aw ow POO reer ee Te ee A ae tas OS PO OPS Se TO MAKE THE WORLD PLEASANT PO ery eS a. and Kindness---Those revere verve TeYTT Cre A ~ *. Rev. Dr. Talmage Draws a Contrast Between Selfishness Are Likened to Attila the Hun. ho Scatter Wormwood TCC TCT CCC CTC CTC _ TTT rer TCC CTC CTT » March 19.--The con- trast between a life of selfishness and aglife ef kindness is set forth by Dr. Talmage while discoursing updn the baleful character of a conqueror of oiden time; text, Revelation vili., 10- H: "There feM a great star from heav- em, burning as it were a !amp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, and Mee name of the star is called Worm- and Lowth, Thomas Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes and Seme ether commentators say that star Wormwood of my text was a type of Attila, ene of the Huns. He bog 60 cal ae cause he was brilliant a star like wormwood, he im- pittered everything he touched. Have studied the ond the Morning Star of Revelation and the Star of Peace, but my kd calls us to gaze at the star Wo weod, and my theme might be called Brilliant Bitterness." mere extraordinary character his- tery does not furnish than this man Attila, the king of the Huns. The stery gees that-one day a wounded heifer ean limping along through the elds, and a herdsman followed its hnloody track on the grass to see where the heifer was woun back. farther and farther eame to a sword fast in the earth, point downward, us though § it dropped from the heavens, d against the edees of this sword the heifer had been cut The herdsman pulled up that sword and presented it te Atta. Attila said that sword must have dropped from the heavens from the srasp of the god Mars, and its be- img given to him meant that Attila or the Merciful, At- tin called himself and demanded that others cali him 'the Scourge of God." At the head of 700,000 troops, mount- éd' en Cappadoclan horses, he sw everything, from the Adriatic Black sea. He put his iron heel .on Macedenia and Greece and Thrace. Be made Milan and Pavia and Padua amd Verena beg for mercy, which he westewed not. The Byzantine castles, te meet his ruinous levy, Pp nuction massive silver vases of solid gold. When a city was captured by him, the inhabitants were riggs, ek out and put into three class- ; irst class, those who could rar ser, must immediately entist tunder Attila or be butchered; the/sec- % the beautiful women, were ; to the Huns; the third s, the aged men and women, were rebbed ef everything and let go back to the city to pay a heavy tax. It was a common saying that the grass never grew where the hoof of Attila's horse had trod. His armies reddened the waters of the Seine and the Moselle and the Rhine with car- 'Rage and fought on the Catal onian plains the fiercest battle world steod--306 000 dead #8d. On and on until an could net oppose him with arms lay prestrate on their faces in prayer, of dust was seen in the a bishop cried, "It is the and alt the poy took . aid of God." As blown aside the ras banners of reinforcing armies march- ; "the | help aguinst Attila, . The most unimport- mut occurrences lie used as matural resourc of failure to capture lela, when his army had given up the Siege, the flight of a stork 'and her yeung from the tower of the city was taken by him as a sign that he was te capture the city, and his army, in- with the same occurrence, e was the con- ducror in attire that yo enemies could not loek at him, but anafied their eyes or turned their heac Slain en the evening of riage by his bride, LUdica, hired fer the assussination, ers bewalled him no with bleed, cutting knives and lances. threes ceffins, the second of silver He was buried by grave were poured the most valus able caine and precious -stones, amounting to the wealth of a : age The gravediggers and all who as- sisted at the burial thesinare. se that it would PVE he known where s© much wealth was entombed. The Roman empire --conquered the but Attila conquered the Ro- pire. He was rigt ht in calling himself a scourge, but instead of be- ing "the Scourge of God" he was the stource ef Recauee of his brilliancy and bitter- ness the commentators i a have supposed him to be Wermwoeod of the text. As gions he devastated were parts most opulent with. fountains and streams ay rivers, you s@e how graphic my ext is: '""There fell a great star from , burning as it were a lamp; and it fell upon the third part of the rivere and upon the fountains of wat- 6ps, and the name of the star is called Wormwood." But are any of you the star Worm- weed? Do you scold and growl from the thrones "paternal or maternal? Are yeur children everlastingly peck- ed Are you always crying "Husk!' to the merry voices and swift feet and to the laughter which oceastenaly trickles through at wrong thmes, and is suppressed by them un- . til they cau hdld it no longer, and all the barriers burst into untimited guf- few and cachinnation, as in this wea- ther the water has trickled through a Might epering in the milldam, but ad wider his mar- who was his fotlow- and the third of gold. 1ight, and into his Scott, ; 1 your residence? I We Tavs do you shoot