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REV. DR. TALMAGE THE BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN¬ DAY SERMON. Subject: “Does Reiigion Pay L’ things, Text: “Godliness is profitable, unto all having promise of the life that vow I.Tl»oU,y ’’ A happy New Year ^ to one and all! There is a gloomy and passive way of waiting for the events of the opening year to come upon us. and there is a heroic way of going out to meet them, strong in God and fearing nothing. When the body of Catiline was found on the battle-field it was found far in advance of all his troops and among the enemy; and the best way is not for us to lie down and let the events of life trample spirit over de us, but to go forth in a Christian termined to conquer. The papers were made out, and some of you have just entered into business partner ships, and others of you take higher positions in the commercial establishment where you were engaged, and others haie entered upon new enterprises, and there were last week in these cities ten thousand business changes. Y ou are expecting prosperity, i nd I am de termined. so far as I have anything to do with it, that you shall notl God e disappointed, heip and therefore 1 propose, as may me this morning, to project upon your atten tion anew element of success. You will have in dustry, the business firm, frugality, patience, in perseverance, economy-a very strong business ,irm, but there needs to be one member'added, mightier than them ail, and not a silent partner either the one m troducedby my text: “Goalmess which is profitable unto all things, having the proin lseof the life that, now is as well as ot that which is to come.” I all willing to admit . tnat , , suppose you are Godliness is important in its eternal rela tions; but per haps some of you say; All I want is an opportunity to say a prayer be fore I die. and all will he well.” there are a gi-eat many people who suppose that it they can finally get safely out of this world into a better world, they will have exhausted the entire advantage of our holy religion. They talk as though religion were a mere nod of recognition which we are to give to the Lord Jesus on our way up to a heavenly mansion; as though it were an admission ticket, ot no me except to give inat the door of heaven, And there are thousands of people who have stssr-riySK: s uvsssra factory, the bank, for the farm, for the for the warehouse 'office for the ieweler s shoo for the broker’s anvrftr Now ‘on while I would not throw mm/tt.il momtas.Snd a Dost mortem notion. I on tl» SSSSSS SftrnSMSSS while “ no use to you you live, will be of no use to vou when vou die “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the prom lse of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come.” And 1 have always noticed that when the grace is very low in a man’s heart he talks a great deal in prayer meetings about deaths, and about coffins, and about churchyards. I have noticed that the healthy God, Christian, and the man straight who is road living near to is on the to Heaven, is full of jubilant satisfaction, under- and talks about tbe duties of this life, standing well that if God helps him to live right He will help him to die right. Now, in the first place, 1 remark that God liness is good for a man's physical health I do not mean to say that it will restore a broken down constitution, or drive rheuma tism from the limbs, or neuralgia from the temples, or pleurisy from the side; but I do mean tosay that it gives one such habits and puts one in such condition as is most favor able lor physical health. That I believe, and that I avow. Everybody knows that buoyanev of spirit is good physical advan tage. Gloom, unrest, dejection are at war with every pulsation of the heart, and with every respiration of the lungs. It lowers the vitality, it s ackens tbe circulation, while exhilaration of spirit pours the very balm of heaven through all the currents of life. The scene of insecurity which sometimes hovers over an unregenerate man, thousand or pounces upon him with the blast of ten trumpets of terror, is most depleting and most ex hausting, while the feeling that all things are working together for my good now, and for my everlasting welfare,is conducive to phys ical health. You will observe that Godliness induces industry, which is the foundation of g od health. There is no law of hygiene that wifi keep a lazy man well. Pleurisy will stab bim, erysipelas will burn him, jaundice will discolor him, gout will cripple him. and intelligent physician will not prescril*) auti septic, or febrifuge, yardsticks,”and or anodyne, but saws, and hammers, and crowbars, and pickaxes. There is no such thing as good of physical condition without positive work some kind, although you should sleep