Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I REV. 1)1 TALMAGE. HE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Selah." Text: "Selah:1 -Psalms Ixi., 4. The majority of Bible readers look upon is word of my text as of no importance, ley consider it a superfluity, a mere filling , a meaningless interjection, a useless re.1'. a 3 i P.i.L t !>..+ T iaiu, au uaucuueu ecao. oemu: x>uk j. ave to tell you that it is no Scriptural aoident. It occurs seventy- four times in the <ock of Psalms and three times in the Book f Habakkuk. You must not charge this erfect book with seventy-seven trivialities', elahl It is an enthroneri word. If, accordig to an old writer.some words are battles, leu this word fa a Marathon, a Thermopye, a Sedan, u Waterloo. It fa a word deisive, sometimes for poetic beauty, somemes for grandeur, and sometimes for ternal import. Through it roll the thunerinR chariots of the Omnipotent God. I take this word for my text because I am > often asked what is its meaning, or hether it has any meaning at all. It has d ocean of meaning, from which I shall us morning dip up only four or five bucktfuls. I will speak to you, so]far as I have Ie, of the Selah of pcetic significance, the ih of intermission, the Selah of emphasis 1 the Selah of perpetuity. .re you surprised that I speak of the ih of poetic significance? Surely the God ? sapphired the heavens and made the th a rosebud of beauty, with oceans ,eiDg to it like drops of morning dew, ild cot make a Bible without rhyehm, bout redolence, without blank verse. I knew that eventually the Bible would ead by a great majority of young peofor in this world of malaria and casualty >ctogenarian is exceptional, and as thirty rs is more than toe average of human if the Bible is to be a successful book it ?t be adapted to the young. Hence the sodv of the Bible?the drama of Job, the :oral of Ruth, the epic of Judges, the yrambic of Habakkuk, the threnody of miah, the lyric of Solomon's Sang, the orio of the Apocalypse, the idyl, the phe and antistrophe, and the Selah of Psalms. herever you find this word Selah it us that you are to rouse up to great za, that you ai*e to open your soul to it analogies, that you are to spread the 5 of your imagination for great flight, hswerei thee in the secret place of thunI proved thee at the waters of Meribah. h." "The earth and all the inhabitants eof are dissolved; I bear up the pillars . Seiab." "Who is the King of Glory? rbe Lord or Hosts, He is the King ot uiory. Selaft." "Thou shalt compass me about with longs of deliverance. Selah." "Though he waters thereof roar and be troubled, bough tbe mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah." "The Lord of Hosts is rith us, the God of Jacob is our refage. Jelah." "Thou hast given a banner to them bat fear Thee, that it may be displayed jecause of the truth. Selah." "I will hide inder the covert of Thy wings. Selah." "Oh, God, when Thou wentest forth before rhy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness. Selah." Whoever you find this word it is a signal of warning hung out to tell you to stand off the track while the rushing train goas by With its imperial passengers, Poetic word, Charged with sunrise and sunset,and tempest and ?arthquake, and resurrections and millenniums. r Next I come to speak of the Selah of intermission. Uesenius, Tholuck, Hengstenberg and other writers agree in saying that this word Selah means a rest in mu3ic; what the Greeks call a diapsalma, a pause, a halt In the solemn march of cantillation. i P.wrv musician knows the imDoriance of It if you ever saw Jullien, the great xnasical leader, stand before five thousand singers and players upon instruments, and with one stroke of his baton smite the multitudinous hallelujah into silenca, and then, Boon after that, with another stroke of his baton rose up the full orchestra to a great outburst of harmony, then you know the mighty effect of a musical pause. It gives more power to what went before; it gives more power to what is to come after. So Uod thrusts the Selah into His Bible and into our lives, compelling us to stop and think, stop and consider, stop and aamire, stop and pray, stop and repeDt, stop and be rick, stop and die, It is not the great number of times that we read the Bible through that makes us intelligent in the Scriptures. We must pause. What though it take an hour for one word? What though it take a week for one verse? What though it take a year for one chapter? We must pause and measure the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, the universe, the eternity of meaning in one verse. I should like to see some one sail around me little adverb in the Bible, a>little adverb ?f two letters, during one lifetime? the word "so" in the New Testament passage, "God bo loved the world." Augustine made a long Sause after the verse, "hut ye on the