a star, it thrills like a song, it glows like a sunset, it flashes like a flame, it sings like an angel."

"One sweetly solemn thought

Comes to me o'er and o'er-
I'm nearer home to-day, to-day,
Than e'er I've been before."

Sometimes they speak of it as a City. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem. "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Aye, a city.

"There is a Holy City,

A happy world above,
Beyond the starry regions,
Built by the God of love,
An everlasting temple-

And saints arrayed in white
There serve their dear redeemer

And dwell with Him in light."

Sometimes they speak of it as a Land-a wonderful land. "I will sing you a song of that beautiful land, the far away home of the soul!" It was a cold and dreary day when Senator Dolliver of Iowa was buried-the clouds were heavy-the rain was falling-the horizon was shrouded in mist—but they buried him beneath a wilderness of roses and sang :

"There's a land that is fairer than day
And by faith we can see it afar,
For the Father waits over the way

To prepare us a dwelling place there.“

Call it anything you please-but death to the child of God is glorious! "If this is dying, then death is glorious!" exclaimed Dwight Lyman Moody in his coronation hour. An aged artist-past ninetywhose masterpiece wore the title, "The Valley of the Shadows," when death drew near, exclaimed: "I have made a mistake-there are no shadows-it is all glory, glory, glory!"

"Well, the delightful day will come

When my

dear Lord will bring me home
And I shall see His face;

Then with my Saviour, brother, friend,
A blest eternity I'll spend

Triumphant in His grace!

"

T

VI

THE LAW OF GENIUS

The Power of a Strong Personality

HE measure of history is a man, and the object and design of universal history is a trained humanity.

In the evolution of Biblical history there are indicated five distinct steps in the development of the race: (1) A trained Personality-Abraham. (2) A trained Family-Jacob and his sons. (3) A trained Nation -Judah and Israel. (4) A trained Church-the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (5) The prophecy of a trained Civilization. "I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

A

A city in Scriptural metaphor is the incarnation of citizenship and the divine symbol of a civilization. And in this prophecy of the world's crowning civilization, the highest ideal enthroned is a perfect womanhood "as a bride adorned for her husband." woman is the finest specimen of a man. A Christian woman is the bright consummate flower of a Christian civilization. Every civilization in history may be judged by its standard of womanhood.

Life is a university, The world is the schoolhouse;

Experience is the teacher, Human nature is the textbook; Thought is the atmosphere, Character is the reward.

In the great university of life, humanity always begins with a fact. Science is said to be "that which is known and capable of proof." That which is known and capable of proof is a fact. Whether in the dark ages of superstition or in our own bright age of science, humanity ever and always begins with a fact.

First facts. Firm facts. Fixed facts. Faithful facts. Fundamental facts. Infallible facts. Facts about the earth, earthy. Facts about the heavens, heavenly. Facts about Man, creation's crowning fact. Facts about God-Creator-Father FactMaster Fact-the one fact which explains all facts.

The lawyer says: "Be exact; state clearly the facts." The doctor says: "Be frank; tell all the facts." The editor says: "Be brief; pen simply the facts." The preachers say: "Be courageous, and face the facts." The politician says: "Believe me, these are the facts"-and you don't know whether to believe him or not. The merchant says: "Quick, get at the facts." The judge says: "The facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts."

The greatest struggle going on in the philosophical realm to-day is the discussion concerning old facts and new theories. Old rocks and new geology. Old stars and new astronomy. Old flowers and new botany. Old life and new biology. Old Scriptures and new interpretations. Old religion and new the

ology. Old truths and new applications. This is the perpetual battle, ever in progress, between the old and the new.

Humanity always begins with a fact and ends with an idea. Nothing in history is more interesting than to watch the progress of the race in travelling from the Fact to the Idea. More wonderful than the flowering of the century plant is the expansion of a fact into an idea after one thousand years of human cogitation and experiment. How fascinating to watch the development of an idea. Between the ox cart and the automobile-a thousand years. Between the rowboat and the ocean steamer-a thousand years. Between the stage-coach and the railroad train-a thousand years. Between the bow and arrow and the revolver-a thousand years. Between the country store and the department store-a thousand years. Between the cave and the cathedral -five thousand years.

"Slowly moves the Rock of Ages,
Slowly grows the forest king.
Slowly to perfection cometh

Every great and glorious thing."

That man, however, who begins with a fact and ends with an idea within the span of his own life is an original thinker. How many original thinkers have been lost to history! Those were suggestive questions asked by Dr. John Lights of History,"

Lord in his "Beacon

Who invented the

mariner's compass? Who stretched the strings across the first violin? Who built the first black