Newspaper Page Text
March 12, 1913] T H S P
trying to follow Him. Often parents dolay
their children from union with the Church because
they think they are not good enough yet.
Yet the child is doing just what the parent is
doing; loving Christ and trying to follow Him.
No one succeeds perfectly in either. But an
old Christian and a young Christian are be- -
ing Christians 5n exactly the same way.?
Herald and Presbytery.
WHAT IT MEANT TO HIM.
At a nod from the minister, Mr. Bichfield, the
elder came forward and cleared his throat. He
had to present to the congregation its too familiar
plight?that of a small country church,
struggling half-heartedly against the fate that
has overtaken so many others. Older members
and generous supporters had passed to their re
waru; suDsianuai lamines nad moved away, until
now the case looked hopeless.
Mr. Richfield mentioned the deficit in the crisp
tone of a man who "knows what the dollars and
cents mean, and how hard they are to get. The
Ladies' Aid Society, he added, would pledge fifty
dollars; by a very liberal estimate, another fifty
might be picked up here and there: but seventyfive
dollars still remained unprovided for. That ,
was a large sum for a church like Garnet. In
his opinion, a "gaceful retreat" on their Dart
was preferable to a "flat failure" to meet their
financial obligations. "Sanctuary privileges"
were not beyond the reach of those who cared
to seek them elsewhere, even if the doors of the
old church closed.
The half dozen men accustomed to "say a
word" on such occasions agreed regretfully with
the elder. The mood of the assembly was despondent.
As the discussion went on. some of the
women wiped their eyes. Then upon the silence
that ensued a new voice broke. It was that of
shabhv Jim Wncmpr TT? alimnl- ? "liftlo Ctw***
the curious glances that ere turned upon him.
"I never could srpcak in meetin'," he began,
in a voice that quavered with embarrassment,
"but when it's a question of losing all a man
has, he can't keep quiet. You know what I was
until the Tjod got a hand on me a year ago. I
ain't braggin' of what I've-been since. It's been
a close fight sometimes, and if it hadn't been for
the church here, and the prayers and the preach
ing and the hymns every Sabbath, I couldn't
have done so well as I have. I don't dare to do
without them. Mr. Richfield says we're seventyfive
dollars short. TtH be a sight better for me
to pay that myself than to take chances of drifting
back where I was once. If we come to short
rations, Mary and the children would rather put
up with that than to have me stacrfirerinir home
twice a week, as I might do. Mr. Richfield, put
Jim Wagner down for seventy-five dollars, and,
srranting he lives and has his health, every cent
will be paid. It's not half nor quarter what the
Lord has done for me."
Mr. Riehfield rose to his feet. "I will assume
twenty dollars of the amount," he said, simply.
"T feel that we have treated a serious matt or too
lurhtlv?hidden nirav from rmr> Aim nvoo
the disguise of b routine of sacred trust committed
to us hy God for the souls of men."
The despondence was pone. A dozen men
were standing in their pews. A dozen women
Rat with unlifted hands. The church at Garnet
was saved.?Youth's Companion.
8YMPATHY AND TACT
WhpTi <r*rmrvotViiT ond *?/> ? <* .
.v ...ru>v..j iHtiM t a i c vwnniiiiCVi 111 I'Uti
same person they pive their possessor very great
influence. Sympathy is the healing balm; tact,
the dexterous hand that applies it. Tact depends
upon sensitiveness of temperament combined
with observation. Tt tells one when a sub
EE8B7TXKIAN OP T H ? 8 C
ject is unwelcome, when an inquiry is painful
when condolence or congratulations are illtimed.
It softens the rough edges of unpleasant
truths. Many people are full of sympathy which
they do not know how to express. Tact points
out the way to show it. Ileal sympathy has a
wonderful power of winning confidence.
Women endowed by nature wi'th the quality
called tact, arc the flower of the kind. They
have the secret of charm and will hold undisputed
sway over the hearts of men and women.
Others may be more beautiful and brilliant and
witty, but for consolation in moments of discouragement,
for counsel in your difficulties,
you will turn to them.?The Family Doctor.
SETTING FORTH THE IDEAL.
Rev. E. A. MacAlpin, of Babcock Memorial
church, Baltimore, has published a definition of
a strong chin ch to be used in < uiline as subjects
for prayer meeting lectures. This is the substance
of the definition:
1. A loyal people?who attend regularly and
punctually all the church services.
2. A willing people?who give of their time
and strength to lead others to Christ.
3. A generous people?who feel a personal
responsibility to give systematically of their income
to support the church at home and abroad.
4. A Ikindly people?who strive to make
every stranger, however humble, feel aft home at
the church services.
5. A long-suffering people?who would rather
suffer themselves than hurt others by thoughtless
criticism.
fi. A consecrated people?who so love Christ
4 TlO 4- mww% 11 a- ?1 A 1 ? * ?
vuut, mcjr aic ?imug iu uecieaae iiiai ue may increase.
7. A prayerful people?who commit all their
ways and work unto God in prayer.
8. A Bible-studying people?who know God's
word and make it the rule of their life.
9. A strong people?who bear the burdens of
the weak and strive in all their ways to make
social conditions as Christ would have them.
