WAR.

War Has Not Helped Christianity.

All swords that have ever flashed from scabbards have not aided Christ a single grain. Mohammedans' religion might be sustained by scimeters, but Christians' religion must be sustained by love. The great crime of war never can promote the religion of peace. The battle and the garment rolled in blood are not a fitting prelude to "peace on earth; good will to men." And I do firmly hold that the slaughter of men-that bayonets, swords and guns-have never yet been, and never can be, promoters of the Gospel. The Gospel will proceed without them, but never through them. "Not by might." Now, do not be befooled again if you hear of the English conquering in China. Do not go down on your knees and thank God for it, and say it is such a heavenly thing for the spread of the Gospel-it just is not. Experience teaches you that; and if you look upon the map you will find I have stated the truth, that where our arms have been victorious, the Gospel has been hindered rather than not; so that where South Sea Islanders have bowed their knees and cast their idols to the bats, British Hindoos have kept their idols; and where Bechuanas and Bushmen have turned unto the Lord, British Caffirs have, not been converted; not perhaps because they were British, but because the very fact of the missionary being a Briton, put him above them, and weakened their influence. Hush thy trump, O war; put away thy gaudy trappings and thy bloodstained drapery; if thou thinkest

that the cannon with the cross upon it is really sanctified, and if thou imaginest that thy banner hath become holy, thou dreamest of a lie. God wanteth not thee to help His cause. It is not by armies, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord."-Spurgeon.

War Develops Heroism.

From its

There is a good deal to be said against war. But there can be no doubt that in the noblest work of nature-the making of men-it was a splendid manufactory. It taught men courage; it trained them in promptness and determination, in strength of brain and hand. stern lessons they learned fortitude in suffering, coolness in danger, cheerfulness under reverses. Chivalry, reverence and loyalty are the beautiful children of ugly war. But above all gifts, the gifts it gives to men is stanchness. It teaches them to be true to another, true to duty, true to their post-faithful unto death.-J. F. JEROME.

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WEALTH.

Bishop Potter on Wealth.

Wealth is dangerous, and the worshiper of Mammon, whether he dwell in a palace or a hovel, will find it equally hard to find an entrance into kingdom of God. But wealth, like other dangerous powers, may be subjected to a wise discipline and a resolute control. Lightning is dangerous, but men have mastered it and made it do their bidding. Master your meaner lust for gain. and then make it do their bidding in the service of your heavenly Master. It is not how many bonds you have in a bank vault, or how much plate on your sideboard that God looks to see, but how many lives have been brightened and how many sorrows have been healed by the gifts of your love. The cause of Christ, the cause of truth, the cause of humanity, need your gifts. none of them need them half so much as you need the blessed and ennobling education ot being permitted to give them.

But

Money in itself considered is neither good nor bad. It is an instrument, an agency, a weapon. You may have it without being bad, and you may be without it without being good. But oh, to live for it as an end, to bend all your energies to its acquirement, to fret and scold and repine because you are without it, this, believe me, is the death of all nobleness and the doom of aspiration.—H. C. POTTER.

The Duty of the Rich.

If any man is rich and powerful, he comes under that law of God by which the higher branches must take the burning of the sun, and shade those that are lower; by which the tall trees must protect the weak plants beneath them.-BEECHER.

The Use of Riches.

I can not call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better-impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue. It can not be spared or left behind, but it hindereth the march. Yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit.-BACON.

We Must Relinquish.

If I could get to the highest place in Athens I would lift up my voice and say: What mean ye, fellowcitizens, that ye turn every stone to scrape wealth together, and take so little care of your children, to whom you must one day relinquish it all?”—Socrates.

What Money Can Not Do.

Money, no doubt, is a defined and narrow limits.

power; but a power of well It will purchase plenty, but

not peace; it will furnish your table with luxuries, but not you with an appetite to enjoy them; it will surround

your sick bed with physicians, but not restore health to your sickly frame; it will encompass you with a cloud of flatterers, but never procure you one true friend; it will bribe for you into silence the tongues of accusing men, but not an accusing conscience; it will pay some debt, but not the largest one of all, your debt to the law of God; it will relieve many fears, but not those of guilt-the terrors that crown the brows of Death. He stands as grim and terrible by the dying bed of wealth as by the pallet of the poorest beggar whom pitiless riches has thrust from her door.-GUTHRIE.

Pity the Rich.

Alas for Dives, whom every reformer wants to reform, whom every Socialist wants to strip, whom every Populist wants to loot, whom every demagog wants to fatten on, and every promoter and philanthropist and college president and trustee of school or hospital or museum to "interest." Alas for him! There was an Attila who was a Scourge, and a Charles who was a Hammer. Our Dives is neither, but a far milder thing—a Pocket. Every rascal tries to dip into him; good men warn him that he should relax his strings; bad men threaten to rip him up; and in the intervals between assaults his own conscience warns him that he has far more than his proper share of this world's goods. He is not happier in this world than most of us, and for the world to come the Scripture gives him only slight encouragement to hope for better times. What should we say to him? Not much-there is no need; he talks to himself. But what we do say,