NEBRASKA-Hastings-Niles, 38 cts. burn, 3 73; Lincoln, 43 04.

NEW JERSEY.-Corisco-Bata, 1; Batanga, 1; Benita, 2; Corisco, 2; Evune, 1; Gaboon, 2; Ogove, 2. ElizabethBasking Ridge, 33 73; Plainfield 1st sab-sch., 25. Morris and Orange-Morristown South St., 48 54; Orange 1st, 75. Newark-Lyon's Farms, 2; Newark 6th, 10; Newark Park, 35. New Brunswick-Amwell 1st, 8; New Brunswick 1st, 25 77. Newton-Phillipsburg, 5; Phillipsburg Westminster, West Jersey-Bridgeton 2d, 12; Cedarville 1st, 6 83.

5 10.

332 97 NEW YORK.-Albany-Esperance, 6: Gloversville, 26 14. Binghamton-Nichols, 2 50; Smithville Flats, 3 66. Brooklyn -Brooklyn Grace, 5; Brooklyn Trinity sab-sch., 5 37. Chemung-Watkins, 22. Genesee-Leroy, 18. Geneva-Phelps, 4 50, sab-sch., 25; West Fayette, 2. Hudson-Chester, 29 89; Florida 1st, 17 80; Goodwill, 81 cts. Lyons-Lyons, 17 04. Nassau-Islip (sab-sch., 3), 15. New York-New York Fifth Ave., 100; New York Phillips, 46 80. North River-Newburg Calvary, 15 02; Poughkeepsie, 4 50. Rochester-Brockport, 2, Rochester Westminster sab-sch., 7 90. SteubenAngelica sab-sch., 14 06; Painted Post, 7. Syracuse-Lenox sab-sch., 11 36; Syracuse Park Central, 21 62. Troy-Troy 9th, 40; Troy Woodside, 39 61. Utica-Utica 1st, 32 79. Westchester-Port Chester, 120; Rye, 36; Thompsonville, 24.

594 57 2.00

NORTH DAKOTA.-Bismarck-Steele, OHIO.-Athens - Athens, 6. Bellefontaine-Bellefontaine, 134; Bucyrus, 73 cts. Cincinnati--Avondale, 32 89; Cincinnati Cumminsville, 6 51; Cincinnati Walnut Hills, 91 97; Cincinnati Westminster, 25. Cleveland-Cleveland 1st, 15 15; Guilford, 6 44. Columbus-Central Coliege, 5 20; Groveport, 1 20. Dayton-Dayton 4th, 21; Springfield 1st, 33. LimaShanes Crossing sab-sch., 3. Mahoning-Poland, 4 40. Marion-Liberty, 3; Mt. Gilead, 7 10; West Berlin, 2 30. Maumee-Delta, 3 50; Toledo Westminster, 14 61. PortsmouthJackson, 4. St. Clairsville-Concord, 3; Nottingham, 12 90; Washington, 2; West Brooklyn, 2. Steubenville-Carrollton, 8; Hopedale, 4; Irondale, 3 47. Wooster-Ashland, 9 17; Doylestown, 5; Marshallville, 1; Orrville, 3 75; Savannah, 9 75.

352 38

PACIFIC.-Sacramento-Fowler, 1. San Francisco-Oakland 1st, 57 65; San Francisco Westminster (sab-sch., 7 05), 18 35. 77.00

PENNSYLVANIA.-Allegheny-Allegheny Providence, 31 50; Bakerstown, 5 50; Evans City, 4; Fairmount, 3; Hilands, 12. Blairsville-Braddock, 10 80; Congruity, 4 50; Cross Roads, 6; Fairfield, 9 06; Turtle Creek, 1 55; Unity, 17 25. Butler-Scrub Grass, 11; Summit, 5. Carlisle-Carlisle 1st, 22 51; Mercersburg, 16 50; Petersburg, 4. Chester-Bryn Mawr, 73; Chester 1st, 10; Christiana, 4; Downingtown Central, 7; Marple, 8 72; Clarion-Beech Woods, 13 80; Oil City 2d, 1 50. Erie-Edinboro', 6; Fairfield, 6; Girard, 7 42; Hadley, 2; Meadville 1st, 7; Sandy Lake, 8; Springfield, 4;

[August.

