to us in the autumn of time, some of the articles they contain are veritable leaves from the tree of life.

The most hasty perusal of these other magazines, reflecting as they do the events, the conditions, and the sentiments of the day is sufficient to convince us that we are living in times that are indeed peculiar and perilous, perilous not only in a physical sense but more in a moral sense.

Scattered about in different places we find groups of men bearing the weight of dead creeds, seemingly unconscious that it is hampering their progress. Here, too, are some who have a little ray of light and are striving to lighten the world with it. Again there are others who are striving to blast the hope of the many, to tear down their house of refuge, to blow out their tallow dip, and all this for their good, but not offering them a better hope, a brighter light, nor building them a larger house. No wonder the world looks with contempt on these men.

In the midst of it all there is manifest a spirit of contention. Men are running to and fro and getting much knowledge. They are striving to bring together and to bind up the different segments of belief, to unite the working forces of the religious world, but the elements of disruption seem to be sown in their very effort. At every turn the flaming sword shuts them off from the gates of their paradise.

It is becoming more and more evident that man cannot build God's church.

He may build a church and call it by whatsoever name he will; he may lay the foundation of his faith seemingly secure; his church is builded to fit the day, his faith to meet those circumstances surrounding him. With the morrow come new conditions that shake his faith to its foundation, that his church is utterly unable to face. Then comes the trying alternative either to cut loose and progress, a heretic, or to live under the bane of a dead past's dead superstition.

The way of the heretic is hard, you know, and the way of orthodoxy is becoming hard in these days too. No wonder men's hearts are failing them. No wonder they begin to prop and brace, for the shaking time is at hand, the floods are upon them, and the sands are slip ping from beneath them.

Another tendency that we note in the world is the universal scramble after personal greatness in wealth, in office, or in learning. Untold evil is resulting from this. Why? Surely the desire for advancement is not to be con

We

demned but rather to be commended. have no argument to advance in favor of the dead level of mediocrity.

If we understand the case, the evil results because of a wholly erroneous idea of what constitutes personal success, greatness. If man's greatness consists of acquired wealth or position, it is a pitiable pretense indeed, for these are as fleeting as the day. If we look for true greatness. we must look into that part which endures, into the soul. Here we find the true measure of man's stature, and are com. pelled to pronounce that man successful who, standing alone, can look into his soul, into his heart, into his past and his hope of the future, finding within him that which commends him in all these, a clear record, a white soul, a pure heart.

This man may have wealth or he may not. That is immaterial. He may look to himself or to his work.

Nevertheless we find that those who have in the greatest measure blessed mankind have, in the interest of their work, completely forgotten self

Those who have looked to the reward have neglected the work, while those who have worked for the work's sake have received the reward.

"Those who exalt themselves shall be abased," was true when spoken; it is true to day.

An hour is coming when the souls of all mankind shall stand unclothed to be judged. We have an idea that the respected man of business who in a sort of mathematical way wrecks his neighbor's fortune, who by the power of acquired wealth crushes the life from the poor, will find himself on something the same footing as the common thief and murderer. The glittering bauble the world is pleased to call greatness will become a repulsive thing. The prize will be given to those who have not called for it, while the hand that reaches for the diadem will be turned away empty, rebuked.

The light of Christ lighteneth every man who cometh into the world. Those who have kept the vantage ground given them at birth are fortunate indeed.

There are in the world, there are in our midst those principles that will lift us up just as truly there are those that will drag us down. We are offered precious stones, jewels, gold, silver, rubbish, filth. We may grovel in the filth and rubbish, we can obtain the gold or silver. It is our privilege, our glorious privilege, to reach forth and lay hold upon the jewels and precious stones and to add them to the crowns that perchance we shall wear when the Saints shall come robed as the lilies.

The climb up hill is slow and tedious, the way down is swift and easy, but there is this difference, above us is the pure sunlight, the broad outlook, the beautiful flowers and the friends who have gone before, below us are the dark and noisome depths of the marsh.

Let us so order our lives that when we come to "the crossing of the bar" it will not be an angel of death but an angel of life who comes to take us away, a great harvester who gathers not his sheaves into darkness and death but into light and everlasting life in the great storehouse of our Lord.

ELBERT A. SMITH.

CHARITY.

