The Japanization of China By Rev. Arthur H. Smith, Author of Chinese Characteristics, etc. Like the rest of the world, Shanghai, the nerve center of all foreign interests in China, held its breath last May while the great and decisive naval battle in the Tsushima Strait was in progress. Upon the result hung everything for Japan, and so much for the rest of the world. A journal published in English but sup. posed to be heavily subsidized by Rus. sian roubles waxed more and more confident as the admiral with the name of multiplex orthography drew nearer to Japanese waters. Now the command of the sea was about to pass from the "insolent island kingdom," not to be regained. When the first accounts of the literally Waterloo defeat came, we were told to "hear the other side"; to wait till the Russian telegrams arrived, and then decide. Alas! those dispatches could not be sent at all but by the courtesy of the victors, and after two days the incredulous gazette was obliged to come out with a long, sad leader on The Annihi lation of the Baltic Fleet, the news of which it observed was generally received with feelings too deep for expression. That this is to be reckoned the "sixteenth decisive battle" of the world is not unlikely, and long before it was fought efforts had been made to forecast its compendious results. Among them are the extinction for at least a generation of Russian aggression on the Pacific, the abrupt termination of the unending talk about "the coming partition of China," the insecurity of the hold of some of "the Powers" on Chinese soil which they had gleefully "annexed," and the definite primacy of Japan not only in this empire, but in Eastern Asia. Most Europeans in China probably cherished a secret hope of "a plague on both their houses" for the peace of the rest. Now that it has fallen out so very much otherwise, they are painfully taking account of stock, and they find, as careful observers, like the Peking correspondent of the London Times, long since announced, that Japanese influence in China is omnipresent and irresistible. No European race comprehends the Chinese, but the Japanese understand them perfectly, language and people alike. They have their quiet editors on the staff of influential Chinese papers, suggesting, inform. ing, directing. They are partners-perhaps the main partners-in the Commercial Press of Shanghai, which is issuing a long list of beautifully printed, attractively bound, and inexpensive school and text-books of a wide range and sometimes a high excellence, samples of which are being widely distributed and the sales of which are extensive. At the recent meeting of the China Educational Association in Shanghai, the Commercial Press showed an Occidental enterprise in advertising. It secured a room for the exhibition of its output, and incidentally invited the whole association to a dinner. There are said to be 5,000 Chinese students now in Japan. In the Peking University, as well as in those of the provinces, Japanese professors have largely supplanted other foreigners. They are regarded by the Chinese as much more satisfactory because more assimilable, and they are far cheaper. They definitely offer to give the Chinese Germany, is working with Chinese assistants and having great success. Whole flocks of German and even American missions are said to have abandoned their faith and joined this new movement, one of the cardinal (printed) rules of which is not openly to antagonize other religions, but to absorb them. What promises of powerful protection, with incidental salvation, have been made to these perverts we do not as yet know. There is no apparent reason why the like may not take place upon a large scale, and throughout the eighteen provinces. In that case in view of the racial, patriotic, political and possibly pecuniary motives and influences brought to bear, it is impossible to foresee what would happen to our imperfectly developed churches. American Christians ought greatly to strengthen the hands of workers in China and Japan with ampler means, with a deeper and a more intelligent sympathy, and with more earnest and persevering prayer. Wei Hsien, Shantung. Mormon missionaries in Tennessee have brought damage suits against officers of the law who attempted to suppress them as preachers. During the last week in September there is to be held in Cleveland, O., an interdenominational conference for the study of foreign missions. It is in charge of a strong committee and indorsed by the Cleveland Ministers' Meantime a young Shanghai student in Japan who could read but could not speak Japanese, conceived the idea of translating the book into Chinese, which he did without knowing a word of English. On being sought out by the author (in quest of helpful criticism) it was found that the only medium of communication between author and translator was a Japanese fellow-editor of Christian News from Everywhere the latter, who was master of all three languages! This incident is a window through which the discerning may see many visions. The quiet Japanese is everywhere to be found in the smaller Chinese schools, as well as in the colleges. He is teaching agriculture, biology, chemistry, dentistry, engineering, financiering, gymnastics (in one case without being able to speak a word of Chinese, merely writing his directions on a blackboard in Chinese