Show OUR EUROPEAN LETTER was it carlyle who said modern shyness very much resembles old fashioned impudence some of the knowing ones in europe are according to the newspaper reports slyly winking their eyes and asking if the rev dr talmage may not in fact he be a good illustration of modern shyness for weeks the london papers have been heralding his progress and describing his emotions while on his late trip to palestine this mr talmage seems to be what is commonly called a very subjective subject ve writer he is returning home from his religious louf tour positively thrilling with the memories not of the sacred spots themselves but of his own beautiful emotions emotion in beholding bolding be them for example when he caught the first glimpse glimps e of the ci city ty of jerusalem he be exclaimed to his arab guide 1 I have stood on thee the sierra nevada mountains I 1 have climbed the highest al alps ps I 1 have gone through the yosemite Yoe emite valley but never did I 1 see huoh a sight as this some are inclined to wonder why he did not mention that he had bad seen show also but perhaps even this burst of eloquence was not lully understood or appreciated by the astonished arab but this is not the only time that dr talmage seems much more anxious to inform the world of his own valuable sensations than of anything else connected with his tour 11 think he be says of how bow I 1 felt when I 1 reached jordan after sleeping the previous night in the ruins of Joshu joshuaa Jos huas alo jerichow Je think of how I 1 felt when a man in our party asked me to baptize him and he went down into the water and there under the willows still green in midwinter mid winter I 1 immersed the christian that was the most overwhelming moment of my life possibly no one doubts this latter assertion and the only wonder is that after such a confession he has not overwhelmed w whelm ed in water more of his followers and why he himself has not been overwhelmed in water by one having divine authority after this we hardly require to be told that the distinguished preacher prepared ared himself for the better discharge gf of his function fish caught in the sea of galilee it might be added that to have felt thoroughly apostolic he should have caught them himself he also sailed on the waters until he was caught in a squal in order that he might realize how bow the ancient apostles felt when they were in a storm 11 ot of course dr talmage taimage ascended the eminence generally comi dered to be mt calvary and there on the spot where the tha monks told him had once stood the central cross he read the story of the crucifixion his feelings overcame him he says that he broke down but singularly enough and as a proof of the versatility of this great mans genius it was just at this moment that looking no doubt through the fingers with which he be was co verine his hie tearful even ha discovered an opportunity for a stroke of business J just below him on the slope of the mount he espied a redd reddish is h colored rock abi which C h had probably lain there since alnee it was used in the construction of fortifications in the days of the crusaders just at this moment the thought flashed across the mind of dr talmage that this reddish rock would be the very thing for the cornerstone corner coriner stone of his new tabernacle in brooklyn accordingly he be quickly calmed his agitated feelings rolled the stone down the hill bill with his own hands had it conveyed to jopps joppa and it is now on its way to its american destination but this is not all mr talmage is desirous of literally in the footsteps of st paul As everybody knows the famous apostle to the gentiles once ence visited athens and preached somewhere on the eminence commonly known as mars hill mr talmage in his bla late visit to athens athene begged apiece of rock taken from some part or of this thia eminence which as lie he said he would like as a foundation of his new pulpit of course mr talmage does nut not believe in such doctrines as divine authority or inspiration oh ob no he to is far above such crude ideas the texts of scripture which teach these doctrines have no meaning for him still no doubt he be does believe that a rock taken from somewhere within a mile of where paul stood more than eight teen hundred years ago will add something of authority to wa uis own teh teachings ings we have heard of mela of alderman alderm anle c proportions imagining that their brains were in proportion to their girth but this is the first time probably that modern society has heard of a man believing that the inspiration of paul was communicated to a whole hill so 80 that eighteen centuries afterwards another man standing on a fragment of that hill carried to another hemisphere houll sphere would still feel that influence coming up through his boots As aa archdeacon farrar quaintly observes we are standing on the threshold of a new era em 11 II it is not J merely that commercial life to is awakened as it never was before or that the sciences have made advances never dreamed of in the past but likewise religious thought is developing in a direction aich i many are not aware of the rigid 5 theology and sharp sectarian con trover sieg of fifty years ago haye have little interest for the people nowa now a days the masses are be beginning inning to of perceive ercelle the blindness of their religious fagious teachers and are thinking for themselves A remarkable example of this is ie shown la in the rapid sale of mrs delands Delanc Ps religious work john ward preacher it is scarcely twenty months since it first issued from the press yet the numerous editions it has passed through since then and the many thousands that have been bought and read attest the deep interest which this book has awak awakened ened in fact it might very appropriately be called the uncle tom cabin of religious slavery showing most forcibly the hideousness of sectarian theology and the longing of honest bovest souls to know the truth Jo john huWard ward the hero of the story to is a blue presbyterian of the most rigid school his wife helen is a woman of liberal sentiments and warm sympathies and EL a controversy soon arises between tween n them concerning eternal punishment at last matters come to a head over the death of tom davis davia a poor drunkard whom the predictions of future punishment could not keep sober during life this man softer a heavy bout of drinking perished in an attempt to save