casts the elements of a fatal charm. The "strange woman," whose "steps take hold on hell; the rumseller who in defiance of decency giveth his neighbor drink; the theatrical vendor of melodramatic nastiness that panders to passion; the theoretical anarchist who struts the stage in an atmosphere of atheism and smoke; the practical anarchist who, as an offender, violates law, or as an official winks at the violation,these dance about the caldron and cast in the elements which

"For a charm of powerful trouble

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."

And this tormenting vapor vitiates the very air breathed by the coming manhood. It needs that some mighty moral Hercules shall come to the cleansing of our cities. An aroused moral sentiment stirred to righteous wrath would do the work. And for the sake

of the manhood of to-morrow the manhood of to-day ought to rid our cities of the harpies that pollute and prey upon them.

4. And then, when we have exorcised the evil spirits, we must bring in the good spirits; else the last state will be worse than the first. Schools with loftier moral tone in teaching and less politics in management; churches entrenched in gospel truths for which they deign no apology, and exercising a Christly charity; a society less eager of entertainment and more earnest in attainment; a state where justice holds an even scale, where every man either from choice or compulsion obeys law, and where the frigidity of honesty freezes out the malarial poison of corruption, these are some of the positive virtues, civic, religious and social, public and private, that are needed for the making of manhood.

And as we value the state, as we would save the republic and perpetuate the nation, let us cherish the ideals and encourage the endeavors that fashion a manhood modeled after the Noblest Pattern. For

"What constitutes a state?

Not high raised battlement or labored mound,
Thick wall, or moated gate;

Not bays and broad-armed ports,

Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
Not starred and spangled courts,

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No:-men, high-minded men,

With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake, or den,

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude;
Men, who their duties know,

But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long-aimed blow,

And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain :
These constitute a state.

And sovereign law, that state's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill."

That, please God, is the brand of manhood we want. And let us make it our chiefest concern to cherish and encourage its growth! God give us bread without scarceness, hills covered with cattle and vales with corn! God grant that our orchards may laugh in the glee of a full fruitage, and that our vineyards may be wrapped in the purple of a royal vintage. In a word, may it please God to grant us the largest material prosperity consistent with our safety! But, oh, above all this, and by all this God grant us a manhood modeled after the pattern of the Perfect Man, the Nazarene Peasant, the Savior of the world, the Son of God! Amen.

THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.

BY REV. DAVID HOWELL,

*

Synodical Superintendent of Home Missions.

Text: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there may be no gathering when I come." 1 Cor., 16:2.

The earnest, almost plaintive cry of every Christian denomination for larger contributions to the benevolent work in which the church is engaged, leads thoughtful men to inquire why such persistent demands for money are necessary. Is it because the objects are unmeritorious, or is it because Christian people are not in the spirit of giving?

Not a few are bold enough to say that the church is actuated by the same spirit of over-expansion which periodically runs riot in commercial enterprises, bringing upon the people financial bankruptcy and ruin. The churches, therefore, in their judgment, should not be encouraged to advance their expenditures beyond the normal receipts for such purposes. The term

* David Howell was born in Macon, Mich., and received his education in Adrian High School, Michigan Agricultural College and Michigan State Normal School. For eighteen years he taught in the public schools of the State, in eight of which he was Supt. of the Lansing schools. Called of God to preach the gospel he took a special course in Princeton Seminary, and from April to October, 1891, he supplied the churches of Petersburg and Deerfield. Since then he has been Supt. of Home Missions in this State.