characters) and so on to the end of the alphabet. He is as silent and as unobtrusive as the white ant-the effects of his work (constructive but not destructive) will be seen later. At present, like Br'er Rabbit, he is lying low "and ain't sayin' nuffin." To suppose that a people so close neighbors to China, who have that "genius which is infinite capacity for labor," and who can, according to circumstances, talk, write, teach, fight, or hold their tongues, with equal success, are not to have a predominating influence in the reorganization of China, is to entertain an illusion. China is to be Japaned. During the past year attention has repeatedly been called to the fact that in different and widely separated parts of China native Buddhist priests have been placing their temples under Japanese protection. The object appeared to be to prevent the confiscation of both lands and temples by the Chinese Government for the use of the new system of primary education which was expressly enjoined by imperial decree, all unofficial temples being included in the order. (The more thoughtful among the Chinese have been inquiring what is to prevent the ultimate absorption of the numerous Christian chapels by the Chinese authorities on the same pretext.) It has been known that Buddhist missionaries have reached China from Japan, with a view to a renaissance of that moribund faith. A German scholar who is spending many months in China, making a thorough study of his own missions (those of the Berlin Society), informs us that in the Kuangtung province one such emissary, who is highly educated and who has studied theology in Union. An interesting and significant incident in the near East is the transfer of the Conventuals in Turkey from the French to the Italian Protectorate, this marking the alienation between the Papacy and France, and the closer relations between the Vatican and the Quirinal. An eight days' convention for deepening the Christian life is to be held at Rochester, N. Y., beginning Sept. 1. The invitation to attend is inclusive and is signed by a large number of ministers and laymen. Those expecting to be present may obtain information by writing to Max Wood Moorehead, secretary, Rochester, N. Y. A Buddhist journal in Tokyo recently asked 200 men in Japan, eminent as educators, authors and scientists, whether they believed in a future state, and if so, why, and what they thought it would be like. Only 115 replied, and out of these only thirty-eight avowed belief in immortality and thirteen of the thirtyeight were Christians. German Protestant foreign missions have made remarkable gains during the last twenty years. The number of male missionaries has increased from 520 to 1,010, besides an addition of 117 female missionaries. The annual con000 and the native Christians in full communion from 200,000 to 500,000. The Basel Mission tributions have grown from $625,000 to $1,400 is first with 219 missionaries, while the Moravians have 212. General Booth of the Salvation Army is so sure from results of his long tested methods of social redemption in England, America and South Africa that he is on the right road to economic betterment of the unfortunate members of society that he is prepared to accept from the English Government an opportunity to assume responsibility for all the poorhouses, prisons and asylums within a given district, intending to prove to the government that under the army's methods humanity can be restored and money saved as cannot be done under the present system. Does It Pay the Modern Man to Pray The modern man when he asks this question is not thinking of expressions of adoration, gratitude and praise toward the Creator. He may admit that men are not better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain But his common sense rebels when he sees prayer represented as if it were a spell or incantation by which the finite will can override the Infinite, while illusion, miscalled " 'faith," is invoked to veil its impotence. His moral sense rebels when it is set forth as a kind of spiritual gymnastic, not really affecting the result, but wholesome for the soul in helping it to adjust itself to the inevit able. Fortunately the modern man has too strong a sense of honesty for this, as well as too keen a sense of realism to be swept off his feet by credulity. Not "the God of things as they are" commands his worship, but "the God of things as they ought to be." Therefore we may take the question submitted in his name as no idle one nor such as can be met by merely citing the incidental benefits of prayer. Unless there be a real and personal interchange, an obtaining of that which unasked would not have been received, prayer lacks for him its vital element. He is no Epicurean, satisfied to "believe that God is" without assurance that he is also "a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." His soul revolts at the Pharisaic comparison of prayer to the rope by which one seems to be drawing the pier toward one's boat, while in reality only drawing the boat up to the pier. Toward prayer "as a religious exercise" he would echo Jesus' repudiation of such hollowness, "When ye pray believe that ye receive the things ye ask for, and ye shall have them." But neither has the modern man sym. pathy with the opposite delusion. Grant that miraculous healings dwindle progressively