The True Refuge. [A successful minister in England school is larger now than ever before, mill, just over the lever that lifts as Teachers, 105; officers, 62; boys, 494; the saw leaves the log, and while girls, 690; men, 479; women, 678; denouncing the doctrine of a deity, died from the effects of that terrible total, 2508. We also have a boat in that lever sprang, catching him undisease, cancer. One day, after his daughter had made him comfortable tow known as the Tent Mission der the heels, and flung him backby placing three pillows under his School. The membership is 95; all ward and downward headlong into head, a friend called and inquired: told 2603. That's the best we have the stream. "How are you to-day, Mr. Parsons?" ever done, but not the best we can "Very comfortable indeed. See! I and will do. The past year put lie on three pillows. They remind me of the pillows on which my soul afloat the Penny Saving Fund, which lies." Putting his hand on the so far has invested $52,000. It proundermost one, he said: "This is jected the House of Rest by the Sea, the pillow of God's infinite power: with the lot secured and paid for the second is the pillow of God's with $2,000 cash in hand towards infinite wisdom; the third and top one is the pillow of God's infinite the building. We must get $3,000 We must not drift Hast thou within a care so deep, Hast thou a hope, with which thy heart What e'er the care that breaks thy rest,, What e'er the wish that swells thy breast, Our New Postmaster General. As he plunged, however, he shrieked out as loud as he could yell, "GOD HAVE MERCY!" into the water and drew the strugThe preacher ran around, waded gling man ashore. Said the pastor: believe in a God." As soon as the "I thought that you did not infidel stopped struggling he said in a subdued voice: "Well, if there is no God, there ought to be, to help a man when he can't help himself."-VANGUARD. love in Jesus Christ. The eternal more this year. 6 God is thy refuge, and underneath this year, but put the college along are the everlasting arms.""] towards the building, and get the Mission School into a chapel of their own. It is a responsibility to have the watch and care of souls, and we must do our best. This is not the sour-scowl-at-you exclusive club. CHRISTIANITY, with its Bible, its No scare-crows are planted at the churches, its Sabbath, its ministry, door-ways. This is the never-turn- and its missionary agency for propaway-anybody church and school. agandism, has taken a strong hold The-lift-you-up and help-you-along upon the popular faith of this counplace. The open-every-night and try. It exists not simply as a religall-day Sunday resting station. ion in books and libraries, and known The make-everybody-happy chapel only to the scholarly and the learned, Mr. John Wanamaker presided on and the school of joyful-song-cheer- but as a living, acting and great the 28th, at the anniversary of the up and good-fellowship; that sets up social power among the people. It Sunday School of Bethany church, a kind of Christmas tree every Sun- has made a deposit of itself alike in which was held in the School, day under which the little child and their heads and their hearts, and Twenty-first and Bainbridge streets. the old man love to sit: no bats or thus become united with their hisHe said: "For one and thirty owls live here, only God's larks fly tory. It is, in this respect, like the years have I been sitting in this in our sky; each Sunday we serenade constitution of the United States and Bethany boat, with my back to the each other with sweetest songs. the principles of republican governfuture pulling away at the oars-not ment, which, though written and always doing my best, I regret to formulated in definite statements, say; but, thanks to the Kingly Pilot, exist in the convictions, the preferthe boat has been kept on its course, When I was a boy away in the ences, the habits and practice of the and, guided by His hand, is far up mountains of Pennsylvania, I knew American people. The same is true stream to-night with a happy com- an old infidel who was eager to argue in England, Scotland, Ireland, and, pany bound for the Holy City, the against the existence of a God. That for the most part, in all European New Jerusalem coming down from is what infidelity hates, the existence countries. It is not a misnomer to God out of heaven. The winds have of a God. A young preacher, call the United States a Christian been all favorable the past year. It against the warnings of his friends country, as distinguished from the was an extra good year. We had as to his abuses and his obscenities, pagan nations of the earth, or from the usual fifty-two Sundays and an resolved to see that blatant scoffer Mohammedan countries. The term, extra one thrown in for full measure. and confront him with the truth of when thus applied, states an historic Scholars were here every Sunday in God. truth in the past, a truth in the the year, and your old Superinten- The sceptic was soon vociferating present, and a truth that will undent has a good mark also for every against the idea of there being a doubtedly remain real in all time to one of the fifty-three Sundays. The God. He was sitting in his saw- come.