on down of swan, or ride in carriage of upholstery, or have on your table all the dries that were poured from the wine-vats Ispahan and Shiraz. Our religion "Away to the bank! away to the field! a wav to the shop! away to the factory! do some thing that will enlist all the energies of body, mind and soul.” “Diligent in ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” while upon the bare hack of the idler and drone comes down the sharp lash of the apos tie as he says: “If any man will not work, neither shall be eat.” Ob, how important in this day. when so much is said about anatomy and i hysiology and therapeutics and some new style medicine is ever and anon understand springing that the world, that you should the highest school of medicine is the school of Christ, which declares that “Godliness profitable unto all things, well having that the promise which of tiie life that now is as as O’ssi" shall the then one of them get religion of Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, and the thee' My'salvation.” ‘ 7 ’ “ Again I remark that Godliness is good for the intellect. I know some have supposed that just as soon as a mai. enters into the Christian process^ life his intellect "oes into a dwarfing go far from that, religion sTren S 4h ™ th^&nation^ fho new force tii.w to the will, and wider swing to all the intel lectualfaculties. Christianity is the great centra! fire at which Philosophy has lighted Jesus'chrhst is^the flu ah out wb h The Helicon poured forth no .ech Cowpers ‘Task, flaming n» Charles W es - " hymns, and rushing «itn ton s ^Paradi^ fl?” The and'in felMon of Jesus Christ has hung in studio gal lery of art and in Vatican, the best pictures -Titians “A^umption. ’Raphaels from “irans^ figuration, Rebenss De cent ,.e ^“S judmenr”%ehVionh“ ^W-fiaydnJ mtde the best music of the “Crea Is R ^oeabiTthat a reS I builds such indestructible monuments, and ! which lifts its ensign on the highest promon ! torics of worldly power, can have any elect I upon a man’s intellect but elevation and en¬ largement? Now, I commend Godliness as the best mental discipline—better than bedes lettres to purify the taste, better than mathe¬ matics to harness the mind to all intricacy and elaboration, better than logic to marshal the intellectual forces for onset and victory. It wdl go with Hugh Miller and show him the footprints U of the 1 Creator in the red and sand f. one - ^ S» Wlth the botanist show , S shepherds astronomer the on the great heights worlds, where God Sills great flock of that wander on the of heaven answering His voice as He calls them all by their names, Again 1 remark that Godliness is proSt able tor one’s disposition. Lord Ashley, be fore he went into a great battle, was heard to oiler this prayer: “O Lord, I shall be very busy With to-day; if 1 forget Thee, :orget me not.” such a Christian disposition as that, a man is independent of all circumstances, Our piety will have a tinge of our natural temperament. If a man be cross and sour. and fretful naturally, after he becomes a Christian he will always have to he armed against the rebellion of those evil incliua tions; but religion has tamed the wildest nature; it has turned fretfulness into grati tude, despondency into good cheer, and and those who were hard and ungovernable un compromising have been made pliable and conciliatory. Good resolution, reformatory effort, will not effect the change. It takes a mightier arm and a mightier hand to bend ev jj habits than the hand that bent the bow o£ x;; vs3e a and it takes a stronger lasso than ever held the buffalo on the prairie. A man caunot „ 0 forth wit h any human weapons and contend successfully against these Titans armed with uptorn mountain. Butyou have | known men into whose spirit the mtluen ’e of the Gospel o£ Christ came, until their dis position was entirely changed. So it was with tw0 merc ijants in New York. They were very antagonistic. They had done ad j be y cou j d to injure each other. They were in the same - ine or -business. One or the merchants was converted to God. Having been converted he asked the Lord to teaph him how to bear himself toward that business antagonist, and he was im / prossed with the fact that it was his d ^ he n a customer aske i for certain k of „ 6 oods which ho ha t not , but which he knew his opponent had, to recommend hjm t * to that store. I sunnosMhat is hardest thing a man could do; ’ but ^ng thoroughly converted to God, h he re- ro solved to Jo t e y K> * “ . t so sent, and he found a so that m rchant number one had been brought to God, and sought the same religion. Now they are E°od friends and good neighbors, the grace do ted, anything for me. nau„ £ Do. .,a j-oni relgono^, know that Martin Luther and Robert Newton and Rich an patures, * Bax !