with the progress of scientific therapeutics, whereas fanaticism of almost any kind, Mohammedan, Pagan, fetichistic as well as Christian, accomplishes real and actual cures no matter how extraordinary, still the "modern man " does not covet the exchange. The age of "faith," with its credulity and darkness, would be a calamity even if its miracles of healing might conceivably exceed in amount the benefits derivable today from scientific medical practice. In short, the modern man, if he prays at all, must pray the prayer of "faith." When it is weakened down to mean the ineffectual, perfunctory utterance of well-meaning piety that availeth nothing in its working, he may tolerate, but he will not cultivate it. When "faith" is distorted into a kind of spell by which the divine will is brought under human control, especially if supplemented by "strong delusion to believe a lie," he will have none of it. The modern perception of the uniformity of nature and the unbroken domain of law makes the idea of miracle, or answer to prayer (for both rest essentially on By Benjamin W. Bacon, D. D., Yale University the same basis, and are classed together in the teaching of Jesus), inconceivable, save in the line of natural causation. We do not, and we ought not to expect God to act otherwise than in accordance with those modes of his action which we have learned to designate natural law. But before men learned so to designate them, and while as yet there was no better term than "the will of God," Jesus taught that it was impious to "tempt" that manifested will by foolhardy defiance of danger, or demand "signs from heaven" when there was sufficient evidence in the "signs of the times." The very last conceivable thing of him who "humbled himself and became obedient unto death," is that he should seek to impose his will upon God. His sweeping promises of omnipotent power to the "prayer of faith" are therefore explicitly or implicitly thus conditioned. In fact the rigid determination of his time presented the equivalent objection, in its insistence that "all things are foreordained." This objection could be met indeed by the answer, "The asking itself is one of the foreseen conditions; God withholds the unasked gift, that when asked and so received it may have double But Jesus' answer to the growworth." ing skepticism of his age was chiefly the practical one of a demonstration in his own mighty works, and those which he trained and commissioned all his followers to do, that the prayer of faith does work wonders, however you account for the fact. That answer is valid today. Strangely enough, it has been given to our age to see, as it were, Tyndall's proposal of a prayer gauge actually applied. In my judgment the theology of so-called Christian Scientists is as weak and irrational as their philosophy and science; but they do believe in prayer and apply their belief. The statistics would probably be far more favorable were it not for a needless rejection of legitimate medical treatment due to their false idea of "faith." But, even so, the health statistics testify, it seems, to the healthier and longer lives of the followers of Mrs. Eddy. And why not? We are concerned not with the modus operandi, but the fact. Were we as impartially scientific as Charcot of La Salpetrière and other investigators of the laws of mental therapeutics, we might perhaps recognize that the so-called Christian Scientist has turned to account a neglected factor of legitimate practice, and might seek to develop the method of "suggestion" in preventive and curative hygiene. Had we the simplicity of Jesus' religious insight, it would enable us correspondingly to identify that neglected element of the religious life which the New Testament designates "the prayer of faith," and to avail ourselves of those providential phenomena profoundly obscured in the Protestant body by three centuries of reaction against relic-healing and kindred superstition. At the same time we should be able to guard ourselves from the prevailing abuses of the term. We should neither confound "faith" with superstitious credulity nor with mere illusion. In short, the strength of "Christian Science" and kindred movements lies in their rediscovery of the principle that "he that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh the door is opened." Jesus himself found it necessary in his time also to distinguish this principle from superstition on the one hand, and from that type of unconscious impiety on the other which refuses to recognize existing manifestations of the divine will. The woman with the issue of blood anticipated the "holy coat" miracles of Trèves. Jesus does not deny the fact that her superstitious conviction had procured her, without co-operation on his part, a physical benefit. Much less does he raise the scientific question whether, or in what sense, the phenomena could be termed miraculous. He stops her and compels her shamefaced attention, even in face of the multitude, in order to teach her the religious truth. She, like all the beneficiaries of his aid, is to learn (1) that her faith has healed her; (2) that it should have been directed toward God, and not the holy coat. No amount of subsequent scientific explanation of the process makes any difference with these principles. Conversely he excludes the notion that this "faith" is independent of common sense knowledge of the divine purpose. This appears both in what he says on "tempting God" by presumptuous undertakings, and in his denunciation of the impious generation which demands signs from heaven while willfully blind to the signs of the times. But testimony stronger than any mere words to Jesus' recognition of this limiting principle is that whole career, which from beginning to end was a "learning of obedience by the things which he suffered," and which culminates in the prayer of Gethsemane. 