f of Bethiechem world | apostolic >> PPI" ry SUVS | enough when one of them is dead. | Then you would give your right hand to hear one shout from the silent Voice or one step from the still foot. You will not any of you have to walt very long before your house is stiller than you want it. Alas, that there are sO many homés not known to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Children, pulled, to order, and answered ms aie and suppressed, un- til it is a wonder that under such pro- cesses they do not all turn out Nana Sahibs! Wh S your influence upon tie neigh Bihoen the town or the city of rill suppose that What kind of orth? Do you use that splendid faculty to irradiate tne or to rankle it? I bless all the college of humorists. The men that makes me laugh is my bene- factor. I do not thank anybody to Make me cry. can do that Without any assistance. We all cry enough and have enough to cry about. God bless all skilful ps sters, all reparteeists, ail conundrums, all "those stip mirthfully surprise us with unusual juxtaposition of words. Thomas Hood and Charles Dickens and Sydney Smith had a divine mission, and so have their successors in. these times., They stir into the acid bever- age of life the saccharine. ey make tne cup of earthly existence, which is sometimes stele, effervesce and bubble, They placate animosities, hey foster longevity. They slay follies and ab- surdities which all the sermons of all the pulpits cannot reach. "But what usé are you making of your wit? Is besmirched with profanity and un- cleanness? Do you employ it in amuse- ment at OHseital defects for which the victims are not responsible? Are your powers of mimicry used to put religion in contempt? Is it a bunch of nettle- some fnvective? Is it a bolt cf unjust scorn? Is it fun at others' misfortune? Is it glee at their disappointment and defeat? Is it bitterness put drop into'a cup? ing of Artemisia absinthium draft already dist: on gg pungent? Then you are the star of Wormwood. Yours is the fun of - rattlesnake try- ing how well it can sting. It is the fun of a hawk trying --, quick it can strike out the eye of a But I will change this and suppose you are a star of worldly prosperity. Then you have large opportunity. You can encourage that artist by buying his picture. You can improve the fields, the stables, the highway, by introduc- ing higher esa of fowl and horse and cow and she You can bless the world with analbeieal achievement in the orchard. You can advance arbor- iculture and arrest the deathful de- struction of the American forests. You can put a piece of sculpture into the niche of that public academy, you can peciigl 2 college, you can stocking 1,000 bare et from the, winter frost, you can build a church, you can t a mis- sionary of Christ on that foreign shore, you can help to ransom a world. A rich man with his heart right--can you tell me how much good a James Lenox or a George Peabody or a Peter Cooper ora William EF. Dodge did While living or is doing now that he is dead? There is not a city, town or neighborhood that has not glorious specimens of con- secrated wealt But suppose you grind the face of the poor. Suppose, when «2 man's wages are due, you make him wait for because he cannot help himself. pose that, because his family and he h¢g expenses, should politely you to raise his rages for this . and you roughly tell him if he wants a better place to go and get it. Suppose, by your man- ner, you act as though he were nothing and you were everything. Suppose you are selfish and overbearing and arro- gant. Your first name ought to be At- tila and your last name Attila because you are the star Wormwood, and you have embittered one-third if not three- thirds of the waters that roll past your employes and operatives and_'depend- ents and associates, and the long line of carriages which the undertaker or- ders for your funeral, in order to make » occasion respectable, will be filled as many dry, tearless eyes are persons occupying them You will be in this world but a few minutes. As compared with eternity. , of the longest life on earth is than a minute. with that minute? embittering the domestic or soci: political fountains or are we like 3 who, when the Israelites .in derness complained that the waters of Laké Marah were bitter and they could not drink them, their leader cut off the branch of a certain tree and threw that branch into the water, and it became sweet and slaked the thirst of the suf- fering host? Are we with a branch of the tree of life sweetening all the brackish waters that we can touch? Dear Lord, send us all out on this mission, All around us imbittered, lives --imbittered by persecution, imbittered by hypercriticism, imbittered by pover- ty. imbittered by pain, imbittered by injustice, imbittered by sin. Why not go forth and sweeten them by smiles. by inspiring words, by- benefactions, by hearty counsel, by prayer, by gos- pelised behavior? us remember aoe if we are wormwood to others * are wormwood. to ourselves, and oui life will be bitter and our eternity bitterer. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only sweetening power that is suf- ficient. It sweetens the disposition; 'it sweetens the fhanners: it sweetens the life; it sweetens mysterious providence: it sweetens afflictions; it sweetens death: it sweetens everything. I have heard people asked in social company, "If you could have three wishes grati- fied, what would your three wishes be?" If I could have three wishes met, I tell you what they would be. First, more of the grace of God; second, more grace of : third, more of the twice grace of God. Foes the dooryard of my brother John, ce missionary in +ecgtade China, there was a tree called the mpéeror tree, the xX nO PPS VV SS VO Vee cane wo characteristics of which are that it gpyettior: grows higher than its surround- ings, and its leaves take the form = if it De piamed by 'the side "oe another tree, it grows a ac religion of Christ, emperor tree, might overshadow all your lives! Are you lowly in ambition or circumstance, putting over you its crown? Are you high in talent and »o- sition, putting over you its crown? Oh, for more of the saccharin in our lives and less of the wormwood! Who can imagine the greatness of Thebes in the old days when the hip- rome rang with her sports and for- eign royalty bowed at her shrines and her avenues roared with the wheels of processions in the wake of returning conquerors? What dashed down the vision of chariots and temples and thrones? Let the mummies. break their long silence and come up to shiver in the desolation and point to fallen gates and shattered statues ana defaced ipt I ling "Thebes- built not one temple to God. Thebes hated righteousness and loved sin. Thebes a star, but she turned to worm- wood and has falien.'"' Babylon, with her 25 towers and her brazen gates and her embattled walls, the splendor of the earth gathered within her gates, her hanging gardens built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his bride, Amytis, who had been brought up in a mountainous country and could the flat country round These hanging gardens,built terrace above terrace, till at the height of 400 feet there Were woods waving and fountains playing, the verdure, the foliage, the glory looking as if a moun- tain were on the wing. On the tiptop a king walking with his queen. Among the statues, snowy white, looking up at birds brought from. distant lands anc drinking out of tankards of solid gold or looking off over y and lakes nations and tributary, great Babylon rying wniete have _W hat battering ram smote the walls? plowshare upturned the gar- w hat army shattered the bra- en gates? What long, flerce blast of storm put sh this light which illum- inated the rid? What crash. of dis- cord drove jowa the music that poured from. palace-window and garden grove and called the banqueters to. their = v- el and the dancers to their feet? I walk upon the scene of desolation to 'ind an answer and pick up pieces of bitu- men and brick and broken pottery, the remains of Babylon. I hear the wild waves saying, "Babylon was proud, Babylon was impure, Babylon was a star, but by sin she turned to worm- wood and has fallen." I pray that our nation may-not copy the crimes of nations that have per- ished; that our cup of -blessing turn not to wormwood and we go down. I - nature and by grace an opti- and lI expect that this country continue to advance until the world shall reach the millennial era. Our only safety is in righteousness to- ward God and justice toward man, If we forget the goodness of the Lord to this land and break His Sabbaths, -- "hig not by the dire disasters th: hay sain and aguin come to us as a people, and we learn saving lesson neither from civil war nor raging epi- demic, nor mildew, nor scourge grasshopper; if the political corruption which has pois- oned the fountains of public virtue and beslimed the high places of authority, government at times a and a byword in all the earth; * drunkenness and licentiousness that stagger and blaspheme streets of our great cities, as they were reaching after .the Corinth and a Sodom, are not repented of, we will yet see the smoke of our nation's ruin; the pillars of our nation- al and state capitols will fall more dis- astrously than when Samson : pulled Jewn Dagon, and future historians will record upon the page bedewed with generous tears the story that the free nation of the west arose in splendor which made the world stare. It had nagnificent possibilities; it forgot God; it hated justice; it hugged its crimes; it halted on its high march: it reeled mg gd the blow of calamity; it fell, and s it was going down all the despotisms of earth from --_ top of bloody thrones began to sho "Aha! So would we have it!" w nile F ehacatte and oppress- ed peoples looked out from dungeon bars, with tears and groans, and cries of untold agony, the scorn of those ind the woe of these uniting in the oxclamsé ition: "Look yonder! There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the 'hird part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. an e name. of the star is called Wormwood!" will LICENSE CHANGED. The Schedule as it Now Appliesto Dis tillers and Retailers, Further changes