Stoneboro', 2. Huntingdon-Altoona 1st, 34 30; Altoona 3d,
5 61; Birmingham, 4 81; Lewistown, 5 76; Lost Creek, 7 75;
Lower Spruce Creek, 10; Pine Grove, 6 36. Kittanning-
West Glade Run, 10. Lackawanna-Archbald, 5; Honesdale,
18 52; Rushville, 3; Scott, 2; Stevensville, 4. Northumber-
land-Bald Eagle and Nittany, 8 45; Beech Creek, 2 50; Ly-
coming, 12. Philadelphia-Philadelphia 3d sab-sch., 40;
Philadelphia Chambers Miss. Soc., 25; Philadelphia Evan-
gelical, 15. Philadelphia Central-Philadelphia Cohocksink
(sab-sch., 11 95), 45 11; Philadelphia Columbia Ave., 7 39;
Philadelphia Olivet, 50; Philadelphia Princeton, 151 03.
Philadelphia North-Ann Carmichael, 2; Macalester Mem-
orial, 180. Pittsburgh-Amity, 3; Cannonsburg, 9 38; Centre,
15; McKee's Rock, 9; Montours, 5; Mt. Washington, 7 66;
Pittsburgh 2d, 5 95; Pittsburgh 3d. 161 82; Pittsburgh East
Liberty, 30; Pittsburgh Shady Side, 9; Valley, 8 27. She-
nango-Hopewell, 7; Leesburg, 5; Little Beaver, 2 69; Rich
Hill, 10; Sharon, 7; Westfield, 9. Washington-Burgetts-
town, 30; Claysville, 15 90; Upper Ten Mile, 10; Wheeling
3d, 8. Wellsboro-Coudersport, 5 56. Westminster-Leacock,
6 39; Marietta, 10; York Calvary, 12 34. West Virginia-
Newburg sab-sch., 8 04.
1213 00
TENNESSEE.-Holston-Mt. Bethel sab-sch., 3. Kingston-
Bethel, 2; Wartburg, 24 cts. Union-New Providence, 6 40;
Washington, 3.

UTAH.-Utah-Monroe sab-sch.,
WISCONSIN.-Milwaukee-Stone Bank, 3 20.
Marshfield, 6 25; Omro, 4.

Total from the churches, May, 1889.

Total from Sabbath-schools, May, 1889.....

14 64 3 60

Winnebago

13 45

$2,955 97 196 74

Total from churches and Sabbath-schools, May, 1889.......

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mary H. Sheek, Reading, Pa., 2 76; Interest from Trustees, 1.12; Rev. Lyman B. Crittenden, Belgrade, Montana, 2; Mary M. Edwards, Youngstown, Ohio, 2; "A friend," New Park, Pa., 6; Miss Mary Vauce, Rome, Ga., 5: "Tithe money" from a friend, Auburn, N. Y., 25; Geo. H. Laflin, First ch., of Chicago, Ill., 20; Asbury sab-sch., Whitewood, Dak., 1520; Rev. W. Lyttel, Taymouth, Mich., 50 ets.; Elm Central sab-sch., Neb., 3; Lebanon sab-sch., Neb., 4; Joseph Brown (Missionary), Wis., 6; E. E. Sanders, Fargo, Dak., 5; Sab-sch., Wertz, Neb., 10; Norton sab-sch., Cal.. 1; Wadesboro' sab-sch., N. C., 44 cts.; George F. Ayres, Neb., 50 cts.; 0. S. Thornberry, Dak., 50 cts.; Rev. W. L. Tarbet and wife, 93 cts.; Society Princeton Theo. Sem., 796; "C.," Penna., 1; J. B. Davidson, Newville, Pa., 10; Interest, J. C. Green Fund, 125; F. E. Duncan, Union Falls, N. Y., 60 cts.....

Total receipts for May, 1889.....
Amount previously acknowledged...

Total contributions since April 1, 1889.

