 There could be no greater proof of sin- 
 cerity. Almost the last thing a South 
 African heathen will part with is his 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 braided pyramid of hair. 
 
 And now the man was free. He felt 
 free. Shorn of all his former pride and 
 trust, he said, “I am only a little child.” 
 
 “The very words of your heavenly 
 Master,” replied the missionary. “You 
 have them in your heart, though you 
 have never heard them. ‘Except ye be- 
 come as little children ye cannot see the 
 kingdom of God.’” 
 
 It was the true experience of trans- 
 forming grace. The wild Kaffir warrior 
 
 was a new-born Christian —Theron 
 Brown. 
 —6§09— 
 “CASTING BREAD UPON THE 
 WATERS”, 
 
 From the Raleigh (N. C.) “News and 
 Observer” we clip the following: 
 
 “Rev. Charles Jones Soong, of 
 Shanghai, China, died of Bright’s dis- 
 ease in Shanghai on May 4, 1918, so Gen. 
 Julian S. Carr has just learned from 
 a letter received from the daughter of 
 Rev. Mr. Soong, Mrs. Rosamonde Sen, 
 the wife of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who was 
 the President of the first Republic of 
 China. 
 
 “This announcement carries more 
 than ordinary interest to the people of 
 this community ‘by reason of the fact 
 that the gentleman whose death is men- 
 tioned, known here as Charlie Soong, 
 was educated by Trinity Sunday School 
 in conjunction with Gen. Julian S. Carr 
 and returned to China more than thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 “Charlie Soong was a friendless Chi- 
 nese boy taken from aboard a revenue 
 cutter in the port of Wilmington and 
 brought to Durham and installed in the 
 home of General Carr. After six years 
 of training and education, he returned 
 to China to achieve great success and 
 became one of the influential and lead- 
 ing men of the community in which he 
 lived, Shanghai. 
 
 “On his return to China he married 
 the daughter of a native mrssionary and 
 reared five children, three girls and two 
 boys. Four of the children have already 
 been educated in this country, and the 
 fifth was prepared to enter Harvard 
 
 325 
 
 University and was to have come to the 
 United States in September. The three 
 girls received diplomas from Wesleyan 
 Female College, Macon, Ga. The two 
 eldest, Virginia Lee and Rosamonde, re- 
 turned to China after graduation; the 
 youngest, Mayling, chose to go to Wel- 
 lesley College and take a post graduate 
 course, from which institution she grad- 
 uated just a year ago. General Carr, on 
 his return from China, brought in his 
 baggage a white silk gown that was sent 
 
 ‘by Mayling’s parents for her graduating 
 
 exercises. . 
 
 “This young girl came to America 
 when she was nine years old and entered 
 Wesleyan Female College, returning to — 
 China at the age of nineteen, taking 
 with her two diplomas, one from Wes- 
 leyan Female College and the other 
 from Wellesley College, Massachusetts. 
 The oldest son graduated from Harvard 
 and then took a post-graduate course at 
 Columbia University returning home at 
 the same time with his sister, carrying 
 with him two diplomas, one from Har- 
 vard and the other from Columbia. 
 
 “The youngest boy was graduated 
 from the University of Shanghai and ex- 
 pects to enter Harvard at the fall term. 
 
 “When General Carr was in the 
 Orient, some eighteen months ago, it 
 was a great pleasure to him to visit the 
 home and family of his former protege, 
 Charlie Soong. His second daughter, 
 Rosamonde, was the wife of the first 
 President of the Republic of China, and 
 General Carr believes she was the hand- 
 somest young woman he saw in China. 
 The oldest daughter, Virginia Lee, had 
 married Dr. Kuhn, who is president of 
 a college of high grade and of more than 
 four hundred students up near Pekin, 
 the capital of China. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, 
 the husband of Rosamonde, was, per- 
 haps, the first man in China. In fact, 
 the former Consul General of the United 
 States Hon. Thomas J. Jernigan, ap- 
 pointed under the Cleveland administra- 
 tion, in a conversation with General 
 Carr, pronounced Dr. Sen the first citi- 
 zen of China. 
 
 “Certainly this was an instance of, 
 ‘casting bread upon the waters.’ ” 
 
326 
 
 —610— 
 THE SPIRIT’S GUIDANCE. 
 
 The last Sabbath of August, 1911, it 
 was the writer’s privi‘ege to attend a 
 camp meeting at Alton, N. Y. In the 
 audience, which gathered at the morn- 
 ing service, it was good to see the faces 
 of many whom he had known for thirty 
 or forty years. At the close of the ser- 
 vice he accepted the cordial invitation 
 of Mrs. Gardner Barrett, to go home 
 with herself and husband and take din- 
 ner. In the course of the meal mention 
 was made of an experience connected 
 with Mrs. B.’s conversion, which occur- 
 red more than thirty years ago and which 
 illustrates how the free Spirit of God 
 may sometimes be pleased to work. 
 
 In the winter of 1879 religious meet- 
 ings were being held at York Settle- 
 ment. The services continued night 
 after night. Much prayer had been 
 offered for the salvation of sinners, and 
 a feeling of seriousness pervaded the 
 meetings, and the impenitent were in- 
 terested, but none of them had yet 
 yielded to Christ. Mrs. B., then a 
 young woman and not long married, 
 had not attended the services. But one 
 afternoon she felt strangely drawn to 
 go to the meeting that evening, and 
 after a little persuasion her husband ac- 
 companied her. 
 
 At the beginning of the service that 
 evening several prayers were offered, 
 and the writer prayed that God would 
 in that meeting bring some soul to re- 
 pentance. After he arose from his 
 knees he felt a persuasion, amounting 
 to certainty, that some one would come 
 to Christ before the meeting closed. 
 And furthermore he felt impelled to 
 stand up and declare it. A natural dis- 
 inclination to do a thing so strange 
 caused him to hesitate. And then the 
 thought came, “If you, a Christian, 
 hesitate to stand up and make yourself 
 conspicuous by declaring that some one 
 will come to Christ before this meeting 
 closes, how can you expect that person 
 to have the courage to publicly take 
 such a stand for Christ?” With that 
 thought, up he got and declared that 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 some one would come to Christ before 
 the meeting closed. 
 
 Having done this he had not the 
 least anxiety regarding the outcome, 
 that he would be found a false prophet, 
 although he had no idea who the re- 
 pentant person would be. In fact what 
 he had done seemed to have passed out 
 of his mind, so interested was he in the 
 services of the evening which followed. 
 
 When the opportunity was given for 
 any who would come to Christ to mani- 
 fest it by coming forward, Mrs. B. arose 
 and went across the room to where her 
 husband sat, and urged him to come 
 with her. When he declined, she ex- 
 claimed aloud, “I must die alone, and 
 I will seek the Lord alone!” She went 
 forward, kneeled down, yielded herself 
 to Christ, and was soon rejoicing in 
 Him as her Saviour. And during all 
 these years since she has lived a con- 
 sistent Christian life—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 —611— 
 JUDGE CRANE’S OPINION. 
 
 Something has got to be done in re- 
 gard to curbing the evil that is menac- 
 ing the very manhood of the race—the 
 cigarette. If it is not taken hold of and 
 checked we shall no longer rear a race 
 of men, and when the generation that 
 is growing up comes to take charge of 
 the government of this country they 
 will be found incapable of doing so. 
 
 I believe that the cigarette question 
 should be made a national one, and the 
 fathers and mothers of the land should 
 be aroused to the danger and join to- 
 gether to stamp out the evil. 
 
 There is no one so capable of realiz- 
 ing an existing condition of this sort as 
 a magistrate, and I shail only say that 
 of three hundred boys that have recently 
 appeared before me charged with every 
 crime, from the most petty to murder, 
 two hundred and ninety-five were cigar- 
 ette smokers. At least, this means 
 that the boys who do not smoke cigar- 
 ettes do not fall into ways that lead 
 to the criminal courts.—Leroy Crane. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 327 
 
 —612— 
 WON BY LOVE. 
 
 I used to have a friend in Chicago— 
 he is in heaven now—Colonel Clarke, 
 a man who lived entirely for others, 
 and especially for the poor and outcast 
 —a rich man, who gave up all his 
 money for the poor. He lived very 
 plainly. He literally worked himself 
 to death. He worked at his business 
 six days every week, and he preached 
 the Gospel seven nights every week. 
 He worked at his business to make 
 money to run his mission and feed the 
 poor. And the poor loved him, and the 
 outcast loved him, and everybody that 
 had any sense and knew him loved him 
 —one of the loveliest men that ever 
 walked God’s earth. 
 
 One night there came into the Pacific 
 Garden Mission—his mission—a man 
 who had for fourteen years been a hope- 
 less slave to whiskey and alcohol in ail 
 its forms, and opium and morphine. The 
 man had been crippled in early child- 
 hood. He had been in a railroad acci- 
 dent, was all smashed up, and lost the 
 use of both legs. He dragged himself 
 along as best he could on his crutches. 
 He was not able to stand on his feet. 
 He sort of balanced himself as he 
 dragged himself along on his crutches. 
 
 This night, when he came into the 
 mission, Colonel Clarke saw him. I 
 suppose he was the most miserable- 
 looking man in the mission and Colonel 
 Clarke went up to him, and tried to 
 persuade him to take Christ and to be- 
 lieve on the Lord Jesus. But he would 
 not. The next day Colonel Clarke was 
 going down La Salle Street, one of our 
 busiest business streets, and right ahead 
 of him he saw this poor opium fiend 
 dragging himself along on his crutches. 
 Colonel Clarke hurried up, put his hand 
 on his shoulder, and took him into an 
 alleyway, where he told him about 
 Jesus. Then he said, “Let us_ kneel 
 down.” And the strong man put his 
 arm around that poor wretch of a crip- 
 ple, helped him down on his knees and 
 prayed for him. This poor man in rags, 
 
 4a 
 
 a wretch, a cripple, an opium fiend, a 
 whiskey fiend, an alcohol fiend, knelt 
 there in the alleyway, put his confi- 
 dence in Jesus Christ, and when Col- 
 onel Clarke helped him on his crutches 
 he was a child of God, and to-day he is 
 a preacher of the Gospel.—Rev. R. A. 
 Torrey, D. D. 
 
 —613— 
 HIS NAME LIVES. 
 
 There are about 150,000 George 
 Washingtons living at the present time. 
 The Bible speaks truly when it says 
 that the righteous shall be in everlast- 
 ing remembrance. It says, too, that the 
 name of the wicked shall rot. Benedict 
 Arnold lived at the same time that 
 Washington did, but we have no cities or 
 children named in his honor. Aaron Burr 
 is a well known historic figure, but there 
 are no sons named in his honor. 
 
 We find Davids, Solomons and Heze- 
 kiahs, but we travel a long ways before 
 discovering an Ahab, an Annaias or 
 Judas. People are attracted to that 
 which is good. They honor patriotic 
 and upright men by using their names 
 over from generation to generation. 
 “The name of the wicked shall rot,” 
 is a part of the scripture which is be- 
 ing fulfilled every day. Long live the 
 name of George Washington! It is a 
 proof that we esteem his life and the 
 principles for which he stood.—Selected. 
 
 —614— 
 
 WORDLY LOSS. 
 
 A bankrupt merchant returning home 
 one night said to his noble wife, “I am 
 ruined, everything I have is in the hands 
 of the sheriff.” After a few minutes of 
 silence his wife looked into his face and 
 said, “Will the sheriff sell you?” “Oh, 
 no.” “Will he sell me and the chil- 
 dren?” “Oh, No.” “Then do not say 
 that we have lost everything. All that 
 is most valuable remains to us—man- 
 hood, womanhood and childhood. We 
 have lost but the result of our skill and 
 industry. Hope on, and look up.’-— 
 Selected, - 
 
328 
 
 —615— 
 
 ‘PERSONAL TESTIMONY AS TO 
 ANSWERED PRAYER. 
 
 A letter recently received from a cler- 
 gyman of this city says: “Your answers 
 to prayer interest me much. Why 
 should you object to my request that 
 you proceed to do as George Muller did 
 —namely: Give ‘an account of the 
 Lord’s dealings’ with your own soul, 
 and with the souls of others in your 
 mission work. It would be strengthen- 
 ing to others who lack your simple- 
 hearted faith.” 
 
 I would consider myself unfaithful to 
 God and ungrateful, were I unwilling to 
 comply with such a request as the 
 above, especially when I remember how 
 I have been helped by the experiences 
 narrated by others. And in the future 
 I mean to tell more freely of God’s 
 gracious dealings with me _ personally 
 than I have done in the past. 
 
 Many persons have spoken of my 
 well-preserved eyesight. I use no 
 glasses and in good light am still able, 
 without difficulty, to read diamond type. 
 My sight has been excellent all my life, 
 but only in the last twelve or fifteen 
 years, when ordinarily I would have 
 been using spectacles, have I taken par- 
 ticular note of it. Many times in these 
 years have I spoken of a special bless- 
 ing which I once received in answer to 
 prayer, which in my opinion helps to 
 account for my unimpaired sight. And 
 now for the glory of God and to en- 
 courage His people to make all their re- 
 quests known to Him, I give our read- 
 ers an account of this experience. 
 
 On the fourth day of January, 1880, 
 about three years after my conversion, 
 I definitely sought and received the 
 baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Of this I 
 mean to speak more fully at some future 
 time). Immediately after this experi- 
 ence a revival broke out in the “Spunk” 
 school house, two miles west of Rose 
 Valley, N . Y., where I had been hold- 
 ing meetings. Instead of teaching 
 school, as I had formerly done for sev- 
 eral winters, I devoted myself without 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 reserve to the carrying on of these 
 meetings. 
 
 During the day I visited from house 
 to house among the people and preached 
 as best I could every evening of the 
 week excepting Saturday. It was 4a 
 farming community, and the people 
 were so aroused that some came a dis- 
 tance of several miles to attend the 
 meetings. The small school house was 
 crowded night after night, and some- 
 times there was hardly room for the 
 speaker to stand. Christians were re- 
 consecrating themselves to the Lord’s 
 work, and sinners were coming to 
 Christ. 
 
 The meeting seldom closed before ten 
 o’clock, and at times continued later 
 than that. I was devoting myself with 
 such earnestness to the work that after 
 several weeks certain ones cautioned me 
 to look out for my health or I would 
 break down. I thought there was no 
 fear of that, and so did not relax my 
 efforts. But after the meetings had 
 continued about six weeks, and some 
 thirty-five had professed conversion, I 
 began to feel seriously the mental and 
 physical strain of this night and day 
 work. I was fatigued in body, and my 
 eyes began to distress me. 
 
 The room in which the meetings 
 were held was lighted with kerosene oil 
 lamps, and I suppose the unshaded, 
 glaring lights, reflected by the white 
 walls, had affected my eyes. The or- 
 dinary light of day pained them, and I 
 was so tired in body that I knew that 
 I could not continue much longer as I 
 had done. But the interest of the meet- 
 ings was at its height, and I did not be- 
 lieve that it was God’s will for them to 
 stop. 
 
 One way of promoting the work was 
 the holding of prayer meetings in the 
 homes of the people in which earnest 
 Christians would gather to pray for the 
 continued outpouring of the Holy Spir- 
 it. Finally a day came when I was so 
 wearied that it occurred to me that I 
 better not go to that afternoon meeting, 
 but stay home and try to rest up for the 
 evening service, and then the thought 
 came: “I could not rest enough to do 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. — 
 
 much good were I to try, and the Lord 
 is able if He pleases to bless me phys- 
 ically, and so fit me for His service.” 
 
 So I determined to go to the prayer 
 meeting which was held that afternoon 
 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. William 
 Glen, a godly couple who lived a short 
 distance west of the school house. Up 
 to that time the burden of my prayer 
 had been for others, but now I felt that 
 God must help me in a special manner, 
 or the work so far as I was concerned 
 would have to stop. So I prayed God 
 to strengthen me in body, and take 
 away that pain from my eyes. I knew 
 the Lord was able to do what I asked, 
 and it was not hard for me to believe 
 that it was reasonable to expect Him to 
 do it. 
 
 The meeting closed, and the people 
 dispersed to their homes, and I lay 
 down on a sofa in the parlor in which 
 the meeting was held, and fell asleep. 
 I slept an hour or so, and when I awoke 
 I discovered that God had answered my 
 prayer. ‘The pain was entirely gone 
 from my eyes, and I felt so different in 
 body! That tired feeling was all gone! 
 I praised God for His goodness, and 
 that night told the people what the 
 Lord had done for me. 
 
 As further evidence to any who may 
 doubt the reality of the change wrought, 
 and who may attribute the result to 
 imagination, I would say that the meet- 
 ings continued for five weeks longer 
 under the same conditions, making 
 eleven weeks in all, and I had no re- 
 currence of trouble with my eyes, and I 
 felt as well when the meetings closed 
 as I did when they began. During 
 their continuance about seventy per- 
 sons professed conversion, and soon af- 
 ter their close I went to another school 
 house, and held meetings for two weeks 
 longer. 
 
 What the Lord does is well done, 
 and I have often thought perhaps He at 
 that time made my eyes better than 
 what they were naturally. Certain it 
 is that that experience showed me what 
 God may be willing to do for one phys- 
 ically, and it has been of life-long ben- 
 efit to me. 
 
 329 
 
 To the above, first published in the 
 “Little Evangelist” in 1911, I may now 
 add: By continuing to seek the blessing 
 of God, my eyesight has continued re- 
 markably good to the present. 
 
 My friend, Dr. W. H. Bates, the emi- 
 nent oculist of this city, had asked mea 
 number of times to come to his office 
 that he might look into what he called 
 my “wonderful eyes.” I did so, De- 
 cember 7th, 1917. After various tests, 
 including both distant and close read- 
 ing, he said that in his more than thirty 
 years practice, I was the first person he 
 had found having normal vision at my 
 age.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —616— 
 EASE-LOVING PROFESSORS. 
 
 Years ago a Christian woman not 
 connected with any church said to me: 
 “I would not like to join your church 
 now, but when you get a church build- 
 ing then I will join.” 
 
 There are many persons who are will- 
 ing to pluck and eat the luscious stems of 
 grapes who are not so willing to assist in 
 vine-planting. They are willing that 
 others should bear alone the burden and 
 heat of the day, but they want their 
 names on the pay roll at night. 
 
 They are willing that the toil and 
 sacrifice of others should build a church, 
 and then they will consent to come in 
 and recline upon a soft cushion, and 
 listen to a comfortable sermon.—Rev. 
 H. M. Tyndall. 
 
 617 
 THE UMBRELLA WAS NEEDED. 
 
 In a time of great drought in Scot- 
 land, Dr. Guthrie had in his Sabbath 
 morning service prayed for rain. As 
 they went to church in the afternoon, 
 little Mary, his daughter, said: “Here 
 is the umbrella, papa.” “What do we 
 need it for?” he asked. “You prayed 
 for rain this morning, and don’t you 
 expect God will send it?” They car- 
 ried the umbrella, and when they came 
 home they were glad to take shelter un~ 
 der it from the drenching storm. 
 
 —Selected. 
 
330 
 
 ——§18— 
 “NO THOROUGHFARE HERE.” 
 
 For many years the winding road 
 along the little tumbling river had run 
 through Farmer Grant’s land. People 
 who were more interested in having a 
 pretty view than in getting somewhere 
 at a particular time were very likely to 
 choose this route. At length travel grew 
 so common that Farmer Grant became 
 tired of the continued passing and re- 
 passing, and resolved to close the road. 
 
 All at once a locked gate barred out 
 those who wished to take the way by the 
 stream, and a placard in big letters an- 
 nounced that it was not a thoroughfare. 
 But the public was not disposed to sub- 
 mit quietly to the loss of this privilege, 
 and in the discussion that followed 
 Farmer Grant made a discovery. In al- 
 lowing the townpeople the right of way 
 through his land year after year, he had 
 lost his right to shut them out. The 
 public which had traveled this road so 
 long had come to have a claim upon it. 
 The putting up of the gate was declared 
 illegal, the placards were taken down, 
 and again carriages followed the wind- 
 ing road of the river. 
 
 Farmer Grant is not the only one who 
 has made such a mistake. A_ great 
 many times when young people give 
 wrong thoughts the right of way 
 through their hearts they flatter them- 
 selves that it will only be temporary. 
 They give way to fits of impatience. 
 They speak unkindly and irritably, they 
 allow gloomy fancies to linger in their 
 minds. And all the time they make 
 themselves believe that when they get 
 ready to turn the intruders out, they 
 have only to set up a barrier at the en- 
 trance of their hearts, and the trouble 
 is ended. 
 
 Nature’s law is very much like that 
 which surprised the New England farm- 
 er. The habits which year after year 
 are given the right of way in the heart, 
 grow in time to have certain claim upon 
 the road. They are not frightened at 
 the sight of a good resolution warning 
 them away. It is very difficult to set up 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a barrier that will keep them out. They 
 have made a highway of the heart so 
 long that in a sense it has become theirs. 
 They, as well as the owner, have rights 
 there.—Selected. 
 
 —619— 
 
 NOBLE UNSELFISHNESS. 
 
 On the 27th of December, 1885, one 
 of the American line of steamers, the 
 Lord Gough, while on its way from 
 Liverpool to Philadelphia, sighted a 
 Gloucester fishing schooner in distress. 
 The wind was blowing a gale, and the 
 schooner, almost disabled, and with 
 three or four of her crew already washed 
 into the ocean, was flying the signal 
 for help. Captain Hughes, of the steam- 
 ship, saw the fearful peril which a res- 
 cuing party must encounter, but his call 
 for a volunteer was promptly answered 
 by the mate and a crew of brave men, 
 and preparations were made for the des- 
 perate trip. 
 
 To the astonishment of all, while the 
 boat was being lowered, the flag of dis- 
 tress on the schooner’s mast was hauled 
 down. Perplexed at this movement, 
 the hardy rescuers hesitated; but it was 
 finally decided that the boat should go. 
 With great difficulty the schooner was 
 reached, and on her deck were found 
 twelve men utterly without hope except 
 from outside aid. It was necessary to 
 make two trips, and the bold sailors of 
 the Lord Gough took half the suffering 
 men and toiled through the wild waters 
 to their own ship, and returned as soon 
 as possible for the others. 
 
 When all were safe on the steamer, 
 Captain Hughes asked the schooner’s 
 master, Captain George W. Pendleton, 
 why he had lowered the distress flag. 
 The reply was: “We saw that you were 
 preparing to make an attempt to save 
 us, but we saw, also, that it was a sea 
 in which it was very doubtful whether 
 a boat would live. I said, then, to my 
 men, ‘Shall we let those brave fellows 
 risk their lives to save ours?’ and they 
 answered, ‘No!’ ‘Then I hauled down 
 the flag.” —-Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —620— 
 
 HOW RUSSELL SAGE HELPED. 
 
 A prosperous New York merchant 
 narrated in the University Club the 
 other day an interesting anecdote about 
 himself and Russell Sage. 
 
 “My first years in New York were 
 not successful ones,” he said. “I 
 came down from the upper part of the 
 State determined to get along; but 
 somehow, after a brief experience of 
 city life, I became discouraged and lax. 
 There were no positions but clerkships 
 to be gotten, and to work my way up 
 to the top from an army of young clerks, 
 all as efficient as myself, seemed hope- 
 less. 
 
 “I changed my job now and then. 
 Sometimes I bettered myself; some- 
 times I didn’t. Sothe years passed. I 
 had come to New York at twenty, and 
 now, at twenty-five, I was making only 
 four dollars a week more than when I 
 started, and I hadn’t a cent to my credit 
 in the bank. 
 
 “One day, scared and desperate about 
 my future, I called to see Russell Sage. 
 Sage came from my part of the country, 
 and he had known my father well. 
 
 “He was glad to see me. He lis- 
 tened to my narrative with kindly in- 
 terest. At the end, tilting back in his 
 chair, he put his finger-tips together 
 and pursed up his lips, nodding to him- 
 self thoughtfully. 
 
 “In a minute he came briskly out of 
 that spell of meditation. 
 
 ““Do you drink?’ he asked. 
 
 “*Yes, sir; moderately,’ said I. 
 
 ““Well, stop it. Stop it for a year. 
 Then come see me again,’ said Mr. 
 Sage. 
 
 “I stopped drinking for a year, and 
 at the end I paid my second visit to the 
 millionaire. He remembered all about 
 me. He chatted a little while. Then 
 he said: ‘Do you gamble?’ 
 
 “<“Ves,’ I said, ‘I sometimes gamble.’ 
 
 “Well, give up gambling for a year, 
 and then come and see me.’ 
 
 “So I stopped gambling, and the year 
 went by, and for the third time I ap- 
 peared in Mr. Sage’s office. 
 
 331 
 
 ““Do you smoke?’ he said, after we 
 had had a third discussion of my affairs. 
 
 “*Yes, sir,’ said I. 
 
 “Stop smoking,’ said he. ‘Come 
 back after you have stopped smoking 
 for a year.’ ” : 
 
 The speaker laughed. One of his 
 auditors said impatiently: “Well, when 
 you went back what happened?” 
 
 “I never went back,” was the reply. 
 
 “You never went back? Why?” 
 
 “Because, if I had, Mr. Sage would 
 only have told me that now that I had 
 given up drinking and gambling and 
 smoking I must have saved enough 
 money to start myself in business. It 
 was true; I had saved enough money 
 to start myself in business. That shrewd, 
 wise man had set me, almost without 
 my knowing it, on the road to success.” 
 —Philadelphia Bulletin. 
 
 —621— 
 
 BENJ. FRANKLIN’S OPINION IN 
 CONVENTION, 1789. 
 
 I have lived for a long time (eighty- 
 one years), and the longer I live the 
 more convincing proofs I see of this 
 truth, that God governs in the affairs of 
 man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to 
 the ground without his notice, it is not 
 probable that an empire can rise with- 
 out his aid. We have been assured in 
 the sacred writings, that “Except the 
 Lord build the house, they labor in 
 vain that build it.” I firmly believe 
 this; and I also believe that without 
 his concurring aid we shall proceed in 
 this political building no better than 
 the builders of Babel; we shall be 
 divided by our little, partial, local in- 
 terests; our prospects will be con- 
 founded; and we ourselves shall become 
 a reproach and a byword down to future 
 ages. And what is worse, mankind 
 may hereafter, from this unfortunate 
 instance, despair of establishing govern- 
 ment by human wisdom, and leave it 
 to chance, war or conquest. I there- 
 fore beg leave to move that henceforth 
 prayers, imploring the assistance of 
 heaven and its blessings on our deliber- 
 ations, be held in this assembly every 
 morning before we proceed to business. 
 
332° 
 
 —622— 
 THE NINE OUTSIDE. 
 
 While I was conducting a mission in 
 the city in which I lived for fourteen 
 years, which is Manchester, where I 
 hold my church connection today (and, 
 by the way, I belong to a church that 
 has never known a Sunday in twenty- 
 one years without a conversion), and 
 one night had just finished with a great 
 midnight meeting, a little, frail woman, 
 who had been brought up in a lovely 
 home in the west of England, and who 
 had just become a sister, giving her life 
 to the work of soul-saving, came up to 
 me, and said, “I’ll try to hold a mid- 
 night meeting tonight of my own.” She 
 engaged a little chapel or small church 
 building just on the suburbs of Man- 
 chester, and gathered the people to her, 
 and they filled that little place. 
 
 Among them was a prize-fighter. He 
 came, he said, to take care of the little 
 woman, for he did not know what those 
 drunken fellows would do to her. He 
 watched her as she moved around, and 
 said, “I did not know what would hap- 
 pen.” In the middle of the meeting he 
 said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m _ here.” 
 But she did not need his help. Those 
 drunkards in that midnight service were 
 quieted as she told the story of Jesus 
 and His love, and when she invited 
 them to kneel to seek Jesus, the place 
 was crowded. Among them was a 
 woman, a drunkard, who came forward. 
 When she got on her knees she was 
 sober enough to say to the sister: “Sis- 
 ter, my husband is in jail, and he is 
 there through me. I helped to make 
 him drunk.” And then she said, “We 
 got to fighting, and he is in jail because 
 he thrashed me. He is coming out on 
 Tuesday, and I wish you would meet 
 him, and oh, if we could only get hold 
 of him and make him sober! I have 
 given my heart to God, and I would 
 like him to do the same.” (One of the 
 surest evidences of the new birth is a 
 desire for someone else to come to Him.) 
 Sister Marion said, “I’ll go and see 
 him.” The woman told her that nine 
 of his companions said they were going 
 to meet him and make him drunk be- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 fore they get home. Sister Marion was 
 at the prison gates at six o’clock on 
 Tuesday morning. She happened to 
 know the governor, and so got through 
 the little gate. She found the nine men 
 outside and as she went through the 
 little door within the big door, the gov- 
 ernor said, “Whom are you waiting to 
 see?” She said, “I have come to 
 meet So-and-so.” “Well,” he said, 
 “there are nine men out there waiting 
 for him.” She said, “Yes, I know it; 
 but those who are with me are more 
 than all that can be against me.” He 
 
 said, “You are only one, visibly, and I 
 
 am just wondering what you are going 
 to do with those nine men.” He ad- 
 vised her to go away for a while, and he 
 would do what he could with the men. 
 She went away, and came again to the 
 gates. Those nine men said, “Let’s 
 hand out the beer, sister. We have 
 given up a day’s work to come and get 
 him.” She said, “Well, that was very 
 kind of you, but you deciare he shall 
 go home drunk, and I declare he shall 
 go home sober.” ‘They stared at her. 
 The thought came to Sister Marion, 
 “Why not try to save these nine as 
 well as the one inside?” and so she 
 said, “Men, if I go and get him out 
 will you come, all of you, and have 
 breakfast with me?” 
 
 They looked at one another. Break- 
 fast on a cold morning for nine fellows 
 who had been sleeping as they had, 
 meant a great deal. They said they 
 would come. She got the man out of 
 jail and away they marched, and when 
 they had their breakfast she said, “Now, 
 men, come; may I read to you?” They 
 could not say no. So she opened to 
 that wonderful story, the Prodigal Son, 
 and she read to them, and they listened 
 with bowed heads. Then she asked if 
 they might not sing, and they said, 
 “Well, Miss, we are not much at sing- 
 ing. She said she would sing if they 
 would join her. And she sang: 
 
 “When I survey the wondrous cross 
 
 On which the Prince of Glory died, 
 
 My richest gain I count but dross, 
 
 And pour contempt on all my pride.” 
 
 At the end of the song every man was 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 on his knees, and every man signed the 
 pledge before she left them. Every 
 man, in less than three weeks, was 
 brought to Jesus Christ by the act of 
 that one frail little woman. 
 
 That’s the way to fish, and that’s the 
 way to catch. That’s angling.—Gypsy 
 Smith. 
 
 —623— 
 PERSECUTORS SILENCED AND 
 CONVERTED. 
 
 The following is from the Autobiog- 
 raphy of that wonderful revivalist, 
 Charles G. Finney. The circumstances 
 as related occurred early in his ministry, 
 at Gouverneur, N. Y.: 
 
 I have said that there was a Baptist 
 church, and a Presbyterian, each hav- 
 ing a meeting-house standing upon the 
 green, not far apart; and that the Bap- 
 tist Church had a pastor, but the Pres- 
 byterian had none. As soon as the 
 revival broke out, and attracted general 
 attention, the Baptist brethren began to 
 oppose it. They spoke against it, and 
 used very objectionable means indeed 
 to arrest its progress. This encouraged 
 a set of young men to join hand in hand, 
 to strengthen each other in opposition 
 to the work. The Baptist church was 
 quite influential; and the stand that 
 they took greatly emboldened the oppo- 
 sition, and seemed to give it a peculiar 
 bitterness and strength, as might be ex- 
 pected. Those young men seemed to 
 stand like a bulwark in the way of the 
 progress of the work. 
 
 In this state of things, Brother Nash 
 and myself, after consultation, made up 
 our minds that that thing must be over- 
 come by prayer, and that it could not 
 be reached in any other way. We 
 therefore retired to a grove, and gave 
 ourselves up to prayer until we pre- 
 vailed; and we felt confident that no 
 power which earth or hell could inter- 
 pose, would be allowed permanently to 
 stop the revival. 
 
 The next Sabbath, after preaching 
 morning and afternoon myself—for I 
 did the preaching altogether, and Broth- 
 er Nash gave himself up almost con- 
 
 333 
 
 tinually to prayer—we met at five 
 o’clock in the church, for a prayef- 
 meeting. The meeting house was filled. 
 Near the close of the meeting, Brother 
 Nash arose, and addressed that com- 
 pany of young men who had joined 
 hand in hand to resist the revival. I 
 believe they were all there, and they 
 sat braced up against the Spirit of God. 
 It was too solemn for them really to 
 make ridicule of what they heard and 
 saw; and yet their brazen-facedness and 
 stiff-neckedness were apparent to every- 
 body. 
 
 Brother Nash addressed them very 
 earnestly, and pointed out the guilt and 
 danger of the course they were taking. 
 Toward the close of his address, he 
 waxed exceedingly warm, and said to 
 them: “Now, mark me, young men! 
 God will break your ranks in less than 
 one week, either by converting some of 
 you, or by sending some of you to hell. 
 He will do this as certainly as the Lord 
 is my God!” He was standing where 
 he brought his hand down on the top 
 of the pew before him, so as to make it 
 thoroughly jar. He sat immediately 
 down, dropped his head, and groaned 
 with pain. 
 
 The house was as still as death, and 
 
 _most of the people held down their 
 
 heads. I could see that the young men 
 were agitated. For myself, I regretted 
 that Brother Nash had gone sofar. He 
 had committed himself, that God would 
 either take the life of some of them, 
 and send them to hell, or convert some 
 of them, within a week. However, on 
 Tuesday morning of the same week, the 
 leader of these young men came to me, 
 in the greatest distress of mind. He 
 was all prepared to submit; and as soon 
 as I came to press him, he broke down 
 like a child, confessed, and manifestly 
 gave himself to Christ. Then he said: 
 “What shall I do, Mr. Finney?” I re- 
 plied: “Go immediately to all your 
 young companions, and pray with them, 
 and exhort them, at once to turn to the 
 Lord.” He did so; and before the 
 week was out, nearly if not all of that 
 class of young men, were hoping in 
 Christ. 
 
334 
 
 e524 
 
 A GOOD AUDIENCE. 
 
 Rev. Lyman Beecher was once en- 
 gaged to preach, by way of exchange, 
 for a country minister, and the day 
 proved to be very cold and stormy. It 
 was midwinter and the snow was piled 
 in heaps all along the roads so as to 
 make the passage very difficult. Still 
 the doctor urged his horse through the 
 drifts till he reached the church, put 
 his horse into a shed and went in. 
 
 As yet there was no person in the 
 house, and after looking about he took 
 his seat in the pulpit. Soon the door 
 opened and a single individual walked 
 up the aisle and took a seat. 
 
 The hour came for opening the ser- 
 vice, but there were no more hearers. 
 Whether to preach to such an audience 
 or not was only a momentary question 
 with Lyman Beecher. He felt that he 
 had a duty to perform and that he had 
 no right to refuse to do it because one 
 man only could reap benefit, and ac- 
 cordingly he went through all the ser- 
 vice, praying, singing, preaching and 
 benediction, with one hearer. And 
 when all was over he hastened down 
 from the desk to speak to the “congre- 
 gation,” but he had departed. 
 
 So rare a circumstance was, of course, 
 occasionally referred to, but twenty 
 years after a very delightful discovery 
 came to light in connection with his 
 service. Dr. Beecher was traveling in 
 Ohio, and on alighting from a stage in a 
 pleasant village a gentleman stepped up 
 to him and called him by name. 
 
 “I do not remember you,” said Dr. 
 Beecher. 
 
 “I suppose not,” said the stranger, 
 “but we spent two hours together in a 
 house alone once in a storm.” 
 
 “I do not recall it, sir,’ replied the 
 old minister; “pray, where was it?” 
 
 “Do you remember preaching twenty 
 years ago in such a place to a single 
 person?” 
 
 “Yes, I do, indeed, and if you are 
 the man, I have been wishing to see you 
 ever since.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 “fT am the man, sir, and that sermon 
 made a minister of me, and yonder is my 
 church. The converts of that sermon 
 are all over Ohio.” 
 
 In telling the story Dr. Beecher would 
 add: “I think that was about as satis- 
 factory an audience as I ever had.”— 
 Youth’s Companion. 
 
 —625— 
 ‘THE NARROW PASSAGE. 
 
 In one of the coal-pits of the north, 
 while a considerable number of the 
 miners were down below, the top of the 
 pit fell in, and the shaft was completely 
 blocked up. Those who were in the 
 mine gathered to a spot where the last 
 remains of air could be breathed. There 
 they sat and sang and prayed after the 
 lights had gone out because the air was 
 unable to support the flame. They 
 were in total darkness, but a gleam of 
 hope cheered them when one of them 
 said he had heard that there was a con- 
 nection between that pit and an old pit 
 which had been worked years ago. He 
 said it was a long passage through which 
 a man might get by crawling all the 
 way, lying flat upon the ground; he 
 would go and see if it were possible. 
 The passage was very long, but they 
 crept through it, and at last they came 
 out to light at the bottom of the other 
 shaft, and their lives were saved. 
 
 If my present way of access to Christ 
 as a saint is blocked up by doubts and 
 fears, if I cannot go straight up the 
 shaft and see the light of my Father’s 
 face, there is an old working, the old- 
 fashioned way by which sinners have 
 gone of old, by which poor thieves go, 
 by which harlots go. I will creep along 
 it, lowly and humbly; I will go flat 
 upon the ground. I will humble my- 
 self till I see my Lord, and cry, “Father, 
 I am not worthy to be called Thy son, 
 make me as one of Thy hired servants, 
 so long as I may but dwell in Thy 
 house.” In our very worst case of 
 despondency we may still come to Jesus 
 as sinners. “Jesus Christ came into the 
 world to save sinners.” Call this to mind 
 and you may have hope.—Spurgeon. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 —626— 
 SEED SOWN IN GOOD GROUND. 
 A young man came into the service 
 
 in one of our churches and heard a. 
 
 message that interested him so that he 
 continued to return. Then he brought 
 another young man with him. After 
 a little this second one was sick and in 
 the hospital. When his friend visited 
 him they talked of the services, and the 
 sick man said: “I suppose the preacher 
 thought that what he said did not do 
 much good; that we went away and 
 forgot all about it. But it has changed 
 my life.” He died giving evidence that 
 he was a Christian. 
 
 The young man asked another of his 
 acquaintances to go with him to church, 
 and he, too, became interested. He 
 had led a life far away from Christ, but 
 a short time since from another State 
 he wrote his friend, asking him to come 
 and see him. “You took me to your 
 church; come out here, and © will take 
 ~ you to mine.” 
 
 In the meantime the young man him- 
 self went away from the city for a time 
 without having made known to the 
 minister anything about himself. Now 
 he has returned, and has made the min- 
 ister his pastor, and on last Sabbath he 
 coufessed his faith in Christ in the pres- 
 ence of the congregation. He first led 
 others, and now follows those whom he 
 led. And all the time the preacher, 
 whose words were life, did not know 
 the history of any of those who were 
 being brought into the kingdom by 
 his ministry.—The United Presbyterian. 
 
 —627— 
 THE NEEDED WOOD CAME. 
 
 I recollect hearing my father say that 
 once, when he came home from a jour- 
 ney on a Saturday night in the dead of 
 winter, mother met him at the door, 
 and said, “We have just enough fuel for 
 this evening, but none for tomorrow.” 
 Anybody that ever lived on Litchtield 
 
 Hill in winter knows that a Sunday 
 
 there and then would not suggest sum- 
 mer. 
 
 335 
 
 for money in those days, and in this in- 
 stance he had none, and did not know 
 where to get any. And, in telling of it, 
 he said, “I felt like a child, and I in- 
 wardly prayed God to help me.” And 
 he said he had hardly finished praying 
 before an old farmer, who had never 
 been particularly friendly, and who did 
 not come to church very often, drove 
 up to the door with a load of wood, 
 which he said he “took it into his head 
 he would like to give to the parson.” 
 Do you ask me if that was an answer 
 to prayer? Well, although I would not 
 attempt a philosophical explanation of 
 it, it is so pleasant to think it was an 
 answer to prayer, and the circumstances 
 point so strongly in that direction that 
 I prefer to think it was. I do not be- 
 lieve it will do anybody any hurt to be- 
 lieve that God loves us, that His ear 
 is ever open to our cry, and that, while 
 we use all lawful and known means in 
 our own behalf, He stands ready to 
 succor us in the day of trouble. I 
 would not for anything have my mouth 
 stopped so that I could not go to Him 
 in my extremity, and say, “I am poor 
 and wretched; oh, help, help !”— 
 —Beecher. 
 
 —628— 
 
 SHE WORKED AT CHRISTIANITY 
 
 __A faithful Bible woman in Korea was 
 ill and went to a Japanese hospital for 
 treatment and stayed the entire summer. 
 The Japanese physician in charge was a 
 man of high rank, decorated by the em- 
 peror for bravery in the Russo-Japanese 
 War. When the Korean woman was 
 cured, she asked for her bill. The doctor 
 said, “I am a Buddhist, but you are a 
 Christian, but I see that you are working 
 at your religion, so there is no bill.” The 
 Korean woman wondered how she ever 
 could repay his kindness. She resolved 
 to pray for him and pray that he might 
 become a Christian. The doctor had 
 been deeply impressed by the little 
 woman's religion. He began to read 
 the New ‘Testament, to learn English, 
 and soon was an earnest enquirer as to 
 the way to Christ——The Wellspring. 
 
336° 
 
 en6 20 
 GIVE GOD THE BEST. 
 
 Speaking of the sacrifices that the 
 heathen of India are willing to make for 
 the sake of their religion, some years 
 ago at Northfield, Massachusetts, I 
 heard a returned missionary from that 
 land relate the following incident: 
 
 In the course of her visits the mis- 
 sionary called at the humble home of 
 a poor woman, and observing twin 
 babies, beautiful in form and feature as 
 she thought, she exclaimed to the moth- 
 er, “What two beautiful babes God has 
 given you!” “Do you think so?” said 
 the sad mother. “You better look 
 closer!” 
 
 The visitor drew nearer, and then she 
 discovered that one of the children was 
 blind. After a few words of sympathy 
 for the mother she went on her way. 
 
 Some time later the missionary called 
 again on the same woman and seeing but 
 one child she asked the mother about 
 the absent babe and the sorrowful 
 woman replied, “I have given him to 
 Junger.” 
 
 Supposing of course that it would be 
 the blind baby that would be cast into 
 the Ganges if any was, the missionary 
 was surprised, as she stepped over to 
 where the child lay, to discover that the 
 blind baby was left, and she exclaimed, 
 “Why, you did not give your baby that 
 could see to Junger, did you!” 
 
 “Yes,” replied the sad-hearted mother, 
 “Junger must have the best.” 
 
 That mother’s intention was right, 
 but her method was all wrong. God 
 is indeed entitled to the best we have, 
 and nothing is dearer to us, nor to Him, 
 than our children. But He wants not 
 the sacrifice of their bodies, but the 
 yielding up of our and their hearts to 
 Him in loving service, as living sacri- 
 fices—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —630— 
 A BOY’S FUTURE IN DANGER. 
 
 John Willis Baer tells the Christian 
 Endeavor World of an impressive little 
 incident which occurred on one of his 
 journeys, and which forcibly illustrates 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 how many parents endanger the future 
 moral character of their children: 
 
 Sitting back of me in a train the other 
 day were a mother and her promising 
 boy. The conductor had punched the 
 mother’s ticket, and, as a ticket had 
 not been provided for the lad, the con- 
 ductor, looking at the boy, politely 
 said, “Is your boy under five, madam?” 
 
 “Yes,” was the prompt reply. 
 
 The conductor moved on, and then 
 I heard the youngster say, “Why, 
 mamma, I am past six.” 
 
 Instantly, with frowning face, and a 
 countenance blazing with wrath, the 
 mother said: 
 
 “Don’t you ever contradict me again. 
 I know what I am saying. If the con- 
 ductor had heard you say that, he would 
 have made me pay half-fare for you. 
 Don’t ever say again on the train that 
 you are past six. If you do, I’ll whip 
 you when we get home.” 
 
 The boy was still and thoughtful for 
 a moment. Then I heard him say, 
 “But, mamma, I am past six.” <A 
 slap followed; the child cried; the 
 mother looked like a tempest; and I 
 fairly boiled with indignation. 
 
 It it just an incident on a railroad 
 train, yet possibly one that will be more 
 harmful to a boy morally than an or- 
 dinary railroad accident might have 
 been to him physically. One such ex- 
 perience in a boy’s life may mar his 
 whole career. Then think of the moth- 
 er’s personal sins. She lied to the con- 
 ductor; she lied to her own boy; she 
 cheated the railroad; she abused her 
 child. And all that to save one dollar 
 and twenty-five cents, the price of a 
 half-fare ticket from New York to 
 Philadelphia. May God pity the boy 
 and forgive the mother.—Selected. 
 
 —631— 
 EACH TO HIS OWN PLACE. 
 
 It is related of Casper Hauser that, 
 having been born in a dungeon and 
 confined there without light from the 
 outer world until his seventeenth year, 
 he was then released only to find that 
 the light smote upon his eyes with an 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 insufferable pain, and the sounds of 
 the streets fell like a crash of thunder 
 in his ears; so that he begged to be 
 taken back to prison, because the dis- 
 mal silence and solitude were more toler- 
 able than the comforts of freedom and 
 normal life. | 
 
 The reason why the thought of death 
 is terrible to many is not because it 
 ushers us into the unknown, but because 
 it ends probation by crystallizing char- 
 acter and so “fixes us in an _ eternal 
 state.” As the tree falleth, so also 
 must it lie. Eternity finds us as death 
 leaves us. The soul must needs, there- 
 fore, go to its own place. ‘The gates of 
 Heaven are always open; but those 
 who wander in outer darkness would 
 only find an added misery were they to 
 enter in. To such as are confirmed in 
 sin there must, of necessity, be one 
 place more insufferable than Hell, that 
 is Heaven, where truth and righteous- 
 ness prevail and all are engaged in the 
 pure worship of God.—Rev. David 
 James Burrell, D. D. 
 
 —632— 
 GIVE WHILE YOU CAN. 
 
 “After the Chicago fire three friends 
 met, two of whom had been burned out 
 of house and home, and the immense 
 accumulations of successful lives. One 
 of the unfortunates said to the other 
 two, ‘Well, thank God, there was some 
 of my money placed where it could not 
 burn,’ saying which, he turned upon 
 his heel cheerfully and went to work at 
 his new life. His brother in misfortune 
 turned to his companion and _ said, 
 ‘That man gave away last year nearly 
 a million of dollars, and if I had not 
 been a fool I should have done the same 
 thing.’ ” 
 
 That man called himself a fool for 
 hoarding up wealth that might have 
 been devoted to the service of the Lord. 
 A higher authority confirms the justice 
 of the title; for to the man who had 
 
 much goods laid up for many years God 
 
 said, “Thou fool, this night thy soul 
 shall ‘be required of thee: then whose 
 shall those things be which thou hast 
 provided?”—Dr. J. G. Holland. 
 
 337 
 
 —633-—= 
 CATCHING MONKEYS. 
 
 It is said one way that the natives in 
 Africa catch monkeys is to take a large 
 pumpkin and cut a hole in it large 
 enough for a monkey to get his hand in 
 and after taking out the seeds they 
 partly fill it with corn. The monkey 
 then puts his hand in and takes as much 
 corn in it as he can possibly hold. He 
 then cannot getit out. The native who 
 is somewhere close in hiding then comes 
 with his club and kills it. In spite of 
 death starring him in the face, the mon- 
 key will not let go of his corn, but will 
 fight and scold and chatter until a blow 
 from the native’s club put him beyond 
 the need of corn. 
 
 How truly this can be compared to 
 some people. They are as greedy after 
 the things of this world as the monkey 
 is after corn. They will grab and hold 
 fast in spite of all the warning in God’s 
 Word and faithful ministers give them. 
 They hold fast in spite of eternal dam- 
 nation staring them in the face. The 
 devil who uses this for a trap is in hid- 
 ing and when the time comes he claims 
 them and they are left without God and 
 without hope. We ought to give heed 
 to the Scripture, “Set your affections 
 on things above, and not on things on 
 the earth,” and that in time while there 
 is room for escape.—F. C. Rosentrater. 
 
 —634— 
 THE ART OF LIVING LONG. 
 
 Thomas A. Edison’s_ great-grand- 
 father once happened to read the book, 
 “The Art of Living Long,” by Cornaro, 
 an Italian nobleman. He adopted the 
 rules regarding eating, drinking and 
 fresh air laid down in that book and 
 lived to the age of 102 years. Edison’s 
 grandfather also following the same 
 rules, attained to the age of 103 years; 
 and all of his seven sons, pursuing the 
 same course of abstemious living, 
 rounded out the goodly age of more 
 than ninety years each. One of them, 
 Edison’s father, reached the age of 
 ninety-four, and passed away without 
 apparent illness —Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 dall. 
 
338 
 
 m9 5 
 “SAVED FROM SUICIDE. 
 
 : Will you let me give an incident that 
 I heard from a friend whom some of 
 you perhaps know. He was an officer 
 in the Swedish army. Away over in 
 India I heard him teil this story of his 
 own experience, tell how he had run 
 the whole gamut of vices, how, wealthy 
 and popular, he had gone into every 
 form of sin, until he had gotten down 
 to the deepest dregs. Tasting of its 
 bitterness and having no hope of any- 
 thing beyond, he determined to put an 
 end to his life. He had a cousin who 
 was a Christian. He went to say good- 
 by to him, and as he started to leave 
 him, his cousin got between him and 
 the door, and plead with him, “For 
 God’s sake turn to Jesus Christ.” He 
 laughed at him and said: “Your Jesus 
 can’t save me. ‘There is no Jesus. 
 There is no God. There is no here- 
 after. I have tasted all that the world 
 has to give, and it is worse than noth- 
 
 ing. This life is a bitter sham, and I 
 am going to be done with it.” His 
 cousin plead with him still, “Try 
 
 Jesus; put Him to the test to-night; 
 see if He can save you.” The officer 
 hesitated a moment and then turned 
 to his cousin and said very earnestly: 
 “Well, old fellow, for your sake I will 
 do it; and if I do it at all, I am going 
 to do it honestly.” He dropped on his 
 knees and said: “Lord Jesus, if thou 
 canst save sinners, save me; for if ever 
 aman needed saving, I do.” For an 
 instant he paused, and then a wonder- 
 ful smile broke over his face as he 
 turned to his cousin and said: “It is 
 true! It is true! He has saved me! 
 He has forgiven my sins!” And the 
 years of his life since have proved the 
 truth of that experience. 
 
 O my brethren, if there be one here 
 who is yet in sin and under condemna- 
 tion, going down inevitably to ever- 
 lasting death, put Jesus to the test now! 
 He will answer. He never has failed 
 anyone who ever came to Him. “Him 
 that cometh unto me I will in no wise 
 cast out.”’—Rev. C. A. R. Janvier. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE “ANECDOTES 
 
 —636— 
 FRANKLIN’S ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 It is recorded of Franklin, that when 
 a young man expressed his surprise that 
 a gentleman well known to them, of 
 unbounded wealth, should appear more 
 anxious after business than the most 
 assiduous clerk in a counting-house, 
 the doctor took an apple from the fruit- 
 basket and presented it to a little child 
 who could just totter about the room. 
 The child could scarcely grasp it in his 
 hand; he then gave it another, which 
 occupied the other hand. Then choos- 
 ing a third, remarkable for its size and 
 beauty, he presented that also. The 
 child, after many ineffectual attempts 
 to hold the three, dropped the last on 
 the carpet and burst into tears. “See 
 there,” said Franklin, “there is a little 
 man with more riches than he can en- 
 joy.” The increase of painful care, 
 anxiety and trouble, generally bears at 
 least an equal proportion to the increase 
 of riches. The peace of the child was 
 not broken until the attempt was made 
 to obtain the grasp of the third apple; 
 had but two been thought of, its happi- 
 ness would have been great.—Selected. 
 
 —637— 
 
 EARNESTNESS. 
 
 Rev. Rowland Hill, once addressing 
 the people of Wotton, exclaimed, “Be- 
 cause I am in earnest, men call me an 
 enthusiast. When I first came into this 
 part of the country, I was walking on 
 yonder hill, and saw a gravel-pit fall 
 in and bury three human beings alive. 
 I lifted up my voice for help so loud, 
 that I was heard in the town below, at 
 a distance of near a mile; help came, and 
 rescued two of the sufferers. No one 
 called me an enthusiast then; and when 
 I see eternal destruction ready to fall on 
 poor sinners, and about to entomb them 
 irrecoverably in an eternal mass of woe, 
 and call aloud on them to escape, shall 
 I be called an enthusiast now? No, sin- 
 ner, I am no enthusiast in doing so: and 
 
 I call on thee aloud to fly for refuge to 
 
 the hope set before thee in the Gospel.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —638-— 
 STORIES OF INDULGENCES. 
 
 The dealers in indulgences had estab- 
 lished themselves at Hagenau in 1517. 
 The wife of a shoemaker, profiting by 
 the permission given in the instruction 
 of the commissary-general, had gotten 
 against her husband’s will a letter of 
 indulgence, and had paid for it a golden 
 florin. Shortly after she died; and the 
 widower omitting to have mass said for 
 the repose of her soul, was charged by 
 the curate with contempt of religion, 
 and the judge of Hagenau summoned 
 him to appear before him. The shoe- 
 maker put in his pocket his wife’s in- 
 dulgence, and repaired to the place of 
 summons. “Is your wife dead?” asked 
 the judge. “Yes,” answered the shoe- 
 maker. “What have you done with 
 her?” “I buried her, and commended 
 her soul to God.” “But have you had a 
 mass said for the salvation of her soul?” 
 “I have not; it was not necessary; she 
 went to heaven at the moment of her 
 death.” “How do you know that?” 
 “Here is the evidence of it.” 
 
 The widower drew from his pocket 
 the indulgence and the judge, in the 
 presence of the curate, read, in so 
 many words, that in the moment of 
 death the woman who had received it 
 would go, not into purgatory, but 
 straight into heaven. “If the curate 
 pretends that a mass is necessary after 
 that,” said the shoemaker, “my wife has 
 been cheated by our holy father the 
 Pope; but if she has not been cheated, 
 then the curate is deceiving me.” There 
 was no reply to this defence, and the ac- 
 cused was acquitted. It was thus that 
 the good sense of the people disposed of 
 the impostures. 
 
 A Saxon gentleman had heard Tetzel 
 at Leipsic, and was much shocked by 
 his impostures. He went to the monk 
 and asked if he was authorized to par- 
 don sins in intention, of such as the ap- 
 plicant intended to commit. “Assured- 
 ly,” answered Tetzel, “I have full power 
 from the Pope to do so.” “Well,” re- 
 plied the gentleman, “I want to take 
 some slight revenge on one of my ene- 
 mies, without attempting his life. I 
 
 ANECDOTES 339 
 
 will pay you ten crowns if you will give 
 me a letter of indulgence that shall bear 
 me harmless.” Tetzel made some 
 scruples; they struck their bargain for 
 thirty crowns. Shortly after, the monk 
 set out from Leipsic. The gentleman, 
 attended by his servant, lay wait for 
 him in a wood between Jutterboch and 
 Treblin; they fell upon him, gave him 
 a beating, and carried off the rich chest 
 of indulgence-money the inquisitor had 
 with him. Tetzel clamoured against 
 this act of violence, and brought an ac- 
 tion before the judges. But the gentle- 
 man showed the letter signed by Tetzel 
 himself, which exempted him _ before- 
 hand from all responsibility. Duke 
 George, who had first been much in- 
 censed at the action, upon seeing this 
 writing, ordered that the accused should 
 be acquitted—D’Aubigne’s History of 
 
 the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth 
 Century. 
 
 ae is 
 JEWELS FROM MUD. 
 
 John Ruskin was one day walking 
 along the streets of London. The 
 weather had been very wet, and the mud 
 was most plentiful. The thought oc- 
 curred to him that he would have the 
 mud analyzed to find out exactly the 
 inorganic elements in it. This was ac- 
 cordingly done, and the London mud 
 was found to consist of sand, clay, soot, 
 and water. Musing upon that fact, it 
 struck him that these are the very sub- 
 stances from which our precious jewels 
 and gems are formed. From the sand 
 
 or silica come the onyx, chrysolite, 
 agate, beryl, cornelian, chalcedony, 
 jasper, sardius, amethyst; from the 
 
 clay come the sapphire, ruby, emerald, 
 topaz; and from the soot is formed the 
 diamond. London mud composed of 
 priceless jewels! Man cannot trans- 
 form the mud into those glittering points 
 of light, but God transforms and re- 
 creates the mud—-poor, sinful, wayward 
 humanity into the glory of redeemed 
 and beautiful souls that sing the new 
 song, and carry with them glad tidings 
 of great joy.—Selected. 
 
340 
 
 —640— , 
 MYRON P. TYNDALL’S HEALING. 
 
 In 1883 I was a member of the grad- 
 uating class at the Normal School at 
 Albany, N. Y., and my brother, Charles 
 H. Tyndall, was a student in the Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Auburn, N. Y. 
 Near the close of April the shocking in- 
 telligence was received from him that 
 father had been seriously injured. He 
 had been kicked on the back of the head 
 by a young horse which he had led to 
 water. Father lived two miles east of 
 Alton, near Great Sodus Bay, N. Y.., 
 and my brother could easily go there 
 and keep me informed as to his condi- 
 tion. 
 
 But I knew that such an injury at the 
 back of the head was especially dan- 
 gerous, and my heart sank within me 
 at the sad news received. The burden 
 on my heart was inexpressibly heavy 
 all that day. But at family worship 
 that evening I laid the matter before 
 God in earnest prayer, and entreated 
 him for Christ’s sake to spare father’s 
 life if possible. It pleased God to give 
 me the assurance that my prayer was 
 answered, and that father should re- 
 cover. After we arose from our knees 
 I told my wife and a cousin, who was 
 boarding with us, that father was going 
 to get well; and I felt to thank God 
 and rejoice. 
 
 Had I been asked how I knew this I 
 could not have told. But it was en- 
 ough for my comfort that I knew it bes 
 yond all question. 
 
 He was hurt April 27th, and with the 
 passing of the days the information re- 
 ceived was not encouraging. 
 
 In spite of the lack of good news from 
 father, I had not the slightest doubt but 
 that he would finally get well; but as 
 time went on I began to feel that I 
 ought to go to him. My presence I 
 thought would at least be a comfort to 
 him, and perhaps the Lord might be 
 pleased to use me to encourage father’s 
 faith in God, and so help to his res- 
 toration. 
 
 My brother had preached at Rose, 
 N. Y., on Sunday, and had driven on 
 from there to see father, and on Mon- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 day he ventured to return to Auburn. 
 But on Tuesday night he received a 
 message, saying, “Come home at once.” 
 When he reached there on Wednesday 
 he saw at a glance that a change for the 
 worse had taken place; and Dr. York 
 said to him, “Your father can live but a 
 little while!” 
 
 About that time, May 4th, I also 
 started for home, two hundred miles 
 away, to see father. I reached the resi- 
 dence of my wife’s mother in Rose that 
 evening, and stayed over night. The 
 next morning I set out for the home of 
 my father, which was five or six miles 
 farther north. 
 
 At the home of an aunt at York Set- 
 tlement I stopped and took dinner. And 
 there I learned the particulars of father’s 
 injury, and of his condition. A cousin 
 said to me, “Your father cannot get 
 well.” I told her I knew he would get 
 well. She said I was mistaken, and 
 thought he would recover because I 
 wanted it so. But I did not know how 
 dreadfully he was hurt, and furthermore 
 both doctors had said there was no hope 
 for him. I told her that God had given 
 me the assurance that He would restore 
 father, and I was as confident of his re- 
 covery as though it had already oc- 
 curred. 
 
 Some may read these lines to whom 
 this seems very strange and unreason- 
 able, but there are many others who 
 will understand it, for they too have 
 prayed until made to know that they 
 should have the blessing desired. 
 
 My brother, .who for twenty-two 
 years has been pastor of the Reformed 
 Church at Mt. Vernon, N. Y., speaking 
 of this matter, said that he met me at 
 the door of father’s home on my ar- 
 Yival that afternoon, and he remarked 
 to me, “Father is alive!” When I re- 
 plied, “Yes, and he is going to live!” he 
 was surprised, and thought I did not 
 know how bad his condition really was. 
 
 Entering the sick chamber, father 
 recognized me. His sufferings were 
 most intense. Every few moments a 
 pain would start at the place of injury 
 and traverse his whole spinal column, 
 and his distress was so terrible that the 
 doctors had to keep him under the in- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 fluence of opiates continually. 
 
 I assured him of my great sympathy 
 for him, and told him that God was 
 going to raise him up to health again. 
 And to encourage his faith I directed 
 his attention to many precious promises 
 of the word of God. 
 
 Although he believed the Bible, yet 
 he was not able to claim these promises 
 for himself. His condition continued 
 just the same the remainder of that 
 day, and also all the next day. While 
 I had no doubt of his ultimate recovery, 
 the delay was a trial of my faith and I 
 wondered why God did not interpose. 
 For I was expecting that his recovery 
 would be gradual, and perhaps it might 
 be due in part to the curative proper- 
 ties of the medicines used. 
 
 But there was no sign of improve- 
 ment. Father’s sufferings continued as 
 intense as ever. Someone had to sit 
 at his bedside continually to prevent his 
 getting into so profound a slumber from 
 the effect of the morphine administered 
 that he could not be awakened. Arous- 
 ing him when he began to breathe too 
 heavily at one time, he said to me, 
 “What a horrible dream I had! I 
 thouzht I was a saw-log, and men were 
 cutting me up with cross-cut saws!” 
 
 It was the second night after my ar- 
 rival, and I was sitting up with father 
 and the other members of the family 
 were in bed. About midnight I had left 
 his room to go to the kitchen to get a 
 hot flatiron to put to his feet. I was 
 gone probably five minutes. When I 
 entered his room, father exclaimed, 
 “Henry, I have not had one of those 
 pains since you left the room. And I 
 am not going to have them any more 
 either! I asked Jesus to take them 
 away, and he has! Bless his name!” 
 Of course we rejoiced, and praised God 
 together. 
 
 In a few minutes I awakened the 
 other members of the family. My 
 brother has told me that when aroused 
 his first thought was, “Father is dying.” 
 He came down stairs, and seeing father 
 sitting up in bed, he exclaimed, “Father, 
 what is the matter?” “Matter,” he re- 
 plied, “Jesus has just healed me! Bless 
 
 341 
 
 his name!” And then he said, “I would 
 not have suffered what I have for the 
 whole state of New York, but I am now 
 glad this happened to me. I now sce 
 that it is not for the sake of the right- 
 eousness of any man. It is for Christ’s 
 sake that God will help us.” 
 
 He said he had felt too unworthy to 
 believe that the Lord would hear him. 
 But in a moment the thought came, 
 “What did Christ come into the world 
 for, if not to save sinners?” And he 
 asked in faith and at once received. He 
 said he was perfectly well, and wanted 
 to get up and dress. We told him it 
 was only about two o’clock and per- 
 suaded him to remain in bed. 
 
 That morning he arose and dressed, 
 ate breakfast and led the family wor- 
 ship. When Dr. York, now of Newark, 
 N. Y., called to see him he was aston- 
 ished to see the change which had taken 
 place, and when father testified that 
 God had healed him, the doctor could 
 not but admit that there was something 
 wonderful about it. 
 
 A little later in the day my brother 
 went to Alton, and calling to see Dr. 
 Ostrom he said to him, “Doctor, what 
 do you think of father’s condition?” 
 The old physician replied, “My boy, 
 your father will die of acute congestion 
 of the brain in spite of all we can do.” 
 But when my brother said, “Doctor, 
 father is sitting up, and says he is well!” 
 the physician was amazed and could 
 not understand it. 
 
 Father had no relapse, and lived for 
 eighteen years longer, and as a farmer 
 did some of the hardest work of his life. 
 He fell asleep in Jesus, May 6th, 1901, 
 lacking eight days of 71 years. Spirit- 
 ually his last days were the best of his 
 life. And he was greatly enriched in 
 faith and love because of this exper- 
 ience of God’s grace and power. 
 
 It is needless to say that his three 
 sons, now preaching the gospel, all of 
 whom participated in a measure in this 
 experience of God’s healing grace, have 
 been blessed by it, and while not des- 
 pising the use of any other remedies, 
 they earnestly recommend the sick to 
 pray that they may be healed.—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
342 
 
 —641— 
 THE LEFT-HANDED LETTER, 
 
 A student in a college one day took a 
 letter from the office, and as he glanced 
 at the post mark and the handwriting, 
 there was suddenly suggested to his 
 mind a question that startled him. He 
 had been expecting a letter from his 
 mother, but the one he received, al- 
 though it bore the post mark of home, 
 was certainly not directed in his 
 mother’s familiar hand. Had anything 
 happened to his dearly beloved parent? 
 In that moment of suspense it seemed 
 as if all her incessant love and many 
 admonitions rushed to his mind. 
 Through his whole life he had been 
 surrounded by her influence and 
 prayers. 
 
 His mother had with deep earnest- 
 ness told him when he was leaving 
 home that she believed that the crisis in 
 his life had come, and she implored him 
 to choose Christ for his portion. But 
 his heart was full of worldly ambition. 
 His studies engrossed his whole atten- 
 tion, and he turned a deaf ear to the 
 most important of all subjects. The 
 second week of school he received a 
 letter from her, urging him, with all the 
 intensity of her love, not to make the 
 fatal delay; but the letter was put care- 
 lessly aside, and he turned to his ab- 
 sorbing studies. Weeks and months 
 had passed, and letter had followed let- 
 ter, but the young man had read each 
 without heeding the faithful pleadings 
 of the mother whom he dearly loved. 
 There was a revival in the school, but 
 he did not attend the meetings. His 
 classmates went, and were saved; but 
 he had no time to spare, so completely 
 was he immersed in his books. Would 
 nothing arouse him? It would seem as 
 if everything had failed. 
 
 But God’s ways are not our ways. 
 That letter did the work. The question, 
 “Has anything happened to mother? Is 
 she dead and all her fearful prayers un: 
 answered?” the inquiry so full of fear— 
 prepated his heart for what was to fol- 
 Ow. 
 
 With trembling fingers he tore open 
 the envelope. No, his mother was not 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 dead; but a serious accident had de- 
 prived her of her right hand. The hard- 
 est thing for the mother was the 
 thought that she could not write to her 
 absent son, and still entreat him to be 
 wise in time. Nay, but she must. 
 
 Immediately she began a letter with 
 her untaught left hand. Slow and pain- 
 ful as the process was, she did not fal- 
 ter until it was completed. But when 
 the awkward hand had finished its un- 
 accustomed task, it was so different 
 from the fair writing of former days, 
 that the poor mother could not restrain 
 her tears over the crooked, miserable- 
 looking letter. But it was the best that 
 the faithful mother could do, and weep- 
 ing, she knelt and implored God to ac- 
 cept her offering, and “make the 
 crooked straight.” 
 
 How little she thought that even the 
 address that she penned with her trem- 
 bling hand was to awaken conscience. 
 Slowly and thoughtfully her son deci- 
 phered the contents of the scarcely legi- 
 ble letter. It was full of the one theme 
 —his salvation; and as he read the 
 earnest appeal that had been written 
 with such difficulty, every word touched 
 the chords of his heart. He said: “If 
 my salvation makes my dear mother so 
 anxious, I will attend to it now.” 
 
 That night he was found in the re- 
 vival meeting; and among those who 
 were converted at that time, he became 
 one of the brightest lights of the Chris- 
 tian church. He always attributed his 
 conversion, through God, to his mother’s 
 left-handed letter.—Tales of Trust. 
 
 —642— 
 GIVING AS TO THE LORD. 
 
 It is told of Andrew Fuller that he 
 once asked a friend for a contribution 
 to foreign missions and received the 
 reply, “I will give five pounds, Andrew, 
 seeing it is you.” But the preacher re- 
 fused the proffered gift, and his friend, 
 studying his face fora moment, amend- 
 ed his offer. “Well then, seeing it is the 
 Lord, I will give ten pounds.” Not 
 a few of our gifts would change in 
 amount and spirit if they were really 
 offered to the Lord. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —643— 
 GOD’S CHASTENING. 
 
 Some years ago there was found in an 
 African mine the most magnificent dia- 
 mond in the world’s history. It was 
 presented to the King of England to 
 blaze in his crown of state. The king 
 sent it to Amsterdam to be cut. It was 
 put in the hands of un expert lapidary. 
 And what do you suppose he did with 
 it? He took this gem of priceless value. 
 He cut anotch init. Then he struck it 
 a sharp blow with his instrument, and 
 lo! the superb jewel lay in his hand, 
 cleft in twain. What recklessness! what 
 wastefulness! what criminal careless- 
 ness! Not so. For days and weeks that 
 blow had been studied and planned. 
 Drawings and models had been made of 
 the gem. Its quality, its defects, its 
 lines of cleavage had all been studied 
 with minutest care. The man to whom 
 it was committed was one of the most 
 skilful lapidaries in the world. Do you 
 say that blow was a mistake? Nay. It 
 was the climax of the lapidary’s skill. 
 When he struck that blow he did the 
 one thing to bring the gem to its 
 most perfect shapeliness, radiance, and 
 jewelled splendor. That blow which 
 seemed to ruin the superb precious 
 stone was in fact its perfect redemption. 
 For from these two halves were 
 wrought the two magnificent gems 
 which the skilled eye of the lapidary 
 saw hidden in the rough, uncut stone 
 as it came from the mines. 
 
 So, sometimes, God allows a stinging 
 blow to fall upon your life. The blood 
 spurts. The nerves wince. The soul 
 cries out in an agony of wondering pro- 
 test. The blow seems to you an ap- 
 palling mistake. But it is not. For 
 you are the most precious jewel in the 
 world to God. And He is the most 
 skilled lapidary in the universe. Some 
 day you are to blaze in the diadem of 
 the King. As you lie in His hand now 
 He knows just how to deal with you. 
 Not a blow will be permitted to fall 
 upon your shrinking soul but that the 
 love of God ever rules it, and works out 
 from it, depths of blessing and spiritual 
 
 ANECDOTES 343 
 
 enrichment unseen and unthought-of by 
 you.—James H. McConkey: 
 —644—- 
 
 THE DRAGON OF THE ABYSS. 
 
 Important and striking truth is often 
 conveyed to the mind by fable, and en- 
 forced on the attention with great 
 power, as in the following eastern story. 
 ‘A man was traveling in Syria, leading 
 his camel by the bridle. Suddenly, the 
 animal is seized with a panic of fear; 
 he raises himself with impetuosity, 
 foams and bounds in a manner so hor- 
 rible that his master abandons him in 
 anguish, and tries to save himself. He 
 perceives at a distance from the road 
 a deep stream; and as he still heard the 
 frightful neighings of the camel, he 
 sought a refuge there, and fell over a 
 precipice. But a shrub held him up. 
 He clung to it with both hands, and 
 cast on every side his anxious eyes. 
 Above him is the terrible camel, of 
 which he does not lose sight for a mo- 
 ment. In the abyss below is a dragon 
 who opens his monstrous jaws, and 
 seems waiting to devour him. At the 
 side of him he sees two mice, one white 
 and the other black, who gnaw in turn 
 at the foot of the shrub which serves 
 him for support. The unfortunate man 
 remains there frozen with terror, and 
 seeing no retreat, no means of safety. 
 
 Suddenly on a little branch of a shrub, 
 he sees some fruit. At that moment he 
 ceases to observe the rage of the camel, 
 the jaws of the dragon, and the fright- 
 ful activity of the mice. He reaches 
 out his hand toward the fruit, he gath- 
 ers it, and in the sweet taste forgets his 
 dangers. Do you ask who is this mad- 
 man, who can forget so quickly a mor- 
 tal peril? That man is thyself. The 
 dragon of the stream is the ever-open 
 abyss of death. The camel represents 
 the sorrows of life. The two mice who 
 are gnawing at the roots of the shrub 
 are day and night. And in this situa- 
 tion the fruit of pleasure attracts you. 
 You forget the anxieties of life, the 
 threatenings of death, the rapid succes- 
 sion of day and night, to seek the plant 
 
 of voluptuousness on the borders of the 
 tomb.—Selected, , 
 
344 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —645— 
 A STRIKING INCIDENT. 
 
 The following, taken from the “Pion- 
 eer Preacher,’ by Rev. Sherlock Bris- 
 tol, recounts an experience of his stu- 
 dent days at Oberlin. He was former- 
 ly a home missionary in the Northwest, 
 and resided the last we knew at Saticoy, 
 Cal. We most emphatically believe 
 that God often thus influences the minds 
 of men to provide for those who trust 
 in Him. But for this faith we should 
 be burdened with anxiety from which 
 we are now happily free: 
 
 “Nothing special occurred during my 
 Junior year, save that I was wonder- 
 fully provided for financially. Strange 
 it was, but true, that when I came to 
 need money or books, or clothing, some- 
 how they came. And I noticed, too, 
 that God held them back just long en- 
 ough to enable me to appreciate their 
 value, and thus properly estimate the 
 love of the giver. And I used often to 
 wonder if the commandment to pray 
 and to pray often did not arise in part 
 from the yearnings of the great pater- 
 nal heart for converse with his children. 
 
 “I ought not here to omit the mention 
 of a special providence, supplying spe- 
 cial need of so marked a character that 
 I was compelled to say, “This is the fin- 
 ger of God.’ 
 
 “T had borrowed five dollars of a Mr. 
 Penfield, a student. One day he came 
 to me in haste and said, ‘My people are 
 sick and I must start for home this 
 noon, and shall need that five dollars 
 to pay my fare.’ I went at once to get 
 it, but I could neither get it where 
 it was due me nor _ borrow it. 
 Just then money had become very 
 scarce in Oberlin. The bell rang for 
 twelve o’clock, the stage threw off its 
 mails at the post-office and was rushing 
 to the hotel to change horses, then to 
 rush back, take its mails and go on. 
 I was returning to Tappan Hall and 
 saw Mr. Penfield standing in the south 
 door waiting for his money. What 
 should I say to him? That the Lord 
 had failed me this time? What a dis- 
 appointment to him, and what influence 
 yytey AU UO OAL oIN[Iey Fey} prNom 
 
 and his? But I saw a man running to- 
 ward the hall, who reached it simul- 
 taneously with myself. Before I had 
 time to speak to Penfield the stranger 
 cried out, ‘Is there a man by the name 
 of Bristol here?? ‘That is my name,’ I 
 said, ‘and I am the only one of that 
 name in college.’ ‘Well,’ said he, hand- 
 ing me five dollars, ‘I suppose this be- 
 longs to you.’ ‘Who gave it to you?’ 
 ‘Don’t know. Just as I left Cleveland 
 a gentleman handed me this and said to 
 give it to a man in Oberlin by name of 
 Bristol. That is all I know about it,’ 
 and he turned and ran back to the post- 
 office. I handed it over to Penfield, 
 and went to my room to thank God for 
 the gift, and also for this helper of my 
 faith. 
 
 “Years after, in passing through 
 Cleveland, I met a lawyer by the name 
 of Sterling, and he asked, ‘Did you, 
 some two years ago, receive five dollars 
 from me?’ I said I had no recollection 
 of it, but told him of receiving five dol- 
 lars of a stranger as narrated above. “Do 
 tell!’ said he, ‘I sent that five dollars and 
 it has troubled me more than any five 
 I ever lost or thought I lost. Thus it 
 was: I was standing by the Weddle 
 House as the stage was starting off one 
 morning, gazing upon the passengers 
 filling up the coach. As the driver was 
 gathering up his lines a passenger thrust 
 his head out of the window and asked, 
 “Does this coach pass through Oberlin?’ 
 ‘Yes,’ said the driver. At once I drew 
 out my purse, and handing the stranger 
 five dollars said, ‘Give this to a student 
 by the name of Bristol there; they all 
 know him.’ The driver cracked his 
 whip and the stage was off. I was con- 
 founded at what I had done, and said 
 to myself, ‘What a fool I was to give 
 that five dollars to a total stranger! He 
 will forget the name, and if he don’t 
 he will have no time to look up Mr. 
 Bristol; the stage only stops to change 
 horses. Ten to one he will keep it. 
 Surely Iam a fool. A hundred times I 
 said this of my action, and wondered 
 at its precipitancy. It seemed as if for 
 an instant another will had control of 
 my hand and my purse. So you re- 
 ceived it after all, and just when you 
 
 —L—e se 
 
me, ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 needed it, too,’ and he went away in 
 deep meditation. Of course such sing- 
 ular interpositions are rare, but do not 
 some such occur in every life, enough 
 to startle us out of our materialism, 
 with the conviction, ‘Thou God seest 
 me’?” 
 —646— 
 RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. 
 
 A settler in South Africa who lived 
 some distance up the country, one day 
 found a native lurking about his stable. 
 He accused the man of trying to steal 
 a horse. The captive reiterated his in- 
 nocence, and explained that he was go- 
 ing home to his kraal. Despite his 
 frantic struggles and efforts to escape, 
 the poor Kaffir was dragged to a tree, 
 and there, with one blow of an ax, his 
 tight hand was severed from his wrist. 
 
 It was about three months after this 
 tragic event that the settler found him- 
 self benighted while still far away from 
 his home. He came to a Kaffir hut and 
 asked admission. A tall native desired 
 him to enter, and food was placed be- 
 fore him. Next morning when he arose 
 to depart, his host confronted him, and 
 holding up his arm asked the white man 
 if he knew it. The squatter turned pale 
 —the hand was gone! He knew he had 
 been at the mercy of the man he had 
 treated so cruelly. 
 
 The Kaffir continued: “You were in 
 my power, I could have killed you. Re- 
 venge said, ‘Kill the man who has 
 maimed you for life,’ but I replied, ‘No, 
 I am a Christian, and I will forgive.’ ” 
 —Selected, 
 
 —647— 
 
 SECRETS OF STRENGTH. 
 
 It is noted that George Muller, 
 though a man always of delicate con- 
 stitution physically, began evangelistic 
 tours at the age of 70 involving a period 
 of seventeen years, and of travel aggre- 
 gating a distance of eight times around 
 the world, and he continued to carry 
 much of the responsibilities of the Or- 
 phanages besides, until beyond the age 
 of 90. As a young man his frequent 
 and serious illnesses and general debil- 
 ity had apparently disqualified him from 
 
 345 
 
 all military duty and many prophesied 
 early death or hopeless succumbing to 
 disease; yet at the age of 92 he is quoted 
 as saying, “I have been able, every day 
 and all the day, to work, and that with 
 ease, aS seventy years since.” He as- 
 cribed his marvelous preservation to 
 three causes: (1) The exercising him- 
 self to have always a conscience void 
 of offence both toward God and toward 
 men. (2) To the love he felt for the 
 Scriptures, and the constant recupera- 
 tive power they exercised upon his 
 whole being. (Prov. iv:20); and, (3) 
 To the happiness he felt in God and His 
 work, which relieved him of all anxiety 
 and needless wear and tear in his labors. 
 —Selected. 
 
 —648— 
 WHY THEY COULD NOT SLEEP. 
 
 Two missionaries went to a village in 
 Korea in which the gospel had never 
 been preached. It was noised abroad 
 that they had come, and practically the 
 whole population gathered. The inter- 
 est of the people was so great that the 
 meeting continued until a late hour. 
 Finally, the missionaries, weary after 
 the day’s journey, closed the meeting 
 and were shown into an adjoining room 
 for the night. But the people did not 
 go away, and the murmuring of their 
 voices kept the missionaries from sleep- 
 ing. Along about two o’clock, one of 
 them went back and said to the people: 
 “Why don’t you go home and go to 
 sleep? Itis very late and we are tired.” 
 The head man of the village answered 
 in substance: “How can we sleep? You 
 have told us that the Supreme Power 
 is not an evil spirit trying to injure us, 
 but a loving God Who gave His only 
 begotten Son for our salvation, and that 
 if we will turn away from our sins and 
 trust in Him, we may have deliverance 
 from fear, guidance in our perplexities, 
 comfort in our sorrows. How can we 
 sleep after a message like this?’ How 
 could they indeed? And the mission- 
 aries forgetting their weariness, sat 
 down by those poor people and com- 
 muned with them until the morning 
 dawned.—Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D. D. 
 
346 
 
 —649— 
 A SOLITARY CHRISTIAN. 
 
 In one of my early journeys I came 
 with my companions to a heathen vil- 
 lage on the banks of the Orange River. 
 We had travelled far, and were hungry, 
 thirsty, and fatigued; but the people of 
 the village rather roughly directed us 
 to halt at a distance. We asked for 
 water, but they would not supply it. I 
 offered the three or four buttons left on 
 my jacket for a little milk, and was re- 
 fused. We had the prospect of another 
 hungry night, at a distance from water, 
 though within sight of the river. 
 
 When twilight drew on, a woman ap- 
 proached from the height beyond which 
 the village lay. She bore on her head 
 a bundle of wood, and had a vessel of 
 milk in her hand. The latter, without 
 opening her lips, she handed to us, laid 
 down the wood, and returned to the vil- 
 lage. A second time she approached, 
 with a cooking vessel on her head, and 
 a leg of mutton in one hand, and water 
 in the other. She sat down without 
 saying a word, prepared the fire, and 
 put on the meat. We asked her again 
 and again who she was. She remained 
 silent, till affectionately entreated to 
 give us a reason for such unlooked for 
 kindness to strangers. Then the tears 
 stole down her sable cheeks, and she re- 
 plied, “I love Him whose servants you 
 are; and surely it is my duty to give 
 you a cup of cold water in His name. 
 My heart is full; therefore I cannot 
 speak the joy I feel to see you in this 
 out-of-the-world place.” 
 
 On learning her history, and that she 
 was a solitary light burning in a dark 
 place, I asked her how she kept up the 
 light of God in her soul, in the entire 
 absence of the communion of saints. 
 She drew from her bosom a copy of the 
 Dutch New Testament, which she had 
 received from Mr. Helm, when in his 
 school, some years before. “This,” said 
 she, “is the fountain whence I drink; 
 this is the oil which makes my lamp to 
 burn!” {ff looked on the precious relic, 
 printed by the British and Foreign Bi- 
 ble Society; and the reader may con- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ceive my joy while we mingled our 
 prayers and sympathies together at the 
 throne of our heavenly father.—Robert 
 Moffat. 
 
 —650— 
 THE GREATER FOOL. 
 
 In a sermon preached by Bishop Hall, 
 upon his eightieth birthday, he relates 
 the following story: 
 
 There was a certain lord who kept a 
 fool in his house; as many a great man 
 did in those days for their pleasure; to 
 whom this lord gave a staff, and 
 charged him to keep it till he should 
 meet with one who was a greater fool 
 than himself; and if he met with such a 
 one, to deliver it over to him. Not 
 many years later, his lord fell sick; and 
 indeed was sick unto death. His fool 
 came to see him; and was told by his 
 sick lord that he must now shortly leave 
 him. 
 
 “And wither wilt thou go?” said the 
 fool. 
 
 “Into another world,” said the lord. 
 
 “And when wilt thou come again?— 
 within a month?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “Within a year?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “When then?” 
 
 “Never.” 
 
 “Never! And what provision hast 
 
 thou made for thy entertainment there 
 whither thou goest?” 
 
 “None at all.” 
 
 “No!” said the: fool, “none at ali? 
 Here, take my staff, then. Art thou 
 going away for ever, and hast taken no 
 order, whence thou shalt never return? 
 Take my staff for I am not guilty of any 
 such folly as this.” 
 
 — 651 — 
 GOD SEEN IN HIS WORKS. | 
 
 __Too many people have a microscopic 
 idea of the Creator. If they would only 
 study his wonderful works, as shown in 
 nature herself and the natural laws of 
 the universe, they would have a much 
 broader idea of the Great Engineer. 
 Indeed I can almost prove his existence 
 by chemistry.—Thomas A. Edison. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 652 
 CHRIST SEEN IN A CHRISTIAN. 
 
 Some years ago I was preaching in 
 one of the hospitals in East Arabia, and 
 spoke of the love of Christ—its length 
 and breadth and depth and height—us- 
 ing the words of the Apostle as the 
 basis of my talk. I endeavored to pre- 
 sent the subject simply so that it could 
 be understood by the uneducated peo- 
 ple who had gathered in the waiting 
 room. At the close of the address a 
 Moslem, unprepossessing in appearance, 
 who had evidently not been to the hos- 
 pital before, stepped forward and with 
 Bedouin bluntness exclaimed, “I under- 
 stand all you told us, because I have 
 seen that sort of man myself.” 
 
 In the conversation that followed, this 
 Arab, who came from a city about five 
 hundred miles distant, began to de- 
 scribe, in response to inquiries, a 
 stranger who had come to his city and 
 taken up his residence there. “Why,” 
 he said, “he was a strange man. When 
 people did wrong to him, he did good 
 to them. He looked after sick folks and 
 prisoners, and everybody who was in 
 trouble. He even treated negro slave 
 boys and sick Arabs kindly. He was 
 always good to other people. Many of 
 them never had such a friend as he was. 
 He used to take long journeys in the 
 broiling sun to help them. He seemed 
 to think one man was as good as an- 
 other. He was a friend to all kinds of 
 people. He was just what you said.” 
 
 To my surprise, this rude, uneducated 
 man had recognized, in the description 
 which I had given of the love of Christ, 
 a Christian missionary, and greater was 
 my surprise later to find that it was my 
 brother, Peter J. Zwemer, who in 1893 
 opened work in Muscat, and died in the 
 Presbyterian Hospital, New York, in 
 1898. That Mohammedan had not only 
 heard the word of the missionary, but 
 had seen it exemplified in the mission- 
 ary’s life. What higher tribute could 
 be paid to the daily life of one of God’s 
 servants than the fact that an ignorant 
 Mohammedan, studying him day by 
 day, recognized Christ?’”—Rev. Samuel 
 M. Zwemer, F. R. G. S. 
 
 ANECDOTES 347 
 
 — 653 — 
 WEAK THINGS. 
 
 __ On the shore of the harbor of New 
 York one autumn day, the hand of a 
 little two year old pressed upon an elec- 
 tric key. It was a light thing to do; it 
 required not half the strength of that 
 infant’s finger; but that touch closed 
 an electric current and drove a fiery 
 spark down under the deep waters, and 
 along the radiating wires, and, sudden 
 as a lightning flash, whole acres of solid 
 rock leaped from their eternal founda- 
 tions, and thus opened the way for the 
 tides of commerce and travel to pour 
 through those dangerous narrows which 
 had so long been the terror of the sailor. 
 
 What power had that infant? What 
 was there in that tiny hand that could 
 produce such great results? Nothing. 
 But down beneath those waves for 
 months and years men had been labor- 
 ing and excavating and storing their 
 dynamite and other explosive com- 
 pounds, and it needed but the touch of 
 little Mary Newton’s finger to make the 
 connection which linked together the 
 mightiest forces of nature, and heaved 
 from their base those rocks that had 
 stood since the world was made. 
 
 So he who does the work of God may 
 be but a child. He may be one of the 
 weak things, the base things, the fool- 
 ish things of this world; but his faith 
 takes hold upon eternal realities; his 
 confidence grasps the everlasting arm; 
 it is no power of his that does the work, 
 but. his touch; his word, his testimony 
 may close the circuit between a soul and 
 God, and bring the accumulated forces 
 of omnipotence to bear upon a human 
 heart.—H. L. Hastings. 
 
 654 
 
 “John McNeill tells how, lying awake 
 in the early morning, he used to hear 
 his father opening the door to go to his 
 humble, difficult work, saying in a firm 
 voice, ‘I go forth today in the name of 
 God.’ So may we all live. Seek first 
 the kingdom of God, and all things will 
 find their places.” 
 
348 
 
 — 655 — 
 THE STORY OF MARTIN BOOS. 
 
 Among the students at Dillengen, 
 there had been one too noticeable to be 
 soon forgotten. Martin Boos had been 
 dropped into the world apparently by 
 mistake. He was the fourteenth child 
 of a small farmer—a “Christmas child,” 
 yet born in so cold a night that the 
 water in the room froze. An orphan at 
 four, his eldest sister’s first thought was 
 to dispose of him with due regard to 
 economy. Being a sturdy girl, she set 
 him on her shoulders, and started for 
 Ausburg; but getting tired, she flung 
 him into a corn-field by the way, where 
 he soon cried himself asleep. How- 
 ever, in the afternoon she returned, laid 
 him at an uncle’s door in the city, and 
 went her way. The lonely child man- 
 aged to grow up in some fashion in this 
 surly uncle’s house, saved himself by 
 his scholarship from becoming a shoe- 
 maker, and went to Dillengen, where, 
 a brilliant, handsome student, he car- 
 ried off the first honors. Sailer’s teach- 
 ing had more influence than he knew; 
 and when his uncle had celebrated his 
 first mass by giving a three days’ shoot- 
 ing party, he thankfully subsided into 
 a quiet parish priest, cultivating, in 
 thorough Romish fashion, holy affec- 
 tions, and yearning after that calm 
 mystic relation to Christ that had been 
 pointed out in the lectures. 
 
 “T lay,” he says, “for years upon the 
 cold ground, though my bed stood near 
 me; I scourged myself until the blood 
 came, and clothed my body with a hair 
 shirt; I hungered, and gave my bread 
 to the poor; I spent every leisure mo- 
 ment in the precincts of the church; I 
 confessed and communicated every 
 week.” He “gave himself an immense 
 deal of trouble to lead a holy life,” and 
 was unanimously elected a saint; but 
 the saint was miserable, and cried out, 
 “O wretched man that I am! who shall 
 deliver me?” 
 
 Going to see a pious old woman on 
 her death-bed, he said wistfully, “Ah, 
 you may well die in peace!” “Why?” 
 “You have lived such a godly life.” 
 “What a miserable comforter!” she 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 said, and smiled; “if Christ had not 
 died for me, I should have perished for- 
 ever, with all my good works and piety. 
 Trusting in Him, I die in peace.” And 
 from this time the light fell in upon 
 his soul; the dying woman had an- 
 swered his miserable cry. 
 
 He stayed some months with Fene- 
 berg, at Seeg, as voluntary chaplain, 
 with Sailer; was one of those who ac- 
 companied the good man on the first 
 Sunday he went out with his wooden 
 leg; then received a curacy at Wiggens- 
 bach near Kempen, and began preach- 
 ing Christ. “Flames of fire darted from 
 his lips, and the hearts of the people 
 burned like straw.” He declared their 
 sins, and when they cried, “What shall 
 we do?” he gave them no answer. “Re- 
 pent?” no answer. “Confess?” no an- 
 swer. “Good works?” no answer; 
 until the question was driven deep into 
 their souls, and then they knew how 
 vain was any answer but one—Christ. 
 
 Moreover, he had a terse, original 
 way of putting things, and a power of 
 homely—some may think too homely— 
 illustration. One or two examples may 
 be given at hazard:—“They are dearer 
 to God who seek something from Him 
 than those who seek to bring something 
 to Him.” “He that says he is pious is 
 certainly not.” “The most read their 
 Bibles like cows that stand in the thick 
 grass, and trample the finest flowers and 
 herbs.” “People think it a weakness 
 to forgive an insult. Then God would 
 be the weakest in heaven and on earth, 
 for no one in heaven or on earth for- 
 gives so much as He.” “Death strips . 
 us of this world’s glory, as a boot-jack 
 draws off your boots. Another wears 
 my boots when I am dead, and another 
 wears my glory. It is of very little 
 value.” 
 
 _A preacher of this stamp would make 
 himself heard anywhere; and it is little 
 wonder that great excitement gathered 
 about the little country chapel in Ba- 
 varia. Many found the Saviour when 
 he preached; persons came long jour- 
 neys to hear so strange and blessed a 
 doctrine ; and the chapel was thronged 
 with men and women who had gone 
 
 —_— 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 about anxious, heavy laden, and. hope- 
 less for years. Feneberg heard of it, 
 longed for more than he had yet found, 
 and wrote that he was like Zaccheus 
 waiting in the tree till Christ should 
 pass by. “Then wait quietly in the 
 tree,’ Boos wrote back; “Christ will 
 soon enter thy house and thy heart.” — 
 Stevenson’s Praying and Working. 
 
 — 656 — 
 THE BIBLE WORKS WONDERS. 
 
 About the year 1905 a political refu- 
 gee, named Manoel Bispo, was wander- 
 ing on the frontier of the State of Sao 
 Paulo in Brazil. He was afraid to go 
 into the towns, and kept to the woods 
 and fields. Among the peasants he 
 heard talk of a wonderful book, the 
 Word of God, which certain men from 
 Rio de Janeiro had distributed in the 
 district. There were only a few scat- 
 tered copies of it, but many men were 
 studying it, and following its wonderful 
 precepts. 
 
 Manoel, hiding in the forest, lonely 
 and anxious, was greatly helped and 
 comforted by certain words that he was 
 told were in the book. He made up his 
 mind that he must have one for him- 
 self. So he made the journey to Rio 
 de Janeiro, a thousand miles, as best 
 he could, and sure enough the book was 
 to be had. With his precious copy he 
 made his way back to the remote in- 
 terior village from which he had come, 
 and where he felt safe at last. 
 
 Four years later, so the American Bi- 
 ble Society records show, a colporteur 
 reached this village for the first time. 
 No missionary had ever set foot there. 
 The colporteur hardly expected anyone 
 to listen to him. Sut he found not only 
 that the villagers had heard of the Bible, 
 but that they had adopted it as the 
 guide of their lives. Manoel, on his 
 arrival, had read his book to his neigh- 
 bors, and they had received its teach- 
 ings gladly. So the colporteur was 
 able to organize a little church, and 
 now, in this remote place, the gospel is 
 preached and lived in sincerity and 
 faithfulness. The refugee’s Bible was 
 worth journeying a thousand miles for 
 —was it not? 
 
 349 
 
 — 657 — 
 PRAYER FOUND THE REMEDY. 
 
 A correspondent of The Illustrated 
 Christian Weekly states that a mother 
 of her acquaintance had a child taken 
 alarmingly ill. She sent for the phy- 
 sician. The child was in convulsions. 
 The doctor began at once vigorously to 
 apply the customary remedies—cold 
 water to the head, warm applications 
 to the feet, chafing of the hands and 
 limbs. All was in vain. The body lost 
 nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death 
 seemed close at hand, and absolutely in- 
 evitable. At length he left the child, 
 and sat down by the window, looking 
 out. He seemed, to the agonized 
 mother, to have abandoned her darling. 
 For herself, she could do nothing but 
 pray; and even her prayer was but an 
 jnarticulate and unvoiced cry for help. 
 Suddenly the physician started from his 
 seat. “Send and see if there be any 
 jimsom weed in the yard,” he cried. 
 His order was obeyed; the poisonous 
 weed was found. The remedies were 
 instantly changed. Enough of the seeds 
 of this deadly weed were brought away 
 by the medicine to have killed a man. 
 The physician subsequently said that 
 he thought that in that five minutes 
 every kindred case he had ever known 
 in a quarter century’s practice passed 
 before his mind. Among them was 
 the one case which suggested the real, 
 but before hidden, cause of the pro- 
 tracted and dreadful convulsions. And 
 the child was saved. 
 
 Now is there anything inconsistent 
 or unphilosophical in the belief that at 
 that critical moment, a loving God, 
 answering the mother’s helpless cry, 
 flashed on the mind of the physician 
 the thought that saved the child? Is it 
 any objection to that faith to say, the 
 age of miracles is past? If the mother 
 may call in a second physician, to sug- 
 gest the cause and the cure, may she 
 not call on God? What the doctor can 
 do for a fellow-practitioner, cannot the 
 Great Physician do? Though the doc- 
 tor had often tried and thought, yet it 
 was not till the last prayer and call on 
 God that the remedy was brought to 
 his mind. 
 
350 
 — 658 — 
 THE INDIANS AND THE GREAT 
 BOOK. 
 
 “At Norway House, on a certain oc- 
 casion,” says Rev. Egerton Young, “a 
 number of Indians came into my room, 
 noiselessly, after a fashion, so that the 
 room was filled with them before I 
 knew it. When I became aware of their 
 presence I asked whence they were. 
 ‘From a journey of fourteen nights,’ 
 they replied. For they reckon distance 
 by the number of nights they are de- 
 layed to sleep. ‘We have got the Kes- 
 senaychen—the Great Book—but we 
 don’t understand it, although we can 
 read it.’ I thought they were joking 
 for the Indians cannot read unless some- 
 one has taught them; and I knew from 
 their account they must live far away 
 from any missionary; but I asked them, 
 ‘From what missionary did you learn?’ 
 ‘We never saw a missionary nor a 
 teacher.’ 
 
 “TI took down from my shelf our Bible, 
 printed in the beautiful syllabic char- 
 acter for the Cree language, and opened 
 to Genesis; they read it with ease and 
 correctness. I turned the pages and 
 they read in many places. I was 
 amazed, and asked them again where 
 they lived. They described it to me; 
 it was far away, north of Hudson’s 
 Bay, hundreds of miles from any mis- 
 sionary. Their hunting grounds, it 
 seems, adjoin those of some Christian 
 Indians—they cover great distances in 
 hunting—‘and,’ continued my visitors, 
 ‘we visited your Indians and found 
 that they had the Kessenaychen. We 
 got them to read it and then to teach 
 it to us, and we were so pleased with 
 it that we all learned to read it during 
 the winter.’ 
 
 “Every soul in a village of three hun- 
 dred population had thus actually 
 learned to read the Bible without ever 
 having seen any white teacher; and 
 having providentially come into pos- 
 session of some copies that happened to 
 be in the hands of the Hudson Bay 
 Company’s agent, these heathen Indians 
 had journeyed through the snows four- 
 teen nights distance that to them might 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 be given instruction in the Book they 
 had thus learned to love.” 
 
 — 659 — 
 
 INFLUENCE OF GOOD BOOKS, 
 
 Next to reading the Bible, the read- 
 ing of good books, that tell of the lives 
 of great and noble men and women, are 
 helpful in building Christian character. 
 “Give attention to reading,” was Paul’s 
 admonition to Timothy. In these days 
 when there is so much trashy literature 
 afloat, we need to pay special attention 
 to selecting our reading. More than 
 one life has been fashioned by thoughts 
 imbibed in reading a good book. It is 
 said of the Scotchman, Alexander 
 Mackay who established a native Chris- 
 tian state in Uganda, that when a little 
 boy he read of David Livingstone, and 
 with his father looked over the maps of 
 Africa and traced the travels of the ex- 
 plorer. One night while his father was 
 away preaching and his mother was 
 telling him stories of the heathen lands, 
 he said to her, “Would you like me to 
 go to Africa, mother?” “Not unless 
 God prepares you for it, my boy, but if 
 the call comes, see that you do not re- 
 ject it,” was the answer. 
 
 When he grew up a call did come, 
 and he went, and God did use him to do 
 a great deal of work in His name. 
 
 Mr. Arnot, who has been named little 
 Livingstone by the natives beyond the 
 Zambesi, through whose labors and 
 prayers a number of mission stations 
 have been established in central Africa, 
 also received his missionary inspiration 
 by hearing and reading of David Living- 
 stone, and it was he who in after years 
 had the honor of nailing a brass plate 
 to the tree where the heart of Living- 
 stone was buried. 
 
 These two lives were both used in 
 gathering many heathen souls into the 
 kingdom, and both found inspiration in 
 reading the life of a great and good 
 man. ‘There are many others who have 
 likewise been influenced for good and 
 usefulness. Reading of good and noble 
 men is like making them our compan- 
 ions and has a tendency to make our 
 spirits like unto theirs—Ida Worcester. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ims 660 — 
 THE DEBASEMENT OF SIN. 
 
 There is no contact that leaves its 
 mark more distinctly upon the human 
 features than the disfiguring touch of 
 sin. It can mar the fairest counte- 
 nance, quench the light from the bright- 
 est eyes, steal the freshness and bloom 
 from the sweetest cheek, and so mar 
 and distort every lineament as to make 
 the whole unrecognizable even to the 
 mother, whose eyes are the last to be 
 deceived. There is no incident that 
 could more forcibly illustrate this than 
 
 that connected with the painting of 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Sup- 
 per.” It is familiar to many, but may 
 be new to some. Long and in vain 
 had the artist sought for a model for his 
 Christ. “I must find a young man of 
 pure life,” he declared, “before I can 
 get that look on the face I want.” At 
 length his attention was called to a 
 young man who sang in the choir of 
 one of the old churches, Pietro Bandi- 
 nelli by name. He was not only a 
 young man of beautiful countenance, 
 but his life was as beautiful as his face. 
 The moment he looked upon this pure, 
 sweet countenance the artist cried to 
 himself in his joy: “At last I have the 
 face I wanted.” So Pietro Bandinelli 
 _ sat as the model for the picture of 
 
 Christ. 
 
 Years passed on and still the great 
 painting of “The Last Supper” was not 
 finished. The artist was hunting for a 
 model for his Judas. “I must find a 
 man whose face sin has hardened and 
 distorted,” he said; “a debased man, 
 his features stamped with ravages only 
 wicked living and a wicked heart can 
 show.” ‘Thus he wandered in search of 
 his Judas, until one day in the streets 
 of Rome he came upon a wretched 
 creature—a beggar in rags, with a face 
 of such hard, villainous stamp that even 
 the artist was repulsed; but he knew 
 that at last he had found his Judas. 
 
 And so it came about that the beggar 
 sat as the model for the face of Judas. 
 
 As he was dismissing him, da Vinci 
 said: “I have not asked your name yet, 
 but I will now.” 
 
 ANECDOTES 351 
 
 “Pietro Bandinelli,” replied the man, 
 looking at him unflinchingly, “I also 
 sat for your model of Christ.” 
 
 The artist was so overcome by this 
 startling declaration that he would not 
 at first believe it, but had at last to do 
 so, through incontrovertible proof. The 
 young man had fallen into evil ways, 
 at first only a little so. Time after time 
 he yielded, and at last had become the 
 debased creature the artist had found. 
 
 O young reader, beware of the first 
 disfiguring touch !—Selected. 
 
 — 661 — 
 
 A SERVANT GIRL’S INFLUENCE. 
 
 I believe it was John Wesley, who, 
 when told that his congregation con- 
 sisted largely of servant girls, replied 
 that he was glad of it, as they had the 
 care of the children, and if the servant 
 girls were converted they would train 
 the children in the fear of the Lord. 
 
 A most notable illustration of this 
 truth is found in a case of one of Eng- 
 land’s most honored noblemen, A half 
 a century or more ago his mother had 
 a servant maid and housekeeper, named 
 Mary Millas. She had the care of this 
 child, and trained him up until he was 
 seven years of age, when she died. But 
 the seed which she had sown was not 
 lost. She had set an indelible mark 
 upon the tender mind of the young 
 nobleman, and her example, precepts, 
 and prayers, remembered by him, fixed 
 and formed his character for good at 
 that-early age. Today that little child is 
 known and honored throughout Eng- 
 land, by every class from the beggar to 
 the prince, and his name is graven upon 
 the hearts of the poor throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land. 
 
 Let those who deem their position 
 lowly and their work obscure, take 
 courage and be faithful; and if at any 
 time their hearts despond or repine, let 
 the name of Lord Shaftesbury, with all 
 the nobility of his consecrated and gen- 
 erous life, encourage them to toil on, as 
 Mary Millas did, assured that God shall 
 give the increase, and that their labor 
 is not in vain in the Lord.—Selected., 
 
352 
 
 662 
 AWAITING AN INHERITANCE. 
 
 It was at Field, British Columbia, 
 that we made a pleasant acquaintance 
 in a lady who, like ourselves, was trav- 
 eling through this wonderful land of 
 majestic beauty. In the course of a 
 ramble to the Natural Bridge, she told 
 us a little of her life history, which was 
 so interesting that we repeat it here to 
 prove that truth is often as interesting 
 as fiction, and that her life is a proto- 
 type of that of every true Christian. 
 
 “Early in life,’ she said, “I was 
 married to a young man who had few 
 near relatives, save a wealthy uncle, 
 whom he seldom saw. Of course, we 
 sent him an invitation to our quiet little 
 wedding, but he neither came to the 
 wedding nor noticed, in any way, the 
 invitation. 
 
 “A year or so after this, our baby boy 
 came, and my husband said, ‘I am 
 going to name this boy after Uncle 
 George; it is a good name, and it may 
 please Uncle George to have me do it. 
 He has never married, and some day he 
 may take a notion to do something for 
 the boy.’ 
 
 “So the child was named after the 
 uncle, and my husband wrote and told 
 him of it. No notice, in any way, was 
 taken of the letter, and I said, ‘I am 
 sorry you named the child after him. 
 I wish you had not done so.’ 
 
 “Several years rolled by, and again 
 a little child came into our home, this 
 time a girl; but when she was only six 
 weeks old, my husband was taken ill of 
 small-pox, and the boy, too, and in a 
 few days they were both dead, and the 
 baby girl lay ill with the same disease. 
 
 “I was so stunned with grief that 
 when the physician told me that the in- 
 fant would live, I felt, utterly indiffer- 
 ent. Word had been sent to Uncle 
 George of the double ‘funeral, but no 
 message of sympathy was received from 
 him. I did not know how, in my weak 
 condition, to face the world and make a 
 living for myself and child. By and by, 
 however, I rallied, and found a way in 
 which I could do so. 
 
 “Years rolled by, and my daughter 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 grew to young womanhood. About 
 seven years ago she married, making a 
 very wise choice. When arranging for 
 her wedding, she suggested sending an 
 invitation to Uncle George. I objected; 
 I said, ‘You do not know how he has 
 treated all the letters that have been 
 sent him in the past. He has ignored 
 them all.’ 
 
 “ ‘Well, mother, I want to send it. 
 We might as well let him know that he 
 has some relatives in the world.’ So 
 the invitation was sent. 
 
 “To our great surprise, he acknowl- 
 edged the invitation, and enclosed a 
 check as a wedding gift. It proved to 
 be for one hundred dollars, and my 
 daughter was delighted at the response 
 to her invitation. 
 
 “About two years ago, I received 
 a letter from an attorney, stating that 
 George S. Stevenson had died, and his 
 last will and testament directed that his 
 entire estate should be equally divided 
 between his only sister and the widow 
 of his nephew. No mention was made 
 of my daughter, who, of course, is of 
 his blood, but the fortune was left abso- 
 lutely to me. 
 
 “My first act on coming into posses- 
 sion of the money was to buy a home, 
 and then a burial lot, two things I had 
 always longed to have. I established 
 my daughter in the home, and I live 
 with her. She has a dear little boy, 
 who is the sunshine of the home, and 
 we are a happy family. I am spending 
 some of my income in travel, which is 
 something I never before had an oppor- 
 tunity to do. I have just been through 
 Colorado, the Yellowstone Park, Cali- 
 fornia, Portland, Seattle, and am now 
 returning home by way of these grand 
 Canadian Rockies.” 
 
 This is a true story, and its lessons 
 are not hard to find. There is One 
 whose name we bear, who “is rich in 
 houses and lands, he holdeth the wealth 
 of the world in his hands,” and to whom 
 we turn in our time of sorrow and joy. 
 Often it seems as though he paid no 
 heed to our prayers; at other times, the 
 answer comes, and we are thankful but 
 surprised, for our faith is small. Some 
 
 day, however, we shall be summoned 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 by the great Advocate of souls, and we 
 shall find that during all these years of 
 trial, he has been watching us and prov- 
 ing us, and in the meanwhile preparing 
 us for a mansion that shall be ours for- 
 ever, and in which we shall gather to- 
 gether with our loved one, and go no 
 more out forever.—Mary Ella Cornell. 
 
 — 663 — 
 A PICTURE’S INFLUENCE. 
 
 Some years ago I read a story of a 
 widowed mother in England who had 
 seven sons. These boys had grown up 
 under her care, and one after another, 
 as fast as they had reached the age of 
 maturity, left home and went to sea. 
 When the last boy had gone she called 
 in her pastor, who was a common-sense 
 man, and she told him the story of how 
 all her boys, one after another, had gone 
 as sailors, how she had never taught 
 them along this line, and that they had 
 never even seen the sea. As she was 
 talking the old pastor’s eyes rested upon 
 a beautiful painting that hung above 
 the mantelpiece. It was the picture of 
 a ship in full sail. The merry pas- 
 sengers were standing upon the deck, 
 waving their handkerchiefs in glad re- 
 joicing and great glee to friends who 
 had come to greet them from the shore. 
 It was a beautiful sight, and the old 
 pastor said, “How long have you had 
 that picture in the room?” “Oh,” she 
 said, “it was given to us as a bridal 
 present when we were married.” “And 
 you have raised up every one of your 
 children in this room?” “Yes. This 
 was the nursery.” “And they have 
 had their eyes on that picture all along 
 through the years?” “Yes.” “Well, 
 that’s the explanation.” And I do not 
 at all doubt that it had a great deal to 
 do with it. 
 
 Nor do I doubt that the conduct of 
 people today in the great round world 
 is to a large extent to be traced back to 
 some simple thing like that, perhaps to 
 some picture, or book, or person, that 
 they came in contact with in the form- 
 ative period of their life, and that 
 stamped their character forever. And 
 if that be true, how careful Christian 
 
 353 
 
 people should be about the kind of pic- 
 tures that adorn their walls! How care- 
 ful we should be about what is in the 
 boy’s room. In order to be perfectly 
 practical, let me say, How careful we 
 should be to see to it that the boy does 
 not carry about in his pocket those 
 abominable pictures they give with cig- 
 arette packages in this country. We 
 talk a great deal about the evil effects 
 of the cigarette. I do not believe that 
 cigarettes, harmful as they are and 
 much as I hate them, have done any 
 more harm than have the pictures that 
 go with them.—Rev. Len G. Broughton, 
 Ded: 
 
 — 664 — 
 “ALWAYS BEFORE GOD.” 
 
 In some personal recollections of a 
 minister’s life, recently published in 
 The Christian Endeavor World, F. D. 
 Power, of Washington, gives this ex- 
 perience. 
 
 “Riding one day on a train, I was 
 half asleep in the seat, having been up 
 all the night before, when I overheard 
 the conductor talking to someone just 
 behind me, and using every little while 
 an oath. 
 
 “Turning about, I faced him, and 
 said, ‘Captain, are there any regulations 
 on this road with respect to the use of 
 profanity on the part of its employees?’ 
 
 “ “How is that, sir?’ he asked. 
 
 “I repeated. 
 
 “*Yes sir,’ he slowly answered. 
 
 “I resumed my silence, and there was 
 silence everywhere. 
 
 “Presently the conductor approached 
 me and said: ‘I hope you will excuse 
 me for using profanity in your presence. 
 IT did not know you were a minister.’ 
 
 “*You do not know I am a minister,’ 
 I said, ‘nor does that make any dif- 
 ference. Do you talk that way before 
 your wife and children, or your mother?’ 
 
 “No, sir, I do not.’ 
 
 ‘Well, remember, you are always 
 before God.’ 
 
 “I never saw a word have greater 
 effect.” 
 
 If Christian men would bear similar 
 witness much might be accomplished 
 toward the lessening of this present evil. 
 
$54 
 
 — 665 — 
 GOD SENT A FUR CAP. 
 
 A widow once told the writer of the 
 turning point in her Christian life, when 
 God’s love was so shed abroad in her 
 heart that she had been enabled to go 
 on through all her trials rejoicingly con- 
 scious of God’s presence, and casting 
 all her burdens upon Him. She was 
 driven to seek God by great need. Her 
 husband’s death left her destitute, with 
 little children to provide for, and few 
 friends to whom to look for contin- 
 uous aid. 
 
 Winter drew on, and, one day, her 
 little boy came in shivering with cold 
 and asked if he could not have a fur 
 cap, as his straw hat was very cold and 
 none of the boys at school wore straw 
 hats. She was without a cent in the 
 world. She gave a hopeful answer to 
 the boy and sent him out to play, and 
 then went to the bedroom and knelt 
 and wept in utter desolation of heart be- 
 fore God, praying most earnestly that 
 God would give her a token that He 
 was her God and was caring for her by 
 sending her a cap for her boy. While 
 she prayed the peace of God filled her 
 soul. She was made to feel the pres- 
 ence of her Saviour in such a way that 
 all doubts as to his love for her and his 
 fulfillment of all his promises to care 
 for her vanished away, and she went 
 out of her room, rejoicing in the Lord 
 and singing his praise. 
 
 She had no burden about the cap, and 
 was quite content for God to send it 
 or not as it pleased Him; and, in the 
 afternoon, when a neighbor called, oc- 
 cupied with the Lord and His wonder- 
 ful love, the thought of the cap had 
 gone from her mind. When the neigh- 
 bor rose to depart, she said, “You know 
 my little boy died last fall. Just before 
 he died I bought him a fur cap; he 
 only wore it two or three times. After 
 his death I put away all his things and 
 thought I could never part with any of 
 them. But, this morning, as I went to 
 the drawer to look them over, I felt that 
 I should give you this cap for your 
 little boy. Will you take it of me?” 
 As she took the cap and told her neigh- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 bor of the morning trial, prayer and 
 blessing, two souls were filled with the 
 sense of the reality of prayer and the 
 love of God for his children. “My 
 little boy,” said the widow, “wore that 
 cap for three winters. And often, when 
 sorely tried by my circumstances, has 
 God lifted the burden from my heart, 
 by my just looking at it, and remem- 
 bering the blessing that came with it.” 
 —Major W. D. Whittle. 
 
 — 666 — 
 
 A BRAVE CHINESE BOY. 
 
 Dr. Griffith John, the eminent Eng- 
 lish missionary who has labored long in 
 China, sends to a mission band of chil- 
 dren in England the following story 
 from Hankow: 
 
 “It is the story of a brave boy—a 
 Chinese boy, of course. Ai little boy 
 who had been in a Christian school had 
 made up his mind that he would wor- 
 ship idols no more. Some of his rela- 
 tions were very angry because of this 
 and were determined to force him to 
 worship them again. They beat him, 
 but it was of no use; he only became 
 more determined in his mind that he 
 would never worship them again. One 
 day they took him to a temple and tried 
 to force him to go on his knees and 
 knock his head to the idol, but, he 
 stoutly refused. 
 
 “At last they threatened to throw 
 him into the river which was flowing 
 near by. ‘Throw me,’ said he, ‘if you 
 like; but I will never worship wood and 
 stone again. Jesus is the true Saviour, 
 and I will worship Him only.’ They 
 took hold of him and pitched him into 
 the water. One of his relatives, how- 
 ever, rushed after him and picked him 
 up again. When out of the water the 
 first thing he said was, ‘you have not 
 succeeded. While in the water I never 
 prayed to the idols; I only prayed to 
 Jesus.” A brave little boy, that! May 
 you all be as brave—brave for God; 
 brave for Jesus; brave for righteous- 
 ness; brave for the missionary cause; 
 brave for the salvation of the world. 
 Such bravery will make you a great 
 power for good.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 a BOF ie 
 THE TOBACCO EVIL. 
 
 As we stood talking with a man a few 
 days ago, we observed smoke coming 
 from the region of one of his pockets. 
 He noticed it at the same instant, and 
 hastily withdrawing from the pocket a 
 lighted pipe proceeded to beat out the 
 fire it had started. This was quickly 
 extinguished, but a hole in his blouse 
 testified that it had been afire. This 
 incident brought to the remembrance of 
 the writer a few lines, taught him many 
 years ago, by his aged grandmother. 
 He recited the verse to the man, and 
 will pass it on to the boys and girls who 
 may read these lines, in the hope that 
 they too will memorize it and then pass 
 it on to others: 
 
 “Tobacco is a nasty weed; 
 
 From the devil it doth proceed; 
 
 It picks your pockets, burns your 
 clothes ; 
 
 And makes a chimney of your nose.” 
 
 There may be more truth than poetry 
 in this verse. ‘Tobacco is indeed a pick- 
 pocket. The tobacco users of our coun- 
 try spend more money for it every year 
 than all the people of the land pay for 
 bread. ‘Tobacco weakens the heart and 
 helps to shorten the life of all who use 
 it; and yet the people of the United 
 States burn up and spit out annually 
 more than $600,000,000 worth of this 
 vile weed. 
 
 The accumulative effect of poison 
 taken in small doses becomes great 
 enough at last to weaken the constitu- 
 tion even if it does not destroy the life. 
 That tobacco is a poison no one of in- 
 telligence will deny. It is said that 
 there is sufficient nicotine poison in one 
 cigar if extracted and administered to a 
 man to kill him. = Two or three years 
 ago a little child living within a block 
 of the Tabernacle was taken strangely 
 ill. A doctor was called to treat the 
 sufferer, but he was unable to determine 
 the cause or the character of the com- 
 plaint. At last in what was thrown off 
 the child’s stomach shreds of tobacco 
 were found; and then the physician 
 
 355 
 
 knew it was a case of nicotine poison- 
 ing, and treated the child accordingly. 
 But in spite of all he could do the child 
 died from the poison of the tobacco 
 swallowed. It seems that the little boy 
 had found the remains of a cigar left by 
 his father in the parlor, and had nibbled 
 and swallowed a very little of it, but 
 enough to cause his death. Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 668 — 
 THE BOOK THAT MAKES THINGS 
 SAFE. 
 
 A young infidel years ago was 
 traveling in the West with his uncle, a 
 banker. They were not a little anxious 
 for their safety when they were forced 
 to stop for a night in a rough wayside 
 cabin. There were two rooms in the 
 house; and when they retired for the 
 night they agreed that the young man 
 should sit up with his pistols, and 
 watch until midnight, and then awaken 
 his uncle, who should watch until morn- 
 ing. Presently they peeped through 
 the crack and saw their host, a rough- 
 looking old man, in his bear-skin suit, 
 reach up and take down a book—a 
 Bible. After reading it awhile, he knelt 
 down and began to pray. Then the 
 young infidel began to pull off his coat 
 and get ready for bed. The uncle said, 
 “I thought you were going to sit up 
 and watch.” But the young man knew 
 there was no need of sitting up, pistol 
 in hand, to watch all night long in a 
 cabin that was hallowed by the Word of 
 God, and consecrated by the voice of 
 prayer. Would a pack of cards, a rum 
 bottle, or a copy of the “Age of Rea- 
 son” have thus quieted this young in- 
 fidel’s fears? 
 
 All countries without the Bible are 
 good countries to move away from. 
 Countries where the Bible is read and 
 obeyed are good countries to move into. 
 Those who study and love the Bible 
 will know the reason why. Those who 
 hate the Bible can easily find some 
 countries where it is not read. Why 
 do they not move there and see how 
 they like it?—Selected. 
 
356 
 
 — 669 — 
 SOME REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The work of the People’s Tabernacle 
 was begun the first Sunday of October, 
 1892, and in January following we pub- 
 lished the first issue of the little paper 
 now known as the “Little Evangelist.” 
 For the first three years it made its ap- 
 pearance every two months; but since 
 the 18th of January, 1896, twenty-three 
 years, the paper has been published 
 weekly. We have nine neatly bound 
 volumes containing all the issues of the 
 paper for the first twenty-two years 
 after the starting of the work; and if we 
 wish to be humbled before God, and 
 made deeply sensible of His goodness, 
 we have only to take one of those vol- 
 umes and review some of the expe- 
 riences of past years. 
 
 Our readers may be interested In 
 some extracts from the first issue of the 
 paper. In the Financial Report we see 
 that the receipts from all sources totaled 
 $103.16. ‘This was for the maintenance 
 of the work for the first three months 
 of its existence. Of this sum $47.56 
 was from the offerings of the Sunday 
 School and religious meetings. Dona- 
 tions amounting to $48.50 had been re- 
 ceived from five persons, the pastor’s 
 brother contributing more than half of 
 the amount. Through the kindness of 
 our landlord, Mr. John H. Haar, banker 
 and broker of 100 Broadway, we had no 
 rent to pay for those three months, but 
 the other expenses amounted to $85.37. 
 We quote: “From the above it will be 
 seen that there was a balance of $17.79 
 as the Pastor’s salary for the three 
 months. It will be apparent how in- 
 adequate this was for family support 
 when it is known that $69 was paid dur- 
 ing the same time for house rent alone.” 
 
 Regarding the religious destitution 
 of this part of the city previous to our 
 venture itis said: “There were swarms 
 of children on the streets, and no Sab- 
 bath School to which they could be in- 
 vited. One Christian lady who was 
 anxious for me to do what I could to 
 start a Sunday School told me she had 
 taken one of her children to the nearest 
 school, and the superintendent said to 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 her he was sorry to say so, but the fact 
 was that the Sunday School was already 
 so full that not another child could be 
 received. In half of the block in which 
 I lived I knew of five practicing physi- 
 cians looking after the bodily needs of 
 the people, but on all these seventeen 
 streets I did not know of more than one 
 minister attending to their spiritual 
 needs.” 
 
 “I tried in vain to get other parties 
 sufficiently interested in this uptown 
 field, so that they would go to the ex- 
 pense of opening a place where a 
 Sunday School could be started. The 
 only hindrance seemed to be the lack of 
 money. From my salary of $1,500, by 
 economy, I had been able to save several 
 hundred dollars the previous year; and 
 believing that God often wants us to do 
 all we can, after much prayer, I decided 
 to resign my field downtown and start 
 the work myself.” 
 
 As to the support of the work this 
 item occurs in that first paper: “I mean 
 to trust God and the public for help to 
 carry on this work. And before I will 
 
 incur debt to continue it I shall believe 
 
 it is God’s will for me to give it up. 
 Furthermore, while I mean to let our 
 readers know of our needs, it is my in- 
 tention to solicit aid from no one. I 
 trust that He who made me willing to 
 sacrifice to start the work will, in au- 
 swer to prayer, make others willing to 
 help it on. ‘It is better to trust in the 
 Lord than to put confidence in man.’” 
 
 In that first paper, it is said, “We 
 hope to see a church erected here. A 
 suitable site can be bought for $10,000. 
 I judge a corrugated iron church, which 
 might answer our purpose, could be put 
 up for $1,500.” 
 
 How much better was God to us than 
 our highest expectations! Eventually 
 $27,000 was paid for the site, and here 
 we have not a temporary iron church, 
 but three substantial brick and stone 
 buildings, without a dollar of indebted- 
 ness. When the Jews have tried to buy 
 this property, as they have sought to do 
 a number of times, the only encourag- 
 ment they received was to be told that 
 the price was five hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. And all this came from voluntary 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 offerings in answer to prayer. Surely, 
 “it is better to trust in the Lord than 
 to put confidence in princes.”—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 670 — 
 FISHING, NOT ACCOUNTING. 
 
 There is a story of an old physician 
 whose recreation, when he found him- 
 self worn with duties and overburdened 
 with cares, was to escape from them all 
 for a day of fishing. There was rest 
 in the silence and calm of the wood, 
 healing in the voice of the wind through 
 the trees and the murmur of the moun- 
 tain brook, and he came back fit for life 
 and its work again. Once he took with 
 him an eager-hearted young student 
 who he thought would be benefited by 
 his own remedy. But the younger man, 
 though enjoying his surroundings, was 
 inclined to make them a study. 
 
 “Doctor, where does this stream come 
 from? You say you have known it a 
 long time, and its volume of water 
 seems unaffected by heavy rains or long 
 droughts. How do you account for 
 ted 
 
 “IT don’t,” answered the doctor, with 
 twinkling eyes; “I just fish in it.” 
 
 There was wisdom in the reply. Life 
 holds many a blessing, many a truth 
 that is ours for rest and comforting, if 
 we will simply appropriate and use it, 
 but which eludes us and becomes only 
 a vexing puzzle if we insist upon analy- 
 sis. We are surrounded by mysteries. 
 Love and faith can never be wholly 
 understood or explained; the divine and 
 the human alike baffle us. The very 
 life we live will not reveal to us whence 
 it comes or whither it goes, but it is 
 ours for our using.—Forward. 
 
 —= 671 — 
 
 ALLSTON’S PRAYER ANSWERED. 
 
 Washington Allston, the famous poet 
 and artist, was once in financial straits 
 in London, where he had gone to prac- 
 tice his profession. Almost in despera- 
 tion he meditated on his deplorable con- 
 dition, when the hope was suddenly 
 forced upon him that God could and 
 would help him if he would ask. He 
 
 357 
 
 locked the door, fell upon his knees and 
 cried to the Lord for help, and while he 
 was praying he was aroused by a knock 
 at the door. He opened it and met a 
 stranger who announced himself by 
 name as a British nobleman. He had 
 come to inquire about the artist’s paint- 
 ing of the angel Uriel, which he pur- 
 chased for $2,000. He was so well 
 pleased with it that he introduced the 
 young man to many nobles and men of 
 wealth, and to fame and fortune. He 
 had ell the success he desired after that. 
 Mr. Allston regarded this as a direct in- 
 terposition of God in behalf of needy, 
 suffering man, and ever after he was a 
 devout and earnest Christian. There 
 are multitudes of cases like this. Noth- 
 ing is too small for God to notice, and 
 nothing is too hard for him to manage. 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 672 — 
 WHY CHRIST DIED. 
 
 “Well, I cannot understand why a 
 man who has tried to lead a good moral 
 life should not stand a better chance of 
 heaven than a wicked one,” said a lady 
 recently, in a conversation with others 
 about the matter of salvation. 
 
 “Simply for this cause,” answered 
 one. “Suppose you and I wanted to go 
 to a place of amusement where the ad- 
 mission was a dollar. You have half a 
 dollar and I -have nothing. Which 
 would stand the better chance of ad- 
 mission?” 
 
 “Neither.” 
 
 “Just so; and therefore the moral 
 man stands no better chance than the 
 out-breaking sinner. But now, sup- 
 pose a kind and rich person, who saw 
 our perplexity, presented a ticket of ad- 
 mission to each of us at his own ex- 
 pense! What then?” 
 
 “Well, then, we should both go in 
 alike. That is clear.” 
 
 “Thus, then, the Saviour saw our per- 
 plexity; he came, he died, and thus ‘ob- 
 tained eternal redemption for us,’ and 
 now he offers you and me a free ticket. 
 Only take care that your half-dollar 
 does not make you proud enough to re- 
 fuse the free ticket and be refused ad- 
 mittance at last.”—Selected. 
 
358 
 
 — 673 — 
 A BLANKET STORY. 
 
 It is hard to make some people be- 
 lieve that anyone wishes to do them 
 good. They suspect all offers, they re- 
 pel all advances, Their hearts are so 
 closed and soured and chilled that they 
 are closed against all comers. 
 
 Mark Guy Pearse tells a story which 
 a Newcastle gentleman told him on the 
 railway train. 
 
 A friend of his, living some few miles 
 from Newcastle, was walking along a 
 railroad siding going from the main line 
 to a colliery, when he looked down up- 
 ona roughly built cottage, and no- 
 ticed that the daylight showed through 
 the loose tiles on the roof. He won- 
 dered if anybody could be living in a 
 place that looked so cheerless, and com- 
 ing round to the front he found an old 
 woman and her grown up daughter. At 
 once he said within himself that he 
 would see the place was made more 
 comfortable before the winter came, and 
 then he hurried on his way. 
 
 But the good purpose was forgotten, 
 and he never thought of the place again 
 until one morning, some weeks aiter, 
 he drew up his blinds and looked out to 
 find some two or three inches of snow 
 onthe ground. At once his heart smote 
 him for his forgetfulness. He had that 
 day to go to Newcastle, and it oc- 
 curred to him that at any rate a pair 
 of blankets would do something towards 
 adding to the comfort of the couple. 
 
 He reached his house with the big 
 brown paper parcel, and thought he 
 would have the pleasure of taking them 
 himself. As he passed the window the 
 old woman was looking out, and he 
 held up the parcel, thinking that she 
 would understand that he was bringing 
 something for her. However, she only 
 frowned angrily and shook her head. 
 He opened the door, when the old 
 woman bade him angrily begone; she 
 did not want to buy any of his goods, 
 she said, and slammed the door against 
 him. 
 
 “Why,” he said, “she thinks that I 
 want to sell them! No wonder she is 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 so vexed, needing them so badly. I 
 must make her understand that it is a 
 gift.” He opened the door again and 
 got in. 
 
 More fiercely than ever she bade him 
 begone! He saw that she was stone- 
 deaf, and that her daughter was not at 
 home. What could he do? To leave 
 the parcel would only be to have it 
 flung after him in the snow. 
 
 “TI will show her what it is,” he said 
 to himself, “perhaps she will under- 
 stand then;” and he untied the parcel. 
 But the sight of the warm blankets only 
 made her more conscious of her need 
 and poverty, and she turned away in- 
 dignantly. 
 
 “Why don’t you go away? 
 told you I don’t want them.” 
 
 What could he do? He took up one 
 and held it up full length and breadth, 
 and smiled, and nodded his head, but it 
 seemed only like the wiles of some 
 resolute peddler, and aggravated her the 
 more. 
 
 “Why don’t you go away when I tell 
 you?” she cried. 
 
 Then yet another effort suggested it- 
 self. Taking the blanket, he threw it 
 right around her, and burst into a 
 hearty laugh. 5 
 
 Then the meaning of it all flashed 
 upon her. Looking up, almost afraid to 
 ask the question, she said: “For me!” 
 
 He nodded his head and smiled. 
 
 “A gift?” she asked again, her hope 
 growing bolder. 
 
 Again he nodded his head. 
 
 “A gift for me!” she repeated to her- 
 self. She stroked it with her hands and 
 felt the warmth of it, then laughed and 
 cried for very joy, and grasped his hands 
 and thanked him with all her heart, 
 while the tears streamed down her 
 wrinkled cheeks. 
 
 Alas, that our blessed Master should 
 have such trouble to force his gifts 
 upon us! Alas, that we are so deaf, so 
 blind to His great love. “I will give 
 you rest,” said He. Take it. Wrap 
 it about you. Rest in it with adoring 
 gratitude. “A gift—a gift for me.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 I have 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 674 — 
 
 WHAT A HELPLESS CRIPPLE 
 DID. 
 
 The New York Christian Advocate 
 tells of a little old German shoemaker 
 at Brillion, Wisconsin, who died last 
 month. In babyhood he had lost the 
 use of his lower limbs, and never was 
 able to walk. His parents had him 
 learn the shoemaker’s trade, that he 
 might earn his daily bread. He did 
 this, and something more, as appears in 
 the sequel, for the Advocate says: 
 
 “This crippled Wilhelm Persohn did 
 not allow physical misfortune to shrivel 
 and destroy his life. A German Meth- 
 odist preacher traveling through that 
 region placed Christ’s hand in his and 
 lifted him’ out of the shadow of his in- 
 firmity. He joined the German Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, and by his 
 earnestness and intelligence won a 
 license as local preacher. As time went 
 on, he found places of usefulness as 
 trustee, organist, and choir leader. 
 Shoemaking was his handicraft, but his 
 observant mind did not stop with 
 shoe-pegs and waxed ends, and he de- 
 veloped unusual business judgment, 
 buying and selling land until he ac- 
 quired a considerable fortune. 
 
 The idea that he was only a steward 
 of these riches took strong hold upon 
 him, and he would often say, “It be- 
 longs to the Lord, and I shall return 
 it.’ He chose to do this by helping 
 a great many of the benevolent Boards 
 of the Church, devoting fully $65,000 to 
 their interests, upon the annuity plan, 
 which secured to him comfortable sup- 
 port without risk of loss during his de- 
 clining years, and insured the ultimate 
 reversion of his property to the socie- 
 ties. The largest of his gifts was $25,- 
 000 to the Endowment Fund of the 
 General Board of Conference Claimants, 
 where it will remain as a perpetual 
 blessing to the retired ministers among 
 whom the interest will be divided. And 
 so this man, who is described in his 
 memoir as a helpless cripple, sets an 
 example of enduring helpfulness to 
 thousands of able-bodied men and 
 women,”—The Presbyterian. 
 
 ANECDOTES. — 359 
 
 — 675 — 
 
 ROOM IN LINCOLN’S PEW. 
 
 A member of the New York Avenue 
 Church, Washington, which Mr. Lin- 
 coln attended while living at the Cap- 
 ital, told me of a Sunday morning when 
 Mr. Lincoln was in his pew and there 
 happened up the aisle slowly an oldish 
 man, evidently a stranger, waiting for 
 an usher to find a seat for him in the 
 crowded church. He paused every two 
 or three steps after getting well for- 
 ward and then turned to walk back. 
 Just as he was passing Mr. Lincoln’s 
 pew (now marked with his name), Mr. 
 Lincoln stretched out that long arm of 
 his and said to the stranger: 
 
 “Come in here with me.” 
 
 With the greatest war the nation had 
 (up to that time) upon his hands and 
 heart, he never lost sight of individual 
 needs, and big and great as he was, he 
 never failed to stretch out a helping 
 hand to do even little things. 
 
 There is an imperishable influence in 
 the lives of such as try every day to do 
 good in ways either large or small.— 
 John Wanamaker. 
 
 — 676 — 
 
 HER FAITH WAS UNSHAKEN. 
 
 The Rev. S. A. Keen gives an ac- 
 count of a Christian wife whose hus- 
 band was an officer on a Mississippi 
 steamer, which was burned. The wife, 
 not knowing of the disaster, prayed that 
 her husband’s life might be preserved 
 and his soul converted, and was as- 
 sured that he would be preserved and 
 saved. The day following she received 
 a telegram stating that her husband had 
 perished, but she folded the paper and 
 said, “It is not so. He is saved from 
 the flames and waves, and shall be from 
 his sins.” A few days later he arrived 
 safely at home, and soon afterward was 
 converted. 
 
 The faith of this Christian wife, after 
 earnest prayer, was like that of Knox, 
 who, after praying with some friends 
 nearly all night for God’s intervention, 
 exclaimed, “Deliverance has come! De- 
 liverance has come!”—Rev. H. M. Tyn- 
 dall. 
 
360 
 
 — 677 — 
 ASHAMED OF HIS MOTHER 
 
 The story is told of a boy leaving his 
 old-fashioned mother in the country, 
 while he went to London to live, where 
 he became the wealthy Dr. Carter. He 
 sent her presents, but never went to see 
 her. She arranged to visit her “laddie,” 
 and was gfeatly pleased with the pros- 
 pect of so soon seeing him, for she 
 thought that he would be glad to see 
 her again. 
 
 She went to his fine home. When 
 he saw her, she was so old and peculiar 
 that he was ashamed of her. She 
 greeted him joyfully and told him that 
 she had come to live with him now. But 
 he feared that Violet, his future bride, 
 would be ashamed of her, and so he 
 tried to persuade his mother to live in 
 a little cottage in the country, where 
 he said that he could visit her every 
 day. 
 
 That night, in her room, the mother 
 thought of how her son had received 
 her; and as she looked into the mirror 
 and saw how old and wrinkled she was 
 she said, “My laddie is ashamed of me, 
 and I will go away.” And so she left 
 the house in the night. In the morning 
 she was not found, and then it dawned 
 upon the son how he had treated her. 
 He went and told all to Violet. 
 
 Instead of being ashamed of his old 
 mother, she said that she wanted a 
 mother ‘to love, as her mother had died. 
 
 Then they sought her, and at last 
 found her in a hospital, where she had 
 been placed; for she had been run over 
 and injured. Dr. Carter begged his 
 mother’s forgiveness, and he and Violet 
 tenderly cared for her the few hours she 
 lived. He was grief-stricken to think 
 he had so treated his mother. As 
 he needed more love for her so that 
 he would not be ashamed of her, so we 
 must truly love God, or we shall many 
 times be ashamed to confess Him.— 
 Rev. C. H. Tyndall, D. D. 
 
 — 678 — 
 
 A SEAT IN HEAVEN. 
 Frederick the Great was at his Cleves 
 palace with Voltaire, the noted French 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 philosopher, as his guest. At the din- 
 ner table the philosopher began to mock 
 at God and good people, and said, “T 
 will sell my seat in heaven for a Prus- 
 sian thaler.” Among the many guests 
 present was a councilor, who was a 
 very modest devout Christian. He was 
 very much shocked at Voltaire’s words, 
 and he at once arose and plainly spoke 
 his mind. 
 
 “My dear sir,” he said, “you age in 
 Prussia where we have a law, accord- 
 ing to which any one who wishes to 
 sell anything must prove his ownership. 
 Will you be kind enough, therefore, to 
 prove that you have a seat in heaven 
 and I will take it at any price.” Those 
 words had a wonderful effect upon all 
 present. Voltaire did not prove his 
 ownership, but he had nothing more to 
 say. His lips were sealed. 
 
 When the seventy returned to Jesus 
 with joy, because even the devils were 
 subject unto them through his name, 
 He said, “Rejoice not that the spirits 
 are subject unto you; but rather re- 
 joice because your names are written in 
 heaven.” | God’s children can prove 
 their case, which is a great one. Their 
 names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, 
 and His name shall be in their fore- 
 heads.—Religious Telescope. 
 
 — 679 — 
 
 ROBERT McINTYRE’S FIRST 
 BATTLE. 
 
 Robert McIntyre was once a poor boy 
 apprenticed to a bricklayer in Philadel- 
 phia. He has risen to the position and 
 influence of a bishop in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. A week or two ago 
 he turned aside from other duties to 
 spend a Sunday in the city where he 
 had his first great trial and won his 
 first great victory. While there he 
 told of that event in his life. He said: 
 
 I came to Philadelphia today because 
 I wanted to pay tribute to a man long 
 dead and gone. More than forty years 
 ago I was a boy in Hunter’s mill. My 
 overseer was Frank Ferguson, whose 
 memory I shall ever revere. I remem- 
 ber one winter when a revival was in 
 progress along Lancaster Pike, the in- 
 fluence of which spread to the mill in 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 which I was employed. It was then 
 that Mr. Ferguson took me into a tem- 
 perance meeting held at 52nd Street 
 and Lancaster Pike, and at his sug- 
 gestion I took a pledge to abstain at 
 all times from taking any alcoholic bev- 
 erages. 
 
 Shortly after that my father informed 
 me that it was time to choose a trade. 
 Some of my chums had gone into brick- 
 laying, so I selected that. One night 
 my father came home and told me he 
 had apprenticed me to a certain brick- 
 layer by the name of George. Almost 
 immediately, however, he regretted his 
 
 action as the man was known to be of 
 
 intemperate habits. My father’s health 
 was declining, and we ail knew that 
 the time was near at hand when my 
 mother and my brothers and sisters 
 would have to depend on what money I 
 could earn. 
 
 On the following day I began my ap- 
 prenticeship. The noon hour arrived 
 and my boss said: “Bobby, throw away 
 that water and take the bucket over to 
 the saloon. Tell the bartender you 
 came from me and he will fill the 
 bucket with beer.” I did as he in- 
 structed me. Then, upon my return, I 
 saw that the men, while eating lunch, 
 sat in a row and began passing the 
 bucket from man to man. 
 
 The boss drank first, and I took my 
 place at the end of the line. I was 
 praying that one of the hod-carriers, 
 bricklayers or boys would refuse to 
 drink, and therefore give me courage 
 for the step I was contemplating, but 
 not one of them refused. Finally the 
 bucket came to me. “I don’t want 
 any,’ I whispered to the boy who 
 handed it, but he urged me on. The 
 boss was watching and thought I was 
 shy. “Go ahead and drink, Bobby,” he 
 said, encouragingly. “I pay for the 
 beer and every man who works for me is 
 entitled to his share. Drink, my lad, 
 drink.” 
 
 “I don’t like it, sir,’ I said rather 
 weakly. 
 
 He laughed heartily and told me that 
 I would never make a bricklayer till I 
 learned to drink beer. By that time all 
 of the men were looking at me. Some- 
 
 361 
 
 how or other I got on my feet and 
 walked over down the line until I stood 
 in front of the boss. 
 
 “I am only a poor boy,” I said, “and 
 I want to learn my trade. If you send 
 me home now I shall feel disgraced, 
 but I’ll have to go if you insist on my 
 drinking this beer. I can’t do it, Mr. 
 George.” 
 
 To my amazement, the boss jumped 
 to his feet and grasped my hand. “God 
 bless you, Robert; stick to that and you 
 will make a man of yourself,” he said. 
 Then turning to the others: “If I hear 
 of one of you men urging this boy to 
 drink against his will, I will discharge 
 you on the spot,” he said. That was 
 how I won the first of my battles in life, 
 and I owe it all to Frank Ferguson, the 
 man who took the trouble to befriend a 
 homeless boy.—Northern Christian Ad- 
 
 —- 680 — 
 LOVE LIGHTENS THE LOAD. 
 
 However distasteful a service may be, 
 or however disagreeable the person to 
 whom it must be rendered, God is back 
 of it all, and loved that person well en- 
 ough to give his Son to die for him. 
 Dr. Guthrie was walking along the 
 streets of Edinburgh, when he overtook 
 a little girl carrying a child much too 
 heavy for her. Ina very gentle way Dr. 
 Guthrie said: ‘My child, the baby is 
 too heavy for you, isn’t he?” With a 
 shining face she made quick response: 
 “No, sir; he’s my brother.” It makes a 
 difference that one for whom I must 
 toil and wait, whose burden I must bear, 
 was’ one for whom Jesus died, and thus 
 is bound to me with the chord of divine 
 love.—J. Wilbur Chapman. 
 