Lora j esus Christ," and it converted him. Mat" * - ? - 1 CQew tienry maae a long pausa amur iuo verse, "Open Thou my hps, and my mouth lhail show forth Thy praise," audit convertad him. William (Jowper made a lone >ause after the verse, "Being freely justified >y His grace," and it converted him. When Gk>d tells us seventy-seven times meditatively to pause in reading two books of the Bible, Be leaves to our common sense to decide how often we should pause in reading the Dther sixty-four books of the Bible. We must pause and ask for more light. We must pause and weep over our sins. We must pause and absorb the strength of one promise. I sometimes hoar people boasting about how many times they hare read the iBible through, vrhen they seem to know no jmow about it than a passenger would know about the State of Pennsylvania who should igo through it in a St. Louis lightning express tram and in a Pullman Sleeper," the two characteristics of the journey, velocity and Bomnolence. it is not the number of ?imo? mi 1 an thrrvncrVl th? Biblft. hilt the \mmber of times the Bible goes through you. fause, reflect. Selah! |_\So also on the scroll of your life and mind. Wfce go rushing on in the song of our prosperity from note of joy to note of joy, and it jis a hong drawn out legato, and we become 'indifferent and unappreciative when suddenly \we come upon a blank in the music. (There "us nothing between those bars. A .pause. \God will fill it up with a sick bed, or a coralrnerclol disaster, or a grave. But, ,thank God, it is not a breaking down. It is only a pduse. It helps us to appreciate the jblessinsjsthat are gone. It gives us higher 'appreciation of the blessing) that are to come. i , The Selah of Hab^kkuk and David is a dividing line between #wo anthems. David ,< begins his book with the words, "Blessed is j the man," and after seventy-four Selahs he closes his book with the words, "Praise ye the Lord." So there ore mercies behind us, and there are going to be marries before us. i if i? cToo-1 for us that God halts us in our for tunes, and halts us with physical distress, ' and halts us at th9 graves of our dead. More tban once you and I have been halted by such a Selah. You wrung your hands and said: *'I can't sej any sense in this Providence: 1 can't see why God cave me that child, if He is so soon going to take it away. Oh, my desolate home! Oh, my broken heart!" You could not understand it. But 'it was not a Selah or overthrow. It gave you greater appreciation of the blessings that have gone; it will yet give you greater appreciation of the blessings that will come. When the Huguenots were being very much persecuted in France a father and ixlother were obliged to fly from the country, leaving their child in tne possession of a comparative stranger. They did not know whether they would ever return, or returning, if they would be able to recogniza their child, for by that time she might b? grown. : The mother was almost frenzied at the |; thought of leaving the child, and then, even - - V--1 b-r.r,m if coming bac* again, nut, mrm* ? her. Befora they lext the father drew hii ana he marked the wrist of that child with a deep cut. It most have been a great exigency to make a father do that. Years of absence passed on and after , awhile the parents returned, and their first anxiety was to find their lost child. They liooked up and down the land, examining the i wrists of the young people, when lo! after I awhile the father found a maiden with a scar ;upon her wrist. She knew him not, but he [knew her. And oh, the joy of the reunion! So it is now. "Whom tne Lord loveth He 'chasteneth." He cutteth, He marketh and when He comes to claim His own the Lord will know them that are His; know them by the scar of their trouble, know them by the stroke of their desolation. Ob, it is good that the Lord sometimes halts us. David say a, "It is good that I hare been afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went < . ? . 1 ' . ^ .*Vi astray, but now have I kept Thy word." Indeed, we must all soon stop. Scientists have imnroved human longevity, but none of them have prooosed to make terrene life perpetual. But the Gospel makes death a Selah between two beatitudes?between dying triumph on the one side of the grave and celestial escort on the other side of the grave. Going out of this life to the unprepared is a great horror. "Give me more laudanum." said dyinz Mirabeau; "give me more laudanum that I may not think of eternity and what is to come." And dying Hobbes said, "1 leave my body to the grave and my soul to the great perhaps." It was the discord of an Infidel's lifa hrpakinc down into tha lArrron of despair; but the Gospel makes the death of the Christain a Selah between redemption and enthronement. "Almost well," said dying Richard Baiter, "almost well." "Play those notes over again ? those notes which