$3,152 71

255 51

$3,408 22

6,005 40 $9,413 62 C. T. MCMULLIN, Treasurer, 1334 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

The merchants of Chinatown have heard of the Johnstown disaster and have contributed their share to the relief of the suvivors. Tom Lee explained the matter to them, and at a mass meeting at the Chinese municipal hall a subscription was opened. Here is a list of some of the subscribers: Tuck High, $15; Tom Lee, $50; Sang Chong, $15; Sinn Quang On,

$15; Kwong Hing Lung, $15; Kwong Chin Cheon, $15; Yuet Sing, $10; Yuen Kee, $10; Wo Kee, $15; Ju Young Keau, $2; Wong Chin Foo, $3; Wing Wah Chong, $15; Jow Shing Pong, $3; Ham Lum Chin, $3; Mai Li Wa, 82; Kwong Yin Lung, $15; Quong Lung Yuen, $15, and Ung Wah, $10.—Sun, New York.

Under the city of Jerusalem, in the hill of rock on which it is built, is an extensive cavern, made by quarrying stones which have been used in building. The present entrance to it is through a hole under the northern wall, not far from the Damascus Gate. We crawled through this holefour of us—and crept down a considerable incline, and soon reached a large open space, made by the excavations, in which we could walk erect, and in some parts look up to the irregular ceiling far above our heads. The floor was by no means level; in some places we had to make our way around or over irregular masses of stone; and the dim light from the small candles, of which each of us carried one, gave a weird appearance to the whole subterranean scene. It was quite like walking about in the depths of a coal mine, where large spaces have been made empty by the removal of the coal, or groping about in a large natural cave.

At one place we came into a wide chamber, on the farther wall of which the light of our candles enabled us to read an inscription which some previous explorer or visitor had printed. It was in large letters such as would be used for the sign over a shop, or in printing the name of a ship upon her side or stern, easily read a long way off. That inscription was, GOD IS LOVE.

It was a happy thought-did not God

himself prompt it?-to print those words there in that gloomy cavern, where even the small light which every visitor must have to bring him there will enable him distinctly to see them.

There you are, in the hole of the rock, out of which have been quarried the stones of those marvellous walls and buildingsbuildings and walls so many times thrown down and rebuilt, by the edicts of hostile or of friendly monarchs, in fulfillment of Jehovah's threats and promises.

"That ancient city, queen of Israel,

Joy of all the earth, the home of holy song,
from age to age her God

Had sent his servants forth, and they
Had knelt in sackcloth at her gates, and shed
Their tears and groaned their prayers along her

streets;

And pined away within her prison walls,
And poured their reeking blood upon her soil.
And, last of all, the Prince of Glory came,
Disowned, rejected, scorned, his name cast out,
His claims disputed and his work despised.
Yet on he labored, toiled and fainted not,
He wept, he prayed, he groaned, he bled, he died.
But, ere they led him forth, a prayer they said,
On us and on our offspring be the guilt
Of all his blood-Oh, damning prayer!
'Twas answered soon-'tis answered yet-
A lasting curse deep branded on the brow
Of Judah's scattered children."

Not only in that dim cave will such expressive, if not elegant, verse be recalled from childhood's memorizing, but no less vividly when, standing or sitting upon the

slope of Olivet, you know yourself to be near the spot from which the pitying Saviour looked and wept over the doomed city, whose children he would fain have gathered into safety even as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings. Your heart aches as you recall those words and remember how cruelly the Roman eagle and the Turkish fox have fulfilled their plaintive foreboding.

There are dim and dark caverns left beneath the grandest structures and monuments of human history. There are hollow caves of mystery beneath the foundations of the grandest systems which human thought has constructed. Going down into these, and groping your way, you will surely find many an unshaped block on

[September,

which the builders of systems have battered their hammers in vain attempts to quarry them, and many a crevice over which you lean and drop your questioning pebbles into a depth from which no sound comes back to your listening ear.

"We have a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.”

The candle of the Lord, the Bible, does not fill all yawning spaces of speculation so as fully to reveal their contents, but it sheds light enough before you to show your path of duty and of eternal safety, and to enable you to read upon every steep and rugged wall of experience, of memory and of expectation, in plain and bold inscription, in large and legible letters, GOD IS LOVE.