66 We have no grounds for supposing Jesus' rebuke of the suggestion, "Cast thyself down," to be due to miraculous anticipation of Newton's great discovery. It is religious sanity, not science, which protects him from fanaticism. What we call the "law of gravitation" was to him 'God's will," known then, as now, to common sense. Hence the coming of the traitor's posse with torches and weapons is to him "enough," and for answer to his prayer against "this cup" he is simply "strengthened.' He does not still persist in crying out for "ten legions of angels." Natural law, so far as known, is to the modern Christian a revelation of the divine will. If he appreciates the teaching of Jesus, it is therefore a limitation on his asking. But this restriction on the field of prayer is neither novel nor injurious. As before, its omnipotence is to work God's will, not ours. And the unknown is still extensive. To say nothing of the field of thanksgiving, of fellowship, of that joyful entrance into the divine will which is far more than mere resignation, things which we perceive to play a large part in the real practice of the men of prayer from David down, there is limitless room for that effectual, fervent supplication that "availeth much," because addressed to him who, though his working be invariably through law, is not the servant but the Master of nature. He is now, as ever, the Hearer and Answerer of Prayer. But he does "wait to be asked." It is, then, not a wholly unconditional answer that we return to the question, "Does it pay the modern man to pray?" If by "prayer" is meant a mere religious exercise that comes so near hypocrisy as not even to "believe that it receives the things it asks for," the proposition is scarcely worth sustaining. If by "prayer" is meant the magic of a mis called "age of faith," dreaming again of overriding the Infinite by the finite will; above all, if the birthright of an era of scientific revelation is to be sold for the pottage of illusion, then emphatically, No. If, however, there be a new dawn. ing of the great principle of the prayer of faith-faith neither blind nor disobedient -"availing much in its working" because opening channels for the grace of God that wisely waits to be asked, and yet does work through law; then we may thank God for a new age of faith better worthy the name. For the "modern man" will find, as of old, that "he that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh the door is opened." The Prudential Committee of the American Board regards it of pressing importance that the question should soon be settled, what money may be asked for and received for maintaining our foreign mission work. Its policy in this matter ought to be clearly stated. The committee believes that the recent discus sions of this subject have led the corporate members to conclusions not likely to be changed by further consideration. Many of them who will not be able to attend the annual meeting at Seattle next month have expressed the desire to record their judgment on this question. In deference to this desire the Prudential Committee has sent to all the corporate members a statement of principles which in its judgment should govern its action and that of the officers of the Board, with the request for a free expression of opinion and for such suggestions as may help to a satisfactory solution of the question. We print herewith the committee's statement, followed by a reply from Dr. Washington Gladden, which he has sent to The Congregationalist for publication. PRINCIPLES (1) Organized as a corporation to carry on foreign missionary work and to receive gifts for that purpose, the American Board has not been given the authority to discriminate between those who offer such gifts, and thereby to judge the character or reputation of the donors. It is not a beneficiary from the gift, but only an agent or a trustee for others. (2) While the Board cannot properly accept money from one to whom any of its officers knows it does not belong, it cannot, on the other hand, properly decline to receive money from its legal owner, provided it is given for the purposes for which the Board was established and in accordance with its rules. In the absence of legal proof to the contrary, it is necessary to assume that money belongs to the person making the gift. Investigation by the executive officers to determine the sources from which gifts come is neither justifiable nor practicable. (3) By acting under the above principles, which require the receiving of gifts without compelling its officers to trace the manner in which the donor may have acquired them, the Board pronounces no judgment on the character of donors. Nor by the acceptance of gifts are its officers or members stopped from criticising business methods, or from persistently raising their voices in behalf of the