-N. Y. Independent. The Atheist's Prayer. MISSIONS. The Sunday School as A Missionary Agency. that if you cut out of the Bible she has not raised all the large sum whatever pertains directly or indi- she wanted for her school in India. rectly to missions-all precepts, THE German Methodists are depromises, parables, discourse-all the veloping fourteen mission fields, on drift and tendency of prophecy and the North Pacific coast. Their The history of the modern Sun- history, and gospel, and epistle, in preachers and churches have been day School movement is contempo- the direction of missions and all organized into a separate German raneous with that of modern mis- dispensational dealing and leading conference. MR. MOODY secured money enough at his recent Bible School to send at once four young men as teachers to China, to start five new mission stations among the Dakota Indians, and to send a worker to Bulgaria. having the same significance-you Missionaries meet an awful evidence of this in the fact that they find in heathen speech no word that expresses the idea of holiness. They have to coin a word for it, and teach its meaning in such round-a-bout way as they can. sions. The same religious impulse that led to the organization of missionary societies for the purpose of evangelizing the heathen nations of the world, doubtless prompted more specific and earnest efforts among Christian people for the religious training and salvation of the children at home, especially for the children of the neglected poor. The first Sunday Schools were distinctly missionary, and had for their object the same end that is now contemplated by our home missions. The two en- Those who wish to inform themterprises not only had a common be- selves respecting modern missions nevolent origin, but have moved on can not do better than subscribe for in parallel lines ever since; for we the "Missionary Review of the THE Church of the Pilgrims, find to-day that those Christian World," published by Funk & Wag- Brooklyn, which last year doubled communities most deeply interested nalls, of New York City. This is its annual gift to the American and active in foreign missionary incomparably the best missionary Board, making it $4,000 on a recent work are also most diligent and magazine published in America. It Sunday, after a sermon by Dr. Storrs, earnest in their efforts to cultivate is what its name implies, a review of increased its contribution in its rethe home fields, and especially to the WORLD and not an organ of some cent collection, $4,500 being taken train their own children in the "nur- single denomination. It costs $2 a in the boxes, which will probably be ture and admonition of the Lord,' year; in a club of ten, $1.50. Pier- increased to $5,000 by gifts of those We find as a matter of history, in son's "Crisis of Missions," is a good not present. our home missions, that the Sunday work, and can be had of any pubSchool is a most successful mission- lisher for forty cents. Pierson is burgh not long ago, planning how ary pioneer. We find a similar re- sometimes over hopeful, but his they could do most for the missionsult attending the Sunday School in statements of fact can be relied on. ary cause. One of them was a teachour foreign missionary fields. The The work deserves a careful reading. er; one a milliner; and they two most hopeful class in all countries is Any one interested in missions can banded together and sent the third the young people, not only because not invest the same amount of mon- as a missionary into the foreign field, they are the most impressible and ey more profitably than in purchas- paying all her expenses; and there docile, but also because the future ing these works. depends on them. If the foregoing observations be correct, the place of the Sunday School as a missionary agency ought to be recognized, and provision made by our Mission Boards for its organization and equipment in all mission fields.-Dr. commissioned by the Presbyterian Cunningham, in an address before Board of Home Missions to take the International Missionary Union. charge of the native church at Fort Wrangell, Alaska. Missionary Literature. Mission Notes. THE Rev. Allan McKay has been THERE were three sisters in Edin she lives and labors to-day, support ed by her devoted sisters at home. THE author and publishers of "The Crisis of Missions, the Rev. Dr. Pierson and Robert Carter & Bros., have offered to the Board of Foreign Missions a second thousand copies for gratuitous distribution to those who will read and loan them PUNDITA RAMBAI expects to sail to others. A duplicate offer has The Bible is the best missionary from San Francisco for home in been made to the American Board. book in the world. It has been said about two weeks. Unfortunately Address No. 1 Somerset St., Boston. YOUNG PEOPLE. Flowers. Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous Stands the revelation of His love. We behold their tender buds expand, Emblems of our own great resurrection, Emblems of the bright and better land. -Longfellow. Roy's Secret. "I tan't fink of anyfing so nice as fashionable but worthless men. She loved her little Roy, but forgot him at times, when bent on her own selfish and giddy pleasure, so the child was fondled one day to be neglected the next. After that evening Roy and I met often; and he grew to love the dear Savior, who "said such nice words. to little boys," as he expressed it. Accordingly I told him of David, the shepherd lad, who went to war to see his brothers; of the mighty Goliah, who flung his taunts at the terrified Israelites; and finally of the brave youth, who, rejecting armor and weapons, slew the giant with Frequently, as I passed him in the five small pebbles and his shepherd's street, he would pause to whisper, sling. Roy listened breathlessly, and, as "I remember the secret every night -do you?" "A I finished, quickly exclaimed. One day we heard he was ill, "I wiss my mamma knew that pretty story. It isn't true-is it?" slight sore throat-nothing more, Think of it! In Christian New said his mamma; but in the evening England-and further conversation the bell rang sharply, and I heard revealed the fact that this well-bred, Bridget asking, "An' would the It was a crisp October Sunday, and handsomely dressed, affectionate misses come over-the poor darlint a