Show I RELIGIOUS NEWS AND THOUGHT I GATHERED FROM THE RELIGIOUS AXD SECULAR PRESS Words of Wisdom and thoughts Worth Pondering on Religions and Moral Subjects A Steadfast Faith A steadfast faith is necessary to steadfast conduct According to the faith is the life If that is uncertain and unsettled fixed at no point the result will be an unsteadiness in the spiritual life A lack of purpose in 1 the man at the helm will make the course of the ship at sea very erratic and perhaps result in its ultimate destruction de-struction The only safety for the soul the only safety for the church is to be found in accepting the true doctrine doc-trine of salvation and continuing in it as did the New Testament Christians Chris-tians doing the work of the Lord and perfecting the religious character by acts of righteousnessIndependent Duty and Success The thoroughly successful man is he whose labor is of Veal value to the community who has formed the habit of doing what is before him unhesitatingly unhesi-tatingly and manfully quite independently independ-ently of whether he likes it or not He has chosen his work and takes it just as it comes if it chance to be agreeable agreea-ble so much the better if not his energies en-ergies do not swerve His question is not How much shall I enjoy doing this piece of work or carrying out this new plan in my business but Is this work necessary tIs this plan wise No question of like or dislike comes in to interfereLutheran Whatever is is Best I know as my life grows older And my eyes have clearer sight That under each rank wrong somewhere There lies the root of Right That each sorrow has its purpose By tho sorrowing oft unguessed But as sure as the sun brings morning I Whatever is is best I know that each sinful action As sure as thenight brings shade Is somewhere sometime punished Tho the hour be long delayed I know that the soul is aided Sometime by the hearts unrest And to grow means often to suffer But whatever is is best Ella Wheeler Wilcox The Christian Ideal The true Christian ideal of education educa-tion is not to make the utmost out of yourself but most thoroughly to qualify qual-ify for service so as to help most efficiently effi-ciently to make the world better by lifting others into the true life of unselfish un-selfish devotion to truth and righteousness right-eousness This is the Christ ideal Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many Religious Telescope Ordinary People First of all if you feel that you are ordinary thank God that you are not extraordinary I am tired and sick and bored almost to death with extraordinary extra-ordinary people They take all their time to tell us how very extraordinary extraordina-ry they really are You know as well as I do my brother and sister that the most of the useful work of the world is done by unpretentious people who toil right Onby people who do not get much approval and no one seems to say That is well done Phenomena Phe-nomena are of but little use Things that are exceptional cannot be depended de-pended on Better trust the smallest planet that swings on its orbit than ten comets shooting this way and that imperiling the longevity of worlds attending to their own business busi-ness For steady illumination better is a lamp than a rocket Then if you feel that you are ordinary remember that your position invites the less attack at-tack Dr Talmage The Power of Music There Is wonderful power in certain cer-tain melodies They speak to the heart and therefore never lose their hold on popular favor So with many of these grand old pieces of sacred music that have come down to us from former generations They are hallowed by the associations which are about them they have the memories memo-ries of the past in our own lives and the experience of the saints before us have been inwrought into them but they retain their hold upon us and stir us as we use them chiefly because be-cause they are so adapted to their purpose that they speak directly to the heartUnited Presbyterian Brought to Light At a general election in England a candidate personally unknown to the voters of a certain borough was asked by party leaders to stand for it He belonged to a good family and was a barrister of promise in London His path to success was open as the bor rough belonged to his party But when he mounted the platform to address ad-dress the electors after a sentence or two he turned pale and coufused his eyes fixed on a board opposite on which was scrawled with charcoal Forty pounds He stumbled through a short speech and then hurriedly left the stand A few days later he rose to speak in another town and again the mysterious mys-terious words written in black on the wall confronted him Again he left the platform and that night retired from the contest for the seat In parliament parlia-ment Not long afterwards he disappeared dis-appeared from public life and retired to an English colony where he hid himself on a ranch The words it was found referred to a theft committed com-mitted in his youth which he supposed sup-posed had been forgotten Alexis Piron the French poet and satirist sought for many years to obtain ob-tain a seat among the Forty Immortals in the French academy He was recognized recog-nized among the poets of his day and was confident of his ultimate admission admis-sion when a vile ode written when he was a boy was brought to light and he knew that the door of the academy was closed in his face forever for-ever eveIn both of the great political parties of this country there have been instances in-stances of men eminent in mental ability abili-ty who have failed to receive the high political honors because of the shadow shad-ow of some fault or folly of their earlier ear-lier days Behind all the happiness of life behind be-hind even Gods love there is such a thing as law Who breaks it always pays the penalty God may forgiver I forgive-r m but the lines in his face the taint in his soul remain to tell of the vice paniou of his earlier days Youths Com I |