he was called Esq. Hinnom-that anciently, when that ground was in the hands of the heathen, a part of it was devoted to the cruel rites of heathen worship--that at a later day the Jews devoted it to the same uses, some part of the time, and were prevented by king Josiah, who made the place offensive by conveying thither the offal of the city and having it burned-that sometimes capital punishment was inflicted there. And in another article, I will point out the New Testament usage of this word. W. E. M. OUR FOES IN THE AIR. It is a wonderful fact that the air we breathe contains foes as deadly and invisible as the malignant spirits with which ancient opinion peopled it. Most epidemics are due to these unseen enemies. To be sure, it is probable that the earth and organic bodies on the earth, and not the air, generate them. They are taken up as dust and, being little heavier than air, are long suspended in it. They are known by the general name of microbes-microspic forms of life. Only a few of the many classes of microbes are harmful, just as only a few of the millions of species of larger vegetable growth are poisonous. In 1833, an epidemic fever, characterized by great depression, inflamation of the bronchial tubes and lungs, and by an incessant cough, swept over the world from east to west. Its advent was sudden, and in most cases the person was well again in less than a fortnight. It was quite fatal, however, to the aged and the weak. This was the famous influ enza. The same malady has repeated its ravages, sometimes over extensive tracts of country, sometimes only locally, many times since the Middle Ages. If it is of microbic origin, as is probable, what inconceivable swarms of microbes must have filled the air! Of course, no precaution could avail, except the habitual maintenance of high health and good hygienic conditions. Malaria is due to microbes, which reach their victims.either from the air, by inhalation, or from drinking water which has absorbed them. Boil the water, avoid the night air, sleep in the higher rooms of the house, and guard against all excesses. Typhoid fever is caused by microbes from the discharges of a previous patient, which either have found actess to drinking water, or have been taken up dried into the air. Microbes flourish in all kinds of moist filth. The chief safeguard is general cleanliness, the boiling of all suspected water, and ample ventilation and sunshine. Diptheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough and measles, are due to microbes given off from the skin or breath of the patient. They either float in the air of the room, or become attached to the furniture, walls and bedding. Avoid infected rooms and persons. Attendants should keep their stomachs in an active condition with digestible food, but should not overload them. Most microbes are digested and rendered harmless by a vigorous stomach. The surest prophylactics-as preventives are called-are high health, cleanliness, abundance of air and sunshine, the boiling of water and milk, and the avoidance of whatever depresses the physical system-loss of sleep, protracted watching and all and cheerful courage.Youth's Companion. excesses NEATNESS and its reverse, among the poor, are almost a certain test of their moral worth. GOD'S REST. It is the evening hour And thankfully Father, thy weary child Has come to Thee. I lean my aching head Upon thy breast, And there, and only there I am at rest. Thou knowest all my life Each petty sin; Nothing is hid from thee Without, within. All that I have or am To-morrow's dawn may find REV. JOHN WILLIS. GODLINESS PROFITABLE. "For bodily exercise profiteth little; but Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 1 Timothy 4: 8. The first clause of the text seems to disparage bodily exercise, and yet, a proper healthful bodily exercise needs to be earnestly commended to mankind. Paul in another place says, "he that will not work, neither should he eat." Without bodily exercise man could not exist, hence, bodily exercise is as essential as bodily existence. Evidently it was not against exercise in this sense, that Paul spoke in the text, that he characterized as of little profit, but of bodily exercise connected with religious rites and ceremonies. "Genuflexions of the body were much easier than the discipline of the passions, and the pavement beneath the image could easier be worn by the bended knees, than the heart be made pure in its affections and holy in its desires." And now to the comparison, "but Godliness is profitable unto all things." Being God-like, or being to the extent of human possibility, like God, morally resembling God, "is profitable unto all things." "Godliness," confers a good, and imparts a beauty to everything. Oh yes, it is true that "Godliness is profitable unto all things "—it makes everything better, happier and more beautiful. "God is love," God is good, the all good, the infinitely good, the one altogether lovely. There can be no other greatness like that of adoring him, of harmony with his goodness, of concord with his will. This harmony with God, this God-likeness, is not only within man's power of attainment, but they are the very end of his being, and in no other destiny can we find rest and joy. The life promised in the text is a life of happiness, spiritual life, a joyous