love. Some are walking for the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they adore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as they lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing babes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some are parting with mothers who hold them and press them to their hearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and kisses; divine mingling of agony and love! And some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the wife standing in the door with the babe in her arms-standing in the sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves-she answers by holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever.

"A Vision of War and a Vision of the Future."

R. J. INGERSOLL.

Now close your eyes and recall the mental picture of what you saw and the order in which you saw it. Tell it aloud in your own words. What sounds did you hear? Describe the concourse of people you saw, the mother, the wife. Did you see the husband departing? Did you experience any feeling in reading this scene? Describe it.

Reread the extract and endeavor to get a more detailed mental impression of the picture. Again close your eyes and describe as minutely as you can just what you saw. Repeat the exercise with the following pictures:

2. Science and revelation concur in teaching that this ball of earth, which man inhabits, is not the only world; that millions of globes like ours roll in the immensity of space. The sun, the moon, "those seven nightly wandering fires,' "those twinkling stars, are worlds. There, doubtless, dwell other moral and intellectual natures, passing what man calls time, in one untired pursuit of truth and duty; still seeking, still exploring, never satisfying, never satiating, the ethereal, moral, intellectual thirst;

whose delightful task it is, as it should be ours, to learn the will of the Eternal Father-to seek the good, which to that end, for them and to us who seek, hides; and finding, to admire, adore, and praise, “Him first! Him last, Him midst and without end.”

Imagine one of these celestial spirits, bent on this great purpose, descending upon our globe, and led by chance to a European plain, at the point of some great battle; on which, to human eye, reckless and blind to overruling heaven, the fate of states and empires is suspended.

On a sudden, the field of combat opens on his astonished vision. It is a field which men call "glorious. 99 A hundred thousand warriors stand in opposed ranks. Light gleams on their burnished steel. Their plumes and banners wave. Hill echoes to hill the noise of moving rank and squadron-the neigh and tramp of steeds— the trumpet, drum, and bugle call. There is a momentary pausea silence like that which precedes the fall of a thunderboltlike that awful stillness, which is precursor to the desolating rage of the whirlwind. In an instant, flash succeeding flash, pours columns of smoke along the plain. The iron tempest sweeps, heaping man, horse, and car in undistinguished ruin. In shouts of rushing hosts-in shock of breasting steeds-in peals of musketry-in artillery's roar-in sabers' clash-in thick and gathering clouds of smoke and dust, all human eye and ear and sense are lost. Man sees naught but the sign of onset. Man hears naught but the cry of “onward.”

Not so the celestial stranger. His spiritual eye, unobscured by artificial night, his spiritual ear, unaffected by mechanic noise, witness the real scene, naked in all its cruel horrors.

He sees lopped and bleeding limbs scattered; gashed, dismembered trunks, outspread, gore-clothed, lifeless; brains bursting from crushed skulls, blood gushing from sabered necks, severed heads, whose mouths mutter rage amidst the palsying of the last agony.

He hears the mingled cry of anguish and despair issuing from a thousand bosoms in which a thousand bayonets turn; the convulsive scream of anguish from heaps of mangled, half-expiring victims, over whom the heavy artillery wheels lumber and crush into one mass, bone and muscle and sinew, while the fet

lock of the warhorse drips with blood starting from the last palpitation of the burst heart on which the hoof pivots.

"This is not earth'-would not such a celestial stranger exclaim?—"this is not earth, this is hell! This is not man, but demon, tormenting demon."

Thus exclaiming, would he not speed away to the skies-his immortal nature unable to endure the folly, the crime, and the madness of man?

"The Field of Battle.”

ROBERT HALL.

3. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God: and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.

And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the

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glory of God; her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal: having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each, one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in nowise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there): and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it: and there shall in nowise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life.

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And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign forever and ever.

Rev. xxi., xxii., 1-5.

THE BIBLE [Am. Rev. Ver.]

4. At the fair grounds at San José, California, recently, about two thousand spectators were gathered about a balloon in which an ascension was to be made by Professor Hoff. While the balloon was being filled the professor called for several assistants, and a man by the name of Macado was one of those who stept forward. When all was ready the aeronaut called out, "Let go!" and the balloon quickly rose. As Macado endeavored to step away he became entangled in the ropes and was lifted from the ground. He realized the peril of his situation, and as the balloon arose he took a firm hold upon the rope. The excited crowd below could hear his cries to the man in the balloon, "Save me! Save me!" The aeronaut, finding he could not draw the man up to him, decided that a descent must be made. He let the gas out of the balloon and slowly it started to descend. The young man held on to the rope with dogged determination while he was carried half a mile before he reached the ground. Many people find themselves in the course of their lives in situations where they can do nothing to help themselves, and all they can do is to stand still and trust God. The grit to hold on is a great thing. This is what Paul meant when he wrote the Ephesians about putting on the whole armor of God and then adds the words, "Having done all,

stand!''

"Pluck to Hold On."

LOUIS ALBERT BANKS.