application of the principles of righteousness in all departments and walks of life. (4) The officers of this Board, as of all other similar boards organized to promote religion, philanthropy, and education, are morally bound to use every legitimate means to secure and convert money from other uses into the direct service of advancing the kingdom of God in the world. It is for the good of all that the way should be made easier, and not more difficult, for all to give of their present possessions and increasing wealth for the noblest purposes. Dr. Gladden again Protests I have received the statement of principles issued by the Prudential Committee of the American Board, and it seems to me radically defective, in these particulars: 1. It does not recognize the fact that the Board is simply the agent and representative of the Congregational churches; that it is not only dependent on them for its resources, but that their welfare may be seriously affected by its action. The Board is bound to consider whether the churches will be crippled or hampered in their work by the alliances which it forms and the policy which it adopts. We are members one of another; all our churches suffer the discredit of whatever mistakes are made by our great missionary organization; and the officers of that organization are bound to do nothing which shall widen the chasm between the churches and those whom they are trying to reach. There is a responsibility here of which no hint is given in the statement under consideration. It is the vital element in the whole discussion. 2. The statement of irresponsibility for the sources from which donations come is far too sweeping. It reverses the ethical principles which have governed the church from the earliest days. The gambler and the prostitute have legal title to their possessions, but the Board would not do well to welcome donations from such sources. The Church is not to be a partaker of the rewards of iniquity. 3. The radical defect of the committee's statement is, however, its evasion of the real question at issue. A plausible excuse may be given for accepting voluntary gifts from doubtful sources; but the question before us concerns the solicitation, rather than the acceptance of gifts. There is very little danger that donations will be proffered to the Board by persons with whom association would be compromising; the only practical question is whether we shall seek out such persons and solicit their co-operation. This question the committee ignores. This is the question upon which we must have the judgment of the churches. And I submit for the consideration of the corporate members, and of all Congregationalists, the resolution upon which I hope the sense of the Board will be taken at the meeting at Seattle: Resolved, That the officers of this society should neither solicit nor invite donations to its funds from persons whose gains are generally believed to have been made by methods morally reprehensible and socially injurious. WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Over 20,000 copies of Spurgeon's sermons and books are still sold each week, and the number of his sermons sold since 1855 it is said exceeds the number of Bibles circulated since the beginning of the century. The Daily Portion THE HANDBOOK BIBLE READINGS BY ISAAC OGDEN RANKIN Aug. 27, Sunday. Hannah's Song.-1 Sam. 2: 1-11. Here speaks the lofty Hebrew thought of motherhood. Compare the Song of Mary [Luke 1: 46 ff.]. In both the thought of the child as the immediate gift of God is dominant and in both the putting down of the proud and the uplifting of the lowly is a ground of praise. Mary, indeed, echoes Hannah's song. But note the absence of the thought of personal enmities which is so insistent here. The mother of the Prince of Peace must not strive. Our hearts exult in Thee, O God, and rejoice in Thy salvation. Perfect in us more and more the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, that our iowliness and our work may be to his glory among men. Aug. 28. The Sons of Eli.-1 Sam. 2: 12-21. The rottenness of the loveliest things is most execrable. That there were base men was bad enough, but worse that the sons of the high priest of the people should be base. Greed, cruelty and sacrilege brought the very worship of Jehovah into disrepute. It is lamentably easy for a Christian to bear false witness to his Master by his life. Aug. 29. The Judgment of Eli.-1 Sam. 2: 27-36. That is the true name for a weak parental tenderness like Eli's-honoring our children The above our God. Eli was both high priest and judge of Israel-the first of his line. office returned to the house of Eleazar at the end of David's reign. This doom upon the ark into battle against the Philistines. sons of Eli was fulfilled when they bore the Aug. 30. God's Call.-1 Sam. 3: 1–9. Every call of God is just as personal as this to Samuel, and for every one of us there is a special work. Our call will not come in a voice audible but if we are ready in spirit we shall be led as God wills. Our share is not only the choosing of our work among the distracting calls and circumstances of life but also the preparation of the willing mind. God speaks to those who, like Samuel, are openeared to hear and ready to obey the indications of his will and looking back from the heights which they have gained they see how from point to point they have been led. Aug. 31. The Message.