The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 10, 1886, Image 3
r
E mm SERMON.
AGAINST ALL ODDS.
Te*t: "I have finished the work which
nAtiAof mo fa ?-1a " T/\Kn rvii il
VUVU JjU ? WM 1UU WV UV. vvuu >, M
There is a profound satisfaction in the
completion of any undertaking. We put up
the capstone with exhileratioa, while on
the other hand there is nothing more disheartening
than to toil on in some direction
nd find It is a la lure, or to make n profit- j
less investment. Christ came to build a |
highway on which the whole human race
might, if they chose, mount into heaven. He
did it. All the foul mouthed crew who trod
on Him could not hinder him from the
sublime satisfaction expressed in the text:
"1 have finished the work which thou gavest
me to do."
Alexander the Great was wounded, and it
"was supposed that he was dying, and the
physic:ans were powerless. But in h s dream
Alexander thought he :av a certain plant
with a very peculiar flower, and that the
flower was brought and put upon his wound
and it entirely cured him. Awaking from
his sick dream he told his doctor, and the
physician sent out to find the llowor that
Alexander had described, aud he found the
peculiar plant and the peculiar blossom, and
co brought them home and be put them upon
the wound, aud Alexander recovered. \\ ell,
the haman race was suffering with the
worst of all wounds, the ghastliest of all
Wounds, ihe wound of sin. Christ comes to
bring a balsam for divine restoration. He
brought it. but in the amplication of it, oh.
how many obstacles Ho found; how niuch
resistance; what bitter hostilities; what tremendous
opposition. Now, when we have a
.great enterprise, we call our friends around
us and they help us draw out the sketch, and
perhaps they help us in the execution. Christ
alone started out on His mission with all
tbe forces of this world against Him, and I
propose this morning; if the Lord will help
me. to tell you some of tbe obstacles that
ChrL-t had to overcome before He could in
triumph utter the words of tbe text: "I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to
do."
First of all, there was His worldly occupation.
He had to earn his living by carpentry,
a trade always respected and always honored
for its usefulness. But you know very well
that in order to succecd in any trade, occupation,
or profession, there must be entile
concentration upon that one thing, and these
fatigues of carpentry were a hiudrance, must
; have been a hindrance to this work of Christ.
I know we read a great deal about what men
have achieved in intellectual diret tions and
in moral reform, who at the same time were
compelled to carry on some worldly occupation.
But you know as well as
I do that a fatigued body is a poor
adjunct to a toiling mind. Here came Christ
forth to do, what? To upbuild a kingdom,
to introduce a new code of morals, to start a
religion which was to revolutionize all nations.
You know as well as I know that if
we are going to accomplish anything in the I
world we must concentrate upon one object
Yet here Christ had all the fatigues of carpentry,
while at the same time He had this
tremendous mission, and the fa:t that he had
so much worldly work to do must have been
a hindrance. In His father's carpenter shop
Ho had only to talk-with men who brought
tbinjrs to mend, or who wanted some
ai ticlo for agriculture manufacture.),
and it was a worldly conversation:
And right out from this carpenter's shop
Christ is called to be a public speaker, to
stand in the face of the mobs while some
; blasphemed and tome shook their fists at
Him. To address an orderly and respejtful
assemblage is not as easy as s >me might suppcw,
buc to speak to au exasperated mob, I
^*^what courage, what concentration were demanded
of Christ. While the villagers of
Nazareth heard the thumping of His hammer,
all nations were to bear the stroke of
His spiritual upbuilding. Mighty men
in those times always hal something
in their apparel to inii ate
that they were distinguished ? some
epaulet, something in their robe, some
adornment of apparel, so those people seeing
su:h an one coming would say: '"Make
way for him; here comes a dignitary, or au
Officer of the government."' None of the
Cesars would have dared to appear in ordinary
citizen's dress. But here comes Christ
In a plain coat. It was far lroin shabby because
I find that after He had worn it a great
while even then the gamblers thought it
worth railing about, the question being
whoso shall it be. But still it was a plain
coat, just as you and I might wear, and He
weut out like an ordinary man, ofttimes,
on what seemed an ordinary mission.
Then His diet was against Him. No
cupbcarer brought, in a golden chalice, the
wine for Him to drink. He b:eakfasted on
the seashore, first having broiled the fish.
He went out not entertained. I now tbiuk
of or.ly one case where He was a", a banquet,
and that was l'ar from sumptuous, because, to
relieve the awkwarkness of the host, one of
the guests had to provide some wine for the
company. Other kings rode; He walked.
Others had heralds ahead and applauding
subjects behind; He went among those who
were not influential Other kings slept under
an embroidered canopy; He on a shelterless
hill. Ho rode but once?on a colt, and
that borrowed. Aye, His poverly was
against him. It "takes money to establish
institutions; it takes money to
forward revolutions, whether for good or
for bad. Here is a penniless Christ. When
His tax was due He had to perform a mira-.-le
in order ti pav the tax. The pie?e of money
found in the fish. Men of means are afraid
of a penniless projector lest a loan be demanded
of them. Here comes Christ with
out a dollar in the world, a Christ who was
bora in another man's barn, and to be buried
in auother man's sepulchre. And I suppose
people said: '"Who is to pay for this religion
? Who is to charter the shi on
that are to carry the missionaries'
Who is to pay "the salaries of the
teachers. What! pull down an established
religion/ Can it be doue by a penniless projector?'