 — 681 — 
 
 A lady showed Mr. Ruskin one day a 
 beautiful and costly handkerchief on 
 which a careless hand had dropped some 
 indelible ink. The lady said it was now 
 of no use. Mr. Ruskin put it in his 
 pocket and carried it away. In a few 
 days he brought it back to her, having 
 on it a beautiful picture in India ink, 
 with the blot as its basis. In the same 
 way God often transforms our mistakes 
 and life blots into adornments of char- 
 acter.—Selected. 
 
362 
 
 — 682 — 
 
 HOW TO OPEN RELIGIOUS 
 CONVERSATION. 
 
 I know a lady to whom an agent was 
 trying to sell an article for taking out 
 stains. He was rubbing away, and 
 meanwhile eloquently describing the 
 merits of his goods. Soon the lady 
 said, “I know something that will take 
 out stains, too.” 
 
 “What is that?” asked the man 
 eagerly, not knowing but that some 
 other dirt-killer had canvassed the town 
 ahead of him. 
 
 “The blood of Jesus Christ, which 
 cleanseth us from allsin. Do you know 
 anything about that, my friend.” 
 
 Do you suppose that man would show 
 his goods again for six months without 
 thinking of that other something that 
 could take stains out of a sinful heart? 
 I doubt whether he would forget that 
 lesson to his dying day. 
 
 A friend of mine at the Northfield 
 Conference was asked by an express- 
 man to direct him to a certain man’s 
 tent. 
 
 “I am very sorry,” he replied, “that 
 I cannot tell you where to find him; 
 but, if you had asked me the way to 
 heaven, I could have told you. Do you 
 know the way to heaven?” 
 
 “No,” said the man, “I cannot say 
 that I do.” 
 
 “Well, it is just this way,” said my 
 friend; and he went on to explain it. 
 
 The result was that the man was led 
 to Christ right then and there. Surely 
 that was an easy way to open religious 
 conversation. Any one could do that. 
 You could do it—Rev. Howard W. 
 Pope. 
 
 — 683 — 
 
 KILPIN’S THEFT OF A PENNY. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Kilpin, a minister 
 of Exeter, England, says, in his life: 
 When seven years old I was left in 
 charge of my father’s shop. A man 
 passed, crying, “Little lambs, all white 
 and clean, at one penny each.” In my 
 eagerness to get one I lost all self-com- 
 mand, and taking a penny from the 
 drawer, I made the purchase. My 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 keen-eyed mother inquired how I came 
 by the money. I evaded the question 
 with something like a lie. In God’s 
 sight it was a lie, as I kept back the 
 truth. 
 
 The lamb was placed on the chimney 
 ‘shelf and was much admired. To me it 
 was a source of inexpressible anguish; 
 continually there sounded in my ears 
 and heart, “Thou shalt not steal; thou 
 shalt not lie.” Guilt and darkness over- 
 came my mind; and in sore agony of 
 soul I went to a hay loft, the place is 
 now perfectly in my recollection, and 
 there prayed and pleaded, with groan- 
 ings that could not be uttered, for 
 mercy and pardon. I entreated for 
 Jesus’ sake. With joy and transport I 
 left the loft from a believing application 
 of the text, “Thy sins, which are many, 
 are forgiven.” I went to my mother, 
 told her what I had done, and sought 
 her forgiveness, and burned the lamb, 
 while she wept over her young penitent. 
 
 If such was young Kilpin’s misery 
 and remorse in stealing a penny, then, 
 in justice, he who steals a pound should 
 suffer more, provided remorse of con- 
 science in this life gives every sinner 
 his due punishment. But thieves and 
 robbers who have for years pursued 
 their path of crime, can and do steal 
 hundreds of pounds, and have no such 
 sense of guilt and sorrow for it as young 
 Kilpin had for his theft of a penny. 
 
 684 — 
 
 THE SECRET OF POWER. 
 
 Where is the secret of power? In 
 my college days the professor of nat- 
 ural philosophy used to exhibit his 
 great horseshoe magnet, wound about 
 with coils of wire. He hung it up, 
 charged the wire with a galvanic cur- 
 rent, and it caught up and held four 
 thousand pounds. He signaled to his 
 assistant to draw off the current, and 
 the power was gone. My brother, en- 
 circle your soul with faith and let the 
 divine electricity of the love of Jesus 
 Christ charge it. Then you can lift 
 anything; you can do anything that 
 God wants you to do. Draw it off, and 
 you are a shorn Samson, a weakling.— 
 Theodore L. Cuyler. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ma 685 — 
 REMARKABLE ANSWER TO 
 PRAYER. 
 
 I was left a widow of forty years of 
 age with one child, a boy of seven years, 
 and with very limited means. When 
 that child was seventeen years of age 
 he graduated from the High School in 
 the town of Madison, Ohio, and I then 
 moved to the city of Buffalo and put 
 him into the Normal School there to fit 
 him for a teacher. I had some money 
 when I went there but not so much, but 
 I was obliged to find something to do 
 to help me out. When the second win- 
 ter came I found myself one month 
 without money to pay my rent, which I 
 was obliged to pay monthly in advance. 
 I told the Lord I would do my best to 
 earn the money but if I could not I 
 should depend upon Him to provide 
 the money. As He had promised to 
 provide for the widow and the father- 
 less, I was kept through the month in 
 perfect peace, believing He would help 
 me out according to His promise, al- 
 though it was in the depth of winter 
 and I knew what the consequences 
 would be if I could not meet the rent. 
 It meant to be set out in a strange city 
 in the cold street. The days went on 
 until the last of the month and still no 
 money, but I was trusting the Lord and 
 that means that I was not worrying, 
 for trust and worry cannot go together. 
 I told nobody of my trouble, not even 
 my son; he knew nothing of it. I only 
 told the Lord. The night before the 
 rent was due was prayer-meeting night 
 in my church, and I went, but before 
 going I told the Lord my rent was due 
 the next day and I had no money but 
 I was trusting Him. I gave no hint 
 of my trouble to anyone at the meet- 
 ing, but after the meeting was out a 
 gentleman came up to me and handed 
 me a little parcel. He was the Bible 
 class teacher in the Sunday School and 
 I attended his class and he knew some- 
 thing of my circumstances. He knew 
 my son was a poor boy and trying to 
 get an education, but he knew nothing 
 of the tight place I was in at that time. 
 
 ANECDOTES. 363 
 
 I took the little parcel home and opened 
 it and there was a ten dollar bill, a little 
 more than enough to pay my rent. I 
 saw him a short time after and he told 
 me he would tell me when he had an 
 opportunity how he was led to give me 
 the money, but time went on for two 
 years, and one day I went into his office 
 downtown and as we were there alone 
 I reminded him of his promise and he 
 went on to tell me. He said ten days 
 before he gave me the money—which 
 was Saturday night—he was balancing 
 his accounts and found he was ten dol- 
 lars ahead, and he said something said 
 to him—almost a voice—give that to 
 Mrs. Saxton. He said he folded the bill 
 and put it into his vest pocket and 
 thought he would give it to me the next 
 prayer-meeting night, but I was not 
 there that night and the next week he 
 had a large sum of money to make out 
 and lacking some he took that bill out 
 of his pocket to use and something said 
 to him again, “put that back, that be- 
 longs to Mrs. Saxton.” He put it back 
 and the next prayer-meeting he gave 
 it to me, which was the night before the 
 rent was due. I was never out of 
 money before that time and never have 
 been since, although He has never 
 trusted me with any great amount at 
 atime. I have truly proved Him to be 
 a God that hears and answers prayer. 
 “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all 
 that is within me bless His holy name.” 
 —Mrs. F. L. Saxton. 
 
 — 686 — 
 WHEN HE BIDS US PRAY. 
 
 When Felix of Nola was hotly pur- 
 sued by murderers, he took refuge in a 
 cave and instantly, over the rift of it, 
 the spiders wove their webs, and, see- 
 ing this, the murderers passed by. Then 
 said the saint, “Where God is not, a 
 wall is but a spider’s web; where God 
 is, a spider’s web is as a wall.” What 
 will prayer do for you? I answer, All 
 that God can do for you. When he 
 bids us pray it is as though he said to 
 us, “Ask what I shall give thee.”ss 
 Canon Farrar. 
 
364 
 
 — 687 — 
 
 SHE LIKED BAD BUTTER. 
 
 Dr. B. Burt Sheldon, a New York 
 physician, tells the following story. 
 
 The first job he got after finishing 
 school at Oswego, N. Y., was a position 
 in a grocery store. Living near him 
 was a Mrs. Minnie Dolan with whom 
 he had become acquainted. Mrs. Dolan 
 asked the grocer clerk to bring her five 
 pounds of their best butter. This Burt 
 was glad to do, and the butter was taken 
 to the customer. 
 
 The next day, however, Mrs. Dolan 
 saw the clerk, and said, “We don’t like 
 that butter, I wish you would take it 
 back and bring me your best.” 
 
 Accordingly the butter, which was 
 really excellent in quality, was carried 
 back, and Burt told his employer that 
 Mrs. Dolan was very particular, and 
 would be satisfied with only the highest 
 grade butter. The grocer looked over 
 his stock, and put up five pounds of an- 
 other brand of equally high standard 
 and told his clerk to inform Mrs. Dolan 
 that no better butter than that ‘was 
 made. 
 
 The disgust of the grocer clerk may 
 be imagined when the next day Mrs. 
 Dolan informed him that they could not 
 eat that butter, and she wished him to 
 take it back. He did so, with as much 
 politeness as he could command. 
 
 Then an idea struck him. He knew 
 Mrs. Dolan did not know good butter. 
 She had not always been so prosperous 
 as now. She was not overneat in her 
 home, and he had seen her going about 
 bare-footed. 
 
 So he said to his employer, “I know 
 what kind of butter Mrs. Dolan wants! 
 What is that in that tub over there?” 
 
 He was told it was scrapings from 
 various tubs, old and rancid, and fit only 
 for cooking purposes. But so confident 
 was the clerk in his theory that he 
 weighed up five pounds of it and took 
 it to Mrs. Dolan, who was delighted 
 with it. To her taste that was indeed 
 the best butter. 
 
 This reminds me of what a man told 
 me some years ago. As a boy he was 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 very particular what he ate. It had to 
 be just to his liking, or he refused it. 
 But when a young man he got a job 
 among the lumber “Jacks” in the pine 
 woods of Michigan. The work was 
 hard. The food was coarse, but plenti- 
 ful, and the men ate of it ravenously. 
 The butter, however, was so rancid 
 that he could not eat it. It was so bad 
 that they greased their wagons out of 
 one tub, and ate out of the other, for 
 they were of the same quality. As he 
 ate his bread dry, his companions 
 laughed at him, and said he would soon 
 tire of that and take to the butter. And 
 So it was, and the more he ate of it the 
 better it tasted, and after a time he 
 could eat it with a relish. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah exhorts God’s 
 people to “eat that which is good,” and 
 to delight themselves in it. Isa. 55:2. 
 
 Just as we may cultivate a liking for 
 things bad, by partaking of them, so 
 we may also for things good. Boys 
 have no natural liking for beer, tobacco 
 and other injurious things, but an appe- 
 tite for them can easily be cultivated. 
 In like manner a liking for things good 
 may be gained, for Sunday-school, 
 church-going, Bible-reading and prayer. 
 We should do what is good, whether 
 we like it or not, and with the help of 
 God, which we shall not fail to have if 
 we seek it, duty will eventually become 
 a delight Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 688 — 
 AT HIS APPOINTED TIME. 
 
 One who has often carried me mes- 
 Sages of strength and encouragement, 
 Said to me, after I had passed a night 
 of entire sleeplessness: “I expected 
 nothing else; I could not pray for you 
 to sleep.” Another wrote: “I expect to 
 hear that your eyes are still useless; for 
 I must tell you that I have been quite 
 unable to pray for their restoration.” 
 Greatly was I helped by these mes- 
 Sages; for the heart, recognizing yet 
 more vividly through such testimonies 
 the hand of the Lord, can accept his 
 will, and see how these appointments 
 may bring forth fruit. Faith and prayer 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 bring healing; but an understanding of 
 the Lord’s will is necessary to their ex- 
 ercise. 
 
 After a long trial of patience in a 
 shadowed room, alone in a foreign pen- 
 sion without power to read or write, 
 excepting for a few minutes, suddenly 
 one day, I could ask for restoration of 
 my sight. Never did I realize to the 
 same degree the Lord’s command to 
 the paralytic: “Take up thy bed and 
 walk;” and believingly I went forth 
 from my darkened closet, took up my 
 pen, and wrote at,my unfinished manu- 
 script as if I had only been interrupted 
 an hour instead of six weeks! 
 
 I received a letter from a praying 
 friend, stating that she had felt great 
 freedom in pleading for my restoration, 
 and was expecting to hear of it. My 
 letter crossed her own telling her of her 
 swift answered prayer.—Anna Shipton. 
 
 — 689 — 
 
 THE STORY OF TWO SEA 
 CAPTAINS. 
 
 Captain Rankin, of the Galatea, hated 
 Captain Frazier of the Norwalk, a rival 
 boat, and Captain Frazier hated him. 
 They were once out in a violent storm, 
 in which the Galatea had her shaft 
 broken. The ships came within hailing 
 distance. 
 
 “Shall we speak to the Norwalk, sir?” 
 asked the second officer. “Not if we 
 can help it, sir,” responded the skipper. 
 But the indecision on the Galatea was 
 dismissed by a wigwag signal coming 
 from the Norwalk’s mainmast. “What’s 
 the trouble?” it read. 
 
 Then the Galatea signaled the reply, 
 “Shaft broken—unmanageable.” 
 
 “Shall I take off your passengers and 
 crew?” asked the Norwalk. 
 
 “Can't tell yet,” was the reply. 
 
 The next sentence that glimmered 
 from the Norwalk’s signal lights fur- 
 nished the inspiration for a hymn that 
 has been sung all over Christendom. 
 
 It was, “I'll stand by until the morn- 
 ing—subject to your command.” 
 
 The next night the two rivals rode 
 into port together, the disabled Galatea 
 
 ANECDOTES 365 
 
 being towed by the belated Norwalk. 
 After their passengers and cargoes had 
 been discharged, Captain Rankin 
 walked over to the Norwalk’s pier, 
 where Captain Frazier was giving 
 orders. 
 
 “Goin’ uptown, Fraz?” he asked. 
 
 “B’lieve I am, Rankin,’ answered 
 Frazier. 
 
 And the two grizzled sea-dogs who 
 had not spoken in years strolled up- 
 town, arm in arm.—Parish Visitor. 
 
 — 690 — 
 LINCOLN TRUSTED HONESTY. 
 
 Here is a bit of sentiment that will de 
 to tack into the big history of the war. 
 During the war Miss N , a beautifui 
 and spirited Virginian, whose brother, a 
 confederate soldier, had been taken 
 prisoner by the union forces, was de- 
 sirous of obtaining a pass which would 
 enable her to visit him. Francis P. 
 Blair agreed to secure an audience with 
 the president, but warned his young 
 and rather impulsive friend to be very 
 prudent and not let a word escape her 
 which would betray her southern sym- 
 pathies. They were ushered into the 
 presence of Mr. Lincoln and the object 
 for which they had come stated. The 
 tall, grave man bent down to the petite 
 maiden, and, looking searchingly into 
 her face, said: “You are loyal, of 
 course?” 
 
 Her bright eyes flashed. She hesi- 
 tated a moment, and then, with a face 
 eloquent with emotion and honest as his 
 own, she replied: “Yes, loyal to the 
 heart’s core—to Virginia!” Mr. Lin- 
 coln kept his intent gaze upon her for 
 a moment longer and then went to his 
 desk, wrote a line or two and handed 
 her the paper. With a bow the inter- 
 view terminated. Once outside, the ex- 
 treme vexation of Mr. Blair found vent 
 in reproachful words. “Now, you have 
 done it,” he said; “didn’t I warn you to 
 be very careful? You have only your- 
 self to blame.” Miss N——— made no 
 reply but opened the paper. It con- 
 tained these words: “Pass Miss N : 
 she is an honest girl and can be trusted. 
 A. LINCOLN.’”—New York Telegram. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
366 
 
 — 691 — 
 HOW GOUGH WAS SAVED. 
 
 On a certain Sabbath evening a reck- 
 less young man was idly lounging un- 
 der the elm trees in the public square of 
 Worcester. He had become a wretched 
 waif on the current of time. His days 
 were spent in the waking remorse of 
 the drunkard, his nights were passed in 
 the buffooneries of the ale house. As 
 he sauntered along, out of humor with 
 himself and with all mankind, a kind 
 voice saluted him. A stranger Jaid his 
 hand on his shoulder, and said in cor- 
 dial tones, “Mr. Gough, go down to our 
 meeting at the town hall tonight.” A 
 brief conversation followed, so winning 
 in its character that the reckless youth 
 consented to go. He went; he heard 
 the appeals there made. With trem- 
 ulous hands he signed 
 
 “The Pledge of Total Abstinence.” 
 By God’s help he kept it. The poor 
 boot crimper who tapped him on the 
 shoulder, good Joel Stratton, has gone 
 to heaven. But the youth he saved is 
 today the foremost of reformers on the 
 face of the globe. Methinks when I 
 listen to the thunders of applause that 
 greet John B. Gough on the platform 
 of the Academy of Music, I am hearing 
 the echoes of that tap on the shoulder, 
 and of that kind invitation under the 
 ancient elms of Worcester. “He that 
 winneth souls is wise.”—-T. L. Cuyler. 
 
 — 692 — 
 TEACH THE CHILDREN. 
 
 I heard a preacher, a home mission- 
 ary and a good man, relating an inci- 
 dent the other morning which I thought 
 truly remarkable and worthy of notice; 
 so I will tell it, both for the encourage- 
 ment of all home missionaries to always 
 notice the children, and to induce the 
 children to be honest and frank, and 
 ready to give an answer to a civil and 
 kindly asked question. The preacher 
 said: 
 
 “As I was walking along the other 
 morning (last Friday morning; you re- 
 member what a lovely morning it was) 
 through a strip of woods in Virginia, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 it seemed as though everything spoke, 
 ‘God is love.’ I met a bright little boy, 
 probably nine or ten years of age, going 
 to school. I just wondered to myself 
 what might his thoughts be. Said I, 
 “Little boy, I should like to ask youa 
 question, if you will answer me truth- 
 fully.” ‘I will, if I can” ‘I just felt 
 like asking you if you can tell me what 
 you were thinking about, this beautiful, 
 bright morning?’ ‘Well, sir, I can tell 
 you just what I was thinking about. 
 When I lived away over in Ohio, a 
 preacher came to our house once and 
 took me upon his knee and told me 
 about God; told me he was everywhere 
 —under the bed, in the room, and would 
 be wherever I should go, and hear 
 everything I should say. He told me 
 never to swear or tell untruths.’ ‘Well, 
 have you tried to always remember it?’ 
 ‘Yes, sir, I don’t swear, nor tell stories.’ 
 ‘That is right. May I ask you what is 
 your name?’ ‘It is Valintine od 
 Tears of praise to God filled my eyes. 
 Here it was a little boy I had five years 
 before tried to point to Jesus, the chil- 
 dren’s Friend. Then I told him I was 
 the same man; and was so glad he had 
 been such a good boy, and hoped he 
 would still ask God to help him.”—Mrs, 
 Wm. Barrett. 
 
 
 
 — 693 — 
 SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE. 
 
 One day while my husband and I 
 were traveling in the West, having an 
 hour to spare before the time when it 
 had been agreed that I should meet him 
 at the depot, I “assayed” to call upon 
 a friend, “but the Spirit suffered” me 
 “not.” So I went to the depot expect- 
 ing to spend the hour waiting there. 
 What was my surprise to meet my hus- 
 band and have him tell me to “hurry.” 
 We ran for a train and just boarded it. 
 Then he told me he had made a mis- 
 take in the time of the train’s leaving 
 and said, “How did you happen to come 
 so early?” And was delighted to know 
 how I had been guided, for it meant 
 much to him to be able to take that 
 train—Mrs. A. C. Morrow. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 694 — 
 WAS TEDDY A “FOOL?” 
 
 Some fifty years ago, one very cold 
 morning, a half dozen or more boys 
 were gathered closely around an old 
 stove in the MacMillan School in New 
 York City. One of those boys had poor 
 health and especially weak eyes. An 
 old gentleman always brought this boy 
 to school. It was noticeable that the 
 boy was always present and never 
 failed to know his lessons. 
 
 While shivering around the old stove 
 that morning, another boy, Fred Mc- 
 Daniel, a tall, awkward and unpurpose- 
 ful-looking boy, came down the aisle, 
 threw his skates on the floor and his 
 books upon his desk, walked over to the 
 old stove and said: “Ted, you’re a 
 fool!” Ted looked up quickly and said 
 impulsively: “What do you mean?” 
 “Oh, I don’t mean what you think I 
 mean,” said Fred. “I mean that you’re 
 not able to come to school. Your eyes 
 are weak, and you'll put them out and 
 be blind. Your father is rich and you 
 don’t have to go to school. My father 
 is rich and I expect to make the teacher 
 expel me. I was expelled from school 
 in Albany and they’ll do it here. I’m 
 simply not going to school.” By this 
 time Ted had risen to his feet. 
 
 “I may put my eyes out,” he said, 
 “but if I do, my father will send me to a 
 blind school. I am going to be edu- 
 cated—I am going to be educated!” 
 
 Within three weeks, Fred succeeded 
 in carrying out his determination, get- 
 ting himself expelled from school. An- 
 other boy, Devolt, was present that 
 morning. Devolt says: “Many years 
 later I went to Albany, where Fred and 
 I were born, to visit my parents. As I 
 entered the depot, the wind was pierc- 
 ing, the snow was falling fast. I was 
 attracted by the sight of a large man 
 wearing coarse and untidy clothes. His 
 face was haggard, his hair was streaked 
 with gray. Across his shoulder was a 
 large strap that held a heavy bundle of 
 daily papers. ‘Have a paper, sir? I 
 recognized the voice, and as I turned he 
 said to me: ‘Devolt, is that you?’ 
 
 367 
 
 ‘Yes, Fred, old fellow, I’m so glad to 
 see you.’”’ 
 
 Aiter talking a few moments, the two 
 old schoolmates stepped into a nearby 
 cafe to have supper. Having ordered 
 their supper, Devolt said: “Fred, do 
 you remember—” 
 
 “Wait! Devolt, I know what you’re 
 going to say. You are going to tell me 
 about the morning I told Ted he was a 
 fool. Yes, Devolt, I remember it all, 
 and it’s the saddest memory of my life. 
 For now he’s our President, getting 
 $75,000 a year, and I—I will sleep in a 
 garret tonight.”’—Henry C. Risner, D. D. 
 
 — 695 — 
 
 LET GOD DIRECT. 
 
 Let God direct where your money 
 shall be spent, and it will not be wasted. 
 One day I needed a dress and wrapper, 
 and had only a small sum of money. I 
 asked to which store I should go and 
 the word was definitely given. I went 
 from counter to counter, but the clerks 
 would not notice me nor wait on me, 
 nor tell me they had not what I wanted. 
 I was tempted to go out, but stood in 
 the aisle and proved God. I said, 
 “Lord, if Thou didst send me to this 
 store, make the next clerk wait on me 
 and give me what I want.” I returned 
 to one counter and asked again, “Have 
 you any dark navy blue serge?” “Yes, 
 one piece marked down today from 
 $1.50 to 75 cents.” “Have you any 
 dark red cashmere?” “Yes, one piece 
 marked down today from $1.00 to 60 
 cents.” Both were what I needed. It 
 pays to have for a life motto, “In the 
 beginning God” in everything. “Man 
 lives on God’s bounty, man should live 
 to God’s glory.—Mrs. A. C. Morrow. 
 
 — 696 — 
 
 It is related of General Grant that his 
 conversation was remarkable for its 
 purity. On one occasion a certain 
 General entered his tent and said: “I 
 have a good story to tell; are there any 
 ladies about?” Grant replied at once: 
 “No, but there are gentlemen about.” 
 It is said the story was not told. 
 
368 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 2607 = 
 A LITTLE CHILD LED HIM, 
 
 In the story of his life, Tom Keenan, 
 the veteran engineer, tells how the 
 grace of God transformed him from a 
 drinking, swearing, fighting man into 
 an earnest ‘vorker in the vineyard of the 
 Lord. Speaking of the conversion of 
 one of his associates, he says: 
 
 While many of my old associates 
 would joke about my conversion, my 
 heart went out to them, and I would 
 take occasion, as opportunity offered, to 
 speak with them about living the better 
 life. Some were harder to approach 
 than others; indeed, it seemed that the 
 more I loved a man in the old life the 
 more difficult it was for me to approach 
 him. Bill Swick was one whom my 
 heart yearned for in particular. He 
 was an engineer, and for years we had 
 been bosom companions. Summoning 
 up sufficient courage I went to his en- 
 gine at Hoboken one day for the pur- 
 pose of having a word with him. He 
 sat in the cab reading a morning paper. 
 Climbing on the engine, I stepped up 
 close to where he was sitting and put- 
 ting my arm around him, said: 
 
 “Bill, do you know that I miss your 
 companionship? I would like nothing 
 better than to have you with me in this 
 Christian life. Bill, do you ever give 
 it an honest thought?” 
 
 His eyes filled with tears as he an- 
 swered: “Yes, Tom, I do give it many 
 an honest thought.” 
 
 “God bless you, Bill,’ I said. “I am 
 glad to hear it.” I shook his hand and 
 left him. My heart was too full to say 
 more, and I knew that if I tried to speak 
 with him further I would have blub- 
 bered right out before him. 
 
 Bill lived at Summit. On the follow- 
 ing Saturday evening in company with 
 a chum who was an infidel, he drove 
 from Summit to Basking Ridge and 
 stopped at a hotel. While his compan- 
 ion put the horse and wagon away, 
 Bill went into the hotel parlor and sat 
 down. 
 
 He was alone in the parlor; but, after 
 sitting there a while, a little child came 
 
 toddling in and, coming over to where 
 he sat, put its little hand on his knee 
 and looking up into his face, said: 
 
 “Do ’ou love Jesus?” Bill gazed at 
 the little one a moment, too surprised to 
 say one word, while the little one, ex- 
 pecting an answer, kept looking inquir- 
 ingly into his face, and again asked: 
 “Do ’ou love Jesus?” 
 
 That question, and that sweet little 
 voice, were too much for the big heart 
 of Bill to resist; he burst out crying, 
 and, taking the little one tenderly in his 
 big rough hands, lifted it up and kissed 
 it. The good time he had planned for 
 was spoiled in a minute by the visit of 
 this little stranger, and soon afterwards 
 with his companion he returned to Sum- 
 mit, completely broken up. He slept 
 but little that night, and next morning 
 he decided to go to church. It was the 
 first time in many a long day. He 
 wept all through the service; and so 
 noticeable were his actions that he was 
 an object of interest to the entire con- 
 gregation. The minister had finished 
 his sermon and was about to announce 
 the closing hymn, when Bill, rising to 
 his feet, said: 
 
 “Hold on! dominie; before you close 
 this meetin’, I’d like to come forward 
 and join the church.” 
 
 So saying, he started towards the pul- 
 pit. The minister, who was not antici- 
 pating any such climax to the morning 
 service, recovered from the astonish- 
 ment Bill’s interruption had caused and 
 stepping down from the pulpit, met Bill 
 at the altar. Here Bill fell upon his 
 knees and weeping aloud, asked the 
 minister to pray for him, which he did. 
 
 After prayer, the minister received 
 him as a member of the church on the 
 confession of his faith in Jesus, whom 
 the little child the evening before had 
 asked him if he loved. Bill imme- 
 diately identified himself with the Rail- 
 road Men’s Praying Band and for four 
 years lived a sweet, happy, Christian 
 life. One day, about four years after 
 his conversion, while his engine stood 
 in almost the exact spot where she stood 
 the morning I climbed up to ask him if 
 he gave the subject of the Christian life 
 
 in na ae Sell 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES, 
 
 an honest thought, and, sitting where 
 he did when I spoke to him, he was just 
 about to open the throttle, when, with- 
 out a moment’s warning, and for some 
 unaccountable reason, his engine blew 
 up, and, like Elijah of old, his spirit 
 went up in a chariot of fire,—a hero for 
 God who died at his post. 
 
 — 698 — 
 
 GOD SO LOVED HE GAVE. 
 
 It is related that at the time of the 
 Reformation a little girl one day was 
 playing in the printing office of her 
 father, who was printing a few copies 
 of Luther’s Bible. And a precious 
 treasure they were! For Bibles were 
 far less plentiful then than are diamonds 
 and rubies now. While at play this 
 little girl found a scrap of a printed 
 sheet which contained this much of 
 John 3:16, “God so loved the world 
 that He gave.” 
 
 This was a revelation to her. These 
 were wonderful words. She read them 
 over and over again, and repeated them, 
 “God so loved the world that He gave!” 
 
 She was an unusually sober and 
 thoughtful child, and these few words 
 had a surprising effect upon her. She 
 lost that serious air, and a cheery look 
 came into her eyes as she repeated the 
 words, “God so loved the world that He 
 gave!” She carefully preserved that 
 scrap of paper, and carried it in her 
 bosom. 
 
 Sometime later her mother said to 
 her one day, “Gretchen, my child, what 
 has come over you of late? You have 
 always been dutiful and kind, but I 
 notice you look so bright and happy, 
 and you are given to singing, which is 
 unusual for you. What is it, child?” 
 
 “Oh mother, I am so happy because 
 God so loved the world that He gave!” 
 “That He gave what, my child?” Oh, I 
 don’t know what he gave, but if he 
 loved the world well enough to give 
 anything, I shall never be afraid of Him 
 again!” 
 
 What, think you, would have been the 
 love and enthusiasm of that little girl 
 for the Gospel if she could have read 
 
 369 
 
 the whole text? If she could have 
 known what the gift of God really was, 
 what would she then have thought of 
 His great love for humanity? — Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 699 — 
 JENNY LIND’S TESTIMONY. 
 
 Thirty-seven years before her death 
 Jenny Lind abandoned the operatic 
 stage. The motive of the great renun- 
 ciation was a purely spiritual one. 
 Every appearance had been a dramatic 
 triumph, and her pecuniary reward was 
 large; yet she never regretted her de- 
 cision, Her motive is made clear by 
 the following narrative: 
 
 “Once an English friend found her 
 sitting on the steps of a bathing ma- 
 chine on the sand with a Swedish Bible 
 on her knee, looking out into the glory 
 of a sunset that was shining over the 
 waters, 
 
 “They talked, and the talk drew near 
 to the inevitable question, ‘Oh, Madame 
 Goldschmidt, how was it that you ever 
 came to abandon the stage, at the very 
 height of your success?’ 
 
 ““When every day,’ was the quiet 
 answer, ‘it made me think less of this 
 (laying a finger on the Bible), and 
 nothing at all of that (pointing to the 
 sunset), what else could I do?’”— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 700 — 
 HORSE-FIDELITY. 
 
 _A good many pastors have felt as Mr. 
 Beecher did when he was about to take 
 a ride behind a hired horse at a livery 
 stable. He regarded the horse admir- 
 ingly and remarked: “That is a fine- 
 looking animal. Is he as good as he 
 looks?” 
 
 The owner replied: “Mr. Beecher, 
 that horse will work in any place you 
 put him, and do all that any horse can 
 do.” 
 
 The preacher eyed the horse still 
 more admiringly, and then humorously 
 remarked: “I wish to goodness he 
 were a member of our church.” 
 
370 
 
 — 701 — 
 SENT OF GOD. 
 
 A beautiful story connected with an 
 old log church on the New Jersey coast, 
 at Goodluck, illustrates this. In 1770 a 
 brig named Hand-in-Hand struck a bar. 
 Among the passengers rescued was an 
 English clergyman named Murray, who, 
 having lost his wife and children, had 
 become a prey to despair. Almost in- 
 sane, he had resolved never to preach 
 again, but to come to the wilderness of 
 the new world, where he could forget 
 the past and the God, who, he believed, 
 had forgotten him. As he crossed the 
 sand beaches he saw a log house, and 
 near it an old man standing in the door 
 of a cabin. A basket of fish was beside 
 him. “Will you sell me a fish?” asked 
 the shipwrecked clergyman. “No! The 
 fish are yours. I caught them for your 
 dinner. I expected you.” “You do 
 not know who I am,” replied Mr. Mur- 
 ray. “You are the man who is to tell 
 us of God,” replied the fisherman. “I 
 will never preach of Him again,” was 
 the answer. Then Thomas Potter told 
 his story. He said, “I had been a sailor 
 but twenty years ago I settled with my 
 wife on this coast. I could not read, 
 but my wife spelled out some verses in 
 the Bible. I determined to know some- 
 thing about God. Whenever a preacher 
 came down the coast, I would gather the 
 folks into the kitchen to hear him 
 preach. When I got a day to spare, I 
 worked at yon log house. It is a 
 church. I built it. First a Presbyter- 
 ian came along, and then a Baptist, and 
 then a Methodist. They all preached 
 in it, and I said, ‘Stay and teach us 
 about God.’ But they had work else- 
 where. Last night I saw the brig cast 
 away on the sands. I heard a voice 
 say, “There in that ship is the man who 
 will teach you of God. He has come 
 through great sorrow to do this work.’ 
 I have made ready for you a long time 
 ago. You will not go away and leave 
 us.” The tears streamed down the old 
 man’s cheeks as he pleaded. The re- 
 bellious minister fell on his knees before 
 God in penitence and faith. He re- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 mained during the rest of his life at 
 Goodluck, preaching in the log church, 
 faithful and happy in his work. Thomas 
 Potter bequeathed the church to him, 
 and it is said that the will of John Mur- 
 ray, minister at Goodluck, still exists, 
 in which he left the building “free for 
 the use of Christian people.”—Selected. 
 
 — 702 — 
 TRUSTING THE GUIDE-BOARD. 
 
 Two men were walking on the high- 
 way to a strange city. One said, “I 
 like to see where I am going. This 
 faith you Christians talk about is un- 
 reasonable and absurd.” They came to 
 a fork in the road. No one was in 
 sight. Neither of them knew the way. 
 On the guide post were the words, “To 
 X—, one mile.” The Christian said, 
 “What shall we do?” The sinner an- 
 swered, “Why, trust the guide board, 
 of course.” “But wouldn’t that be walk- 
 ing by faith, just what you criticise us 
 Christians for doing?” “No, for I see 
 the guide-board.” “True, and we see 
 our guide-board, the Bible. We read 
 about the way to heaven, but we don’t 
 see heaven any more than you see X— 
 from this fork in the road. Our faith 
 in the Bible is just like yours in the 
 guide-board. We take the testimony 
 of that which we see in regard to that 
 which is invisible.”—Selected. 
 
 — 703 — 
 
 THE PICCOLO MISSED. 
 
 It is said that once'when Sir Michael 
 Costa was having a rehearsal with a 
 vast array of performers and hundreds 
 of voices, as the mighty chorus rang out 
 with thunder of the organ and roll of 
 drums and ringing horns and cymbals 
 clashing, some one man far away up 
 in some corner, who played the piccolo, 
 said to himself, “In all this din it mat- 
 ters not what I do,” and so he ceased 
 to play. Suddenly the great conductor 
 stopped, flung up his hands and all was 
 still—and then he cried aloud: “Where’s 
 the piccolo?” The quick ear missed it, 
 and all was spoiled because it failed to 
 take its part.—Selected. 
 
{ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 teens 7 (V4, cme 
 SIN’S DECEITFULNESS AND 
 POWER. 
 
 On a visit to Niagara Falls there was 
 pointed out to the writer a rock rising 
 a little above the waters near the brink 
 of the precipice, not far from the Amer- 
 ican shore. It is known as “Avery’s 
 Rock.” 
 
 It got its name from the following in- 
 cident. Many years ago four men, well 
 supplied with bottles of whiskey, started 
 out for a day’s fishing in Niagara River, 
 so far away from the Falls that there 
 was no danger to be feared from the 
 current. They imbibed freely from 
 their flasks, rowed out to an island, tied 
 their boat to an overhanging limb of a 
 tree, and lay down and slept. At last 
 the constant tugging of the boat loos- 
 ened the rope from the limb, and the 
 boat began to move down the river. As 
 it glided along noiselessly the men in 
 their drunken stupor slept on. Faster 
 and faster it went, but still they slept. 
 At last the motion of the boat as it en- 
 tered the rapids, and the cries of the 
 alarmed spectators on the shore, awak- 
 ened the men. Frantically they pulled 
 at the oars to bring the boat to the land, 
 but they could make no headway against 
 the powerful current which held their 
 frail craft in its deadly grip. On and 
 on it bore them in spite of all their 
 struggles, until at last just before the 
 boat and three of its occupants took 
 their awful plunge over the cataract, 
 Avery, thrown into the water, was able 
 to clutch the rock now bearing his name. 
 
 As he clung, partially supported by 
 the rock, his perilous situation was seen 
 by those on the shore. Their shouted 
 words of encouragement were drowned 
 by the roar of the Falls. Then, while 
 some were devising a plan for his rescue 
 others rigged up a great sign where he 
 could read, “We Will Save You.” For 
 many hours they tried in vain to get 
 floats down to him. But they were 
 either swept over the Falls or would not 
 come near him. At last the float was so 
 near that he tried to clutch it, but in so 
 doing his hold on the rock was broken, 
 
 ANECDOTES 37) 
 and with a cry of horror Avery followed 
 his companions. 
 
 How this incident illustrates the de- 
 ceitfulness and power of sin. At first, 
 it is like the gentle current of Niagara 
 River, something to be played with, 
 and from which its unsuspecting victim 
 can easily escape if he will. But if the 
 sinner neglects to escape while he can, 
 and despises the warnings of God, and 
 his offered salvation, the time comes 
 when Satan’s clutch cannot be broken, 
 and the sinner is swept to death eternal. 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 705 — 
 
 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 “I will guide thee with mine eye.” 
 If one will yield himself to the guidance 
 of the Holy Spirit and seek only to 
 glorify God in all, he will often be able 
 to look back over the way passed and 
 see clearly that God was leading him 
 although at the time he was entirely un- 
 conscious of it. 
 
 One afternoon there were two fam- 
 ilies on whom I intended to call as I 
 started forth. But I had prayed for 
 guidance at morning worship, and had 
 now an unusual desire to be led aright. 
 Passing down a certain street to call at 
 one of the homes thought of, it occurred 
 to me to stop and see a lady living 
 across the street. I had known her for 
 some time, but had never called upon 
 her. Yielding to the impulse I went, 
 and in response to my inquiry was told 
 by her sister, who had come to care for 
 her, that Mrs. D was very ill, but 
 would see me. She was thankful in- 
 deed for the call, and said, “The Lord 
 sent you.” After speaking some words 
 of comfort and encouragement, prayer 
 was offered, and when I left she was 
 more cheerful in mind, and I was grate- 
 ful for being led to make the visit. 
 
 No one was at home at either of the 
 two places where I intended to call, but 
 calls were made upon three families 
 where I had no thought of going, and 
 at all the places there were marked in- 
 dications that my coming was well- 
 timed.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 
 
372 
 
 ay (rps 
 WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 I was deeply interested in a work in 
 which I was unable to take a part; but 
 it came to my mind one morning to 
 offer a certain sum of money to help 
 those who were able to work. On sec- 
 ond thought the act appeared impru- 
 dent; but if we hesitate to act upon our 
 first thoughts when they spring from 
 love to God, the judgment becomes ob- 
 scured rather than enlightened. To end 
 the strife, I prayed God to make his ac- 
 ceptance so evident to me that I could 
 not err; for the joy of giving the sum 
 that first presented itself overcame 
 every prudential consideration. I asked 
 Him to send to me that morning one of 
 the least probable persons connected 
 with the work, the least likely, because 
 he had visited me two days previously, 
 and I knew him to be fully engaged 
 from dawn to night. So entirely did I 
 anticipate his arrival as hours drew on, 
 that when a lady arrived from the coun- 
 try to see me, I told her I was expecting 
 a person on business, and should be 
 glad if when he arrived she would wait 
 in my bedroom until his departure. 
 
 Almost immediately, there was a ring 
 at the door. The lady leit the room, 
 as my God-sent messenger entered, with 
 a degree of embarrassment quite un- 
 usual to him. He apologized for calling 
 again so soon, referring to his recent 
 visit, and added: “Nor can I tell you 
 why I am here. I had not the least in- 
 tention to come in this direction when I 
 left the house this morning; but when I 
 reached the summit of the hill I felt 
 drawn round in a contrary direction 
 with a power I never experienced before, 
 and consequently obliged to descend, 
 and my feet impelled to your house, and 
 my thoughts to you, and here I am.” 
 
 I listened with a joyful heart, and re- 
 lated to him the combat over my offer- 
 ing and my prayers, and placed into his 
 hand the envelope addressed to him, 
 with instructions as to the branch of 
 the work for which its contents were 
 designed, at the same time saying that 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 . might be spared. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 I had been waiting for him. The mat- 
 ter was more deeply interesting to me, 
 as the messenger, in spite of himself, 
 was much afraid of the work of the 
 Spirit in the common things of every 
 day life. His moistened eye and trem- 
 ulous voice in prayer told me the Lord 
 had used this experience for His glory. 
 —A. Shipton. 
 
 — 707 — 
 GOD’S WILL IS BEST. 
 
 In the autumn of 1888, while I was 
 pastor of the Presbyterian Church at 
 Iron Mountain, Michigan, four young 
 women came there from New York 
 State to become teachers in the public 
 school, and they were attendants of my 
 churchh Among them was a Miss 
 Lynch from Auburn, New York, a 
 member of one of the Baptist churches 
 of that city. 
 
 A few weeks before the coming of 
 these young women a great sorrow had 
 visited the family of the pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church. The youngest 
 child, a beautiful boy, Paul H., of a little 
 less than a year of age, had been taken 
 away from the home in which there 
 had not been a babe before in seven 
 years. This was a great grief to the 
 parents not only, but also to the surviv- 
 ing brother and sister. 
 
 For the encouragement of the parents 
 who had brought themselves to be rec- 
 onciled to the will of God in the loss 
 they had sustained, Miss Lynch related 
 the following incident that occurred in 
 her own family. The first child of her 
 mother, I believe it was, a baby boy, 
 was very ill. The pastor of the church 
 attended by the mother called to com- 
 fort her, and before his departure they 
 kneeled and he prayed that if it was 
 the will of God, the life of the child 
 But the distressed 
 mother interrupted the minister, and 
 cried out, “Oh, don’t pray so! I want 
 my baby to be spared anyway!” 
 
 God answered the prayer of the 
 mother. The child was spared. But 
 as he advanced in years, he was not the 
 comfort to her that his mother had an- 
 ticipated. As a young man he became 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 addicted to bad habits and bad com- 
 panionships, and he was finally killed 
 in a saloon brawl. His sister said it was 
 a terrible lesson to her mother, who 
 ever after regretted that she had not 
 been resigned to the loss of her babe 
 in the days of his infancy, had it been 
 the will of God. 
 
 God’s will for his children is always 
 directed by his infinite love and wis- 
 dom, and it is far safer to let him choose 
 for us than to make our own choice.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 708 — 
 WHERE FATHER USED TO 
 KNEEL. 
 
 I heard a story of two young men that 
 were very wicked, yet their father was a 
 very earnest, consecrated Christian. He 
 held family prayers every night, kneel- 
 ing down by a little table that stood in 
 the corner by the hearthstone; but the 
 two young men did not care to bow 
 with their father at that little old table. 
 Finally the father died and left the two 
 wicked sons. He had prayed for them 
 many a time, and sometimes with tears 
 in his eyes he had talked with them 
 about their Saviour, but they did not 
 care to hear him. 
 
 Time went on, and in after years they 
 decided, as they had gained in property, 
 to remove the old house and build a 
 larger one. They were both carpen- 
 ters and they undertook the job them- 
 selves. They took off the roof and then 
 the sides of the house, and then they 
 took up the floor, plank by plank, and 
 finally they got near the old hearth- 
 stone, and one of them stopped and 
 looked at his brother. He said: 
 
 “Here’s where father used to kneel 
 and pray; there’s where the little table 
 stood, and the Bible was always on it.” 
 
 The other says: 
 
 “Yes, it seems to me I can see the 
 print of father’s knee on that old plank 
 now.” He continued, “I can’t take up 
 that plank; you take it up.” 
 
 The other one said: 
 
 “No, I can’t; I wish you would,” and 
 as they looked into each other’s eyes 
 
 ANECDOTES 373 
 
 the voice of their father spoke to them, 
 and the Spirit of God vitalized the voice, 
 and right there, where the old man had 
 prayed a thousand times, the boys 
 prayed that day and asked the old, old 
 question, “What shall I do to be saved?” 
 And the Spirit of God came down and 
 revealed Jesus to their hearts, and be- 
 fore that plank was ever taken up they 
 gave their hearts to God. — Baptist 
 Standard. 
 
 — 709 — 
 
 THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS. 
 
 The power of forgiveness, even for an 
 offence against human law, is well illus- 
 trated in the following incident: A sol- 
 dier was brought before his command- 
 ing officer for some offence. He was 
 an old offender, and had often been 
 punished. “Here he is again,” said the 
 officer, on his name being mentioned; 
 “flogging, disgrace, solitary confine- 
 ment, everything has been tried with 
 him.” Whereupon the sergeant stepped 
 forward, and apologizing for the liberty, 
 said: “There is one thing which has 
 never been done with him yet, sir.” 
 
 “What is that,” said the officer. 
 
 “Well, sir,” said the sergeant, “he has 
 never been forgiven.” 
 
 “Forgiven!” exclaimed the Colonel, 
 surprised at the suggestion. He re- 
 flected a few minutes, ordered the cul- 
 prit brought in, and asked him what he 
 had to say to the charge. 
 
 Turning a kind and pitiful look on 
 the man, who expected nothing less 
 than that his punishment would be in- 
 creased with the repetition of his of- 
 fence, the colonel addressed him saying: 
 
 “Well, we forgive you.” 
 
 The soldier was struck dumb with 
 amazement; tears started to his eyes 
 and he wept like a child. He was 
 humbled to the dust, and, thanking his 
 officer, then retired—to be the old re- 
 fractory, incorrigible man? No! from 
 that day forward he was a new man. 
 He who told this story had him for 
 years under his eye, and a better con- 
 ducted man never wore the Queen’s 
 colors.—Selected. 
 
374. 
 fee 710 ows 
 
 WEALTH OR SUCCESS. 
 
 As evidence that riches are actually 
 a barrier to success is made evident in a 
 new edition of a dictionary of biography 
 and mythology containing forty thou- 
 sand names; among all the greatest of 
 former times and the names of living 
 celebrities all over the world—manu- 
 facturers and merchants, as well as 
 poets, heroes, statesmen, etc. In this 
 volume the space given to all the men 
 eminent only for wealth does not equal 
 that assigned to one man like Shake- 
 speare, Luther, Franklin, or Abraham 
 Lincoln. All the Rothschilds and Astors 
 put together receive only as many lines 
 as are accorded to Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe. Cornelius Vanderbilt receives 
 less attention than Paganini the fiddler, 
 and A. T. Stewart’s niche is as small 
 as that occupied by Daniel Lambert, the 
 fat man. And this apportionment seems 
 to be in strict accord with the degree of 
 popular interest felt in the various per- 
 sonages. Even the three rich bene- 
 factors, Girard, George Peabody, Sir 
 Moses Montefiore, united take less room 
 than John Wesley or Nathaniel Haw- 
 thorne. There is a genuine significance 
 and something instructive in this com- 
 parison. And the fact that rich men 
 constantly try to secure regard and re- 
 membrance by public gifts or legacies 
 is a striking testimony to the truth that 
 nearly all persons recognize, though it 
 be but tacitly, the superiority of other 
 titles to fame than the gathering of 
 riches. The world, sordid as it may 
 seem on too close an inspection, is after 
 all governed in the end by ideas rather 
 than money. It is doubtless frequently 
 true that rich young men, despite their 
 advantage in some ways, find it harder 
 to win real distinction than their poorer 
 fellows. But it may be doubted whe- 
 ther wealth is any more a barrier to real 
 success than poverty is. More poor 
 men than rich become famous, partly 
 because there are more poor people in 
 the world. Then, there are various 
 kinds of success—even failures that are 
 successes — all of which lead toward 
 progress by different roads. Let not 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the rich be discouraged, therefore, but 
 rather hold on to their wealth for one 
 week longer and meditate——New York 
 Star. 
 
 —7ii— 
 A BOY’S CONTRIBUTION. 
 
 A little boy was a close friend and 
 namesake of Bishop McCabe, then 
 Chaplain McCabe. The chaplain was 
 very busy in those. days raising money 
 for the missionary society. He talked 
 much of his hopes and successes, and 
 the boy became interested in the work 
 so dear to his friend. One day he came 
 to his mother, saying, “I want to write 
 a letter to Chaplain McCabe, and send 
 this money.” He insisted on his mother 
 holding his little hand and guiding it 
 while he dictated the following: “Dear 
 Chaplain: I am glad you are getting a 
 million dollars for missions. I send you 
 five cents to help, and if you want any 
 more just write to me, Charles McCabe 
 Howe.” Bishop McCabe said years 
 later, “That five cents has won for the 
 church three hundred thousand dollars. 
 It was a great gift and a great letter. I 
 have told the story twenty years, and it 
 always touches hearts and brings a re- 
 sponse.”—Selected. 
 
 — 712 — 
 BENGLE’S PRAYER. 
 
 It is recorded of Bengle, an old Ger- 
 man saint, that he was much given to 
 intercessory prayer, had power with 
 God, and prevailed. One anxious to 
 know his secret, watched him unob- 
 served in his hours of retirement. 
 “Now,” said he, “I shall hear Bengle 
 pray.4 5s 
 
 The aged saint sat long before his 
 open Bible, perusing its sacred pages, 
 hours passed away, and, while compar- 
 ing scripture with scripture, the hour 
 of midnight sounded. Nature seemed 
 at length exhausted. He folded his 
 arms over the open word, and, looking 
 up, gave utterances to these words, 
 “Lord Jesus, Thou knowest me; we are 
 on the same old terms.” A few mo- 
 ments more, and Bengle’s weary frame 
 was reposing in a sweet slumber. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 713 — 
 JAPAN’S FIRST BIBLE. 
 
 Fifty years ago a book was washed 
 ashore on the beach of Nagasaki Bay, 
 and was found by a Japanese. He had 
 no idea what it was, for it was in West- 
 ern printing, not in Japanese characters. 
 Still, he kept it as a curiosity, just as 
 an American might keep an Eastern 
 volume cast up on the strand. He 
 showed it to a traveler, and was told 
 that it was a Dutch translation of the 
 Bible, which the Western people obeyed 
 as the Word of God. The same book, 
 the traveler said, could be bought in a 
 Chinese translation. In the beginning 
 it was a Hebrew book, an oriental one, 
 but it had been translated into scores of 
 languages. 
 
 The Japanese finder of the Dutch 
 Bible, after hearing all of this, began to 
 feel great curiosity about the water- 
 washed book. An oriental book, be- 
 lieved in by occidental nations, trans- 
 lated into even the Chinese characters 
 —it must be a wonderful treasure, in- 
 deed. He determined to procure a copy 
 in Chinese, for he could then read it for 
 himself. He succeeded in getting one, 
 and began to study. Soon he interested 
 several friends, and they read and 
 studied too. The first Protestant mis- 
 sionary who arrived in Japan several 
 years later, found the Bible there before 
 him, and this group of Bible readers 
 were anxious for more light on the Gos- 
 pel. Today, the man who picked up 
 the Bible from the sands of Nagasaki 
 Bay, though aged, is still a Christian 
 worker, saved by the truths in that pre- 
 cious castaway volume, found so long 
 ago.—Selected. 
 
 cat 
 
 A CROW STORY. 
 
 From the fall of the snow to the pres- 
 ent, one of the thoughtful matrons of 
 our town has regularly scattered the 
 crumbs from her table in the yard, that 
 the hungry birds might be fed. At first 
 but few came to the banquet, but now 
 scores of different kinds of winter birds 
 
 ANECDOTES 375 
 
 enjoy her bounty. Among the number 
 is a crow. At first he approached cau- 
 tiously, as if aware that his feather was 
 under the ban. But after an unmo- 
 lested experience of several weeks, he 
 grew so trustful as to eat bread from 
 the hands of little children. But still 
 more remarkable is this: “A few days 
 ago that crow brought with him to the 
 premises a lame crow. The last comer 
 sat on the garden fence and cawed 
 alarm. His guide flitted beside him, 
 and after bowing to him and quieting 
 his fears, induced him to trust himself 
 in the garden walk. There the guide 
 strode confidently toward the repast, 
 and the lame crow limped after him. 
 When the latter lagged, the former 
 would turn and assure him of hospit- 
 able treatment. The pantomime was as 
 eloquent as a speech, and quite as ef- 
 fective. Presently both reached the 
 spread, and enjoyed a square meal. 
 Since then the two crows made daily 
 visits. —Selected. 
 
 —715— 
 
 THE WIDOW’S FIVE CENT GIFT. 
 
 A Methodist minister said that in one 
 of his charges a good man regularly 
 gave five dollars every Sabbath for the 
 support of the church. A poor widow 
 was also a member of the same church 
 who supported herself and six children 
 by washing. She was as regular as the 
 rich man in making her offering of five 
 cents per week, which was all she could 
 spare from her scant earnings. One 
 day the rich man came to the minister 
 and said the poor woman ought not to 
 pay anything, and that he would pay 
 the five cents for her every week, The 
 pastor called to tell her of the offer, 
 which he did in a considerate manner. 
 Tears came to the woman’s eyes as she 
 replied: “Do they want to take from 
 me the comfort I experience in giving 
 to the Lord? Think how much I owe 
 to him. My health is good, my chil- 
 dren keep well, and I receive so many 
 blessings that I feel I could not live if 
 I did not make my little offering to 
 Jesus.—Selected, 
 
376 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 716 — 
 THOMAS ARNOLD OF RUGBY 
 
 Among the great scholars and educa- 
 tors of the last century, Thomas Arnold, 
 head-master of Rugby, holds a promi- 
 nent place. In these days, when the 
 unchristian forces at work in our land 
 have succeeded in having even the read- 
 ing of the Bible prohibited in many of 
 the public schools, it is well to know 
 Dr. Arnold’s views on the religious in- 
 struction of the young. In the preface 
 to that favorite boys’ book,—which has 
 almost become a classic, ““Tom Brown’s 
 School Days,’ Thomas Hughes says of 
 him: 
 
 “He taught us that in this wonderful 
 world, no boy or man can tell which of 
 his actions is indifferent and which is 
 not; that by a thoughtless word or look 
 we may lead astray a brother for whom 
 Christ died. He taught us that life is a 
 whole, made up of actions and thoughts 
 and longings, great and small, noble 
 and ignoble; therefore the only true 
 wisdom for boy or man is to bring the 
 whole life into obedience to Him whose 
 world we live in, and who has purchased 
 us with His blood; and that whether we 
 eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we 
 are to do all in His name and to His 
 glory; in such teaching, faithfully, as it 
 seems to me, following that of Paul of 
 Tarsus, who was in the habit of mean- 
 ing what he said, and who laid down 
 - this standard for every man and boy in 
 his time. I think it lies with those 
 who say that such teaching will not do 
 for us now, to show why a teacher in 
 the nineteenth century is to preach a 
 lower standard than one in the first.” 
 
 A, few months after Dr. Arnold’s ap- 
 pointment to the chair of Modern His- 
 tory at Oxford University he was sud- 
 denly removed from his fresh honors 
 and earthly duties by death. After a 
 busy day he retired to rest, apparently 
 in perfect health. At six the next 
 morning he awoke in severe pain, which 
 he bore with heroic fortitude and Chris- 
 tian resignation until he expired, two 
 hours later. The following is the last 
 entry found in his diary: 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 “Is there not one faculty which nev- 
 er declines, which is the seed and soul 
 of immortality? And what has become 
 of that faculty in me? What is it to 
 live unto God? May God open my 
 eyes to see Him by faith, in and through 
 His Son Jesus Christ; may He draw me 
 to Him, and keep me to Him, and keep 
 me with Him, making His will my 
 will, His love my love, His strength my 
 strength, and may He make me feel 
 that pretended strength not derived 
 from Him, is no strength, but the worst 
 weakness. May His strength be per- 
 fected in my weakness!”——Carlton H. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 —717— 
 COALS OF FIRE. 
 
 Many years ago, two British officers, 
 Captain Conolly and Colonel Stoddard, 
 were thrown into prison by the Afghans 
 in Bokhara, and after six months in 
 a miserable dungeon they were be- 
 headed. 
 
 For a long time their fate was un- 
 known in England, until a missionary 
 undertook a dangerous journey to Bok- 
 hara, and ascertained that they had 
 been murdered two years before. Five 
 years later, a Russian officer, passing 
 through the bazaar in the city, picked 
 up a little well-worn English Prayer- 
 Book which Captain Conolly had used 
 in prison, and in which he had written 
 an account of his sufferings. The 
 Russian officer purchased the book, and 
 carried it home to St. Petersburg. 
 
 The little Prayer-Book that lay for 
 seven years on the shelves of a Bokhara 
 bazaar, next spent fourteen years in St. 
 Petersburg, where an English visitor, 
 who chanced to see it, begged perinis- 
 sion to take it to Captain Conolly’s rel- 
 atives in England. Thus, twenty-one 
 years after her brother’s death, Miss 
 Conolly received the book that told of 
 his sufferings. About that time, a mis- 
 sion hospital was opened at Bannu, near 
 Bokhara, and Miss Conolly undertcok 
 the support of a bed in memory of her 
 brother. Over it hangs a tablet, which 
 reads: “Conolly Bed. In memory of 
 Captain Conolly, beheaded at Bokhara.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 No wonder that when the doctor in 
 charge tells the sick Afghans of the way 
 the Christian lady took her revenge, 
 they are impressed that here is some- 
 thing very new and strange—an object 
 lesson of the love of Christ.—World- 
 Wide Missions. 
 
 —718 — 
 WITHOUT BALLAST. 
 
 Not many years ago the Escambia, a 
 British iron steamer, loaded with wheat, 
 weighed anchor and started down the 
 bay of San Francisco. The pilot left 
 her when about five miles outside the 
 Golden Gate. Looking back from his 
 pilot boat a short time after, he saw the 
 vessel stop, drift into the trough of the 
 sea, careen to port, both bulwarks go- 
 ing under water, then suddenly capsize 
 and sink. What was the cause of this 
 sad catastrophe? A want of ballast. 
 
 She came into port from China, a few 
 weeks previous, with a thousand emi- 
 grants on board. But she had in hold 
 immense tanks for what is called water 
 ballast. Those tanks were full, and 
 she battled successfully with wind and 
 waves. But the captain, wishing to 
 carry all the wheat he could between 
 decks, neglected to fill those tanks. He 
 thought the cargo would steady the 
 ship. But it made it top-heavy, and 
 the first rough sea capsized it. 
 
 Here, then, was a vessel, tight and 
 strong, with powerful engines, with a 
 cargo worth $100,000, floundering as 
 soon as she left the harbor, taken down 
 with her crew of forty-five men, be- 
 cause the captain failed to have her 
 properly ballasted. The moment she 
 began to lurch, all the wheat tumbled 
 over to the lower side, and down into 
 the sea she went. 
 
 Hiow this wreck of the Escambia re- 
 peats the trite lesson that so many have 
 tried to teach, and that they who need 
 it most are so slow to learn! Young 
 men starting out in life want to carry as 
 little ballast as possible. They are en- 
 terprising, ambitious. They are anx- 
 ious to go fast, and take as much car- 
 go as they can. Old-fashioned princi- 
 ples are regarded as dead weight. It 
 
 377 
 
 doesn’t pay to keep them, and they are 
 thrown overboard. Good home habits 
 are abandoned in order to be popular 
 with the gay and worldly. The Bible 
 is not read, the Sabbath is not kept ho- 
 ly, prayer is neglected, and lo! some 
 day, when all the sails are spread, a 
 sudden temptation comes that wrecks 
 the character and life—The Christian 
 World. 
 
 — 719 — 
 THE DOCTOR’S STORY 
 
 “My children,” said the old doctor, 
 “TI have a story to tell you of something 
 that happened many years ago, which I 
 shall never forget.” 
 
 “One day—a long, hot day it had 
 been—I met my father on the road as I 
 was coming home from the hay-field, 
 tired, dusty and hungry.” 
 
 “I wish you would take this pack- 
 age to the village for me, Jim,’ he said 
 hesitatingly.” 
 
 “Now, I was a boy of twelve, fond of 
 play and not overfond of work, and it 
 was a good mile to town. My first im- 
 pulse was to say I couldn’t, but some- 
 thing stopped me,—one of God’s good 
 angels I think.” 
 
 “‘Of course, father, I’ll take it,’ I 
 said heartily, giving him my rake.” 
 
 “*Thank you Jim,’ he said. ‘I was 
 
 jgoing myself, but I don’t feel very 
 
 999 
 
 strong to-day. 
 
 “He walked with me to the road that 
 turned off to the town; and he left me 
 he put his hand on my arm, saying, 
 ‘Thank you, my dear boy.. You’ve 
 always been a good son to me, Jim.’ ” 
 
 “TJ hurried to the town and back. 
 When I came near the house, I saw 
 a crowd of farm hands at the door. 
 One of them came to me with a pale 
 face.” 
 
 “‘VYour father,’ he said, ‘fell dead 
 just as he reached the house. The last 
 words he spoke were to you.’ ” 
 
 “J am an old man now; but I have 
 thanked God many and many a time 
 since that hour, that those last words 
 were, ‘You’ve always been a good son 
 to me.’ ’—~British Friend. 
 
378 
 — 720 — 
 
 DON’T GIVE UP. 
 
 A gentleman traveling in the north- 
 ern part of Ireland heard the voices of 
 children and stopped to listen. Find- 
 ing that the sound came from a small 
 building used as a school-house, he 
 drew near. As the door was open he 
 went in and listened to the words the 
 boys were spelling. One little boy 
 stood apart looking very sad. “Why 
 does that boy stand there?” asked the 
 gentleman. “Oh, he is good for noth- 
 ing,” replied the teacher. “There is 
 nothing in him. I can make nothing of 
 him. He is the most stupid boy in 
 school.” The gentleman was surprised 
 at his answer. He saw the teacher was 
 so stern and rough that the younger and 
 more timid were nearly crushed. After 
 a few words to them, placing his hand 
 on the head of the little fellow who 
 stood apart, he said, “One of these days 
 you may be a fine scholar. Don’t give 
 up; try, my boy, try.” The boy’s soul 
 was aroused. His sleeping mind awoke. 
 A new purpose was formed. From 
 that hour be became anxious to excel; 
 and he did become a fine scholar. It 
 was Dr. Adam Clark. The secret of 
 his success is worth knowing—“Don’t 
 give up; but try, my boy, try.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 721 — 
 “HE KNOWS BEST.” 
 
 One day, in a school in one of our 
 large cities, a cry of fire sounded, and 
 the teachers and children rushed toward 
 the door, and crowded the passage till 
 there was danger of trampling some of 
 the smaller children under the larger 
 ones’ feet. But one little girl sat still 
 in her place, tranquil and quiet. 
 
 Presently the alarm was found to be 
 false, and the pupils again took their 
 seats. Then the girl seated next to 
 little Mary said to her, “Mary, how was 
 it that you could sit so quiet when we 
 were all frightened?” 
 
 “My father told me,” said Mary, “if 
 there was an alarm of fire, it was best 
 for us to sit still in our seats and wait 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 for the teachers to tell us what to do. 
 My father is a fireman, and he knows 
 best.” 
 
 Ah, here was faith—faith in a father; 
 and by this faith Mary was enabled to 
 remain tranquil when others were dis- 
 mayed. 
 
 Just so, faith in God will enable us to 
 face danger without fear.—Selected. 
 
 — 722 — 
 ATTENTION TO LEADINGS. 
 
 A certain man, being confined in 
 prison, in Burlington County, New Jer- 
 sey, under sentence of death, in an 
 aggravated case of murder, our late 
 Friend, E. Redman, was under a con- 
 cern to visit him. This was approved 
 by her meeting and two Friends ap- 
 pointed to accompany her. When they 
 came for that purpose, she told them 
 that the concern had passed away, and 
 that she could not go. In about a week 
 after she sent to them, saying she now 
 felt ready. The remarkable part of it 
 was that they found upon arriving 
 there that the prisoner had broken 
 jail on the day she had first proposed 
 going, and that he had been captured 
 and reconfined on the day before she 
 got there. This showed close attention 
 to pointings, and it would have been a 
 sad fault had she found the cell empty. 
 —“The Friend.” 
 
 — 723 — 
 TALENT UNUSED IS LOST. 
 
 Note what the celebrated Professor 
 Darwin said: “Up to the age of thirty, 
 or beyond it, poetry of many kinds gave 
 me great pleasure. Formerly pictures 
 gave me considerable, very great de- 
 light. But now, for many years, I can- 
 not endure to read a line of poetry. I 
 have almost lost my taste for pictures 
 or music. If I had to live my life again 
 I would have made a rule to read some 
 poetry and listen to some music at least 
 once every week, for perhaps the parts 
 of my brain now atrophied would ‘thus 
 have been kept active through use.” 
 That is scientific; it is philosophical; it 
 is Scriptural; therefore cultivate your 
 whole personality! 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES, 
 
 — 724 — 
 THE RAIN CEASED. 
 
 Wednesday morning, Aug. 21, 1912, 
 the day of the Tyndall-Gatchell reunion 
 and picnic, to be held at the home of 
 Mrs. William W. Gatchell, of Huron, 
 N. Y., dawned on a _ threatening 
 sky. The clouds hung dark around 
 the whole horizon, and at seven o’clock 
 the rain began to fall. The picnic had 
 been anticipated for months, the rain 
 was not especially needed, and so the 
 writer prayed that the good Lord would 
 disperse the clouds, and he remarked to 
 his cousins, whose home he was visiting, 
 that they too should pray the Lord to 
 withhold the rain. One of them replied 
 that perhaps God saw that the rain 
 would do good. But she was told that 
 the rain would do just as much good if 
 it fell that night and we should pray for 
 what we want, unless there is a reason 
 for believing that it is not right for us 
 to have it, and he quoted, “What 
 things soever ye desire, when ye pray, 
 believe that ye receive them, and ye 
 shall have them.” 
 
 At family worship which followed, a 
 favorable day was asked for. Presently 
 the rain ceased. . Soon the sun was 
 shining through the rifts in the clouds, 
 and before long the indications beto- 
 _kened a fair day. When the start was 
 made for the place of reunion, the writer 
 thoughtlessly took his umbrella, but 
 when his cousin reminded him that this 
 was hardly consistent with faith for fair 
 weather, he promptly put it aside. 
 
 During the day a shower came up, 
 but it passed around to the south where 
 a heavy rain fell. However on the 
 beautiful lawn where our great table 
 (sufficiently long for a hundred guests) 
 was spread, not drops enough came 
 down to drive the company indoors, but 
 just enough to remind them how easily 
 the rain could have spoiled the pleasure 
 of the occasion. Unbelief will say that 
 the rain only happened to stop, and that 
 we were lucky to have a good day. But 
 faith will thank God that he answered 
 prayer. 
 
 The Tyndalls and Gatchells have in- 
 
 379 
 
 termarried to such an extent that the 
 picnic was a union of these two families. 
 Of the lineal descendants of Charles 
 Pindall and Lovina Hartupee, there 
 were present thirty-three persons, and 
 of Elisha Gatchell there were twenty- 
 eight descendants. With those present 
 who had married into these families, 
 including certain invited guests, there 
 was a company of about a hundred. 
 New York City, Kansas City, Newark, 
 N. J., Canada and many places nearer 
 by, were represented, and the occasion 
 was eminently successful—Rev. H. M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 — 725 — 
 THE MODEST HERO. 
 
 The really brave man’s story about 
 his own deeds is always modest. Fre- 
 quently he is unable to give any account 
 of them which is satisfactory to his 
 hearers. 
 
 _ Some years ago a French reporter en- 
 countered in a little village in the south 
 of France a gardener who wore, pinned 
 on his clean Sunday blouse, the ribbon 
 of the Legion of Honor.. Naturally the 
 newspaper man desired to know how he 
 got it. The gardener, like many of his 
 trade, seemed to be a silent man, and 
 was averse to meeting an old and weari- 
 some demand, but finally he began: 
 
 “Oh, I-don’t know how I did get it! 
 I was at Bezeilles with the rest of the 
 battery. All the officers were killed; 
 then down went all the noncommis- 
 sioned officers. .Bang! bang! bang! 
 by and by all the soldiers were down 
 but me. . I had fired the last shot, and 
 naturally was doing what I could to 
 stand off the Bavarians.” 
 
 “Well, a general came, and says he, 
 “Where’s your officers?’ ” 
 
 “ “All down,’ ” says I. 
 
 “*Where’s your gunners?’ 
 
 “ “All down but me,’” says I. 
 
 “*And you’ve been fighting here all 
 alone?’”’ says he. 
 
 “I couldn’t let them come and get 
 the guns, could I?’ I says; and he up 
 and put this ribbon on me, probably be- 
 cause there was nobody else there to 
 put it on.”—Selected. 
 
 93 
 
880 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 726 — 
 SILENT BUT SOVEREIGN. 
 
 In a certain city a bridge was to be 
 built across the river. To secure a sol- 
 id foundation, piles were driven in the 
 bed of the river. One day they could 
 make no headway, and, on examina- 
 tion, found that they had struck an old, 
 forgotten, unused water-main left in the 
 river bed. 
 
 But one thing was to be done. The 
 main must come out. Encircling the 
 main with immense cables, they har- 
 nessed them to a locomotive on an im- 
 provised track. The engineer opened 
 the throttle and the engine started for- 
 ward, only to be thrown back on the 
 track by the cables. More steam was 
 turned on, and the mighty locomotive 
 rushed forward with tremendous power, 
 only to rebound again. It was useless, 
 the engineer said; another effort would 
 derail the engine. Tug-boats were 
 brought and the cables were harnessed 
 to them. Then the tugs did their best. 
 They pulled and plunged and churned 
 the river into foam, but the main was 
 unmoved. 
 
 “We shall have to give it up,” said 
 the workmen. 
 
 “The location of the bridge will 
 have to be changed,” said the city au- 
 thorities. | 
 
 But a quiet man came hither one day, 
 and, after looking on awhile, said, “I 
 can lift it out.” At once the contract 
 was his. He brought two old mud- 
 scows and let them rest just above the 
 stubborn main. The cables were tight- 
 ly lashed to huge beams laid from one 
 scow to the other. “What are you go- 
 ing to do?” they asked him. “I have 
 finished,” was the quiet reply. 
 
 He then climbed upon the bank, and 
 folded his arms, waited for the tide to 
 come in. The scows rocked and tossed, 
 they tugged and stormed, while the 
 man cried: “Come up! come up! You 
 must come!” 
 
 Then there was a mighty upheaval 
 that shook the river from bank to bank, 
 and the tide had the victory. 
 
 God’s strength flows into human life 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 as the tide. There is no noise, it is 
 scarcely perceptible, but it is sovereign. 
 —Royal Manhood. 
 
 “Pi 
 FISHING FOR A SOUL. 
 
 In the story of his life, Tom Keenan, 
 the veteran locomotive engineer, tells 
 how the grace of God transformed him 
 from a drinking, swearing, fighting, 
 man into an earnest worker in the vine- 
 yard of the Lord. For many years he 
 had a run which allowed him to be off 
 two days each week, which he often 
 spent in fishing: or hunting, and he 
 gives the following account of an event- 
 ful fishing trip: 
 
 I loved to fish for trout, and hunt 
 with dog and gun. One day a friend, 
 who was a prominent business man of 
 Newark and an earnest Christian, met 
 me and said: 
 
 “Brother Keenan, I have a partner, 
 Mr. N who would like to go fishing 
 with you some day; and, as he is nota 
 Christian, I hope that God will help 
 you fish for his soul.” 
 
 His partner was a wealthy young 
 man, but inclined to be wayward and 
 was considered the “black sheep” of 
 the family. 
 
 Meeting Mr. N soon afterwards, 
 we fixed upon a day to go fishing. Fi- 
 nally the day came, but, before starting, 
 I promised the Lord that I would pray 
 with him before we cast a line. We 
 met at the station, got on board of the 
 train, and went as far as Stanhope. 
 Leaving the train there we travelled 
 some distance across the country until 
 we came to the head waters of the Mus- 
 conetcong River. Putting on our wad- 
 ing boots, and having adjusted our rods 
 and lines, we started out into the stream. 
 All at once I remembered my promise 
 to pray with him and a cowardly spirit 
 came over me. Looking up I breathed 
 a prayer: “Lord, help me to live up to 
 my vow.” We were now in the midst 
 of the stream, and about ready to cast 
 our lines, when, turning to Mr. N-—— 
 I said: 
 
 “Mr. N——-, I suppose you know 
 that I profess to be a Christian man.” 
 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 “Yes, Mr. Keenan; I have heard so.” 
 
 “Well, Mr. N , I want to tell you 
 that, before I left home, I promised 
 God I would pray with you before we 
 began to fish; and if you have no ob- 
 jections I would like to do so now.” 
 
 He took it very kindly, and in a gen- 
 tlemanly manner said: 
 
 “All right, Mr. Keenan, I have no 
 objection to your doing so.” 
 
 I always like to get on my knees to 
 pray and, as we were most too far from 
 the bank for me to get back, I found 
 right near me a big stone, sticking out 
 of the water. On this I put my knees 
 and, taking off my hat with my left 
 hand and holding the rod with my 
 right, closed my eyes and prayed to 
 Him who has promised to hear and an- 
 swer prayer, that He would bless this 
 young man. When I had finished pray- 
 ing I looked at Mr. N and was sur- 
 prised to see him standing, his head 
 reverently bowed, his hat in his hand. 
 
 Putting on our hats, we started in 
 and had a real happy time fishing, and 
 I don’t think that a single word on the 
 subject of religion passed between us 
 all day. 
 
 I did not see Mr. N again for 
 about six weeks, when one Sunday 
 morning our door-bell rang, and, going 
 to the door, Mr. N stood before me. 
 I saw that there was something wrong 
 and, inviting him into the parlor, closed 
 the doors. 
 
 He then opened his heart to me and 
 said: 
 
 “Mr. Keenan, that day we went fish- 
 ing together I made up my mind that I 
 would not drink any more. I got along 
 nicely until yesterday. I expect soon 
 to be married to a very estimable young 
 lady and in view of this some of my 
 friends, whom I met in New York last 
 evening, insisted that I break a bottle ot 
 champagne with them. I did so, and 
 am sorry to say, before I knew it I was 
 drunk, and now I am ashamed of my- 
 self. I did not know of anybody to 
 whom I could come and talk about the 
 matter but you.” 
 
 As he said this, tears were streaming 
 down his face. I comforted him as best 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ANECDOTES 381 
 I could, and then knelt with him and 
 prayed that God would help him and 
 give him deliverance from the curse ot 
 strong drink. 
 
 As he arose to go, I said: “Between 
 here and your home, as you go along 
 the street, pick out some landmark, 
 some tree, or telegraph pole or hitching- 
 post, and, looking up to God who loves 
 you and gave His Son to die for you, 
 commit yourself to Him.” 
 
 He thanked me and bid me good- 
 morning. 
 
 For two months I saw nothing of Mr. 
 N » when one day the door-bell 
 rang and, opening the door, I saw a 
 carriage standing at the curb, in which 
 he sat. His face was lit up with a 
 happy smile as he said, in a cherry 
 voice: 
 
 “Come, Brother Keenan, I want you 
 to take a ride with me; I have some- 
 thing good to tell you.” 
 
 “All right,” I said, and as I went to 
 get my coat and hat, I thought some- 
 thing must have happened, seeing he 
 called me “Brother Keenan.” When 
 I got into the carriage and we had start- 
 ed off, he said: 
 
 “Brother Keenan, since I saw you 
 last, I have been married. My wife 
 and I have just returned from our wed- 
 ding trip, which we spent at Thousand 
 Islands. In the different hotels where 
 we stopped there was champagne and 
 all kinds of wine on the table; but 1 
 want to tell you that I did not touch a 
 drop. Better than that, I have been 
 converted, and have joined the Presby- 
 terian Church, and now they have just 
 elected me a deacon in the church.” 
 
 He made as much noise in telling 
 iy about it as though he were a Meth- 
 odist, 
 
 At the present time Mr. N—— is one 
 of the wealthiest citizens in the city o1 
 Newark. He takes a deep interest in 
 missions and is always pleased to learn 
 of drunkards being saved. 
 
 I have always been glad that I kept 
 my vow, and that I used the right bait 
 in fishing for his soul on that fishing 
 trip. 
 
 
 
382 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 728 — 
 FAULT FINDING 
 
 On going to one of my charges, I was 
 told that a certain farmer belonging to 
 ithe church was greatly addicted to 
 fault-finding, and that when I visited 
 him he would be sure to serve me up 
 the foibles of all his brethren. I had 
 not been there long before he invited 
 me to come out to his farm and take 
 dinner with him. As had been foretold 
 he then brought out with great appar- 
 ent relish the faults of all the member- 
 ship.. “So and so was all right, but 
 unfortunately he was so and so;” and 
 thus he gave a stab in the back to each 
 of the members as they passed in re- 
 view before him. 
 
 I heard him without comment, or at- 
 tempting any defense, or bringing any 
 railing accusation against him as an “ac- 
 cuser of the brethren;” but I watched 
 my time, before leaving him, to lodge 
 my impression with him in an inof- 
 fensive way, which might yet do its 
 work. 
 
 He had a large apple orchard, loaded 
 with choice, ripe fruit. . Just before 
 starting for home he gave me a basket 
 and said: “Brother Fee, go into the or- 
 chard and fill a basket with apples to 
 take home with you.” 
 
 Accepting the basket, I went to the 
 orchard and filled it with speckled and 
 half rotten apples. . When I returned 
 he said: “Why man alive! what did 
 you fill your basket with that worth- 
 less lot for, when the ground is covered 
 with fine, large, sound ones?” And 
 he threw them away with disgust and 
 brought me the basket filled with the 
 best. 
 
 Then was my opportunaty, and I said 
 to him as gently as I could: “Brother, 
 all the afternoon you have been filling 
 me up with the speckled members of 
 the church, when I am sure there are 
 multitudes of good ones.” . He took 
 my rebuke with the best of good nature, 
 and said: “Brother Fee, you are right, 
 and I have been wrong; and I’ll never 
 do it again,”’—-and he never did.—Sel. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 — 729 — 
 “THEY DID NOT FIND IT OUT.” 
 
 Evangelist “Billy” Sunday tells the 
 story of a certain man, a professing 
 Christian, whose business required him 
 to spend some months among the lum- 
 ber-jacks of the far Northwest. 
 
 Knowing how rough and godless 
 meny of these men are, and how they 
 ridicule sacred things, a friend said 
 to him, “What did the jackies do to 
 you when they found out you were a 
 Christian?” 
 
 And the traveler answered with a 
 touch of shameless pride, “They did 
 not do anything, for they did not find 
 it out!” 
 
 How glaring the contrast between 
 this cowardly silence and the witness- 
 bearing of a Western traveling man! 
 In the office of a rude hotel several 
 miners were gambling. As they be- 
 came intoxicated, they began to swear, 
 particularly taking in vain the name of 
 Jesus. 
 
 The Christian traveller was writing 
 his daily letter to the house. He sat 
 still a moment, wondering whether to 
 leave the room or rebuke these strangers 
 for their profanity. Finally he walked 
 over and said: “Pardon me, boys, but 
 this Jesus Christ whose name you are 
 coupling with such vile oaths is my 
 Saviour, and it hurts to hear you use 
 His name so. He’s done too much for 
 us all to be given such treatment. If 
 you must swear, can’t you leave the 
 name of Jesus out?” 
 
 Rough as they were, the men saw the 
 genuineness of the man who spoke, and 
 saying, “All right, pard; we’ll see what 
 we can do,” they quieted down, and 
 swore no more. 
 
 Does the world know you are a Chris- 
 tian? Do the members of your frater- 
 nity, lodge, or social circle know it? If 
 they do not, how does it happen? It 
 cannot be that you are ashamed of it. 
 
 Let us live so true to Him that, 
 whether our acquaintances know much 
 about us or little, they will at least 
 know that we dearly love our Lord.— 
 Christian Endeavor World. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 730 — 
 A NICKEL FOR THE LORD. 
 
 Yesterday he wore a rose on the lapel 
 of his coat, and when the plate was 
 passed he gave a nickel to the Lord. 
 He had several bills in his pocket and 
 sundry change, perhaps a dollar’s worth, 
 but he hunted about, and, finding this 
 poor little nickel, he laid it on the plate 
 to aid the church militant in its fight 
 against the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil. His silk hat was beneath the 
 seat, and his gloves and cane were be- 
 side it, and the nickel was on the plate 
 —a whole nickel. 
 
 And the man had his shoes polished 
 on Saturday afternoon, and handed out 
 a dime without a murmur. He hada 
 shave, and paid out fifteen cents with 
 equal alacrity. He took a box of can- 
 dies home to his wife, and paid forty 
 cents for them, and the box was tied 
 with a dainty bit of ribbon. Yes, and 
 he also gave a nickel to the Lord. 
 
 “Who is the Lord?” 
 
 Who is He? Why, the man worships 
 Him as Creator of the universe, the One 
 who put the stars in order and by whose 
 immutable decree the heavens stand. 
 Yes, he does, and he dropped a nickel 
 in to support the Church militant. 
 
 And what is the Church militant? 
 
 The church militant is the Church 
 that represents upon earth the Church 
 triumphant of the great God the man 
 gave the nickel to. 
 
 And the man knew that he was 
 but an atom in space, and he knew that 
 the Almighty is without limitations, 
 and, knowing this, he put his hand into 
 his pocket and picked out the nickel 
 and gave it to the Lord. 
 
 And the Lord being gracious and 
 slow to anger and knowing our frame, 
 did not slay the man for the meanness 
 of his offering, but gives him this day 
 his daily bread. 
 
 But the nickel was ashamed, if the 
 man wasn’t. 
 
 The nickel hid beneath a quarter that 
 was given by a poor woman who washes 
 for a living.—G. F. Raymond. 
 
 383 
 
 — 731 — 
 THE SAVIOUR IS THE JUDGE, 
 
 Some years ago, a man driving a 
 spirited team of horses, lost control of 
 the team. As they dashed through the 
 streets, a distinguished judge sprang out, 
 caught the bridle-rein, and at the risk 
 of his own life saved the man who was 
 driving. By a singular coincidence 
 this same man was on trial for his life 
 some little time after, before the judge 
 who had rescued him. 
 
 When the trial was over and the law- 
 yers had made their plea, then the 
 judge addressed the prisoner, saying: 
 “Have you anything to say why sen- 
 tence should not be pronounced upon 
 you?” 
 
 And the man, trembling, arose and 
 said: “Your Honor, don’t you know 
 me?” 
 
 And when told that he must speak 
 on, and not address the judge, he again 
 said: “But, your Honor, don’t you know 
 Iam the man you saved? Have mercy.” 
 
 And the judge replied: “I do remem- 
 ber you, but then I was your saviour, 
 and to-day I am your judge, and must 
 pass sentence.” 
 
 And if you have sinned against the 
 Saviour of men, some day you must 
 face Him in judgment.—Dr. J. Wilbur 
 Chapman. 
 
 — 732 — 
 INFLUENCE OF ONE TRACT. 
 
 What agency for doing good in an in- 
 expensive way will compare with the 
 printed page? It is related of Rev. Dr. 
 Goodell, of the American Board, that 
 when in 1832 he was passing through 
 Nicomedia, having no time to stop, he 
 left with a stranger a copy of The 
 Dairyman’s Daughter in the Armenian- 
 Turkish language. Seventeen years 
 afterwards he visited Nicomedia, and 
 found a church of more than forty mem- 
 bers, and a Protestant community of 
 more than two hundred persons. That 
 tract, with God’s blessing, did the work. 
 Good seed—“some sixty and some a 
 hundred.”—-Dr. Stockbridge, 
 
384" ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 waa 733 — 
 THE RESURRECTION OF THE 
 DEAD. 
 
 Abijah Powers felt moderately sure 
 nobody would recognize him when he 
 registered under an assumed name at 
 the little inn. It was more than twenty 
 years since he had left the town—a hard, 
 reckless boy, running away from a good 
 father and a devoted mother because he 
 hated goodness and loved lawlessness 
 and his own way. 
 
 For years he had led the life of a vag- 
 abond. Then the spirit of adventure 
 was aroused in him by the stories of the 
 wealth in the Klondike. He joined 
 one of the earliest parties, in that haz- 
 ardous search for gold, and succeeded 
 beyond his dreams. Now he had come 
 back, with his old instincts, but with 
 the wealth of a millionaire, and some 
 strange compulsion led him to the vil- 
 lage where he first drew breath. 
 
 He did not even know whether his 
 parents were living or dead. It was al- 
 together likely they were dead. With 
 that conviction and without asking a 
 question, he made his way in the Au- 
 gust twilight to the graveyard, and to 
 the spot where for three generations his 
 ancestors had been laid. 
 
 Yes, there were new stones placed 
 since he had been there. The sight 
 moved him strangely. He bent to read 
 the inscription on the first one. It was 
 to the memory of his father, “Died, 
 1884. ‘Blessed are the dead who die in 
 the Lord.’ ” 
 
 The date cut the man to the heart. 
 His father had died a year after the only 
 son had run away! And his mother 
 had been left alone! But perhaps she 
 had followed her husband mercifully 
 soon. Again he bent to read, this time 
 with tear-filled eyes, “Died, 1902. ‘And 
 God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes.’ ” 
 
 His mother had been alone for eight- 
 een years! She was but just dead—in 
 poverty, perhaps; certainly in loneliness. 
 He drew himself up as if to shake off a 
 hideous dream. 
 
 But the other stone--whose grave 
 
 could that mark? They had no rela- 
 tives except some distant cousins. Per- 
 haps some one of them had done for his 
 mother what he ought to have done in 
 her long, desolate years. Again he 
 stooped to read—his own name. “Abijah 
 Powers. Born 1870; died—. ‘“The 
 only son of his mother, and she was a 
 widow.’ ” 
 
 It was his own gravestone, set up by 
 his mother when her hope of his return 
 was dead. Out of the depth of his mem- 
 ory there flashed up the story of the 
 widow of Nain, and the gracious pres- 
 ence which spoke the word of life to her 
 dead son. How many times his mother 
 must have read and re-read the page, 
 and how frequently she must have 
 prayed that her boy, bone of her bone, 
 and flesh of her flesh, might be given 
 back to her arms! 
 
 The thought was anguish to the 
 graceless son, and it brought him to his 
 knees beside his own empty grave. With 
 his hand resting over his mother’s head 
 he wept as he had not wept since he 
 was a child. They were gracious drops. 
 Out of the mother’s love, which had 
 found its cold comfort in the words of 
 scripture for the grave that was no 
 grave, there came, indeed, the resurrec- 
 tion of the real, living soul. 
 
 The widow’s son went out of the 
 graveyard that night a new man. The 
 world wondered what had happened to 
 him. Money did not often make a man 
 over from a devil to a saint; but that 
 miracle seemed to have been worked in 
 Abijah Powers. Nobody knew that the 
 transformation did not come from the 
 touch of Kiondike gold, but from the 
 power of love—reaching from beyond 
 the vale, and speaking from the cold 
 marble of a gravestone.—Youth’s Com- 
 panion. 
 
 aay [Yee 
 TAKING HIM AT HIS WORD. 
 
 It is related that on a certain occasion 
 Napoleon was reviewing his troops. As 
 the reins lay loose on the neck of his 
 horse the steed became frightened, and 
 presently with the speed of the wind 
 
a | ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 was tearing down the line of men with 
 the reins over his head, and the Emperor 
 powerless to check him. As the General 
 was thus borne down the line, in immi- 
 nent danger of being dashed to the 
 earth, an athletic soldier was seen to 
 step out of the ranks, and when the 
 frightened horse came near, the soldier, 
 at great risk to himself, sprang for the 
 animal’s head and, clutching the bridle, 
 he soon brought the charger under con- 
 trol. As the private handed him the 
 reins, the General saluted and said 
 “Thank you, Captain!” The soldier, re- 
 turning the salutation, replied, “Of what 
 company, General?” “Of the Royal 
 Guards.” 
 
 What did that soldier do? Step back 
 into the ranks? Not at all. He was not 
 so modestly foolish as that. He joined 
 a group of officers, and when one ob- 
 serving his private uniform said, “Get 
 back into the ranks,” he replied, “I am 
 the captain of the Royal Guards.” “By 
 what authority?” “By the word of the 
 Emperor!” And of course his promo- 
 tion was not disputed. 
 
 As the soldier took the General at his 
 word and claimed his right, so must 
 those do who come to Christ. He says 
 “come unto me and I will give you rest,” 
 and “him that cometh to me, I will in 
 nowise cast out.” The sinner must be- 
 lieve His word, and not doubt his ac- 
 ceptance. Jesus says, “My sheep hear 
 my voice, and they follow me, and I 
 give unto them eternal life, and they 
 shall never perish.” Believing this word 
 there is no room to doubt their eternal 
 salvation.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 735 — 
 “YOUR BROTHER IS THERE” 
 
 Several years ago in the East End of 
 London they were digging a deep drain 
 in the neighborhood of Victoria Park. 
 Some of the shoring gave away, and 
 tons of earth fell down upon several 
 men who were at work there. Of course 
 there was a great deal of excitement. 
 Standing by the brink was a man look- 
 ing—I grant you with great earnestness 
 -—on those who were attempting to dig 
 
 ANECDOTES 385 
 
 out the earth. But a woman came up 
 to him, put her hand on his shoulder, 
 and said, “Bill, your brother is down 
 there!” Oh, you should have seen the 
 sudden change. Off went his coat, and 
 then he sprang into the trench and 
 worked with the strength of ten men. 
 Oh, sirs, amidst the masses of the 
 poor and degraded and the lost, your 
 brother is down there!—Living Epistle. 
 
 — 736 — 
 “IF ANY MAN OPEN THE DOOR.” 
 
 A friend was telling me some of her 
 experiences in the Dufferin hospital in 
 India. One impressed me as particular- 
 ly significant. She was seated on the 
 veranda of the hotel one afternoon read- 
 ing, when a high class Hindu woman 
 came up the steps and asked for an in- 
 terview with Miss Henderson. My 
 friend rose to speak to her, and as she 
 did so a copy of Holman Hunt’s picture 
 of Christ standing outside the closed 
 door fell out of her book to the ground. 
 The woman quickly picked it up and 
 looked at it. 
 
 “Tell me about this,” she said, her 
 errand forgotten, as a woman long ago 
 forgot her “water pots.” , “What does 
 it mean?” 
 
 Miss Henderson told her, and the 
 woman went away. 
 
 Summer passed into autumn, and au- 
 tumn into winter, and there was snow 
 on the mountains, and the air was chill, 
 and Miss Henderson went to call upon 
 this woman. 
 
 As she came near the house she saw 
 the door standing wide open. She en- 
 tered and—the physical need of the wo- 
 man foremost in her mind, for she was 
 a trained nurse—at once said: “You 
 should not have your front door open 
 so. , The mountains are covered with 
 snow, and it is cold.” 
 
 Then the woman, with a half shy rev- 
 erence, said: 
 
 “I know it. I have seen the snow, 
 and I have felt the cold, but I thought 
 that perhaps your Jesus might pass by, 
 and I wanted Him to find the door wide 
 open.”—Ruth G. Winant. 
 
386 
 
 a 737 — 
 A FIGHT FOR LIFE 
 
 Dr. Grenfell tells of a small fishing 
 schooner which started for Newfound- 
 land one winter from the port of Cadiz, 
 Spain. She was manned with tough 
 Newfoundland sailors, well seasoned 
 by long battling with ocean storms, and 
 her captain knew his business well and 
 was afraid of nothing. 
 
 They were in the very midst of the 
 Atlantic when they were struck by a 
 waterspout, and swept clean of mast, 
 bowsprit, bulwarks, boats and deck- 
 houses. The deck itself “gaped open 
 like a sieve.” Their only hope was to 
 keep afloat until some passing vessel 
 should pick them up, but could they do 
 it? Gale after gale struck them. Their 
 food was cold and wet. They were 
 wretched and begged to give up the 
 fight and be allowed to die, but the 
 captain exercised his ingenuity to in- 
 spirit them and keep them at the 
 pumps. 
 
 One steamer passed them by; then a 
 second. They were in despair. At 
 last when even the captain was begin- 
 ning to waver, a third great liner hove 
 in sight. If this chance were lost, they 
 felt that they could not hold out for an- 
 other. They lit a huge bonfire on the 
 deck, knowing well that it would set fire 
 to their vessel, but knowing also that it 
 was their only hope. 
 
 The great ship signaled, “Can you 
 hold out till morning?” “No, we are 
 sinking now,” they signaled back. The 
 ship at once lowered its steel lifeboat. 
 The giant seas crushed it in an instant. 
 Then a wooden lifeboat was let down, 
 manned with its crew. This, too was 
 doubled up ere it touched the surface of 
 the sea, and broke into a thousand frag- 
 ments, while the brave sailors in it just 
 saved their lives. 
 
 Still, the good ship would not give 
 up. Down over its side came next a 
 light, collapsible boat, “dropped from 
 the davits on the run.” This weathered 
 the sea, and all of the perishing men on 
 the schooner were saved. 
 
 Just such a fight for life as the schoon- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 er made; just such an effort to save as 
 the liner made; just such odds as both 
 met and endured and conquered, are 
 necessary from time to time for us all in 
 the moral world, and must be overcome 
 there. Bear, bear, struggle, struggle, 
 get beaten over and over again, then 
 pick yourselves up and press forward— 
 this is the routine and the law of life. 
 —Christian Herald. 
 
 — 738 — 
 THE MISJUDGED DOG 
 It is said the village of “Beth Gelert,” 
 
 in Wales, got its name from Gelert, an 
 
 Irish wolfhound given by King John 
 of England, in 1205, to Llewellyn the 
 Great, King of Wales. 
 
 The story is that Gelert abandoned his 
 master for some unknown reason while 
 hunting. Returning from the chase in 
 ill humor, the king was met by the dog, 
 which, covered with blood, came rushing 
 from the chamber occupied by the 
 king’s little son. Filled with alarm, the 
 king entered the room. The bed of his 
 child was overturned and besmeared 
 with blood, and there was no response 
 to the call of his name. MHastily con- 
 cluding that the dog had killed the child, 
 the enraged father ran the faithful crea- 
 ture through with his sword. A further 
 search, however, revealed the child 
 sleeping unharmed, beneath the over- 
 turned bed; and near him lay the body 
 of a great wolf killed by the heroic 
 hound. . 
 
 The self-reproach of Llewellyn, it is 
 said, caused him to erect a chapel in 
 memory of the faithful dog, and to mark 
 his grave with a tombstone. At least to 
 this day the chapel and tomb are there, 
 and the name of the village itself, “Beth 
 Gelert,” which signifies the house of 
 Gelert, commemorates the name and 
 fame of this misjudged friend of man. 
 
 Hasty judgments are likely to be 
 wrong judgments. And it is especially 
 hard to be condemned when we are 
 really deserving of praise. God never 
 makes mistakes in his judgments. 
 Psalm 119:137.—Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 dall. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 739 — 
 THE VOICE OF DUTY. 
 
 In the city of Glasgow there lived a 
 wealthy merchant. He owned a large, 
 beautiful estate, and had five children 
 —four daughters and one son. He 
 died suddenly without making a will; 
 and, according to the law of that land, 
 the property all belonged to the son. 
 He was in business in London, and 
 might have said, “Now I am rich, and 
 will use all the money in my business.” 
 But no; he went home as soon as he 
 heard of his father’s death and called 
 upon a lawyer, and had a will made in 
 which all the children should share 
 alike and the large house should belong 
 to the mother as long as she lived. 
 Then he went to his father’s funeral. 
 
 Some one said to him, “But why did 
 you go that very night and have the 
 will made out?” He said, “I that 
 night saw that it was my duty to do it. 
 If I had left it till the next day my duty 
 might not have seemed so clear.’”’ What 
 a noble son! And what a generous way 
 it was! Be honest and true now, while 
 the duty is clear for if you listen to the 
 voice of God at once you will hear Him 
 more distinctly the next time He speaks 
 to youu—Rev. C. H. Tyndall, D.D. 
 
 Ag oe 
 
 HOW THE MONEY CAME. 
 
 If once the laymen in our churches 
 feel a sense of personal responsibility 
 to fulfill the last command of Christ, 
 there will be no lack of the sinews of 
 war. 
 
 Some forty years ago Dr. Chambers 
 preached a missionary sermon in one of 
 the New York churches on a rainy 
 Sabbath, when there was only one man 
 in the audience. He made an appeal for 
 the payment of the deficit of the Dutch 
 Reformed Board. That deficit amount- 
 ed to $58,000, and $11,000 of it was 
 needed immediately to meet the crisis. 
 
 The smaliness of the audience did 
 not hinder God’s spirit from working 
 through the preacher. Before he went 
 to bed that night there was a ring at 
 
 387 
 
 the door, and Mr. Warren Ackerman 
 announced himself as the only man 
 who had heard the sermon on personal 
 responsibility that morning. He drew 
 out his check-book and began to write. 
 
 Dr. Chambers watched him with 
 much anxiety as he wrote... You can 
 imagine his delight when Warren Ac- 
 kerman filled it in for $11,000. 
 
 “I could not sleep that night,” said 
 Dr. Chambers, “for very joy, but early 
 in the morning there was a ring at the 
 door and there stood Mr. Ackerman, 
 asking me to return the check which 
 he had given me the previous night. 
 Sitting down, he took his check book 
 and put the figures 5 and a second 5.” 
 
 “Now,” said Dr. Chambers, “I know 
 he is coming back because he feels that 
 he has given too much and is giving 
 one-half of the total amount immediate- 
 ly needed.” 
 
 But when the check was filled in the 
 amount was $55,000, the largest single 
 gift ever received by our Board.. In 
 such fashion does a sense of personal 
 responsibility enable men to do exceed- 
 ing abundantly above all that they are 
 able to ask or think for the kingdom of 
 God.—Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer. 
 
 TAL 
 
 DROP YOUR PENNY. 
 
 A little child was one day playing 
 with a very valuable vase, when he put 
 his hand into it and could not withdraw 
 it. His father, too, tried his best to get 
 it out, but all in vain. They were talk- 
 ing of breaking the vase, when the fa- 
 ther said, “Now, my son, make one 
 more try; open your hand and hold 
 your fingers out straight, as you see me 
 doing, and then pull.” To their aston- 
 ishment, the little fellow said, “Oh, no, 
 pa, I couldn’t put out my fingers like 
 that for if I did, I would drop my pen- 
 ny.” . He had been holding on to a 
 penny all the time. No wonder he 
 could not withdraw his hand. 
 
 How many of us are like him?. Drop 
 the copper. Surrender. Let go, and God 
 will give you gold.—John MacNeil. 
 
388 
 
 yd 
 A SOVEREIGN FOR A PENNY. 
 
 It was a bright morning early in the 
 present century. London Bridge was 
 densely crowded almost impassable. 
 
 In one of the abutments, near the city 
 side, a man was very busy advertising 
 sovereigns for sale. ““Here you are, gen- 
 tlemen,” he vociferated; “real golden 
 sovereigns—only a penny apiece—real 
 sovereigns, fresh from His Majesty’s 
 mint! Here’s an opportunity that will 
 never happen again—only a penny for 
 a golden sovereign; twenty shillings 
 value; two hundred and forty pence—all 
 for one penny. Don’t let the chance slip, 
 gentlemen; it will never come again. 
 Buy a hundred sovereigns for a hundred 
 pence!” 
 
 The crowd surged by, taking little no- 
 tice of him; or when any one did make 
 any response to his invitation, it was to 
 express surprise at his folly in believing 
 that the public could be so taken in. 
 
 “You’ve brightened up those farthings 
 of yours pretty smartly,” said one, “If 
 you'd sell ’em four for a penny, you 
 might do some business.” 
 
 “But mind what you are at,” growled 
 an old city clerk; “if you attempt to 
 pass off those Brummagen buttons as 
 sovereigns, you may have the constable 
 after you.” 
 
 The pedlar listened to these remarks 
 with the utmost composure. He did not 
 appear in any way disturbed, although 
 he had stood for nearly three-quarters of 
 an hour without receiving a single bid 
 for his wares, nor did his eye ever turn 
 aside from the tray, which was slung by 
 a band around his neck, except to glance 
 at a man who was leaning carelessly 
 against the parapet, referring every now 
 and then to his watch. 
 
 Presently a boy came along and earn- 
 estly besought his father to allow him to 
 purchase. 
 
 “They are only pretense, my lad,” said 
 
 the father. “In this world no one ever 
 parts with anything under its real 
 value.” 
 
 A man stopped and looked wistfully 
 at the tray. “If they were only real,” he 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 muttered; “twenty of them would keep 
 me out of jail.” 
 
 A clever mechanic stopped a moment 
 or two, eyeing with curiosity the con- 
 tents of the tray. Then he took up one 
 of the coins and turned it over. 
 
 “Well, it’s a clever sham,” he said; 
 “it will please my little boy, and Pil 
 take one home to him.” 
 
 On his way he passed under the win- 
 dows of a large jeweler’s shop, and he 
 took the chance to examine his purchase. 
 
 “Well, it’s uncommon-like, that I must 
 say. There can’t be any chance of it’s 
 being a real one, I suppose; that would 
 be too good a joke. And yet there is no 
 harm in asking, and this chap will tell 
 me in a minute. 
 
 He stepped up to the counter, and 
 laying his coin on it, inquired what that 
 might be. 
 
 “That,” said the jeweler, taking it up 
 and weighing it on his finger, “why what 
 should it be, my good man, but a 
 sovereign?” 
 
 “A sovereign, a real sovereign!” ex- 
 claimed the other; “You don’t mean it, 
 to be sure. Just look again, sir, if you 
 please, and make certain.” 
 
 “There’s no need of looking again,” 
 said the shopman, rather sharply. “I 
 should know gold by this time, when I 
 see it. It’s as good a sovereign as ever 
 came from the mint, and is quite new 
 into the bargain.” 
 
 The man stared once more into the 
 jeweler’s face, and then turning around 
 short, he made for, the door, elbowing 
 his way without ceremony through the 
 crowd outside, and paying no heed to 
 the angry remonstrances addressed to 
 him on all sides. Presently he emerged 
 near the entrance to the bridge, and still 
 fighting his way vigorously, reached the 
 spot where he had left the dealer in 
 sovereigns. Alas, he was gone, and his 
 place was occupied by a vender of gin- 
 gerbread nuts, who was commending his 
 articles with an earnestness that ex- 
 ceeded that of his predecessor. 
 
 “Where is the man who was selling 
 the sovereigns?” exclaimed the journey- 
 man breathlessly. 
 
 “Man with the sovereigns,” repeated 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the person addressed. “I don’t know of 
 any such. There was a chap with a tray 
 here about five minutes ago, just as I 
 came up he shut up his business and 
 walked off with his friend just as twelve 
 o’clock struck.” 
 
 Two fashionable loungers at the West 
 End had made a wager as to what would 
 be the consequence if one hundred 
 sovereigns were offered for sale at a 
 penny apiece, for one hour on London 
 Bridge, during the most busy period of 
 the day. One party contended that they 
 would all be bought up the moment they 
 were exposed to view; the other, that 
 the public would totally disregard them. 
 The experiment was tried, and with the 
 result that has been related—of the hun- 
 dred sovereigns only one was sold, and 
 that to a man who had no belief in the 
 value of his purchase. 
 
 It may seem strange to us that men 
 should have shown so little discernment, 
 yet what is it but the very same thing 
 that is going on every day? The ser- 
 vants of the Lord are continually calling 
 to the wayfarers, using all their per- 
 suasive powers to induce them to receive 
 treasure of value beyond human power 
 to estimate. “Doth not wisdom cry and 
 understanding put forth her voice? She 
 standeth on the top of high places, by 
 the way in the places of the paths. She 
 crieth at the gates, at the entry to the 
 city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto 
 you, O men, I call and my voice is to 
 the sons of men. O, ye simple under- 
 stand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of 
 an understanding heart.” “Receive my 
 instruction and not silver; and knowl- 
 edge rather than choice gold. For 
 wisdom is better than rubies; and all the 
 things that may be desired are not to be 
 compared to it.” 
 
 But few, very few, of the busy throng 
 heed the cry. They do not credit the 
 representation, of value; they suspect 
 deception. Sad experience with the 
 stinginess of man has helped them to 
 doubt the benevolence of God. So long 
 accustomed to paying full value for 
 things received, they seem to feel that 
 what is offered so freely must needs be 
 worthless. 
 
 389 
 
 O wayfarer, pause a moment, ere you 
 hurry past the true riches! Examine 
 the things offered for your acceptance; 
 behold them put to the severest tests to 
 prove them genuine. Whenever you 
 come to a sense of their value you will 
 outstrip the journeyman in your zeal to 
 secure them. Whatever may oppose, you 
 will succeed unless—oh, bitter thought 
 —unless, like him, you are too late. 
 Life’s short hour is speeding fast; the 
 golden moments of opportunity will soon 
 be gone. You are having a most wonder- 
 ful chance for eternal gain. May heaven 
 help you to secure it, ere the dial points 
 to the closing hour of time. — Holiness 
 Berean. 
 
 — 743 — 
 “CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN.” 
 
 The Rev. Dr. A. C. Dixon says that 
 when their little boy Harold died, and 
 after they had taken his body to the 
 cemetery in Asbury Park, it seemed as if 
 all the enjoyment of their life was gone 
 into that little grave. His heart was 
 heavy, and he could not understand why 
 their son was taken from them. He had 
 no joy in preaching or in any of his 
 work. When the Christmas festival was 
 to be held in their church, he felt like 
 leaving the city, but remained. The chil- 
 dren came to the tree, and had a good 
 time, and seemed to have forgotten all 
 about little Harold. 
 
 The next day was Christmas. While 
 the family sat at table, sad and silent, 
 one of the little ones said, “Papa, this 
 is Harold’s first Christmas in heaven.” 
 Another one quickly replied, “Why, it 
 is Christmas all the time in heaven.” 
 Immediately the sadness disappeared be- 
 cause of the thought of little Harold’s 
 happiness in heaven.—Rev. C. H. Tyn- 
 dall, D.D. 
 
 mer 14.4 —e 
 
 Far better it is to dare mighty things, 
 to win glorious triumphs, even though 
 checkered by failure, than to rank with 
 those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor 
 suffer much, because they live in the 
 gray twilight that knows neither victory 
 nor defeat.—Theodore Roosevelt. . 
 
390 
 
 — 745 
 THEY RESCUED THE DOG. 
 
 I read the story of a man who had a 
 dog that he highly prized. They were 
 on shipboard. A child threw a stick 
 overboard, and before anyone had re- 
 alized the dog jumped after it. The 
 man went to the Captain and asked him 
 to stop the ship. “What! stop the 
 mails for a dog? No, indeed!” The 
 man said: “If you will not stop to save 
 a dog you will have to stop to save a 
 man,” and then he jumped overboard. 
 They stopped the ship to rescue the 
 man, and in so doing saved the dog. 
 
 The dear Saviour saw you and me 
 sinking, and he jumped into the waters 
 of sin and suffering of this world to res- 
 cue us. The billows of death and hell 
 rolled over Him, and He cried, “My 
 God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me?” But as he expired He shouted 
 triumphantly, “It is finished.” He 
 burst the bars of death and came forth 
 with our salvation. Now His highest 
 joy is to give us eternal life.—Rev. 
 C. H. Tyndall, D. D. 
 
 — 746— 
 BURNING HIS INFIDEL BOOKS. 
 
 The most impressive instance of the 
 power of truth on the conscience, in my 
 memory, is that of an intelligent man, 
 who sent for me after midnight, to tell 
 him how to be saved, and to pray for 
 him; for he did not think he could pray 
 for himself. I spent the rest of the 
 night with him, praying with him, and 
 teaching him. He rose from his bed 
 again and again, to kneel, and though 
 obviously dying, as indicated by his 
 breathing, he found a key, showed me 
 how to open a heavy trunk, and found 
 in it a parcel of books. “I want you,” 
 he said, “to take these, to keep them 
 from any other hands, to promise me 
 that you will burn them.” His look and 
 tones I cannot forget, as he said, “They 
 have brought my soul to the very brink 
 of hell; they were my destruction.” I 
 kept my promise. He died in the early 
 forenoon, I trust, sincerely, as he pro- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 fessed, trusting himself as a sinner in 
 the hands of God in Christ, the only 
 Saviour.—Dr. John Hall. . 
 
 5 oe Whee 
 HE SHOUTED FOR JOY 
 
 It is said that when Willie Williams 
 received word that the Governor of 
 Missouri had commuted his sentence 
 to fifty years imprisonment, instead of 
 death by hanging, that he shouted, 
 cried and kissed the telegram over and 
 over again. . No one wonders that he 
 did, yet when a man who is guilty be- 
 fore God and condemned to eternal 
 death receives pardon and a title to eter- 
 nal glory, shouts and in any way shows 
 his joy, he is at once put down as crazy! 
 If fifty years imprisonment instead of 
 death by hanging is sufficient to cause 
 shouting, what of life eternal, with a 
 title of eternal glory? No wonder God’s 
 people have made the corridors of time 
 echo with the shouts of salvation.—The 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Banner. 
 
 294g 
 
 AS GOD GIVETH. 
 
 “What shall I bring you?” said a 
 visitor in a St. Louis hospital to a little 
 sufferer crying for mamma. She sob- 
 bed out, “I want a parasol! I want it 
 today!” The sensible visitor brought it, 
 and the comforted little one clasping it 
 in her arms was soon asleep. That one 
 toy comforted 20 children 20 times to 
 rest. Many a childish request is granted 
 by the Spirit of Jesus to comfort us. 
 “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” 
 
 at 71 a 
 LUXURIES 
 
 Be not too fond of luxuries. Excess- 
 ively indulged they weaken character in 
 the present life, and lessen one’s hope 
 of blessedness in the world to come. 
 When Garrick showed Dr. Johnson his 
 elegant home, fine garden, beautiful 
 statues and choice pictures, the latter 
 replied: “Ah! David, these are the 
 things which make a death-bed ter- 
 rible !”-——Selected. 
 
 = 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 750 — 
 THE DIVINE CALL. 
 
 There is a cry which comes swelling 
 up from sickbeds, from hospitals, from 
 men in doubt, from men in trouble, from 
 men struggling with deadly temptations, 
 from lads adrift, from children left upon 
 the world, from girls driven by poverty 
 to the streets, from heathen lands, from 
 Africa, from India, from China—“Whom 
 wilt thou send? and who will come to 
 us?” 
 
 One time at a meeting of the General 
 Assembly, an effort was made to raise 
 funds enough to send a young Princeton 
 graduate to India as a missionary. A 
 teacher in a home mission school was 
 seen by her hostess to slip a gold ring 
 from her finger and put it on the collec- 
 tion plate. Asked afterwards by the 
 lady whose guest she was why she did 
 it, she replied, “Because I had no money, 
 and because I knew what it would mean 
 if the effort to send this missionary 
 failed.” Not long before she had been 
 told that she would have to give up her 
 own school because there were no funds 
 to support it. But she would not give it 
 up. She held on with magnificent 
 heroism, and she contributed the ring 
 with all its sacred associations to help 
 another to do what was so near her own 
 heart. 
 
 The next morning a commissioner 
 brought the ring into the General As- 
 sembly and told the story of it. It was 
 worth about five dollars. “I will give 
 five dollars to send the ring back to the 
 young woman,” said a minister. “I will 
 will give five dollars,” said the stated 
 clerk. A newspaper reporter handed up 
 five dollars to the platform. Pastors, 
 missionaries, and visitors came forward 
 readily with the cash, each one eager to 
 have some share in restoring the ring. 
 In less than ten minutes more than three 
 hundred dollars had been passed up to 
 the desk. It was all caused by the vision 
 they got of the self-sacrificing love that 
 flamed in the heart of that little woman, 
 making her glad to do something for her 
 dear Master.—Rev. Robert F. Coyle, 
 D.D. 
 
 391 
 
 sel ee 
 CALM IN THE DEPTHS. 
 
 I came upon James Cobbledick seated 
 in the mouth of a cave, looking out over 
 the seas which swept across the sands, 
 touched by the sunset glow, says Mark 
 Guy Pearse. 
 
 The breeze of that summer day was 
 off the land, so that the sea was perfectly 
 calm, except that now and then, at regu- 
 lar intervals, there rose the long line of 
 roller—the ground-swell, as they call it 
 —a huge wave sweeping unbroken right 
 across the bay, arched, majestic. Be- 
 tween us and the mighty billows sat a 
 cormorant, untroubled, and as the wave 
 curved over into thunders, I started. 
 “The creature will be killed,’ I said. 
 Then instantly it dived. And when the 
 waves had swept on and sent its ripples 
 far up the sand, the bird rose and shook 
 off the drops, glistening in the sunshine, 
 and sat brooding in the calm. 
 
 The old man turned to me. “Maister,” 
 he said, in that tone of awe which I had 
 learned to associate with the thoughts 
 he held most sacred, “Maister, can you 
 mind the words, ‘All Thy waves and 
 Thy billows have gone over me?’ There’s 
 times when we're killed if we fight, and 
 there’s times when we’re saved if we 
 sink. To live right is the only safety. 
 There’s calm in the depths! Yes, there’s 
 always calm in the depths. Sometimes 
 it is good to have the wings of the dove 
 and fly away to the heights, but some- 
 times it is better to sink down, down, 
 eee down to the depths —The Morning 
 
 tar. 
 
 — 752 — 
 
 When the statue of George Peabody, 
 erected some years ago in one of the 
 thoroughfares of London, was unveiled, 
 the sculptor Story was asked to speak. 
 Twice he touched the statue with his 
 hand, and twice he said, “That is my 
 speech! That is my speech!” What 
 a suggestion to Christians! Even so 
 should they allow their actions, their 
 consecrated lives, to speak of the Savior 
 they profess.—Selected. 
 
392 
 
 — 753 — 
 “LORD, HELP ME!’ 
 
 The Rev. J. Ashworth of England re- 
 lates the following instructive incident: 
 
 Many of the inhabitants of Manches- 
 ter and the surrounding towns, will re- 
 member a singular old minister, with a 
 red, round, pleasant-looking counte- 
 nance, a bald head, and who often 
 preached in a velvet skull-cap. He was 
 a man of very peculiar views, but almost 
 unequaled in his description of Christian 
 experience. This man once preached in 
 Rochdale, from the text, “Lord help me.” 
 Having read his text, he took off his 
 spectacles, and, in his usual, deliberate 
 way, looked round on the congregation, 
 saying: 
 
 “Friends, by way of introduction, I 
 will tell you how I got this text; and if 
 you will allow me to speak in the first 
 person, I can tell you easier by saying 
 I than he.” 
 
 “Well, then, before I was fully de- 
 voted to the ministry I was in business, 
 and, as most business men do, I worked 
 a little on credit. When I gave up busi- 
 ness and settled as a preacher and pastor 
 of a congregation, I was owing several 
 sums of money; but much more was 
 owing to me, so that I had no fear of 
 being unable to pay my creditors. One of 
 these creditors, to whom I owed twenty 
 pounds, called upon me for the payment. 
 I said to him, ‘I will see what I can do 
 for you next Monday.’ He called on the 
 Monday, but I had not got the money. 
 He was rather cross with me, saying I 
 ‘had no business to promise except I 
 intended to perform.’ This observation 
 touched my pride, and I told him that I 
 would pay him on the coming Monday. 
 He went away in a rage, saying, ‘He 
 hoped I would.’ ” 
 
 “T set out on the following day to see 
 some of my debtors, not fearing but I 
 could raise the twenty pounds, but I did 
 not get one farthing. I tried others, but 
 with the same success. I then put down 
 on a sheet of paper the names of several 
 of my friends, certain that I could bor- 
 row twenty pounds from any one of 
 them. But, to my utter amazement, I 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 was mistaken. All of them could sympa- 
 thize with me a deal better than lend 
 me anything; and I began to find it out, 
 that if a man wants to know how many 
 friends he has, he had better try to bor- 
 row money.” 
 
 “The next day I made out another list 
 of those not so well able to help me as 
 the former, for I thought if I could get 
 five pounds here and five pounds there, I 
 would be able to raise it all. I traveled 
 many miles on my errand, spending a 
 whole day, but returned in the evening 
 without one penny. 1 began to ask my- 
 self, ‘How is this that I, a respectable 
 man, and, as some people say, a popular 
 preacher, cannot, in the whole of my 
 acquaintance, borrow twenty pounds? I 
 thought I had as many friends as most 
 men, but now I cannot find one that will 
 trust me for twenty pounds.’ My pride 
 got a terrible shake, and I felt very little 
 indeed.” 
 
 “Saturday morning came, and I arose 
 from a sleepless bed. I ate very little 
 breakfast, and when at prayer I was so 
 overcome with my feelings, that my wife 
 asked me if I was poorly, or in trouble. 
 ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘I am in trouble enough;’ 
 and I then told her all about the cause of 
 my sorrow. She was silent for a few 
 minutes, and then said, ‘You have often 
 talked and preached about the power of 
 faith, I think you will now need some 
 yourself.’ Having said this she arose 
 from her chair, and went rattling among 
 her pots and kettles. She was evidently 
 mortified because I had been refused 
 the money by those she had considered 
 our friends.” 
 
 “My wife is a good Christian woman, 
 but she thinks that works are the best 
 evidence of faith, both in preacher and 
 people.” 
 
 “On Saturday I was in a state of tor- 
 por until evening. I then, with a heavy 
 heart went upstairs into a little room 
 I called my study; for I had three times 
 to preach on the Sunday and no text; 
 twenty pounds to pay on the Monday, 
 and no money. What wasI todo? For 
 a long time I sat with my face buried in 
 my hands, and then I fell on my knees, 
 and I believe I said, ‘Lord help me,’ a 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 hundred times, for I could say nothing 
 but ‘Lord help me, Lord help me.’ While 
 praying I felt an impression that these 
 words might serve me for one text; and 
 as Sunday came before Monday, I began 
 to prepare, as well as I could, for the 
 Sunday work; but no other text could I 
 think of but ‘Lord help me.’ ” 
 
 “While preaching on the Sunday 
 morning, I had so many thoughts and 
 illustrations, arising out of the subject 
 that I felt great liberty in preaching. 
 One of my illustrations was about a 
 man I knew well, who was a deacon of 
 a church, and had been an executor for 
 two orphan children. He was tempted 
 to make use of the money, and much of 
 it was lost. This so preyed upon his 
 mind that he began to drink. He lost 
 his character, lost his peace of mind, 
 and he died with the reputation of a 
 rogue.” 
 
 “ “Now, I said, ‘had this man, the 
 executor, when he first thought of tak- 
 ing the children’s money, resisted the 
 temptation, by calling on God to help 
 him—help him to be honest, help him 
 to do nothing but what a professing 
 Christian ought to do—instead of losing 
 the money, his good name, his peace of 
 mind, and, perhaps his life, God would 
 have heard his prayer, and saved him.” 
 
 “Noon came; but my sermon was not 
 half done. I preached from the same 
 text again in the afternoon, and again 
 in the evening; and I felt that I could 
 have preached from it a week.” 
 
 “After finishing the night’s service, 
 when I got to the bottom of the pulpit 
 stairs, a young man stood there who 
 asked to see me in private. I took him 
 into the vestry, and requested his er- 
 rand, expecting it would be about his 
 soul. For several minutes we were both 
 silent, but at length he said, ‘You knew 
 my mother, Mr. Gadsby.’ ” 
 
 “I looked in his face, saying, ‘Surely 
 I did; but I did not know you at first.’ ” 
 
 “*Well, sir, when she died she left 
 me some money—in fact, all she had, 
 except two small sums she wished me to 
 give; one sum, of five pounds, to a poor 
 old woman of her acquaintance; and 
 speaking of you she said, ‘Our minister 
 
 ANECDOTES. - 393 
 needs help, and I wish you to give him 
 twenty pounds.’ I paid the five pounds 
 to the old woman; but, thinking no one 
 knew, I resolved never to give you the 
 twenty. But while you were talking 
 about the rougish executor this morn- 
 ing, I felt thunderstruck, and I have 
 brought you the twenty pounds. Here 
 it is, do take it, and do forgive me.’” 
 “It was now my turn to be thunder- 
 struck. While the young man was put- 
 ting the sovereigns into my hand, I 
 trembled ail over. God had heard my 
 prayer; He had helped me through Sun- 
 day, and sent me the twenty pounds for 
 Monday. It was mine and I took it. I 
 shook the young man’s hand, and, with- 
 out putting the money into my pocket, 
 I went quickly home, spread it out on 
 the table before my wife, saying, ‘Here 
 it is! I now see how it was that I could 
 not borrow the money. God knew where 
 it was, and he sent me the twenty 
 pounds, and delivered me out of my 
 trouble. He had heard my prayer, and 
 helped me, and I will trust Him and 
 praise Him as long as I live? Oh! my 
 dear friends, when that little prayer, 
 ‘Lord help me,’ comes from the heart 
 of one of God’s children in distress, 
 neither men, nor devils, nor angels can 
 tell its power. It has brought me thou- 
 sands of blessings, besides the twenty 
 pounds.”—The Earnest Christian. 
 
 bY 
 HOW LOVE UNITES. 
 
 When the Forth Bridge was build- 
 ing.the great arms from either side were 
 completed; slowly and steadily they had 
 been built out, and now at the center of 
 the mighty arch all that was needed was 
 the final riveting. But the day fixed was 
 cold and chilly, and in spite of fires set 
 under the iron to expand it the inch or 
 two required, the union could not be 
 completed, and the day’s programme 
 was a failure. But next morning the 
 sun rose bright, the day was warm and 
 genial; the iron then expanded, the holes 
 came opposite one another, and the riv- 
 eters had nothing to do but to drive the 
 binding bolts home. So love unites 
 men—‘love never faileth.”—Selected. 
 
394 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 755 — 
 THE POWER OF HABIT. 
 
 It is told that a telegraph operator at 
 Springfield, Mass., was kept at his post 
 of duty for many hours receiving special 
 news. After losing two nights’ sleep 
 he was relieved from duty to get some 
 rest. He went to his room at the hotel 
 and soon was fast asleep. When the 
 time came for him to return to his in- 
 strument he could not be awakened. 
 
 Loud pounding on the door did not 
 result in arousing him. An operator 
 then, with his knife-handle, tapped 
 “Springfield” on the door, in imitation 
 of the clicking of the instrument. At 
 once the sleeping operator sprang from 
 his bed and was soon ready to continue 
 his work. 
 
 It is said that firemen hear in their 
 sleep the signal calling them to duty, 
 while they sleep right on through any 
 number of signals which do not concern 
 them. In an article on “Heroes who 
 fight fire,” in the Century, Jacob A. 
 Riis tells of a fire department chief who 
 has a gong right over his head at home, 
 every stroke of which he hears, al- 
 though he never hears the baby; while 
 his wife hears the baby if it so much as 
 stirs in its crib, but does not hear the 
 song.—Union Gospel News. 
 
 — 756 — 
 NOT OUR LOVE FOR GOD. 
 
 A gentleman of wealth and high so- 
 cial position was taken ill. Being much 
 troubled about the little love he found 
 in his heart for God, he complained bit- 
 terly to his pastor. This is how the 
 man of God answered him. 
 
 “When I leave you I shall go to my 
 residence, and the first thing that I ex- 
 pect to do is to call my baby. I expect 
 to place her on my knee and look down 
 into her sweet eyes and listen to her 
 charming prattle, and, tired as I am, 
 her presence will rest me, for I love that 
 child with unutterable tenderness. But 
 the fact is she loves me little. If my 
 heart were breaking, it would not dis- 
 turb her sleep. If my body were racked 
 with excruciating pain, it would not 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 interrupt her play. If I were dead, she 
 would be amused watching my pale 
 face and closed eyes. If my friends 
 came to remove the corpse to the place 
 of burial, she would probably clap her 
 hands in glee, and in two or three days 
 totally forget her papa.” 
 
 “Besides this, she has never brought 
 me a penny, but has been a constant 
 expense on my hands ever since she 
 was born. Yet, though I am not rich, 
 there is not money enough in the world 
 to buy my baby. How is it? Does she 
 love me, or do I love her? Do I with- 
 hold my love until I know she loves 
 me? Am I waiting for her to do some- 
 thing worthy of my love before extend- 
 ing it to her?” 
 
 “Oh, I see it,” said the sick man, 
 while the tears ran down his cheeks. 
 “I see it clearly. It is not my love to 
 God, but God’s love to me, I ought to 
 be thinking about; and I do love Him 
 now as I never loved Him before.” 
 
 We think of our littleness when we 
 should remember our Father’s almighti- 
 ness. We bewail our weak love when 
 we should be grateful for our Father’s 
 great love. “Herein is love, not that 
 we loved God, but that God loved us.” 
 —Presbyterian Banner. 
 
 — 757 — 
 THE CURE FOR DOUBT. 
 
 It is said that Dr. Merle d’Aubigne, 
 the famous Swiss historian of the Ref- 
 ormation, was sorely troubled with 
 doubt during his student days. He 
 went to his old, experienced teacher for 
 help. The old man refused to discuss 
 the doubts, saying: “Were I to rid you 
 of these, others would come. There is 
 a shorter way of destroying them. Let 
 Jesus Christ be really to you the Son of 
 God, the Saviour, and His light will 
 dispel the darkness, and His Spirit will 
 lead you into all truth.” 
 
 That old man was right. He saw the 
 fatal habit which the young man was 
 acquiring, and he knew that the glori- 
 ous Sun of Righteousness could alone 
 scatter the clouds that make so many 
 lives dark and dreary.—T. L. Cuyler. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 GETTING POWER. 
 
 Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman tells how he 
 had in his parish a young Irishman; 
 all would declare him to be ignorant, 
 and he was; but God marvelously used 
 him. This was the secret, in the evan- 
 gelist’s words. 
 
 With a heart burdened for the men 
 of the city, I called together a few of 
 the men of the church, and laying be- 
 fore them the plan I had in mind, told 
 them first of all that we could do noth- 
 ing without the “infilling of the Holy 
 Ghost.” 
 
 When this had been explained, I no- 
 ticed this man leave the room. He did 
 not return while the meeting was in 
 session. When I sought him, I found 
 him in one of the lower rooms of the 
 church literally on his face before God. 
 He was in prayer. 
 
 I shall never forget his petition: “O 
 God, I plead with Thee for this bless- 
 ing ;” then, as if God were showing him 
 what was in the way, he said: “My 
 Father, I will give up every known sin, 
 only I plead with Thee for power;” and 
 then, as if his individual sins were pass- 
 ing before him, he said again and again: 
 “I will give them up.” Then, without 
 any emotion, he rose from his knees, 
 turned his face heavenward, and simply 
 said, “And now I claim the blessing.” 
 
 For the first time he became sensible 
 of my presence, and with a shining 
 countenance he reached out his hands 
 to clasp mine. You could feel the very 
 presence of the Spirit as he said: “I 
 have received Him; I have received 
 Him.” And I believe he had, for in 
 the next few months he had led more 
 than sixty men into the kingdom of 
 God. His whole life had been trans- 
 formed. He is just now being set apart 
 to preach the gospel.—Northwestern 
 Christian Advocate. 
 
 — 759 — 
 
 A SECOND CHANCE. 
 In Florence, Italy, one of the treas- 
 ures of art admired by thousands of vis- 
 itors is Michael Angelo’s representation 
 
 395 
 
 in marble of the young David. The 
 shepherd boy stands with firm foothold, 
 the stone grasped tightly in his right 
 hand, ready to be sped on its holy er- 
 rand. When the statue was unveiled, 
 three hundred and fifty years ago, it 
 caused an unparalled sensation among 
 all lovers of art. The work is, indeed, 
 a marvelous piece of sculpture. 
 
 But the strangely winning thing in 
 the story of that statue is that it was the 
 stone’s second chance. A sculptor be- 
 gan work on a noble piece of marble, 
 but, lacking skill, he only hacked and 
 marred the block. It was then aban- 
 doned as spoiled and worthless, and 
 thrown away. 
 
 For years the block lay in the back 
 yard, soiled and blackened, half hidden 
 among the rubbish. At last Michael 
 Angelo saw it and at once perceived its 
 possibilities. Under his skillful hands 
 the stone was cut into the fair and mar- 
 velous beauty which appears in the 
 statue of David. 
 
 In like manner, when a life has been 
 spoiled by unskilled and unscrupulous 
 hands, so that it seems as if all were 
 lost, there is one, the Great Sculptor, 
 who can take the marred, disfigured 
 block, now lying soiled amid the world’s 
 rubbish, and from it carve yet a marvel 
 of beauty.—Selected. 
 
 — 760 — 
 A REMARKABLE PROVIDENCE. 
 
 In the Magdalen Islands, off the 
 Newfoundland coast, the means of live- 
 lihood is almost entirely found in the 
 fisheries, and if these fail, life becomes 
 a burden. In 1883 a famine occurred 
 which came near to decimating the 
 population. The fisheries failed; the 
 ship which was expected to bring the 
 winter’s supply of flour before the ice 
 formed floundered in a storm. By the 
 time spring came, starvation stared the 
 people in the face. Many must have 
 died had not a large ship, filled with 
 produce, been wrecked off Coffin Is- 
 land. The news spread like wild-fire. 
 The whole population turned out, and 
 from the cargo of the shipwrecked ves- 
 sel drew a new lease of life.—Selected. 
 
396 
 
 a— 761 — 
 PRAYING AND WORKING 
 
 The truth of the following incident, 
 which occurred in Strathearn, Scotland, 
 is vouched for by William Arnot, in his 
 “Sketches from Nature and Art.” 
 
 It is said that a well on the estate 
 of one of the proprietors in the parish of 
 Dunbarney became choked by quick- 
 sand. The farmhands were called to- 
 gether to remove this obstruction. By 
 means of a rope around his waist one 
 of their number was let down into the 
 well. Then as buckets were lowered to 
 him, he filled them with the sand which 
 his fellows drew up and emptied. This 
 process was repeated until the well was 
 cleared of sand, and the water began to 
 flow in freely. But to do the job so thor- 
 oughly that it would not need to be 
 repeated soon again, the excavator con- 
 tinued to remove the sand until he had 
 so undermined the foundation stones of 
 the well that without warning they set- 
 tled. With this settlement, the sides of 
 the circular wall collapsed. But fortun- 
 ately for the poor fellow stooped over 
 below, the stones fell together, and 
 roughly arched themselves above his 
 head. He could not straighten up, but 
 he was unhurt, and plenty of fresh air 
 filtered in between the stones. 
 
 His distressed companions above were 
 relieved to know he was not crushed, as 
 they had supposed, and they at once 
 sprang to the work of his rescue. But 
 the imprisoned peasant soon made it ap- 
 parent that he was not a man of ordinary 
 mould, but was both a philosopher and 
 ahero. After a hasty calculation, he told 
 his companions the water was rising 
 so rapidly that before they could pos- 
 sibly get to him it would be above his 
 head, and that their labor would be in 
 vain. In less than an hour he expected 
 to be called to meet his Maker. So he 
 exhorted his friends to give up their ef- 
 forts for his rescue, and betake them- 
 selves to prayer that he might be pre- 
 pared for the change which awaited him. 
 
 But those strong-armed Scotchmen, 
 however much they believed in prayer, 
 could not be reconciled to do nothing 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 but pray at such a time. They believed 
 the case called for earnest work as well 
 as prayer. Combining the two, and toil- 
 ing as only men can when life is at stake, 
 the progress made was marvelous. . 
 
 As the imprisoned man heard the 
 sound of their nearing shovels, his hope 
 of release revived, and he revised his 
 former instructions. He told them that 
 the water had not yet reached his face, 
 and it seemed to be rising less rapidly. 
 So he said, “There is now some hope 
 that you may reach me in time, there- 
 fore, men, you may all dig except John 
 Robertson; let him pray!” 
 
 Now, John Robertson was a feeble, 
 old man. His efforts with the shovel 
 could accomplish little, but it was well- 
 known that he was a power in prayer. 
 By thus working and praying, they were 
 not long in effecting the release of their 
 friend. 
 
 There are times when they pray best 
 who work most, and without appropriate 
 works, faith is always dead. Again, in 
 the Kingdom of God there is a division 
 of labor, and to every man is given his 
 work. Some sow, others reap. Those 
 who can dig, or bury the dead, may not 
 be fitted to preach the gospel, or be able 
 to prevail in prayer—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 — 762 — 
 “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES” 
 
 One evening a lady called upon me, 
 whom I had never known personally, 
 but whom I had noticed in a congrega- 
 tion because of the distressed expression 
 on her face. She said, “I am a most 
 wretched woman, but I do not know 
 wherein the cause of my trouble lies.” 
 
 I spent half an hour of fruitless en- 
 deavor to help her, and finally said, 
 “Are you at perfect ease with all the 
 world?” 
 
 She replied with great emphasis, “No, 
 sir!” and then she said, “Don’t you ask 
 me to forgive that woman!” 
 
 I replied, “You can never be at peace 
 until you do.” 
 
 She then said, “I cannot, I cannot!” 
 
 I then asked, “Is it a case of can’t or 
 won't?” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 And then she said, “I won’t, anyway.” 
 
 I then said, “Do you really enjoy your 
 bitter feeling; do you sleep better at 
 night on account of it; do you awaken 
 with a brighter outlook in the morning?” 
 
 She answered, “No, indeed; it makes 
 me miserable.” 
 
 Then I said, “You do not talk like a 
 sane woman. You have a poisonous 
 thorn in your breast, and instead of try- 
 ing to remove it, you press it in and turn 
 it around and spread the poison through 
 your system and say, “I won't let go of 
 this thorn.” 
 
 She then said, “I would give it up, 
 But I can’t.” 
 
 I asked, “Do you ever pray?” 
 
 She replied, “No; I have tried to 
 pray, but have not succeeded.” 
 
 I said, “No matter what you may think 
 about God, try now to pray as best you 
 can from your heart. ‘Oh God, I would 
 like to give up this enmity, but I cannot. 
 Will you help me?’”’ 
 
 She knelt down voluntarily and re- 
 peated those words; and then God 
 helped her. He seemed to open the flood- 
 gates of the purifying power of the lov- 
 ing Spirit and pour this through her 
 soul, until she rose up with a shining 
 face and said, “I cannot make it up with 
 her quickly enough.” 
 
 I saw her afterwards in a congrega- 
 tion, and I looked through her eyes into 
 her soul, and I saw a soul in heaven; 
 and heaven was in her.—Benjamin Fay 
 Mills. 
 
 em 763 
 “SAVED BY A FLOWER.” 
 
 Little things are often used to accom- 
 plish great results. A spider’s web 
 woven across a cave’s mouth just after 
 a white man had plunged into it in 
 seeking to escape from an Indian saved 
 his life. The Indian naturally reasoned 
 that if the white man had entered the 
 cave, he certainly would have broken 
 the spider’s web, and passed on, and 
 the white man escaped with his life. 
 
 When Napoleon Bonaparte was em- 
 peror of France he thought a man 
 named Charney an enemy of his gov- 
 ernment, and for that reason deprived 
 
 ANECDOTES 397 
 him of his liberty. 
 learned man. 
 
 One day while pacing his yard, he 
 Saw a tiny plant just breaking the 
 ground. The sight of it caused a 
 pleasant diversion of his thoughts. No 
 other green thing was within his in- 
 closure. He watched its growth every 
 day. “How came it here?” was his 
 natural inquiry. As it grew, other 
 queries were suggested, “How came 
 these delicate little veins in its leaves? 
 What made its proportions so perfect 
 in every part, each new branch taking 
 its exact place on the parent stalk, 
 neither too near another, nor too much 
 on one side?” 
 
 In his loneliness the plant became 
 the prisoner’s teacher. When the flower 
 began to unfold he was filled with de- 
 light. It was white, purple and rose- 
 colored, with a fine, silvery fringe. 
 Charney made a frame to support it. 
 
 “All things come by chance,” had 
 been written by him upon the wall, 
 just above where the flower grew. It 
 gently reproved as it whispered: “There 
 is One who made me so wonderfully 
 beautiful, and He it is who keeps me 
 alive,” and thus shamed the proud man’s 
 unbelief. Be brushed the lying words 
 from the wall, while his heart felt that 
 “He who made all things is God.” 
 
 But God had a further blessing for 
 the erring man through the humble 
 flower. There was an Italian prisoner 
 in the same yard whose little daughter 
 was permitted to visit him. The girl 
 was much pleased with Charney’s love 
 for the flower. She related what she 
 saw to the wife of the jailer. The story 
 of the prisoner and his flower reached 
 the ears of the amiable Empress Jose- 
 phine. The empress said: “The man 
 who so devotedly loves and tends a 
 flower cannot be a bad man.” So she 
 persuaded the emperor to set him at 
 liberty. 
 
 Charney carried his flower home and 
 carefully tended it in his own green- 
 house. It had taught him to believe in 
 a God, and delivered him from prison. 
 —Rev. E. Payson Hammond. 
 
 Charney was a 
 
398 
 mm 764 
 
 PRAYER-MEETING NIGHT. 
 
 A few years ago, we were the guests 
 in a western city of a family of wealth 
 and prominent social standing. During 
 the conversation, the telephone called. 
 The good wife responded, and we heard 
 the words: “Thank you, I should enjoy 
 it very much, but I have an engagement 
 which makes it impossible for me to ac- 
 cept,’ and other words of like import. 
 
 Upon her return the good woman 
 said: “It was an invitation to dine with 
 a friend at which a distinguished presi- 
 dential candidate, Mr. B., was to be a 
 guest; but I never allow myself to ac- 
 cept any invitation on our prayer-meet- 
 ing night.” 
 
 We confess to being amazed. Here 
 was a leading woman in social life, de- 
 clining an invitation from another lead- 
 ing woman to dine with a distinguished 
 statesman, because it was her church 
 prayer-meeting night! No wonder we 
 soon learned that this woman was a 
 great spiritual power in her church and 
 in the city, not only because of her abil- 
 ity, but more because of what she was. 
 Give us church members like that, and 
 the world would not conquer the Church, 
 but the Church would conquer the 
 world.—Dr, Smith Baker in The Watch- 
 man. 
 
 — 765 — 
 THE HIGHWAYMAN’S KNIFE. 
 
 Down in San Luis Potosi, Yucatan, a 
 year or two ago, a good Christian was 
 put into jail, He had bought some 
 goods from a thief, not knowing that 
 they were stolen, and it was a week be- 
 fore his friends were able to prove his 
 innocence. So he spent a week in jail, 
 next to the cell of a murderer under 
 sentence of death. This murderer had 
 been a highwayman, and had concealed 
 a knife in his cell. He had made up his 
 mind to kill some one before he was 
 executed. Whoever came to his cell on 
 the day of his execution, to take him to 
 the scaffold, he determined to kill with 
 his knife. 
 
 The Christian had his Testament in 
 his pocket, and began to read it aloud, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 so as not to hear the highwayman’s evil 
 language. Soon he found the murderer 
 was quiet; and he immediately called to 
 him, speaking kindly, and telling him 
 about Christ. Day by day the two 
 talked to each other; and when, at the 
 week’s end, the Christian was released, 
 he gave the precious Testament to the 
 murderer. 
 
 A short time after, the highwayman 
 called the jailer. “Take this,” he said, 
 handing him the knife he had hidden 
 so long. “I kept it, hoping to kill one 
 more before I died. But now I have 
 learned a better way.” 
 
 He became an earnest Christian, and 
 so impressed the jailer that he was al- 
 lowed to write to his former associates 
 in wickedness. He told them how his 
 heart had been changed, and begged 
 them to follow Christ, and enter upon a 
 new life. For some reason, his death 
 sentence has since been suspended, and 
 still, in his prison, he is trying to reach 
 his former friends with the Gospel mes- 
 Sage, and he is also bringing other pris- 
 oners to the Saviour. 
 
 Even in prison, the Word of God is 
 not silenced. Even in prison, a man 
 may witness for Christ—Forward. 
 
 — 766 — 
 
 WILL IT STAND THE TEST? 
 
 A jeweler gives as one of the surest 
 tests for diamonds, the “water test.” 
 He says: “An imitation diamond is 
 never so brilliant as a genuine stone. If 
 your eye is not experienced enough to 
 detect the difference, a simple-test is to 
 place the stone under water. The imita- 
 tion diamond is practically extin- 
 guished, while a genuine diamond 
 sparkles even under water, and is dis- 
 tinctly visible. If you place a genuine 
 Stone beside an imitation under water, 
 the contrast will be apparent to the 
 least experienced eye.” Many seem con- 
 fident of their faith, so long as no trials 
 come; but when the waters of sorrow 
 overflow them, their faith loses all its 
 brilliancy. It is then that true servants 
 of God, like Job, shine forth as genuine 
 jewels of the King.—Selected. | 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 767 — 
 COVERING THE SCAR. 
 
 When an eminent painter was re- 
 quested to paint Alexander the Great, 
 he felt a difficulty. Alexander in his 
 wars had been struck by a sword, and 
 across his forehead was a great scar. The 
 painter said: “If I retain the scar, it will 
 be an offense to the admirers of the 
 monarch, and, if I omit it, it will not be 
 a perfect likeness— what shall I do? 
 He hit upon a happy expedient; he rep- 
 resented the Emperor leaning on his 
 elbow, with his forefinger upon his 
 brow, accidently, it seemed, covering 
 the scar. 
 
