Evangelist S. Hartwell Pratt began a series of union meetings with the Pesbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches in our city, November 5th. They were held in a large tent until the storms prevented, when refuge was taken in one and another of the churches. Most of the time three services were held each day; a noon-day prayer meeting on the Strand for business men, a Bible reading in one of the churches, and the general meeting at night. There was a growing interest from the beginning until the meetings closed last Sunday night. From the beginning the meetings were characterized by great spirituality. In many meetings the very atmosphere seemed pregnant with the Divine Presence. A solemn hush pervaded the place of worship and many souls were brought under deep conviction of sin. God, and heaven and hell were made very real The Evangelist never resorted to any questionable methods, but always relied upon the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

All classes and conditions of people were reached and blessed, from the child of tender years to the old man of seventy-three; husbands and wives, and in some instances whole families were converted to Christ, and are now happy in a Saviour's love. Some of the "hard cases" were reached and testified to the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to save them. The work from the first had a strong hold upon men; and the young men particularly were deeply interested. In one meeting, 150 young men in a few minutes told of their love for their Saviour and their purpose to live for Him. There was the greatest unanimity among the pastors and people of the several churches, and every one was made to feel "how good it was for brethren to dwell together in unity." It was not simply a union in name, but in fact and in heart, and God blessed that union.

Evangelist Pratt is a safe leader, a strong preacher, deeply concerned for the salvation of men, and tender and loving in his appeals to the unsaved. He endeared himself to all who attended his services, and will always be kindly remembered by the people of this city. His Bible readings were listened to by large and attentive congregations, and the Word of God will have a larger place in the hearts of many Christians in this city because of them. They were a very important factor in strengthening and building up Christians. His work was not simply a reformation. He always insisted upon regeneration, and was satisfiled with nothing less.

Many souls in this city will always have occasion to remember this brother, and should he ever return he will find a great company to welcome him. He left last evening for Jerseyville, Illinois. where he will begin a meeting next Sunday night. The prayers of the good people here will follow him to his new field of labor.

JUDSON B. PALMER.

B. Fay Mills in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A correspondent says:

"The topic of conversation on street car, in store, office, shop and household, on street corners and in hotel corridors, is the Mills meetings. Everybody is talking about the meetings and about religion. The city papers devote columns of space to reports of the services, and editorial articles discuss them. Just now religion has the right of way in the Valley city.

"Many hundreds of children and young people declared their purpose to serve Christ henceforth. This writer saw as beautiful and impressive a sight as he ever looked upon in the school where he is a member, when, after twenty minutes of personal appeal from each teacher with his or her class, every member of the school present, without the loss of one-young men and young women, older people and children-came thoughtfully, seriously and earnestly about the altar in dedication to Jesus. All the schools had services like it.

"Mr. Mills himself conducted three services in Lockerby hall. At ten in the morning a service for young people under 35 residing in the central portion of the city. At 3 p. m. the young people from the other portion of the city filled the hall to its utmost, and those young people to the number of 6,000 at least, heard a most tender and touching appeal to them to remember their Creator in the days of their youth.' There were hundreds who resolved to do it in those two meetings Sunday, and who signed cards declaring their purpose.

"In the morning all the churches held their usual services; in the evening there was a service for men only at Lockerby hall, and preaching by Mr. Mills; a meeting for women only at Fountain Street Baptist church, preaching by Mr. Gillam (Mr. Mills' assistant). There were union services in three other places of the city. The west side churches united at First Presbyterian church, preaching by Dr. Bradley: in the south part of the city Dr. Floyd preached in the Calvary Baptist church; in the north there was a platform meeting, addressed by several pastors, in Plainfield Avenue church. The great meeting was the men's meeting at the hall, and fully 4,000 men were there, representing all classes. There were wealthy bankers and business men and professional men side by side with the factory hand, the drayman, the whisky seller, the gambler and the loafer. All classes and conditions of men were there truly, and heard Mr. Mills preach a faithful sermon from the text: 'I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." (Deut. xxx. 19.) That

great audience of the sterner sex was still as death at times during the preaching of that impressive sermon, and they rose by the score and hundreds to the appeal to choose life.' Never the like of that meeting was ever before seen in this city."