have been sc great a delight and solaca to me," said the dying Christian Mozart. "None but Christ, none but Christ," exclaimed dying Lambert. Richard Cameron, the Scotch covenanter, went into the battle three times praying: "Lord, spare the green and take the rip?. This is the day I have longed for. This is the day I shall get my crown. Come, let us tight it to the last. Forward!" So you see there is only a short pause, a Selah of inter mission, between dying consolations on the one side and ovarstapping rapture on the other. My flesh shall slumber in the ground Till the last trumpet's joyful sound; Then burst the chain? with sweet surprise, And in my Saviour's image rise. I next speak of the Selah of emphasis. Ewald, the German orientalist and theologian, says that this word means to ascaad; and wherever you find it, he says, you mu3t look after the modulation of the voice and f ou must put more force into your utterance, t is a Selah of emphasis. Ah! my friends, you and I need to correct our emphasis. We put too much emphasis on the world and not enou?h on God and the next world. People think these things around us are so important, the things of the next are not worthy of our consideration. The first need for some of us is to change our emphasis. Look at wretchedness on a \ throne. Napoleon, while yet emperor of France, sat down dejected, his hands orer his face. A lad came in with a tray of food and said, "Eat. it will do you good." Tho emperor looked up and said, "You are from the country?'' The lad replied, "Yes." "Your father has a cottage and a few acre3 of ground?" "Yes." 'There is happiness," said the dejected emperor. Ah! Napoleon never put the emphasis in the right place until he was expiring at St. Helena. On the other hand, look at Satisfaction amid the worst earthly disadvantage. "I never saw until I was blind,said a Christian man. "I never knew what contentment was while I had my eyesight as I know what content is now that I have lost my eyesight. I affirm, though few would credit it, that I would not exchange my present position and circumstances for my circumstances before I lost my eyesight." That man put the emphasis in the right place. wrt W?nf fA nnf foAo ofraoo nrv\n fhl'a WftfM and more stress upon our God as our everlasting portion. David had found out the nothingness of this world and the all-sufficiency of God. Notice how he interjects the Solatia. "Trust in the Lord at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Selah." "Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah." "The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah." Let the world have its honors, and its riches, and its pomp. Let me have the Lord for my light, my peace, my fortres?, my pardon, my hope, my neaven. What sinners value I retina; Lord! 'tis enough that Thou art mine. I shall behold Tny blissful race, And stand complete In righteousness. TKI? fa oil an A*nnfv ahnv. Bat the bright world to wfilch I go Hath joys substantial and sincera: When snail I wake and find me there? 0 glorious hoar! O blest a^odet 1 shall be near and like my God, And sin and sense no more control The endless pleas ores of my soaL But wheu I speak of the Selah of emphasis I must notice it is a startling, a dramatic emphasis. It has ia it the Hark, the Hist ut the drama. That wakening and arousing emphasis we who preach or instruct need to use more frequently. The Bleepiest audiences in the world are religious audiences. You Sabbath-school teachers ought to have more of the dramatic element in your instructions. By graphic Scripture scene, by anecdote, by descriptive gesture, by impersonation urge your classes to right action. We want in all our schools and colleges anl prayer meetings, and in all our attempts at m.. - ?J ?ll '*** frt Kava loaa reiorm, aua lu auvia v;uui w u?tv of tha style didactic and mora of the style dramatic. Fifty essays about the sorrows of the poor could not affect me as a little drama of accident and suffering I saw one slippery morning in the streets of Philadelphia. Just ' ahead of me was a lad, wretched in apparel, his lijpb amputated at the knee; from the pallor of tha boy's cheek the amputation not long before. He had a package of broken food under his arm?fooa hehadbeggei, I supposed, at the doors. As he passed on over the slippery pavement cautiously and carefully, I steadied him until his crutch slipped and he fell. I helped him up as well as I could, gathered up the fragments of tha package as well as I could, put them under one arm and the crutch under the other arm; but when I saw the blood run down * X u?ao An m nl of a 1 tr nvai*/v>niA UiS paie vuwa x ??^ Wu.if.w.