Too Many Vinegar Peddlers

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 295 When in the theater the scene was suddenly changed from the gladiatorial and other wicked amusements, to the judgment on the king, the multitude fled, rending their clothes according to the custom, in horror. A careful student of the life of Paul suggests the possibility that he and Barnabas were witnesses of these things in Csesarea on their way from Jerusalem to Antioch. The enemies of the Church, amazed at the deliverance of Peter from prison, and awed by the death of Herod, changed somewhat in their cruelty toward Christians. More than eleven years had passed since the crucifixion, when Barnabas and Saul made their visit to the church in Jerusalem to carry the relief sent by that in Antioch. We may suppose that during it they were the guests of the relatives of Barnabas — ' 'John Mark" and his mother Mary. He was a young man of deep feeling and excellent spirit, apparently willing to go anywhere in the service of Christ. During the stay of his kinsman and Saul in his home, it was determined that he should leave it and join them on their return to Antioch. So Mary, his loving mother, in separating from so good a son was comforted in the thought of the glorious work in which he was to engage with such companions for his encouragement and guidance. I (to be continued.) TOO MANY VINEGAR PEDDLERS. Is it not a pitiable thing to see people going through life peddling vinegar, radiating bitterness, criticizing, finding fault, seeing only the ugly, ignoring beauty, nagging, worrying, fretting, and tearing down? Some people seem to have a genius for seeing the crooked, the ugly, the disagreeable. There are too many vinegar peddlers. We need more joy peddlers, more sunshine makers, people who ignore the ugly, the bitter, the crooked, but who see the world of beauty and perfection which God has made. We need the people who see the man and the woman that God made, — pure, clean, sane, and healthy; not the ugly, diseased, discordant, criticizing one that sin, wrong thinking, and wrong living have made. — Success.