More than that. I want you to
notice the fact that the consideration that
He had never graduated from any school
was a^a'nst Him. If a man has come with
a diploma from a college,or a certificate from
a seminary or has traveled through fcreigu
lands, we say to ourselves; "He ought to
know a great deal,anyhow; he ought to have
some information." "But hero was Christ,
who had no diploma. He had not attended
any a ademy where he could have learned
the alphabet of the language He spoke. The
Jgws were sensible when they cried out:
"How hath th:s mau letters, having never
learned? ' And yet, here,with no philosophy
tacking at all," He just comes out and He
expects these white haired these gray
bearded men who had studied theology all
their lives long to bow before him. We have
learned in our d ly that a man may be as ignorant
with a diploma as without it, and
that a college cannot turn a sluggard into a
philosopher, and that a seminary cannot
teach a fool to preac tx. An empty noau nicer i
the laying on or' the hands of the Presbytery I
is empty still. Eut it chokel all the prejudices
of those people in olden times that a
man without any scholastic opportunities
should come forth to tearh a new theology
and a new religion, and by itrevohitionize'all
nations. Beside that, my friends, we want
to notice that the brevity of His life was
against Him. You must remember that He
did not live to e- en what we call midlife
At thirty-tbrco years of a<re he expired.
Well, now, but very few men accomplish
much for tSe ctourcll or for the world before
thirty three years of age. The first fifteen
years ai e given to the nursery and the school,
then perhaps six years to getting into same
trade, business or occupation. That brings
you to twenty-one. Then after that if in ten
years yo:i correct all your early mistakes and
get thoroughly established, you are the exception.
The men who are thoroughly established
in business, occupation, profession
or trade, at thirty-three years of age, are the
exception, and that is" the time at which
Christ quit life. The brevity of His life was
urflinst Him. Men in military life have
achieved great success, aud fought great bat- I
ties before thirty-three years of age, but you '
never heard of a great legislator under thirty- j
threo or at thitty-three. It takes prolonged!
experience. Ai Lstotle was old, Lycurjrus was
old, Seneca wa? old, all the great legislators
of the world were o!d. Christ was young. J
It was against Hiin. People said: "It cannot
bo this young man knows more about these
things than those who bavo been studying
them for twenty,thirty, forty and even to seventy
or eighty years of age. It was all against
Him. These were obsta-les He had to overcome.
Aye, the fact that Ho reversed the
world's maxims was against Him. Public
theory said: "Blessed is the merchant who
owns a castle down on the banks of the lake
Galilee." Christ said: "Blessed are the
poor." Public theory said: "Blessed is the
man who has all kinds of festivity, and amid
statuary, and amid all luxuries, lives and
reigns. Christ said: "Blessed are they
that mourn." Public theory said: "Blessed
is the Roman eagle, the flap of whose wings
startles all nations, and whose cruel
beak inflicts cruelty upon all who op
-- "" ' -
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pose. Christ said: "Blessed are the
men ifuL" Public theory said: "An eye
for an oye, a tooth for a tooth: if a man I
knocks your eye out, you knock hi* out: if
he breaks your tooth, you break his tooth;
sarcasm for sarcasm, persecution for persecut
on: pay a man in his own coin, wonnd
! for wound." Christ said: "Pray for them
who despitofullyuse and tormentyou." Was
there anythingso revolutionary? Was there
anything thatstruck the thrones of the world
so violently back? They belt the snlid earth
under them; but Christ snid: ''I uphold the
pillars of the earth.1' They looked at the
mocn. Christ said: '"I will turn it into
blood." They looked at the stars. He said:
"I will shake them down like untimely figs."
Do you wonder that the world was startled
and" overwhelmed? Were not all these
things against him? After the battle
of Antietam, when the soldiers were
lying down, thoroughly exhausted, and one
of thom told mo he did not think he could
have lifted his hand to save his life, it was
told that a favorite general was coming j
along the line, and he said they all got up j
ana inoy gave iuico hujiuj; vu>via? :
"huzza, huzza, huzza." Although a few
moments before they felt they cou'd hardly
lift a hand to save /heir life. So
great was the magnetism of some
men. Napoleon after his first captivity
put his foot on the earth and it
shook all kingdoms, an1 230,00-) men gathered
to his standard. But Christ had a more
wonderful magnetism than that. Napoleon
had all around him the memories of Marengo
and Austerlitz and Jena. Here comes a man
with no parade, no brandished sword, no
peculiarity of apparel, aud comparatively
no reputation. I do not now think
of any remarkable person connected with His
name except his mother, and she so poor that
in the most solemn hour that ever comes t:>
a woman's soul she must lie down among the
camel drivers grooming their beasts of bur- j
den. Ah! notwithstaudiug all this, what do
you see? A man meets Him on the street
somo day and says: "My father was in gov- i
e nment, aud my grandfather and great- j ,
grandfather. who was your father?' |
Christ says: "My earthly father wa? Joseph,
the carpenter " Another man meets j
Christ and ho unrolls his scroll and says:
"Here is a diploma from the best school in
Athens Where did you graduate!" Christ
says: "I never graduated." It was as though
seme little fishing village on Long Island
shonld arraign Now York. Oh, what a stir
He makes! If you havo anvnd to call it (
mflftnnticm aP narcnn r?all if 11af. Kilt". wKof O I
st r he makes. becomes into a village and then
He steps out into the fields,and all the p3ople
go after Him.andthough they had taken only
enough food to last a day, they are so fascinated
with Christ th9y follow right clear J
out into the wilderness, ana in danger or J i
starvation. A man falls flat on the ground j
before Christ, and says: "My daughter is
dead, my da :ghter is dead." A blind man :
trios to rub the dimuess out of his eye3, and j
he says: "Lord, that my eyes might be ?
opened." The light of day pours through \
gates that has never before been opened. ,
And here comes a sick au:l fainting woman. ;
She jays: "If I could just touch the hem of j
his garment?that is all." And the little j
children who always liked their mothers be? i
fore stiuzgled to get out of their mothers' (
arms. They wanted to go to Christ's arms j j
and they wantad to kiss his cheek, I \
aud they wanted to run their fingers ] <
through his hair,and they put Him so in love t
with children that there is hardly a homa on (
earth from which Christ has not taken one. j
"Oh," ho says. "I must have them. I am go- i
ing to make Heaven of these. To one cedar t
that 1 plant in Heaven, I plant fifty white (
lilies. The chi'dren loved me ou earth, and i
now I have come to a throne, ought not I .
to love them? Oh, weeping mother, hold not [
back that child. Lav it on my loving and | t
sympathetic boiom. Of such is the Kingdom | i
of Heaven." | i
Once more I remark, lack of organization t
was against Him. If men aro going to carry i
out any great project they band together, t
and their success is generally in proportion t
to the completeness of th9 organization. ?
