as possible, and inasmuch as the minute which a minister receives from his own Monthly Meeting is intend. ed as a credential that he is in unity with his own church, this meeting decides not to minute the attendance of any from any other Yearly Meetings who attend without minutes. Epistles to North Carolina, Kansas, New York, Baltimore and Indiana were read and passed. The minutes of the Representative Meeting were read and approved and a new meeting instituted. The Representatives presented the Treasurer's statement, which was accepted, and $1000 directed to be raised for the ordinary Yearly Meeting's expenses. The Secretary of the College Committee read the report of the committee in charge of Pickering College. The report showed that in its educational and Christian work the college has been carried on with a very large degree of success. An address by the Principal, W. H. Huston, M. A., fully bore out the statements of the committee. Financially, however, the college has run considerably behind during the past two years. After considerable discussion the matter was left entirely in the hands of the committee to act in relation to the college according to the advice and authority given them by the Representative Meeting. 8 P. M.-The Gospel Meeting at this hour began with prayer and praise. Seth Rees preached a power. ful sermon, basing his remarks upon the incident of the procuring of a bride for Isaac by the servant of Abraham. Fourth-day, Seventh mo. 1st.-The usual prayer and praise meeting at 8 A. M. At 10 A. M. a public meeting for worship was held. The meeting was addressed by Susan Ratcliff, Seth Rees and others. The subject of sanctification formed the theme of their addresses. At 2 P. M. the meeting assembled in separate session to finish the business of the Yearly Meeting. After some routine business in the men's meeting the minute of advice to subordinate meetings was read. Some matters of finance were brought up and disposed of. College affairs were again discussed for a short time. On the invitation of the women the meeting assem bled in joint session, and after a time of reverent waiting on the Lord with vocal prayer by the Clerk and others the closing minutes were read, and the meeting closed for this year. A closing prayer and praise meeting was held in the evening at 8 P. M. Our meeting this year has been blessed with very much unanimity, many difficult questions have had to be decided, and throughout the year the difficulties which have beset our path have been many; but amid all our trials the Lord has blessed us abundantly, drawing us nearer together, giving us more zeal in His work, increasing our numbers and strengthening us as a church. The thought of the work which He has and is enabling us to do for Him, gives us the courage to bear our burdens. The meeting adjourned to meet at Pickering at the usual time next year. PENN COLLEGE. Commencement exercises of this institution, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, began on First-day afternoon, Sixth mo. 21st, with the Baccalaureate Address of President Benjamin Trublood. His subject was "Christ's Mind in Education." Its closing sentences were as follows: "There is no evidence whatever that skeptical living and thinking continued for some generations along the lines of descent can produce the thought-power necessary to maintain its own existence, much less that required to further develop the enlarging thoughtprocesses of this century, which are going forth conquering and to conquer. To grow, the human soul and the great chain of human souls which, generation after generation, follow each other in organic succession, need higher hopes and loftier motives than mere negation can give. Christ has supplied these hopes and motives. He has inspired and lifted the human intellect because He has touched the soul all round. He has put man into living relation with the thought and purpose of the universe, because He has put him into living relation with God. He has made it possible for him to grow great and to think great thoughts and achieve great victories, because He has led him into the moral secret of all things. He is still leading on in the cloud by day and the fire by night, to new realms in the world of thought as in the world of spiritual life. Through the multiplied spiritual agencies of Christian countries He is sowing the seeds of progress beside all waters. Japan has already her schools of Christian education, her colleges and uni. versities. Africa is to have the same planted among her teeming millions. The isles shall wait for His law,' but shall not wait always. I cannot better close these thoughts on Christ's purpose to the intellect of the race than in the words of Principal Shairp-words which are both an exhortation