-1 Sam. 10: 10-21. These are sad words of judgment by the voice of a child. The sin of the sons of Eli had become Eli's sin by the absence of restraint. No one sins alone or can confine the results of sin to his own life. The true son of Eli's better life was Hannah's child. He becomes more and more God's mouthpiece to the people as he had been to Eli. Sept. 1. The Recovery of Israel.-1 Sam. 7: 1-11. ture of the ark and the death of the sons of The triumph of the Philistines, their capEli were followed by the ark's return and an interval of respite when Samuel was the center of the nation's life. In the political confusion idolatry had crept in. It was attractive all round the circle of the land. Israel was cowed by repeated disasters. Samuel began the deliverance which David was to complete. Sept. 2. Mizpah.-1 Sam. 7: 12-17; 8: 1-3. Samuel is the last of the judges, those temporary leaders of Israel. Note his circuit in the middle of the land and the numerous places of sacrifice. He sends his sons to be judges in the far South. If he had trained these sons to righteousness their rule might have lasted in the land. But they wentthough not so far-in the way of the sons of Eli. How many good and busy men have been neglectful fathers. And the world needs good fathers more than prophets or kings. "Go on, Rufus," his father spoke gently, but the boy could feel the repressed anxiety. Well, I-I have decided that I can't go into the ministry, Father. That's the short of it. I've thought it over during the last year and I just can't bring myself to do that as my life work. I know it will be a disappointment to Mother and you, but "— The boy paused and the long silence frightened him. Through the darkening room the white face of his father appeared and took on ghostly reproachfulness, until Rufus felt the anguish that anticipated the first real break with his father that he had ever known. "Do you mean that you are going to break the solemn promise you made your mother and me four years ago?" "Don't, Father!" Rufus put his hand out as if to ward off a physical blow. He felt stunned at his father's manner. It was all new to him. "I made the promise not knowing what was coming up. Things have come on I didn't anticipate. You don't know-it's not fair to hold me to a promise I can't in honor keep." "What reason have you for not keeping it?" "Do you mean why I don't want to be a minister?” "Yes, don't keep any thing back for fear of hurting my feelings. After what you have already confessed, the details have no power. But I should like to know what they are." Rufus sat up stiffly, and his feelings hardened a little under the stress of his father's coldness. The Obedient Son By Charles M. Sheldon, Topeka, Kan. work until his heart breaks and his body sult your mother about it to say nothing wears out, and people don't care. "You of me. I can understand, however, betnot to enter the ministry. Are these all ter than before, why you have decided your reasons?" "There are plenty of other reasons. A man in the ministry does not face any definite program of life. The work of the church is indefinite. It has no settled policy. The doctor knows what his business is. The lawyer has a well-defined profession. The journalist is not in any great doubt as to his duties. But the minister must live in an atmosphere of continual questions as to what his real work is. went on with an awakening eagerness, as "It's only a few years more, Father, that the church will want your service. Then they will either kick you out, or hint to you that you are getting too old, or criticise you out of the parish same as they killed off old Mr. Burroughs. "And Mother is worn out trying to please a lot of thoughtless, gossiping women and never has what she needs. That's another reason I have decided not to go into the ministry. I don't want the woman who is going to be my wife to submit to all the humiliating experiences that face a minister's wife. The doctor's wife and the lawyer's wife and the business man's wife never have to meet the petty, exasperating, mean little social indignities that ministers' wives endure. Mother has borne it all these years because she is an angel. I would never submit to have my wife go through it all.” "You speak of your wife as if you had one already. Perhaps your mother and I would like to know her name." Rufus paused in his stormy march over the worn out strip of carpet and drew a deep breath. "I don't mind telling you her name. It's Miss Dillingham. We're engaged and have been for two months. Think of a girl like that being asked to share the narrow little life of a minister on a possible $900 a year and parsonage in some little gossipy town out West, where the people think more of themselves than they do of the whole tremendous plan of the Atonement, and a man can get crucified every day in the year without making a dent on the strong selfishness of the place!" "Well, then, the ministry has no attraction to me because it appeals to few men of strong mental ability. The weakest men in college choose the ministry." "Men, for example, like Phillips Brooks, Henry Ward Beecher, Dr. Gunsaulus, Jonathan Edwards, and Joseph Parker, and Dr. Hillis." Rev. John Armstrong spoke mildly, but his manner was new to Rufus. “Of course, I understand there are