Christian life. Godliness does have and always will have its priv ileges, a life that is pleasant and profitable at all times and in all places. But "tribulation and anguish rests upon every soul of man that doeth evil--the way of the transgression is hard, there is no peace saith my God, to the wicked." Surely then it is worth while to live soberly, righteously and Godly in this world, that we may enjoy the present life as well as its many blessings. The Bible teaches the resurrection of the dead, of all mankind—to a life immortal, incorruptible and heavenly --yet it is true that none but the Godly, the true Christian believer, has the promise of the life which is to come. Through faith the Godly enjoy this promise, through faith he lays hold on the hope set before him. No one but the believer now enjoys this promise, and no one will ever participate in it but the Godly, hence, all that are not now Godly must re main destitute of such enjoyment until they become Godly, and then the extent of the enjoyment will always be commensurate and only proportionate to the extent and measure of the Godliness attained. Godliness alone has the promise of a happy life; this is true, in all worlds-Godliness alone is life, is heaven in all places, at all timesungodliness is death is hell. There is no saving influence or power in death, but it removes the soul from this world of temptation, from all fleshly lust, and it is translated where the white light of heaven can and will shine upon it, to attract it to Godly attainment-where "come unto me all ye weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest," will be heard, to attract, to win, till the Saviour who was lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto him. 66 Happiness is not to be a stream of pleasure flowing in upon us whilst we resign ourselves to indolent repose," either in this world or the next. "The happiness of heaven is activity. It is power. It is clear and bright thought, the love of truth, and the love of right. It is strengthening friendship and efficient charity. It is consecration of every energy to God-the perception of beauty in all his works the offering up of gratitude and praise for ever new and multiplying proofs of his goodness. The happiness of heaven is moral and religious principle, diffusing itself through and perfecting all our faculties and energies. It consists in conforming our minds to the supreme mind. We know nothing of a future life, unless we hear proceeding from it a voice of benediction that warms and welcomes and leads us to enter now that purity, charity, holiness, peace and joy which are the bliss of heaven." B. HUNT. THE TRUTH AT ALL HAZARDS. Some time after the beginning of the present century there was living, in a busy country town in the North, a pious couple who had an only son. For this son they daily prayed to God, and what they asked in their prayers was that God would enable them to lay in his young heart, among the first lessons he should learn, the love of all things honest and good. So the foundations of an upright life were laid in the boy's heart, and among these, very especially, a regard for uprightness and truth. In the course of years the boy's school-days were ended, and also his apprenticeship to a business life in the country town; and, as there was no prospect for him there, he came up to England, to one of the great seaports, and by-and-by he got a good position in a merchant's office. He was greatly pleased with his new office, and wrote to his father and mother that Provideuce had been very kind and had opened up to him an excellent place. But he was not long in this excellent place before he was put to the test in a very painful way with respect to the lesson he had received about truth. It was part of the business of that office to have ships coming and going. And it was the rule when the ship came into the port that its captain sent word to the office. that he had arrived and was waiting instructions where to discharge the cargo, and it was the duty of the manager of the office to send back instructions to the captain where and when this was to be done. A few months after this little lad from the North came to the office a ship laden with coal came in, and the usual message from the captain came; but, somehow or other, no answer was sent back to him. The captain waited a week, but still no word came back. Now, that was very hard on the captain. Until the ship got free of its cargo it had to lie idle in the dock, and all who belonged to the ship were kept idle too. So at the end of a week the captain sent word to the office that his ship had been kept so long waiting for instructions where to discharge its cargo that it had missed a good offer of a new cargo, and the office would have to pay him for the loss. The payment was called "demurrage.” When the manager of the office got this message from the captain he was very angry. He thought he had sent instructions where to discharge the cargo, or he made himself believe he had sent them. At any rate, he sent for the little lad from the North and said to him, "Didn't I send you down to Capt. Smith with instructions to discharge his coal?" The little lad said, "No, sir, I do not remember being sent down." "Oh, but I did," answered the manager. "You have forgotten." And there for a