 Might we not represent each other 
 with the finger of charity upon the scar, 
 instead of representing the scar still 
 deeper and blacker than it actually is? 
 Might not we Christians learn from 
 heathendom a lesson of charity, of hu- 
 man kindness and love?—Word of Life. 
 
 — 768 — 
 
 THE WITHHELD PARDON. 
 
 Recently we heard a striking illustra- 
 tion which has brought to mind some 
 startling facts that the Christian Church 
 must face. 
 
 A condemned man is confined in the 
 prison near my home. Sentence has 
 been pronounced against him and the 
 day of his execution is fast approaching. 
 I become interested in him and at length 
 obtain a pardon for him from the Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 The pardon is safely placed in an in- 
 side pocket, and I at once visit him in 
 prison. On the way there I stop ata 
 florist’s and purchase a bunch of roses, 
 for I had learned that he is fond of 
 flowers. I also take along a copy of 
 Tennyson, his favorite poet. 
 
 When I arrive at his cell, I open the 
 conversation with remarks about the 
 beautiful spring weather, and then fol- 
 low along with my views on the present 
 political situation, and speech-making 
 tours of the rival candidates. Then we 
 talk together on the greatness of Tenny- 
 son, and I read aloud a number of his 
 
 399 
 
 soul-stirring poems. At last I leave him 
 the bouquet of roses and depart. 
 
 Not a word has been said to him re- 
 garding the pardon which is still in my 
 pocket. 
 
 You would say, “Why, it’s impossible. 
 That’s the first thing you would talk 
 about !” 
 
 Still this is true of millions of church- 
 members in our day. When they meet 
 unconverted friends they discuss every 
 subject except the claims of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and His proffered pardon 
 to a sinful world. The presentation of 
 that all-important truth is almost wholly 
 left to a selected body of men, the clergy. 
 
 As a result, we find that last year 
 (1911) 21,500,000 Protestant church- 
 members in the United States made a 
 net gain of less than 450,000 souls. That 
 small gain is not even in proportion to 
 the increase in population. And, more- 
 over, during that same period there came 
 into this country a largely unchristian 
 foreign population to the number of 
 1,149,000. 
 
 Three thousand churches of one de- 
 nomination last year failed to add a 
 single member on confession of faith in 
 Jesus Christ. One would naturally ask: 
 “What were all those church-members 
 doing?” Undoubtedly they worked at 
 their usual vocations, but their chief 
 business as Christians, that of pointing 
 men to Christ, was evidently sadly ne- 
 glected. These figures reveal the fact 
 that the great majoriy of professed 
 Christians are little concerned in the 
 conversion of others, but having ob- 
 tained God’s pardon they are either so 
 ashamed or ungrateful that they fail to 
 proclaim it. 
 
 If each Protestant church-member had 
 brought just one person to Christ last 
 year, 21,500,000 souls would have been 
 the glorious harvest. But instead, less 
 than a half million souls have been 
 gleaned from this great harvest field. 
 
 The Protestant Church in this land 
 is face to face with a most serious situa- 
 tion. If our country is ever to be won 
 for Christ the Christians here must be 
 made to realize that they are “saved to 
 save others.”—Carlton H. Tyndall. 
 
400° 
 
 — 769 — 
 THE KING’S BUSINESS 
 
 A beautiful country place was once 
 put upon the market. Two would-be 
 purchasers went to see it on the same 
 day, from the adjacent city, but each 
 separately and unknown to the other. 
 Both decided to take it; and each, igno- 
 rant of the other’s visit and decision, yet 
 eager to close the bargain, made all pos- 
 sible haste back to the city home of the 
 owner. 
 
 The same train carried them back to 
 the city; they rode in the same street 
 car, and one followed closely after the 
 other as they walked the short distance 
 that remained to the house. 
 
 Suddenly one of them felt sure that 
 his fellow-traveler was on the same er- 
 rand as himself, and determined that 
 he would not be disappointed after all 
 his trouble. 
 
 So, when his ring was answered at the 
 house, he handed his card to the servant, 
 before the man standing beside him 
 could frame his inquiry upon his lips, 
 and said, 
 
 “Tell your master that I will take 
 that country place,” and his quickly 
 spoken sentence decided the sale in his 
 favor, while the other turned away de- 
 feated. 
 
 It was only a question of a few sec- 
 onds; yet upon that depended the saving 
 of a delay of weeks, or perhaps months, 
 before another suitable place could have 
 been found. It was a business that re- 
 quired haste, promptness, ready decision, 
 dispatch. 
 
 And so it is with the King’s business. 
 The ready word of counsel, the prompt 
 helping over a rough place, the mission- 
 ary spirit of haste that would carry the 
 gospel speedily to all nations—who can 
 count the years of groping delay they 
 may save those who are strangers to the 
 King?—-American Messenger. 
 
 — 770 — 
 A BOY WHO STOOD BEFORE 
 KINGS—AND WHY 
 
 About a hundred years ago two boys 
 were born in a little village up in 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Maine. They were cousins and the name 
 was Hamlin. Playing together as boys 
 will, they often asked each other, What 
 are you going to be when you grow up? 
 Cyrus said he would be a missionary; 
 and he had a strange motto for a small 
 boy: “Seest thou a man diligent in busi- 
 ness—he shall stand before kings; he 
 shall not stand before mean men.” 
 Cyrus often wondered whether it would 
 come true. Hannibal said he did not 
 propose to waste his life on any 
 heathen. He would be a lawyer and a 
 statesman. 
 
 And Hannibal carried out his program 
 to the letter. He was vice-president 
 under Lincoln. Historians of our coun- 
 try grudgingly allow half an inch to say: 
 “Hannibal Hamlin was born in Maine in 
 1809. Was vice-president under Lincoln, 
 and died ” That’s all. 
 
 Cyrus worked his way through Bow- 
 doin College, was ordained and went to 
 Constantinople. His dream as a mis- 
 sionary was to found an American Chris- 
 tian college. For many years he worked 
 at great odds. He was not allowed to 
 purchase any real estate. People in 
 America were willing to furnish funds, 
 but it was of no use. 
 
 There came a time when the proud 
 general of the British army bowed the 
 knee to an American boy. A great army 
 was in Russia fighting the Crimean War. 
 They were almost starved. The general 
 heard of an American who had a bake 
 oven. (Hamlin was compelled to give 
 his pupils work and food because they 
 were ostracized at first.) Hamlin baked 
 bread for the British army and made 
 thousands of dollars, which he put into 
 his school. e Seats 
 
 Still he could not buy the site he 
 wanted for his college. He had his eye 
 on a superb location, but they wouldn’t 
 take his money. At the close of the 
 Civil War Admiral Farragut was mak- 
 ing his triumphal tour of the world and 
 touched at Constantinople. He invited 
 Hamlin to visit his flagship and dine 
 with him. Hamlin asked a favor of the 
 doughty admiral which was granted 
 gladly. During the state dinner, in the 
 presence of the great Turkish officials, 
 
 
 
 , — > 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the admiral leaned over and asked a 
 question: “Hamlin, how is your school 
 getting along?” He did not wait for a 
 reply. But in less than ten days the im- 
 perial irade was granted and Hamlin 
 secured the site he had sought in vain 
 for years. 
 
 If you were to visit Constantinople 
 today, as you steamed up that magnifi- 
 cent harbor your attention would be at- 
 tracted by a dazzling pile of white 
 marble on a promontory jutting out into 
 the Sea of Marmora. It is the most 
 prominent feature of the landscape. If 
 you were to ask what it is, they might 
 with truth say: “That is Cyrus Hamlin’s 
 monument.” But they probably would 
 say: “Those are the buildings of Robert 
 College.” 
 
 You know what the Young Turk 
 party is. A few years ago they gently 
 lifted old Abdul Hamid from his throne. 
 The Young Turk party might be called 
 “Cyrus Hamlin’s boys.” During the last 
 forty or fifty years the brightest young 
 men from southeastern Europe and Asia 
 Minor have been educated at Robert 
 College; where they have imbibed 
 American ideas of civil and religious 
 liberty. 
 
 Every young man and woman owes it 
 to himself, his parents, his country and 
 his God to seli his life at the highest 
 price. Hannibal Hamlin has his reward 
 —but the glory of Cyrus Hamlin’s life 
 has not yet been written. He stood be- 
 fore kings. He trained and created the 
 builders of an empire. He molded the 
 men who have in their hands the des- 
 tinies of untold millions yet unborn. For 
 God he wrought; what matter if men 
 could forget him? — Matthew Henry 
 Frank in the Continent. 
 
 —771— 
 HE PREFERS TO BE DEAF 
 
 A correspondent of the New York 
 ‘Globe,” June 21, 1919, makes this re- 
 narkable statement concerning a man of 
 world-wide fame: 
 
 Thomas A. Edison has not been at- 
 empting to invent an apparatus for im- 
 roving his hearing, because he is aided 
 
 401 
 
 in his work by his deafness. 
 
 Charles Edison, son of the inventor 
 and general manager of the Edison in- 
 dustries, attending the annual field day 
 of the Edison employees in Olympic 
 Park, said, in answer to a question: 
 
 “Father feels he is better off without 
 his hearing, because if he could hear well 
 he would often be distracted by what he 
 would hear.” 
 
 As Fanny Crosby was thankful for 
 blindness, as otherwise she believed she 
 never could have composed the beautiful 
 hymns she wrote, so Edison is content 
 to remain deaf that he may the more 
 surely succeed in his inventive efforts. 
 He is willing to pay a large price for suc- 
 cess, That he may continue to pry into 
 Nature’s secret treasure-house, and 
 bring out such marvels as the phono- 
 graph and the telephone, he is willing, 
 it seems, to forego the pleasure of hear- 
 ing music and the voices of his friends. 
 Such consecration of one’s self to use the 
 ability possessed is rare, but is it not 
 wise? 
 
 Now, the work of bringing men from 
 Nature’s darkness into God’s marvelous 
 light, that they may become heirs of 
 eternal glory, is of supreme importance. 
 When those who would accomplish this 
 are willing to pay so much for success 
 as is Edison, there is no question but 
 what they will succeed. — Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 772 — 
 
 WHAT THE BIBLE IS. 
 
 The opinion of the Bible bred in me, 
 not only by the teaching of my home 
 when I was a boy, but also by every 
 turn and experience of my life and every 
 step of study is, that it is the one su- 
 preme source of revelation of the mean- 
 ing of life, the nature of God and the 
 spiritual nature and needs of men. It 
 is the only guide of life which really 
 leads the spirit in the way of peace and 
 salvation. If men could but be made 
 to know it intimately and for what it 
 really is, we should have secured both 
 individual and social regeneration — 
 Woodrow Wilson. 
 
402 
 — 773 — 
 SHE THANKED GOD FOR HER 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 It seemed intended by the blessed 
 Providence of God, that I should be 
 blind all my life; and I thank Him for 
 the dispensation. I was born with a 
 pair of as good eyes as any baby ever 
 owned, but when I was six weeks of 
 age, a slight touch of inflammation came 
 upon them and they were put under the 
 care of a physician. 
 
 What he did to them, or what hap- 
 pened in spite of him, I do not know, 
 but it resulted in their permanent de- 
 struction, so far as seeing is concerned; 
 and I was doomed to blindness all the 
 rest of my earthly existence. , 
 
 I have heard that this physician never 
 ceased expressing his regret at the oc- 
 currence; and that it was one of the 
 sorrows of his life. But if I could meet 
 him now, I would say, “Thank you, 
 thank you—over and over again—for 
 making me blind, if it was through your 
 agency that it came about!” 
 
 This sounds strangely to you, reader? 
 But I assure you I mean it—every word 
 of it; and if perfect earthly sight were 
 offered me tomorrow, I would not accept 
 it. Did you ever know of a blind per- 
 son’s talking like this before? 
 
 Why would I not have that doctor’s 
 mistake—if mistake it was—remedied? 
 Well, there are many reasons and I will 
 tell you some of them. 
 
 One is, that I know, although it may 
 have been a blunder on the physician’s 
 part, it was no mistake on God’s. I 
 verily beliéve it was His intention that 
 I should live my days in physical dark- 
 ness, so as to be better prepared to sing 
 His praises and incite others so to do. 
 I could not have written thousands of 
 hymns—many of which, if you will par- 
 don me for repeating it, are sung all over 
 the world—if I had been hindered by the 
 distractions of seeing all the interesting 
 and beautiful objects that would have 
 been presented to my notice. 
 
 Another reason is, that, while I am 
 deprived of many splendid sights (which, 
 as above mentioned, might draw me 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 away from the principal work of my 
 life), I have also been spared the seeing 
 of a great many unpleasant things. The 
 merciful God has put His hand over my © 
 eyes, and shut out from me the sight of 
 many instances of cruelty and bitter un- 
 kindness and misfortune, that I would 
 not have been able to relieve, and must 
 simply have suffered in seeing. I am 
 content with what I can know of life 
 through the four senses I possess, prac- 
 tically unimpaired, at ninety years of 
 age. Hearing, tasting, smelling, and 
 feeling, are still felt, in their fullest 
 degree. 
 
 Another reason for my apparently 
 strange assertion is, that I have been 
 able to test and make sure so many kind 
 and loving friends. Almost without ex- 
 ception, the great world has been good 
 to me, all the kinder, perhaps, on account 
 of what is considered my affliction. I 
 may say truly that I never for a moment 
 presumed on my blindness for any extra 
 courtesy or advantage, yet I have often 
 felt that it was a bond between sympa- 
 thetic hearts and mine.—Fanny Crosby. 
 
 by PGS 
 “I BELONG TO THE KING.” 
 
 So read the legend on the collar of a 
 little terrier which followed King Ed- 
 ward’s bier. He was a mere dog, and 
 not beautiful at that. But he had been 
 loved by a king, had lain on a king’s 
 knee, had entree to royal apartments 
 which the best accredited visitors might 
 notenter. Many the affectionate glances 
 he received as he trotted soberly in the 
 funeral cortege, bearing this legend: “I 
 am Caesar; I belong to the King.” 
 
 Thus many a lowly disciple has found 
 himself exalted. Even humble service 
 is worth while when one belongs to the 
 King. Christ came to create this sense 
 of relationship in us, to help us know 
 ourselves as belonging to His Father. 
 What temptations would be mastered, 
 what bitterness accepted without com- 
 plaint, what harsh words choked and 
 what defilements indignantly repudi- 
 ated, if in moments of stress we could 
 say: “I belong to the King!”—George 
 C. Peck. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —775— 
 
 “lM PRETTY LITTLE, BUT 
 PLL TRY” 
 
 Here is a story which the press dis- 
 patches of January 13th, 1912, carried, 
 and it is worth while to read it, and, hav- 
 ing read, to apply the remark of little 
 Eileen Martin to the plain work of a 
 plain every-day life. 
 
 Little Eileen Martin is the daughter 
 of a section foreman on a great railroad 
 line. She lives in Alta, California, and 
 near her home the fine train, called the 
 Overland Limited, flashes past on its 
 journey betwen the East and the West. 
 Hileen is seven years old, and though she 
 is a girl, she loves to watch railroad 
 trains go by, as well as any boy does. 
 
 On Saturday week, she had gone to 
 the track to watch the splendid Overland 
 Limited whirl past, and while waiting, 
 her quick eye noted a broken rail. 
 
 She is only seven years old, but she 
 knew that when the swift-flying train 
 struck that broken rail, Destruction and 
 Death would sweep down upon it. 
 
 She also knew the semaphore signals. 
 She knew that when the long arm on 
 the high pole, dropped pointing down- 
 ward, that a train had entered a given 
 space, called a block. 
 
 When Eileen saw the broken rail, she 
 at once ran to the telephone and called 
 the station-agent nearest her, and told of 
 the disaster awaiting the train. In an 
 instant’s glance at the clock, he saw that 
 he could not reach it in time to save it. 
 
 “Can’t you flag it?” he shouted to the 
 little girl standing on a stool and listen- 
 ing at the other end of his line. 
 
 “T’m pretty little, but Ill try,” an- 
 swered Eileen. Then calling an older 
 sister, they ran together down the track. 
 The long arm of the semaphore had 
 dropped. The time was short, and death 
 was near. Yet on they ran, waving their 
 aprons, desperately trying to stop the 
 train. 
 
 And they did stop it. The engineer 
 saw them, and with instant and quick 
 action, brought the long, heavy train to 
 a standstill. 
 
 403 
 
 Now, this story is worth reading, be- 
 cause it is the account of an heroic act. 
 It is worth reading for other reasons. 
 
 “I’m pretty little, but I'll try.” 
 This is what makes it worth reading. 
 
 Hileen was little—pretty little—but she 
 was alert. Her quick eye saw the broken 
 rail, the dropped semaphore. Her mind 
 was not stupid, else she would not have 
 known what these signs meant. 
 
 Beside a quick eye, she had more. 
 Here was something wrong. It must be 
 told, and told without delay. She could 
 not run and ask mother or father or 
 teacher. What was done, she must do 
 at once. She was “pretty little,” but she 
 knew what a telephone could do. She 
 knew that by its aid her voice could out- 
 run the fastest horse—even the fast 
 flying train, bearing down to destruction. 
 She decided instantly what to do, and 
 did it. 
 
 Then came the hardest strain of all. 
 Past the agent the train had flashed. She 
 alone could save it if anybody could. 
 “Can’t you stop it?” came the demand 
 over the wire; and without one mo- 
 ment’s hesitation, she replied, “T’ll try.” 
 
 It was the best she could do—little 
 seven-year-old. But how nobly she suc- 
 ceeded. And the qualities that made her 
 success are worthy of consideration by 
 everyone. “I'll try!” “Till try!” that 
 spirit will accomplish things when every 
 other fails. 
 
 No matter how young, how little, how 
 weak, there is always something to be 
 done, and Ejileen’s spirit is the way to 
 do it.—The Presbyterian. 
 
 — 776 — 
 SINCERITY RESPECTED 
 
 “Joseph Hume, was once twitted for 
 his inconsistency in going to hear Dr. 
 John Brown, the celebrated Scotch 
 preacher; when he made reply, “I 
 don’t believe all he says, but he does; 
 and orice a week, at least, I like to hear 
 a man who believes what he says. 
 Why, whatever I think, that man 
 preaches as though he felt the Lord 
 Jesus Christ were just at his elbow.” 
 
404° 
 
 — 777 — 
 CHRISTIAN HEALING 
 
 Three years ago I was returning from 
 England and, just out from Liverpool, 
 our ship was fog-bound and we had to 
 remain there for twelve hours. Those 
 of you who have traveled across the seas 
 know how damp and chilly the vessel 
 gets under such circumstances. For 
 seven years I had suffered from sub- 
 acute pleurisy, following a bad attack I 
 had of pleura-pneumonia. Not one deep 
 breath had I taken all those years but 
 had caused me pain, and every month I 
 was laid up for two or three days from 
 a recurrent attack, and my friends were 
 
 much alarmed over my condition. Well,. 
 
 while our ship was anchored in the fog 
 I went down with a genuine attack of 
 pleurisy. The ship doctor came in and 
 took my temperature and found it one 
 hundred and three. My pulse was one 
 hundred and twenty. He said: “You 
 have an attack of pleurisy. It seems to 
 me you have had it before.” Of course, 
 I was much upset, for in front of me 
 was the great Atlantic ocean and every- 
 body that I loved on this side. I did 
 not feel as if I could stand another at- 
 tack, I asked the doctor if there was a 
 nurse on board. He said, No, but he 
 could send a steward in to sit with me, if 
 I desired. I said: “A man nurse! Not 
 much, for me.” One thing I don’t want 
 around me when I am sick is a man 
 nurse. I want something besides all 
 thumbs fingering around me. When I 
 am sick, for heaven’s sake, give me the 
 delicate sympathizing touch of a good 
 woman’s hand. The doctor left me with- 
 out giving me any medicine, saying he 
 had to attend to the steerage, but that 
 he would return later. 
 
 ' After he had left, something came 
 over me. It was a very peculiar feel- 
 ing. At the time I could not take even 
 a half-breath without pain. I could not 
 lie on either side. I had that awful 
 stitch in my side that is understood only 
 by those who have had it. Then I 
 heard a voice. It was not such a voice 
 as could be heard by anyone else pre- 
 sent. Only my ears could hear it, for 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the voice spoke to my own soul. It said: 
 “Why not trust the Lord? He wants to 
 teach you the supreme lesson of your 
 life, the lesson of His infinite power and 
 love.” And I answered, “I am ready.” 
 Then the voice said, “Would you be will- 
 ing to give Him credit if He healed 
 you?” I said, “Yes, Lord.” Then I got 
 up and closed the door and knelt down 
 by my bed and looked up to Him for 
 healing strength at the moment. And 
 there came over me such a calm, sucha 
 peace and joy as I had never known. I 
 did not shout, because I could not. I 
 never have shouted. The fact is, I was 
 too happy to shout. I wanted to be 
 quiet in His presence. I got up from my 
 knees and went to bed. There was no 
 pain. Then I tried lying on both sides 
 and deep inhalations, and still no pain, 
 not a whit. Then a kind of light seemed 
 to appear in the room. It was not such 
 a light as could be seen by anyone else 
 had he been present. It was just a light 
 to my own soul, for my Lord was deal- 
 ing with me in a way that He was not 
 dealing with anyone else on that ship. 
 
 Soon the doctor came back, and I 
 said, “Doctor, I am well.” He said, 
 “What has come over you?” I said, 
 “Put your thermometer in my mouth.” 
 He did so, and not a bit of fever did it 
 register. My pulse also was normal. 
 He then put his ear to my chest, and all 
 abnormal sounds had disappeared. He 
 said: “I do not understand this. What 
 have you taken?” Then the devil 
 seemed to speak to me and say: “Now, 
 you don’t need to go over all this with 
 the doctor. He doesn’t care anything 
 about it.” But I said: “Yes, I will. I 
 promised to tell it and give Him credit, 
 and I am going to do it.” So I said, 
 “Doctor, are you a Christian?” “Yes,” 
 he said, “I trust I am.” Then I pro- 
 ceeded with my story, and soon I noticed 
 that the tears were running down his 
 cheeks. And so they were down mine, 
 and we just sat there and looked at one 
 another and cried. We did not need to 
 speak. Every fresh tear was a word 
 in the tear language that each of us 
 thoroughly understood. 
 
 I got up and dressed, went out and 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ate a hearty dinner, and mingled with 
 my friends and told the story. That 
 was three years ago, and, let me say it 
 to the praise of His name, never once 
 since then has there been any pain in 
 that side, though I may breathe as deep 
 as any man. 
 
 The first Sunday I was at home, I 
 told the story to my church, and a dear 
 woman, one of the class that we all 
 have—good but meddlesome, a kind of 
 sentimental pietist—came to me and 
 said, “Thank God, pastor, you have em- 
 braced divine healing.” I said: “You 
 do not know what you are talking about. 
 I embraced divine healing years ago, 
 when I submitted to the Lordship of 
 Jesus. The difference between your 
 conception of divine healing and mine is 
 this: You lock God up in a corner and 
 say to Him, ‘You must work in this 
 corner or not at all” I trust Him to 
 select His own corner and operate ac- 
 cording to His will. If He indicates to 
 me, as He did on that ship, that He has 
 a special lesson to teach me through 
 direct healing, I trust Him. If He in- 
 dicates to me some other method of 
 healing, I trust Him and follow it. 
 There is just as much divine healing, 
 when properly understood, in the use of 
 a capsule as there is in any other meth- 
 od.”—Rev. Len G. Broughton, D. D. 
 
 — 778 — 
 TWO WARNINGS 
 
 A traveller was journeying in the dark 
 along a road that led toa deep and rapid 
 river, which, swollen by sudden rains, 
 was chafing and roaring between pre- 
 cipitous banks. The bridge that crossed 
 the stream had been swept away; but he 
 knew it not. A man met him, and, after 
 inquiring whither he was bound, said to 
 him, in an indifferent way :— 
 
 “Are you aware that the bridge is 
 gone?” 
 
 “No,” was the answer. “Why do you 
 think so?” 
 
 “Oh, I heard such a report this after- 
 noon, and though I am not certain about 
 it, perhaps you had better not proceed.” 
 
 Deceived by the hesitating, undecided 
 manner in which the information was 
 
 405 
 
 given, the traveller pushed onward in 
 the way of death. Soon another, meeting 
 him, cried out in consternation :— 
 
 “Sir, sir, the bridge is gone!” 
 
 “Oh, yes,” replied the traveller, “some 
 cone told me so a little distance back, but 
 from his careless tone and manner, I 
 thought it might be an idle tale, per- 
 haps.” 
 
 “Oh, it is true, it is true! I know the 
 bridge is gone. I barely escaped being 
 carried away with it. Danger is before 
 you, and you must not go on.” 
 
 Convinced by the man’s earnestness, 
 the traveller turned back and was saved. 
 The intelligence in both cases was the 
 same, but the manner of its conveyance 
 in the one gave it the air of a fable, in 
 the other the force of truth. 
 
 May we not learn hereby the right 
 way of addressing impenitent sinners 
 going forward to eternal death? What 
 solemn reality there is in it! Yet we 
 fail to awaken any interest in the subject 
 because of the indifferent manner in 
 which we present it. “Knowing the ter- 
 rors of the law, we persuade men.” Yes, 
 if we only realized the sufferings of the 
 lost, and also the joys of the saved, how 
 differently would we approach men on 
 the subject of their soul’s salvation !— 
 The Words of Life. 
 
 — 779 — 
 “NO THANK YOU” 
 
 A young man who had inherited a 
 strong passion for liquor, said: “One 
 evening not long ago at a banquet where 
 wine was served, J came very near 
 breaking my pledge. The smell of wine 
 was so tempting that I could hardly 
 resist. But just as I was about to yield, 
 I heard a young lady say, ‘No, thank 
 you. This gave me courage. I 
 watched her all the evening and said to 
 myself, “If she drinks I will.” I was 
 hoping yet fearing that she would, but 
 as often as she was asked, she refused, 
 and so, unconsciously to herself, she 
 pulled me through.” Christian, walk 
 carefully. You are not alone compassed 
 about by the loved ones safe home in 
 heaven, but you are watched by the 
 tempted, exposed souls of earth.—Sel. 
 
406 
 
 — 780 — 
 “AS AN EAGLE” 
 
 Rev. William J. Long, in his new book 
 of animal stories, called ‘Wilderness 
 Ways,” relates an incident which most 
 beautifully interprets and explains the 
 above Scriptural quotation. 
 
 A mother eagle had tried in vain to 
 tempt her little one to leave the nest on 
 a high cliff. With food in her talons, 
 she came to the edge of the nest, hovered 
 over it a moment, so as to give the hun- 
 gry eaglet a sight and smell of food, then 
 went slowly down to the valley, taking 
 the food with her, and telling the little 
 one to come, and he should have it. He 
 called after her loudly, and spread his 
 wings a dozen times to follow.. But the 
 plunge was too awful; he was afraid, 
 and settled back into the nest.. What 
 followed, Mr. Long describes thus: 
 
 In a little while, she came back again, 
 this time without food, and hovered over 
 the nest, trying every way to induce the 
 little one to leave it. She succeeded at 
 last, when, with a desperate effort, he 
 sprang upward and flapped to the ledge 
 above. Then, after surveying the world 
 from his new place, he flapped back to 
 the nest, and turned a deaf ear to all 
 his mother’s assurances that he could 
 fly just as easily to the treetops below, 
 if he only would. 
 
 Suddenly, as if discouraged, she rose 
 well above him. I held my breath, for 
 I knew what was coming. The little 
 fellow stood on the edge of the nest, 
 looking down at the plunge which he 
 dared not take. .There was a sharp cry 
 from behind, which made him alert, 
 tense as a watchspring. The next in- 
 stant the mother eagle had swooped, 
 striking the nest at his feet, sending his 
 support of twigs and himself with them 
 out into the air together. 
 
 He was afloat now, afloat in the blue 
 air, in spite of himself, and flapped lust- 
 ily for life. Over him, under him, be- 
 side him, hovered the mother on tireless 
 wings, calling softly that she was there. 
 But the awful fear of the depths and 
 the lance tops of the spruces was upon 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the little one; his flapping grew more 
 wild; he fell faster and faster. Suddenly 
 ——more in fright, it seemed to me, than 
 because he had spent his strength—he 
 lost his balance, and tipped head down- 
 ward in the air. It was all over now, it 
 seemed ; he folded his wings to be dashed 
 to pieces. 
 
 Then, like a flash, the old mother 
 eagle shot under him; his despairing feet 
 touched her broad shoulders, between 
 her wings. He righted himself, rested 
 an instant, found his head; then she 
 dropped like a shot from under him, 
 leaving him to come down on his own 
 wings. It was all the work of an instant 
 before I lost them among the trees far 
 below. And when I found them again 
 with my glass, the eaglet was in the top 
 of a great pine, and the mother was feed- 
 ing him. 
 
 And then, standing there alone in the 
 great wilderness, it flashed upon me for 
 the first time just what the wise old 
 prophet meant; though he wrote long 
 ago, in a distant land, and another than 
 Cloud Wings had taught her little ones, 
 all unconscious of the kindly eyes that 
 watched. “As the eagle stirreth up her 
 nest, fluttereth over her young, spread- 
 eth abroad her wings, taketh them, bear- 
 eth them on her wings—so the Lord 
 alone did lead him, and there was no 
 strange god with him.” 
 
 eta Ss 
 
 BETTER THAN IDLE SORROW 
 
 Thomus Mayhew, who was one of 
 the early workers among the North 
 American Indians, when on his way to 
 the old land to seek further aid for his 
 work, was lost at sea.. His old father, 
 then past his seventieth year, regarded 
 this sad bereavement as a call for him 
 to fill the place thus made vacant, and 
 immediately he began to study the In- 
 dian language, and carried on the mis- 
 sion of his son until his death, at the 
 age of ninety-three. In his ministry the 
 old man would often have to walk 
 twenty miles through the woods to 
 preach to the Indians. Surely this was 
 better than idle sorrow.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 782 — 
 ONLY A TOUCH NEEDED 
 
 Some time ago, being a passenger on 
 a Madison Avenue car, and reaching a 
 switch at 86th Street, the car came to 
 a stop. We had come to the end of the 
 line carrying the current, and its mo- 
 mentum was not sufficient to take it 
 across the gap to the live wire beyond. 
 
 The car with its passengers stood 
 there helpless, having plenty of power 
 behind and before which it could not 
 reach. 
 
 Presently another car came up close 
 behind; and the conductor of the stalled 
 car, addressing the motorman behind, 
 exclaimed “Push me over! Just give me 
 a touch!” 
 
 The touch was given. The car was 
 shoved only a few feet, but far enough 
 to bring it in contact with the power; 
 and presently it was bowling along like 
 a thing of life. 
 
 How many persons there are, thought 
 we, like that stalled car. They are close 
 to the power they need to enable them 
 to go aright, but they cannot reach it, 
 and they are so inert spiritually that they 
 cannot even try. They need only a touch 
 of life to put them in motion, and bring 
 them in contact with spiritual life and 
 power. 
 
 Many times a word will help some 
 hesitating soul to decide for Christ, and 
 to lay hold upon power omnipotent.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 783 — 
 THE BIBLE FIRST 
 
 Nearly a half-century since, a Chris- 
 tian man sat by his fireside, while his 
 only child, a little boy, was playing on 
 the hearth. The father had just received 
 the morning newspaper, and commenced 
 to read the same, when the child, climb- 
 ing upon the father’s knee, snatched the 
 paper playfully away, saying, “Bible 
 first, papa; Bible first.” The child’s ut- 
 terance came like a supernatural voice 
 and the father could not forget the lesson 
 thus conveyed. To deepen the impres- 
 sion, sickness soon entered that home, 
 and the busy little limbs were stilled and 
 
 ANECDOTES 407 
 
 the loving lips silenced by death. As the 
 father bowed over that lifeless form of 
 his beloved boy, he felt that the child 
 had preached to him a sermon such as he 
 had never, never before heard. It was a 
 short homily, but it reached the heart. 
 The child’s sermon became the man’s life 
 motto. He went to duty with these 
 words ever foremost, “Bible first, papa; 
 Bible first.” .He resolved in business, in 
 pleasure, in work, in worship, and in rest 
 to let the Scripture teaching take the 
 lead. He studied the Bible at home, he 
 taught it in the Sabbath School, he kept 
 its precepts before him in all the trans- 
 actions of life. In getting and in giving 
 
 he followed the light of the Holy Vol- 
 
 ume. The result was that heaven smiled 
 upon his undertakings. As he scattered 
 in his charity, he gained. Wealth was 
 bestowed upon him by God. He em- 
 ployed it in benefiting his race, and at 2 
 ripe old age passed away to his reward, 
 leaving five churches in Philadelphia, 
 erected by his munificence, to testify his 
 deep interest in the cause of Christ. 
 
 Such was the career of the well-known 
 American engineer, Matthias W. Bald- 
 win, who devoted the second engine he 
 constructed to the work of the Ameri- 
 can Sunday School Union, and thus af- 
 forded the means for issuing the first 
 Christian literature for the young ever 
 printed in America by steam.—Rev. J]. 
 Hiles Hitchens, D.D. 
 
 — 784 — 
 
 SPIRIT OF THE LORD’S PRAYER 
 
 The spirit of the Lord’s prayer is 
 beautiful. The form of petition breathes 
 a filial spirit. “Father ;” a catholic spirit, 
 “our Father;” a reverential spirit, “Hal- 
 lowed be thy name;” a missionary spirit, 
 “Thy kingdom come;” an obedient spirit, 
 “Thy will be done on earth;” a depend- 
 ent spirit, “Give us this day our daily 
 bread;” a forgiving spirit, “And for- 
 give us our debts as we forgive our 
 debtors;” a cautious spirit, “Lead us 
 not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil;” a confidential and adormg spirit, 
 “For thine is the kingdom, and the 
 power, and the glory, for ever and ever. 
 Amen.”-—Selected. 
 
403 
 
 — 785 — 
 A STORY OF TITHES 
 
 About a hundred years ago a lad of 
 sixteen left home to seek his fortune. 
 All his worldly possessions were tied up 
 in a bundle, which he carried in his hand. 
 As he trudged along he met an old 
 neighbor, the captain of a canal boat, and 
 the following conversation took place, 
 which changed the whole current of the 
 boy’s life. 
 
 “Well, William, where are you go- 
 ing?” 
 
 “TI don’t know,” he answered; “father 
 is too poor to keep me at home any 
 longer, and says I must now make a 
 living for myself.” 
 
 “There’s no trouble about that,” said 
 the captain. “Be sure you start right, 
 and you'll get along finely.” 
 
 William told his friend that the only 
 trade he knew anything about was soap 
 and candle making, at which he had 
 helped his father while at home. 
 
 “Well,” said the old man, “let me 
 pray with you once more, and give you 
 a little advice, and then I will let you 
 go.” 
 
 They both kneeled down upon the 
 tow-path; the dear old man prayed 
 earnestly for William, and then gave this 
 advice: “Some one will soon be the lead- 
 ing soap-maker in New York. It can be 
 you as well as any one. I hope it may. 
 Be a good man; give your heart to 
 Christ; give the Lord all that belongs 
 to Him of every dollar you earn; make 
 an honest soap; give a full pound, and 
 I am certain you will yet be a great, 
 good, and rich man.” 
 
 When the boy arrived in the city, he 
 found it hard to get work. Lonesome, 
 and far from home, he remembered his 
 mother’s words and the last words of 
 the canal-boat captain. He was then, 
 there, led to “seek first the kingdom of 
 God and His righteousness,” and united 
 with the church. He remembered his 
 promise to the old captain, and the first 
 dollar he earned brought up the ques- 
 tion of the Lord’s part. In the Bible 
 he found that the Jews were command- 
 ed to give one-tenth, so he said, “If the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Lord will take one-tenth, I will give 
 that.” And so he did; and ten cents of 
 every dollar was sacred to the Lord. 
 
 Having regular employment, he soon 
 became a partner; and after a few years 
 his partners died, and William became 
 the sole owner of the business. 
 
 He kept his promise to the old cap- 
 tain: he made an honest soap, gave a 
 full pound, and instructed his book- 
 keeper to open an account with the Lord, 
 and carry one-tenth of all his income 
 to that account. He prospered; his busi- 
 ness grew; his family was blessed; his 
 soap sold, and he grew rich faster than 
 he had ever hoped. He then gave the 
 Lord two-tenths, and prospered more 
 than ever; then he gave three-tenths, 
 then four-tenths, then five tenths. He 
 educated his family, settled all his plans 
 for life, and gave all his income to the 
 Lord. He prospered more than ever. 
 
 This is the true story of William Col- 
 gate, who gave millions of dollars to the 
 Lord’s cause, and left a name that will 
 never die.—Selected. 
 
 — 786 — 
 
 HOW SHE FOUND HER LOST BOY 
 
 The President of the Sunday Break- 
 fast Association, Philadelphia, Mr. 
 Lewis U. Bean, relates the following 
 incident: 
 
 One Sunday morning, on my arrival at 
 the old church, a gentleman stepped up 
 and said, “There is a lady on the plat- 
 form upstairs, wearing a sealskin coat, 
 who wishes to see you.” I went up to 
 her, She said, “Oh, sir, can’t you help 
 me find my poor lost boy?” and tears ran 
 down her face. She said he had run away 
 from home three years ago, when about 
 thirteen, and as far as she knew he was 
 atramp. I said to her, “Are you a pray- 
 ing, Christian woman?” “Yes, and a 
 member of the Presbyterian Church.” 
 “How came you here to seek your boy?” 
 “T thought he might be in the congrega- 
 tion.” After getting the boy’s name, I 
 stepped to the front, and called for him, 
 but no reply came. 
 
 After two or three inquiries, I went 
 to the lower room, into the overflow 
 meeting, and made the same inquiry, but 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 without response. After standing on the 
 platform a little while, in deep medita- 
 tion and prayer, I stepped down through 
 one of the narrow aisles, where I never 
 go, excepting to see some one or on spe- 
 cial business, and about one-third of the 
 way down the aisle I stopped, with my 
 hand under my chin, and thought: “It 
 cannot be possible that God will send 
 a poor, broken-hearted, Christian mother 
 on a fool’s errand after her boy. Lord, 
 show us where to find the boy.” Then 
 at my right elbow I saw a young fellow, 
 dirty all over, looking almost like a 
 colored person, and as if he had not had 
 a bath for months, or as if he might have 
 just arrived in the city under a freight 
 car, after many miles’ travel. He said, 
 “What did you say the boy’s name 
 was?” I said, “You know his name 
 better than I do; you are the boy.” He 
 burst into tears, and said, “Yes, I am the 
 boy. What are you going to do with 
 me?” evidencing at once that he had 
 been doing something criminal and ex- 
 pected arrest. He went with me behind 
 a large partition in the back of the room, 
 while I went and beckoned to the 
 mother. I stayed between her and the 
 boy, so that she could not see him until 
 I stepped aside. When the mother 
 discovered the boy, they both made a 
 wild rush for each other and, were gath- 
 ered in each other’s arms. Such a scene 
 of love and affection I never before wit- 
 nessed. The mother would press him to 
 her bosom, kiss him and hug him, and 
 then hold him at arm’s length to be sure 
 that she was not mistaken, while I stood 
 with my head against the partition and 
 big tears ran down my face and drepped 
 to the bare floor. She cried out, “Oh, 
 my boy! my boy! Why did you not 
 come home?” He said, “Mother, I 
 didn’t know that you would allow me to 
 come home.” 
 
 We men folks know little or abso- 
 lutely nothing about a mother’s love for 
 her children, and yet we are told in 
 Scripture that a mother may forget her 
 child, but Christ never forgets his chil- 
 dren. After breakfast the mother took 
 her boy home. Some time afterward one 
 
 ANECDOTES 409 
 
 of the cleanest, brightest, nicest you ¢ 
 men came to me and asked me if I re- 
 membered about that boy. “Yes,” I 
 said, “I do.” .“I am the boy,” he said. 
 “You cannot be the boy,” said I. “What 
 are you doing?” “I am in business in 
 our little town, living with mother. I 
 joined the church, and I am teaching a 
 Sunday School class.” I gave a shout: 
 “Amen! praise the Lord!” Will anyone 
 who doubts the efficacy of prayer please 
 tell us how it came that this mother 
 came to the Sunday Breakfast Associa- 
 tion that Sunday morning, never having 
 been there before in her life, and that 
 
 this boy should have arrived from the 
 
 far West about two o’clock that Sunday 
 morning, having ridden underneath coal 
 and freight cars all the way? 
 
 — 787 — 
 A RACE FOR A CROWN 
 
 In Powers’ art-gallery, in Rochester, 
 there is a small, obscure picture which 
 treats of an important subject.. It repre- 
 sents a young man riding swiftly upon a 
 horse. Before and above him floats one 
 who resembles an angel, holding out to 
 him a crown with one hand, and scat- 
 tering coins with the other. The young 
 man is extending his arm to reach the 
 crown, while he spurs his horse to a 
 more furious pace. His fingers almost 
 touch the coveted prize. 
 
 While his gaze is intently fixed upon 
 the crown, flowers and helpless children 
 are being trampled beneath his feet. 
 Behind him, upon a white horse, there 
 rides a skeleton, having a drawn sword 
 in his hand, ready to strike the young 
 man the fatal blow. With one more 
 leap of the horse, the youth will go over 
 a precipice immediately before him and 
 sink into the dark abyss. 
 
 In a similar manner Satan allures on 
 the young. While their minds are in- 
 tently fixed upon the desired object, 
 they heedlessly trample beauty and in- 
 nocence under their feet. They may 
 secure the coveted prize, but at what a 
 fearful cost! In gaining it, they lose 
 er own souls.—Rev. C. H. Tyndall, 
 
410 
 
 — 788 — 
 HOW CHARACTER PREACHES 
 
 On a bright summer morning, by the 
 side of a country road, running along the 
 Hudson, not many miles from New 
 York, two men stood talking together. 
 One was a judge of high social stand- 
 ing and legal distinction, the other was 
 a stone mason, and their conversation 
 was about the building of a new wall 
 near the place where they were stand- 
 ing, to consult about which the judge 
 had sent for the mason on this Sabbath 
 morning. 3 
 
 Just coming into sight, as he trudged 
 along the road on his way to church, 
 was a plain Scotch farmer, well known 
 as a God-fearing, Sabbath-keeping, hon- 
 est, hard-working man, neither fearing 
 nor asking favor of the great or rich. 
 His chief ambition seemed to be to raise 
 a large family of children in the fear of 
 God and honorably in the sight of men, 
 which his example was well fitted to do. 
 
 In the midst of an animated explana- 
 tion of what he wanted in a new wall, 
 the judge caught sight of the farmer. 
 Stopping suddenly, he said: 
 
 “There comes David Stuart; it will 
 never do to let him see us talking busi- 
 ness on Sabbath morning; we will just 
 step behind this bit of wall until he 
 passes.” 
 
 And the judge and the mason crouched 
 down behind the wall until the plodding 
 footsteps of the farmer echoed faintly 
 in the distance; and the good man passed 
 from sight, all unconscious of the silent 
 reproof his appearance had caused, while 
 the judge, with feelings, one would 
 think, belittling to his manliness, crept 
 from his hiding place to continue his 
 conscious and confessed desecration of 
 the Lord’s day. 
 
 The next morning the incident was 
 related to the farmer by the mason, who 
 was himself a Scotchman, though un- 
 happily not so conscientious as his 
 friend. He told the story with some 
 elee, adding: 
 
 “Wha wad a’ thocht, maun, that ye 
 had sich a pooer in ye as to mak’ the 
 judge hide behint the wall for the fear 
 O°” ye?” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Is not this an illustration of the force 
 and influence of a sincere Christian char- 
 acter, though devoid of the adornments 
 in the world’s sight of either position, 
 wealth, or learning? All these together 
 could not resist the silent sermon of the 
 good man’s life, which brought home to 
 the haughty judge the conviction of his 
 sin.—Selected. 
 
 — 789 — 
 
 KNOWLEDGE SAVED HIM 
 
 There is scarcely any kind of knowl- 
 edge that may not some day be of special 
 service. An anecdote of Hugh Miller, 
 the Scotch geologist, illustrates this fact. 
 In his boyhood he once saved his life by 
 a knowledge of rocks which an ordinary 
 boy would not have acquired. 
 
 Having lost his father early in life, 
 he received rather a scanty school edu- 
 cation. But being a careful reader and 
 a sharp observer, he educated himself. 
 His daring, courage, and fondness for 
 the cliffs of Cromarty made him a skil- 
 ful climber, and many were the bold 
 feats he performed, along precipices 
 where no companions would follow. 
 
 On one occasion he had climbed a 
 lofty cliff for a famous raven’s nest. He 
 came within six or eight feet of the 
 prize, when he noticed that the smooth 
 rock which sloped to it glistened in the 
 sun. He examined it more closely, and 
 saw that it was chlorite, a rock too 
 slippery to allow any foothold. He did 
 not risk the descent, knowing the peril. 
 
 Five years later, a famous cragsman 
 reached the same point. Knowing noth- 
 ing of chlorite, he ventured on the 
 smooth rock, and in an instant was shot 
 over the precipice. His remains were 
 found on the rocks beneath.—Youth’s 
 Companion. 
 
 — 790 — 
 
 “Study the Bible; no man ever yet 
 became a skeptic who was thoroughly 
 acquainted with its contents. Paine 
 confessed that he never read it; Voltaire 
 said he had barely dipped into it. He 
 who knows the Scriptures best will 
 love them most.” 
 
 ———s 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 791 — 
 THE POWER OF KINDNESS 
 
 “Are you not afraid,” said a friend to 
 Miss Dix, the philanthropist, “to travel 
 over the country alone?” “I am natu- 
 rally timid,” she replied, “and diffident, 
 like all my sex; but, in order to carry 
 out my purposes, I know that it is neces- 
 sary to make sacrifices, and encounter 
 dangers. It is true I have been, in my 
 travels, through the different States, in 
 perilous situations. I will mention one 
 which occurred in the State of Michigan. 
 I had hired a carriage and driver to 
 convey me some distance through an un- 
 inhabited portion of the country. In 
 starting, I discovered that the driver, a 
 _ young lad, had a pair of pistols with him. 
 Inquiring what he was doing with arms, 
 he said he carried them to protect us, as 
 he had heard that robberies had been 
 committed on our road. I said to him, 
 ‘Give me the pistols, I will take care of 
 them.’ He did so reluctantly. 
 
 “In pursuing our journey through a 
 dismal looking forest, a man rushed into 
 the road, caught the horses by the bridle, 
 and demanded my purse. I said to him, 
 with as much self-possession as I could 
 command, ‘Are you not ashamed to rob 
 a woman? I have but little money, and 
 I want to defray my expenses in visit- 
 ing prisons and poor houses and occa- 
 ‘sionally in giving to objects of charity. 
 If you have been unfortunate, are in 
 distress, and in want of money, I will 
 give you some.’ While thus speaking 
 to him, I discovered his countenance 
 changing, and he became deathly pale. 
 ‘My God!’ he exclaimed, ‘that voice! 
 and immediately told me he had been 
 in the Philadelphia penitentiary, and 
 had heard me lecturing to some of the 
 prisoners in an adjoining cell, and that 
 he now recognized my voice. He then 
 desired me to pass on, and expressed 
 deep sorrow at the outrage he had com- 
 mitted. But I drew out my purse, and 
 said to him, ‘I will give you something 
 to support you until you get into honest 
 employment.’ He declined, at first tak- 
 
 ing anything, until I insisted on his do- 
 
 411 
 
 ing so, for fear he might be tempted 
 to rob some one else before he could get 
 into honest employment.”—Selected, 
 
 — 792 — 
 
 THE POWER OF TRIFLES 
 
 I remember in the physics classroom 
 in the university where I was trained, 
 we found one day an iron beam hang- 
 ing from the ceiling, held there per- 
 fectly passive. And our professor, Pro. 
 fessor Tate, took little paper pellets and 
 threw them at the iron beam. It seemed 
 like child’s work, and at first nothing 
 happened. But he kept on throwing 
 these little paper pellets, these little 
 nothings, at the iron beam until we saw 
 it begin to vibrate, then to thrill, then to - 
 move, and at last to swing. Now what 
 created that movement of the iron beam? 
 Accumulative trifles. Every trifle con- 
 tributed its little quota and helped to 
 make the movement. And everything in 
 my life, the little pellet of idle wish, the 
 little pellet of idle thought, the little 
 pellet of courtesy, the little pellet of dis- 
 courtesy, everything helps to create the 
 movement, the drift, the swing, the des- 
 tiny, either toward God or toward the 
 devil and hell.—Rev. J. H. Jowett, M. A, 
 
 — 793 — 
 
 HOW TO MEND DRY SERMONS 
 
 We do not know of any anecdote on 
 preaching calculated to produce a better 
 impression than the following, related 
 of the late Dr. Wayland, and one of his 
 hearers: “Deacon Moses Pond went to 
 Dr. Wayland once with the complaint 
 that the preaching didn’t edify him. 
 ‘I’m sorry,’ said the pastor, ‘I know they 
 are poor sermons. I wish I could make 
 them better. Come, let us pray that I 
 may be able to do so.” The deacon, 
 telling the story, used to say, ‘Dr. Way- 
 land prayed, and I prayed. He cried, 
 and I cried” But I have thought a 
 hundred times that it was strange that 
 he did not turn me out of the house. I 
 tell you there never was a better man 
 nor a greater preacher than Dr. Way- 
 land.”—Selected. 
 
412 
 
 genom 7 4, coms 
 mIXING THE MORTAR 
 
 An earnest minister used often to say 
 to the young people of his congregation: 
 “Work, my lads and lasses, wherever 
 you are put; for all labor, even the 
 lowliest, if well and faithfully done, will 
 ennoble the one who does it. And we 
 do not know at what time the great 
 NMaster himself is to take the work of 
 even the humblest of us to test its worth 
 and value.” 
 
 Several years ago, when the great 
 cathedral of Cologne was finished, there 
 was a great stir all over Europe. Four 
 centuries had been occupied in the erec- 
 tion of this wonderful building, one of 
 the most magnificent in all the world. 
 People flocked from all directions to take 
 part in the great ceremonial of rejoicing. 
 It was a large and brilliant and fashion- 
 able crowd. But right in the midst of 
 some of the grandest people stood an 
 humble workman, with torn clothes, a 
 dilapidated hat, and shoes all out at the 
 toes. As he stood there with his eyes 
 fairly glowing as they took in all the 
 noble proportions of the building, he was 
 heard to exclaim: 
 
 “Oh! yes, indeed, we have made a 
 glorious building of it!” 
 
 “Why,” said a gentleman who over- 
 heard the remark, “what did you have to 
 do with it?” 
 
 The workman turned to answer him 
 with his eyes still glowing. 
 
 “I mixed the mortar for a year,” was 
 the proud reply. 
 
 That is it. We cannot all be builders. 
 Sometimes we may not be able to place 
 even one brick upon the structure. .But 
 we can each and every one help to mix 
 the mortar for others to use, for certain 
 
 it is that if the mortar be not mixed the 
 building itself cannot be built.—For- 
 ward, 
 
 vial 
 
 — 795 — 
 “ACCORDING TO HIS FOLLY.” 
 
 “Answer a fool according to his folly,” 
 says the wise man. Often the only way 
 of silencing a fool is to introduce some 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 side issue which will throw him off his 
 guard and make him realize not only 
 
 acter, u. is ignorant but that his hearers 
 
 scot well, 
 
 Bishop Taylor-Smith, missionary in 
 Sierra Leone, tells a story that illus- 
 trates the advantage a man who knows, 
 has over an opponent who merely 
 guesses or who repeats what others have 
 guessed for him. 
 
 On one occasion when he was travel- 
 ing along the West Coast of Africa with 
 an old skipper, who had known many 
 missionaries, but “did not see the use 
 of them,” the Bishop was obliged to 
 endure a string of taunting questions, 
 such as “What was the good of spout- 
 ing at Exeter Hall?” and “What did 
 the missionaries know, anyway?” .At 
 last the Bishop could stand it no longer. 
 Turning to the skipper he said, “I know 
 you are an expert, can you tell me the 
 length of an alligator’s tongue?” “Cer- 
 tainly,” was the reply, “but it depends 
 on the length of the alligator.” “Very 
 well, then; given an alligator fifteen 
 feet long, what would be the length of 
 its tongue?” . “Three feet,” was the 
 answer; but the Bishop, who had kept 
 alligators and watched their ways, knew 
 better. “It is evident that you are an 
 authority on the West Coast of Africa,” 
 he said, “but it is algo evident that 
 some people see more in ten minutes 
 than others in twenty years. Let me tell 
 you that an alligator has no tongue!” 
 
 Missionaries need fear nothing from 
 the strictest investigation; but they have 
 a right to ask that criticism of their work 
 should be based on knowledge and not 
 on hearsay. In the natural order of 
 things a traveler should be an advocate 
 of foreign missions. Such an advocate 
 was Darwin, who at first an opposer of 
 missions, became convinced by personal 
 observation of their value—Selected. 
 
 — 796 — 
 
 THE DUTY OF CHEERFULNESS 
 
 Once the Duchess of Argyle wrote to 
 several Kuropean monarchs and asked 
 them who it was they especially envied. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Most of the replies were in harmony 
 with that of Francis Joseph, Emperor 
 of Austria, who said, “I envy th > 
 of the man who is not an emlend fr. 
 Not long ago William K. Vanderbilt, 
 one of the richest men in the world, 
 declared that he envied the man who 
 had no wealth to care for. Yet it is to 
 be observed that the emperor retains 
 his crown, and Vanderbilt his millions. 
 
 It is the business of the Christian to 
 be happy “in whatsoever state,” in pov- 
 erty or riches, in lofty station or obscur- 
 ity. Canon Gore declares that in great 
 measure it was the cheerfulness of the 
 early Christians that attracted and won 
 those around them. This has been true 
 of all Christians since. 
 
 Recognize yourself, Christian, as an 
 advertisement of Christ! If you are 
 sunny in the darkness, hopeful in trouble, 
 and cheery in affliction, those around 
 you will see the evidence that Christ is 
 a Joy-Giver. But if you are anxious 
 and depressed, they will be likely to seek 
 their happiness elsewhere than in your 
 self discredited religion. 
 
 I like to think of the old Cunard cap- 
 tain whom the late Dr. Cuyler tells 
 about. A passenger asked him, “Is it 
 always foggy here on the banks of New- 
 foundland?” 
 
 “How should I know, madam?” was 
 _ the answer: “I don’t live here.” 
 
 So says the Christian when men in- 
 quire petulantly- of the fogs of life: “T 
 don’t live among them.”—Selected. 
 
 — 797 — 
 THE SADDLER’S CHOICE 
 
 A wealthy man came to a poor saddler, 
 and, leaving a bridle, gave orders that it 
 should be finished on Monday. 
 
 “That is not possible.” 
 
 “What nonsense! There is all day to- 
 morrow.” 
 
 _“We do not work on Sunday, sir.” 
 “Then I shall go to those who do.” 
 “We can get it done by Tuseday.” 
 “That will not do; put it in the car- 
 
 riage.” 
 
 Quietly the sadler did as he was told. 
 
 Hours afterwards a neighbor said: “TE 
 
 413 
 
 thought that I would come and thank 
 you, and tell you that I should be glad 
 
 - as many more customers as you would 
 
 uke to send.” 
 
 “I shall not send you those I can 
 keep,” said the saddler, “but I will never 
 go against my conscience for any man 
 nor for his money.” 
 
 Weeks went by, weeks of trouble to 
 this faithful saddler. One day a mili- 
 tary man came into his shop. “So you 
 are the fellow who will not work on Sun- 
 day. My friend said that you refused 
 to do his work.” 
 
 “T had no choice, sir.” 
 
 “Yes, you had; you were free to 
 choose between serving God and pleas- 
 ing man, and you made your choice, 
 and because of that I am here to-day. 
 I am General Downing. I have been 
 looking for a man on whom I could rely 
 to execute a large government order. 
 The moment [I heard of you I made up 
 my mind that you should have it.”—= 
 Westminster Quarterly. 
 
 Say pe es 
 SERVE WHERE YOU ARE 
 
 A policeman in Birmingham, becom- 
 ing a Christian, was so greatly troubled 
 by the sights and sounds of sin among 
 which he worked, that for a long time 
 he and his wife prayed: 
 
 “Lord, take me out of the police 
 service. Gives me some other work.” 
 
 Still no answer came and no other 
 work was opened for him. At last he 
 said to his wife: 
 
 “TI think we have been making a great 
 mistake. We have been praying that I 
 may be taken out of the force, and I 
 begin to think that he has put me there 
 to work for him. Now I am just going 
 to pray that he will help me serve him 
 where I am.” 
 
 That was the beginning of a life of 
 marvelous usefulness... His influence 
 over the men was so great that he was 
 promoted to be the head of detectives. 
 He was instrumental in the salvation of 
 many criminals.. The place God has put 
 you is the place you can do the best 
 service for him.—Selected. 
 
414" 
 
 — 799 — 
 BEING A GOOD SOLDIER 
 
 A soldier’s life is full of hardships,’ 
 many of which cannot be helped, and 
 yet how manfully so many of them did 
 and still do endure their hardships, 
 
 Let me give you one incident out of 
 many that I might give you to illus- 
 trate this. 
 
 At the battle of Ft. Donelson it was 
 two days and two nights before all the 
 wounded were properly taken care of. 
 When the battle began the ground was 
 soft and muddy but before the battle 
 was over a hard frost came on and the 
 ground was frozen quite hard, so hard 
 that some of the wounded men had to be 
 cut out of the frozen ground. One of 
 these men tells his story to Mrs. Liver- 
 more who relates it in her book: 
 
 “We fellows on the ground cheered 
 I tell you, when the fort showed the 
 white flag and we knew the rebels had 
 surrendered. I had dropped into a 
 drowse when I heard the boys cheering 
 enough to stun you. I couldn’t cheer 
 myself for I was most gone, but Jerry, 
 over there in that bed—his left arm was 
 gone and his right hand shot away but 
 he threw up his right stump of an arm 
 and hurrahed enough to split his throat. 
 
 “Well, boys!’ I said to some of 
 them, ‘You got more than you bargained 
 for this time. Don’t you wish you had 
 remained at home?’ : 
 
 “Not a bit of it,? was the plucky 
 answer. ‘We enlisted as folks marry, 
 for better or worse and if it is for the 
 worse we ought not to complain.’” 
 
 Here was endurance in a soldier fight- 
 ing for home, for family, for friends, for 
 country. Should not the soldier of Jesus 
 Christ be ready to endure the hardships 
 that come to him? Hardships come to 
 every soldier; to some more than to 
 others. Paul’s word to Timothy was 
 “Take thy part” and it is for us to take 
 our part. The Christian to-day needs 
 this endurance as much as Timothy 
 needed it. He may not have the same 
 sort of hardships to endure, but if he is 
 a whole hearted Christian he will find 
 many to endure.—Rev. A. §. Cameron. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 " — 800 — 
 LOVING JESUS IS CONVERSION 
 
 The venerable Dr. Tyng told of be- 
 ing called to visit a sick young man at 
 a hotel. He and his widowed mother 
 were on their way to their distant home 
 when the young man became very ill. 
 “He lay before me, a splendid youth 
 of nineteen, his eyes like jets of the 
 brilliancy of diamonds. ‘Dr. Tyng,’ 
 he said, ‘my mother has always told me 
 that I must be converted; that I could 
 not be saved except I was converted. 
 How can I be converted?’ I sat by the 
 side of that youth and told him the 
 story of Jesus. I showed him the sim- 
 plicity of the Gospel plan of salvation. 
 I bade him realize that his heavenly 
 Father had received and accepted him 
 in Christ when Christ willingly died to 
 bear his load, and he was to come in the 
 simplest faith of a little child, and rest 
 himself gratefully, hopefully upon it. 
 We spent an hour in conversation. 
 Twenty-four hours after I called again. 
 Oh! how changed the face! It shone 
 like an angel’s. He reached out his 
 long, tapering, trembling hand to me 
 with the sweetest smile and said: ‘Ch, 
 sir, I understand it. I understand it. 
 Love for Jesus is conversion. Sir, all 
 night I was asking Jesus to let me love 
 him; to show me how to love him.’ ”’— 
 Christian Herald. 
 
 — 801 — 
 
 “THE JESUS WARD.” _ 
 
 In a certain hospital the child’s ward 
 was called “The Jesus Ward.” One 
 of the little sufferers asked his nurse 
 why they called it by that name. She 
 told him it was said that Jesus passed 
 through that ward every night and 
 blessed each suffering child. The little 
 fellow said: “I shall raise my hand so 
 that Jesus will be sure to see me.” In 
 the morning the nurse found a little 
 hand raised in the air, but stiff and cold 
 in death. Jesus had indeed come, and 
 by that little hand had lifted the little 
 sufferer into a realm where there is no 
 more pain.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 =— 802 — 
 “I JES’ LOVE LO PINT HIM OUT” 
 
 Why should a man be required to love 
 
 Christ? Is it not enough to admire him 
 as the chiefest among ten thousand? 
 Is it not enough to imitate him as the 
 ideal man? 
 
 A traveler who was being rowed 
 across the Mississippi by an old negro, 
 was surprised to see the boatman drop 
 his oars suddenly and spring to his feet 
 in great excitement, shouting, “Look! 
 Look! Dere’s de Captain!” 
 
 On a sloop coming down the river 
 stood a man leaning against the mast. 
 This was “the captain,” at whom the 
 old negro was frantically waving his 
 hat, 
 
 The traveler said presently, “Who is 
 this man? And what has he ever done 
 for you?” The answer was: “He’s de 
 man dat saved me. I fell into de water 
 an’ he jumped in an flung his arms 
 around me and saved me!” Then he 
 added: “I’d jes’ like to slave for him all 
 my life; only my rheumatism’s so bad I 
 ain’t no good. He runs by here once a 
 month an’ I watch for him; an’ I love 
 to pint him out. Ain’t he de kindest- 
 lookin’ man you ever saw? I jes’ love 
 to pint him out.” 
 
 In view of such a natural demonstra-° 
 
 tion of gratitude as this, one is led to 
 wonder how it is that any man who 
 trusts in Christ for salvation should ever 
 fail to love him—Rev. David James 
 Burrell, D.D. 
 
 — 803 — 
 WHY HOUSE IS UNFINISHED 
 
 People who pass Lord Rothschild’s 
 mansion in Piccadilly, says a writer in 
 the “Quiver,” often notice that the end 
 of one of the cornices is unfinished. 
 One is likely to ask: “Could not the rich- 
 est man in the world afford to pay for 
 that cornice, or is the lack due simply 
 to carelessness?” .The explanation is a 
 very simple yet suggestive one when it 
 is known.. Lord Rothschild is an or- 
 thodox Jew, and every pious Jew’s 
 1ouse, tradition says, must have some 
 
 415 
 
 part unfinished, to bear testimony to the 
 world that its occupant is only like 
 
 ‘Abraham, a pilgrim and stranger upon 
 
 the earth. The incomplete cornice on 
 the mansion seems to say to all who 
 hurry by in the streets, bent on amassing 
 worldly wealth, or going along with the 
 maddening crowd in the paths of folly: 
 “This is not Lord Rothschild’s home, he 
 is traveling to eternity !” 
 
 B04 
 CHRISTIANS AND TIGERS 
 
 A traveler who returned from India 
 spoke slightingly of missionary efforts 
 and declared that he had never seen a 
 real native convert. 
 
 “Did you see any tigers?” asked an 
 old missionary who heard the remark. 
 
 “Oh, yes, I was hunting tigers, that 
 was one reason for my going,” was the 
 quick reply. 
 
 “And if you had been hunting native 
 Christians, you could have found them, 
 too,” said the old teacher, “I spent 
 many years in India without coming in 
 contact with tigers, but I found hundreds 
 of converts. We find what we are look- 
 ing for.” 
 
 This truth holds good not only of life 
 in India, but of life everywhere, the 
 world over—it is Christians or tigers as 
 we look for them.—Selected. 
 
 — 805 — 
 A WATERMELON SEED 
 
 “I am not so much of a farmer as 
 some people claim,” said Mr. Bryan, 
 with a twinkle, “but I have observed the 
 watermelon seed. It has the power of 
 drawing from the ground and through 
 itself 200,000 times its weight; and when 
 you can tell me how it takes this mate- 
 rial and out of it colors an outside sur- 
 face beyond the imitation of art, and 
 then forms inside of it a white rind and 
 within that again a red heart, thickly in- 
 laid with black seeds, each one of which 
 in turn is capable of drawing through 
 itself 200,000 times its weight—when 
 you can explain to me the mystery of a 
 watermelon, you can ask me to explain 
 the mystery of God.”——-Wm. J. Bryan. 
 
416 
 
 — 806 — 
 “NOT THE RIGHTEOUS” 
 
 It is related that in the early part of the 
 reign of Louis XVI., a German prince 
 travelling through France visited the 
 Arsenal at Toulon, where the galley 
 slaves were kept. The Commandant, as 
 a compliment to the prince’s rank, said 
 he was welcome to set free any one 
 galley-slave whom he should choose to 
 select. 
 
 The prince, wishing to make the best 
 use of the privilege, spoke to many of 
 them in succession, inquiring why they 
 were condemned to the galleys. Injus- 
 tice, oppression, false accusations, were 
 assigned by one after another as the 
 causes of their being there. In fact, ac- 
 cording to their own contention, they 
 were all “injured and ill-treated” per- 
 sons! 
 
 At last he came to one who, when 
 asked the same question, answered to 
 this effect: “Your Highness, I have no 
 reason to complain—I have been a very 
 wicked, desperate wretch. I have de- 
 served to be broken alive on the wheel. 
 I account it a great mercy that I am 
 here.” 
 
 The prince fixed his eyes upon him, 
 and said: “You wicked man, it is a pity 
 you should be placed among so many 
 ‘honest’ people. By your own confes- 
 sion you are bad enough to corrupt them 
 all; but you shall not stay with them an- 
 other day.” Then, turning to the officer, 
 he said: “This is the man, sir, whom I 
 wish to be released.” 
 
 “Not the righteous, but sinners,” Jesus 
 came to save. “This man receiveth 
 sinners.” A beggar who boasts of his 
 wealth gets small alms. His recom- 
 mendation is his poverty, not his pros- 
 perity. 
 
 ‘So a man must first know himself a 
 sinner; and when he knows this, there is 
 a Saviour who stands ready to receive 
 him, The man who boasts of his right- 
 eousness may be self-deceived—not real- 
 izing what sin is-—-or he may be one who 
 denies what he knows, and seeks to de- 
 ceive others. But no such man can de- 
 ceive the Lord. And it is only when 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a sinner knows himself lost, and con- 
 fesses himself ruined and helpless, that 
 the almighty hand of God is stretched 
 cut to lift him up, and the love that 
 never faileth receives the wanderer— 
 Herald of Mercy. 
 
 — 807 — 
 A SLAVE BOY’S MISSION 
 
 The little captive maid who told her 
 mistress about the prophet was as real 
 a laborer with God for the healing of 
 Naaman as was Elisha. 
 
 A little Christian Chinese boy was 
 stolen and carried to a heathen city and 
 sold. He became the slave of a rich 
 officer. He was fond of the baby whose 
 cradle he was set to watch, and his mis- 
 tress was fond of him. When she would 
 kindly ask him about his home, the 
 tears would come into his eyes and he 
 would not talk about it, but would say, 
 “Shall I tell you about my Jesus?” 
 
 And the fond mother would answer, 
 “Oh! no, Ah Fung, I do not need any 
 Jesus now. I have my baby.” 
 
 But by and by her delicate blossom 
 began to droop. Paler and thinner the 
 tiny, yellow face grew, until after a little 
 the broken-hearted mother saw the one 
 object of her love die. Then in her sor- 
 row, she said, “Ah Fung, you may tell 
 me about your Jesus.” 
 
 The child began where he knew it 
 would mean the most to her, and told 
 her how Jesus loved the little children 
 and took them in His arms, and how her 
 baby was in the beautiful home that He 
 had gone to prepare for His people. 
 
 Then the mother asked, “Did He love 
 my baby? Are you sure she is with 
 him?” 
 
 “I am sure He loved her, and that she 
 is with Him.” replied Ah Fung.. “Our 
 missionary said He had many little chil- 
 dren there, and He makes them happy. 
 He will give her back to you if you go 
 there.” 
 
 “But where is it? How can I get 
 there,” eagerly asked the mother. 
 
 “TI don’t quite know,” said Ah Fung. 
 “But if we love Him, and trust in Him, 
 He will take us somehow. He said so. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Won’t you let Jesus be your Saviour, 
 too? And then we will both go there 
 and He will give our darling back to us.” 
 
 The little captive’s words were not 
 in vain. This heathen mother was the 
 first convert to Christianity in Korea, 
 which had been so long shut up to the 
 preaching of the Gospel. Ah Fung 
 sowed the first fruit-bearing seed. And 
 I am sure that in heaven the Israelite 
 maiden and Ah Fung will sing loud 
 notes of praise for the privilege of being 
 laborers together with God.—Bible 
 Morning Glories. 
 
 — 808 — 
 
 REVEALING CHRIST 
 
 In the early days of the war, when 
 Great Britain was calling her Indian 
 troops to the colors, the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association asked permission 
 to put a secretary upon each transport. 
 The Indian government refused fearing 
 to offend the Hindu soldiers. Again the 
 Association made the request, and again 
 it was refused. The Association would 
 not give up, and finally after the seventh 
 request, the government offered to com- 
 promise: it would permit the secretaries 
 to go, but upon the condition that they 
 should not mention the name of Jesus 
 Christ. The Young Men’s Christian 
 Association considered the compromise 
 long and earnestly, and finally agreed 
 to it. 
 
 “Our secretaries,” they promised, 
 “shall not mame the name of Jesus 
 Christ, but they will live as nearly as 
 they know how to live like Him.” 
 
 So the secretaries went. At first it 
 seemed as if there were nothing for 
 them to do. Then a strange thing hap- 
 pened. The hair of the Indian soldiers 
 had grown long and needed cutting, and 
 there was no one to do it, for among 
 orientals a barber is the lowest man on 
 earth; and although these soldiers were 
 themselves of a very low caste, there 
 was not one of them who was low 
 enough to act as a barber for another. 
 So came the opportunity of these uni- 
 versity men. They began serving as 
 barbers. It was not long before the sol- 
 
 417 
 
 diers began writing home: 
 
 “When we left there was no Moham- 
 medan who cared for our souls, no Bud- 
 dists to look after us. But these Chris- 
 tians have been brothers to us. They 
 have acted as servants to us. There is 
 nothing they have not done for us. Put 
 my daughter or my son into the mission- 
 ary school. We want to know what the 
 Christian religion is.” 
 
 Two thousand years ago the greatest 
 missionary the world has ever known 
 wrote one of his churches: “Put ye on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ”; speak His 
 words, do His deeds, reveal His char- 
 acter. Wherever in all the world the 
 humblest soul does that, there will His 
 kingdom begin to come, and there will 
 faith shine clear.—Youth’s Companion. 
 
 — 809 — 
 
 THE COW-BOY’S IDEA 
 
 Men have different ideas of religion. 
 With some it is mainly feeling, with 
 others it is largely form; with some it 
 is mostly faith, with others it is gen- 
 erally talk! 
 
 A converted cow-boy gives this as his 
 idea of what religion is: “Lots of folks 
 that would really like to do right think 
 that servin’ the Lord means _ shout- 
 in’ themselves hoarse praisin’ His name. 
 Now I'll tell you how I look at that. 
 I’m workin’ for Jim here. Now, if I’d 
 sit around the house here tellin’ what a 
 good fellow Jim is, and singin’ songs to 
 him, and getting up in the night to ser- 
 enade him, I’d be doin’ just like what 
 lots of Christians do, but I wouldn’t 
 suit Jim, and I’d get fired mighty quick. 
 But when I buckle on my straps and 
 hustle among the hills and see that 
 Jim’s herd is all right, and not sufferin’ 
 for water and feed, or bein’ off the range 
 and branded by cow thieves, then ?m 
 servin’ Jim as he wants to be served.” 
 
 This was the converted cow-boy’s 
 idea. Doesn’t it sound a little like the 
 voice of Him, who, when His disciple 
 said, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, 
 Thou knowest that I love Thee,” only 
 answered, “Tend my sheep; Tend my 
 lambs?”——-The Armory. 
 
“418 
 
 ~—— 810 — 
 THE FAITHFUL MOTHER 
 
 After a fire in which a barn was al- 
 most completely destroyed, the owner, 
 walking over the ruins, came upon an 
 old black hen. He wondered that she 
 did not move her head to look at him 
 as he came near her, but he thought she 
 must be asleep. He poked her with his 
 cane, and to his surprise the wing which 
 he touched fell into ashes. Then he 
 knew that she had been burnt to death. 
 But out from under her came a faint, 
 little peep, and pushing her aside with 
 his cane, the man found ten live, yellow 
 chickens. The hen had sacrificed her 
 own life to save them. 
 
 This was the love of a hen for her 
 chickens. But he who made all living 
 things and planted a portion of his own 
 affection in every one of them, yet feels a 
 deeper love than they can for the creat- 
 ures he has made. And yet how many 
 despise his goodness and reject his love! 
 
 Thus of old the Jews rejected the Sav- 
 iour of mankind, while he wept over their 
 folly and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 thou that killest the prophets, and ston- 
 est them which are sent unto thee, how 
 often would I have gathered thy chil- 
 dren together, even as a hen gathereth 
 her chickens under her wings, and ye 
 would not! Behold, your house is left 
 unto you desolate. For I say unto you, 
 Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye 
 shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in 
 the name of the Lord.”—The Common 
 People. 
 
 LS Sidi 
 HOW TRACTS PREACH 
 
 These little preachers have more in- 
 fluence than we think. A Philadelphia 
 boy took some small tracts with him 
 when he went to the country for his 
 summer vacation. He gave one to a 
 lad whose acquaintance he had made. 
 The lad said, “I can’t read, but I will 
 take it home; they can read it there.” 
 A few days after the country boy met 
 his city friend.. “Well,” said he, “that 
 tract you gave me made a stir at home.” 
 
 {LLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “What do you mean?” “Why,” he re- 
 plied, “they read the tract, and then 
 they got out the Bible, and read that, 
 and when Sunday came they made me 
 get out the old carriage and clean it up, 
 and then we all got in that could, and the 
 rest got on before and behind, and rode 
 off to church.. That tract’s done great 
 things, I can tell you.” Subsequently it 
 was learned that the tract had been the 
 direct and indirect means of the conver- 
 sion of several persons.—Rev. G. B. F. 
 Hallock, D. D. 
 
 — 812 — 
 
 SHE SAVED TWO HUNDRED 
 
 Miss Kate Skelly, whose bravery 
 twenty years ago saved from death two 
 hundred passengers on a train, the 
 wrecking of which she prevented, died 
 at Boone, Iowa, the other day as the re- 
 sult of an operation for appendicitis, 
 
 On the evening of July 10, 1891, heavy 
 rains destroyed eleven out of the twenty- 
 one bridges on the Des Moines River on 
 the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. 
 Miss Skelly, a girl sixteen years old, 
 asked her mother to let her look for her 
 father, a section foreman on the road. 
 The girl took a lantern and went out 
 into the storm. She found a bridge down 
 near by and knew that a train would be 
 due soon. She started on the run for 
 the station at Moin Goma, four miles 
 away. The wind blew her lantern out 
 and she had to crawl on her hands and 
 knees over some ttestle work that re- 
 mained. She reached the station just 
 as the train pulled in and then fell faint- 
 ing on the ground. The legislature of 
 her State rewarded her bravery with a 
 grant of $5,000. In 1904 she was made 
 station agent of the place where she had 
 saved the train, 
 
 Here is but another act of superb 
 womanly heroism; but women have 
 worked just as hard and unselfishly for 
 the salvation of the souls of people from 
 moral evil. “He that converteth the 
 sinner from the error of his way shall 
 Save a soul from death, and shall hide a 
 multitude of sins.”—Christian Herald. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 813 — 
 AN EVANGELIST IN PRISON 
 
 Paul Graynor, who fifteen years ago, 
 was sent to the penitentiary at Gal- 
 veston under a forty years’ sentence for 
 murder, has refused an offered pardon 
 from the governor on the ground that he 
 can do more good in the penitentiary 
 than outside it. Graynor is 37 years old 
 and says he expects to serve out the re- 
 maining twenty-five years of his sen- 
 tence. 
 
 Not long after he entered the peniten- 
 tiary this remarkable convict experi- 
 enced a remarkable conversion to Chris- 
 tianity, and has since proved his faith 
 most abundantly by his works. No less 
 than fifteen men who have been released 
 from the institution since that time, and 
 who are now leading consistent Chris- 
 tian lives, attribute their own conver- 
 sion, and present religious strength, to 
 his influence. Besides helping all these 
 men to a vital faith, Graynor taught six 
 of them stenography, by which they are 
 now earning comfortable livings.—The 
 Continent. 
 
 — 814 — 
 MORSE’S LIGHT” 
 The Rev. George Winifred Hervey re- 
 
 lates that long ago, while pursuing in- - 
 
 vestigations in Astor Library, New 
 York, he used often to meet Professor 
 Samuel F. B. Morse, the renowned in- 
 ventor of the electric telegraph. Once 
 he asked him this question: “Professor 
 Morse, when you were making your ex- 
 periments yonder in the university, did 
 you ever come to a stand, not knowing 
 what to do next?” 
 
 “O, yes; more than once.” 
 
 “And at such times, what did you do 
 next?” 
 
 “I may answer you in confidence, sir,” 
 said the professor, “but it is a matter of 
 which the public knows nothing. When- 
 ever I could not see my way clearly, I 
 prayed for more light.” 
 
 “And the light generally came?” 
 
 “Yes. And 1 may tell you that when 
 flattering honors came to me from Eur- 
 cpe and America on account of the in- 
 
 419 
 
 vention which bears my name, I never 
 felt that I deserved them. I had made 
 a valuable application of electricity, not 
 because I was superior to other men, 
 but solely because God, who meant it for 
 mankind, must reveal it to some one, and 
 was pleased to reveal it to me.” 
 
 This utterance by a distinguished man 
 of science reminds us again, as many 
 similar utterances have done, not only 
 that true greatness has no vanity, but 
 that superior minds, as a whole, rever- 
 ently acknowledge the Supreme. They 
 who climb highest see farthest, and the 
 light which comes from above shines the 
 longest way.—Youth’s Companion. 
 
 — 815 — 
 KNOW AND KNOW THAT YOU 
 
 KNOW 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher used to tell how 
 the teacher of mathematics taught him . 
 to depend upon himself, 
 
 Once I was sent to the blackboard. 
 
 “I want that problem; I don’t want 
 any reason why you haven’t it,” said the 
 teacher. 
 
 “I did study two hours,” I said. 
 
 “That’s nothing to me,” replied the 
 teacher, “You need not study at all or 
 you may study ten hours, just suit your- 
 self. I want that lesson.” 
 
 I proceeded a bit when he calmly said: 
 “No,” shaking his head. I then went 
 back to the beginning and on reaching 
 the same point again, “No,” barred my 
 progress. 
 
 “Next boy step up,” snapped the 
 teacher, and I sat down in red confusion. 
 
 He too was stopped with a “No,” but 
 went on, and as he sat down was re- 
 warded with “Very Well.” “Why,” 
 whimpered I, “I recited it just as he did 
 and you said ‘No!’” 
 
 “Why didn’t you say Yes, and stick 
 to it?” asked the teacher. “It is not 
 enough to know your lesson. You must 
 know that you know it. You have 
 learned nothing till you are sure. If all 
 the world says—No, your business is to 
 say—Yes, and prove it.” Decision 
 makes some men; lack of it unmakes 
 others.—-Albany Sales News. ‘ 
 
420 
 
 — 816 — 
 THE ROCK OF MORAL HEROISM 
 
 At Santa Cruz, Calif., I have watched 
 the huge waves march in great battalions 
 up to the seacliffs and with a mighty 
 roar fling their spray high into the air. 
 The more yielding portions of the preci- 
 pices have been worn away, making deep 
 gashes or holes in the rocky formation, 
 but the firmer sections stand like ada- 
 mant against the savage assaults of the 
 sea. So itis with the Christian character 
 of many men and women. Their adher- 
 ence to conviction make them the un- 
 answerable exponents of the religion of 
 Christ. The following simple stories 
 may help to interpret my meaning: 
 
 Not many years ago, in the reign of 
 Edward VII, of England, the mayor of 
 Doncaster was the late Joseph Firth 
 Clark, a Friend or Quaker. During his 
 mayoralty the celebrated Doncaster 
 races occurred and the mayor received 
 an invitation—a royal invitation being 
 a command—to meet the King on the 
 race course immediately after the St. 
 Leger race had been run. Clark refused 
 the proffered dignity, replying in a strain 
 that must have been appreciated by the 
 broad-minded monarch whom he ad- 
 dressed. He wrote to Edward: “I have 
 a profound respect and regard for the 
 most gracious King whom I desire to 
 honor in every way as one of his most 
 loyal subjects. Though I have lived in 
 Doncaster all my life I have never once 
 attended the races, and did not therefore 
 feel I could consistently break through 
 the rule even for so great an honor.” 
 
 This incident created a sensation at 
 the time. Many people were scandal- 
 ized because the mayor of Doncaster had 
 declined to meet the King. But the 
 moral value proved to be very great— 
 an open blow had been administered to 
 a demoralizing sport. 
 
 A few years since Baron Morimura, 
 president of one of the great banks of 
 Japan and a commercial leader of that 
 country, landed in America, and with 
 his suite took apartments in one of the 
 large hotels of San Francisco. Pressed 
 with business cares and desiring to avoid 
 intrusion, he commanded that if visitors 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 wished to see him they should be told 
 he was out. Before long a caller unex- 
 pectedly appeared in his presence. The 
 baron was very angry. Upon investiga- 
 tion he ascertained that a chambermaid 
 had disobeyed orders and had acknowl- 
 edged that he was in. He called for the 
 disobedient servant and severely repri- 
 manded her. She flung at him the reply, 
 “I cannot lie for any man!” 
 
 After his anger had subsided Baron 
 Morimura began to think. He became 
 impressed with the belief that the 
 Strength of character indicated by the 
 chambermaid must have been based on 
 Christianity. He said: “Nobody but a 
 Christian would stand for not lying.” He 
 commenced to study the Bible and be- 
 came a secret believer. Finally he made 
 public confession of his faith and has 
 been a sturdy advocate of his Lord from 
 that day to this. It has since been his 
 great joy to preach Jesus all over Japan, 
 whilst his large influence and gifts have 
 in numerous ways been dedicated to the 
 cause of righteousness. So much for the 
 fearlessness of a hotel servant! So much 
 for the possession of genuine conviction 
 and living up to it! 
 
 The moral heroism of some men and 
 women is as impregnable as the rocks of 
 Santa Cruz and withstands the “curling 
 lips and gleaming teeth” of sin and fear. 
 This splendid heroism is what the world 
 needs today—shall we not practice it?-— 
 William C. Allen. | 
 
 — 817 — 
 INASMUCH 
 
 Tolstoi has told of a shoemaker who, 
 left alone in the world, turned to God for 
 counsel and help. He reformed his own 
 bad ways, read the Bible, and tried in 
 vain to discover what he might do to 
 serve God. One night he had a vision 
 of the Saviour, who said to him, “Mar- 
 tin, look for me tomorrow on the street. 
 I shall meet you there!” 
 
 Although the shoemaker did not place 
 much faith in his dream, still on the next 
 day he could not help watching every 
 one he met. But Jesus did not reveal 
 himself. 
 
 Nothing happened save two or three 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 trifling incidents. Seeing an old street 
 sweeper, Martin called him in, gave him 
 refreshment, and warmed him by his 
 fire. A little later he noticed a poor 
 woman with a child, shivering with cold 
 as she begged from the passers-by. He 
 gave her an old cloak and a few pennies 
 to buy food for herself and her baby. 
 Just before night he made peace between 
 an apple-woman and a boy who had 
 stolen one of her apples; got the urchin 
 to restore the fruit, and then taught to 
 ask forgiveness, and her to forgive. They 
 walked off together good friends, the boy 
 carrying her basket. Nothing else hap- 
 pened. A very disappointing day! 
 
 But that night the Saviour stood 
 again by the shoemaker’s bedside, and 
 said gently, “Martin, Martin, did you 
 not recognize me?” 
 
 And when Martin awoke, his soul re- 
 joiced ; for his New Testament was open, 
 and his eyes fell upon these words, “In- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
 the least of these my brethren, ye have 
 done it unto me.’—American Messen- 
 ger. 
 
 -— 818 — 
 THE QUEEN 
 AND THE UMBRELLA 
 
 When Queen Victoria of England | 
 
 lived in the palace known as Windsor 
 Castle, she took great pleasure in going 
 through the streets of the village of 
 Windsor without letting the people 
 know who she was. 
 
 One day, when the queen was passing 
 through the village in this quiet way, a 
 rainstorm came up, and she stepped into 
 a cottage and asked the woman who 
 lived there for the loan of an umbrella. 
 
 The woman looked at the queen, who 
 was very plainly dressed, and at last she 
 said: “I have two umbrellas, one an old 
 shabby one, and the other, which is my 
 Sabbath umbrella. I shall give you the 
 shabby one, for I never expect to see it 
 again.” 
 
 Queen Victoria quietly accepted the 
 old umbrella without telling the woman 
 who she was, and went on her way. 
 The next day, however, a messenger 
 
 ANECDOTES 421 
 
 from the royal castle brought back the 
 shabby umbrella and with it a handsome 
 present of money. 
 
 The woman was greatly startled. 
 “O sir, who was it that borrowed my 
 umbrella?” she asked of the royal mes- 
 senger. 
 
 “It was your queen,” was the answer. 
 --“Oh!” exclaimed the woman, “My 
 queen, my queen, would that I had 
 known you, for I would so gladly have 
 given you my best!” 
 
 But the woman’s lament was in vain. 
 She had missed her opportunity to show 
 full respect to her queen, and never again 
 could she do the favor, which she would 
 gladly have done if she had only realized 
 that Queen Victoria stood before her on 
 that rainy day.—Apples of Gold. 
 
 — 819 — 
 THE MIST OF DEATH 
 
 One beautiful moonlight night on the 
 Hudson River, the engineer heard the 
 quick, sharp ring of the pilot’s bell. He 
 stopped his engine and looked out, won- 
 dering why he had been stopped in the 
 middle of the stream. The night was 
 lovely ; the river calm; the moon shining 
 brightly. He put his engine in charge 
 of his assistant and went up to the 
 pilot’s house to see what was the matter. 
 
 There stood the pilot holding to the 
 wheel as if he were looking out. “Why 
 did you stop me?” said the engineer. 
 
 In a low, husky voice the pilot re 
 plied, “There is a mist upon the river, 
 and I cannot see to steer the boat. We 
 had better anchor until the morning. 
 See the captain and tell him so.” 
 
 The engineer looked into the face of 
 the man and saw that death was there. 
 He caught the pilot in his arms and laid 
 him down, only to see him breathe his 
 last. 
 
 Soon the mist will gather around you 
 and me; soon the thick shadows will 
 fall across our path; but as followers of 
 Jesus there is nothing to fear. “Though 
 I walk through the valley of the shadow 
 of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art 
 with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they 
 comfort me.”—-H. M. Wharton. 
 
422 
 
 — 820 — 
 SO EASY TO WIN A SOUL 
 
 Some years ago, at a conference of 
 Christian workers at East Northfield, 
 Massachusetts, Henry M. Moore, a mer- 
 chant of Boston, a man much used of 
 God for the salvation of souls, in ad- 
 dressing an audience of ministers on the 
 importance of personal effort to save 
 the lost, said if we would only open our 
 mouths and speak to them, we would be 
 surprised at times to see how easy it 
 is to win a soul to Christ. And he illus- 
 trated this point from his own first at- 
 tempt. 
 
 After his conversion he became very 
 desirous of winning someone else. To 
 him it seemed a very great undertaking. 
 But if he tried, as he meant to do, he 
 hoped the Lord would let him live long 
 enough to save at least one. But he had 
 not yet mustered up the courage to 
 speak to anyone on the subject of their 
 salvation. 
 
 Finally he thought his chance had 
 come. An unconverted young woman 
 had come to his home to do dressmak- 
 ing for his wife. She was to stay more 
 than a week, and he determined to speak 
 to her concerning her salvation. But 
 day after day passed, as he put off the 
 dreaded duty, and he had not yet the 
 courage to speak to her.. Finally the 
 time of her departure came, and he was 
 filled with seli-reproach because he had 
 failed so miserably. But as he took her 
 hand to say, “Good bye,” he stammered, 
 “Oh, Hattie, how I wish you were a 
 Christian !” 
 
 With no reply, she was gone. She 
 was gone, and he was left to reproach 
 himself for not having even tried to win 
 her. A day or two later, however, he 
 was surprised to get a letter from Hattie 
 thanking him for his interest in her 
 soul’s welfare. She said his parting 
 words continued to ring in her ears, and 
 she could not sleep that night until she 
 arose from her berth, and, kneeling upon 
 the floor of her stateroom, gave herself 
 to Christ, in whose saving favor she 
 was now rejoicing.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 821 — 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL BOYS 
 
 Perhaps no higher tribute has been 
 paid to Sunday-school boys as a class 
 than was the one given by County Judge 
 Fawcett, of Brooklyn, a few days ago. 
 In sentencing George H. Lott, nineteen, 
 to a term in Elmira Reformatory for 
 burglary, Judge Fawcett said: 
 
 “Of all the undesirable professions, 
 that of burglary is the worst. No matter 
 how good a burglar you may be, you 
 will be caught and sent to prison sooner 
 or later. I have seen your friends who 
 wished to speak to me about you, and I 
 find that all attempts to have you go to 
 Sunday-school have failed. In the five - 
 years I have been sitting on this bench I 
 have had 2,700 boys before me for sen- 
 tence and not one of them was an at- 
 tendant of a Sunday-school. Had you 
 gone there I am sure you would not be 
 before me to-day.” 
 
 Instead of being ashamed of attend- 
 ance at Sunday-school, a boy should be 
 proud of it—Christian Work and Evan- 
 gelist. 
 
 — 822 — 
 
 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 
 
 My little boy, since taken to heaven, 
 once asked me, “Papa, how is it that one 
 person, Christ, could atone for the sin 
 of millions of men?” We were in a 
 garden at the time. I replied, “Suppose 
 that there was on the ground there a 
 handful of worms; don’t you think that 
 you would be more valuable than those 
 worms?” “Yes,” he said. “Suppose 
 that that wheel-barrow was full of 
 worms; would you not be more valuable 
 than all of them?” “Yes.” “Suppose 
 all the millions of worms in the earth 
 were gathered together; would you not 
 still be more valuable than they, no 
 matter how many?” ’“Yes; I am sure I 
 would.” “Then is there not a far greater 
 difference in the scale of being between 
 Christ and man than between man and 
 the worm? We are creatures; God is 
 the Creator. Had many other worlds 
 sinned as well as ours, the blood of 
 Christ would be more than sufficient to 
 atone for them all.”—R, C. Morgan. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 823 — 
 HIS BIBLE 
 
 One night, just before the late Cap- 
 tain Bickel was retiring to rest, he met 
 at the deck house door a rufhan who had 
 been wonderfully converted on one of 
 these voyages. Although a rough, un- 
 tutored man he had gone at once to 
 others telling the story of his conversion 
 and of Christ as he had received Him. 
 
 Mr. Bickel was very tired, but he had 
 a little talk with the man. He asked 
 him if he would take a Bible to a certain 
 manonthe morrow. He shook his head. 
 “No, no, Captain; he does not need 
 that.” “But why note?” “It won’t do 
 him any good.” “But why?” “Because 
 it is too soon. That is your Bible, and, 
 thank God! it is now mine; but it is not 
 his Bible.” “What do you mean by 
 that?” “Why, simply that he has an- 
 other Bible; you are his Bible; he is 
 watching you. As you fail, Christ fails. 
 As you live Christ, so Christ is revealed 
 to him.” 
 
 Writing of this incident, Captain 
 Bickel said: “Friends, I did not sleep 
 well that night. I knew it in a way, of 
 course, but to say: ‘As you live, so 
 Christ lives in that man’s soul in that 
 house, in that village, in four hundred 
 villages.’ God help me! 
 called a thief, liar, foreign spy, traitor, 
 devil in public and private, and had not 
 flinched; but to face this! As you live, 
 Christ lives in a hundred thousand 
 hearts. As you fail to live Christ, Christ 
 is crucified again. What wonder that 
 the message of the converted ruffian 
 sank deeply into my heart! What won- 
 der that I slept not.”—-Men and Mis- 
 sions, 
 
 — 824 — 
 
 »~HOW TO MAKE LIFE HAPPY 
 
 Take time; it is no use to fume or fret 
 or do as the angry housekeeper who has 
 got hold of the wrong key, and pushes, 
 shakes, and rattles it about in the lock 
 until both are broken and the door is 
 still unopened. 
 
 The chief secret of comfort lies in not 
 
 I had been” 
 
 423 
 
 suffering trifles to vex us, and in culti- 
 vating our undergrowth of small pleas- 
 ures. 
 
 Try to regard present vexations as you 
 will regard them a month hence. 
 
 Since we cannot get what we like, let 
 us like what we can get. 
 
 It is not riches, it is not poverty, it is 
 human nature that is the trouble. 
 
 The world is like a looking-glass. 
 Laugh at it and it laughs back; frown 
 at it and it frowns back.—London §&. S. 
 Times. 
 
 — 825 — 
 HOW TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE 
 
 A man was standing in a telephone 
 booth trying to talk, but could not make 
 out the message. He kept saying, “I 
 can’t hear, I can’t hear.” The other man 
 by-and-by said sharply, “If you'll shut 
 the door you can hear.” 
 
 His door was not shut, and he could 
 hear not only the man’s voice, but the 
 street and store noises, too. Some folks 
 have gotten their hearing badly confused 
 because their doors have not been shut 
 enough. Man’s voice and God’s voice 
 get mixed in their ears. They cannot 
 distinguish between them. The bother 
 is partly with the door. If you'll shut 
 that door you can hear.—S. D. Gordon. 
 
 — 826 — 
 ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE 
 
 The Springfield Republican recently 
 declared that Ex. il, 3, gave the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company the idea that oil was 
 to be found in Egypt. This is reported 
 to be the assertion of Charles Whitshott, 
 geologist and oil and gas expert for the 
 Standard Oil Company: “The verse tells 
 of the use of pitch in making the craft in 
 which the babe Moses was set adrift. 
 Alphant, of the Standard Oil Company, 
 reasoned that where there was pitch 
 there was oil. I was sent to investigate, 
 and three wells are now in operation, 
 with more being developed as the 
 result.” 
 
 When men’s eyes are opened to divine 
 light they may see science as they have 
 never seen it—let us hope and pray that 
 they may.—Herald of Gospel Libery. 
 
424 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 827 — 
 LESSONS FROM A BLACK BUG 
 
 One vacation, going across lots in 
 Rose, N. Y., I came to a well where 
 Gideon Barrett watered his stock. As 
 I neared the well I heard a tinkling 
 sound coming from a tin pail close by. 
 Investigating the cause, I found it was 
 made by the efforts of a good-sized black 
 bug to escape from the pail. How it got 
 in I do not know, but it was easy to see 
 why it wanted to get out. The hot mid- 
 day sun was pouring down on the pail, 
 and not a comfortable spot could Mr. 
 Bug find therein, so naturally he was 
 doing his best to get out. 
 
 He would climb up the side of the pail 
 until near the top, then his strength 
 would fail, or more likely the hot metal 
 would cause him to let go his hold, and 
 he would fall to the bottom again. His 
 striking the bottom was the sound I had 
 heard. But no sooner did he reach the 
 hotter bottom than up he would get and 
 start again for the top and liberty. 
 
 As I watched his efforts, this opera- 
 tion of climbing and falling was repeated 
 perhaps a dozen times, and still the bug 
 did not give up. His persevering earn- 
 estness to escape awakened my interest, 
 and I determined to effect his release, 
 and yet to do it my own way. So I 
 plucked a timothy stalk, and let it down 
 to him. At first he failed to avail him- 
 self of the help I was extending, and 
 continued to persevere in the use of his 
 own method of escape. But my deter- 
 mination to help him was not lessened 
 by his lack of apprehension of what I 
 was doing, and persevering in my efforts 
 the bug at last laid hold of the cool grass 
 stalk with an unfailing grasp, and was 
 quickly raised to a comfortable life and 
 liberty. 
 
 As I looked upon this little bug trying 
 to escape from its misery, and felt an 
 interest in its efforts and determined to 
 save it, I could not but think of the great 
 God in whose sight the inhabitants of 
 earth are as grasshoppers (Isa. 40:22) 
 and I could better understand his com- 
 passion for mankind. 
 
 As I aided the bug because of a spark 
 
 cannot the great God be moved with 
 compassion for struggling humanity, 
 however small we are in his sight? 
 
 As the bug was unable to comprehend 
 me and my method for its salvation, so 
 we cannot understand the Infinite One 
 and His ways. 
 
 As the bug ventured to clutch the 
 straw extended for its relief, without 
 knowing my purpose of mercy, shall not 
 we lay hold upon the hope set before us 
 in the gospel, which comes to us with 
 such assurance of salvation? 
 
 When I had determined to save the 
 struggling insect, I was bound to carry 
 it through though it should require turn- 
 ing the pail upside down. So shall not 
 the Almighty succeed in his purposes 
 of mercy when he has once undertaken 
 our salvation?—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 828 — 
 BE HONEST 
 
 The great explorer, David Livingston, 
 writes in one of his books: 
 
 Grandfather could give particulars of 
 the lives of his ancestors for six genera- 
 tions of the family before him; and the 
 only part of the tradition I feel proud of 
 is this. One of these poor, hardy island- 
 ers was renowned in the district for great 
 wisdom and prudence, and it is related 
 that when he was on his deathbed he 
 one all his children around him and 
 said: 
 
 “Now, in my lifetime I have searched 
 most carefully through all the traditions 
 I could find of our family and I never 
 could discover that there was a dishonest 
 man among our forefathers. If, there- 
 fore, any of you, or any of your children, 
 should take to dishonest ways, it will not 
 be because it runs in our blood; it does 
 not belong to you. I leave this precept 
 with you, ‘Be honest.’” — Children’s 
 Friend. 
 
 oom 829) mess 
 “MY MASTER IS ALWAYS IN” 
 A little boy was once taking care of a 
 store while his master was out. Pres- 
 
 ently a man came into the store and 
 asked for some goods. Then, seeing the 
 
 of pity felt for so worthless a creature, boy was alone, he added, “Johnny, you 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 must give me an extra measure; your 
 master is not in.” 
 
 Johnny looked up into the man’s face, 
 very seriously, and said quietly, “My 
 master is always in.” 
 
 Johnny’s Master was the all-seeing 
 God, and Johnny was trying to please 
 Him ail the time. 
 
 Whenever we are tempted to do wrong 
 let us say as Johnny did, “My Master 
 is always in.” If we take this as our 
 motto and live up to it faithfully, we 
 shall find that we can overcome every 
 temptation that attacks us. — Christian 
 Intelligencer. 
 
 — 830 — 
 LIVING IN THE HEIGHTS 
 
 IT once climbed up to the magnificent 
 fortress of Salzberg, which overlooks 
 wide leagues of emerald plains with the 
 snowy Tyrolese Alps in the background. 
 It is one of the most enchanting out- 
 looks in all Europe. But while I could 
 enjoy the splendid prospect only for an 
 hour, I found that a hundred or more 
 people were living up there. So it is 
 with a soul that has been redeemed by 
 the blood of Jesus, and has repented of 
 sin, and been regenerated by the Holy 
 Spirit; he has got into a new position, 
 
 breathes a new atmosphere and has a 
 
 new outlook. He lives up with God. 
 This is the true higher life. The morn- 
 ing sun of God’s favor shines on him, 
 and at evening it is still light. There 
 is such a thing as keeping our heads and 
 our hands busy in all the useful activi- 
 ties of life and yet having our hearts 
 dwelling “in fellowship with the Father, 
 and with His Son Jesus Christ.”—Rev. 
 T. L. Cuyler, D.D. 
 
 — 831 — 
 CHRISTIAN UNWORTHINESS 
 
 No man in Scotland has a more 
 Saintly memory than Robert Murray 
 McCheyne, and yet he said: “No one but 
 God knows the abyss of sin in my 
 heart.” 
 
 To another saintly man of England 
 someone said, when he was on his death- 
 bed, “How happy you must be; the 
 
 425 
 
 gates of heaven will be crowded with 
 your converts waiting to greet you.” 
 But he replied, “Take the man away; 
 if I can but crawl into heaven, on my 
 hands and knees, before the gate shuts, 
 Pll be the blessedest man in heaven!” 
 
 An aged father when complimented 
 on his work for Christ said, “Call me not 
 a saint, I am a devil.” It is only after 
 pardon you see that real tears and ten- 
 derness came.—Rev. Alexander Whyte, 
 D.D. 
 
 — 832 — 
 A SAFE REFUGE 
 
 I once spent a night in the ancient 
 castellated convent of Mar Saba in the 
 gorge of the Kidron. All night I lay 
 secure in the strong fortress while the 
 jackals howled down beneath us, and the 
 Bedouin prowled without the wails. So 
 may every follower of Christ who has 
 lodged himself in the stronghold of the 
 divine promises rest securely and let 
 Satan’s jackals howl as fiercely as they 
 choose, or the adversary lie in wait out- 
 side the gateway. When I put my soul 
 and my eternal interests into Christ’s 
 keeping, why should I worry? Duty is 
 mine; service of the Master and my fel- 
 lowmen is mine; my salvation belongs 
 to Him who hath promised it. Who can 
 separate me from the love of God which 
 is in Christ Jesus our Lord?—Rev. T. L. 
 Cuyler, D. D. 
 
 — 833 — 
 
 TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY 
 
 The strawberry that ripens slowly in 
 the garden has a sweetness unknown to 
 the hot-house fruit. When I was in 
 California I asked for strawberries in a 
 hotel, The waiter was an Englishman 
 and recognized me for an Englishman. 
 When I gave the order for strawberries 
 he hesitated, and then said, “You will 
 not like our strawberries. They have 
 not the flavor and sweetness of English 
 strawberries. They grow too fast. We 
 get three crops a year out here. But if 
 you insist on it I will bring you some.” 
 It is the same with the soul as with 
 strawberries. We must take time to be 
 holy.—-Thomas Tiplady. 
 
426 
 
 — 834 — 
 A SLUM CHILD’S FAITH 
 
 During the years I was at work in the 
 slums of southeast London the following 
 magnificent example of a simple, confid- 
 ing faith came to my knowledge. The 
 story is authentic—the facts precisely as 
 stated. A poor little slum child of about 
 eleven years old developed a terrible 
 malady which demanded an instant 
 operation. He was taken to Guy’s Hos- 
 pital, where the great surgeon who 
 examined him had to tell the little waif 
 that, although there was just a fighting 
 chance for his life, he would, in all prob- 
 ability, die on the operating table. 
 
 The seats of the operating theatre, 
 rising tier above tier, like the gallery of 
 a church, were filled with long rows of 
 students, come to witness the greatest 
 surgeon of his time use the knife. The 
 little patient was brought in, and during 
 the performance of certain preliminaries, 
 placed in a cushioned chair. Looking 
 around at the great throng of men, he 
 said timidly to one of the assistant 
 doctors: 
 
 “Please, sir, I am a Christian, and I 
 should be very glad if one of you gentle- 
 men would just say a little prayer for 
 me. You've told me I’m in great danger, 
 but a little prayer to Jesus would help 
 me ever such a lot in my trouble.” 
 
 The surgeon patted him on the head. 
 
 “We'll do our best, my little man,” 
 he said kindly. “You must try to be 
 brave.” 
 
 “Yes,” answered the lad, “I’ll be brave, 
 sir. But I’d like a little prayer, to ask 
 God to help you to use the knife right— 
 and to help me, too.” 
 
 There was a profound silence. No- 
 body moved, so the little slum child 
 knelt down and said: 
 
 “Dear Jesus, will you please have 
 mercy on me now, and if I die will you 
 take me to be with you in heaven? I’m 
 only a poor, weak little lad, but please, 
 I'd like to live. So, dear Jesus, will you 
 please help this kind gentleman so that 
 he will be able to do his work right? 
 Amen.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES — 
 
 Having said his prayer, the boy 
 climbed onto the table with a quiet 
 smile lighting up his face. The anaes- 
 thetic was promptly administered, but 
 so long as there was any consciousness 
 the boy was heard praying. 
 
 The great surgeon stood at the head of 
 the table, fully aware that he was about 
 to perform an operation that would test 
 his skill to the utmost limit—an opera- 
 tion that required exceptional coolness, 
 calmness and delicacy of touch. Yet for 
 a moment or so he was visibly agitated. 
 The students exchanged significant 
 glances. Never had they seen their 
 great chief unnerved before, and the 
 fact of his being so now augured but ill 
 for the life of the city waif. 
 
 Yet as he looked at the still moving 
 lips of the prostrate boy a great calm 
 stole over the doctor. He commenced 
 to operate, and immediately realized that 
 the slum child’s prayer was being an- 
 swered. Coolness of head, steadiness of 
 hand, and delicacy of touch, all came as 
 they were needed. The boy’s life hung 
 on a mere thread, but the skilful surgeon 
 did not snap it. Though quite the most 
 critical he had ever undertaken, the 
 operation was performed with consum- 
 mate ease and complete success. . 
 
 The next morning the surgeon stood 
 in the ward by the bedside of his little 
 patient. Taking his hand he said: “Well, 
 Tommy, the good Jesus heard your 
 prayer yesterday.” 
 
 A happy, confident smile lit up the 
 sick boy’s face as he answered: “I knew 
 He would.” Then his face clouded over 
 and he said: “And you were very good 
 to me, and I have nothing to give you— 
 nothing at all.” Then a happy thought 
 came to him, and his face lit up again 
 as he whispered: “But I can keep on 
 praying to Jesus for you, can’t I?” 
 
 A great lump came into the doctor’s 
 throat. “That you can,” he answered 
 huskily, “and that will be heaps better 
 than any kind of money, for God knows 
 I sorely need the continual prayers of a 
 brave little soul like you.”—Philip I. 
 
 Robert in The Christian Work and 
 Evangelist. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ee (ea 
 TESTIMONY OF IRENAEUS 
 CONCERNING JESUS 
 
 Tertullian, who lived in the time of 
 Polycarp, tells us he was ordained bishop 
 of the Church at Smyrna by the Apostle 
 John. Polycarp suffered martyrdom, as 
 eminent authorities agree, on Saturday, 
 February 23, in the year 155. When 
 offered his life by the proconsul, who 
 wanted to spare the venerable man, on 
 the condition that he should revile 
 Christ, Polycarp replied in the memor- 
 able words, “Eighty and six years have 
 I served Him and He has done me no 
 wrong, and how can I now blaspheme 
 my King that has saved me.” This reply 
 of Polycarp indicates that he must have 
 been born before the year 79. 
 
 Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, born be- 
 tween the years 120 and 140, and who 
 died probably in 202, in his letter to 
 Florinus says: ~ 
 
 “I saw you when I was yet as a boy, 
 in lower Asia with Polycarp. 
 
 “I could even now point out the place 
 where the blessed Polycarp sat and 
 spoke, and describe his going out and 
 coming in, his manner of life, his personal 
 appearance, the addresses he delivered 
 to the multitude; how he spoke of his 
 
 intercourse with John, and with the. 
 
 others who had seen the Lord, and how 
 he recalled their words. And everything 
 that he had heard from them about the 
 Lord, about his miracles, and his teach- 
 ing, Polycarp told us, as one who had 
 received it from those who had seen the 
 Word of Life with their own eyes, and 
 all this in complete harmony with the 
 Scriptures. To this I listened, through 
 the mercy of God vouchsafed to me, with 
 all eagerness, and wrote it not on paper, 
 but in my heart, and still by the grace 
 of God I ever bring it into fresh remem- 
 brance.” 
 
 How precious these words from this 
 pupil of one who had seen the Apostles 
 of Christ! How short the chain—only 
 three links—that connects us with the 
 times of the Word of Life. Irenaeus, 
 Polycarp, John, Jesus.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 ANECDOTES 427 
 
 — 836 — 
 THE PENNY COLLECTION 
 
 In central Texas a rich drover, whose 
 son had committed murder, engaged the 
 best criminal lawyer that money could 
 procure to defend his boy. He was ac- 
 quitted. The lawyer presented his bill. 
 It was staggering. The attorney said: 
 “I hope you do not think it too large?” 
 “Oh, no, not at all,” he responded. “You 
 have saved my boy. I would gladly 
 have paid you twice the amount.” 
 
 That winter a faithful pastor won that 
 boy to Christ, and thus saved him from 
 a continuance in drunkenness and sin. 
 When the pastor asked the drover for a 
 contribution toward the kingdom of God, 
 the thank offering was—a dollar! 
 
 How much should we give to Him 
 who saves us? 
 
 “Give till it hurts,” is a term, much 
 abused, that is current. 
 
 It sounds pat, but I’ll confess that I 
 don’t like it. It sounds like cant, and 
 we all hate cant. I believe in self-sacri- 
 fice, but not in the kind implied. What 
 is the implication in “Give till it hurts?” 
 Plainly that you don’t want to give. 
 
 If you walk till it hurts, at the end of 
 a week you will hobble. You've lost the 
 force and value of the exercise. 
 
 If a man reads till it hurts his eyes, 
 his head swims and his mind is muddled. 
 
 If we do anything till it hurts, it ceases 
 to be beneficial. We are to make sacri- 
 fices in our giving, but they won't hurt. 
 They wouldn’t be true sacrifices if they 
 did. A man sacrifices for the woman he 
 loves, but it doesn’t hurt—he’s happy to 
 do it. You may give with the feeling of 
 debt-paying and duty-doing, but when 
 love, and loyalty, and eagerness impel 
 us the sacrifice is full of joy. 
 
 I like the Bible on that. Hear it: 
 
 “He that soweth sparingly shall reap 
 also sparingly; and he that soweth boun- 
 tifully shall reap also bountifully. Every 
 man as he purposeth in his heart so let 
 him give; not grudgingly or of necessity, 
 for God loveth a cheerful giver.”——-S. W. 
 Purvis. 
 
428 
 
 A STORY OF THE BLIZZARD 
 
 In the ‘month of January, 1888, a tear- 
 ful blizzard swept over the plains in the 
 Northwest country. You perhaps read 
 of it in the daily papers or heard others 
 tell of the fearful suffering it caused in 
 Dakota. The day was bright, and no 
 one thought of danger, when, as if by 
 magic, the sky grew black, the air in- 
 tensely cold, and a hurricane swept all 
 before it; snow came with the storm, 
 and so fine, hard, and thick that no one 
 could see a yard before them. Hundreds 
 of people and even cattle were frozen to 
 death. Mothers waited anxiously for 
 the return of their children who had 
 gone to school. Some perished on the 
 way and their little bodies were taken 
 home. Many brave deeds were done by 
 men and women during that dreadful 
 storm, and I will tell you about one of 
 them. 
 
 A young girl taught in a country 
 school-house. That day she had only 
 thirteen scholars, and when the storm 
 came on they became frightened; so was 
 the teacher, but she did not let the chil- 
 dren know of her fear. She gathered 
 them around the stove, and told them to 
 wrap up, as they soon would go home; 
 but all the time she was thinking what 
 she should do with the children to secure 
 their safety. They were all small, and 
 if she let them separate, some, if not all, 
 would be lost. She determined to stick 
 to the school-house as long as she could. 
 But the next minute the door was blown 
 from its hinges. Then she remembered 
 a ball of twine which she had taken from 
 a boy. With this she tied the children 
 together, and then tied the end of the 
 string to her own arm. Just then the 
 roof was blown from the house, and she 
 ‘knew that they must leave. It was 
 three-quarters of a mile to the nearest 
 shelter. She took the youngest child in 
 her arms and told the others to follow 
 her, and so they went in single file. If 
 one fell the others knew it, for they were 
 tied together; or if one, blinded by the 
 snow, strayed out of the way, the string 
 brought it back. Some of the children 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 had their ears and noses frozen, and the 
 teacher had her fingers and cheeks frost- 
 bitten. But they were all saved, for the 
 brave girl led them through the dreadful 
 blizzard to a place of safety. They were 
 saved by sticking together, by none of 
 them breaking the string, and by follow- 
 ing their brave teacher—Edward Cars- 
 well, 
 
 — 838 — 
 YOU CAN IF YOU WILL 
 
 Don Basilo was a captain in the army 
 of Isabella of Spain, and Ramon, though 
 a friend, was serving with the Carlists. 
 Don Basilo, with twenty fothers, was 
 captured by the Carlists and sentenced 
 to be shot. The shooting began, and 
 already seven had fallen. Regardless of 
 what might befall him, Ramon rushed 
 forward and seizing Don Basilo, cried 
 
 out to his general, “Not this one! Not 
 this one!” “Why not this one? Is he 
 a musician?” asked the general. The 
 
 Carlists were not executing musicians, 
 for they needed them in their bands. 
 “Yes, yes, General, he is a musician.” 
 Ramon replied. “Upon what instru- 
 ment does he play?” “T-th-ah, the 
 French horn!” The general spared Don 
 Basilo and he was allotted to a band 
 that was to be organized in fourteen 
 days. 
 
 But Don Basilo had never played any 
 instrument, did not know one note from 
 another, and the French horn is a most 
 difficult instrument to learn. Death for 
 both him and his friend Ramon seemed 
 the inevitable fate. 
 
 But Don Basilo said to Ramon, “In 
 fourteen days I shall know music; in 
 fourteen days I will play upon the 
 horn!” 
 
 How he accomplished this feat which 
 anyone would call impossible he thus 
 tells: “In fourteen days—ah, the power 
 of the will!—in fourteen days, with the 
 fourteen nights (I did not sleep for half 
 a month)—yes, you have cause to be 
 astonished—in fourteen days I learned 
 to play the horn! What days they were! 
 Ramon and I went to the fields and 
 spent our days with a musician who 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 came from a neighboring town to in- 
 struct me. I spoke nothing, I thought 
 nothing, I ate nothing. My only thought 
 was music—the French horn. I wanted 
 to learn, and I learned it. Had I been 
 dumb, I should have learned to speak; 
 if lame, to walk; if blind, to see—because 
 it was my will to do it. Ah, the will; 
 that is the greatest power on earth. I 
 had the will to do it; therein lies the 
 whole deed. I had the will—and I suc- 
 ceeded.”—-Martha Tarbell. 
 
 — 839 — 
 ELIJAH’S GOD OURS 
 
 On one occasion the author of “The 
 Bank of Faith” had been greatly exer- 
 cised with debt and embarrassment, and 
 his patience was severely tried, not only 
 on account of himself, but his friend, 
 who was in great distress, and stood 
 much in need of a little relief. His never- 
 failing resort was to the great Father of 
 bounties, in earnest and sincere prayer. 
 And God, who heareth the ravens when 
 they cry, thus answered him. 
 
 It was the evening previous that he 
 made the subject a matter of special 
 supplication. The next morning a per- 
 son knocked at the door, desiring to see 
 him. When he came into the study, he 
 says: “I looked at him, and perceived 
 
 him to be a gentleman that I had never - 
 
 seen before. He told me that he had 
 once heard me preach at Dr. Gifford’s 
 meeting-house, and once or twice at 
 Margaret Street Chapel, and that he had 
 heard me greatly to his satisfaction; 
 and the reason of his coming to see me 
 now was that he had been exercised 
 the last night with a dream—that he 
 dreamed the Word of God came to him, 
 saying: ‘If thy brother be waxed poor, 
 thou shalt open thy hand to thy poor 
 brother, etc.’ He asked me if there was 
 such a portion of Scripture; I answered 
 the words were these: ‘If there be 
 among you a poor man, one of thy 
 brethren, within any of thy gates, in the 
 land which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, 
 nor shut thy hand from thy poor 
 brother’ (Deut. xv:7-11). He then told 
 
 429 
 
 me that these words came to him in his 
 sleep; and in the morning when he 
 awoke, he felt the power of them. In 
 wondering who this poor brother could 
 be, he informed me it was impressed 
 upon his mind that I was the brother 
 about whom he had dreamed; and asked 
 me concerning my circumstances. I 
 then told him of the trial I was in; and 
 as he was fully satisfied it was of God, 
 he wondered much at it. At his de- 
 parture, he gave me money and goods 
 sufficient to relieve my own circum- 
 stances and also the condition of my 
 friend. 
 
 Thus God, who commanded a widow 
 to sustain Elijah, commanded this man 
 to relieve me.”—“‘God in Providence.” 
 
 en 8A0 cs 
 THE END OF THE GAME 
 
 “When you get through with this 
 hand I wish that you would let me use 
 your table for a pulpit,” said a mission- 
 ary to a crowd of gaming lumberjacks. 
 The hand was finished, the service was 
 held, every man remaining to it, and 
 after the benediction the game was re- 
 sumed. 
 
 After such a service Fred Davis en- 
 tered into conversation with a man, who 
 said; “I’m making a little money work- 
 ing days, but I’m making more at the 
 card game at night, and I’m not going 
 to quit till I have my pile. I know I 
 ought to be a Christian, but not just 
 yet. After a while I will.” Later this 
 lumberjack shot a man at the card table. 
 One day Davis preached in a California 
 prison, and the warden told him that one 
 of the prisoners wanted to speak to him. 
 At the cell an arm was thrust through 
 the bars and the man in the shadowed 
 place said: “I’m the lumberjack you 
 pleaded with to change my life and be- 
 come a Christian. I wouldn’t because I 
 was making money by gambling. Now 
 look at me! Help me to get right with 
 God.” With the bars between them they 
 knelt and while they prayed together 
 Christ fulfilled his promise and gave lib- 
 erty to the captive.—Missionary Review 
 ef the World. 
 
430° 
 
 — 841 — 
 STORY OF A JAPANESE GIRL 
 
 In her lesson one day a young Japan- 
 ese girl found the word “Creator,” but 
 did not know its meaning. Turning to 
 the dictionary, she read, “Creator, one 
 who creates; a name given to God, who 
 made all things.” 
 
 A startling thought to her, for she had 
 never heard of such a God; and it filled 
 her mind by night and by day. She 
 looked at the stars and said, ““God must 
 have made all these stars.” The sun and 
 even the trees suggested the thought, 
 “God made them.” 
 
 She went to the temple and looked 
 at the image of Buddha, and she said 
 to herself, “It was not you, Buddha, for 
 I never heard that you made anything.” 
 
 When she went to Tokyo an old 
 woman in the same-house said to her, 
 “Tasshee, J am going to a meeting; come 
 with me.” 
 
 “What meeting?” 
 
 “A meeting to hear about God.” 
 
 “Oh, no,” said Tasshee. “I do not 
 want any of your god. I have a God of 
 my own, if I only knew where He is.” 
 
 Tasshee, however, went to the meéeet- 
 ing. The missionary opened the Bible 
 and read, “In the beginning God created 
 the heaven and the earth.” Tasshee was 
 startled. “Why,” she said, “this is the 
 God I am looking for,’ and she became 
 so agitated that she could hardly keep 
 her seat, and so eager was she to put the 
 question, “Where is He?” 
 
 When the meeting was over, she 
 rushed to the missionary and said, “Tell 
 me, where is this God that made the 
 heaven and the earth?” Her desire was 
 met by proper instruction. 
 
 She came to the next meeting and 
 heard, “God so loved the world that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
 soever believeth in him should not per- 
 ish, but have everlasting life.” 
 
 Here again Tasshee was startled. A 
 God of love! Her gods were gods of 
 hate of revenge. This God gave his Son. 
 All the gods she had ever heard of never 
 gave anything; the people had to give 
 them offerings. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Thus a thirsting soul received the 
 water of life. Tasshee is now a Christian 
 teacher, dispensing the water of life to 
 others, teiling them of a God who spared 
 not his Son, but gave him up for as all. 
 —Church at Home and Abroad. 
 
 Bayt 
 A GOOD INVESTMENT 
 
 Several winters ago a woman was com- 
 ing out of a public building where the 
 heavy doors swung back and made 
 egress somewhat difficult. A little street 
 urchin sprang to the rescue, and, as he 
 held open the door\ she said “Thank 
 you,” and passed on. 
 
 “D’ye hear that?” said the boy to a 
 companion standing near him. . 
 
 “No; what?” 
 “Why, that lady said ‘Thank ye’ to 
 the likes o’ me.” 
 
 Amused at the conversation, the lady 
 turned and said to the boy: 
 
 “It always pays to be polite, my boy, 
 remember that.” 
 
 Years passed away, and last December 
 when doing her Christmas shopping, this 
 same lady received exceptional courtesy 
 from a clerk in Boston, which caused her 
 to remark to a friend who was with her: 
 
 “What a great comfort to be civilly 
 treated once in a while—though I don’t 
 know that I blame the store clerks for 
 being rude during the holidays.” 
 
 The young man’s quick ear caught the 
 words, and he said:’ 
 
 ..“‘Pardon me, madam, but you gave me 
 my first lesson in politeness a few years 
 ago.” 
 
 The lady looked at him in amazement 
 while he related the little forgotten inci- 
 dent, and told her that the simple “Thank 
 you” awakened his ambition to be some- 
 thing in the world. He went and applied 
 for a situation as office boy in the estab- 
 lishment where he is now an honored and 
 trusted clerk. 
 
 Only two words dropped into the 
 treasury of a street conversation, but 
 they yielded returns most satisfactory.— 
 The Congregationalist. | 
 
 ‘oa ves 
 3 i eter 
 aN el a — 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 843 — 
 WHILE THEY YET PRAYED 
 
 It is said that Jay Gould and another 
 magnate were once, while travelling, de- 
 layed in a small western town. Taking 
 a walk they saw a crowd and heard an 
 auctioneer crying out, “Fifteen hundred 
 dollars!” Mr. Gould touched a tall 
 Mexican on the arm and asked him what 
 the sale was for.» “Pard,” said the 
 ranger, “this be a knock-out for the 
 parson.” “In what way?” asked Mr. 
 Gould. “You see, pard, the parson built 
 this church; but the tin petered out, and 
 now the wood-butcher is selling the 
 whole crowd out for his coin.” Mr. 
 Gould stepped up to the auctioneer, 
 asked for the contractor who was clos- 
 ing out his lien. The auctioneer pointed 
 out the man, and Gould approached him 
 and asked the amount of his claim. 
 “Seventeen hundred dollars and costs,” 
 said he. “What will you take in settle- 
 ment,” asked Mr. Gould, “I'll settle for 
 fifteen hundred dollars, and donate the 
 balance,” said the contractor. Mr. Gould, 
 taking from his pocket several bills of 
 large denomination, gave them to the 
 contractor and took his receipt in full, 
 with the cancelled lien. An old man 
 going up to Mr. Gould, said: “Stranger, 
 what are you going to do with the claim 
 _ you've just bought?” Mr. Gould asked 
 why he wanted to know. “Why,” said 
 he, “I am the steward of the church. 
 The members and Sabbath-school schol- 
 ars are in the church, with the presiding 
 elder and pastor on their knees, praying 
 God to come to our help and save the 
 church.” Mr. Gould gave the receipted 
 bill and cancelled lien that he had in 
 his hand, to the steward, and walked 
 back to his train. The steward entered 
 the church, now free, and told the peo- 
 ple what the Lord had done, and they 
 sang the doxology on their knees. Then 
 they went out on the streets to find the 
 stranger, and learned that it was Jay 
 Gould. His train had gone, and only a 
 cloud of dust on the far-away prairie 
 indicated where their benefactor was. 
 Mr. Gould said afterward a letter he 
 received from that congregation, signed 
 
 431 
 
 by every one in it, gave him more pleas- 
 ure than clearing a million dollars.— 
 Selected. 
 
 ub gadis 
 THE FATALITY OF SIN 
 
 “A professor in Scotland was lectur- 
 ing to a class of students. While dis- 
 secting the body of a snake, he spoke of 
 the fatality and the suddenness of death 
 as a consequence of its bite, and added, 
 ‘Gentlemen, I have made a small hurt 
 in my hand, and such is the deadliness 
 and quickness of the poison that should 
 I neglect or fail from any cause to cau- 
 terize the wound— While he stood 
 holding his finger tightly to prevent the 
 circulation, and still talking to the class, 
 in rushed a messenger announcing a 
 dangerous accident to one of the mem- 
 bers of his household; whereupon, he, 
 forgetting to cauterize his wounded fin- 
 ger, rushed from the room to his home. 
 Within less than an hour he was dead. 
 Sin may not always be so quick in its 
 action; but it is as fatal as blood poison- 
 ing, and equally certain to produce death 
 to the soul.” 
 
 ne R45 er 
 
 TROUBLES TURNED INTO 
 PEARLS 
 
 Things that cause pain are often trans- 
 formed into things that give pleasure. 
 Think, for example, how pearls are 
 formed. A grain of sand or some other 
 foreign matter has found its way into 
 the shell, and causes irritation to the 
 tender body of the living inmate. This 
 incites the animal to secrete from its 
 own resources the means of coating the 
 intrusive substance, which it is not able 
 to eject. Around the irritating object, 
 therefore, thin layers are deposited, one 
 after another, until it is completely sur- 
 rounded, and a pearl is formed. May it 
 not be so with those things in our lives 
 that are most unwelcome to us? Love 
 to God in the heart will enable us to 
 turn into pearls those troubles of ours 
 which would otherwise so vex and dis- 
 tress us.—Thomas Yates. 
 
432 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 ~— 846 — 
 APPLIED FAITH 
 
 When Sir Walter Scott was a boy he 
 was counted a great dullard. His accus- 
 tomed place in the schoolroom was in 
 the ignominious dunce corner, with the 
 high and pointed paper cap of shame 
 upon his head. He never seemed to 
 have any interest in his studies or any 
 ambition in life. So he had become an 
 object of ridicule to the whole commun- 
 ity. But one evening when he was a 
 boy of twelve or fourteen, he chanced 
 to be in a home that was entertaining a 
 party of famous literary guests. Among 
 them was Robert Burns, then just at the 
 height of his fame. Late in the evening 
 this great poet stood admiring a picture 
 hanging on the wall. Underneath it was 
 a couplet of verse; and when the poet 
 asked who had written the words, none 
 of the noted people present knew. But 
 presently the little boy crept up timidly 
 to his side and whispered in his ear the 
 name of the author—and to show that 
 he was familiar with the lines, he quoted 
 the rest of the poem. .Burns was sur- 
 prised and delighted, and, laying his 
 hand on the youth’s head, he exclaimed: 
 “Ah, bairnie, ye will be a great mon yet 
 in Scotland some day!” 
 
 That night Walter Scott went home 
 walking as if on air. For had not the 
 greatest man in all Scotland said that 
 he would be a great man some day! 
 From that very hour there came a won- 
 derful change in the lad, a change in 
 spirit and ambition that made him one 
 of the greatest literary men of the world. 
 Discouraged and hopeless, he became 
 transformed by putting into his life the 
 faith and hope that a great man had for 
 him, 
 
 Something like this must take place 
 in the heart of every man and woman 
 who would be successful in their Chris- 
 tian experience. It is not enough to 
 believe that God has a great plan for 
 our lives, and believes that we can work 
 it out together with Jesus Christ. We 
 must come to believe that of ourselves, 
 too. Every man must come to have 
 faith in himselfi—faith that he can be 
 
 what God wants him to be and do what 
 God wants him to do.—Herald of Gos- 
 pel Liberty. 
 
 847 
 THE OLD MAN AND HIS BOWL 
 
 An old man sat by himself at a corner 
 table, eating his food out of a wooden 
 bowl. Once he had had a place at the 
 dining table, but his hands had grown 
 so shaky he spilled his food, and his son 
 and daughter declared they could no lon- 
 ger endure his presence at the table with 
 them. At first he had been given an 
 earthen dish, but after he let that fall 
 his food was always given him in the 
 wooden bowl. The five-year-old grand- 
 son was busily hacking away at a piece 
 of wood, for he had finished his meal 
 before the others, and had rushed to this 
 interrupted occupation. .“‘What are you 
 making there so fine?” asked the father. 
 “Y’m making a bowl,” the boy promptly 
 answered, “for you and mother to eat 
 out of when I am big.” The parents 
 looked at each other, then rose without 
 a word and began preparing a place at 
 the table, and the father led the old man 
 back to his rightful place, from which 
 he was never again dispossessed. The 
 parents had seen themselves in their 
 father’s place, and had been made to 
 realize they did not love him as they 
 loved themselves.—Sel. 
 
 — 848 — 
 I CANNOT FEEL SAVED 
 
 Martin Luther was asked by his arch 
 enemy if he felt his sins forgiven. “No,” 
 said the great reformer, “I don’t feel that 
 they are forgiven, but I know they are, 
 because God says so in His Word.” 
 Paul did not say, “Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt feel saved,” 
 but “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
 and thou shalt be saved.” 
 
 Ask that man whose debt was paid by 
 his brother, “Do you feel that your debt 
 is paid?” “No,” is the reply, “I don’t 
 feel that it is paid. I know from this 
 receipt that it is paid, and I feel happy 
 because I know it is paid.” 
 
 So with you, dear reader. You must 
 
 
 
 Rat ss ee cc eee 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 believe in God’s love to you as revealed 
 at the cross of Calvary, and then you 
 will feel happy, because you may know 
 that you are saved. 
 
 A dear old Christian, on hearing per- 
 sons speaking of their feelings, used to 
 say, “Feelings! Feelings! Don’t bother 
 yourself about your feelings. I just 
 stick to the old truth that Christ died 
 for me, and He is my surety right on to 
 eternity; and Ill stick to that like a 
 limpet to the rock.”—-The Lutheran. 
 
 ee BAG oe 
 THE INFLUENCE OF A TRACT 
 
 A young Frenchman who had been 
 wounded at the siege of Saint Quentin 
 was languishing on a pallet in the hos- 
 pital, when a tract that lay on the cover- 
 let caught his eye. He read it and was 
 converted to God by it. You can see 
 the monument of that man before the 
 Church of the Consistory in Paris, stand- 
 ing with a Bible in his hand. He is 
 known in history as Admiral Coligny, 
 the leader of the reformation in France. 
 But the tract had not finished its work. 
 It was read by Coligny’s nurse, a “sister 
 of mercy,” who penitently placed it in 
 the hands of the abbess, and she, too, 
 was converted by it. She fled from 
 France to the Palatinate, where she met 
 a young prince and became his wife. 
 The influence which she had upon that 
 man reached out-into the reformation 
 on the entire continent of Europe, for 
 he was William of Orange. .“How far 
 yon little candle threw its beam!” Who 
 knows what a power a tract may be?— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 850 — 
 
 GOD-GIVEN SIGHT 
 
 Congenital blindness is incurable by 
 modern science, but God is equal to its 
 “curing.” A few months ago, in one of 
 our Western States, a little one was 
 born blind. Not a sign of a pupil in the 
 little eyes. Prominent physicians pro- 
 nounced him “stone blind.” But the 
 parents and the household believed God 
 was as able and as willing to work a 
 
 ANECDOTES 433 
 
 miracle today as when Jesus walked the 
 streets of Galilee, so they prayed that 
 God would give the little one his eye- 
 sight. They knew the Word of God, 
 “What things soever ye desire, when ye 
 pray, believe that ye receive them, and 
 ye shall have them.” Mk. 11:24. They 
 believed and kept on believing until four 
 months afterward the pupils appeared 
 and the child could see, and God was 
 glorified in their home as He had never 
 been before.—Wayland Hoyt. 
 
 — 851 — 
 
 FAITH CASTS OUT DOUBT 
 
 There was a good man and his wife 
 who had kept a lighthouse for years. 
 A visitor who came to see the light- 
 house, looking out from the window 
 over the waste of water, asked the good 
 woman: “Are you not afraid of a night 
 when the storm is on, and the big waves 
 dash right over the lantern? Do you 
 not fear that the lighthouse and all that 
 is in it will be carried away?” The 
 woman remarked that the idea never 
 occurred to her now. She had lived there 
 so long that she felt as safe on the lone 
 rock as ever she did when she lived on 
 the mainland. As for her husband, when 
 asked if he did not feel anxious when the 
 wind blew a hurricane, he answered: 
 “Yes, I feel anxious to keep the lamps 
 well trimmed, and the light burning, lest 
 any vessel should be wrecked.” As to 
 anxiety about the safety of the light- 
 house, or his own personal security in 
 it, he had outlived all that. 
 
 Even so itis with me. “I know whom 
 I have believed, and am persuaded that 
 he is able to keep that which I have 
 committed to him against the day. 
 From henceforth let no man trouble me 
 with doubts and questionings; I bear in 
 my soul the proofs of the Spirit’s truth 
 and power, and I will not have any of 
 your artful reasonings. The gospel to 
 me is truth: I am content to perish if it 
 be not true. I risk my soul’s eternal fate 
 upon the truth of the gospel, and I know 
 no risk in it. .My one concern is to keep 
 the lamps burning, that I may thereby 
 enlighten others—Spurgeqn, =~ 
 
434 
 
 — 852 — 
 THE KURDISH MOTHER’S GIFT 
 
 A missionary from Kharput, making 
 his annual visit to a Kurdish village, saw 
 in the congregation two faces that fasci- 
 nated him. In a lad’s face there was the 
 promise of great powers; in his mother’s 
 face, a poor washerwoman, suffering and 
 sorrow and hope and patience and 
 passionate devotion seemed to have 
 wrought their perfect work. At the 
 close of the meeting he asked to have 
 them brought to him. 
 
 “Mother, do you love Jesus?” he 
 asked the trembling woman. “I do,” she 
 said, “I do.” “How much would you give 
 to him?” “Oh, missionary, I have noth- 
 ing! yet all I earn I give, saving only 
 enough for food for this little boy and 
 myself.” “Would you give your little 
 boy?” “He is my all—my life!” “Think 
 well of it tonight and pray. I return to 
 Kharput tomorrow.” And the widow 
 went out sobbing, “My only son, my 
 Thomas!” 
 
 The remaining hours of the mission- 
 ary’s visit were very busy ones, and 
 when the morning came and his horse 
 was saddled, he had forgotten about 
 Thomas. But just about the time he 
 was ready to start there came the 
 mother leading her boy by the hand. At 
 the missionary’s feet she laid the little 
 bundle of clothing on which she had 
 worked all night. She placed one hand 
 on her boy’s head, and with the other 
 pointing upwards, said two words, 
 “Thomai— Christos.” She then went 
 back to her lonely life. But not to a 
 narrowed or mournful life; hers was the 
 joy of one who made the supreme sacri- 
 fice, 
 
 Thomas made good. He led his class. 
 He advanced by leaps and bounds. And 
 when he was graduated he went back 
 to his old home where the mother waited 
 for him, then far beyond into the Kurd- 
 ish mountains to preach the Gospel. 
 And they called him “The prophet of 
 Kurdistan.” The black year of 1895 
 came with its awful massacres. Thomas 
 was shot and cruelly cut and left for 
 dead. Against all probabilities he re- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 covered and resumed his work, giving 
 himself to it with new courage and hope. 
 The sacrifice of the mother bore its 
 abundant fruit in the comfort he gave 
 to orphans and brought to hundreds of 
 widows, and they call him “The Saviour 
 of Kurdistan.”—Selected. 
 
 — 853 — 
 LINCOLN’S MAGNANIMITY 
 
 Secretary Chase spoke of President 
 Lincoln as “the old coward,” “the old 
 fool,” “the old gorilla,” “Congress ought 
 to impeach him,” and the like. All this 
 was repeated to Mr. Lincoln. He an- 
 swered it, saying: “This does not make 
 it so, does it? Mr. Chase is a good sec- 
 retary. The people believe in him and 
 take his money. That is what we want, 
 is it not? I think we will have to keep 
 him at it.” 
 
 Mr. Chittenden was Assistant Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury under Chase, and 
 he gave me this item concerning Mr. 
 Chase’s resignation. “I went over to 
 Mr. Lincoln’s offices that morning, and 
 found Mr. Lincoln sitting there with his 
 head down, with his chin on his chest, 
 evidently much depressed. He handed 
 me a letter he had just read. It was 
 Chase’s letter resigning. I read the let- 
 ter and felt overwhelmed, and said: 
 “President Lincoln, you must hold Chase 
 to it. You cannot afford to divide the 
 party in such a time as this. You must 
 hold Chase to it!” 
 
 Mr. Lincoln said: “Mr. Chittenden, 
 Mr. Chase has determined the matter, 
 and I will hold him to that.” After a 
 few minutes without lifting up his head, 
 he said: “Mr. Chittenden, Mr. Chase 
 will make a good Chief Justice, and I 
 will appoint him.” 
 
 Mr. Chittenden said to me: “I had 
 long known and loved Mr. Lincoln but 
 when I saw him that hour, under the 
 sting of personal insult and the shadow 
 of threatened calamity, put that man in 
 the highest place in the nation for the 
 good of the Republic, he went up and 
 up into an atmosphere of which I never 
 dreamed. He was the greatest man I 
 ever saw.’’—Bishop Charles H. Fowler. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 854 — 
 IMPERFECT MADE PERFECT 
 
 There is a beautiful story told of 
 Professor von Herkomer, the celebrated 
 sculptor and painter. His father, who 
 was himself a sculptor, lived to a great 
 age; and in his declining years the keen 
 sight and sensitive touch, so necessary 
 to the modeling which up to the end of 
 his life he delighted to do, departed to 
 a large extent from him. The model- 
 ing he did in these latter days was, of 
 course, far from reaching his accustomed 
 standard. 
 
 After he went to bed, however, each 
 night the brilliant son who loved him 
 would go into the studio where the old 
 man had been at work, and, taking his 
 work in hand, would correct all its de- 
 ficiencies, giving it here a touch and 
 there a touch, and rounding off its cor- 
 ners and crudities, as he was so well 
 able to do. Then when the old man 
 came to the studio in the morning, the 
 time when his failing eyesight was 
 keenest, he did not see the imperfections 
 and was happy in the work, all uncon- 
 scious that someone who loved him had 
 been correcting his work and beautify- 
 ing it. 
 
 I do not know if the story is true, but 
 _ believe it is, and anyhow I am sure that 
 is what Jesus does for us when we hon- 
 estly do our best for Him. He Who 
 has begun the work by inspiring us to 
 begin, will overrule its mistakes and 
 transform its poorness by His own beau- 
 tifying touch until it is something of 
 real value to His cause in the world. 
 Yes! His faithfulness is our security, 
 now and always.—Rev. J. Stuart Hol- 
 den, D.D. 
 
 — 855 — 
 MONEY NOT THE MOTIVE 
 
 Recently there came to our notice a 
 story which very impressively teaches a 
 lesson that needs constant repetition in 
 these days of the reign of Mammon. 
 We have read several stories of tempt- 
 ing offers of various kinds having been 
 
 ANECDOTES 435, 
 made to Dr. John R. Mott to undertake 
 certain forms of Christian or other work, 
 but the following is the latest: 
 
 A committee of wealthy influential 
 men in New York City called upon Dr. 
 Mott, and offered him the presidency of 
 a strong business corporation at a salary 
 of one hundred thousand dollars a year. 
 On hearing the proposition, Dr. Mott 
 became thoughtful and serious. Then 
 tears showed in his eyes. Observing 
 his serious mood and tears, the commit- 
 tee, thinking he was troubled about 
 what his decision should be, suggested 
 that they did not wish him to take the 
 matter of a decision so much to heart. 
 Dr. Mott’s reply was that he was not at 
 all troubled about how to decide, and 
 assured them that his decision was 
 reached the moment the proposition was 
 made. 
 
 “What pains-me,” he said, “is that 
 I should have so lived before you that 
 it would come into your minds to come 
 to me with such an offer.” — British 
 Weekly. 
 
 — 856 + 
 STILL CHISELING 
 
 S. M. Haines gives this very apt illus- 
 tration of the duty of doing one’s own 
 
 ‘work and not worrying because the great 
 
 plan, as a whole, is not comprehended: 
 
 A gentleman who was walking near 
 an unoccupied building one day saw a 
 stone-cutter chiseling patiently at a 
 block of stone in front of him. The 
 gentleman went up to him. 
 
 “Still chiseling?” he remarked, pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 “Yes, still chiseling,’ replied the 
 workman, going on with his work. 
 
 “In what part of the building does this 
 stone belong?” asked the gentleman. 
 
 “T don’t know,” replied the stone- 
 cutter; “I haven’t seen the plans.” 
 
 Then he went on chiseling, chiseling. 
 Now, that is what we should do. We 
 have not seen the great plans of the 
 Master Architect, but each of us has 
 his work to do, and we should chisel 
 away until it is done. 
 
430 
 
 mmm 857 
 LOVE BROUGHT HIM BACK 
 
 Down in Jacksonville, Florida, a man, 
 Judge Owen, quarreled with his be- 
 trothed and, to try to forget, he took a 
 position in a hospital. 
 
 Finally he caught a disease and had 
 almost succumbed to it. He had passed 
 the critical stage of the disease, but he 
 was dying. One day the lady, his sweet- 
 heart, met the physician on the street 
 and asked about the judge. 
 
 “He’s sick,” he told her. 
 
 “How bad?” she asked. 
 