-V Fifty essays about the suffering of the poor could not touch one like that little drama of accident and suffering. Ob, we want in all our different departments of usefulness?and I address hundreds of people who are trying to do good?we want more of the dramatic element aui less of the didactic. The tendency in this war is to drone religion, to moan religion, to croak religion, to sepulcbrizs religion, when we ought to present it in animated and spectacular manner. Sabbath morning by Sabbath morning I address many theological students who are preparing for the ministry. They come in here from the different institutions. I say to them this morning: If you will go home and look over the history of the nhnrrh von will find that those men have brought most souls to Christ who have bsen dramatic?Rowland Hill, dramatic; Thomas Chalmers, dramatic; Thomas Guthrie, dramatic, John Knox, dramatic; Robert McCheyne, dramatic; Christmab Evans, dramatic- George Whitefield, dramatic: Robert Hall, dramatic; Robert South, dramatic; FeneloiJ, dramatic: John Mason, dramatic: Dr. Nott, dramatic. When you get into the ministry, if you attempt to culture that element and try to wield it tor God you will meet with mighty rebuff and caricature, and ecclesiastical counsel will take your case in charge, and they will try to put you down, but the God who starts you will help you through, and great will be the eternal rewards for the assiduous and the plucky. What we want, ministers and laymen, is to get our sermons, and our exhortations, and our prayers out of the old rut. I see a tcreat deal of discussion in the religous papers aoout why people do not come to church. They do not come because they are not interested. The old hackneyed religious phrases that come moving down through the centuries will never arrest the masses. What we want to-day, you in your sphere and I in my sphere, is to freshen up. People do not want in their sermons the sham flowers bought at the millinery shop, but the japonicas wet with the morning dew; nor the heavy bones of extinct megatherium of past ages, but the living reindeer caught last August at the edge of Schroon lake. We want to drive out the drowsy, and the i al- a. ii J 4.L- l. i | prosaic, anu sue [txuuiu, auu cut) uuuiuruui, and introduce the brightness and vivacity, and the holy sarcasm, and the sanctified wit, and the epigrammatic power, and the blood red earnestness, and the fire of religious zeal and I do not know of any way of doing it as well as throuzh the dramatic. Attention! Behold! Hark! Selah! Next I speak of the Selah of perpetuity. The Targum, which is the Bible in Chaldee. renders this word of my text "forever." Many writers asrrao in believing and statinz cnar on9 meaningof this word is "forever." In this very verso from which I take my text Seiah means not only poetic significance and intermission and emphasis, but it means eternal reverberation ? forever! God's government forever, God's goodness forever, the gladness of the righteous forever. Of course you and I have not surveyor's chain with enough links to measure that domain of meaning. In this world we must; build everything on a small scale. A hundred vears are a trrnat, whitn. A tovrer five hundred feet is a graat height I A journey of four thousand miles is very J long. But eternity! If the archangel has r' mrostrengtn or wtng to fly across it, but ' flutters and drops like a. wounded seagull, there is no need of our trying in the small shallow of human thought to voyage across it. A skeptic. desiring to show his contempt for the passing years aud to show that be could build enduringly, had his own sepulcher made of the finest and the hardest marble, and then he had put on the door the words, "For time and for eternity," but it so happened that the seed of a tree somehow got into an unseen crevice of the marble. That seed grew and enlarged until it became a tree and split the marble to pieces. There can be no eternalization of anything earthly. Bat forever! Will you aDd I live as long as that? We are apt to think of the grave as the terminus. We are apt to think of the hearse as our last vehicle. We are apt to think of seventy or eighty or ninety years, and then a cessation. Instead of tbat we find the marble slab of the tomb is only a milestone, marking the first mile, and that the great journey is beyond. We have only time enough in this world to put on the sandals and to clasp our girdle and to pick up our staff. We tRke our first step from cradle to grave, and thea we open the door and start?great God, whither? The clock strikes the passing away of time, but not the passing away of eternity. Measureless, measureless! This Selah of perpetuity make3 earthly inequalities so insigniflnanf fka Knf mn/rn n/inninM nn^ ^ouu? vuo uiuot cuv/O uuunoou s^cpivi auu needle, between Alhambra and hut, between chariot and cart, between throne and curbstone, between Axminster and bare floor, between satin an4 sackcloth, very trivial. This Selahof perpetuity makes our getting ready so important. For such prolongation of travel what outfit of