Who caD tell how much can b9 aocom- a
plished by a large numbsr of men banded ?
together for a right object. Christ had <
no su'h association, no one to back ?
him up. If people came into His t
company, all right? if they went away, all {
well. wlu>n they came, no loud salutation.
When they went qway, no following of
anathema. Peter left Him, and what did
Christ do- The Bib'.o says He lookod at him.
Tuat is all. Oh, my tr.euds, did anyone ever t
start through such obstacles,and run through 1
such obsta les to achieve such success? Notwithstanding
his worldly occupation i
was against Him and His trade .
and His diet were against Him, ani 1
Hia novnrtv wasftfrainst Him. and His lack n
of s hoolinz was against Him, and the
brevity of His life wa3 against Him, and the
ieversal of public maxims was against Him,
and lack of organization was again it Him.
yet you hear His voice this morning ringing
through the ages in everlasting cadonces:
'I have finished tlio work which thou gavest
me to do!" Oh yes, Christ is a
conqueror. See how He conquered all the
forces of nature. The Atlantic Ocean?what
a terrible shing it is in its wrath. How the
ocean will take down the Spanish Arma la,
or the President, or the Central America as
easily as it coull swallow a fly. But I have
beeu told by tho^e who "have visited
Asia M nor that a storm on those
inland lakes is worse. And yet
Christ came and Ho looked at one of tho;o
great inland seas iu cyclone aud the sea
crouched before Him ani licked His feet.
He knew all the winds and tho waves. He
beckoned and they came. He frowned i
and they tied. The heel of His foot '
made no indentation on the solidified j
water as lie walked it. xa tue oavu j '
pait of the boat sound asleep. "Oh,'' you j (
say, "poor man. poor Christ, so tired, sound j
asleep in the ba k part of the boat" But He
routes up. Ho come? to the prow of the r
boat He looks out. He has two words, one
for the winds and the other for the sea. at-d
he says: 'Teaee, be still." and the waves t
crouch like whipped spaniels at his feet| .
Ecca Home! Acce Dens! Behold the man '
Behold the God! c
Medical science has done much for the alleviation
of rheumatic ailments and to cure 1
diseased tolood; but when the muscles are all ?
withered up no human powor can ever restore
them. When the hand and the arm are ?
dead, they are dead. But here is a paralytic 6
in thj presence of Christ. Arm perfectly
u e'.ess, helpless. Christ sees it. He could ! t
not see anything of that kind without pity *
iug it He says to this man with the
paralytic arm, ''stretch forth thy ha"d.1 t
He stretched it torth wnoie as me otuer.
Evce Dens! Behold the God! Aud there is
the fish of the sea. No human voice ever
commanded a school of fish, but Christ's
voire marshals the finny tribe, and they
como in a place where a little while
before people were tlshing and hauling
in nothing; now the people again
Eull the net, and they pull until the net
reaks. There is the grave. The hingbs of
the family vault get very rusty became the
door is so seldom opaneJ. It is only when
some of us go in to stay there for the last
sleep A knob on the outside of the door of
the family vault, but no knob withia. The
knob on the outido we open to pass in, but
no knob on the inside. They who pass in
stay there until the resurre?tiou. Chri itcame
through all that realm and He said: '.'Daughter
of Jairus, rise up." She rose up. He
said* "Lazarus, coma forth," an I he ca ne
forth. Aud He said to tho widow's sou:
"Go*, off that bier aud g J home with thy
mother." The son arose and went home witn
his mother. Then Christ picked up the keys
of d?ath and fost3iie 1 them to His girdle.and
uttered a voice whi -h still resound* through
all the graveyards of tlie earth: Oil, diatu,
I will b? thy plague! Oh, grave, I will be
thy destruction!"
I do not know any be'.tor illustration of
the vicarious suiTering and work ot jurist i
than I could in the Brotherhood this |
day here presented an t hers welcomed with
all our hearts. Vicarious suffering. We I
sometimes talk as though it were an abstract |
word, and we try to illustrate it this
way and that way. But it has I
been illustrated in the live? of
j that profession and occupation perhaps
as iu no other. Thare is notarailroal in |
the United States that has not been thos ene
of heroic endurance on tli9 part of railroad i
engineers?a scone worthy of port's canto j
and painter's peu?il and sculpt >rs chis;l
and legislator's appropriation. There he is,
pacing along rapidly. He is at his post.
There has been some wrong order
given, or there has been some reckle3<ness, ]
somewhere, and there comes the train dtnvu
on the same track again-t him at the rate of
fifty miles the hour. Standing at his post he I
says: "What shall I do?" for how much a 1
man can think in a second. "Shall I jump
and save my life and be the support of !
my helpless family, or shall I stand (
hero and save my three hundred passengers.