exceptions in every profession. But the rank and file of men in Lincoln College who have gone into the ministry during the last four years have been men of very common ability. Frankly, I don't want to be classed with them. They are not men who command the respect of the college. Then, in the second place," Rufus went on doggedly, although the attitude of his father was a strange blow to him, "in the second place, there is no compensation in the ministry to compare "I'm sorry to hear of your engagewith the labor demanded. A man can ment. It's a great pity you didn't con The boy spoke almost savagely, because he felt, or thought he did, along the line of a partial truth, and for the time being made out a case of superficial conditions. John Armstrong pulled himself together and again Rufus felt the distance widen out between himself and his father. "To add to the perplexing character of the profession the whole subject of theology is in a most chaotic condition. There is no uniform or accepted teaching about inspiration, the Person of Christ, the matter of revivals or evangelism, and even the definition of the Christian life ter of church union and the working masses have no sympathy or respect for the religious situation. Is the ministry a profession with any attractions for young men? Do you wonder, Father, that under the circumstances I feel repelled instead of attracted?" Rev. John Armstrong did not answer at once. His heart was in a tumult over what his boy had been saying, a part of which wounded sensibilities that Rufus never dreamed of touching. But the boy had spoken very bluntly, almost roughly, in his desire to let his father know there was no chance of his changing his purpose, and John Armstrong knew well enough that it was not a case for pleading or appeal. That fact, however, did not lessen the weight of the blow for him. And how heavily it had fallen not even the minister himself knew until long afterward. "What do you intend to do?" he finally asked. Rufus waited a moment. "Mr. Dillingham has offered me a position with the company.' "Does he know of your engagement?" "Agnes has her father's consent," Rufus answered a little proudly. "There is nothing more to say then, is there?" John Armstrong seemed to say it with difficulty. "Father! Why do you take it so hard?Have I done a thing that is unforgivable?' "No," said his father slowly, “but I need time to think it over. It all means. more to me than I can explain to you.” It was quite dark in the room now and Rufus could not see his father's face. He waited awhile to hear him speak again. Then in the darkness he walked over where his father sat and put his hand on the minister's shoulder. "I am sorry, Father, sorrier than I can tell you, at the thought of disappointing you and Mother. But if I were to enter the ministry now, it would be a mockery. I cannot do it. You ought not to expect prophet and priest, standing in a pulpit "I don't. You have made your choice. I have no desire to compel you into the ministry. Say no more about it." Rufus stood irresolutely by his father and then moved away. He found his hat and went to the door. "I'm going out to walk around a while, Father," he said in what he meant to be a matter-of-fact-tone. In reality his young heart was bursting at the attitude of his father, a thing he had not anticipated even when he shrank from the con fession he had made. He went out and left his father still sitting in the darkness by the open window. John Armstrong wanted time to think over the disclosure his son had made, and for an hour he sat in the dark and dwelt with something near to agony over the downfall of his castle which he had for years builded for his boy. How would his mother receive this announcement? This it was which had hardened his stomach until it gets out of order, and I sometimes think a church never knows it has It is said that a man never knows he has a a sexton until something goes wrong. If I should ever be promoted to the pastor ship, I shall take particular pains to let my sexton know when he pleases me. Now do not smile at this presumptuous sup feeling towards his son when once the full It was however, largely a feeling of anger at the conditions which had resulted in the boy's final decision to abandon the choice of the ministry that influenced John Armstrong and the longer he dwelt upon the facts the stronger his feeling claim the title even now. I believe I have it in my power to be my pastor's best helper, not only in anticipating and quietly providing for his comfort and that of his hearers, but I may install myself as chief watchman on the wall. It may be my blessed privilege to let the pastor know of this or that young person who left the evening service hastily for fear of showing his emotion; to let the pastor or the deacons know of the stranger who sat in the rear pew; of the Sunday school boy who hung For over twenty years the minister knew that she had prayed every night that grew against the college and its atmos- about pretending not to want anything, but Rufus might be used of God as a mighty phere. To be continued.] Confessions of a Sexton By Q. E. D. If my confession is to be a perfectly candid one, I must state at the start that I have always felt that I am peculiarly fitted by nature to be the sexton of a church. In the first place, I am an optimist, as a man