a child from death by fire john the preacher confessed that tom had died like a brave man but he could not hold bold out any gleam of hope to the distracted widow concerning toms eternal welfare helen on the other hand blowing away the cloud of absurdities and contradictions that make makeup up the calvinistic creed was able to offer a better consolation to the disconsolate widow mrs davis da via helen said at last laet pm im so sorry it was a simple thing to say but it caught the poor woman comans ear it was so different from anything that she had yet heard rhe fhe neighbors had sighed and groaned and told her it was awful hard on her and pitied tom for his bis terrible death and then mr dean had come with fearful talk of justice and of hell when mrs davis da vis heard beard helen helenar Is words a big tear rolled down her cheek and with quivering I 1 lips th 8 she eaid said thank you maam ap then en she made a 9 predence creten pre tence e of turning toward the one small window to obtain more light and continued her work when she spoke again her voice was steadier as she said elder dean lows iowa I 1 to be sorry he says I 1 ought to be resigned to gods justice he says good folks ought to be glad when sinners go 0 o to the bad place even if they are their relations he J lows I 1 to be sorry no how 1 I 1 am sure you have a right to be sorry that tom is dead said helen but I 1 do not believe that tom is in any place now that need make you sorry I 1 do not believe what elder dean bean said about hell mrs davis looked at her a faint surprise dawning in her tired eyes and shook her head ab oh im not saying god right im not paying tom aint in the bad place nor th that at it aint j justice ustice I 1 want to b be e a christian woman tom a christian I 1 know still he be was as good as anyone any one could be when he he full of drink he be was good food in his hia heart tom was pm im only say ing meanwhile knotting her tremulous hands together im only saying that I 1 cant love god no morel more him having all the power and then look at tom and me aelen helen tried to speak hut but mrs davis would not listen listed no she cried yer the preachers wife but I 1 must say it he never give tom a chance chance an how am I 1 going to love him now tom she pointed a shaking finger at the coffin in the next room born as y you on mi might say bay drinkin his father d died in a 11 drunken fit and his mother gave it to her baby with her milk then what olin did he get none at all except his mother aickin him toms often told nae ne that he learned trade neither just rafted crafted with men as bad a as him Is it any wonder he good 1 9 1 I know all that helen began to say gently but mrs davis could bot cheek check the torrent of her grief he have no chance an he ask to be born either god put him here and look at the way we had to live look at this house seethe see the floor how the water runs down into that corner it to is all sagged and lean iii itil the whole thing to is rotten look at that one little window up against the wall not a ray of sunshine ever struck it and here to is where we have had to live six of us now that the baby is come children was the only thing we were rich in but we food enough to put in their mouths or decent clothes to cover them look at the people around us here livin l in this row of tenement houses cousee lying swearing drinking what chance had tom so I 1 cant can it love god I 1 cant love him him who had bad all the power and yet let toms soul go down to hell bell for tom help it and him livin so I 1 aint denying religion nor anything like that only I 1 cant love him so eo there is no use of talking IL 1 cant love him she turned away and moved toward the stove helen followed her and put her arms andross the thin bent shoulders her eyes full of tears though the widows were hard and bright aoh oh mrs davis helen cried of course you could not love a god who would never give tom a chance and then punish him of course you could not love him burtrom but tom is not punished by being sent to hell indeed indeed he is not god is good he could not be so cruel as to give a soul no chance and then send it to hell dont ever think that tom brave fellow is there oh believe what I 1 say to you mrs davis davia seemed stupefied ship she looked up into those beautiful sympathetic brown eyes and her dry lips moved you dont think she ahe said in a hoarse hurried whisper you are not saying fire are you that tom in he hew saying 11 1 I 1 know bets be is noy not exclaimed helen 1 I know it Ju justice juanice atice whytt would be the most frightful injustice because as you say tom had no chance so god would not punish him eternally ett anally for being what he had to be born as be was and living as aa he did I 1 don dont donit it know anything about peoples souls when they die I 1 mean about going to heaven but I 1 do know this As long as a soul lives it has a chance for goodness a chance to turn to god the few extracts that are here given will indicate the nature of mrs delands work no wonder that the worthy dean of westminster says it is the most powerful religious fiction that has appeared since the days of john bunyan banyan 11 the careful bible student however cannot help wishing that the good hearted sympathetic helen 1 had not read to mrs davis the words of the savior to the dying thief today shall thou be with me in paradise and the words that the savior said to mary just after H his to resurrection resurrect ien touch me not for I 1 am not yet ascended to my father and then again the words of the apostle peter which tells us ug plainly where the savior had been during those three days while his lydy abdy lay in the tomb for christ also suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ff ahl yes one cannot help wishing that helen had read these words to the disconsolate widow what a flood of light 11 ht it would have thrown upon the the great work of kedem redemption 1 how these words of holyar holy writ i li would have brought peace and consolation to that honest soul yes and to the hundreds of thousands of others who now new walk in the valley of the shadow of death but perhaps the gifted authoress un mrs deland has not herself yet emerged emerge i out of r the darkness and the gloom of sectarianism ism or to is it possible that it was well not to tell the whole truth society moves movee slow men must learn to loathe superstition before they will embrace the truth J H WARD |