and a promise-'Trust in God and bid all knowledge speed." On Second-day evening the Senior and Junior Classes were entertained at the house of Professor C. E. Tib. betts. The Historical Literary Society gave its annual entertainment, consisting of orations and declama. tions, interspersed with music, on Third day evening. Fourth-day, Sixth month 24th, was the day of the Commencement. Nine graduates received their bachelor degrees; and the degree of M. A. was conferred upon Rosa E. Levis, Professor of English Literature and History in the College. The names of the graduates, with subjects of their orations or essays, were as follows: Ada M. Johnson, "Hypatia;" Jesse W. Marshall, "The African International Association ;" Mary Ross, "The Temple of God:" W. R. Clayton, Socialism" A. Clifford Johnson, "Egypt;" Anna Phelps, "The Discovery of Gold:" Maggie A. Ross, "Open Session;" S. P. Lucas, "Squaring The Circle ;" Rebecca N. Hinchman, The Gospel of Hunger." 44 On Fourth-day evening, the Alumni address was delivered by Millard H. Patterson, on "The Survival of the Fittest." COMMENCEMENT WEEK AT WILMINGTON COLLEGE. The exercises of Commencement week at Wilmington College began with the regular annual entertainment of the Alumni Association, on Fourth-day evening, Sixth mo. 24th, at 8 P. M. A large audience met at the appointed hour, and were first entertained by a brief, appropriate address by the president of the association, John B. Peelle, of the class of '84. Mary Edwards, of the class of '83, next read a paper on "The Old Civilization and the New;" followed by W. R. Starbuck, of '81, on "Crises." Each paper evinced that growth of intellect on the part of the author which is characteristic of the real student. On Fifth-day morning the 25th, at 10 o'clock, occurred the graduating exercises of the Senior Prepara. tory Class. The large hall was well filled, and after an invocation by Prof. R. H. Hartley, the following programme was presented to the audience: "What will People think?" Lona Barrett; "Omens," Thomas D. Moore; "Rise Higher," Gertrude W. Hadley;" "Our National Prosperity," Carey Persinger; "Broken Threads," M. Ada Green; "In Praetexta," Charles C. Linton; "The Island of Woe," Layton W. Todhunter; "Sometime," Callie C. Barrett; "The Ship of Pearl," Bessie C. Todhunter; "The Problem of the South," W. Elmer Barrett. The company then listened to an excellent address to the class by Carrie Browning, of Wilmington, who treated the subject of Education in a fresh, original way. The exercises of commencement proper took place on the next morning, the 26th. No abatement of interest is felt in the work of Wilmington College, if we may judge by the immense throng that early filled the commodious hall to overflowing, and by the close at tention given to the addresses of the two young men who thus closed their college courses. Harold M. Garland spoke upon "Republicanism" and Leonidas E. Speer upon Positive Conceptions." The degrees of A. B. and B. S. respectively were conferred upon them, after which the degree of A. M. was given to Novetus H. Chaney, he having passed an examination in a special course of German Literature. The Baccalaureate address was given by the President of the College, James B. Unthank. In his usual vigorous, forcible style he treated of "The Scholar in Politics." At the close of the exercises, Prof. R. H. Hartley, who has occupied the chair of Moral Science and Greek in the College for the past two years, was called upon for a few parting words, as he has accepted a call to a field of labor among Friends in Des Moines, Iowa, and the close of the present school year severs his connection with this institution.-Abridged from the Christian Worker. FRIENDS' SGHOOL AT PROVIDENCE, R. I. From an account in the Providence Journal we learn that the Commencement of the Providence Boarding School took place Sixth mo. 23d, in Alumni Hall. President Augustine Jones, A. M., conferred diplomas upon twenty graduates, of whom twelve were young women. The orations and essays delivered are said to have been of a high literary quality, and rendered with becoming grace and dignity. The Presi dent made an affecting address to the graduates. The Journal adds: "The audience then departed, some to their homes, others to inspect the grounds and the buildings. Those who were fortunate enough to stay and look over some of the work of the students were more than gratified with the accomplishments of the pupils in all the departments. The carved work of various kinds of woods is as fine as can be seen anywhere. The pupils who have attained such deftness in this art, are worthy of unstinted encomiums, and their excellent and gentlemanly instructor, Prof. Allen Weeks, can well feel proud of the attainments of his scholars, and