For one week Mr. B. Fay Mills has been laboring with us here in this University City and the Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad. His sobriety of statement, his earnestness, his lucid exposition of Biblical truth has commended him as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, to the most thoughtful and learned of his hearers. Old and young, educated and ignorant alike, have not only signed the cards expressing their desire to be Christians but have openly confessed Christ and given good evidence of a thorough and sound Christian experience.

I do not doubt that hundreds have been converted and regenerated during the past three days. The whole city has felt the influence of his spirit and the pastors will continue the meetings with full confidence that this work of grace is not transient and superficial, but abiding and deep. We only hope that this man of God and Mr. Hillis, that sweet singer of Israel, may be induced to come back to us soon.

One strong evidence of the impression made by Mr. Mills may be seen from the fact that the University hall was opened to him willingly after his first few sermons here.

The Gambling Evil.

On the general subject of gambling Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, president of the New York Central Railroad, says: "A considerable proportion of failures in business and 90 per cent. of the defalcations and thefts and ruin of youth an ong people who are employed in places of trust are due directly to gambling. I have seen in my vast employment so much misery from the head of the family neglecting its support and squandering his earnings in the lottery or the policy shop, and promising young men led astray in a small way and finally becoming fugitives or landing in the criminal dock, that I have come to believe that the community which licenses and tolerates public gambling, cannot have prosperity in business, religion in its churches, or morality among its people."

This is the testimony of the Superintendent of Police of New York City: "More young men have stood here at this desk confessing their first offence against law and ascribing their downfall to their infatuation for pool-room gambling than I would care to attempt to estimate. Actual experience has satisfied me that no form of gambling offers greater temptations to young men to take what is not theirs. As horse racing is conducted now, it would be well for the community to stop racing altogether. We are sending men to prison right along on account of the race gambling craze. Homes are being destroyed and the lives of young

men blighted every day in this city for the same reason."

We might fill columns with similar testimony, but our readers are generally familiar with the extent of this vice. We commend the following strong appeal, just issued:

We appeal to all lovers of law, order and morality throughout the Urion, to combine in a strenuous and uncompromising opposition to the gambling evil in its many forms. We recommend that organizations be formed wherever practicable, having for their special object the repeal of gambling laws, the education of public sentiment with reference to the gambling evil, and the strict enforcement of such laws as may exist for the suppression of this vice. We appeal to the churches and all religious and reformatory agencies and organizations throughout the country, to make the gambling evil an object of special consideration to the end of arousing men everywhere to a realization of its magnitude and enormity. We appeal to the press of the country, secular and religious, to throw its powerful and far-reaching influence against gambling practices in whatever form they may appear. We earnestly believe that if the moral forces of the country can be thus massed against this evil, it may at least be driven from the lodgment it has found in our legislatures, in our courts, in our municipal governments, and in our statute books.

LA SALLE A. MAYNARD, B. M. PALMER. FRANCIS L. PATTEN, JOHN H. VINCENT.

There are at the present time seventy Protestant congregations in Spain, with 12,000 communicant members. About 8,000 children are instructed in parochial schools. Three orphan asylums, two hospitals, two publication houses have been established and a classical institute is about being opened. When we consider the terrible darkness and spiritual tyranny which has reigned in Spain for centuries, where as late as 1862 men were sentenced to years of imprisonment simply for having read in the Bible, the success of these evangelical efforts must be considered as most encouraging, and when we read and hear of the dangers and privations and persecutions which these noble evangelists have to undergo in their desire and effort to carry the light of the gospel to these poor, oppressed people, the heart of the Christian cannot but be touched with sincere sympathy and whilst his soul will plead their canse before the throne of God, his hand and purse will open themselves cheerfully to aid in this work of the Master.