 “Well, he’s passed the critical stage, 
 but he is dying,” the doctor told her. 
 
 “But I don’t understand,” she said, 
 “if he’s passed the critical stage, why 
 he isn’t getting well.” 
 
 “He’s dying of undying love for you, 
 not the fever,” the doctor told her. 
 
 She asked him to come with her to 
 the florist, and he went, and there she 
 purchased some smilax and intertwined 
 lilacs and wrote on a card, “With my 
 love,’ and signed her name. 
 
 The doctor went back to the hospital, 
 and his patient was tossing in fitful 
 slumber. He laid the flowers on his 
 breast, and he awoke and saw the flow- 
 ers and buried his head in them. 
 
 “Thanks for the flowers, doctor,” he 
 said. But the doctor said: 
 
 “They are not from me.” 
 
 “Then who are they from?” 
 
 “Guess.” 
 
 “T can’t; tell me.” 
 
 “J think you will find the name on 
 the card,” the doctor hold him, and he 
 looked and read the card: “With my 
 love.” 
 
 “Tell me,” he cried, “did she write 
 _ that of her own free well, or did you 
 beg her to do it?” 
 
 The doctor told him she had begged 
 to do it herself. 
 
 Then you ought to have seen him. 
 The next day he was sitting up. The 
 next day he ate some gruel. The next 
 day he was ina chair. The next day he 
 could hobble on crutches. The next day 
 he threw one of them away. The next 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 day he walked with a cane. The next 
 day he threw the cane away, and the 
 next day he could walk pretty well. 
 
 On the ninth day there was a quiet 
 wedding in the annex of the hospital. 
 
 This old world is like a hospital. 
 Here are the wards for the libertines. 
 Here are the wards for the drunkards. 
 HKere are the wards for the blasphemers. 
 Everywhere I look I see scarred hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Nineteen hundred years ago God 
 looked over the battlements of heaven, 
 and He picked a basket of flowers, and 
 one day He dropped a baby into the 
 manger at Bethlehem, and when the 
 wise men saw Him they read: “For 
 God so loved the world that He gave 
 His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth on Him should not perish but 
 have everlasting life.” 
 
 What more can He do?” 
 
 —Billy Sunday. 
 — 858 — 
 NOT BY OUR GOOD WORKS 
 
 Some time since, Dr. Rogers, then of 
 Albany, gave an account of a dream 
 which led to the conversion of a gentle- 
 man who became a member of his 
 church. Before his conversion, the man 
 prided himself on the high-toned moral- 
 ity of his life. He was a moralist in the 
 strict sense of the word, and felt that he 
 was ready to go before God in judgment 
 at any time. One night he dreamed that 
 he left this world and went to another. 
 He soon found himself in a large au- 
 dience-room, the door of which led to 
 the abode of the blest. Over this door 
 were written these words: “None can 
 enter here, but those who have led a 
 strictly moral life, and have paid their 
 honest debts.” The words did not alarm 
 him; he felt that he was sure of entering. 
 He had led that moral life, and paid his 
 honest debts. Oh, yes, he could surely 
 enter there. 
 
 Very soon a poor, wretched old man 
 came up to him, and said, “You cannot 
 enter; you have not paid your honest 
 debts.” “Why, yes, I have.” “Ah, no; 
 don’t you remember me? Once while on 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 earth you were riding in your carriage, 
 and I asked you for alms, but you rode 
 swiftly and scornfully by. You have not 
 paid your honest debts.” 
 
 Shortly another, seeing him, stepped 
 up to him and said, “My dear sir, you 
 cannot pass that door; you have not 
 paid your honest debts.” “Certainly I 
 have.” “Do you remember buying a 
 yoke of oxen of me?” “Yes, but I paid 
 the price you demanded.” “So you did; 
 but you cheated me; you took advantage 
 of my necessity. You cannot enter 
 there.” 
 
 And so it was with one after another. 
 He began to feel that his morality would 
 avail him nothing. Shortly the letters 
 faded away, and then came in their place, 
 shining in clear, beautiful characters, 
 this sentence: “The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin.” In his 
 agony he grasped Christ as his only 
 hope. And when he awoke, he renounced 
 all his boast of morality, accepted Christ 
 as his only salvation, and became a liv- 
 ing example of faith and trust in Him.— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 859 — 
 POOR, MAKING MANY RICH 
 
 Yesterday during a call at a basement 
 home on one of our poorest parishioners, 
 the owner of the house, residing in an- 
 other part of the city, called and was 
 introduced. She is a Christian woman 
 and in the conversation which ensued 
 expressed her surprise that a Protestant 
 church could be maintained in this 
 community. We told her that the cost 
 of supporting a church in New York 
 may be very great or it may be very lit- 
 tle, and that ours is a church that can 
 get along comfortably on a little. To 
 begin with, our church is not obliged to 
 raise a salary of several thousand dol- 
 lars for its pastor, aS are most city 
 churches. 
 
 “Yes,” she replied, “the pastor of —— 
 church receives a salary of fifteen thou- 
 sand dollars.” 
 
 On the other hand, the only obligation 
 of the members of the People’s Taber- 
 
 437 
 
 nacle is a moral one. They are expected 
 to give only what they reasonably can, 
 and this, supplemented by the free-will 
 offerings of those who believe that a 
 church like ours should be maintained 
 here, has always been sufficient for its 
 support, and as long as we live and can 
 labor we expect it will continue to be so. 
 We told her that no man can be so poor 
 as to be unwelcome at the Tabernacle, 
 and that the charter of the church pro- 
 vides that its seats shall be free to any 
 person behaving himself with propriety, 
 and shall never be rented or sold.—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 860 — 
 THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T 
 SPEAK IN MEETING 
 
 Dr. Grenfell, of Labrador, tells how 
 some years ago he buried a young 
 Scotch fisherman and his wife in a deso- 
 late spit of sand running out into one of 
 the long fiords of Labrador. Amidst the 
 poverty-stricken group that stood by as 
 the snow fell, were five little orphan 
 children. Having assumed the care of 
 all of them, he advertised two in a 
 ‘Boston newspaper and received an ap- 
 plication from a farmer’s wife in New 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 Later on he visited the farm, which 
 was small and poor and away in the 
 backwoods. The woman had children 
 of her own. Her simple explanation 
 as to why she took the children is worth 
 recording: “I cannot teach in the Sun- 
 day school or attend prayer meetings, 
 Doctor. They are too far away, and I 
 wanted to do something for the Master. 
 I thought the farm would feed two more 
 children.” | 
 
 “T was glad,” says Dr. Grenfell, “that 
 she could not speak at the prayer meet- 
 ‘ings. Perhaps, after all, we grade our 
 Christians by a wrong standard. How 
 many are losing the chances of preach- 
 ing sermons that need no oratory? It 
 is one of the causes of the failures of the 
 churches that so much undeveloped 
 capacity remains in the pews.” -—- The 
 Christian. 
 
438 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 861 — 
 DID NOT WANT AN EASY JOB 
 
 One cold winter day, forty-five years 
 ago, James Hamilton, station agent at 
 Sioux City, stood on the platform 
 wrapped in a warm fur coat. He was 
 watching a gang of section hands ping 
 cord-wood alongside the track. Woo 
 was cheap and plentiful in the West in 
 those days, and coal had not supplanted 
 it as fuel, 
 
 Among the workers, Hamilton noticed 
 a ruddy-faced youth who put more en- 
 ergy and intelligence into hig work than 
 any of the rest. He was agile, lost no 
 time passing from one pile to the other 
 and did his work as if it were the most 
 important of the railroad. Hamilton 
 strolled over and watched him at closer 
 range. Finally he said: 
 
 “Say, boy, how would you like an 
 inside job? I need an active young 
 fellow like you to work around the sta- 
 tion. The job would be easier than 
 what you are doing now.” 
 
 “Thank you,” replied the boy, “but 
 I’m not looking for an easy job.” 
 
 “What’s your name?” 
 
 “Brown.” 
 
 Hamilton walked back to the plat- 
 form and remarked: 
 
 “Strange boy, that; he doesn’t want 
 an easy job. You'll hear more about 
 him some day.” 
 
 And we did. This boy who was a 
 section hand on the Chicago, Milwaukee 
 & St. Paul Railroad at one time was 
 the W. C. Brown who recently resigned 
 from the presidency of the New York 
 Central Lines. He started to scale the 
 ladder from a lowly position, but he 
 planted his feet on the very top round. 
 _—H. Twitchell. 
 
 — 862 — 
 ONE PAGE WAS ENOUGH 
 
 There was once a caravan crossing 
 the north of India. It numbered in its 
 company a godly and devout mission- 
 ary. As it passed along, a poor old man 
 was overcome by the heat and labors of 
 the journey, and sinking down was left 
 
 to perish on the road. The missionary 
 saw him, and kneeling down at his side, 
 he whispered in his ear, “Brother, what 
 is your hope?” 
 
 The dying man raised himself a little 
 to reply, and with great effort succeeded 
 in answering, “The blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth from al] sin”; and immediately 
 expired with the effort. 
 
 The missionary was astonished at the 
 answer; and in the calm and peaceful 
 appearance of the man, he felt assured 
 he had died in Christ. Presently he 
 observed.a piece of paper grasped tightly 
 in the hand of the corpse, which he suc- 
 ceeded in getting out. Great was his 
 surprise and delight when he found it 
 was a single leaf of the Bible, containing 
 the first chapter of the First Epistle of 
 John, in which these words occur. On 
 that page he had found the Gospel— 
 Presbyterian 
 
 wm 863 mms 
 
 HE WAS THE OTHER FELLOW 
 
 A shrewd world agnostic and a 
 clergyman dressed in a modest clerical 
 suit, says Eli Perkins, sat at the same 
 table in the Pullman dining-car. They 
 were waiting for the first course at the 
 dinner, a delicious Hudson River shad. 
 Eyeing his companion coldly for a mo- 
 ment, the agnostic remarked: 
 
 “T judge you are a clergyman, sir?!” 
 
 “Yes, sir; [ am in my Master’s ser- 
 vice.” . 
 
 “Yes, you look it. Preach out of the 
 Bible, don’t you?” 
 
 “Oh, yes; of course.” 
 
 “Find a good many things in the old 
 Book that you don’t understand-—eh ?” 
 
 “Oh, yes; some things.” 
 
 “well, what do you do then?” 
 
 “Why, my dear friend, I simply do 
 
 just as I do while eating this delicious 
 
 shad. If I come to a_ bone, I quietly 
 lay it on one side and go on enjoying 
 the shad, and let some fool insist on 
 choking himself with the bones.” 
 
 Then the agnostic wound up his 
 watch and went into the smoker.— 
 Evangelical Messenger. 
 
 Pe Ce ee ee Se ee 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 864 — 
 PRAYER IS A WIRELESS 
 TELEGRAPH 
 
 Some two years ago a poor woman, 
 accompanied by her neighbors, came to 
 my vestry in deep distress. Her hus- 
 band had fled the country; in her sorrow 
 she went to the house of God and some- 
 thing I said in the sermon made her 
 think I was personally familiar with her 
 case. Of course I had known nothing 
 about her. It was a general illustration 
 that fitted a particular case. She told 
 me her story and a very sad one it was. 
 
 I said, “There is nothing we can do 
 but to kneel down and cry to the Lord 
 for the immediate conversion of your 
 husband.” 
 
 We knelt down and I prayed that the 
 Lord would touch the heart of the de- 
 serter, convert his soul and bring him 
 back to his home. When we rose from 
 our knees, I said to the poor woman: 
 “Do not fret about the matter. I feel 
 sure that your husband will come home 
 and that he will yet become connected 
 with our church.” She went away and 
 I forgot all about it. 
 
 Some months after she reappeared, 
 with her neighbors and a man, whom 
 she introduced to me as her husband. 
 He had indeed come back and he had 
 returned a converted man. On making 
 inquiry and comparing notes, we found 
 that the very day on which we had 
 prayed for his conversion, he being at 
 that time on board a ship far away on 
 the sea, stumbled most unexpectedly 
 upon a stray copy of my sermons. He 
 read it. The truth went to his heart. 
 He repented and sought the Lord and, 
 as soon as possible, he returned to his 
 daily calling. 
 
 He was admitted a member and last 
 Monday his wife, who up to that time 
 had not been a member, was received 
 among us. That woman does not doubt 
 the power of prayer. All the infidels in 
 the world could not shake her convic- 
 tion that there is a God that answereth 
 prayer.—C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 439 
 
 — 865 — 
 THE HEAD OF THE FIRM 
 
 It makes a great deal of difference by 
 whom our sin is covered. The trusted 
 agent of a large firm had, in time of 
 unusual expense, run past his allowance, 
 and had taken company funds for a 
 wrong use. He became distressed for 
 fear he would be discovered and regard- 
 ed as a criminal. 
 
 Thinking to gain advice he disclosed 
 his trouble to a fellow-agent, who re- 
 sponded, “Oh, don’t worry, I can cover 
 that up for you.” 
 
 “But you're not the man to cover it 
 up,” he replied, and he went straight to 
 the head of the firm and explained every- 
 thing to him, 
 
 “You've made a serious mistake,” 
 said the man, “but I’ll cover the dis- 
 crepancy for you this time,’ and he 
 wrote a check for the amount. 
 
 “Ah, if you cover it, I am all right,” 
 said the relieved man. 
 
 When God buries a man’s sin and 
 puts his seal on the door of the tomb, 
 the man will find a peace which he had 
 never known before.—Selected. 
 
 — 866 — 
 THE IDLE FOOT WAS TIRED 
 
 A lady was watching a potter at his 
 work, whose one foot was kept, with 
 “never-slackening speed, turning his 
 swift wheel round,” while the other 
 rested patiently on the ground. When 
 the lady said to him in sympathetic tone, 
 “How tired your foot must be!” the 
 man raised his eyes and said: “No, 
 ma’am, it isn’t the foot that works that 
 is tired; it is the foot that stands.” 
 
 If you want to keep your strength, 
 use it. If you want to get tired, do noth- 
 ing. As a matter of fact, we all know 
 that the last man to go to for a helping 
 hand for any new undertaking is the 
 man who has plenty of time on his hands. 
 It is the man and woman who are doing 
 most who are always willing to do a 
 little more.—-Selected. 
 
440 
 
 —~ 867— 
 A LOST DIAMOND. 
 
 A quaint preacher of the olden days 
 in our country, the Rev. Dan Baker, 
 puts the danger of delay in the way of 
 a story. He tells of a man who was 
 crossing the ocean. He was leaning 
 over the side of the vessel; it was a 
 bright sunny day, and not a wave broke 
 the surface of the water, just a little 
 ripple here and there kissed by the rays 
 of the sun. And the man, as he leaned 
 over the rail of the vessel, was tossing 
 something in the air, something which, 
 when it fell through the sunlight, 
 sparkled with singular radiance and 
 glory; and he watched it so eagerly as 
 he tossed it up and caught it as it fell. 
 He tossed it up again and again and 
 again, and it threw out its marvelous 
 light as it fell through the sunlight. 
 
 At last an onlooker came and said, 
 “May I ask what that is that you are 
 tossing up so carelessly?” “Certainly,” 
 he replied, “look at it, it is a diamond.” 
 “Ts it of much value?” asked the on- 
 looker. “Yes, of very great value. See 
 the color of it, see the size of it. In 
 fact, all I have in the world is in that 
 diamond. I am going to a new country 
 to seek my fortune, and I have sold 
 everything I have, and have put it into 
 that diamond, so as to get it into port- 
 able shape.” ‘Then if it is so valuable, 
 is it not an awful risk you are running 
 in tossing it up so carelessly?” “No 
 risk at all. I have been doing this for 
 the last half hour,” said the man. “But 
 there might come a last time,” said the 
 onlooker; but the man laughed and 
 threw it up again, and caught it as it 
 fell, and again and again, and once more, 
 and it flashed and blazed with glory as 
 it fell through the sunlight, and he 
 watches it so eagerly as it falis. Ah, 
 but this time it is too far out. He 
 reaches as far as he can over the rail 
 of the vessel, but he cannot reach far 
 enough. There is a little splash in the 
 ocean. He leans far over the rail and 
 tries to penetrate with his eager gaze 
 ine fathomless depths of deep blue 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ocean. Then cries, “Lost! lost! lost! 
 All I have in the world is lost!” 
 
 You say, “No man would be so great 
 a fool as that; that story is not true.” 
 That story is true, and the man is here 
 to-night. Thou art the man! . That 
 ocean is eternity; that vessel, life; that 
 diamond, your soul, that soul of such 
 priceless value that Christ died to save it. 
 And you have been trifling with it! I 
 come to you to-night and say, “My 
 friend, what is that in your hand which 
 you are playing with so. carelessly?” 
 You say, “It is my soul.” “Is it worth 
 much?” “Worth much? More than the 
 whole round earth, ‘for what shall it 
 profit a man if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul?’”—Rev. R. A. 
 Torrey. 
 
 — 868 — 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF FAITH. 
 
 For forty-three years, Rev. A. Toomer 
 Porter was pastor of a church at 
 Charleston, S. C. He also maintained 
 a school for boys, where more than three 
 thousand were educated, many gratu- 
 itously. His was a life of trust in God. 
 and of notable achievement. Relating 
 an incident of his boyhood, he tells how 
 his faith got its start. 
 
 “On the evening! before the forced 
 auction of my widowed mother’s home, 
 we had our usual family prayers, and 
 went to bed. I could not sleep for 
 distress. . 
 
 “The light had been put out, and I 
 was laying in bed, when I heard the 
 buzzing of a fly. I listened for some 
 time, and it annoyed me so much that 
 I got out of bed and lit the candle. Up 
 on the ceiling I saw a large fly entangled 
 in a spider’s web, and the old spider at 
 a little distance off, looking on, ready at 
 the right moment to make his fatal at- 
 tack. The poor fly, by his desperate 
 efforts to get out, was only making 
 things worse. 
 
 “My sympathy was excited; so, get- 
 ting on a chair and taking a stick, I 
 managed to break the web and get the 
 fy out. It shook itself vigorously and 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 flew off, while the spider beat a retreat 
 and got beyond my reach. I went back 
 to bed, and began to think. If I was 
 sorry for the fly, and let it out of its 
 danger, would not God be sorry for the 
 widow and her fatherless_ children, 
 Christians; and would He not send 
 somebody to let us out of the trap that 
 a worse than spider had put us in? I 
 fell asleep.” 
 
 Was the lad’s trust in God betrayed? 
 Not at all. Unexpectedly a friend of 
 his father was present next day and bid 
 off the property, turned it over to the 
 family and took the boy’s note for one 
 thousand dollars —Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 — 869 — 
 
 PROFANITY REBUKED. 
 
 Kilstein, a pious German minister, 
 once heard a laboring man use the most 
 awiul curses and imprecations in a fit of 
 passion, without reproving him for it. 
 This so troubled him that he could 
 scarcely sleep the following night. In 
 the morning he arose early, soon saw 
 the mancoming along, and addressed 
 him as follows: 
 
 “My friend, it is you I was waiting 
 to see.” : 
 
 _ “You are mistaken,” replied the man; 
 “you have never seen me before.” 
 
 “Yes, I saw you yesterday,” said Kil- 
 stein, “while returning from your work, 
 and heard you praying.” 
 
 “What! heard me pray?” said the 
 man, “I am sure now that you are mis- 
 taken, for I never prayed in my life.” 
 
 “And yet,” calmly but earnestly re- 
 plied the minister, “if God had heard 
 your prayer you would not be here, but 
 in hell; for I heard you beseeching God 
 that He might strike you with blindness 
 and condemn you to hell fire.” 
 
 The man turned pale, and trembling 
 said: “Dear sir, do you call this prayer? 
 Yes, it is; I did this very thing.” 
 
 “Now, friend,” continued Kilstein, “as 
 you acknowledge it, it is my duty to be- 
 seech you to seek with the same earnest- 
 ness the salvation of your soul as you 
 
 441 
 
 have hitherto its damnation, and I will 
 pray to God that He will have mercy 
 upon you.” 
 
 From this time the man regularly at- 
 tended upon the ministry of Kilstein, 
 and ere long was brought in humble 
 ere to Christ as a true believer. 
 —Sel. 
 
 — 870 — 
 
 REWARDED RESCUER OF BAG. 
 
 Through an open drawbridge a wom- 
 an fell by accident into the canal at 
 Trenton, N. J., and was drowning. 
 George Washington McIntyre, a news- 
 boy only eight years of age, known as 
 “Reddy Tough,” jumped into the canal, 
 kept the woman from sinking, and got 
 her part of the way to shore, when those 
 on the bank pulled them both out. 
 
 “Yellow” Dunn was playing ball with 
 “Reddy” when the accident occurred, 
 and, noticing the woman’s handbag 
 floating on the water, jumped in and 
 made for that and saved it, paying little 
 or no attention to the woman who was 
 drowning. The first thing the woman 
 did when taken out of the water was 
 to ask for her purse, which contained 
 $200. “Yellow,” taking off his hat, po- 
 litely said, “Here it is lady, I almost 
 drowned getting it out.” The woman, 
 opening the bag, took a new five dollar 
 bill out and handed it to “Yellow” as 
 an expression of her gratitude for 
 having saved her money; but to little 
 “Reddy,” who had saved her life, she 
 did not give a penny, only said, “Thank 
 you, my little man.” 
 
 We trust there was some mistake in 
 the newspaper report, because it is hard 
 for us to think that any person, man or 
 woman, young or old, could be so lost 
 to gratitude and so frozen with avarice 
 as to act in such a manner, contrasting 
 her greed for money with the little 
 newsboy’s heroism and yet her conduct 
 suggests that of thousands of people 
 who count health and even life as sec- 
 ondary to the bag with money in it 
 floating on the water—The Christian 
 Herald. 
 
442% 
 
 — 871 — 
 
 UNKNOWN RICHES 
 
 A few years ago an old man living in 
 New Jersey discovered about $5,000 in 
 a family Bible. The bank notes were 
 scattered throughout the book. In 1874 
 the aunt of this man had died and one 
 clause of her will was as follows: 
 
 “To my beloved nephew, Stephen 
 Marsh, I will and bequeath my family 
 Bible and all it contains, with the rest- 
 due of my estate after my funeral ex- 
 penses and just debts are paid.” 
 
 The estate amounted to a few hundred 
 dollars, which was soon spent, afd for 
 about 35 years his chief support had 
 been a small pension from the govern- 
 ment. He lived in poverty, and all the 
 time within reach there was the precious 
 Bible containing thousands of dollars, 
 sufficient for all his wants. 
 
 He passed that Bible by. His eyes 
 rested on it, perhaps his hands handled 
 the old leather bound Book with its 
 brass clasps, but he did not once open 
 it. At last while packing his trunk to 
 move to his son, where he intended to 
 spend his remaining years, he discov- 
 ered the unknown riches. 
 
 What thoughts of regret must have 
 come to his mind. If he only had opened 
 that Bible years ago, he then might have 
 used the money to great advantage. In- 
 stead of that the treasure laid idle for 
 35 years. And he might have had it and 
 enjoyed it all that time.—Our Hope. 
 
 we 872 meme 
 MIRACULOUS JOY IN SORROW 
 
 Is it practically possible to be happy 
 while we are suffering? Or is this only 
 the futile imagination of the visionary? 
 Listen to the answer given by a mission- 
 ary who, when his labors were unusually 
 blessed, was stricken with leprosy. The 
 English magazine, “The Faith and the 
 Flock,” gives this man’s testimony after 
 he was obliged to cease from active ser- 
 vice and live a life of seclusion and of 
 “daily dying”: “I thought sometimes 
 that the Lord had forgotten and for- 
 saken me, that he had hidden his face 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 from me. But it was fot ¥6. Thé more 
 sorrow I had to bear, the easier it has 
 become; and now I am rejoicing in my 
 Saviour every hour. You ask how I am. 
 I have lost my eyesight now and my 
 voice; I have no feet or ankles; no arms; 
 but my heart is far from, dead, I still 
 feel, and long, and sympathize. ... I 
 have no doubts in these days, and if I 
 had my voice, I should be singing all the 
 day long.” It takes more than a “vision- 
 ary imagination” to work this miracle 
 in aman. But the same Christ who is 
 accomplishing it triumphantly for him 
 can also bring your joy to flood tide in 
 the midst of whatever suffering he asks 
 you to endure.—Sunday School Times. 
 
 | — 873 — 
 ANYWHERE FOR CHRIST 
 
 A young minister was at his annual 
 conference, and had just received the 
 Bishop’s announcement of his appoint- 
 ment for the following year. He was 
 greatly disappointed. He took his griev- 
 ance to Bishop Simpson, and said: 
 “Bishop, I can not go to that appoint- 
 ment. The salary is too small, and it is 
 too far away from the city.” 
 
 The Bishop tenderly remonstrated 
 with him, and told him not to decide 
 hastily, and urged him to pray over it. 
 
 On Sunday the noble Bishop occu- 
 pied the pulpit, and preached his famous 
 sermon from the text: “None of these 
 things move me; neither count I my life 
 dear unto myself, so that I may finish 
 my course with joy and the ministry 
 which I have received of the Lord 
 Jesus.” 
 
 As the Bishop was vividly describing 
 St. Paul crying after every pain and 
 agony: “None of these things move 
 me,’ a great commotion was observed 
 in the rear of the congregation, and a 
 voice of a young man was heard by the 
 startled audience, crying: “Anywhere, 
 anywhere, my Lord!” 
 
 Nobody understood that cry except 
 the young man preacher who uttered it 
 and the Bishop in the pulpit. But it 
 meant a soul baptized: for Christian 
 duty.—Evangelist. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 monn 874 won 
 LINCOLN’S FAITH IN PRAYER. 
 
 When President Lincoln left his home 
 in Springfield, Ill., February 11, 1861, on 
 his way to Washington, he made the 
 following farewell address to his friends 
 and neighbors: “My friends, no one not 
 in my position can appreciate the sad- 
 ness I feel at this parting. To this people 
 I owe allI am. Here I have lived more 
 than a quarter of a century; here my 
 children were born, and here one of 
 them lies buried. I know not how soon 
 I shall see you again. 
 
 “A duty devolves upon me which is 
 perhaps greater than that which has 
 devolved upon any other man since the 
 days of Washington. He would never 
 have succeeded except for the aid of 
 Divine Providence, upon which he at 
 all times relied. 
 
 “T feel that I cannot succeed without 
 the same Divine aid which sustained 
 him, and on the same Almighty Being 
 I place my reliance for support; and I 
 hope you, my friends, will all pray that 
 I may receive that Divine assistance, 
 without which I cannot succeed, but 
 with which success is certain. Again, I 
 bid you all an affectionate farewell.” 
 
 At a Sabbath-school convention in 
 Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a 
 friend of his, during an interview with 
 the President, asked him if he loved 
 Jesus. Mr. Lincoln buried his face in 
 his handkerchief and wept. He then 
 said, “When I left home to take this 
 chair of state, I requested my country- 
 men to pray for me. I was not then a 
 Christian. When my son died, the 
 severest trial of my life—I was not a 
 Christian. But when I went to Gettys- 
 burg and looked upon the graves of our 
 dead heroes who had fallen in defence 
 of their country, I then and there con- 
 secrated myself to Christ. I do love 
 Jesus.” Rev. Mr, Adams, of Philadel- 
 phia, stated in his Thanksgiving sermon 
 that, having an appointment to meet the 
 President at 5 o’clock in the morning, he 
 went a quarter of an hour before the 
 time. While waiting for the hour, he 
 
 443 
 
 heard a voice in the next room as if in 
 grave conversation, and asked the ser- 
 vant, “Who is talking in the next 
 room?” “Tt is the President, sir.” “Is 
 anybody with him?” “No, sir, he is 
 reading the Bible.” “Is that his habit 
 so early in the morning?” “Yes, sir. 
 He spends every morning from 4 o’clock 
 to 5 in reading the Scriptures and 
 praying.”—Sel. 
 
 — 875 — 
 A VOICE WITHIN. 
 
 When I was a little boy in my fourth 
 year, one fine day in spring my father 
 led me by the hand to a distant part of 
 the farm, but soon sent me home alone. 
 On the way I had to pass a little pond, 
 then spreading its waters wide; a rho- 
 dora in full bloom, a rare flower which 
 grew only in that locality, attracted my 
 attention, and drew me to the spot. I 
 Saw a little tortoise sunning himself in 
 the shallow waters at the roots of the 
 flaming shrub. I lifted the stick I had 
 in my hand to strike the harmless rep- 
 tile; for, though I had never killed any 
 creature, yet I had seen other boys do 
 so, and I felt a disposition to follow 
 their wicked example. 
 
 But all at once something checked my 
 little arm, and a voice within me said 
 clear and loud: “It is wrong!” I held 
 my uplifted stick, in wonder at the new 
 emotion, the consciousness of an invol- 
 untary but inward check upon my ac- 
 tions, till the tortoise and the rhodora 
 both vanished from my sight. I has- 
 tened home and told the tale to my 
 mother, and asked what it was that told 
 me it was wrong. She wiped a tear 
 from her eye, and taking me in her arms, 
 said: “Some men call it conscience, but 
 I prefer to call it the voice of God in 
 the soul of man. If you listen and obey 
 it, then it will speak clearer and clearer, 
 and always guide you right; but if you 
 turn a deaf ear or disobey, then it will 
 fade out, little by little, and leave you 
 in the dark without a guide. Your life 
 depends on heeding that little voice.”— 
 Dean Farrar. 
 
444 
 
 ~— 876 — 
 SCOTTISH HONESTY. 
 
 At one time in the highlands of Scot- 
 land, to ask for a receipt or promissory 
 note was considered an insult, and such 
 a thing as a breach of contract was 
 rarely heard of, so strictly did the people 
 regard their honor. There is a story of 
 a farmer who had been to the lowlands, 
 and had there acquired worldly wisdom. 
 
 “After returning to his native place 
 he needed some money, and requested 
 a loan from a gentleman in the neigh. 
 borhood. The latter, Mr. Stewart, com- 
 plied and counted out the gold, when the 
 farmer immediately wrote a receipt. 
 “And what is this, man?” cried Mr. 
 Stewart, on receiving the slip of paper. 
 “That is a receipt, sir, binding me to 
 give ye back your gold at the right 
 time,” replied Donald. “Binding ye, in- 
 deed! Well, man, if ye canna trust 
 yoursel’, I’m sure I’ll na trust ye! Such 
 as ye canna hae my gold”; and gather- 
 ing it up, he returned it to his desk and 
 locked it up. 
 
 “But, sir, I might die,” replied the 
 needy Scot, unwilling to surrender his 
 hope of the loan, “and perhaps my sons 
 might refuse it to ye, but the bit of paper 
 would compel them.” ‘“‘Compel them to 
 sustain their dead father’s honor!” cried 
 the enraged Celt. “They'll need com- 
 pelling to do right if this is the road 
 ye’'re leading them. Ye can gang else- 
 where for money, I tell ye; but ye’ll 
 find nane about here that’ll put more 
 faith in a bit of paper than a neighbor’s 
 word of honor and his love of the right.” 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 877 — 
 BREAD DAY BY DAY. 
 
 How true the saying of Jesus, “The 
 poor ye have with you always.” And 
 perhaps it was never more true any- 
 where than in this city. 
 
 As an indication of this, take the fol- 
 lowing statement in an evening paper 
 of July 20th of the year 1915: “There 
 were 798 dispossess cases in seven of 
 the municipal courts of New York City 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 yesterday.” At the usual average, five 
 persons to a family, what a procession 
 of misery would these ejected families 
 make, were they to march before us. 
 Old men and women, some hobbling 
 along with canes and crutches, little chil- 
 dren just able to toddle, infants borne 
 at the breasts of gaunt-faced half-fed 
 mothers, youths and maidens with 
 downcast eyes and shamed-faced, a pro- 
 cession of 4,000 persons, down and out 
 homeless because unable to pay rent. 
 
 “Which of you by taking thought can 
 add one cubic unto his stature?” Anx- 
 iety will lessen strength and shorten 
 life but will not increase one’s stature. 
 God only can do that. So also must 
 the Lord give us food and shelter or we 
 shall go without. We are to pray, “Give 
 us this day our daily bread,” and if God 
 limits the supply sent (exert ourselves 
 as we may) to the needs of the day, we 
 should learn to trust in Him and not be 
 afraid. 
 
 Those thus straitened may be given 
 faith to trust God and also grace to 
 honor Him with their gifts. The regu- 
 lar income of one faithful family of 
 our church is $5 a month, and a place 
 to live for the janitor work done. For 
 weeks none of the three members of 
 that family have had regular employ- 
 ment. Yet last Sunday evening the wife 
 brought for the church offering the last 
 two cents in the house. A friend who 
 came with her gave her ten cents and 
 half of that also was put into the offer- 
 ing, and the remaining five cents was 
 reserved for bread for the morrow’s 
 breakfast—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 878 — 
 BULLET AND BIBLE. 
 
 Not long since, Rev. Charles Ingles, 
 in an address at London, related the 
 following wonderful incident: Twenty 
 years ago I was at a convention in the 
 city of Dublin, and after the meeting a 
 gentleman put a Bible in my hand in 
 which was a round hole in one of the 
 covers. He said, “I want you to look 
 at it.” I took took it up to look at it, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and as I opened the Bible, I found leaf 
 after leaf had this hole through it, and 
 I said, “What does it mean?” 
 
 He said, “Five or six years ago, in a 
 troubled part of the country where I 
 was preaching, I had just finished a ser- 
 vice in a farmhouse, and had got into 
 my cart to ride home. Something said 
 to me, ‘Don’t put your Bible into your 
 coat pocket,’ and I put it in my breast 
 pocket. While riding I saw a ilash, 
 heard a report, and felt something had 
 struck me. I said, ‘Drive on quickly; 
 I think I am shot, but I am not much 
 hurt::.” 
 
 The gentleman shortly afterwards 
 found a hole in his overcoat, and he 
 found the bullet embedded in that Bible, 
 and it had stopped at the 17th of St. 
 John, where it says, “Father, keep them 
 through thy own name.” 
 
 God ever watches over his children, 
 and is never at a loss in devising means 
 to effect their escape, even though they 
 may have to pass through fire and 
 water. 
 
 — 879 — 
 WHY YOU SHOULD BELIEVE 
 
 There are lots of things you don’t 
 understand that you believe. 
 
 Supposing I could transform this au- 
 dience into a clinic and I had a dead 
 body on the table for my subject. I 
 bring on the scalpel; I make an incision 
 and remove two pinkish threads and 
 hold them up. They are just alike in 
 form, shape and color, and the most 
 powerful magnifying glass could not 
 distinguish one iota of difference. One 
 is the nerve of sight and the other the 
 nerve of hearing. 
 
 Can you explain how it is that one 
 nerve will take up the sounds of every- 
 day life and through your ears portray 
 them upon your brain, notes of harmony 
 and discord, so that you can tell whether 
 it is the barking of a dog, the blow of 
 a whistle, the cry of a child? Can you 
 explain how it is that the other nerve 
 will take up that which is absolutely 
 imperceptible to the former nerve and 
 through the retina of the eyes paint on 
 
 445 
 
 your brain the picture of nature so that 
 you can revel in its beauties? Do you 
 understand it? No. Do you believe it? 
 You have to, or acknowledge that you 
 are a fool. Yes, there are lots of things 
 you believe but don’t understand. Then 
 don’t go to hell because you haven't 
 sense enough to understand all there is 
 in the Bible. There are a lot of things 
 you don’t understand.—Billy Sunday. 
 
 — 880 — 
 DAILY FAMILY PRAYERS. 
 
 What America needs more than rail- 
 Way extension and western irrigation, 
 and a lower tariff, and a bigger wheat 
 crop, and a merchant marine, and a new 
 navy, is a revival of piety, the kind 
 mother and father used to have—piety 
 that counted it good. business to stop 
 for daily family prayers before break- 
 fast, right in the middle of the harvest; 
 that quit work a half hour earlier on 
 Thursday night, so as to get the chores 
 done and go to prayer meeting; that 
 borrowed money to pay the preacher’s 
 salary and prayed fervently in secret 
 for the salvation of the rich man who 
 looked with scorn on such unbusiness® 
 like behavicr{ That’s what we need 
 now to clean this country of the filth of 
 graft and greed, petty and big; of wor- 
 ship of fine houses and big lands and 
 high office and grand social functions. 
 What is this thing which we are wor- 
 shiping but a vain repetition of what 
 decayed nations fell down and wor- 
 shiped just before their light went out? 
 Read the history of Rome in decay and 
 you'll find luxury there that could lay 
 a big dollar over our little doughnut 
 that looks so large to us. Great wealth 
 never made a nation substantial nor 
 honorable. There is nothing on earth 
 that looks good that is so dangerous for 
 a man or a nation to handle as quick, 
 easy, big money. If you do resist its 
 deadly influence the chances are that it 
 will get your son. It takes greater and 
 finer heroism to dare to be poor in 
 America than to charge an earthworks 
 in Manchuria.—Wall Street Journal. 
 
446 
 
 — 881 — 
 A REBUKE TO INGERSOLL. 
 
 Eugene Field tells in the Chicago 
 News Record the following touching 
 story of the aged Simon Cameron and 
 Col. Bob Ingersoll: One cheerless, 
 rainy night, some years ago, the ven- 
 erable Simon Cameron was sitting in 
 the office of the Ebbit House, gazing 
 out through the window into the fog 
 and darkness. He was lost in thought 
 and his face was the picture of melan- 
 choly. Presently Col. Ingersoll entered, 
 “What has happened, general?” he 
 asked. “You look as if youd lost your 
 last friend.” “Ah, Bob,” said the old 
 man, with a sigh. “I have just seen a 
 cruel, pitiable sight. An aged and crip- 
 pled soldier was painfully toiling up the 
 street yonder and, was making’ some 
 progress, when a big double-fisted, 
 broad-shouldered fellow kicked the 
 crutches out from under the old cripple, 
 leaving him feeble and helpless, to pick 
 himself up as best he could.” “I would 
 to God I had been here!” cried Inger- 
 soll angrily. ‘“I’d have trounced the 
 rufhan! I never heard of so brutal an 
 outrage! What, abuse an old and crip- 
 pled man like that! Id make quick 
 work of the brute!” “Wait a moment, 
 Bob,” interposed old Simon Cameron, 
 gently. “I was that aged and crippled 
 veteran, and I was toiling along to my 
 grave. And it was you, Bob, who came 
 across my path and kicked from under 
 me the crutches that supported me in 
 that last journey.” Col. Ingersoll made 
 no answer, and the old man continued 
 to look mournfully out into the night. 
 
 — 882 — 
 WHEN GOD ANSWERS PRAYER 
 
 Sometimes God answers our prayers 
 before we pray them. Several years 
 ago, when telegraph wires were being 
 put up in the Shetland Isles, off the 
 coast of Scotland, the islanders, who had 
 never seen a piece of coal or a locomo- 
 tive in their lives, came by hundreds to 
 look at the wires hanging from the poles. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 They could not imagine how messages 
 were going to be transmitted by these 
 wires. 
 
 Among the crowd of people was a 
 sharp, shrewd business man, and by his 
 side stood a half-witted Christian boy. 
 Turning to the boy the man said: “What 
 a wonderful thing! When these wires 
 are completed, you will be able to send 
 a message from here to Aberdeen, two 
 hundred miles away, and get an answer 
 back in twenty minutes. Isn’t that won- 
 derful?” 
 
 “I know something far more wonder- 
 ful,” said the boy. | 
 
 “What is it?” asked the man. 
 
 “Well,” said the boy, “did you ever 
 hear of people getting an answer before 
 they sent their message?” 
 
 “What do you mean?” was the reply. 
 
 The answer came: “I mean what the 
 Bible says: ‘And it shall come to pass, 
 that before they call, I will answer: and 
 while they are yet speaking, I will 
 hear.’ ”—Rev. Charles Inglis. 
 
 — 883 — 
 AN ANARCHIST WAS SAVED. 
 
 In 1849 Dostoievsky, a Russian an- 
 archist, was banished to Siberia. For 
 four years he was herded with felons 
 in what was known as the “House of 
 the Dead.” But he had with him one 
 book, a New Testament. This he read 
 over and over, until anger died down 
 in his soul, and he became a disciple of 
 Christ. 
 
 After ten years of banishment, Dos- 
 toievsky returned to his home, to be 
 known thenceforward as a philanthro- 
 pist, a succorer of the helpless and 
 fallen, a teacher of the faith once for al] 
 entrusted to the saints. George Bran- 
 des, by no means sympathetic with the 
 new opinions of the whilom revolution- 
 ary, asserts that the sorrow over his 
 death was the grief of the nation, and 
 even Nietzsche acknowledges the reality 
 of his new life in Christ. This great 
 change was wrought solely through the 
 reading of the New Testament.—David 
 M. McIntyre. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 884 — 
 GOD LEADS HIS CHILDREN. 
 
 The infallible Word, and the promised 
 help of the Holy Spirit, and the teach- 
 ings and example of our Lord and Sav- 
 ior are not all that we have to direct 
 us. There is also what we may call 
 the pillar of Providence. We some- 
 times talk about “special providences,” 
 because we can detect the leadings of 
 God’s hand more clearly than at other 
 times; but the whole government of 
 God in regard to every one of us is a 
 complex series of special oversights and 
 orderings. 
 
 It has not been my habit to open my 
 Bible when in great perplexity, and to 
 take the first text I lighted on as a 
 direct answer from Heaven; and yet 
 sometimes a single text has flashed on 
 me like a lantern suddenly held out over 
 a dark road. For instance, I was once 
 in long and perplexing doubt whether 
 I ought to accept a call to a distant 
 city. I happened to open a favorite de- 
 votional volume, and my eyes rested 
 on this passage: “Changes in life are 
 often full of danger; ‘wherefore caddest 
 thou about to change thy way?’” That 
 text—which I had never noticed before 
 —settled me. I declined the call, and 
 have beer thankful for it ever since.— 
 Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. 
 
 — 885 — 
 
 SABBATH LAW NOT ARBITRARY. 
 
 The Creator in the very constitution 
 of man ordained that nightly repose 
 should succeed daily labor, and that six 
 days’ toil should be followed by a full 
 day of rest—a Sabbath. All are familiar 
 with the fact that the atheistic French 
 revolutionists soon discovered that their 
 prescribed week of ten days was too 
 long. So of necessity they returned to 
 God’s plan of one day’s rest in every 
 seven, 
 
 The experience of the early gold seek- 
 ers of California may not be so well 
 known. Miller, in “Physiology in Har- 
 mony with the Bible,” says: “At first 
 
 ANECDOTES 447 
 they worked, worked incessantly. Sab- 
 bath and Saturday knew no change. ... 
 But very soon they were obliged to 
 pause and ponder; they had begun to 
 dig something else than gold—they 
 were digging graves; and no long time 
 elapsed ere they were brought to the 
 conviction that it was essential, on the 
 score of mere life and strength, that one 
 day out of the seven should be devoted 
 to rest. And having come to that con- 
 clusion, they made a virtue of necessity. 
 They searched out the Sabbath, of 
 which they had lost all reckoning, and 
 kept it, under a physiological compul- 
 sion.”’—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 886 — 
 THE COUNTERSIGN. 
 
 ..The following incident was often re- 
 lated by Mr. George H. Stuart, president 
 of the United States Christian Commis- 
 sion. He was with the Army of the 
 Potomac. Going about one dark night, 
 he was suddenly halted by the guard, a 
 mere boy: “Halt! Who goes there?” 
 “A friend with the countersign.” 
 
 “Advance and give the countersign.” 
 “Blennerhassett.” 
 
 “Mr. Stuart,” said the guard, lowering 
 his gun, “I recognize your voice, but 
 you have not got the countersign. Stand 
 where you are till I call the officer of the 
 guard.” 
 
 By some unaccountable oversight the 
 countersign of the previous day had been 
 given him, and by the rules of war he 
 might have been shot. 
 
 When the officer came he was admit- 
 ted to the lines. Tapping the guard on 
 the shoulder, Mr. Stuart said to him: 
 “My boy, if you should be taken off in 
 one of these battles, could you give the 
 countersign at the gate of heaven?” 
 
 “Yes, Mr. Stuart, ‘The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth us from all sin.’ ” 
 
 Two days later Mr. Stuart found this 
 boy mortally wounded. He gave Mr. 
 Stuart his watch and a parting message 
 to his mother, and died in the triumph 
 of faith. 
 
448” ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 887 — 
 AMAZING GRACE. 
 
 Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, years ago, re- 
 lated the following remarkable incident, 
 which occurred during his pastorate at 
 St. George’s Episcopal Church, New 
 York. It illustrates the power of the 
 Holy Spirit to subdue a most rebellious 
 will, and it should encourage Christian 
 wives to be faithful to Christ if they 
 would see their unconverted husbands 
 brought to the feet of the Master: 
 
 “Many years since, a gay and fashion- 
 able pair lived near me and attended my 
 ministry. The wife was beautiful, social 
 and admired. The husband was rich and 
 worldly, and delighted in the admiration 
 which, in society, his wife received. 
 They lived a reckless, gay, and worldly 
 life. Except in the worship of an oc- 
 casional Sunday morning, they knew 
 nothing of religion, and cared nothing 
 for what they heard even then. But in 
 the wonders of grace this gay and fash- 
 ionable woman was converted there, and 
 in the most open and decided manner 
 renounced her life of folly, and cast her 
 lot among the followers of the Lord. 
 Her sudden change of life and purpose 
 intensely enraged her unconverted hus- 
 band, who had no sympathy with her, 
 and could not understand her. He tried 
 in every possible manner to overthrow 
 her plans, and drive her from her choice. 
 He forbid her union with the church, in 
 any personal act. He watched at the 
 gates of the church-yard to prevent her 
 entrance by force. So far was this hos- 
 tility carried, that at last she found ac- 
 cess to the church for her appointed 
 baptism only through the window in the 
 rear. Thus matters went on for weeks, 
 every day bringing me some tidings of 
 his violence and her sufferings. How 
 much their domestic affairs were known 
 to others, I never knew. The people and 
 the generation have since passed away. 
 Their young children are now mature, 
 and several of them parents themselves. 
 
 “Some weeks of this new history had 
 passed, when late one evening, after I 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 had retired to my chamber for the night, 
 my door-bell was violently pulled, and a 
 messenger said Mrs. desired to see 
 me immediately. I dressed myself and 
 went, anticipating some scene of viol- 
 ence, and simply saying to my wife 
 where I was going, in case I might be 
 prevented from returning. The streets 
 were solitary and still. As I ascended 
 the steps the door was quietly opened to 
 me, and I was directed to the parlor, 
 where, to my surprise, I found the two 
 sitting together on the sofa, with no 
 other person present. The man looked 
 up to me in an agony of tears, as in as- 
 tonishment I sat by his side and asked 
 an explanation. ‘Oh, sir,’ he cried, ‘can 
 I be saved, can I be saved?’ ‘Yes, 
 surely,’ I answered; “but you amaze me 
 —what has led you to do this?’ .“This 
 angel,’ he replied, with eagerness, ‘you 
 know how I hated her religion. But 
 you do not know how I hated you. I 
 thought you the blackest of human 
 beings. You had broken up my hap- 
 piness, you had destroyed my peace, 
 you had separated my family, you had 
 alienated my wife from me. I laid it 
 all to you. I was intensely enraged 
 with you. I have several times watched 
 for you at night with the intention of 
 killing you. But it is all over now. I 
 am thankful to see you. But this angel 
 wife—I have cursed her; I have perse- 
 cuted her in every way. I have beaten 
 her, I have pulled her down by the hair; 
 and she has received it all in silence and 
 meekness. She has never said one un- 
 kind word in reply; but she has prayed 
 for me and loved me. And I can stand 
 it no longer. I am miserable, because I 
 am so guilty. I have rebelled so horribly. 
 I have been loved and treated so affec- 
 tionately. Can I be saved?’ The wife sat 
 silently and heard the whole, and then 
 gently said, ‘My dear husband seemed 
 so distressed to-night that I took the 
 liberty to send for you.’ How fresh and 
 vivid is that whole scene before me as I 
 write, with all its incidents and details, 
 which I will not describe. With what de- 
 light did I preach the Saviour’s love to 
 this lost one thus at last aroused by that 
 
 
 
 | 
 : 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 love to see his own voluntary and agegra- 
 vated guilt! 
 
 “We passed more than an hour thus 
 together, and closed our conversation 
 with earnest prayer. Blessed, indeed, 
 was the result. The strong man armed 
 had found a stronger than he, who had 
 taken from him all his armor wherein 
 he trusted, and spoiled his goods. He 
 was subdued by love, converted by Di- 
 vine power. He, too, came into the 
 Saviour’s flock, and on the side of Jesus. 
 How changed the mad one became, ‘sit- 
 ting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in 
 his right mind.’ He witnessed among 
 us for years a good confession; he was 
 honored and beloved in the church; a 
 pattern of gentleness and fidelity at home 
 and abroad. After some years of earn- 
 est Christian life on earth, his course 
 was finished and his rest attained.” 
 
 — 888 — 
 THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 
 
 Illustrating the influence of the Bible 
 in family life the Rev. W. H. Griffith 
 Thomas, D.D., recently related an in- 
 cident, essentially as follows: 
 
 Years ago, a Bulgarian weaver se- 
 cured a Bible from a colportuer of the 
 American Bible Society. As he worked 
 at his loom he read and meditated upon 
 passages from that wonderful book; and 
 in the evening at his supper table he 
 related to his wife and children what he 
 had read. 
 
 In process of time that Bulgarian 
 family immigrated to America, and of 
 course that precious volume came with 
 them. Minus its cover, but prized for 
 what it had done for their family, that 
 old book was found not long since in 
 the possession of the eldest son, in 
 Cieveland, Ohio, the pastor of a church 
 in that city. 
 
 Speaking of the influence of that Bible 
 in the family of his father he said: “One 
 of my three brothers is a pastor in Min- 
 nesota, another is a teacher in a Chris- 
 tian college and one is a Y. M. C. A. 
 secretary. My four sisters are Chris- 
 tians, and all are Bible Lovers.”—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 ANECDOTES 449 
 —~ 889 —< 
 THE PROMISE THAT HELD. 
 
 On the top floor of a tenement house, 
 one morning, I found a woman very ill. 
 Her bodily suffering was great, but her 
 distress on account of her sins was 
 greater, 
 
 “Oh,” she moaned, “if God would only 
 have mercy on me! If it was only well 
 with my soul!” 
 
 She felt she had wandered so far 
 from God that she could not get back. 
 She had stayed away so long He would 
 not now receive her, 
 
 I spoke of the love Christ has for sin- 
 ners, and His willingness to receive 
 them. Yet nothing seemed to afford 
 her relief. Finally I repeated the pre- 
 cious words of our Lord, “Him that 
 cometh unto me I will in no wise cast 
 out.” 
 
 At that her moaning ceased, and she 
 exclaimed, “Say that again!” And I 
 slowly repeated, ““Him that cometh unto 
 me I will in no wise cast out.” 
 
 That poor woman grasped that prom- 
 ise as eagerly as a drowning man would 
 a rope, and I went away rejoicing that 
 it was my high privilege to bear such 
 glad tidings to lost sinners.—Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall, 
 
 — 890 — 
 SHAMED BY HIS OX. 
 
 A farmer who had listened to an ex- 
 position of the text from Isa. I.—“The 
 ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his 
 master’s crib; but Israel doth not know. 
 My people doth not consider” ——was giv- 
 ing food to his stock, when one of his 
 oxen, evidently grateful for his care, fell 
 to licking his bare arm. Instantly, with 
 this simple incident, the Holy Spirit 
 flashed in conviction on the farmer’s 
 mind. He burst into tears, and ex- 
 claimed: “Yes, it is all true. How won- 
 derful is God’s word! This poor dumb 
 brute is really more grateful to me than 
 I am to God, and yet I am in debt to 
 Him for everything. What a sinner I 
 am!” The lesson had found its way to 
 his heart, and wrought there effectually 
 to lead him to Christ.—Selected, 
 
450 
 
 — 891 — 
 A FORTUNATE MISTAKE 
 
 General Oliver O. Howard is famed 
 as a capable and courageous officer, (he 
 lost his right arm at Fair Oaks), yet his 
 more enduring fame rests on the fact 
 that he was justly styled the “Christian 
 soldier.” 
 
 His type of piety was not such that 
 he was satisfied to lead a good life, and 
 yet keep his light hidden under a bushel. 
 He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and openly acknowledged Him as his 
 King and Saviour, and was zealous in 
 his efforts to persuade others to become 
 followers of Christ also. te 
 
 General Howard was a Congregation- 
 alist, and was probably the most widely 
 known man of his denomination in this 
 country. And we shall always regard 
 his becoming an incorporator of the 
 People’s Tabernacle as quite provi- 
 dential. 
 
 In 1898, when planning to incor- 
 porate the work, since it was to contin- 
 ue interdenominational in character, of 
 course I wanted the Congregational 
 church represented on the list of its in- 
 corporators, and thought of the desir- 
 ability of securing, if possible, General 
 Oliver O. Howard as one of them. 
 There was one difficulty: I had no ac- 
 quaintance with General Howard, and 
 doubted if he knew of the work of the 
 People’s Tabernacle, and consequently 
 was not intending to put forth any effort 
 to secure him as an incorporator. 
 
 But a few days before the work was 
 to be incorporated, calling at the office 
 of a friend one day in the vicinity of 
 23d Street, he asked if I had a copy of 
 the recently issued American Revised 
 Version of the Bible. Learning that I 
 had not he made me a present of one. 
 Having business farther down town, I 
 
 left the Bible at the store of the Ameri- 
 'can Tract Society on 23d Street. Some 
 time later I called at the store for the 
 book. The clerks for the present were 
 engaged, and being in a hurry I was 
 somewhat annoyed by the delay in get- 
 ting the book. But had I got it at once 
 
 FLLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 probably I should never have become 
 acquainted with General Howard. 
 
 While I was waiting a gentleman en- 
 tered whom I took to be a ministerial 
 acquaintance. Advancing to meet him 
 and extending my hand, I greeted him 
 with, “How do you do, Dr. Sproull!” 
 He put forth his left hand and then I 
 was aware of my mistake, and said, “I 
 see I am mistaken, you are not Dr. 
 Sproull, but General Howard!” “Yes,” 
 said he, “but who is Dr. Sproull? I 
 have been taken for him before.” I told 
 him that Dr. Sproull was pastor of the 
 church of Sea and Land. 
 
 Then I told him who I was, and that 
 I had been wishing to meet him and 
 why, and learned he knew something of 
 the People’s Tabernacle. When he 
 came into the store had I known him 
 to be the celebrated General Howard, 
 it is safe to say I would not have ven- 
 tured to introduce myself to him. But 
 I found him very cordial, and after ex- 
 plaining to him the principles of the pro- 
 posed charter, he remarked, “If you 
 don’t get incorporators enough without 
 me, call and see me.” I thanked him 
 and said he could rest assured we should 
 not have enough without him, nor did 
 we.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 892 — 
 A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT 
 
 One of the workers of our new Dig- 
 beth Institute, Birmingham, works all 
 day to earn twenty-five shillings a week, 
 and finds refreshment and recreation at 
 night in getting into the gap between 
 sinners and God. He had his eye on a 
 man that was a perfect beast—Devil- 
 ridden, lust-ridden, battered, bruised, al- 
 together in bondage. Night after night 
 he went to this man’s slum house and 
 tried to keep him from the public house. 
 
 Finally one night my working-man | 
 brother came to my vestry and said, 
 “Mr. Jowett, the eightieth time did it!” 
 Eighty nights, seventy-nine failures; 
 the eightieth time he got the man to the 
 Institute. By the mercy of man he led 
 him to the mercy of God, and tonight he 
 is at home in Christ.—Dr. J. H. Jowett. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 893 —— 
 EXPERIENCE TRUSTING GOD 
 Some years ago the writer was pastor 
 
 of a small home mission church at Iron 
 Mountain, Michigan,. It was his first 
 charge, and he must say he toiled hard 
 to make the cause of the Master flour- 
 ish. The church had been newly or- 
 ganized, and the little band of members 
 although devoted were poorly off as to 
 worldly possessions, The growth of the 
 church was at an encouraging rate not- 
 withstanding the encumbrance of a 
 debt, incurred by the erection of a 
 church and the purchase of a parson- 
 age. To meet the payments as they fell 
 due, and also to pay the pastor his sal- 
 ary, which they esteemed their first ob- 
 ligation, taxed the financial strength of 
 the congregation to its utmost. 
 
 For three years, his salary was paid 
 promptly month by month, but other 
 obligations could not be met with the 
 same alacrity. One claim was being 
 pressed vigorously, and the struggling 
 little flock were becoming disheartened. 
 
 At that time, 1889, the pastor after 
 due consideration and prayer, resolved 
 upon a course of action contemplated 
 for a long time.. So after the sermon 
 one Sabbath morning, he told the people 
 that he had decided to no longer accept 
 a stated salary while he remained their 
 pastor. But he would take for his sup- 
 port what might be cheerfully given in 
 the collections. He told the people they 
 were now free to pay their debts and 
 give him what they had left. He then 
 proposed that they abandon socials as 
 a means of money getting, and asked 
 them to give, from love to Christ, $900 
 within the next nine months, to apply 
 on church debt. This was twice as 
 much as had ever been raised in any 
 year before. 
 
 Presbytery met in our church that 
 Spring, and when the action of the 
 pastor became known, the general opin- 
 ion seemed to be voiced by one of the 
 oldest and most influential ministers 
 when he arose and said: “Brother Tyn- 
 dall means well, but he has made a mis- 
 take. He will yet be glad to have some 
 
 451 
 
 of his brethren come over and help raise 
 some money for him.” 
 
 This prediction was never fulfilled. 
 The people knew their pastor was de- 
 pendent upon his salary for a livelihood, 
 and they had no disposition to starve 
 him out. On the other hand his example 
 was contagious, and more cheerfully 
 and freely than ever their gifts flowed 
 into the Lord’s treasury, and in the 
 nine months the $900 was paid, and the 
 church was blessed spiritually and 
 financially as never before. 
 
 The writer remhained there two years 
 longer, and while the money he received 
 was $200 a year less than it would have 
 been had he retained his salary, yet 
 God made it sufficient so that he always 
 had enough and some to spare. 
 
 That experience was needed to help 
 us face the greater difficulties of this 
 New York City field. Here many thou- 
 sands of souls were perishing without 
 the gospel. But to come, salary must 
 be resigned. No congregation invited, 
 and no support was offered. But thanks 
 be to God, we came! He has prospered 
 our labors, provided for our needs, and 
 kept us in peace. 
 
 If this testimony, given for His glory, 
 shall help any one, we shall be glad.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 894 — 
 FAME’S DURATION 
 
 Henry van Dyke writes thus of fame: 
 “One thing is certain in regard to fame; 
 for most of us it will be very brief in 
 itself; for all of us it will be transient in 
 our enjoyment of it. When death has 
 dropped the curtain we shall hear no 
 more applause. And though we fondly 
 dream that it will continue after we 
 have left the stage, we do not realize 
 how quickly it will die away in silence 
 while the audience turns to look at the 
 new actor and the next scene. Our 
 position in society will be filled as soon 
 as it is vacated, and our name remem- 
 bered only for a moment—except, please 
 God, by a few who have learned to love 
 us, not because of fame but because we 
 have helped them and done them some 
 good.” 
 
452 
 
 m= 895 — 
 THE REWARD OF FAITH 
 
 In 1893, a year after starting the work 
 of the People’s Tabernacle, we wrote 
 the subjoined article, which then ap- 
 peared in the little paper which we have 
 published nearly twenty-seven years. 
 
 From that time to this, 1920, the work 
 has gone on, and our hope respecting 
 a building has been more than realized. 
 We have a church, a parsonage and a 
 hotel. No debt and some endowment. 
 Thousands of souls have been brought 
 under the power of the gospel. Ought 
 we not now to thank God for the past, 
 and with increased faith trust Him for 
 the tens of thousands, and for long con- 
 tinuance? 
 
 “We suppose there are some doubting 
 Thomases who are watching for our 
 halting. When the work was started 
 they said it could not succeed, that we 
 would soon get discouraged and give it 
 up as a bad job. 
 
 “Tf such ones only knew how far we 
 are from abandoning our undertaking, 
 and that every week the likelihood of 
 our doing so is growing less and less, 
 they would conclude that they are more 
 likely to die of old age while waiting for 
 the work to cease than it is to stop. 
 
 “The task to which we felt called was 
 indeed no easy one. It was nothing less 
 than, with God’s help and blessing, to 
 build a church here for these poor and 
 neglected people. Now, while we are 
 not unmindful of the magnitude of this 
 undertaking, we have great confidence 
 in its worthiness and importance. It is 
 well worth the best part of one’s life to 
 succeed in such an effort. 
 
 “What does success in this case mean? 
 
 “It means that a large commodious 
 building, consecrated to the work and 
 worship of God, shall here be erected. 
 That multitudes of children shall be im- 
 pressed with gospel truth in the Sab- 
 bath-school provided. That thousands 
 of eager listeners shall be gathered 
 within its walls to hear the message of 
 Salvation. And more important still, it 
 means that this down-pour of blessing 
 shall be continued for generations, until 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 this desert shall blossom as the rose. 
 Yes, success means nothing less than the 
 eternal salvation of tens of thousands of 
 souls.”’—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 896 — 
 
 GEN. 0. 0. HOWARD'S 
 CONVERSION 
 
 I was preaching in Tampa, Florida, to 
 the soldiers, just before they sailed for 
 Cuba. General Howard was present 
 one night, and gave us his experience. 
 
 He said: “Forty-two years ago, at 
 Fort Brook, two miles from here, I sur- 
 rendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. I 
 went to a little Methodist Church one 
 August night. I need not have gone, be- 
 cause the village is small, and the preach- 
 er preached loud enough to be heard all 
 over the place. That night the preacher 
 invited enquirers (‘mourners,’ he called 
 them) to come to the altar and seek for- 
 giveness of their sins, and about twenty 
 plain people went forward. Just behind 
 me sat two officers from the Fort in their 
 regimentals, and they were amused by 
 the proceedings. They kept nudging each 
 other, and having some fun at the ex- 
 pense of the ‘mourners.’ 
 
 “That made me feel indignant,” Gen- 
 eral Howard went on. “I said to myself, 
 ‘I would rather be up there with those 
 simple people, trying to get right, than 
 back here with these sneering officers ;’ 
 so I quietly rose, walked down the aisle 
 and knelt at the Communion-rail, not be- 
 cause I wanted to be a Christian, but 
 because I wanted the people to see that 
 I did not want to be with the scoffing 
 crowd, but with those people trying to 
 do right. The preacher came and knelt 
 by my side, and I had not been there five 
 minutes before I got more than I came 
 for. He began to talk about my mother’s 
 Bible and Heaven, and tears dropped on 
 the carpet. I said to myself, ‘There is 
 something in this after all; I am going 
 to be a Christian.’ I rose from my knees, 
 went back to the barracks, and took out 
 the Bible I had scarcely looked at since 
 my mother gave itto me. I laid it on the 
 table, knelt Before it, then I surrendered 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, and peace came 
 into my soul. I began to walk the floor 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 and said, ‘Praise the Lord for salvation!’ 
 I went out under the stars; they seemed 
 to shine more brightly, and I spent the 
 whole night praising God, for I did not 
 want to go to sleep.” 
 
 General Howard went on to relate 
 how, next morning, he met an officer, 
 who said, “Howard, I hear you have 
 turned pious.” .“I have, and I am not 
 ashamed of it,” Howard replied. “Oh,” 
 he said, “if you will come to my room, 
 I can show you ever so many mistakes 
 in the Bible.’ Howard said, “I am not 
 caring about that now; but I can tell 
 you one thing you cannot contradict, 
 and that is that last night I surrendered 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been 
 so happy that I could not sleep.” The 
 officer shut his mouth, opened his eyes, 
 and went on. 
 
 General Howard continued: “I prayed 
 to God to give me every soldier in Fort 
 Brook, and before we broke camp—I 
 think it was three years afterwards— 
 every man was converted except one 
 man, who became a general in the Civil 
 War.” Then Howard’s voice trembled 
 and his eyes filled with tears, as he said: 
 “On the battlefield in Virginia, I was 
 standing in the midst of bursting shells 
 and whistling bullets, when General 
 Cassard came up, covered with powder- 
 smoke, and said, “Howard; in Fort 
 Brook you had something which I had 
 not’; and there, in the midst of the 
 battle, I preached Jesus to my old 
 friend. God answered my prayer to the 
 letter. In three weeks General Cassard 
 was in eternity.”—-Dr. A. C. Dixon. 
 
 — 897 — 
 THE LOST HANDKERCHIEF 
 
 One day, when the streets were espec- 
 ially muddy, in crossing Fourth avenue 
 to Wanamaker’s store, I spied on the 
 cross-walk a large, beautiful handker- 
 chief, lost by somebody. Its linen 
 whiteness made it conspicuous above the 
 black mud of the street. Just as I was 
 stooping to pick it up, I discovered it 
 had been trodden upon, and so was de- 
 filed by the filth of the street. As I did 
 not want to put it into my pocket, nor 
 
 ‘as new.”’ 
 
 453 
 
 catry it in my hand, I passed on and left 
 it to its fate. 
 
 But my interest was aroused, and I 
 waited on the curb to see what would 
 become of the handkerchief. As I 
 watched, I saw one or two persons, ob- 
 serving it, make a motion to pick it up, 
 but not knowing what to do with in its 
 filthy condition, they hesitated and then 
 passed on. 
 
 Finally a poorly-dressed boy of about 
 twelve years came along, and I called his 
 attention to it, saying: “There is a valu- 
 able pocket handkerchief out there. Go 
 and getit. With a little soap and water 
 your mother can easily make it as good 
 So he walked to where it lay, 
 picked it up; gave it a flirt or two, and 
 went off, evidently well-pleased with his 
 find. 
 
 The predicament of that lost handker- 
 chief reminded me of the condition of 
 the unsaved sinner. The size and tex- 
 ture of the handkerchief were all that 
 could be desired. But it would be of no 
 use for one to plead: “The linen is the 
 finest, and the most of the handkerchief 
 is still white.” 
 
 Until cleansed from its filth, it was 
 utterly useless for the purpose for which 
 it was made. No decent person could 
 tolerate it as a handkerchief until 
 cleansed. 
 
 Just so with the sinner with unre- 
 newed nature. He may possess many 
 admirable qualities, but his heart is cor- 
 rupt. Jesus says: “Out of the heart 
 proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulter- 
 ies, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
 blasphemies: These are the things which 
 defile a man.” Matt. 15:19, 20. 
 
 And if a man’s heart be filthy with sin 
 where can God find a place for him? 
 Certainly not in His holy presence. 
 
 As the soiled handkerchief was valu- 
 able because it could be easily cleansed, 
 so the sinner, even the vilest, because 
 his nature may be renewed, and his sins 
 be washed away in that fountain opened 
 in the house of David for sin and un- 
 cleanness, is precious beyond all price. 
 But he is of no worth if he is to remain 
 uncleansed.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. — 
 
454 
 
 — 893 — 
 THE BIBLE AS A WEAPON 
 
 A number of years ago an incident oc- 
 curred which greatly endeared the Bible 
 to me, and caused me to feel safe with- 
 out any carnal weapon. 
 
 All in a moment I found myself sur- 
 rounded by six men demanding my 
 purse. I was where I could not defend 
 myself or obtain help from man. [I con- 
 fess to a strange palpitation in my heart. 
 It seemed clear that my purse or life 
 must go. At that instant something 
 seemed to say: 
 
 “Tell them who you are.” 
 
 With much difficulty I said to them: 
 
 “T am a minister of Jesus Christ. My 
 business is to preach Christ wherever I 
 go, and you know you are making a de- 
 mand upon me that you cannot meet at 
 the judgment seat of Christ.” 
 
 After a little I distinctly heard one of 
 them say: 
 
 “Let him go.” 
 
 Then I knew God’s revolver had taken 
 effect. I now became calm, and pointed 
 them to the Judgment seat, where they 
 must meet me and this whole transac- 
 tion. Strange to tell, they were silent 
 for a little, then one by one went away, 
 and left me alone. This was plainly the 
 effect of preaching to them the great 
 Day of Judgment, accompanied by the 
 Divine Spirit. 
 
 I can never forget my feelings as I 
 walked away from the spot, seeing 
 “Jesus only” with me. I seemed to 
 grasp the “Bible” with a new love and 
 confidence, and silently said: 
 
 “T shall never need any other revolver 
 than this.”—Rev. A. B. Earl. 
 
 — 899 — 
 “TO THE POOR THE GOSPEL” 
 
 One Sunday after church, learning 
 that a little five-year-old girl of our 
 Sunday School had been burned to 
 death, and was to be buried that after- 
 noon, I went around to see if I could be 
 of any service. After speaking a few 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 words of sympathy, I 48ked the father 
 if he. was going to have a minister. He 
 said: “I am a poor man and not able to 
 pay a minister.” I told him I never 
 charged for such services, and would 
 like to come if he desired it. Bursting 
 into tears, he said he would not have 
 me to come for nothing, but if I would 
 come for a small sum, he would be 
 thankful. Then he told me that his wife 
 had been so insane since the death of 
 an older child, that she would never 
 own this little girl. And that he had 
 been both father and mother to her. 
 
 That afternoon, as I stood by that 
 little casket, I was thankful for the priv- 
 ilege of trying to comfort that father, 
 broken hearted over the loss of that 
 sweet child. Is it not too bad, that it is 
 possible for the poor to feel that they 
 must bury their dead without the com- 
 fort of the Gospel, because too poor to 
 pay a minister?—Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 
 all. 
 
 — 900 — 
 
 DUTY MORE THAN LIFE 
 
 Some time ago, in a deaconess hos- 
 pital, fire was suddenly discovered in 
 the frail wooden structure which con- 
 tained the patients. All from the first 
 and second floors had made their escape. 
 Suddenly a girl’s white face appeared at 
 the third-story window. It was the 
 nurse, Minnie Baumer, in whose charge 
 was a patient strapped to a bedstead, 
 under treatment for a broken hip. “Help 
 
 me save my patient!” she cried. But 
 the lower part of the house was a mass of 
 flames, and no one could help. “Jump 
 and save yourself!” they shouted back. 
 She could have dropped to the broad 
 roof of the veranda. Eager hands were 
 waiting to assist her, but she only re- 
 plied, “I can’t leave my patient,” and 
 disappeared. When it was over, they 
 found the poor charred body fallen by 
 the bedside, the hands still clutching 
 the cruel fastenings which bound her 
 helpless charge, in a last attempt, in 
 blindness and pain, to undo them. 
 Selected. : 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a= 90] m= 
 HELP SENT VIA CHICAGO 
 
 I sat down to read a portion of God’s 
 Word in a Pullman sleeper early one 
 morning, when a young gentleman, an 
 entire stranger, in passing, paused, and 
 upon inviting him to a seat by my side, 
 he gave this experience, says a writer in 
 the Sunday School Times. 
 
 “I am a ‘bond’ salesman from Chi- 
 cago. Returning from Freeport, Illi- 
 nois, one day, I discovered that I should 
 reach Chicago too late for my work in 
 the cffice that day; so I determined to 
 stop off at a small town between trains 
 and pay an old friend a visit. It was to 
 be a surprise. Upon going to his home, 
 I found the house locked up, and the 
 neighbors informed me that my friend 
 had gone away for a three weeks’ stay. 
 This was a disappointment. 
 
 “A wait of five hours for the next 
 _ train confronted me, but I determined 
 to make the best of it; so I walked out 
 into the country to pass away the time, 
 and came upon an aged man in a field by 
 the roadside, who was slowly turning 
 hay, preparing it for the barn. After 
 exchanging greetings, I engaged the old 
 man in conversation, but I soon discov- 
 ered that while he was very .courteous 
 and kind in his replies to my questions, 
 he kept at his work. The thought came 
 to me, ‘Why not help him?’ Telling him 
 of my disappointment, I took an idle 
 fork standing near by, and side by side 
 we worked and talked. When the hay 
 was all raked up and gathered in small 
 heaps, I found that I must return to the 
 station. Extending my hand to bid him 
 
 gojod-bye I remarked that my disap- 
 pointment had been turned into genuine 
 pleasure by his acquaintance. 
 
 “Holding my hand,” he said, “Let me 
 tell you something before you go. This 
 morning, aS we awoke, mother and I 
 talked about getting up this hay. I re- 
 marked that I was feeling so badly that 
 I feared I should be unable to accom- 
 plish the task; but mother encouraged 
 me, and assured me that the Lord would 
 help me. At family prayers we both 
 
 455 
 
 asked our heavenly Father for his help. 
 I arose feeling refreshed, and felt sure 
 that in some way he would help, -but,” 
 he added, as he pressed my hand tighter 
 and a tear glistened in his eye, “I really 
 did not expect the Lord to send a man 
 from Chicago with kid gloves and pat- 
 ent-leather shoes to help me do it.” 
 
 — 902 — 
 
 TYNDALE’S NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 The following is a striking example of 
 the manner in which sometimes the 
 enmity of men is turned to good. 
 
 Soon after Tyndale’s New Testament 
 was published, 1526, a royal proclama- 
 tion was issued to prohibit the buying 
 and reading of such translation or trans- 
 lations. But this served to increase the 
 public curiosity, and to occasion a more 
 careful reading of what was deemed so 
 obnoxious. One step, taken by the 
 Bishop of London, afforded some mer- 
 riment to the Protestants. His lordship 
 thought that the best way to pre- 
 vent these English New Testaments 
 from being circulated, would be to buy 
 up the whole impression, and therefore 
 employed a Mr. Packington, then at Ant- 
 werp, for this purpose; assuring him, at 
 the same time, that, cost what they 
 would, he would have them, and burn 
 them at St. Paul’s Cross. 
 
 Upon this, Packington applied him- 
 self to Tyndale (who was then at Ant- 
 werp), and upon agreement, the Bishop 
 had the books, Packington great thanks, 
 and Tyndale all the money. This en- 
 abled Tyndale immediately to publish 
 a new and more correct edition, so that 
 they came over, thick and threefold into 
 England, which occasioned great rage in 
 the disappointed Bishop and his friends. 
 A man named Constantine being soon 
 after apprehended by Sir Thomas More, 
 and being asked how Tyndale and others 
 subsisted abroad, readily answered, “It 
 is the Bishop of London who has been 
 their chief supporter, for he has be- 
 stowed a great deal of money upon them 
 in the purchase of New Testaments to 
 burn them.”—Selected. 
 
456 
 ts 503 
 
 A SCOFFER SILENCED 
 
 In the early days of the People’s Tab- 
 ernacle, I went one Sunday evening after 
 church to a home, where I was a 
 stranger, to baptise a little child. It was 
 the first-born, and much was made of 
 the occasion, and a score or more of the 
 friends of the parents were present. 
 During the evening the father had 
 helped himself so freely to the wine 
 served to the guests that when [I ar- 
 rived his face was flushed, and tongue 
 unloosed. After the ceremony, address- 
 ing me he said, “Of course this is only a 
 form. None of us believe in religion. 
 It is all a humbug. Ministers are 
 preaching for money. They are after 
 the money, just as we all are.” Such re- 
 marks from her husband greatly morti- 
 fied the wife, who was an estimable 
 lady, and in embarrassment she left the 
 room. Assuming he only expressed his 
 honest conviction, and that he intended 
 no offense, I encouraged him to free his 
 mind. And he referred to certain in- 
 stances which he thought proved his 
 opinion correct. 
 
 When he had’ freely expressed his 
 views, he turned to his circle of friends, 
 all strangers to me, and said, “We all 
 think alike here.’ There were smiles of 
 approval on the faces of some, and ex- 
 clamations of dissent from others. 
 
 Then it was my turn. I told the 
 company that I was glad for the expres- 
 sion of such sentiments, not that they 
 were true, but because they were se- 
 cretly held by many, as it afforded me 
 an opportunity of expressing my mind 
 on the subject. I remarked that ail 
 coins are not genuine, neither are all 
 counterfeit. Each one is tested separ- 
 rately, and we do not refuse a good piece 
 of money because of having been im- 
 posed upon some time by a counterfeit. 
 Then to clear myself of the charge of 
 preaching the gospel for money, I said 
 that when I left my church in the West, 
 and came to New York, it was because 
 T believed I could do more good here. 
 At this point I was interrupted with, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “Now, do not say it was because you 
 could do more good here, but be honest, 
 and say it was because you got a larger 
 salary.” I said, “I must admit that my 
 salary here was larger, but just wait a 
 little before you judge.” 
 
 ..I then related how three years before, 
 I found myself living in a district of 
 about a mile square, and learned that for 
 its sixty or seventy thousand people 
 there was not one Protestant church, 
 
 _and for swarms of its children there was 
 
 no Sabbath School. I told how I tried 
 but in vain to induce those having 
 money to do something to supply this 
 need. Then with my family to support 
 and no other income, I at last gave up 
 my salary of $1,500 a year at the Broome 
 St. Tabernacle to work in this field. 
 And though there was no congregation 
 here to invite me to come, and no prom- 
 ised support from any quarter, yet I was 
 willing to expend my savings of less 
 than $500 to start this work, and to trust 
 God to provide for it and for my family. 
 
 I said my salary here for the first 
 three months was $17.79, and for the 
 first year $438, about $1100 less than it 
 would have been had I remained where I 
 was. Now if you think I am preaching 
 the gospel for money, please explain 
 why I should have done as I have.” Of 
 course no reply was attempted. I then 
 showed how God had sustained and 
 prospered the work. That although no 
 one had ever been asked for a dollar, yet 
 in answer to prayer, money had been 
 sent from eighteen different states to 
 help the work, and nearly all was given 
 by strangers too. 
 
 I ended by speaking of my own con- 
 version. How at that time God gave 
 me a love for souls, and that since then 
 it had been my joy to labor for their 
 salvation. And that for eighteen years 
 I had been proving that religion is a 
 divine reality and no humbug. 
 
 To say that my skeptical friend was 
 abashed, and that our attentive listen- 
 ers were impressed by the turn matters 
 had taken, would but lightly express the 
 effect of that short talk on the evidences 
 of Christianity. I found some present 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 who were glad to hear more on the same 
 subject, and I exhorted them to come to 
 the great Teacher himself and learn of 
 him. My critic was very apologetic, and 
 when, during a call some time after, I 
 urged upon him the claims of Christ, he 
 had no doubts to offer, but seemed will- 
 ing to concede that I was in earnest, and 
 evidently knew more about the subject 
 than himself. 
 
 I was thankful to be in a position to 
 refute so easily that slander against the 
 ministry, and to be able to present an 
 unanswerable argument, founded upon 
 personal experience and conduct, in 
 favor of the truth of the gospel. It was 
 one of the compensations given me in 
 lieu of a large salary.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 O04 
 GOD’S JUDGMENTS 
 
 A few years ago, on the island of 
 Martinique, the people were so wicked 
 that they drove the missionaries from 
 the island. They got so heinously full 
 of the devil that they crucified a hog in 
 derision of the Lord Jesus Christ. God 
 could not abide their crime. There lay 
 near the foot of Mt. Pelee, a city of 
 some 35,000 people | 
 
 When God got ready to pronounce 
 His judgments upon those people and 
 upon that city, the rumbling of the 
 mountain was heard; and when the ex- 
 perts went up there to see if there was 
 any danger, they reported, “All is safe.” 
 But the rumbling began again, and the 
 experts again reported, “All is safe.” 
 But the very reptiles, lizards and birds 
 of the mountain side, had more sense 
 than the people in the city, for they left 
 the mountain. God uncapped Pelee, 
 and it vomited out its contents, and 
 buried St. Pierre beneath its ashes. 
 
 Early one morning a few years ago, 
 God began to shake San Francisco, 
 probably the wickedest city in this na- 
 tion. I have lived in that city, and con- 
 ducted mission work there, and I know 
 something of its crimes before high 
 Heaven. 
 
 497 
 
 God Almighty shook San Francisco 
 until the buildings toppled down, and 
 the earth opened up, and the people 
 rushed to the streets, and were kilied 
 by the hundreds, the city was in a con- 
 flagration, and $200,000,000 worth of 
 property went up in smoke.—W. E. 
 Shepard. 
 
 — 905 — 
 HOW MARY BUILT THE BARN 
 
 Do you know how Mary built the 
 barn? 
 
 Her parents were dead, and she and 
 her two brothers worked the farm. 
 They had no barn, and year after year, 
 they stacked the grain, and much of it 
 was wasted. Mary insisted that they 
 ought to build a barn. Her brothers 
 were oOver-grown, able-bodied, good- 
 natured fellows, but altogether too easy- 
 going. They admitted that they needed 
 a barn, and they meant to build one, but 
 kept putting it off from season to sea- 
 son. Finally, Mary said she should wait 
 no longer. She herself would build the 
 barn. But her brothers only laughed at 
 her, and thought it all a joke. 
 
 However, Mary was in earnest. She 
 had a load of lumber drawn to the spot 
 for the barn. And to the amazement of 
 her brothers, she took a saw, an ax and 
 a hammer, and started for the lumber- 
 pile, and began pounding away. 
 
 Her brothers now saw she was really 
 in earnest and that something would be 
 built.. So they concluded to take hold 
 and help her. This was what Mary ex- 
 pected, and the work went forward until 
 the barn was completed. Mary alone 
 could not have built it. But she could 
 start it, and by her earnestness of spirit 
 win the aid of her brothers. 
 
 Encouraged by this story, and acting 
 upon the principle underlying it, we 
 have undertaken here the erection of a 
 church. We cannot do it alone. But 
 we can do what we can, and we mean to. 
 Already many have come to our help, 
 and others will, and with God’s blessing 
 no doubt a church will be the outcome. 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall, November, 
 1893. 
 
458 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 906 — 
 GOD THE ONLY HELPER 
 
 The story is told of two beggars, one 
 of whom as he went through the streets 
 of the city would cry out: “He is helped 
 whom the King helps!” The other beg- 
 gar, his companion, possibly with more 
 faith in the Deity would raise the cry: 
 “He is helped whom God helps!” 
 
 It so happened that one day the King 
 heard his two begging subjects as they 
 uttered their respective cries, and he di- 
 rected his footman to tell the beggars to 
 call at the royal bakery at a certain hour 
 the next day. Meanwhile, the King’s 
 baker was instructed to make two loaves 
 of equal size and appearance. But in 
 the loaf to be given to the beggar who 
 cried in honor of his King, a number of 
 gold coins were to be put. This was 
 done, and the heavy loaf was given to 
 the King’s favorite. 
 
 The two men received their loaves 
 gratefully. But after their departure the 
 one receiving the heavy loaf, discovering 
 it by balancing the two in his hands, and 
 having a keen relish for light bread and 
 wanting the best, proposed trading 
 loaves with his companion, and this was 
 accordingly done. 
 
 Shortly after, to the King’s surprise, 
 the beggar to whom he had given gold 
 enough to relieve from want for a long 
 time was seen by his majesty begging 
 and crying as lustily as ever: “He is 
 helped whom the King helps!” 
 
 Calling the man to him he said: “Why 
 is it that you are still begging? Did 
 you not get the loaf which I ordered my 
 baker to give you?” 
 
 “Yes, your Majesty, I thankfully re- 
 ceived the loaf. But as I always prefer 
 light bread to heavy, I persuaded the 
 other fellow to trade with me.” 
 
 The King made no explanation, but 
 as he drove away he said: “Indeed, he is 
 helped whom God helps!” 
 
 “Man proposes, but God disposes.” 
 God cares for all his creatures, but his 
 providence is especially gracious to- 
 wards those who honor Him. It is bet- 
 ter to trust in the Lord than to put con- 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 fidence in princes. Psalm 118: 9.— Rev. 
 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 — 907 — 
 A LOVING REBUKE 
 
 Rev. Dr. J. G. Paton, missionary, was 
 on the steamship “Hero,” Capt. Logan, 
 for New Zealand. Fast men and 
 gamblers returning from Melbourne 
 races were on. Their language was ex- 
 tremely profane. Praying over it, at 
 the second day at dinner, he said: 
 
 “Gentlemen, will you bear with me a 
 moment? I am sure no man at this 
 table wishes to wound the feelings of 
 another or to give needless pain.” 
 
 Every eye stared at him as to what 
 was meant. 
 
 “Gentlemen, we are fellow passengers 
 for a week or more. Now I am cut and 
 wounded to my very heart to hear you 
 cursing the name of my Heavenly 
 Father and taking in vain the name of 
 my blessed Saviour. It is a God in 
 whom we live and move, and it is Jesus 
 who tried to save us, and I would rather 
 ten times over you would abuse me, 
 which no gentleman here would think 
 of doing, than profanely use those Holy 
 Names so dear to me.” 
 
 There was a silence and faces crim- 
 soned with anger and shame. A con- 
 sumptive banker replied with oaths and 
 wrath. Dr. Paton, calmly, kindly eyed 
 him and responded: 
 
 “Dear sir, you and I are strangers. I 
 pity you in your heavy trouble and hack- 
 ing cough. You ought to be the last to 
 curse that blessed name, as you may 
 soon have to appear in His presence. 
 If the Saviour was as dear to your heart 
 as he is to mine you would better under- 
 stand me.” 
 
 Little was said that meal. An hour 
 later Capt. Logan said in his room: “I 
 am a Christian, sir. My hour with my 
 Bible is more than all the pleasure of the 
 world. You did your duty, now leave 
 it to their conscience and to God.” 
 
 He heard not another oath on that 
 ship. The banker met Dr. Paton in 
 New Zealand and took him to his home. 
 
 Better pray than swear. Kindly re- 
 buke sin.—Presbyterian Witness. 
 
 Yr ——- = 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 908 — 
 THE AMBITIOUS SHOEMAKER 
 
 Henry Wilson, Vice-President of the 
 United States, was a native of New 
 Hampshire. His parents were poor, 
 and it was the poverty which strong 
 drink so often causes. The family name 
 was Colbath; and to free himself en- 
 tirely from surroundings so unhappy 
 and repulsive, the young man left his 
 home and changed his name. He set out 
 for Natick, Mass., going by way of Bos- 
 ton, and visiting Bunker Hill. The ex- 
 pense of his journey of about one 
 hundred miles, mostly performed on 
 foot, was one dollar and five cents. In 
 Natick he was employed in the shoe 
 shop of one William P. Legro, who 
 agreed to teach him shoemaking for five 
 months’ work. It was rather a hard 
 bargain as Wilson soon found, and he at 
 length agreed with his employer to re- 
 lease him for fifteen dollars; and so at 
 the end of seven weeks, instead of five 
 months, he had mastered the trade, and 
 was earning regular wages. 
 
 The present division of labor in the 
 shoe trade was then unknown. Each 
 man made an entire shoe, instead of 
 learning to polish a heel, or put on a 
 sole. As each man began and completed 
 his shoes himself, Wilson, eager to help 
 his father and mother, and to obtain an 
 education for himself, soon began busi- 
 ness on his own account, and often 
 worked sixteen hours a day. He knew 
 
 enough about strong drink to let that. 
 
 alone to the end of his life. Mrs. Parry, 
 with whom he boarded, said, “He was 
 a very good young man, We liked him 
 very much, but he kept us awake at 
 night by his continual pounding.” 
 
 This was the way Henry Wilson at- 
 tained success and won his way. “Con- 
 tinual pounding” made him independent 
 and prosperous; “continual pounding” 
 gave him education and _ influence; 
 “continual pounding” sent him to Con- 
 gress, and “continual pounding” after- 
 wards made him an associate with Grant, 
 and Vice President of the United States. 
 | The Safeguard. 
 
 ANECDOTES 459 
 
 — 909 — 
 PRAY FOR YOUR PREACHER. 
 
 It is said that Dr. John Watson, 
 better known to many as Ian Maclar- 
 en, in the early years of his ministry 
 determined to preach without manu- 
 script. He took into the pulpit a sin- 
 gle sheet of paper containing a few 
 notes. Sometimes his memory failed, 
 and he would say: 
 
 “Friends, this is not very clear. It 
 was clear in my study on Saturday, but 
 now I will begin again.” The people 
 never showed any impatience. After 
 a sermon one Sabbath morning a gaunt 
 Highland editor went to him, and said: 
 
 “When you are not remembering your 
 sermon, just give out a psalm, and we 
 will be singing while you are taking a 
 rest, for we are all loving you and pray- 
 ing for you.” 
 
 In after years Dr. Watson said: “I am 
 in the ministry to-day because of the 
 tenderness and charity of those country 
 folk, those perfect gentlemen and Chris- 
 tians.” The generous behavior of the 
 people to whom he ministered acted up- 
 on his nature as spring sunshine and 
 showers act upon vegetable life; it called 
 out all that was best in him.—Selected. 
 
 —910 — 
 AN UNINTENDED REBUKE 
 
 An impressive little story is told of 
 how, one day when walking through 
 Wales, Mr. Hone, the author, stopped 
 at a cottage door and found a little girl 
 reading the Bible. Being very thirsty 
 from his long walk, he asked for a glass 
 of water, but the little girl replied, “Oh, 
 yes; mother will no doubt give you 
 some milk.” He went in, and after a 
 little conversation with the girl, asked 
 how she liked learning her task out of 
 the Bible. ‘Oh, it is not a task to read 
 it. I love it.’ Seeing his surprise, she 
 added, “I thought everybody loved the 
 Bible.’ The arrow went home. Hone 
 pondered over it, and was led to read for 
 himself, and from that time was a great 
 reader and ceased being an opponent of 
 the Bible.—Selected. 
 
“~ 
 
 460 
 
 wom 91] 
 FROM GLOOM TO GLADNESS. 
 
 While God provides for our temporal 
 needs, he evidently means to strengthen 
 our weak faith. How this is done, the 
 following will show. For nearly a 
 month, all that had been sent for the sup- 
 port of the work amounted to only $6.50. 
 Our total expenses for the month were 
 about $100.00. We had all along been 
 praying God to send money, but it came 
 in small sums, with long intervals be- 
 tween. 
 
 Finally one Monday morning, after 
 wife and I had talked the matter over, 
 my faith brightened somewhat, and at 
 family worship I had the courage to ask 
 that $100.00 might come that week. 
 
 The next morning my faith wavered. 
 A hundred dollars seemed almost too 
 much to ask the Lord to send in a week. 
 So I told Him if a hundred dollars was 
 too large a sum, to give us what was 
 best. But Tuesday, Wednesday and 
 Thursday passed, and not a dollar came. 
 We were sorely tempted to believe that 
 all those who were interested in this 
 work, had already given to its support, 
 and perhaps we had been too confident of 
 God’s willingness to maintain it. But 
 you may judge how the tide turned, and 
 our hearts rejoiced, when on Friday, $91 
 came, sent by five different persons. Had 
 our faith not wavered, undoubtedly the 
 whole hundred dollars would have come. 
 God gave $91 in one day, to show us 
 how easily he could have given the 
 amount asked for at first—Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall, May, 1893. 
 
 —912— 
 AFTER MANY DAYS 
 
 An English minister told the follow- 
 ing: “I was asked to go to a public house 
 in Nottingham to see the landlord’s wife, 
 who was dying. I found her rejoicing 
 in Christ as her Saviour. I asked her 
 how she found the Lord. ‘Reading 
 that,’ she replied, handing me a torn 
 piece of paper. I looked at it and found 
 it was a part of an American newspaper, 
 containing an extract from one of Spur- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 geon’s sermons, which extract had been 
 the means of her conversion. ‘Where 
 did you find this newspaper?’ .I asked. 
 ‘It was wrapped around a parcel sent to 
 me from Australia.’ A sermon preached 
 in London, cabled or sent to America, 
 and there printed in a newspaper, which 
 was sent to Australia, part of it being 
 torn off there for the parcel sent to 
 England, which reached the heart of a 
 woman, that probably could not easily 
 have been reached in any other way, not 
 many miles from where the words were 
 originally spoken. What a comment on 
 Isaiah 55:11.”—Selected. 
 
 — 913— 
 WHAT SHALL I RENDER? 
 
 There can be no recompense for di- 
 vine grace. This does not mean, how- 
 ever, that we are to be indifferent to cer- 
 tain obligations which it puts upon us. 
 David asks, “What shall I render unto 
 the Lord for all his benefits toward me,” 
 and, immediately answers, “I will take 
 the cup of salvation and call upon his 
 name: I will pay my vows unto him in 
 the presence of all his people.” Other 
 return can no man make, and nothing 
 more is required of us. This involves 
 love and loyalty and faithful service; 
 which involves an acceptance of Christ 
 and a life of unswerving devotion to 
 him. 
 
 Not long ago a ship sailed into New 
 York Bay and reported, among other 
 events of the voyage, the saving of a 
 life. It happened this way: There was 
 a cry, “Man overboard!” The boat- 
 swain was leaning over the taff-rail at 
 the time, and, without a moment’s hesi- 
 tation, he leaped into the water and 
 swam to the rescue. On being brought 
 aboard, the man was unconscious for a 
 long: while; then, opening his eyes, he 
 faintly asked, “Who saved me”? When 
 the boatswain was pointed out, being 
 unable to rise, he crawled with feeble 
 strength along the deck until he reached 
 him and kissed his feet. 
 
 Go thou and do likewise -—Rev. David 
 
 j. Burrell, D.D., LL.D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —914— 
 SENATOR WILSON’S COURAGE. 
 
 After Henry Wilson’s first election to 
 the United States Senate he gave his 
 friends a dinner. The table was set with 
 not one wine-glass upon it. 
 
 “Where are the glasses?” asked sev- 
 eral of the guests merrily. 
 
 “Gentlemen,” said Mr. Wilson, “you 
 know my friendship for you and my obli- 
 gations to you. Great as they are, they 
 are not great enough to make me forget 
 the rock whence I was hewn and the pit 
 whence I was dug. Some of you know 
 how the curse of intemperance overshad- 
 owed my youth. That I might escape, 
 I fled from my early surroundings. For 
 what I am, I am indebted, under God, to 
 my temperance vow and my adherence 
 to it. Call for what you want to eat, 
 and, if this hotel can provide it, it shall 
 be forthcoming; but wines and liquors 
 cannot come to this table with my con- 
 sent, because I will not spread in the 
 path of another the snare from which I 
 escaped.” 
 
 Three rousing cheers showed the brave 
 Senator that men admire the man who 
 has the courage of his convictions. 
 
 He afterward filled the office of Vice 
 President of the United States.— 
 Selected. 
 
 —915 — 
 HUMBLE WORK DONE WELL 
 
 Whatever you do—even the very 
 smallest act of service—do it well; do 
 it as under the eye of the Lord, and 
 in view of the fact that your service 
 will be rewarded. If you have served 
 your earthly master or mistress worthy 
 of God and faithfully, then you will hear 
 “well done” from the Master’s own lips. 
 Never mind if your lot in life be very 
 mean in the eyes of men—fill it for God, 
 and do your work well. 
 
 Two young men were candidates for 
 the same situation. The one who was 
 rejected sought to throw contempt up- 
 on his rival by saying—with a sneer 
 loud enough to be heard all over the 
 room. “He was once my father’s shoe- 
 
 461 
 
 black.” The other heard the remark, 
 and smilingly said, “Yes, and didn’t I 
 black them well!” There could nothing 
 be said by his opponent to the contrary, 
 and so it went to the young man’s cred- 
 it, and the other slunk away. 
 
 A young girl was brought to the Lord 
 one evening in a Gospel tent in Glasgow. 
 She served as underhousemaid in a 
 worldly family, and when it became 
 known that she had professed conver- 
 sion, they tried to tease her. But her 
 mistress gave the following testimony 
 to a lady who called to inquire after Ma- 
 ry’s character and abilities as a servant, 
 previous to engaging her. “Mary was 
 rather careless for a time, but ever 
 since she professed to be a child of God, 
 her work has been faithfully done. The 
 rooms have been well done, and Mary 
 has been a truly good and trustworthy 
 girl”” You see she began to do her 
 work as under her new Master’s eye, 
 and with a desire to please Him. 
 
 —Youth’s Counsellor. 
 
 — 916 — 
 WRONG CHEERFUL GIVING. 
 
 In the “Sunday School Gem,” J. A. 
 Detter of Martinsburg, Pa. tells how one 
 boy made cheerful giving easy: 
 
 Howard’s father gave him a quarter 
 and a dime on Sunday morning, telling 
 him to put the one on the contri- 
 bution plate and he might keep the 
 other for his own use. After the service 
 he was asked which coin he gave. He 
 replied: “I gave the dime. I did feel at 
 first that I ought to give the quarter, but, 
 just in time, I remembered that the 
 Bible says, ‘the Lord loveth a cheerful 
 giver,’ and then I found it much easier 
 to give the dime.” 
 
 This boy was simply frank enough to 
 speak right out what is true of the giv- 
 ing of a great many people. They want 
 to make giving easy, and one of the 
 handiest ways to do it is to cut down 
 the amount. And some perhaps even 
 try to make themselves believe that a 
 small amount given cheerfully is more 
 acceptable than a larger amount that 
 must carry with it some of the red blood 
 of the giver’s heart and life. 
 
462 
 
 enn 917 
 A DRUNKARD’S DEATH. 
 
 There died a few days ago, in a house 
 where I frequently visit, a man only 24 
 years old, yet a confirmed drunkard. He 
 had stripped his home by pawning almost 
 every thing he had to satisfy his craving 
 for drink. One day he came home with 
 burning thirst and empty purse, and 
 said, “Mary, where are the little clothes 
 you made, and put away?” 
 
 He actually robbed his unborn child 
 of the clothing prepared by its mother, 
 and pawned it for twenty-five cents. He 
 pawned his wife’s shoes, so she had none 
 to wear to his funeral, and also the last 
 sheet of her bed, so that he died on one 
 borrowed of a neighbor. 
 
 His death was no less disgusting and 
 horrible than his life. He continually 
 clamored for the drink with which his in- 
 dulgent yet suffering wife tried to supply 
 him. One of his chums had sent him 
 a present of some whiskey, and he would 
 call for “Morris’s whiskey;” then for 
 lager beer. And when unable to speak, 
 he motioned to be given a pencil and 
 paper, and wrote, “Mixed Ale.” 
 
 The last words he uttered were, 
 “Lager Beer!” 
 
 It was brought and put to his lips. 
 His teeth were set, and he could not 
 drink. Then, with almost superhuman 
 effort, he raised himself in bed, eagerly 
 clutched the glass, and drained it twice. 
 He then fell back, and with beer-mug 
 in one hand, and a lighted candle in the 
 other, his spirit took its everlasting 
 flight. 
 
 “At the last it biteth like a serpent, 
 and stingeth like an adder.”—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 918 — 
 KEEP YOUR DISTANCE 
 
 Next to sinning itself, is going need- 
 | lessly close to sin. Electricity is not 
 ‘the only force that sometimes works 
 
 by induction, leaping across space and 
 seriously interfering with currents that 
 it was meant to have nothing to do with. 
 Evil is as expert as electricity at that feat. 
 Therefore the question that Robert E. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 Speer has put to young people has a 
 very practical value: “How wide is the 
 margin between us and evil?” No man 
 can afford to let that margin grow nar- 
 row. It is not a sign of strength but 
 of weakness, to dally with temptation. 
 —S. S. Times. 
 
 —= 919 — 
 ANSWERED WHILE ASKING 
 
 In the columns of our paper, now 
 ‘snown as the “Little Evangelist,” in 
 March, 1893, five months after starting 
 the People’s Tabernacle and having re- 
 solved to make no personal appeals for 
 its support, appears the following state- 
 ment and incident. 
 
 We are willing to show the poor peo- 
 ple among whom we labor that the Lord 
 does provide for the temporal need of 
 those who “seek first the kingdom of 
 God, and his righteousness.” Daily have 
 we prayed God to send money to main- 
 tain, and to enlarge the work, and almost 
 daily he has answered us. At times he 
 has tried our faith, but only for the pur- 
 pose of increasing it. 
 
 One Monday, I remarked to my wife 
 that I would pray that $25 might be 
 given that week for the work. Not that 
 we then had urgent need of that amount, 
 but that we might thus more clearly 
 recognize the answer when it came. 
 
 Day by day, I prayed and was watch- 
 ing for the answer. Friday night came, 
 and only $1.75 ahd been received. The 
 thought then came, “God can yet easily 
 answer by disposing some one to 
 give $25.” However, the week closed, 
 and no more money having come, 
 it began to look as though my 
 prayer had been disregarded. But the 
 Tuesday following, I received the $25 
 prayed for. The letter had been written 
 the Saturday previous, and the check 
 was then dated, and was from one to 
 whom I was a stranger. 
 
 While I was speaking God had an- 
 swered, but was pleased to keep me in 
 doubt of it for several days. My joy at 
 this manifestation of His favor may be 
 imagined. Far greater it was than what 
 the money alone could have given. — 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —920— 
 GUIDED TO LIFE’S WORK. 
 
 The niche filled by myself in the work 
 of the People’s Tabernacle was not of 
 my own choosing. I had not the re- 
 motest idea when I came to this city in 
 1891 of starting any such work. Had I 
 known such a work awaited me, perhaps 
 I should have shrunk from it. But God 
 knowing our weakness, leads us by easy 
 stages along duty’s pathway never over- 
 taxing our strength. 
 
 The twelve or thirteen months spent 
 at the Broome Street Tabernacle were 
 but preliminary to the many years of 
 service at the People’s Tabernacle. 
 
 The choice of one’s residence may de- 
 termine one’s life work. Knowledge must 
 precede interest. We read that God ap- 
 points to men their bounds and their 
 habitations. A very little thing may 
 control great results. 
 
 When myself and family came to 
 this city had our home been in Brook- 
 lyn, as we had decided it should 
 be, we would not have known of the 
 religious destitution of the district in 
 which the Tabernacle was afterwards 
 located, nor would we have been inter- 
 ested init. But to Brooklyn it had been 
 decided to go, and a truckman had been 
 engaged to take our household goods to 
 ‘the freight station for shipment to 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 Just as he was starting, the thought 
 came from somewhere, “Why not have 
 them put in the basement of the Broome 
 Street Tabernacle? You can thus save 
 a month’s rent before your family 
 comes.” This plan was mentioned to 
 the truck-driver, and to my surprise he 
 preferred to do it at the same price, 
 though the distance was much greater, 
 as there he said he could unload at once; 
 and at the railroad depot he thought 
 several teams might be ahead of his and 
 delay his unloading. 
 
 So, apparently, this thought that carne 
 in just the nick of time, and the dray- 
 man’s approval, determined my place of 
 residence and consequently the field in 
 which I should do my life’s work. My 
 
 463 
 
 household goods being stored in the 
 church basement I had leisure to look 
 around, and finally fixed my home at 
 105th Street and Madison Avenue, three 
 blocks from where the Tabernacle was 
 afterwards located.—Rev. Henry Tyn- 
 dall, March, 1920. 
 
 —921— 
 
 WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY? 
 
 A missionary once related the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 A king’s son was a prisoner, who 
 after several years, was released upon 
 the condition that he permit himself to 
 be led at the hour of noon through the 
 city. 
 
 “Oh,” said the young man, “how 
 will the people look?” 
 
 “You do not know how you will be 
 led,” answered the king. 
 
 When the hour arrived, he placed in 
 his hands a vessel filled to the brim 
 with milk. 
 
 “As soon as you spill a drop you 
 must die,” said he. 
 
 Close behind the young man walked 
 the executioner with dagger in hand, 
 to stab him as soon as a drop fell to the 
 earth. 
 
 From afar the people had ceme to- 
 gether to see the king’s son upon his 
 perilous journey; head by head the 
 crowd stood upon the streets. All the 
 windows were crowded and some even 
 climbed upon the roofs. When the 
 youth had passed through the terrible 
 ordeal, the king stepped up to him and 
 said: 
 
 “Well, what kind of faces did the 
 people make?” 
 
 “Oh, king,” answered the youth, “I 
 
 saw not one. I only saw my life in my 
 hands and death behind me.” 
 
 Let us be like this youth! let us not 
 look around, but take care of ourselves, 
 for we carry the happiness of lives 
 ever with us; and it is only by walking 
 very carefully and heeding the Divine 
 voice that says, “This is the way, walk 
 ye in it,” that we can safely reach the 
 goal which is life eternal.—Selected. 
 
464 
 
 —— 922 — 
 HOW SHOWN THE WAY 
 
 Our venture to begin the work of the 
 People’s Tabernacle was made more 
 easy by the following incident: 
 
 We called upon John H. Haar, at 
 100 Broadway, to explain to him that 
 the Sunday School Committee to whom 
 we had referred the matter, would not 
 rent his building for a school, as we 
 had previously told him we were sure 
 they would. After explaining the situ- 
 ation, and expressing our great regret 
 that a Sunday school could ,not be 
 opened where so much needed; this man 
 of business and of the world, to our 
 great surprise said: 
 
 “Mr. Tyndall, I am not a rich man, 
 I lack a good many hundred thousand 
 dollars of being a millionaire, but if you 
 want to see what you can do, I will let 
 you have the use of that floor for a time 
 free of rent.” 
 
 This surprising offer, coming from 
 such a man, a stranger, seemed as provi- 
 dential as the offer of the heathen King 
 Artaxerxes of help to Nehemiah in re- 
 building the walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 While the property was for sale, and 
 we had no assurance that our occupancy 
 of the building would be longer than a 
 few weeks, yet we believed that the 
 finger of God moved the heart of that 
 man to thus open the door for our 
 entrance into this field. 
 
 We had become convinced that not 
 only was a Sunday school needed, but 
 also that gospel meetings should be held 
 regularly, and that pastoral work in the 
 homes of the people was essential. Con- 
 sequently the decision was reached to 
 sever our connection with the work of 
 the Broome Street Tabernacle, and to 
 be entirely devoted to this more needy 
 section of the city. 
 
 To be sure there was no church here 
 to extend a call, nor was there any com- 
 mittee to promise aid or comfort, nor 
 was there financial support assured from 
 any source. The resources at our com- 
 mand would enable us to carry on the 
 work for five or six months without 
 other help. And so hand-bills were cir- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 culated announcing the opening of the 
 People’s Tabernacle Sunday _ school, 
 October 2, 1892, at Hayes’ Ribbon Fac- 
 tory, 235 East 102d Street. 
 
 All children were invited and also any 
 who would act as teachers were re- 
 quested to come, and the statement was 
 made that a gospel meeting would be 
 held at that place the same evening. 
 
 Outside of our own family, we knew 
 of only two or three persons who wouid 
 lend a hand, yet at the time appointed 
 children began to pour in off the street, 
 heads of some uncombed and faces un- 
 washed, but every one a diamond 
 though in the rough, until there were 
 125 gathered in the first session of the 
 school; and there were also several 
 young women who were ambitious to 
 try their hand at teaching. If they were 
 poor instructors, they were good at con- 
 trolling these street urchins, for they 
 lived among them and knew them. 
 
 We had seats for only 100 and papers 
 for only 65, and every child wanted a 
 seat and was anxious for a picture 
 paper; so we had a lively time at that 
 first session. 
 
 The majority knew no more about a 
 Sunday school than they knew about 
 Greek. Every day to them was alike, 
 and every meeting was a Sunday school, 
 and it was months before they ceased 
 to ask the question, “Is there going to 
 be Sunday school to-night?” 
 
 The next Sunday we had seats 
 enough. Twenty rough planks laid on 
 boxes made benches to seat about one 
 hundred and fifty; and later chairs were 
 bought, and in less than three months 
 our Sunday school had an average at- 
 tendance of two hundred and fifty.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndail. 
 
 — 923 — 
 
 THE SHORT LIFELINE. 
 
 Not long since the “City of New York” 
 became disabled in midocean, and the 
 high sea running destroyed a portion of 
 the bowsprit. The engines were stopped 
 and a volunteer was sent out over the 
 ship’s side to make repairs. The man 
 kept his balance for a while when finally 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 a great tidal wave licked him off into 
 the maw of the sea and swept him to 
 some distance from the ship. 
 
 An officer, appreciating the situation, 
 volunteered to save the man, and with 
 a lifeline attached to his waist attempted 
 to get away from the ship’s side. He 
 was thrown back again and again, badly 
 bruised,- but finally, expert swimmer 
 that he was, was able to clear the ship 
 and start on his rescue mission. The 
 man who had been swept overboard 
 was also a strong and powerful swim- 
 mer, and the people on deck watched 
 with deep interest the slow approach of 
 the rescuer. They hear him encourage 
 the sailor and bid him keep up courage. 
 The sailor was heard to reply, “But 
 you must hurry.” When within ten 
 feet of the man, the lifeline attached to 
 the officer paid out; he could go no 
 further. The sailor could no longer 
 keep up; strength was gone; throwing 
 up his hands, he was lost to sight for- 
 ever. The captain of the ship reported 
 on his return, “A man lost at sea.” 
 
 The point of that illustration, bor- 
 rowed from a recent daily paper, ex- 
 presses my conception of the urgent 
 need for rescue work among the souls 
 of men. Men are perishing because of 
 the grip sin has upon them. The 
 gospel which we preach is sufficient. 
 What we need is a band of rescuers to 
 carry it to the struggling sinner; and 
 never need we fear that the gospel will 
 fail or be inadequate. There is enough 
 gospel in the world for everyone. What 
 is needed now is someone to carry it to 
 those who are perishing, and for those 
 who are to be rescued to accept it, must 
 appreciate, however, a man must do his 
 part, and accept the saving power of 
 the gospel; failing to do so he will be 
 lost.—John Willis Baer. 
 
 —- 924 — 
 
 A BRAND. 
 
 A poor man who fell into bad habits, 
 on being rescued, reformed and convert- 
 ed, often spoke of himself as a “brand 
 plucked from the burning.” “What 
 do you mean by that?” asked one of 
 
 495 
 
 his former associates. “Come, go with 
 us, and have one more drink.” 
 
 “Look here!” answered the man. 
 “You know there is a difference be- 
 tween a brand and a green stick. Ifa 
 spark fall on a brand that has. been 
 partly burned it will soon catch fire 
 again. Not so with a green stick. I 
 tell you I am that brand plucked out of 
 the fire; and I dare not venture into the 
 way of temptation for fear of being set 
 on fire again.” 
 
 All of us who trust that we have been 
 saved by Christ are as brands. Hence 
 our only safety is in keeping as far as 
 possible out of the way of temptation. 
 Even indulgences that seem innocent 
 may kindle anew the fire of unholy pas- 
 sions. A spark that falls harmless in a 
 field of green grass may kindle a con- 
 flagration if it falls on a field of dry 
 stubble.—Selected. 
 
 — 925 — 
 DECEIVING CHILDREN 
 
 Robert Hall once said to a mother, 
 “If you do not wish your child to grow 
 up a liar, never act a lie before her. 
 Children are quick observers, and soon 
 learn that that which assumes to be 
 what it is not, is a lie, whether acted or 
 spoken.” 
 
 One author tells us of a gentleman 
 who took his little son on a railway ex- 
 cursion. The little fellow was looking 
 out of the window, when the father 
 slipped the hat off the boy’s head. The 
 atter was much grieved at his supposed 
 toss, when his father consoled him by 
 saying, “I’ll whistle it back.” A little 
 later he whistled and the hat re-appear- 
 ed. Not long after the little fellow 
 threw the hat out of the window, shout- 
 ing, “Now papa, whistle it back again.” 
 A roar of laughter in the car was suffi- 
 cient to arouse the father to the power 
 of his influence upon his son. 
 
 This deception is sometimes carried 
 into our religious life and festivities. 
 Who doubts the logic of a little child’s 
 question after a Christmas festival, 
 when being told that there is no Santa 
 Claus, innocently asks, “Well, is there a 
 real Christ?”—-Norman E. Durkee. 
 
466 
 
 — 926 — 
 LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE. 
 
 In New York, years ago, a city mis- 
 sionary found a poor Jew. He strove 
 to lead him to Jesus, and succeeded. In 
 after years that Jew became a mission- 
 ary himself, and a bishop of the Episco- 
 pal Church, and translated the Bible for 
 millions of people. No one knows the 
 name of this missionary but a few of 
 his friends, thousands knew the name 
 of the distinguished convert. 
 
 Years ago, in Russia, a priest so 
 preached that a young mechanic be- 
 ‘came a missionary and translated the 
 Bible twice over for two different na- 
 tions, learned nineteen languages, and 
 was a most useful man. Few ever 
 heard of the priest, but many thousands 
 knew of his convert. 
 
 Probably no preacher ever had as 
 great success as Mr. Spurgeon. He had 
 many thousands added to his church, 
 and established thirty-six missions in 
 London. Yet, as he tells the story, he 
 was converted by the preaching of an 
 obscure preacher, whose very name is 
 scarcely ever heard. 
 
 Japan owes the late Joseph Neesima 
 a boundless debt of gratitude for his 
 wise and unceasing labors for the King- 
 dom in his native land. But does it 
 owe nothing to those who in this land 
 led that student to Jesus? 
 
 It may be that God shall use you for 
 the conversion of a Moody or a Spur- 
 geon or a Moffat. A child can light a 
 match that shall set a city on fire. So 
 in spiritual things, one though feeble, 
 can start a succession of causes that 
 shall result in blessing untold millions 
 of fellow creatures.—Rev. A. F. Shauf- 
 fler, D. D 
 
 — 927 — 
 THE CAUSE OF HIS INTEREST. 
 
 While traveling down the Ohio River 
 on a steamboat my attention was called 
 to the pilot who was a coarse-looking 
 man. The captain informed me that 
 three weeks ago, as the boat was going 
 through the rapids, the pilot called him 
 to take the helm. He had just seen a 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 boy struggling in the water. He sprang 
 into the boiling waters and saved the 
 boy. I went up to the brave man and 
 spoke to him. 
 
 “Do you ever see the boy whom you 
 saved?” 
 
 “Yes,” he answered, “at every trip 
 he comes down to the boat to see me.” 
 
 “And how do you feel when you see 
 him?” 
 
 “More than I can tell you,” he re- 
 plied. “More intense interest than in 
 any of my own seven at home, for whom 
 I have run no such risk.” 
 
 Thus there is “joy in heaven over 
 one sinner that repenteth, more than 
 over ninety and nine just persons, which 
 need no repentance.” Thus Jesus wiil 
 regard those whom he has saved with 
 more interest than the angels.—Selected. 
 
 — 928 — 
 THE GIFT HE ACCEPTED 
 
 The German poet Uhland was a clever 
 but modest man. The King of Prussia 
 was so pleased with him that he offered 
 to give him the badge of an order that 
 many famous people were very anxious 
 to possess. He did not accept the 
 king’s offer. As he was explaining to 
 his wife the reason for his refusal of the 
 great honor there came a knock at the 
 door. When it was opened a little peas- 
 ant girl entered with a bunch of sweet 
 violets, saying, as she did so: “This is a 
 gift from my mother.” “Your mother, 
 child?” said the, poet, “Your mother 
 died last autumn.” “Yes,” said the girl, 
 “that is true; and I begged you at the 
 time to make a little verse for her grave, 
 and you kindly sent me a beautiful poem. 
 These are the first violets which have 
 bloomed on mother’s grave. I have 
 plucked them, and I like to think she 
 sends them to you with her greeting.” 
 The tears stood in the poet’s eyes as he 
 held the flowers in his hand, and turn- 
 ing to his wife said: “There, my dear, is 
 not that an order more valuable than 
 any king can give?” It is love like that 
 that makes the world a fit place to live 
 in.—Selected. 
 
 2 
 —_ 2 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 POOR JACK 
 
 The following account is given by the 
 Rev. Legh Richmond, as having been 
 related by a minister in a meeting of 
 the British and Foreign Bible Society: 
 
 A drunkard was one day staggering 
 in drink on the brink of the sea. His 
 little son by him, five years of age, being 
 very hungry, solicited him for some- 
 thing to eat. The miserable father, con- 
 scious of his poverty, and of the crim- 
 inal cause of it, in a kind of rage, occa- 
 sioned by his intemperance and despair, 
 hurled the little innocent into the sea, 
 and made off with himself. The poor 
 little sufferer, finding a floating plank 
 by his side on the water, clung to it. 
 The wind soon wafted him and the plank 
 into the sea. 
 
 A British man-of-war passing by dis- 
 covered the plank and the child; and a 
 sailor, at the risk of his own life, plunged 
 into the sea and brought him on board. 
 He could inform them little more than 
 that his name was Jack. They gave him 
 the name of Poor Jack. He grew up 
 on board that man-of-war, behaved well, 
 and gained the love of all the officers 
 and men. He became an officer of the 
 sick and wounded department. During 
 an action of the late war, an aged man 
 came under his care, nearly in a dying 
 state. He was all attention to the suf- 
 fering stranger, but could not save his 
 life. 7 
 The aged stranger was dying, and 
 thus addressed this kind young officer: 
 “For the great attention you have shown 
 me, I give you this only treasure that I 
 am possessed of—(presenting him with 
 a Bible, bearing the stamp of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society). It was 
 given me by a lady; has been the means 
 of my conversion; and has been a great 
 comfort to me. Read it, and it will lead 
 you in the way you should go.” He 
 went on to confess the wickedness and 
 profligacy of his life before the reception 
 of his Bible; and, among other enormi- 
 ties, how he once cast a little son, five 
 years old, into the sea, because he cried 
 to him for needed food. 
 
 467 
 
 The young officer inquired of him the 
 time and place, and found here was his 
 own history. Judge if you can of his 
 feelings at recognizing in the dying old 
 man his father, dying a penitent under 
 his care! And judge of the feelings of 
 the dying penitent at finding that the 
 same young stranger was his son—the 
 very son whom he had plunged into the 
 sea; and had no idea but that he had 
 immediately perished. A description of 
 their mutual feelings will not be at- 
 tempted. The old man soon expired in 
 the arms of his son. The latter left the 
 service, and became a pious preacher of 
 the gospel. On closing this story, the 
 minister, in the meeting of the Bible 
 Society, bowed to the chairman, and 
 said, “Sir, I am poor Jack.”—Selected. 
 
 —- 930 — 
 THE POWER OF PRAYER 
 
 An old Scotchman on his way to a 
 religious gathering stopped by the road 
 and prayed, “Lord, ye ken weel enough 
 that I’m deaf and want a seat on the 
 front bench, and ye see my toes sticking 
 through my shoes and I want a pair of 
 new ones, and ye ken I have no silver 
 and I want to stay through the meet- 
 ings.” 
 
 A young brother traveling with him 
 reproved him for his undue familiarity 
 with the Lord. .“Why, my son,” said 
 the Scotchman, “He’s my father and 
 weel acquaint with me, and I take great 
 liberty with Him.” 
 
 On his arrival at the place of meet- 
 ing the old man took a back seat and 
 placed his ear trumpet to his ear, but 
 was immediately invited to occupy a 
 front pew. At the close of the service 
 a lady, noticing his old, shoes, asked 
 him if they were his best ones. “Yes,” 
 said the old man, “but I expect my 
 Father will get me a new pair soon.” 
 “Come with me, and I will provide 
 them,” the lady said, while another lady 
 invited him to be her guest during the 
 meeting. So all his wants were sup- 
 plied, and the young fellow-traveler of 
 the old man learned a lesson of faith in 
 the power of prayer.—Forward. 
 
468: ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 —93i— 
 FINDING TABERNACLE NO. 2. 
 
 In October, 1893, the work of the Peo- 
 ple’s Tabernacle removed from 102d 
 Street to a vacant store at 230 East 
 104th Street. There it flourished until 
 the Sunday school numbered 400, and 
 was divided into three sections, meeting 
 at different times on Sunday, and yet 
 the place was so crowded that for the 
 extension of the work I wanted to obtain 
 a second store in another quarter of the 
 district. But the receipts for the sup- 
 port of the work continued so small and 
 the rental of a suitable place would 
 likely be so much that I had little heart 
 to look for one. 
 
 Finally one Wednesday morning, 
 November 25, 1896, after much thought 
 and prayer, I resolved to start out in 
 quest of a place for another! Sunday 
 school. As I walked down Madison 
 Avenue I saw several stores for rent, but 
 knew the price would be so high that I 
 had no heart to inquire. Three or four 
 blocks below I saw several buildings 
 standing a block or so apart from others; 
 and the thought came, “should there be 
 a store there it might be rented for a 
 moderate price, for it would not be de- 
 sirable for business.” I hastened to the 
 place, and lo! there were two beautiful, 
 new stores, unoccupied. 
 
 Inquiring of the janitress, I learned 
 the owner of one lived eleven blocks 
 away. But while we were speaking the 
 bell rang, and in he came. He was 
 pleased to show the store, and it took 
 me only a moment to see that it was just 
 the place I desired, and I told him so. 
 But I expressed the fear I should be 
 unable to give him the rent he would re- 
 quire. He wished to know what I 
 wanted it for, and when told, he re- 
 marked, “I told the janitress this would 
 be a good place for a bakery or a Sun- 
 day school!” 
 
 When he wanted to know what I 
 could afford to pay for it, I replied I 
 hardiy knew; that our work .was sus- 
 tained entirely by voluntary offerings, 
 and that I did not know from one month 
 to another what the receipts would be. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 (As a matter of fact the receipts had 
 been so small that the balance left for 
 the Pastor’s salary, after paying his 
 house rent, had been only $120 for the 
 preceding five months.) But he was as- 
 sured that he would certainly get what- 
 ever I promised. 
 
 In less time than it has taken to tell 
 it, he had agreed to let me have the 
 store, built to rent for $75 a month, for 
 the next three months for $75, and he 
 offered also $25 toward that amount. 
 The offer was thankfully accepted; and 
 while on the way to the Pastor’s home 
 to get the $50, Mr. Mellick, the land- 
 lord remarked, “I was telling my son 
 he ought to call and see a minister I 
 saw preaching on, Fifth Avenue, and 
 speak to him about renting the store 
 for a Sunday school.” 
 
 I inquired where on Fifth Avenue 
 the minister was preaching, and to my 
 surprise learned it was our own open- 
 air meeting. And while he knew noth- 
 ing of me, nor of my desire for a place 
 for a Sunday school, strange to say he 
 had thought of sending his son to see 
 me to try to rent me the store for a 
 Sunday school! 
 
 Do you wonder that my heart was 
 filled with praise to God for His guid- 
 ance, and goodness, and that I was so 
 confident that God would enable me to 
 meet this increased expense that I was 
 saved from all anxiety? 
 
 The Pastor was responsible for the 
 support and extension of the work, and 
 when this new venture was made some 
 of his friends became alarmed. They 
 feared financial disaster would overtake 
 him. A balance of only $13.80 for his sup- 
 port just the month previous, and the 
 small receipts for the preceding five 
 months occasioned the alarm. But God 
 wonderfully provided for this increased 
 expense. 
 
 In addition to the $25 per month for 
 rent, the expenses were further in- 
 creased in a few weeks by his engaging 
 two more missionary helpers making 
 four, (two having been engaged three 
 months before). But the minister, in, 
 stead of being made poorer because of 
 this increased expense, was made richer. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 The receipts so increased that there was 
 at the end of that year $100 more for 
 his salary than he had ever before re- 
 ceived in the work. 
 
 The work prospered at this new point 
 greatly, and we retained that store three 
 years at a rental of $25 a month, until 
 it was rented for business for three 
 times that sum. But two years later, in 
 the wonderful providence of God, we 
 moved into our own new building, where 
 there is room in abundance.—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall, March, 1920. 
 
 — 932 — 
 CLAIM YOUR FREEDOM 
 
 During the Civil War, Mr. Lincoln 
 made a proclamation to emancipate all 
 slaves, and wherever our armies went 
 the soldiers posted up bills that the 
 slaves were freed. Most of those slaves 
 couldn’t read, and they would get other 
 people to read the proclamation to them; 
 and sometimes the masters would say 
 to the slaves: “Those Yanks are fooling 
 you. You are not free.” One time an 
 old black dinah said to a soldier: “Now, 
 Masser, I want you to tell me honest 
 now, be I free or been’t I? These sol- 
 diers tells me I’se free, and ole Masser 
 tells me I ain’t; and now tell me, be I 
 free or been’t I?” Do you not see, she 
 did not believe that she was free, and 
 until she believed it she wasn’t free. She 
 was going right along serving the old 
 master, because she did not believe that 
 she was free. It is just so with the 
 slaves of Satan. Until you take God 
 Almighty’s promises to your heart, and 
 just walk out in faith on His Word, and 
 declare you are free in Jesus Christ, you 
 will walk right along in the oid bondage, 
 the slave of the devil. But when you 
 dare to walk out on the promise in 
 ‘fohn 3: 16, you find, that the chains fall, 
 and Jesus is your master, and whom 
 Jesus makes free is free indeed; and you 
 know the joy of salvation.—Rev. A. M. 
 Hills, 
 
 — 933 — 
 
 THE LOCKED UP PARDON 
 Tn the Isle of Man, as I was one day 
 
 469 
 
 walking on the seashore, I remember 
 contemplating with thrilling interest an 
 old, gray, ruined tower, covered with 
 ivy. There was a remarkable history 
 connected with the spot. In that tower 
 was formerly hanged one of the best 
 governors the Island ever possessed. 
 He had been accused of treachery to the 
 king during the time of the civil wars, 
 and received sentence of death. Inter- 
 cession was made on his behalf and a 
 pardon was sent, but it fell into the 
 hands of his bitterest enemy, who kept it 
 locked up, and the governor was hanged. 
 His name is still honored in the Island, 
 and you may often hear a pathetic bal- 
 lad sung to his memory, to the music of 
 “The Spinning Wheel.” 
 
 We must feel horror-struck at the 
 
 fearful turpitude of that man, who, hav- 
 ing the pardon for his fellow creature 
 in his possession, could keep it back, 
 and let him die the death of a traitor. 
 But let us refrain our indignation till 
 we ask ourselves whether God might 
 not point His finger at most of us, and 
 say: 
 “Thou art the man! Thou hast a 
 pardon in thine hands to save thy fellow 
 creature, not from temporal, but from 
 eternal death. Thou hast a pardon 
 suited to all, sent to all, designated for 
 all. Thou hast enjoyed it thyself, but 
 hast not thou kept it back from thy 
 brother, instead of sending it to the ends 
 of the earth?”’—Selected. 
 
 — 934 — 
 ONLY A SLIGHT ERROR 
 
 Sometime ago the United States Ship 
 “Galena” was lost off Block Island 
 Light. Commander Bicknell gave his 
 testimony at the official investigation. 
 He stated that the usual precautions 
 had not been taken of ascertaining be- 
 fore sailing the exact deviation of the 
 “Galena’s” compass. The compass of 
 the tug “Nina,” which accompanied the 
 “Galena,” was taken as the standard, 
 and it proved to deviate one point west- 
 erly. That single point of deviation was 
 fatal. It wrecked the warship, and sac- 
 rificed nearly a hundred lives.—Selected. 
 
470 
 
 — 935 — 
 WHY NOT BE ZEALOUS? 
 
 I read in the life of John Wesley a 
 story of Methodists meeting in a barn, 
 and how certain of the villagers, who 
 were afraid to break through the door, 
 resolved to place one inside who would 
 open the door to them during the ser- 
 vice, that they might disturb the con- 
 eregation. This person went in before 
 service began, and concealed himself in 
 a sack in a corner of the barn. When 
 the Methodists began to sing, he liked 
 the tune so well that he would riot leave 
 the sack until he had heard it through. 
 Then followed a prayer, and during the 
 prayer God so worked on the man in 
 the sack that he began to cry for 
 mercy. The good people looked around 
 and were astonished to find a sinner in a 
 sack seeking his Saviour. The door 
 was not opened to the mob after all, for 
 he who had intended to do so was 
 converted. 
 
 It does matter why the people come 
 to hear the Gospel: God can bless them 
 in any case. If Christ is preached, men 
 will be saved, even if they come to 
 disturb. 
 
 “Sir,” said one to me, “I had been to 
 bargain about a pair of ducks on Sunday 
 morning, and I passed by the door, and 
 I thought I would just look in. There 
 and then the Lord met with me, and 
 those ducks were forgotten, for I found 
 a Saviour.” He is not far from any; 
 and in answer to believing prayer He 
 can deal with men and turn their hearts 
 to Himself.—Spurgeon. 
 
 — 936 — 
 A PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD 
 
 I have a friend in England who once 
 said to me: 
 
 “I have been trying for years to take 
 God into partnership with me in my 
 business. When I was eighteen years 
 old, I was converted. I was then just 
 starting business as a kind of caterer, 
 in a very humble way, in a little shop. 
 My godly mother said to me, ‘Are you 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 going to take God into partnership?’ I 
 had never thought of such a thing be- 
 fore. It grew upon me, and I wrote out 
 a covenant with God, that I would take 
 Him into partnership, and every night 
 I would count up the profits, and make 
 an even division. So I did it.” 
 
 He laid aside one-half for the Lord 
 and took the other half for himself. 
 That man has now about 800 men in 
 his employ, and at 8:30 every morning, 
 everything stops for the reading of the 
 Scripture, song, and prayer. He has 
 never had a man in his employ three 
 years, who has not become a Christian. 
 The whole work is carried on as in the 
 presence of God. You cannot go there 
 without feeling that God is there. He 
 keeps up the habit of reckoning up his 
 profits, and dividing at the close of the 
 day. 
 
 One day, years ago, it rained so hard, 
 that, being on the first floor, he could 
 not open his doors on account of the 
 rain, and not a customer had been in all 
 day. At quarter to six, he went to the 
 Lord and said, “I have nothing to divide 
 with you to-day. I have not taken in a 
 penny. Now, Lord, you can send one 
 customer from the ends of the earth, this 
 last fifteen minutes, to make up for the 
 whole day.” 
 
 And before the store was closed an 
 Armenian came in and bought all the 
 silverware he had. What he wanted it 
 for, he never knew. The Lord had sent 
 a man from the ends of the earth, and 
 that one sale was equal to a week’s 
 ordinary profits—Arthur T. Pierson, 
 D. D. 
 
 — 937 — 
 ROSES AND THORNS 
 
 The sentence which has most influ- 
 enced my life is, “Some persons grumble 
 because God placed thorns among roses; 
 why not thank God because He placed 
 roses among thorns?” 
 
 I first read it when but a mere lad. 
 Since that it has occupied a front room 
 in my life, and has given it an optimis- 
 tic trend.—Rev. Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 938 — 
 
 THANKING GOD FOR OUR 
 THORN 
 
 Dr. George Mathewson, of Scotland, 
 totally blind, was said to have been 
 one of the most learned and gifted men 
 in Great Britain. He was a member of 
 the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance of Bel- 
 fast in 1884, and no man in that body 
 of great men was listened to with more 
 attention. These words from his pen 
 are most touching and suggestive. 
 
 “My God, I have never thanked Thee 
 for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a 
 thousand times for my roses, but not 
 once for my thorn. I have been looking 
 forward to a world where I shall get 
 compensation for my cross, but I have 
 never thought of my cross as itself a 
 present glory. Thou divine love, whose 
 human path has been perfected through 
 sufferings, teach me the glory of my 
 cross; teach me the value of my thorn. 
 Show me that I have climbed to Thee 
 by the path of pain. Show me that my 
 tears have made my rainbow. Reveal 
 to me that my strength was the product 
 of the hour when I wrestled until the 
 break of day. Then shall I know that 
 my thorn was blessed by Thee, then 
 shall I know that my cross was a gift 
 from Thee, and I shall raise a monument 
 ‘to the hour of my sorrow, and the words 
 which I shall write upon it will be 
 these: ‘It is good for me that I have 
 been afflicted.’ ” : 
 
 —939— 
 A WILL LOST AND FOUND 
 
 There is a quaint story told of a rich 
 man who lost his only son, and after his 
 own death his will could not be found. 
 After searching vainly, the State attor- 
 ney took up the case and ordered his 
 property sold and his estate settled. 
 
 On the day of the auction a poor old 
 woman who had once nursed his only 
 child begged the auctioneer to let her 
 buy the picture of the boy. She had 
 only a shilling, but nobody seemed to 
 care for it, so it was knocked down to 
 
 471 
 
 her. And she went home happy in hav- 
 ing the portrait of the child she loved 
 so dearly. 
 
 One day when repairing the back of 
 the picture she found a legal document 
 hidden in the wooden back. She hur- 
 ried to the lawyer and delivered it up 
 with much concern. After he had 
 glanced at it he called her to him and 
 said: 
 
 “You have certainly made a great 
 find. This is the old man’s will, and 
 in it he has left all his property to any- 
 body who loved his boy well enough to 
 buy his picture at the auction sale when 
 the estate is settled.” 
 
 God, too, has left a will by which all 
 His fortune becomes the inheritance of 
 those who love the Lord Jesus Christ 
 well enough to take Him for their own. 
 —Rev. A. B. Simpson. 
 
 — 940 —- 
 THE WONDERFUL BOOK FOUND 
 
 A Bohemian colporteur who has been 
 laboring among Bohemians, Slovaks, 
 Croatians, Ruthenians, and other Slavic 
 immigrants in Wisconsin, tells the stery 
 of a conversation with a Croatian who 
 had been longing to obtain a copy of the 
 Bible for himself. He writes: 
 
 “The other day I was in a Croatian 
 saloon with my Bibles. A man came to 
 me asking what I had to sell. I told 
 him ‘the inspired book of God.’ When 
 he looked at the Bible, he surprised me 
 by clasping it to his breast with the 
 words, ‘Oh, that’s the book!’ Then he 
 told me that years ago he was an agent 
 for the International Harvester Com- 
 pany in Budapest, Hungary. There he 
 knew a group of people who read a 
 strange book at their meetings. The 
 lives of these people were very different 
 from that of others. He left Budapest 
 not knowing the name of the wonderful 
 book which had done so much for them. 
 ‘I am so glad I have found it,’ he said. 
 He took me to the home of his relatives 
 and I read them the last chapters of the 
 Gospel of John. They listened with 
 tears in their eyes. They bought the 
 Bible and the New Testament.” 
 
472 
 
 US patos 
 COMPENSATION FOR WHAT? 
 
 The liquor interests often demand, 
 with a show of righteous indignation, 
 that they shall, as a matter of equity, be 
 compensated for loss that may come to 
 saloon property by the refusal of a li- 
 cense. They should remember the an- 
 cient rule that those who seek equity 
 must do equity and enter a court of 
 equity with clean hands. Do they com- 
 pensate the mother when they drag her 
 boy down to ruin? Do they compen- 
 sate the wife when they destroy the 
 earning capacity of her husband? Do 
 they compensate the children whose 
 lives are blighted by a father’s dissipa- 
 tion? Do they compensate society 
 when they convert wealth producers in- 
 to paupers? Do they compensate the 
 state when they blunt the sensibilities 
 of citizens and make a drink more 
 potent than an argument in securing 
 votes? 
 
 The man who profits by cultivating 
 in others the appetite for strong drink 
 ought to be the last one to insist upon 
 recovering compensation for any loss 
 that he may suffer because of the en- 
 forcement of laws enacted for the pro- 
 tection of soceity.—William Jennings 
 Bryan. 
 
 — 942 — 
 
 LINCOLN’S FAITH IN PRAYER 
 
 General Sickles lost a leg at Gettys- 
 burg. He was in the hospital at Wash- 
 ington. Mr. Lincoln called upon him. 
 General Rushing was present at the in- 
 terview. I have this statement of the 
 interview from the lips of General 
 Sickles and also General Rushig. 
 
 General Sickles asked: “President 
 Lincoln, were you not alarmed during 
 the Gettysburg days?” Mr. Lincoln 
 answered: “No, General, I was not; 
 some of our people were, but I was not. 
 Stanton thought we better put the 
 archives on a gunboat, but I thought we 
 would come out all right.” General 
 Sickles asked, “President Lincoln, why 
 were you not alarmed?” Mr. Lincoln 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 hesitated a little, and said: “Now, Gen- 
 eral, you have asked me, I will tell you. 
 I went into my room, locked the door, 
 got down on my knees and said, ‘O, 
 Lord, Lord, I have done absolutely 
 everything I can, and now you must 
 help,’ and God told me he would give 
 me Gettysburg, and I believed him.”— 
 Bishop Fowler. 
 
 — 943 — 
 NO SECRECY FOR SIN 
 
 Charles H. Spurgeon once told of a 
 man who broke into a small church in 
 Scotland with the intention of stealing 
 the communion plate. Hearing steps, 
 he hurried to the end of the church, 
 where, seeing a long rope hanging to 
 the ground, he laid hold of it for the 
 purpose of climbing out of sight. But 
 it proved to be the bell rope, and his 
 weight rang the bell, which attracted his 
 pursuers immediately to the spot. The 
 man, of course, was caught, and, sub- 
 mitting with as good a grace as pos- 
 sible, he thus wittily addressed the bell: 
 
 “Tf it had not been for thy long 
 tongue and thy empty head, I should 
 not have been in my present predica- 
 ment.” 
 
 This story has its lesson for us. Those 
 who sin are pretty sure, sooner or later, 
 to turn king’s evidence against them- 
 selves. There is a voice in wrongdoing; 
 and its long tongue will not keep quiet. 
 All unaware, the offender puts out his 
 hand and pulls the bell which tells 
 against himself and summons vengeance 
 to overtake him. 
 
 Pay V Wa 
 HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY 
 
 Daniel Webster was present one day 
 at a dinner-party given at Astor House 
 by some New York friends, and in order 
 to draw him out one of the company 
 put to him the following question: 
 “Would you please tell us, Mr. Web- 
 ster, what was the most important 
 thought that ever occupied your mind?” 
 Mr. Webster merely raised his head, 
 and, passing his hand slowly over his 
 forehead, said, “Is there any one here 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 who doesn’t know me?” “No, sir!” was 
 the reply; “we all know you, and are 
 your friends.” “Then,” said he, looking 
 over the table, “the most important 
 thought that ever occupied my mind was 
 that of my individual responsibility to 
 God.” Upon which subject he then 
 spoke for twenty minutes.—Selected. 
 
 sind Fi 
 LITTLE, POOR AND PROUD 
 
 The teacher of the Primary class of 
 our Sunday-school, one day observed a 
 little girl on one of the benches, who 
 seemed to be trying to hitch away as 
 far as possible from the little girl next 
 to her. 
 
 They were both poor children, neatly 
 but plainly dressed. The teacher said, 
 “What is the matter, why do you not 
 sit still?” “Oh,” she replied, “I have a 
 silk handkerchief, (which she was dis- 
 playing in her hand,) and she has a cot- 
 ton one, and I don’t want her to sit by 
 Te 
 
 The teacher improved the opportunity 
 to rebuke that display of vanity. But 
 was there not very much of human na- 
 ture in the spirit of the child?—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 O46 ae 
 “CROSSING THE BAR.” 
 
 It is not every poet that has the gift 
 of hymn writing. 
 
 As Tennyson’s nurse was sitting one 
 day at his bedside, she said to him: 
 “You have written a great many poems, 
 sir, but I have never heard anybody say 
 that there is a hymn among them ail. 
 I wish, sir, you would write a hymn 
 while you are lying on your sick bed. 
 It might help and comfort many a poor 
 sufferer.” The next morning the poet 
 handed her a scrap of paper, saying. 
 
 “Here is the hymn you wished me 
 to write.” 
 
 The hymn given proved to be “Cross- 
 ing the Bar,” the poem that was sung in 
 Westminster Abbey at Tennyson’s 
 funeral, and which, although some 
 would not call it a hymn, has touched 
 many hearts.—Selected. 
 
 473 
 
 047 oe 
 PRAYER MEETING FORSAKEN. 
 
 In a western city a few years ago I 
 heard the pastor of a large church of 
 from twelve to fifteen hundred members 
 make an appeal for people to come to 
 prayer meeting. Ithought he would 
 have perhaps three or four hun- 
 dred, but he had a comparatively small 
 crowd of about seventy-five. At the 
 close of the meeting he said to his wife, 
 “Take the keys, I am going to the the- 
 atre.” She didn’t understand what he 
 meant, but he went there to find out how 
 many of his people were at the theatre 
 
 and he counted seven hundred and fifty. 
 
 They had no time for the prayer-meet- 
 ing but loved the house of pleasure. The 
 next Sunday morning he told them 
 plainly, “I thought I had a people who 
 loved God but I find out you are lovers 
 of pleasure and you need to be converted 
 again.”—Rev. S. A. Jamieson. 
 
 — 948 — 
 
 HINDRANCES THAT HELP 
 
 I asked an acquaintance, a French 
 professor, a friend of mine, a man of a 
 good deal of spiritual insight: “Pro- 
 fessor, what is your thought about it? 
 Why do you suppose Christ annointed 
 the eyes of that man with clay?” 
 
 “O,” said my friend, “I don’t know, 
 sir, unless it made him a little more 
 willing to go to wash.” 
 
 Well, now, may not that be a chief 
 reason? There is much in it. You 
 know our Lord often puts us into a 
 position by his providence wherein, be- 
 cause of our new straits, or discomfort, 
 or embarrassment, we become willing to 
 take some other needful step; and if it 
 were not for that trial, or sorrow, or 
 humiliation, we never would advance a 
 step. 
 
 Of these providences often so dark, 
 trying, and troublous, how often we 
 say, “O, if God had not sent that upon 
 me!” But that very event is the one 
 condition indispensable, on which the 
 Lord leads us to take some further step. 
 —-Rev. H. C. Mabie, D.D. 
 
474 
 
 — 949 — 
 SAVE OTHERS AND THYSELF 
 
 “There is an old story of two Rus- 
 sians who, traveling in winter, saw a 
 poor man perishing from cold by the 
 roadside. One wished to get out and 
 help him. The other refused, saying 
 they were nearly freezing themselves. 
 But the merciful man got down, rubbed 
 the exhausted and half-frozen wayfarer 
 and restored him to life, only to find on 
 returning to the sledge that his com- 
 panion was stiff in death.” 
 