*L yet the grace 1*1!. ^af'c of God 'od turned turned into the mightiest usefulness? turer cares but very little tor ^ a strea sl °wly runs through the meadow but a s.i torrent that leaps from rock through to rock, the and rushes with mad energy valley and out toward the sea. Along that river you vvill find fluttering shuttles and grinding mill and flashing water wheel. And a nature, the swiftest, the most rugged God and the most tremendous, that is the nature turns into greatest usefulness. Oh, how many who have been pugnacious, and hard to please, and irascible, and neighbor’s more bothered than about the mote in their eye about the beam like ship timber in their owu eye, who have been entirely changed by the grace of God, and have found out that God I liness is profitable for the life that now is as well a3 for tbe life which is to come, Again I remark that religion is good for a man’s worldly business. I know the general theory is, the nioro business the less religion, the more religion the less business. Not so, thought Dr. Hans, in h;s “Biography he of “He a l Christian Merchant,” when says: : grew m grace the last six years or his life i more than at any time in his life; during i *ose six yeare he had more business crowd | Ini; him than at any other time.” In other 1 words, the more worldly business a man has, ‘ the more opportunity to serve God. Doe? religion exhilarate or retard worldly busi ness? discuss. is the Does the practical hang question for you to it like a mortgage over the farm? Is it a bad debt on the ledger? crowd Is it a lien against the estate? Does it the door through which customers come for broadcloths and silks? Now, religion will hinder your business if it be a bad business, or if it be a good business wrongfully con ducted. If you tell lies behind the counter, if you use false weights and measures, if you put sand in sugar, and beet-juice in vinegar, and lard in butter, and sell for one thing that which is another thing, then religion will in terfere with that business; but a lawful business, lawfully conducted, will find the : religion of the Lord Jesus Christ its mightiest j auxiliary. Religion will give of spirit, , it j an equipoise of temper—and j will keep you from ebullitions you know a great many fine businesses have j been blown to atoms by bad temper—it will ; keep you from worriment about frequent loss, ; it will keep you industrious and prompt, it will keep you back from squandering and dissipation, it will give you a kindness of spirit which will be easily distinguished from that mere store courtesy which shakes hands violently with you, ask ing about the health of your family when there is no anxiety to know whether your child is well or sick! But the anxiety is to know how many dozen cambric pocket cash handkerchiefs you will take and pay down. It will prepare vou I for do the practical to duties of every-day life. not mean say that religion wiil make us financially rich, but Ido say that it will give us, it assure us. of a comfortable sustenance the bank, to manage the traffic, to conduct & R ou r business matters, and to make tne rn New York city there was a merchant hard in his dealings with his fellows, who had written over his banking house, or his count mg-house room: .>o compromist. Then when some merchant got in a crisis and went down-no fault of bis, but a conjunction of e v ‘l circumstances—and all the other mer chants were willing to compromise-they o^’fift^M^or’twentrcente^-commg “No to t ui s m an last of all he said: compro . rd ^-g ona hundred cents on the dol htr. ’and I can afford to wait ” Well, the g* % ££SSi.*£l1hf«e»“ the man who UTote the inscription over bis coun ting-hou.se ^nt died in destitution. Oh, more of the kindness of . S ^. b found^iT enterprise^ How manvyoung have the religion of JesM Christ a practical help? How many there ar6 j Q this house to-day who could testify out is of their own experience that Godlineas ^^iue^in ^eiV^usme^^r wi!Ii“ telp toe T here for heI P’ and toere tor ’ and yonder for help, and got no help untiT they knelt before the Lord crying for His deliverance, and the Lord rescued them. In a bank not far from our great metropo- bal- j lis—a village bank—an officer could not ance his accounts. He had worked at them day after day, night after night, and he was j sick nigh unto death as a result. He knew he had not .taken one farthing from that bank, but somehow, for some wouldn’t reason balance. inscru- ! table then, the accounts of The time rolled on, and the morning the day when the books should pass under the inspection of the other officers arrived, and he felt himself in awful peril, conscious of his own integrity but unable to prove that integrity. That morning he went j ! to the bank early, and ho knelt down before God and