by aiding them pecuniarily as well as in other ways.

Afterward, from the church he has gathered, and to which he has so long ministered, sixty persons have been sent to the various parts of the mission field. Again, he has been permitted by prayer and faith, in these later years, to assist hundreds of other missionaries both to get to their chosen spheres and to help them in their active service.

Referring to Mr. Müller's personal appearance Dr. Pierson further writes:

George Muller was born on September 27, 1805, and is consequently, as has been noticed, in his ninety-first year. He is hale and hearty, quite erect, in good state of preservation, and said to me, that he was never better in health or more able to endure the strain of daily work than now. He may be found day after day, in his office in "No. 3" of the great orphanages on Ashley Down, and his hair is not more gray than that of many a man of fifty, while his eye is bright, and his vigor even greater than it was sixty years ago; and the same serenity of God is on his face as of old-in fact, his dear face and form both wear an aspect of habitual repose, so long has he known the perfect peace of God.

AN IMPRESSIVE FUNERAL.

A correspondent of the Christian gives the following description of the simple, but impressive funeral procession which accompanied the remains to its last resting place:

As might have been expected, there was a total absence of display in either coffin, hearse, or coaches-such would have been contradictory of all Mr. Müller's life and practice. A plain light oak coffin enclosed in a black hearse, no flowers (by request), and, happily,

none of the funeral trappings which so often mar the simplicity of the burial of the dead.

Three coaches immediately followed; next, a long train of orphan children, clad in their quaint attire, and extending for something like half a mile; then between twenty and thirty carriages filled with mourning friends who had been more or less intimately associated with the deceased. Fortunately, the clouds and rain which had appeared in the early morning had disappeared; and the heavens, having as it were, shed their tearful tribute, now poured genial sunshine upon the scene.

And what a scene it was! Dense crowds lined the entire route, as it led through the heart of the city, which thus had an opportunity to show its respect for the man of God who, for sixty-six years, had lived and moved in its midst. Very touching were the tokens of the esteem in which his memory was held by all classes. All traffic was stopped; many churches (from the Cathedral downwards) displayed flags half-mast high; clergy and ministers stood hatless in their forecourts, and many another head was bare as the procession pursued its sorrowful course. Scarcely a house of business but had its blinds drawn or shutters partly up, not accepting many a public house; and lorries and brewers' drays held their quota of burly sympathizers. At one point a contingent of the town band played the "Dead March." Windows were thronged; cab whips had their bow of crape; and tear-filled eyes were to be seen on all sides, not only of women but of many a well-dressed man of business or a stalwart son of toil. Who knows how many deeds of kindness and words of loving cheer those weeping hearts recalled?

"Bristol has never had such a funeral in my time," said one to me who knew the city well. "It may not be called a 'public' funeral, but look at it! Truly the whole city is moved."' And the reason was not far to seek. It lay in a life of simple-hearted devotion to man, and to the God who made him.

In view of the coming four hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of Savonarola, which is to be commemorated in Florence on the 23d of May, special interest is being awakened in his life and times. An exceedingly interesting sketch of his life is given in an article by Rev. G. H. Giddins, Secretary of the Evangelical Continental Society, beginning in the May Missionary Review of the World and to be concluded in the June number. The evils

in church and state of Savonarola's day have become a byword and the very name of the then reigning pope, Roderigo Borgia, is associated with all that is evil. The corruption in the church aroused the fiery eloquence of the

Dominican monk and he fearlessly denounced the highest officials of the church, not excepting the pope himself. Of his personal appearance, Mr. Giddins gives us the following description:

"Of middle stature, with ruddy face and fair hair, and with a bold, broad forehead, deeply plowed with furrows. His eyes, deep blue, were filled at times with fire. A large, aquiline nose, denoting strength, and quivering under lip, betokening nervous force and passion, held with difficulty in check. Of upright mien, grave, gentle, and yet with features sufficiently mobile as to display an endless variety of aspect and play of all the passions. A man of inflexible will, a staunch republican in politics, with an enthusiasm that readily

glowed to a white heat, and which easily overleaped the barriers dividing it from sheer fanaticism. He seems to have been possessed of just that ensemble of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual qualities that endow a man with the power of fascinating and compelling men. Whatever else he may have been, there was an ever-predominating air about him that made men instinctively to know that a real man was before them, one who believed all he said, one who saw deeper into the hearts of things than others, and one who was ready not only to do battle for his convictions, but to die, if need be, in defense of them."