guidebooks, of passports and of escort? Are we putting out on a desert, simoom swept and ghoul hunted,or into regions of sun lighted and spray sprinkled gardens? Will it be Elysium or Gehenna? Ones started in that world, we cannot stop. The current i3 so swift that once in no oar can resist it, no helm can steer out of it, no herculean or titanic arm can baffle it Hark to the long resounding echo, "forever!" Oh, wake up to the interest of your deathless spirit! Strike out for heaven. Rou39 ye, men and women for whom Jesus died. Selah! Selah! Forever! Forever l Spices. Considerable confusion exists in the minds of many people as to the nature of spices. Most of these possess a slightly stimulating effect and are actual aids to digestion. Of the common spice9 nut meg is proDaDiy tne mosc usea. it is a native of the Molucca or Spice Islands and- grows directly under the equator. Macc is the inner coat that lines the hull of the nutmeg. The nutmeg in its coat of mace, with the outer hull surrounding it, is often displayed as a curiosity in New York spice shops. There are two kinds of nutmegs, the long, slender shape, which is the wild, and the round, which is the cultivated nut. The latter is more oily and much better than the wild nutmeg. By scraping the side of a nutmeg with the finger and noticing whether the oil flows, one can guard against the worst fraud in this spice? the "soaked nutmeg." Large quantities of nutmeg and other spices which are brought to market arc soaked in water to relieve them of their oil. These are afterward aold, of course, at a low price, but they have lost their efficacy as a spice in losing their oil, aud are little better thaa the celebrated woodea nutmegs. Always begin grating at the flower end of the nutmeg, instead of the stem. The clove grows all over the tropical world and the clove of commerce is the unexpanded flower bud of the tree, and is the most fragrant of any part of it. Cinnamon spice is the inner bark of the cinnamon tree. It growj in China and Ceylon, and is cultivated in the West Indies and South Ametisa. A great deal of the heavier outer bark and of the coarse bark of the cassia tree is SDld as oinnamon. The best cinnamon is hardly thicker than paper and is of rather light ? - * n??l.i-- -ii ! color. AlUpiCU, UUU&C 1111 UbUCL apitco, is a berry. It is gathered while it ia still green and dried ia the sua. Jamaica allspice is among the best. It is of a mild flavor, and is not very much used ia the cookery of to-day. The flower buds of the cassia tree are imported in coasiderable quantity annually, and are used chiefly in cooking for flavoriag sweet pickles, to which they impart a delicate yec pleasant and distinctive flavor, different from cinnamon. Ginger, as everyone knows, is a root which grows all over the tropical world, in Asia, Africa and America. White ginger is composed of the best pnrts of the root, from which the outer skin has been taken off. The ground ginger of commerce is largely adulterated with tumeric, flour and various cheaper materials. ?Detroit Free Press. A French Patriarch. Adolph Zemeri, who died April 2, in the district of Guizot, France, was in possession of documentary evidence which proved that he was born in 1712' When old Zemeri first saw the iight of day Washington was a lad of but tea teader years. Welliagton was not bora until ttrpntf. seven vears later, aad Waterloo was seventy-three years in the future. Zemeri's allotment of years exceeded those of all men of recent times except Henry Jenkins and "Old Parr," two English worthies, the former of whom lived to be 169 years old and the latter 152.?St. Louis Republic. The modus vlvendi with Great Britain, which has just been renewed, is substantially that which was agreed upon for last year. Under Its provisions both governments will prohibit the killing of seals within the limits laid down in the treaty of 1867 with Russia, except 7,500 for the subsistence of the natives on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George. The clause which has been added to the agreement provides for a settle ment of damages sustained by Canadian poachers in case the arbitration goes against this country. The naval vessels selected by this country for patrol duty are the Hanger, Yorktown, Mohican, and Adams, which will be reinforced by the revenue ves sela Corwin, Rush, and Albatrcsa Several British warships of the Pacific station will also take part In this duty. French hatred to such cruelty and crimes as are perpetrated by King Behanzin seems suddenly quickened by the announcement that at the capital of Dahomey are buried the vast treasures accumulated bv a suo cession of absolute rulers. Cable aci. vices are that France is actively preparing for war against the brutal Be hanzin, and that Incidentally the hidden treasure will be seized upoD as an acceptable addition to the na tional exchequer. This age may seti the spectacle of Dahomey's Amazons contending in the Held with a soldiery representing the most polite people od earth. RELIGIOUS READING. ? -J ... /-.