"New York city is a wonder; but western New York is a greater wonder." These words were spoken by Daniel Webster to the people of Auburn, in one of their streets, when their patriotic admiration of him had constrained him to halt there and speak to them, on his last tour through the empire state. If it is supposable that the utterance had in it a touch of the complimentary conciliation with which a political orator would be apt to salute a welcoming popular audience, it is hardly probable that any one living outside of the metropolis will regard it as very extravagant.

To such a thoughtful observer, who had watched the growth of the city from the moderate town on Manhattan Island which he knew in his boyhood, and had known that then the western half of the state was an unbroken wilderness inhabited by wolves and savages, it is not strange that his journey through it made such an impression upon him.

If the nearly two-score years since Web

ster's voice became silent have doubled the metropolitan marvel, the rural and urban development of western New York has not lagged behind. The lovely village in which the great orator spoke those pleasant words, now a thriving city, has more than quadrupled its population, its business and its wealth; Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Elmira and Binghamton have made not less notable progress; and a host of towns and villages have enjoyed proportionate growth and improvement, while orchards and fields and vineyards have grown more beautiful and fruitful, under culture that illustrates the increasing intelligence of the people, and has multiplied the number of their commodious, wholesome and unmortgaged homes. Such thoughts are suggested by a recent visit to that beautiful region. I find them pleasant thoughts, in a July evening, homeward bound, and tarrying for a night at the highest point in my journey over Pennsylvania mountains.

The famous traveller Bayard Taylor,

when taken to the top of Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, having attentively surveyed the landscape, remarked, "I have travelled some; and for quiet beauty, I remember but one landscape superior to this." Another, who had travelled some, on hearing of Mr. Taylor's flattering remark, suggested the probability of his having made a similar remark at a good many other places. Obviously that may have been so, with perfect justice to each view in succession. Still easier is it to understand how one so susceptible and appreciative may in utmost sincerity have felt, at the time of beholding it, that each one of a score of landscapes was the most beautiful he had ever

seen.

Having travelled some since western New York ceased to be my home, able now to hold clearly in my mind's eye many lovely landscapes, in many states of our Union and many countries beyond seas, I never return to western New York and pass among its lakes, its farms, its homes, without recalling Webster's words and feeling them true.

At Clifton Springs, the other day, a lady who had lately gone down the Cayuga Lake, from Ithaca, upon a steamer, compared that trip to one she had enjoyed upon the Bosphorus. Perhaps she would have that impression even deepened by a similar trip upon the Seneca; and if she shall see the Keuka, the Canandaigua, the Owasco, the Skaneateles, the Cazenovia and the Oneida, if she shall visit Watkins Glen, Trenton and Genesee Falls and grand Niagara, will she remember any region of any other continent more worthy of admiration?

My own enjoyment of all this loveliness, whenever it is under my eyes, is even enhanced by the fact that so often, in other states and other lands, I have viewed landscapes than which, while I viewed them, I could not feel that any I had elsewhere

195

seen were more beautiful. After all, the transcendent wonder is that this world is everywhere so beautiful, in spite of all that waste and war and tyranny and sin have done to mar it.

A hundred years ago, and through the antecedent centuries, western New York was a wonder of natural beauty, and doubtless its forests and rivers and glens and lakes woke admiration in many an appreciative Indian soul-many a thoughtful Hiawatha. But how immensely more worthy of admiration has a century of Christian civilization made it! What would all this region be to-day-where all its cultured loveliness and all the refinement, wealth and happiness of its people-if the gospel had never been preached to them? Has any other heralding or teaching shown such power to make deserts blossom and to transform waste, howling wildernesses into fruitful fields? In how many districts of Nebraska, of Texas, of California, of Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Washington, will the twentieth century witness as marvellous transformation as the nineteenth century has wrought between the sources of the Mohawk and the Falls of the Niagara?

The answer to this question which this generation must give to that whose whole happiness is involved in it, and to him to whom we must answer for our use and transmission of this inheritance of wonders, is to be given through the Christian schools we establish, the Christian churches we build, the Christian literature we produce and disseminate, the Christian pulpits we maintain and worthily occupy, the whole home mission we thus variously and effectually fulfill. If we fulfill this mission over all this wide land as they fulfilled it who hewed down the forests where Syracuse and Auburn and Rochester and Buffalo now are, who organized the churches and founded the academies and colleges of western New York, no