 The above story, read in my boyhood, 
 reminds me of the following incident 
 told me by Mr. E. P. Stowe, of Brook- 
 lyn, leader of the orchestra which has 
 furnished music for many of the outings 
 of our congregation: 
 
 Some years ago, in a winter storm, a 
 ship went ashore off the coast of Long 
 Island. The hull became submerged 
 and the crew took refuge aloft in the 
 ship’s rigging. Owing to the distance 
 out and the roughness of the water the 
 coast guards were unable to rescue the 
 imperiled men. As through their glasses 
 they watched the men tied in the rig- 
 ging, as darkness fell, they observed one 
 who was whipping his arms around his 
 companion to keep him from freezing. 
 With the dawn of morning, the sea sub- 
 sided, and the life-savers put out to the 
 wreck, only to find all the crew frozen 
 to death excepting two. The one who 
 had thus tried to save his fellow had 
 succeeded, and in so doing had saved 
 himself also.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 —950 — 
 WHY NO PERSONAL APPEALS 
 
 FOR MONEY 
 
 When the opening of a Sunday 
 school by myself was under consider- 
 ation the foremost question was: “Froim 
 whence will the money come to pay 
 rent?” Finally I thought it ought to be 
 possible to find a few Christians in the 
 district each of whom would agree to 
 give twenty-five cents or so a week to 
 support a Sunday school. 
 
 My acquaintances in this part of New 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 York were very few, but I had talked 
 with a store keeper on Third Avenue 
 who seemed to be a Christian. I called at 
 his place of business and spoke of the 
 great need of a Sunday school. With 
 this he was fully agreed, but when I 
 spoke of its maintenance and suggested 
 that he might be willing to give twenty- 
 five cents a week to support it, at once 
 he was full of excuses. While he was 
 yet giving them, his wife came in and 
 so the plan was unfolded to her. But 
 she quite agreed with her husband. 
 They wished the enterprise success, but 
 they had to respond to so many calls 
 for aid that they could not help it finan- 
 cially. 
 
 That by the mouth of three witnesses 
 every word might be established, and 
 my mind convinced, God so ordered 
 it that while the wife was yet 
 speaking, a grown-up son came in 
 and was a listener to the conversation. 
 And he too was told what it was about. 
 But neither of those three persons were 
 wiling to promise twenty-five cents a 
 week to support a Sunday school. 
 
 If that effort at personal solicitation 
 brought no money, it did bring to my 
 mind the firm conviction that that was 
 not God’s method for the maintenance of 
 His work by me. And from that day to 
 this I have never from any individual 
 sou money.—Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 
 all. 
 
 —951— 
 BE READY 
 
 Signor Caruso, the Italian tenor sing- 
 er of celebrity, went to a New York 
 bank to cash a check, but was asked to 
 prove his identity. After reasoning with 
 the cashier, who had heard the real Ca- 
 ruso if Opera music, but did not rec- 
 ognize Caruso in him, it occurred to him 
 that he might prove his identity in 
 song, and began in a romance entitled 
 “Tosca,” and while he was singing the 
 cashier began preparing the money. At 
 the close of this remarkable scene the 
 bank clerks gave rousing cheers. “Be 
 ready always to give an answer to every 
 man that asketh a reason of the hope 
 that is in you.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 952 — 
 DR. CONYER’S CONVERSION 
 
 Abont one hundred and twenty years 
 ago, Dr. Conyers was vicar of Helmsley, 
 and the ambition of his life was to be- 
 come a pattern village pastor. The par- 
 ish was a very extensive one: but with 
 surprising energy the doctor set to work, 
 and soon proved to an admiring world 
 what one pair of hands can achieve 
 when they belong to a person who can 
 labor with self-denial. The poor and 
 the sick were visited to have their sor- 
 rows lightened, and wants relieved. 
 Schools for boys and girls, young men 
 and maidens, were provided as they had 
 never been before in that part of the 
 country. The church became well at- 
 tended, week evening meetings for 
 prayer and general improvement were 
 instituted, and the outside world was 
 loud in its praises of the indefatigable 
 pastor. Still Dr. Conyers was not hap- 
 py; and unable to divine the reason, he 
 fasted more rigidly than had been his 
 wont, and on the communion table of 
 the church signed covenants by which 
 he bound himself to be more holy and 
 more diligent in serving Christ. 
 
 A man in such a condition may be 
 deluded by fatal error, but he may at 
 the same time be treading the very bor- 
 der line of the land of liberty. 
 
 _$o it happened with Dr. Conyers. He 
 was a diligent reader of the Bible, and 
 one day while searching the Scriptures, 
 truth which he had never understood 
 before entered his soul, and he felt like 
 anew man. Amazed and overwhelmed 
 with delight at the goodness of God, the 
 vicar could not restrain his emotion. 
 “I went upstairs and down again,” he 
 tells us, “backwards and forwards in 
 my room, clapping my hands for joy, 
 and crying, ‘I have found Him! I have 
 found Him! ” 
 
 He did more than vent his gratitude 
 in private, however; he announced to 
 the congregation the particulars of his 
 recent experience, giving out for his 
 text the words, “By grace are ye saved.” 
 Conversions became very numerous, for 
 God was with his servant. After labor- 
 
 475 
 
 ing zealously for twenty-seven years, 
 the good Doctor was taken to rest, four 
 hours after preaching his last sermon.— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 953 — 
 HOW A BIBLE SAVED HIS BOY 
 
 The London Christian gives an inter- 
 esting account of a colporter’s work. 
 
 A roughly dressed man came to the 
 pastor receiving contributions for Gid- 
 eon Bibles, and said he wanted to help. 
 He was a Roman Catholic and his chil- 
 dren had been raised in that church and 
 had not been Bible readers. 
 
 One of his boys worked his way up in 
 a mercantile house to a fine position, 
 but one day he defaulted with money, 
 and left the city. Later in a hotel, he 
 picked up a Gideon Bible and began 
 reading it. 
 
 As he read chapter after chapter, he 
 was convicted of sin. He immediately 
 returned to his employer, turned over to 
 him all the money he had, and offered 
 himself for punishment. His position 
 was retained for him, so that he was 
 soon able to make good the balance due. 
 
 The father said he had not much 
 money, but if a Gideon Bible saved his 
 boy it would another, and he wanted to 
 pay for one Bible at least to that end. 
 
 — 954 — 
 ON THE RUBBISH HEAP 
 
 A young man in Argentina who pos- 
 sessed a Bible that his father had given 
 him, became engaged to a Roman Cath- 
 olic girl. Her confessor informed her 
 that before she could marry, the bride- 
 groom’s Bible must be burnt. She told 
 her fiance this ultimatum, so the young 
 man very reluctantly took his Bible, and, 
 as he had not the courage to burn it, 
 left it on a rubbish heap. A woman 
 passing the rubbish heap saw a book 
 which looked new, took it home with 
 her, examined it, and, as she said, “from 
 that memorable day all of us have read 
 it, and the reading has resulted in the 
 conversion of several of our family.” 
 “My word shall not return unto me 
 void.”—Bible in the World. 
 
476 
 
 aoe O55 a 
 A SERMON TO NOBODY 
 
 The workings of the Holy Spirit are 
 mysterious as the viewless winds. The 
 natural man knows nothing of these 
 things. The spiritual man is taught and 
 led and guided and prompted and helped 
 by wisdom and power divine, and thus 
 accomplishes what the worldiing could 
 never accomplish and would never at- 
 tempt. In the journal of Stephen Grel- 
 let, an approved minister of the Society 
 of Friends, were many instances of 
 divine guidance; and doubtless many 
 instances occurred which were never 
 given to the world. 
 
 The following incident in the life of 
 this good man is well worthy repeating. 
 On one occasion, after much waiting on 
 the Lord, he was directed by the Spirit 
 to take a long journey into the back- 
 woods of America and preach the gospel 
 to some wood-cutters who were felling 
 the forest timber. The Spirit-guided 
 man went his journey in great peace and 
 joy of soul, and went direct to the place 
 told him of in his prayers. He found a 
 number of shanties, but to his surprise 
 there was silence. The timber-cutters 
 had gone away deeper into the forest. 
 But he, who had his message from God, 
 could not be deceived. Finding a large 
 shanty that appeared to have been used 
 for the meals of the men, he entered, 
 stood up, and preached the everlasting 
 gospel, finished, and returned supremely 
 happy in having done the will of his 
 Father in Heaven. Years passed away, 
 and Stephen Grellet heard nothing of 
 his visit in any way, but he was happy 
 in knowing that he had followed the 
 Holy Spirit’s guidance. 
 
 Years afterward he came to Europe in 
 the service of the gospel, and visited 
 England. One day, walking across Lon- 
 don Bridge, a man somewhat rudely 
 took hold of him: 
 
 “J have found you at last; I have got 
 you at last, have I?” 
 
 “Briend,” said Stephen Grellet, “I 
 think you are mistaken.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “But I am not,” said the man. After 
 many more exclamations on the one 
 hand and replies from the servant of the 
 Lord on the other, the stranger said, 
 
 “Did you not preach on a certain day 
 and at a certain place in the backwoods 
 of America?” 
 
 “Yes,” said the good man, “but I saw 
 no one there to listen.” 
 
 “I was there,” was the reply. “I was 
 the gauger of the woodmen. We had 
 moved further into the forest, and were 
 putting up more shanties to live in, 
 when I discovered that I had left my 
 lever at the old settlement. So after 
 setting my men to work, I had gone 
 back alone for my instrument. As I 
 approached the old place I heard a voice. 
 Trembling and agitated I drew near, 
 saw you through the chinks of the tim- 
 ber walis of our dining shanty, listened 
 to you, and was deeply convinced of sin, 
 but I left and went back to my men. 
 The arrow stuck fast: I was miserable, 
 miserable for many weeks. I had no 
 Bible, no book of any kind, no one to 
 speak to about divine things, 
 
 “J felt more and more wretched. At 
 last I possessed myself of the sacred 
 treasure. I read, and read, till I read 
 words whereby I obtained eternal life. 
 I told my men the same blessed news, 
 and they were all converted to God. 
 Three of them became missionaries, and 
 were mightily used of the Holy Spirit 
 to bring sinners to the Saviour, and,” 
 added the strange man, “I became pos- 
 sessed of a very strong desire to see you, 
 to tell you that I knew that your sermon 
 in the old quarters had been the means 
 of the conversion of at least one thou- 
 sand souls.”—-The Christian. 
 
 — 956 — 
 HANG OUT THE ROPES 
 
 Several miles above Milton, Pa., when 
 the ice was breaking up, a farmer got 
 into one of his boats, purposing to pull 
 it out of the river. 
 
 A floating mass of ice struck it, 
 breaking it loose from the moorings and 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 carrying it with him out into the cur- 
 rent. A neighbor, seeing the danger, 
 mounted a horse and with all possible 
 speed rode down to Milton. The people 
 of the town gathered all the ropes they 
 could secure; they went out on the 
 bridge and suspended a line of dangling 
 ropes across the river. They could not 
 tell at just what point the boat, with 
 the farmer would pass under, so they 
 put a rope down every two or three feet 
 all the way across. 
 
 Soon the farmer was seen standing in 
 the boat, which was half full of water, 
 drifting down the rapid current. When 
 he saw the ropes dangling within reach, 
 he laid hold of the nearest one and was 
 drawn up and saved. 
 
 One rope might not have answered 
 the purpose—could not have have an- 
 swered the purpose unless it had hung 
 in reach of the man. This row of ropes 
 across the river made almost certain the 
 rescue of this life. 
 
 The pastor hangs the rope of salva- 
 tion from the pulpit and here and there 
 as he may have the opportunity, and 
 sometimes a soul drifting in the currents 
 of sin is rescued by the pastor’s rope. 
 
 But how many more chances would 
 the drifting sinner have if business men 
 would hang out ropes;. and Sunday 
 school superintendents and _ teachers 
 would hang out ropes; and young men 
 and women would hang out ropes; and 
 mothers and wives would hang out 
 ropes? 
 
 This is the secret of soul-saving. 
 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 957 — 
 SURPRISING CONFIDENCE 
 
 When pastor at Iron Mountain, Michi- 
 gan, Dr. John D. Cameron an elder in 
 my church told me the following in- 
 cident ; 
 
 One day his associate, Dr. Crowell, . 
 
 asked his assistance at an operation he 
 was to perform. The patient was a 
 miner who resided at the “Location,” in 
 one of the many houses built on the 
 same plan, and of the same color, red 
 
 ANECDOTES 477 
 
 trimmed with white. 
 
 By mistake the doctors entered the 
 wrong house and went up stairs. In a 
 bed, in a room similar to that in which 
 Dr. Crowell had seen his patient, lay a 
 man. The doctors proceeded to make 
 their arrangements for the operation. 
 They opened their bags, took out their 
 instruments, got a basin of water, a 
 towel, etc. 
 
 The man who evidently knew them, 
 watched their proceedings with interest. 
 
 When all was in readiness, Dr. 
 Crowell approached the bed, and turned 
 down its covers to show Dr. Cameron 
 the spot demanding an operation. To 
 his surprise he couldn’t find it, and then 
 they became quickly aware that they 
 were in the wrong house. 
 
 When the man, a Swede, was asked 
 why he had said nothing, he replied: “I 
 supposed you knew what you were 
 about, and that it was all right.” 
 
 We cannot commend the judgement 
 of a man who would allow doctors to go 
 so far as they did in this case. But 
 when God’s providence in His dealings 
 with us seems strange, wur confidence 
 in Him should be so great as to keep 
 us quiet, and enable us to await develop- 
 ments. For we know He is too wise to 
 err and too good to be unkind.—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 958 — 
 “I THOUGHT OF YOU, MOTHER.” 
 
 “A boy who afterward became gov- 
 ernor of the state of Massachusetts, once 
 came near being drowned. The boat 
 in which he was sailing capsized, and he 
 had to swim more than a mile; but 
 finally he reached the shore in safety. 
 When he reached home and told his 
 mother what a long distance he had to 
 swim, she asked him how he managed 
 to hold out so long. ‘I thought of you 
 mother,’ replied the boy, ‘and kept on 
 swimming. The thought of mother 
 helped him in the moment of his great- 
 est need, and thus saved his life, not only 
 to himself and to his mother, but also 
 to the state and to the nation.” 
 
478 
 
 — 959 — 
 TALMAGE’S CONVERSION 
 
 A mother was one evening pleading 
 with her son to remain at home and not 
 go out to spend the night in dissipation. 
 He answered, “I’m of age and too old 
 to be tied to your apron strings.” She 
 said, “My dear boy, I can’t force you 
 to stay, but please remember that your 
 mother will be ail night on her knees 
 praying God to save your soul.” 
 
 The young man went out and spent the 
 night carelessly, forgetting all about his 
 mother. About four o’clock ,in the 
 morning he returned home, partially 
 intoxicated. Seeing a light in his 
 mother’s room, made him think of her 
 Jast words. He crept up to the window 
 and looked in. There on her knees be- 
 side the bed was his mother, with up- 
 turned face, crying, “O God, save my 
 poor lost boy!” Quickly he turned 
 away and went up stairs to bed, but 
 not to sleep. He tossed and turned 
 until he was forced to get up and throw 
 himself upon his knees before God and 
 call for mercy. He rose from his knees 
 a saved man. The news of his conver- 
 sion went like wild-fire around the 
 country and upward of five hundred 
 young people were converted shortly 
 afterward in that little village of Sum- 
 merville, N. J. This young man mar- 
 ried and had children born to him. They 
 all grew to manhood and became min- 
 isters of the gospel. One of them 
 attained world-wide recognition as 
 America’s best preacher and religious 
 writer of his day. His name was De 
 Witt Talmage.—S. S. Lesson Illustra- 
 tor. 
 
 — 960 ~~ 
 
 THE THANKFUL HEART 
 
 Thankfulness comes from the heart, 
 not from the circumstances. “In every- 
 thing give thanks.” 1 Thess. v. 18. 
 Matthew Henry, the commentator, 
 robbed of his purse, remarked: “Let 
 me be thankful, first, because I never 
 was robbed before. Second, because, 
 although they took my purse, they did 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 not take my life. Third, because, al- 
 though they took my all, it was not 
 much. Fourth, because it was I who 
 was robbed, and not I who robbed.” 
 
 A poor cobbler was always praising 
 God, even in misfortune, believing it to 
 be by God’s permission. His wife 
 scolded him daily for thanking God 
 for nothing. One day the poor but 
 happy cobbler fell downstairs and broke 
 his right leg. The wife came rushing to 
 the scene of the accident to hear her 
 espoused fervently saying: “Thank 
 God.” “Are you fool enough to thank 
 God for a broken leg,” she shouted in 
 vexation. 
 
 “Thank God I did not break both 
 legs,” was the unexpected reply of the 
 smiling cobbler.—Selected. 
 
 — 961 — 
 HE COULDN’T LET THE BABIES 
 
 FREEZE 
 
 In the railroad yards of a central Wis- 
 consin town a little chap, who after- 
 wards said he was twelve years old, but 
 looked to be only nine or ten, was trudg- 
 ing down the track with a bag slung 
 over his shoulder, which it took no 
 shrewdness to guess was a bag of coal. 
 A friendly approach soon enticed the 
 sturdy youngster to confidential con- 
 versation. “Yes,” said he, “its been cold 
 this winter and I’ve been picking up coal 
 along the tracks every day. Made no — 
 difference if I wuz cold, but them babies 
 at home, you bet I wuzn’t going to let 
 them freeze. And I kept ’em good and 
 warm all winter too.” And as the little 
 fellow turned off down a side street 
 leading to some rickety homes he 
 shouted back with his good-bye, “I’m 
 going to keep on picking up coal until 
 the weather gets warm.” 
 
 The world boasts of its heroes, but in 
 its dark corners it cradles nobler heroes 
 than its trump of fame ever heralds. 
 Where the guardian angels of little 
 children keep their wiser records of true 
 greatness, there shall surely be an en- 
 during memorial for that little chap who 
 can be cold himself but cannot let the 
 babies freeze.—The Continent. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 962 — 
 CLIMBERS OR FLYERS? 
 
 A story is told of a traveler who sat 
 down to rest by the wayside. Soon he 
 noticed a large beetle trying to climb 
 over arock. The rock shelved outward 
 at the top, and every time the beetle 
 got up to the under side of that ledge 
 he fell back to the ground again. At 
 last the beetle seemed to get dis- 
 couraged. Instead of resuming his 
 climb as before, after another fall, he 
 stood and looked at the rock. Then he 
 opened his wings and flew over it with 
 ease. 
 
 Why didn’t he do that at first? Who 
 knows? He was not in the habit of 
 using his wings, and perhaps, was a lit; 
 tle afraid to trust himself to them. 
 
 Every climbing Christian might be a 
 flying Christian, and then instead of 
 continually falling down again he would 
 be able, like the beetle, to fly over his 
 obstruction. Why can’t all Climbers 
 become Flyers? It may be only be- 
 cause they are afraid to trust their 
 wings; or, it may be that some natures 
 are so constructed that a certain amount 
 of gymnastics of the climbing kind is 
 necessary before they are able to use the 
 wings of faith successfully. — Selected 
 
 — 963 — 
 MEN ABOVE PRICE 
 
 When the liquor men began casting 
 about for a man to contest Constitution- 
 al Prohibition in the courts, they decid- 
 ed to look for some one of social promi- 
 nence. 
 
 They laid down on a table in front of 
 Charles Evans Hughes a check for $150,- 
 000. The great jurist replied, “I would 
 not champion this cause before the 
 courts for any sum of money you could 
 name.” 
 
 Failing to buy Mr. Hughes, they next 
 went to William Howard Taft, and 
 placed before him a signed check, telling 
 him to fill it in for any amount he want- 
 ed. The reply of this statesman will 
 be memorable: “Gentlemen, you could 
 n’t pile enough gold on this continent 
 to induce me to take your case before 
 
 479 
 
 the courts and before the public, for I 
 will have you know my _ consciencs 
 is not for sale.”-——-Christian Century 
 
 — 964 — 
 VALUE OF TRACT GIVING 
 
 A woman in Lebanon, Ky., heard 
 Moody preach, and resolved to do some- 
 thing. She gave a tract to a young 
 man. He gave himself to God. He 
 was Dr, Lorimer, the noted Baptist min- 
 ister. He led to Christ Russell Conwell, 
 now pastor of a large church in Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 A commercial traveler went into a 
 store and asked a young man named 
 Sayford if he wanted to put his name on 
 a prayer list. To please the traveler 
 he assented and forgot it. Soon after 
 he was converted, and became an evan- 
 gelist to young men in colleges of 
 America. Obert gave himself to Christ 
 through hearing him, became an evan- 
 gelist and went to Cornell University. 
 John R. Mott heard him and was saved, 
 becoming a well-known evangelist in 
 colleges, as well as in other world-wide 
 work.—J. E. Tiffany. 
 
 oe 065. 
 JONAH AND THE WHALE 
 
 Last winter in the Japan Sea was 
 captured what is thought to be the 
 greatest whale, It took three Japanese 
 ships to convey the skeleton of this 
 monster to Monji. The whale was two 
 hundred feet long. Its jawbones were 
 twenty-five feet in length and the skel- 
 eton weighed fifty-five tons. Captain 
 Carl Meier with the steamship Oregonia, 
 brought the skeleton of this great whale 
 from Monji, Japan, to the dock at 
 Brooklyn. It was purchased in the Far 
 East by a representative of the Museum 
 of Natural History in New York City. 
 Those who find physical difficulties in 
 accepting the Bible story of Jonah on 
 account of the smallness of the throat 
 of the fish, might easily believe that 
 such a whale as the one whose remains 
 have been brought to New York would 
 have no difficulty in swallowing one or 
 even a dozen men,—Christian Herald. 
 
480 
 
 — 966 — 
 WHY HE MISSED THE TRAIN. 
 
 It was probably in the early nineties 
 that Mr. Hudson Taylor conducted some 
 very blessed meetings in the city of St. 
 Louis, and in the church of which the 
 late Dr. James H. Brookes was the 
 beloved pastor. 
 
 He had been in our city a good many 
 days, and great interest in the work of 
 the China Inland Mission had been 
 manifested, both through large gifts, and 
 through the establishment of centers of 
 intercession for the work in China. 
 While here he was the guest of Dr. 
 Brookes. 
 
 After his meetings in our city, he was 
 booked for a small town in Illinois where 
 he was to give an address at eight 
 o’clock in the evening. In order to reach 
 the town, he was to leave St. Louis by 
 an early train on Monday morning. 
 
 Dr. Brookes was most punctilious 
 about meeting all engagements 
 promptly. He therefore ordered his 
 coachman to have the carriage at the 
 door at quite an early hour. 
 
 The hour arrived but the coachman 
 did not. As there seemed still abund- 
 ance of time, they awaited his arrival 
 with little concern. But at last Dr. 
 Brookes became much concerned, and 
 they started to try to catch a street car. 
 It was in the days before telephones 
 were much in use. On the way to the 
 car they met the coachman with the 
 carriage, entered it, and bade the coach- 
 man drive as quickly as possible. 
 
 Dr. Brookes watched the time and was 
 much concerned about missing the train. 
 But Mr. Taylor was quite at ease, and 
 said quietly, “My Father runs the trains 
 and I am on His business.” 
 
 Upon reaching the station, they found 
 that the train had gone, and were told 
 that no train would be leaving for the 
 town mentioned before evening. Dr. 
 Brookes expressed great regret and con- 
 cern; but again Mr. Taylor reminded 
 him that “my Father runs the trains.” 
 
 Just as they turned from the ticket 
 office, a man rushed up to Mr. Taylor, 
 saying, “Oh, I was afraid that I had 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 missed you. I want to tell you how God 
 has used you to bring blessing to me.” 
 As he turned away he slipped an envel- 
 ope into Mr. Taylor’s hands, which was 
 found to contain $75, marked “For your 
 personal use.” 
 
 Mr. Taylor said to Dr. Brookes, “You 
 see that my Father has just sent me my 
 railway fare.” Dr. Brookes was amazed 
 and asked, “Did you not have your rail- 
 way fare, and if not, why did you not 
 let me know?” He replied, “I told my 
 Father,” and he added “I never use 
 money except such as is marked for per- 
 sonal use.” 
 
 Then Mr, Taylor walked leisurely to a 
 man standing among outgoing trains, 
 and asked if he knew of any way by 
 which he might reach the town in Illinois 
 that evening. The man replied that a 
 train would be leaving soon, which 
 passed through Springfield, Ill, and that 
 a train from Chicago passed through 
 Springfield en route to the town men- 
 tioned. But he said that the Chicago 
 train would pass through Springfield an 
 hour before the train from St. Louis 
 was due in that place. Mr. Taylor said 
 with great assurance that the St. Louis 
 Hae would reach Springfield first that 
 
 ay. 
 
 So he bought his ticket and boarded 
 that train, bid Dr. Brookes to be com- 
 forted as his Father certainly did run 
 the trains. For the first time in one and 
 a half years the Chicago train was an 
 hour late; Mr. Taylor stepped from one 
 train to the other, reached his destina- 
 tion in good time and wired to Dr. 
 Brookes, “My Father runs the trains.” 
 
 On the next day the papers reported 
 a wreck of the train on which Mr. Tay- 
 lor had proposed to journey. “Accord- 
 ing to your faith, be it unto you.— 
 China’s Millions. 
 
 — 967 — 
 HIS SUBSTITUTE 
 
 I was reading a day or two ago, about 
 a farmer who was found kneeling at a 
 soldier’s grave near Nashville. Some 
 one came to him and said: “Why do you 
 pay so much attention to this grave? 
 Was your son buried here?” “No,” he 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 said. “During the war, my family were 
 all sick. I knew not how to leave them. 
 I was drafted. One of my neighbors 
 came over and said: ‘I will go for you, 
 I have no family.” We went off. He was 
 wounded at Chickamauga. He was car- 
 ried to the hospital and died. And, sir, 
 I have come a great many miles that I 
 might write over his grave these words: 
 ‘He died for me.’ Christ was our Sub- 
 stitute. He went forth to fight our 
 battles. He died. Oh! that we might 
 write over His grave to-night, each one 
 of us: “He died for me!”—Talmage. 
 
 — 968 — 
 WASHING THE WOOL 
 
 A clergyman walking near a brook, 
 observed a woman washing wool in a 
 stream. This was done by putting it in 
 a sieve, and then dipping the sieve in the 
 water repeatedly, until the wool became 
 white and clean. 
 
 He asked the woman if she knew him. 
 
 “Oh, yes, sir,” she said; “I shall have 
 reason to bless God to eternity for hav- 
 ing heard you preach some years ago. 
 Your sermon was the means of doing me 
 much good.” 
 
 “I rejoice to hear it. 
 the subject?” 
 
 “Ah, sir, I can’t recollect that, my 
 memory is so bad.” 
 
 “How then can the sermon have done 
 you so much. good, if you don’t remem- 
 ber even what it was about?” 
 
 “Sir, my mind is like this sieve: the 
 sieve does not hold the water, but as the 
 water runs through, it cleanses the wool; 
 so my memory does not retain the 
 words I hear, but as they pass through 
 my heart, by God’s grace they cleanse 
 it. Now I no longer love sin, and every 
 day I entreat my Saviour to wash me in 
 his own blood, and to cleanse me from 
 all pollution.”—Selected. 
 
 — 969 — 
 DRIVING WITH OIL 
 
 I wanted to drive an iron bar through 
 a piece of timber. I bored a hole of the 
 right size, but the bar was rusty, and the 
 hole was rough. I made slow progress, 
 and was beginning to split the wood. 
 
 Pray, what was 
 
 481 
 
 Then I thought of the oil can. I oiled 
 the bar; I poured oil into the hole; a 
 few blows of the hammer sent the iron 
 into its place. The oil had not dimin- 
 ished the size of the bar, or enlarged 
 that of the hole. It had only relieved 
 the friction. It had smoothed both sur- 
 faces. A few drops of oil were more ef- 
 fective than many blows of the hammer. 
 How slow some good people are to 
 learn this simple lesson. They take hold 
 of an important enterprise with great 
 zeal. They are intensely earnest, and 
 even morbidly conscientious. Every- 
 body ought to see it just as they do, and 
 whoever does not is hammered at with- 
 out mercy. Such uncharitable zeal 
 provokes opposition. It excites all the 
 friction of the natural heart. Men will 
 not appreciate the truth presented when 
 they are repelled by the spirit in which 
 it is presented. Let the reformer be 
 careful to have plenty of oil. Let him 
 speak the truth in love.—Dr. Babb. 
 
 — 970 — 
 
 JUDGE PAYS A PRISONER’S FINE 
 
 Mr. Frank Weaver, at one of the tent 
 meetings, told the following story: “Two 
 men who had been friends and compan- 
 ions in their youth, met in the police 
 court, the one on the magistrate’s bench, 
 the other in the prisoner’s dock. The 
 case was tried and the prisoner found 
 guilty. Would the judge, in considera- 
 tion of their friendship years before, for- 
 bear to pass judgment? No, he must 
 fulfil his duty, justice must be done, the 
 law of the land obeyed. He gave out 
 the sentence—fourteen days’ hard labor 
 or a fine of £10. The condemned man 
 had nothing to pay so the prison cell was 
 before him. But as soon as he had pro- 
 nounced the sentence, the judge rose 
 from the bench, threw aside his mag- 
 istrate’s robes, and, stepping down to the 
 dock, stood beside the prisoner, paid 
 his fine for him, and then said, “Now, 
 John, you are coming home with me to 
 supper.” It is just so with the sinner, 
 God cannot overlook sin. Justice must 
 be done, and sentence pronounced, but 
 Christ Himself pays the debt and the 
 sinner is free.—Selected. 
 
482 
 
 — 971 — 
 THE RESULT OF A PROMISE 
 
 One day a Scotch lad, not yet six- 
 teen, started from home to take charge 
 of a gentleman’s garden in Cheshire, 
 England. He bade farewell to father, 
 brothers and sisters, but his mother 
 accompanied him to the boat on which 
 he was to cross the Firth of Forth. 
 
 “Now, my Robert,” she said, as they 
 came in sight of the ferry, “let us stand 
 here for a few minutes. I wish to ask 
 one favor of you before you depart.” 
 
 “What is it, mother?” asked the son, 
 
 “Promise that you will do what I 
 am going to ask you.” 
 
 “I cannot, mother,’ replied the 
 cautious boy, “till you tell me what 
 your wish is.” 
 
 “Oh, Robert!” she exclaimed, and the 
 tears rolled down her cheeks, “would I 
 ask you to do anything that is not 
 right?” 
 
 “Ask what you will, mother, and I 
 will do it,” said the son, overcome by 
 his mother’s agitation. 
 
 “I want you to promise me that you 
 will read a chapter in the Bible every 
 morning and evening.” 
 
 “Mother, you know I read my Bible.” 
 
 “I know you do, but you do not read 
 it regularly. I shall return home now 
 with a happy heart, seeing you have 
 promised me to read the Scripture 
 daily.” 
 
 The lad went his way. He kept his 
 promise, and every day read the Bible. 
 He read, however, because he loved his 
 mother; not from any pleasure he found 
 in the sacred book. At length, inatten- 
 tive though he was, the truths he daily 
 came in contact with aroused his con- 
 science. He became useasy, and then 
 unhappy. He would have ceased read- 
 ing but for his promise. Living alone 
 in a lodge in a large garden, his leisure 
 was his own. He had but few books, 
 and those were works on gardening and 
 botany, which his profession obliged 
 him to consult. He was shut up to one 
 book, the Bible. 
 
 He did not pray until his unhappi- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ness sent him to his knees. One é€ven- 
 ing, while poring over the Epistle to 
 the Romans, light broke into his soul. 
 The apostle’s words appeared different, 
 though familiar to him. 
 
 “Can it be possible,” he said to him- 
 self, “that I have never understood 
 what I have read again and again?” 
 
 Peace came to his mind, and he found 
 himself earnestly desiring to know and 
 to do the will of God. 
 
 That will was made known to him in 
 a simple way. One night, as he en- 
 tered a neighboring town, he read a 
 placard announcing that a missionary 
 meeting was to be held. The time ap- 
 pointed for the meeting had long passed, 
 but the lad stood and read the placard 
 over and over. Stories of missionaries, 
 told him by his mother, came up vividly 
 as if they had just been related. Then 
 and there was begotten the purpose 
 which made Robert Moffat a missionary 
 to the Hottentots of South Africa. — 
 Religious Herald. 
 
 — 972 — 
 THE SPIRIT OF TOLERANCE 
 
 To what extent should we excercise 
 a spirit of tolerance toward those who 
 differ from us in religious belief? This 
 is a question that should not be an- 
 swered unwisely or rashly, 
 
 Early in the eighteenth century, when 
 Sir Robert Walpole stood at the helm 
 of the British Empire, it was noted that 
 he transacted business of state with a 
 remarkable degree of courtesy toward 
 the men who had bitterly abused him in 
 Parliament. When asked how he could 
 do so, he replied, 
 
 “The king’s business requires union. 
 Why should my master’s affairs suffer 
 
 loss by the private quarrels of his ser- 
 vants?” 
 
 Mr, Fletcher, in commenting upon 
 this incident, says: “May the time 
 come when the ministers of the King 
 of Peace shall have as much regard for 
 his interests as that minister showed 
 for the interests of his royal master.”— 
 Wesleyan Methodist, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 973 — 
 BELIEVED HIMSELF BLIND 
 
 The curious case of an ex-service man, 
 blinded in both eyes as he believed, is 
 given in the “Rochester Times Union,” 
 May 13, 1920. He was so blind that 
 neither eye could perceive an uplifted 
 hand at any distance. Blind eyes may 
 as well be shut as open. So he kept his 
 closed. 
 
 Examining physicians pronounced 
 him eligible for retraining; and he was 
 about to be admitted to the Maryland 
 Workshop for the Blind, under the Fed- 
 eral Board for Vocational Training, 
 when another doctor, who believed the 
 man’s eyes to be good, persuaded him 
 that he could see. This treatment by 
 suggestion was persevered in until the 
 supposedly blind man opened his eyes 
 and tried, and lo! he saw, and was pres- 
 ently discharged completely cured. 
 
 Sin blinds the eyes of those who be- 
 lieve not. They see no beauty in Christ 
 that he is to be desired. But to those 
 in nature’s darkness and spiritual death, 
 the Word of God sounds out, “Awake, 
 thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” 
 Eph. 5:14. 
 
 Man’s weakness because of sin is a 
 fact and notafancy. But if in obedience 
 to God’s command we arouse and open 
 our eyes, He will make us see and give 
 us light and power.—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 — 974 — 
 EVIL COMPANY 
 
 Sophronius, a wise teacher of the 
 people, did not allow his daughters, even 
 when they were grown up, to associate 
 with persons whose lives were not moral 
 and pure. 
 
 “Father,” said the gentle Eulalia one 
 day, when he had refused to permit her 
 to go, in company with her brother, to 
 visit the frivolous Lucinda, “father, you 
 must think that we are very weak and 
 childish, since you are afraid it would be 
 dangerous to us in visiting Lucinda.” 
 
 Without saying a word, the father 
 took a coal from the hearth and handed 
 it to his daughter. 
 
 483 
 
 “It will not burn you, my child,” said 
 he; “only take it.” 
 
 Eulalia took the coal, and beheld her 
 tender white hand black; and, without 
 thinking, she touched her white dress, 
 and it was also blackened. 
 
 “See,” said Eulalia, somewhat dis- 
 pleased as she looked at her hands and 
 dress, “one cannot be too careful enough 
 when handling coals.” 
 
 “Yes, truly,” said her father; “you 
 see, my child, that the coal, even though 
 it did not burn you, has nevertheless 
 blackened you! So is the company of 
 immoral persons.”—Selected. 
 
 — 975 — 
 THE BOY CHURCH BUILDERS 
 
 A. prominent minister, now quite 
 aged, tells a story of two boys who be- 
 gan right in the matter of giving to 
 God’s cause. The people of his church 
 were anxious for a new church build- 
 ing, and one Sunday morning subscrip- 
 tion papers were passed through the 
 congregation for that purpose. As one 
 of the deacons came near two bright- 
 faced lads, one of them fifteen, the 
 other younger, he said to them smiling- 
 ly, “Well, boys, are you going to help 
 build the church?” 
 
 When the older of the two boys an- 
 swered quietly, “Put my brother and 
 me down for fifty dollars,” the good 
 man could hardly believe his ears. 
 “Why, Henry! What do you mean?” 
 
 he said in astonishment. 
 
 But Henry was not to be discour- 
 aged. “We have saved twenty-five dol- 
 lars already,” he said, “and I think we 
 can get the rest by the time the church 
 is done.” And the pledge thus made 
 was kept and every cent of the money 
 paid on time. 
 
 The sequel of this story is just what 
 might be expected. One of those boys 
 is still living, a well-known and suc- 
 cessful minister of the Gospel. The 
 other died a few years since, wealthy, 
 and beloved throughout his native 
 State. They had honored God with 
 their substance, and he had rewarded 
 them with blessings and prosperity.— 
 Richard Miller. 
 
484 
 
 — 976 — 
 THE INFIDEL CONVERTED 
 
 A youth of sixteen entered Providence 
 college, now Brown University and 
 graduated with the highest honors of 
 his class. His most intimate friend was 
 E——, who was very bright and witty, 
 and remarkably winning in his person 
 and manners, but a confirmed infidel. 
 The ambitious youth came fully under 
 the influence of his gay and brilliant 
 companion, and when he left college, he, 
 too, could ridicule the Bible, arid crack 
 his jokes at the expense of weak minded 
 people who believed it to be the, word of 
 God, 
 
 For a time he was quite undecided 
 what literary field to selectfor the dis- 
 play of his talents. During this period 
 of hesitation he concluded to travel on 
 horseback through some of the New 
 England States and New York. 
 
 One evening he stopped at a country 
 inn, and the landlord apologized for the 
 necessity of putting him into a room ad- 
 joining an apartment occupied by a 
 young man who was extremely ill, and 
 in a dying condition. The youthful infidel 
 smilled at the apology, for what was 
 death to him? However, in the stillness 
 of the night he heard through the thin 
 partition the groans of the sick man, 
 groans of suffering, groans, it seemed to 
 him, of despair. He was ashamed to 
 find that these hollow and hopeless 
 groans not only disturbed, but appalled 
 him, and he covered his head with the 
 bed-clothes in profound mortification, 
 when he reflected that the intellectual 
 and sarcastic E would laugh him to 
 scorn if his weakness were ever dis- 
 covered, 
 
 At last all was still, and he fell into an 
 uneasy sleep. When he awoke, descend- 
 ing to the office, with assumed indiffer- 
 ence he inquired after his fellow-lodger. 
 
 “Dead,” was the blunt reply of the 
 landlord. 
 
 The jnfidel was, startled, but again 
 asked in careless tones, “Do you know 
 who he was?” 
 
 “Oh, yes, he was a graduate of Provi- 
 dence College, and a fine fellow! His 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 
 
 name was E , and it’s a pity he died 
 so young, for he would have made his 
 mark,” 
 
 And so the groans that forced the 
 young stranger to think of E——, as a 
 refuge from his unmanly fears, were the 
 groans of E——— himself, the wicked and 
 mocking deist, in his dying hour. 
 
 This young skeptic afterwards became 
 the devoted and distinguished Dr. Adon- 
 iram Judson, the “great missionary” of 
 Burmah.—Selected. 
 
 — 977 — 
 
 CLAFLIN AND THE YOUNG MAN 
 
 The following story is told about 
 Horace B. Claflin, a prominent merchant 
 who was as quaint and humorous as he 
 was keen witted and rich; 
 
 On a certain evening, about five 
 o’clock Claflin was sitting alone in his 
 office when a young man, pale and care- 
 worn, timidly knocked and entered. 
 
 “Mr. Claflin,” he said, “I am in need 
 of help. I have been unable to meet 
 certain payment, because certain par- 
 ties have not done as they agreed by 
 me, and I would like to ‘have $10,000. I 
 come to you because you were a friend 
 to my father and might be a friend to 
 me.” 
 
 “Come in,” said Claflin; “come in and 
 have a glass of wine.” 
 
 “No,” said the young man; “I don’t 
 drink.” 
 
 “Have a cigar, then.” 
 
 “No; I never smoke.” 
 
 “Well,” said the joker, “I would like 
 to accommodate you, but I don’t think I 
 can.” 
 
 “Very well,” said the young man, as 
 he was about to leave the room; “I 
 thought perhaps you ‘might. Good day, 
 sir. 
 
 “Hold on,” said Mr. Claflin. 
 don’t drink?” 
 
 “No.7” 
 
 “Nor smoke?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “Nor gamble, nor anything of the 
 kind ?” 
 
 “You 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 “No sir; I am superintendent of the — 
 
 == Sunday-school.” 
 
 “Well,” said Claflin, with tears in his 
 eyes and choking voice, “you shall have 
 it and three times the amount if you 
 wish. Your father let me have $5,000 
 once, and asked me the same questions. 
 He trusted me, and I will trust you.” 
 
 =— 978 —= 
 
 CHECK YOUR PASSIONS 
 
 An old man was once walking with a 
 little boy. They came across four 
 shrubs. The old man said to his youth- 
 ful companion. 
 
 “Pull up the least one.” 
 
 He obeyed with ease. 
 
 “Now the next.” 
 
 He obeyed, but it did not come so 
 easily. 
 
 “And the third.” 
 
 It took all his strength to move the 
 roots, but he succeeded. 
 
 “Now the fourth.” 
 
 In vain the boy put forth all his 
 strength. He only made the leaves 
 tremble. He could not move the earth 
 and no effort could dislodge it. 
 
 Then the wise old man said to the 
 ardent youth. “This, my son, is just 
 what happens with your passions. When 
 they are young and weak one may by 
 a little watchfulness over self and the 
 help of a little self-denial easily tear 
 them up, but if we let them cast their 
 roots deep into our soul there is no 
 human power that can uproot them. 
 For this reason, watch well over the 
 first movement of your soul and study 
 by acts and virtue to keep your passions 
 well in check.—Selected. 
 
 — 979 — 
 
 CONTROL VOICE AND TEMPER 
 
 A London merchant once had a dis- 
 pute with a Quaker about a bill. The 
 merchant said he would go to law about 
 it; the Quaker tried all means to keep 
 him from doing so. One morning the 
 Quaker resolved to make a last attempt, 
 and he called at the merchant’s house, 
 and asked the servant if his master was 
 at home. The merchant heard him, and, 
 
 485 
 
 knowing) his voice, called out from the 
 stairs, “Tell the rascal I am not at 
 home.” The Quaker looking up at him, 
 calmly said; “Well, friend, God grant 
 thee a better mind.” The merchant was 
 struck with meekness of the reply, and 
 he looked into the disputed bill, and 
 found that the Quaker was right and he 
 was wrong. He called to see him, and, 
 after confessing his error, he said: “I 
 have one question to ask you: How 
 were you able so often to bear my abuse 
 with patience?” “Friend,” said the 
 Quaker, “I will tell thee. I had once 
 as bad a temper as thou hast; I knew 
 that to yield to this temper was sinful, 
 and I found that it was unwise. .I 
 noticed that merr in a passion always 
 spoke loud, and I thought that if I could 
 control my voice, I should keep my pas- 
 sion. I have therefore, made it a rule 
 never to let my voice rise above a cer- 
 tain key, and by carefully observing this 
 rule I have, by God’s help, mastered my 
 temper.”—Selected. 
 
 — 980 — 
 
 KIND AS WELL AS GREAT 
 
 In addressing a Sunday-school in De- 
 troit, some time ago, Rev. Dr. Broadus 
 related the following story: 
 
 An old man used to sweep the street- 
 crossings for gratuitous pennies, near 
 the House of Parliament, for many 
 years. One day he was absent. Upon 
 inquiring he was found by a,missionary 
 ill in a little attic, barely furnished with 
 cot and stool. 
 
 “You are lonely here,” the missionary 
 said. “Has any one called upon you?” . 
 
 “Oh, yes,” he replied, “several per- 
 sons have called—Mr. Gladstone for 
 one. He called and read to me.” 
 
 “Mr. Gladstone called? And what 
 did he read?” 
 
 “He sat on the stool there and read 
 the Bible to me.” 
 
 What a beautiful position! The 
 greatest statesman in the world sitting 
 on a stool in an attic reading the Word 
 of God to a street-sweeper! Great men 
 lose none of their greatness by kind- 
 ness to the poor. 
 
786 
 
 mm 98.1 — 
 
 SANDY OR SAFE FOUNDATION? 
 A careless living woman spoken to 
 by one of the missionaries of the People’s 
 Tabernacle respecting her salvation re- 
 plied, “Oh that is a matter I attended 
 to long ago!” Probably years before she 
 had been the subject of some religious 
 ceremony, baptism or confirmation. 
 Having had the benefit of all this, she 
 supposed her salvation certain. 
 
 A man to whom one of the members 
 of the Tabernacle spoke about going to 
 church replied, “I have not been to 
 church in more than thirty years. ‘ When 
 I was confirmed I made up my mind that 
 would end my church-going, and it did!” 
 He evidently thought he was graduating 
 from the service of Christ instead of en- 
 listing in it. Such ignorance of the 
 gospel is pitiable and ail too common. 
 Humanity is so prone to trust in some 
 service, ceremony or something, instead 
 of in Christ alone. 
 
 Said a very sick woman, whom the 
 Pastor visited in the hospital not long 
 ago, “If only a prayer could be said for 
 me in ehurch, I would be willing to go!” 
 
 She had not lived as she wanted to 
 die, but she had suffered long, and there 
 was no prospect of improvement, so she 
 would be resigned to die if only a prayer 
 could be said for her in church! 
 
 She was pointed to Christ as the only 
 one who can do helpless sinners good. 
 She was told that He invited all to come 
 to Him, and would turn none away who 
 truly came. That better than dying, 
 would be the privilege of going to her 
 home again and there by living a new 
 life prove the reality of her faith in 
 Christ. But God ordered otherwise, and 
 in a few days she passed out of this 
 world. 
 
 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, 
 and the life; no man cometh unto the 
 Father, but by me.”—John 14, 6.—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 982 — 
 NOT TO BE BRIBED 
 
 The borough of Hull, in the reign of 
 Charles II., chose Andrew Marvell, a 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 young gentleman of little or no fortune, 
 and maintained him in London for the 
 service of the public. His understand- 
 ing, integrity, and spirit, were dreadful 
 to the then infamous administration. 
 Persuaded he would be theirs if properly 
 asked, they sent his old school-fellow, 
 the lord treasurer Danby, to renew ac- 
 quaintance with him in his garret. At 
 parting the lord treasurer slipped into 
 his hand £1,000, and then went to his 
 chariot. Marvel, looking at the paper, 
 called after the treasurer, “My lord, 1 
 request another moment.”. They went 
 up again to the garret, and the servant- 
 boy was called.. “I ask, child, what had 
 I for dinner yesterday?” “Don’t you re- 
 member, sir, you had the little shoulder 
 of mutton that you ordered me to bring 
 from a woman in the market?” “Very 
 right, child; what have I for dinner 
 today?” “Don’t you know, sir, that you 
 bid me lay by the blade bone to broil” 
 “It is so; very right, child, goaway. My 
 lord, do you hear that? Andrew Mar- 
 vell’s dinner is provided: there is your 
 piece of paper, I want it not; I know the 
 sort of kindness you intended; I live 
 here to serve my constituents, the min- 
 istry may seek men for their purpose; I 
 am not one.”—Selected. 
 
 — 983 — 
 ANSWERED WHILE SPEAKING 
 
 A company of Covenanters had been 
 pursued by their persecutors until their 
 strength was exhausted. Reaching a hill 
 which separated them from their pur- 
 suers, their leader said, “Let us pray 
 here, for if the Lord hear not our prayer 
 and save us, we are all dead men.” He 
 then prayed: “Twine about the hill, O 
 Lord, and cast the lap of Thy cloak 
 over puir old Saunders and these puir 
 things!” Before he had done speaking 
 a mist rose up about the hill, and 
 wrapped the devoted little band about 
 like the very cloak of the Lord he had 
 prayed for. In vain their enemies sought 
 to find them, and, while they were 
 wearying themselves in the efforts, an 
 order came which sent them on an er- 
 rand in/a different direction.—Arthur T. 
 Pierson, D. D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 = 984 — 
 “I THANK YOU, SIR!” 
 
 “When I crossed the ocean in my boy- 
 hood to seek my fortune in America, all 
 the English I knew was ‘I thank, you, 
 sir,” said a gentleman, now a highly 
 prosperous and respected American citi- 
 zen. 
 
 “That one sentence served me in good 
 stead. The captain and crew of the 
 vessel were Englishmen, and it was 
 marvelous how my ‘I thank you, sir,’ 
 won smiles and kindness from them. It 
 was the same when I reached New York. 
 When other words failed me, it was my 
 passport, and it opened many a door and 
 many a heart to me.” We wonder how 
 many of our young people have learned 
 that sentence so that it comes easily 
 to the lips. To remember to say, “I 
 thank you, sir,” in response to the cour- 
 tesies we receive in the course of a day, 
 and ‘to keep the sentence in readiness 
 when other words fail, is to possess a 
 vocabulary far from meager in its scope, 
 especially in the way it acts upon 
 hearts.—Selected. 
 
 CHURCH GOING 
 
 Take church-going and store-going. 
 Every morning the man is at his busi- 
 ness; nothing keeps him from it but 
 the grip of some disease which will not 
 let him out of the house. He may feel 
 inert, but he goes. He may have a 
 headache, but off he starts; and when 
 he is there how interested he is—how 
 absorbed, how alert, how devoted. That 
 is store-going. 
 
 And now take the same man and look 
 at his church-going. What a contrast! 
 “T have a headache; I do not think I 
 shall go to church.” “It rains hard and 
 it is so cold; I shall not venture out.” 
 “T feel tired; I shall stay at home and 
 rest.” And often, when he goes, how he 
 lolls about and looks around and lets his 
 mind wander. 
 
 Yes, you say; but one is business to 
 which we must attend; we shall lose our 
 place or our money; and the other is— 
 
 ANECDOTES 487 
 
 well, what is it? Is it not an important 
 thing? Is it not God’s business? Is it 
 not a very holy, a very solemn, a very 
 urgent affair? Does not the welfare of 
 the soul depend upon it? Can it be 
 neglected with impunity? 
 
 Think of those words of your Master 
 in Malachi, “A son honoreth his father, 
 and a servant his master; if then, I be 
 a father where is my fear?”—Clinton 
 Locke, D. D. 
 
 — 986 — 
 
 MULLER’S MIGHTY FAITH 
 
 “When the son of God cometh shali 
 he find faith on earth?” The notable 
 nonagenarian among living Christians 
 is George Muller, of Bristol, England, 
 who has recently passed his ninetieth 
 birthday. Both his age and his piety 
 are patriarchal. Since 1835 Mr. Muller 
 has been engaged in orphanage work, 
 and has been used of God in the uprear- 
 ing of numerous colossal buildings for 
 the accommodation of his orphans, who 
 are providentially brought under his 
 care, from year to year. Through the 
 faith and prayers of this great and good 
 man, the Lord has enabled him to 
 gather, feed, clothe, educate, and rear to 
 manhood and womanhood 120,763 or- 
 phans during the sixty years’ manage- 
 ment of the Lord’s orphanages. He has 
 never asked assistance from men; not 
 as much as the value of a single penny. 
 He has asked the Lord only for the 
 dollars he has needed, and for all his 
 orphanage supplies. In answer to his 
 prayers God has given into his hands 
 all the dollars he has needed, and all 
 the supplies that his orphans needed. 
 In the sixty years of his orphanage 
 work there has been expended the im- 
 mense sum of $6,866,743; and the Lord 
 has given into his hands precisely the 
 sum of $6,866,743. The faith of this 
 wonderful man is sublimely simple. 
 “Ask, and receive’—that’s all’ But he 
 seems superhuman among ordinary hu- 
 mans on account of the superhuman 
 work he is doing, and the superhuman 
 faith that he brings to its accomplish- 
 ment.—Selected, 1896. 
 
488 
 
 -— 987 — 
 PERSEVERANCE REWARDED 
 
 Missionary Labor at Tahiti was ap- 
 parently in vain for from fourteen to six- 
 teen years, and, notwithstanding untir- 
 ing, earnest and faithful effort, but one 
 solitary instance of conversion had taken 
 place. The wars of desolation con- 
 tinued, and abominable idolatries and 
 iniquities reigned. “The heavens seemed 
 as brass and the earth as iron’; and 
 when God’s time to favor the work in 
 Polynesia came, the beginning was such 
 as to turn all attention to himself. For 
 at the time the war had driven tlie mis- 
 sionaries from the island and cut off all 
 communication. Two native servants, 
 formerly employed in the missionaries’ 
 families, had unknown to them received 
 favorable impressions, and had united 
 together for prayer. They had been 
 joined by others, and at the return of the 
 missionaries to Tahiti at the termination 
 of the war they found a number of 
 praying people, and had little to do but 
 to aid in a work which God had thus 
 singularly begun. 
 
 These years of fruitless and ap- 
 parently hopeless toil had almost deter- 
 mined the directors of the London 
 Missionary Society to abandon alto- 
 gether the work at Tahiti. Dr. Haweis, 
 chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, 
 one of the founders of the Society, and 
 the father and liberal supporter of the 
 South Sea Mission, earnestly opposed 
 such abandonment by a further donation 
 of a thousand dollars. The Rev. Mat- 
 thew Wilks, the pastor of Mr. Williams, 
 declared with great emphasis that he 
 would sell the clothes from his back 
 rather than give up the mission, and 
 proposed instead of abandonment that a 
 season of special prayer should be ob- 
 served for the divine blessing. Such a 
 season was observed; letters of encour- 
 agement were written to the mission- 
 aries, and—mark it!—while the vessel 
 _ ‘was on her way to carry these letters to 
 Tahiti, another ship passed her in mid- 
 ocean which conveyed to Great Britain, 
 October 1813, the news that idolatry 
 was entirely overthrown in the Island, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and bore back to London the rejected 
 idols of the people; and so was fulfilled 
 literally the Divine promise, “Before 
 they call I will answer, and while they 
 are yet speaking I will hear.”—Rev. 
 A. T. Pierson, D.D. 
 
 — 988 — 
 GOD’S CARE SHOWN 
 
 As truly as God is God, and has given 
 us our faculties, just so truly will He as- 
 sist us in the right use ofthese faculties. 
 And if at time He, in wisdom, sees fit 
 to thwart our plans, it is in order that a 
 greater good may come to us, as in the 
 case of Job. 
 
 On one occasion I was many miles 
 from home. I supposed I had money 
 enough for my necessary expenses, but 
 in offering a ten-dollar bill it was de- 
 clared to be a counterfeit. Several busi- 
 ness men said they would not have hesi- 
 tated to take it. But I, fearing God, 
 could not pass it. I took a pen and 
 wrote across the face of the bill “Coun- 
 terfeit.” But how should I get along? 
 I needed just that $10 to take me home. 
 I stopped in Janesville, Wis., and was 
 invited to preach in the Y. M. C. A. Hall. 
 Some one unknown to me took up a col- 
 lection, and besides the usual small 
 change found in the hat at such times, 
 there was a genuine ten-dollar bill. 
 
 I do not preach for money, and never 
 asked for a contribution for myself. If 
 one cannot see the hand of God in thus 
 rewarding right doing, and trust in Him, 
 he must be void of discernment. 
 
 Another time I was away from home 
 attending meeting. My horses were in 
 a barn quite a distance from where I 
 stayed at night. In the night a gentle- 
 man came and called me up and wished 
 me to look after my horses, for a Godly 
 woman in his house insisted upon his 
 coming to inform me that my horses 
 were in trouble. I went, and found one 
 of my horses thrown down in a way that 
 must soon have resulted in death. This 
 woman knew nothing of the facts, but 
 was impressed that something was 
 wrong, although her home was a long 
 way from the stable. 
 
 “He that spared not His own Son, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 but delivered Him up for us alli, how 
 shall He not with Him also freely give 
 us all things?”’—Rev. C. W. Smith, 
 Aurora, Il. 
 
 — 989 — 
 THE SEVEN LETTERS 
 
 several years ago “The Presbyterian” 
 related the following incident on the 
 authority of a private letter from Paris: 
 
 “At a Bible reunion, held at the house 
 of an English Congregational minister, 
 where several colporteurs, teachers, and 
 others meet for devotional reading and 
 conversation, a brief anecdote was re- 
 lated by a clergyman living in La Force, 
 who established there an institution for 
 epileptics, where he has now three hun- 
 dred, supported entirely on the principle 
 of faith, Like Muller’s orphanage. 
 
 “At one time he found himself in debt 
 to the amount of five hundred pounds. 
 After a sleepless, anxious night, he found 
 on his table seven letters. Opening five, 
 he found them to be all applications, 
 some of them most painful in their 
 details, for the admission of new in- 
 mates. His excited mind could not bear 
 it. Without opening the other two 
 letters he threw them to his wife. ‘Put 
 them into the fire,’ he said, and turned to 
 seek relief in the open air. ‘John,’ said a 
 sweet voice, ‘this won’t do. Come back.’ 
 So he did, taking up the sixth letter, 
 which proved to be from a stranger, en- 
 closing a check for three hundred 
 pounds. The other envelope gave him 
 just what was needed, just that and no 
 more. He thanked God, and took cour- 
 age. Will he ever again hear the sweet, 
 sad voice, ‘Wherefore didst thou 
 doubt?’ ” 
 
 — 990 — 
 THE SHOEMAKER’S PLAN 
 
 A shoe-maker being asked how he con- 
 trived to give so much, replied that it 
 was easily done by obeying St. Paul’s 
 precept in 1 Cor. 16:2: “Upon the first 
 day of the week let every one of you 
 lay by him in store, as God hath pros- 
 pered him.” “I earn,” said he, “one day 
 with another, about a dollar a day, and 
 
 ANECDOTES 489 
 
 I can without inconvenience to myself 
 or family lay by five cents of this sum 
 for charitable purposes; the amount is 
 thirty cents a week. My wife takes in 
 sewing and washing, and earns some- 
 thing like two dollars a week, and she 
 lays by ten cents of that. My children 
 each of them earn a shilling or two, 
 and are glad to contribute their penny; 
 so that altogether we lay by us in store 
 forty cents a week. And if we have been 
 unusually prosperous, we contribute 
 something more. The weekly amount is 
 deposited every Sunday morning in a 
 box kept for that purpose, and reserved 
 for future use. Thus, by these small 
 earnings, we have learned that it is more 
 blessed to give than to receive. The 
 yearly amount saved in this way is about 
 twenty-five dollars; and I distribute this 
 among the various benevolent societies, 
 according to the best of my judgment.” 
 
 — 991 — 
 “OBEY YOUR PARENTS” 
 
 The celebrated Doctor Samuel John- 
 son in a letter written in 1767, relates 
 how his sick father had once.asked him 
 to stand in the market stall and sell 
 books for him on a certain day, and he 
 refused, committing thereby a breach of 
 filial piety which for half a century 
 troubled his conscience, until fifty years 
 from the day when pride kept him from 
 proper obedience, he went into the very 
 market where his now dead father’s book 
 stall used to be, and there in penitent 
 contrition stood half an hour with his 
 head uncovered and bare, with crowds 
 gazing at him in wonder. Carlyle calls 
 the act “one of the saddest and proudest 
 we can paint.” 
 
 The sting of the remembrance of un- 
 kindness in a conscientious heart is not 
 easily quieted. It is better not to speak 
 sharp hard words to a parent. The 
 words at the head of this article are a 
 heavenly admonition. See that thou 
 refusest not Him who speaks to thee 
 from heaven. Unkindness to parents 
 brings bitter sobs, and remorse, when 
 the dear old faces disappear from sight 
 beneath the coffin lid—D. T. Taylor. 
 
490" 
 
 —= 992 — 
 THE LUXURY OF DOING GOOD 
 
 A young man of eighteen or twenty, 
 a student in a university, went one day 
 to take a walk with a professor, who was 
 commonly called “the students’ friend,” 
 such was his kindness to the young men 
 whom it was his office to instruct. 
 While they were now walking together, 
 and the professor was seeking to lead the 
 conversation to grave subjects, they saw 
 a pair of old shoes lying in their path, 
 which they supposed must belong to a 
 poor man who was at work in a field 
 close by, and who had nearly finished his 
 day’s work. 
 
 The young student turned to the pro- 
 fessor, saying— 
 
 “Let us play the man a trick. We 
 will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves 
 behind those bushes, and watch to see 
 his perplexity when he cannot find 
 them.” 
 
 “My dear friend,” answered the pro- 
 fessor, “we must never amuse ourselves 
 at the expense of others, especially of the 
 poor ; but you are rich, and you may give 
 yourself a much greater pleasure by 
 means of this poor man. Put a dollar 
 in each shoe, and then we will hide our- 
 selves behind the bushes.” 
 
 The student did so, and then placed 
 himself, with the professor, behind the 
 bushes close by, through which they 
 could easily watch the laborer, and see 
 what words of joy he might express. 
 
 The poor man had soon finished his 
 work, and come across the field to the 
 path where he had left his coat and 
 shoes. While he put on his coat, he 
 Slipped one foot into one of his shoes, 
 but, feeling something hard, he stooped 
 down and found the dollar. 
 
 _ Astonishment and wonder were seen 
 upon his contenance. He gazed upon 
 the dollar, turned it round, and looked 
 again and again; then he looked around 
 him on all sides to see who might have 
 put it there, but could see no one. Then 
 ‘he put the money in his pocket, and pro- 
 ceeded to put on his other shoe; but how 
 great was his amazement when he found 
 the other dollar His feelings overcame 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 him. He fell upon his knees, looked up 
 to heaven, and uttered aloud a fervent 
 thanksgiving to God, in which he spoke 
 of his sick and helpless wife, and his 
 children without bread, whom this 
 timely bounty from some unknown hand 
 would save from perishing. 
 
 The young man stood deeply affected, 
 and tears filled his eyes. 
 
 “Now,” said the professor, “are you 
 not much better pleased than if you had 
 
 ‘played your intended trick?” 
 
 “Q, dearest sir,” answered the youth, 
 “you have taught me a lesson that I hope 
 never to forget. I feel now the truth of 
 the words which I never before under- 
 stood. ‘It is more blessed to give than 
 to receive.’ ”—Selected. 
 
 — 993 — 
 HIS HEART IN IT. 
 
 A manufacturer in Philadelphia once 
 told a friend the story of one of his 
 superintendents. 
 
 Many years ago a boy applied to him 
 for work. He was employed at low 
 wages. Two days later the awards of 
 premiums were made to manufactories 
 at the Centennial Exhibition. Says the 
 manufacturer: 
 
 “Passing down Chestnut Street early 
 in the morning I saw Bob spring over 
 the bulletin board in front of a news- 
 paper office. Suddenly he pulled off his 
 cap with a shout. 
 
 “What is the matter?” asked one. 
 
 “We have taken a medal for sheet- 
 ings!’ he exclaimed. | 
 
 “T said nothing, but kept my eye on 
 Bob. The boy who could identify him- 
 self in two days with my interests 
 would be of use to me hereafter. 
 
 “His work was to deliver packages. 
 I found that he took a real pride in it. 
 His wagon must be cleaner, his horse 
 better fed, his orders filled more prompt- 
 ly, than those of the men belonging to 
 any other firm. He was as zealous for 
 the house as though he had been a 
 partner in it. I have advanced him 
 step by step. His fortune is made, and 
 the firm has added to its capital so 
 much energy and force.”—-The Central 
 Christian Advocate, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES/ 
 
 mo 994 —e 
 GUIDED ARIGHT 
 
 Writing for our paper of the annual 
 excursion of the People’s Tabernacle, a 
 week after the event, July 10th, 1897, 
 we said: “Our excursion last Saturday 
 was one of the most successful we ever 
 had.” 
 
 Three weeks later we wrote: 
 
 Do you remember what a fearfully 
 wild storm prevailed in this city and its 
 vicinity July 23rd? It was said to have 
 been one of the worst for a long time, 
 and it was especially dangerous and 
 disagreeable for excursionists. 
 
 For some time we had been waiting 
 to see what the weather of July 23rd 
 would be. The reason of this was that 
 was the date we at first fixed upon for 
 our excursion. The contract had been 
 signed and we had returned home, but 
 we had some misgivings as to the date 
 selected. The pleasure and success of 
 such an outing depends largely upon the 
 
 weather, and as God alone knew what it . 
 
 would be, we were praying for His 
 guidance. 
 
 It is sufficient to say that we were so 
 influenced by certain considerations that 
 we sent down the same day and had the 
 excursion changed to another date which 
 was still open. Some may ascribe this 
 fortunate change to merely a notion or 
 to good luck, but we thank God for it, 
 and shall continue to believe that He 
 answered the prayer of those who were 
 seeking His direction —Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall, 
 
 —— 995 — 
 A POWERFUL DREAM 
 
 A correspondent of the “Illustrated 
 Christian Weekly” gives the following 
 testimony to the fact that God answers 
 prayer: 
 
 “My father, a minister of the Gospel, 
 was prostrated by sickness. A large 
 family of little ones was dependent upon 
 him for support. Funds ran low. One 
 evening my mother remarked that she 
 had broken her last dollar. My father 
 lay awake most of the night, praying to 
 his God for help in this emergency. 
 
 491 
 
 That same night a man in a parish not 
 many miles distant was much impressed 
 by adream. He dreamed that a minister 
 who preached in his church not long 
 ago was sick and in want. He knew 
 neither his name nor his place of resi- 
 dence. He arose at the first dawn of 
 day, and going to his own pastor in- 
 quired the name and address of the 
 stranger who had recently preached for 
 them. These obtained, he mounted his 
 horse, and knocked at our door just as 
 my mother drew up the window shades. 
 She answered the knock, when, without 
 a word, a stranger placed an envelope 
 in her hand and immediately rode away. 
 The envelope contained a ten-dollar bill, 
 which we all believed was the Lord’s 
 answer to our father’s prayer. After- 
 wards these facts were disclosed by the 
 pastor to him whom the Lord chose to 
 dispense his bounty.” 
 
 — 996 — 
 START THINGS RIGHT 
 
 Thelwall once said to Coleridge: “I 
 think it is unfair to influence the minds of 
 children by inculcating opinions before 
 they shall come to the years of discretion 
 so they may choose for themselves.” 
 Coleridge made no reply, but asked his 
 friend to visit his garden. When inside 
 he said: 
 
 “This is my botanical garden.” 
 
 “How can that be,” asked Thelwall, 
 “for it is all overgrown with weeds?” 
 “Qh,” said Coleridge, “that is only 
 because my garden has not come to the 
 age of discretion. The weeds, you see, 
 have taken the liberty to grow, and 1 
 thought it unfair to prejudice the soil in 
 favor of roses, berries and delicious 
 fruits.” 
 
 You get nothing good out of a garden 
 till you put something good in. There 
 must be seed or there are sure to be 
 weeds. Do not make a mistake. The 
 word of God must be planted in the heart 
 if good results are to be attained. A 
 precious harvest only comes from sow- 
 ing precious seed, and caring for it after 
 it is sown.—The Christian. 
 
492 
 
 — 997 — 
 THE TWO SENTINALS 
 
 Two soldiers, Andrew Harmer and his 
 comrade, were on duty in the citadel of 
 Gibralter. The rock is honey-combed 
 with galleries, through which sounds are 
 conveyed a great distance, and sentinels 
 are posted at the ends of these galleries. 
 It happened to be their turn to stand 
 both of them sentinels the same night. 
 Harmer was in great distress of mind, 
 and was groaning under the burden of 
 unforgiven sin; he felt his sin to be 
 almost intolerable, while his comrade 
 had obtained peace through the love of 
 God in Christ, and was rejoicing in a 
 sense of sins forgiven. By and by the 
 officer of the guard came around to ask 
 for the pass-word, and asked it of the 
 soldier who was rejoicing with joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory. Forgetting 
 military dicipline, and not thinking of 
 counter signs, he shouted, in tones that 
 startled the officer,— 
 
 “The Precious Blood of Christ.” 
 
 Right through the gallery went the 
 words of the converted soldier to the 
 heart of Andrew Harmer at the other 
 end. It seemed to him a mysterious 
 voice from heaven. In a moment he 
 saw it all: he was liberated from the 
 chains of sin; he was reconciled to God, 
 and enabled to rejoice in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ had made him free. 
 Ere long he procured his discharge, 
 entered the service of God as a mission- 
 ary, and in missionary labor he at last 
 finished his course. 
 
 What is “the precious blood of 
 Christ?” Why should these words con- 
 vey peace to the troubled conscience? 
 What does Peter mean when he writes, 
 “Ye were not redeemed by corruptible 
 things, as silver and gold; ... but with 
 the precious blood of Christ,.as of a 
 lamb without blemish and without 
 spot?” It does not mean literal blood of 
 a mere man? that could not save. It 
 means the life-blood of Christ, the Son 
 of God. The life is in the blood. “It 
 is the blood that maketh atonement for 
 the soul.” Turn to the 12th chapter of 
 Exodus, and see the figure of the slain 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 lamb. God has signed the death-war- 
 rant of all the first-born in Egypt; there 
 was to be death in every house. “But 
 against any of the children of Israel 
 shall not a dog move his tongue.” He 
 provided a deliverance for His own peo- 
 ple Israel. He commanded the head of 
 every family to kill a lamb of the first- 
 lings of the flock, a male without blem- 
 ish and without spot. The father of the 
 family was to kill it, and to take hyssop 
 and dip it in the blood, and sprinkle the 
 lintel and door-posts with the blood; 
 so when the destroying angel came to 
 kill the first-born in Egypt, he would 
 “pass-over” every house whereon the 
 blood was sprinkled. “When I see the 
 blood, I will pass over you.” And so 
 it came to pass that, while there was 
 death in every Egyptian house, there 
 was peace in every Israelitish family. 
 The blood was their security. 
 
 Has not this a lesson for us? Does it 
 not point to the Lamb of God slain for 
 our sins? Does it not show God’s esti- 
 mate of the value of the blood of Jesus 
 Christ, His Son, which cleanseth from 
 all sin?” We live in a doomed world; 
 the day is coming when “the Lord Jesus 
 shall be revealed from heaven with his 
 mighty angels, in flaming fire taking 
 vengeance on them that know not God, 
 and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; who shall be ‘punished 
 with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord.” Deliverance has 
 been provided. “Behold the Lamb of 
 God, who beareth away the sins of the 
 world.” His life has been given and 
 accepted in our place. Whosoever is 
 marked by that blood—whosoever be- 
 lieveth in him—is passed over, pardoned, 
 saved, accepted —Henry Drummond. 
 
 — 998 — 
 “TOO LATE” 
 
 There are no more melancholy words 
 in the language than these: “Too late!” 
 I have heard them uttered by a brother, 
 as he hurried home to see a dying father; 
 he arrived only to be told that he had 
 breathed his last. And not soon shall I 
 forget the agony they then expressed. 
 Too late! I have known them uttered 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 by a skilful surgeon, when he was sum- 
 moned to the bedside of a dying man, 
 and have marked the sadness to which 
 they gave birth. 
 
 Too late! I have known them uttered 
 by an anxious crowd, as they stood gaz- 
 ing on a burning building, and sadly 
 saw the failure of those who sought to 
 save the inmates from destruction. Too 
 late! I have known them uttered by a 
 noble crew of the life-boat, when, as 
 they put out to the sinking ship, they 
 beheld her go down before their eyes, 
 and “the frightened souls within her.” 
 
 But, O! none of these circumstances 
 are half so heart-rending as those in 
 which the sinner who has despised his 
 day must find himself when the terrible 
 discovery is made that he is too late 
 to enter heaven —-W. M. Taylor. 
 
 — 999 — 
 WILL YOUR ANCHOR HOLD? 
 
 “A sailor in Glouster, Mass., had been 
 wounded in a wreck, and was brought 
 
 ashore. The fever was great, and he was © 
 
 dying. His comrades gathered around 
 him in a little fishing house, and the 
 physician said: ‘He won't live long.’ 
 The sailor was out of his mind until 
 near the close. But, within a few min- 
 utes of his death he looked around, and 
 calling one comrade after another, bade 
 them goodby, and then sank off into 
 sleep. Finally, as it was time for his 
 medicine again, one of the railors rous- 
 ing him, said, ‘Mate, how are you now?’ 
 He looked up into the eyes of his friend 
 and said: ‘My anchor holds! These 
 were his last words. And when they 
 called upon a friend of mine to take 
 charge of the funeral service, how pow- 
 erful was the impression made upon his 
 hearers when he quoted the dying 
 words; “My anchor holds’! 
 
 — 1000 — 
 SOUL WINNING 
 
 I knew one who used to have a man 
 call upon him in the way of business 
 and bringing certain articles which he 
 bought across the counter. This trades- 
 man said one day to himself. “I have 
 
 493 
 
 dealt with that man nine or ten years 
 and we have scarcely passed the time of 
 day. He has brought in his work and 
 I have paid him across the counter, but 
 I have never tried to do him any good 
 Surely this cannot be right. Providence 
 has placed him in my way, and I ought 
 at least to have asked him whether he 
 is saved in Christ.” Well, the next time 
 the man came, our good brother’s spirit 
 failed him, and he did not like to begin a 
 religious conversation. 
 
 The man mever came again, but a 
 boy brought in the next lot of goods. 
 “How is this?” said the shop keeper. 
 “Father is dead,’ said the boy. My 
 friend, the shop keeper, said to me: “I 
 could never forgive myself. I could not 
 stay in the shop that day. I felt that ] 
 was guilty of that man’s blood; but I 
 had not thought of it before. How can 
 I ever clear myself from the guilty fact 
 that, when I did think of it, my ungra- 
 cious timidity prevented me from open- 
 ing my mouth?” My own dear friends 
 and comrades, do not bring upon your- 
 selves such cutting regrets! Avoid them 
 by daily watching to save men from the 
 second death.—Selected. 
 
 —100 17> 
 BRILLIANT BUT USELESS 
 
 Sir Astley Cooper, on visiting Paris, 
 was asked by the surgeon “en chef” of 
 the empire how many times he had per- 
 formed a certain wonderful feat of sur- 
 gery. He replied that he had per- 
 formed the operation thirteen times. 
 
 “Ah, but, Monsieur, I have done him 
 one hundred and sixty times.” 
 
 “How many times did you save life?” 
 continued the curious Frenchman, after 
 he had looked into the bland amaze- 
 ment of Sir Astley’s face. 
 
 “I,” said the Englishman, “saved 
 eleven out of the thirteen. How many 
 did you save out of the one hundred 
 and sixty?” 
 
 “Ah, Monsieur, I lose dem all; but de 
 operation was very brilliant.” 
 
 Of how many popular ministries 
 might the same verdict be given? 
 Souls are not saved, but the preaching 
 is very brilliant.—Spurgeon. 
 
494 
 
 —1002— 
 THE LORD HELPS 
 
 A. poor weaver once lived in the httle 
 German town of Wupperthal. He 
 trusted in God at all times. “The Lord 
 helps,” he was accustomed to say under 
 all circumstances of trouble. One day, 
 an account of depression, he was dis- 
 charged. “The Lord helps,” he said. 
 When his wife heard the sad news she 
 bewailed it terribly. As the days went 
 on poverty pinched them sorely. At last 
 came the day when not a penny was left 
 —no bread, no fuelin the house. Starva- 
 tion stared them in the face. The 
 window was open, and possibly the 
 words which the weaver kept repeating, 
 “The Lord helps,” were heard outside, 
 for a street-boy looked saucily in and 
 threw a dead raven at the feet of the 
 weaver. “There, saint; there is some- 
 thing for you to eat,” he said tauntingly. 
 
 The weaver picked up the dead raven 
 and said, “Poor creature. It must have 
 died of hunger.” He felt of its crop to 
 see if it were empty and noticed some- 
 thing hard. Wishing to know what had 
 caused the bird’s death he opened the 
 gullet, when to his surprise a gold neck- 
 lace fell into his hand. “The Lord 
 helps,” cried the weaver. In haste he 
 took the necklace to the nearest gold- 
 smith and told him how he had found it. 
 The goldsmith recognized it as one he 
 had seen before. 
 
 “Shall I tell you the owner?” he 
 asked. 
 
 “Yes. I would gladly return it.” 
 
 The goldsmith said it belonged to the 
 owner of the factory from which the 
 weaver had been discharged. 
 
 He took the necklace to his former 
 employer. It was received with joy, for 
 suspicion had fallen upon a servant. The 
 merchant was ashamed and touched. He 
 had not forgotten the words uttered by 
 the poor man when he was discharged. 
 
 “Yes,” he said. “The Lord helps. 
 You shall not only go home richly re- 
 warded, but you can return to work. 
 You shall henceforth be no more m 
 need.”—-H. L. Hastings. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 sang 4,57 a 
 WHY HE COULD NOT SLEEP 
 
 A young man in the State of Indiana, 
 not long ago left home for a business 
 epening in Ohio. There, a gentleman 
 from his own native place found him, 
 and was shocked to discover that he 
 had become a profane swearer. Return- 
 ing home he felt constrained to tell his 
 pious parents of his awful degeneracy. . 
 They said little, and, in doubt whether 
 they had understood him, he called the 
 next day and repeated the statement. 
 The father calmly replied, “We under- 
 stood you; my wife and I spent a sleep- 
 less night on our knees pleading in be- 
 half of our son; and about daybreak we 
 received assurance from God that 
 James will never swear again.” Two 
 weeks after the son came home a 
 changed man. “How long since this 
 change took place?” asked his rejoic- 
 ing parents. He replied that just a 
 fortnight before he was struck with a 
 sense of guilt so that he could not 
 sleep, and spent the night in tears and 
 prayers for pardon. Mark—there had 
 been no time for any parental appeal, 
 or even for a letter of remonstrance— 
 while they were praying for him, God 
 moved him to pray for himself.—Se- 
 lected. 
 
 —1004— 
 “OF COURSE HE WILL” 
 
 Mr. Moody gives the story of a little 
 child whose father and mother had died, 
 and she was taken into another family. 
 
 The first night she asked if she coula 
 pray, as she used to do. 
 
 They said, “Oh, yes!” So she knelt 
 down, and prayed as her mother taught 
 her, and when that was ended she added 
 a little prayer of her own: “Oh, God, 
 make these people as kind to me as 
 father and mother were.” Then she 
 paused, and looked up, as if expecting 
 an answer, and added, “Of course he 
 wiil.” 
 
 How sweetly simple was that little 
 one’s faith; she expected God to “do,” 
 
 and she got her request. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 eee OA ee 
 THE LOWER LIGHTS 
 
 “I don’t believe I’ll go to church to- 
 day,” said Ruth one Sunday morning at 
 the breakfast table. Somehow I don’t 
 feel like it, and nobody will ever know 
 the difference whether I’m there or not. 
 
 “My dear,” said her aunt, “I’ve often 
 heard you singing, ‘Let the lower lights 
 be burning,’ I wonder if you know the 
 story that suggested it?” 
 
 “No,” answered Ruth, “I never so 
 much as heard as there was one.” 
 
 “Some year ago a steamer in a ter- 
 rific gale was trying to make the har- 
 bor of Cleveland, Ohio. There were two 
 lights at the entrance of the harbor, 
 one the upper light on the bluffs of the 
 shore, the other the lower light on a 
 bar at the other side of the entrance. 
 The pilot peered out anxiously to catch 
 ‘a glimpse of the friendly lights, and 
 presently caught sight of the upper one. 
 But that alone was not sufficient, he 
 must also see the other to know just 
 where to go. But for some reason it 
 was not lighted in time. 
 
 “Beaten by wind and wave, the 
 steamer staggered on as best she could, 
 while the hearts of all on board trembled 
 with fear. If she missed the entrance 
 there was little hope of her escaping the 
 rocks. Suddenly the lower light ap- 
 peared, but; alas! it was too late—the 
 steamer had missed the entrance, and in 
 the attempt to turn about went down 
 with all on board.” 
 
 “TI suppose,” said Ruth, with a laugh, 
 “you mean that even if I am the hum- 
 blest member of the church, and sit in 
 the very back seat, it’s my duty to be 
 there in my place?” 
 
 “If we are not each one of us faith- 
 fully doing our duty, be it small or great, 
 there is silence or discord when there 
 might have been music. More than that, 
 our lives are bound together—we must 
 needs lift up those about us or drag them 
 down. We are bidden to sow our seed 
 at all times, for we know not ‘whether 
 shall prosper this or that, or whether 
 they both shall be alike good.’ The 
 
 495 
 
 cobbler, as I once heard a minister say, 
 could not paint, but he could tell the 
 artist of the figure in the picture that 
 the shoe tie was not right, and so might 
 help towards making it perfect.”——Zion’s 
 Herald, 
 
 — 1006 — 
 
 NOT LEFT SHELTERLESS 
 
 “The Christian Era” tells of a Dutch 
 preacher who held a meeting one eve- 
 ning in a strange city. When he was 
 preaching, and enforcing upon the 
 hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the 
 Cross, a police officer came into the room 
 and forbade him to go on. He even 
 commanded him to leave the city. As 
 he was a stranger in the place, and the 
 night was dark, he wandered around the 
 city gates. He was not, however, with- 
 out consolation; for he remembered 
 Him who said, “Lo, I am with you 
 always. I will fear no evil, for thou art 
 with me; thy rod and thy staff, they 
 comfort me.” 
 
 He had long been in the school of 
 Christ, and had learned to watch for the 
 slightest intimations of His will. While 
 he was thus wandering around, suddenly 
 he saw a light in the distance. “See,” 
 he said to himself, “perhaps the Lord 
 has provided mea shelter there,” and, in 
 the simplicity of faith, he directed his 
 steps thither. On arriving, he heard a 
 voice in the house; and, as he drew 
 nearer, he discovered that a man was 
 praying. Joyful, he hoped that he had 
 found here the home of a brother. He 
 stood still for a moment, and heard these 
 words, poured forth from en earnest 
 heart: “Lord Jesus, one of thy perse- 
 cuted servants may, perhaps, be wander- 
 ing, at this moment, in a strange place 
 of which he knows nothing. O, may he 
 find my home, that he may receive here 
 food and lodging.” 
 
 The preacher having heard these 
 words, glided into the house, as soon as 
 the speaker said “Amen.” Both fell on 
 their knees, and together thanked the 
 Lord, who is a hearer of prayer, and who 
 never leaves nor forsakes His servants 
 
496 
 
 — 1007 — 
 A PASSION FOR CHRIST 
 
 Professor Tholuck was remarkably 
 successful in turning wayward youth 
 into right paths. He gives the following 
 account of the growth of his passion for 
 Christ, 
 
 From the age of seventeen I have al- 
 ways asked myself, “What is the chief 
 end of man’s life?” I could never per- 
 suade myself that the acquisition of 
 knowledge was the end. Just then God 
 brought me into contact with a vener- 
 able saint who lived in fellowship with 
 Christ, and from that time I have had 
 but one passion, and that is Christ and 
 Christ alone. Every one out of Christ 
 I look upon as a fortress which I must 
 storm and win. 
 
 I was in my eighteenth year when the 
 Lord gave me my first convert. He was 
 an artillery officer, a Jew, a_ wild 
 creature, without rest; but soon he be- 
 came such a true follower of Christ that 
 he put me to shame. And when I look 
 back upon the thousands of youths 
 whose hearts have opened up under my 
 influence, I can only say the Lord hath 
 done it. In working thus to save souls, 
 my life has been one of joy rather than 
 toil. Among the students are many 
 frivolous, careless ones. I just now re- 
 member one whom a mother laid on my 
 heart, but who soon fell among com- 
 panions who led him astray, so that he 
 could be found at home only at six in 
 the morning. More than once I have 
 visited him at this hour, and also in 
 prison, but all seemed in vain, till one 
 day in the sermon I said: Ah, yes, we 
 preachers should have hard work were 
 it not that we have one in league with us 
 in every heart, even the most careless, 
 that says while we are preaching: “Well 
 the preacher is right.” The next eve- 
 ning I received a letter from him, in 
 which he promised to give up evil and 
 enter upon a new life. Alas! four or 
 five days later a card came from him 
 with only these words: “Tholuck is 
 sighing, Tholuck is praying, but I am 
 drinking like a brute.” Yet my labor 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 was not in vain, for he is now a noted 
 preacher of the Gospel of Christ. And 
 what a number of those who were once 
 my students have risen up and can now 
 say like myself: “I have one passion, 
 and that is Christ and Christ alone!” 
 
 — 1003 — 
 HIS COMMUNION WITH GOD 
 
 A missionary, some years ago, return- 
 ing from South Africa, gave a discrip- 
 tion of the work which had been accom- 
 plished there through the preaching of 
 the Gospel. Among other things, he pic- 
 tured a little incident of which he had 
 been an eye-witness. 
 
 He said that one morning he saw a 
 converted African chieftan sitting under 
 a palm tree, with his Bible open before 
 him. Every now and then he cast his 
 eyes on his book and read a passage. 
 Then he paused and looked up a little 
 while, and his lips were seen to be in 
 motion. Thus, he continued, alter- 
 nately, to look down on the Scriptures 
 and to turn his eyes upwards towards 
 heaven. 
 
 The missionary passed by without 
 disturbing the good man, but after a 
 a little while he mentioned to him what 
 he had seen, and asked him why it was 
 that sometimes he read and sometimes 
 he looked up. 
 
 This was the African’s reply: “I look 
 down to the book, and God speaks to 
 me. Then I look up in prayer, and I 
 speak to the Lord., So we keep up, this 
 way, a holy talk with each other.” 
 
 As I read the account of this touching 
 little scene, the words of Ps. xxvii:8, 
 flashed over me. This picture is but a 
 mirror to reflect the eighth verse of the 
 twenty-seventh Psalm: “When Thou 
 saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said 
 unto Thee: Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” 
 —The Watchword. 
 
 — 1009 — 
 
 THE NAME OF JESUS 
 
 One of our missionaries some time 
 ago knocked at one of the doors of a 
 tenement house. The young woman 
 who responded to the knock was asked 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 if there were any children in the family 
 to come to Sunday school. Hearing this 
 question the half drunken mother of 
 the girl came to the door, her eyes had 
 been blackened, evidently in some 
 drunken quarrel, and her appearance 
 was most wretched. In a threatening 
 manner, and in a voice loud enough to 
 be heard throughout the house she 
 yelled, “Get out of here, you black 
 Protestant, with your religion! You old 
 Salvation Army, you!” Nothing fright- 
 ened, the missionary stocd her ground 
 calmly looking at the excited woman 
 until the torrent of abuse had subsided 
 somewhat, when she said, “I do not be- 
 long to the Salvation Army, I belong to 
 Jesus. Your Jesus is my Jesus.” 
 
 At the mention of this name a change 
 came over the woman instantly, and she 
 said, “I believe in Jesus, and in the 
 Blessed Virgin, too.” The visitor re- 
 plied that she also believed that the 
 mother of Jesus was a good woman, but 
 that she needed a Saviour as well as 
 we, and that Jesus was the Saviour. 
 
 In apparent surprise the woman said 
 “You believe in Jesus, do you? Well, 
 you are the first Protestant that I have 
 seen who believes in Jesus!” Then 
 after a few more words from her caller 
 the woman said “I believe you are doing 
 a good work. The Lord bless you. 
 Good bye.” The missionary handed the 
 daughter a paper and bade them good 
 bye, feeling that Jesus through his 
 name had given her the victory, and she 
 was resolved to call again.—Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1010 — 
 
 A WAY WHERE THERE’S A WILL 
 
 The Rev. Mr. M. Swadener, who is at 
 the head of the Church Extension Mis- 
 sionary Society, in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 speaking of the first start he made in 
 evangelistic work, said: 
 
 “I worked in a Cooper shop and it 
 was while there that I was converted. 
 As nearly all know, the men about a 
 cooper shop are often a very hard lot, 
 and this shop was no exception to the 
 rule. After I became a Christian I felt 
 
 497 
 
 a responsibility for these men and be- 
 gan asking them to attend church, only 
 to be flatly refused. 
 
 “Finding that I was making no pro- 
 gress whatever, and that my influence 
 seemingly was having no weight with 
 them, I asked them if they would attend 
 a meeting at the cooper shop Sunday. 
 They said they would if I would preach 
 to them. I agreed, and the next Sunday 
 I found there thirteen men, some lying 
 in the shavings, some sitting on barrels, 
 all more or less under the influence of 
 liquor. At the close of the first service 
 they asked me if I would not hold an- 
 other the next Sunday. I agreed to if 
 they would try to bring some one else 
 in. Next Sunday we had seventeen; the 
 next Sunday twenty. The number kept 
 increasing, every Sunday. I felt the in- 
 terest was growing. 
 
 “One Sunday about this time, one of 
 the men said, ‘This is too dirty a place 
 to have church in. Why don’t we clean 
 it up?’ I agreed to meet them on the 
 next Saturday to clean up the dirty floor 
 and put it in shape. A number met 
 there for that purpose, and from that 
 time the place was crowded. God won- 
 derfully blessed the work; souls were 
 saved through the instrumentality of the 
 cooper shop services.” 
 
 Mr. Swadener has been eminently suc- 
 cessful as an evangelist, and the people 
 in Cincinnati are fortunate in having 
 him at the head of the city evangelistic 
 work of the Methodist Church.—Union 
 Gospel News. 
 
 — 1011 — 
 
 “THOU, GOD, SEEST ME” 
 
 A father and his son went out together 
 to steal corn. When they came to the 
 field, the father climbed up on the fence, 
 and looked carefully around that no eye 
 might see him. He then began to fill his 
 bag with corn. “Father,” said the boy, 
 “there is one direction in which you did 
 not look.” “Ah, my son,” replied the 
 father, “and where is that?” “Oh, father 
 you did not look up.” The man returned 
 home with an empty bag and a stricken 
 conscience. 
 
498 
 
 — 1012 — 
 WHAT A SONG DID 
 
 The power of sacred song is strikingly 
 exhibited by an incident of the Crimean 
 war, told in a volume of Scotch anec- 
 dotes. 
 
 Duncan Matheson, a Bible reader to 
 the soldiers of the Crimea, was return- 
 ing one night to his lodgings in an old 
 stable. Sickened by the sights he had 
 seen, and depressed by the thought that 
 the siege of Sebastopol was likely to 
 last for months, he trudged along in the 
 mud, knee-deep. ; 
 
 Happening to look up he saw the stars 
 shining calmly in the clear sky. Weari- 
 ness gave place to the thought that in 
 Heaven there is rest, and he began to 
 sing aloud the old hymn: 
 
 “How bright these glorious spirits 
 
 shine! 
 
 When all this bright array?” 
 
 The next day was wet and stormy. 
 While going his rounds Matheson came 
 on a soldier standing on the veranda of 
 an old house. The man was in soiled 
 and ragged clothing, and his shoes were 
 so worn that they did not keep his feet 
 from the mud. The Bible reader drew 
 him into conversation, cheered him by 
 encouraging words, and gave him money 
 to buy shoes. 
 
 “T am not what I was yesterday,” 
 answered the man, his heart opening to 
 Matheson’s sympathy. Last night I was 
 tired of life and this blundering siege. 
 I took my musket and went down 
 yonder, determined to blow out my 
 brains. As I got round that hillock I 
 heard some one singing ‘How bright 
 those glorious spirits shine! It recalled 
 to me the Sabbath school where I used 
 to sing it, and the religious truths I 
 heard there. 
 
 “I felt ashamed of being such a cow- 
 ard. I said to myself, ‘Here is a comrade 
 as badly off as I am, but he is not a 
 coward—he’s bearing it!’ I felt that that 
 man had something which I did not pos- 
 sess to make him accept with cheerful- 
 ness our hard lot. I went back to my 
 tent, and today I am seeking that thing 
 which made the singer so happy.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “Do you know who the singer was?” 
 asked Matheson. 
 
 ed yf Pig 
 
 “Well, I was the singer seeking com- 
 fort and hope in the song you heard.” 
 
 The tears came into the soldier’s eyes 
 as he thrust the money back into Mathe- 
 son’s hands, saying: “After what you’ve 
 done for me, I can’t take this from 
 you.” —Selected. 
 
 — 1013 — 
 THE PRICE TOO SMALL 
 
 A number of young men were sitting 
 together in a country store one evening, 
 telling what they did not believe, and 
 what they were not afraid to do. Finally 
 the leader in the group remarked that 
 so far as he was concerned, he would be 
 willing at any time to sign away all his 
 interest in Christ for a five dollar bill. 
 “What did I understand you to say?” 
 asked an old farmer, who happeried to be 
 in the store, and who had overheard the 
 remark. “I said that for five dollars I 
 would sign away all my interest in 
 Christ, and so I will.” 
 
 The old farmer, who had learned to 
 know the human heart pretty well, drew 
 out his leather wallet, took therefrom a 
 five-dollar bill, and put it in the store- 
 keeper’s hand. Then calling for ink and 
 paper, he said, “My young friend, if you 
 will just step to the desk now, and write 
 as I direct, the money is yours.” The 
 young man took the pen and began: “In 
 the presence of these witnesses, I, A— 
 B—, for the sum of five dollars received, 
 do now, once for all, and forever sign 
 away all my interest—” then he dropped 
 the pen, and with a forced smile said: 
 I take it back, I was only fooling.” 
 
 That young man did not dare to sign 
 that paper. Why? He had an accusing 
 conscience. He knew that there was a 
 God. He believed in religion. He meant 
 to be a Christian sometime. And so do 
 you, reader. Notwithstanding your 
 trifling conduct, your boasting speech, 
 you would not today for ten thousand 
 dollars sign away, if such a thing were 
 possible, your interest in Jesus Christ. 
 You do not desire or expect to lose 
 heaven.—The Congregationalist. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 1014 — 
 THE BOYS THAT GET AHEAD 
 
 I knew an old man in Pennsylvania 
 once, the head of a great manufacturing 
 concern, who went to his foreman and 
 asked him to recommend one of the boys 
 for a superior position which was vacant. 
 The foreman said that all the boys were 
 good. “But there must be one better 
 than the others,” said the employer. “It 
 is now five o’clock; quitting time. Tell 
 all the boys to work until six o’clock.” 
 
 The ten boys went to work willingly 
 enough, but as the clock pointed near 
 six, the nine boys began to cast glances 
 at it. The tenth boy was too busy to look 
 at the clock, and he got the promotion. 
 That boy now controls an establishment 
 working thirty thousand men. 
 
 Eighteen years ago there was a fifteen- 
 year-old boy employed in carrying drink- 
 ing water to the men in a steel works. He 
 did his work so well, however, and al- 
 ways had such cool water and was so 
 diligent in looking after the men’s wants 
 that he attracted the attention of the 
 workmen, 
 
 A little later an office boy was needed, 
 and this boy was remembered and re- 
 warded with the job. There he persued 
 the same policy, and in five years a 
 superintendent’s assistant was needed. 
 He was given the place. A little later 
 he became manager, then  superin- 
 tendent, and now he is the president of 
 the Carnegie Steel Company, employing 
 sixty thousand men. That water boy 
 is now President Cory. 
 
 I know of another fifteen-year-old boy 
 who was in a manual training school es- 
 tablished by me at Homestead, Pa., 
 fifteen years ago. One night after all the 
 other boys had left one of the officials 
 found him experimenting with an elec- 
 tric machine, he gave all his spare time 
 to this machine, and his perseverance 
 attracted the attention of his teachers, 
 and he was given an opportunity to go 
 into the works with which the school 
 was connected. There he persued the 
 same policy of concentration. He be- 
 came in time assistant manager. 
 
 A few months ago I went to the works 
 
 499 
 
 and calling all the heads of the works to- 
 gether I unfolded a great project and 
 asked who was the man to be intrusted 
 with it. To a man they all pointed to 
 this former boy in the training school, 
 and he was intrusted with the place, and 
 is now making a name for himself by 
 doing what he had to do a little better 
 than the others. This man is A. L. 
 Dinkey, now general superintendent of 
 the Homestead Steels Works.—Charles 
 M. Schwab. 
 
 — 1015 — 
 
 CONQUERED BY KINDNESS 
 
 When Major Goodell took charge of 
 the State Prison at Auburn, N. Y., he 
 was told there was one particular con- 
 vict who was such a desperate villain 
 that he could not be kept in subjection 
 except by the lash. The first time Major 
 Goodell met this convict was in the yard 
 of the prison. He spoke to him kindly, 
 inquired of his situation, where he came 
 from, and when he entered the prison, 
 and whether he was comfortable. The 
 major then told the convict what he 
 had heard concerning the necessity of 
 checking his iron and revengeful con- 
 duct by the lash—how he had been in- 
 formed that there was no other method 
 of keeping him in awe. 
 
 “Now,” said the Major, “I do not be- 
 lieve this. I believe you can and will 
 obey the rules of the prison, without 
 incurring severe whipping. I am placed 
 over this prison to keep you at work, 
 and prevent you from escaping—to see 
 that the punishment contemplated by 
 the laws for crime, is executed. But I 
 also wish to be your friend—to make 
 you just as comfortable as your situa- 
 tion will permit. In return, I expect 
 that you will be a friend to me, by obey- 
 ing the rules of the prison, and by per- 
 forming your duty.” All this, and much 
 more, spoken in kind tone and manner, 
 softened the feelings of the convict so 
 that he was soon in a perfect gush of 
 tears. Nor was that all: from that day 
 forward it was not necessary to strike 
 him a blow, for there was not a more 
 faithful convict in the prison.—Selected. 
 
500 
 
 -— 1016 — 
 BISHOP SIMPSON’S START 
 
 / Trained religiously, I had reached a 
 young man’s years before making a 
 public profession of religion. Prior to 
 my conversion, thoughts of the ministry 
 sometimes flashed across my mind; but 
 it was only a flash. After my conversion, 
 I was earnest for the welfare of others, 
 and wanted to promote the interests of 
 the church and of humanity. The con- 
 viction grew upon me that I must 
 preach; yet I tried to put that away, 
 because I feared I could never succeed. 
 I saw the greatness of the work, and 
 the reproachful poverty then connected 
 with the itinerant ministry. There were 
 two special difficulties in the way. First, 
 I had no gift of speech. My voice was 
 poor, and in school I always shunned 
 declamation. I firmly believed I could 
 never make a speaker, and so chose the 
 profession of medicine, which I studied 
 three years in a professional school. 
 
 I think I should have resolutely re- 
 jected the idea of the ministry, except 
 that it seemed inseparably connected 
 with my salvation. I fasted, I prayed 
 for Divine direction; but I found no rest 
 until reading in the Bible one day, I 
 found a passage which seemed especially 
 written for me: “Trust in the Lord with 
 all thine heart; and lean not unto thine 
 own understanding. In all thy ways ac- 
 knowledge Him, and He shall direct thy 
 paths.” I accepted it, and resolved to do 
 whatever God in his providence should 
 indicate by opening the way. I never 
 lisped to a friend the slightest intimation 
 of my mental agony, but I took a more 
 earnest part in the church services. 
 
 One Sabbath I felt a strong impres- 
 sion that I ought to speak to the people 
 at night in the prayer meeting, as we 
 had no preaching. I said to myself: 
 “How shall I? for my friends will say I 
 am foolish, as they know I cannot speak 
 with interest.” Especially I dreaded an 
 old uncle, who had been a father to me, 
 and superintended my education. While 
 I was discussing this matter with my- 
 self in the afternoon, my uncle came into 
 the room, and, after a moment’s hesita- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 tion, said to me: “Don’t you think you 
 could speak to the people tonight?” I 
 was surprised and startled. I asked him 
 if he thought I ought. He said: “Yes; 
 I think you can do good.” 
 
 That night, for some strange reason, 
 the house was crowded, and I made my 
 first religious address to a public comgre- 
 gation. It was not written. It was not 
 very well premeditated. It was simply 
 an outgushing of an honest heart, 
 
 My mother was a widow. I was her 
 eldest son, the only child remaining at 
 home. I feared it would break her heart 
 to leave her, and feared it would be im- 
 possible to do so. One day, after great 
 embarrassment, I was induced to speak 
 to my mother on the subject of my men- 
 tal struggles, and tell her what I thought 
 God required of me. I never shall forget 
 how she turned to me with a smile, and 
 said: “My son, I have been looking for 
 this hour ever since you were born!” 
 She then told me how she and my dying 
 father, who left me an infant, conse- 
 crated me to God, and prayed that, if it 
 were His will, I might become a minis- 
 ter; and yet that mother had never 
 dropped a word of intimation in my ear 
 that she ever desired me to be a 
 preacher. She believed so fully in the 
 Divine call, that she would not bias my 
 mind with even a suggestion of it in 
 prayer. 
 
 That conversation settled my mind. 
 Oh, what a blessing is a sainted mother! 
 Today I can feel her hands on my head, 
 and I hear the intonation of her voice in 
 prayer.—Bishop Simpson. 
 
 — 1017 — 
 
 “IT TAKES TWO” 
 
 A lad of seventeen, the apprentice of 
 a carpenter, had been sent to a saloon 
 to take the measures for a new counter. 
 It was very cold weather, and he arrived 
 shaking with cold, for his coat was thin. 
 The saloon keeper immediately mixed a 
 hot drink, and pushed it over the coun- 
 ter to him. “It will cost you nothing,” 
 he said. Drink it down, and you'll soon 
 stop shivering, my boy.” “He meant it 
 kindly, too, and didn’t think any harm,” 
 said the apprentice as he told the story. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “That’s what made it harder to push 
 back; and I didn’t want it.” It must 
 have been a big temptation,” said his 
 friend. “Well,” replied the lad, “it 
 takes two to make a temptation. There 
 is no saloon keeper and no cold weather 
 can make me drink when I don’t want 
 to. The temptation I’m afraid of is the 
 one that I’m ready for before it comes, 
 by hankering after it. I don’t take much 
 credit to myself for refusing that drink 
 and, if I had taken it, why I wouldn’t 
 put all the blame on the saloon keeper, 
 as some folks do. It takes two every 
 time to make a successful temptation.” 
 —Selected, 
 
 — 1018 — 
 WON BY THE BOOK 
 
 A colporteur went thirty miles to sell 
 his books at an Indian festival, swim- 
 ming a river in flood, and narrowly 
 escaped with his life. All the sale was 
 one solitary Gospel! He carried home 
 the rest of his stock, and a heavy heart 
 with his heavy bag. But next year 
 when he came again, a man accosted 
 him: “Last year you sold me a Gospel. 
 A living man, a sinning man, has been 
 brought into contact with the Word and 
 Spirit of God! That is something worth 
 while. But there is more. My brother 
 and I have been reading it.” Once more 
 Andrew had found Peter, and both of 
 them had found the Lord. The colpor- 
 teur went home with the man, thirty 
 miles away, where he found not only the 
 two brothers, but three or four families 
 ready to accept Christianity. Soon af- 
 terwards, sixteen persons were baptized 
 in that village. The Bible colporteur 
 may well learn to “trust God with his 
 failures.”—-Selected. 
 
 — 1019 — 
 
 GEN. HARRISON AND WINE 
 
 A Pennsylvania lady tells that when 
 General Harrison was running for the 
 Presidency, he stopped at the old Wash- 
 ington House in Chester, for dinner. 
 After dinner was served, it. was noticed 
 that the General pledged his toast in 
 water, and one gentleman from New 
 
 501 
 
 York, in offering another, said, “Gen- 
 eral, will you not favor me by drinking 
 a glass of wine?” The General refused 
 in a very gentlemanly manner. Again 
 he was urged to join in a glass of wine. 
 This was too much. He rose from, the 
 table, his tall form erect, and in the most 
 dignified manner replied: 
 
 “Gentlemen, I have refused twice to 
 partake of the wine-cup. That should 
 have been sufficient. Though you press 
 the cup to my lips, not a drop shall pass 
 the portals. I made a resolve when I 
 started in life that I would avoid strong 
 drink, and I have never broken it. I 
 am one of a class of seventeen young 
 men who graduated, and the other six- 
 teen fill drunkards’ graves—all through 
 the pernicious habit of wine drinking. 
 I owe all my health, happiness and pros- 
 perity to that resolution. Will you urge 
 me now?” 
 
 — 1020— 
 
 YOU CAN IF YOU WILL 
 
 A young man of high position in Lon- 
 
 don, after his conversion realized that 
 he ought to do some Christian work. 
 He truly wished to help his fellow-men 
 to Christ; but the difficulty was to think 
 of something he could do, for his train- 
 ing had not included experience in or 
 even knowledge of religious enterprises. 
 He had no gift for personal appeal, and 
 felt himself too young a learner in 
 Christ’s school to attempt to teach 
 others. 
 But the eyes which are eagerly 
 searching for chances to save souls God 
 soon guides to success. You could 
 never guess what he undertook. He 
 took the place of a cab-driver, night 
 after night on his round, so that the man 
 might go to Moody’s meetings. A. young 
 English gentleman could drive. That 
 was a talent; and thus he put it out at 
 usury. 
 
 You will not altogether wonder— 
 though it was a vast result and not to 
 have been expected, great as is the usual 
 result from our poor effects—that the 
 cabman sought the Saviour and felt that 
 he found him during those meetings. — 
 Selected. 
 
502 
 
 -— 1021 — 
 THE KING AND THE THIEF 
 
 Among the Hindus a remarkable tra- 
 dition is preserved, which a missionary 
 correspondent describes in a_ recent 
 letter. A thief, upon whom sentence of 
 death had been passed, suddenly 
 thought, while in his cell, of a plan by 
 which he might save his life. He sent 
 for his jailer and told him that he had 
 a secret to impart to the king, by which 
 his royal master might become pos- 
 sessed of enormous wealth, but.that he 
 would only impart it in a personal inter- 
 view with him. Word was taken to the 
 king who ordered the condemned thicf 
 to be brought before him. After many 
 salaams and prostrations, the man in- 
 formed his majesty that he knew the 
 secret of making gold grow on a tree in 
 the same way as fruit, and offered to 
 make the experiment at once. 
 
 The king was naturally anxious to 
 profit by the man’s knowledge, and plac- 
 ing himself under his directions, he, ac- 
 companied by his chief minister, the 
 high priest, and a few of the most fa- 
 vored courtiers, went with the thief to a 
 place outside the city wall. The thief 
 selected a spot, and, taking a gold coin 
 from among his rags, said: “If this be 
 sown in the ground at this spot, then it 
 will bring forth a tree upon the branches 
 of which there shall hang clusters of 
 gold coins as thick as the clusters of 
 grapes upon a vine, but there is one es- 
 sential condition: it must be planted by 
 the hand of a man who has never been 
 guilty of a single dishonest action. My 
 hands are not clean, so I pass the coin 
 to his majesty, the king.” 
 
 The king then took the coin, and held 
 it nervously in his fingers for a few sec- 
 onds; then, as he passed it to his chief 
 minister he said, “I remember when I 
 was young I took a small sum from my 
 father’s treasury, and therefore I think 
 the chief minister should plant it.” The 
 minister, with words of caution, said 
 “Your majesty, I should not like this 
 most enterprising experiment to be ex- 
 posed to the possibility of failure 
 through any oversight on my part; and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 as I receive the taxes from the people, 
 and am subjected to so many tempta- 
 tions, it is just possible that my hands 
 are not altogether clean; so, with your 
 royal permission, I shall pass it to the 
 commander-in-chief of the army.” But 
 the general would have nothing to do 
 with it, with military brusqueness he 
 said, “No, no; I handle the army money, 
 buy the rations, and pay the forces; give 
 it to the high priest.” Even the priest 
 was not prepared to take the responsi- 
 bility, and said, “You forget that I col- 
 lect the tithes and allot the sacrifices; I 
 cannot take it.” 
 
 Then quickly out spoke the thief, 
 “Your majesty, why hang me as a thief, 
 when of the four highest men in the 
 kingdom, not one will answer to his own 
 honesty?” The king saw the force of 
 the argument, and pardoned the thief. 
 
 This, of course, is but a story, but it 
 bears a strong moral. All have sinned 
 and some short of the law of God; we 
 have broken God’s law, and not one can 
 say to his brother, “I am better than 
 you,” for all are under condemnation; 
 but behold what good news is brought 
 unto us. There is one righeous One, 
 and the fruit of his righteousness is 
 the wealth of salvation to all who be- 
 lieve.—Selected, 
 
 — 1022 — 
 CAST ALL UPON CHRIST 
 
 A man carrying a burden was over- 
 taken by a rich man who was driving 
 along and invited to get up behind him 
 in the carriage which he thankfully did. 
 After awhile the rich man looked around 
 and saw the burden still strapped to the 
 traveller’s back; he therefore asked him 
 why he did not lay down his pack on the 
 seat behind him. But he answered that 
 he could not think of doing that; it was 
 quite enough that he himself should be 
 allowed to sit behind in the carriage 
 without putting his burdon on the seat 
 also. Thus often do believers fear to 
 lay too much on the Lord who has bid- 
 den us “cast all our care upon him,” and 
 assures us that “he careth for us.” He 
 who carries us will carry our burden 
 also.”-—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 S102F oo 
 YOUR FATHER KNOWETH. 
 
 - A Christian business man, residing 
 in the city of Syracuse, N. Y., during the 
 course of a crowded day came into pos- 
 session of a sum of thirty dollars under 
 such circumstances that at evening pray- 
 ers he felt impelled to ask God if the 
 money had been placed in his hands for 
 some special purpose in harmony with 
 his will; in which case he desired di- 
 rection in its use. Instantly came the 
 answer, “Send it to D .’ The per- 
 son indicated was a missionary worker 
 among the Zulus in South Africa, who 
 months before had been a guest in his 
 home. 
 
 Accordingly, on the following morn- 
 ing, a draft was secured and the money 
 was forwarded. Accompanying the draft 
 was a note from a gentleman stating 
 the circumstances under which the mon- 
 ey was sent, and asking whether, on the 
 day in question, any particular neces- 
 sity had arisen on the field which would 
 explain the evident direction of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 In due time came a reply stating that, 
 on a given day, a native woman, the 
 cast-off wife of a cruel chief, had come 
 to the mission house in a pitiful condi- 
 tion begging to be taken in and cared 
 for, and eagerly questioning concerning 
 the Way of Life. The missionary was 
 perplexed, as there were no means ap- 
 parent whereby another mouth could 
 be fed. However, he and his wife re- 
 sorted to prayer, arising from their 
 knees with a marked sense of divine 
 blessing and the assurance that He 
 would provide the thirty dollars neces- 
 sary for the woman’s support for a year. 
 
 God had made provision for supply- 
 ing the need which had arisen in Africa, 
 through one of his children thousands 
 of miles away in America.—Missionary 
 News. 
 
 
 
 — 1024 — 
 LEE’S GREATNESS 
 
 General Lee, the leader of the Lost 
 Cause in the Civil War of 1861-5, was 
 one of the world’s true heroes. On the 
 
 503 
 
 battlefield by common consent he ranks 
 as one of the foremost soldiers of the 
 ages. Those who fought against him as 
 well as those who fought under him, are 
 one in this verdict of praise. But his 
 character as a Christian man was equally 
 strong and beautiful. When he offered 
 his sword to Grant at Appomatox, he 
 was poor indeed. Like his Lord while 
 on earth, he had not where to lay his 
 head. And his people who would gladly 
 have shared their all with him, were also 
 in the depths of poverty. Just then Satan 
 sought to slay him. The Louisiana Lot- 
 tery offered him ten thousand dollars a 
 year for the use of his name. His answer, 
 which should be known and cherished by 
 all men, was, “My name is all that I have 
 left, and that is not for sale.”—Rev. M. 
 M. Davis. 
 
 —— 1025 — 
 
 THE BISHOP’S PRESCRIPTION 
 
 A noted physician, and infidel, said to 
 Bishop Kavanagh: “I am surprised that 
 such an intelligent man as you should 
 believe such an old fable as Christian- 
 ity.’ 
 
 The Bishop said, “Suppose years ago 
 some one had given you a prescription 
 for pulmonary consumption, and you 
 had taken it, and had been cured of the 
 terrible disease. Suppose you had used 
 that prescription in your practice ever 
 since, and never known it to fail; what 
 would you say of the man who could 
 not believe in your prescription?” 
 
 “Tf should say he was a fool,” replied 
 the infidel. 
 
 “Twenty-five years ago,” replied the 
 Bishop, “I tried the power of God’s 
 grace. It made a different man of me. 
 All these years I have preached salva- 
 tion to others, and never known it to 
 fail, I have seen it make the proud man 
 humble, the drunken man temperate, the 
 profane man pure in speech, the dis- 
 honest man true. Rich and poor, learned 
 and unlearned, old and young, have alike 
 been healed of their diseases.” 
 
 “Vou’ve caught me fairly, Bishop. I 
 have been a fool,” was the admission of 
 the skeptic.—Selected. 
 
504 
 
 — 1026 — 
 
 THE DEVIL DEFEATED 
 
 During the great revival of religion 
 in America, which took place under 
 Mr. Whitefield, and others distinguish- 
 ed for their piety and zeal at that 
 period, Mr. Tennant was laboriously 
 active, and much engaged to help for- 
 ward the work; in the performance of 
 which he met with strong and powerful 
 temptations. The following is from his 
 own lips: 
 
 On the evening preceding » public 
 worship, he selected a subject for the 
 discourse intended to be delivered, and 
 made some progress in his preparations. 
 In the morning he resumed the same 
 subject, with an intention to extend his 
 thoughts further on it; but was pres- 
 ently assaulted with a temptation that 
 the Bible was not of Divine authority, 
 but the invention of man. He instantly 
 endeavored to repel the temptation by 
 prayer, but his endeavors proved un- 
 availing. The temptation continued, 
 and fastened upon him with greater 
 strength as the time advanced for pub- 
 lic service. He lost all the thoughts 
 which he had prepared on the preceding 
 evening. He tried other subjects, but 
 could get nothing for the people. The 
 whole book of God, under that distress- 
 ing state of mind, was a sealed book to 
 him; and, to add to his afflictions, he 
 was “shut up in prayer”; a cloud, dark 
 as that of Egypt, oppressed his mind. 
 
 Thus agonized in spirit, he proceeded 
 to the church, where he found a large 
 congregation assembled, and waiting to 
 hear the word; and then he was more 
 deeply distressed than ever; and especi- 
 ally for the dishonor which he feared 
 would fall upon religion through him 
 that day. He resolved, however, to 
 attempt the service. He introduced it 
 by singing a psalm, during which time 
 his agitation increased to the highest 
 degree. When the moment for prayer 
 commenced, he arose, as one in the most 
 perilous situation, and with arms ex- 
 tended to heaven, began with this ex- 
 clamation: “Lord, have mercy upon 
 
 TLLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 me!” On the utterance of this petition 
 he was heard; the thick cloud instantly 
 broke away; and the light shone upon 
 his soul. The result was a deep sol- 
 emnity throughout the congregation; 
 and the house, at the end of the prayer, 
 was a place of weeping. He delivered 
 the subject of his evening meditations, 
 which was brought to his full remem- 
 brance, with an overflowing abundance 
 of other weighty and solemn matter. 
 The Lord blessed this discourse, so that 
 it proved the happy means of the con- 
 version of about thirty persons. This 
 day he ever afterwards spoke of as his 
 “harvest-day.”—Selected. 
 
 — 1027 — 
 
 A CHILD’S PREVAILING PRAYER 
 
 At the close of a prayer meeting, the 
 pastor observed a little girl about twelve 
 years of age, remaining upon her knees, 
 when most of the congregation had re- 
 tired. Thinking the child had fallen 
 asleep, he touched her, and told her it 
 was time to return home. To his sur- 
 prise he found that she was engaged in 
 prayer, and he said: “All things what- 
 soever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, 
 ye shall receive.” She looked at her 
 pastor, earnestly and inquired: “Is it so? 
 Does God say that?” He took up a 
 Bible, and read the passage aloud. She 
 immediately commenced praying: “Lord, 
 send my father to the church.” Thus 
 she continued for about half an hour, at- 
 tracting by her earnest cry the attention 
 of persons who had lingered about the 
 door. At last a man rushed into the 
 church, ran up the aisle, and sank upon 
 his knees by the side of the child ex- 
 claiming: “What do you want of me?” 
 She threw her arms about his neck, and 
 began to pray: “O Lord, convert my 
 father!” Soon the man’s heart was 
 melted, and he began to pray for himself. 
 The child’s father was three miles from 
 the church when she began praying for 
 him. He was packing goods in a wagon 
 and felt impressed with an irresistable 
 impulse to return home. Driving rapidly 
 to his house, he left the goods in the 
 wagon, and hastened to the church, 
 
 ~~ 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 where he found his daughter crying 
 mightily to God in his behalf; and he 
 was there led to the Saviour.—Selected. 
 
 — 1023 — 
 
 CHEAP YET NOT CHEAP 
 
 A preacher of the gospel had gone 
 down in a coal mine during the noon 
 hour, to tell the miners of that grace 
 and truth which came by Jesus Christ. 
 After telling them the simple story of 
 God’s love to lost sinners—man’s state 
 and God’s remedy—a full and free sal- 
 vation offered—the time came for the 
 men to resume work and the preacher 
 came back to the shaft to ascend to the 
 world again. Meeting the foreman, he 
 asked him what he thought of God’s 
 way of salvation. The man replied: 
 
 “Oh, it is too cheap. I cannot believe 
 in such a gospel as that.” 
 
 Without an immediate answer to this 
 remark, the preacher asked: “How do 
 you get out of this place?” 
 
 “Simply by getting into the cage,” 
 was the reply. 
 
 “And does it take long to get to the 
 top?” 
 
 “Oh, no; only a few seconds.” 
 
 “Well, that is very easy and simple; 
 but do you not need to help raise your- 
 self?” said the preacher. 
 
 “Of course not,’ replied the miner. 
 “As I have said, you have nothing to 
 do but get into the cage.” 
 
 “But how about the people who sunk 
 the shaft, and perfected all this arrange- 
 ment? Was there much labor or ex- 
 pense about it?” 
 
 “Indeed, yes; that was a laborious and 
 expensive work, The shaft is eighteen 
 hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at a 
 great cost to the proprietor; but it is our 
 only way out, and without it we would 
 never be able to get to the surface. 
 
 “Just so. And when God’s word tells 
 you that whosoever believeth in the Son 
 of God hath everlasting life, you at once 
 say, “Too cheap! too cheap! forgetting 
 that God’s work to bring you and others 
 out of the pit of destruction and death 
 
 505 
 
 was accomplished at a vast cost, the 
 price being the death of his own Son.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 —- 1029 — 
 
 HOW THE 25 CENTS CAME 
 
 The Rev. Geo. C. Cromer, of Louis- 
 ville, Ky., who for fifteen years has 
 conducted a non-sectarian home for 
 orphaned children, supported entirely 
 by voluntary offerings, tells in his little 
 paper “The Helper,” for June 1920, how 
 25 cents much needed came in answer 
 to prayer. 
 
 “Early one Sunday morning we called 
 our good house physician to see one of 
 our babes who was real sick. 
 
 He wrote a prescription costing 35 
 cents, saying that we must get it filled 
 that morning. 
 
 “All right,” we said to the doctor, 
 though we knew that we had only ten 
 cents in the world. (We always pay 
 cash at the stores.) 
 
 Soon as he had departed we came to 
 the Lord in a special prayer for twenty- 
 five cents, just as earnestly as though 
 we needed many dollars, and asked Him 
 to forgive our sins, to have mercy on 
 the sick child and send us twenty-five 
 cents at once. 
 
 We never doubted in our hearts God’s 
 willingness or ability to answer the 
 prayer. The fact that mail is never de- 
 livered on a Sunday morning did not 
 discourage our faith. 
 
 Soon as the prayer was over I started 
 to get ready to go to the drug store. 
 By the time I was ready, the door bell 
 rang. A lady and little boy were there 
 and asked to see the babies (this never 
 happened early on a Sunday morning 
 before or since). 
 
 As they went up stairs to see the 
 babies the boy dropped a quarter in our 
 free-will offering box by the banisters, 
 sure as you are alive! 
 
 All the infidels in the world could not 
 weaken our faith in the efficacy in 
 prayer. 
 
 That kind of deliverance has come to 
 us so many times in these 15 years. How 
 could we doubt the Lord?” 
 
506 , 
 
 — 1030 — 
 
 WHERE HEAVEN IS 
 
 A minister one Sunday preached a ser- 
 mon upon Heaven. Next morning he 
 was going to town and met one of his 
 older wealthy members. The brother 
 stopped the preacher and said: 
 
 “Pastor, you preached a good sermon 
 on Heaven; but you didn’t tell me where 
 Heaven is.” 
 
 “Ah,” said the preacher, “I am glad 
 of the opportunity this morning. I have 
 just returned from the hilltop up yonder. 
 In that cottage there is a member of our 
 church. She is sick in bed with a “fever, 
 her two little children are sick in the 
 other bed, and she has not a bit of coal, 
 nor a stick of wood, nor flour, nor meat, 
 nor any bread. If you will go down and 
 buy a sovereign’s worth of things—nice 
 provisions—send them’ up to her, and 
 then go there and say, ‘My sister, I 
 have brought these provisions in the 
 name of the Lord and Saviour,’ then ask 
 for a Bible and read the 23rd Psalm, and 
 then go down on your knees and pray— 
 and if you don’t see heaven before you 
 get through, Til pay the bill.” 
 
 The next morning the man said: 
 “Pastor, I saw Heaven and spent fifteen 
 minutes in Heaven as certain as you are 
 listening.” —Selected. 
 
 — 1031 — 
 
 “THEY ARE NOT STRANGERS” 
 
 Not long ago I stood by the deathbed 
 of a little girl, From her birth she had 
 been afraid of death. Every fiber of her 
 body and soul recoiled from the thought 
 
 of it. “Don’t let me die,” she said; 
 “don’t let me die. Hold me fast. Oh, 
 I can’t go!” 
 
 “Jennie,” I said, “you have two little 
 brothers in the other world, and there 
 are thousands of tender-hearted people 
 over there who will love you and take 
 care of you.” 
 
 But she cried out again despairingly, 
 “Don’t let me go; they are strangers 
 over there.” She was a little country 
 girl, strong limbed, fleet of foot, tanned 
 in the face; she was raised on the fron- 
 tier, the fields were her home. In vain 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 we tried to reconcile her to the death 
 that was inevitable. ‘Hold me fast,” 
 she cried; “don’t let me go.” But even 
 as she was pleading, her little hands 
 relaxed their clinging hold from my 
 waist, and lifted themselves eagerly 
 aloft; lifted themselves with such strain- 
 ing effort that they lifted the wasted 
 little body from its reclining position 
 among the pillows. Her face was turned 
 upward, but it was her eyes that told 
 the story. 
 
 They were filled with light of Divine 
 recognition. They saw something plainly 
 that we could not see; and they grew 
 brighter and brighter, and her little 
 hand quivered in eagerness to go, where 
 strange portals had opened upon her as- 
 tonished vision. But even in that su- 
 preme moment she did not forget to 
 leave a word of comfort for those who 
 would gladly have died in her place: 
 
 “Mama,” she was saying, “mama, they 
 are not strangers. I’m not afraid.” 
 
 And every instant the light burned 
 more gloriously in her blue eyes, till at 
 last it seemed as if her soul leaped 
 forth upon its radiant waves; and in 
 that moment her trembling form re- 
 lapsed among its pillows, and she was 
 gone.—Selected. 
 
 — 1032 — 
 
 SOWING AND REAPING 
 
 Two Scotchmen emigrated in the early 
 days to California. Each thought to take 
 with him some memorial of his beloved 
 country. The one of them, an enthusias- 
 tic lover of Scotland, took with him a 
 thistle, the national emblem. The other 
 took a small swarm of honey bees. Years 
 have passed away. The Pacific Coast is, 
 on the one hand, cursed with the Scotch 
 thistle, which the farmers find impos- 
 sible to exterminate; on the other hand 
 the forests and fields are fragrant and 
 laden with the sweetness of honey which 
 is one of the blessings of the western 
 slope of the Rocky Mountains. Even so 
 does every Christian carry with him 
 some sort of thistle plucked from the old 
 man, or honey from the new man, with 
 which to bless or curse men, according 
 as he makes choice for God.—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1033 — 
 A MODERN GIDEON’S FLEECE 
 
 God often honors a faith-filled prayer 
 for a sign of his will. Gideon asked for 
 two, and we have the same God as he 
 had. A Christian mother in a New 
 York town was sick unto death. She 
 knew that to die was gain, but she 
 wished, if it were God’s will, to live for 
 the sake of her children. After long and 
 earnest prayer that God would spare her 
 life for this purpose, she turned to the 
 Word of God, and asked God if he would 
 not give her a sign that he had answered, 
 Her eye fell upon the words, “Ye are 
 of more value than many sparrows” 
 (Luke 12:7), and after thanking God 
 for that word of comfort, which she 
 interpreted to mean that her life was 
 precious for a longer time on earth, she 
 asked for a confirmation of that con- 
 viction, Then turning her head upon 
 the pillow of her sick bed, she saw just 
 outside her window a sparrow. “Beauti- 
 ful; wonderful!” she cried and a moment 
 or two later a flock of sparrows fluttered 
 about her window, as if the Lord were 
 saying, “These are the many sparrows 
 that you were just reading about!”. And 
 as the Spirit of God clothed himself 
 with Gideon and wrought a miracle, so 
 did he with this sign-asking and sign- 
 believing Christian mother, who recov- 
 ered from her illness, led one of her older 
 
 children to Christ, and had her whole 
 
 life filled anew with fruitful service. 
 —The Sunday School Times. 
 
 —— 1034 = 
 
 JENNY LIND’S REPLY 
 
 The Swedish Nightingale, Tenny Lind, 
 won great success as an operatic singer, 
 and money poured into her purse. Yet 
 she left the stage when singing her best 
 and never went back to it. She ignored 
 the applause of thousands, but she was 
 content to live in privacy. 
 
 Once an English friend found her 
 sitting on the steps of a bathing machine 
 on the sea sands, with a Lutheran Bible 
 on her knee, looking out into the glory 
 of a sunset. They talked and the con- 
 versation drew near to the inevitable 
 question, “O, Madame Goidschmidt, 
 
 507 
 
 how is it that you ever came to abandon 
 the Fg te at the very height of your suc- 
 cess!” 
 
 “When, every day,” was the quiet an- 
 swer, “it made me think less of this (lay- 
 ing a finger on the Bible) and nothing 
 at all of that (pointing to the sunset), 
 what else could I do?” 
 
 — 1035 — 
 A MOONSHINER’S CONVERSION 
 
 A little girl who lived on the slope 
 of a great smoky mountain was trudg- 
 ing home with a Bible which her Sun- 
 day School teacher had given her. She 
 was afraid to take it home for fear her 
 grandfather would not let her keep it, 
 for he was a rough, wicked man. ‘She 
 kneeled down by the side of the road 
 and prayed: “Dear God, please make 
 grandpa to love the Bible and be a good 
 man, and let me keep it. And bless the 
 little girl up North, for Jesus’ sake, 
 Amen,” The Bible had been given by 
 a little girl in the North. 
 
 She showed it to her mother who said: 
 “My child, I am glad you have some- 
 thing to make you happy.” When she 
 showed it to her grandfather he said, 
 “You may keep it, but you need not read 
 it out loud.” | 
 
 A picture card dropped from the Bible 
 as the little girl was putting it away. 
 Her grandfather picked it up and read, 
 “The Lord is my Shepherd.” He had 
 heard that text years before the war and 
 it made a deep impression on his mind. 
 
 He was what is called a “moonshiner,” 
 because he made and sold liquor con- 
 trary to the law. That night he quietly 
 took the Bible and opened it and read 
 these words. “Woe to him that giveth 
 his neighbor drink.” He hastily closed 
 the book and went to his troubled sleep. 
 He kept continually thinking, “Woe to 
 him that giveth his neighbor drink.” 
 
 It had such an effect upon his mind 
 that the old man went and searched more 
 in the Scriptures. One Sunday a few 
 weeks later he was seen kneeling in 
 prayer penitent and happy. The Word 
 of God had such power over his mind 
 that it brought him to repentance and 
 to Christ-—Sent of God. 
 
508 
 
 — 1036 — 
 “A DEEP SPIRITUAL CONCERN 
 FOR YOUR SOUL.” 
 
 In a small country town there was an 
 infidel blacksmith, He was a hard- 
 headed, well-read man, strong in argu- 
 ment. An old deacon in the town be- 
 came deeply interested in this infidel 
 blacksmith and determined to lead him 
 to Christ. He studied up as best he 
 could all the infidel arguments and the 
 answers to them. When he thought 
 he had all the infidel arguments and an- 
 swers at his fingers’ ends, he called on 
 the blacksmith and engaged hii in con- 
 versation, but the blacksmith was far 
 more than a match for him in argu- 
 ment and in a few moments had fought 
 the old deacon to a standstill. The old 
 deacon knew that he was right, but he 
 could not prove it to the blacksmith. 
 He burst into tears and said, “Well, I 
 cannot argue with you, but I simply 
 want to say, I have a deep spiritual con- 
 cern for your soul,” and then left the 
 shop. 
 
 The deacon made his way home and 
 went in to his wife and said, “I am 
 only a botch on God’s work. God 
 knows I am sincere and that I really do 
 desire the salvation of the blacksmith, 
 but I could not meet him in argument. 
 He laid me out cold in five minutes.” 
 Then the deacon went into his own 
 room by himself and knelt down. “Oh, 
 God,” he cried, “I am only a botch on 
 Thy work. Thou knowest that I sin- 
 cerely desired to lead the blacksmith to 
 Thee, but I could not talk with him. 
 Oh, God, I am only a botch on Thy 
 work.” 
 
 But soon after the deacon had left the 
 blacksmith shop, the blacksmith went 
 into the house and said to his wife, 
 “Deacon — brought up an argument 
 to-day that I never heard before. He 
 said he had a deep spiritual concern for 
 my soul, What did he mean?” His 
 wife was a canny woman and said, “You 
 had better go and ask him.” The black- 
 smith hung up his apron and went cross 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 lots to the deacon’s homé. Just as he 
 stepped on the front porch, through the 
 open window he heard the deacon’s 
 prayer, “Oh, God, I am only a botch on 
 Thy work. Thou knowest that I sin- 
 cerely desired to lead the blacksmith 
 to Thee, but I could not talk with him. 
 Oh, God, I am only a botch on Thy 
 work.” He pushed the door open and 
 went into the room where the deacon 
 was kneeling and said, “Deacon, you are 
 no botch on God’s work. I thought I 
 knew all the arguments for Christianity 
 and could answer them, but you brought 
 up an argument I never heard before. 
 You said you had a deep spiritual con- 
 cern for my soul. Won’t you pray for 
 me?” and the blacksmith broke down 
 and accepted Christ. Real earnestness 
 and love succeed where all argument 
 fails.—Selected. 
 
 —~ 1037 — 
 HOW BILLY SUNDAY WAS WON 
 
 Billy Sunday’s revival campaigns 
 have resulted in thousands of conver- 
 sions in nearly every place where he 
 has worked. They have also cleaned 
 up the town. It is therefore interesting 
 to know what influences were respon- 
 sible for his career: 
 
 He was to speak to a conference of 
 ministers in Ohio, and at the hotel he 
 was introduced to Dr. Homer Stuntz, 
 former missonary to the Philippines. 
 
 Billy Sunday jumped up like a rub- 
 ber ball and exclaimed: “What, are you 
 Homer Stuntz, of Nevada, Iowa?” 
 
 “Yes,” was the reply, “I am the same 
 man.” 
 
 “I am mighty glad to see you, for 
 you are the one who started me in the 
 right direction.” 
 
 Billy Sunday was placed in the or- 
 phanage when he was a boy. He was 
 taken out of the institution by a rich 
 stock raiser by the name of Bill Scott. 
 Dr. Stuntz was then a law student liv- 
 ing in Nevada. One evening he came 
 across the boy when he was standing 
 under a street-lamp, swearing like a 
 young pirate. Dr, Stuntz approached 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 and began jollying him, which made the 
 boy swear all the more. He then in- 
 vited the boy to join his Sunday school 
 class, and, after repeated invitations, 
 succeeded in getting him to come. 
 
 Dr. Stuntz says, however, that young 
 Billy was bullheaded, irreverent, and 
 belligerent, the worst boy in the class. 
 He was constantly asking questions 
 that nobody could answer, but in it all 
 he revealed unusual intelligence. Dur- 
 ing this time Dr. Stuntz talked about 
 going to college. The result was that 
 Sunday spent four years at Northwest- 
 ern University, and says that Dr. Stuntz 
 was the man who started him in that 
 direction. 
 
 Afterwards young Sunday joined a 
 professional baseball team at Marshall- 
 town, and as he was about to leave, Dr. 
 Stuntz gave him a Testament. That 
 was the last he saw of Billy Sunday for 
 twenty years. 
 
 In the address to the conference later 
 in the day on “Why Some Ministers 
 Fail,” Billy Sunday told the story of 
 meeting Dr. Stuntz and used it as an il- 
 lustration, adding the remark, “That 
 man had the goods, he didn’t fail.”— 
 Evangel. 
 
 — 1038 — 
 A STORY OF SHEAVES 
 
 The Bishop of London told a beau- 
 tiful story in one of his mission ser- 
 mons: 
 
 “All the children were coming up 
 with their sheaves to be let into the 
 great Harvest Home. An angel was 
 standing at the door, and one of the 
 children had no sheaves at all. The 
 angel said no one could come in with- 
 out sheaves. 
 
 “Then the other children, one by 
 one, began to plead for this child. ‘Let 
 him in,’ said one; ‘do let him in, dear 
 angel. He had several sheaves earlier 
 in the day, but I was tired and he gave 
 me one of his sheaves; one of these be- 
 longs to him.’ Another said: ‘Do let 
 him in, dear angel. I was thirsty as 
 I passed along, and he went and filled 
 
 509 
 
 me a cup of cold water to refresh me.’ 
 One said this, and another said that. 
 
 “Finally the angel stretched his arm 
 round the door and took out a bundle 
 of sheaves. ‘There are his sheaves,’ 
 he said. ‘Yes, I know all about it; he 
 thought of others more than of him- 
 self” And turning to the child, he 
 said: ‘Lead the way in’”’=-The Chris- 
 tian Intelligencer. 
 
 25,1039 
 JOSEPHUS ON CHRIST 
 
 Josephus (Flavius), historian of the 
 Jews, was born at Jerusalem, in 37 or 38 
 A.D. In his book, “Ancient Relics of 
 the Jews,” he says: “Now there was 
 about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if 
 it be lawful to call Him a man, for He 
 was a doer of wonderful works, a 
 Teacher of such men as received the 
 truth with pleasure. He drew over to 
 Him, both many of the Jews and many 
 of the Gentiles. He was (the) Christ. 
 And when Pilate, at the suggestion of 
 the principal men among us, had con- 
 demned him to the cross, those that 
 loved Him, at the first, did not forsake 
 Him; for He appeared unto them a- 
 live again the third day; as the divine 
 prophets had foretold these and ten 
 thousand other wonderful things con- 
 cerning Him. And the tribe of Chris- 
 tians so named from Him, are not ex- 
 tinct at this day.” 
 
 — 1040 — 
 AN UNPROFITABLE ENGINE. 
 
 A man who was visiting a railroad 
 yard, saw a big engine sidetracked. 
 
 “That engine looks as if it could go.” 
 he said; “why have you switched it off 
 here to rest?” 
 
 “Oh, it can run itself all right, I 
 guess,” said the workman, “but there’s 
 something wrong about it, and it can’t 
 pull anything. Engines are not run for 
 the fun of running them. They’ve got to 
 
 ‘draw a train of cars.” 
 
 The Christian who just keeps himself 
 going isn’t much of a Christian. It’s 
 the business of a Christian to draw 
 others after him.—Selected. 
 
516 
 
 = 1041 — 
 TRANSFIGURED MUSIC 
 
 Two travelers, one summer evening, 
 were descending a steep mountain path 
 in the Alps. Suddenly music came float- 
 ing around them from an unseen source; 
 pure, impersonal music, so distilled that 
 no sediment of mere sound remained to 
 blur the divine harmony. It was clearer 
 than any piano note, finer than any 
 strain of violin, more resonant than any 
 peal of bells, richer than any organ swell, 
 sweeter than any human voice. 
 
 The travelers stood listening to deter- 
 mine whence it came. The rugged 
 mountain of rock rose above them half 
 a mile high, and at the top was splin- 
 tered into crags. The music came from 
 the mighty wall of stone. The whole 
 mountain seemed full of it, pulsing and 
 throbbing with its burden of song. Again 
 and again it pealed forth like a mighty 
 cathedral bell, so grandly sweet, so all- 
 encompassing that all the atmosphere 
 around seemed pregnant with glory. It 
 seemed as though angels had come back 
 to earth and sung as they sang at Beth- 
 lehem. What did it mean? 
 
 A mile down the path the travelers 
 came upon a mountaineer with his Alp- 
 ine horn, a big wooden instrument, ten 
 feet long, the flaring end of which fitted 
 into a box like a hopper. He blew them a 
 mighty blast, but it was only a loud, 
 rasping noise, that was unpleasant and 
 almost painful to the ear. Yet it was 
 that rude horn blown by that rough 
 mountaineer far down in the valley that 
 was making the celestial music up 
 among the summits of the Alps. The 
 majestic mountain, with its heart full of 
 music, gathered up those rough sounds 
 and transformed them into harmony 
 divine. 
 
 So may the life on earth be trans- 
 figured into the life in heaven. The in- 
 struments on which we play may be 
 rude and clumsy, the sounds we make 
 may often seem harsh and discordant, 
 we may be far down in the vailey, all 
 the conditions of life may seem narrow 
 and its service hard, but when these ex- 
 periences are caught up into the celestial 
 world they may be transformed into 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 such music as will make our heaven 
 forever. “And I heard the voice of harp- 
 ers harping with their harps.”—Presby- 
 terian. 
 
 os} 042 Be 
 
 GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT 
 
 Rev. A. J. Gordon tells of a friend of 
 his who felt impelled to go to a distant 
 city. He tried to shake off the impres- 
 sion, but being unable to do so, started 
 on the journey. Arriving at his destina- 
 tion he felt ashamed for yielding to what 
 seemed a mere impulse. As he walked 
 along he met an acquaintance who was 
 greatly excited. He learned that his 
 friend was hunting for a man whom he 
 intended to shoot for having done him 
 an injury. He reasoned with the man 
 but without avail. For two hours he 
 followed the almost frenzied man from 
 place to place. At last he knelt in the 
 street and prayed God to save his friend 
 from committing murder. Then the man 
 yielded and fired his pistol in the air. 
 The two went home together, and the 
 Christian spent the night pleading with 
 the man to forgive his enemy and to 
 give his heart to God. Before he left 
 him the man was converted.—Selected. 
 
 — 1043 — 
 A LIVING SACRIFICE 
 
 When Garibaldi was raising his army, 
 he said: “I have no money, no food, no 
 clothing, no stores, no resources; let 
 every man that is willing to suffer pov- 
 erty, shame, hunger, disease, and death 
 and who loves Italy follow me.” It is 
 the measure of our suffering that will 
 enable us to be like the Master. It has 
 been said that when He died He left His 
 purse to Judas, His clothes to the sol- 
 diers, His mother to John, His pardon 
 to the dying thief, and His peace to His 
 disciples. Some one has said: “I look 
 for the world, and I find it in the Church; 
 and I look for the Church, and I find it 
 in the world.” You may try all you 
 please for the baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost; and unless you are willing to 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice 
 to God, you cannot be filled with the 
 Spirit—D. C. Whittle, D.D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ee LOM rs 
 THE GREATER BLESSING 
 
 “It’s hard at times to believe that 
 there is some one watching over the af- 
 fairs of this world,” said Jack Graham 
 to his minister, “For example, here is 
 an account in to-day’s paper,” he con- 
 tinued, “where twenty miners were en- 
 tombed by an explosion. A crowd col- 
 lected at the mouth of the mine.. The 
 manager declared that another explosion 
 might occur at any moment. Any at- 
 tempt at relief would be very dangerous 
 business. Yet three men came forward, 
 recognizing the danger, but ready to 
 risk their lives in the attempt to save 
 their fellows. The car started down with 
 the three men in it. Before it reached 
 the bottom, another explosion took place 
 and all three were immediately killed. 
 Can it be posible that there is a God of 
 love ruling the universe when such no- 
 ble heroism is no better protected than 
 that?” 
 
 Doctor Brown sat thinking before he 
 spoke. 
 
 “Suppose, Jack,” he said at length, 
 “that God always miraculously guarded 
 the lives of all heroes, so that no hero 
 were allowed to lose his life in noble 
 adventure? Would that seem to you a 
 better-conducted universe than the one 
 we now have?” 
 
 “Of course it would!” answered Jack, 
 with conviction.. “Is there any question 
 about it?” 
 
 “Well, let us see. Then the next time 
 an explosion occurred in a mine and 
 men were imprisoned, any man in the 
 crowd could step forward and offer to 
 go to the relief carelessly, in the abso- 
 lute certainty that he would return alive. 
 He would not run the slightest risk. 
 But by the same token, heroism and 
 all possibility of heroism would be taken 
 from the life of the world.. Nothing 
 would be left to be heroic about. There 
 never would be the slightest risk. What 
 a tawdry thing human life would be if 
 there were never anything daring and 
 heroic in it!” 
 