time, so far as the office was concerned, the matter was allowed to rest. But the captain did not intend to rest there. He applied for his demurrage. And when that was refused, and his word that he had received no instructions was disbelieved, he took the master of the office to law. And by-and-by his complaint came before judges in a court of law. The day before the trial the manager came to the little lad from the North and said to him, " Mind, I sent you to the dock with those instructions to discharge the coal." "But, I assure you, I cannot remember your doing so," said the lad. "Oh, yes, but I did. You have forgotten." It was a great trouble to the lad. He had never been sent to the dock. He could not say he had been sent, and he foresaw that he would have to say before the judges what would certainly offend the manager and lead to the loss of his place. On the morning of the trial he went to the court. The manager came up to him and said, "Now our case depends on you. Remember I sent you to the dock with the instructions to discharge the coal.” The poor lad tried once more to assure the manager that he was mistaken, but he would not listen. "It is all right," he said hastily. "I sent you on such a day, and you have got to bear witness that I did, and see you say it clearly." After a little while he was called into the witness-box, and almost the first question put to him was whether he remembered the day when Capt. Smith's ship came in. And then this: "You remember during that day being sent by the manager of the office to the dock with a letter for the captain?" "No, sir," your day?" "I was not, sir." "Nor next day?" "Nor any other day?" The gentleman who put the question was a barrister. He had been engaged by the manager to win the case for them. But when he heard the little lad's replies he saw that the manager was in the wrong, and he turned to the judge and said, "My lord, I give up this case. My instructions were that this witness would prove that a message to discharge had been sent to Capt. Smith, and it is plain no such proof is to be got from him.” So the case ended in the captain's favor and against the office in which the little lad had found so excellent a place. He went to his lodgings with a sorrowful heart and wrote to his father and mother that he was sure to be dismissed. Then he packed his trunk to be ready to go home next day, and in the morning, expecting nothing but his dismissal, he went early to the office. The first to come in after him was the master. He stopped for a moment at the little lad's desk and said, "We lost our case yesterday." "Yes, sir," answered the lad, "and I am very sorry I had to say what I did." By-and-by the manager came in, and after a little time he was sent for to the master's room. It was a long while before he came out. The little lad was sent for. "I am going to be dismissed," he thought to himself. But he was not dismissed. The master said to him, naming him, "I was angry yesterday, but not with you. You did right to speak the truth; and to mark my approval of what you did, I am going to put you in charge of all the workings and sales of our Glenfardle mine." Then he sent for the manager and told what he had said, and added, "And the young man will make his reports direct to me." In six months after the manager left the office; and, young though he was, the little lad was appointed to his place. And before as many years had passed he was admitted as junior partner in the firm, and he is now at the head of the entire business—the managing partner. Truth was the best. But I want to say that, if things had turned out other than they did and he had been dismissed, it would still have been best for him to speak the truth.— Sunday Magazine. IMMORTALITY. some Men say, "We may see reasons for belieivng in immortality but we cannot know it." Suppose some one should say to your little boy, "Your father is very kind to you while you are with him, but he does not care whether you live or die. If you should fall into the sea from a boat, he would not put out his hand to save your life." The boy would answer, "I know better. I know that he would." The child would know it; it would be no mere probability. And shall we say of God, Yes! He is our Father while we are here. He is an ever-present friend, in whom we live and move and breathe. He has formed us with these wonderful powers by which we can know him and love him. He has educated us by the long experience of life, by the benignant glory of nature, by the far-reaching lessons of history, by the teaching of all the wise and good, by the love of all the dear and true, and then he will let us drop into nothing after these few years of earthly experience. He will let us fall back into the abyss of annihilation, while we are yet advancing in thought, aspiration, hope; our real life hardly begun, our reason but half developed, our best powers in their infantile stage of development: and will you tell me that I do not know the contrary, but only conjecture it? If I really know God as my Father, I know that he will not let me go, he will keep his child safe. Jesus has revealed the deepest mysteries of Divine love? To him alone it was given to show to mankind that within all other gifts is this "unspeakable gift" of love. Jesus brings God's love to all, not to the |