^fVY 15 THE BIBLE ISSI'1KJ5I? ur wi'. Says one. "I think that the Bible may be a true history, but tbat in no proof of its inspiration. It does not require divine inspiration to write a true history." So you think it an easy matter to tell the t^uth" do | you? I wish you could make other people think so. Suppose you go and read a ti'e of the newspapers published just before the last election, and see if you do not think it requires divine inspiration to tell the truth, or even to find it out after it is told. Truth is mighty hard to eet at. as y<m can see by perusing the daily papers on the eve of an election. There are certain things in the Bible which to my mind, bear the impress of Divinity. A skeptic will tell you what a race of old sinners we read about in the Bible! Noah got drunk; David was guilty of adultery and murder; Solomon was an idolater, ana wrought folly: Peter denied bis Lord, and QA niflPaa of silvpr: ftlj y uuaa 31/iu 111in iui uv j/i^vvw v. these people that the Bible talks about so much to us, are a pretty set of men! Very well; what kind of men do you expect to read about in tie Bible? Noah got urunk. Is that strange? Did no one else ever get drunk? I'eter cursed and aworc. Are there not other men who curse and swear? Judas, an apostle, sold his Lord, who said be hud chosen twelve, and one of them was a devil. Do you not sometimes find a Judas in the church even nowadays? One in twelve was a thief and a triitor then, and we need not be surprised if we find about the same average now. But you seem to think that when you read about a man in the Bible lie is sure to be free from all kinds of errors, frailties, faults ?nd sins. You have formed this idea of men from reading in Sunday-school books about good children, who usually die young; or perusing excellent biographies, which as vou read them cause you to exclaim, "I wish I could be as good as that person wan, but I i never shall." No, I presume you never will, and if you knew the whole story about the person you might not feel so deeply on the subject." Do you suppose that if the Bible had !>een written by some [earned doctor, revised by a committee of eminent divines, and published by some great religious society, we should ever have neard of Noah's drunkenr.o.D nF A Krnhnni'ti llerpntion . Of Lot*S dlS grace, of Jacob's cheating, of Paul and Barnabas'* quarreling, or of Peter's lying, cursing, or dissembling? Not at all. The good men, when tbey came to such an incident, would have safd, "There is no use in saying anything about that. It is all past and eone; it will not help anything, and will only bnrt the cause." If a com[ roittee of such eminent divines had prepared the Bible you would have had a biography of men whose characters were patterns of piety, and propriety, instead of poor sinuers, as they were. Sometimes a man writes his own diary and happens to leave it for some one to print after he is dead; but he leaves out all the mean trtcks be ever did, and puts in all the good acts he can think of; and you read the pages, filled with astonishment, and think, 'Wbat a wonderfully good man he was!" But when the Almighty writes a man's life be tells the truth about him; and there are not many persons who would want their lives printed if the Almighty wrote them. You find a man who will tell the truth about kings, warriors, princes and rulers today, and you moy be quite sure that be has within him the power of the Holy Ghost. And a book which tells the faults of those " * ' 14 *~'l +4kl!a tt/M1 fK of WDO wroie II, nun nunii wna j w "there is none righteous, no, not one," bears in it the marks of a true book; for wc all know that men have faults, and failings, and sins; and among all the men whose lives are recorded in that book, each man has some defect, some blot, except one. and that is "the man Christ Jesus."?[H. L. Hastings. WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? There is a world of difference between a Christian and a Christ-like man. We couot Christians by hundreds of millions, but the Christ-like people are reckoned only by millions. He who accepts Christ as "God manifested in the flesh;" His teachings as divine revelations to mankind; ?3is ordinances of religion as the hoiiest obligations; His conditions of repentance, faith, conversiou as essential to eternnl iife; His claims on the love of the soul, the purity of the life and on cbarity for man and devotion for God, is a Christiau 'by profession of faith, j as distinguished from all unbelievers whether in heathendom or Christendom. This is the honorable difference between the believer in tbe Lord and the Jew, the infidel and the pagan. Such are historical and doctrinal