 Jack sat thinking over the clergyman’s 
 
 ANECDOTES S11 
 
 words. “Doctor,” he said earnestly, “I 
 can see that it’s better for us to have a 
 world where the most awful tragedies 
 do occur than it would be to have a 
 world where no moral heroism could 
 ever inspire the race.”—Youth’s Com- 
 panion. 
 
 — 1045 — 
 A MISSIONARY HEROINE 
 
 Quite recently a physician in a hea- 
 than land where there was no other 
 doctor was stricken with what he was 
 convinced was appendicitis. Dr. Logan 
 had gone out as a missionary to China, 
 and with his loyal wife was stationed at 
 a point eight hundred miles distant from 
 any doctor to whom he might go or send 
 in his emergency. It was a week’s jour- 
 ney for him to travel, or for the doctor 
 to come if he depended upon a foreign 
 missionary physician. Dr. Logan took 
 his wife into his confidence, and told her 
 she was the one chance for life or recov- 
 ery, and if she could not remove the dis- 
 eased appendix she would be left a 
 widow in a strange land very soon. He 
 explained the operation to her, showed 
 her just where to cut, and what to do 
 later, and her experience is related in the 
 North American Journal of Homeop- 
 athy. The brave woman administered 
 the ether and chloroform and performed 
 the operation. The doctor came through 
 it all right, and when he was able to 
 travel she went with the invalid to see 
 if there was more to be done, or if she 
 had omitted anything. 
 
 Doubtless the woman was the braver 
 of those two persons who were all in all 
 to each other in far away China. It re- 
 quired more nerve on her part to cut 
 into the doctor than for him to take the 
 anesthetic and obliterate the pain and 
 knowledge of what she was doing; but 
 the noble woman must have suffered 
 agony of apprehension when the doctor 
 lay before her insensible, and his very 
 existence depended on her cooi-headed- 
 ness and surgical skill in the dangerous 
 undertaking. She was, indeed, a brave 
 woman and the operation gave evidence 
 that the heart of her husband did safely 
 trust in her.—Selected. 
 
512, 
 
 — 1046 — 
 JA TROPHY OF HIS GRACE 
 
 /I remember a very degraded woman 
 in a city in the heart of China. One day 
 there were a dozen women around me, 
 and, sitting at my feet, a woman I had 
 never seen before, poor and degraded. 
 I could see at a glance that she had 
 lived a very sad life. Her hands were 
 hard with toil, and she seemed stupid. 
 
 We were talking about the power of 
 Jesus Christ, and how he even cast out 
 evil spirits and delivered people who 
 were tormented with devils. .She had 
 never heard of Christ before, never 
 heard His name, and stopped me sev- 
 eral times, asking, “Is it true?” I as- 
 sured her over and over again that it 
 was certainly true. 
 
 Toward the end she said one thing 
 more. “Does Jesus Christ do those 
 things now, today?” 
 
 What would you have said? There is 
 nothing so powerful as a present exper- 
 ience of the power of Jesus Christ, en- 
 
 abling one to assure those who never | 
 
 heard of Him before that these things 
 are true. 
 
 I must not tell you all about it. She 
 went away and gave her heart to Jesus 
 Christ that night, and He wrought in 
 her a most wonderful transformation. 
 She came a few days afterward, and 
 said: 
 
 “T know now that what you told me 
 the other day was true.” 
 
 “How do you know?” 
 
 “t¥e has done it for me. Are 
 you going to another city where they 
 have never heard of Jesus?” 
 
 “Ves,” 
 
 “Are you going soon?” 
 
 “Yes, soon.” 
 
 “Have you a servant to go with you?” 
 
 “No.” ; 
 
 She said, “I am going with you, and 
 I will do your washing and make shoes. 
 I love you, and I love your Jesus.” 
 
 The end of it was, she came. She was 
 truly converted, but very rough. I felt, 
 however, that there was a soul filled 
 with love to Jesus, and I spent a great 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 deal of time in teaching and praying for 
 that woman. I taught her all I could 
 of the life of Christ, and the way to 
 put the gospel. 
 
 There came a day when there was a 
 great fair, and hundreds of women 
 crowded to see us. While I was speak- 
 ing to them I lost my voice, and could 
 not go on talking. The room was full, 
 and this woman was sitting near me. 
 She had been a Christian two or three 
 months, and, turningto her, I said: 
 
 “You see I cannot speak any more, 
 will you try and just tell the women 
 the rest?” 
 
 She said, “I cannot preach, don’t ask 
 me to do such a thing.” ; 
 
 Well,” I said. “if you don’t they will 
 have to go without hearing, and per- 
 haps never come again. The Holy 
 Spirit can help you, and make you tell 
 them far better than I can. Won’t you 
 ask Him?” 
 
 She bent her head in prayer for a 
 moment, and I sat praying for her with 
 intense earnestness, feeling that it was a 
 crisis in her life, and might prove such 
 for many souls. 
 
 Presently she raised her head, looked 
 around, and I saw what had happened. 
 Never shall I forget the light which 
 shone upon her face as she began to try 
 to tell the certainty of those things that 
 she herself had known about Jesus. She 
 forgot me, and the time, and everything, 
 and just poured out her heart before 
 those women. If ever I saw anybody 
 filled with the Spirit of God, it was that 
 woman that day. She went on for an 
 hour or two without a pause, and no- 
 body moved. Many of them had never 
 heard of Jesus. They had never had a 
 missionary until two weeks before. A 
 woman sitting in the room gave her 
 heart to God, and still lives a consistent 
 Christian life. Best of all, the preacher 
 was saved from herself, and filled with 
 the Spirit, and became from that time, 
 such a teacher of the Gospel that I never 
 thought of speaking when she was there. 
 
 Men have often said, when she has 
 preached half the day, “We don’t want 
 to go home, we never heard of anything 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 like this before. You go to bed, and 
 let this woman stay and talk; she can 
 talk all night. 
 
 I have wakened in the middle of the 
 night, and heard that woman, in the 
 dark, still telling of Jesus to those who 
 were eager to hear. Sometimes they 
 would ask her questions, and even go 
 to sleep and wake up and ask more ques- 
 tions, and early in the morning would 
 be listening still. The power of the 
 Spirit in the life of that woman was 
 simply wonderful. It left nothing to be 
 desired—nothing. One could not wish 
 for anything more reasonable, logical, 
 clear, persuasive, tender, full of love 
 and the power of the Spirit, than that 
 dear woman’s message to others.—Mrs. 
 Howard Taylor. 
 
 — 1047 — 
 
 WASHINGTON’S BREAKFAST 
 
 When the British under Lord Howe 
 made their descent on Philadelphia, in 
 1777, disembarking at the head of Elk 
 River, from Chesapeake Bay, Washing- 
 ton advanced from Philadelphia to meet 
 them. Early one morning, accompanied 
 by the Marquis de Lafayette, he made a 
 reconnoissance from, his camp to Chest- 
 nut Hill, Delaware, in the direction of 
 Elk landing. 
 
 Here, at a point whence they could 
 view the waters of Chesapeake Bay, the 
 two generals stopped at a farmhouse and 
 asked if they could obtain their break- 
 fast. 
 
 The hostess, Mrs. Alexander, appeared 
 to be very glad to see them, and they 
 were surprised to find the table already 
 set with an elegantly prepared breakfast. 
 Lafayette was as much enchanted as he 
 was astonished to find such a repast, in 
 the course of a somewhat bold reconnois- 
 sance, 
 
 They had begun to partake of the 
 meal, and Lafayette was eating leisurely, 
 as a polite young Frenchman should do, 
 when the mistress of the house stepped 
 out fora moment. Washington touched 
 Lafayette with his foot under the table, 
 and whispered to him: “Better eat 
 quickly; this breakfast was not meant 
 
 for us!” . 
 
 Lafayette understood, and ate rapidly, 
 but heartily. In a very short time the 
 meal was finished. The two generals 
 rose, hastily but warmly thanked Mrs. 
 Alexander, and took their leave. 
 
 They had scarcely ridden away to a 
 place of security when, turning about, 
 they saw Lord Howe and his staff ride 
 up to Alexander house. They had or- 
 dered their breakfast there, and Wash- 
 ington and Lafayette had eaten it! 
 
 Their chagrin, and the astonishment of 
 their hostess, who supposed that she had 
 already served Lord Howe a very hearty 
 meal, will have to be imagined by the 
 world, for no record is left of their re- 
 marks.—-Selected. 
 
 — 1048 — 
 
 A PLEDGE REMEMBERED 
 
 A few months ago I was holding gos- 
 pel meetings at S——, in the State of 
 New York. I was introduced to Mr. 
 S , a business man of about sixty 
 years of age. He was very sceptical con- 
 cerning Christian character and bitter 
 towards ministers. No arguments in- 
 duced him to attend the meetings and no 
 appeals seemed to soften his heart. 
 Prayer was our only resource. 
 
 On the Sunday after the meetings 
 closed he asked his wife, as she was get- 
 ting ready for church: “How do I know 
 that Christ is immortal?” 
 
 After the family had gone, he heard a 
 voice saying: “You wretch! You deny 
 your God! Do you remember thirty-six 
 years ago to-day you promised God that 
 if he spared your life, you would serve 
 him ?” 
 
 When he consulted his records he 
 found that, thirty-six years ago on that 
 day, as he was going into a fierce battle 
 in the Civil War, he promised God that 
 he would become a Christian if spared 
 through the fight. The incident affected 
 him profoundly, and lead him to give 
 himself to God. His scepticism and bit- 
 terness at once disappeared, and in a few 
 days he made a public profession of faith 
 in Christ—Dr. N. B. Randall, East 
 Orange, N. J. 
 
 
 
514 
 
 me 1049 m= 
 CAUSES OF TROUBLE 
 
 ‘Let not your heart be troubled,” 
 said Jesus. Trouble often comes from 
 inactivity. Abraham Lincoln spoke 
 truly when he said, “To ease another’s 
 heart ache is to forget one’s own.” 
 Jesus’s call was to unselfish service. 
 Trouble sometimes comes from a sense 
 of loneliness. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher ran across a 
 little lad on Clinton Street, Brooklyn, 
 who was crying. Picking him up, he 
 asked, “Well, my little boy, what is the 
 matter?” As the boy looked into the 
 luminous sympathetic face of Beecher, 
 he answered, “Nothing, now you have 
 come.” 
 
 Jesus is to us Burden Bearer and 
 Comforter. Trouble comes from loss 
 of faith. Shortly before his death, one 
 referred to these words of Jesus: 
 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye 
 believe in God, believe also in Me,” 
 and said: “What soft and sweet unfold- 
 ing of all highest things.” To trust 
 Jesus is to live or die with untroubled 
 heart.—Selected. 
 
 — 1050 — 
 OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD 
 
 Some one tells of a lady accompanied 
 by a sturdy boy, who was seen to stand 
 before a famous painting in a European 
 art gallery. It represented the dying 
 Richelieu, with a face as cold and hard 
 as in the days of his strength, a soul of 
 steel in a body of ice, lying in his barge; 
 scarcely strong enough to move; while 
 being towed behind in another boat 
 were the two State prisoners—Cing 
 Mars and De Thou—whom he was drag- 
 ging to their execution. 
 
 “It is a picture of revenge,” the lady 
 said, in reply to the questions of the 
 boy. “I would not be that Richelieu 
 for all the satisfaction this world can 
 give. No passion of the human heart 
 promises so much as revenge and pays 
 so little. 
 
 A gentleman nearby overheard the 
 remark, He rose suddenly to his feet, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 and walked nervously down the hall. 
 Two years before he had been grievously 
 wronged by a neighbor, and now re- 
 venge was within his reach. At that 
 time he had begun building a house, 
 and when the walls were up and the 
 framing of the roof in place, he was in- 
 formed by the man who owned the ad- 
 joining property that the new house 
 was six inches on his land. 
 
 The gentleman offered to pay hand- 
 somely for the few inches which had 
 been built upon by mistake. The owner 
 of it refused to sell. He said that his 
 plans were made for occupying the 
 whole lot, and for no _ consideration 
 would he part with the six inches. 
 
 The gentleman could do nothing else 
 than tear down the encroaching side of 
 his house. This was done, and the wall 
 moved back twelve inches instead of 
 six, 
 
 A year later the owner of the neigh- 
 boring property erected his house, and 
 placed his wall just against the finished 
 building. Of course this wall was then 
 on the land of the first builder, who in- 
 tended making no remonstrance until 
 the house was finished, furnished and 
 occupied. 
 
 This very day the work was ¢com- 
 pleted, and he had stopped in the quiet 
 of the art gallery to spend the hour be- 
 fore his intended call. 
 
 The woman’s words about the pic- 
 ture, meant for the ears of her child 
 alone, stirred the latent manliness of the 
 man. “I would not be that Richelieu 
 for all the satisfaction this world can 
 give,’ he repeated over and over to 
 himself, as he hurried into the outside 
 air. 
 
 Nevertheless he made his intended 
 visit, and informed the obdurate man 
 why he had come. The victim was 
 speechless with rage, and waited for the 
 doom he expected to hear. Instead, the 
 gentleman handed him a deed for the 
 six inches of ground, saying: 
 
 “I have no wish to put you to any ex- 
 pense; I make you a present of that six- 
 inch strip.’—The Safeguard. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 = 1051 — 
 DISCOVERED BY ACCIDENT 
 
 The retirement of Prof. Thomas C. 
 Mendenhall from the presidency of the 
 Worcester Polytechnic Institute has 
 been a matter of extreme regret to edu- 
 cators, for he has long been regarded as 
 one of the best mathematicians in the 
 country. He was himself long ignorant 
 of the possession of this talent, and only 
 discovered it by the merest accident. 
 
 Professor Mendenhall was the son of a 
 poor farmer in Ohio, and was at work on 
 the farm one day when a resident of a 
 distant village drove up and struck a 
 bargain with the elder Mendenhall for 
 the purchase of a cow. 
 
 “Now,” said the visitor, “I must get 
 this cow home, but I can’t take time to 
 drive her twenty miles, ahead of my 
 team, and she can’t go fast enough to be 
 led behind. My lad, I will give you a 
 dollar to drive her over to my place.” 
 
 Thomas jumped at the chance, and the 
 next morning started on his walk, bare- 
 foot, before daylight. Arrived at his 
 destination, he received his dollar—the 
 first money he had ever owned—and was 
 invited to stay over night before return- 
 ing. 
 
 On his way to his room he passed a 
 book-shelf on which lay a Euclid. He 
 had never seen a geometry before, and 
 something prompted him to take this one 
 down and look inside. He carried the 
 book to his room and pored over it as 
 long as his candle held out. Then he 
 dreamed of it for the rest of the night. 
 
 In the morning he timidly asked his 
 host if his dollar would buy that volume. 
 His joy was so great on learning that it 
 would that he could, scarcely eat his 
 breakfast, and he trudged home perfectly 
 happy, with his precious volume under 
 his arm. 
 
 That was his first step in science, and 
 his accidental introduction to Euclid in- 
 spired him to work his way through 
 school and college and enter upon the 
 life of research which has placed him in 
 the front rank of American scholars. He 
 now has the right to place a long string 
 of honors and titles after his name, and 
 
 515 
 
 is a member of half a dozen scientific 
 associations.—Saturday Evening Post. 
 
 — 1052 — 
 THE VAST UNIVERSE 
 
 At the great natural course in Florida, 
 Ordmond Beach, in January, 1906, auto- 
 mobiles made the two mile course at the 
 rate of 128 miles an hour. Suppose an 
 Ordmond Beach to extend between the 
 earth and the fixed star Centaurus and I 
 should decide to take an auto trip on 
 this new line. I ask the maker of the 
 car what it will cost? “The cost is very 
 low, sir, only one cent for each hundred 
 miles.” 
 
 “And what will the cost be at that 
 rate,” I ask. 
 
 “It will cost just $2,275,000,000,” he 
 answers. 
 
 I pay and take my seat in the car and 
 we set off at tremendous rate. “How 
 fast,” I ask the chauffeur, “are we go- 
 ing?” 
 
 “One hundred and twenty miles an 
 hour,” says he, “and no stops.” 
 
 “We’ll soon be there,” I resume. 
 
 “We’ll make good time, sir,” says he. 
 
 “And when will we arrive?” 
 
 “In just 24,331,500 years.” 
 
 What a universe! And what a God 
 behind it! Itis his! The Infinite! The 
 God whom some defy! The Being 
 whom some men do not fear!—A. J. 
 Archibald. 
 
 — 1053 — 
 TRY CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Horace Greeley is said once to have 
 received a letter from a woman stating 
 that her church was in distressing finan- 
 cial straits. 
 
 They had tried every device they 
 could think of—fairs, strawberry festi- 
 vals, oyster suppers, a donkey -party, 
 turkey banquets, Japanese weddings, 
 poverty sociables, mock marriages, grab 
 bags, box sociables, and necktie so- 
 ciables, 
 
 “Would Mr. Greeley be so kind as to 
 suggest some new device to keep the 
 struggling church from disbanding?” 
 The editor replied: “Try Christianity.” 
 —The Christian. 
 
516 
 
 — 1054 — 
 
 THE GIPSY BOY’S PRAYER 
 
 Capt. Gipsy Pat Smith, the evange- 
 list, tells how the Lord answered his 
 prayer when a lad, much to the en- 
 couragement of his faith, and made it 
 possible for him to go to a religious 
 conference which he was anxious to at- 
 tend. It was to be held in the hall 
 in Glasgow in which this Gipsy boy 
 then sixteen year old, had been con- 
 verted six months before. 
 
 The lad’s father was an ungodly man, 
 and apparently did his utmost to dis- 
 courage his son who had sez out to 
 follow Christ. If the boy failed to meet 
 the exactions of the father when sent out 
 to beg, peddle or steal he was likely 
 to be tied up to a cart wheel and 
 whipped. 
 
 That day he had been given some pot 
 lids to sell. When he set out that morn- 
 ing he prayed that God would especially 
 prosper his efforts, as the conference he 
 wanted to attend met at 3 o’clock that 
 afternoon, and if he could dispose of a 
 suffcient number of the pot covers to 
 make the usual daily receipts, and if 
 they should be so sold that he had none 
 left of some certain size, he could then 
 safely return to camp, and would be 
 excused for the remainder of the day. 
 His sales were unusually good, and at 
 1.30 p. m. he counted up his coins and 
 found that his earnings were enough 
 for the day. But on looking over his 
 stock he saw he still had covers of all 
 sizes. So he had no excuse for going 
 home. But he must go soon or he would 
 miss the conference. 
 
 The least number he had of any size 
 was two of No. 5. So as he approached 
 the next tenement he stopped at the 
 threshold, and he recalled the promise 
 found in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, 
 and my words abide in you, ye shall ask 
 what ye will snd it shall be done unto 
 you.” Relying on this promise he 
 prayed to the Lord to enable him to 
 sell these two pot lids in that house. He 
 called on the family on the first floor, 
 and made no sale. On the second floor, 
 and on the third floor, the result was the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 same. He mounted to the top floor. In 
 response to his rap, a sweet-faced woman 
 came to the door. He asked if she 
 wanted any pot lids. She said she would 
 look and see. Presently she returned 
 and said she would take a No. 5. He 
 gave her the cover, and she handed him 
 the price. 
 
 As he stood adjusting the covers, slung 
 by a cord over his shoulders, he thought 
 of the one No. 5 lid he still had left which 
 he had ‘prayed he might sell in that 
 house, and he had now visited the last 
 family. Just then the woman returned 
 and said: “I have but one No. 5 pot and 
 so need only one lid. But something 
 tells me to buy two of you instead of one. 
 Yet there is a shop downstairs where I 
 could get them if I wished. So you may 
 give me another No. 5 lid if you have it.” 
 
 With praises to God in his heart and 
 tears starting from his eyes he handed 
 her the lid; and she said, “why do you 
 cry?” 
 
 Then he told her of his finding Christ 
 six months before and of his desire to 
 go to the meeting that afternoon and 
 how the Lord had answered his prayer 
 by telling her to buy the two lids. She 
 replied that she understood it, as she 
 had been a Christian twenty-two years. 
 Before they separated they knelt and 
 thanked God that He had thus been 
 pleased to use them for the glory of 
 His name.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1055— 
 QUIET INFLUENCE 
 
 There was once a poor, feeble old 
 woman who said to her minister: I wish 
 I could do something for Jesus, but I am 
 SO poor and weak;” and the minister 
 said: “You do something every Sunday, 
 for I see you in church listening very 
 earnestly to me, and the sight of your 
 face helps me to preach better about 
 Jesus.” 
 
 Rev. Spencer Compton says: “During 
 a voyage to India I sat one dark evening 
 in my cabin feeling thoroughly unwell, 
 as the sea was rising fast, and I was but 
 a poor sailor. Suddenly the cry that 
 there was a man overboard made me 
 spring to my feet. I heard a tramping 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 overhead, but I resolved not to go on 
 deck lest I should interfere with the crew 
 in their efforts to save the poor man. 
 ‘What can I do?’ I asked myself, and 
 unhooking my lamp, I held it near the 
 top of my cabin, and close to my bull’s 
 eye window, so that its light might shine 
 on the sea, as near the ship as possible. 
 In a half a minute I heard the joyful cry, 
 ‘It’s all right; he’s safe!’ upon which 
 I put my lamp in its place. The next 
 day, however, I was told that my little 
 lamp was the sole means of saving the 
 man’s life, for it was only for the timely 
 light which shone upon him that the 
 knotted rope could be thrown so as to 
 reach him.” 
 
 If we can do nothing else, we can help 
 those who are throwing out the life-line 
 of salvation by letting our light shine, 
 and our quiet influence, reinforcing the 
 Word that is preached, may be the 
 means of saving a soul which otherwise 
 would be unreached. 
 
 “Doctor,” said a gentleman to his pas- 
 tor, “how shall I train up my boy in the 
 way he should go?” “By going that 
 way yourself,” was the reply. 
 
 A man given to drink was once walk- 
 ing uncertainly in some deep snow. 
 Looking back, he saw his six-year-old 
 boy following after him, carefully plant- 
 ing his feet in the marks left by his boots 
 in the snow, and he heard him cry out 
 cheerfully, “Mamma I’m walking in 
 papa’s foot-steps.” It smote him to the 
 heart, for he thought of those other foot- 
 steps of his in which this boy might 
 walk, and he resolved that, by the grace 
 of God, he would so live that no one 
 walking in his steps, would walk to ruin. 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 1056 — 
 GRACE SUFFICIENT 
 
 I told my people the other morning, 
 when preaching from the text, “My 
 grace is sufficient for thee,” that for the 
 first time in my life I experienced what 
 Abraham felt when he fell upon his face 
 and laughed. I was riding home, very 
 weary with a long week’s work, when 
 there came to my mind this text, “My 
 grace is sufficient for thee.” but it came 
 
 517 
 
 to me with the emphasis laid upon two 
 words, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” 
 My soul said, doubtless it is. Surely the 
 grace of the infinite God is more than 
 sufficient for such a mere insect as I am.’ 
 And I laughed, and laughed again, to 
 think how far the supply exceeded all 
 my needs. It seemed to me as though I 
 were a little fish in the sea, and in my 
 thirst I said, “Alas! I shall drink up the 
 ocean!” Then the father of the waters 
 lifted up his head sublme, and smilingly 
 replied: “Little fish, the boundless main 
 is sufficient for thee.’ The thought 
 made unbelief appear supremely ridicu- 
 lous, as indeed it is—C. H. Spurgeon. 
 —1057—= 
 
 THE UNSEEN AUCTIONEER 
 
 One day a friend of mine, in passing 
 down a Glasgow street, saw a crowd 
 at a shop door, and had the curiosity 
 to look in. There he saw an auctioneer 
 holding up a grand picture so that all 
 could see it. When he got it in posi- 
 tion, he remained behind it and said to 
 the crowd, “Now look at this part of 
 the picture,...and now at this other 
 part,” and so on, describing each de- 
 tail of it. “Now,” said my friend, “the 
 whole time I was there I never saw the 
 speaker, but only the picture he was 
 showing.” That is the way to work for 
 
 Christ. He must increase, but we must 
 be out of sight——Andrew A. Bonar, 
 — 1058 — 
 HIS NAME 
 
 A story has come down to us from 
 the days of Wesley concerning his work 
 among the miners of Cornwall. Whole 
 villages were transformed from a gam- 
 bling, swearing and Sabbath-breaking 
 people to men and women of sobriety 
 and godliness. In every home was to 
 be found a picture of John Wesley, the 
 man whom they all loved. One day a 
 stranger visiting one of those humble 
 homes seeing John Wesley’s picture on 
 the wall said, “Whose picture is that?” 
 The old miner reverently lifted his hat 
 and said, “There was a man sent from 
 God, whose name was John.”—Christ- 
 ian Advocate. 
 
518 
 
 ~—— 1059 — 
 THE LITTLE LOAF 
 
 In time of the famine a rich man per- 
 mitted the poorest children of the city 
 to come to his house, and said to them: 
 “There stands a basketful of bread. 
 Each of you may take a loaf from it, 
 and you may come every day until God 
 sends better times.” 
 
 The children at once surrounded the 
 basket, striving and quarreling over the 
 bread, because each desired to obtain the 
 finest; and they finally went off without 
 a word of thanks. 
 
 Only Franziska, a clean but poorly 
 clad little girl, remained standing at a 
 distance, then took the smallest of the 
 loaves left in the basket, kissed her hand 
 gratefully to the man and went quietly 
 and becomingly home. 
 
 On the next day the children were 
 equally illmannered and Franziska this 
 time had a loaf which was scarcely half 
 as large as the others; but when she 
 reached home and her mother broke the 
 bread there fell out quite a number of 
 new silver pieces. The mother was 
 frightened, and said: “Take the money 
 back at once, for it certainly got into the 
 bread by accident.” 
 
 Franzsika did as she was bid, but the 
 
 benevolent man said to her: “‘No, no; it. 
 
 was not an accident. I had the silver 
 baked in the smallest loaf in order to re- 
 ward thee, thou good child. Ever re- 
 main as peace-loving and satisfied.” 
 
 He who would rather have a smaller 
 loaf than quarrel about a greater will al- 
 ways bring a blessing to the home, even 
 though no gold is baked in the bread.— 
 Reformed Messenger. 
 
 — 1060 — 
 WHAT SHE DID 
 
 “TY speak of this noble man, Dr. Bar- 
 nardo, to mention a poor woman who 
 was one of his noble helpers. Her 
 name was Margaret Fisher. She was 
 very poor, her distinction socially was 
 that of a washerwoman. Her income 
 at most was $1.50 per week, and ‘yet, 
 with her own hands and those of poor 
 helpers she gathered around her, she 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 sent three hundred new garments every 
 year for the children, and never less 
 than $50 annually, which she collected 
 in coppers from working. men.’ Not 
 long since she, too, was called to her 
 reward. Her last words were: ‘I shall 
 see the dear children in Heaven, shan’t 
 I?’ Yes, not only the dear children, but 
 the Savior of the children, who in her 
 took many up and put his hands upon 
 them in blessing. 
 
 After her death the poor people of 
 Burton on Trent, where she resided, 
 erected a monument over her grave, on 
 which, after speaking of her labor of 
 love, were inscribed these words: 
 Reader, go thou and do likewise. A 
 humble, beautiful life, a life of daily 
 cross-bearing that puts all our dainty, 
 weak attemipts at self-sacrifice to the 
 blush. A high throne, a starry crown, a 
 song the angels will never cease listen- 
 ing to,is hers in Heaven. We may share 
 the blessing of this humble but noble 
 life.”——-St. Mark’s Messenger. 
 
 — 1061— 
 PRAYER SAVED PROHIBITION 
 
 Some time perhaps the story told here 
 in a single paragraph may be told more 
 in detail. The incident occurred in 1896 
 and 1897 in Kansas. Temperance sen- 
 timent throughout America was at a 
 low ebb. Prohibition had been on trial 
 sixteen years in Kansas, but there was a 
 strong sentiment against it, and the re- 
 mark was repeatedly made that as 
 Kansas went so ultimately would go the 
 nation. A state resubmission movement 
 claiming an enrolled membership of 
 50,000 voters had been formed to wipe 
 out the law. Every temperance activity 
 seemed utterly paralyzed. But a tiny 
 prayer band of about a hundred widely 
 scattered but “utterly believing” mem- 
 bers was formed. It was 100 and God 
 against 50,000 and the devil; and within 
 one short year the “50,000 and the devil” 
 were utterly vanquished, and no one 
 ever knew what became of that resub- 
 mission organization. And as Kansas 
 went, so indeed has gone the nation—in 
 answer to prayer.—The S. S. Times. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1062 — 
 “JUST AS I AM” 
 
 Almost a century ago, in the year 
 1836, a young girl, Miss Charlotte El- 
 liott, was preparing for a great ball, to 
 be given in her native town. Full of 
 gay anticipation, she started out one 
 day to her dressmaker to have a fine 
 dress fitted for the occasion. On her 
 way, She met her pastor, an earnest, 
 faithful man, and in the greetings which 
 passed between them he learned her 
 errand. He reasoned and expostulated, 
 and finally pleaded with her to stay 
 away from the ball. Greatly vexed, she 
 answered, “I wish you would mind your 
 own business!” and went her way. 
 
 In due time the ball came off: and 
 this young girl was the gayest of the 
 gay. She was flattered and caressed; 
 but after dancing all night, laying her 
 weary head on her pillow only with the 
 returning day, she was far from happy. 
 In all this pleasure there had been a 
 thorn, and now conscience made her 
 wretched, Her pastor had always been 
 a loving, cherished friend, and her rude- 
 ness to him rankled his breast. More 
 than all, the truth of his words came to 
 her heart and would give no rest. After 
 three days of misery, during which life 
 became almost insupportable, she went 
 to the minister with her trouble, saying, 
 “For three days I have been the most 
 wretched girl in the world, and now I 
 want to be a Christian! What must I 
 do?” 
 
 We need not be told that the minister 
 ' freely forgave her for her rudeness to 
 himself, nor that he joyfully directed her 
 to the true source of peace. “Just give 
 yourself, my child, to the Lamb of God, 
 just as you are.” 
 
 This was a new Gospel to her; she 
 had never comprehended it before. 
 
 “What! Just as I am?” she asked. 
 “Do you know that I am one of the 
 worst sinners in the world? How can 
 God accept me just as I am?” 
 
 “That is exactly what you must be- 
 lieve,” was the answer. “You must come 
 to Him just as you are.” The young 
 
 £19 
 
 girl felt overpowered as the simple truth 
 took possession of her mind, She went 
 to her room, knelt down, and offered 
 God her heart, guilty and vile as it was, 
 to be cleansed and made fit for His 
 dwelling. As she knelt, peace —full, 
 overflowing—filled her soul. Inspired 
 by the new and rapturous experience, 
 she then and there wrote the hymn be- 
 ginning : 
 
 “Just as I am, without one plea, 
 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
 And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, 
 O Lamb of God, I come.” 
 
 Little did Charlotte Elliott think of 
 the fame or the immortality of the words 
 she had written; it was simply putting 
 her heart on paper; and therefore the 
 hymn, born of her experience, appeals to 
 other hearts needing the cleansing power 
 of the blood of the Lamb.—Selected. 
 
 — 1063 — 
 
 “SAVED!” 
 
 Not many years ago a vessel of the 
 White Star Line went to pieces on a 
 rock off the coast of Newfoundland and 
 five hundred persons went down to a 
 watery grave. There was a young man 
 of great promise, having a large busi- 
 ness in Detroit, who was on board that 
 vessel, Soon after it went down there 
 came a dispatch to his wife and partner 
 to say that he was lost. The business 
 Was suspended, and that young wife 
 was thrown into deep mourning, Her 
 heart was just broken, and the mother’s 
 heart was bleeding that her boy had 
 gone down, as they supposed. But in 
 afew hours there came another message 
 over the wires, “Saved,” with his name 
 signed to it. They felt so grateful that 
 they had the dispatch framed and put 
 in his office, and there it is. If you go 
 in that man’s office now to do business 
 with him you may see that dispatch, 
 “Saved.” Now let the news flash over 
 the wires to heaven today that you want 
 to be saved. God is willing and able 
 to have you send the dispatch to loved 
 ones, “Saved.”—J. C. Wilson. 
 
920 
 
 -—— 1064 — 
 A CHEMIST’S DELIVERANCE 
 
 A band of Christian workers one even- 
 ing were holding an open-air meeting 
 in one of the street of Bristol, when 
 they were rudely interrupted by a by- 
 stander, who, in a loud voice, contra- 
 dicted the truths they were uttering. 
 He denied the existence of God, the 
 divine authority of the Bible, and pro- 
 claimed the utter impotence of prayer. 
 Having thus delivered himself, he went 
 away in a rage. 
 
 He was by profession a chemist, and 
 on his reaching home angrily ordered 
 the shop-boy to put up the shutters and 
 be off. The boy did as he was told, 
 and the master retired to his room. 
 After some time a ring was heard at the 
 door; the chemist himself opened it in 
 a very ill humor, while there stood be- 
 fore him a little girl, whom he gruffly 
 ordered to go away, and not to trouble 
 him, when his shop was shut. The child 
 expressed her sorrow for the interrup- 
 tion, but pleaded pathetically for some 
 medicine for her mother, who was very 
 ill.. Unable to resist her importunity, he 
 gave her the medicine, but warned her 
 never to come on such an errand again. 
 
 Returning to his room, still much 
 agitated, he took up the newspaper and 
 resumed his reading. Suddenly he be- 
 thought himself that he had made two 
 grievous blunders. He had put into 
 the medicine a most powerful poison, 
 and had neglected to copy the prescrip- 
 tion into his dispensing book. He was 
 greatly distressed as he ‘reflected that 
 through the effect of his passion he 
 would probably, in a very brief period, 
 cause the death of a human being. 
 There was no remedy. The child was 
 an utter stranger; he did not know 
 even in what direction she had gone. 
 His neglect in copying the inscription 
 would subject him to punishment, even 
 if he should escape the charge of homi- 
 cide. Thoughts of ruin, added to re- 
 morse for his carelessness, almost mad- 
 dened him. He was perfectly helpless, 
 and in his extremity cast himself at 
 
 spilt the medicine. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 once upon his knees, and sought in an- 
 guished tones the help of God, whose 
 existence he had denied only an hour 
 before. 
 
 Whilst praying another ring was 
 heard at the door. He thought “the 
 officers of justice are already after me!” 
 Not so! At the entrance stood the same 
 little girl, crying bitterly because she 
 had fallen down, broken the bottle, and 
 She besought the 
 chemist to forgive her, and to renew the 
 remedy for her mother’s sickness. There 
 was no need of this, however, for she 
 was warmly welcomed. After she had 
 been properly served, this man, no 
 longer a skeptic, fell upon his knees 
 again, and chose as his portion and guide 
 the God who had heard and answered 
 his prayer in the hour of need. 
 
 “Whosoever shall call upon the name 
 of the Lord shall be delivered.” (Joel 
 2 :32.)—Selected. 
 
 — 1065— 
 
 THE BLIND MAN WHO SAW 
 
 The Rev. John Mitchell relates the 
 following incident of a noted infidel who, 
 traveling in a car in which a minister 
 was seated, at once commenced an argu- 
 ment with the clergyman in a loud tone 
 that could be heard all over the car. 
 Among the passengers was a blind man, 
 who for a time listened attentively. 
 Seeing he was giving attention, the infi- 
 del turned suddenly to him in a pause 
 in the discussion and said: 
 
 “Do you, sir, believe in a God, who 
 has made this beautiful earth, and the 
 sun to shine upon it, and who has 
 adorned the heavens with myriads of 
 stars, and yet without any offense on 
 your part, has deprived you forever of 
 the power of beholding them?” 
 
 “I am surprised, my dear sir,” replied 
 the man, “that you should ask me 
 such a question. I do believe in the 
 existence of God as firmly as I do in my 
 own, and I could doubt the one as easily 
 as the other. There is, however, cone 
 thing that strikes me as being very pe- 
 culiar in what you have said. When 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 yeu reason of God you do not seem to 
 be governed by the same principles as 
 when reasoning about men and the com- 
 mon affairs of every-day life.” The 
 infidel denied the inference, and the 
 blind man continued: “Suppose, on 
 reaching your home, and on entering 
 your room, you find a lighted lamp on 
 the table—what will be your conclu- 
 sion?” 
 
 “Why,” answered the infidel, with a 
 sneer, “I shall conclude that some one 
 placed it there.” 
 
 “Well, then, when you look into the 
 heavens and see those innumerable 
 lights of which you have spoken, why 
 do you not come to the same conclusion, 
 that some intelligent being placed them 
 there?” 
 
 The skeptic suddenly declined to talk 
 any more on the subject, but it was 
 evident to all the passengers that he 
 felt thoroughly humbled and uncom- 
 fortable.—Selected. 
 
 — 1066 — 
 
 UNTIL THE SECOND 
 RESURRECTION 
 
 A young German countess, who lived 
 about a hundred years ago, was a noted 
 unbeliever, and especially opposed to 
 the doctrine of the resurrection. She 
 died when about thirty years of age, 
 and before her death gave orders that 
 her grave should be covered with a solid 
 slab of granite; that around it should 
 be placed square blocks of stone, and 
 that the corners should be fastened to 
 each other and to the granite slab by 
 heavy iron clamps. Upon the covering 
 this inscription was placed: “This burial 
 place, purchased to all eternity, must 
 never be opened.” All that human power 
 could do to prevent any change in that 
 grave was done; but a little seed 
 sprouted, and the tiny shoot found its 
 way between the side stone and the 
 upper slab, and grew there, slowly but 
 steadily forcing its way until the iron 
 clamps were torn asunder, and the gran- 
 its lid was raised and is now resting 
 upon the trunk of the tree, which is 
 
 521 
 
 large and flourishing. The people of 
 Hanover regard it with almost a kind 
 of superstition, and speak in lowest 
 tones of the wicked countess. 
 
 But not only has God thus shown His 
 thought of such madness, He has de- 
 clared: 
 
 “The sea gave up the dead which 
 were in it; and death and hell delivered 
 up the dead which were in them: and 
 they were judged every man according 
 to their work.” (Rev. 20:13.)—Selected. 
 
 — 1067 — 
 
 WOOD IN A STORM 
 
 “One snowy Saturday night, when our 
 wood was very low, a poor child came to 
 beg a little, as the baby was sick, and 
 the father on a spree with all his wages. 
 My mother hesitated a little at first, as 
 we also had a baby. Very cold weather 
 was upon us, and a Sunday to be got 
 through before wood could be had. 
 
 “My father said, ‘Give half our stock, 
 and trust in Providence; the weather will 
 moderate, or wood will come.’ 
 
 “Mother laughed, and answered in her 
 cheery way. ‘Well, their need is greater 
 than ours, and if our half gives out, we 
 can go to bed and tell stories.’ 
 
 “So a generous half went to the poor 
 neighbor, and a little later in the even- 
 ing, while the storm, still raged, and we 
 were about to cover our fire to keep it, a 
 knock came, and the farmer who usually 
 supplied us appeared, saying, anxiously: 
 
 *‘T started for Boston with a load of 
 wood, it drifted so, I want to go home. 
 Wouldn’t you like to have me drop the 
 wood here? It would accommodate me, 
 and you needn’t hurry about paying for 
 it.” 
 
 “Ves,” said the father; and as the man 
 went off he turned to mother with a look 
 that much impressed us children with his 
 gifts as a seer, “‘Didn’t I tell you wood 
 would come if the weather did not mod- 
 erate?’ My mother’s motto was, ‘Hope 
 and keep busy,’ and one of her sayings 
 was, ‘Cast you bread upon the waters, 
 and after many days it will come back 
 buttered.’ ””—Louisa M. Alcott. 
 
522 
 
 — 1065 — 
 THE GREATEST SIN 
 
 One night I was preaching in Chicago 
 for another pastor. At the close of the 
 service, the minister came to me and 
 said, “I have a young man in my con- 
 gregation who wishes to be a minister. 
 I would like to have you talk with him.” 
 I replied, “Bring him to me after meet- 
 ing,” and he brought the young man to 
 me. He had one of the cleanest, finest, 
 most open faces I ever saw in my life. 
 I looked into the face of this young 
 man and said, “Your pastor says you 
 wish to enter the ministry.” “Yes, I 
 do.” “Well,” I said, “let me ask you a 
 question. Are you a Christian?” “Of 
 course I am a Christian,” he answered, 
 “I was brought up a Christian, and I am 
 not going back on the training of my 
 parents.” I said, “Have you been born 
 again?’ He said, “What?” I said, 
 “Have you ever been born again? God 
 says, ‘Except a man be born again, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Have 
 you ever been born again?” He said, 
 “{ don’t know what you are talking 
 about. I.have never heard of that be- 
 fore in all my life.” I said, “My friend, 
 see here; do you know that you have 
 committed the greatest sin that a man 
 can commit?” “No,” he said, “I never 
 did in my life. You don’t understand 
 me. I have been most carefully reared. 
 My life has been a most exemplary life. 
 I never committed the greatest sin that 
 a man can commit—never!”’ I asked, 
 “What do you think is the greatest sin 
 amancan commit?” “Why,” he replied, 
 “murder, of course.” “You are greatly 
 mistaken, Will you please read what 
 Jesus says about it?” and I opened my 
 Bible to Matt. 22: 37, 38, and asked him 
 to read. He read, “Jesus said unto him, 
 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart and with all thy soul, and 
 with all thy mind. This is the first and 
 greatest commandment.’” Which com- 
 mandment is that?” I asked. He replied, 
 “The first and great commandment.” 
 “If this is the first and great command- 
 
 ment what is the first and great sin?” - 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “Not to keep this commandment.” 
 “Have you kept it? Have you loved 
 God with all your heart, and all your 
 soul, and all your mind? Have you put 
 God first in everything—God first in 
 business, God first in politics, God first 
 in pleasure, God first in study, God first 
 in everything?” “No, sir,” he said, “I 
 have not.” “What have you done 
 then?” “I have broken this command- 
 ment.” “Which commandment is it?” 
 “The first and the greatest command- 
 ment.” “What have you done then? 
 He replied, “I have broken the first and 
 greatest of God’s commandments. I 
 have committed the greatest sin a man 
 can commit, but I never saw it before 
 in all my life.” And so have you, though, 
 perhaps, you never saw it before in all 
 your life—R. A. Torrey. 
 
 — 1069 — 
 THE LAWYER’S SUCCESSOR 
 
 Martin W. Littleton, of New York, 
 is reported to have said: “Society is 
 ruinous to young men. The young man 
 needs all his energy, all his vital force, 
 for his career. A few days ago I was in 
 the office of a lawyer—a fine lawyer— 
 one of the most distinguished men in 
 New York, and he and I were discussing 
 this very subject. He has two sons, who 
 are very popular in society. They are 
 clever young fellows, were great favor- 
 ites at college—football and all the rest 
 of it, you know—and now are simply 
 overwhelmed with social attentions. In 
 their father’s office'is a young man who 
 is studying law. He is about the same 
 age as the lawyer’s sons. Being very 
 poor, he compensates for his opportunity 
 to study by dusting the office furniture, 
 etc. I noticed what an industrious, 
 capable fellow he was, and he more than 
 agreed with me in admiring the young 
 man’s spirit. ‘What worries me,’ he 
 said, ‘is the thought that when I am_ 
 gone he will probably be at the head of 
 this business, and my sons will be in 
 his employ—if he cares to employ them,’ 
 and he really spoke as if there might be 
 a serious question whether his sons 
 would be worth employing.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1070 — 
 BILHORN’S CONVERSION 
 
 Some thirty or forty years ago a lady 
 stopped to speak to four neighbor boys, 
 who, barefoot and poorly clad, were 
 playing marbles in the streets of Men- 
 dota, Ill. “Are you in Sunday school?” 
 she asked. 
 
 “We have no fit clothes,” they replied. 
 
 “Would you come if you had?” she 
 asked. 
 
 (They assured her they would.) 
 
 “What are your names?” she asked. 
 
 “Peter Bilhorn,” replied the first boy, 
 and the others in turn gave their names. 
 Peter was the son of a widow. Clothes 
 were provided, and he and the others 
 kept their promise. 
 
 It was a warm Sunday, and the lady 
 who had invited them, and who was to 
 be their teacher, sat, all in white, telling 
 her class of boys the story of the lesson. 
 Almost or quite the only thing they re- 
 membered of it, as appeared afterward, 
 was the way the teacher looked, and one 
 thing she said and did. On the back of 
 a card she drew a cross with the name 
 “Jesus” above it, andisaid: “Boys, Jesus 
 suffered to help us in our troubles. If 
 you ever have any trouble, look to Him 
 for help.” 
 
 One day a terrific storm swept over 
 
 the prairie town. The streets were all 
 flooded, and the little stream that flowed 
 through the town, usually nothing but 
 a mere trickling of water, was a raging 
 torrent. Boxes, barrels, and the boards 
 from a lumber-yard near by, were swept 
 away. The boys were there to see what 
 work the storm had done, and Peter fell 
 in. ; 
 He grasped at weeds on the bank, but 
 they pulled out. He tried to get hold of 
 a board, but it slipped away from him. 
 He was carried under two bridges, on 
 each of which futile efforts were made 
 to rescue him. Toward a third bridge, 
 and the last, he swept, and the roar of 
 the water was in his ears. 
 
 “Th that moment,” he says, “the vision 
 of that teacher, all in white, and her 
 words about looking to Jesus in time of 
 
 523 
 
 trouble, came to me. I put my hands 
 together and prayed.” 
 
 It was that gesture of the sinking boy 
 that saved him, for two men on the 
 bridge seized the uplifted hands and 
 drew him out. For a time he was un- 
 conscious, and when he came to, after 
 much rolling and rubbing, they asked 
 him how he chanced to have his hands 
 up as they were, and pressed together. 
 
 “I was ashamed to say that I was 
 praying,” he says, “and I asked, boast- 
 fully, ‘Didn’t you know I could swim?’ 
 But I kept thinking I had told a coward- 
 ly lie. I had learned in Sunday school 
 about the other Peter, the one in the 
 New Testament, and it seemed to me I 
 had denied the Lord just as he did.” 
 
 Bilhorn became the singing evangelist 
 and song-writer, and this incident is said 
 to have been the occasion of his writing 
 the song: 
 
 “He will hear you when you call, 
 
 He will help you when you fall, 
 O, the best Friend to have is Jesus!” 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 1071— 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF EVIL 
 
 A canal near Oklahoma City was de- 
 stroyed some time ago in a very strange 
 manner. Many thousands of dollars 
 Were spent in constructing it. It fur- 
 nished water power to operate the elec- 
 tric light plant and a large flouring mill 
 and its completion was an occasion of 
 great importance to the city. But an un- 
 suspecting enemy, small in size though 
 prodigious in industry, soon whelmed 
 the enerprise in disaster. 
 
 The banks of the canal were of por- 
 ous, sandy soil. “Gophers attacked the 
 dyke. A hole no larger than a man’s 
 wrist, burrowed by these animals, wid- 
 ened into a crevice in half an hour, and 
 the water easily swept away the sandy 
 dyke. It was so expensive fighting these 
 little animals that the promoters of the 
 enterprise gave it up in despair and the 
 canal is a thing of the past. Thus it is 
 with the little faults that burrow in the 
 dark and sap the currents of life. 
 
 —Selected. 
 
524 - 
 
 ——- 1072 — 
 FAMILY WORSHIP 
 
 It is with the church in the house as 
 with the church in the village. The 
 wayfarer may get a word in passing 
 which he never can forget. The stranger 
 that turns aside to tarry for a night may 
 hear at your family worship the word 
 that will save him. 
 
 Some years ago, an Irish wanderer, 
 his wife and his sister, asked a night’s 
 shelter in the cabin of a pious school- 
 master. It was his hour for evening 
 worship, and when the strangers were 
 seated, the schoolmaster began by read- 
 ing slowly and solemnly the second 
 chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 The young man sat astonished. The 
 expressions, “Dead in trespasses and 
 sins,’ “Children of wrath,” “Walking 
 after the course of this world,’ were 
 new to him. He sought an explanation. 
 He was told that this is God’s account 
 of the state of man by nature. He felt 
 that it was exactly his own state. “In 
 this way I have walked from my child- 
 hood. In the service of the God of this 
 world we have come to your house.” 
 
 He was on his way to a fair, where 
 he intended to pass a quantity of coun- 
 terfeit money, He then produced his 
 store of coin, and begged his host to 
 cast it into the fire; and asked anxiously 
 if he could not obtain the Word of God 
 for himself. His request was complied 
 with, the next morning with the new 
 treasure, the party, who had now no 
 errand to the fair, returned to their own 
 home. 
 
 Some years ago an English gentleman 
 visited America and spent some days 
 with a pious friend. He was a man of 
 talent and accomplishments, but an in- 
 fidel. Four years afterward he returned 
 to the same house—a Christian. They 
 wondered at the change, but little sus- 
 pected when and where it originated. 
 He told them that when he was present 
 at their family worship, on the first eve- 
 ning of his former visit, and when after 
 the chapter was read they all knelt down 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 to pray, the recollection of such scenes 
 rushed on his memory, so that he did 
 not hear a single word. But the occur- 
 rence made him think, and his thought- 
 fulness ended in his leaving the barren 
 wilderness of infidelity, and finding rest 
 in Christ. 
 
 Shall family prayer be neglected? 
 Shall Christian parents permit the pres- 
 sure of business, social engagements, 
 and the love of pleasure to overthrow 
 family worship and banish the family 
 altar? Shall the children of the Church 
 be robbed of the benefits of this holy 
 institution through the indifference and 
 neglect of their own parents ?—Christian 
 Advocate. 
 
 — 1073 — 
 FOLLOWING THE LIGHT 
 
 The poet, J. G. Whittier, related the 
 following, as an illustration of the im- 
 portance of following divine direction: 
 
 “T have an old friend who followed the 
 leadings of the Spirit, and always made 
 it a point to go to meeting on First-day. 
 On one First-day morning, he made 
 ready for meeting, and suddenly turning 
 to his wife said, ‘I am not going to 
 meeting this morning; I am going to 
 take a walk.’ His wife inquired where 
 he was going, and he replied, ‘I don’t 
 know; I am impelled to go, I know not 
 where.’ 
 
 “With his walking-stick he started 
 and went out of the city a mile or two, 
 and came to a country house that stood 
 some distance from the road. The gate 
 stood open, and a narrow lane, into 
 which he turned, led up to the house 
 where something unusual seemed to be 
 going on. There were several vehicles 
 standing around the yard, and groups of 
 people were gathered here and there. 
 
 “When he reached the house he found 
 there was a funeral, and he entered with 
 the neighbors to attend the service. He 
 listened to the funeral address and to the 
 prayer. It was the body of a young 
 woman which lay in the casket before 
 him, and he arose and said. 
 
 “I have been led by the Spirit to this 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 house; I know nothing of the circum- 
 stances connected with the death of this 
 person; but I am impelled by the Spirit 
 to say that she has been accused of some- 
 thing of which she is not guilty, and the 
 false accusation has hastened her death.’ 
 
 “The friend sat down, and a murmur 
 of surprise went through the room. The 
 minister arose and said, 
 
 ““Are you a God, or what are you?’ 
 
 The friend replied, ‘I am only a poor, 
 sinful man, but I was led by the inner 
 light to come to this house, and to say 
 what I have said; and I would ask the 
 person in this room, who knows that the 
 young woman, now beyond the power of 
 speech, was not guilty of what she was 
 accused, to vindicate her in this pres- 
 ence.’ 
 
 “After a fearful pause, a woman stood 
 up and said, ‘I am the person,’ and while 
 weeping hysterically, she confessed that 
 she had! willfully slandered the dead 
 girl. The friend departed on his home- 
 ward way. ‘Such,’ said Mr. Whittier, 
 ‘was the leading of the inner light’.” 
 
 “Recollections of J. G. Whittier.” 
 
 — 1074— 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS BUNDLE 
 
 Ua Bih Di was over fifty years old 
 when she heard the gospel for the first 
 time. She was friendless and starving, 
 too weak to cut wood on the mountain 
 and carry it to the city, which had been 
 her former way of earning a living. 
 Some Christians seeing her condition 
 gave her food and told her in word and 
 action of the Christ. She was sent to 
 the hospital. The physician pronounced 
 her trouble “starvation.” When she was 
 able we let her come to the Woman’s 
 School and work for her board. She was 
 such a faithful helper that she was pro- 
 moted to the position of cook, which she 
 held for about ten years. One day last 
 spring she asked to have a private con- 
 versation with me and came holding 
 something under her coat. 
 
 “My mother never heard the Gospel,” 
 she said, “and knew nothing of the peace 
 of Christ in her heart. She was always 
 near starvation and never owned a pair 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 525 
 
 of stockings in her life. Since I came 
 here I have had warm clothing, shoes 
 and stockings and plenty of food. 
 Heaven itself cannot be much pleasanter 
 than my life is now. I have saved up 
 more money than I have ever seen be- 
 fore, and I want to give it as a thank 
 offering to God for all His blessings to 
 me. You take it and use it where it is 
 needed most. 
 
 She then brought out the mysterious 
 bundle. She insisted on giving it all 
 with the exception of $2.50 which she 
 still owed on the new church building. 
 Later she brought $25.00 more, making 
 $120.00 in all, and she had had the muni- 
 ficent salary of $2.00 per month and 
 board! When asked if she did not want 
 to lay up something for old age she 
 replied, “God has done so much better 
 for me than I could ever have done for 
 myself that I am willing to trust Him 
 for the future. I hope that when the 
 time comes when I cannot work He will 
 call me to Himself.”—Herald of Light. 
 
 KEPT STANDING 
 
 A well-known officer who had just left 
 the guards, expressed to Lord Radstock 
 his conviction that, being worldly by na- 
 ture, it would be quite impossible for 
 him to confess Christ, as he would dis- 
 grace Him by falling away. Lord Rad- 
 stock replied by taking out his pencil 
 case, and holding it upright on the table, 
 he asked Captain A, why did it not fall. 
 “Because you hold it,” was the answer. 
 “Then no inherent power in the pencil, 
 but a power outside, is that which keeps 
 it. God, seeing the utter ruin of man, 
 did not tell him, to stand upright, but 
 brought in an external power Himself. 
 And the question of falling depends not 
 on the power of man, but on the Al- 
 mighty, who ‘is able to keep you from 
 falling, and to present you faultless be- 
 fore the presence of his glory.’” The 
 message went home. The following 
 year, as the train drew up to the plat- 
 form at Stockholm, Lord Radstock was 
 greeted by the officer with the words, 
 “God has never let the pencil go for one 
 minute.”—-Lord Radstock’s Life. 
 
526 
 
 — 1076 — 
 
 DOG SENT AS PROTECTOR 
 
 I shall never forget an answer to 
 prayer which the Lord gave to my sister 
 and me, seventeen years ago, while out 
 in itinerating work in the lonely moun- 
 tain village in Yamagata Kon, Japan. 
 It was a heart prayer for protection and 
 guidance when no human help was near, 
 says Agnes Glenn, in a little tract pub- 
 lished by the Free Tract Society of Los 
 Angeles. 
 
 We had a very scanty knowledge of 
 the Japanese language at that time, but 
 having had an unspeakable longing to 
 reach the neglected villages with the 
 Gospel, we took all the tracts and New 
 Testaments that we could well carry 
 and set off on our day’s work, to places 
 where the feet of white people had never 
 trodden before. 
 
 The tract distribution became so fas- 
 cinating that we became unconscious of 
 either direction or distance traveled as 
 we went along the zigzag road from one 
 village to another, until at last at about 
 4 P.M. our literature became exhausted. 
 With light hearts, but tired and hungry 
 in body, we began to wend our way 
 homeward. After having gone some 
 distance we had misgivings about the 
 right road to take for Yachiso, we made 
 inquiry from, different ones whom we 
 met, but one told us to take one road 
 and another told us to take another go- 
 ing in the opposite direction. 
 
 The night was fast coming on, so we 
 became somewhat confused and began 
 to be alarmed, as it was\neither wise nor 
 safe for us to be out on this road at 
 night. We thought to get a Jinrikisha 
 (a two-wheel top cart drawn by a man) 
 to take us home, and in failing that, to 
 get a basha (a one-horse shay), but on 
 account of a heathen festival that day 
 the supply was exhausted, so we had to 
 pray and to commit ourselves to the 
 care of the Lord. Strange that we had 
 not asked the Lord about it first! How- 
 ever as we committed ourselves into 
 God’s hands we felt certain that he 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 would see us through. Was not Elisha’s 
 God our God? 
 
 As the shades of night were drawing 
 round us, we were about to enter a thick 
 wood through which our road ran when 
 we beheld the forms of two Japanese 
 men in front of us. As we had seen them 
 before that day, and had felt suspicious 
 of them, we felt that they meant mis- 
 chief. They were tramps. As their 
 threatening forms were right on us, we 
 lifted up our eyes to the hills, and cried, 
 “Stand by us now, Jesus, oh, stand by 
 us now.” 
 
 Then quicker than thought out—out 
 of somewhere—came, not an angel, but 
 a great, black Newfoundland dog (all 
 the Japanese dogs that I have ever seen 
 in Japan are little creatures), and as if 
 to protect us both, he stepped right be- 
 tween my sister and me; then he barked 
 fiercely at the men, and as if to tear them 
 to pieces he chased them away. 
 
 How friendly, how comforting, and 
 how nobly he stayed by us, not only to 
 protect, but also to guide—for he took 
 us directly to our own door those re- 
 maining three miles. He knew the way 
 —we did not. When we reached our 
 home (a little shack with thatched roof, 
 paper door and paper windows), and 
 opened the sliding door, the dog stepped 
 inside with us and after eating his sup- 
 per he lay down on the earthen floor by 
 the door and kept vigil all night. 
 
 In the morning, after thanking God 
 afresh for His manifold providences, we 
 fed the dog his breakfast, then opening 
 the door our protector and guide went 
 out and disappeared as mysteriously as 
 he had appeared. You ask, where did 
 he come from? We do not know; we 
 know only that God sent him. 
 
 =— 1077 — 
 
 “Be thou aware of three things: Pride 
 -—fullness of bread—plenty of idleness. 
 Yea! three others. The lust of the flesh 
 —the lust of the eye—the pride of life. 
 Above all: “The will of man—The will 
 of the Devil—and thine own mighty 
 self-will.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 coe 107 8 es 
 THE KING HONORED THE LAW 
 
 The story is told of an Oriental King 
 who in his campaigns was troubled with 
 -desertions in his army. To put an end 
 to this he made a proclamation to the 
 effect that every deserter thereafter 
 would be punished by having his eyes 
 put out. It came to pass that some time 
 later the King’s own son in time of 
 battle, to save himself, deserted his post. 
 
 He saved his life, but he must now 
 lose his eyes, or the King must show 
 himself partial and consent to violate 
 his own law to spare his son. Should 
 he do this, discipline in the army would 
 be atanend. What could he do to maii- 
 tain his authority, honor the law and 
 yet favor his son? 
 
 He hit upon this expedient. He pro- 
 posed to give up one of his own eyes, so 
 as to spare one of his son’s. This was 
 done. He became partially blind to save 
 his son from becoming totally blind. 
 Who cannot see that by this expedient 
 desertions were just as certainly pre- 
 vented as though the law had been lit- 
 erally executed? : 
 
 Now, we may think of God as the 
 responsible sovereign of the great uni- 
 verse, consisting of many provinces, 
 peopled with intelligent creatures. In 
 accordance with the principles of eter- 
 nal justice, God proclaimed that any or 
 all of his subjects who violated his per- 
 fect law should forfeit his favor, and be 
 banished from his presence. 
 
 When by disobedience Adam’s race 
 incurred this penalty, how could the lov- 
 ing yet just God restore rebellious man 
 to his favor again without encouraging 
 anarchy everywhere? Then the wisdom 
 and love of God devised the atonement. 
 The only begotten son of God offered to 
 come to earth, be clothed with humanity 
 and here to live a life of toil and suffer- 
 ing, and at last to experience the ago- 
 nies of the cross, to render it safe and 
 possible for God, in view of his broken 
 law, to offer pardon to repentant man. 
 By this expedient God’s law was magni- 
 fied, and made honorable (Isa. 42:21) 
 and God himself could be just, and the 
 
 527 
 
 justifier of him which believeth in Je- 
 sus.” (Rom. 3:26.)—-Rev Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 ~~ 1079 — 
 THE STORY OF A SONG 
 
 When President McKinley was in- 
 formed that his mother was dying he 
 hired a special car and telegraphed 
 ahead, “Tell mother I’ll be there.” This 
 message forms the title to one of the 
 most effective solos sung by evangelis- 
 tic singers, a song that is said to be con- 
 verting thousands. Mr. Charles M. Al- . 
 exander tells of his own experience in 
 these words: 
 
 “I shall begin by telling you how I 
 first came to use it: A friend of mine cut 
 it out of a little magazine and sent it to 
 me to put in my scrap-book, saying he 
 believed it would be a song to touch the 
 hearts of men. I put it in my scrap-book 
 but did not use it for a year, and often 
 looked at it, wondering if the space in 
 my scrap-book was not wasted where it 
 was pasted. But one night in Newton, 
 Kan., I was called upon quickly to sing 
 asolo. I had sung most of my effective 
 solos and thought I might as well try 
 “Tell Mother Pll Be There’ to see what 
 effect it would have. It was a railroad 
 town, and a large number of men came 
 to Christ that night. After the meeting 
 was over one of the most influential, and 
 biggest engineers who ran into Newton, 
 came and took me by the hand and said, 
 ‘I am glad you sang, “Tell Mother I'll 
 Be There.” No preaching nor praying 
 nor anything else touched my heart, but 
 when you sang that song I thought of 
 the promise I had made my dear old 
 mother who is in Heaven, and it brought 
 me.’ He said, ‘Keep on singing it and I 
 will bring the boys out, and we will 
 bring them to Christ.’ He said, ‘Sing it 
 every night,’ and we did sing it every 
 night. We sang song after song and 
 would run on into the chorus of ‘Tell 
 Mother [ll Be There’ during the after 
 meeting, and it proved one of the most 
 effective songs in our great meeting 
 there, and later hundreds were brought 
 to Christ in Australia by singing that 
 song.” 
 
528 
 
 — 1080 — 
 HOW VAST IS THE UNIVERSE! 
 
 A dispatch from Cambridge, Mass., 
 June 20, 1920, to the New York Tribune 
 says: “An announcement was made 
 today that Harvard astronomers are 
 watching with keen interest an event 
 that occurred more thaan 200,000 years 
 ago. It is a celestial conflagration that 
 took place so far away from earth that 
 the light rays are just reaching here. 
 
 The attention of the Harvard scien- 
 tists was attracted to the matter by a 
 message from the Lick Observatory in 
 California, which read: 
 
 “Nova Aquila now has a diameter of 
 3.8 minutes of the arc.” 
 
 Two years ago “nova,” or new star, 
 appeared in the sky in the constellation 
 known as Aquila. According to the 
 astronomers, this nova was probably 
 caused by the collision of a small star 
 flying through space with what is 
 known as a dark nebula—a star cluster 
 or group of stars which in itself gave 
 no light. When the star hit this dark 
 nebula the friction of its passage caused 
 a great flare-up or explosion, which lit 
 up the rest of the dark nebula. 
 
 This illumination traveled through the 
 nebula at the speed of light — 186,000 
 miles a second, or more than 11,000,000 
 miles a minute. The astronomers, know- 
 ing the speed of light, were able to esti- 
 mate, by recording how long it took the 
 bright spot to grow to a given size as 
 seen from the earth, how far away the 
 light spot was. 
 
 The spot after it had been growing for 
 two years at the speed at which light 
 travels, was still so small that it re- 
 quired a large telescope and sensitive 
 astronomical instruments to measure its 
 size. The Harvard astronomers com- 
 pute that their measurement of the ap- 
 parent size of this spot means that the 
 flare is 217,120 “light years” away; or 
 in other words that 217,120 years have 
 been required for the light rays to 
 bridge the distance. 
 
 A “light year,” or distance traveled by 
 a ray of light in twelve months, is ap- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 approximately 5,781,600,000,000 miles. 
 This number multiplied by 217,120 
 would give roughly the distance from 
 the earth to Nova Aquilas. 
 
 Astronomers declare few visible stars 
 are known to be further from the earth 
 than this. It is one of the longest dis- 
 tances ever measured.” 
 
 These figures are astounding. The 
 mind of man is unable to grasp them. 
 No wonder the inspired prophet declares 
 that all nations before God are as noth- 
 ing, and are counted as the small dust 
 of the balance. It is not surprising that 
 the Psalmist exclaims: When I consider 
 Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, 
 the moon and the stars, which Thou hast 
 made; what is man, that Thou art mind- 
 ful of him? Or the son of man that 
 Thou visitest him? Psalm 8: 3, 4.— 
 Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1081 — 
 THE LAST DANCE 
 
 During the occupancy of the city of 
 Moscow by the French army, a party of 
 officers and soldiers determined to have 
 a military levee, and for this purpose 
 chose the deserted palace of a nobleman. 
 That night the city was set on fire. 
 
 As the sun went down, they began to 
 assemble. The women who followed 
 the fortunes of the French army were 
 decorated for the occasion. The gayest 
 and noblest of the army were there, and 
 merriment reigned over the crowd. 
 
 During the dance, fire rapidly ap- 
 proached them, They saw it coming, 
 but felt no fear. ‘At length the building 
 next to the one they occupied was on 
 fire. Coming to the windows, they 
 gazed upon the billows of fire, which 
 swept the city, and then returned to 
 their amusements. Again and again 
 they left their pleasures to watch the 
 progress of the flames. At length the 
 dance ceased, and the necessity of leav- 
 ing the scene of merriment was apparent 
 to all. They were enveloped in a flood 
 of fire. They gazed on with deep and 
 awful solemnity. At last the fire com- 
 municated to their own building, caused 
 them to prepare for flight, when a brave 
 young officer named Carot waved his 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 jewelled hand above his head and ex- 
 claimed, “One dance more and defiance 
 to the flames!” All caught the enthusi- 
 asm of the moment and “One dance 
 more and defiance to the flames!’ burst 
 from the lips of all. The dance com- 
 menced, Louder and louder grew the 
 sound of music, and faster and faster fell 
 the pattering of footsteps of dancing 
 men and women, when suddenly they 
 heard a cry, “The fire has reached the 
 magazine! Fly! Fly for your lives.” 
 One moment they stood transfixed with 
 terror. They did not know the maga- 
 zine was there; and ere they recovered 
 from their stupor, the vault had ex- 
 ploded, the building was shattered to 
 pieces, and the dancers were hurried 
 into a fearful eternity. 
 
 Thus will it be in the final day. Men 
 will be careless as these ill-fated revel- 
 ers. Yea, there are thousands and tens 
 of thousands as careless now. We speak 
 to them of death, the grave, judgment, 
 and eternity. They pause a moment in 
 their search for pleasure, but soon dash 
 into the world as forgetful as_ before. 
 “Time enough!” “By and by.” “Not 
 tonight,” they speed on, stifling the 
 voice, till often, ere days or months have 
 passed, the bolt has sped, the sword has 
 descended, the Judge has come, and the 
 soul is lost forever; lost, lost, LOST !— 
 Selected. 
 
 —~ 1082 — 
 
 DO MISSIONS PAY? 
 
 An old gentleman, living in a quiet 
 Kastern village, had a visit—the first in 
 many years—from his son, a prosperous 
 storekeeper in western Canada. On 
 Sunday father and son went to church, 
 where they listened to a sermon on 
 Christian missions. Throughout the 
 service the old gentleman was restless. 
 
 “I’m sorry,” he said, as they left the 
 church, “that I brought you here today.” 
 
 “Why, father?” asked the younger 
 man, 
 
 “I’m sorry,” he replied, with a shrug 
 of his shoulders, “that you had to listen 
 to that sermon. I don’t believe in mis- 
 sions. They’re a stupid waste of men 
 
 ANECDOTES. 529 
 and money.” 
 
 The younger man made no reply at 
 the time, but when he reached home he 
 asked his father and mother to let him 
 tell them a little story. 
 
 “A few years ago,” he began, “ a 
 young man left his father’s farm to seek 
 his fortunes in the Canadian West. He 
 got into bad company, and was left one 
 day by the roadside drunk and uncon- 
 scious. 
 
 “At that place, living in a little sod- 
 covered shack, there was a young man 
 who had been sent out by a missionary 
 society. He was brave. He loved men 
 and sought them in the spirit of his di- 
 vine Master. He found the drunken 
 fellow, who had been left by his com- 
 panions to die from alcohol or exposure, 
 and carried him to his shack, placed him 
 in his own bed, and worked over him 
 until he brought him back to conscious- 
 ness. Then after he had fed him, he 
 remonstrated with him for wasting his 
 life, and prayed earnestly with him. 
 
 “Father and mother, I am that man, 
 and I tremble to think what I should 
 have been but for that faithful mission- 
 ary.”’—Unknown. 
 
 — 1083 — 
 
 WHY ONE PASTOR FAILED 
 
 Two pastors’ wives, says the Western 
 Christian Union, were visiting together. 
 One said: “I don’t know what we will 
 do—my husband is so discouraged. 
 Somehow his people do not care to hear 
 him preach, and our salary is far behind. 
 My husband feels so blue that he does 
 not like to visit the people and pray with 
 them, and so he sits around at home 
 nearly all the time.” The other sister 
 said: “We are getting along finely. My 
 husband spends much of his time visit- 
 ing, and the people like to have him 
 kneel and pray with them in their 
 homes. Our congregations are always 
 good, and our salary is paid up prompt- 
 ly.” While the two sisters were talking, 
 they were mending trousers. One was 
 mending her husband’s trousers at the 
 seat; the other was mending her hus- 
 band’s trousers at the knees. 
 
530 
 
 — 1084 — 
 AN ENGINEER WHO PRAYED 
 
 The following remarkable instance of 
 answered prayer is related by Mrs. J. H. 
 Smith in the “Wesleyan Methodist.” 
 She knows the engineer concerned, 
 Charles Waters, and the story is un- 
 doubtedly true. 
 
 It was night when the long, heavily 
 loaded B. & O. train pulled out of the 
 station at St. Louis, bound for Cincin- 
 nati and the East. There had been a 
 great gathering in the city of St. Louis 
 and thousands of people were leaving 
 for their eastern homes. Charles Waters 
 was the engineer that night, and he was 
 a Christian man. 
 
 As the great engine leaped forward 
 into the darkness, a burden seemed to 
 weigh upon him. He could not account 
 for it. He began to pray. On and on 
 the long train sped across the State of 
 Illinois, and again and again, as he drove 
 the engine through the dark, the engi- 
 neer prayed. He prayed for himself, he 
 prayed for his train and the hundreds of 
 people aboard, committing them all into 
 the hands of Him who sees in the dark- 
 ness as well as in the light. The whole 
 State of Illinois was crossed and part 
 of Indiana, and still he prayed. Sey- 
 mour, Indiana, was reached in safety, 
 and as he pulled the throttle and started 
 out of this station the burden lifted from 
 his spirit and he felt that somehow all 
 was well, It was almost morning now, 
 and in an hour or two it would be light. 
 
 a oe 
 
 A little distance east of Seymour, In- 
 diana, there lived a farmer who had risen 
 very early that morning. He hada load 
 of hogs to take to market, and he wanted 
 to get an early start. He lighted his lan- 
 tern and went out and fed his horses, and 
 then came into the house for breakfast. 
 As he sat at the table, something seemed 
 to say, “Go to the railroad! Go to the 
 railroad! Go to the railroad!” and yet 
 again the insistent call, “GO TO THE 
 RAILROAD!” The farmer jumped up 
 from the table and started out. His wife 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 said, “Where are you going?” 
 
 “I am going to the railroad,” he an- 
 swered. 
 
 “What for?” she asked. 
 
 “I don’t know,” he flung back, as he 
 grabbed his lantern. 
 
 Down across the field he went, and 
 over the rail fence, and stepped up on 
 the railroad. He swung his lantern over 
 the track, and behold, there was a 
 broken rail—not only broken, but a great 
 piece of it thrown entirely out of its 
 place. He had little time to think, for 
 just that moment he heard the distant 
 rumble of the night express coming out 
 of Seymour. He ran down the track and 
 waved his lantern frantically. The en- 
 gineer saw it and stopped the train, 
 climbed down from his engine, and met 
 the farmer. 
 
 Then he understood the reason for 
 that long night of prayer, and the farmer 
 now understood the strange call that had 
 broken in on him at breakfast and bade 
 him “Go to the railroad.” A horrible 
 wreck had been averted and hundreds of 
 lives had been saved. 
 
 — 1085 — 
 GIVING AND GETTING 
 
 A poor Baptist minister was appealed 
 to, as he walked by some one he knew, 
 for help. He had but a shilling in the 
 world, and poised it in his mind to give, 
 or not to give? The greater distress of 
 his acquaintance prevailed, and he gave 
 his all, walking away with a sweet re- 
 membrance of the promise, “He that 
 hath pity on the poor lendeth to the 
 Lord, and that which he hath given will 
 He pay him again.” He had not gone a 
 hundred yards before he met a gentle- 
 man, who said, “Ah, Mr. Jones, I am 
 glad to see you. I have had this sover- 
 eign in my waistcoat pocket for a week, 
 for some poor minister, and you may as 
 well have it.’ Mr. Jones was wont to 
 add, when telling the story, “If I had 
 not stopped to give relief, I should have 
 missed the gentleman and the sovereign 
 too.”—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 =— 1086 — 
 TAKING ANOTHER’S WHIPPING 
 
 A very rough schoolmaster had a poor 
 lad that had offended the laws of the 
 school, and he ordered him to come up. 
 “Now,” he said, “you take off your coat 
 instantly and receive this whip.” The 
 boy declined and more vehemently the 
 teacher said, “I tell you, now, take off 
 your coat. Take it off instantly!’ The 
 boy again declined. It was not because 
 he was afraid of the lash; he was used 
 to that in his cruel home. But it was for 
 shame. He had no undergarments, and 
 when at last he removed his coat there 
 went up a sob of emotion all through 
 the school as they saw why he did not 
 wish to remove his coat, and as they saw 
 the shoulder blades almost cutting 
 through the skin. 
 
 As the schoolmaster lifted his whip to 
 Strike, a roseate, healthy boy leaped up 
 and said: “Stop, schoolmaster; whip me. 
 He is only a poor chap; he can’t stand 
 it. Whip me.” “Oh,” said the teacher, 
 “it’s going to be a very severe scourg- 
 ing! But if you want to take the posi- 
 tion of a substitute you can do it.” The 
 boy said: “I don’t care; whip me, I'll 
 take it; he’s only a poor chap. Don’t 
 you see the bones almost come through 
 the flesh? Whip me.” And when the 
 blows came down on the boy’s shoulders, 
 this healthy, robust lad made no outcry; 
 he endured it all uncomplainingly. We 
 all say Bravo! for that lad. Bravo! That 
 is the spirit of Christ! Splendid! How 
 much scourging, how much chastise- 
 ment, how much anguish will you and I 
 take for others? 
 
 Oh, that we might have something of 
 that boy’s spirit! Aye, that we might 
 have something of the spirit of Jesus 
 Christ; for in all our occupations and 
 trades and business, and all our life— 
 home life, foreign life—we are to remem- 
 ber that the sacrifice for others will soon 
 be over.—Selected. 
 
 — 1087 — 
 WHY SAVED FROM LIONS 
 
 A missionary in Africa while traveling 
 on a tour of duty, came to a fork in the 
 
 531 
 
 road, one branch going round a hill, the 
 other up the hill. Hesitating which to 
 take, he besought the Lord to give him 
 direction. He found himself decidedly 
 disposed to take the road up the hill. 
 Once at the summit he had a clear view 
 of the other path, in which he discovered 
 several large lions. 
 
 Deeply impressed by this escape from 
 certain death, he made a memorandum 
 of the facts and date. Afterwards, when 
 visiting England, a friend asked him 
 whether in his missionary work he re- 
 called any special deliverances* he nar- 
 rated this incident. 
 
 His friend thereupon stated that on 
 one occasion he became distinctly im- 
 pressed with the thought that this mis- 
 sionary brother was in great danger, and 
 accordingly at once made him the sub- 
 ject of earnest intercession. So vivid and 
 unusual was the impression that he felt 
 moved to record the date. The two then 
 compared their dates, and found an ex- 
 act correspondence.—Dr. A. C, Thomp- 
 son. 
 
 — 1088 — 
 PRAYER AROUSED INTEREST 
 
 A missionary of the American Board 
 among the Mahrattas in India once 
 wrote thus: “The first Monday in Jan- 
 uary, 1833, I shall ever remember. At 
 our morning prayers in the native lan- 
 guage three strangers were present, who 
 said they had come to inquire about ‘the 
 new way. At ten o’clock Babajee re- 
 turned from his morning visit to the 
 poorhouse in an ecstacy of joy, saying, 
 ‘The poor people all came about me in- 
 quiring, “What shall we do?”’ I ap- 
 pointed an inquiry meeting at three 
 o’clock today, and to my surprise there 
 were sixteen present. A heavenly in- 
 fluence, I am persuaded, was with us. 
 Our Christian friends in America must 
 be praying for us.” 
 
 The missionary afterwards learned 
 that the day had been set apart by the 
 General Assembly in the United States, 
 and by other bodies of Christians, as a 
 day of fasting and of prayer for the 
 heathen world.—Dr. A. C. Thompson. 
 
832 
 
 — 1089 — 
 FED BY RAVENS 
 
 Mrs. Howard Taylor, in her address 
 at the annual meeting of the China In- 
 land Mission, related the following ex- 
 perience of one of the Chinese converts, 
 Evangelist Li, who was still laboring 
 successfully in 1917. 
 
 “Soon after Mr. Li’s conversion he 
 heard an impressive sermon upon the 
 words, ‘Covetousness which is idolatry.’ 
 He was greatly concerned to think that, 
 having given up idolatry, he might be 
 betrayed into the same sin through 
 allowing a covetous spirit to have any 
 place in his heart. To avoid this danger 
 he determined to keep no money of his 
 own and to possess no property. His 
 little house and farm he handed over to 
 his nephew, and devoted himself entirely 
 to making known the Gospel, sustained 
 by the simple hospitality of those to 
 whom he ministered, and to whom his 
 prayers brought help and healing for 
 body as well as soul. His labours were 
 wonderfully owned of God, and resulted 
 in building up a church in the Yohyang 
 district, which he has long shepherded 
 with loving care. As time went on he 
 opened a Refuge for the cure of opium 
 smokers, and in this way also was made 
 a blessing to many. This work, of 
 course, could not be carried on without 
 expense, and there were times when 
 supplies ran short, and dear old Li was 
 enabled to prove in very special ways 
 the faithfulness of God. 
 
 “After some years a breath of what we 
 
 nay call, perhaps, ‘higher criticism’ 
 reached this far-away province, and the 
 old man heard in connection with the 
 story of Elijah’s being fed by ravens that 
 they were not real birds that brought 
 the bread and meat, but some kind of 
 dark-skinned people, probably Arabs, 
 who shared with him their supplies, for 
 it was absurd to suppose that birds 
 would ever act in the way described. It 
 would be miraculous. But this way of 
 explaining the matter did not at all com- 
 mend itself to the old man’s simple faith. 
 Miracles were no difficulty to him. He 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 had seen far too often the wonder-work- 
 ing power of God put forth in answer to 
 prayer, And, besides, in this very con- 
 nection he had an experience which no 
 amount of arguing could gainsay. The 
 story has been so carefully verified on 
 the spot, by Mr. Lutley and others, that 
 one has no hesitation in passing it on, 
 strange as it may seem to our ears. 
 
 “At one time, in his Refuge work, old 
 Li had come to an end of all his re- 
 sources. There were no patients com- 
 ing for treatment; the Refuge was 
 empty; his supplies were exhausted, and 
 his faith was a good deal tried. Quite 
 near by, in the large temple of the vil- 
 lage, lived a cousin who was priest-in- 
 charge, and who when he came to see 
 his relative from time to time would 
 bring a little present of bread or millet 
 from his ample store. The old man on 
 receiving these gifts would always say, 
 *Tien-Fu-tih entien—‘My Heavenly Fa- 
 ther’s grace’—meaning that it was 
 through the care and kindness of God 
 that these gifts were brought. But the 
 priest did not approve of that way of 
 looking at it, and at last remonstrated: 
 
 “*Where does your Heavenly Father’s 
 grace come in, I should like to know? 
 The millet is mine. I bring it to you. 
 And if I did not, you would very soon 
 starve for all that He would care. He 
 has nothing at all to do with it.’ 
 
 “But it is my Heavenly Father who 
 puts it into your heart to care for me,’ 
 replied old Li. , 
 
 “ “Oh, that’s all very well,’ interrupted 
 the priest. ‘We shall see what will hap- 
 pen if I bring the millet no more.’ And 
 for a week or two he kept away; al- 
 though his better nature prompted him 
 to care for the old man whom he could 
 not but esteem for the works of mercy 
 in which he was constantly engaged. 
 
 “As it happened, this was just the time 
 in which dear old Li was specially short 
 of supplies. At last there came a day 
 when he had nothing left for another 
 meal. The Refuge was still empty, and 
 he had not the cash to buy a morsel of 
 bread. Kneeling alone in his room, he 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 poured out his heart in prayer to God. 
 He knew very well that the Father in 
 heaven would not, could not, forget him; 
 and after pleading for blessing on his 
 work and upon the people all around 
 him, he reminded the Lord of what the 
 priest had said, asking that for the hon- 
 our of his own great name, He would 
 send him that day his daily bread. 
 
 “Then and there the answer came. 
 While the old man was still kneeling in 
 prayer, he heard an unusual clamour and 
 cawing and flapping of wings in the 
 courtyard outside, and a noise as of 
 something falling to the ground. He 
 rose, and went to the door to see what 
 was happening. A number of vultures 
 or ravens, which are common in that 
 part of China, were fiying about in great 
 commotion above him, and as he looked 
 up a large piece of fat pork fell at his 
 very feet. One of the birds, chased by 
 the others, had dropped it just at that 
 moment on that spot. Thankfully the 
 old man took up the unexpected portion, 
 saying, ‘My Heavenly Father’s kind- 
 ness.’ And then glancing about him to 
 see what had fallen before he came out, 
 he discovered a large piece of Indian 
 meal bread, all cooked and ready for 
 eating. Another bird had dropped that 
 also; and there was his dinner bounti- 
 fully provided. Evidently the ravens 
 had been on a foraging expedition, and, 
 overtaken by stronger birds, had let go 
 their booty. But Whose hand had 
 guided them to relinquish their prize 
 right above his little courtyard? 
 
 “With a wondering heart, overflowing 
 with joy, the dear old man kindled a fire 
 to prepare the welcome meal; and while 
 the pot was still boiling, the door 
 opened, and, to his great delight, his 
 cousin, the priest, walked in. 
 
 “‘Well, has your Heavenly Father 
 sent you anything to eat?’ he somewhat 
 scofingly inquired, saying nothing 
 about the bag of millet he had brought, 
 carefully concealed up his sleeve. 
 
 ‘Took and see,” responded the old 
 man, smiling, as he indicated the sim- 
 mering vessel on the fire, 
 
 ANECDOTES 533 
 
 “For some time the priest would not 
 lift the lid, feeling sure there was noth- 
 ing boiling there but water; but at 
 length the savoury odour was unmistak- 
 able, and, overcome by curiosity, he 
 peeped into the earthen pot. What was 
 his astonishment when the excellent 
 dinner was revealed. 
 
 ““Why,’ he cried, ‘where did you get 
 this?’ 
 
 ““My Heavenly Father sent it,’ re- 
 sponded the old man gladly. ‘He put it 
 into your heart, you know, to bring me 
 a little millet from time to time, but 
 when you would do so no longer it was 
 quite easy for Him to find another mes- 
 senger.’ And the whole incident, his 
 prayer and the coming of the ravens, was 
 graphically told. 
 
 “The priest was so much impressed by 
 what he saw and heard that he became 
 from that time an earnest inquirer, and 
 before long confessed his faith in Christ 
 by baptism. He gave up his comfortable 
 living in the temple for the blessed 
 reality that now satisfied his soul. He 
 supported himself as a teacher, became a 
 much respected deacon in the Church, 
 and during the Boxer troubles of 1900 
 endured terrible tortures and finally laid 
 down his life for Jesus’ sake.” 
 
 — 1090 — 
 CONQUERED BY KINDNESS 
 
 A worthy old colored woman was 
 walking quietly along a street in New 
 York, carrying a basket of apples, when 
 a mischievous sailor, seeing her, stum- 
 bled against her and upset her basket, 
 and then stood to hear her fret at his 
 trick, and enjoy a laugh at her expense. 
 She merely picked up the apples without 
 resentment, and, giving him a dignified 
 look of sorrow and kindness, said “God 
 forgive you, son, as I do!” 
 
 That touched a tender chord in the 
 heart of the jack-tar. He felt self-con- 
 demned. Thrusting his hands into his 
 pockets and pulling out a lot of loose 
 “change” he forced it upon the old black 
 woman, exclaiming “God bless you, 
 mother, T’ll never do so again.”—Se- 
 lected, 
 
534 
 
 — 1091 — 
 PRAYER BROUGHT HEALTH 
 
 A lady missionary of the American 
 Board was stricken down by an epi- 
 demic; recovery seemed doubtful. As 
 she lay upon her couch, feverish and 
 restless, a sudden and singular calm 
 came over her. 
 
 Just then a co-laborer at the same sta- 
 tion came in to inquire how she was, yet 
 fearing the worst. 
 
 “I am better, decidedly better,” she 
 replied; “I think I shall get well. I have 
 had the strangest feeling come over me 
 the last hour, as if I had new life. I 
 don’t understand it.” Presently she 
 added, “I believe I know what it is. I 
 am sure some one is praying for me. I 
 think I will try to prove it.” She then 
 asked the nurse to bring her “Daily 
 Food,” and, turning to the day of the 
 month, marked it. 
 
 Many weeks afterwards a letter came 
 to her, saying, “In January I attended 
 a meeting of the Woman’s Board in Pil- 
 grim Hall, Boston, and wish you could 
 have heard the earnest prayer offered for 
 you by—,” naming the person who had 
 led in the intercession of that hour; com- 
 paring the date with the one in her 
 “Daily Food,” she found an exact coin- 
 cidence.—Dr. A. C. Thompson. 
 
 — 1092 — 
 
 GOD HONORS WHOM? 
 
 In the north of England two brothers 
 went into business. They had been 
 raised in poverty, and had nothing with 
 which to start business. But they were 
 enthusiastic in religion. 
 
 They were determined to give to the 
 Lord, and they made an arrangement 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ should be a 
 partner in the concern, and that a fixed 
 portion should be given to him out of 
 all profits. They so gave, and prospered. 
 
 The first year they had a generous 
 sum of money to give. The second year 
 they had more. The third year they had 
 still more. At the fourth year the profits 
 were so great that they went into four 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANBECDOTES 
 
 figures, 
 
 Then they thought the portion to be 
 set aside for God was too much to give 
 to charity. Always be suspicious when 
 you change your terms. It was for 
 charity now, not for the Lord. Seeing 
 it was such a large amount, they divided 
 it, took half for themselves, and gave 
 the other half away. The next year, on 
 the testimony of one of the brothers, 
 they did not make a cent. And before 
 the end of six months of the following 
 year they came to a crisis. 
 
 The two brothers met and locked 
 themselves in the office to face the situa- 
 tion. William said to James: “We have 
 never prospered since we robbed God. 
 The first charge on the business must be 
 to pay back what we have robbed.” 
 
 They knelt down and prayed, and 
 made this promise. Before the end of 
 the year, their business revived. 
 
 Strangely enough, after some years 
 they made a similar mistake, and had a 
 similar experience. Today they are 
 among the wealthiest Christian people 
 in the land. They prospered as they 
 honored God in their living.—Christian 
 Herald. 
 
 — 1093 — 
 HAPPY IN GOD HIMSELF 
 
 Christians might avoid much trouble 
 and inconvenience if they would only 
 believe what they profess—that God is 
 able to make them happy without any- 
 thing else. They imagine that if such a 
 dear friend were to die, or such and such 
 blessings were to be removed, they 
 would be miserable; whereas God can 
 make them a thousand times happier 
 without these. To mention my own 
 case, God has been depriving me of one 
 blessing after another; but, as every one 
 was removed, He has come in and filled 
 up its place; and now, when I am a 
 cripple and not able to move, I am hap- 
 pier than I ever was in my life before, 
 or ever expected to be; and if I had be- 
 lieved this twenty years ago, I might 
 have been spared much anxiety.—Pay- 
 son, 
 
— 1094 — 
 THE REDEEMED BOY 
 
 I have just been to the home of the 
 boy in Omaha whose father gave $25,000 
 to redeem him. I had a talk with this 
 lad of fifteen whose name has perhaps 
 been in every newspaper in the land. 
 
 As Eddie was leaving home one eve- 
 ning, two men pretended to arrest him, 
 saying that he had stolen money from 
 his aunt and that he must go with them 
 without making a noise. 
 
 They said that his name was Eddie 
 McGee. He told them they were mis- 
 taken, that his name was not Eddie 
 McGee, and he could prove it by some 
 persons who were passing. He said the 
 conductor of a passing cab knew him. 
 Soon they blindfolded him and drove 
 quickly out of town about five miles to 
 a lonely building which hey had hired 
 for the purpose and there kept him for 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 Next morning his captors sent a let- 
 ter to his father telling him that unless 
 he sent them twenty-five thousand dol- 
 lars they would burn Eddie’s eyes out 
 with acid and that he would then have 
 a blind boy in his charge. 
 
 The mother was frantic. The father 
 went to the bank and got ninety-five 
 pounds of gold which was the amount 
 _demanded. The Christian coachman 
 who told us the story took us to the very 
 buggy in which the gold was carried 
 and showed us just where the bag was 
 placed. 
 
 At night Mr. Cudahy drove to the 
 spot named in the letter and left the 
 gold beside a lantern tied with a black 
 and white ribbon as he had been di- 
 rected. At one o’clock the boy was 
 brought near his home and was soon 
 telling of all that happened while he had 
 been a prisoner. 
 
 Some of you may say, “Why have 
 you told us this story that we have 
 heard before?” and I will tell you. I 
 have been holding meetings for the 
 young and old here in Omaha and one 
 evening I took for my text the words 
 of Jesus in Isaiah xliv. 22, “Return unto 
 
 . & ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 535 
 
 me, for I have redeemed thee.” 
 
 I showed how we are redeemed, not 
 with silver or gold, but with “his own 
 precious blood.” I described what 
 Jesus suffered as they laid the heavy 
 lashes upon his back, and as they 
 crowned him with thorns and as they 
 spit upon him. 
 
 I spoke of his soul sufferings when 
 “his sweat was as it were great drops of 
 blood,” and when he cried in agony, 
 My God! My God! why hast thou for- 
 saken me?” and of how he was treated 
 as though a guilty sinner when he re- 
 deemed us with his precious blood, and 
 of how we might now be treated for His 
 sake as though we had never sinned, and 
 hear his loving words, “Return unto me 
 for I have redeemed thee.” 
 
 Every boy and girl in Omaha knows 
 about Eddie Cudahy. They understand 
 how his father gave twenty-five thous- 
 and doliars to redeem him. 
 
 When I spoke of the far greater sac- 
 rifice that Jesus made that he might re- 
 deem us from the punishment that we 
 deserve on the account of our sins, they 
 all seemed to feel the truth of the words 
 spoken and to be ashamed of the very 
 thought of not loving him who first 
 loved us and gave himself for our sakes. 
 —Rev. E. Rayson Hammond. 
 
 — 1095 — 
 RICH AND YET A BEGGAR. 
 
 One of the tales of my boyhood was 
 of an old Indian on a western reserva- 
 tion who every week presented himself 
 at headquarters with a request for some- 
 thing to eat. One day the soldier in at- 
 tendance, observing a leather cord about 
 his neck asked its meaning. He shrugged 
 his shoulders, to indicate that it was of 
 no consequence at all. The soldier, ven- 
 turing further, drew from beneath the 
 old man’s blanket a bronze medal on 
 which was inscribed: “The bearer a 
 faithful guide of Washington during the 
 Revolutionary War, is by act of Con- 
 gress entitled to a pension during his 
 natural life.” A pensioner and he never 
 knew it! Rich and yet a beggar for 
 years !—Rev. D. J. Burrell, D.D. 
 
536 
 
 -~ 1096 — 
 
 A CASE OF DIVINE HEALING 
 
 That a signal mercy may not be for- 
 gotten, and that God may be glorified 
 this recital is given. 
 
 In July 1902, I had left home in New 
 York for a two week’s visit of relatives 
 in Wayne County, N. Y. When I went 
 my brother, Charles H. Tyndall, D.D., 
 then, and still pastor at Mt. Vernon, ad- 
 joining New York on the North, was 
 ill; but his case was not alarming, and 
 his wife promised to keep me informed 
 as to his condition. The days passed, 
 and in all the news received there was 
 not one encouraging note, and becoming 
 alarmed I wrote asking how he really 
 was, and if I should come. 
 
 Expecting an unfavorable reply, I was 
 prepared to take the only train at Wal- 
 cott by which I could get to New York 
 that day; and I was at the station, and 
 the 10 o’clock train was in sight, when a 
 telegram was handed me. It read, “Very 
 low. Come if you can. Hold on to God 
 in prayer.” 
 
 Boarding the train, I was in the race 
 for my brother’s bed-side. But how 
 shall I express my feelings? My brother 
 and I had been so much to each other all 
 our lives. Perhaps affection’s tie was 
 rendered stronger because our mother 
 had died when the writer was two years 
 old, and his brother a babe of five 
 weeks. Childhood, early manhood and 
 ministry, we had kept together, and now 
 must we part? I was unwilling to en- 
 tertain the thought, and yet it thrust 
 itself upon me. Something seemed to 
 say, “All must die sometime, and now is 
 _ your brother’s time. Even now he may 
 be dead, and where will he be buried, and 
 what about his family?” 
 
 I strove to banish such thoughts, and 
 sought to lay hold on some promise of 
 the Word of God, and urge it on his be- 
 half. But as my soul struggled in 
 prayer for hours, I was unable to find 
 the promise I wanted. “Ask and it shall 
 be given you.” “What things soever ye 
 desire when ye pray, believe that ye re- 
 ceive them, and ye shall have them.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 These promises and others were pre- 
 cious, but they did not seem especially 
 appropriate. 
 
 Finally after some hours that verse 
 of the 91st Psalm came to mind: “Be- 
 cause he hath set his love upon me, 
 therefore I will deliver him: I will set 
 him, on high because he hath known my 
 name, He shall call upon me, and I will 
 answer him: I will be with him in 
 trouble; with long life will I satisfy him, 
 and show him my salvation.” 
 
 At once my soul seemed to say, 
 “That’s the promise I want. Now, Lord 
 you must verify that word in the case of 
 my brother. He gave his heart to Thee 
 in his youth, and it has been the joy of 
 his life to preach the gospel. So now 
 Thou must be with him in trouble and 
 deliver him; with long life satisfy him, 
 and show him Thy Salvation.” 
 
 I presumed to reason with the Lord: 
 “Were my brother to die now, no one 
 could call his a long life.” His wife’s 
 father had made his home with my 
 brother for several winters, and had died 
 not ong before in his 96th year. He had 
 been a Christian many years, and his 
 was indeed a long life. It is the wicked 
 who shall not live out half his days. “Of 
 course Satan would like to kill him and 
 stop his good work, but Satan must not 
 be allowed to have his way. He has 
 power to afflict the children of God, as 
 he did that daughter of Abraham whom 
 he had so bound, for eighteen years, that 
 she could not lift up herself until Jesus 
 set her free. Jesus came to “destroy him 
 who had the power of death, that is the 
 devil,” and He promised His disciples 
 “power over all the power of the enemy.” 
 
 During the hours of that long jour- 
 ney, I sought to claim these promises on 
 my brother’s behalf. To please God, 
 and to receive the blessing He was will- 
 ing to bestow, I knew I must believe in 
 both His ability and willingness to do 
 what I asked. But I was conscious that 
 mine was a mixture of faith and unbe- 
 lief. Finally what Jesus said to that dis- 
 tressed father, who sought the healing 
 of his son, occurred to me: “If thou 
 canst believe, all things are possible to 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 him that believeth.” And I adopted the 
 cry of that anxious father: “Lord, I be- 
 lieve; help Thou mine unbelief.” 
 
 At that it pleased God to dispel the 
 remnant of my unbelief. Every cloud 
 was gone from my sky. There was no 
 more anxiety as to the outcome of my 
 brother’s illness. I knew he would re- 
 cover, and my heart was filled with 
 praise to God. 
 
 When I reached his home that even- 
 ing at 10 o’clock his wife meet me at the 
 door and I learned he was very low with 
 ulceration of the bowels; and the doctor 
 had told her to be prepared for the 
 worst, as he would die of perforation of 
 the intestines. This news did not affect 
 my confidence in the least. I told her I 
 knew he would get well. He was too 
 weak to hold up his hand, and he had so 
 failed in flesh that the nurse would take 
 him in her arms, and carry him to a 
 couch to make his bed. No one was 
 allowed to see him but the nurse and his 
 wife. I saw him just long enough to tell 
 him I knew God was going to raise him 
 up, and he was cheered by my con- 
 fidence. 
 
 This was Friday, July 25th, I did not 
 see him Saturday. Sunday I took a long 
 walk to be by myself. The burden of 
 my prayer was that the cure might be so 
 _ wrought that it should be attributed to 
 the special mercy of God. That even- 
 ing, as I was sitting down to the supper 
 table, his wife said he wished to see me. 
 I went at once to his bedside, and as- 
 sured him again not only of his recovery, 
 but told him also the ground of my con- 
 fidence. I recited the precious words of 
 that Psalm, and told him Satan would 
 like to destroy him, but he was a de- 
 feated foe, and that God would bruise 
 Satan under his feet shortly. I spoke to 
 him in this strain for perhaps fifteen 
 minutes, and the change I was expect- 
 ing then occurred. Had he been dying 
 of thirst a cup of cold water could not 
 - have been more refreshing. To his wife 
 he excaimed, “I have not seen such a 
 time as this since I became ill!” 
 
 From that time he improved from day 
 to day, andI returned home. But Satur- 
 
 ANECDOTES 537 
 
 day night, about 11 o’clock August 9th, 
 I got a telegram asking me to come as 
 he was much worse. This was a severe 
 trial to my faith, and during the hour or 
 So spent getting to him Satan tried his 
 utmost to rob me of my assurance of his 
 recovery, but the grace of God tri- 
 umphed. He had indeed been brought 
 very low again, but was some better on 
 my arrival. 
 
 Then to leave nothing undone, I sug- 
 gested that we comply with the direc- 
 tions in James the 5th chapter, and my 
 brother wishing it, I anointed him with 
 oil in the name of the Lord, and asked 
 God to make him every whit whole. 
 This was at 12.30 a. m. He rested 
 quietly and slept much the rest of the 
 night, and that morning when the doctor 
 came he noted the great improvement in 
 his patient, and said to him, “It looks as 
 if the bottom fell out of your disease last 
 night!” From that time forth his re- 
 Pith was rapid.—Rev. Henry M. Tyn- 
 
 all. 
 
 Is any sick among you? Let him call 
 for the elders of the church; and let 
 them pray over him, anointing him 
 with oil in the name of the Lord: And 
 the prayer of faith shall save the sick, 
 and the Lord shall raise him up; and if 
 he have committed sins, they shall be 
 forgiven him.—James v. 14, 15. 
 
 — 1097 — 
 
 LUKEWARMNESS IN RELIGION 
 CONDEMNED. 
 
 In the seventeenth century a Spanish 
 priest named Miguel de Molines gath- 
 ered about him a company of like- 
 minded men who devoted themselves to 
 the passive contemplation of God. They 
 were called “quietists”; and so disas- 
 trous was their influence on the effi- 
 ciency of the church that their system 
 was finally condemned as heresy. That 
 judgment was none too severe. “Quiet- 
 ism” is the bane of the Church today.— 
 D. J. Burrell, D.D. 
 
538 
 
 a 1098 — 
 “MAKE IT A MATTER OF 
 PRAYER.” 
 
 A good, old English farmer had be- 
 come the happy inventor of an improved 
 plow. Queen Victoria, on seeing the 
 new invention, inquired of the farmer 
 how he thought of it, whereupon he 
 replied: APs 
 
 “Well, your majesty, I had it in my 
 head for a long time before it would 
 come straight. I saw what was wanted 
 plain enough, but I couldn’t make out 
 how to get at it. So at last I made it 
 a matter of prayer; and one morning the 
 whole thing came into my mind like a 
 flash.” 
 
 “Why, Mr. Smith,” interrupted his 
 royal listener, “do you pray about your 
 
 plows?” 
 “Why, your majesty, why shouldn’t 
 I? My Father in heaven, He knew 
 
 I was in trouble about it, and why 
 shouldn’t I go and tell Him? I mind 
 of one of my boys when he was a teeny 
 little mite. I bought him a whip, and 
 very pleased he was with it. Well, he 
 came to me one day crying as if his 
 little heart would break. He’d broken 
 the whip, and he brought it to me. So 
 I took him on my knee, and I wiped 
 his tears, and I kissed him and com- 
 forted him. ‘Now, don’t cry, my boy, 
 says I. ‘I’ll mend the whip, I will, so 
 that itll crack as loud as ever.’ Well, 
 now, don’t you think our Father in 
 heaven cares as much for me as I for 
 my boy? My plow didn’t much matter 
 to Him, but I know quite well my trou- 
 ble did.”—Selected. 
 — 1099 — 
 
 THE SLIGHTED PARDON 
 
 When Queen Victoria celebrated her 
 jubilee she issued among other procla- 
 mations one which offered full and free 
 pardon to every man who had at any 
 time deserted from the army or Navy, 
 the only condition being that he should 
 appear before a magistrate, or his su- 
 perior officer, within a specified time, 
 confess the fact and receive his pardon. 
 
 In a certain army corps, a colonel 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 one day absented himself from his quar- 
 ters, turning the command over to his 
 lieutenant, and at the hour for the “or- 
 derly room” presented himself before 
 his lieutenant-colonel and confessed hav- 
 ing, years before, been a deserter. His 
 fellow-officers were astonished, and the 
 affair was a “nine-days’ wonder” in the 
 barracks. But the colonel had fulfilled 
 her Majesty’s command, and received a 
 full and free pardon. 
 
 A few weeks later, and after the spe- 
 cified time for the pardons to be issued 
 had expired, a file of the guard was sud- 
 denly sent to the junior officer’s quarters 
 and arrested a certain corporal, a non- 
 commissioned officer, but a well-liked 
 man. On inquiry it was found that the 
 corporal had been a deserter, too, but he 
 had not accepted the Queen’s pardon. It 
 was not long before he was sentenced to 
 penal servitude at hard labor, and when 
 he was brought up before his colonel for 
 committal into the hands of the jail 
 wardens, the colonel asked, “Corporal, 
 what have you got to say?” 
 
 “Nothing, sir.” 
 
 “I should like to know why you did 
 not accept the Queen’s pardon. You 
 saw that your colonel accepted it. It 
 was open to you as well.” 
 
 “Colonel, I was afool. I have nothing 
 to say, only that it serves me right. I 
 get what I deserve.” 
 
 The pardon for our sins is offered just 
 as freely as the Queen’s pardon... What 
 can we say at the end if we refuse it? 
 That is, indeed, an unanswerable ques- 
 tion.—Selected. 
 
 — 1100 — 
 BOMBARDING A ROCK. 
 
 “A Spanish frigate lay all night in the 
 Indian Ocean, firing numerous. broad- 
 sides at a craft which was discovered 
 after coming to anchor. Not a shot 
 was returned. The day broke and, lo, 
 yonder a mighty rock rose from the sea. 
 Of what avail was those broadsides?” 
 So the religion of the Scriptures, as an 
 impregnable rock, resists, without reply, 
 the attacks of its foes. Our vision is dim, 
 but wait until the day breaks!” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1101 = 
 THE POWER OF LOVE 
 
 One day one of the gigantic eagles, 
 which were more common in Scotland 
 generations ago than now, carried away 
 an infant, which its mother had laid to 
 sleep on a heap of hay in a field in which 
 she was harvesting. The whole village 
 ran after it, but the eagle soon perched 
 itself upon the loftiest eyrie, and every 
 one despaired of the child being recov- 
 ered. A sailor tried to climb the ascent, 
 but his strong limbs trembled, and he 
 was at last obliged to give up the at- 
 tempt. A robust Highlander, accus- 
 tomed to climb the hills, tried next, and 
 even he was precipitated to the bottom. 
 
 At last a poor peasant woman came 
 forward. She put her feet first on one 
 shelf of the rock, then on the second, and 
 then on the third; and in this manner 
 she rose to the very top of the cliff; and 
 at last, while the hearts of those below 
 were trembling for her safety, as well 
 as that of the child, she came down step 
 by step, until, amid the shouts of the 
 villagers, she stood at the bottom of the 
 rock with the child on her bosom. 
 
 Why did that woman succeed, when 
 the strong sailor and the practiced High- 
 lander had failed? Why? Because be- 
 tween her and the babe there was a tie 
 —that woman was the mother of the 
 child. 
 
 What a beautiful picture is this of 
 the love of a mother! But there is 
 greater love than this. “Can a woman 
 forget her sucking child, that she should 
 not have compassion on the son of her 
 womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I 
 not forget thee,” saith the Lord. Our 
 heavenly Father has shown his deep love 
 in the gift of his only Son.—Cheyne 
 Brady. 
 
 =— 1102 — 
 THE CLEANSING BLOOD 
 
 Bishop Whipple tells us the story of 
 the conversion of one of the most re- 
 markable Indians he ever knew. “He 
 was known throughout the northwest 
 as a most terrible warrior. 
 
 “One day he happened to look into the 
 
 539 
 
 home of our Indian clergyman and he 
 heard him reading the words, “The 
 blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from 
 all sin.’ The Indian said, ‘Read it again.’ 
 It was read again. He reached out his 
 hands and said, ‘My hands are covered 
 with blood; can I become a Christian?’ 
 With tears running down his cheeks, the 
 clergyman told him the story of Christ, 
 the Savior of the world, and then to test 
 him, he said, ‘Let me cut your hair.’ 
 The Indian always wears a scalp lock 
 for his enemy when he is on the warpath. 
 ‘Yes,’ said the Indian, ‘I am in earnest; 
 if I can be a follower of Jesus Christ, I 
 can suffer anything.’ 
 
 “His hair was cut. His men jeered 
 at him and called him a fool. It stung 
 him almost to madness. He rushed 
 home and threw himself upon the floor. 
 His wife, who was a Christian, put her 
 arms around his neck and said, ‘Yester- 
 day no man in the world could call you 
 a coward, Cannot you be as brave for 
 Him who died for you?’ He afterward 
 said, ‘My wife lifted me onto my feet.’ 
 I have known many servants of Christ, 
 but none I think more devoted to him 
 than that man.”—Sel, 
 
 — 1103 — 
 
 HEIRS TO THE KINGDOM 
 
 Some one tells of an old man who was 
 riding through a country district, when 
 he was accosted by a native who asked 
 him for a ride. He soon began to talk 
 to the man and found that he was not 
 saved. The native asked him after a 
 while what his business was in those 
 parts. He said: “I represent a large 
 estate that has just been divided by the 
 will of the testator and some of the heirs 
 live around here, and I am looking for 
 them. Their family name begins with 
 the letter “S,”’ and they are a very large 
 family.” Immediately the man became 
 greatly interested. “Why,” he said, “I 
 know some of them, they are the Smiths, 
 are they not?” “No,” said the man, as 
 he looked him earnestly in the face, 
 “their name is ‘Sinner,’ and I think you 
 are one of them and I have come to 
 bring you a fortune.”—-Ram’s Horn. 
 
540 
 
 — 1104 — 
 
 YEARS OF SERVICE LOST 
 
 On one of the Clyde river steamers 
 a Christian man on his holidays was 
 giving away tracts. Among others who 
 received one was a gentleman belong- 
 ing to Glasgow, who remarked as he 
 received it that he feared such efforts 
 did little permanent good. “I am not 
 opposed to such work,” he said. “In 
 my younger days I did a good deal of 
 it myself, but I cannot say that I ever 
 saw any fruit from it.” 
 
 The tract distributor was’ somewhat 
 “damped” by that remark, coming 
 from one who evidently was a Chris- 
 tian of many years’ standing. But he 
 instantly remembered that his own 
 conversion was brought about by means 
 of a tract which he received when a lad 
 of twelve, as he walked along the street 
 one wintry night. 
 
 As he passed the door of a Mission 
 Hall a young man, standing evidently 
 for the purpose of getting passers-by 
 to go in, handed him a tract and asked 
 him to go inside and hear the Gospel. 
 He did go in, and heard words there 
 that awakened him to think of eternity 
 and his state before God, and he went 
 home in deep soul trouble. In his anxiety 
 he turned to the tract he had received, 
 read it and was saved. The tract distri- 
 butor told this story to the gentleman, 
 who listened with evident interest, and 
 when it was finished he said, “May I 
 ask where this most interesting event 
 took place?” 
 
 The man named the street, the hall, 
 and the very night on which he got 
 the tract and was invited inside. 
 
 The gentleman’s eyes filled with tears; 
 he grasped the distributor’s hand, and 
 said with great emotion: “It was my 
 work for many a night, when a young 
 man newly converted, to stand at that 
 door giving tracts and inviting passers- 
 by, and I well remember inviting in the 
 bright-eyed lad that wintry night. But 
 I lost heart soon after that, and gave it 
 up, thinking such work was almost use- 
 less. Now after twenty years, God has 
 let me know it was not in vain, and if 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 He spares me to return to the city I shall 
 by His grace return to the service He 
 gave me long ago, confessing my faith- 
 lessness in leaving it.” But the twenty 
 intervening years were lost. How many 
 more golden sheaves might have ap- 
 peared to that Christian worker’s ac- 
 count in the day of Christ had he con- 
 tinued in the service that the Lord gave 
 him to do!—Selected. 
 
 — 1105 — 
 
 HE GAVE UP HIS PIPE. 
 
 When I was a boy, some fifty years 
 ago, we lived on a farm, and I was 
 somewhat inclined toward machinery, 
 and especially interested in trying to 
 make some kind of machine that would 
 run without turning acrank. There was 
 a small spring branch near by, so I com- 
 menced building a dam and digging a 
 race to the place where my future mill 
 was to be. By and by I succeeded in 
 making a water wheel and crude ma- 
 chinery that would run without turning 
 a crank, says Jacob H. Schwank, in the 
 “Gospel Banner.” 
 
 One day my father came down there, 
 smoking his clay pipe, and said to me: 
 
 “Jake, I think it looks very foolish to 
 spend so much time trying to make 
 something that will never do anybody 
 any good. It will not even crack a grain 
 of corn for a little chicken.” 
 
 And I looked up to him and said: 
 
 “Now, daddy, please do not get of- 
 fended if I tell you of something that 
 looks still more foolish to me: you fill 
 your pipe with tobacco about a half a 
 dozen or more times a day, and light it 
 and suck the smoke through the stem 
 into your mouth, and then blow it out in 
 the air. And when the stem gets 
 clogged, you draw a broom straw 
 through it to start it again. Now, daddy, 
 be fair and square with me; which is the 
 more foolish—for a man to do that, or 
 for me to do what I am doing. 
 
 _Daddy went away, but not smoking 
 his pipe. In about a week mother told 
 sister and me that daddy had quit smok- 
 ing, and that one day he came in and 
 put pipe, tobacco and all in the stove, 
 without saying a word. Then I told 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 mother about the talk we had down at 
 the branch, and she said to me: 
 
 “My dear boy, you have done what I 
 have prayed for and tried to do for the 
 past fifteen years.” 
 
 — 1106 — 
 
 WHEN SPURGEON PREACHED 
 IN HIS SLEEP 
 
 An exceedingly fascinating and re- 
 markable event is narrated in the auto- 
 biography of Charles H. Spurgeon. It 
 was Saturday evening, the time for the 
 preparation of his Sunday forenoon ser- 
 mon. He had chosen his text. It was 
 Psalm 110:3: “Thy people shall be will- 
 ing in the day of thy power, in the beau- 
 ties of holiness from the womb of the 
 morning: thou hast the dew of thy 
 youth.” But for once that great and 
 gifted mind was balked. He could not 
 get at the heart of his text and elaborate 
 the plan for his discourse that should be 
 satisfactory and forcible. He sat up late 
 at his work, but accomplished nothing, 
 and retired to bed very much dispirited. 
 During the night his wife heard him 
 talking in his sleep. He was giving a 
 clear and definite exposition of his text. 
 Her ears and memory were keenly attent 
 to receive and retain the plan of his 
 sermon. She says, “Never preacher had 
 a more eager and anxious hearer.” In 
 the morning she told him all that he had 
 spoken in his sleep. He was utterly 
 astonished and could hardly credit her 
 words. He exclaimed, “Why, that is 
 just what I have wanted. That is the 
 true explanation of the whole verse.” 
 And that Sunday forenoon he preached 
 one of his best sermons from the plan 
 he had talked in his sleep.—Selected. 
 
 — 1107 — 
 THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 
 
 When Dr. Guthrie was minister of the 
 Barony Kirk in Glasgow, a godless old 
 woman living near by was troubled by 
 the ringing of his bell. She presented 
 herself at the minister’s study and re- 
 lated her experience in this way: “I am 
 here not because of your preaching, Dr. 
 Guthrie, but because of your bell. It 
 always seems to be saying, ‘Come! 
 
 541 
 
 Come! Come!’ and I have resented it. 
 But the other night I dreamed; in my 
 dream I seemed to be walking in a gar- 
 den when you entered with a watering- 
 pot; and, going about, you watered the 
 plants one by one until, coming to a 
 poor, scrawny thing, you passed it by. 
 I called to you, ‘Water that, too.’ But 
 you answered, ‘No, my good woman, it 
 would be useless; it has no root.’ When 
 I awoke, the beli was ringing and still 
 saying, ‘Come! Come! Come!’ Then I 
 wondered if I were the poor, fruitless 
 thing. So I have come: tell me, what 
 shall I do?” 
 
 It is a scientific fact that a sound-wave 
 moves outward from its center, in con- 
 centric circles, until its vibrations touch 
 the uttermost borders of infinite space. 
 So ring the Bells of Bethlehem; and the 
 sphere of their message grows wider and 
 wider with the passing years, until 
 Christ shall come again and speak to 
 the children of men.—Rev. D. J. Burrell, 
 DL 
 
 — 1108 — 
 WILLIAM TYNDALE’S REQUEST 
 
 Think of it now! In the sixteenth 
 century a curious request, indeed, was 
 made by a true disciple of Saint Paul’s 
 that great Christian and great English- 
 man, William Tyndale, whose transla- 
 tion of the New Testament is practically 
 the basis of our versions to-day, Author- 
 ised and Revised. 
 
 Seized by the persecutor, in 1535, and 
 immured at Vilvorde, in Belgium, he 
 wrote a Latin letter to the Marquis of 
 Bergen, governor of the castle, not long 
 before his fiery martyrdom, to this 
 effect; “I entreat your Lordship, and 
 that by the Lord Jesus that if I must 
 remain here for the winter you would 
 beg the Commissary to be so kind as to 
 send me, from the things of mine which 
 he has, a warmer cap: I feel the cold 
 painfully in my head. Also a warmer 
 cloak, for the cloak I have is very thin. 
 He has a woolen shirt of mine, if he will 
 send it. But most of all, my Hebrew 
 Bible, Grammar, and Vocabulary, that 
 I may spend my time in that pursuit.”— 
 Selected. 
 
542 
 
 msi 1109 moss 
 A SOLDIER FATHER’S LETTER 
 TO HIS LITTLE GIRL 
 
 One Sunday evening in 1917, the 
 pastor of the People’s Tabernacle of 
 New York invited the Christians present 
 to tell the congregation what it was 
 that started them on the road to Christ, 
 and a number did so. At the prayer 
 meeting the Wednesday evening fol- 
 lowing, the pastor’s sister, Mrs. Carrie 
 T. Mitchell, read the letter given be- 
 low. It was written to her more than 
 fifty years before, when she was a little 
 girl, by her father, Myron P. Tindall, 
 as he then spelled the family name. He 
 was but 32 years of age, a soldier in the 
 Civil War, stationed at that time at 
 Camp Haskel, D. C. Her mother had 
 died five years before when she was 
 five years of age, and her two brothers 
 were several years younger. Mrs. 
 Mitchell said she had read this letter 
 a thousand times, and she believes it 
 largely the means used of God to bring 
 her to love and serve Jesus. 
 
 It is not surprising that the daughter 
 whose father’s heart inclined him thus 
 to write, should become a church mis- 
 sionary, and that three of his four sons 
 should be ministers. 
 
 Camp Haskel, Oct. 20, 1862. 
 Dear Girl: 
 
 This is the first time I ever wrote to 
 you; the first time I ever was so far 
 from you. I am well, I hope this will 
 find you the same. I should like to 
 see you, but that can’t be at present, 
 but I hope to before many months. 
 
 You must be a good girl, and write 
 
 to me if you can. I want you to have 
 your likeness taken, and send it to me. 
 I should think a good deal of it. I 
 guess your uncle and aunt will take 
 you to some place, and let you have it 
 taken. It won’t cost much. Two 
 | stamps will fetch it here. 
 You must mind your aunt and uncle, 
 | and remember your father and little 
 brothers. ‘Try to make as good a 
 woman as your mother was. Go and 
 see your brothers and tell them to be 
 good children. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 You’re old enough to begin to think 
 of another world. I hope you will 
 strive to meet your mother who is in 
 the other world. She was a good 
 woman. I hope you will be as good. 
 Try to meet her in heaven. There is a 
 God who takes care of all that trust 
 in him. He knows the hearts of all 
 mankind. He loves little children and 
 you must love him, and keep his com- 
 mandments, 
 
 I must write a few lines to your uncle 
 and aunt, so good bye for the present. 
 
 From your father, 
 
 M. P. Tindall. 
 — 1110— 
 “NOW, THEN—!” 
 
 To illustrate the fact that Christians 
 should yield prompt obedience to the 
 will of God, whether at home or abroad, 
 and regardless of danger or difficulty, 
 Dr. J. H. Jowett, in a sermon while yet 
 a pastor in New York, related the fol- 
 lowing incident: 
 
 The crew of a coaling steamer landed 
 at Messina shortly after the terrible 
 earthquake. 
 
 The captain saw two little children 
 crouched on the top balcony of a build- 
 ing eighty feet high, which had been 
 wrenched from its support and threat- 
 ened to collapse any moment. He got 
 the children to fasten a string to the 
 balcony, and he fixed a ladder to it, and 
 then turned to one of his seamen with 
 the words, “Now then, Smith.” The 
 sailor ran up the ladder, hoisted a rope 
 by the string, induced the. children or 
 probably one of the older inmates to 
 fasten it to the top balcony, climbed up 
 the face of the tottering building, and 
 shouted when he reached it that “there 
 was a ton of them on the building,” and 
 that he could not get them all down by 
 himself. The captain turned to his 
 second mate, “Now then, Read,” and in 
 a few minutes Read stood by Smith’s 
 side, and together the men lowered 
 twelve cowering creatures by the rope. 
 And the Lord is speaking to you and 
 me to-day, and with reference to this 
 great heroic work of saving the world— 
 “Now then He 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ~—1111— 
 DEGREES OF GRIEF 
 
 Dr. Talmage, the celebrated Brooklyn 
 clergyman, was riding one day in a rail- 
 road coach, soon after the decease of a 
 favorite son. His grief was constant and 
 acute and he could not feel that anyone 
 had ever suffered as he was doing. 
 
 In a seat near him sat a gentleman 
 who, he thought, possessed one of the 
 most cheerful faces he had ever seen. 
 “How happy that man is compared to 
 me!” he thought. “I will get into con- 
 versation with him. Perhaps he may 
 console me, or cheer me up a little.” 
 
 The dialogue ran upon general sub- 
 jects for a little while, and then turned 
 upon Dr. Talmages’ great loss. I can- 
 not help envying you,” said the preacher. 
 “You seem, from your appearance, as if 
 you had not a trouble in the world.” 
 
 The other gentleman looked grave, 
 and a spasm of grief went over his coun- 
 tenance. “I never saw a sadder face, 
 for the moment,” said Talmage, in re- 
 lating this incident to the writer. 
 
 “My dear sir,” he inquired, “will you 
 tell me where you are going?” 
 
 “Why,” replied Talmage, “home; to 
 Brooklyn, New York. I get there this 
 evening, if all goes well.” 
 
 “I suppose to a wife—perhaps a 
 mother—a live son—a daughter or 
 two?” 
 
 “Oh, yes! I have all those awaiting 
 me.” 
 
 “Now I will tell you where I am go- 
 ing. All my family are dead but one, 
 and that is my wife; and I am making 
 my regular weekly visit to her, at an 
 asylum. She is hopelessly insane. But 
 God has left me my life, my honor, and 
 my faculties; and I am trying to keep 
 patient and cheerful, with the hope of 
 meeting them all again in a better world, 
 by and by.” 
 
 Talmage rose, and took the stranger 
 by both hands. 
 
 “I surrender!” he exclaimed. “My 
 sorrow is as nothing compared to yours. 
 I have learned a lesson, and I hope God 
 will aid me to profit by it.”—Every- 
 where. 
 
 ANECDOTES 543 
 
 mom 1112 mos 
 GIVING THE LAST NICKEL 
 
 The American Magazine tells how a 
 man succeeded in making a great for- 
 tune after he was forty years of age, and 
 how its foundation was laid upon the 
 gift to religious work of the last nickel 
 possessed. 
 
 Some twenty years ago a rascally 
 partner beat J. C. S. Johnstone, then of 
 Faribault, Minn., out of all he had. 
 After years of habitual comfort, at the 
 age of forty-one and in hard times he 
 faced the world with practically nothing 
 but his hands, He went to Minneapolis 
 and tramped the streets for work in 
 vain. At last he had but five cents be- 
 tween him and beggary or starvation. 
 
 Walking along the street, uncertain 
 whether to try again or give up the 
 battle altogether, he was asked by a 
 Salvation Army girl for a nickel for the 
 poor. Moved perhaps by the uncon- 
 scious irony of the request, he gave her 
 his last nickel and told her it was his 
 last cent. 
 
 “The Lord won’t forget,” she said, 
 and went on. 
 
 Almost convinced that the Lord had 
 forgotten him, Johnstone watched her 
 at her work. The next thirteen men she 
 accosted gave her nothing. The four- 
 teenth gave her a dollar. He remem- 
 bered that he had asked for work several 
 times and had always been refused. He 
 made up his mind to ask again, up to 
 fourteen times. He got the job. 
 
 That was the end of his distress. He 
 saved his wages and after a year or two 
 bought a little mill out in the woods. 
 His business prospered steadily. In ten 
 years the commercial agencies were rat- 
 ing his wealth at nearly seven figures. 
 He was always utterly convinced that 
 should he let a Salvation Army collector 
 pass unheeded his prosperity would end. 
 
 It pays to take God into our planning 
 and put him to the test. He has prom- 
 ised to bless beyond our capacity to 
 receive when we properly meet the 
 conditions. Let us prove Him.— The 
 Chrisian. 
 
544 
 
 — 1113 — 
 WICKEDEST MAN IN NEW YORK 
 
 I have often said, It is grand to see a 
 man fighting an evil habit, and none 
 but those who have passed through such 
 a battle know what a conflict it is. 
 
 Orville Gardiner of New York was 
 called the most wicked man in this 
 city. More than once since he became a 
 Christian he has been in my house; and 
 a warmer, tenderer heart than his never 
 beat in a human bosom. I have seen him 
 sit and cry as he said, “Only to think 
 that Jesus should love me.” He was a 
 prize-fighter, a blasphemer, a drunkard, 
 in every respect a wicked man; and 
 there was nothing bad that he would 
 not do. 
 
 Let me say here to mothers, he had 
 a godly mother. When they would say 
 to her, “Well, Mrs. Gardiner, what do 
 you think of Orville now?” she would 
 say, “I have given him to Jesus; I pray 
 for him three times a day, and Orville 
 will be brought into the kingdom yet.” 
 He had a wife and one child. The boy 
 died,—-was drowned. He became more 
 desperate than ever, almost raving mad. 
 “Drink! drink!’ he said, “I drank sixty 
 glasses in twenty-four hours.” 
 
 Soon after the death of his boy he 
 was in a saloon, drinking with several 
 fighting men. The room was very warm 
 and close. They were smoking, and he 
 went out. It was a bright night. Look- 
 ing up overhead at the narrow strip of 
 sky visible above the narrow street, he 
 saw two stars shining brightly. He took 
 off his hat and wiped his forehead, and 
 the thought struck him, “I wonder where 
 my boy is.” It flashed upon him that 
 he was not on the right road ever to 
 see his boy again. He went home and 
 sent away two men whom he had been 
 training for the ring; and then he went 
 up to see his old mother, and they knelt 
 and prayed together. “But,” he said, “I 
 cannot be a Christian until I give up 
 the drink, and that is the hardest work 
 of all. Now,” said he, “mother, to-day 
 I will drink myself to death or I will 
 get the victory.” 
 
 He bought a jug of liquor—it con- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 tained about two quarts of whiskey— 
 and carried it in a boat across the river, 
 went into the woods, found a clear space, 
 and then set the jug down on a stone 
 and began to fight it. “Now it is give 
 you up forever, or I will never leave 
 this place alive. I will drink the whole 
 of you, or I will conquer you.” For nine 
 hours that man fought and struggled 
 with his appetite. He said, “I was afraid 
 to break the jug for fear the smell of 
 the liquor would drive me mad. My 
 knees were so sore from kneeling while 
 crying to God to help me, that I could 
 hardly move. I knew my mother was 
 praying for me. I kicked a place in the 
 soft loam, and took up the jug, holding 
 it at arm’s length, and placed it in the 
 hole. Then I covered it up, and stamped 
 upon it. And from that day to this not 
 a drop has ever passed my lips.” 
 
 It requires strength of mind and firm- 
 ness of purpose to do such a thing as 
 that. What I want to impress upon 
 every man is this. You have a will. 
 Did you ever exercise your will? Did 
 you ever resolutely determine, “I 
 WILL?” Why, there are circumstances 
 that seem almost inevitable, that you 
 can often fight off by the power of your 
 will.—Selected. 
 
 —1114— 
 
 SHOW ME MYSELF 
 
 A godly minister was once traveling 
 in Scotland and put up at a certain 
 tavern. At evening-time the landlord 
 asked if he would conduct family prayer. 
 He consented on the condition that the 
 landiord would call all the servants of 
 the household. The servants came in 
 and when all seemed to be assembled, 
 the minister asked, “Are all here?” 
 “Yes,” said the landlord. “Not one miss- 
 ing?” he asked. “Oh, well,” said the 
 landlord, “there is a poor girl we never 
 bring in. She does the dirty work about 
 the kitchen and is not fit to come in 
 with the others.” “Well then,” said the 
 minister, “I will not go on until she 
 comes.” He insisted and the landlord 
 yielded. Seeing her neglected appear- 
 ance, the minister took a peculiar inter- 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 est in her. When he was leaving the 
 next day, he called for the girl and said 
 to her, “I wish to teach you a prayer, 
 and I want you to pray it until I come 
 back again. It is this, ‘Lord, show me 
 myself.’ ” 
 
 He left the hotel, but returned in a 
 few days. He asked the landlord, “How 
 is that poor girl?” “Oh,” replied the 
 landlord, “she is spoiled. She is of no 
 use whatever now. She can do no work. 
 She is weeping all the time. She mopes 
 and is melancholy. I don’t know what 
 is the matter with her.” The minister 
 knew, and asked to see her. The land- 
 lord brought her in and the minister 
 said, “Now I wish to teach you another 
 prayer. You have been praying, ‘Show 
 me myself’?” “Yes,” she said, in deep 
 distress, “and I am so wicked I can do 
 nothing but weep over my sins.” “Now 
 let me teach you another prayer, ‘Lord, 
 show me Thyself.’ ” 
 
 Years passed. The minister was 
 preaching in Glasgow when a neat- 
 looking woman came up to him at the 
 close of the sermon and said, “Do you 
 remember me?” “No,” he said, “I do 
 not.” “Do you remember teaching a 
 poor girl in a hotel to pray, ‘Show me 
 myself’?” “Yes,” he replied, “I remem- 
 ber that well.” “I am that girl. I prayed 
 that prayer and got such a view of my- 
 self that I was overwhelmed with grief 
 and despair. Then you taught me the 
 other prayer, “Lord, show me Thyself,’ 
 and He showed me Himself and my 
 grief and despair went and I trusted 
 Him and found salvation and He has 
 made me what I am to-day. - 
 
 It is a good prayer for us all to pray, 
 “Lord, show me myself,” and after He 
 has shown us ourselves, let us go on 
 and ask Him to show us Himself.— 
 R. A. Torrey. 
 
 THE TRESPASSING HEN 
 
 A man in New Jersey told me the 
 following circumstances respecting him- 
 self and one of his neighbors. “I once 
 owned a large flock of hens. I generally 
 kept them shut up. But one spring, I 
 concluded to let them run in my yard, 
 
 545 
 
 after I had clipped their wings so that 
 they could not fly. One day, when I 
 came home to dinner, I learned that 
 one of my neighbors had been there full 
 of wrath, to let me know that my hens 
 had been in his garden, and that he 
 had killed several of them, and thrown 
 them over into my yard. I was greatly 
 enraged because he had killed my beau- 
 tiful hens that I valued so much. I 
 determined at once, to be revenged, to 
 sue him, or in some way to get redress. 
 { sat down and ate my dinner as calmly 
 as I could. By the time I had finished 
 my meal, I became more cool, and 
 thought that perhaps it was not best to 
 fight with my neighbor about hens, and 
 thereby make him my bitter enemy. I 
 concluded to try another way, being 
 sure that it would be better. After din- 
 ner, I went to my neighbor’s. He was 
 in his garden. I went out, and found 
 him in pursuit of one of my hens with 
 a club, trying to kill it. I accosted him. 
 He turned upon me, his face inflamed 
 with wrath, and broke out in a great 
 fury, “You have abused me. I will 
 kill all of your hens, if I can get them. 
 I never was so abused. My garden is 
 ruined.” “I am sorry for it,” said Ts 
 “I did not wish to injure you; and 
 now see that I have made a great mis- 
 take in letting out my hens. I ask your 
 forgiveness, and am willing to pay you 
 six times the damage.” The man seemed 
 confounded. He did not know what to 
 make of it. He looked up to the sky, 
 then down at the earth, then at his 
 neighbor, then at his club, and then at 
 the poor hen he had been pursuing, and 
 said nothing. “Tell me now,” said I, 
 “what is the damage, and I will pay 
 you sixfold; and my hens shall trouble 
 you no more. I will leave it entirely 
 to you to say what I shall do. I can- 
 not afford to lose the love and good- 
 will of my neighbors, and quarrel with 
 them, for hens or anything else.” “I 
 am a great fool!” said my neighbor. 
 “The damage is not worth talking 
 about; and I have more need to com- 
 pensate you than you me, and to ask 
 your forgiveness than you mine.” — 
 Selected. 
 
546 
 
 —1116— 
 
 WHAT A CRIPPLED BOY DID. 
 
 One of the most touching incidents of 
 the entire World’s Sunday School Con- 
 vention at Tokyo, Japan, occurred when 
 Dr, Frank L. Brown, the World’s Sun- 
 day School General Secretary, told of a 
 Japanese boy who, badly crippled, was 
 one time crawling along the roadside 
 when he heard music. He crawled into 
 the building from which the music came, 
 and found that it was a Christian 
 Sunday-school. Becoming very much 
 interested, he took home some of the 
 literature that was given out. His open 
 confession and baptism as a Christian 
 believer followed. Then he started a 
 Sunday-school in his own home. Not 
 content with this, he started another 
 Sunday-school, and another, and an- 
 other, and another. To-day he is super- 
 intendent of three Sunday-schools, said 
 Dr. Brown. 
 
 As the speaker stepped to one side, the 
 young Sunday-school superintendent 
 himself, Mr. Iwakiri, was carried to the 
 front of the convention platform by 
 friends. It was a blessed demonstration 
 of the opportunity and mission of the 
 Christian Sunday-school in heathen 
 lands.—S. S. Times. 
 
 — 1117 — 
 
 HOW GOD PROVIDED A COW 
 
 My grandfather was a very poor min- 
 ister, and kept a cow, which was a very 
 great help in the support of his children 
 —he had ten of them—and the cow took 
 the “staggers” and died. 
 
 “What will you do now?” said my 
 grandmother. 
 
 “TI cannot tell what we shall do now,” 
 said he, “but I know what God will do: 
 God will provide for us. We must have 
 milk for the children.” 
 
 The next morning there came £20 
 to him, He had never made application 
 to the fund for the relief of ministers, 
 but on that day there was £5 left when 
 they had divided the money, and one 
 said: “There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down 
 in Essex; suppose we send it to him.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 The chairman—a Mr. Morely of this day 
 —said: “We had better make it £10, 
 and T’ll give £5.” Another £5 was 
 offered by another member, if a like 
 amount could be raised to make it up 
 to £20, which was done. They knew 
 nothing about my grandfather’s cow; 
 but God did, you see; and there was the 
 new cow for him. And those gentlemen 
 in London were not aware of the im- 
 portance of the service which they had 
 rendered.—Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon. 
 
 — 1118 — 
 TOM PAINE AND THE BIBLE 
 
 “When Tom Paine came back from 
 Europe, sitting in a hotel on Broadway, 
 New York, he said: ‘In five years from 
 now there will not be a Bible in America. 
 I have gone through the Bible with an 
 axe and cut down all its trees; they are 
 no longer timber but lumber, to be put 
 with all other lumber on the shelf. The 
 Bible is a tissue of absurdities and false- 
 hoods, which I will expose to the ridi- 
 cule of the world.’ This brilliant, but 
 deluded American was not nly a poor 
 but a false prophet. Now seven-tenths 
 of the population of the world have 
 Bibles in their own language. A century 
 ago only one-fifth of the population of 
 the world had the Bible in their own 
 language. Each year nearly 20,000,000 
 of Protestant Bibles and portions are 
 published, in 500 languages and dia- 
 lects.” 
 
 Ai ib ce 
 AN AGNOSTIC 
 
 In one of our New England fishing 
 villages a big boy who knew all about 
 fishing, but had never learned the alpha- 
 bet, was sent to school to learn it. He 
 didn’t believe anything on anybody’s 
 “say SO.” 
 
 “That’s ‘A,’” said the teacher. 
 
 “How d’yer know?” said the boy. 
 
 “Because my teacher told me.” 
 
 “How’d she know?” said the boy. 
 
 “Because her teacher told her.” 
 
 “How d’yer know but they lied?” said 
 the boy.—Selected. 
 
— 1120 — 
 NO ACCIDENTS WITH GOD. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Kennedy, of Basking 
 Ridge, N. J., went into his pulpit one 
 Sabbath and by a strange freak of mem- 
 ory forgot his subject and forgot his 
 text, and in great embarrassment rose 
 before his audience and announced the 
 circumstance and declared himself en- 
 tirely unable to preach then launched 
 forth in a few earnest words of entreaty 
 and warning which resulted in the out- 
 breaking of the mightiest revival of re- 
 ligion ever known in that State, a re- 
 vival of religion, that resulted in 
 churches still standing and in the con- 
 version of a large number of men who 
 entered the Gospel ministry who have 
 brought their thousands into the King- 
 dom of God. 
 
 Nothing in God’s universe swings at 
 loose ends. Accidents are only God’s 
 way of turning a leaf in the book of his 
 eternal decrees. From our cradle to our 
 grave there is a path all marked out. 
 Each event in our life is connected with 
 every other event in our life. Our loss 
 may be the most direct road to our gain. 
 Our defeats and victories are twin 
 brothers. The whole direction of your 
 life was changed by something which at 
 the time seemed to you a trifle, while 
 some occurrence which seemed tremen- 
 dous affected you but little —Talmage. 
 
 HE FEARED SIN ONLY. 
 
 The Emperor Arcadius and his wife 
 Eudoxia had a very bitter feeling to- 
 wards Chrysostom, bishop of Constan- 
 tinople. One day, in a fit of anger, the 
 emperor said to one of his courtiers: “I 
 would be avenged of this bishop.” 
 
 Several then proposed how this should 
 be done. 
 
 “Banish him,” said one. 
 
 “Put him in prison,” said another. 
 
 “Confiscate his property,” said a 
 third. 
 
 “Let him die,” said a fourth. 
 
 Another courtier, whose vices, Chry- 
 sostom had reproved, said maliciously. 
 “You all make a great mistake. You 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 547 
 
 will never punish him by such propos- 
 als. If banished from the kingdom, he 
 will feel God as near to him in the des- 
 ert as here. If you put him in prison 
 and lead him with chains, he will still 
 pray for the poor and praise God in 
 prison. If you confiscate his property, 
 you merely take away his goods from 
 the poor, not from him. If you con- 
 demn him to death, you open heaven to 
 him. Prince, do you wish to be re- 
 venged on him? Force him to commit 
 sin. I know him; this man fears noth- 
 ing in the world but sin.”—Selected. 
 
 — 1122— 
 WHY SHE COULDN’T WIN HIM. 
 
 When her husband and her son, a 
 young man of eighteen, came home, a 
 woman said to them: “I wish you would 
 remain a little after dinner, I want to 
 speak with you.” 
 
 They stepped into the parlor, and she 
 put an arm about each and said: “I have 
 not been a consistent Christian, there- 
 fore I feel I have not been as good a 
 wife to you, husband, or as good a 
 mother to you, son, as I should have 
 been. Will you join me in prayer that 
 God will forgive me?” 
 
 They all three knelt, and she tried to 
 pray, but all she could say was, “O 
 God! O God!” But the Spirit broke 
 up the fountains of the deep, and all 
 three wept. 
 
 A few days later her husband publicly 
 accepted Christ and joined the church. 
 
 “Husband, tell me why I couldn’t 
 win you to Christ before?” she asked, 
 and he said: 
 
 “fT would ask you to go with me to 
 the theatre, and you would go; to the 
 dance, and you would go; to play cards, 
 and you would go. You drank wine 
 with me. Then you would ask me to 
 go to church with you and to prayer 
 meeting, and I would go. You went 
 where I went, and I went where you 
 went. You did what I did, and I did 
 what you did. Wherein was your life 
 any better than mine?” 
 
 To be able to convict others of sin 
 we must ourselves first get right with 
 God.—Billy Sunday. 
 
S48 
 
 gas 1123 ami 
 THE SINS OF A FATHER 
 
 . God is still on the throne, gentlemen, 
 
 and He has said, “The sins of the fath- 
 ers shall be visited upon the third and 
 fourth generations of them that are 
 evil.’ Down to the third and fourth. 
 There is no fifth, for the fourth will be 
 a lunatic, and a lunatic born that way, 
 either male or female, is sterile. If 
 they could bear children the offspring 
 would be idiots, so you see how God 
 protects you. 
 
 I never used to know, when I was a 
 kid, what they meant when they said, 
 “Chickens come home to roost.” But 
 I know now. It means if you are a 
 drunkard, your children will be drunk- 
 ards; if you are a libertine, your chil- 
 dren will be libertines. In other words, 
 your children will return to disgrace 
 you or bless you. 
 
 Listen. If I were absolutely sure 
 that there would be no hereafter, no 
 future beyond the grave, I would go on 
 living the same kind of life Pm living 
 now. 
 
 When I was in the Y. M. C. A. work 
 I knew a gambler who was converted. 
 He was making $75,000 a year, and he 
 was going up and down the country 
 showing that you can’t beat a gambler 
 at his own game. 
 
 He tells the story of a game which 
 was on and one man was accused of 
 ringing in a cold deck. The lie was 
 passed and a man shot another dead. 
 He was sentenced to die, and as he 
 was being prepared for the scaffold, his 
 four year old son toddled up the steps 
 and said, “Come home,papa.” 
 
 The sheriff was a kind man and un- 
 buckled his feet and hands and let him 
 lift the child up. He told his son he 
 couldn’t come home, and for him to go 
 away now and the sheriff would take 
 care of him. Then he turned to the 
 crowd and cried: “For God’s sake, 
 boys, don’t let my son be what I have 
 been.” 
 
 The trap fell and he shot into eter- 
 nity. 
 
 A collection was taken for that child 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANBCDOTES 
 
 among the crowd, and wien the money 
 in the hat was counted it amounted to 
 about $653, a big sum for that part of 
 the country and' among those fellows. 
 The boy was placed in a Christian 
 home, and when he was twenty-one 
 they gave him this money with accum- 
 ulated interest. 
 
 He started out on a career of crime. 
 He got so low down that they wouldn’t 
 let him sleep in the police station. He 
 sunk so low that even the dogs seemed 
 to shun him. He tried to beg to get 
 enough to drink, and would clean cus- 
 pidors in dirty, filthy saloons to get 
 drink. 
 
 Oh, men and women, blood will tell. 
 I’m pleading with you, yield to Christ 
 so that your children will not be blight- 
 ed.—Billy Sunday. 
 
 —1124— 
 
 A WISE CRAB. 
 
 The former president of Princeton, — 
 Dr. Francis L. Patton, in the lectures 
 which he is delivering widely through- 
 
 -out the country telis the story of a wise 
 
 crab. 
 