of the excellence of his tutorship. Among the curiosities of this department was a clock carved by a boy 12 years of age. In the crayon, oil and water color department, the same high grade of work was seen. "The school-rooms have recently been refitted. Electric lights have been added throughout the building, thus adding to the purity of the air and the quality of the light. One, the recitation-room, has had $1300 in handsome pictures and steel engravings added dur ing the past year. "At 1 o'clock the invited guests adjourned to dinner in the large dining-hall of the school. "The 228 students of this school are indeed 'fortunate in the opportunities that are afforded them for education." Address Before the Pennsylvania Legislature, on Constitutional Prohibition. BY JOSHUA L. BAILY. (Continued from page 773.) KANSAS AND IOWA. So far I have spoken only of the results of prohi. bition in Maine. This is the initial prohibitory State. But the success of prohibition has been equally pronounced in other localities, and especiThink, ally so in the States of Kansas and Iowa. for a moment, of the wide theatre which these two great States present for testing this great principle. A territory three times the size of Pennsylvania, unexcelled in fertility by any region of equal extent on the face of the globe, abounding in natural resources, right in the heart of the continent, and commanding the chief highways of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, containing a population which for industry and thrift and general intelligence has no superior, and yearly increasing in population and wealth by prodigious strides; it was on the soil of Kansas that slavery and freedom first drew the sword in mortal combat, and where slavery received her death wound; and it is there to day where that other relic of barbarism, the drink traffic, is waging a desperate struggle against the friends of freedom. friends of freedom. Unconditional emancipation from the tyranny of this monster curse has already been decreed by the laws of Kansas and of Iowa, and the people mean to make that proclamation a reality. As you know, there has been a desperate attempt on the part of the drink traffic to nullify the law in Iowa, they have fought it all through the courts; but only the other day the Supreme Court by a unanimous vote affirmed the constitutionality of the law. RESUBMISSION IN KANSAS. In Kansas an effort was made to elect a Legislature that would resubmit the constitutional prohibitory amendment to the people. You know the result. The number elected in favor of resubmission was insignificant. And what did the Legislature do? Obeyed the popular voice by making the prohibitory law more stringent and increasing the penalties for its violation. The flag of emancipation is waving to day over all the soil of Kansas. The slavery of the drink traffic lingers in only a few of the larger towns. I have it on the most reliable authority that in the city of Topeka, the capital of the State, there is not a saloon left. There are, however, seventeen saloon-keepers there, but they are all in jail. Go behind those prison bars and ask any of those saloon-keepers whether prohibition prohibits. I read in the papers the public notices given by railroad and express companies doing business in Kansas and Iowa that they will not transport any intoxicating liquors to be delivered in those States. Thus is the majesty of the law respected. PROHIBITION WIDESPREAD. But prohibition is fast becoming national. It has long prevailed in Vermont. It claims thirteen of the twenty-three counties of Maryland, and ninety-one counties of Georgia. Large portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, South Carolina, and other States are to day enjoying the beneficent results of prohibitory laws. In many localities of New Jersey prohibition has prevailed for many years with the happiest conseqences. Oregon has just passed a stringent prohibitory law, at the same time embodying it in a constitutional amendment to be submitted to the voters of the State. PROHIBITION IN THE SOUTH. In some parts of the country where we would ordinarily be least hopeful of the progress of any great moral movement the prohibitory idea seems to be taking the deepest hold, and the enactment of the law has been followed by its strict enforcement. Such has been the case especially in Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, and Maryland. The most recent instance that I know of occurred one day last week in Cecil County, Maryland. Two saloon keepers were tried and convicted, and when good character was plead in extenuation, the Judge said that this was only an aggravation of the offence, and he fined each of them six hundred dollars and sentenced them to jail, If any one here