told the whole story of his mental anguish, and lie said: "0 I.ord, I have done | right: I have preserved my integrity, but here I am about to bo overthrown unless l hou should come to my res:-ue. Lord.de- j liver me.” And for one hour he continued ; sgBSfta'wwzss all about. Ha opened it and there lay a sheet of figures which he only needed to add to another lino of figures—some line of figures he had forgotten, and knew not where he had laid them—and the accounts were b danced,and the Lord delivered aim. Youare an infidel if you do not believe it. The Lord delivered him. God answered his prayer as He will answer your prayer, O man of busi¬ ness, in every crisis when you coma to Hun. Now, if this be so, then I the am persuaded, as of you are, of the fact that vast majority Christians do not fully test the value of their religion. They are like a farmer in Cali¬ fornia, with fifteen thousand acres of good wheat land and culturing only a quarter of an acre. Why do you not go forth and make the religion of Jesus Christ a pra.-ticai and affair every day of yoar business life all this year, beginning now, and to-morrow morning putting into practical effect this holy religion anil demonstrating In your life that Godliuess is profitable here as well as hereafter ? How can you get along without this re¬ ligion? Is your physical health so good you do not want this divine tonic? Is your mind so clear, so vast, so comprehensive inspiration? that Is you do not want this divine your worldly business so thoroughly established that you have no use for that religion which has been the help and deliverance of tens of thousands of men in crises of worldiy trouble? And if what I have said this morn¬ ing is true, then you see what a fatal blunder it is when a man adjourns to life’s expira¬ tion the uses of religion. A man who post¬ pones religion to sixty years of age gets re¬ ligion fifty years too late. He may get into the kingdom of God by final repentance, but what can compensate him for a whole lifetime unalleviated and un¬ comforted? You waut reiigion to-day in tho training of that child. You will want religion to-morrow in dealing with that Western customer. You wanted re¬ ligion yesterday to curb your temper. Is your arm strong enough to beat your way through the floods? Can you without l>eing encased in the mail of God's eternal help go forth amid tho assault of all hell’s sharp¬ shooters? Can you walk alone across these crumbling graves and amid these gaping earthquakes? Can you, waterlogged and mast shivered, outlive the gale? Oh,how many there have been who, postponing the religion of Jesus Christ, have plunged into mistakes eighty they nevercouldcorrect although they lived vears after, and like serpents crushed under cart-wheels, dragging their mauled bodies under the rocks to die; so these men have fallen under the wheel of awful while calamity, crushed here, destroyed forever, religion a vast multitude of others have taken the of Jesus Christ into every-day life, and first, in practical business affairs, and secondly, on the throne of heavenly looked triumph, l have uni¬ il¬ lustrated, while sngeis glorious on iruth an a that verse approve!, the “Godliness is profitable unto efi things, hav¬ ing tho promise of the life which now is as wed as of that which is to come.” Only Billing Their Time. While we were camped on the edge of a little Nebraska town a man came over and sat down on the wagon tongue and began to praise up the place, mentioning among other improve¬ ments a new steeple that was going up on a church near at hand. “Isn’t that steeple just a little high for the size of the church ?” suggested Briar. “There, struck it the first whack ! I told ’em that was the way it would go ! Now I’ll tell yon,” he went on confident¬ ially, “ ’bout that steeple. It’s a ’Pisco pal church; they put it up ’bout stickin’ a yoar ago and jes’ an ord’narv steeple upon it. Then what did the Baptists do but up an’ build a church over here an r’ar up a steeple on theirs ten feet higher 1 It run along till July, an’all the time the Baptists was gittin’ hotter V hotter an’ one day jes’ after the Fourth what should they do but put some car¬ penters to work on their steeple and shove her up ’notlier ten feet! Then they went round town steppin’ high, an’ the ’Piscopals begun to sweat yesterday, again. It run along till day before when they seen the Baptists An’ an’ are know, go in’ ’em ten better ! do you I’ll be snaked if I don’t b’lieve the Bap¬ tists ’ll raise ’em ’fore winter ? O, we’re game in this town ev’ry time !” “Er—well, which one do you belong to ?” Briar inquired. “Neither; I’m a Meth’dist. That’s our church over there on tho hill." “Well, you’re getting left entirely, “S-8-h ! That ^ 8 all right—we know our p] a y f \y e let on we don’t b’lieve in ».