Christians, and the world in full of them. Let us believe that many such arc beautiful in morality and lovable m philanthropy. This immense power seen in gcvernments, in systems of education, and in social reforms. All ball! to a power eo potent and sublime! All this is the fruitage of a true professional conviction. > "But there remains something deeper, broader, grander, to be possessed. The measnre of this better estate ranges from a desire to 'Gee from the wrath to come,' to 'all tbe mind that was in Christ,' dominating the whole man. and an individual incarnation of Jesu?t so that Thrift liveth in me.' To cherish this desire by all possible means of grace, until all that is ev?.i in us is eliminated, all that is good in us is brought to maturity, and all that is lacking in us is sup - - . .. j?i..!i . u piled, is tne amy ana privilege ui??n,uin these extremes are all true Christians. The *bruised reed' and the 'smoking flax'are not to be despised. The 'leaven in the meal' and the 'mustard seed' in the earth are symbols of heavenly grace io the human heart. This is the babyhood of the Christian, lovable and beautiful as infancy. Beyond is the manhood, wherein the Christspirit holds every appetite and passion within the limits of law?purifies each motive. exalts each purpose, ennobles each aspiration, intones the conscience to the severest morality, enshrines the love of God and man in the 'heart of hearts,' and Hits up the human will and the divine will in their quality into a perfect oneness in our Lord. "Many have attained thereunto. They are walking in white; their conversation is in heaven. To them priyer is the habit of the soul. Faith is the normal condition of the spirit. Love is enthroned. Ob, that this experience may be my realized answer to your questioo, 'What is it to be a Christian?'"?[Dr. Newman. god's way. if * mnn li?? ft statue decaved by mst and 1 age, and mutilated in many of its ;>arts, he breaks it up and casts it into a furnace, and after the meltinj he receive* it again in more beautiful form. As thus the dissolving in the furnace was not a destruction, but a renewing of the statue, so the death of our bodies is not a destruction, but a renovation. When, therefore, you see as in a furnace our flesh flowing away to corruption, dwell not on that sight, but wait for the re-casting: and advance in your thoughts to a still higher point?for "the statuary casting into the furnace a brazen image, but makes a brazen one again. God does not thus; but j casting in a mortal bodv formed of clay, he returns you an immortal statue of gold.?[St. Cbrysostom. Some men cheat themselves out of a happiness by an erroneous notion that all the good in the world belongs to the past, and that the present is a degenerate age. Others rob themselves of much comfort by distrustin-; the future. An abiding faith in God, who is the same yesterday, today, and fore\er, promotes hea th offiody and peace of | mind, and secures everlasting salvation.? [New York Advocate. "Whilethe Society for the Suppression of Vice is maintaining ail unconiprising warfare, as it has done for years, against those hydra headed monsters, gambling and drunkenness, is it to" much to ask Christian men and women, philanthropists, parents, and good citizens t.'i sustain them by furI nisliing them with the siuews of war to fight with? The grateful Russians who received Via narrrn r\t iTrn i n vlflUf. hr f.hjlHt.ahlft [ vug vi wuv j ? Americans for the relief of the famine have been showing their gratitude by presenting a splendid antique silver tea service to the captain of the Missouri, who brought them the grain safe and sound. Now it happens t.haf-. t.he Missouri is a British shiD. and that Captain Finlay, who sail9 her, is a British captain, and he gets ail the eloquent thanks which the Russians meant for their American I friends. ' v -' SABBATH SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR v JUNE 12. Lesson Text: "The Den. of Lions," Daniel !., 10-28-Golden Text: j- Daniel vl? 23?Commentary. / 16. "Then the kin? commanded, and they brought Danieland cast him into the den of lions. After the kingdom passed into the hands of the Medes, Darius made Daniel the first of three presidents over 130 provinces. Bat the princes and other presidents hated him and sought to accomplish his death, as recorded in the previous part of this chapter. Daniel is fearless of man, and faithfully waits upon his God. The result is that Daniel is ca9t into the lion's den, and to all appearance has perished. The kind words from the king are a hope that it may be so, rather than an assurance that it will be so. "17. "And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet" So the ungodly prosper in the world, and the devil is permitted to put the saints of God in prison and ofttimea to kill them (Pa. lxxiii., 12; Rev. ii., 10; John xvi., 2). But the child of God is to be prepared for these things, and not to think them strange nor be offended when they come (Math. x.,28;|I Pet. lv.,12,13; John xvi., 1). 