thinks that prohibition in Cecil County don't mean prohibition, let him go to the county jail and ask either of those saloon-keepers. PROHIBITION NO FAILURE. It would detain you here to a very unseasonable hour were I to attempt to produce from towns, boroughs, and counties scattered here and there throughout the country a hundredth part of the evidence to show that prohibition is no failure. One instance at hand is Vineland, N. J., a town of eleven thousand inhabitants, without a saloon and without a jail; one police officer for the town at a cost of seventy-five dollars a year, and no poor-house. How well the people are satisfied with this condition was shown at a late election, when fifty-seven votes were cast for license and ten hundred and fifteen against it. This after twenty-one years' trial of prohibition. Take another New Jersey town-Millville, where are located extensive glass works, cotton factories, and iron foundries. They voted out the saloons some ten years ago, and have never allowed them to return. What is the consequence? No jail, no poor-house, no paupers. I made a visit there not long ago for my own satisfaction, and I was astonished at the good order everywhere prevalent, and the unmistakable evidences of thrift and prosperity among the working people. The proprietor of the extensive glass works located there told me that the condition under prohibition, as compared with that under the license system of a dozen years ago, was worth ten thousand dollars a year to them, in the improved char. acter of work which they obtained from their people. At Grinnell, in Iowa, there are no saloons, and there never have been any, and no one has been sent to jail, to the poor-house, or to the penitentiary for over twenty years. You know they have been sometimes visited by destructive cyclones in that part of the country, but one of the residents of Grinnell said recently, "We can stand a cyclone occasionally, if you will only keep whisky away." POTTER COUNTY. But why go so far off for testimony? Why not put on the witness-stand the honorable member from Potter County, the only county in Pennsylvania, I believe, where prohibition prevails by law. That county has made trial of it for twenty-seven years, and what is the testimony of her empty poor-house and her empty jail, her low rate of taxation and her good roads and painted schoolhouses? I do not want to cast any invidious reflections upon adjoining counties, but I have been told that the change is very marked as soon as you pass the borders of Potter County. The Legislature has had under consideration a bill to prohibit the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, butterine, suine, and such like products. I have no opinion to express on the propriety of this bill. But suppose that the manufacturers of these products should represent to you that they have built factories and have large amounts invested in machinery for the production of these articles, and that all this investment would become valueless if you should pass the prohibitory measure asked for; and should they ask that it should be made a condition of the passage of such a law that they should be reimbursed by the State for all their outlay, would any Senators and Representatives vote for such reimbursement? If it were made to appear to the satisfaction of the Legislature that the manufacture and sale of these articles was injurious and against the public welfare, would not the Legisla ture give the protests of the dealers to the winds and pass the bill? The Legislature would be very likely to say to these protestants that they went into this business at their own risk, and that with legis. lators the good of the community must be the supreme consideration. I do not mention it to prejudice the case one way or the other, but the State of New York has already passed a prohibitory law as to the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, and not a dollar of reimbursement was provided for. (To be concluded.) LET us keep our scorn for our own weaknesses, our blame for our own sins, certain that we shall gain more instruction, though not amusement, by hunting out the good which is in anything than by hunting out the evil.-Kingsley. We have seen how Ahab, with the help of his wife, established idolatry in Israel, and we find from numerous indications (cf. ch. xviii. 