Read before the Manchester branch, England, Young People's Improvement Society, by Sister Mary Jane Baty. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another. It was true love which the Father had for the human family when he sent his only begotten Son into the world to die for us.

The religion which we profess to love, and which our Savior laid down his life to establish is largely composed of love, benevolence, and goodwill, which we call charity.

It was charity that caused our Savior to weep over Jerusalem, because he knew what destruction would come upon them through their disobedience. St. Paul must certainly have been inspired when he wrote that beautiful letter to the Corinthian brethren. Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.

True charity is a jewel the possession of which, though it may not elevate to fame or worldly honor, yet it does enrich its possessor in those heavenly treasures which we are wisely counselled to lay up for ourselves.

True charity is a bond of union to congenial spirits in this life, and a source of perpetual sunshine in every heart where it is encouraged

to dwell, diffusing joy and scattering blessings as far as its influence can reach.

But perhaps I can better illume my ideas by contrasting it with the opposite quality which is malice, hatred, strife. It is this baneful spirit of hatred, this evil genius from the pit of vice, that destroyes the peace and harmony of so many domestic family circles, that breathes its vemon into the vitals of the slanderer, and by its crafty arts undermines the moral purity of many who once were valued and respected members of society. The human heart, the supposed habitation of all the passions and emotions of the soul, is often compared to a garden where the evil weeds of envy, malice, discontent, and kindred vices are of spontaneous growth, and unhappily thrive if not carefully uprooted and closely watched.

But the choice plants of love, kindness, purity of thought and motives, universal good will and kindred virtues of the heavenly birth must be planted in youth and carefully cultured and nursed with maternal vigilance, to protect them from the fierce storms and sultry heat of vice which they will have to encounter, and watered often with the tear of sympathy and affection.

How very essential then not only to our own enjoyment and usefulness in this life, but to the happiness of all we come in contact with, in business, at home, or abroad. We should devote a large space in our hearts to be occupied by this choice gift.

Charity is the beacon light that calls the wanderer from the world to the paths of righteousness and virtue, and were its kindly influence more felt there would be far less aching hearts and unhappy homes. As charity is one of the strongest links in the chain of human affections, so are its largest possessors more closely connected with the divine Master and best adapted to accomplish much good in the field where our Savior has commanded us to toil. And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity.

Address all letters intended for this department to Elder J. F. McDowell, Magnolia, Iowa.

"Drink, Canvass the cottages

THE RELATION OF TEMPERANCE TO THE SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.

BY ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

In order to judge of the relative importance of any given subject and to decide upon the degree of prominence it should command when associated with others, it may be necessary to understand the aim or object of the whole.

An old adage reminds us that "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well," and any enterprise which, in its pursuit, deserves consecration of heart and effort on the part of those within the Church of Christ, should certainly carry with it the evidence of intelligent arrangement and assignment of its parts.

That the Sunday school work is an important and worthy one (and thus deserving) has been claimed, and this claim holds or fails upon presentation of evidence as to its design and the method and matter embraced in the effort to carry out that design

I take it that one object in discussing ques tions of this character in this way is an improvement in Sunday school methods and work, either by a more effective employment of available material, or a better assignment of time and place for studies, if change shall be found desirable and practicable; or on the other hand the attaching of greater emphasis to methods already in vogue, if experience has confirmed their wisdom.

Another object is to establish and make permanent the conviction, within the church, that the Sunday school, as an institution, is an essential department of church service proven so by its success in accomplishing a necessary work not provided for elsewhere.

The Sunday school has been called the nursery of the church, and, if this be not a mistake, then whatever is the declared purpose of the church should be clearly reflected in the teachings of the school, inasmuch as the church proper is but another and perhaps higher department, into an easy and natural

ANONYMOUS. familiarity with which the school aims to introduce those under its influence. If, therefore, we need sober and honest men and women in the church, the foundations therefor should be laid in the influences being exerted in our Sunday schools, hence temperance becomes a requisite study.

The Sunday school, if I mistake not, aims to bring the pulpit service down to the level and capacity of the children, to early start their feet in the direction of righteousness, and to fortify their minds and characters against the evils that may threaten by the way, to store their minds with such information as will not only be serviceable and profitable, but will fill the place within them that Satan might occupy otherwise, were the Sunday school work neglected. They need not only to be taught that there is loveliness in Christ, but that there are evil and vice in the world They need to be made aware of the character, subtlety, and ruinous tendency of many of those vices, so that the church may find in them afterward the material, made ready to its hand for service in still wider fields, or at least receive them free from the corruptions that early neglect might have entailed upon them.

