ious desire for mediation and sacrifice when he has become too ignorant and brutish to perform these functions for himself. This slavish renunciation of his personal rights and prerogatives-This ignoring, blotting out the image of his creator stamped upon him in creation; this abdicating his glorious, independent, manhood, is emphatically "Paradise Lost". When through enlightenment and moral stamina he emerges from the old condition of ignorance, passive, servile, obedience and brutish passion to one of personal and sovereign independence; personal, direct, and supreme, responsibility to God; and brings his soul into communion with the Highest then and then only is "Paradise Regained" as far as it can possibly be in this life; and becomes a foretaste of that perfect life in the "Paradise of God". THE COST IN common speech and practice the price paid for anything is the measure of its value. This will hold good as a rule in all commercial transactions. Quite often less is paid than a fair value; and sometimes the thing is not worth the price paid for it. Yet the rule, as a rule holds good. It holds equally, in the sphere of morals. Doctor Holmes, on this subject, pertinently says: "Common good has common price Christ ope'd the gates of Paradise A day's labor may be worth $1.00 or $10.00 according to whether it is common or expert labor. The United States government paid Russia Fifteen Million Dollars for the Alaskan territory, and it is now considered very cheap at that price. Our country has paid about Four Hundred Million Dollars for the Panama Canal, and the number of millions necessary to keep it open is still an unknown quantity. Yet there is no general complaint of this tremendous expenditure. The Swiss paid millions of treasure and thousands, if not millions, of lives to achieve their independence which they have now sacredly preserved for Centuries. The Netherlands carried on a terribly devastating and fatal war for over forty years. It was one of the most cruel, heartless and cold-blooded struggles in human history. It was waged against Spain, the most powerful Kingdom of Europe in that day. The religious intolerance, persecution, exile, torture and murder, of innocent men, women, and children, exceeded the horrors of the battlefield. According to Mr. Motley, the historian of this period, about three millions of people perished in those years. The infamous Duke of Alva boasted that he caused the death of over eighteen thousand innocent men, women and children besides those slain in battle, innocent of all crime except heresy. Besides the most agonizing tortures ever invented by any ancient paganism, the ax, the cord, the bullet and the stake were in almost constant requisition. Holland achieved and has since preserved her liberties, and her manhood. Surely one life or a million is a small price to pay for Truth. Motley's "History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic and of the United Provinces" is terribly interesting but exceedingly instructive. Our own country paid a fearful price in the seven years War of Independence to resist injustice and oppression and obtain the liberty of self government. A man abdicates his manhood when he voluntarily submits to, and endures, unjust dictation, or tyranny. So does a people. To them it is intrinsically and fundamentally "Paradise Lost". To regain that individual or National Liberty, is also individually, fundamentally, and in a sense, paramount, "Paradise |