13; xix. 10, &c.) that a severe and thorough effort was made to exterminate the worshippers of Jehovah, but the book of Kings contains no direct account of the persecution; the portion of the sacred narrative which must have contained that, as well as possibly some account of the early life of Elijah, it it ever existed, has dropped out of the text, leaving a gap between our last lesson and the beginning of the seventeenth chapter. We know that the land was full of wickedness, the fearful and licentious worship of Baal and Ashtoreth prevailed everywhere. "Elijah thought that every person had yielded to idolatry, and even God's eye saw only 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (ch. xix. 18). And now suddenly, as he appeared in his lifetime before Ahab and the children of Israel, Elijah appears before us in the narrative."-Stanley. 1. And Elijah the Tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead. The name Elijah is compounded of two divine names, and means " Jehovah, my God." -Tayler Lewis. Elijah's birthplace is extremely uncertain. He may have belonged to Manasseh, Gad or Reuben. See Deut. iv. 12 and 13. At any rate, he was of the inhabitants of Gilead, the wild hill country east of the Jordan. "They were always a wild, vigorous, fierce and lawless race, more barbarous than civilized, more Bedouin than Israelitish."-Todd. Such are the people of this district to this day; and such in dress (II Kings i. 8) fleetness and strength (II Kings xviii. 46) powers of endurance (I Kings xix. 8) and fondness for wild and especially for mountainous regions, was Elijah. He had most probably lived up to that moment in retirement, his prophetic activity beginning with this encounter with Ahab. We have an indication (James v. 17) of the sort of preparation that must have preceded it, whilst the state of the nation and its dangers burned in his soul like the fires in the heart of a volcano. There shall not be dew nor rain. Drought was one of the punishments for turning after other gods. See Deut. xi. 17; xxviii. 23; Lev. xxvi. 18, &c. The fertility of Palestine is entirely dependent upon the regularity of the rainy season and in the intervals upon the heavy dews. Deut. xxxiii. 13, 28; Ps. lxxii. 6; Hos. xiv. 5; II Sam. i. 21; Isa. v. 6, &c. 3. Elijah was now exposed to famine and death, like the other inhabitants of Canaan, and would doubtless also be execrated by the whole nation.— Krumacher. But the word of the Lord came to him saying, Turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith. Cherith means the brook of the gorge, and Elijah was to conceal himself in the thickets which no doubt filled the gorge. That is before Jordan. The word "before" sometimes means "to the east of," as in Josh. xviii. 14, but also means 66 towards," as in Gen. xviii. 16; xix. 28. The brook Cherith cannot be identified, but it is probably to be sought in the region east of the Jordan, where, indeed, Eusebius and Jerome place it. Elijah would naturally go to his own country, whose wilds and fastnesses would be perfectly familiar to him.-Spence. 5. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. This command seems like a great test of Elijah's faith; indeed, the promise which accompanied it was a very strange one. But he, who was "as if constantly in the Lord's hand," whose habitual expression was, "as the Lord liveth before whom I stand"—a slave constantly waiting to do his master's bidding-(Stanley) obeyed without hesitation. 6 6. And the ravens brought him, &c. "Thither, we are told, night and morning came the ravens that frequented that one green spot, 'the young ravens of Palestine that cry to God' Ps. cxlvii. 9) the ravens whom God feedeth, though they neither sow nor reap,' and laid their portion of bread at break of day and at fall of evening by the side of the gushing stream, and of the fresh waters of the gushing stream he drank, and life was preserved."-Stanley. 7. And it came to pass after awhile. Probably Elijah's abode in this lonely spot was nearly a year. The brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. Krummacher points out that the brook dried up from natural causes after being miraculously preserved for a time, and Elijah must have been tempted to feel that now indeed the Lord had forsaken him. Cf. Jonah iv. 8, 9. 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon. This place is now represented by an insignicant village, Surafend. It lies still, as no doubt it did then, on the high road between Tyre and Sidon. The prophet would thus be in the lion's den, in the very heart of the dominions of Ethbaal.-Pulpit Com. Ahab sought everywhere for Elijah, but he would not dream of his going into the territories of Jezebel's father, and as a peasant in the cottage of the widow he would be unsuspected.-Green. Still, had his pursuers known the ways of the Lord, how He cares for His own, the single fact of the well-being and nourishment that was in the widow's family would have put them upon the right track. But they did not know them, for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him" (Psa. xxv. 14), and with them alone. I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. The same expression occurs of the ravens, v. 4. It is not necessarily implied that God spoke directly either to the birds or the widow. 