We have heard it often said that "cleanliness is next to godliness;" but in my judgment this is a mistake, for, instead of cleanliness being neighbor to godliness, it really is a part of the household itself. It is a part of godliness. In the same sense temperance, instead of being the handmaid of the gospel, as some have supposed, is a part of its real life, an inner and inseparable quality. There is no such thing as real Christianity where intemperance revels.

I understand Bible temperance to mean a total abstinence from all improper things and a moderate use of all proper things; for while it does say "be temperate in all things," it also exhorts that we abstain from every appearance of evil. Murder, licentiousness, falsehood, robbery, deceit, profanity, covetousness, backbiting, and many other things are denounced

and no man, acting under the counsel to "be temperate in all things" would, for a moment, conclude that he might moderately indulge in any of these vices. To such a man "total abstinence" is the motto, and the only safe one for him to adhere to. It is, however, proper to speak or to be silent, to eat proper food and to drink proper drink, to laugh and to weep, to walk or to stand, to kneel or to lie prone; but a continuance in any of these practices beyond the normal limit, is hurtful and to be avoided. If, then, as I anticipate temperance, in the sense of its bearing upon the use of intoxicating drink, is the point intended for me especially to discuss, we have but to look at the record rum has made for itself, in order to know whether it should be placed in rank with the things from which we are to totally abstain, or among those to be moderately indulged. If its record has been evil and that continually, then it should be so announced, and our children should be informed of it in the Sunday school frequently, that they follow not in the wake of the millions of dupes who have been lured to death and hell by the deceptive thought that it might be tampered with in moderation.

There is no more sense in considering the subject of temperance a mere auxiliary to Sunday school work than in believing that honesty, truthfulness, fidelity, and benevolence are but auxiliary teachings. They are all indispensable to the healthful existence and growth of the institution. As well might we call the gospel economy perfect without charity, as the Sunday school service complete without temperance as a prominent study.

If we start our boys out on a course that leads to wealth, we take care to tell them of the dangers attending ventures of various kinds, and take special pains to point to the places where excellent prospects have been ruined and fortunes wrecked; and when, in our Sunday schools, we are training the children for life here and life eternal, it is but reasonable that we should make special and frequent reference to the mistakes that have brought calamity and despair to others, and also that we should show where lay the incipient causes that led thereto.

Of all the ills that curse the earth, not one can be named that has made such a record as intemperance. It has cursed more homes, a thousand times, in the last fifty years than our gospel has blessed. It holds first place among vices and comprehends all the others in its

the abyss of vice and crime an almost imperceptible certainty.

There is a legend afloat to the effect that on a certain occasion the Devil gave choice to a young man, whom he had placed under obligations to him, to perform one of three things and be discharged from the obligation.

The first was to kill his aged father, the second was to burn the residence of his friend, and the third was to drink till he was intoxicated.

The young man recoiled in horror from the proposition to kill his father, or to burn his friend's home, and gladly seized upon the proposition to become intoxicated as an easy escape from his obligation. When he took the cup, he smiled as he emptied its contents into his mouth, and thought the Devil had been very lenient with him. Presently his brain reeled, his whole nature became possessed of a strange and unnatural inclination, and he hastened away to the home of his friend and applied a match to the contents of his barn and consumed the entire premises, and when after reaching home his gray-haired father sought to interfere with him in his course of madness, he lifted a weapon near by and felled him to the earth, from whence he never rose. For these crimes he paid the penalty in death. The Devil's turn to smile now came, and he went back to his dark dominion to announce the success of the snare he had set for the young man's feet. Rum, to the young man, looked like a gateway through which he might escape the other crimes; but it proved to be the entrance to them all.

While this may be but a fable, yet who can say that the picture it presents is overdrawn? Go where we will, into crowded cities or sparsely settled hamlets; into palatial halls or the peasant's cottage of logs, the demoralizing influence of this curse of the world is apparent. I would not be sensational, and will not enlarge upon this. It is not for me to depict the evils inflicted by intemperance; but simply to refer to them as an evidence that our Sunday school cannot discharge the obligation it has taken upon itself, without making temperance a leading theme and giving it prominence in proportion as it values the honor, credit, safety, and glory of the children and the church.