 It seems that a young professor was 
 trying to discover the psychology of 
 crabs, and took one, and put him into 
 a dark box for observation. The box 
 was so arranged that a single ray of 
 light could be admitted from either of 
 the four sides, the others all being dark. 
 The professor would let in the ray, and 
 the crab would carefully work its way 
 from anywhere else in the box, and plant 
 himself where that ray appeared. If 
 that hole was darkened and the ray was 
 let in from another side, the crab would 
 make straight for it again. Part of his 
 psychology, the professor decided, was 
 to follow the light wherever he saw it. 
 
 Of course you see at once what Dr. 
 Patton makes of that story and what 
 the rest of us may make of it also. 
 There are people who seem to revel in 
 their difficulties; they nose around in 
 the dark places; their main thought of 
 religion is that it has a great many un- 
 answered questions. That there are 
 rays of light here and there, even in the 
 
 So ey 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 dark boxes of life, is to these people 
 meaningless, Wise people learn at least 
 as much as the crab; they know the 
 wisdom of making for the light ray. 
 
 Mr. Robt. Speer tells of a young 
 Swede who was going to India as a mis- 
 sionary. A friend told him it was too 
 hot there to work, that it was 120 de- 
 grees in the shade. “Well,” he replied, 
 “T don’t have to stay in the shade all 
 the time, do 1?” 
 
 And the apostle John told us to walk 
 in the light. Surely we can do as well 
 as a crab.—Rev. C. B. McAfee, D. D. 
 
 o— 1125 — 
 HE WANTED HIS CHECK BACK. 
 
 Bishop Whipple used to tell a:story 
 which will point a moral. 
 
 He called upon a great New York 
 merchant, moted for his generosity to 
 Christian enterprises, and was given an 
 opportunity of presenting the needs of 
 his work in Minnesota. The merchant 
 received him in his private office and 
 listened with interest and sympathy to 
 his appeal. 
 
 When the bishop had finished he 
 turned to his desk, and, writing a check, 
 handed it to the Bishop, who of course 
 received it without glancing at its face 
 and expressed his thanks for the as- 
 sistance rendered. 
 
 At that moment an anxious attendant 
 hurried in, bringing a telegram. The 
 merchant read it with evident perturba- 
 tion, thought a moment, and turning 
 to the Bishop, said: 
 
 “This message brings me the news 
 of the loss of my finest ship with all 
 her cargo. It is a severe blow. I must 
 ask you to be good enough to return 
 the check which I just gave you.” 
 
 With a sinking heart the bishop took 
 from his pocket the bit of folded paper 
 which meant so much to him and re- 
 turned it to the donor, who tore it across 
 and threw the pieces into the waste 
 basket. ‘The merchant again turned to 
 his desk and writing quickly in his check 
 book he handed the Bishop a second 
 slip of paper, saying: _ | 
 
 “Tf IT had gone on giving to God in 
 
 549 
 
 the same ratio that I have been doing, 
 I should not deserve to have a vessel 
 left afloat!” 
 
 Of course the good Bishop never 
 knew the amount of the first check, but 
 the second one was the most generous 
 he had ever received.—Diocesan Record. 
 
 = 1126 — 
 A CREATIVE BELIEFP. 
 
 One of the greatest things one per- 
 son may do for another is to believe in 
 him yet how rarely do we realize this? 
 
 A man on a tramping trip through 
 the mountains of West Virginia, came 
 one morning upon two children all 
 alone on a desolate farm, away at the 
 top of one of the highest mountains. 
 The mother was dead, and “Pappy was 
 away peddlin’ fruit,’ the stranger was 
 told. 
 
 “Why don’t you stay with the neigh- 
 bors while your father is away?” the 
 traveler asked. 
 
 “Oh, we got to stay here, ‘cause if we 
 didn’t somebody might come an’ steal 
 our chickens,” the youngest child, a lit- 
 tle girl explained. 
 
 The stranger looked at her very small 
 person. “Why,” he laughed, “what 
 could you do to a chicken thief?” 
 
 “T couldn’t do nothin’, but my brother 
 could,” she returned promptly. “Why, 
 he’s most nine years old!” 
 
 At her words, the brother, a freckle- 
 faced, insignificant youngster, was sud- 
 denly transformed. “Yes, sir!” he cried, 
 with shining eyes. “Yes, sir! I could 
 ’tend to ’em all right! I’m most nine 
 years old!” 
 
 Now whether he could “tend to ’em” 
 or not, is beside the mark. The fact 
 which struck home to the traveler was 
 the change wrought in that small boy by 
 his little sister’s loyal belief in him. In 
 telling the story afterwards, the man 
 was always wont to declare that what 
 he desired from his friends was a crea- 
 tive belief. ‘“Criticize me,” he would 
 laugh, “and I am lost. But believe in 
 me, believe in me as that little mountain 
 child believed in her brother, and I can 
 work miracles!”’The Wellspring. 
 
550 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 1127 — 
 
 THE ELDER WHO CONFESSED. 
 
 One morning when I was out in lowa 
 a woman came to my door and knocked 
 and said that a man wanted to see me. 
 I found that he was a church member 
 —a ruling elder. He told me that he 
 had not been living right. 
 
 “How can I get right?” he asked. 
 
 I told him that his confession must 
 be as public as his sin had been great. 
 I told him that he would have to stand 
 up and tell the people that he hadn't 
 been living right and promise that with 
 God’s help he would do better. 
 
 He said, “Oh, I can’t do that.” 
 
 “All right,” I said, “but if you’re not 
 willing to do what you must do to get 
 right, what did you come to me for?” 
 
 He finally said he would do it, and 
 he did. Then he asked me to pray for 
 him, and I did. Then he asked me to 
 pray for his son, Ernest, and I prayed 
 for him at intervals that day. The boy 
 was at Shenandoah—that was out in 
 Western Iowa—going to school. He 
 didn’t go with his class that day. Late 
 that night there was a knock at the 
 door and when they opened it Ernest 
 was there. He had walked sixteen or 
 seventeen miles to get home, and he 
 was almost frozen. 
 
 “What’s wrong?” the father asked. 
 
 “Oh, father, I’m an awful sinner,” 
 the boy said. 
 
 They called his mother and they got 
 him warm. To-day he is preaching the 
 gospel to the heathen. 
 
 God shot the arrow of conviction over 
 fifteen miles that day in answer to our 
 prayers.—Billy Sunday. 
 
 =— 1128— 
 THE SAFE PLACE. 
 
 Out in the Western country, in the 
 autumn, when men go hunting and 
 there has not been any rain for months, 
 sometimes the prairie grass catches 
 fire, and there comes up a very strong 
 wind, and the flames just roll along 
 twenty feet high, and travel at the rate 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 of thirty or forty miles an hour, consum- 
 ing man and beast. When the hunters 
 see it coming what do they do? They 
 know they cannot run so fast as the fire 
 can run. Not the fleetest horse can es- 
 cape. They just take a match and light 
 the grass around them, and let the flames 
 sweep, and then they get into the burnt 
 district and stand safe. They hear the 
 flames roar as they come along; they see 
 death coming toward them, but they do 
 not fear, they do not tremble, because 
 the fire has swept over the place where 
 they are, and there is no danger. There 
 is nothing for the fire to burn. 
 
 “There is one mountain that the 
 wrath of God has swept over, and that 
 is Mount Calvary, and the fire spent its 
 fury upon the bosom of the Son of God. 
 Take your stand by the cross, and you 
 will be safe for time and eternity. Here 
 alone is there safety.”—Sel. 
 
 — 1129 — 
 “NOT MY FEET ONLY.” 
 
 The following story from far away 
 India portrays the spirit in which the 
 faithful missionary of the Cross of 
 Christ seeks to save the souls of the 
 humblest men and to uplift them into 
 the privileges of sonship in the family of 
 God. 
 
 A Brahman visiting a missionary in 
 India saw a picture on the wall of Christ 
 washing the disciples’ feet. The Brah- 
 man said: You Christians pretend to 
 be like Jesus Christ, but you are not; 
 none of you ever wash people’s feet.” 
 
 The missionary said: “But that is 
 just what we are doing all the time! 
 You Brahmans say you sprang from the 
 head of your god Brahm; that the next 
 lower caste spring from his shoulders; 
 the next lower, from his loins; and that 
 the low caste sprang from his feet. We 
 are washing India’s feet, and when you 
 proud Brahmans see the low caste and 
 out-caste getting educated and Chris- 
 tianized—washed, clean, beautiful, and 
 holy inside and outside—you Brahmans 
 and all India will say, ‘Lord, not my 
 feet only, but also my hands and my 
 head.’”’—The Presbyterian. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 1130— 
 
 “GOD IS ALIVE.” 
 
 The story is told of Luther who came 
 down to breakfast—it was the third day 
 of one of his times of sorrow, pessimism, 
 and hopelessness,——and found his wife 
 dressed in mourning. 
 
 Luther said, “Kate, what is the mat- 
 tre?” 
 
 She replied, “God is dead.” 
 
 “What do you mean?” 
 
 “God is dead.” 
 
 Then again he asked her and again 
 she replied, “Doctor Martin, God is 
 dead.” 
 
 He came around to her as she an- 
 swered the third time and said: “Grac- 
 ious God, this is blasphemy. What do 
 you mean?” 
 
 And her only reply was “God is 
 dead!” 
 
 “Gracious God,” he said, “my wife has 
 lost her reason!” 
 
 “Doctor Martin,” she asked, “if God 
 were not dead, why would you be so 
 cast down?” She had often heard him 
 say that the “government is upon his 
 shoulders” and that all power had been 
 given to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Doc- 
 tor Martin, if God is not dead, then why 
 are you thus cast down?” 
 
 Then he turned to her and said, “Go 
 up stairs, Kate, and take that mourning 
 
 off. God is alive!’—Selected. 
 
 —1131— 
 
 OBEDIENCE TESTED. 
 
 In the life of the great Duke of Well- 
 ington, it says that, on one occasion, he 
 was employed in the pastime of hunting. 
 The farmers in the neighborhood in 
 which he was hunting, however, had had 
 their crops so injured by huntsmen that 
 they were determined to keep them out 
 of their fields. The gates were locked 
 and men and boys posted at different 
 points. Up to one little farmer boy 
 stationed there came a member of the 
 Duke’s party, a gentleman in a red coat. 
 Addressing the boy, the huntsman said: 
 
 “Open the gate.” 
 
 He replied, “I cannot.” 
 
 ANECDOTES 551 
 
 “Will you open it at once?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 By that time, the Duke had arrived 
 with his party, and the gentleman said: 
 
 “Your Grace, the boy refused to open 
 that gate.” The Duke looked down 
 pleasantly and said: 
 
 “My boy, won’t you open that gate?” 
 
 “No.” 
 
 “Why not?” 
 
 “My master told me not to open it to 
 anybody.” 
 
 “But,” asked the Duke, “do you know 
 who I am?” The boy, a little bewil- 
 dered, looked up and said: 
 
 “T believe you are the Duke of Well- 
 ington, are you not?” 
 
 “T am. Won’t you open that gate to 
 me?” 
 
 “My master said I was to open it to 
 no one.” And the Duke was so pleased 
 with the boy’s implicit obedience that 
 he gave him a sovereign. As the Duke 
 rode away the little boy was so rejoiced 
 with what he received that he waved 
 his hand and shouted: “Hurrah! I have 
 done what Napoleon never could do. I 
 have kept Wellington out of the field.” 
 
 Friendship with Jesus depends upon 
 obedience. Do I want to be one of His 
 friends? Then there must be obedience. 
 —Selected. 
 
 — 1132 — 
 
 “BELIEVE” AND “FAITH” 
 
 When Dr. Paton was translating the 
 New Testament into an island language, 
 he. found great difficulty in finding a 
 word for “believe” and “faith.” While 
 at work in his study one day, one of his 
 native teachers came in, hot and tired 
 from a long walk. He threw himself 
 down on a cane chair, and putting his 
 feet upon another, used a word which 
 meant, “I am resting my whole weight 
 here.” Instantly Dr. Paton had his 
 word. The natives of that island now 
 know faith to be an act whereby the 
 whole weight of mind and heart is rest- 
 ing on Jesus. It is an interpretation that 
 we of deeper insight can apply with per- 
 fect satisfaction.—Northwestern Chris- 
 tian Advocate. 
 
eae 1133 mm 
 A BUSINESS MAN’S LUCK 
 
 Not long ago, a well-known business 
 man in New York was passing through 
 a period of great stress. The life of his 
 concern was hanging in the balance. 
 Great interests, involving many persons, 
 were at stake. He was fighting a de- 
 termined battle against odds. Every 
 step was taken only after the most care- 
 ful thought and planning. 
 
 One day a large note was due at the 
 bank, It represented part of the ac- 
 count of one of his principal creditors. 
 Already the note had been renewed 
 twice. The creditor was angry, and 
 had served positive notice that under 
 no circumstances would the note be re- 
 newed again. It must be paid now, or 
 the work on existing contracts would 
 stop. That meant disaster. No mat- 
 ter, the creditor had fully weighed the 
 matter and had decided to stop, and 
 get what he could out of the wreck 
 rather than go on and increase the ac- 
 count. 
 
 It was the day before the note was 
 due. For several days the man had 
 tried to see the creditor and adjust the 
 matter. No interview would be granted. 
 He had written, but the reply was only 
 a curt ultimatum that no adjustment 
 except payment would be considered. 
 Telephone communications met the 
 same result. If disaster must come, let 
 it come; the creditor had already made 
 up his mind to accept it; there was 
 nothing more to be said. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day before 
 the note would be due, the business 
 man decided to make one last effort to 
 see his creditor in a personal interview. 
 He learned that the man he wanted was 
 at his office. Before starting, and even 
 on the way, the business man, as his 
 habit was, had prayed earnestly for 
 help; he had prayed that the heart of 
 the man he was to see might be softened 
 toward him, and that his own temper 
 might be kept under control, so that no 
 hard words should be spoken. Yet his 
 heart was very anxious. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 About three o’clock he came out of 
 the subway and turned down a side 
 street. The sun was hot. Just a few 
 hundred feet beyond was his destination. 
 Suddenly he glanced down, and at his 
 feet lay a bright new pin shining in the 
 sunlight. How much can happen in an 
 instant of time! The business man was 
 not superstitious, yet instinctively he 
 stooped to pick up the pin saying to 
 himself the childish rhyme, “See a pin 
 and pick it up; all the day you'll have 
 good luck.” Surely he wanted good 
 luck that day, and here almost at the 
 threshold of his most desperate need 
 was a good omen. 
 
 Then, instantly, before his fingers 
 touched the little omen, came another 
 thought, flashing into his brain. Clear 
 and decisive as the voice of one who 
 would snatch him back from the act of 
 foolishness, came the words, “My help 
 is in the Lord which made heaven and 
 earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be 
 moved.” 
 
 The man straightened up and a thrill 
 
 ran through him. “What a_ fool! 
 grasping at a pin, when I can lean upon 
 the Lord which made heaven and 
 earth!” 
 His shoulders went back and his 
 head was lifted to the skies; his feet 
 trod the pavement like a conqueror; his 
 jaw squared, and his eyes sparkled. In 
 such fashion he entered the office of his 
 creditor. The interview was one of the 
 friendliest and most successful he ever 
 had. Not only was the note renewed, 
 but the creditor actually promised finan- 
 cial assistance outside of the note. 
 
 I have the facts from the man him- 
 self. He believes the Lord spoke to 
 him just as truly as he did to Saul on 
 the road to Damascus. You may be 
 sure what his idea is regarding “busi- 
 ness man’s luck,”—Christian Herald. 
 
 em 1134 — 
 
 LINCOLN’S FIRST PET. 
 
 We asked an intimate friend of Lin- 
 coln’s early manhood to tell us a Lin- 
 coln story which had never been printed, 
 and he related this incident: 
 
“One moonlight night, when walking 
 with Lincoln in the country, we spied 
 a litter of pigs in the road that had lost 
 their mother. We helped them find her. 
 And he said to me, ‘I never see one of 
 these little creatures that I do not think 
 of my first pet. When six years of age, 
 a neighbor gave me a little pig. The 
 only garment I had on was a little shirt 
 my mother wove, fastened at the neck 
 with a wooden button my father had 
 made. In the front of that garment I 
 wrapped my pig and carried him home. 
 It took me a week to teach him to eat. 
 Meanwhile, I carried him back to his 
 mother for his meals. He was my con- 
 stant companion and we played many 
 games together. I can see his little face 
 now, said Lincoln, ‘peeping around the 
 side of the cabin as we played hide-and- 
 go-seek, I carried him everywhere till 
 he got too big to carry. and then I made 
 him carry me, which he did so happily 
 everywhere to the ploughed ground, and 
 to the woods where I helped him find 
 the nuts. One day father said, “We’re 
 going to kill the hog today.” I asked, 
 “What hog?” He said, “Yours.” I 
 answered, “Would you kill my precious 
 pet?” and cried with agony. But my 
 wit served me, for when father turned 
 his back I jumped on the hog and ran 
 him as fast as he could go into the 
 woods, where I stayed all day; and the 
 hot water in the big kettle was not used. 
 The next day I undertook the same 
 game, but father was too smart for me. 
 He locked the pig up in the smokehouse, 
 and I couldn’t reach the button to get 
 in atit. And TI got sick. Could not eat 
 any breakfast; went off into the woods 
 and stayed all day, and when I came in 
 at night I saw my pet dressed and hang- 
 ing from a pole near the house, and I 
 began to blubber. They never could 
 get me to take a bite of the meat, neither 
 tenderloin nor rib, nor sausage nor 
 souse. And months after, when the 
 cured ham came on the table, it made 
 me sad and sick even to look at it. The 
 next morning I went out into the yard 
 and scattered soft dirt over the bloody 
 spot, where they had killed my pet. 
 Whenever I see a pig, like these little 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 553 
 
 fellows we have just met in the road, 
 my heart goes back to that pet pig, and 
 to the old home and my dear ones 
 there.’ ” 
 
 Lincoln could not help being tender, 
 any more than the songbirds about his 
 cabin could keep from singing, or the 
 sweetbrier his mother planted could 
 keep from being fragrant. It is easy to 
 see how a boy who was so tender to his 
 first pet might grow to be the great man 
 who lived “with malice toward none, 
 with charity for all.”"—-Ferdinand Igle- 
 hart, D.D. 
 
 a 1135 —< 
 LOVE’S CONQUEST OF HATE, 
 
 Amanda Smith, the colored evangelist, 
 once said to me that the most difficult 
 act of her early Christian life was to 
 become willing to pray for the impris- 
 oned men who hung negroes to lamp- 
 posts and set fire to the asylums for 
 the people of her race during the awful 
 riots in New York City in 1863, but 
 she exclaimed: 
 
 “I have gotten the victory! I could 
 now go to those vile men and pray for 
 and bless those who have persecuted 
 me and mine. I could exclaim with 
 Jesus, ‘Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do, or with 
 Stephen, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge.’ ” 
 
 This is the way the Christian tries to 
 overcome evil with good. If his ene- 
 my hungers, he feeds him.—-Rev. E. W. 
 Caswell. 
 
 — 1136— 
 THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 Put into one scale hardships, self-de- 
 nials and conflicts—and at the end of 
 them Heaven. Put into the other scale 
 self-indulgence and a sinful life—and at 
 the end hell! Weigh the two! Weigh 
 them for eternity! And while you are 
 watching the loving Saviour will whis- 
 per in your ear the solemn question, 
 “What shall it profit you to gain the 
 whole world and lose your own soul? 
 What shall a man give in exchange for 
 his soul?’—Rev. Dr. T. L. Cuyler. 
 
554 
 
 — 1137 — 
 . PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER. 
 
 A gentleman in Scotland recently said 
 to me, “I was an intensely worldly man. 
 I had all that this world could give me, 
 yet it never satisfied. When my old 
 father, who was a delightful Christian, 
 passed into eternity, I was looking over 
 his papers, and I noticed that he had 
 given a great deal of money toward 
 George Miller’s Orphanage at Bristol. 
 I thought, I am sure father would like 
 me to help that work, so I decided to 
 go down and see it before helping it. I 
 went and, as we looked through the 
 buildings, I went into one room, where, 
 on that very day, they were beginning a 
 mission for the orphan boys and girls.” 
 This wealthy and brainy man stopped 
 and listened to the message to the chil- 
 dren. God saved him, and when he told 
 them that he was saved, they said, “We 
 are not surprised. For thirty-eight 
 years Mr. Muller never ceased to pray 
 for you.” Oh, friends, pray on until we 
 shall have entered into where universal 
 praise begins!—Rev. Charles Inglis. 
 
 o-— 1138 — 
 
 THE WORD OF GOD A REFUGE. 
 
 When almost all at the court of St. 
 Petersburgh were agitated with the 
 threatened invasion by French troops, 
 Prince Galitzla maintained calmness. 
 His companions were astonished. Had 
 he become a traitor? It could not be; 
 his loyalty was undoubted. At this 
 crisis, he thought it his duty to acquaint 
 the Emperor Alexander with the rock 
 on which he rested. He asked an inter- 
 view. The invasion was naturally first 
 introduced, and next, as closely con- 
 nected with it, the prince’s conduct. 
 The emperor demanded upon what 
 principle he remained calm in the midst 
 of universal alarm. The prince drew 
 from his pocket a small Bible, and held 
 it toward the emperor. As the latter 
 put out his hand to receive the book, 
 it fell, and opened at the ninety-first 
 Psalm. “Oh that your majesty would 
 seek this retreat!’ said the prince, as 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 he read the words of the psalm. 
 
 A day was appointed for public 
 prayer. The minister who preached 
 took for his subject the ninety-first 
 Psalm. Alexander inquired of the prince, 
 with surprise, if he had mentioned the 
 circumstance that had occurred at their 
 interview. He assured him that he had 
 not. A short time after, the emperor, 
 having a few minutes to spare, sent for 
 his chaplain to read the Bible to him 
 in his tent. He came, and commenced 
 reading the ninety-first Psalm. “Hold!” 
 said the czar; “who told you to read 
 that?” “God,” replied the chaplain. 
 “How?” exclaimed Alexander. “Sur- 
 prised at your sending for me,” con- 
 tinued the chaplain, “I fell upon my 
 knees before God, and besought him to 
 teach my weak lips what to speak. I 
 felt that part of the holy Word which I 
 have begun to read clearly pointed out 
 to me. Why your majesty interrupted 
 me, I know not.” The result was a 
 great change in the emperor’s conduct, 
 and he showed much zeal in the circu- 
 lation of God’s Word.—Selected. 
 
 — 1139 — 
 
 HOW NATIVE CONVERTS GIVE. 
 
 Visiting a college in Ceylon some 
 time ago, Dr. John R. Mott found a 
 band of students so poor that sixteen of 
 them occupied one room. Near the 
 building was a banana plantation, to the 
 cultivation of which these youths de- 
 voted all their spare time. 
 
 “What do you boys do with the money 
 you earn from this fruit enterprise?” in- 
 quired Doctor Mott. | 
 
 For answer they took him to the 
 beach and pointed to an island far out 
 at sea. “Two years ago,” they ex- 
 plained, “we sent one of our graduates 
 there. He started a school, which has 
 since developed into a church. We are 
 going to send him to another island this 
 year.” 
 
 They also said that they required the 
 cook to lay aside every tenth handful 
 of rice, which they sell in order to have 
 Christ preached a little more widely.— 
 Christian Guardian. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
 
 — 1140 — 
 WHY GOD’S CHILDREN SUFFER 
 
 Said a certain friend of mine, “I have 
 always supposed that if one became a 
 Christian, he would escape many of the 
 misfortunes which come to others, and 
 would lead a life of prosperity. Indeed, 
 I believe there is some kind of promise 
 that all things shall work together for 
 good to them that love God. Since you 
 have started on this line, however, I have 
 watched your career carefully, and it 
 seems to me that you fared worse than 
 you did before you were a Christian. 
 First you lost your property; next your 
 wife had a long sickness then a broken 
 knee laid you on your back for six 
 months, and when you got up you had 
 a stiff leg for life. Now how do you 
 account for all this trouble? If God is 
 so good to His people as you say He is, 
 why does He permit these disasters to 
 come upon you?” 
 
 “Well,” said the man addressed, “TI 
 don’t know that I can account for these 
 things to your satisfaction, but I think 
 I can to my own. You know I ama 
 blacksmith. I often pick up a piece of 
 steel, and if I think it will take a tem- 
 per, I put it into the fire and bring it 
 into a white heat. Next I plunge it in- 
 to the water and suddenly change the 
 temperature. Then I put it into the 
 fire, and again into the water. This I 
 repeat several times. Then I lay it on 
 the anvil and hammer it and bend it, 
 and make some useful article which I 
 put into a carriage where it will do 
 good service for twenty-five years. If, 
 however, when I first strike it on the 
 anvil I think it will not take a temper, 
 I throw it into the scrap-heap and sell 
 it for a quarter of a cent a pound.” 
 
 “Now I believe that my heavenly 
 Father has been testing me to see if I 
 will take a temper. He has put me into 
 the fire and into the water; He has 
 laid me on the anvil and hammered me 
 and rasped me. I have tried to bear it 
 just as patiently as I could, and my 
 daily prayer has been, ‘Lord, put me 
 into the fire if you will; put me into the 
 water if you think I need it: do any- 
 
 555 
 
 thing you please, Oh Lord, only for 
 Christ’s sake, don’t throw me into the 
 scrap-heap.’ ” 
 
 I wish I could describe to you the 
 fine temper which this man has taken. 
 He has come out of the fire with a shin- 
 ing face, which is an inspiration to all 
 who meet him. His worldly affairs 
 have improved, and in his prosperity he 
 does not forget God, but spends his 
 money for Him with a willing hand. 
 Though he is an untaught man in the 
 schools, yet people of culture are glad 
 to invite him to their homes, and sit at 
 his feet and learn what God has taught 
 him. His quaint illustrations and pro- 
 found spiritual knowledge have shed 
 light upon the pathway of many a per- 
 plexed soul, and have led many a wan- 
 derer into the path of peace. Yes, 
 he has taken a keen temper, and God 
 is using him to wield mighty blows in 
 the world’s great spiritual conflict— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 1141 — 
 PRAYER THE HEART’S DESIRE. 
 
 A story is told of a little shepherd 
 boy who was obliged to keep watch over 
 the sheep, and so could not go to church. 
 But in his heart there grew up a longing 
 to pray to God, as they were doing in 
 church. He had, however, never been 
 taught any prayer, and so, kneeling 
 down, he began with closed eyes and 
 folded hands, saying the alphabet, “A, 
 B, C, D,” and on to the end. 
 
 “What are you doing, ‘my little 
 man?” said a gentleman, passing by. 
 
 “Please, sir, I was praying,” replied 
 the boy. 
 
 “But why are you saying your 
 letters?” 
 
 “Why,” said the little fellow, “I don’t 
 know any prayer, only I felt I wanted 
 God to take care of me and help me 
 to take care of my sheep. So I thought 
 if I said all I knew he would put it 
 together and spell all I wanted.” 
 
 “Bless your heart, my little man! He 
 will! When the heart speaks right, the 
 lips can’t say wrong,” said the gentle- 
 man.—Selected. 
 
556 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 we 1142 — 
 
 ‘HE CONQUERED THE PLUMBER. 
 
 In one of the suburbs of New York 
 there lived not long ago, a plumber, who, 
 as a workman, enjoyed the respect of his 
 community. No one could solder a leaky 
 pipe better or at less expense; but 
 though his heart was kind, his tongue 
 was sharp. Oaths had lost their sig- 
 nificance to him—he used so many. He 
 believed in neither God nor man. For 
 years he had not been seen to enter a 
 church except to repair the furnace or 
 the gas-pipes. j 
 
 There had recently moved into this 
 same suburb a young doctor. He had 
 two small children, just at the age to 
 be “troublesome comforts,” never still, 
 and ceasing to want time and attention. 
 Struggling to establish a practice, the 
 doctor took in several house patients 
 with their attendant nurses, to help out 
 his income. These, with his office calls 
 and outside professional work, were a 
 steady drain upon his sympathy and 
 patience. 
 
 During a cold winter the water-pipes 
 in the doctor’s house burst, and the 
 plumber was called. This troublesome 
 and expensive accident seemed almost 
 the climax of ill-fortune, and weighed 
 heavily upon the family. Repairs proved 
 to be complicated, and nearly a week 
 was consumed in finishing them. 
 
 The plumber, wise in the ways of 
 households and sardonic in his knowl- 
 edge of the failings of people—trailings 
 that are often not apparent to the outer 
 world, although freely and constantly 
 betrayed in the seclusion of the home— 
 entered upon his work with his accus- 
 tomed dexterity and rudeness. It was 
 thus that he met the new doctor for the 
 first time. 
 
 Gentile in manner and speech, of un- 
 ruffled temper—soothing and yet cheer- 
 ful—the physician refused to become 
 exasperated under these trying condi- 
 tions. He met the plumber with a smile 
 that gave no hint of his inward trouble, 
 or of the emptiness of his purse. In an- 
 other home anger, harsh words or re- 
 proaches might have been stimulated by 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 so confused a state of things; here 
 through the example of the master of 
 the house, peace seemed to have come 
 to stay. The doctor never argued for 
 it; he lived it and it had to be. 
 
 As the days went on the plumber 
 found in his heart an unfamiliar feeling 
 toward the members of this strange 
 household. His own gentler language 
 and bearing were a surprise even to 
 himself. 
 
 When, with uncomfortable anticipa- 
 tions, the doctor asked for his bill, the 
 plumber said: 
 
 “T ain’t got a bill against you, doctor. 
 I’ve enjoyed this job, and I don’t want 
 to be paid for it.” 
 
 “Why, what do you mean?” gasped 
 the doctor. 
 
 The mechanic was silent for a few 
 seconds, and then said slowly, “I have 
 been in almost every house around here, 
 and I know ’m all. And yours is the 
 first place I’ve been in where everybody 
 seems to live as if they believed what 
 the Bible and the ministers keep saying. 
 I ain’t going to be a worse man for this 
 job. If you are sensitive about the bill, 
 you can take it out when my children 
 have the measles. Ive seen folks 
 enough that try to get the better of 
 their plumbers, but you’ve got the best 
 of me.” 
 
 And so he had. The better nature of 
 a rough and godless man had been 
 awakened and won by a Christian gen- 
 tleman.— Youth’s Companion. 
 
 — 1143 — 
 LINCOLN’S PASTORAL WORKS 
 
 We made a pilgrimage to see an old 
 retired army officer who had been a 
 journeyman printer in an office in 
 Springfield, Ill., and one of Lincoln’s 
 intimate acquaintances, and asked him 
 to tell us a story that the magazines and 
 books had not found. He told this: 
 “One day Lincoln asked me to ride fif- 
 teen miles out in the country with him 
 and become witness to a will he was 
 to write for a woman on her deathbed. 
 When the will had been signed and wit- 
 nessed, the woman said to Lincoln: 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 ‘Now I have my affairs for this world 
 arranged satisfactorily. I am thankful 
 to say that long before this I have made 
 preparation for the other life I am so 
 soon to enter. I sought and found 
 Christ as my Saviour, who has been my 
 stay and comfort through the years, and 
 is now near to me to carry me over the 
 river of death. I do not fear death; 
 I am really glad that my time has come, 
 for loved ones have gone before me and 
 I rejoice in the hope of meeting them 
 so soon.’ Mr. Lincoln said to her: ‘Your 
 faith in Christ is wise and strong, your 
 hope of a future life is blessed. You are 
 to be congratulated on passing through 
 life so usefully, and into the future so 
 happily.’ 
 
 “She asked him if he would not read 
 a few verses out of the Bible to her. They 
 offered him the Book, but he did not 
 take it, but began reciting from memory 
 the Twenty-third Psalm, laying especial 
 emphasis upon “Though I walk through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
 fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy 
 rod and thy staff they comfort me.’ 
 Without the book, he took up the first 
 part of the fourteenth of John, ‘In my 
 Father’s house are many mansions.’ 
 After he had given these and other 
 quotations from the Scriptures, he re- 
 cited several hymns, closing with ‘Rock 
 of Ages, cleft for me.’ I thought at the 
 time I had never heard any elocutionist 
 speak with such ease or power as he did. 
 I am an old man now, but my heart melts 
 as it did then in that death chamber, as 
 I remember how with a pathos truly 
 divine he spoke the last stanza begin- 
 ning, ‘While I draw this fleeting breath’ 
 The woman died while we were there. 
 Riding home I expressed surprise that 
 he should have acted as pastor as well 
 as attorney so perfectly, and he. replied, 
 ‘God and eternity and heaven were very 
 near me today.’”—Ferdinand Iglehart, 
 D.D 
 
 -— 1144 — 
 THE BRIDGE WAS GONE 
 One Thursday night an engineer of 
 
 the Illinois Central Railroad left Spring- 
 field at ten with a crowded train of 
 
 557 
 
 about two hundred excursionists, on 
 their way to Chicago. They reached 
 Guthrie on time, and pulled out for Mel- 
 vin, five miles distant. Between these 
 two places was a wooden bridge, span- 
 ning a ravine. When about two miles 
 from the bridge, in an instant he saw 
 before his eyes, as plainly as though the 
 picture was made of material objects, 
 the outlines, of the place where the 
 bridge was located, and said to himself 
 “That bridge is gone, and I know it.” 
 He went on slowly and stopped the train 
 within thirty feet of the bridge. He 
 and the firemen looked ahead. The 
 bridge was really gone, consumed by 
 fire. There was nothing left but the 
 rails, which still hung over the ravine, 
 held together by binders and bolts. The 
 trestle was thirty-five feet long and 
 eight feet high. When the conductor 
 came forward and looked at the swing- 
 ing rails he could scarcely speak. The 
 engineer said, “I have been on the road 
 twenty-five years, and have never had a 
 smash-up, but I deserve no credit for 
 this miraculous escape. An invisible 
 power saved these two hundred lives.” 
 —Sunday School Illustrator. 
 
 — 1145— 
 ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION. 
 
 A reckless man in a zoological garden 
 one seized a venomous serpent by the 
 nape of the neck and held it up before 
 his companions. The man thought he 
 had the serpent wholly in his power. 
 But it began to coil its long body about 
 his. arm and then slowly tighten its 
 grasp till the man in agony was obliged 
 to drop his hold of its neck. Quickly 
 then it turned and bit him, and soon the 
 man was dead. . 
 
 He thought he was strong enough to 
 play with the serpent, and then thrust 
 it from him when wearied of the play. 
 Many think they are strong enough to 
 play with temptation of any sort, but 
 they find sooner or later that the temp- 
 tation has mastered them. “Watch and 
 pray that ye enter not into temptation,” 
 said Christ. It is the entering into 
 temptation which is to be guarded. 
 against—Morning Star. 
 
558 
 
 mm 1146 —~ 
 A MODERN WIDOW’S MITE 
 
 One day in 1899, I called on a poor 
 widow, a member of the People’s Taber- 
 nacle, who occupied three scantily 
 furnished, carpetless rooms, and who 
 supported her three small children by 
 toiling at the wash tub, and wielding 
 the scrubbing brush; and who withal 
 kept up a cheerful courage. At that 
 time the people of the congregation 
 were giving and praying for the accu- 
 mulation of money that we might soon 
 begin the erection of our church. As 
 I was about to leave her humble home 
 the woman said in substance: “I want 
 you to accept a small gift for the build- 
 ing fund; it is only a trifle, $1.10.” I 
 was reluctant to take the money, and 
 told her I thought she needed it more 
 than did the building fund. But she 
 was insistent, and said, “You must take 
 it for I have been a long while getting 
 it. I saved it from my table.” Know- 
 ing her table would not be luxuriously 
 furnished anyway, I asked her how she 
 did it; and after some hesitancy she 
 replied: “I can get 31% lbs. of oatmeal 
 fer ten cents, and a porridge from that 
 and a pint of milk costing two cents 
 will make us a breakfast for about five 
 cents; and so several cents are saved 
 for the building fund. And I can buy 
 three loaves of stale rye bread for five 
 cents; and I have heard that rye bread 
 is healthier than wheat bread, and that 
 stale bread is healthier than fresh bread, 
 and my children do well on it, and I 
 save several more cents for the build- 
 ing fund.” 
 
 I took the money and assured the 
 giver it was much in the sight of God, 
 and that I believed that He who com- 
 mended the widow who gave the two 
 mites would see to it that she was not 
 made the poorer because of her gift. 
 She replied, “I know I will not be, 
 for I find that for every dollar I give to 
 the Lord, he gives me ten in return.” 
 
 Now for the sequel: shortly after 
 receiving the gift I mentioned it in our 
 church paper, and spoke of the self- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 denial of the giver. The account was 
 read by a lady in Ohio, and she wrote 
 Saying she thought the example of that 
 poor woman ought to arouse God’s 
 people like a trumpet blast. She re- 
 solved to be more generous herself, and 
 she began by sending the writer $10 
 for the giver of $1.10. A woman in 
 New Jersey sent $5 for her also, and said 
 she and her children would practice self- 
 denial for a week, and devote what was 
 saved to the cause of Christ. 
 
 Thus was fulfilled the saying, “Give 
 and it shall be given you.” When I 
 gave the poor woman the $15 she was 
 amazed, and did not want to take it; 
 but as I insisted she must, she gave 
 me $5 of it for the building fund. I 
 learned afterward that she loaned a poor 
 neighbor $5 of the remainder to help 
 her pay the rent, and six months later 
 when that was repaid she gave it also 
 to the building fund. 
 
 Temporal prosperity is promised to 
 those who honor God with their gifts, 
 (see Prov. 3:9, 10) and the truth of this 
 promise is verified by the experience of 
 this widow. ‘Twenty-eight years have 
 passed since I first met her in her 
 wretched basement home, at the funeral 
 of her husband. Her children are now 
 grown up, and they are an honor to 
 their mother.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1147 — 
 TEXT FAVORING TOBACCO 
 
 When Mr. Moody was in Glasgow in 
 the ’70s, he was conducting a “Ques- 
 tion Meeting” one day, about 5,000 being 
 present. 
 
 One question was: “Are there any 
 verses in the Bible against the use of 
 tobacco?” 
 
 Mr. Moody pondered for a moment, 
 then said: 
 
 “No, but I can give you one in favor 
 DE it, 
 
 The audience was breathless, and he 
 continued: 
 
 “He that is filthy, let him be filthy 
 still (Rev. 22: 11).” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 1148 — 
 LETTING THE RAVENS IN 
 
 A poor widow had four little children, 
 the oldest about eight years old. One 
 evening, in the midst of winter, her 
 children were hungry, and she had no 
 food to give to them. But she kneeled 
 down to tell God of their wants, and 
 ask Him to supply them. At the close 
 of her prayer, the eldest said to her: 
 “Mother, doesn’t the Bible say that God 
 once sent some ravens with bread to 
 a man who was hungry? Don’t you 
 think God can send us some ravens with 
 bread now, just as well as He did then? 
 I’m going to open the door, or they 
 can’t get in.” A few minutes after, the 
 village magistrate passed, and glancing 
 through the open door said: “My good 
 friend, how does it happen that your 
 door is standing open this cold winter’s 
 night?” “It is my little boy who opened 
 the door a moment ago, in order, as he 
 said, ‘that the ravens might come in 
 and bring us some bread.” Now, it so 
 happened that this gentleman was actu- 
 ally dressed in black from head to foot. 
 
 “Ah! indeed,” said he, laughing; 
 “Richard is right. .The raven is come, 
 and he is a pretty big one, too. Come 
 with me, my little man, and I will show 
 you where the bread is.”—Selected. 
 
 — 1149 — 
 THE FIRST OFFER 
 
 A clergyman was visiting a man of 
 business and the following conversation 
 substantially occurred: 
 
 “It is true,” said the merchant, “I am 
 not satisfied with my present condition. 
 I am not ‘of a settled mind in religion,’ 
 as you express it. Still I am not utterly 
 hopeless. I may yet enter the vineyard, 
 even at the ELEVENTH HOUR.” 
 
 “Ah! your allusion is to the Saviour’s 
 parable of the loitering laborers who 
 wrought one hour at the end of the 
 day. But you have overlooked the fact 
 that these men accepted the FIRST 
 OFFER.” 
 
 “Is that so?” 
 
 “Certainly; they said to the lord of 
 the vineyard, ‘No man hath hired us.’ 
 
 ANECDOTES 559 
 
 They welcomed the first offer immedi- 
 ately.” 
 
 “True; I had not thought of that be- 
 fore. But then the thief on the cross, 
 even while dying, was saved.” 
 
 “Ves, but it is likely that even he had 
 never rejected the offer of salvation as 
 preached by Christ and His apostles. 
 Like Barabbas, he had been a robber by 
 profession. In the resorts to which he 
 had been accustomed the Gospel had 
 never been preached. Is there not some 
 reason to believe that he, too, accepted 
 the first offer?” 
 
 “Why, you seem desirous to quench 
 my last spark of hope.” 
 
 “Why should I not? Such hope is 
 illusion. You have really no promise of 
 acceptance at some future time. NOW 
 is the accepted time! Begin NOW.” 
 
 “How shall I begin?” 
 
 “Just as the poor leper did when he 
 met Jesus by the way and committed 
 his body to the great Physician in order 
 to be healed. So commit your soul to 
 Him as a present Saviour. Then serve 
 Him from love. The next—even the 
 most common—duty of life that you 
 have to perform, do it as a service to 
 Him. Will you accept the FIRST 
 OFFER? Your eyes are open to see 
 your peril. Beware of delay!” 
 
 “You are right; may God help me. I 
 fear I have been living in a kind of 
 dreamy delusion on this subject.”—Ex. 
 
 — 1150— 
 A PAINTER’S PARENTS 
 
 A Bavarian lad, shabby, desperately 
 poor, came to the great city of London 
 some sixty years ago. His father was a 
 peasant wood-carver, who had emigrated 
 to Southampton. His mother gave music 
 lessons to eke out the tiny family in- 
 come. The two had made special sacri- 
 fices for this boy, to help him become 
 an artist, and sent him up to London. 
 
 It was hard work to get a foothold. 
 There were years of poverty and striv- 
 ing. But at twenty-four, the young 
 painter had a picture on the line in the 
 Royal Academy, and it sold for five 
 hundred pounds. Then he sent for his 
 father and mother, who had done so 
 
560 
 
 much for him, and set himself to do 
 everything for them in his power. He 
 bought a place in a tiny village near 
 London, and built a house, just as he 
 knew they would like it. He went there 
 with them, and lived there, gathering 
 a school of painting round him as his 
 fame increased. His pupils came and 
 lived in the village, and it changed and 
 improved until it has become a show 
 place. But the center of it was always 
 the home of the old peasant pair, and 
 as long as they lived their son showed 
 them always the tenderest and most 
 beautiful respect and love. , 
 
 Even in the height of his fame, the 
 painter had never taken a cent of pay 
 from the pupils he taught. He has given 
 to them time worth thousands of pounds, 
 and done it gladly. Those who have 
 studied under him in the little village 
 have left on record that, great as his 
 art is, the things impressed on the 
 students most deeply of all were his 
 exquisite devotion to his parents and 
 his generosity of soul. We often hear 
 of the “artistic temperament” as an 
 excuse for unfaithfulness, ill-temper 
 and evil character. It is good to record 
 this story of Hubert Herkomer, which 
 shows another side of art, and that a 
 great modern painter can embody the 
 Fifth Commandment and the Golden 
 Rule.—Selected. 
 
 —1151— 
 BACK BROKEN BUT HAPPY 
 
 One of the happiest men I ever knew 
 was a man in Dundee, Scotland, who 
 had fallen and broken his back when 
 he was a boy of fifteen. He had lain 
 on his bed for about forty years, and 
 could not be moved without a good 
 deal of pain. Probably not a day had 
 passed in all these years without acute 
 suffering. But day after day the grace 
 of God had been granted to him, and 
 when I was in his chamber it seemed 
 as if I was as near heaven as I could 
 get on earth. I can imagine that when 
 the angels passed over Dundee, they 
 had to stop there to get refreshed. 
 
 When I saw him, I thought he must 
 , be beyond the reach of the tempter, and 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 I asked him: “Doesn’t Satan ever tempt 
 you to doubt God, and to think that 
 He is a hard Master?” ‘ 
 
 “Oh, yes,” he said, “he does try to 
 tempt me. I lie here and see my old 
 schoolmates driving along in their car- 
 riages, and Satan says: ‘If God is so 
 good, why does He keep you here all 
 these years? You might have been a 
 rich man, riding in your own carriage.’ 
 Then I see a man who was young when 
 I was, walk by in perfect health, and 
 Satan whispers: ‘Ii God loved you, 
 couldn’t He have kept you from break- 
 ing your back?’ ” 
 
 “What do you do when Satan tempts 
 
 ou?” 
 
 “Ah, I just take him to Calvary, and 
 I show him Christ, and I point out 
 those wounds in His hands and feet and 
 side, and say, ‘Doesn’t He love me?’ 
 and the fact is, he got such a scare 
 there eighteen hundred years ago that 
 he cannot stand it; he leaves me every 
 time.” 
 
 That bedridden saint had not much 
 trouble with doubts; he was too full of 
 the grace of God.—D. L. Moody. 
 
 ———1152— 
 DISTRIBUTION OF TESTAMENTS 
 GOSPELS AND TRACTS 
 
 Many know the blessedness of using 
 them; yet many orthers seldom, if ever, 
 pass the printed message to another. 
 
 A woman dropped a tract in the way of 
 Richard Baxter, which led to his con- 
 version. Richard Baxter wrote “The 
 Call to the Unconverted,” which was 
 the means of bringing a multitude to 
 God, among others Philip Doddridge. 
 Philip Doddridge wrote “The Rise and 
 Progress of Religion in the Soul,” which 
 brought thousands into the Kingdom; 
 and among others the great Wilberforce. 
 Wilberforce wrote “A Practical View of 
 Christianity,” which was the means of 
 bringing many to Christ; among others 
 Leigh Richmond. Leigh Richmond 
 wrote “The Dairyman’s Daughter,” 
 which has been the means of the con- 
 version of many. God compounds 
 compound interest beyond our compu- 
 tation, 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1153 — 
 ASHAMED OF HIS MOTHER. 
 
 There was a very promising young 
 man in my Sunday School in Chicago. 
 His father was a confirmed drunkard, 
 and his mother took in washing to edu- 
 cate her four children. This was her 
 eldest son, and I thought that he was 
 going to redeem the whole family. But 
 one day a thing happened that made 
 him go down in my estimation. 
 
 The boy was in the high school, and 
 was a very bright scholar. One day he 
 stood with his mother at the cottage 
 door—it was a poor house, but she could 
 not pay for their schooling and feed and 
 clothe her children and hire a very good 
 house, too, out of her earnings. When 
 they were talking a young man from the 
 high school came up the street, and this 
 boy walked away from his mother. Next 
 day the young man said: 
 
 “Who was that I saw you talking to 
 yesterday?” 
 
 “Oh, that was my washerwoman.” 
 
 I said: “Poor fellow! He will never 
 amount to anything.” 
 
 That was a good many years ago. I 
 have kept my eye on him. He has gone 
 down, down, down, and now he is just a 
 miserable wreck. Of course, he would 
 go down! Ashamed of his mother that 
 loved him and toiled for him, and bore 
 so much hardship for him! I cannot tell 
 you the contempt I had for that one act. 
 —D. L. Moody. 
 
 — 1154 — 
 
 “HE MEANT TO HELP ME.” 
 
 A young libertine of Ohio had mur- 
 dered a beautiful girl and was tried, 
 found guilty and sentenced to hang un- 
 til “dead, dead.” G. K. Nash was the 
 governor. A _ petition was circulated 
 and presented to the governor to change 
 the sentence to life imprisonment. But 
 the crime was so atrocious that the gov- 
 ernor refused to consider it. When this 
 failed the mother of the young man went 
 and, falling upon her knees, besought 
 the executive to show clemency or at 
 least go and see her boy. To this, he 
 
 561 
 
 consented, and without announcing his 
 coming, he went to see the condemned 
 man, The turnkey unlocked the large 
 iron door and the little man, dressed like 
 a minister, stepped in. As he started 
 down the long corridor toward the death 
 cell, the young man said to himself, 
 “There comes some preacher to bow- 
 wow over me and I refuse to see him.” 
 As the stranger stepped up to the cell, 
 he said, “Good morning, James,” In- 
 stead of speaking James turned his back 
 and walked to the corner of his cell. 
 “Your friends have been talking to me 
 about you and I have come to see you.” 
 
 “I do not care to talk today.” 
 
 “I am sure if you knew the impor- 
 tance of the message you would give me 
 an audience.” 
 
 “I have told you I do not care to talk 
 and you will do me a favor if you go 
 away and let me alone.” 
 
 “Very sorry; good day, sir.” 
 
 Not long after the turnkey came in, 
 and walking to the doomed man’s cell, 
 Said: 
 
 “Well, Jim, how did you and the gov- 
 ernor come out?” , 
 
 “The governor,” exclaimed the aston- 
 ished man, 
 
 “Yes, Governor Nash came to see you. 
 Did you not see him?” 
 
 “You don’t mean to tell me that that 
 little man who looked like a preacher 
 was Governor Nash!” 
 
 “Yes, he came to see if he could do 
 anything for you.” 
 
 “My God, what a fool I am! He 
 meant to help me and I wouldn’t let 
 him.” 
 
 He went into despair, but it did not 
 keep his neck from breaking. The last 
 thing he was heard to say as the black 
 cap was being put down over his head 
 and the hangman’s knot was being tied 
 was: 
 
 “He meant to help me but I would not 
 let him!” 
 
 Oh, sinner, friend, backslider, Christ 
 rejector, like the rich young ruler, are 
 you refusing to obey God and walk in 
 the light? Your offense is worse than 
 the young criminal’s. Jesus wants to 
 help you, will you let Him?—Select. 
 
562 
 
 wm 1155— 
 LINCOLN’S FIRST PET. 
 
 We asked an intimate friend of Lin- 
 coln’s early manhood to tell us a Lin- 
 coln story which had never been print- 
 ed, and he related this incident: 
 
 “One moonlight light, when walking 
 with Lincoln in the country, we spied 
 a litter of pigs in the road that had lost 
 their mother. We helped them find her. 
 And he said to me, ‘I never see one of 
 these little creatures that I do not think 
 of my first pet. When six years of age, 
 a neighbor gave me a little, pig. The 
 only garment I had on was a little shirt 
 my mother wove, fastened at the neck 
 with a wooden button my father had 
 made. In the front of that garment I 
 wrapped my pig and carried him home. 
 It took me a week to teach him to eat. 
 Meanwhile, I carried him back to his 
 mother for his meals. He was my con- 
 stant companion and we played many 
 games together. I can see his little face 
 now,’ said Lincoln, ‘peeping around the 
 side of the cabin as we played hide-and- 
 go-seek. I carried him everywhere till 
 he got too big to carry, and then I made 
 him carry me, which he did so happily 
 everywhere to the ploughed ground, and 
 to the woods where I helped him find 
 the nuts. One day father said, “We’re 
 going to kill the hog today.” I asked, 
 “What hog?” He said, “Yours.” I an- 
 swered, “Would you kill my precious 
 pet?” and cried with agony. But my 
 wit served me, for when father turned 
 his back I jumped on the hog and ran 
 him as fast as he could go into the 
 woods, where I stayed all day; and the 
 hot water in the big kettle was not used. 
 The next day I undertook the same 
 game, but father was too smart for me. 
 He locked the pig up in the smokehouse, 
 and I couldn’t reach the button to get in 
 at it. And I got sick. Could not eat 
 any breakfast; went off into the woods 
 and stayed all day, and when I came in 
 at night I saw my pet dressed and hang- 
 ing from a pole near the house, and I 
 began to blubber, They never could get 
 me to take a bite of the meat, neither 
 tenderloin nor rib, nor sausage nor souse, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 And months after, when the cured ham 
 came to the table, it made me sad and 
 sick even to look at it. The next morn- 
 ing I went out into the yard and scat- 
 tered soft dirt over the bloody spot, 
 where they had killed my pet. When- 
 ever I see a pig, like these little fellows 
 we have just met in the road, my heart 
 goes back to that pet pig, and to the 
 old home and my dear ones there.” 
 
 Lincoln could not help being tender, 
 any more than the songbirds about his 
 cabin could keep from singing, or the 
 sweetbrier his mother planted could 
 keep from being fragrant. It is easy to 
 see how a boy who was so tender to his 
 first pet might grow to be the great man 
 who lived “with malice toward none, 
 with charity for all.”—Ferdinand Igle- 
 hart, D.D. 
 
 — 1156 — 
 THE COUNTERSIGN. 
 
 The following incident was often re- 
 lated by Mr. George H. Stuart, presi- 
 dent of the United States Christian Com- 
 mission. He was with the Army of the 
 Potomac. Going about one dark night, 
 he was suddenly halted by the guard, a 
 mere boy: “Halt! Who goes there?” 
 
 “A friend with the countersign.” 
 
 “Advance and give the countersign.” 
 
 “Blennerhasset.” 
 
 “Mr. Stuart,” said the guard, lower- 
 ing his gun, “I recognize your voice, 
 but you have not got the countersign. 
 Stand where you are till I call the offi- 
 cer of the guard.” 
 
 By some unaccountable oversight the 
 countersign of the previous day had 
 been given him, and by the rules of war 
 he might have been shot. 
 
 When the officer came he was admit- 
 ted to the lines. Tapping the guard on 
 the shoulder, Mr. Stuart said to him: 
 “My boy, if you should be taken off in 
 one of these battles, could you give the 
 countersign at the gate of heaven?” 
 
 “Yes, Mr. Stuart, ‘The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth us from all sin,’ ” 
 
 Two days later Mr. Stuart found this 
 boy mortally wounded. He gave Mr. 
 Stuart his watch and a parting message 
 to his mother, and died in the triumph 
 of faith—Selected. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 — 1157 — 
 PROVIDENTIALLY LOST. 
 
 Rev. James McGregor went as a mis- 
 sionary to Nova Scotia in 1786, and 
 there labored until his death in 1830. 
 
 One time in traveling from one set- 
 tlement to another, when on a preach- 
 ing tour, the guide through the forest lost 
 the way and, traveling in a circle, came 
 back to their own tracks, This sur- 
 prised him, as he was familiar with the 
 way. So he tried again, with like re- 
 sults. Amazed at this, he attributed it 
 to the minister’s conversation diverting 
 his attention. So he enjoined silence 
 and, taking more care, set forth again. 
 But the result was the same. They 
 came back to their former trail. Night 
 coming on, as they came to the cabin 
 of a new settler they resolved to stay 
 all night. The guide introduced Rev. 
 “McGregor as a minister from Pictou. 
 But the settler seemed loath to keep 
 them. The minister said, “It is now 
 late and you would not turn us out?” 
 The man reluctantly let them stay. 
 
 In the morning he informed them he 
 was to have a “raising” and that they 
 ought to help to pay for their enter- 
 tainment. They consented, as the min- 
 ister thought he might have a chance 
 to meet and exhort the company. Men 
 gathered and the frame was erected, but 
 rum was served, and quarreling started. 
 The minister, to arrest attention, laid 
 his Bible on a stump and gave out a 
 psalm which he sung. A few gathered 
 near, but most stood at a distance. Their 
 host stood far off. The preacher took 
 his text and began his sermon. As he 
 continued his audience increased until 
 at last, with upturned faces, all the com- 
 pany was crowded about listening 
 eagerly and, last of all, and most in- 
 terested, was their host. 
 
 When the service closed, the settler 
 constrained them to remain all night, 
 as he wanted to hear more. They stayed 
 and it led to his conversion. He cir- 
 culated notice of a second sermon, and 
 then guided them to their destination. 
 He became a happy, useful Christian 
 and finally a church was erected on the 
 
 ANECDOTES 563 
 
 spot where these settlers heard their 
 first sermon.—Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1158 — 
 THE HIGHLANDER’S PRAYER. 
 
 A Scotch Highlander, during the 
 Revolutionary War, was brought before 
 the commanding officer, charged with 
 correspondence with the enemy—a cap- 
 ital offense. In vain he protested his 
 innocence. He was promptly silenced 
 and dragged into court. It is Hugh Mil- 
 ler who tells the story. 
 
 There was no direct proof against the 
 Highlander. He had been seen in the 
 gray of the twilight stealing out from a 
 clump of underwood in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the British which 
 swarmed with the troops of Washing- 
 ton. He had stolen away from his fel- 
 lows, he said, to spend an hour in pri- 
 vate prayer. 
 
 “Have you been in the habit of spend- 
 ing hours in private prayer?” sternly 
 asked the officer, himself a Scotchman 
 and a Presbyterian. 
 
 _ The Highlander replied in the affrma- 
 tive, 
 
 “Then,” said the other, drawing out 
 his watch, “never in all your life had you 
 more need of prayer than now.” 
 
 The Highlander, in expectation of in- 
 stant death, knelt down. His prayer 
 was that of one long acquainted with 
 the appropriate language in which a 
 Christian addresses his God. It exhibit- 
 ed, in short, a man who had made 
 prayer the solace of many a solitary 
 hour, and had, in consequence, acquired 
 much fluency in expressing all his vari- 
 ous wants as they arose in his heart. 
 
 “You may go, sir,” said the officer as 
 he concluded. “You have, I dare say, 
 been in correspondence with a greater 
 than any earthly power.”—Christian 
 Life, 
 
 ——~ 1159 — 
 PURPOSE IN LIFE. 
 
 “It is a great thing to discover what 
 our purpose in life may be. A promi- 
 nent Chicago clergyman was in his 
 study one afternoon when his nephew, 
 a strapping fellow, came in. ‘Uncle, 
 what are you going to preach about to- 
 
564 
 
 morrow?’ he asked. ‘My text is To this 
 end was I born, and for this cause came 
 I into the world,’ replied the clergyman. 
 ‘Uncle, why was I born?’ asked the boy. 
 ‘Indeed I do not know,’ said his uncle. 
 ‘No more do I,’ responded the nephew, 
 as he swung out of the door and down 
 the hall. ; 
 
 “That afternoon the Iroquois Theatre 
 fire occurred. The young man rushed to 
 the scene. Throwing off his coat, he 
 addressed himself to the rescue. Again 
 and again he made his way into the 
 building and returned with an uncon- 
 scious victim. He had saved thirteen 
 and started in for another. 
 
 “They tried to hold him back, as the 
 walls were about to fall, but he threw 
 them off and started in again. The great 
 beam above the door fell and struck him 
 on the head. 
 
 “They took him to the hospital where 
 he murmured his uncle’s name. 
 
 “The clergyman came to his bedside 
 just before he died. Taking his uncle’s 
 hand, he whispered with his last breath, 
 ‘Uncle, to this end was I born, and for 
 this cause came I into the world that I 
 might save these thirteen.’ He had 
 found the reason, and when you find 
 yours, it will surely be somehow con- 
 nected with the redemptive plans and 
 purposes of God.—Rev. Raymond M. 
 Huston, D.D. 
 
 — 1160— 
 
 BETTER THAN THEY KNEW. 
 
 A congregation in a hilly district in 
 Ohio bought a small tract of land and 
 erected a church building upon it, says 
 the “Youth’s Companion.” 
 
 After the erection of the building the 
 question of insurance came up. Mr. 
 Sipes, the wealthiest member, who had 
 contributed more than half the money 
 needed for the new structure, declared 
 that he did not believe in insurance. 
 “This is the Lord’s building. He'll take 
 care of it,” he said. 
 
 His view prevailed, and there was no 
 insurance. In a few weeks the build- 
 ing was struck by lightning and almost 
 consumed by fire. Another one was 
 erected, Mr. Sipes contributing the 
 greater portion of the fund, as before. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 This time the demand was almost 
 unznimous that it be insured, but Mr. 
 Sipes again objected, on the same 
 ground. . 
 
 “if it burns down again, brethren,” he 
 said, “I’ll agree to rebuild it myself.” 
 
 No objection could be made to that, 
 and again he carried his point. In less 
 than a month the new church was struck 
 by lightning again, and although strenu- 
 ous efforts were made to save it, the loss 
 was almost total. 
 
 “There must be some reason for this, 
 brethren,” said Brother Sipes, “and I am 
 going to find out what it is.” 
 
 Thereupon he employed a force of 
 men to sink a shaft on the site of the 
 twice-destroyed church. Within a few 
 days a rich vein of iron ore was found, 
 and the church property was sold for 
 many times the amount needed to buy 
 in another locality and build again. 
 
 “T tell you, brethren,” said Brother 
 Sipes, “it pays to trust the Lord. He’s 
 a great deal better business manager 
 than anybody in this congregation.” 
 
 — 1161— 
 
 THE PUSH OF LIFE. 
 
 One of the most remarkable exhibi- 
 tions of plant force I ever saw was in a 
 Western city where I observed a spe- 
 cies of wild sunflower forcing its way 
 up through the asphalt pavement; the 
 folded and compressed leaves of the 
 plant, like a man’s fist, had pushed 
 against the hard but flexible concrete 
 till it had bulged up and then split, and 
 let the irrepressible plant through. 
 
 The force exerted must have been 
 many pounds. I think it doubtful if the 
 strongest man could have pushed his 
 fist through such a resisting medium. 
 
 If it was not life which exerted this 
 force, what was it? Life is a kind of 
 explosion, and the slow, continued ex- 
 plosions of this growing plant rent the 
 pavement as surely as powder would 
 have done. It is doubtful if any culti- 
 vated plant could have overcome such 
 odds. It required the force of the un- 
 tamed hairy plant of the plains to ac- 
 complish this feat—John Burroughs, in 
 “The Atlantic.” 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1162 — 
 
 SCHOOL BOY SUBSTITUTE. 
 
 One of our boys had committed an 
 offence so bad that Mr. Gibb, his teacher, 
 though rarely raising the rod, felt it 
 necessary to make an example of him. 
 The punishment was to be publicly in- 
 flicted, “that others might fear.” But 
 when the culprit, who had been only a 
 few days in our school, was stripped, he 
 was such a living skeleton that the mas- 
 ter had not the heart to beat him. At 
 his wit’s end what to do—for the crime 
 must be punished—it occurred to him to 
 make such an appeal as, to compare 
 small things to great, reminds us of the 
 mystery of salvation, and the love of 
 Him who was “wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, and bruised for our iniquities, 
 and by whose stripes we are healed.” 
 
 Turning to the others: “It goes,” he 
 said, “against my heart to lay my hand 
 on that miserable creature. Wiil any- 
 one take his place and be punished in 
 his stead?” The words had hardly left 
 his lips when with tears of pity brim- 
 ming in his eyes, a boy stepped bravely 
 out, pulled his jacket off, and pushing 
 the culprit aside, offered his own back 
 and shoulders to the rod. A ragged 
 school boy, he was a hero in his way, 
 presenting an example of courage and 
 kindness, of sympathy and unselfishness, 
 rare in schools—or anywhere else.— 
 Thomas Guthrie, D.D. 
 
 — 1163 — 
 YOURSELF— 
 A LIVING SACRIFICE. 
 
 A minister I know who was in service 
 overseas during the World War tells the 
 following story. I give it in his own 
 words: “A friend of mine carried a 
 wounded boy to one of the hospitals. 
 All that night he could not sleep for 
 thinking of that terribly mangled pair 
 of feet. Early next morning he went to 
 the hospital and asked the nurse, ‘What 
 happened to the boy with the feet?’ ‘Oh,’ 
 she said, ‘we had to take the boy’s feet 
 off.’ ‘What did the boy say?’ The nurse 
 replied, ‘When he came out from the in- 
 fluence of the anesthetic, he asked, 
 
 565 
 
 ‘What did they do with me?’ I said, 
 ‘They fixed you up all right, laddie.’ 
 He insisted, ‘Nurse, quit your kidding,’ 
 what did they do with me?’ ‘I had to tell 
 him, and he looked up and smiled ail 
 over his pale face, saying, ‘My, nursie, 
 I’m lucky. I offered my whole body 
 and they took only my feet!” 
 
 “I beeseech you, by the mercies of 
 God, to present your bodies.” Present 
 your whole self. Invest for God. The 
 world is an immense stock exchange.— 
 Rev. G. B. F. Hallock, D.D. 
 
 — 1164 — 
 THE POWER OF THE WORD. 
 
 We must not fear the skeptical spirit 
 of the age, nor let it silence us in giving 
 forth the Word of God. History is con- 
 stantly declaring to us that Holy Scrip- 
 ture carries with it convicting power. 
 Caesar Malan once met an infidel in the 
 railway train and quoted texts of Scrip- 
 tures to him. “It is no use,” he said, 
 “to read that to me, I don’t believe the 
 Bible.” “But,” said Mr. Malan, “a sword 
 would cut if I trust it into your body, 
 whether you believed it to be a sharp 
 sword or not,” and then to the end of 
 the journey he continued quoting Scrip- 
 ture. Years after he met this man, no 
 longer an infidel but a true believer, 
 saved through that conversation in the 
 train.—Herald of Light. 
 
 -— 1165 — 
 WHAT IS A WEIGHT? 
 
 A weight is anything which, without 
 being essentially wrong or hurtful to 
 others, is yet a hindrance to ourselves. 
 We may always know a weight by 
 three signs: first, we are uneasy about 
 it; second, we argue for it against our 
 conscience; third, we go about asking 
 people’s advice, whether we may not 
 keep it without harm. All these things 
 must be laid aside in the strength which 
 Jesus waits to give.—Selected. 
 
 With shame and confusion the faith- 
 less witness was obliged to confess she 
 had no sister; that she was the one who 
 had been sometimes called the “religious 
 Miss J.” and that cowardice had led her 
 to hide her light.—Selected, 
 
566 
 
 — 1166— 
 
 A FATAL DELAY. 
 
 When I lived in Chicago, I used to 
 run out to Hammond, Indiana, once in 
 a while, to preach. One night I was out 
 there, and, after a talk, I gave out the 
 invitation for people to come to the 
 front. On my left sat a young man, and 
 beside him a young woman to whom he 
 was engaged. When I gave out the in- 
 vitation, she arose to her feet and 
 started to the front. The young man 
 caught hold of her and said, “Hold on, 
 my dear; don’t go tonight. If you wait 
 a few nights, I may go with you.” She 
 went back. 
 
 A week afterwards I was out there 
 again, and one night when I finished my 
 sermon, someone came to me and said, 
 “Mr. Torrey, get away from here as 
 quickly as you can, for there is a young 
 woman dying over here, one who attend- 
 ed your meeting last week. When you 
 gave out your invitation, she arose to 
 her feet and started forward, but the 
 young man with her held her back. 
 Come and speak to her once more be- 
 fore she dies.” As soon as I could get 
 away from that opera house, I went to 
 see that young woman. I went up a 
 Stairway into her room, but would never 
 have recognized her, for her face was 
 painted with iodine. The erysipelas had 
 gone to her brain, but she was perfectly 
 conscious. I spoke to her, and she told 
 of how she started forward in my meet- 
 ing the week before, but went back to 
 her seat. I said, “Won’t you accept 
 Christ now?” She replied, “I cannot; 
 I had an opportunity last week.” I said, 
 “They tell me you cannot live through 
 the night. This is your last chance, 
 either to be saved, or to go into eternity 
 unsaved. Will you take Christ?” She 
 said, “It is too late. I had my oppor- 
 tunity last week; I cannot come now.” 
 I pleaded with her and showed her 
 Scriptures. I told her about the dying 
 thief on the cross, and told her Jesus 
 said, “Him that cometh unto Me I will 
 in no wise cast out.” I showed her all 
 the passages that would make one think 
 that even at the last hour one might be 
 saved. She shook her head and said, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 “It is too late.” With a heavy heart I 
 walked out into the hall, and there met 
 the young man. He caught hold of me; 
 he was trembling like a leaf. He drew 
 me into a room close by and said, “Oh, 
 I am engaged to marry that young 
 woman. Last week when you were 
 here and preached, she started to the 
 front, when the invitation was given, 
 and I advised her not to go. Now she 
 is dying and she is lost—lost, and I am 
 to blame. She was just within a step 
 of the Kingdom.”—Rev. R, A. Torrey. 
 
 — 1167 — 
 
 WHEN THE NEEDLE FAILS TO 
 POINT TRUE. 
 
 One night off the Irish coast during 
 the war a steamer was torpedoed. The 
 boats were provisioned and dropped 
 over the side, and in the captain’s boat 
 was placed a small machine gun for pro- 
 tection. The boat carried also the ship’s 
 compass, and the captain instructed the 
 other craft to follow him as he laid his 
 course toward land. 
 
 But late in the morning the captain 
 began to suspect that the needle was 
 not pointing north. For a little while he 
 was puzzled; then he understood. The 
 machine gun was affecting the needle. 
 Only when they had reluctantly dropped 
 the weapon overboard—for there was 
 no room for it in the other boats—did 
 they find a course that brought them to 
 land. 
 
 How often in life something that we 
 insist on taking unto ourselves solely 
 for protection influences the delicate 
 needle of conscience so that it no longer 
 points true! For example, there is 
 money. Most of us in laying out the 
 course of our life feel sure that we must 
 include it, for money is such a comfort- 
 ing protection against so many woes 
 and ailments. Yet how many times un- 
 der its subtle appeal the needle of con- 
 science swings away from the ideal of 
 strict honesty or truthfulness or gener- 
 osity to which God intended it to point. 
 
 And there is the desire for popularity, 
 it is a natural desire, but it carries with 
 it the temptation to sacrifice principle, 
 to surrender a high conviction of a 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 righteous ideal in order to get more of 
 it. It is true that popular people have 
 power of a certain kind, and on many 
 occasions power is a great protection; 
 but we must be sure not to pay too 
 much for it. For the great end of life 
 is not money or popularity or power; 
 it is character. Whatever keeps us from 
 attaining it had better be thrown over- 
 board. Before the voyage is finished we 
 shall thank God we have been wise 
 enough to make the sacrifice.—Youth’s 
 Companion. 
 = 1168 — 
 
 HIDING HER LIGHT. 
 
 A young lady in a fashionable home 
 had been brought to Christ, and had 
 been enabled for some years, amid much 
 opposition, to faithfully witness for 
 Him. She was invited to visit friends 
 whom she had never seen and who knew 
 but little of her. She resolved that while 
 there she would not openly speak of her 
 Savior. Her visit passed away; and, 
 not happily to herself, she was enabled 
 to keep her resolution. Upon the day 
 of her leaving for home a most attrac- 
 tive and accomplished lady, a fashion- 
 able woman of society, while walking 
 alone with her, suddenly asked her: 
 “Where is your sister, and why did she 
 not come here? I mean your religious 
 sister, the one who is known as the 
 ‘religious Miss J.’ It was because I 
 heard that she was to be here that I 
 accepted an invitation to come and 
 spend the holiday. I am tired of the 
 empty, unsatisfying life I am leading, 
 and have longed to talk with a real 
 Christian.” | (Cont’d under No. 1165) 
 
 — 1169 — 
 AGREEMENT IN PRAYER. 
 
 _ In a Connecticut town some years ago 
 there was no church. The inhabitants, 
 some 400 in number were farmers. 
 
 Somehow three women came to know 
 each other as Christians. One in ad- 
 vanced years lived in the center of the 
 town, another in middle life lived three 
 miles away, and the other, a girl, lived 
 some distance in another direction. The 
 old lady invited the others to her house 
 occasionally for prayer. Finally they de- 
 
 567 
 
 cided to meet in a school-house and have 
 a meeting open to all. The old lady said 
 to the youngest, “You can sing.’ To 
 the middle aged, “You can read. I will 
 pray.” So they came together on a 
 Thursday afternoon. Each took the part 
 assigned. A man going by with a load 
 of wood, seeing the school-house door 
 open, thought he would close it. He 
 went up to the door and heard the old 
 lady praying. It was a new experience 
 to him. He listened till she said, 
 “Amen.” At the close they agreed to 
 meet on the next Thursday. 
 
 The man with the load of wood told 
 everybody of what he had seen. The 
 next week, when the three women ar- 
 rived at the school house it was full. 
 They went in. The young woman said, 
 “I can’t sing before all these people.” 
 The old one said, “You must.” So she 
 sang. The Scriptures were read and 
 prayer was offered. The power of God 
 was there and some were converted. 
 
 There stands today a white church on © 
 the spot where the old school house 
 stood, and many have found eternal life 
 there—Frank S. Weston, D.D. 
 
 — 1170— 
 
 RACE SET BEFORE US. 
 
 In Athens, long ago, games used to 
 be held in honor of the Grecian gods 
 and heroes. One of these was a torch 
 race—that is a race of torch-bearers— 
 which was run at night in honor of 
 Prometheus. 
 
 The starting point was a mile and a 
 half out of the city in the olive grove 
 where Plato had his “Academy,” this 
 spot being chosen because Prometheus 
 had a sanctuary there. The winning 
 post was within the city, and the runner 
 who reached it first with his torch still 
 burning gained the prize. 
 
 In like manner our Christian life here 
 on earth is “the race that is set before 
 us.” We shail have run that race well 
 if, when we come at last in God’s pres- 
 ence our lights are still burning. “They 
 that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
 ness of the firmament; and they that 
 turn many to righteousness as the stars 
 forever and ever.”—-C. Jordan. 
 
568 
 
 —1171— 
 “WON’T YOU SHOOT ME?” 
 
 The last two years I was pastor in 
 Northern Michigan, before coming to 
 New York City, I depended upon the 
 free-will offerings of my congregation 
 for family support. This was because 
 of relinquishing my stated salary to en- 
 courage a new and struggling church, 
 which was being hard-pressed finan- 
 cially. Although we did not receive so 
 much money as before, yet God in vari- 
 ous ways So graciously provided for our 
 needs that we wanted for no good thing. 
 
 For instance, not so much money was 
 required to pay the butcher. For the 
 pastor was so successful deer-hunting 
 as to secure, late in the autumn of each 
 year, a fine young deer. This was the 
 more remarkable, as he was not an ex- 
 perienced hunter. But asking God’s 
 blessing upon his efforts, he succeeded 
 in getting each deer at the first shot. 
 They were strung up in the woodshed, 
 and, during the succeeding cold weath- 
 er, for weeks his table was plentifully 
 supplied with choice venison. 
 
 Prizing the rifle which had so con- 
 tributed to family-support, it was 
 brought to New York and stored away 
 on top of a wardrobe. Its muzzle ex- 
 tending beyond the wardrobe, it was an 
 object of interest to the children of the 
 family, especially to the youngest child, 
 four or five years old. She had seen the 
 deer-skin rug on the floor, and was 
 aware that the gun was a dangerous 
 thing; but what it really was she did 
 not know. From time to time, she 
 would point to the gun and coax to see 
 it. Finally one day to satisfy her curi- 
 osity, I took the gun down, and drew 
 it from its case. 
 
 _No sooner was this done than the 
 little one, in alarm, fled and took refuge 
 behind a chair. I placed the gun across 
 my knees and said: 
 
 “Come and see the gun!” 
 
 But as she made no move to come, I 
 repeated the invitation: 
 
 “You wanted to see the gun, come, 
 Ruth, and see it!” 
 
 To my surprise, she peeped from be- 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 hind the chair, and innocently asked: 
 “Won't you shoot me?” 
 
 After repeated assurances that her 
 father would stand between her and all 
 harm, she ventured to approach him. 
 
 How little she knew of the love of 
 her father, and how precious she was to 
 the holder of the gun. 
 
 If we older children could only know 
 the love of our Heavenly Father, how 
 quickly our fears would vanish, and how 
 gladly would we take refuge in His pro- 
 tecting arms! Though at times we may 
 unreasonably distrust Him, yet He as- 
 sures us that, “Like as a father pitieth 
 his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
 that fear Him.”—Ps. 103.13 — Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 oe 1172 — 
 THE ENTOMBED MINERS. 
 
 In the north of England they have 
 been digging the coal for a century. 
 They have gone miles and miles. away 
 from the shaft, under the sea, and there 
 is danger of men getting lost. I heard 
 of two old miners who lost their way. 
 Their lights went out, and they were in 
 danger of losing their lives. After wan- 
 dering around for a long time, they sat 
 down, and one of them said: 
 
 “Let us sit perfectly quiet, and see if 
 we cannot feel which way the air is 
 moving, because it always moves to- 
 ward the shaft.” 
 
 There they sat for a long time, when 
 all at once one of them felt a slight 
 touch on his cheek, and he sprang to his 
 feet and said: 
 
 yLetelter. | 
 
 They went in the direction in which 
 the air was moving, and reached the 
 shaft. 
 
 Sometimes there comes a little breath 
 from God that touches our souls. It 
 may be so gentle and faint that you 
 barely recognize it; but if you do, do 
 not disregard it. Thank God that He 
 has spoken to you, and praise Him for 
 it, and whatever may come do not go 
 in the opposite direction. Give yourself 
 up to be led by it, and you will come out 
 of darkness, out of bondage, out of sor- 
 row, into perpetual light and joy.- 
 D. L. Moody. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 as 1173 —— 
 A STRANGE DELUSION. 
 
 A prospector in California recently 
 had a very narrow escape from death. 
 He was searching for gold in the water- 
 less wastes, and in some way he became 
 separated from his companion and was 
 lost. For five days and four nights he 
 was without food and had no water. It 
 was suspected that he had been lost; and 
 a searching party was sent out, and the 
 man was found. The discovery was 
 made that he had been walking in ever 
 widening circles; that his reason had 
 been shattered by the intense heat and 
 a lack of water, and that, in his delusion, 
 he had believed he was walking through 
 a stream, and had endeavored to drink 
 the sand. His mouth and throat were 
 parched by the heat and clogged with 
 the sand when he was found, and he was 
 very near to death. In a few hours he 
 would have perished. 
 
 There are many people who are simi- 
 larly deluded. The most important part 
 of man is not his body. The body is 
 but the house that the man lives in. 
 Man is a living soul. Just as the body 
 needs water, and must have it, and will 
 perish without it, the soul needs water, 
 the Water of Life, and without it it per- 
 ishes. Every soul has a consciousness 
 of this inward need and seeks to satisfy 
 it. All around us are the desert sands. 
 The world apparently has much to offer. 
 Men and women by the thousands have 
 been deluded by the enemy. They are 
 seeking to satisfy their soul for the 
 water of Life by drinking the desert 
 sands that never have satisfied and nev- 
 er can satisfy, but the drinking of which 
 only clogs their spiritual perception and 
 destroys their spiritual faculties and 
 hastens spiritual death. Jesus says, “If 
 any man thirst let him come unto Me 
 and drink.”—-Youth’s Counsellor. 
 
 — 1174 -—~ 
 
 KNOWING THE AUTHOR. 
 
 A young woman once laid down a 
 book which she had just finished with 
 the remark that it was the dullest story 
 she had ever read. | 
 
 In the course of time she became en- 
 
 569 
 
 gaged to a young man, and one night 
 
 ' she said to him: “I have a book in my 
 
 library whose author’s name, and even 
 initials, are precisely the same as yours. 
 Isn’t that a singular coincidence?” “I 
 do not think so,” he replied. “Why not 
 pray?” “For the simple reason, I wrote 
 the book.” 
 
 That night the young lady sat up un- 
 til two o’clock reading the book again. 
 And this time it seemed the most inter- 
 esting story she had ever read. The 
 once dull book was now fairly fascin- 
 ating because she knew and loved the 
 author. So a child of God finds the 
 Bible interesting because he knows and 
 loves the Author. It is the Father’s 
 message addressed to him.—Record of 
 Christian Work. 
 
 == 1175— 
 DEATH BED SCENE. 
 
 Some one said, “Human bravery and 
 fortitude are no defense against the ter- 
 rors of death and the gloom of the 
 grave.” God hath declared that, “The 
 wicked shall be turned into hell with all 
 the nations that forget God.” 
 
 Altamont, that learned and defiant 
 French infidel, made the members of his 
 infidel club promise to come to his death 
 bed when they should hear he was dy- 
 ing. How he boasted to them that they 
 should see him meet death boldly with- 
 out the least reliance upon the blood of 
 Christ. When he was about to change 
 worlds, his club came. They said, “We 
 have come to hear how it is with you in 
 the dying hour.” As he fixed on them 
 a look of fear and horror, shivering and 
 shrieking with terror he exclaimed, “O, 
 if you had one half the mountain upon 
 your souls that is upon mine you would 
 struggle with the martyr for his stake, 
 and would bless God for a flame that is 
 not unquenchable, for a fire that is not 
 an everlasting fire.” After uttering such 
 language, stretching his hands above his 
 head and gazing upward in awful 
 agony, he cried, “O thou merciful but 
 blasphemed and insulted God, hell! 
 HELL!! HELL!!! is a refuge from thy 
 frown.” He then fell back on his pillow, 
 dead—Selected. 
 
570 
 — 1176 — 
 
 HOW CHRIST FOUND ME. 
 
 On this 11th of February, the anni- 
 versary of my taking my stand for 
 Christ, I have thought it may be of in- 
 terest and help to others if I tell of my 
 conversion. 
 
 Because I was not given to vicious 
 ways of living, using neither intoxicat- 
 ing drinks, tobacco nor profanity, and 
 having a habit of church attendance, and 
 preferably associating with Christian 
 people, there were those who esteemed 
 me to be a Christian. But fortunately 
 I knew that my heart was far from God, 
 for I had never become willing to hum- 
 ble my proud self to be what He would 
 have me to be, and to do His will in all 
 things. Hence I knew I was living un- 
 der God’s condemnation, and to die in 
 that condition would be to perish for- 
 ever. 
 
 In childhood, I deeply felt my need of 
 an interest in Christ, but received no 
 encouragement to come to Him. When 
 older I put off God’s claims from one 
 period of life to another, either because 
 I thought I would have to sacrifice too 
 much to live a Christian life, or because 
 I dreaded the process of conversion, of 
 which I had no clear conception. But 
 fearing to provoke God by long delay, 
 I promised the Lord if He would spare 
 my life until I was married I would 
 yield myself to Him.” 
 
 I was married in my twenty-second 
 year, January 31st. On Sunday after- 
 noon, February 11th, while alone at the 
 barn, on the farm, at my wife’s home, in 
 Rose, N. Y., the question came forcibly 
 to my mind: “You promised God if He 
 would spare you until this time in your 
 life you would serve Him. Now what 
 are you going to do about it?” 
 
 I had had no religious concern for a 
 long time. But being thus brought face 
 to face with this question there was no 
 room to dodge. I had to keep my sol- 
 emn vow, or deliberately break it. 
 
 The thought came: “You better not 
 become a Christian just yet. You have 
 a wife, but no home. To be a real Chris- 
 tian such as you mean to be, will hinder 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 your getting on in the world. Get some 
 property first, and then attend to re- 
 ligion.” 
 
 I knew this to be a temptation of the 
 devil, and that he would talk that way 
 even if this were to be my last year of 
 life, and I knew it was dangerous to 
 dare to trifle with God. 
 
 While considering this important 
 matter, I had come out of the barn and 
 was standing between it and the house, 
 when in less time than I have taken to 
 tell it, I decided: “I will be a Christian 
 now!” 
 
 No sooner had this decision been 
 reached than an earnest feeling pos- 
 sessed me, which I now know to have 
 been in-wrought by the Spirit of God. 
 I know it as a tree can be known by its 
 fruit. It was really my conversion. 
 
 My wife’s parents were Christians. 
 Her father, who had died had been es- 
 pecially active in the Lord’s work. My 
 wife, however, while a regular church 
 attendant, was not a professing Chris- 
 tian. Going to the house I found her 
 alone in the parlor. We had talked to- 
 gether on church matters in general, but 
 never respecting our personal relations 
 to Christ; and my abrupt question ad- 
 dressed to her: “Are you willing to be 
 a Christian?” surprised and embarassed 
 her. She blushed, but making no reply, 
 I exclaimed, “I don’t want you to be 
 ashamed to tell me what you think 
 about it; for if religion is something to 
 be ashamed of I want nothing to do 
 with it!” 
 
 She replied:' “Religion is a good 
 thing, and nothing to be ashamed of.” 
 
 “T have long known that,” said I, “but 
 that is not the question. Are you will- 
 ing to be a Christian?” 
 
 “I am if you are,” she rejoined. 
 
 I then said, “I am. But I want you 
 to know I mean to be a whole-hearted 
 Christian or none at all!” 
 
 She replied, “That is the only kind to 
 be.” 
 
 I then said, “It is settled, is it, that 
 hereafter we are going to be Chris- 
 tians.” 
 
 She replied, “Yes, it is.” 
 
 “All right,” said I. “Now we must 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 not be ashamed to let it be known.” 
 
 I then had got to the end of my rope. 
 So poorly did I understand the way of 
 salvation that I was not aware that it 
 was sufficient to come to Christ and 
 trust Him. I thought we would have 
 to be converted after that. And just 
 what that was I did not know. But 
 from the preaching I had heard I sup- 
 posed of course we would have to seek 
 God if we would find Him. I did not 
 understand that Christ had long been 
 waiting to be gracious, and was far 
 more willing to receive us than we were 
 to come to Him. I imagined that God 
 was so justly offended because of our 
 sins, that those who enjoyed His favor 
 would have to intercede for us before 
 He would become willing to receive and 
 forgive us. | 
 
 Consequently when we let it be 
 known that we wanted to be Christians, 
 and were invited to do so, we cheerfully 
 went forward to the “anxious seat” for 
 ‘prayers. In the absence of all instruc- 
 tions, three evenings I so did, before I 
 was able to entertain the hope that the 
 Lord received me. 
 
 I was fully willing to do the will of 
 Christ, and at last as I began to trust 
 His love, peace and joy began to reign 
 in my heart, and I was glad to commend 
 Him to others. And so it has continued 
 now for more than forty years, and these 
 have indeed been happy years to me. 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1177 — 
 
 THE PERIL OF NEGLECT. 
 
 I sat one day by the far-away shores 
 of the Great Lakes listening to a tragic 
 story from the lips of a white-haired 
 fisherman. Years before, he said, when 
 the village was but a hamlet the mail 
 was carried from the distant shore of 
 the bay to, the fishing village by an In- 
 dian and his son-in-law. One bitter day 
 in mid-winter they set out from the 
 south shore for the long trip across the 
 Great Lake. All day they traveled on 
 the ice, skirting the frozen shore of the 
 bay. As night came on they pitched 
 their tent and went ashore for fire-wood. 
 Gathering what they needed they started 
 
 571 
 
 back from the mainland toward camp. 
 Just as they stepped upon the ice it 
 broke loose from its moorings and be- 
 gan to drift out from the shore. The 
 boy, quick-witted and alert, immediate- 
 ly dropped his bundle of wood and 
 leaped ashore across the crevice in the 
 ice. The father-in-law hesitated a mo- 
 ment and in that moment the gap 
 widened too much to over-leap. He 
 paused in hesitation, for the waters 
 were black and forbidding in their dead- 
 ly chill. The boy shouted to the older 
 man to leap in and swim to shore, as 
 that was his only chance for life. But 
 the old man still delayed. Then the lad 
 began to cry out in earnest entreaty for 
 his father-in-law to leap, as it was his 
 only chance to be saved from a dreadful 
 death. The older man seemed paralyzed 
 with fear and indecision. He began to 
 call out farewell messages for his wife 
 and children across the watery waste 
 now rapidly widening as the wind kept 
 drifting the great ice-floe out into the 
 darkness. The last the boy saw him he 
 was standing with outstretched hands 
 drifting to death in the bitter cold and 
 darkness of the night. He perished a 
 victim of deadly indecision. “How shall 
 we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
 tion?”’—James H. McConkey. 
 
 — 1178 — 
 NEED INSPIRES ENERGY. 
 
 After Sir Colin Campbell’s silent re- 
 treat from Lucknow in the last Indian 
 War, Captain Waterman was left be- 
 hind. He had gone to his bed in a retired 
 corner of the brigade mess-house and 
 having over-slept himself was forgotten. 
 At two o’clock in the morning to his 
 great horror he found all was deserted 
 and silent, and that he was alone in an 
 open entrenchment with 15,000 furious 
 barbarians outside. Frightened, he took 
 to his heels and ran himself nearly out 
 of breath, until he overtook the retiring 
 rear guard, mad with excitement and 
 breathless with fatigue. But was not 
 his earnestness reasonable, seeing he 
 realized his danger? And if uncon- 
 verted sinners realized their danger, 
 would they not be desperately in ear- 
 nest?—A. Tucker. 
 
5727, 
 
 | yb yas ye 
 HOLDING THE LINE. 
 
 “Have you found a diamond pendant, 
 which I feel sure I dropped in your hall 
 last night?” 
 
 So telephoned a lady a few days ago 
 to the business manager of a large con- 
 cert hall. 
 
 “Not yet found,” was the reply, “but 
 search is being made. Please hold the 
 line.” 
 
 The trinket, a valuable, first quality 
 diamond, was finally found; but when 
 the manager returned to the telephone 
 the call had been cut off. For some 
 time he waited, but no fresh application 
 was made; and as, in the first instance, 
 the lady had given no name or address, 
 he could only have recourse to adver- 
 tising in the papers, still, when I last 
 heard, in vain. 
 
 As I read of this instance, the thought 
 arose that too often we thus act con- 
 cerning our requests to our Father in 
 Heaven. We turn to Him in our trou- 
 bles, trials, difficulties, needs, according 
 to His gracious invitation; and then 
 sometimes, weary of waiting, our faith 
 and hope give way, and we fail to 
 “hold the line;” so that when the full- 
 ness of time is come to grant what we 
 desire, we are not there to receive it, 
 to our own great loss and the dishon- 
 oring of our faithful God. Yet how re- 
 peatedly we are bidden in this all-im- 
 portant matter of prayer to “wait pa- 
 tiently for him” and surely His call to 
 such exercise of trustful patience is no 
 small part of His gracious dealing with 
 His praying people. “The preparation 
 of the heart is of God.”—The Christian. 
 
 — 1180 — 
 
 “MIND THE LIGHT!” 
 
 _Many years ago, Jacob Walker and 
 his young wife kept the lighthouse at 
 Sandy Hook. It was on the bluff, high 
 above the water, and was the home of 
 its keeper. Mrs. Walker had fa fine 
 garden back of the lighthouse, and was 
 delighted with the situation. But Jacob 
 Was a government employe, and finally 
 the summons came for him to take 
 charge of the lighthouse on Robbin’s 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 Reef in New York Bay. So sorry was 
 Mrs. Walker to leave her old home, and 
 beautiful garden, and take up her resi- 
 dence on that bit of rock entirely sur- 
 rounded by water, that for a long time 
 she refused to unpack her trunks and 
 make that desolate place her home. But 
 gradually she became reconciled to her 
 lot, and at last the place became home 
 to her. But one chill day Jacob became 
 so ill with a bad cold that he had to be 
 removed to a Staten Island hospital. As 
 he was put into the boat which sturdy 
 arms were to row to the mainland, his 
 parting words to his faithful wife were: 
 “Mind the Light!” 
 
 At the hospital he developed pneu- 
 monia, and a few days later she heard 
 out of the darkness voices calling her: 
 “Mrs. Walker, we have bad news for 
 you. Jacob has passed away!” 
 
 She became his successor, nor did she 
 forget his final admonition: “Mind the 
 Light!” For thirty-four years she kept 
 that light burning. And in early morn- 
 ing or gathering twilight, as she from 
 the porthole gazed upon Jacob’s hillside 
 grave, she seemed to hear him say: 
 “Mind the Light!” 
 
 Christ calls His followers “the light 
 of the world.” Christian! You are like 
 the lighthouse on a storm-swept coast. 
 By the beams of your light imperiled 
 souls on life’s sea are making the har- 
 bor: “Mind the Light!’—Rev. Henry 
 M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1181 — 
 RIDING ON: THE PLATFORM. 
 
 A writer in the “Messenger” tells the 
 following: 
 
 “The best illustration I ever heard, 
 showing the disadvantage of living a 
 Christian life outside the church, was 
 given me by a young convert whom I 
 had recently received into oyr church. 
 I expressed my pleasure in the step he 
 had taken when he replied: ‘I had not 
 made up my mind to join when I came 
 to the meeting tonight, but while you 
 were talking, I thought it was just like 
 buying a ticket to Chicago and then 
 riding on the platform. I thought I 
 might as well go inside’.”—-Rev. H. F. 
 Sayles. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1182 — 
 DOUBLE-TONGUED. 
 
 During the Civil War in America, 
 three Northern officers were appointed 
 on a commission with three Southern 
 officers, after the battle of Prairie Grove, 
 to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. 
 While the commission was sitting, an 
 aged farmer strayed into the room, 
 thinking it was the provost’s office. His 
 eyes were dim, but he quickly noticed 
 the uniforms, and supposing himself in 
 the presence of the Northern staff, be- 
 gan protesting his loyalty to the Union. 
 One of the officers facetiously advised 
 him to be cautious, and pointing to the 
 Southern officers, told him to look at 
 them. 
 
 The old man put on his spectacles, 
 and recognizing the uniforms, explained 
 that his heart was with the South in the 
 great struggle, and that his only son 
 was a soldier in the Southern Army. 
 Gazing around the room he recognized 
 the Northern uniforms also, and was be- 
 wildered. At last he leaned both hands 
 on the table, and surveying the entire 
 party he said: “Well, gentlemen, this 
 is a little mixed; but you just go on and 
 fight it out among yourselves. I can 
 live under any government.”’—Christian 
 Herald. 
 
 — 1183 — 
 TRAPPED! 
 
 A Boston shoplifter was caught in a 
 comical way. He had stolen a muff in 
 a department store, and ran with it to 
 the escalators; but instead of boarding 
 the one going down, in his haste he took 
 the ascending stairway. He tried hard 
 to run down, but was confronted by the 
 ascending passengers, while all the time 
 the merciless steps were rising. Finally, 
 in spite of his frantic efforts, he was 
 borne back to the head of the stairs 
 again, where he found a policeman 
 awaiting him. 
 
 This is just a picture of the difficult 
 ways of sinners. They try to escape 
 with their booty, but they find all the 
 ways of providence running against 
 them. Everything conspires to their 
 discovery. | 
 
 “Be sure your sin will find you out.” 
 
 573 
 
 The sinner is his own detective. If there 
 is no policeman at hand he will arrest 
 himself. If the police-wagon is out of 
 commission he will run to the court- 
 room. Remorse is sterner than any 
 judge, and a guilty conscience is more 
 terrible than any prison. 
 
 Be certain of this: If you sin the en- 
 tire universe will become an escalator, 
 going the wrong way.—Amos R. Wells. 
 
 — 1184 — 
 
 RENEWED DAY BY DAY. 
 
 One morning Donald observed that 
 the big clock was striking the hour very 
 slowly, and heard his Uncle John re- 
 mark: “Sounds as if the striking part 
 of it is nearly run down.” Donald not 
 only saw him wind it but did not forget. 
 
 The following Sunday morning while 
 his uncle was reading the paper, his 
 wife came in and inquired if he was go- 
 ing to church. He replied very slowly: 
 “Oh, I—I suppose so.” Donald eyed 
 him wonderingly as he remarked: 
 “Why, Uncle John, that sounds as if the 
 meeting side of you is nearly run down! 
 Is it?” Aunt Hannah laughed, and 
 Uncle John flushed as he threw the pa- 
 per aside, saying: “Maybe it is Donald. 
 But we'll wind it up again and get a 
 little stronger movement. Neither 
 clocks nor people are of much use when 
 the springs that ought to keep them go- 
 ing are neglected.”—Forward. 
 
 — 1185 — 
 
 SECRET DISCIPLES. 
 
 The boy was expressing the opinion 
 of many older than himself when he 
 said to his mother: “I should like to be 
 just such a Christian as father is, for no 
 one can tell whether he is a Christian 
 or not.” This father is like the clock 
 attached to a certain church, which pos- 
 sessed neither face nor hands, but which 
 was wound up by the sexton on Sun- 
 days and continued to tick year after 
 year, affording an apt illustration of the 
 religion which many are content to pos- 
 sess. The movements of the clock were 
 as regular and accurate as ariyone could 
 desire, but inasmuch as it kept the time 
 to itself, no one was the better for its 
 existence.—C. H. Robinson, D.D. 
 
574° 
 
 — 1186 — 
 A STUPID GATEKEEPER. 
 
 Dr. Walter Elliott, a missionary in 
 China, had a stupid gatekeeper to guard 
 the entrance to the compound and wel- 
 come the Chinese who came to see the 
 preacher. Jow—for that was his name 
 —could not read. Worse than that, he 
 could not tell one Chinese character from 
 another. He spent all his spare time, 
 indeed, in drawing Chinese hiero- 
 glyphics on the ground by the gate with 
 a pointed stick. “Jesus wrote on the 
 ground, you say, and I guess I can, too,” 
 was his reply to all who laughed at him, 
 writes Edward L. Whitney in the “S. S. 
 Advocate.” 
 
 The missionary had chosen Jow 
 against everybody’s advice. “Get a 
 scholar, for your gatekeeper,” people 
 had said, “one who by his learning will 
 command the respect of the proud 
 Chinese literati who may come to your 
 door. To see a numskull like Jow there 
 —a man who cannot read—will preju- 
 dice them against you finally.” But Dr. 
 Elliott knew of no scholarly Chinese 
 who loved Jesus as Jow did, even though 
 Jow had no idea whether a book was 
 upside down or not and could not tell 
 one character from another. Jow was 
 by nature a “truth-seeker,” as the Mis- 
 sionaries call it—a rare quality in the 
 East. 
 
 Before he came to sit at the mission 
 gate Jow had sought truth in all kinds 
 of places. He had made pilgrimages 
 under Buddhist teaching and had done 
 penance; he had visited many noted 
 Taoist temples, and paid tribute to their 
 greedy priests. But nowhere could he 
 find truth, until one day, up in a moun- 
 tain village on the borders of Honan 
 Province he heard a native Christian 
 preacher. As he listened he said to him- 
 self, “That at last is the truth!” 
 
 He followed the preacher to the vil- 
 lage inn and questioned him. Sitting 
 by the feeble light of a wick of pith float- 
 ing in a saucer of peanut oil, the preach- 
 er, who was also a Bible colporter, ex- 
 plained how the Gospel message was 
 contained in the “Sacred Classics,” as 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 the Chinese call the Bible. Jow had only 
 one hundred and fifty brass “cash’— 
 equal to five cents in American money— 
 in the world. He paid them over 
 promptly for a copy of the New Testa- 
 ment. He could not read a word, so 
 everybody thought him more _ stupid 
 than ever for such a purchase. But Jow 
 did not care. He went about with his 
 book, asking people what the characters 
 meant, and in a few weeks he had 
 learned the characters of the Lord’s 
 prayer after some queer fashion of his 
 own. 
 
 He soon found the missionaries and 
 offered himself as their gatekeeper. All 
 day long he wrote characters in the sand 
 in the intervals of his duties, and learned 
 them. He marked the hieroglyphics of 
 his book after a memory system which 
 he had invented. The missionary, talk- 
 ing to him about it, was surprised at its 
 simplicity and value. The language has 
 fifty thousand separate characters, but 
 only four hundred and eighteen sounds. 
 Jow was learning and noting down the 
 sounds. By the end of the summer he 
 could puzzle out all the New Testament 
 in this way, and became thoroughly fa- 
 miliar with it. 
 
 Within a year Jow’s ignorance had be- 
 come knowledge. The stupid peasant at 
 the gate was transformed into a teacher 
 of others. Around him a nightly Bible 
 class gradually sprang up, with mer- 
 chants, laboring men, soldiers, and even 
 school-teachers among its members. 
 Often it was midnight before they scat- 
 tered, and then, very often, Jow would 
 spend the hours until dawn praying for 
 each of them by name, that they might 
 learn “wondrous things out of the law.” 
 The first convert from this class of 
 Jow’s was Jen, the city school-teacher, 
 and others soon followed. 
 
 The young man whom people thought 
 too stupid to keep the mission gate be- 
 came in the end a flaming evangelist, 
 respected by all his townsmen and recog- 
 nized as an upright, intelligent, and 
 powerful member of the community. 
 Was not the missionary wise in choos- 
 ing him rather than an _ educated 
 heathen? And is not the whole true 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 story only a modern instance of how 
 God can use the weak things of the 
 world and transform any soul dedicated 
 to His service?—The Christian. 
 
 — 1187 — 
 THE BIBLE AS A SOURCE. 
 
 A Brahmin in Mysore, India, was led 
 by the Holy Spirit to inquire into the 
 truth of Christianity. He read the 
 Scriptures and tracts very eagerly. He 
 was deeply impressed with Pilgrim’s 
 Progress. “That book is better than the 
 Bible,” said he. His teacher, a mission- 
 ary, did not think it wise to give a direct 
 contradiction to that statement, but 
 taught the difference by a sort of par- 
 able. Pointing to a scene before him, 
 he said, “Do you see that beautiful 
 mango tree there?” 
 
 “Yes,” was the answer. : 
 
 “Don’t you see the beautiful fruit, 
 which drops its nectar upon the 
 ground?” 
 
 eVect 
 
 “Do you eat the fruit, and enjoy its 
 Sweetness?” 
 
 “Ves,”’ 
 
 “And where would that tree be if it 
 had no root?” 
 
 “Oh,” said the man, “now I see what 
 you mean; the Bible is the root, and all 
 other good books in the world spring 
 from it.” 
 
 He never afterwards said that any 
 book was better than the Bible. It 
 pleased God to so bless the teaching of 
 his own Word, that this poor man be- 
 came a humble and earnest Christian, 
 and his own son and daughter grew up 
 to be useful workers among the heathen 
 around, 
 
 — 1188 — 
 SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER. 
 
 Mr. Meyer said that one time when 
 he was pastor at Leicester there was a 
 strike. The working people smashed 
 and ruined homes in their riot. One day 
 they threatened to come into a house 
 where there was a big brother riveting 
 shoes in the attic upstairs and a little 
 fellow downstairs. The little fellow 
 
 975 
 
 feared they were going to break the 
 house open. He went to the stairs and 
 calied his big brother: 
 
 “Tom, Tom, they are going to smash 
 this door open! Hurry up and come 
 down.” 
 
 Tom was a strong, well-built man, and 
 he came down and put his big body 
 against the door and said: 
 
 “Now, youngster, you go on with 
 your game. All the rioters in Leicester 
 can’t break this door open when 
 brother Tom stands against it.” 
 
 “And so,” said Mr. Meyer, “the Devil 
 often wants to come back into this house 
 of mine, and I am afraid of him and 
 when he comes along and swears he will 
 take me by force, I go to the foot of the 
 ascension ladder and cry: 
 
 “*Christ, Christ, stronger than the 
 strong man armed, make haste and come 
 down! The Devil is going to get me!’ 
 
 “And He seems to come,” said Mr. 
 Meyer, “like the lightning flash and puts 
 himself against the door of my heart, 
 and ali hell can’t break the door open.” 
 —William E. Biederwolf. 
 
 ae TR 
 
 INFLUENCE AFTER DEATH. 
 
 It is related of a broker in one of the 
 Italian cities that his® strict economy 
 brought on him the reputation of miser- 
 liness. He lived plainly and poorly, 
 and at his death a hundred thousand 
 men in the city were ready to curse him 
 until his will was opened, in which he 
 declared that early his heart was 
 touched with the sufferings of the poor 
 in the city for lack of water. Springs 
 there were none, and the public wells 
 were bad, and he had spent his life ac- 
 cumulating a fortune that should be de- 
 voted to bringing by an aqueduct from 
 the neighboring mountains, streams 
 that should pour abundantly into the 
 baths and dwellings of the poor of the 
 city; and he not only denied himself of 
 many of the comforts of life, but toiled 
 by day and by night, yea, and bore ob- 
 loguy, that he might bless his fellow- 
 citizens. He is dead; but those streams 
 pour their health yet into the city— 
 H. W. Beecher. 
 
576 
 
 © m= 1190 — 
 A SHELTER AND AN ENRICHER. 
 
 A tourist relates how he once came 
 upon a village which nestled at the 
 foot of a great mountain. He asked the 
 villagers if they had many storms there. 
 Yes, they replied, if there is a storm any- 
 where in the neighborhood it seems to 
 findus. Oursis the highest of the moun- 
 tains, and it attracts the rainclouds. 
 Have you many accidents from light- 
 ning? he asked. None, was the answer. 
 We have seen the lightning strike the 
 mountain many a time, but no one in 
 the village is ever touched by it. We 
 have the thunder, which shakes our 
 homes, and then we have the rains, 
 which fill our gardens with the beauty 
 which everyone admires, but the light- 
 ning never touches us. 
 
 This is a parable of what God in 
 Christ is to all who believe in Him. He 
 is the mountain on which the storms 
 break. He shelters His own. He bears 
 their sorrows and their griefs. He keeps 
 them safe from every threatening dan- 
 ger. And He enriches their lives. He 
 is the means of the healthful spirit of 
 grace being poured upon them.—H. T. 
 Dixon. 
 
 — 119i — 
 LACK OF LOVE. 
 
 A friend of mine employed for five 
 years an ex-convict who had seemed to 
 be converted, and during that time this 
 man handled twenty-four thousand dol- 
 lars a year of his employer’s money 
 without the misappropriation of a cent. 
 At the close of that time my friend, 
 not having need for him, told his 
 whole story to a gentleman in another 
 city who needed such a helper, and who 
 received this former convict into his 
 employ. Inside of three weeks he was 
 arrested for stealing from his new em- 
 ployer. And when my friend finally 
 heard of it he went to see him in the 
 jail, and said to him: “Ike, how is it that 
 when you worked for me you could be 
 trusted with anything, and as soon as 
 you came into this new employment you 
 went back to your old dishonest life?” 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 The man burst into tears and said: “I 
 couldn’t help it. He suspected me, and 
 I had to steal!”——B, Fay Mills. 
 
 — 1192 — 
 WORKING AT THE KEYHOLE. 
 
 A blessed work of grace had been 
 going on in various parts of Scotland. 
 Many had accepted God’s “great salva- 
 tion” and rejoiced in their newly-found 
 Saviour. Among these was a Mr. Mur- 
 ray, an office-bearer in one of the 
 churches, and for fifty years a professor 
 of religion without, however, the “one 
 thing needful.” One day as Mr. Mur- 
 ray was reading a gospel paper, he came 
 across the following statement: “The 
 Gospel brings us not a work to do, but 
 a word to believe about a work done.” 
 “I see it all,” said he to his wife. “I 
 have been working away at the keyhole, 
 and the door has been open all the time. 
 My fifty years’ profession goes for noth- 
 ing, and I get salvation through simply 
 accepting Christ.”—-Love Wins. 
 
 — 1193 —— 
 THE BROKEN HOUSE OF LIFE. 
 
 When the carriage swerved to the left 
 of the road, something crashed under the 
 rolling wheels. It was near a farm- 
 house, and the driver asked: 
 
 “What was that?” 
 
 “It was a toy of some kind,” said his 
 wife. 
 
 He looked back and saw a little boy 
 crying over the broken wooden box that 
 had been his toy house. 
 
 The thought of the child’s sorrow lay 
 heavy on the man’s heart until he gave 
 a fine new toy house to replace the poor 
 little one he had ruined. 
 
 Years aiter, on his deathbed, he called 
 the scene to his wife’s remembrance. 
 
 “I am being crushed by the wheels 
 of death,” he said, “but this thing will 
 lie heavy on the heart of God till he 
 comes to replace my broken house of 
 life; for we know that if our earthly 
 house of this tabernacle were dissolved, 
 we have a building of God, an house not 
 made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens.”—Arthur Wentworth Hewitt. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —1194— 
 THE WATCH AND ITS CASE. 
 
 A clergyman once tried to teach some 
 children that the soul would live after 
 they were all dead. They listened, but 
 evidently did not understand. Taking 
 out his watch, he said: “What is this?” 
 
 “A watch, sir.” 
 
 “How do you know it is a watch?” 
 
 “Because we see it and hear it tick.” 
 
 “Very well.” 
 
 He then took off the case and held it 
 in one hand, and the watch in the other. 
 “Now, children, which is the watch? 
 You see there are two which look like 
 watches. Now I will lay the case aside, 
 put it away down here in my hat. Now, 
 let us see if you can hear the watch 
 ticking.” 
 
 “Yes, sir, we hear it,” exclaimed sev- 
 eral voices. 
 
 “Well, the watch can tick, go, and 
 keep time, as you see, when the case is 
 taken off and put in my hat, just as well. 
 So it is with you children. Your body 
 is nothing but the case; the body may 
 be taken off and buried in the ground, 
 and the soul will live just as this watch 
 will go when the case is taken off.”— 
 Selected. 
 
 — 1195 — 
 CAPTURED BY FRIENDS. 
 
 An escaped prisoner in the Civil War 
 wandered for many days and nights, 
 seeking the Union lines. At last, in the 
 dusk of the early twilight, he came to a 
 camp which he supposed belonged to 
 the Confederates. Before he knew it he 
 was surrounded by the pickets and cap- 
 tured, to be hurried back to prison, as 
 he thought. But what was his surprise 
 and joy, on looking a little closer, to 
 find that it was the Union blue, and not 
 the Confederate gray. He had been 
 captured by his friends. 
 
 When he thought his friends were far 
 away they were all about him. Oh, 
 wanderer and fugitive from God, lift up 
 your eyes, the hosts of your friends sur- 
 yound you. Jesus Christ is by your side. 
 The Holy Spirit is hovering over you. 
 The opening of your spiritual eyes will 
 reveal it all.—Francis E. Clark, 
 
 577 
 
 — 1196 — 
 GHANDI?S TESTIMONY TO 
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 The Dean of Bristol has told a striking 
 story of Mr. Ghandi. After one of his 
 foreign tours, as a champion of Indian 
 interests, he was received by a tremend- 
 ous meeting of people in Calcutta. He 
 was the popular hero of the day, and the 
 place was crowded with 15,000 Bengalis 
 who came to welcome him. My friend 
 was the one Englishman present. For 
 three hours the orators of Bengal spoke 
 in praise of themselves and Mr. Ghandi; 
 and then came the great moment, when 
 Mr. Ghandi rose, and all this vast as- 
 sembly settled themselves, waiting for 
 their great orator to speak. His speech 
 consisted of one sentence, and one sen- 
 tence alone: “The Man to whom I owe 
 most, and to whom all India owes most, 
 is a Man who never set his foot in India 
 —and that was Christ.” And then he 
 sat down. 
 
 eh Es es 
 DAVID BRAINERD PRAYED. 
 
 In passing through Northampton, I 
 went into the old cemetery, swept off 
 the snow that lay on the slab, and I 
 read these simple words: “Sacred to 
 the memory of David Brainerd the 
 faithful and devoted missionary to the 
 Sesquehanna, Delaware, and Stock- 
 bridge Indians of America, who died in 
 this town age thirty-four years, October 
 8, 1847.” That was all there was. 
 
 Now that man did his greatest work 
 by prayer. He was in the depths of 
 those forests alone, unable to speak the 
 language of the Indians, but he spent 
 whole days literally in prayer. What 
 was he praying for? He knew that he 
 could not reach these savages: he did 
 not understand their language. If he 
 wanted to speak at all he must get 
 somebody who could vaguely interpret 
 his thought; therefore he knew that 
 anything he should do must be abso- 
 lutely dependent upon the power of God. 
 So he spent whole days in praying, that 
 the power of the Holy Ghost might come 
 upon him so unmistakably that these 
 
578 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 people should not be able to stand be- 
 fore him. What was his answer? Once 
 he preached through a drunken inter- 
 preter, a man so intoxicated that he 
 could hardly stand up. That was the 
 best he could do. Yet scores were con- 
 verted through that sermon. We can 
 account for it only that it was the tre- 
 mendous power of God behind him. 
 
 That man prayed in secret in the 
 forest, and a little while after, William 
 Carey read his life, and he was so moved 
 by it that he went to India. Henry 
 Martyn read his life, and by its irapulse 
 he went to India. Payson read it, as a 
 young man of twenty years, and he said 
 he had never been so impressed by any- 
 thing in his life as by that story. Mur- 
 ray McCheyne read it, and was power- 
 fully moved by it. 
 
 Let me simply enforce this thought, 
 that the hidden life, a life whose days 
 are spent in communion with God in 
 trying to reach the Source of power, is 
 the life that moves the world. Those 
 living such lives may soon be forgotten. 
 There may be no one to speak a eulogy 
 over them when they are dead. The 
 great world may take no account of 
 them. But, by-and-by, the great moving 
 current of their lives will begin to be 
 felt as in the case of this young man 
 who died when only a little over thirty 
 years of age—Unknown. 
 
 — 1198 — 
 
 THE HELP OF HABIT. 
 
 A few years ago the Twentieth Cen- 
 tury Limited went into the ditch. The 
 engineer was killed with many others. 
 It was found that in the moment before 
 the engineer was killed he had turned 
 off steam, put on brakes, reversed the 
 lever, and turned on the sand. He was 
 so trained that these acts were auto- 
 matic. That training combined early 
 study of his task with long experience. 
 It also meant a high sense of responsi- 
 bility and loyalty. A minister’s training 
 and efficiency are infinitely more import- 
 ant than those of an engineer so far as 
 human values are concerned. Auburn 
 Seminary is giving that training.— 
 Chapel Bell. 
 
 — 1199 — 
 FRANCIS MURPHY & SONS. 
 
 There was no capital, in the market 
 sense, behind this firm, and no specula- 
 tive luck started its wonderful story, but 
 it brought honourable fame to its man- 
 agers, and large and lasting profits to a 
 multitude of persons dealing with it in 
 America, and in England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland. ‘The head and founder of the 
 firm was as low down as any man of his 
 day. He was only sober when in prison, 
 and had given up hope of being any- 
 thing better than a bit of social wreck- 
 age. 
 
 capede Sturdevant, who was sure 
 that Jesus Christ could and would save 
 anyone who trusted Him, visited the 
 prison during Francis Murphy’s latest 
 detention. Putting his hand on the 
 criminal sot’s shoulder, he said cheerily, 
 “Mr. Murphy, trust in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and you will be all right yet.” 
 The first word was the strangest he 
 had heard for years. “He called me 
 Mr. Murphy,” mused the sot; “the man 
 who talks of Jesus Christ thinks there’s 
 still a chance for me!” 
 
 Murphy knelt in prayer with this 
 new friend, and, like a drowning man, 
 grasped the unseen hand of the greater 
 Friend he heard of. He became the 
 Moody of his day, bringing peace, purity 
 and power to many thousands in his 
 own and other countries. His sons 
 caught the flame from his ministry. Ned 
 was in a great crowd waiting for his 
 father, and for the first time opened his 
 mouth in public to explain the delay; 
 but he went on to tell the Gospel which 
 he too had learned, and forthwith found 
 himself an effective partner in the work 
 of evangelism. The other son, William, 
 proclaimed the same great message in 
 the Middle States, and added about sixty 
 thousand members to the churches of 
 that part of America. 
 
 The explanation of that vast sum of 
 reformation and of happiness is in the 
 name of Jesus—“The Saviour,” the only 
 Saviour—as able to save the reader to- 
 day as He was to save Francis Murphy 
 one day long ago, in a New York jail.— 
 Wm, A. Sunday Association. 
 
 - 
 — oe 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 = 1200 — 
 “SUCCESS” AND SERVICE 
 
 Two middle-aged graduates of an 
 Eastern college met in Washington not 
 long ago, and one of them, a teacher- 
 missionary home from South America 
 on vacation, said to the other: “When 
 we were in college together you said you 
 intended to become a United States 
 Senator, and here you are. You have 
 succeeded.” 
 
 “Yes,” replied the other a bit sadly, 
 “when I was a boy I made up my mind 
 to become a minister to a European 
 country, and to reach the Senate. I have 
 realized both my ambitions, but I have 
 missed the satisfaction I expected to 
 find. Fame and honors are as a 
 squeezed orange.” 
 
 In telling of the incident later, the 
 teacher-missionary said: “When I left 
 my post in South America a few months 
 ago to come home for a year, 200 of the 
 people came to the pier to see me off, 
 and many of them were weeping in the 
 fear I would not return.. I have very 
 little money, and scarcely know how I 
 shall manage from month to month; but 
 in spite of that, I prefer my position as 
 a teacher and helper to these poor people 
 who depend upon me, to that of my 
 famous classmate in the United States 
 Senate.”—McNaught’s Monthly. 
 
 — 1201— 
 THE WORLD OVERCAME 
 
 A revival was in progress in a school 
 in Kentucky. Among,the students was 
 a young man of extraordinary promise. 
 He had the premonition that if he should 
 surrender himself to Christ he must be- 
 come a minister. The world flattered 
 his ambition and held out to him most 
 tempting inducements. He might be- 
 come one of the most celebrated orators 
 of the land, brilliant at the bar, dis- 
 tinguished as a statesman. Could he 
 bring all his ambitions, his longings for 
 fame, and sacrifice them on the altar of 
 duty? One evening he was kneeling 
 with others for prayer. Petitions of 
 special fervency were offered for him. 
 
 579 
 
 He sprang to his feet and fled the room. 
 He afterward said he felt that if he 
 stayed until that prayer was concluded, 
 he must decide for Christ and abandon 
 all his projects. He chose the world. 
 At the age of thirty he was in public 
 life, and at forty he had become cele- 
 brated throughout the country as an 
 orator; yes, and as a drunkard, too. He 
 characterized his appetite as a “hot, 
 feverish thirst, a horrible yearning after 
 the distillations from the alembic of hel) 
 which scorch the throat and consume 
 the vitals with fires kindled for eternity.” 
 Quite different, this, from “the sweet 
 comfort and peace” from which he 
 turned away. Not long previous to his 
 death he confessed to a Presbyterian 
 clergyman with whom he had a life-long 
 acquaintance, that he understood only 
 too well that there was neither hope nor 
 mercy for him. So died Tom Marshall, 
 the once praised and petted Tom Mar- 
 shall, a drunken pauper, and he is said 
 to have been buried in the potter’s field, 
 an object at once of pity and general 
 detestation. An instance of the conflict 
 between the world and faith, in which 
 faith did not overcome—Wm. H. 
 Bates, D.D. 
 — 1202 — 
 DEFLECTING THE HEART. 
 
 Captain Scott, in “The Voyage of the 
 Discovery,” tells of the immense care 
 that was taken by the magnetic experts 
 on board to banish alliron and steel from 
 the vicinity of the magnetic observatory. 
 Everything within thirty feet of the ob- 
 servatory had to be made of brass, lead, 
 hemp, or some other non-magnetic ma- 
 terial. These regulations secured the 
 accuracy of the magnetic observation. 
 
 But the motions of the heart are dis- 
 turbed by a bit of gold anywhere in its 
 neighborhood. The thought of gain 
 seems to mar and deflect the whole deli- 
 cate machinery of the moral sense. Let 
 a single yellow particle insinuate itself 
 too near the sacred circle of the con- 
 science, and the judgment is no longer 
 true to the eternal verities. We must 
 watch here lest greed should cause us to 
 forget honesty, fairness, brotherliness.—- 
 Watkinson. 
 
580 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —— 1203 — 
 WHAT FAITH WILL DO 
 
 When I first went to America, thirty- 
 one years ago, I crossed the Atlantic 
 with the captain of a steamer who was 
 one of the most devoted men I ever 
 knew; and when we were off the banks 
 of Newfoundland, he told me _ this 
 story: 
 
 Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed 
 here, five weeks ago, one of the most 
 extraordinary things happened, and it 
 has completely revolutionized the whole 
 of my Christian life. Up to that'time I 
 was one of your ordinary Christians. 
 
 We had a man of God on board, 
 George Muller, of Bristol. I had been 
 on the bridge for twenty-two hours, and 
 never left, when I was startled by some 
 one tapping me on the shoulder. It was 
 George Muller. “Captain,” he said, “I 
 have come to tell you that I must be in 
 Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” 
 
 This was Wednesday. 
 
 “It is impossible,” I said. 
 
 “Very well, if your ship can’t take me 
 God will find some other means of loco- 
 motion to take me. I have never 
 broken an engagement for fifty-seven 
 years.” 
 
 “TI would willingly help you. 
 can I? I am helpless.” 
 
 “Let us go down to the chart-room 
 and pray.” 
 
 I looked at the man of God, and I 
 thought to myself, what lunatic asylum 
 could the man have come from? I never 
 heard of such a thing. “Mr. Muller,” I 
 said, “do you know how dense this fog 
 isi. 
 
 “No,” he replied, “my eye is not on 
 the density of the fog, but on the living 
 God, who controls every circumstance 
 of my life.” 
 
 He went down on his knees, and 
 prayed one of the most simple prayers. 
 I muttered to myself, “That would suit 
 a children’s class, where the children 
 were not more than eight or nine years 
 of age.” The burden of his prayer was 
 something like this: “O Lord, if it is 
 consistent with thy will, please remove 
 this fog in five minutes. Thou knowest 
 
 How 
 
 the engagement thou madest for me in 
 Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is thy 
 will.” . 
 
 When he finished, I was going to 
 pray; but he put his hand on my 
 shoulder and told me not to pray. “First, 
 you do not believe he will; and second, 
 I believe he has, and there is no need 
 whatever for you to pray about it.” I 
 looked at him, and George Muller said 
 this: “Captain, I have known my Lord 
 for fifty-seven years, and there has never 
 been a single day that I have failed to 
 gain an audience with the King. Get 
 up, Captain, and open the door, and you 
 will find the fog is gone.” I got up and 
 the fog was gone!—C. Inglis. 
 
 oe eae 
 HE OVERCAME THE WORLD 
 
 A theological professor tells of a 
 young man of his acquaintance who 
 commenced his course of study with the 
 determination to distinguish himself at 
 the bar and in politics, and to acquire 
 wealth. The world made him large 
 promises. Christ called him. The 
 thought came, “If I serve Christ, He 
 may, and probably will require me to 
 preach the gospel; and if so, I must 
 renounce all my favorite plans. I can- 
 not do it: I will not give them up.” 
 With fearful violence the conflict be- 
 tween the claims of Christ and ambition 
 waged within him. Appetite and sleep 
 forsook him. The world pleaded, but 
 faith caught a glimpse of the invisible 
 and the eternal. Deliberately he laid 
 all on the altar ‘of sacrifice and en- 
 throned Christ in his heart. He became 
 a devoted and successful preacher of 
 the gospel. His faith overcame the 
 world.—Wm. H. Bates, D.D. 
 
 — 1205 — 
 FAITH AND FEELING. 
 
 Just in the proportion in which we be- 
 lieve that God will do just what He has 
 said is our faith strong or weak. Faith 
 has nothing to do with feelings or with 
 impressions. If we desire to couple 
 them with faith, then we are no longer 
 resting on the Word of God, because 
 faith needs nothing of the kind.—George 
 Muller. 
 
 Tor, “ee 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 = 1206 — 
 THE FAITH OF THE COAL 
 MINER’S WIFE. 
 
 Evangelist Hicks had been conducting 
 revival meetings in Coal Creek, Ten- 
 nessee, and was there in December, 
 1911, when the great gas explosion in 
 Cross Mountain Mine occurred. In 
 company with the Methodist pastor of 
 Coal Creek he visited the mine imme- 
 diately after the disaster, and. thus 
 describes what he saw: 
 
 ‘Such a scene I never expect to see 
 again this side the judgment! At one 
 end a woman sat on the ties of the tram- 
 way screaming, “O God, if he’d only 
 been ready to go!”’ Another stood near 
 
 her twisting the ropes, her face as pale 
 
 as death, not uttering a word. An old 
 man wearing a mackintosh walked up 
 and down the tramway crying, “My 
 God, my poor boy!” The people became 
 so frenzied that it was necessary to 
 make a door and put it over the mouth 
 of the mine lest some irresponsible per- 
 son should slip in. One poor fellow 
 rushed up to the door crying, “Let me 
 
 in! Let me in! I want to go to my 
 brother!” They led him away stark 
 mad. 
 
 After the men had been in the mine 
 two days, we gave up all hope that any 
 of them should come out alive. By and 
 by they began to bring out the dead. 
 Mr. Wood, a leader in our campaign, 
 went to his sister, Mrs. Henderson, 
 whose husband and boy were in the 
 mine, and asked her, “Where do you 
 want Bill and the boy buried when they 
 are brought out? I think they will 
 reach their entry to-day.” 
 
 “There'll be time enough to talk about 
 burying Bill and the boy when they are 
 dead,” she replied. He said, “Oh, you 
 might as well give up. They’re all 
 dead; they couldn’t possibly live in there 
 this long.” She looked at him for a 
 moment and answered, “Bill and my 
 boy are not dead; I haven’t been on my 
 knees two days and a haif for nothing.” 
 
 He thought she was going crazy. He 
 asked some neighbor woman to watch 
 her. Upon his own initiative he had the 
 
 581 
 
 graves dug where he thought he would 
 like to have them buried. 
 
 That night after supper Mrs. Hender- 
 son went into the kitchen and put some 
 water on to heat. The watchers asked 
 her what she was going to do. She 
 said, “I’m heating some water for Bill 
 and the boy to wash with when they 
 come out.” They said to her, “Mrs. 
 Henderson, they’ve had an explosion, 
 and they’re all killed; none of them will 
 come out alive.” “Oh,” she replied, “Bill 
 and my boy will be out before ten 
 o'clock to-night.” 
 
 Between nine and ten o’clock that 
 night, somewhere in the bowels of old 
 Cross Mountain a rescue party had their 
 lights go out. They were asking one 
 another for a light when a poor fellow 
 behind some boards and mud plaster 
 that had been put over an entry to keep 
 back the bad air shouted to them, “TI’ll 
 give you a light, if you’ll break down 
 these boards.” 
 
 Quickly they tore down the boards 
 and there stood Bill Henderson. He had 
 come down from a room a little farther 
 back where he, his boy and three 
 others had barricaded themselves, and 
 spent the hours fighting back the choke- 
 damp and praying. Most of them, not 
 expecting to get out alive, had written 
 farewell letters to their loved ones. 
 These five came out before ten o’clock 
 that night. Of the eighty-six souls that 
 went into Cross Mountain Mine on the 
 morning of the explosion they were the 
 only ones who came out alive.”—Rev. 
 Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
 — 1207 — 
 SATAN’S RIGHT-OF-WAY. 
 
 I found when studying law that there 
 was a law of “reserved right.” For in- 
 stance, suppose I should sell ten thou- 
 sand acres of land, and should retain one 
 acre in the center. I would have a right 
 to go over those 9,999 acres to get to 
 mine. One trouble with us is that we 
 reserve a room in our hearts which be- 
 longs to Satan, and he knows it and 
 uses his right-of-way.—Record of Chris- 
 tian Work. 
 
582 
 
 cme 1208 a= 
 MY CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 
 
 My mother, as I early learned from 
 aunts and others, was no ordinary 
 Christian. She was one who sought the 
 salvation of sinners, and, in the meet- 
 ings she attended, used to plead with 
 the impenitent to come to Jesus; and 
 she was instrumental in the conversion 
 of the young man who later became her 
 husband. 
 
 It seems my mother very early con- 
 secrated me to God, and to the ministry 
 of the gospel. For I have been tole that, 
 while yet a babe in her arms, she used 
 to call me her preacher. Her desire that 
 her children be used to extend the King- 
 
 dom of God was realized. Going to _ 
 
 heaven in her twenty-ninth year, she 
 left behind three children; a babe of five 
 weeks, the writer, a lad of two years, 
 and a daughter of five. By God’s grace, 
 and in answer to that devoted mother’s 
 prayers, her two sons became ministers 
 of the gospel, and the daughter a city 
 missionary. 
 
 Although not converted until my 
 twenty-second year, I had long a pre- 
 sentment that if I surrendered my heart 
 to God I would become a preacher. At 
 once, after my conversion, I became so 
 interested in the welfare of the unsaved 
 that it was a privilege to exhort them to 
 come to Christ; and at times I would go 
 to their homes to speak with them re- 
 garding matters of eternal importance. 
 
 I was a country school teacher; and 
 the winter of 1878, I taught the school 
 at Glenmark, near North Rose, N. Y. 
 The school was ungraded, and some of 
 my older pupils were nearly of my own 
 age. Availing myself of my privilege to 
 board around, I became well-acquainted 
 with many of the families of the district, 
 both with the parents and children. 
 
 This acquaintance with the people of 
 Glenmark doubtless helped to make me 
 the more interested in their religious 
 welfare. At any rate, the following sum- 
 mer, they were much on my mind, and 
 finally I began to feel that God would 
 have me go down there and hold some 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 meetings in their school house. 
 
 I had not yet become a member of any 
 church; but impelled solely by a desire 
 to see the cause of Christ flourish, fre- 
 quently I would drive four or five miles 
 in an evening to attend some school 
 house meeting, where, by prayer and 
 testimony I might be of some possible 
 help. I had never been in charge of 
 such a meeting, much less had I ever 
 attempted to preach; nor did I wish to 
 make a move in the direction of the min- 
 istry until fully convinced the Lord 
 would have me do so. While feeling 
 deeply my inefficiency, yet I did believe 
 that should God really call me to the 
 sacred work of the ministry, the call it- 
 self would be a guarantee of enabling 
 power. 
 
 As the summer advanced, heavier, 
 and heavier on my heart became the 
 burden for the people of Glenmark; and 
 I could not rid myself of the impression 
 that I should go there and have some 
 meetings. Because so doing would in- 
 volve my admission that I was called to 
 the ministry, I was unwilling to start 
 as a preacher until satisfied that the call 
 was from God. 
 
 Finally, one day about the middle of 
 July, while employed cultivating corn 
 for my uncle, whose land adjoined that 
 of Lewis Barrett, a local preacher of the 
 Methodist church, as I came up to the 
 fence separating the two farms, there I 
 found Mr. Barrett, and we engaged in 
 conversation. 
 
 After talking awhile, all at once he 
 said to me: “Brother Tyndall, don’t you 
 think you ought to go to Glenmark and 
 hold some meetings?” 
 
 Amazed at the question, for I had 
 mentioned to no one my feelings on the 
 subject, and being as yet unprepared to 
 answer the question, I dodged it, by re- 
 plying that no doubt the people there 
 needed badly enough the help of such 
 meetings. 
 
 After a little further talk, we sepa- 
 rated. But the first thing I did, on going 
 back to my work, was to kneel down 
 beside my cultivator, in the tall corn, 
 and tell the Lord if He wanted me to 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 go to Glenmark and try to preach, trust- 
 ing Him for help, I was willing to go. 
 
 With that decision, the joy of the 
 Lord possessed me, and I was happy at 
 the prospect of going. 
 
 The next time I saw Mr. Barrett I re- 
 minded him of his question, and told 
 him it was as the voice of God speaking 
 to my soul; that I had long been trou- 
 bled about going to Glenmark, and his 
 question had helped to bring me to a 
 decision. “All right,” said he, “I will 
 send down notice that I will preach 
 there next Sunday evening, and you go 
 with me, and I will announce that the 
 following Sunday evening you will 
 preach.” 
 
 And so it came about that I attempted 
 to preach my first sermon in Glenmark 
 in the summer of 1878. The text, most 
 assuredly the best part of the sermon, 
 was: “Acquaint now thyself with Him, 
 and be at peace; and thereby good shail 
 come unto thee.” The people were in- 
 terested in the service, and in subse- 
 quent meetings, and the speaker was not 
 disheartened, although no conversions, 
 so far as known, resulted. 
 
 Other school-house meetings were 
 held with encouraging results, and on 
 the 4th of January, 1880, having sought, 
 in my own home, and definitely received 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit, which I had 
 shortly before learned to be the privi- 
 lege of all believers (Acts 2:38; 19:2), a 
 revival broke out the next evening in 
 my “Spunk School House” meeting, in 
 Rose, which stirred the whole region 
 round about, and some seventy persons 
 were hopefully converted. 
 
 Not until after these meetings, which 
 continued nightly for eleven weeks, and 
 in which the power of God was marvel- 
 ously displayed, was I convinced that 
 the ministry was to be the work of my 
 life, and that I should accordingly pre- 
 pare myself for it. And in the many 
 happy years which have followed, I 
 have never doubted my “call,” and have 
 thanked God continually for the high 
 honor of being a preacher of the glori- 
 ous gospel of Christ—Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyndall. 
 
 583 
 
 i 1209 
 SOUL-WINNING POWER. 
 
 I attended a convention known as a 
 “Holy Spirit Convention.” Many of my 
 church members advised me against 
 going; they said it was a meeting of 
 cranks, and fanatics, and that one of my 
 enthusiastic nature could not afford to 
 go. But I had gotten the consent of my 
 mind that I might be used of God. 
 
 The first night of the convention a 
 brother spoke on the Holy Spirit from 
 the text, “Have ye received the Holy 
 Spirit since ye believed?” At once it 
 seemed to me the Lord said, “There is 
 your trouble,’ and, when he had fin- 
 ished, he made a call for those who 
 would surrender everything and come 
 out wholly for Christ, and by faith look 
 up and receive the promised power, to 
 come and kneel, and by faith accept. 
 This I did. It was a struggle, but it 
 was a victory. 
 
 When I went back to my seat a friend 
 asked me: “Have you received?” 
 
 I said, “Yes.” 
 
 He said, “How do you feel?” 
 
 I said, “I did not ask for feeling; I 
 was asking for the Holy Spirit.” 
 
 “How do you know you have any- 
 thing more than you have had?” 
 
 “I know it,” said I, “just as I know 
 I have Christ; I know it by faith.” 
 
 From that time forward God, the 
 Holy Ghost, has been more to me than 
 ever before. In the next four years God 
 gave me more than four hundred souls 
 to baptize into the fellowship of my 
 church.—Rev. Len G. Broughton. 
 
 — 1210 — 
 
 WHOSOEVER. 
 
 “T thank God for this word ‘whoso- 
 ever’,” remarked Richard Baxter. “Did 
 it read there is mercy for Richard Bax- 
 ter, I am so vile, so sinful, that I would 
 have thought it must have meant some 
 other Richard Baxter; but this word 
 ‘whosoever’ includes the worst of all the 
 Baxters that ever lived.’—Pres. C. G. 
 Finney. 
 
584 
 
 — 1211— 
 THE CONVERTED ACTRESS 
 
 The Episcopal Bishop of Michigan, 
 related the following incident to a large 
 audience in St. Louis, Mo.: A young 
 talented and tender-hearted actress was 
 passing along the street of a large city, 
 and seeing a pale, sick girl lying upon 
 a couch just within the half-open door 
 of a beautiful dwelling, she entered with 
 the thought that she might cheer, by her 
 vivacity and pleasant conversation, the 
 young invalid. ‘the sick girl was a 
 devoted Christian and her words, her 
 patience, her submission and heaven-lit 
 countenance so demonstrated the spirit 
 of her religion, that the actress was led 
 to give some earnest thought to the 
 claims of Christianity, and was thor- 
 oughly converted, and became a true 
 follower of Christ. She told her father, 
 the leader of the theater troupe, of her 
 conversation, and of her desire to aban- 
 don the stage, stating that she could not 
 live a consistent Christian life and fol- 
 low the life of an actress. Her father 
 was astonished beyond measure and told 
 his daughter that their living would be 
 lost to them and their business ruined, 
 if she persisted in her resolution; and, 
 loving her father dearly, she was shaken 
 somewhat in her purpose, and partially 
 consented to fill the published engage- 
 ment to be met in a few days. She was 
 the star of the troupe, and a favorite. 
 Every preparation was made for the 
 play in which she was to appear. The 
 evening came, and the father was re- 
 joiced that he had won back his 
 daughter, and that their living was not 
 to be lost. The hour arrived; a large 
 audience had assembled. The curtains 
 rose, and the young actress stepped 
 firmly forward amid the applause of the 
 multitude. But an unwonted light 
 beamed from her beautiful face. Amid 
 the breathless silence of the audience, 
 she repeated: 
 
 “My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou 
 art mine, 
 
 For Thee all the pleasures of sin I 
 resign; 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art 
 
 Thou, 
 
 If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis 
 now.” 
 
 This was all. Through Christ she had 
 conquered, and, leaving her audience in 
 tears, she retired from the stage never to 
 appear upon it again. ‘Through her 
 influence, her father was converted; and 
 through their united evangelistic labor 
 many were converted to God.—Un- 
 known. 
 
 — 1212 — 
 
 BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE. 
 
 Fire on the farm of George Thurman, 
 five miles north of Pomona, California, 
 brought him singular good fortune. To 
 stop the progress of the fiery monster 
 which was fast devouring his stubble 
 field, he ploughed a furrow, and in doing 
 so he turned up a tin can, which would 
 hold about half a gallon. He found, up- 
 on opening it, a large quantity of gold, 
 both coin and nuggets. The total value 
 of the find was something near seven 
 thousand dollars. Many, in reviewing 
 their lives, find abundant cause for 
 thanking God for the times when the 
 fires threatened them. In seeking some- 
 thing to quench it, they found much 
 more than they sought for—blessings of 
 inestimable value, that otherwise would 
 have lain hidden and unpossessed. 
 
 wu soiges 
 SURE OF HIS PLACE. 
 
 The late Dr. John McFerrin, who in 
 his day was a tower of strength among 
 the Methodists of the South, was lying 
 on his deathbed calmly awaiting the 
 summons to come up higher. His son, 
 who had charge of a circuit twenty 
 miles away, was at his bedside, and 
 when Saturday came was reluctant to 
 leave his dying father. Whereupon the 
 venerable minister said: “My son, I feel 
 a little stronger, and you had better re- 
 turn and fill your appointment to-mor- 
 row. If while you are away, John, I 
 should happen to slip off, you know 
 where to find me.”—The Sunday Circle. 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —1214— 
 
 SABBATH PLEASURING. 
 
 My experience in the ministry thus 
 far has not been extensive. Only three 
 years ago I came to my first charge. 
 But my observations have made me ap- 
 prehensive when I see people neglecting 
 the means of grace. When people neg- 
 lect the Bible, give up prayer, and are 
 indifferent to the services of worship, 
 
 they are turning away from the con-- 
 
 ditions of spiritual growth. And they 
 most certainly are not climbing heav- 
 enward. 
 
 What is this that the Dean of Syra- 
 cuse University tells us in a recent ad- 
 dress? Only one person out of twenty 
 in New York State attends church on 
 Sunday. Where are the others? Go to 
 the pleasure resorts, the movies, the 
 theatres, the crowded highways, and you 
 will find them. We are becoming a na- 
 tion of Sabbath breakers. 
 
 The greatest menace to the welfare 
 of our country is not the Communist 
 organizations here and there in our 
 cities. The Communists are not laying 
 the foundations of anarchy and chaos 
 half so fast as the respectable American 
 citizens who selfishly take the Lord’s 
 day and use it as a day of joy riding 
 and pleasure seeking. The dean is right 
 when he says the greatest menace to 
 the welfare of America is Sabbath dese- 
 cration. 
 
 William E. Gladstone was once asked 
 why he always attended church on Sun- 
 day even when the preaching was poor. 
 He replied: “I go to church on Sunday 
 because I love England.” There is a 
 wealth of meaning in his words. Those 
 who love America and have her highest 
 welfare at heart will be found in church 
 —some church—on Sunday.—Rev. Har- 
 old J. Bortle. 
 
 — 1215 — 
 “RUN AWAY, BOY!” 
 
 Doctor Potter tells the story of a 
 young man who stood at the bar of a 
 court of justice to be sentenced for forg- 
 ery. The judge had known him from a 
 child for his father had been a famous 
 
 585 
 
 legal light, and his work on the “Law of 
 Trusts,’ was the most exhaustive work 
 on the subject in existence. 
 
 “Do you remember your father,” 
 asked the judge sternly, “that father 
 whom you have disgraced?” 
 
 The prisoner answered: “I remember 
 him perfectly. When I went to him for 
 advice or companionship, he would look 
 up from his book on the ‘Law of Trusts’ 
 and say, ‘Run away, boy, I am busy.’ 
 My father finished his book, and here I 
 am.” The great lawyer had neglected 
 his own trust with awful results —T. De 
 Witt Talmadge, D.D. 
 
 — 1216 — 
 BALAAW’S ASS. 
 
 A friend of mine was going back to 
 Scotland, and he heard a couple of these 
 little modern philosophers discussing 
 the Bible. One said: “The Bible says 
 that Balaam’s ass spoke. Now, I ama 
 scientific man, and I have taken the 
 pains to examine an ass’s mouth, and it 
 is so formed that it couldn’t speak.” 
 
 He was going to toss the whole Bible 
 over because Balaam’s ass couldn’t 
 speak. 
 
 My friend said he stood it just as long 
 as he could, and finally he said: 
 
 “Ah, man, you make an ass, and I 
 will make him speak.” 
 
 The idea that the God who made the 
 ass couldn’t speak through his mouth! 
 Did you ever hear such stuff? And yet 
 this was one of your modern philoso- 
 phers!—D. L. Moody. 
 
 — 1217 — 
 A MOTHER OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 In 1740, according to records, a 
 woman was born named Ada Take. True 
 to her name she took everything there 
 was to be had in the way of liberties and 
 licenses. She died a confirmed drunk-~ 
 ard, and altogether she had 700 descend- 
 ants. 
 
 Among them were 100 children born 
 out of wedlock, 181 women of the street, 
 142 beggars, 46 workhouse inmates, and 
 76 criminals. It has been estimated that 
 this woman cost the country $1,200,000. 
 —Presbyterian Record, 
 
586 “ 
 
 ~— 1218 — 
 THE PRAIRIE FIRE. 
 