10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. It was a long and probably perilous journey for Elijah, as he must have traversed a great part of the domin ions of Ahab. But when he came, "Behold the widow woman was there." Cf. Eph. ii. 10, margin. 12. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth. She says, thy God. Probably this shows the ordiary acknowledgment of the God of another nation, and is not to be taken as proof that she believed in Jehovah herself. I have not a cake, rather loaf, the smallest kind of bread. Three of these loaves were allowed for each person for one meal (Luke xi. 5). The famine prevailed there, and she was in the last extremity. She needed Elijah much more than Elijah needed her help. 13. Make me a little cake first. This was not said from selfishness, but partly to test her faith, partly that she might have immediate opportunity of proving the truth of God's promise to her. 14. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel. In this truly Christ-like way, through the supply of her bodily needs first Elijah preached the God of Israel to this Phonician widow. Christ's comment on all this history, Lu. iv. 25, 26, brings a striking point. To none of them was Elijah sent, save to Zarephath, a city of Zidon. Stanley says, "He whose life was to be employed in protesting against the false worship of Tyre and Zidon was now to have his life preserved by one who was herself a slave of that false worship. It seems like a foretaste of Gospel times that this one gleam of a gentler light should be shed over the beginning of his firerce and stormy course." PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 1 We are responsible for obeying God and for nothing more. It is God's part to take care of the consequences. 2. The Lord sometimes calls us to confess Him and to declare His truth against apparently fearful odds, and at other times leads us into desert places, and even into absolute retirement. We can only know which course is indicated for us by listening to the voice of the Lord. Elijah was as much in God's ordering in his exile by the brook as when preaching to Ahab. 3. God reveals our way step by step. 4. It is always safe to give freely to the Lord. Our alms will not lessen, but increase our store; the heart grows rich in giving. 5. Elijah had to make good, first of all, obedience and resignation to the will of God at the brook Cherith, compassion and love at Sarepta ; then it was that he appeared in the sight of God, furnished with iron severity to judge and to punish. 'Now since thou hast learned sympathy, go hence and preach, and speak to the people' are the words to him, which Chrysostom puts into the mouth of God."-Lange. TO J. G. WHITTIER. Oh, friend beloved, unseen, but not unknown, For thy sweet songs have cheered our desert path; Not praise to thee, thou wouldst not have it so, Even as it listeth on each trembling wire, H. M. W. SUMMARY OF NEWS. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.-Advices from Europe are to the 12th inst. GREAT BRITAIN.-In the House of Commons on the 7th, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved that the Government have precedence in the business on two days of the week. The main business now should be the subjects of supply and ways and means, and a few important bills. Gladstone supported the motion, thinking it desirable to wind up the business of the session speedily. In regard to foreign policy, he believed the late Government should support the present one in the prosecution of important national aims. As to Egypt, the present Government should avoid com. mitting itself, and should be allowed time to obtain the fullest and best advice. The question of finance was most important, and nothing could be done until it was settled. On Irish affairs, he regretted that a controversial matter had been introduced. When the Liberal party proposed the coercive measure, it was accompanied by remedial measures. The Government incurred great responsibility in abolishing the Crimes act; but it was not the business of the opposition to wish the Government to fail, and if it could protect property by ordinary law, he wished it success. The motion for precedence was adopted, 151 votes to 2. The budget was introduced on the 9th on behalf of the new Government. It retains all the proposals of the previous one which were not affected by the recent votes of the House. The expenditures on account of the $55,000,000 credit exceed the $45,000,000 to which the Liberal estimate limited them. The Government proposes to issue $20,000,000 in Treasury bills to cover the deficit of the past and present years. |