Our children should be made aware of the fact that even those engaged in the traffic of rum for revenue's sake are ashamed of the dishonorable business they are plying. Every honorable mechanic, merchant, artist, inventor, or business man in any line, will put his wares

upon exhibition in our public places and label them. He expects his work to recommend him and bring him patronage; but whoever saw a rumseller honest enough to hang his business card on the back of a staggering, bloated drunkard, or over the murdered wife and debauched daughter, or in the home of squalid poverty from whence his hand has driven life, peace, plenty, and virtue? Whoever saw the card of a rumseller posted in such places announcing where his office or place of business was, wherein he might be consulted when further work of this kind was desired? Ah, no! Unlike all other branches of business he dare not advertise his skill by labeling the samples of his work. His unwillingness in this respect is a confession of the disreputable character of the drunkard-making business.

It is ours, then, to label his work for him, and, even in our Sunday schools, to point to the labels, and make the children understand that the entrances to saloons are the gateways to damnation, that total abstinence from all that intoxicates is the only safety from the pernicious influences that dance like demons around the alluring cup.

It is ours to teach the children early that the use of intoxicating liquor brings descration of soul. It is ours to disarm this foe of humanity, if we can, or, at least, render the youth of our Sunday schools invulnerable to its poisoned shafts by such fortification as timely warning and counsel can furnish.

The duty of the Sunday school in this matter is simply the measure of its possibility to warn, persuade, and fortify the youthful character. Hence the relation of temperance to the Sunday school work is as the relation of honesty to honor, of purity to virtue, of blood to the life, or of truth to the gospel. As it is impossible to overestimate the evils of intemperance, so is it impossible to conduct Sunday school work faithfully without making temperance one of the prominent features of study.

In teaching our children to be men and women, this question is necessarily involved. False ideas of liberty are being circulated by the advocates of drinking habits. The drunkard takes in one hand the cup, and with the other hand drops thereinto the liberties of his wife and children, of his parents and relatives, of his city or community, and then drinks and reels, a slave to false conclusions and perverted appetite. Many a man who drinks and protests against temperance movements as infringements upon his rights as a free man, will leave his wife without fuel and food, and his children without protection and educa

tion, forgetful or reckless of the fact that he is thus robbing them of the liberties that belong to life. He will allow that wife to die from neglect and starvation, those children to grow up in ignorance and dirt, and finally to become criminals and a menace to the liberties of the entire country where they reside. He will still contend for his liberty to drink until his drunken, bloated carcass and breath is found poisoning the pure atmosphere God gave ús liberty to breathe, and finally he becomes an inmate of either a madhouse, a penitentiary, or a poorhouse, which he and his kind of free men have compelled sober men to build, to protect themselves from the foul and murderous onslaughts upon their liberties that these poor, deluded, and besotted bipeds are threatening to make.

Our children need to be taught that their work, as maturing men and women, is to help to increase the measure of beauty and moral wealth in the world, to become contributors to the forces that elevate and ennoble the race, to illustrate in life the truer conceptions of liberty that claims no privilege incompatible with the privileges of another. And where can these principles be better taught than in the Sunday school? Where can these sentiments find stronger indorsement than in the sacred books from whence our Sunday school workers draw the stores of their information and authority?

Alas, it is too true, for the very faces of our maturing ones are an index to it, that the generation now upon us is weakened and made partially imbecile because of vices both secret and open, which might have been avoided, had the homes and Sunday schools of earlier time been more faithful in tearing the mask from disguised corruption and in uttering the warning notes that could have been understood. We need not, however, decry the methods of the past, or deplore the neglect of others. Ours is to do to-day. We need to show our children that such steps take hold on death, that such indulgences rob the intellect of its force and the body of its stateliness and nobility, and that by them the God image is obliterated and the soul enslaved. They need to learn that virtue means resistance to all such enticements, and that virtue alone commands recognition with God and Christ at last.

Unto our Sunday school workers is largely committed the honor of performing this service, so fraught with holy interest to coming years and generations, and so fruitful in glory to God and "good will to men." Many a home is without the capacity to prudently teach these lessons, and thus it frequently devolves upon our Sun