The Newtown bee., 1894-12-14
yet, for all this, but little is known of the Dead Letter Office by the public at large.
THE SECULAR PULPIT.
THE SERMON.

which are exceedingly familiar. They are words that have about them the ten der memories of evening devotions and the sacred recollections of family wor- ship. They grace the festivities of the marriage ceremony and sound out in mournful cadence at the yawning black ness of the open grave. They are part of the Lords prayer. "Lead us not into temptation"
 Although we often pray this prayer, the great majority of the world are very anxious to get into temptation. How many people in the world are there who would not like to be rich? It is the s'summoner bonum" of the world today. Men want wealth so that they may en- joy the luxuries of life; that they may gratify aesthetic tastes and satisfy the cravings of appetite; that they may ob- tain office in public affairs and gain pop ularity by reputation for benevolence. Yet it was the wise man who said, .sThere is that makerh himself rich, yet hath nothing." One also wiser than Solomon declared, aWoe unto you that are rich; for ve have received your con- sola:i.L. Ye. for all that, if you could read the petition of many hearts, you would find it to be s'Lead us into the temptation of plenty of money" Yet who shall say that it is not temptation, and great one, to be rich? There is the temptation to be miserly, to think that the only use of money is to hoard it up against possible day of need. There is with the possession of wealth, the temptation to be thoughtless of others. Many rich man has his coachman shiv- ering out in the cold when he might have provided warm place for him or dismissed him and taken car home. Many servant of the rich has unc.m- fortable quarters and unpleasant service simply because the master or mistress is thoughtless. The world in it's need often cries out to deaf ears in the rich, simply because they do not care to think ness, where will you find it better dis | played than in some who are rich. | Nevertheless we all say "let us not be delivered from the temptation to get rich.n
 Another temptation we do not want to | be delivered from is the temptation of sue cess in our affairs. We are apt to mag | inc that if we succeed in our ventures we have gained the victory. But it is a strange and paradoxical truth that very often our successes are in reality our de- feats. We are apt to learn very little from our victories. They puff us up. They make us think that we are the Goliaths and the Hercules of the world We can defy the gods and turn the world on our shoulder. But our failures are and question our souls. Out of the breeding over our misfortunes we learn to know ourselves. And verify; when you know yourself you have travered half the field of human knowledge. It is as Thomas Attempts has somewhere said, "If thou give thy mind wholly to know myself, and to do the will of God, no outward thing will move or trouble thee." But self knowledge is hard to acquire. The old Greek philosophers, whose dctum was 'sKnow thyself," had learned by introspection the true lesson of the meaning of life God has put upon it. Yet who prays for diversity or when it comes learn the divine message from it? But nevertheless 'stribulation worketh patience, and patience, exper- ience."
 Another temptation from which we are very 10th to be delivered is the temp tation to have pleasure even when it costs someone else trouble and pain. A man will let his wife work like a slave, simply because he likes rich pastry and plenty of cake and the delights of the table. A gay daughter will have her mother sew early and late that she may be decked with furbelows and feathers according to the fashion. A father will spend his money freely for beer and to s'treat the boys' in the saloon when his children are hungry and dying for food simply because he must satisfy appetite and be called s'good fellow,n by men who care nothing for him but only for his money. As yes we pray, alead us not into temptation" with our lips while our hearts are crying out with all their might "Give us temptations, Lord, and plenty of them if they will make us happy for the moment" Such is human nature seen through the glass of com. mon sense. Selah.
 ]
 FRANKLIN's WORDS OF WISDOM.