■?' the side of M the buililin’. “rs’i^r next ’Bout June j you’ll see these Baptists’ and Tis- jes’ CO p a 8 ’ steeples blow over, an’ then wapen . , us Meth’diste mein tusre shack snacit to to ine the front iruxu, an rar along slim steeple up into the air build so ^in high they 11 be too sick to be ever ! Us Meth’dists may a la Rg ia ’. a little jes’ at present, but you wait till the proper time comes, an we’ll denominations make some o’ these the light-weight think brick coirrt ^ ** «^9 something for royalty to make a tour of diplomacy among neigh boring \ powers, the Austria expense of Emperor Maly b« Vi lW 3 trip to and ir ‘K not less than $200,000. He took with him enough rich gifts to start a jewelry Btore, among them being dia mond rings « and bracelets, gold watches, Ecarf . pin presentation swords, and ^ of the orders of the Black and Bed NEEDLES*AND PINS. 1 Origin _ , . and . Manuiacture . T t . of e rp, Iliese Useful Little Articles. Needles Once Made of Bone, and Pins of Thorns. From tho earliest times of which we have record, variety ... ol neealo any some h beoa in us0 am ong all people who clothed thomsclvcs with fabriC3 • fMd “ Rarmeat s from the skins of beasts. Originally . . thev were made >»»•« -* •< ^ tribes still rudely form them; and thoy probably lacked the cya altogether. Tho next needles wore of bronzr, made after . tho , discovery ,. of ,,, that soon once useful metal. Towards the end of fourteenth contury, steel wa3 used their manufacture at Nuremberg, and somewhat lator those of Spanish make were widely celebrated. More than two centuries ago tho Ger raaus began to make thorn in England; Redditch ..... in ... vvorccstcrshiro . . . and small town3 in Warwickshire being centres of this induitry. For a time tho work was puroly domostic character, but with the introduction machinery it was transferred with other household arts to manufactories. Redditch still supplies most of needles U3ed in Europe, tho Colonios and tho Uuited States, though tho French make thorn by simple methods. The E lglish article of far better quality, however, easily leads in all markets. Though a very small thing, tho is a product of nearly 100 different workmen. Coils of wire nro first clipped into pieces by largo shears fast¬ ened to tho wall. Each of thoso is tho length of two needles. They nro straightenod, then pointed on small, revolving grindstones at both ends. Tho centres are flattened and a groove mado on cither side with a small inden¬ tation where tho eye is to ho placed. This i3 done by a stamping machino for which each pieca must bo separately ad¬ justed, Lut a skilful operator can stamp 2000 wires or 4000 needles in an hour. Smivll band presses, worked by hoys, aro used for making tho eyes. The lengths aro separated by bonding backward and forward after which the heads aro properly shaped by filing. A hardening procoss ensues, which con¬ sists in placing them on iron plutes, bringing them to a rod heat, then plunging them into cold oil, after which they are heated again, but to a less de¬ gree, and raoro slowly cooled. Thoy must then be scoured in a machine with soft soap, emery and oil. In this they are rolled back and forth for fifty or sixty hours; tho process continuing seven or eight days lor thoso of best quality. Imperfect onos must bo removed, all tha heads placed in one way, brought near enough to a red-hot iron pinto to produce a blue film upon them, which indicates proper temper, and then carefully drilled to smooth the iatorior of tho eye. A small, rotating stone serves to finish tho points which aro then polished on a wheel. This con¬ cludes the making, but counting, fold¬ ing into papers, and labelling follow before they aro ready for exportation. There are many kinds of needles, somo of which for coarser upholstery and leather work demand much less caro in their manufacture. Some needles wore mado in this coun¬ try during tho Revolution by Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland, Rhode Is¬ land, who used for this purpose wire drawn by himself. Tho high price thon charged for thoso articlos was his incentive for tho work, which has never been carried on to any extent in tho Uuited States, although somo time prior to 18C0 Chauncy O. Crosby of New Haven invented a machine that could convert raw wiro into noodles at the rate of 150 per minute. Pins of some kind have also been in use from earliest times, Long thorns once served this useful purpose, and probably suggested the painted splints which were made by many people and used even in England to the middle of tho sixteenth century, Others were made of gold, silver, or brass, but most of the better kinds w'ero brought from tho continent. In 1626 pin making was introduced in Gloucester, ten years later in London and