"I Don't See Any Harm In It."

This is a common reply, and its shield is thrown over many a sin.

1. If not, why not? Let me look into your eyes. Matt. xiii. 16.

2. Is the dust of worldliness in them, so that you cannot see clearly? Isaiah vi. 9.

3. Is the squint of insincerity in them, so that you cannot see singly? Matt. vi. 22, 23.

4. Are you willing to see any harm in it? John vi. 17.

5. Or are you the blind that won't see? John ix. 39, 41.

6. Will you see any harm in it on a dying bed? 1 Kings xxii. 25.

7. Would you like Christ to catch you in the very act? Luke xii. 37.

8. Do the best Christians you know see any harm in it? Heb. v. 14.

9. Is it consistent with your profession that by the cross of Christ "the world is crucified unto you, and you unto the world"? 2 Peter iii. 2.

10. Can you commune with God as freely after it'as before it? 1 John i. 7.

11. Can you look up to God for a blessing in the midst of it? Romans xiv. 23.

12. If it is lawful, is it becoming? If it is becoming, is it profitable? 1 Cor. x. 30, 33.-Mr. Rees.

If you are getting lazy, watch James. If your faith is below par, read Paul. If you are impatient, sit down quietly and have a talk with Job. If you are just a little strong-headed, go and see Moses. If you are getting weak-kneed, take a look at Elijah. If there is no song in your heart, listen to David. If you are getting sordid, spend a while with Isalah. If you feel chilly, get the beloved disciple to put his arm around you. If you are losing sight of the future, climb up to Revelation and get a glimpse of the promised land.-- Word and Work.

At the Miami Conference Young People's Convention the question of how to secure general participation in the devotional meetings was being discussed, when Rev. G. W. Arnold, M. D., submitted the following prescription:

R:

Deep-felt responsibility, one part.
Constant attendance, one part,
Humble forwardness, one part.
Consecrated promptness, one part.
Sanctified brevity, one part.
Unfeigned sociability, one part.
Devout prayerfulness, one part.

Sufficient of the Holy Spirit to unite and sanctify these ingredients.

Sig: Take in large doses, as often as necessary.

Conscience.

Webster defines conscience to be, "The knowledge of our acts, states, or characters, as right or wrong; the faculty, power, or principle, which decides on the lawfulness of our actions and affections, and approves or condemns them; the moral faculty; the moral sense."

Blackstone writes of a "Court of conscience, established for the recovery of small debts, in London, or other trading cities or districts."

Whewell says that "Conscience is the reason, employed about the questions of right and wrong, and accompained with the sentiments of approbation and condemnation."

Shakespeare: "Conscience makes cowards of us all."

I.

The Bible tells us a great deal about conscience: We read of a seared conscience, 1 Tim. iv. 2. II. An awakened conscience, John viii. 9. III. A purged conscience, Heb. ix. 9; ix. 14; x. 2; X. 22.

IV. A pure conscience, Acts xxiv. 16, 1st clause; 1 Tim. iii. 9; 2 Tim. i. 3. A good conscience, Acts ii. 31; 1 Tim. 1. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 19; iii. 16; iii. 21.

V. A conscience void of offence, Acts xxiv. 16, last clause.

VI. A weak conscience, 1 Cor. viii. 12; viii. 7. VII. A defiled conscience, Titus i. 15. VIII. A witnessing conscience, Rom. ii. 15; ix. 1; 2 Cor. i. 11. J. E. W.

There is a great difference between having to say something and having something to say.-Dr. A. T. Pierson.

- Keep yourself pure, and God will keep you safe.-Ram's Horn.

-Your life must be lived here and to-day; and if it is to be in the right it must be inspired by Christ's spirit.-Fremantle.