Oh God, help." Ho comes to quick 1
decision, and he submits to the awful baptism
of fire and scalding and whirlwind and
goes up to take his place among the martyrs
before the throne. There is one book that
needs to be written, and it needs to ba en
titled: "The Martyr Locomotive Engineers
of America." I am elad they are
' ' ---Til -
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putting into a poem a beautiful scene enacted
on one of the Western prairies. An engineer
passing along day after day ?iw a little girl
come out in front of her father's cabin and
wave to him and he waved ba -k, and every
day that was the joy of the old engineer's
heart, as passing along in his locomotive over
the prairies tho littb child came and waved to
him and he waved back. But one evening the
train was belated and it was belated until
the darkness caino on, and by the headlisht
of the locomotive, the old engineer saw that
little child on the track. Sho had come out
looking for the old ongineer. She wondered
why so long he tarried. She
knew not her peril. When the old
engineer saw tke little girl ou the track a J
great horror froze his soul. He reverse 1 the
engin9 and leapod over on the cowcatcher,
and though the train was slowing in aud
slowing up vory much, it did seem to the
old engineer as if it were gaining in
velocity. But standing there and waiting
for the right moment, with almost
supernatural clutch he seized her and fell
back on the cowcatcher. The train halted,
the passengers came around to see what was
the matter, and there lay tho old engineer
fainted dead away, with the little child all
unhurt in his arms. He had saved her.
Bravo! vou sav. bravo! for the old enzineer.
But befiold ray Christ, the son of God.
When lone trains of disaster were ccming
down on the nations?long trains of everlasting
woe and darkness and doom, He
went out in his own Almighty strength and
snathed us out of the doom, and snatched
us out of darkness, Himself perishing in the
sacrifice. Oh, th9 grandeur of the vicarious
suffering of the Son of God who laid down
His li'e tor you and for me. Oh, His graceit
is so high, it is so deep, it ^ so long, it is so
broad. Yes, yes. We have a sympathizer
in this Christ. I know that. You cannot
tell, my brother, you cannot tell, my sister,
you cannot toll Christ anything about
suffering. Ho has b^en through it all
You will never have a load as
heavy to carry as the load He carried up thj
bloody mount. You will never have any
suffering worse than that which Christ felt
when, with tongue hot and parched and
cracked and swollen, Ho cried out: "I
thirst!" Ah, you will never have any
worse enemies than Christ had
They hailed down His pravors and they
snuffed ud with glee the smellof Hi3 blooi
This day I lay His crushed heart at your feet.
Ob, He must have been tremendously in
earnest, or all the obstacles would have
driven Him back. But, no, no. He come3
right on, and He is here more certainly than
you and I are here, for He fills all the place
with His presence, an! I put His crushed
heart at your feet. Oh, let it not be told in
Heaven that after all your opportuities of
accepting this Christ, and after all that
Christ has done for you, you despised His
grace and put off this opportunity. Many of
you I see for the first time and the last time.
Lt is so every Sabbath morning and it
is so everv Sabbath nieht I see you
ance and then never again until the great
bhrone of judgment is lifted and they shall
come from the North and the South and the
East and th9 West. We will all be there.
However deep down in the earth we may
3e buried we will hear the blast of the great
irumpet, and we shall come up, we shall
:ome up. And yet I have to tell you this
norning?and it breaks my heart to
?ll you?that notwithstanding all that
Christ has done because of His rejection,
ill His magnificent work and all the story of
:ross aud crown and thorns are for some
people a dead failure. Helena, the Empress,
vent out to find in the Holy Land a cross,
he particular cross on which Christ was
:rucified, and tradition says?of course there
vas superstition mingled with the tra lition
?tradition says three crosses were exhumed,
rhey did not know which of the three was
;he cross of Christ, so they took a dea I body
md put it upon one cross and the body
noved not Then they took the dead body
ind put it upon the s3cond cross, but the
jody moved not Then thoy took the
lead body and thoy put it upon the
;hird cross and it sprang into life?it
sprang into life. It may have been?that
itory may haveb^en mere tradition or superstition;
but it is not a superstition thatintha
:ross of the Son of God there is a life giving
>ower for your dead soul and mine.*"Awake,
;hou that sleepest, and ariso from the dead
ind Christ shall give thee life."
The quarterly report of suicides in
1. . TT_ *1- J Cii._i.__ 1,1* t. _ J 1 i.l_ _
ue uniteu owuw, a a puuiisuou uy iuo
rnsurance Chronicle, presents some
nteresting facts. The report covers
bo months of March, April, and May,
?nd the first noticeable fact is the large
ncrease of suicides over the corres>onding
period in the last and othei
receding years. The whole number
;iven is 528, which is 13G more than
he number reported in the same
aonths in 1885, and 150 more than the
iverage for four years past. The
roungest suicide was 11 years of age
ind the oldest 90. The greatest number,
19, occurred at the age of 50,which
3 very uuusual, 35 being the age at
arhich most suicides occur. Insanity,
ls usual, has the greatest number of
rictims, being credited with 160.
family trouble follows with G9, love
irouble with 50, dissipation with 38,
md business trouble "with 32. "Chagrin
it parental discipline" is still promilent
among tbe minor causes, being
iredited with 8. Classified according
0 civil status, husbands take the
ead with 103 cases. After them
:ome 80 bachelors, 49 wives, 44
naids, 17 widowers, 7 widows,
1 divorced men, and 3 divorcid
women. These figures tend to
how that while women endure better
han men the burdens of married life,
liey bear also with more philosophy
he rupture of the marriage tie either
jv death or divorce. It may be added
,hat tho ratios Hero given do not vary
jreatly from those in former reports.
Shooting, as in former reports, stands
it the lead among the means employed
n self-slaughter, the number of sui;ides
that occurred in that manner beng
191. Next highest on the list is
poisoning, to -which ninety-six cases
ire accredited; eighty-one chose the
rope; sixty-eight the water, and fifty;wo
the knife, while ten jumped from
railroad trains, and five from heights.
Of nationalities Americans took the
lead, furnishing 160 of the cases to
?ighty-one Germans, twenty French,
fourteen English, and eleven Irish.
Ihe highest figure for any other nationality
was seven, on which the African
and tho Pole were tied. In ocsunations
the agriculturpl was the
heaviest aufferor, the list showing fiftythree
farmers, while tlie next highest
number, sixteen, is credited to the merchants.