certainly needs to be if he is to be a sexton for many years. Secondly, I am a patient man-more patient than Job, for he answered back when grumbled at, and I never do except by pointing occasionally to the thermometer when some one tells me the room is freezing cold. Thirdly, I am a modest, contented man. When some rare soul tells me how well the wheels of my quiet machinery are running, I do not immediately feel called upon to resign my office in the hope of having the position of a bank president thrust upon me. And fourthly, I am methodical. Isweep the church on Fridays and dust on Saturday afternoons. I give so many whisks of the duster to each pew, and I put three hymn-books in each long center seat and two in each shorter side pew. I set my watch by the jeweler's every Saturday, so that the bell may be rung on the proper second; and I always know just how many taps to give, and when to close with the double tap: Now having described myself, let me say a word about the church. There are some of the very best people in the world in my church, and sometimes I have thought that even a pessimist could get along as sexton in this most thoughtful, most appreciative of churches. I must confess, however, that even among these there are people who expect the sexton to do miracles in the way of ventilation; that there are those who cannot stand a draught but will persist in sitting in one; that there are other cold-blooded ones who will choose the seat farthest from the register and then blame the sexton. I have had complaints from two people at the close of the same service; one that the air was stifling, the other that it was cold and draughty. And then I must confess that there are a few even among us who will decorate until dark Saturday evening or late Sunday morning, leaving a scattered mess to be swept up; that sometimes even our choir expects the sexton to know by instinct when to have the church open for rehearsals; and that sometimes our women-bless 'em-want the seats dragged out of the lecture-room, the unsightly Not that I mind so much doing these things; Sometimes in preparing for a social, a group of ladies will say, “O, let's put the piano over there between those two windows." So I put my shoulder to the wheel and move the piano. Pretty soon another group comes along and says: "Who moved the piano? It will never do to have it there; the music won't sound well." And so I trundle the thing back. It is the same with the seats; one woman says, "Put them all sideways, sort of free and easy," and then another doesn't like the arrangement, but wants them all removed except a few around the sides of the room. And so my work has been doubled many a time because of the want of a head to the social committee, that makes all its plans and knows what it wants and remembers that there is just as much work to be done after a social as before, with less enthusiasm to carry it through. Often I have had plenty of willing hands to More evil is wrought by want of thought I have sometimes been tempted to think- who was really hungering for an encouraging word; to speak a word here and there about the choir's faithful work at their rehearsals which nobody else has so good an opportunity as I to know about; it always delights me to feel that I have been the instigator of some appreciative word. A sexton's life is a life of little opportunities, and these opportunities are as varied as you can imagine, from speaking "the word in due season" at some crisis which only the sexton may have chanced to see, to rolling a restless baby in his carriage up and down the sidewalk while his mother listens to the ser mon, or scrubbing up a dirty little child from some wretched home, so that the contrast between her and the other children will not be too great. Should these humble confessions fall into the hands of other sextons, let me say to them, never mind if some of your people forget and leave things helter-skelter for you to clear up; others will say "How good you were, Mr. Sexton, to take all this trouble for us! there are not many such." Never mind if you've worked for a day or two getting ready for some fashionable wedding, warming the church, waiting on the decorators, personating the minister at the rehearsal, and then have spent the best part of another day getting the flowers out and things generally into shape again and when it was all over have had to remember that the pastor's wife had all the fees there were and you hadn't even a "thank you"; there will be other weddings where "our obliging Mr. Sexton" will come in for a generous share of the remembrances. If some committees keep you up half the night with their conferences, there will be others who will say, "No need of your staying here to wait for us, Brother Sexton; we can turn off the light and lock the door just as well as you can." Cheer up, brother sextons. Be patient, be faithful, be good-natured. The world, even the Christian world, is a good deal like a looking-glass; it reflects a good-natured face. should meet the eye of some that are numbered Now it is Atkinson (N. H.) Academy, whose friends claim for it the honor of having been the first higher institution of learning to receive girls. Incorporated in 1791, this academy enrolled three girls with the boy students in May of that year, and seven more came in a few months later. |