--Willingness, which is really love of God, has no color of its own; only at every call it is ready to will whatever God wills.-Fenelon.

HEY

A workman in this inventive age is always alert for the best tools, anything that will add efficiency to his labor is welcomed. In this department we purpose culling from works as a rule new, sometimes from the old, that the reader may judge whether these would be of help in his field. Aside from this direct help the aim will be to give items which deserve reading for their own worth.

All books noticed in this department are for sale by Fleming II. Revell Company, Chicago, New York and Toronto.

Our

of a

"We live," says the apostle, Influence. in speaking of himself and his fellow helpers. "if ye stand fast.” Mark the "we" and "ye," for it tells us that the apostles were dependent in their progress in Christian life; they "lived" as the young Christians to whom they were writing were steadfast. This may be apprehended at once if we call to mind that we are members one of another, and therefore none of us live unto ourselves. We are either influencing others for good or ill. Our every action tells. Dr. Macmillan says, "Chemists tell us of substances, whose passiveness is disturbed by the slightest motion, so that they rush into permanent combinations. The touch feather will cause the iodine of introgen to explode, and the vibrations of any kind of sound will decompose it. The scratch of a pin will soon alter the arrangement of the molecules of iodine of mercury that their action on light is altered, and the color of the whole mass is changed, at once from yellow to bright red. Many other substances could be named whose equilibrium is so unstable, whose affinity is so weak, that the most insignificant and apparently inadequate causes will immediately change their properties, so that they become henceforth quite different from what they were before. It is because the equilibrium of the substance on which he operates is so unsteady that the photographer produces his permanent pictures by sunlight, and the greater the instability or sensitiveness of the collodion, the shorter the time required to make the impression, and the deeper and more lasting it will be. Among the high Alps, early in the year, the traveler is told in certain places to proceed as quietly as possible. On the steep slopes overhead, the snow hangs so evenly balanced, that the sound of a voice, the crack of a whip, report of a gun, or the detachment of a snowball, may destroy the equilibrium and bring down an immense avalanche that will overwhelm everything within reach in ruin. Applying these illustrations of the physical

world to the condition of society around us, are there not many whose moral character is so unstable, whose principles are so unfixed, who are so evenly balanced between good and evil, that a word, a look, may incline them to the one side or the other, and produce effects that will alter the color and the nature of their whole future existence?" Are there not souls hanging so nicely poised on the giddy slopes of temptation, watching us and ready, on the least encouragement to evil from us-of which we ourselves are not conscious-to come down in terrible avalanches of moral ruin, crushing themselves and others in their fall? Are there not earnest ones whose holier purposes may have been quenched forever by our levity and impropriety of conduct?

And may we not add-if we as believers are truly pungent in holiness of life as the salt of the earth, and really shining in the compassion of love as the light of the world, we shall exert an influence that shall be widespread in its mission.-From Flashes from the Lighthouse of Truth; or, Bible Readings on the first three chapters of Thessalonians. 16mo., cloth, $1.00.

Primeval

Having lived among the adherReligious ents of Eastern religions for Teaching, forty-five years, I have become strongly convinced that what good teaching their books contain is derived from early revelation. If research be carefully conducted, it will be possible to recover the primeval history of mankind in religion, as in other branches of human progress. The result will be, as our aim ought to be,

"To vindicate Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to man."

The aim of this book is to draw attention in a brief way to the mass of information upon primeval religion gathered in ancient Oriental literature as well as in the languages of Eastern countries. Treasures of knowledge are enshrined in that literature and in those languages, and if we wish to learn the early history of the idea of God, we must seek it in the ages before the Semites and Indo-Europeans began their career. The knowledge of God in the human consciousness reached its second stage about five thou sand years ago, when those races settled down in the lands they now occupy. The Hindus and Persian left Europe and came back to Asia, the home of their forefathers, fighting' their way as they came. The Semites were driven by this invasion from