Smart women are just now coming
to the fore in a lively way. The latest
candidate for public appreciation in
this line is Mrs. Adeline Robinson, of
Knox, Maine, who is seventy years old,
ind who, among hor other remarkable
performances, recently went into a well
twenty feet deep and cleaned it out.
She was assisted by hor daughter. The
ladder being too short, they attached a
rope and lowered it. Mrs. Robinson
clambering down by rocks till sho
reached the ladder.
"Great men often rise from small
beginnings." says a writer. How true!
Even George Washington was a little
btby at one time.?Puck.
. . i-.rz '-'Cc.+vtoSfrr.:
V^ i.r-^ V^V
TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.
Prohibition.
Prohibition! let tho name
Through the states?the nation flame,
Scribe it with a living pen
Hn fliaarfo ortrl ?ni nrl j rtP mfirs
vu i/uo utai wo auu iuuiui wi
Prohibition, go and write
On the dizzy mountains' height;
Raise it on your banners high,
Paint it on the azure sky.
Let the nan:? go ringing forth
To the chill and rugged north;
Lot it swell from every mouth
Through the bright and sunny South.
Make it crown the fete ami feast
In the free anil culUired East;
Give it room and voice and zest
In the generous, rowdy West.
Braid it, maids and matrons fair,
With the flowers that dock your hair.
Mothers, lcnit it o'er the head
Of the crib and cradle bed.
'Broider it upon the door,
On the carpet, on the floor,
On the ceiling, on the dome;
Let it shine in every home.
Bridegroom, on the bridal ring
Grave it. crown it freedom's king.
Soon to free the slave and thrall
Of the monster alcohol.
Husbands, fathers, hail its reign,
Breaking whisky's galling chain,
Prohibition everywhere
Lifting millions from despair.
City, village, hamlet, town,
Wreath it with the laurel crown,
Let it shine upon the wall
Of the legislative hall.
pAi'nt it; in t.ho hallo r?f ctaf-A
Grave it on the temple gate,
Let it on the altar glow.
State and Church, against the foe.
Sailors, nail it ever fast
On the vessel, to the mast.
Soldiers, let your banners be
Blazoned with its heraldry.
Patriots, let your standards war#
Prohibition, for the brave?
With its flag of light unfurled,
Prohibition for the world.
?Charles J. Beattie.
Delusions Shown Up.
It seems strange, when we find plain
and simple facts visibly and clearly developed
in every-day life, that the people
should be so easily deluded with the
sophistical and contnulictory statements
made by the apologists of liqnor dealers
as to the nature and e.Tccts of alcohol on
the human stomach.
You are led to believe that the cup
which is pressed to your lips contains I
some elixir of pleasurable enjoyment,
and when taken you are only partially
aware of the awful malady that h;is its
latlgs on your vnais, sapping jour very
life-blood; and, like a treacherous, serpent,
insidiously hid and intrenched in
the inmost recesses of your physical nature,
you scarccly know his presence,
audyet he is gnawing at your most uensisitive
susceptibilities, poisoning the very
fountain of your life.
That alcohol is a poison of the most
acrid and virulent character is attested
by the most eminent scientists and medical
experts of our country; and, also,
that wine, beer, whisky, and other intoxicating
drinks are largely made up of
alcohol, beside other poisonous components,
and are the direct cause of nearly
all ihc disease, crime, and pauperism now
prevalent in the community, are facts
ccrtilicd by the best thinkers of tho age;
and yet we find that a large proportion
of ,:good,: people are so deluded and
and subservient to the fallacious sophistry
that alcohol is a harmless ingredient
in the drinks that are now ottered for
sale by these arch-conspirators against
the homes and the best interests of our
country, the rum sellers. This is the
most wicked and fatal delusion that has
ever possessed the minds of an intelligent
people, and it is a marvel thai this
fallacy can be tolerated, when the opportunity
for a lull knowledge of thu character
of alcoholic liquors and its horrible
results are so plainly visible.
And this perfidious rum monster has
his clutches now on the most vital interests
of our country, and will hold on
with a tenacity that makes it next to impossible
to shako him off.? IF", J'nningi
Demore.it*
Adjnnets of Vice.
It is a fact beyond dispute that; here ii
?nnw?nltr nnir fi^rm r\i nnMio tTlrtf. lfl
O ....J - V l'""-*- ?
trot found in conjunction with the
Baloons. They give support and hearty
co operation to everything which tends
to the demoralization and debauchmcnt
of a community, from a gambling table
to a brothel. A nflniber of saloons in
Baston have recently endeavored to add
to their attract rons and their profits by
setting up lotteries 0:1 a small scale. The
method h:is been to put up a silver table
ser.iceor some other valuable prize on
which chances are sold at so much a
ticket. Happily the police have proved
equal to the occasion, and a hirge number
of the saloon-keepers are under arrest on
the charge of maintaining lotteries.?
Neio York Observer.
Temperance Notes.
There are 100 temperance meetings
being held nightly in New Jersey.
The last saloon in Atlanta, Ga., has
closed for good, and the brewery has
shut down. Prohibition did it.
A son of John Brown, who owns u
vineyard at Put-in-Bay, is so pronounced
a temperance man that he will not allow
<i pound of hi?grapcs to be sold for wine
milking.
The names of 0,000 of the temperance
children aud youth of the State of New
Hampshire were recnitly deposited in
the corner-stonc of the United States
Government Building at Concord. This
ought to form a sure foundation for any
building of State to rest upon.
The world's W. C. T. U. petition has
already boen printed in the Hawaiian,
t'eylonese, Japanese, Swedish and Bus
siau languages, and is being cirulatcd in
all. It is eagerly signed by most of the
citizens of those countries, who have suffered
so much from the mm sent them by
Christian nations.