hint of winter was in the air. It little boy knew nothing of prayer. is afther dyin' jist now." was growing dusk, and night's sable He had heard other children talk of curtain was fast hiding the golden Sunday School; and had asked his glory in the west. I was hastening mother that morning if he could not go, and she had answered in the home from the bedside of a sick friend. Already the library win- negative. dows flashed out their beacon of welcome, and I was almost at the gate when I saw a child standing quietly in the pathway. We had a new neighbor in the honse across the street, and in an instant I was sure the little one belonged there. I stopped, for the child was shivering. "I wonder if this is Mrs. Seaton's little boy," I said. "E'ssm," a sweet voice answered, and off came his velvet eap. "My name is Roy. Is you Miss Smiff?" "Yes; but you are cold, my child. Does your mamma know you are out here?" "She's gone to ride, and Bridget is out wiv the key, so I tant get in; but I do wiss mamma would come," he added wistfully. Before there was any light in the "An' it'll be just our secret-won't We soon learned that Mrs. Seaton was finely connected and educated, but thoughtless and neglectful of the slightest religious obligation. When "Come in with me, and we will she was seventeen, she married Sam have a pleasant little visit till mamma Seaton, a wealthy, good natured, but man. comes," I said, taking his hand, which withal unprincipled, young he accepted with a confiding smile. After a few years he died of conWraps laid aside, and after a few sumption, brought on by his habits. preliminaries, which made us excel- His widow was too light and gay lent friends, I inquired what he by nature to mourn very long, and soon received attention from various would like done for his pleasure. Without a word I snatched a shawl, and, hurrying over, found it to be so. The agonized mother was bending over the little sufferer, who opened his eyes and smiled, when I entered the room. "Jesus wants me to come and have the secret with him," he whispered softly. "Can't you have it with mamma-now?" "Yes, darling," I answered, keep"We will say ing back my tears. it together, now." We commenced, the poor mother joining in, with a voice full of emo tion. "Now I lay me down to sleep, Little Roy's hand relaxed its hold on mine, and in an instant the sweet spirit had fled, to be forever with "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." that loving Friend who has said, -Selected. THE biographer of David Livingstone tells us what difficulties that great man, afterward so learned, had to overcome in pursuing his studies He devoured when a young man. all the books that came into his hands but novels, by placing the book on a portion of the spinning tence after sentence as he passed at jenny, so that he could catch senhis work. The utmost interval that Livingstone could have for reading at one time was less than a minute. YOUNGER PEOPLE... Pike's Peak Sketches. BY FRED N. MESERVE. Opening the Heart. An unpleasant feature of the summer ascents, though a very curious and interesting one, is the electrical I knew a little boy whose heart storm, which is an almost daily oc- was touched by a sermon on the currence during the rainy months. words, "Behold, I stand at the door, While a thunder storm is passing and knock." His mother said to over the Peak the electricity seems him when she noticed that he was to gather on every point of rock or anxious: iron, and a sharp, buzzing sound is "Robert, what would you say to like, is ready to swallow everything. heard. The same peculiar sound is any one who knocked at the door of heard coming from the hand or fin- your heart, if you wished him to Strange stories have been told to the unsuspicious tourist, who, ostrich come in?" He answered: "I'd say, 'Come in."" She then said to him: "Then say to the Lord Jesus, 'Come in."" The next morning there was a brightness and joy about Robert's face that made his father ask : "Robert, what makes you look so glad and joyful to-day?" The story of the baby who was cruelly killed by mountain rats, and its ger if it is wet and held above the half-devoured remains buried among head, and it feels as if it were a small the rocks, has been a great favorite. sized pin cushion stuck through and The event occurred in 1881, and for through with pins and needles. a number of years a white headstone Sometimes when the storm is vioand cross marked the spot. Every lent the horses going up or down the curious visitor copied into his note-trail are charged with the electricity, book the sad inscription, perhaps be- the hair snaps if touched, and a lieving implicitly the particulars of sharp shock may be felt if by chance the tragedy so readily given by the the rider happens to touch an ear. observers. The facts are these: A His own hair actually crackles and young burro, the only victim of the stands on end, but no doubt the latPeak, brought his too-heavy pack to ter action is augmented by the fear the top and then died. The chance of the novice. was too good to be lost, and the observer, who as a practical joker has I think he has come into my heart. never been equaled in Peak history, I feel happier this morning than I carefully buried the little pack-mule close proximity, followed by exceed- ever was in all my life. How unand set up the monument which told ingly loud and startling claps of grateful and wicked in me to keep the world that "Nora," his infant thunder, it is not at all pleasant. him waiting outside so long!" daughter, lay there, killed and eaten Several times the station has been by mountain rats. Some time after struck by lightning, although no a clergyman, who happened to be serious harm has resulted to either "He replied joyfully: "I awoke in the