CENTENARY OP DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
f f'nntinno/1 fmm n?i?n 9 \
, j iwiu j/agc /
Journal are "I dream ... I pray," and so
he endured, amid physical torture and baffled
ambitions.
THY WILL BF. DONE.
The most unfortunate event in the last wanderings
was the loss of his precious medicinechest
(January. 1867). From that date onwards
Livingstone had no remedy against the African
fever and the other maladies which slowly gain
ed hold on his enfeeblod constitution. "I felt,"
he wrote, "as if I had now received the sentence
of death. . . . All the other goods I had divided,
in case of loss or desertion, but 'had never
dreamed of losing the precious quinine and other
remedies. ... It is difficult to say from the
heart, 'Thy will be done,' but I shall try. . . .
This loas of the mediaine box gnaws at the heart
terribly."
TTTP. CL08IN0 TEARS.
W? .^1 * *-11 !- -
hc ijcnu nut w;ii wor avTHin xne siory, nvmiiiar
to every <?chool child, of how on October 28,
1871, when Livingstone's resources were almost
exhausted, and even his brave heart was sinking
under the strain of long starvation and exhausting
journeys. Henrv Moreland StAnlev
cam* to him as an angel of deliverance. Sir
TTarry Johnston writes almost bitterly of Livingstone's
folly in refusing to retnm to Engird
with Stanley, and rogsfeata that the Nil*'
problem had become for him a "monomania."
The traveler eonld not hear to return while his
work remained nnfiniahed, and as Dr. Elaikie
says. "He set his fare rtteadfasti y to go back
ID I H (221) 6
to the bogs of the watershed.'' His own words,
in a letter written about this time, dispose of
the charges of monomania": "If, indeed, my
disclosures should lead to the suppre?ion of the
~ t. -~1.. A J- T n -*
laot i_ua.ii aiuvu iruuc, x wuuiu esteem mai as
a far greater feat than the discovery of all the
sourees." And again he wrote, in words which
are inscribed on his stone in Westminster Abbey:
"All I can add^in my loneliness is, may
heaven's rich blessing come down on everyone
?American, English, or Turk?who will help
to heal the open sore of the world."
L.A8T DAY8.
There is no need to recapitulate here the facts
of Livingstone's lonely death at Ilala in May,
1873. which have been de?erihp*l h thrmaranH
times. He underwent physical agonies like those
of the martyrs, yet he wrote within six weeks of
the end. "Nothing earthly will make me give
up my work in despair. I encourage myself in
the Lord my God and go forward." His bodily
frame whs worn to a skeleton, and his powers
reduced by fearful and repeated haemorrhage.
Vet Ktill he sfnitrorlpH nnwraril till 07
. OS ? " ? " "?, ?" fc,l
it became evident that the end was near. The
last words he wrote in his Journal were as follows
:
"Knocked up quite, and remain to recover.
Sent buy milch goats. "We are on the banks
of R. Molilamo." Death found him kneeling
by his bed in the attitude of prayer. His faithful
servants, Susi and Ohuma, whose names will
ever be associated with that of Livinirstone.
carried the woru frame, amid infinite perils, to
Zanzibar, and thence it was transported to
England.
CHINESE GORDON.
When you come to Trafalgar Square you will
admire the splendid monument on which stands
the figure of the great English sea captain, Lord
Nelson. Close by, and not nearly so high, is the
monument to Chinese Gordon, who got his name
by victories in China. Though a great soldier,
he has only a cane in his hand, and under his
arm is a Bible. That cane tells a story. "When
he went into battle he carried no sword, but only
a little stick. Yet his soldiers would follow him
anywhere. He was a great leader because he was
a great man. A man's power lies more in what
he is than in what he has.
The Bible under his arm is the secret of his
power. He knew God and loved God's Book.
The soldiers would often see a white handkerchief
lying across the door of his tent, and they
would say, "General Gordon is talking with
God!" Nobody ever crossed that white handkerchief.
General Gordon was a great lover of boys and
did a great deal for them, about which you might
ask your father to tell you. He lived a glorious
life in this world. And when God promoted him
they wrote on his tomb in a great cathedral these
words: "Who at all times and everywhere gave
Ilia srf frv +Vi/> uroalr "V* la Ko4 n oaa 4/\ !***
J wu vu^iu t-w I I?u u i un, UJO OUWWUI\ v; tu tftiv
poor, his sympathy to the suffering, his heart to
God."?The Rev. Prank T. Bayley, in The
Congregational Lit.
JUST SAYING IT.
An old Scotch woman lay dying. The sorrowing
husband sat holding her worn hand in his,
and seeing she was soon to leave him, broke
flllVMimik Vlio 1 1 f a! < , ?-? ? Oo/xinlt %uvn/vm/. k.. i in mm in
uuvuuu 1110 liicrii'ii^ kiuuM/ii iwivc uy NrtYini;
earnestly, "Janet, if ever a woman was loved, I
love you." The weary eyelids were raised, and
a radiant smile overspread the pale face as Janet
replied: "I ay kenned it, John, but O. to hear
ye say it!" Jeans knew that Peter loved horn,
hut repeated his question. that he misrht hear
it from his own lips. TTow much we often lose
by not savinsf it!?Dr. Whvte.