Sir W. King-Hail, of England, whoso
death occurred recently, wa9 known
throughout the world as the ''temperance
Admiral." Realizing the ruin to which
drink was bringing many of his men, he
called them all together one day, and,
after a short talk, offered to give up h's
wine if the men would their grog. Many
did so, and through the total abstinence
society thus started many a poor sailor
was saved from the curse of drink.
Religious reading.'
The Sinner's Friend,
Christ Je in, cf Calvary,
How my heart leap3 out to see
The wonder of thine agony!
Christ, Lord of earth and heaven!
For whom the rocks were rent and riven;
T/% \vlir\m oil nnurar nnrl michf, ArA civfln??
Christ Jesm, of Bethany!
Men of might are denyiDg Thee,
Though the Son of God Ihou be.
Christ, king of Jerusalem!
Perfect flower of a royal stem,
Thine is a gloi ions diadem.
Christ! as tho wonder ages roll,
Of all ango's Thou hast control,
Thine, Lord, is the hitman soul,
Christ, towards whom all nations tond,
But chiefest of wonders beginning and end
Christ Jesus, the Sinner's Friend.
?Mary A. Detiison.
A Ureat Picture.
Tho following description of Dorc'd
great painting, "Christ Leaving the
Praetoricm," so long on exhibition in
London, is from the pen of Margaret J.
Preston, and was published in tho
Sunday-School Times:
The moment of action is, I believe, entirely
original in its conception. It represents
Christ decending the broad marble
staircase leading from the praetorium, just
after His final condemnation by the
Roman governor. This broad staircase
occupies the centre of the picture, and
down its shallow steps our Lord descends.
The august figure moving forward in its
I awful solitariness is the contral point
[ towards which every face in the multitude
is directed, aud which holds the
eye of the spectator with a fascinating
gaze. He is clothed, not in the dead
white of linen, but in the softcr-hucd
undyed woolen toga. There is not an
accesjory about Him to divert attention
from the Divine humanity of the straightforward-looking
face. Tho arms are
dropped on each side; there is no aureole
about the head, or, if any, it is so faint
I as not to attract attention. There i3 a
total avoidance of that meek beauty,
that feminine auburn hair, that delicucy
of complexion and feature, and that
characterless softness, which mark all
the heads of Christ in the pictures ot
the old masters, not even excepting
Raphael's.
On each side, separated only by the
balustrades of the stairway, surge and
seethe the shrieking, cxcitcd multitude,
who cry. "Away with Him! away with
Himl Crucify Him! crucify Hira!"who
clinch their fists across the railing,
and with demoniac rage fling upon Him
their ribald revilings, and gloat over
His condemnation, with faces of fiend
like vengeance; on the other side crowd
the callous-hearted, indifferent Roman
officials and soldiery, too much accustomed
to the sight of cruelty, woe,
and blood to be in the least moved by the
majesty of the Innoctnt Sufferer.
It will be remembered that at the feast
of the Passover almost ever/ nationality
of the then known wor.d was accustomed
to be represented, and consequently we
have here a field for the artists's pencil?
the proud Pharisee, the scowling Scribe,
the howling Jewish populace, the refined
Greek, the stately Persian, the Arab of
the desert, the scoffiag Roman, the
canin<r African, and the philosophic
Egyptian. On these faces every possible
passion is depicted?hate, vindictive
wrath, exulting vengeance, solid satisfaction,
haughty indifference, scorn,
vulgar curiosity, deprecation, cold
wonder, and here uud there, upon some
startled female face, the yearning of a
fathomless compassion. Between these
two opposing throngs moves the Christ,
in the u >lime dignity of Hi3 God-hood,
with a majesty as calm as the unapproachable
heavens overhead. There is
an infinite unconsciousncss of the shrieking
multitude around Him. He sees
nothing, He hears nothing. He is nlone
between the eternities. His unbundling
eye is fixed upon the inexorable
Justice that sit3 upou the everlasting
throne. He seems to say, "I shall see
of the travail of My soul, nnd shall be
satisfied." The superhuman dignity,
the unshaken serenity, the loftiness of
purpose, the majestic acquiescence, the
transcendent sorrow of the Son of Man,
surely were never so portrayed by mortal
pencil. The sense of scparatcness (the
''treading of the wine-press alone''), the
miraclc of that faraway gaze, the suggestion
of awful solitariness, arc inspirations.
We felt as if wc must veil our
eyes, and shrink back from a sight of
such sacred awfulness!
Say to the powers of thy soul and
members of thy body, as the mother of
Jesus said to the servants of the house of
Cana of Galilee, "Whatsoever Ho snith
unto you, do it." AH the powers of thy
soul should wait on Ilim; thy understanding
to get light and direction from
Him; thy will to obey His will; thy affections,
like so many messengers, to run
whither and when He commands them;
thy outward senses thnt arc the ports by
which infection comes inlo the soul, and
by which affection goes out to temptation?will
thea be subjected to Christ's
power and command. When a king is
received into a city, the keys of the gate
arc delivered unto him. So a heart that
hath received Christ, prays earnestly to
him that he would set a strict watch over
its sense?, that no thought come in or go
out without hia special warrant.?Colville.
A man in a Boston hotel recently ordered
beer at dinner, then seeing that the
lady near him wore the white ribbon, he
recalled the order and apologized, saying:
"Excuse me, madam, I did not observe
that you wore the white ribbon.'
So much for a small badge.
The National Temperance Hospital, located
in Chicago, is filled with patients.
Ia no case has alcohol been used, and
the death rate has been much lower than
in other hospitals in the city,
___
i AGRICULTURAL
TOPICS OP INTEREST RELATIVE
lO FARM AND GARDEN.
Small Cows the Best.