night, and I felt that Jesus was still knocking at the door of my heart for admittance into it. "I A little of such an adventure is said to him, 'Lord Jesus, come in!' enjoyed, but when it comes too IT is one of the problems of life how to preserve the earlier spirit of one of a large party to ascend the the building or its occupants. The trust and hope amid the knowledge Peak and visit the grave, after asking the observer and being informed that no funeral service had ever been performed, as the affair occurred ally did hold funeral services over the grave of the young unfortunate, large stove in the center of the office and wisdom born of maturer experience. And it is because this problem is too hard for many that they begin in middle life to degenerate in when the trail was impassable, actu- surprises the offender and gives him character. They leave behind them a heavy shock. So far this year the the generous impulses, the energizappearance of the "free electricity" ing hopes, and the resolute courage the wicked joker meanwhile lying has been very slight, it having oc. of youth. They cease to exercise curred but once or twice. under the table in the station trying their imagination in the practical to hide the laughter which could not be restrained. A wagon road is being built to conduct of life. They lose sight of A couple of years the summit, and before the summer's the ideal and character in action. ago the headstone was taken down travel is over tourists may come to They settle down in a hum-drum, and destroyed, leaving nothing but the top in carriages instead of by prosaic and even worldly habit of a heap of stones to mark the spot, the more tiresome horseback ride. mind. Hence it is that men who and many visitors go down disap- Many more will avail themselves of have passed safely through the pointed at having such a thrilling the easier mode of ascent, and the temptations of youth, having been tale and ghastly monument overturned by the statement of the facts and the action of a less romantic observer. number of three thousand, who now *Since this article was written the carriage road borne over them on the high tide of generous emotion, sometimes fail and fall in middle life.-The Rev. 1. Campbell Finlayson. dogs before great crowds, and men and look on just like that great fight with each other, just to make crowd in the picture. They are fun for the crowd." "Real, true fights with swords, like that matador in the picture?" death." shouting and laughing and waving 'They beat each other almost to the matador-the man with a sword Then grandpa took up the paper Orphah crept closer to grandpa as ing the fair head, he was silent for a fights over there?" pointing to saloon across the street. a "Its just as I tell you dear." "It must have been in the days of and they are left worse than that Cain," thoughtfully remarked beast in the picture." Orphah. "Later than that. The old Greeks and Romans would come into a great building like that, and men and beasts would fight and kill each other just to make fun for the people." "The awful heathen!" exclaimed Orphah. "Why didn't Moses send 'em Aaron for a missionary?" "But, dear, what would you say were I to tell you there's a city where the people are doing this very thing now?" "Now! Now! Now is Sunday. Folks, fighting bulls God's day for fun! O, Grandpa!" And she searched his face to see if he meant "So the people look on and let rum kill every day some dear Uncle Edward." "Grandpa, grandpa, when I'm big I'll stop it." "Poor child, what can you do?" "I preach and make every body help. You see, when I'm big." Grandpa died a few years ago, but he lived to see his dear Orphah old enough to join the Temperance Crusade. Her voice is now ringing through the land rousing the people to stop the bull-fights caused by rum.-The Pansy. "Yes, poor child, almost daily. And there are many thousand just From the sixty-first annual report such places in this city, where men of the New York City Mission, we and boys and womeu and girls have learn that official statements place all the good in them knocked out, the number of licensed drinking saloons at 9,507, while it is supposed there are as many as 12,000, including those that are unlicensed. A careful estimate gives 60,000,000 a year as the amount spent in these places for liquor. A sum of $500,000 is paid into the public treasury Fifty thousand or more every in license fees, while the cost of po "How, grandpa?" "Many, grandpa?" year.' "Fifty thousand!" "Yes, a whole city full." lice, the courts and the charities chargeable to the liquor traffic reaches $9,000,000. BISHOP LAVINGTON, addressing the clergy somewhere about 1750, says: "My brethren, I beg you will rise up with me against moral preaching. attempting the reformation of the We have long been nation by discourses of this kind. "No, grandpa, he wasn't killed With what success? None at all. that way. He was not; he was On the contrary, we have dexterously not," excitedly repeated Orphah, and preached the people into downright burst into tears. O! why don't infidelity. We must preach Christ and Him crucified. Nothing but the people stop these awful bull- the Gospel is-nothing besides will "In Spain; in the city of Madrid." fights? Could not the good people be found to be-the power of God "How glad I am it's so far away." of this city, if they tried real hard?" unto salvation. Let me, therefore, "Nearer than you think, child. "Of course they could; but I'm again and again request-may I not In Mexico they have bull-fights; sorry to say that thousands and add, let me charge you?-to preach in this very city men fight with bull- thousands find it pleasanter to sit Jesus,, and salvation through His it. She saw he meant it, and then slowly asked, "Where grandpa?" name." |