For a somewhat more comprehensive article

on this same subject we would refer our readers to Dr. John Lord's "Beacon Lights of History," in which he compares Savonarola with that other and more successful reformer, Martin Luther, who was soon to succeed him in his work of reformation. In this articleor more properly lecture, Dr. Lord points to the significant fact that Savonarola failed in diagnosing the prevalent evils and never perceived their real causes; but to Luther the causes of the evil abuses were perfectly clear, and he struck at once at the very heart of the evil by claiming liberty of thought and conscience.

Among the many problems that confront our statesmen not the least difficult of solution is the race question. No one who is not familiar with the existing conditons can realize their gravity and many of our ablest and best leaders have been at a loss to know how to meet the questions they impose. But in the Tuskegee School, of which Mr. Booker T. Washington is the able president, it would seem that the colored people are themselves doing more to remove the present evils than any other agency.

In the New York Observer for March 31st, Mr. John B. Devins has a most interesting article on the valuable work of this school which we trust will be widely read by all who are interested in the welfare of the Southland. The occasion of the writer's visit to Tuskegee was the dedication of a new chapel; but the greater part of the article is devoted to the purposes and administration of the school itself. Speaking of the industrial features of the school and its practical value to the students as illustrated in the recent erection of the chapel, he says:

"While all of the money for the material of the new chapel, and its furnishings, with the large organ, was sent from New York, and was limited only by the need, the labor was performed almost entirely by the students. There are 1,200,000 bricks in the structure. Every one was made on the school grounds by students learning the trade of brick-making; the entire mason work was done by students pursuing the course in masonry. The lumber was cut at the saw-mill on the grounds. The woodwork is yellow pine with hard oil

finish, and the floor is oak, as well as the mouldings, casings and caps which were put in position by the young men, who are soon to go out to earn their living as carpenters.

"More than that, all of the drawing, specifications, etc., were made by R. R. Taylor, instructor in architectural and mechanical drawing; the brick was made by students, under the care of Wm. Gregory, a Tuskegee graduate, who has charge of the brick-making department; the brick-masonry and plastering were done by students under the direction of J. M. Greene, the instructor in these departments; the painting and oil finishing were done by students under the guidance of J. C. Green, instructor in house and carriage painting: the woodwork was done under the supervision of Wm. Watkins, of Montgomery; the steam plant for heating purposes was made and set up by H. E. Thomas and the boys under him in the foundry, plumbing and machine departments; the electric lighting was introduced by A. U. Craig, the electrical engineer and the boys of that department; while the general supervisor of the whole construction was J. H. Washington, the Superintendent of Industries, and a brother of the Principal of the School. All of the instructors in every department are colored men and women.

The Tuskegee method is to allow students to acquire a knowledge of their several trades while working on the buildings; they pay their board and get their education at the same time. This is especially helpful to those who find themselves unable to pay any part of their tuition. In the present matter, for instance, the money given for the chapel has en

wagon-making,

brick-making,

blacksmithing, printing, carpentering, turning out and repairing machinery, sawing lumber, and mason work. Others were at work on the farm. The work for young women includes laundering, domestic science, in the line of housekeeping, cooking and nurse training, such fine arts as dressmaking, plain sewing in all of its forms, and millinery.

"Some of the students were busy with the dairy herd, which consists of fifty-eight milch Cows.

The department furnishes the institution and the people in the neighborhood with all the milk and butter that they use. It has three separators of different makes, and a large variety of churns. The dairy is run on scientific principles, both as to feeding and caring for the stock, and separating the milk and making the butter and cheese. There are twenty-six male pupils receiving instruction daily both scientific and practical-in this department, and its aim is turn out persons who are able to take charge of a first-class dairy.

"Truck gardening is taught very extensively, also horticulture. The institution aims, as far as possible, to supply itself with vegetables, fruits, etc., raised on its own farm. From two to three crops are raised on all of its land. Besides the plats that are used for truck gardening, the Institute owns an eight hundred acre farm about four miles from the School site, where the grain for feeding stock, sweet potatoes, peas and sugar-cane are raised on a large scale. In fact, nearly all of the syrup used in the institution is raised on this farm.

