The Kansas Christian Advocate from Oswego, Kansas • 6

6 THE KANSAS CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. had part in it. So with the grand Christian edifice. Its walls continually advance though some of the workmen fall by the way and others prove recreant to their trust. St.

Louis. Mr. Gladstone says the older he lives the more confirmed he is in bis faith and religion. He says that of sixty of the master minds of his country with whom he hss been associated in public life fifty-five were The Congregational church has 1000 organizations in this country, with a membership of 525,000. It has no organizations in the State of Dele-ware, but includes all the rest of the States and territories except Alaska.

A uative Chinese convert walked forty miles to help Rev. S. H. Phillips when he was in danger; this man has been severely punished for reading Christian books, bat his faith never wavers. An Armenian nun is said to have died recently in Jerusalem at the age of 115 years.

She entered the convent at 17 and never crossed its threshold for ninety-eight years. A Young Mens Christian Association has recently been organized in Constantinople, the members being mostly Armenians, Bulgarians and Greeks. A Promise of Help. Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver nim in time of trouble (Psalm xli. 1).

Here is a promise that ought to open both our hearts and our pockets. It shows us how we may unmistakably please God, and atjthe same time insure our selves against future want. It means a blessing in the present tense that will be a deposit in a safe bank against every possible need. It is the same as though God had said, Be a friend to the poor, and I will be a friend to you. There is also an inference that if we do not consider the poor, we have no right to expect that in the day of trouble God wall be our help.

By the text, every Chistian is appointed guardian to every one who needs his help, by the supreme court of the universe. It is Gods declaration that the poor are Heavens wards, and that we are expected to take care of them. Denying bread and shelter to the poor, when we are able to go to his help, is the same as declaring that Jesus Christ shall not have where to lay his head at our expense. To consider the poor, means to do it in a way that is going to cost us sacrifice. It means ver much more than to sit down and think about his misfortunes and wish that he were better off.

There is no more important question to ask ourselves just now than, Are we fulfilling the obligations to the poor that Cnrist has appointed to us? Have we the consciousness of knowing that we have complied with Gous tions so wTell that Heaven will bend io help us in the hour of trouble? Rams Horn, Chicago. WHAT THE OTHER ADVOCATES ARE SAYING. FULLNESS OF POWER TO SAVE. How much of the power of Pentecost may the Church of Christ in the present age possess? This question is suggested by the fact that many Christians, in reading the second chapter of Acts, get the impression that the apostolic band in Jerusalem received a higher degree of soul-saving power than is attainable now by the co-workers with God. The Scriptures do not teach this.

That we may be successful in our work we are authorized to pray that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Are we taught to pray for impossible attainments? Had the apostles at the revival of Pentecost more than all fullness of the Holy Spirit? The difference as to power between the past and the present is in manifestation. The pioneers of this country made their physical power manifest in cutting down forests and preparing the ground to produce wheat and corn; clearing was a necessity. Their children and grandchildren, with equal strength of body, use it in a different way some building great factories, others spanning our rivers with suspension bridges; some casting and forging Corliss engines, and others tunneling mountains and building railroads. The pentecostal power of God was used through the apostles in a miraculous way.

Miracles were a necessity in the pioneer work of salvanon; but they are not necessary now, and God wants to use his power through us in plowing up fallow ground, in sowing the seed of the gospel, and in gathering spiritu 1 harvests. For our work we may ask and receive all the fullness of power the apostles bad. To save souls as much pow'er is needed now as was manifested in the spirited vevoluri a Jerusalem. We and have in the Chuivl-of la- a all on consecration and sanctifioiti connected with the first baptism of the Spirit; we need and may hav all the peace of God that flowed ts a river through the souls of the one hundred and twenty disciples after th-tongs irifying and eflning fir rested up them Western. TRY INDIVIDUAL WORK.

In every congregation there are souls who have been tarrying at the threshold for a long time. They art moral, thoughtful, and honest, hut not religious. They have not hitherto been moved to consecrate themselves to Christ by the public ser vices of the Church, either ordinary or extraordinary. What remains to be done "for them yet? We have an answer in three words: Try person il work. Go to them, after diligent effort to put yourself in wmrking mood, and after assuring yourself that you are in touch with him who alone can give the increase.

Seek a fitting season, and tenderly, prayerfully, a ix ously, lay beh re them your sense of their duty and their danger. Seek to get the approval of their judgment, and to ally yourself with their con science. With tact, with delicate con sideration, in the spirit of Christ, in half a score or more of others around you. Get them to go out after others. Try it, brother pastor.

Victory will follow. The services of the sanctuary alone often fail to bring men and women to Christ; supplement these services, with individual work. Central. The most serious fact in the problem of the support of disabled ministers is, that ministers are compelled to retire from active and remunerative work much earlier than any other class of men. They are, therefore, at a serious disadvantage as compared with others.