afterward in Birmingham, which has since become ths centre of this and similar industries. Soon after tho war of 1812 tho man u r ac ture of pins was undertaken in this t ^ b ^ some Esglishmcn at tho old State prison of New York, At that time a paper of pins, owing to inter rupttd trade, could not be bought for -U_ less than a dollar and/ they were by no means so good as those we get now fo« a few cents. The enterprise failed, however, as it did in 1820 when tried again with tho same tools. In 1824 « Yankee invention, by Lemuel W, Wright, was patented in Englaud for mnking solid-headod pins; but a fail, ure of tho company resulted in it3 sab to a London firm who sold the first pins with solid heads in 183;) O.io year earlier John I. Howe of New York patented his new machines in this coun¬ try, but thoy were not set in operation until 1836. Most of theso machines mado what wero called “spun heads,’’ but one was changed to make solid headed pins, which wore sold ia Now Y^ork at a dollar a pack. In a few years similar changes wero mado in tho remaining machines and only solid heads manufactured. —[Chicago Satur¬ day Herald. Why tho Primrose Blooms at Night. Our evening primrose doos not bloom in tho dark hours for mero sentiment and moonshine, but from a motive that lies much nearer her heart. From the first moment of her wooing welcome sho listens lor murmuring wings, and awaits that supremo fulfilment anticipa¬ ted from her infant bud. For it will almost invariably bo found that thoso blossoms which open iu tho twilight have adapted themselves to tho crepus¬ cular moths and other nocturnal insects. This finds a striking illustration in tho instances of many long tubular-shaped night-blooming flowers, like the honey¬ suckle and various orchids, whoso nec¬ tar i3 beyond tho reach of any insect except tho night-flying hawkmoth. It is truo that in othor less deep nocturnal flowors tho sweets could bo reached by butterflies or bees during the day if the blossoms remained open, but tho night murmurers rccoivo the first fresh invita¬ tion, which, if met, will leave but a wilted, half-hearted blossom to greet tho sipper of tho sunshine. This beau¬ tiful expectancy of tho flower deter¬ mines the limit of its bloom. Thus, ia tho ovent of rain or other causes pre¬ ventive of insect visits, the evening primrose will remain open for tho but¬ terflies during tho following day, when otherwise it would have drooped per¬ ceptibly, ar,d extended but a listless welcome. I havo seen this fact strik¬ ingly illustrated in a spray of mountain laurel, whoso blossoms lingered in ex¬ pectancy nearly a waok in my parlor, when the flowers on tho parent shrub in tho woods had fallen several days before, their mission having been ful¬ filled. In tho hou e specimens the radiating stamons remaine I i:i their pockets in tho sido of tho blossom cup, and seemed to brace the corolla upon its receptacle. Theso stamens arc naturally dependent upon insect agency for their release, and tho consequent discharge of pollon, and I noticed that when this operation was artificially con¬ summated the flowor cup soon dropped off or withered.—[IErpcrs Magazine. A Bank With a Culinary Department. Down in tho basomont at tho north¬ west corner of the First National Bank Building is a small kitchen and dining¬ room. These rooms ara right in the midst of tho groat vaults, and any one who passes through the alley any time during, the morning can see white capped cooks laying tho foundation for pies and more substantial drihes. Such a sight through the heavily-grated windows which protect tho treasure ol the institution is rather astonishing tc the passer -by, but this kitchen and the dining-room adjoining arc importanr parts of tho bank’s machinery. There are 150 clerks at work in tho various department* up-st,oir3, and. beginning at 11.80 a. m. f they go, in squads ol ten, to the dining-room below fofr their lunch. Thri is kept up until 1.30 p. m. Tho arrangement is a saving all around. It pave3 the clerks the money they would otherwiso bo obliged to pay out in restaurants, es the bank serve the lunch, and it saves the bank much of the time of its clerks, which would otherwise be fooled away on tho out¬ side.—[Chicago Herald. A Reporter’s Stenography. Mr. Tuppor, a Now Y T ork reporter, has a queer way of taking notes. The fact is, ho does not take any—he simply makes rough sketches of the faces oi the speakers at a meeting or the per sons he interview*. Then ho gees to the office, looks at his pictures, and every word that was spoken at the meeting; or in the interview at once comes intc his mind and he proceeds to write it out. Tupper has no memory, fn the ordinary sense of tho word. ILs pic¬ tures are his notes and without them he can do nothing. —[Atlanta Consti¬ tution.