"All of the pupils who enter the institution are compelled to take some line of industry in one of the several trades; agriculture, office work or something that will put them in a position to earn an honest living after leaving it.

"Mr. Washington looks with pardonable pride upon the work of his graduates, several of whom are filling positions of trust, many are teaching school, some are preaching and the bulk of the thousands who have gone from Tnskegee in the last seventeen years are doing well. He follows them up, so far as possible, giving them good advice and helping them in various ways. He believes that the pressing need of the South today is better preachers among the colored people. The prevailing custom is for an exhorter to talk Sundays and visit during the week, spending the bulk of his time in idleness. The Tuskegee trained men will know more about the Bible, and also how to cultivate a potato patch, thus being examples to their congregation in industries as well as piety, their president thinks their piety will be of a higher grade if they earn their living and do less visiting."

Thoughts for Seedtime.

REV. C. G. HAGARD.

The Spirit is given to those who ask, for regeneration; to those who obey, for character; to those who wait, for power.

Who will not come to Christ because it is hard, will not come because it is easy. The darkest problem for God is an unregretful life.

To love our neighbor is a good thing and a necessary thing, but it is a secondary thing. Consider how far the wise men traveled, and at what cost and peril, to worship.

The Christian, like the metal charged with heat, is radiant from the first, but glorious only at last.

Virtue hides in benevolence as colors do in a sunbeam.

Hero-worship will cease when the heroes

obscure themselves.

Woe unto the man who has mercy upon himself!

God has never left Himself without a definite and clear witness to the truths upon which the well-being of humanity is based. In the first chapter of John's gospel, verses 4 and 5, we read: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." The Revised Version has altered the word "comprehend" to "apprehend"; and I am not perfectly sure that it has made the passage more luminous by the alteration. The idea of the verse is not, that the darkness was not able to understand the light; but that the darkness never succeeded in overtaking and extinguishing the light. "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not," that is-did not apprehend, overtake, or put out. There have been times, in the history of man, when it has seemed as though the whole world has been given over to darkness; but it has never really been so. The light of God has ever been shining. Elijah once said, in the agony of his disappointed spirit: "I, even I, only, am left," and God said to him: "I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal." Thus in every successive age, when it has seemed for a while as though God were beaten out of His own world, and black and impenetrable darkness had completely overpowered the light, that has only been the false vision of men and women who have not been able to inclose, at once glance, the divine horizon. Somewhere or other, although it may not have been discernible to the ordinary vision, the light has still been burning.

It was so in the days of Malachi. Notwithstanding all the fearful darkness that had settled upon the nation, God had His own people, His Elect Remnant, and through them the light still shone; and witness was still borne, to the great truths and principles upon which all the divine activity is based for the wellbeing of man. It is on the shining of the divine light, in that dark period of the history of the ancient people of God, that we shall now fix our attention. We shall consider firstly the

Elect Remnant as it is revealed in these verses; then we shall notice the divine attitude towards that Remnant, and lastly, hear the divine word spoken concerning them.

་་

I. THE ELECT REMNANT.

"THEN' they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." Right in the midst of that day; when the nation, considered as a whole, had passed into the region of life characterized by their perfect self-satisfaction, and by the fact, moreover, that they brought no satisfaction to the divine heart;-God pronounces His complaint against them, and they, almost speechless with incredulity, look into His face, and say "Wherein?" Then there existed a feeble, yet faithful few, who were the light-bearers of God.

Let us notice, in the first place, the character of this Elect Remnant: "They that feared." At the close of the 16th verse of the third chapter that first fact is not only repeated but emphasized by the addition of another: "They that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name." We have here a revelation of the character of these people, which is full of interest, and of meaning. "They feared the Lord, and thought upon His name."

Let us take the first part of that description. If you turn back to the sixth verse of the first chapter, you will find that in the opening note of the divine complaint the prophet said: “A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master; if, then, I be a Father, where is Mine honor, and if I be a Master, where is My fear?" Now, here is a company that have "feared the Lord" and have "thought upon His name, so that amid all the mass of people who had lost the sense of their fear to their Master, there was an Elect Remnant, a select few, a certain number, who not only called Him "Master," but also feared Him. The thought of fear is linked, then, with the word Master and with all that that word implies. If you speak of a master you at once think of a servant, and while the relationship of the master to the servant is that of authority, and will, and guidance, the relation of the servant to the