 Out in the Western country, in the 
 autumn, when men go hunting, and 
 there has not been any rain for months, 
 sometimes the prairie grass catches fire, 
 and there comes up a very strong wind, 
 and the flames just roll along twenty 
 feet high, and travel at the rate of thirty 
 or forty miles an hour, consuming man 
 and beast. When the hunters see it 
 coming, what do they do? They know 
 they cannot run as fast as the fire can 
 run, Not the fleetest horse can escape. 
 They just take a match and light the 
 grass around them, and let the flames 
 sweep, and then they get into the burnt 
 district and stand safe. They hear the 
 flames roar as they come along, they 
 see death coming toward them, but they 
 do not fear, they do not tremble, because 
 the fire has swept over the place where 
 they are, and there is no danger. There 
 is nothing for the fire to burn. 
 
 There is one mountain that the wrath 
 of God has swept over—that is, Mount 
 Calvary; and the fire spent its fury upon 
 the bosom of the Son of God. Take your 
 stand by the cross, and you will be safe 
 for time and eternity.—D. L. Moody. 
 
 — 1219 — 
 FORSAKING THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 There is an erroneous idea that Chris- 
 tians of this generation need to get rid 
 of. It is advanced simply as an excuse 
 by some, but there are many who sin- 
 cerely believe that God can be reached 
 and worshipped through nature. Some 
 who ignore the worship of the church 
 tell us that they can worship God best 
 in His Great out-of-doors. “What is the 
 necessity of a man-made temple?” they 
 ask. “Get out into God’s great open, 
 and through nature you will find your 
 way up to nature’s God.” 
 
 It all sounds big and grand, but it has 
 one little defect: it doesn’t work. For 
 salvation is from within. First man 
 finds God in his own soul. Then he finds 
 God in nature. 
 
 During the past summer I read the 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 wonderful story of David Livingstone’s 
 achievements in Africa. The author des- 
 cribes the natural beauties of the regions 
 in which Livingstone labored: the lux- 
 uriant vegetation; the beautiful flowers 
 and foliage; the lovely lakes and dash- 
 ing waterfalls; the splendor of the sun- 
 sets; the matchless blue of the sky. Sure- 
 ly there, if anywhere, man must share 
 in his own soul the purity and grandeur 
 of nature. But what are the facts? 
 
 Livingstone found groups of savages 
 sitting around their campfires gnawing 
 away at the flesh and bones of their en- 
 emies—in every respect as low in the 
 scale of being as the animals of the jun- 
 gle. For thousands of years they had 
 been surrounded by nature’s most lavish 
 gifts. There, if anywhere, nature would 
 lead a man into the presence of God. 
 But it was notin nature. The story of 
 the cruelty and depravity that Living- 
 stone found among the savages makes 
 the heart sick. 
 
 I am one of that vast host who love 
 the mountains, the valleys, the sea and 
 the streams, and all that Gad has made. 
 But I am convinced that man cannot 
 forsake the sanctuary of God without 
 peril to his temporal and eternal wel- 
 fare.—Rev. Harold J. Bortle. 
 
 — 1220 — 
 A PREACHER’S SUCCESS. 
 
 In the church at Somerville, New Jer- 
 sey, where I was afterwards pastor, John 
 Vredenburgh preached for a great many 
 years. He felt that his ministry was a 
 failure, and others felt so, although he 
 was a faithful minister preaching the 
 gospel all the time. He died, and died 
 amid some discouragements, and went 
 home to God; for no one ever doubted 
 that John Vredenburgh was a good 
 Christian minister. A little while after 
 his death there came a great awakening 
 in Somerville, and one Sabbath two hun- 
 dred souls stood up at the Christian 
 altar espousing the cause of Christ, 
 among them my own father and mother. 
 And what was peculiar in regard to near- 
 ly all of those two hundred souls was 
 that they dated their religious impres- 
 sions from the ministry of John Vreden- 
 burgh.—_T. DeWitt Talmadge, D.D. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 —122i— 
 PAYING, NOT GIVING. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke once preached on 
 the words, “Let him that is athirst come. 
 And whosoever will let him take of the 
 water of life freely.” At the conclusion 
 of the discourse he announced a collec- 
 tion. 
 
 “How can you, Doctor,” asked a lady 
 afterwards, “reconcile the freeness of the 
 water of life with the collection at the 
 close?” 
 
 “Oh, madam,” answered the learned 
 and venerable divine, “God gives the 
 water without money and without price, 
 but you must pay for the water works, 
 for the pipes, and the pitchers which 
 convey the water to your neighbor- 
 hood.” 
 
 Remember, you pay nothing to God; 
 you are charged nothing for the water; 
 but you cannot have convenient chapels 
 to sit in without paying for them, nor a 
 regular ministry to urge the water on 
 your acceptance without making suit- 
 able provision for its support.—J. C. 
 Jones, D.D. 
 
 —1222— 
 THE UNLIKELY ONE CHOSEN. 
 
 Dr. Isaac Barrow, when a lad was 
 most unpromising. Such was his mis- 
 conduct and so irreclaimable did he seem 
 that his father in dispair, used to say 
 that “if it pleased God to remove any of 
 his children, he wished it might be his 
 son Isaac.” 
 
 What became of the other and more 
 hopeful children of the worthy linen 
 draper, we cannot tell; but this un- 
 worthy son lived to be the happiness 
 and pride of his father’s old age, to be 
 one of the most illustrious members of 
 the university to which he belonged, 
 and one of the brightest ornaments of 
 the church of which he became a min- 
 ister.—Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 —1223— 
 
 LAZINESS THE ORIGINAL SIN. 
 Dr. Storrs tells of an Indian who was 
 
 587 
 
 a candidate for the ministry and was 
 asked before the Presbytery the impor- 
 tant question, “What is original sin?” 
 He answered he didn’t know what other 
 people’s might be, but he rather thought 
 that his was laziness. There is no doubt 
 at the present time that many are suf- 
 fering from the same disease. Truly he 
 is to be pittied who has nothing to do. 
 He is like a barnacle on a ship, or a 
 floating derelict, useless to himself and 
 dangerous to others.—Rev. E. W. Cas- 
 well. 
 
 —1224— 
 
 THE CROSS ATTRACTS. 
 
 In a little book entitled, “Gospel 
 Ethnology,” the author shows by a 
 
 careful comparison of missionary enter- 
 prise for the past 170 years, that what 
 
 has been most effective to pierce 
 through the callousness and prejudice 
 of heathenism has been the story of the 
 Cross, the sufferings of the sinless Sa- 
 viour proclaimed to men as the means 
 of their pardon and acceptance with 
 God. And what is seen abroad in 
 heathen lands is seen here also at home. 
 When we want to win men, what do we 
 do? We get back to the old story.— 
 J. D. Jones. 
 
 —1225— 
 
 CO-OPERATION NEEDED. 
 
 In the establishment of one of the 
 great goldsmiths is a vast iron safe with 
 many locks, containing immense trea- 
 sure. But no one person can open that 
 chest; the keys are in the hands of many 
 trustees, and only by their concurrence 
 can the hidden wealth be made mani- 
 fest. Thus it is in the natural and in 
 the spiritual world, the wealth of the 
 divine blessing can be reached only 
 through the brotherhood of saints. “Not 
 forsaking the assembling of yourselves 
 together.”——-W. L. Watkinson. 
 
588 
 
 —1226— 
 A $10 BILL FROM HEAVEN. 
 
 “About fifty years ago, I was a mem- 
 ber of the West Virginia Conference, 
 and stationed at Point Pleasant,” writes 
 George Cleaton Wilding, in The Metho- 
 dist Protestant. “We had formed a 
 Conference Insurance Society of a very 
 simple type. There were about one 
 hundred members in the society, and 
 each one, upon the death of a member, 
 was obligated to promptly send ten dol- 
 lars to the secretary for the widow. 
 
 “One morning in the early autumn, I 
 was planning to go out to Hickory 
 Chapel, to begin a protracted meeting, 
 to be away from home for possibly two 
 weeks or more. My little bay horse was 
 hitched at the parsonage gate while I 
 went to the post-office for my mail. 
 
 “As I looked over my letters, I found 
 one from the secretary of our Confer- 
 ence Insurance Society, informing me 
 of the death of my good friend, Brother 
 Hartley, and requesting me to send my 
 ten dollars for Mrs. Hartley. I opened 
 my purse and counted my pile. It was 
 all there. I had no bank account behind 
 it. All told, I had ten dollars and forty 
 cents, all I had in the world. 
 
 “I did not hesitate for a moment. 
 Sister Hartley must have her money. 
 My promise must be made good. I 
 stepped up to Postmaster French’s of- 
 fice window and bought a money order 
 for ten dollars, bought a stamped envel- 
 ope, and begged a sheet of writing 
 paper. 
 
 “TI went to the desk and wrote a letter, 
 enclosed the money order, addressed the 
 envelope to the secretary, and dropped 
 it in the slot. I walked out of the post- 
 office feeling that I had done the right 
 thing. I had about thirty cents left. 
 
 “As I walked up the street, I fell to 
 wondering where I could borrow some 
 money to leave with my wife for family 
 supplies while I was away out in the 
 country. 
 
 “T had just concluded that I would 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 stop in at Brother Cable’s hardware 
 store and approach him for a loan. As 
 I drew near this store, I met Judge 
 Redmond. The Judge was a good Pres- 
 byterian, who lived out in the country at 
 Pleasant Flats. They had a pretty, white 
 church, out in that fertile farming re- 
 gion, but were without a preacher. I 
 had been preaching for them on Sab- 
 bath afternoons, twice a month, for 
 several months. 
 
 “As I draw near the Judge, he 
 stopped and shook hands with me. Then 
 he drew forth from the inside pocket of 
 his coat a large, plump wallet, saying, 
 ‘I have had a peculiar experience. Just 
 as you stepped out of the post-office a 
 voice seemed to say to me, “You Pres- 
 byterians are not treating that young 
 Methodist preacher right. Those vol- 
 untary collections taken at the church 
 have amounted to but little. If you had 
 a pastor, his services for this length of 
 time would have cost you quite a sum.” 
 So I'd better pay my quarterage. I think 
 that is what you Methodists call it.’ 
 
 “He unstrapped that fat wallet and 
 drew forth a ten-dollar bill and reached 
 it to me. I gasped for breath as I man- 
 aged to thank him for his thoughtful 
 kindness. Then I explained to him just 
 what had taken place in the post-office. 
 We both agreed that it was well-nigh 
 miraculous. Note that he did not give 
 me five, nor seven, nor eleven dollars, 
 but ten dollars, the exact amount that 
 was at that moment reposing in my let- 
 ter in the box at the post-office. 
 
 “Whose voice was it that spoke to 
 the Judge? Ihave always spoken of this 
 gift as a ‘ten-dollar bill from heaven’.” 
 
 — 1227 — 
 A POOR EXAMPLE. 
 
 The story is told of a pastor who was 
 urging a boy to become a Christian. 
 “Religion is a continual joy,” said he. 
 “Look at your sister Sarah. How much 
 that dear girl enjoys her religion!” 
 “Yes,” replied the boy, “Sadie may en- 
 joy her religion, but nobody else in the 
 house does.”—The C. E. World. 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 — 1228 — 
 THE IDIOT TRUSTED GOD. 
 
 A New York boy caused his parents 
 geat anxiety, for they had made up 
 their minds that he was an idiot. He 
 had frequent convulsions, and as he grew 
 older showed fewer signs of average in- 
 telligence. But one day the father over- 
 heard the boy praying, and the pathetic 
 prayer brought hope to his heart. “Thou 
 knowest, Lord, that my father and 
 mother are disappointed in me,” the lad 
 prayed. “They can find nothing in me 
 to be proud of. Thou knowest why, and 
 Thou knowest why Thou hast given me 
 the burden of these terrible convulsions. 
 But I will trust in Thee; I will trust in 
 Thee to the end.” 
 
 That boy is now a leading specialist, 
 and is known the world over for his re- 
 markable success as a surgeon. When 
 the world’s Congress of Surgeons and 
 Physicians met at Heidleburg and again 
 at Brussels, that boy was chosen vice- 
 president—the idiot boy who told God 
 he would trust Him, and the boy be- 
 lieved though he could not understand. 
 
 — 1229 — 
 “GO TO HELL, THEN!” 
 
 At the religious assembly held at 
 Stony Brook, N. Y., in August, 1920, the 
 Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., related 
 an incident substantially as follows, to 
 show that God is pleased often to make 
 use of weak instruments to accomplish 
 great results: 
 
 When Dr. Broughton was pastor at 
 Atlanta, Ga., he learned from one of the 
 city papers that a man had been jailed 
 for disturbing the service at the Metho- 
 dist church by his enthusiasm in prais- 
 ing God. The case was so unusual that 
 in his sermon the following Sunday he 
 referred to the incident, criticizing the 
 church for so doing. His remarks were 
 published, and this shouting brother 
 reading them decided that Dr. Brough- 
 ton’s church was the one for him to at- 
 tend thereafter. 
 
 The Sunday following, as soon as the 
 pastor appeared on the platform, a 
 
 588A 
 
 strange man sitting in a front pew 
 aroused the quiet assembly by exclaim- 
 ing, “Glory to God! Amen!” 
 
 During the sermon which followed 
 the hearty exclamations of approval and 
 of praise to God of this new worshipper 
 were so disconcerting to the preacher 
 that before the sermon was half over he 
 almost harbored a sneaking wish that 
 the man had been kept in jail. But that 
 man, though deficient mentally, was so 
 possessed and used by the Holy Spirit 
 that he did more in the bringing of souls 
 into the kingdom of Christ than any 
 other ten persons of that congregation. 
 
 So show how this one-talented, Spirit- 
 filled brother was used, Dr. Broughton 
 said hat after he had preached one Sun- 
 day evening in special evangelistic meet- 
 ings he announced if any Christians 
 present felt lead to go and speak to un- 
 converted friends they should not hesi- 
 tate to do so, and he himself stepped 
 down from the platform to speak to a 
 man near the front of the church. As 
 he did so he passed the shouting brother, 
 and remarked: “If the Lord wants you 
 to speak to some one, obey Him.” 
 
 After his return to the platform, he 
 observed this enthusiastic brother get 
 up and start in a bee-line for the rear of 
 the church. And to his dismay he saw 
 him heading for a certain skeptical 
 lawyer for whose salvation the pastor 
 had been for some time concerned, and 
 he was fearful lest this erratic brother 
 might spoil any good impression his 
 preaching and conversation may have 
 made upon this keen but doubting 
 friend. As the pastor watched, he saw 
 this Spirit-led man speak only a few 
 words to the lawyer, and then turn back 
 and resume his seat, but he had no idea 
 what was said. 
 
 The next day, Monday, shortly be- 
 fore noon, the pastor’s telephone bell 
 rang. Answering it, to his surprise he 
 found his lawyer friend was calling. He 
 wanted to know if the pastor was at 
 liberty, as he wished to see him. The 
 minister replied that he was at liberty, 
 and he invited his parishioner to come 
 and lunch with him. He came, and the 
 
588B 
 
 pastor saw at a glance he was in an ex- 
 cited frame of mind. He began at 
 once: 
 
 “fT am so indignant! That shouter 
 came to me last night in the meeting 
 and said, “Do you want to go to heaven 
 when you die?” 
 
 “T said, ‘I don’t know whether I do or 
 not.’ And he replied, “Go to hell, then!” 
 and turned around and left me. 
 
 “That is the result of your cranky 
 teaching, Parson; and the impudence of 
 that fellow, and his remark so wrought 
 me up that I slept but little last night. I 
 am unble to get it off my mind.” 
 
 The pastor could do little more than 
 to assure this troubled soul that this 
 good brother was unquestionably inter- 
 ested in his eternal welfare, and meant 
 for his good anything he had said. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES 
 
 The next day the lawyer called again. 
 He was more disturbed than ever. He 
 was unable to sleep or to give attention 
 to business. “Go to hell, then!” kept 
 ringing in his ears, and he was as un- 
 easy as a fish out of water, 
 
 The pastor tcld him that undoubtedly 
 the Spirit of God was dealing with him, 
 and that he must beware not to resist 
 and grieve away the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The burdened soul was not yet pre- 
 pared to submit, and he turned away. 
 But the arrow of the Almighty contin- 
 ued to rankle in his heart, and on Wed- 
 nesday he could hold out no longer. He 
 called on the pastor. Was glad to be 
 prayed for and to pray. He fully sur- 
 rendered to Christ, became an active 
 Christian, and an officer of the church. 
 —Rev. Henry M. Tyndall. 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 “Abide ’Till the Morrow!’ 318 Arnold of Rugby, 716 
 
 Abiding Influence, 413 Artist and Gipsy Girl, 301 
 
 Ability, Unused Wasted, 513 Artist, Find of an, 595 
 
 Accepting the First Offer, 194 Artist, Sidney Cooper, 455 
 
 Accident, Discovered By, 1051 Asbury’s, Bishop, Appeal to Negro, 326 
 Accidents, No, With God, 1120 Ashamed of Christ, 729, 417, 677 
 Accused by Conscience, 477 Ashamed of Mother, 417, 677, 1153 
 Achievement, A Great, 892 Ass, Balaam’s, 1216 
 
 Acquainted with God, 63 
 
 Weenie Spenie 762 Associations, Danger of Evil, 428 
 
 Assurance of Prayer Ans., 640, 676, 1206 
 
 Actress, The Converted, 1211 Atheists, Seamen Not, 239 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, 232 Atonement, Christ Our, 436, 672 
 
 Advice, Good Better Than Money, 620 Atonement, Hebrew’s Search for Blood of 
 Advice, The Negro’s, 598 382 
 
 Advice, Wrong, 291 Atonement of Christ, 672, 822 
 
 Advocate, 53, 267 Atonement of Christ Sufficient, 524 
 
 Affliction, Joy Amidst, 506 Atonement, Vicarious, 557 
 
 Afraid of the Wet, 565 Atonement, Why Necessary, 672 
 oe Berenson 120 Attendance, Church, Helps, 1184 
 ahs saat i : Attraction of the Cross, 1224 
 
 er Many Years, At Your Own Doors, 203 
 
 Aged, How Not to Treat the, 847 “Audience of One, 624 
 Agnostic Equals Ignorance, 234 Aurelius, Marcus, Letter of, 164 
 Agreement in Prayer, 545, 1169 Author, Knowing the, 1174 
 
 Air, Breath of, Directed, 1172 
 Alcohol, Soldiers and, 430 
 
 Allen, Ethan, Ryan’s Visit to, 145 Babies, Couldn’t Let, Freeze, 961 
 “Almost Up! Almost Up!” 198 Bad Company, Danger of, 428 
 Alpine Hunter’s Escape, 244 Balance Came, How the, 19 
 Allston’s Prayer Answered, 671 Ballast, Without, 718 
 
 Altamot’s Death-Bed, 1175 Bank of Faith, 157 
 
 Amazing Grace, 887 Bank, Saved by Faith, 211 
 Amazing Grace in Conversion, 887 Bar, Crossing the, 946 
 Ambition of Louis Napoleon, 317 Barber, The Sabbath Keeping, 308 
 Ambition, Worthy, 744 Barn, How Mary Built the, 905 
 Ambitious Shoemaker, 908 Basket of Water, 271 
 
 America’s First Rice, 281 Battle, Saved in, by Prayer, 93 
 “Am I Better Off?”, 388 Beate Paulus’ Faith, 242 
 
 An Agnostic, 1119 Bedridden Saint’s Prayer, 49 
 
 An African Lake, 391 Beggars, The Two, and the King, 906 
 Anarchist Saved, 883 Beginnings of Evil, 1071 
 
 Anchor Hold?, Will Your, 999 Beginning, The, of Faith, 868 
 Anderson, Sir James, 324 Begins, How it, 50 
 
 Angel of Mercy, 149 Believe When You Pray, 617 
 Angelic Guards, 124 Believe, Why You Should, 879 
 Angels, Guardianship of, 385 Believing the Bible, 219 
 
 Angels, Ministry of, 719 Believing on Testimony, 219 
 Animals Know Men, 292 Ben Hur, How Written, 114 
 Answered Prayer, 14, 135, 137 Benevolence of a Crow, 714 
 Answered While Asking, 919, 983 Benefactor, No Thanks ‘to, 419, 417, 426, 
 Answers to Prayer, 59, 164, 167 Bent Nails, 64 
 
 Anxiety, to be Put on Christ, 550 Better Off? Am I, 388 
 
 Anywhere for Christ, 873 Beware, Things to, of, 1077 
 Apology Not Needed, 485 Bible, Accuracy of the, 826 
 Appeals For Money, Why No Personal, 950 Bible the Best Argument, The, 393 
 Applied Faith, 846 Bible, Believing the, 219 
 Arbitrary, Sabbath Law Not, 885 Bible, The, and Bullet, 878 
 Argument, Dazzling, 328 Bible Needs No Defense, 605 
 Armada, Spanish, and New England, 174 Bible Difficulties, How to Treat, 863 
 
 Army Miraculously Delivered, 164 Bible, The, First, 783 
 
590 
 
 Believer, The Security of the, 1188 
 
 Bible, Evidence of Truth of, 887, 487, 826 
 
 Bible, His, 8238 
 
 Bible, How It Finds Us, 450 
 
 Bible, How, Saved Boy, 953 
 
 Bible, Influence of, in Home, 888 
 
 Bible, Japan’s First, 713 
 
 Bible, Influence of a, 290 
 
 Bible, Lincoln and the, 555 
 
 Bible, Love of the, 347, 384, 427, 463, 658 
 
 Bible, Mary Jones’, 463 
 
 Bible, The Neglected, 346 
 
 Bible, The, and Other Books, 1187 
 
 Bible, The, and Wm. Hone, 526 
 
 Bible, Old Testament, Power of, 429 
 
 Bible, One Page of, "Enough, 862 
 
 Bible Prized, The, 347, 384, 427 
 
 Bible Read With Lips, 347 
 
 Bible Reading in Chimney, 384 
 
 Bible Reading Works Wonders, 451 
 
 Bible and the Robbers, 255 
 
 Bible on Rubbish Heap, 954 
 
 Bible Shown True by Prophesy, 487 
 
 Bible, Shut Up With a, 214 
 
 Bible, Study of the, 790 
 
 Bible, The Story of a, 290 
 
 Bible, Walking 240 Miles for, 427 
 
 Bible as a Weapon, 898 
 
 Bible, Wealth in the, 21, 871 
 
 Bible, What the, Is, 772 
 
 Bible, What It Can Do, 438 
 
 Bible, Won by the, 1018 
 
 Bible Works Wonders, 656 
 
 Bird Only Hurt Itself, 220 
 
 Bishop Simpson, 544 
 
 Bishop Simpson’s Recovery, 25 
 
 Bishop’s, The, Prescription, 1025 
 
 Blacksmith’s Power with God, 408 
 
 Blacksmith’s Reminiscence, The, 359 
 
 Blanket Story, 678 
 
 Blessings in Disguise, 1212 
 
 Blessing, ‘The Greater, 1044 
 
 Blind, A Boy Born, Made to See, 205 
 
 Blind, Believed Himself, 973 
 
 Blind, Joan Waste, 579 
 
 Blind Man’s Testimony, The, 445 
 
 Blind, The, Man Who Saw, 1065 
 lindness, His, a Blessing, 366 
 
 Blindness, She Thankful for, 778 
 
 Blizzard, Lost in a. 291 
 
 Blizzard, A Story of the, 837 
 
 Biood, Saved by, 286 
 
 Blood, The Precious, 534 
 
 Blood of Atonement, Search for, 382 
 
 Boarder, Faithfulness to Fellow, 303 
 
 “Boat, My, is so Small,’”? 592 
 
 Body Only a Tenement, 232 
 
 Bold, A, Confession, 538, 666 
 
 Book, Influence of a, 330, 659 
 
 Book, Indians and the Great, 658 
 
 “Book, The, of Heaven,’’ 427 
 
 Book, The, that Makes Things Safe, 668 
 
 Bondage, The, of the Heathen, 604 
 
 Boos, Martin, The Story of, 655 
 
 Bootblack’s, The, Question, 594 
 
 Boots, He Saved His, 67 
 
 Bortle, Rev. H. J., Articles by, 1214, 1219 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Bowen, George, 87 
 
 Bowl, The Old Man and His, 847 
 Boy, Finding his Lost, 786 
 
 Boy, His Own, 196, 367 
 
 Boy, Only a, 28, 152, 378 
 
 Boy in Danger, Whose, 367 
 
 “Boy, Run Away,” 1215 
 
 Boy, Sankey and Gipsy, 379 
 
 Boy Saved by Mother’s Prayer, 8, 733 
 Boy, Save Somebody’s, 209, 367 
 Boy, The Runaway, 160 
 
 Boy, The, and the Man, 581, 679 
 Boy, The Kingly Elevator, 476 
 Boy, When He was a, 2838, 324 
 Boy, Winning a, 1070 
 
 Boys that Get Ahead, 1014 
 
 Boy’s Two Bricks, 1i 
 
 Boy’s, A, Contribution, 711 
 
 Boy’s Faith, A Little, 118 
 
 Boy’s Future Endangered by Mother, 630 
 Boy’s, Hindoo, Faith, 542 
 
 Boys, Stupid, "Encouraged, 720 
 Boy’s, The, Hand Saved, 223 
 
 Boys Who Succeed, 1069 
 Brainerd, David, 336 
 
 Brainerd, David, Prayed, 1197 
 Brand, A, 924 
 
 Brand, From the Burning, 122 
 Brave Chinese Boy, 666 
 
 Brave, A, Missionary, 104 
 Bravery, Kate Shelley’s, 230 
 Bread Day by Day, 877 
 
 Bread? Have Ye Brought the, 570 
 Bread Upon the Waters, 113 
 Bread Upon the Waters, 609 
 Breakfast Came, Their, 135 
 Breakfast, Washington’s, 1047 
 Brentz, John, 166 
 
 Bribe, Not to be Bribed, 963, 982 
 Brick Without Straw, aes 
 
 Bricks, The Boy’s Two, 1 
 
 Bridge, The Undefended, 80 
 Brigade, Memory of Picketts, 176 
 Bright Side, Look on the, 614 
 Brilliant but Useless, 1001 
 
 Broken House of Life, 1193 
 “Brother, Your, Is There-” 735 
 Brother Will, 173 
 
 Brothers, The Jewish, 407 
 Broughton’s, Len G., Healing, 777 
 Brown, John, Body of, 486 
 
 Bryan, Wm. J., 941 
 
 Bug, Lessons from a, 827 
 
 Burden, Saved by a, 718 
 Button-Coat Christians, 574 
 
 Build Higher, 37 
 
 Bullet Proof, 405 
 
 Bullet and the Bible, 878 
 
 Bullets, Preserved From, 578 
 Bunyan Returned, Why, 130 
 Burden Cast Upon Christ, 1022 
 Burglar, Conversion of Burke the, 296 
 Burke the Burglar, 296 
 
 Burt, Rev. William, 441 
 
 Busch, C. H., How, was Called, 401 
 Business, Farwell’s Start in, 294 
 Business Suecess, 602 
 
 Butter, She Liked Bad, 687 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Call, Another, 257 
 
 Call, My, to the Ministry, 1208 
 
 Call, How His, Came, 401 
 
 Call, The Divine, 4, 
 
 Call, The Divine, 750 
 
 Calm in the Depths, 751 
 
 Calm in the Storm, 439 
 
 Cap, God Sent a Fur, 665 
 
 Captain, The, and Quadrant, 416 
 
 Captain, The, and the Stowaway, 528 
 
 Captured by Friends, 1195 
 
 Card Playing, 327, 840 
 
 Care, God’s, in Little Things, 202 
 
 Care, God’s, Shown, 988 
 
 Carey and Missions in India, 606 
 
 Carey, William, 483 
 
 Carey, William, His Perseverance, 462 | 
 
 Carvosso’s Children, Conversion of, 566 
 
 Cass, General, 140 
 
 Catching Monkeys, 633 
 
 Caught in the Rapids, 704 
 
 Chamberlain’s, Dr. Jacob, Prayer Answered, 
 116, 424 
 
 Chance, A Second, 217 
 
 Character Counts, 549 
 
 Character, Nobility of, 589 
 
 Character Preaches, 788 
 
 Character Tested, 42, 56, 914 
 
 Charlie’s, For, Sake, 53 
 
 Chastening, God’s, 643 
 
 Cheap, Yet Not Cheap, 1028 
 
 Cheerful, A, Giver, 269 
 
 Cheerfulness, Duty of, 796 
 
 Chemist’s Deliverance, 1064 
 
 Child, A Little, Shall Lead, 55, 4538, 471, 488 
 
 Child and the Queen, 556 
 
 Child, Faith of a Slum, 834 
 
 Child, Little, Lead Him, 697 
 
 Child, Loss of a, 707 
 
 Child, Prevailing, Prayer of, 1027 
 
 Child, Saved from Suicide by a,190 
 
 Child, The, Heroine, 248 
 
 Child, The, in the Crevasse, 275 
 
 Child, The Switchman’s, 98 
 
 Child-like Humility, 592 
 
 Children Cared for by Prayer, 535 
 
 Children, Deceiving, 925 
 
 Children Like Their Parents, 519 
 
 Children’s Regard for Parents, 719 
 
 Children, Teach the, 692 
 
 Children, The Lost, Prayed, 253 
 
 Child’s, A, Influence, 7, 471 
 
 Child’s, A Little, Testimony, 162 
 
 Child’s, A, Question, 453, 471 
 
 Child’s, A, Reproof, 5, 471 
 
 Child’s, A, Song, 561 
 
 Chimney, Reading Bible in. 384 
 
 China Inland Mission, 489 
 
 Chinese Boy, Kindness Shown a, 609 
 
 Choice, A Foolish, 505 
 
 Choice, A Wise, 293 
 
 Choice, A Wise, 527 
 
 Choice, The Saddler’s, 797 
 
 Christmas in Heaven, 743 
 
 Christ As a Protector, 66, 1190 
 
 Fst Atonement of, Sufficient for World, 
 
 591 
 
 Christ, Cast all Upon, 1022 
 
 Christ, Casting all Upon, 550 
 
 Christ, Cowboy’s Idea How to Serve, 809 
 Christ, Ghandi’s Testimony to, 1196 
 Christ, How, Found Me, 1176 
 
 Christ, Humble Work for, 126 
 
 Christ, How to Come to, 580 
 
 Christ, Josephus on, 1039 
 
 Christ Made Welcome, 736 
 
 Christ, Napoleon’s Opinion of, 433 
 Christ, Not Recognizing, 417, 419, 426 
 Christ, Power of the Story of His Love, 335 
 Christ Seen in the Christian, 652 
 Christ, Speaking for, 549, 341, 371 
 Christ the Light of the World, 300 
 Christ, The Master of the Soul, 454 
 Christ, Why, Died, 672 
 
 Christ’s Constraining Love, 154 
 Christ’s Presence, 398 
 
 Christianity, Try, 1053 
 
 Christians, The Kind of, Wanted, 159 
 Christians the Light of the World, 300 
 Church, A Holding, 552 
 Church-Builders, Boy, 975 
 
 Church, Destroyers of the, 478 
 
 Church, Forsaking the, 1219 
 
 Church, Getting Money for, 1053 
 Church Attendance, Plea for, 1214, 1219 
 Church-going, 985 
 
 Church-Going Renews Strength, 1184 
 Church, Holding, Drawing Preachers, 552 
 Church Hospitality, 675 
 
 Church, Invitation to, 626 
 Church-Member Stumbling-Blocks, 327, 1127 
 Church, On Joining the, 1181 
 
 Church, Quality not Quantity, 547 
 Church, Saved by Prayer, 843 
 
 Church, Self-denial for, Building, 92 
 Church-support, The Miller’s Plan, 511 
 Church, Swimming to, 472 
 
 Church, The Unlighted, 344 
 
 Church, Why the, Burned, 1160 
 
 Claflin and the Young Man, 977 
 
 Clark, Adam, 720 
 
 Climbers or Flyers, 962 
 
 Clock, When the, Struck Thirteen, 320 
 Cigarettes, Judge Crain’s Opinion of, 611 
 City, An Underground, 415 
 
 Civil War, Hand of God in, 184 
 Coal-Driver, The, 549 
 
 Coals of Fire, 717 
 
 Collection, The Penny, 836 
 
 “Coming!” 499 
 
 Coming to the Father, 267 
 Common-Place Duties, 490 
 
 Communion, A Story Told at, 479 
 Communion With God, 1008 
 Companions, Bad, Avoided, 514 
 Company, Christians in Strange, 262 
 Company, Danger of Bad, 428 
 Company, Evil, 974 
 
 Compass, What Deflected the, 1167 
 Compensation for What? 941 
 Compound Interest, 139 
 
 Concealing His Light, 371 
 
 Condemning Others, 345 
 
 Confessing Jesus, 802 
 
992 
 
 Confession, A Bold, 538 
 Confession, A Fearless, 142, 679 
 Confession, A Remarkable, of Guilt, 1 
 Confession, A Worthy, 142, 341, 363, 432, 
 679, 371, 376 
 Confession of Christ, 852, 368, 371, 729 
 Confidence in God, 734 
 Confidence in Knowing, 815 
 Confidence, Surprising, 957 
 Congregation of Four, 210 
 Congregation of Two, 344 
 Congregation, Preaching to Small, 554 
 Conscience, A Boy’s, 829 
 Conscience, A Child’s, 875 
 Conscience, A Guilty, 1, 477 
 Conscience, Accused by, 477 
 Conscience, One Negro’s, 245 
 Conscience, Power of, 225 
 Conscience, Restrained by, 302 
 Conscience, The Voice of, 875 
 Conscientiousness, Jenny Lind’s, 458 
 Consecration, A Kitchen Maid’s, 168 
 Consecrated to God, 168 
 Consumptive’s Prayer of Faith, 470 
 Control, How to, Temper, 444, 468 
 Control, Self-, Need of, 292 
 Control Voice and Temper, 979 
 Control Your Passions, 978, 979 
 Conversation, Religious, How to Begin, 682 
 Conversion, A Remarkable, 357 
 Conversion, Bilhorn’s, 1070 
 Conversion, Billy Sunday’s, 1037 
 Conversion, Dr. Conyer’s, 952 
 Conversion, Gen. Howard’s, 896 
 Conversion is Loving Jesus, 800 
 Conversion, John Wanamaker’s, 520 
 Conversion of Africaner, 120 
 Conversion of an Actress, 1211 
 Conversion of Attorney-General Geo. H. 
 Williams, 363 
 Conversion of Burke the Burglar, 296 
 Conversion of Carvosso’s Children, 566 
 Conversion of a Chinaman, 138 
 Conversion of a Filipino, 529 
 Conversion of a Hackman, 537 
 Conversion of Henry M. Tyndall, 1176 
 Conversion of Henry Wagner, 122 
 Conversion of an Infidel, 526 
 Conversion of Jacob Hodges, 469 
 Conversion of a Lawyer, 478 
 Conversion of a Lawyer, 530 
 Conversion of Persecuting Husband, 887 
 Conversion of Persecutors, 623 
 Conversion, Robert Stephens’, 295 
 Conversion Secured by Love, 522 
 Conversion, Wooley’s, 179 
 Convict, The Transformed, 183 
 Convicted of Sins, How, 593 
 Convict Weakened by Distrust, 1191 
 Co-operation Needed, 1225 
 Countersign, The, 886 
 Countersign, The, 1156 
 Courage, A Boy’s, 514 
 Courage, A Lack of, 538 
 Courage, A Missionary’s, 104 
 Courage, A Monk’s, 538 
 
 & 
 
 TOPICAL 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Courage for the Right, 60 
 
 Courage, Senator Wilson’s, 914, 548 
 Courage, The Praying Soldier’s, 352 
 Courage, What, Did, 304, 324, 352 
 Coveteousness, 523 
 
 Cow, The, Came Back, 319 : 
 Cowboy’s Idea of Serving Christ, 809 
 Crab, The Wise, 1124 
 
 Crawling for Salvation, 625 
 Creation Reveals the Creator, 651 
 Crevasse, A Child in the, 275 
 Criminal Course, How Begun, 2 
 Criminals, A Mother. of, 1217 
 Criminals, No Escape for, 1183 
 Cripple, A Heroic, 452 
 
 Cripple, What a Did, 674 
 
 Crippled, Why He Was, 127, 674 
 Crippled, Why He Was, 127 
 
 Crosby, Fanny, 377, 773 
 
 Cross, The, Attracts, 1224 
 
 Crow, Story of a, 714 
 
 Crown, Preaching for a, 582 
 
 Crown, Race for a, 678 
 
 Crown, Rejecting a, 52 
 
 Cruelty, Restrained from. 302 
 Crutch, She Gave Her, 86 
 
 Daily Renewal of Strength, 1184 
 Dance, The Last, 1081 
 
 Dark, A Plunge in the, 244 
 
 Darkest Day, Man’s, 497 
 
 Daughter, Lost, Found, 314 
 
 Deaf Mute, What a, Did, 185 
 Deaf, Prefers to be, 771 
 
 Death, Fear of, Removed, 1031 
 Death-Bed of Altamot, 1175 
 
 Death Overcome by Faith, 244 
 Death, The Cold Narrow Stream of, 244 
 Death, The Mist of, 819 
 Debasement of Sin, 660 
 Deceitfulness of Sin, 704 
 
 Deceiving Children, 925 
 
 Decision, Prompt, 769 
 
 Decision, Prompt, Saved Him, 246 
 Defense, The Missionaries’, 124 
 Defiected, The, Needle, 1167, 1202 
 Delay, The Fatal, 1166, 1177 
 Disappointment, His Appointment, 294 
 Deliverance, A Chemist’s, 1064 
 Deliverance, A National, 36 
 Deliverance, A Wonderful, 36, 311 
 Deliverance from Fire, 443 
 Deliverance from Lions, 386 
 Deliverance from Pirates, 195 
 Deliverance of Army by Prayer, 164 
 Demon, A Transformed, 120 
 Depravity, Total Illustrated, 897 
 Delusion, A Heathen’s, 319 
 Delusion, A Strange, 1173 
 
 Desert, Manna in the, 101 
 
 Devices of Satan, 34, 633 
 
 Devil, The, Defeated, 1026 
 Diamond, The Lost, 867 
 
 Difficulties, Overcoming, 579 
 Difficulties, Overcoming, 99 
 Direction, Giving Wrong, 291 
 Disasters, Why Not Prevented, 1044 
 
TOPICAL 
 
 Death, Confidence at, 1218 
 
 Directed by Air Current, 1172 
 Discouragement of a Preacher, 544 
 Discovered by Accident, 1051 
 Discovery, His Greatest, (the Saviour), 576 
 Dishonesty, 2, 
 
 Distance, Keep Your, 918 
 
 Distrusting a Father’s Love, 1171 
 Doctor’s, The, Story, 719 
 
 Dog, Fidelity of a, 289 
 
 Dog, Man Risked Life for, 745 
 
 Dog Sent as Protector, 1070 
 
 Dog, The Misjudged, 738 
 
 Doing Good, Luxury of, 992 
 
 Doing, Will ‘to Do and Know, 87 
 Dollar, A Ten, Bill from Heaven, 1226 
 Double-Tongued, 1182 
 
 Doubt, Cure of, 757 
 
 Doubt, Faith Casts Out, 851 
 
 Doxology in Empty Flour Barrel, 375 
 Dragon of the Abyss, 644 
 
 Dream, A Powerful, 995 
 
 Dream, Encouraged by a, 486 
 Dream, Warned in, 238, 527 
 
 Dreams from God, 316, 486 
 Dressing, Why Dressed Settee 78 
 “Drop Your Penny!” 741 
 
 Drunkard’s, A, Death, 917 
 
 Drunkard, Thirst of the, 322 
 
 Duty, A Dreaded, Done, 119 
 
 Duty, Commonplace, 490 
 
 Duty, Faithful to, 1180 
 
 Duty, His to Chisel, Not to Know, 856 
 Duty, Loyal to His, 98 
 
 Duty More Than Life, 900 
 
 Duty, The Voice, 739, 98 
 
 Eagle, As an, 780 
 
 Earnestness, 383, 6387, 651, 737 
 Earthly, Our, House and Heavenly, 11938 
 Earthly+~ Body and Spiritual, 1198, 1194 
 Ease-loving Church Members, 616 
 Eddystone Light House, 228 
 
 Edison, 771 
 
 Edison’s Long-lived Ancestors, 634 
 Edison’s Belief in God, 651 
 
 Effort, No Lost, 310 
 
 Egypt, Israel in, 387 
 
 Egypt, Oil in; How Found, 826 
 Elevator Boy, Heroic, 476 
 
 Elijah’s God Ours, 839 
 
 Eloquent Speech, His, No Help, 549 
 Emma Jones’ Substitute, 481 
 Encouragement for Stupid Boys, 720, 549 
 Encouragement from Another’s Failure, 544 
 Enemies, Love for, 84 
 
 Enemy, How Won, 689 
 
 Enemy, Love Your, 762 
 
 Enemy, Winning an, 4038 
 
 Energy, Need Inspires, 1178 
 
 Engineer Who Prayed, 1084 
 Entombed, The, en ad 1152% 
 
 Envied, Not to Be, 388, 
 
 Envy a Rare Sin, 523 
 
 Envy, No, of Rich, 388 
 
 Error, Only a Slight, 934 
 
 Escape, Alpine Hunter’s, 244 
 
 INDEX 593 
 
 Escape, A Narrow, 389 
 
 Escape, John Patterson’s, 509 
 
 Escape of the ‘“‘Spree,’’ 170 
 
 Eternity, 252 
 
 Kthiopian, The Skin of the, 541 
 
 Evangelist, An, in Prison, 813 
 
 Kvil, Beginnings of, 1071 
 
 Evil Company, Danger of, 428 
 
 Evil, Overcome, With Good, 1050, 1090 
 Evil. Resulting in Good, 366, 368 
 
 Evil, Undoing, 431 
 
 Evil, Unconscious Influence for, 465 
 Example, A Good, 39 
 
 Example, A Poor, 1227 
 
 Example, Bad, by Parents, 630 
 
 Example, How Good, Helps, 178, 181, 479 
 Experience Trusting God, 893 
 
 PE Man’s, God’s Opportunity, 386, 
 
 Eyesight, Preserved by Prayer, 615 
 
 Faith and Feeling, 1205, 1209 
 
 Faith Applied, Walter Scott, 846 
 Faith, A Little Boy’s, 118 
 
 Faith, A Little Girl’s, 181, 721 
 Faith, A Little Slave’s, 89 
 
 Faith, A Slum Child’s, 834 
 
 Faith, Bank Saved by, 211 
 
 Faith Casts Out Doubt, 851 
 
 Faith, Finding a Word to Translate, 1132 
 Faith for Conversion of Children, 566 
 Faith, God Honors, 569, 570 
 Faith, Her, Unshaken, 46, 676, 721 
 Faith, Hindu Boy’s, Rewarded, 542 
 Faith; How Developed, 516 
 
 Faith in God, 734 
 
 Faith in God Illustrated, 396 
 Faith in Guide Board, 702 
 
 Faith in Soul-winning, 501 
 
 Faith, Loss by Lack of, 546 
 
 Faith, Muller’s, Dispelled Fog, 1203 
 Faith, Muller’s Mighty, 986 
 
 Faith, Not Feeling, but, Required, 845 
 Faith of Coal Miner’s Wife, 1206 
 Faith of Franklin in Convention, 621 
 Faith, Reward of, 895 
 
 Faith, Reward of, 70, 317, 375 
 Faith, Sailing by, 411 
 
 Faith, The Bank of, 157 
 
 Faith, The Beginning of, 868 
 Faith, The Wall of, 440 
 
 Fatal, The, Sleep, 23 
 
 Faith, The Prayer of, 470 
 
 Faith, Took Umbrella by, 617 
 Faith, Unshaken, 46, 676 
 
 Faithful Unto Death, 180 
 Faithfulness in Little Things, 474 
 Faithfulness Rewarded, 308 
 
 Faith’s Beginning, 868 
 
 Fame, A Humble Girl’s, 402 
 
 Fame’s Duration, 894 
 
 Family Prayers, 880 
 
 Family Resemblance, 519 
 
 Family Worship, 1072 
 
 Farragut’s Turning Point, 192 
 Farrar, Dean, His Conscience, 875 
 Farwell’s, John E., Start, 294 
 
594 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Fascination, Spoiling Our, 231 
 Fatal, A, Delay, 1166 
 
 Father, Distrusting Her, 1171 
 Father, Forgiveness of a, 314 
 Father, Honoring His, 719 
 Father, Trusting Her, 721 
 Father, Your, Knoweth, 1023 
 Father’s, A, Influence, 708, 1109 
 Father’s, A, Regret, 20 
 Faultfinding, 728 
 
 Faults Seeing Other’s, 345 
 Fearless, Confession, 142 
 
 Fear of Death Removed, 1031 
 Fed by Ravens, 1089 
 
 Feeling Saved, 848 
 
 Feet, Lost, Only; Gave Body, 1163 
 Fellowship with a Meaning, 274 
 Fence, The Line, 199 
 
 Fettered for Another, 259 
 Fidelity of a Dog, 289 
 
 Fidelity, of a Horse, 700 
 Fidelity of Lighthouse Keeper, 1180 
 “Fifty Dollars or Fifty Cents?” 178 
 Fight, He Would Not, 348 
 Fight, Sailors, for Life, 737 
 Finding the Lost $20 Bill, 151 
 Finney, Charles G, 191, 673 
 Fire, Delivered from, 443 
 
 Fish, The Lord’s, 575 
 
 Fishes, The Little Boy’s, 18 
 Fishing, Not Accounting, 670 
 Five Cent Test, 56 
 
 Flag, Protected by, 405 
 Flogging, Taking a, for Another, 557 
 Fog Cleared by Faith, 1203 
 
 Fog, How the, Was Lifted, 146 
 Folly, According to His, 795 
 Food in Answer to Prayer, 266 
 Fool, The Greater, 650 
 
 Fool, Was Teddy a, 694 
 
 Forgive to be Forgiven, 480 
 Forgiveness, A Governor’s 539 
 Forgiveness, Power of, 709, 314 
 Forgiveness with God, 314 
 Forgives, As God, 314 
 Forsaking the Sanctuary, 1219 
 Foundations, Safe cr Sandy, 981 
 Fountain, The, of Life, 27 
 Francke, August Herman, 535 
 Franklin and Prayer, 75, 621 
 Franklin’s Illustration, 636 
 Freedom, Claim Your, 932 
 Frightened Too Easily, 563 
 Frozen, A, Crew, 406 
 
 Gatekeeper, The Stupid, 1186 
 Gambling, The End of, 840, 327 
 Genuine Repentance, 608 
 
 Getting What We Give, 461 
 Ghandi’s Testimony to Christ, 1196 
 Gideon’s Fleece, A Modern, 1033 
 Gift, A Kurdish Mother’s, 852, 494 
 Gift, A Widow’s, 852, 715 
 
 Gift, Louisa Osborne’s, 235 
 
 Gift of Holy Spirit, 1208, 1209 
 
 Gift, Refusing a, 673 
 Gift, Why Refused, 678 
 
 j 
 
 j 
 
 Gift, The Gift He Accepted, 928 
 Gifts, Great, from Small Income, 1060 
 Gipsy Boy and Sankey, 379 
 
 Gipsy Girl and the Artist, 301 
 Gipsy, The, Boy’s Prayer, 1054 
 Gipsy Smith’s Mother’s Death, 561 
 Girl, Faith of a Little, 181, 617 
 Girl, Influence of One, 16, 661 
 
 Girl, A Poor, Became Famous, 402 
 Girl, Prayers of a Little, 208 
 
 Girl, What a Little, Missionary Did, 150 
 Give and it Shall be Given You, 562 
 Give and it Shall be Given to You, 147 
 Give, As Kings, 83 
 
 Give, Impressed to, $5.00, £100, 165, 188 
 Give While You Can, 632 
 
 Giver, A Cheerful 269 
 
 Giving, a Loan to God, 374 
 
 Giving as God Gives, 748 
 
 Giving as to the Lord, 642 
 
 Givers, God Honors Generous, 1092 
 Giving and Getting, 147, 1085, 1092 
 Giving benefits the Giver, 391, 461 
 Giving, Generous, 235 
 
 Giving, Generous, 1060, 1085 
 Giving God the Best, 629 
 
 Giving Her Crutch, 86 
 
 Giving, How Example Helps in, 178 
 Giving, Indian Gave His Life, 487 
 Giving, The, of a Coal Carter, 178 
 Giving, The Luxury of, 518 
 
 Giving to Church Support, 511, 607 
 Giving, Wrong Cheerful, 916 
 Gladness, Gloom to, 911 : 
 
 God, Acquainted With, 63 
 
 God, Always in God’s Presence, 664 
 God, A Son of, 32 
 
 God, Care of, in Little Things, 202 
 God Consecrated to, 168 
 
 God, Elijah’s, Ours, 839 
 
 God Held the Train, 61 
 
 -God Is Everywhere, 44. 
 
 God, Hand of, in Civil War, 184 
 God Helps When Needed, 307 
 God, His Communion with, 1009 
 “God, Is This?’’, 172 
 
 God Not a Merchant, 132 
 
 God, Nothing Impossible with, 537 
 God, Proving, 625° 
 
 God Seen in His Works, 651 
 
 God So Loved He Gave, 698 
 
 God, The Voice of, 128 
 
 -God, Thou Seest Me, 1011 
 
 God, Trust in Rewarded, 71 
 
 God Welcomes Sinners, 362 
 
 God’s Will is Best, 707 
 
 God, Why Invisible, 328 
 
 Gold, Greed for, 321 
 
 Golden Rule, 339 
 
 Goldmine for Whiskey, 460 
 
 Good Name, Lee Valued His, 1024 
 Good Out of Evil, 446 
 
 Good Out of Evil, 1212 
 
 Good, Returning, for Evil, 53% 646 
 Good Samaritan, A, 329 
 
 Good, Some, in the Worst, 501 
 Gospel for Children, 692 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Gospel for the Poor, 899 
 
 Gospel Good News to Heathen, 648 
 Gough, John B., How Saved, 691 
 Governor, He Tho’t, a Preacher, 1154 
 Grace, Amazing, 887 
 
 Grace, A Trophy of God’ 3, 1046 
 Grace, Great, in Trial, 309 
 
 Grace of God, 524 
 
 Grace of God Misunderstood, 673 
 Grace Sufficient, 1056 
 
 Grant, General, Declined, 315 
 Gratitude, How Expressed, 591 
 Grave, Her, Opened by Tree, 1066 
 
 Great Good from Small Efforts, 326, 379, 
 
 537, 548 
 Greatness, General Lee’s, 1024 
 Greatest, The, Sin, 1068 
 Greed for Gold Brings Grief, 321 
 Greediness, Better than, 1059 
 Greediness Ruinous, 638, 636 
 Grist, The Unground, 587 
 Guards, Angelic, 124 
 Guidance Confirmed, 43, 207 
 See st Divine, 534, 610, 645, 884, 920, 
 
 Guidance, Seeking God’s, 695 
 pees of the Spirit, 692 ,698, 695 705, 
 
 Guan The Spirit’s, 249, 312, 318, 457, 
 610, 1042 
 
 Guide, Confidence in a, 90 
 
 Guide, Killing the, 109 
 
 Guided Aright, 207, 312, 994, 1042 
 
 Guided to Life’s Work, 920, 922 
 
 Guilt, A Remarkable Confession of, 1 
 
 Guilty, All Men, 1021 
 
 Habit Gains a Right, 618 
 
 Habit, How Bad, Hindered, 565 
 Habit, How Good, Helps, 559, 620 
 Habit, Power of 755 
 
 Habit, The Help of, 1198 
 
 Habits, Danger of Bad, 467, 618 
 Habits, Good, A Recommendation, 977 
 Hackman, Midnight Visit of a, 537 
 Hamlin, Cyrus, 2138, 770 
 
 Hand of God in Civil War, 184 
 Hand, The Boy’s, Saved, 223 
 
 Hand, The Saving, 79 re 
 Hand, Taught by His, 188 
 
 Hands, Mary’s, 30 
 
 Handkerchief, The Child’s Silk, 945 
 Handkerchief, The Lost, 897 
 Happiness in God Only, "1093 
 Happy, Why Too, to Sleep, 648 
 Hardship, Among the Heathen, 247 
 Harmonic Lives, 559 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin, Christian Work of, 496 
 
 Harvest, A Strange, 182 
 
 Head, He Forgot to Bow His, 80 
 Head, The, of the Firm, 865 
 
 Healed by Faith, 10338 
 
 Healing, AS ase ‘of Divine, 1096 
 Healing by ‘Prayer, 434, 466, 657, 640 
 Healing, Len G. Broughton’s, 177 
 Healing of Chaplain McCabe, 601 
 Healing of Myron P. Tyndall, 640 
 Healing of Rev. Chas. H. Tyndall, 1096 
 
 595 
 
 Health, Prayer Brought, 1091 
 
 Hearing God’s Voice, 825 
 
 Heart in Work, 9938 
 
 Heart, Keeping the, 1167, 1202 
 Heathen, Delusion of, 319 
 
 Heathen, How, Girl Found Christ, 841 
 Heathen, In Perils by the, 247 
 Heathen Mob Won by Story of Christ, 335 
 Heaven, A Seat in, 678 
 
 Heaven, The Book of, 427 
 
 Heaven, Where, Is, 1030 
 
 Heaven, Visions of, and Hef¥l, 270 
 Heaven’s Gate Ajar, 1192 
 
 Hebrew’s Search for Atoning Blood, 382 
 “He Got In,” 588 
 
 Heights, Living in the, 830 
 
 ~ Hell Better Than Heaven for Some, 631 
 
 Hell on Earth, 399 
 
 Help, Divine, When Needed, 307 
 
 Help from the Lord Only, 906, 1002 
 
 Help, He Meant to, Let 1154 
 
 “Help Me, Lord?’, 
 
 Help Sent Via ae 901 
 
 Helper, God the Only, 906 
 
 Helped by Russell Sage, 620 
 
 Helper, An Unknown, 284 
 
 Hen, The Misjudged, 144 
 
 Henry Ryan and Ethan Allen, 145 
 
 Hero, A Crippled, 452 
 
 Hero, A Modest, 476, 725 
 
 Hero of Puncheon Camp, 378 
 
 Heroine, A Missionary, 1045 
 
 Heroine, The Child, 24 
 
 Heroism of a Black Boy, 456 
 
 Heroism of an Elevator Boy, 476 
 
 Heroism of Jacob Kenoly, 456 
 
 Heroism, Rock of Moral, 816 
 
 Hiding, Her Light, 1168 
 
 Highlander’s, The, Prayer, 1158 
 
 Highwayman, Knife of the, 765 
 
 Hindrances That Help, 948 
 
 Hindu Idea of Sin, 498 
 
 Hodges, Conversion of Jacob, 469 
 
 Holding the Line, 1179 
 
 Holy Spirit, Guidance of, 534, 610, 645, 
 884, 920, 1040 
 
 Holy Spirit, Gift of the, 1208, 1209 
 
 Holy Spirit, His Work Mysterious, 525 
 
 Holy Spirit, Moved by the, 600 
 
 Holy Spirit, Resisting the, 109 
 
 Holy Spirit, Work of, 357, 645 
 
 Holy, Take Time to be, 833 
 
 Honest Abe Stee 4, 515 
 
 Honest, An, Man, 2 
 
 Honesty, 236, 527 
 
 Honesty, Lincoln Trusted, 690 
 
 Honesty of Livingston’s Family, 828 
 
 Honesty of Sophia Holmes, 527 
 
 Honesty, Scottish, 17 
 
 Honor, Deserved, 6 
 
 Honor, Parental, 91, 719 
 
 Horse, A Sermon by a, 108 
 
 Horse Fidelity, 700 
 
 House, The Power, 136 
 
 House, Why Unfinished, 803 
 
 Howard, General O. O., 170, 896 
 
 Humble Place, Greatly Useful in, 168 
 
 Humble, Willing to Do, Service, 361 
 
596 
 
 Humble Work Done Well, 915, 168 
 
 Humble Work for Christ, 126, 361 
 Humility, 361, 592, 625 
 
 Hungry for Kind Words, 106 
 
 Hunter’s, The, Story, 571 
 
 Hurricane, Saved from, 33 
 
 Husband, Persecuting, Converted, 887 
 Hymns, How Written, 309, 377, 395, 1062 
 
 “T Don’t Know,” 411; “Him,” 417 
 
 Idle Foot Tired, 866 
 
 Ignorance, Bondage of, 604 
 
 Ignorance Enslaves, 85 
 
 Ignorance Not Necessarily Harmful, 670 
 
 Ignorance of Value, 512 
 
 Ignorance, Sin of, 291 
 
 Impatience Lost Diamond, 1179 
 
 Imperfect Made Perfect, 854 
 
 Impressed to Give £100, 165 
 
 Impressed to Give £20, $5.00, £100, 188, 
 165 
 
 Impression Obeyed, 372 
 
 Impressions, Worth of, 599, 645 
 
 “Inasmuch,” 817 
 
 Incident, A Striking, 645 
 
 Indian Died for His Tribe, 487 
 
 Indians and Great Book, 427, 658 
 
 Indians Respected the Quaker’s Trust, 169 
 
 Inconsistent Church Members, 327, 422 
 
 Indecision, Lost by, 1177 
 
 India’s Debt to Christ, 1196 
 
 Indulgences, Stories of, 638 
 
 Infidel Books Burned, 746 
 
 Infidel’s Trust in the Bible, 668 
 
 Infidel, Converted, 447, 466, 526, 635 
 
 Infidel Converted, 976 
 
 Infidel’s Death-Bed, 1175 
 
 Infidel Prayed, 306 
 
 Infidel Reproved, 678 
 
 Infidel, The, and the Bishop, 1025 
 
 Infidel’s, The, Death-Bed, 1175 
 
 Infidelity, What, Does, 105 
 
 Influence Abiding, 413 
 
 Influence, A Child‘s, 7, 11 
 
 Influence, A Dead Mother’s, 29, 577 
 
 Influence After Death, 1189, 1220 
 
 Influence for Evil, 465 
 
 Influence, One Girl’s, 16 
 
 Influence, Quiet, 1055 
 
 Influence of a Bible, 290 
 
 Influence of a Bootblack’s Question, 594 
 
 Influence of a Boy’s Gifts, 711, 11 
 
 Influence of a Child’s Song, 561 
 
 Influence of a Good Book, 330, 659 
 
 Influence of a Letter, 641, 1109 
 
 Influence of a Picture, 41, 301, 663 
 
 Influence of a Servant Girl, 661 
 
 Influence of a Tract, 849 
 
 Influence of a Word, 295 
 
 Influence of Bible in Home, 888 
 
 Influence of Dead Mother, 29 4 
 
 aoe: of Faithful Church Attendance, 
 
 Influence of Kindness to Chinese, 609 
 
 Influence of Little Things, 590, 934 
 
 Influence of One Bible Verse, 1035 
 
 Influence of One Tract, 732, 353 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Influence of Self-possession, 304 
 
 Influence of Small Sins, 2, 64 
 
 Influence, One Girl’s Evil, 1217 
 
 Influence, Personal, 626, 635 
 
 Influence, Silent, 13, 126 
 
 Influence, The Story of Christ, 335 
 
 Influence, Unconscious, 74, 299, 310, 459, 
 
 465 ; 
 
 Influence, Wesley’s, 413 
 
 Ingersoll Rebuked, 881 
 
 Ingratitude, 417, 419, 426 
 
 Inheritance, Awaiting an, 662 
 
 Insanity, Moral, 644 
 
 Insanity, Recovery from, 161 
 
 Instant Healing, 466, 640 
 
 Instant Salvation, 100 
 
 Intercession for Charlie’s Sake, 53 
 
 Intercession to Lincoln for Soldiers by 
 “Tad,” 267 
 
 Interest, Cause of His, 927 
 
 Interest, Compound, 139 
 
 Inventor, An Unselfish, 421 
 
 Investment, A Good, 842 
 
 Invitation Promptly Accepted, 272 
 
 Invitation to Church, 626 
 
 Irenaeus, Testimony of as to Jesus, 835 
 
 Jack, Poor, 929 
 
 Japanese Girl Found True God, 841 
 
 Japan’s First Bible, 712 
 
 Jenny Lind’s Reply, 1034 
 
 Jesus, Liked, Best, 422 
 
 Jesus, Loving, is Conversion, 800 
 “Jesus, Safe in the Arms of,’’ How Written, 
 
 377 
 Jesus, The Word, 801 
 Jesus, Trusting, 221 
 Jewels from Mud, 639 
 Jewish, The Brothers Quarrel, 407 
 Jonah and the Whale, 965 
 Jones’, Mary, Bible, 463 
 Josephus Concerning Christ, 1039 
 Journey, Life’s Hard, 153 
 Joy Amidst Affliction, 506 
 Joy, He Shouted for, 747 
 Joy, Miraculous, in Sorrow, 872 
 Judge Not, 123 
 Judge Pays Prisoner’s Fine, 970 
 Judge the Saviour is the, 731 
 Judgments, God’s, 904 
 Jungle, In the Tiger’s, 553 
 “Just as I Am,” How Written, 1062 
 Justice, Not, but Pardon, 12 
 
 Keeping a Promise, 569 
 
 Killing the Guide, 109 
 
 Kind, as Well as Great, Gladstone, 980 
 Kind, Hungry for, Words, 106 
 Kind Severity, 96 
 
 Kindness, Conquered by, 1015, 1091 
 Kindness, Lincoln’s, 675 
 
 Kindness, Overcome by, 186 
 Kindness, Pass it on, 197 
 
 Kindness, Power of 791 
 
 Kindness Rewarded, 337, 609 
 Kindness to Chinese Boy, 609 
 King, I Belong to the, 774 
 
 King, Latimer and the, 22 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 King, The, and the Thief, 1021 
 
 King, The, Lost an Eye for His Son, 1078 
 Kings, As, Give, 88 
 
 Kings, The Boy Who Stood Before, 770 
 King’s, The Business, 769 
 
 King’s, The, Victim, 448 
 
 Kingly, The, Elevator Boy, 476 
 Kitchen, A, Maid’s Consecration, 168 
 Knees, Working on His, 5438, 10838 
 Know and Know You Know, 815 
 Knowing by Faith, 233 
 
 Knowledge Saved Him, 789, 1015 
 Know, Will to Do and, 87 
 
 Knox, Prayer of John, 265 
 
 Konoly, Jacob, Heroism of, 456 
 Kurdistan, The Saviour of, 494 
 
 Labor Honorable, 285 
 
 Lack of a Touch, 404 
 
 Ladder, Splicing the, 287 
 
 Lake, An African, 391 
 
 Last, Accepting, Offer, 305 
 
 Last, Seizing, Chance, 246 
 Latch-string Out for Indians, 169 
 Latimer and the King, 22 
 
 Law, God’s, Perfect, 475 
 
 Law of Sabbath Not Arbitrary, 885 
 Law, The King Honored His, 1078 
 Lawyer, Capturing a, 478, 530 
 Laziness, the Original Sin, 1223 
 Lee’s Greatness, 1024 
 
 Letter, A Left-handed, 641 
 “Letter, Is there a, for Me,” 65 
 Letter, The Misdirected, 141 
 Letters, The Seven, 989 
 
 Leyden Saved by Prayer, 573 
 Liberality and Prosperity, 111, 785 
 Liberty, Claim Your, 932 
 
 Liberty, You Must Claim Your, 932 
 Lie, A Life for a, 51 
 
 Lie Is Forever, 201, 431 
 
 Life, Duty More than, 900 
 
 Life, Insuring, or Soul, 263 
 
 Life Line, The Short, 923 
 
 Life, Purpose in, 1159 
 
 Life, Sailors Fight for, 737 
 
 Life, Spiritual, Needed, 364 
 
 Life, The Art of Long, 634 
 
 Life, The Fountain of, 27 
 
 Life, The Purchased, 464 
 
 Life, The Push of, 1161 
 
 Life, Why, a Hard Journey, 153 
 Life’s Broken House, 11938 
 Life-saver, He Saved Seventeen Lives, 553 
 Light, Following the, 10738 
 
 , Light, Hiding Her, 1168 
 
 \ Light, Hold Up the, 228, 425 
 
 \ Light, Letting His, Shine, 341, 371, 425 
 Light, Letting, Shine on Waves, 425 
 Light, Let Your, Shine, 425, 926 
 “Light, Mind the,” 1180 
 
 Light, Morse’s, 814 
 
 Light Under Bushel, 1185 
 
 Light, Walking in the, 90 
 Lighthouse, Eddystone, 228 
 Lightning Closed Switch, 325 
 Lightning, Why, Struck Church, 1160 
 
 597 
 
 Lincoln, Advice of, as to Quarreling, 560 
 
 Lincoln and the Bible, 555 
 
 Lincoln, His Belief in Prayer, 601, 942, 874 
 
 Lincoln, His Magnanimity, 853 
 
 Lincoln, His Religious Development, 502 
 
 Lincoln, Honest Abe, 4, 502, 515 
 
 Lincoln Insisted a Promise Be Kept, 280 
 
 Lincoln Received a Soldier in Trouble, 267 
 
 Lincoln, Room in His Pew, 675 
 
 Lincoln Served Water at Notification, 414 
 
 Lincoln’s Trusted Honesty, 690 
 
 Lind, Jenny, and the King, 458 
 
 Line-fence Question Settled, 199 
 
 Lions, How Saved from, 385 
 
 Lions, Why Saved from, 385, 1087 
 
 Little Girl, How, Worked for Christ, 150 
 
 Little Girl’s Faith for Bad Father, 181 
 
 Little Girl’s Prayer for Sick Mother, 208 
 
 Little Girl’s Testimony as to Beer, 162 
 
 Little Light, Value of, 425 
 
 Little Sins, 64, 2 
 
 Little Things and Great Results, 369, 378, 
 379, 441, 425, 474 
 
 Little Things, God’s Care in, 202 
 
 Little Things, Importance of, 508, 590, 7038 
 
 Little Things, Influence of, 425, 590, 934 
 
 Little Things, Power of, 508 
 
 Living Beneath Privilege, 85 
 
 Livingston, David, 171 
 
 Loaf, The Little, 1059 
 
 Loan to the Lord, 374 
 
 Longevity, How to Attain, 634 
 
 Looking Pleasant, 507 
 
 “Lord, Help Me!” 753 
 
 Losing and Finding, 575 
 
 Lost Children Prayed, 253 
 
 Lost, Finding Her, Boy, 786 
 
 Lost, Finding the, $20 Bill, 151 
 
 Lost in Forest Providentially, 1157 
 
 Lost Man Found, 571 
 
 Lost, Near Home Yet, 260 
 
 Lost, No Effort, 310 
 
 Lost, The, Children Prayed, 253 
 
 Lost, The, Diamond, 867 
 
 st, The Sheep that was, 15 
 
 Love, A Child Waif Hungry for, 510 
 
 Love Brought Him Back to Health, 857 
 
 Love, Christ’s Constraining, 154, 464 
 
 Love Conquered a Criminal, 522 ‘ 
 
 Love, Distrusting a Father’s, 1171 
 
 Love for Author Bettered Book, 1174 
 
 Love for Souls, 336 
 
 Love, God’s for Us, 216 
 
 Love, God’s, Shown by His Great Gift, 698 
 
 “Tove, Herein Is,’ 216, 464, 487 
 
 Love, How, Unites, 754 
 
 “Tove, I, to Pint Him Out,” 802 
 
 Love, Lack of, 1191 
 
 Love, Learning to, the Unlovely, 31 
 
 Love Lightens the Load, 680 
 
 Love, Mystery of God’s, 400 
 
 4+Liove, Not Our, to God, 756 
 Love of Author Bettered Book, 1174 
 
 Love of Christ, the Power of the Story, 335 
 Love of Girl for Maimed Soldier, 355 
 
 ~ Love Others as Yourself, 619 
 
 Love, Parental, 258 
 
598 
 
 Love, Reproving in, 354 
 
 Love, The Accent of Tone of, 420 
 Love Unto Death, Father for Son, 464 
 Love Unto Death, Indian for Tribe, 487 
 Love Won a Degraded Drunkard, 612 
 Love Your Enemies, 84 
 
 Love Your Enemies, 762 
 
 “Lower, Lights,” The, Out, 1005 
 
 Loyal to His Mother, 72 
 
 Luther’s Fervent Prayer, 298 
 
 Luxuries, Ill Effect of, 749 
 
 Luxury of Doing Good, 992 
 
 Luxury of Giving, 518 
 
 Maelstrom, In the, of Sin, 467, 704 
 
 Man, Saving a, at Sea, 288 
 
 Manna in the Desert, 101 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, Letter of, 164 . 
 
 Massacre, Saved from, by Prayer, 318, 350 
 
 Master, His, Always in, 829 
 
 McCabe, Chaplain, His Healing, 601 
 
 Men, Above Price, 963 
 
 Men Greater than Circumstances, 452 
 
 Merchant, God not a, 13 
 
 Mercy, The Angel of, 149 
 
 Message, The Last, of a Convict, 501 
 
 Michael Angelo and the Discarded Marble, 
 17 
 
 2 
 Miller’s, The, Plan to Support Church, 511 
 “Mind the Light!’’, 1180 
 Mind, The, Makes the Man, 452 
 Miners, The Entombed, 1172 
 Miner’s Wife, Faith of the, 1206 
 Minister, A, Who Disbelieved Bible, 473 
 Minister, A Young Won Lawyer, 478 
 Ministry, How Called to the, 1208 
 Misdirected, Envelopes, 141 
 Misdirected Traveler, 291 
 Misjudged, The, Dog, 738 
 Misjudged, The, Hen, 144 
 Miserly, A, Rich Man, 564 
 Miserly Worldlings and Christians, 564 
 Missionary, Foreign, Work at Home, 203 
 Missionary Heroine, 1045 
 Missions in India, 606 
 Missions in Korea, 648 
 Missions, Mountain Girl’s Interest in, 364 
 Missions, Scudder, How Interested in, 353 
 Missionary, The Defenders of the, 124 
 Mistake, A fortunate, 141, 891 
 Mistake, Overruled for Good, 141, 603, 87 
 Mistook, She, Benefactor for Landlord, 546 
 Mob, A Heathen, Won by Story, 424 
 ph Oe Heathen Won by Story of Christ, 
 Mob Won by Story of Gospel, 124 
 Modest, A, Hero, 725 
 Moffat, Robert, and Africaner, 120 
 eee Robert, and a Solitary Christian, 
 Money, Hidden, 47 
 Money, How the, Came, 740 
 Money-making, Agassiz on, 521 
 Money-making no Temptation, 527 
 Money not the Motive, 855 
 Money not the Object, 94 
 Money, £20 in Answer to Prayer, 31i 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Monkeys, How, are Caught, 6338 
 
 Moody, D. L., Boyhood of, 283, 590 
 
 Moody, D. L., Humility of, 370 
 
 Moody, D. L., on Escape of “The Spree,” 
 17 
 
 “‘Moonshiner’s,” A, Conversion, 1035 
 
 Morrison, Robert, Helper, 361 
 
 Morse’s Light, 814 
 
 Mortar, Mixing the, 794 
 
 Mother, A, of Criminals, 1217 
 
 Mother, A, of Men, 97 
 
 Mother, First Sight of, by Boy of Six, 205 
 
 Mother, Honoring His, 73, 583 
 
 Mother, Influence of a Dead, 29 
 
 Mother, Influence of General Lewis Cass’, 
 140 
 
 Mother, John Newton’s, 577 
 
 Mother, Loyal to His, 73, 140, 583 
 Mother Prayers of Hudson Taylor’s, 8 
 Mother, Prayer of a Slave, 189 
 Mother, The Faithful, Hen, 810 
 Mother, Thought of His, 958 
 “Mother Told Me,” 283 
 
 Mountain Girl Became Missionary, 364 
 Mountain, The, Driver, 256 
 
 Muller, Geo., Prayer for Breakfast, 135 
 Muller’s Mighty Faith, 986 
 
 Murder, Restrained from, 338 
 Murderer, Confessed, 477 
 
 Murderer Converted, 469 
 
 Murphy, Francis, and Sons, 1199 
 Music, Transfigured, 1041 
 
 Musician, Hand of the Master, 454 
 Mute, What a Deaf, Did, 185 
 Mysteries, How to Deal with, 670 
 Mystery of God’s Love, 409 
 
 Mystery of Work of H. S., 525 
 
 Nailhole, Pull Out the, 431 
 
 Nails, Bent, 64 
 
 Nails, The Print of, 331 
 
 Name, His, 1058 
 
 Name, His, Lives, 613 
 
 Name, Lee Valued His Good, 1024 
 Napoleon, His Opinion of Jesus, 433 
 Napoleon, Louis, Confidence of, 317 
 Napoleon, Louis, His Ambition, 317 
 Narrow, A, Passagie, 625 
 
 National, A Deliverance, 35 
 
 Nature Must Be Changed, 541 
 Need Inspired Energy, 1178 
 
 Need, the Best Recommendation, 393 
 Neglect, Fatal, 23 
 
 Neglect, The Peril of, 1177 
 Neglected Treasure, Bible, 346 
 Negro, A Bishop’s Appeal to a, 326 
 Negro, Color is in Nature of, 541 
 Negro, The Conscience of One, 245 
 Neighbor, How Won, 397 
 New-birth, 529 
 
 New England, How Saved, 174 
 
 New Testament, Story of a, 112 
 Newton, John, 577, 581 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, Voltaire’s Sneer at, 115 
 “Nickel, A, for the Lord,” 730 
 Nicodemus, A Chinese, 525 
 
 Nine, She Won, 622 
 
‘ 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX ‘ . 599 
 
 “No!? He Said, 143 
 
 “No, Thank You!” Helped by, 779 
 “Nol”? What Saying, Led to, 548 
 Nobility of Character, 589 
 Non-resistance of a Quaker, 343 
 “Nothing Left to Do,” 524 
 
 Nott, Deborah, 97 
 
 “Now or Never!’ 246 
 
 “Now, Then—!’ 1110 
 
 Obedience Better than Wealth, 278 
 Obedience to Orders, 360 
 Obedience to Parents, 991 
 
 “Of Course He Will!” 1004 
 
 Oil, Driving with, 969 
 
 Oil, How Found in Egypt, 826 
 Old Man and His Bowl, 847 
 
 Old Testament, Power of, 429 
 Omnipresence of God, 44 
 
 “Only a Boy,’’ Robert Moffat, 28 
 Opportunities, Ghost of Lost, 554 
 Opportunity, A Lost, 76, 256, 399 
 Opportunity, Another, 759 
 Opportunity at Own Doors, 203 
 Opportunity for Pardon Missed, 1154 
 Opportunity, Improving the, 654 
 Orders, Obedience to, 360 
 Original Sin, Laziness the, 1223 
 Orphanage, Francke’s, 535 
 Orphans Provided for, 135. 386 
 Osborne, Louise, Gift of, 235 
 Overcome by Kindness, 186 
 Overcoming Difficulties, 99, 579 
 Overcoming Evil with Good, 1050 
 Overcoming the World, 1201, 1204 
 Ox, Shamed by His, 890 
 
 Page, One, Enough, 862, 182 
 Pardon, Missed Chance for, 1154 
 Pardon, Not Justice but, 54 
 Pardon, Reuben Johnson’s, 12 
 Pardon, The Locked Up, 933 
 Pardon, The Withheld, 768 
 Pardoned, Why He was, 585 
 Parental Love, 258 
 
 Parental Regard, 91, 719 
 Parental Responsibility, 1215 
 Parents, Honoring, 847 
 
 Parents, Honor of, 91 
 
 Parents, Obey Your, 991 
 
 Parson Haven’s Victory, 24 
 Partnership with God, 936 
 
 “Pass It On!” 197 
 
 Passion, A, for Christ, 1007 
 Passions, Check Your, 978 
 Passion for Souls, 336 
 
 Patience, Carey’s, 483 
 
 Patience, Lack of, Lost Diamond, 1179 
 Patience Rewarded, 662 
 
 Patience to Wait, 662 
 
 Patience with Little Duties, 490 
 Paton’s Finding Word for Trust, 1132 
 Patterson’s Escape, 509 
 
 Paying, Not Giving, 1221 
 
 Peace, Like a River, 309 
 
 Peace, The Song of, 40 
 
 Peace, ‘When, Like a River,’’ 309 
 
 Pearls, Troubles Turned into, 845 
 
 Peddler’s, The, Window, 602 
 
 People, What Will, Say, 921 
 
 Peril, The, of Neglect, 1177 
 
 Perilous, Walking a, Plank, 90 
 
 Perils by the Heathen, 247 
 
 Persecuting Husband Converted, 443, 887 
 
 Persecutors Converted, 623, 443 
 
 Perseverance, 720, 783,.462, 987 
 
 Perseverance, Carey’s, 462 
 
 Perseverance for Souls, 622 
 
 Perseverance in Prayer, 68, 310, 340, 364, 
 410 
 
 Perserverance, Influence of, 530 
 
 Perservance, Prescott’s, 495 
 
 Perseverance Rewarded, 987 
 
 Perseverance Rewarded, 3, 310, 364 
 
 Personal Work, 727 
 
 Personal Work for Souls, 485 
 
 Personal Work for Souls, 308, 305, 496, 574 
 
 Piccolo, The, Missed, 703 
 
 Pickett’s Brigade, Memory of, 176 
 
 Picture, Infiuence of a, 41, 663 
 
 Picture, The Spoiled, 597 
 
 Picture’s, A, Influence, 663 
 
 Pigs, How, were Led, 34 
 
 Pipe, Why He Gave Up the, 1105 
 
 Pirates, Delivered from, 195 
 
 Place, To, for Which Fitted, 631 
 
 Pleasure Pursued to the Abyss, 644 
 
 Plodding, Patient, 483 
 
 Politeness Pays, 842 
 
 Politeness Pays, “Mr. Murphy,” 1199 
 
 Poor, Making Many Rich, 859 
 
 Poor, The Gospel to the, 899 
 
 Potatoes and Salt Dinner, 596 
 
 Poverty No Bar to Fame, 402, 455 
 
 Power, Getting, 758 
 
 Power of Kindness, 791 
 
 Power of Little Things, 508, 704 
 
 Power of Love, 510 
 
 Power of the Word, 1164 
 
 Power of Trifles, 792 
 
 Power, Secret of, 684 
 
 Power-house, The, 136 
 
 Powerful but Silent, 726 
 
 Practice, Consistent, 628 
 
 Prairie, The, Fire, 1218 
 
 Pray, Soldier’s Courage to, 352 
 
 Pray, When He Bids Us, 686 
 
 Pray Your Own Prayers, 373 
 
 Prayed, Lost Children, 253 
 
 Prayed, While They Yet, 843 
 
 Prayer, A Slave Mother’s, 189 
 
 Prayer, A Wireless Telegraph, 864 
 
 Prayer, Agreement in, 136, 545 
 
 Prayer, Answers to, 164, 167, 350, 386, 
 489, 503, 538, 390, 409, 416, 671 
 
 Prayer Answered After Death, 733 
 
 Prayer Answered for Clear Sky, 416 
 
 Prayer Answered for Conversion of Hudson 
 Taylor, 8 
 
 Prayer Answered for Fur Cap, 665 
 
 Prayer Answered for Jacob Chamberlain, 
 116 
 
 Prayer Answered for Mild Weather, 14 
 Prayer Answered for Money, 311 
 
600 
 
 Prayer Answered for Persecuted Jews, 59 
 
 Prayer Answered for Safety of Ship, 137 
 
 Prayer Answered for Widow and Children, 
 36 
 
 Prayer Answered While Yet Asking, 843 
 
 Prayer, B. Franklin and, 75 
 
 Prayer, Bengle’s, 712 
 
 Prayer Brought Health, 1091, 1096 
 
 Prayer Changes Things, 408, 409 
 
 Prayer, Consumptive’s, of Faith, 470 
 
 Prayer, Family, 20 
 
 Prayer, Fervent, 408 
 
 Prayer for Conversion of Children, 566 
 
 Prayer for Men and Money, 489 
 
 Prayer for Revival, 38, 49, 191, 408, 470 
 1088 
 
 Prayer for Sick Mother by Little Girl, 208 
 
 Prayer for 25 Cents, 1029 
 
 Prayer, “Go on with That!’ 480 
 
 Prayer, Luther’s Fervent, 298 
 
 Prayer Meeting, A Great, 356 
 
 Prayer Meeting, Attending, 764 
 
 Prayer Meeting Forsaken, 947 
 
 Prayer Meeting Hurt by Hypocrite, 549 
 
 Prayer Meeting, Speaking in, 549 
 
 Prayer, Money in Answer to, 535, 311 
 
 Prayer of David Brainerd, 1197 
 
 Prayer of Highland Soldier, 1158 
 
 Prayer, Perserverance in, 410 
 
 Prayer, Power of, 930 
 
 Prayer, Prevailing, of a Child, 1027 
 
 Prayer, Remarkable Answer to, 685 
 
 Prayer Saved a Boy’s Hand, 223 
 
 Prayer Saved from Lions, 1087 
 
 Prayer Saved from Massacre, 318, 350 
 
 Prayer, Saved in Battle by, 93 
 
 Prayer Saved Leyden, 578 
 
 Prayer Saved Prohibition, 1061 
 
 Prayer Saves Sick, 434 
 
 Prayer, Spirit of, 493 
 
 Prayer, Spirit of Lord’s, 784 . 
 
 Prayer, Stanley Saved by, 226 
 
 Prayer Stopped the Train, 254 
 
 Prayer, Things Wrought by, 601, 671 
 
 Prayer, Three Agreed in, 1169 
 
 Prayer, What a Negro T*-ught of Lord’s, 
 480 
 
 Prayer, When God Answered, 882 
 
 Prayers Answered While They Prayed, 843 
 Praying and Working, 761 
 
 Praying Boy, Jamie, 324 
 
 Preach, How Tracts, 811 
 
 Preach, Simpson’s Call to, 1016 
 
 Preacher Advised as to “Call,” 598 
 Preacher Converted, 588 
 
 Preacher, Discouraged, 544 
 
 Preacher, Pray for Your, 909 
 
 Preacher, The Faithful, 344 
 
 Preacher’s, A, Unknown Success, 1220 
 Bee. Drawing, Holding Congregations, 
 
 Preaching for a Crown, 582 
 
 Preaching, Gladstone’s Opinion of, 177 
 Preaching to One, 624 
 
 Preaching to Smal! Congregation, 554, 624 
 Precious Blood, 534 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Prescription, The Bishop’s, 1025 
 
 Preserved from Bullets, 578 
 
 Preserved from Danger, 372 
 
 Preserved from Dragoons, 509 
 
 Preserved from Lions, 385 
 
 Preserved from Massacre, 318, 350 
 
 Preserved from Wolves, 282 
 
 Prevailing Prayer, 349 
 
 Price of His Soul, 505 
 
 Price, The, Paid for Salvation, 102 
 
 Price, too Small, 1013 
 
 Principles, True to, 548, 914 
 
 Printer’s Self-denial for Sister, 268 
 
 Prison, An Evangelist in, 813 
 
 Privilege, Living Beneath, 85 
 
 Procrastination, Fatal, 1166 . 
 
 Profanity, How Cured of, 59 
 
 Profanity Rebuked, 869 
 
 Profanity, Reproving, 664 
 
 Prohibition Saved by Prayer, 1061 
 
 Promise, Keeping a, 472 
 
 Promise, Keeping a, 569 
 
 Promise, Remembered, 1048 
 
 Promise, Result of, 971 
 
 Promise That Held, 889 
 
 Promptness, Saved by, 1178 
 
 Property Valued Above Life, 870 
 
 Prophecy, Evidence of, 437 
 
 Prosperity and Liberality, 111 
 
 Protected by Flag, 405 
 
 Protector, Christ a, 6 
 
 Protector, Christ a, 1190 
 
 Protector, Christ as a, 66 
 
 Protector, Dog Sent as, 1076 
 
 Proud, Little, Poor and, 945 
 
 Providence, Remarkable, 760 
 
 Providence, Led by, 1638, 503, 509, 533 
 
 Pe nae Protected by, 166, 350, 440, 553, 
 
 Providences, Special, 352, 392, 440, 442, 
 449, 503, 509, 542, 1076 
 
 Providentially Lost, 1157 
 
 Proving God, 570 
 
 “Provisions, Send, to Caleb!” 449 
 
 Public Speaking, Encouragement to, 549 
 
 Punishment, Sure, for Crime, 1183 
 
 Purpose in ‘Life, 1159 
 
 Push, The, of Life, 1161 
 
 Quadrant, The Captain and the, 416 
 Quaker, A, in the Army, 343 
 Quaker’s Latch-string Out, 169 
 Quarrel, A, Made Up, 407 
 Quarreling, Lincoln’s Advice as to, 560 
 Quarter Dollar, The, Sin, 88 
 
 Queen, The Child and the, 556 
 Quench Not the Spirit, 204 
 Question, A Child’s, 453 
 
 Question, An Unexpected, 594 
 Quiet Influence, 1055 
 
 Race for a Crown, 787 
 
 Race, The, Set Before Us, 1170 
 Rain, The Ceased, 724 
 “Rattlebones! Go It Old,” 426 
 Ravens, Fed by, 1089 
 
 Reading Bible in Chimney, 384 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Reading with ie) 847 
 
 Ready, Be, 95 
 
 Reaping, anne and, 1032 
 
 Rebuke, An Unintended, 910 
 
 Rebuke, Loving, 907 
 
 Rebuke to Ingersoll, 881 
 
 Rebuking a Scoffer, 1013 
 
 Receiving Good and Evil, 567 
 
 Recommendation, His, 446 
 
 Reconciliation, 407 
 
 Spee ener 175, 464, 487, 536, 528, 557, 
 7 
 
 Recovery, Bishop Haven’s 25 
 
 Recovery from Insanity, 161 
 
 Reed, Wm., the Barber, 308 
 
 Refiner, The, 2 
 
 Refuge, A Safe, 832 
 
 Regeneration, Mysterious, 525, 541 
 
 Regret, A Father’s, 20 
 
 Regret, Dying, 532 
 
 Reins, Throw, to Jesus, 221 
 
 Rejecting a Crown, 52 
 
 Religion, Formal, 365 
 
 Religion, Living Her, 628 
 
 Rely on Yourself, 224 
 
 Remarkable Answer to Prayer, 685 
 
 Remedy, Prayer Found, 657 
 
 Remembering a Kindness, 337 
 
 Reminiscences of People’s Tabernacle, 669 
 
 Remorse, 399 
 
 Render, What Shall I, 9138 
 
 Renewed Day by Day, 1184 
 
 Repentance Does Not Undo, 431 
 
 Repentance, Genuine, 608 
 
 Reprieve, The, 45 
 
 - Reproached, Why He, 327 
 
 Reproof, A Child’s, 5 
 
 Reproving in Love, 354 
 
 Reproving Profanity, 664, 869 
 
 Resignation to Ged’: “al, 707 
 
 Resistance to God’s Will, 707, 1201 
 
 ~ Resisting Temptation, 548 
 
 Responsibilty, Helpful, 718 
 
 Responsibilty, Human, 944 
 
 Restitution for 25 Cent Sin, 88 
 
 Restitution, Making, 212, 225 
 
 Restrained, God, and Preserved, 385, 372 
 
 Restrained from ‘Murder, 338 
 
 Restrained from Sin, 348 
 
 Restraint, Self-, 540 
 
 Results, Great, ‘from Few Words, 537 
 
 Results, Great, from Little Things, 441, 537 
 
 Results, Great, from Small Efforts, 295, 353, 
 603, 537 
 
 Renee cue of the Dead, 7383 
 
 Resurrection, Until the Second, 1066 
 
 Returned, Why Bunyan, 130 
 
 Returning Thanks, 200 
 
 Revealing Christ, 808 
 
 Revenge, The Governor’s, 539 
 
 Revival Incidents, 466 
 
 Revival, Prayer for a, 38 
 
 Revival. Started by Prayer, 1088 
 
 Revivals, Prayer and, 191 
 
 Revivals, The Secret of all, 9 
 
 Reward for Bag, Not for Life, 870 
 
 601 
 
 Reward of Faith, 70 
 
 Reward of Faith, 895 
 
 Reward of Faithfulness, 474 
 
 Reward of Patience, 662 
 
 Reward of Sabbath Keeping, 308 
 Rewarded, Trust in God, 71 
 
 Rice, What Came from a Bag of, 281 
 Rich Not to Be Envied, 388 
 
 Rich, Yet Living on $1.50 a Week, 564 
 Ridgeway, Jacob, 388 
 
 Riding on the Platform, 1181 
 
 Right, Courage for the, 60 
 Righteousness, 365 
 
 Risk, She Ran the, 57 
 
 Risk, The Danger of it, 313 
 
 Robber, Whitefield and the, 77 
 Robbers, The Bible and the, 255 
 Rock, Feet Upon a, 484 
 
 “Rock of Ages,” How Written, 395 
 Rock, Splitting the, 62 
 
 Roosevelt, Was Young, a Fool? 694 
 Ropes, Hane Out the, 956 
 
 Roses and Thorns, 937 
 
 Rubbish, Bible on, Heap, 954 
 
 Run, What It Did, 148 
 
 “Run Away, Boy!”, 1215 
 
 Runaway, The, Boy, 160 
 
 Sabbath, Gen. Grant’s Regard for, 315 
 Sabbath Law Not Arbitrary, 885 
 Sabbath Observance by Gen. Grant, 315 
 Sabbath Pleasuring, 1214 
 
 Sabbath, The, Keeping Barber, 308 
 Sabbath- breaking Punished, 392 
 Sabbath-keeping Rewarded, 308, 446 
 Sabbath-keeping, The, Saddler, "197 
 Sacrifice, A Living, 1043 
 
 Sacrifice, A Noble, 342, 355, 464, 494 
 er A Willing, 333, 842, 355, 528, 
 
 Sacrifice, Can Christians, 171, 194 
 Sacrifice, No, for Christ, 423 
 
 Sacrifice, The, of a Mother, 494 
 Sacrifice, Yourself a Living, 1163 
 Sacrificed Life to Help Another, 900 
 Sacrificing an Eye to Sustain Law, 1078 
 Sacrificing Heariz:g, 771 
 
 Sacrificing Sight, 773, 1078 
 
 Saddler, The Sabbath- Keeping, 797 
 “Safe and Smooth Now!” 243 
 
 renee in the Arms of Jesus,’”’ How Written, 
 
 Safe Refuge, 832 
 
 Saint’s, A Bedridden, Prayer, 49 
 Sake, For Charlie’s, 53 
 
 Salvation by Crawling, 625 
 Salvation, Instant, 100 
 Salvation Is for Acceptance, 1192 
 Salvation, Not Cheap, 1028 
 Salvation Secured by Christ, 524 
 Samaritan, The Good, 329 
 Sample, A Poor, 1227 
 
 Sand, Mistaking, for Water, 1173 
 sankey and the Gipsy Boy,, 379 
 Satan’s Devices, 34, 633 
 
 Satan’s Right-of-Way, 1207 
 Save Others and Thyself, 949 
 
602 TOPICAL INDEX 
 
 Save Somebody’s Boy, 209 
 
 Saved by a Bear, 225 
 
 Saved by a Few Words, 295 
 
 Saved by a Flower, 763. 
 
 Saved by a Remark, 295 
 
 Saved by a Song, 138 
 
 Saved by a Thread, 369 
 
 Saved by Blood, 286 
 
 Saved from Death in a Trunk, 381 
 Saved from Hurricane, 33 
 
 Saved, He, 17 Lives, 553 
 
 Saved in Answer to Prayer, 137 
 Saved in Battle by Prayer, 93 
 Saved, New England, How, 174 
 Saved, She, 200 Lives, 812 
 
 Saved, The, Hand, 223 
 
 Saving a Ball, a Doll, a Man, 288 
 Saving His Boots, 67 
 
 Saving, The, Hand, 79 
 
 Savings, A Millionaire’s, 277 
 Saviour, No Thanks to, 417, 419, 426 
 Saviour, The, of Kurdistan, 494 
 Saviour’s, Our, Plan, 545 
 
 Sear, Covering the, 767 
 
 Scientists’ Greatest Discovery, 576 
 Scoffer, A, Silenced, 903 
 
 Scoffer, Rebuking a, 1018 
 
 Scott, Walter, and Burns, 846 
 Scottish Honesty, 17 
 
 Scratching Scales off Dragon’s Back, 604 
 Scudders, What Started Their Work, 353 
 Sea Captains, Story of Two, 689 
 Seamen are Not Atheists, 239 
 Season, A Word in, 155 
 
 Secret Disciples, 1185 
 
 Secret of all Revivals, 9 
 
 Secret, The, Disciple, 538 
 
 Secret, The, of Separation, 82 
 Sectarianism, 491 
 
 Sects, No, in Heaven, 491 
 
 Security of the Believer, 1188, 1190 
 Seed Sown in Good Ground, 626 
 Seeing the Heather Bell, 482 
 Self-control, The Need of, 292 
 Self-denial, A Printer’s, 268 
 Self-reliance, 224 
 
 Self-sacrifice ys pier 528, 536, 355, 487 
 
 Sent of God, 
 
 Sentinel, The aeamine 279 
 Sentinels, The Two, 997 
 
 Sermon, A Successful, 134, 624 
 Sermon, A, to Nobody, 955 
 “Sermon by a Horse, 108 
 Sermons, Mending Dry, 793 
 Servant, A, Girl’s Influence, 661 
 Servant Girl’s Influence, 661 
 Serve Where You Are, 798 
 Service the Test of Success, 1200 
 Serving Christ, A Cowboy’s Idea of, 809 
 Severity, Kind, 96 
 
 Shamed by His Ox, 890 
 
 Sheaves, A Story of, 1038 
 “Sheep! I Did Steal ‘that, ine 
 Sheep, The, That Was Lost, 15 
 Shelly’s, Kate, Bravery, 230 
 Shelterless, Not Left, 1006 
 
 Ship Stopped to Save Man, 288 
 Shoemaker, The Ambitious, 908 
 Shoemaker’s, The, Plan, 990 
 
 Sick, Prayer of a Little Girl for, 208 
 Sick, The, Restored by Prayer, 434, 640 
 Sight, First, of His Mother, 205 
 Sight, God-given, 850 
 
 Silent but Sovereign, 726 
 
 Silent Influence, Dean Stanley, 13 
 Silver, The Refiner of, 250 
 Simpson’s, Bishop, Recovery, 25 
 Simpson’s, Bishop, Start, 1016 
 Sin, A Rare, (Envy), 523 
 
 Sin, Avoiding, 918 
 
 Sin, Debasement of, 660 
 
 Sin, Deceitfulness and Power of, 704 
 Sin, Fatality of, 843 
 
 Sin, Hindu Idea of, 498 
 
 Sin, In the Maelstrom of, 467, 704 
 Sin Leads to Misery, 399, 448 
 Sin, No Secrecy for, 943 
 
 Sin of Ignorance 291 
 
 Sin, Sense of, Before Pardon, 585 
 Sin, Tampering with, 313 
 
 Sin, The Quarter Dollar, 88 
 
 Sins, How Covered, 865 
 
 Sincerity Respected, 776 
 
 Singer, The Homeless, 69 
 
 Singing Doxology in a Barrel, 375 
 Skin Deep, More Than, 541, 
 
 Sky, The Telegram, 187 
 
 Slave Boy’s, The, Mission, 807 
 Slave, The, Mother’s Prayer, 189 
 Slave’s, The Little, Faith, 89 
 Sleep, Talking in, 499 
 
 Sleep, The Fatal, 23 
 
 Sleep, Why He Could Not, 1008 
 Sleep, Why They Could Not, 648 
 Sleeping, The, Sentinel, 279 
 
 Small Sins, 2, 467, 7o« Paes 
 
 Smile, Power of a, 125 
 
 Smile, The Power of a, 125 
 Smoking, Cigarette, 611 
 
 Soldier Father’s Letter to Daughter, 1109 
 Soldier, The, Lost Feet Only, 1163 
 Soldier’s, A, Courage to Pray, 352 
 Soldiers and Alcohol, 430 
 
 Solitary, A, Christian, 649 
 “Something Always Gives Way,’’ 340 
 Son, A, of God, 32 
 
 Song, A, of Peace, 40 
 
 Song Born of Sorrow, 309 
 
 Song, Saved by a, 183, 176, 206 
 Song, What a, Did, 1012 
 
 Sorrow, Better Than Idle, 781 
 Soul, A Single, Worth of, 276 
 
 Soul, A, Won by a Mistake, 603 
 Soul, Fishing for a, 7 
 
 Soul, He Lost His, 505 
 
 “Soul? How Do You Find Your,’ 603 
 Soul, So Easy to Win a, 820 
 
 Soul Winning, 1000, 1007 
 Soul-Winning Power, 1208, 1209 
 Souls, Estimates of Value of, 500 
 Souls, How She Won Nine, 622 
 Souls, Love for, 1007 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 603 
 
 Souls, Thirsting for, 103 
 
 Souls, Two, Won, 351 
 
 “Sovereign, A, for a Penny!” 742 
 Sowing and Reaping, 1032 
 
 Spafford’s, H. G., Song, 309 
 Speaking for Christ, 341 
 
 Speaking in Meeting, 860, 549 
 Special Providences, 392 
 
 Speech, Clean, 696 
 
 Speech, His Eloquent, No Help, 549 
 Speech of the People, 297 
 
 Spider, God’s Care and the, 350 
 Spirit, Following the, 1073 
 
 Spirit, Guidance of the, 1042 
 
 Spirit of Prayer, 493 
 
 Spirit, Quench Not the, 204, 610 
 Spirit, Resisting the, Fatal, 1166 
 Spirit, The Holy, Guided, 305, 312, 610 
 Spirit, Walking in the, 312 
 
 Spirit’s, Holy, Guidance, 645 
 Spirit’s, The, Guidance, 249, 705, 706 
 Splicing the Ladder, 287 
 
 Spoiling Our Fascination, 231 
 
 Spree, The Escape of the, 170 
 Spurgeon, How, Provided a Cow, 1117 
 Spurgeon, When, Preached in Sleep, 1106 
 Spurgeon’s Conversion, 554 
 Spurgeon’s Giving, 518 
 
 Stammering, A, Tongue, Used, 370. 
 Stanley’s, Dean, Boyhood Courage, 18 
 Start Things Right, 996 
 
 State, Wrong with the, 129 
 
 “Steal, I Did, That Sheep!”’ 212 
 Stealing a Penny, 683 
 
 Stephen’s, Robert, Conversion, 295 
 Stingy With God, 607 
 
 Stopped by the Hand of God, 503 
 Storm, Calm in, 439 
 
 Story of a Bible, 290 
 
 Stowaway, The Captain and the, 528 
 Strange, A, Warning, 121 
 
 Strange, A, Harvest, 182 
 “Strangers, They Are Not,” 1031 
 Straw, Brick Without, 387 
 
 Strength, Daily Renewal of, 1184 
 Strength, Secret of, 647 
 
 Strong in the Lord, 104 
 
 Struggle, The Gingerbread, 213 
 Stupid Boy Encouraged, 720, 846 
 Stumbling-Blocks, 327, 1127 
 Submission, 193, 220, 364, 366, 707, 567 
 Submission to God, 87, 866, 368, 370 
 Submissive, The, Wife, 107 
 Substitute, Emma Jones’, 481 
 Substitute, His, 967, 970 
 
 Substitute, Christ Our, 486, 528, 536, 464 
 Substitute Suffered, 487, 536, 557 
 
 Substitute, The, 175, 464, 487, 528, 557, 
 
 536, 1078 
 Substitute, The School-Boy, 1162 
 Substitute, The, Willie Lear, 5386 
 Substitute Whipped for Another, 1086 
 Succeeded, Why She, 158 
 Success and Service, 1200 
 Success for Sacrifice, 771, 773 
 Success in Business, 602, 785 
 
 Success in Spite of Obstacles, 455, 456 
 Success Not Alway Seen, 1220 
 
 Success or Wealth, 710 
 
 Success, Unselfish, 394 
 
 Successful, A, Sermon, 134 
 Successful, Men, Though Not Rich, 504 
 Successor, The Lawyer’s, 1069 
 Sudden Conversion, 357 
 
 Suffered, Why She, 26 
 
 Suffering for Others, 481, 528, 557 
 Sufficiency of Christ’s Atonement, 822 
 Suicide, Saved from, 635 
 
 Suicide, Saved from, by Child, 190 
 Suicide, Sin Leads to, 399 
 
 Sun, Power of the, 322 
 
 Sunday, He Would Not Work, 293 
 Sunday-school Boys, 821 
 Superstition of Heathen, 604 
 
 Sure of His Place, 1213 
 
 Surrendering to Friends, 1195 
 Suspicion, Danger of, 546 
 
 Suspicion Weakened Convict, 1191 
 “Swear Without Me,” 514 
 
 Swearer’s, The, Prayer, 869 
 
 Sweetest, The, Verse, 398 
 
 Swimming to Church, 472 
 
 Switch, Who Closed the, 325 
 Switchman, The, and His Child, 98 
 Sympathy, How, Helps, 1068 
 Sympathy of Humanity, 517 
 
 Tabernacle No. 2, Finding, 669, 931 
 Tabernacle, People’s, Reminiscences of, 669 
 Taking Him at His Word, 734 
 Talents, Unused, Wasted, 513, 723 
 Talking in Sleep, 499 
 
 Tallow Dip, Only a, 31 
 
 Talmage, T. DeWitt, 316 
 
 Talmage’s Conversion, 959 
 
 Taught by a Bug, 827 
 
 Taught by His Hand, 1388 
 
 Taught, Chinaman, by His Hand, 138 
 Taylor, Hudson, 8, 489, 516, 966, 
 Teacher, S. S., How She Failed, 376 
 Telegram, The Sky, 187 
 
 “Tell Mother I’ll Be There!” 1079 
 Temper, How to Control, 979 
 Temper, How to Control, 444, 468 
 Temperance, Lincoln and, 414 
 Temptation, 497 
 
 Temptation Resisted, 222 
 Temptation, Rev. Tennant’s, 1026 
 Temptation, Sources of, 1077 
 Temptation, Takes Two to Make, 1017 
 Temptation, Victory Over, 110 
 Tenderheartedness of Lincoln, 1155 
 Tenement, Body Only a, 232 
 Tennant, Wm., Trance of, 270 
 Tennant’s, Rev., Temptation, 1026 
 Test, Grant Bore the, 315 
 
 Test, The Five Cent, 56 
 
 Test, Will It Stand the, 766 
 Testament, Story of a New, 112 
 Testament, Tyndale’s New, 902 
 Tested Character, 42 
 
 Testimony as to Jesus by Irenaeus, 836 
 
604 TOPICAL 
 
 Testimony of a Little Child, 162 
 
 Testimony, Personal, to Answer of Prayer, 
 615 : 
 
 Testimony, The, of a Blind Man, 445 
 
 Testing God’s Guidance, 163 
 
 Text, Why He Forgot His, 1120 
 
 “Thank You, Sir!’ 984 
 
 Thankful, The Heart, 960 
 
 Thankful, Why She Was, 251 
 
 Thanking God for Thorn, 938 
 
 Thanks, No, to Benefactor, 417, 419 
 
 Thanks, Returning, 200 
 
 Theft of a Penny, 688 
 
 Thief, The King and the, 1021 
 
 Thirst, Dying of, Mid Rivers, 48 
 
 Thirst, Sand Taken for, 1178 
 
 Thirsting for Souls, 103 
 
 Thirsting to Death Mid Rivers, 48 
 
 Thorn, Thanking God for, 938 
 
 Thoroughfare, No, 618 
 
 Thread, Saved by a, 369 
 
 Tiger, The Young, 540 
 
 Tigers, Christians and, 804 
 
 Tiger’s Jungle, In the, 533 
 
 Time, At His Appointed, 688 
 
 Tithes, Story of, 785 
 
 Tithing, The Luxury of, 518, 785 
 
 Tithing, Spurgeon’s. 518 
 
 Tobacco, Against the Use of, 412, 667, 611 
 
 Tobacco, Text Favoring, 1075 
 
 Tobacco, What’s the Matter with, 412, 568, 
 667 
 
 Tolerance, Spirit of, 972 
 
 “Too Late!” 998 
 
 Torch-bearers, The, Race, 1170 
 Touch, For Lack of a, 404 
 
 Touch, Only a, Needed, 782 
 
 Track, The, was Cleared, 241, 246 
 Tract, Influence of a, 732, 849 
 Tract, What a, Did, 349, 353, 364 
 Tract-giving, Value of, 964 
 Tracts, How, Preach, 811 
 
 Train, God Kept the, 61 
 
 Train, How Saved, 121 
 
 Train Saved by a Little Girl, 775 
 Train Saved by Prayer, 1084 
 Train, She Saved the, 380 
 
 Train, Who Stopped the, 254 
 
 Train, Why He Missed, 966 
 
 Train, Why Hudson Taylor Missed, 966 
 Trance of Wm. Tennant, 270 
 Transformation, God’s, 681 
 Transformed, A, Demon, 120 
 Transformed Convict, 183 
 Transformed, The, Filipino, 529 
 Trapped, How Thief Was, 1183 
 Traveler, Misdirected, Destroyed, 291 
 Treasure Hid in Bible, ($5,000), 21 
 Treasure, The Hidden, 558, 595 
 Treasure, The Neglected, 346 
 Trophy, A, of His Grace, 1046 
 Trouble, Causes of, 1049 
 Troubles, Face Your, 492 
 Troubles Turned into Pearls, 845 
 True Love, 855 
 
 True to His Mother, 140 
 
 True to Principle, 548 
 
 INDEX | 
 
 Trunk, Saved from Death in, 381 
 
 Trust, A Mother’s, 396 
 
 Trust, A Word to Translate, 1132 
 
 Trust in God Rewarded, 71, 237 
 
 Trusting, Experience, God, 893 
 
 Trusting God’s Love, 698 
 
 Trusting Jesus, 221 
 
 Trusting the Guide-board, 702 
 
 Truth Brings Liberty, 604 ) 
 “Try Christianity!’ 1053 t 
 “Try, I’m Little, but Pll,” 775 
 Tyndall, Carton H., Stories by, 716, 768 
 Tyndall, Charles H., Stories by, 342, 677, 
 
 745 
 
 Tyndall, Rev. Charles H., Healing of, 1096 
 Tyndall, Conversion of Henry M., 1176 
 Tyndall, Healing of Myron P., 640 
 
 Tyndall, H. M., Eyesight of, Helped, 615 
 Tyndall, Henry M.% 465, 467, 724, 1734, ‘ 
 615, 827, 920, 922, 1176, 1208 ! 
 Tyndall, Rev. S. G., Stories by, 241, 246 
 
 Tyndall’s, Henry M., First Sermon, 1208 
 
 Twenty Dollar Bill, Finding the Lost, 151 
 
 Two-Faced, Mister, 1182, 1185 
 
 Umbrella, Faith Took, 617 
 
 Umbrella, The Queen and, 818 
 
 Umbrella, The Unused, 572 
 
 Unbelief, 234 
 
 Unbelief, How it was Overcome, 570, 635 
 Uncommon, An, Sin, 523 
 
 Morena eae Influence, 74, 332, 299, 459, 
 
 aie. £9 
 
 Unconscious Influence for Evil, 465 
 Undefended, The, Bridge, 360 
 Underground, An, City, 415 
 
 “Undo, Can You?” 582, 4381 
 
 Unexpected, An, Question, 594 
 
 Unfinished, The, House, 803 
 
 Unground, The, Grist, 587 
 
 Unhappy in Heaven, 631 
 
 Universe, The Vastness of the, 1052, 1080 
 Unknown Helper, 284 
 
 Unknown Riches, 871 
 
 Unlighted, The, Church, 344 
 
 Unlikely One, The, Chosen, 1186, 1222 
 Unlovely, How to, Learn to Love, 81 
 Unprofitable, An, Engine, 1040 
 predate Presence of Christ, 417, 419 
 
 OS eer 
 
 Unseen, The, Auctioneer, 1057 
 Unselfish, An, Inventor, 421 
 
 Unselfish Success, 394, 421 
 Unselfishness, Noble, 619 
 
 Unshaken, Her Faith, 46, 676 
 Unspotted from the World, 229 
 Unused Ability Wasted, 513 
 Unworthiness, Christian, 831 
 Usefulness, Great, in Humble Place, 168 a 
 Useless, Brilliant but, 1001 . 4 
 
 Value, Estimates of, 500 ; 
 Value, Not Knowing, 512 
 Value of a Word, 58 
 Vastness, The, of the Universe, 1052 
 
 ‘Verse, Has Your, Changed?” 471 
 
 Vicarious Suffering, 481, 487 
 
 Victim, The King’s, 448 
 
TOPICAL INDEX 605 
 
 Victory, Parson Haven’s, 24 
 
 Vision, Dying Girl’s, of Heaven, 1031 
 Visions of Heaven and Hell, 270 
 Voice, A, Within, 128, 875 
 
 Voice of God Heeded, 188, 1226 
 Voice, The, of God, 128, 302 
 Voltaire Reproved, 678 
 
 Voltaire’s Sneer at Newton, 115 
 Vow Remembered and Kept, 1048 
 
 Wagner’s, Henry, Conversion, 122 
 Walking in the Light, 90 
 
 Walking in the Spirit, 706 
 
 Walking in the Spirit, 312 
 
 Walter Scott’s Faith, 846 
 Wanamaker’s, John, Conversion, 520 
 ‘Wanted,’ Brown was, 584 
 Wanted, Kind of Men, 159 
 
 Warned in a Dream, 238 
 
 Warning, A Strange, 121 
 
 Warning, The Unheeded, 358 
 Warning Voice Heeded, 372 
 Warnings, The Two, 778 
 Washington’s Breakfast, 1047 
 Washington’s Name Lives, 613 
 Watch, The, and Its Case, 1194 
 Watchfulness, Need of, 540 
 Watching, Are You, 218 
 
 Water, A Basket of, 271 
 
 Water Needed, Sand Taken, 1173 
 Waters, Bread Upon the, 113 
 Watermelon, The, Seed, 805 
 Watterson, Henry, on Civil War, 184 
 Way, A, Where There’s a Will, 1010, 
 Way, How Shown the, 923 
 
 Way, The, Indicated, 457 
 
 Way, The, Up, 455 
 
 Weak, The, Chosen of God, 435 
 Weak Things, 658 
 
 Wealth, Obedience Better Than, 278 
 Wealth of Old Man Jones, 273 
 Wealth or Success, 710 
 
 Wealth, Unknown, in Bible, 871 
 Weapon, The Bible as a, 898 
 
 Weary Not in Well-doing, 701 
 Webb, Carrie, The Healing of, 434 
 Webster’s Faithfulness Rewarded, 474 
 Weight, What a, Is, 1165 
 
 Welcome to Penitents, 362 
 Wesley, John, 323, 354, 413 
 
 Wet, Life-savers Afraid of the, 565 
 Whale, Jonah and the 965 
 
 What a Deaf Mute Did, 185 
 
 What He Had Left, 215 
 
 What the Rain Did, 148 
 
 What We Give We Get, 461 
 “Which Way Are You Going?” 488 
 While They Yet Prayed, 843 
 Whipping, Taking Another’s, 261, 1086 
 Whiskey, Gold Mine for, 460 
 Whitefield and the Robber, 77 
 Whosoever, 1210 
 
 Why She Prevailed, 156 
 
 Why She Succeeded, 158 
 
 Wickedest Man in New York, 1113 
 Widow’s, The, Five Cent Gift, 715 
 Widow’s, The Meal, 390 
 
 Wife, The Submissive, 107 
 
 Wild Animals Know Men, 292 
 Will, God’s, is Best, 707 
 
 Will, The Lost and Found, 939 
 Will to Do and Know, 87 
 
 Will, You Can if You, 838, 1020 
 Wilson, Henry A. 548, 908, 914 
 Wine, Gen. Harrison and, 1019 
 Winning Souls, 351, 608, 612, 727 
 Winning Souls, 1000, 1010, 1020 
 Winning Souls is Easy, 820 
 Wireless Telegraph, Prayer a, 864 
 Wise, A, Choice, 293 
 Witness-bearing, 445 
 
 Wolves, Saved from, 117 
 
 Wolves, Saved from, 282 
 
 Woman Couldn’t Speak in Public, 860 
 Woman’s, A, Love, 10 
 
 Wood in a Storm, 1067 
 
 Wood, The Needed, Came, 627 
 Wool, Washing the, 968 
 
 Wooley’s Conversion, 179 
 
 Won by Love, 612 
 
 Won by the Book, 1018 
 Wonderful, A, Deliverance, 36 
 Wonderful Answer to Prayer, 116, 573 
 Wonderful Deliverance of Leyden, 5738 
 Wonders of Bible Reading, 451 
 “Won’t You Shoot Me?” 1171 
 Word, A, in Season, 155, 295 
 Word, Keep Your, 280 
 
 Word, Value of a, 58, 295 
 
 Words, Power of a Few. 537 
 
 Work, A Boy’s, for Christ, 378 
 Work, Did Not Want Easy, 861 
 Work, His Part in the, 993 
 
 Work, Humble, for Christ, 126, 361 
 Work, Knee, Needed, 543 
 
 Work of one Convert, 441 
 
 Work on Sunday, 293 
 
 Work, Personal, for Christ, 496 
 Worked His Way Up, 861 
 
 Worked, How a Little Girl, 150 
 Working and Praying, 761 
 Working at the Keyhole, 1192 
 Working Easier Than Standing, 866 
 Works, Not by Our Good, 858 
 World, He Overcame the, 1204 
 World, The, Overcame, 1201 
 World, This Warm-hearted, 517 
 World, Unspotted from the, 229 
 Worldly Loss, 614 
 
 Worship, Family, 1072 
 
 Wrong, Advice, Danger of, 291 
 Wrong with the State, 129 
 Wyoming, The, Massacre, 318 
 Years, After Many, 3 
 
 “Young Fellow, You’re Afire!”’ 412 
 Young, Keeping, 507 
 
 Zeal in Religion, 150, 378 
 
 Zealous, Why Not Be, 935 
 

 
38, 959, 
 
 b 
 
 285, 
 
 885, 
 73, 140, 324, 
 
 664. 
 42, 815, 392, 
 446, 458, 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 XXV. 
 XXXil. 
 XXXili. 
 
 XXXV. 5. 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 118 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 i 9. 40 
 
 lV. 
 
 XXXiii. 
 XXXiv. 
 JO SHUA. 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 588, 719, 
 971, 991. 
 636. 
 
 92, 
 
 1182, 11185. 
 328, 
 
 92, 
 
 291, 
 
 382. 
 
 41, 142, 203, 
 354, 869, 
 907. 
 
 342, 
 
 270, 316, 486. 
 744 
 
 348. 
 243, 1218, 
 963, 982, 
 1024. 
 
 644 
 88, 129, 399, 
 4 
 
 8, 477, 
 
 4, 
 524, 737. 
 663. 
 666, 11238. 
 1217, 
 664. 
 73, 140, 847, 
 882, 911. 
 
 1061. 
 105, 1100. 
 33, 
 
 634, 
 
 21, 451, 649, 
 G56. 
 
 xxiii, 10. 28, 1061. 
 xxive 16.5) 38990797) 
 MKIVE Vy Loe. 1176. 
 JUDGES. 
 v. 428. 7385. 
 vi. 86-40. 163. 
 Vii. 4, 647. 
 Nil, sus Gee E100. 
 I SAMUEL. 
 i, 18-187, 1141: 
 BT; 
 28. 852. 
 23.9 227; 
 ii, °80,", 42, °280¢ 
 iii, > A638. 
 4, 1084, 
 10. 128, 165 
 
 IXjs) Loan Oose 
 
 ScD: 
 
 16, 
 
 ii 702: 
 Sie’ worse 10. 
 
 KV. 9220." 860. 
 
 XVi. 7, 649. 
 
 Xvin = 2 L186. 
 xvii. 15, 
 
 8. 402. 
 
 Xxi 8. 769, 923 
 > ath HOM 4 Pago £2) iP 
 xxvii. 28. 1016 
 
 II SAMUEL. 
 ix. Loe 58: 
 xii 7. 881 
 XV. -soeoroGe 
 I KINGS 
 iii. fi 592. 
 xvii. 4,6. 1638, 166. 
 596, 1002, 
 Keil... Saue b 42; 
 II KINGS. 
 Vv. in BOD. 
 Vissi Stee eo LO 
 ix: S2Je 01185: 
 xix. $2-34,. 174 
 xx 1. 650 
 
 xxii. 8,13. 940. 
 I CHRONICLES. 
 XH. 327) & 620: 
 xxix, 14. 184, 402, 435, 
 1186. 
 
 xxxvi. 16. 904. 
 
608 
 II CHRONICLES. 
 
 Vili, 386. 8386. 
 
 xix. 9. 700. 
 XXXII. 21, 6 22.774, 
 xxxiv. 12. 700. 
 
 NEHEMIAH. 
 i 4, 49, 
 1b ony BB 
 Th Oreee Dae: 
 iii. “28. - 208. 
 iv. Gere he 
 vi. 3. 968. 
 viii, 10. 796. 
 JOB. 
 
 4. Bele SNe Ove 
 Pee: : 
 bY aD. Ode 
 
 wa Bao’ Riess PR a 
 
 silt. £15, .. ‘309; ‘957. 
 
 = mie 031. 
 
 xxii. 27. 1048. 
 
 je 6k ED 4y Pama be Pe 
 
 XxiLs  16,). 1224. 
 
 XXV 309. 
 xxxv. 10. 206. 
 
 xxxvill. 41... 714. 
 PSALMS. 
 i. 291, 428, 
 514. 
 2. 450, 656. 
 viii oo 162; 
 384. 1065, 1080. 
 ix. 172 2904: 
 xiv. 1.. 1065. 
 XV. 4. 17, 236, 876, 
 971, 
 KVL Lee TO: 
 xix. 1. 661. 
 ts. RID: 838, 
 953. 
 10. 346, 427, 
 656, 658, 
 871. 
 WIS. 1 Pee 
 11. 290. 
 XxX. 5. A405. 
 Xxiii. 1. 648. 
 4, 244, 253, 
 ; 278, 1148. 
 5. 1006. 
 1047, 819; 
 xxv.. 14, °2665, 610, 
 942, 
 XXVii. 8. 1008. 
 138. ; 
 MX VI 4145°)51970, 
 sts) OO 
 XXxii. 6. 306, 467, 
 704, 
 8. 43, 130, 207, 
 669, 695, 
 705, 9381 
 8, 9. Re 
 XXXiv. due BTS: 
 7. $818, 587. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 8. 
 
 10. 
 
 12-14 
 
 15. 
 XXXVIii. 3. 
 3, 4. 
 
 4. 
 
 fs 
 
 SAK VELS Se Pe 
 28. 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 xL. 2. 
 8. 
 
 xLii. Ti 
 xLvi. 1 
 : Ra RE: 
 Lis th 
 Liii. 1. 
 Lxiii. 3. 
 Lxvi. 2: 
 Lxviii. 5. 
 Lxxili. 19. 
 xvi. 10. 
 Lxxviii. 4-6. 
 Lxexiee ce 
 Xci. 
 1, 
 
 2: 
 
 1-16. 
 
 da 
 
 4. 
 
 7-10. 
 
 9. 
 
 9, 
 
 10. 
 
 10. 
 
 1 
 
 12: 
 
 11, 
 
 18. 
 
 138, 
 
 14, 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 xcv. 7, 8. 
 XCVii. 2 
 ciii. 18. 
 Ciii, 12. 
 evii. 10-14. 
 28, 
 
 28, 
 
 29. 
 
 cx. 3. 
 cxii. 5. 
 6. 
 
 exvi. 12. 
 CXvViii, 8. 
 
 635, 1025. 
 36, 669 
 
 634 
 645, 
 70, 145, 147, 
 449, 
 242, 266. 
 375. 
 
 440, 
 
 . 648, 
 1098, 1109. 
 1171. 
 
 320. 
 
 170. 
 
 438, 1106. 
 977. 
 
 4, 6138, 894, 
 1058. 
 
 591, 913. 
 242, 679, 
 
 8,9. 287, 669, 893. 
 9. 960. 
 
 Cxix. 5. 649. 
 11. 668, 821 
 21. woabe 
 59. 644, 
 eh 
 at t.00 ee 
 OF, 8ST, 656, 
 658. 
 97, 
 105. 384. 
 97, 
 1O8. 3 S47. 
 105. 656. 
 130. 214, 713, 
 790, 888. 
 136. 836. 
 exxi. 1, 2. 966, 1002. 
 2.51381: 
 5. 44. 
 CXXV. 1. 169, 893. 
 2. 440. 
 CXXVii. ¥ «1615 228, 
 621, 966. 
 Pats TAR. 
 CXXX. 4. 314. 
 CXXXVii. 4, 262. 
 CXXXix. tec 44 
 exLy. 6. 760. 
 9. 1144. 
 exLvii. 9. 186; 
 cexLix. 9. 121; 
 PROVERBS. 
 L 2.1002 4286 
 24-26. 399, 976. 
 27; 
 1.27528; L755. 
 28, 289, 3806. 
 iii, 5. 1034 
 6. 195, 457, 
 599, 693, 
 722, 931, 
 994, 
 9. 2365, 730, 
 1139. 
 9,403" -T11, 9786, 
 36, 
 14; 
 12. 92. 
 14-18. 742. 
 vi. 1 
 2. 620. 
 Vil 1-5.) 5-742. 
 10. 898. 
 135/710 9%, 
 36. 4381. 
 x ‘613: 
 12. 865. 
 xi. 24. 374, 975 
 25. 949, 
 80... 622, 691, 
 697, 727, 
 1036, 1087. 
 xii. 4, 48. 
 Xin: 107: ]Bb156. 
 xiii. 15. 399, 448, 
 
TEXTUAL INDEX 609 
 
 488. Xi, By 32, 113, Sbixs? 16. 10015 
 xiv. 12. 109, 488, 197, 202, Tit Age EBB. 
 840. 1067, L. 4. 691, 1199 
 XV t, 2d, Ray 3; 6381. Lilt, oh 25 
 1142. 1, 4: 842, TTT. 
 £8. 155, 841 6. 609. 5. 2, 261, 
 xvi. 9% ; 403, 6. 28, 134, 349, Lili. 5. 1162, 1199. 
 887. 562, 624, 436, 557, 
 9. 920. 922, 626, 740, 1086. 
 931. 810, 53:6, 1475. 
 S2;  b142. 6 86. 6. 588, 970 
 xvii. 19. 97. 842. Goi A481. 
 xviii. 10. 405, 668. SONG OF Soronay 1% © 192. 
 xix. yA 374, 562, i 15. 2 50, 64 Ly. 1. 48. 
 1085. 683. 4-85) - T42- 
 XX. 1 B 2: » 620, 667, 
 11. 2,5, 13,453, |ISAIAH 687. 
 ‘ 653, ie 3. 108, 890. Lv. 2. 1173. 
 694, in ig ie 25 648. 2, 7. 359, 581: 
 1134. iv. 6; 12%. 6. 76, 238, 246, 
 XxXi. 1. 104, 562, vi. Te TS2. 467, 704, 
 627, 655, ix 6: 1130. 737, 1081 
 679. x1 6. 5, 150, 190, 6, 7. 1099. 
 bo 40 yO Ar 828, 344, 561, Ne. 142% 217° 588: 
 1024 697, 711, 11, 188, 912, 
 4 : 910. 954, 1018, 
 6. 630, 661, xiii. Se 1DL. 1100 
 692, 978. 561, 624, Lyii. 20, 
 26. 620. 19-22. 437. Bit ve Ate 
 29. 769, 770, xiv. 6. 453. Lviii. 1 637. 
 908. Xxi. oS: 197. Lxii. 6, 7 AOS, 
 Xxili. a Be XXVIi. 3. 489. Lxiv. 6. 665, 897. 
 20, xxviii. 10. 508, 792. 8 917. 
 ain. 620) XXX. VLDe S04: Lxv. 4. 627. 
 26. 818 oh; 40n LL6y:221, 20. 684. 
 81: 918 135, 188, 24. 25, €8,.>59, 
 31, 297, 372, 116, 188, 
 A ba A14, 777, 875, 202, 254, 
 911. 878. 1042. 627; 570, 
 xxiv. 9,10. 79. 21.1084. 645, 671, 
 11. 553. S13 449, 843, 864, 
 b de i xxxii. 20. 108, 134, 882, 919, 
 12... 735, 737, 590. 983, 987, 
 768. XXXV. 4, 104. 1023, 1087, 
 12:.. 558: XXXViii. 73°. 660: 1088, 1127. 
 EXVor Lio Sos, 459, Khe 1 SLs STF. JEREMIAH. 
 537. 15, 2 
 xxvi. 5. 678, 1795, 17. ji, 18. ae 1201. 
 863, 903. 26. 1080. i. 84. ee 
 EXVIG Laos 22, reat iv. an nest 
 14. 688. 29. 378 vill ; 0 ; 880 
 28. 97. 31. 99, , 888, 874, SOR RO cee , 
 SSVilie. 1 2b 962 2 5 nts : 
 i 1: °88. 683, xLi. 4, 283. eNO Rots 
 865, 1127. xLi. 18,14. 1195. xin. 9. 1114 
 23. 907, 914. 14, 878, 379. XVils 29. 438 ‘ 
 85. 75D. cy hers re 9 xi. 7 4113 
 xxix. i 57. 358. a A isd ee ets : 
 xxxi. 11. 1045. xLii, 7. 319. oe Ae 737, 1118. 
 18. 97, oe 215 1078. ov’ 1118, 1114. 
 448, xLiii. Pe 17 9. aaa xLix. 1B. 275 
 ECCLESIASTES, ae 10. ae ’ xLix. 23, 46, 170. 
 ie: hee xbiv. 22: 1094. LAMENTATIONS. 
 ix, (10... 256, 257, ZLVs Bee" 224. 
 
 367. xLviii. 22. 477. iii. 38. 250, 392, 
 
610 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 bo 0.01) Mn 
 
 XxXxvi. 26. 
 DANIEL. 
 i. 
 
 Ty Baers 
 
 vi. 4, 
 
 viii. 11. 
 
 ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 iii. 17. 
 
 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 ii. 4, 
 lil. 2: 
 iv. 6. 
 
 10. 
 
 HABAKKUK, 
 
 fi, 4, 
 
 ii. 17,48. 
 
 iv. 12. 
 viii. 11. 
 MALACHI. 
 HE 8, 
 
 909. 
 
 920, 1051, 
 1120, 1157, 
 1160, 1208, 
 
 1211. 
 322, 917. 
 120, 468, 
 
 965. 
 701, 955. 
 868. 
 
 1036, 1229. 
 
 % 9, 
 
 952, 1192. 
 215, 309. 
 455. 
 
 726. 
 1209. 
 
 ay oes 
 32. 1064, 1070. 
 . 648. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 16. 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 i, 20. 
 st eae BF 
 
 vi. 8. 
 
 vi. 23. 
 
 486. 
 
 371, 538. 
 
 425, 628. 
 16, 652, 662, 
 
 397, 407. 
 343. 
 
 199. 
 
 1067. 
 
 84, 403, 717. 
 141. 
 
 193. 
 
 334. 
 
 2 
 
 762. 
 37, 
 
 749, 1125. 
 1180. 
 
 19, ‘151, 688. 
 62, 381, 602. 
 
 167. 
 144, 
 339. 
 98. 
 
 Vili. 
 
 Xi. 
 
 xi. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVi. 
 
 22, 
 23, 260. 
 22. 761. 
 27. 35. 
 12, 393. 
 29. 478, 966, 
 Bt 7, 
 37, 
 38. 574, 
 38. 379. 
 16. 770. 
 19, 
 20. 58. 
 20. 603. 
 24. 219. 
 28. 22, 104 
 27, 
 32. 371. 
 81) 185, YS50: 
 1117. 
 32. 142 148, 
 330. 
 32, 
 33. 60. 
 39. 394. 
 42, 337. 
 5. 899. 
 24. 98. 
 28. 363, 580, 
 28. 1176. 
 584, 1062. 
 28, 
 29. 573, 734. 
 29. 741. 
 30. 866. 
 13. 775, 
 30. 1182. 
 29, 1188. 
 37. 40, 842 
 8. 626. 
 19. 782. 
 31. 281, 502. 
 31, 
 32. 7, 577. 
 31,33. 732. 
 33. 353, 888. 
 43. 766. 
 44, 
 Ab, 
 46. 178. 
 558, 576. 
 28. 775. 
 31. 
 AS 98". 81° 140 
 19, 
 20. 897. 
 25. 753. 
 28. 8, 811 
 15. 203. 
 24, 247, 268, 
 616, 916, 
 718. 
 25. 394. 
 25, 
 26. 51. 
 
xviii. 
 
 xix. 
 
 XXi. 
 
 XXii. 
 
 XXiii. 
 Xxiv. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 505, 
 867. 
 
 " 364, 
 
 7 o 
 6, 282, 325. 
 881. 
 
 15. 
 
 1181. 
 
 1169. 
 
 25, 59, 61, 
 409, 442, 
 545, 1088. 
 
 136. 
 762. 
 
 158. 
 
 72, 73, 81, 
 
 91, 140, 342. 
 456. 
 
 401. 
 
 656. 
 
 364, 
 
 22. 
 998. 
 218, 279. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 ix. 
 
 xi. 
 
 xi. 
 
 618, 
 
 961, 
 
 622, 727. 
 393. 
 
 417, 
 677. 
 99, 119, 317, 
 
 455, 456. 
 421. 
 
 285. 
 
 89. 
 
 11. 
 
 99. 
 
 1203. 
 
 19, 25, 61, 
 111, 118, 
 128, 146, 
 208, 210, 
 223, 226, 
 237, 240, 
 890, 416, 
 478, 542, 
 
 Xii. 
 
 XH Ava 
 
 xiv. 8. 
 
 xi. e. 
 
 611 
 
 615, 617, 
 665, 724, 
 748, 850, 
 930, 1004, 
 1099. 
 342. 
 928. 
 623, 645. 
 856. 
 218, 
 
 , 181 
 
 30, 31, 794. 
 1060, 1074: 
 131 
 
 1145. 
 364, 923. 
 
 147, 
 
 461 
 
 1034, 
 62, 156, 242, 
 408, 556, 
 911, 959, 
 1137. 
 
 191, 226. 
 151, 548. 
 
 340, 
 
 45, 185, 350, 
 1033, 1076, 
 1117. 
 
 142, 142. 
 330. 
 
612 
 
 xili. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Xvi. 
 
 XVii. 
 
 XViii. 
 
 xix. 
 
 xix. 41, 42. 
 
 XXi. 
 Xxil, 
 Xxiii. 
 
 JOHN. 
 1. 
 
 26 
 
 1-4. 
 3. 
 19. 
 46. 
 34. 
 
 633, 636. 
 67, 632, 870. 
 714. 
 
 571. 
 747, 927. 
 
 364, 
 
 632, 633. 
 710. 
 
 709. 
 
 54. 
 
 475. 
 
 474, 
 
 1154. 
 750. 
 
 39, 86, 715. 
 A479. 
 1145. 
 709, 1135. 
 501. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 ii. 
 ili. 
 
 iii, °°°S. 
 
 Vi. 
 
 xii. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 xii. 
 
 496, 964, 
 303. 
 
 775, 1110. 
 357. 
 
 1172. 
 264. 
 1210. 
 98, 185, 
 424, 
 
 584. 
 
 1060, 1074. 
 935, 1040, 
 1057. 
 
 305, 
 
 xiv. 
 xiv. 
 
 Xvi. 
 
 xii. 
 
 85. 159. 
 2. 1213. 
 3. 258, 398. 
 6. 267, 682, 
 981, 
 9, 48, 438, 512. 
 12. 606. 
 12, 
 18. 441. 
 13, 
 14. 58, 657. 
 21. 687, 1131. 
 26. 524, 657, 
 656. 
 30. 618. 
 30. 1207 
 7, 210, 386, 
 440, 489, 
 615, 686, 
 1054 
 43. 248; °° 275, 
 686. 
 14. 2991. 
 15. 108. 
 19. 1102. 
 13. 249, 657, 
 722, 757. 
 18, 
 14. 
 24. 58, 54, 386, 
 489. 
 24, 654. 
 33. 439. 
 3, 1178. 
 17, 1187. 
 21. 491, 972 
 37. 1159. 
 24. 564. 
 30. 524. 
 8. 74, 779 
 13. 596. 
 21. 297. 
 8. 684, 758. 
 8. 1209. 
 8. 726. 
 38. 1208. 
 38, 
 39. 758. 
 38,39. 1209. 
 7. 612. 
 18. 659. 
 19. 458. 
 4, 623. 
 60. 1135. 
 26, 
 29. 166. 
 5. 220. 
 3. 1144 
 A, 
 5. 166. 
 11. 1144. 
 43. 98. 
 5. 35, 214 
 7. $20. 
 
Xiv. 
 
 Sg Toki’ 
 
 14 
 
 xxvii, 22-24. 98 
 
 XXViii. 8. 
 ROMANS. 
 
 ii, 15. 
 iii. 10 
 
 iii. 16, 17. 1201. 
 23. “1 
 
 iv. 5. 
 Vv. 1 
 
 ae Pastas ©. bs 
 
 503. 
 1126, 11438. 
 
 485. 
 335, 1046. 
 763, 1065. 
 875. 
 
 021. 
 858. 
 
 82, 231, 597, 
 655. 
 
 418, 
 
 498, 1068, 
 107 
 
 409. 
 721. 
 
 viii, 
 
 ix. 
 
 x. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 837, 
 
 137. 
 161, 167. 
 
 1120, 
 1160, 1161. 
 
 > e 
 
 629, 
 
 480. 
 1059, 560. 
 539, 717. 
 
 613 
 18, 
 Si (eels. 
 20. 689. 
 20, 
 21. 84. 
 ak L890 P" +408, 
 1090.°= 
 SV. 2° SEGA, 
 ae id Aa 
 12. 944. 
 X1V.f 20. 11227, 
 UV. ia 721, 
 I CORINTHIANS. 
 1 Be. «BLO, 
 27, 
 29. 485. 
 Zt, 288, 544, 
 653, 67 
 i.*- 27. «911, 1186, 
 1222, 1229. 
 27, 
 28. 1116. 
 28. 
 29. 801. 
 ii, 275 150, 152, 
 910. 
 iii. 1. 1040. 
 4, 491. 
 6. 3, 76 
 9. 443, 534 
 ive <P. 506. 
 v. 6.. 2,84; 
 vi. .123 1105, 
 1%," 1ie2: 
 Lge 10: 
 19, 
 20. 426, 464, 
 674, 774. 
 20. 629. 
 vii. 14, 
 16. 107. 
 Vili; 187)" 267. 
 yb ape ( 
 17. 278. 
 22. 178, 209 
 26. 1105. 
 27. 977, 979 
 » Aes 7. 40. 
 18) 1042. 
 %. 233. TIS 
 31. 716, 718 
 Xi. 1; 9, 
 24. 479, 275. 
 SUAS 27s 249, 610, 
 1073 
 1, 
 8. 628. 
 9. 640. 
 xii. 9. 1206. 
 xiii, 4. 675. 
 4, 
 5. 984. 
 5. 275, 589, 
 853. 
 xiii, 5.) 1192, 
 
614 
 
 754. 
 
 411. 
 
 26, 805. 
 1038. 
 
 10738. 
 
 974. 
 
 531, 768, 
 1104. 
 
 16, 269, 511, 
 607, 15, 
 836. 990. 
 
 II CORINTHIANS. 
 
 li. 
 iii. 
 iii. 
 
 iv. 
 
 iv. 
 
 Vv. 
 
 11, 
 2. 
 2. 
 
 Ate 25 
 
 vi. 
 
 GALATIANS. 
 
 ii. 
 
 20. 
 
 34. 
 652, 788. 
 1227. 
 
 531, 752. 
 76. 
 
 586, 
 
 65, 196, 241. 
 412, 1105. 
 1093 
 
 1221. 
 836. 
 92, 535, 607, 
 916. 
 430. 
 
 270. 
 
 366, 506, 
 872, 1056, 
 261., 418, 
 A64, 528, 
 WA5, 802, 
 967. 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 iv. 18. 268, 985, 
 993. 
 19. 191. 
 v. 9. 64, 358, 849. 
 16. 312. 
 17. 9 
 vi. 2. 238, 617. 
 RR BBA, 
 7. 634, 840, 
 905, 1082. 
 9. 8, 28, 29, 
 810, 495, 
 5B4, 624, 
 720, 892, 
 926, 987, 
 1104, 
 15. 188, 876, 
 EPHESIANS. 
 i. 4, 
 5. 920, 
 7. 186, 
 ii. os 867, 
 1, 
 2. 296. 
 2. 787. 
 2, 
 6. 6389. 
 4, 
 5. 827. 
 7. 662. 
 8. 182, 396. 
 9. 102, 655, 
 672, 952. 
 iii, 19. 355. 
 20. 27, 740 
 iv. 15. 354, 969. 
 18. 787. 
 25. 61, 245, 515. 
 27, Zi, 
 28. 680. 
 29. 696. 
 80. 109, 302. 
 31. 728. 
 Vir B18 498, > 814) 
 729, 788, 
 869. 
 14. 499, 526, 
 973. 
 20. 251, 987, 
 938, 
 22. 107. 
 vi. 1. 991. 
 2. 78, 91 140, 
 583, 719. 
 6; 
 7. 918, 
 7. 642. 
 10. 104. 
 17. 257. 
 Sonn ie! £16, 
 A70, 493. 
 PHILLIPIANS. 
 i. 6. 827, 854. 
 
 21. 1007. 
 28. 244. 
 ii. 4, 589, 619, 
 1088. 
 4, 
 5. 5 
 5. 652, 1082. 
 7, 
 8. 528. 
 10. 40. 
 12. 867. 
 1S. Gas 759, 
 1120. 
 lif, <8, 6) ..17257 778, 
 55. 
 iii, 8. 1159. 
 8, 
 13. 504. 
 13. 198. 
 18: , 1167, 1202. 
 18, 
 14. 771, 773, 
 1069. 
 iv. i 2238. 
 iv. 6,7. 1206. 
 Ve 34; 
 13. 119, 452, 
 606, 846, 
 905, 1045, 
 1116. 
 19. 70, 665 
 19, 1226. 
 22. 798. 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 i, 18, 
 14. 186. 
 ii, 9, 27. 
 iii, 8. 696. 
 ‘i 9. 245, 280, 
 925. 
 15. 2651. 
 20. 991. 
 23. 490, 915. 
 28. 642. 
 iv. 2. 410. 
 I THESALONIANS. 
 ii. 18. 1118. 
 vy.’ 216, 
 17, 
 v.17." 1159. 
 Fi.“ 420; 493, 
 10838. 
 18. 960. 
 18.4. 572. 
 19. 57, 109, 204 
 802, 305. 
 19. 1166. 
 22. 818, 660. 
 24. 468. 
 II THESALONIANS. 
 i. 1S 720, 
 Ve Le 17 
 
I TIMOTHY. 
 
 li. 
 ie 
 
 iis 
 iv. 8. 
 
 vi. 6. 
 
 vi.” 13. 
 
 Il TIMOTHY. 
 
 sf. 5. 
 
 12. 
 i. 23. 
 
 iii, = 4. 
 lil. 8. 
 
 iv. rp 
 
 vi. 20. 
 TITUS. 
 
 ites 2, 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 ii 3 
 8. 
 4 
 
 284, 470, 
 1087, 1091. 
 259. 
 
 75, 1083. 
 1158. 
 
 213, 
 1079, 
 
 577, 
 1109. 
 
 565, 
 
 772. 
 
 1081. 
 1166, 1177. 
 2438, 10365. 
 38 
 
 194. 
 109, 739. 
 255, 290, 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 Xi. 
 
 Xii. 
 
 xil. 
 
 811, 
 
 356, 
 764, 
 947, 985. 
 1214, 1219, 
 
 708. 
 
 559, 712. 
 238. 
 
 153, 808. 
 293. 
 
 1069. 
 
 1170, 1202. 
 1165, 1167, 
 1070. 
 1055. 
 
 1059. 
 
 388. 
 1140, 1017. 
 814. 
 
 291. 
 75, 111, 602, 
 
 I PETER. 
 1. 
 
 II PETER. 
 oe 6. 
 
 615 
 
 434, 1096. 
 25, 418, 466, 
 640. 
 
 298. 
 1091. 
 
 601. 
 812; 1082. 
 956. 
 
 550,  —- 988, 
 1022, 1132. 
 
 835, 1039. 
 600, 772. 
 
616 
 
 iii. 
 
 iv. 
 
 iv. 
 
 522. 
 10, 216, 756, 
 
 TEXTUAL INDEX 
 
 16 
 II JOHN. 
 
 ? 
 
 10. 
 
 III JOHN. 
 5. 
 
 818. 
 424, 
 10. 
 
 = 
 10, 216, 510, 
 800, 
 
 JUDE. 
 23. 122, 924. 
 24. 1075. 
 REVELATION. 
 1. Webbed OS. 
 ii, 10. 180, 474, 
 579, 725 
 iii. 5. « 622; 
 15. 406. 
 15, 
 16. 1097. 
 17... 528: 
 20. 76, 736. 
 xiy, (19.°229,/-418, 709, 
 xiv. 48. 13789, 1220. 
 xx. 13. 1066. 
 15. 678. 
 Sx Se < BOT, 430, 
 ‘ 568, 667. 
 27. 61. 
 Zz; 2B tee, 
 LI. 442; 568, 
 631, 667. 
 xxii, i;. 2147, 1198. 
 17. 8 
 
 ; 933, 
 1010, 1107. 
 

 

 

 

 
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