have pore made in the schedule of license fees to be paid by distillers. The revised schratmie of fees is as follows $1,000 where 'the amount invested in the business of the distiller obtain- ing the license is $50,000 or less $3,000 where the amount torent ed is aforesaid exceeds $50,000, but is not more than $125,000. $4,000 where the amount invested as aforesaid .exceeds ae but is not more than $200,0 $6,500 where the Eat invested AS aforesaid exceeds $200,000, but is not more than $500,000. $6,500 where the amount invested as aforesnid exceeds $500,000. A change has also en made in regard to tavérns and shop licenses. [n cities having a population of over 20,000 and less than 40,000 the li- cense fee will $180 instead of $200. This is intended to meet the ease of London. He took it very gl apc or the course of time, when come. philosophical even in Tove an fairs. "So you have decided that you cannot marry"me," he _ said. "Sir!" she repiiedy "TI have decided nothing of the kind. I can marry you to-morrow if I wish. I could have pa you any day in the last months, as you well bidet What : have decided is that you cannot marry me." litrae Lie SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LES LBSSON--NO MARCH 26, 1899. x1. Review.--John 1: 1-14; 53 17-26. a 27, 28, 29 ; written, A. Jerusaiem, Jacob's SiN gainer yee dasa John iip, Najaanaeh Wedding codem pecan eans, Nobleicn and son. drin, the Ape the niult.tucie, rapa eens ury.--Lesson I. Christ the teitt. In these verses is con- tained te whole Gaspe in am utshe.l. Here is tt mission and, ae, of Chrisi. bi. tatty and His humunity are both e8.Ou II. Christ's First Dis-ip'e In this lesson is the beau Lul deacrip: tion of the call of the first discip es. Jolin the Baptist was near the close of his life-wo. k pe therefore pointed Andrew and John to Jesus, in ges that they mighi bevome utiache Him, and find in Him all that been declared concerning Hi.m. Lesson iff. Christ's first Miracle. This was in Cana of Galilee, the home of Nathanael Here the water was made wine. This was the cee eager! of Christ's miraculous pow Z Seayees were confirmed = rhete 'faith at He wus the Messia as 1V. Christ ee "Nicodemus. Just after the Passover, while Jesus was yet in Jerus2 Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and ruler among tle Jews, a member of the Sinnedrin. came by night, ogg inquired of Jesus concern- ingr ssion and Goctrines. Here He was Cae the necessity of the new Lesson V. Christ at Jacob's Well. Regardiess of the usual custom of the Jews to avoid Samaria, ae took the short. line of march Galilee. 'He must needs go tivGantt Samaria.' Lesson Healed, of Galilee ery a 3 nr VI. The Nobleman"s Sen Jesus was again in Cana with His disciples. Many of Galilee had attended the Passover at Jerusalem at the time when Jesus conversed with mb Sr and they had witnessed Christ authority in Shee cee the baaipieoE the buyers and seller Lesson Vil. Christ's Authority. Here is apart of Josus' defence before the Jewish San- hedrin, after the healing of the sick man at the pool of Bethseda. -Phey had accused Him of blasphemy and Sa bbath-breaking. Lesson VIIL. Christ Feeding the Five Thousand, This was Just af- ter the death of John the Baptist, and immediately following the re- turn of the twelve apostles from their preaching tour. had left Judea because of hostile feeling against Him. near- ing the time of the Passover, but here, in the plain near Bethabara, Jesus worked o miracle by feeding the multitude. Divine Christ. at the Feast. autumn feast, calle of Tabernacles. ceremonies of the pitcher in memory of the supply of water which God gave Israelin their wilderness journey. Lesson X Christ's Freeing From Sin. Upon hearing Jesus' discourse just after the feast, many Jews were ady to accept Him as the Mes- because hoped He ~ to set His kingdom they up was on 1. Lessoa XI. Christ Healing the Blind Man. This took place on the Sabbath just after the attempt to stone Jesus. Lesson XI. Christ the-Good Shep- herd. The Pharisces took sueh offence because of the healing of the blind man that they cast him out of their syna- gorue. PRACTICAL SURVEY. The Word. Wesson I. The. Bible speaks of three creat ons--the first marks the beginning, the second the central and turning-point, the third the end of the history of the world. The Old Testament opens with the natarn! creation, the New Testament with the moral creation or incarna- tion, and the Revelation closes with a description of the new heavens and new earth, where nuture and grace, the first "and second creation, shall be completely harmonized, and. the perfect beauty of the Spirit shall be reflected in a glorious and tmmortal body. The Lamb. Lesson IL. Herein we have three great proofs of the Mes- sah. J. From the Old Testament (Moses and thie prophets, closed up by John the Baptist). 