"The dairyman who buys or grows a
big cow, giving a little mess of milk,
for the sake of having a heavy weight as
a basis for beef at the end of her usefulness
as a dairy animal, the National
Stockman thinks, is like a manufacturer
who buys a big steam engine for doing a
little work, for the sake of having a heavy
weight of old iron to sell when the engine
is done with. The waste of food for keeping
up the excessive weight of the big
cow and keeping her warm, and the
waste fuel and steam in keeping hot the
needless iron in the big engine, are
annlogous? and there is a striking similarity
between the old iron in the wornout
engine and the beef in a worn-out
cow. Lnless a big bow is an extra milker
she is less profitable than a smaller .one
that is a fair milker."
It will be remembered that we opened
this question for discussion last week.
The above was written previous to that
time. It is an expression of opinion
only. No one knows therefore what value
to attach to it. As it stands it looks
and reads logical. But the National
Stockman has a faculty of makincr things
appear much n3 it wishes. We want
to see the question discussed practically,
that is to say, by men who have used
largo cows for the purpose, and small
cows, and have honestly and impartially
tested and proven both. Wo do not
want a big cow for a little mess of milk
for the sake of having a heavy beef when
sent to the shambles, any more than we
want a small cow with extra milking
qualities and at the end of h?r race a rabbit-like
skeleton for beef. Both of these
can be found without difficulty.
The question we wish to see discussed
and solved is, will a large bodied Holatein
or Shorthorn, ordinarily good
milkers, give as good returns in milk on
the same food as the smaller sized Jersey
or Guernsey? If they will and then
give the larger carcass when dried off for
the shambles, then have we a gain of one
on the other. If, on the other hand, the
smaller sized animals will on much less
food during their milking lifetime give
so much more milk as to compensate for
their want of beef weight in drying off,
then do we prove something to show how
far the one is as valuable as the other in
that regard.
There is another question involved in
this which naturally and necessarily belongs
to it, namely, the matter of the
Bteers produced by the one and the other,
but that may be left out of this consideration
entirely. Let us get the one
question solved first and then take up the
other.?Rural World.
Bee Notes.
At the recent meeting of the Bee
Keepers' Association of Oneida county,
N. Y., the members related their failures
and successes during the past season.
The testimony was to the effect that 188C
has not been a good year for honey
making. Not more than one-third, of
the usual quantity of honey has been
gathered.
F. L. Smith remarked that the various
novices in bee culture could often teach
the best apiarists. They frequently hit
accidentally upon experiences which are
of great value. He had never seen two
seasons in which the same care and attention
would do for bee raising. He was
surprised this year by having one swarm
appear in May, but later the bees did not
do as well, nnd swarming was not general
until the latter part of June. He
had eighty-seven colonies in the spring,
which increased to 150. Only six of the
new swarms were natural. Twenty-two
of the old ones were divided artificially.
His average yield this year is forty
pounds of lioney to the swarm.
B. E. Foster said that in May his bees
gathered more honey than ever before.
Borne of it was fine and some not as good
as that of la:>t year. He made five or six
swarms by dividing old ones. Four hives
of his bees averaged about sixty pounds
of honey to the colony, but he had taken
150 pounds from one colony.
R. Bacon spoke of the yellow finish in
the honey, which he attributed to mild
mustard. (others thought it came from
the'dandelion or the citnip. He is satisfied
with an average yield of thirty
pounds.
Mr. Miller wintered thirty-five out of
thirty-seven swarms, keeping them in a
sheltered building where the mercury
never went lower than five degrees above
freezing.
His average yield of honey was 52}
pounds, although he has taken from oae
as high as 300 pounds.
W. C. Perry lost seven out of eleven
swarms during the winter. His average
yield was from twenty-five to thirty
pounds. Mr. Evans attributed the dark
color of his hone}- to sumach blossoms.
: irno/linrt Knno frtr nrinfop ronnirPQ ft.
culiar kunck as well as caro. Mr. Bacon
ascs sugar and water, one-third water
and two-thirds sucar. This food is all
eaten before spring, and before the bees
[ commence to gather honey, so that ncne
of it goes into the crop.
A majority of the members favored the
Italian breed of bees. Others thought
there was little difle.encc so far as working
qualities arc concerned between the
Italians, the Germans and_the hybrids.
The Italians are the most gentle under
handling. The points to be considered
in breeding are gentleness, quietness in
wintering, prolificnessand working qualities.
Ao frt tn'nfnrlnrr hr><?a C D Wheeler
buries them in the ground. lie digs two
trenches with boards at the sides, top
and bottom, and covers them with layers
of shavings and sawdust and then
with carthr Arrangements are made lor
carrying o.'f the water that soaks through
and for furnishing ventillation. The
method is comparatively new, but seems
to furnish the necessary warmth.
Farm and Garden Notes.
It is best to plow heavy sod early in
the fall, if hoed crops arw to be planted
next season.
The richer and better tilled the
ground, the less seed will be required of
small grain.
Onion seed sown now, and protected
with litter during the winter, will give
early onions next spring.
A New York State cow-feeder says
that wheat bran and middlings have
given him the best results.
Thoso who have practiced soiling sufficiently
to test it know it to be a most
Trnliiahlr* !ii<l in the economv of dairvincr.
Until sweet corn ripens, their cob3
contain much of saccharine matter that
is afterward changed to the starch of the
grain.
Nothing mars the appearance of a farm
1 to n gre iter degree than dirty fence rows.
I Cleanse the fence corners of brush and
weeds.
A contemporary suggests that a cow
can be easily led by a halter that commands
he.- nose, but with difficulty by a
rope around her horns.
Aa soon as the ears have been takeni
from the sweet com the stalks should bs
cut up and fed to the cows in as greea
condition as possible.
Every dairyman should be prepared to
feed green grass or ereen corn fodder in
the stable night and morning as soon as
the pasture begins to fail.
1 To kill mole3 an Illinois farmer puts
strychnine in pieces of liver the size of a
1 hickory nut, placing the pieces at different
points in their runs.
A cow calving in the fall, if properly
fed and cared for, will bring more profit
in a year than if she calves ia May, if
milk or butter is to be sold.