The physician, the lawyer, the man of business, finds employment up to almost the very close of life. Unless he survives to such extreme age that the failure of his powers incapacitates him for business, he is able to support himself and his family up to the very last. The wage-earner finds employment as long as he is able to labor; and even after he can no longer fill the measure of his former toil, he usually secures lighter work at lower wages, and continues to earn his bread. If any of these classes have been able to lay by something, and have therefrom a partial support, thev can supplement it by some employ mout comfortably, sometimes, indeed, better than in their vigorous years. But the minister is forced to retirement in many cases at an age at which in other employments he could easily earn his living.

His hair Has grown gray, riu kies will show themselves in his face, he has not the vigor of his former years, and tne voung people do not desire him. He is too old, they cry, give as a young, vigorous mail. If he was a lawyer or physi-eiau, no notice would be taken of these things. They would be taken rather as marks of honor and proof of ripening experience which would be bey md price .3 at 1 ni lister nut i.i fa'! 3 session of his powers, and use them, or he is not wanted by the people. Hence, earlier than any other class of men, ministers must cease to earn their support.

itid when they do retire, it is into actual retirement. There is no partial work and part pay. They must quit. Nor can they turn to any other employment. So long have toiled in his calling, that both mind and hand have lost their canning for other duties.

They leave the old business, md cannot make a new one. They must now have saved enough to give them a living, or the Church must supplement wh: Cue-. with a well -earn pension, or they must suffer. And ibis st ite of affairs wiM not much changed for many years. Pittsburg.

The course of Christianity is never stopped by the defection of a trusted servant, who has proved unworthy of the confidence reposed in him. The Church to which he belonged may grieve at the downfall of a minister, and the worldly-minded may scoff when a minister goes wrong, but the cause steadily advances. The loss is to the individual, not to the organ- ization. When a great building in this city was, some months ago, in process of erection, a foreman of one branch of the work was guilty of misdemeanor and voluntarily left the place he occupied; it was immediate- The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health for January is out in a new cover and is an unuasually interesting number. It starts off with a remarkably life-like portrait of Jay Gould and a description of his character by Prof.

Sizer, followed by a pertinent biographical sketch. Mrs. Charlotte Fowler Wells adds another article to the list of her charming biographical sketches, this time discussing the careers of B. J. Gray and Prof.

Stanley Grimes. Practical Phrenology stands out conspicuously in this issue. Human Pursuits, and How to Study Them Pnrenologically, is to constitute a -eries of articles by one who has had an exeperieuce not equalled by any other phrenologist, Prof. Nelson Sizer, in this number the topic being The Lawyer. Tne same author writes about Heads and Faces, and What They Indicate, amply illustrated, the first of a systemic series under this title which will add much to the interest of the Journal.

Modern Foot-Ball is an illustrated article, with terse and wMl-taken remarks upon the influence of character in the ioioe of sports and upon the abuses of muscular exercise. The Columbian Exposition is further considered, this issue containing illustrated descriptions of the United tates Naval Exhibit and Machinery Hall, Mrs. Annie Besant, a lady whose interest in Theosophy and allied psychic phenomena has made her well known, is now in this country and lecturing on topics related to the above. The Phrenological gives her portrait, of character arifl an appreciative notice of her work. The several part meats of the Journal are well filled, as usual, with matter that is appropriate to the season and of special value to he reader.

Ail the world knows the usefulness of the Phrenological, yet it is not superfluous to say that everybody should subscribe and read it with care. It is published at the popular price of 11.50 per annum, or 15c. a number. Acid it; -s the Publishers, Fowler Wells 25 East Twenty-first street. New York The command to Christians to let their light shine may seem at first thought to conflict with other injunctions of Scripture which enjoin an unobtrusive and humble spirit, and which urge us to take heed that we do not our righteousness before men.

But there is no real paradox in these orders. Christians are constrained by their profession and by their Master to let their light shine, simply because it is not really their pwn light but His. He is the true light which lighteth every man who coineth into the world. A life that is suffused with the light of Christ wall be too glorious to betray egotism ard conceit. Therefore be not a dim indie but shiNe.

Rams Horn. Referring to the claim that alcoholic drink is a social necessity, David Lewis of Edinburg asks why it does not appear so in 179 parishes of Scotland in which not a drop is made or sold, and why at the close of the last century, when Scotland was afflicted with a famine the government closed every brewery and distillery in the country to save food from being earnestness of soul, deal with them as you would want some courageous and faithful man or woman to deal with you, in similar straits. Moreover, ly taken by another and the work In Holland when a man gets sleepy he stands up until he has become wide-awake again. It is said that a put the burden of personal work upon went on just as though he had never number are often standing at a time..