2. From representation of Himself, the experience of the disciples. greatness of the Baptist and the ma- jesty of Christ appear in John's point- ing his disciples to Christ, and Christ's attachifie them immediately to Him- self, he Transformer. Lesson Il. Here we have a proof of the presence of supernatural powers in the person of the Son of man. Christ significantly vegan His public ministry with a mir- acle of transformation. His whole mission was to convert sinners into saints, to turn grief into Joy, to ele- vate earth'to heaven. This miracle at Cana was a miracle of [festive Joy and gladness, and of more than royal bounty ; showing that the gospel is life and peace, a religion of true hap- piness. P'The Reformer. Lesson IV. This is one of the richest and most pene ant sections of the Bible. beginning of Christ's, ministry. first miracle of Christ was a miracle of transformation. His first public act in Jerusalem an act of reformation: His first discourse, a discourse on re- genera ri The thizer. Lesson V. this lesson, os Savionr, sitting a Jacob's well, in . weariness. of of -body yet with "ever-tresh sympathy for man, the water of curve an igmoruat, de- graded, heathenish womun, 2 sort of Samaritan teaches her the sublime truths of the ' broke eternal life, semi- Jews and Gentiles. Christiamity teueh. es the extremes of society, sunsbliag the cone raising the iowly and éay- ealer, dour VI. The misaca- lous healing of the nobleman's son resembles thet 'heats of the cenrtur- iou's servant, but _ not be con- founded with it. As the Lord, in -- case the Samaritan woman, buked superstitious trust in a ie of pilgrimage, so here He re petite superstitious trust in vible miracles. Christ reproves not the faith in mir- acles in itself, but the craving for a nage or miracie-mania. He int- that there is 4 higher ae of faith Gian that which reste on the seelng of racies. He deuig- nates the pooner and those like him as a class people who aro not set beforehand apie the Kingdom of God, but have yet to be brought demonstration of the Jews; amd this cond one brings them to the com- eamsenient of capital process against Him. This contrast of the gps of the Jews and the feasta of Christ runs through the whole fourth gos pel; the former vedigapsie death for Christ, the latter ening the world with miracles on: nt e. The two accusations brought bac Jesus before the Jewish co k the two positive' iantnentel motives of the persecution of Him, which eome out stronger and stronger in tRe progress. of the gospea r. The Bread of Lesson Vil -- Jesus Page cei th ae Himself here the Bread of Li Th. approach of the typical paselial feast gave his =. course' 2 great bearing on chal sac rifle e_of the- Lamb -of- God for the life of the world. The miracle of this ae pe feeding is aa illas- tration he truth that Christ is the Brena of Pern: il Life to His peo- ple in the 'desert place' of this workd, ou their journey to the "feast' of the heavenly Jerusalem. In this spiritual sense the miracle is continued frem day to day. True Greatness. Lesson LX.--Christ overpowered the Jews with, their own weapens, with their own art 0 binical logic. The testimony of Christ concerning His Heavenly origin hard- ened the prond. , Light and Liberty. Lesson X.--Mett to the water drawing and Hbatian, this illomination was the leading faa- ture of the festivities. It was in Ohrist that this prophetic festivit fownad its fulfilment. He who follows Beare fol- lows no fitting 'earthly glim His light is a light of life. HY light which in itself is life. Blindness. Lesson. XJ.--Christ in eco- operation with the sacred tenagple- water of Siloam, appears as the real Shiloah and temple-fount itself. TBe development of the blind man's fatth instructs us as to the nature of true faith: 1, The heart before headi ; 2, trust before knowledge; 3, the thing before the name; 4, actigag and confessing before worshiping. The Good Shepherd. Lesson Xik-- Jesus is the true Shepherd. He treats His flock tenderly, loves each ome, knows each one, gently leads, keeps His flock safely. A BIB FRONT Just the Thing to eee upe Black Cloth Costum The "big front' much abet when it is ieiinnle $004 to pellecy costume of blick cloth or of any park sober-trued woollen with pete 2 ion of something brighter. It achieved with a princess er pol- onaise pattern. The bib is like a Dar- row apron front on the skirt, nirrow- roaches the waist- moe to me tup-r, an! then bread- oaing slightly as it mounts upwird, faye _over the bust and ex ending shoulders. in to the shoukier seams, but : me * straight line as high up oe it_ can cross 2 ' ow! toueling the Talovaldee or the sleeves. This stsle is obvioucly intendei for youme gtrls, school girls. débutantes or young women. Al is only lnoke suitable. Bradstreets on' Trade. Canadian trade is of "proportions. ron active spring business,, clally Bon resuits and expectations in orthwest, the immigration is ce timated that 50, 000 settlers will = into, heros hin gi this year. Am is ng offered in asona b ilures small pies iinbilities light ex the agen of a few shoe goods concerns. Business is dull in the Maritime Provinces, lumber trade prom for several years past. for last week number 37, as agalust 87 the previous week, 31 ia the eor- increase of 16.5 per cent. orer last eS pe ae it e--By George! never were on diane in your life. You" re always keep- ing me wale You ng Bloggy Vi t