Give the sheep a mess of ground oats
evcrv eveninrr from nnm until lurnh
ing period. As soon as the grass fails
give them all the hay. they can eat.
Let the pigj run in clover, and they *'{?? > ~'-?i
will eat enough to distend the stomach '
properly and enable the animal to better
digest grain than if it were fed on noth- ';
in# else.
One of the best supplementary feeds
with corn fodder is wheat bran. It can
be bought cheaply usually at this season,
and is even better in the winter as a -i
supplementary feed for cows. .
Sheep in the field seek the highest
knolls for sleeping places. Theae are
generally poor, but sheep will soon
enrich them. The grass is sweeter there
and the sheep are most healthy ia such
localities.
Rules for easy subjugation of Canada
thistles are plentiful, but not practical.
Every attempt to eradicate this weed
must be continued through the entire
season of growth or it will fail almost
surely, and all its costs will be wasted.
There is no reason for having a barren
yard or lawn in winter. Some kind of
choice evergreens, ornamental trees or
shrubs should be planted. A hedge along
the front and on tne borders of the walks
will give an attractive appearance at all
seasons.
Tobacco dust is an excellent insecticide,
as it will prevent lice in nests of
hens if freely dusted therein, as well as
being an excellent protection against
those insects that damage gooseberries,
squashes and currants, when used for that
purpose. .
The idea that the apple needs but little
care is now one of the chief obstacles to
the successful culture of the fruit. One
authority says after the blossoms have
fallen the trees should be sprayed with
paris green to destroy the codling worm
in the young fruit.
No matter how dear it is, wheat is
always the most economical food foi
fowls, either laying hens or young chickens.
If we buy bran or mill-feea at retail,
the price per pound is nearly as
great ns whole wheat, and the latter is
much better for feeding.
Dr. Fisher finds that animal manure
U..1. -.1 ''5
uiaivvo anuug ^iapc vines, uui uut rnucu >-.SrlB
fruit, and tends to induce rot and mildew.
On the other hand,he finds potash
nnd superphosphate to have quite the
opposite effect, producing a large amount
of fruit of superior quality.
No thrifty farmer will permit coarse
weed8, thistles, briars or bushes of any
kind to grow by the roadside adjoining
his fields. One or two days' work each
year for two or three years with a stout
, bush scythe, will cause these unprofitable
i varieties of vegetation to give place to
j valuable grasses.
A New York farmer claims that an --jtA
acre of Hubbard squashes will fatten
several more hogs than an acre of coin.
i This may be true, but many farmers
I who can raise corn successfully might
not succeed with squashes, which, ow|
ing to insccts and bugs, area much more
uncertain crop than the former.
No other thing on the farm so thoroughly
marks the progress of agriculture
thn ranidlv incrcaainer use of red -vs.
clover. The two-fold benefits of clover
are so obviously manifest to every farmer
! that the increase of its use is not sur- '
| prisiug. Its wonderful yield as a forage
, crop makes it one of the most desirable
| to raise, whether to be fed green or
I cured in the shape of rowen.
Fanners in some sections of Pennsylvania
maintain the fertility of their soils
by applying 100 bushels of slaked lime
to the acre once in five years. It is said
that fields which have been subjected to
j this treatment for the past 100 years are
! as productive now as when the experij
ment was first tried. This application
I depends for its value much upon the
j original character of the soil.
| Early sowing of wheat is not consid!
ered sj important now as it was a few
i years ago. The landed advantage of
I getting grain in the ground a fewjdays
; earlier has been the origin of more fail.
urcs than any other cause. Wheat has
I t l !*1ia ?i?Ann/1 wViAn a
; u;;cri liumcu iutu iw giuuu? . uv_ ? .
week longer time in fitting the seed bed . -.ia
would liave given a stronger, better
, growth in the fall, and one that would
, endure the winter better.
If peach-growers will go through their
orchards every fall and examine each
tree closely, they will find upon many of
them gum oozing from the trunk near
the ground. By brushing away the guaa
a small white grub with a b'.ack head
will be found drilling his way through
, the bark. Kill all of these pests and the
| trees will not suffer from borers. The
i early part of October is the best season
for doing this work. * jaM
I Foremost among all fertilizers is com- .3
mon barn-yard manure. That which.
: }>ivcs it its peculiar value is that it contains
all the plant elements, and is therefore
fitte I to nourish any crop; hence
; we call it a general and not a specific
' manure. To be sure, there are certain
conccntr.ited manures which, if the soil
! require* the particular plant elements of
, which they arc composed, will yield
i larger returns, pound for pound, than
! will barn-yard manure. Yet for general
i use upon the farm there is nothing that
j will tuks the place of this most common
Among the most valuable stimulants
for starting hens to !ay is cayenne pepper,
ground ginger or pulverized gentian
1 root, either of which may be mixed in
j moderate quantities with soft food. A.
I good tonic and at th; same time a stimulant
may be made up as follows: Red
pepper, 2 ounces; ground ginger, 1
ounce; ground gentian root, 1 ounce;
| green vitrol, 1 ounce; assafactida, 1
j ounce. Mix thoroughly and feed once
every two or three day3 in soft feed.
j The above quantity is for fifty hens.
which should be decreased to half at all
| feeds after the first. ..
?
One Thin? in His Favor.
There is a millionaire in town who has
1 a preat reputation for meanness. Moat
: millionaires have that reputation, but
most of them nrc mean to their friends
and relatives and others. This man is
j mean to himself as well. This millionaire
I was interested in some of the recent failures,
and made some sweeping losses.
' Oh, it's awful! awful! I'm ruined,
quite ruined!" ho said to a fellow-sufferer,
"I am sorry, but, after all, there'a
one great thing in your favor." "What
is that? I can't see it." "You won't
need to change your mode of life ftU,"
-?San Franciico Chroniclt.
V