18. "Then the king went to his palace and passed the night feasting." Although the King iovea uamei ana laDorea bora to deliver him (verses 14, 15), yet even the king, with all his power, was powerless ajainst the law, from which let us learn that love cannot always deliver,nor can the law save any one. Even the law of Ood, which is holy and just and good, cannot give life nor justify the sinner (GaL iii., 21; ii., 16; Rom. iii? 20). 19. "Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions." This early morning victory and deliverance of Daniel is very suggestive of a morning of deliverance for Daniel's people, which is now drawing nigh. See Ps. xxx., 5; xlvi., 5, margin-xlix, 14; cxxx., 6; II Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. It is also seen in the early morning deliverance of Mark vL, 46-48. There is a class of people, however, for whom there will be no morning (Isa. viii., 20, R. Vi. 20. "O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?' It was a great and lamentable cry from the greatest earthly monarch of the time, a cry of hope, uut not 01 assurancu. nau 00 Known lqo God of Daniel and of David ha would not have asked if God was able to deliver. Read the experience of David and Paul in 1 Sam. xvii., 34-86; II Tim. iv., 17, 18, and let your own heart say, "I am persuaded that ne is abW II Tim. i., 12). 21. "Then E?id Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever." With what eagerness must the king have listened for a reply from the den, faintly hoping for ye*- hardly daring to expect a reply. But there is a reply prompt and clear and the king's heart ? exceedingly glad (verse 23). Whatever may have been the significance of the words, "Live forever," the believer in Jeeus knows that he has eternal life (John v., 24: vi., 47.) on nm,i h.tk n.'d .m/4 cjo. iujr v?uu uabu ocuu uu au^wo, auu hath shot the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me." Blessed be God and Blessed be His holy angels that excel In strength, doing Hip commands, barkening to His word (Ps. ciii., 21,22;. Consider the power of one angel as seen in the case of Hezeldah ana of Peter (Ina. xxx., 36; Acts xii., 6-10), and remember that these same angels are your ministering spirits ever with you, serving unseen and unthanked (Heb. f? 14). 23. "So Daniel waa taken up out of tho den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God." Daniel, in a figure, suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and came forth from the place of death, beyond death and judgment, witbont any manner of hurt upon him. Eveiy true believer in Jesus is now dead with Christ, risen with Christ and ha? passed from death unto life, (Col. iii.,1-3; John v., 24). There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, noming uau sepaiamj U3 uum am ivvc, aua in the morning of resurrection it shall be found that not a hair of our head has perished, (Rom. viii., 1, 39; Luke il., 18). 24. "And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and tneycaat them into the den of lions, them, their childrea and their wives." The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment (Job. xx., 5). This is a sample of those for whom there is no morning, or who in the morning of victory of those who trust in the Lord shall be punished with everlasting destruction from His presence(II Thess. i., 1-10). Bee how many were affected by their sin. No man livethunto himself. We are always affecting others either for good or evil. 25. "Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations ani languages that dwell in all tha aarrh Pbaca h? multinliivi unto VOU." That which caused Darius to make this proclamation to all nations was the power of the God of Israel manifested on behalf of Daniel, the Jew. The time will come when the power of this same God shall be so manifest on behalf of all Israel that all nations shall thus know God and honor Him as the Ood of the whole earth (Ezek. xxxvii., 3d28; xxxviii., 23). 26. "I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel." Thus Darius does the noblest thing any man every did or could do, he exaits God, he glorides God before all nations, and speaks of His eternal Wi J malna na thlnt th? tifTlfl when "ail kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him" (Pa Ixzii., 11; Ixxxvi.. &, 10). "The lofty looks of man shall be humble3, and the hau ghtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isa. ii, 11,17). 27. "He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh sirns and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath deliverel Daniel from the power of the lions." Darius had seen the deliverance of one man from a lion's den: but Daniel could tell of the deliverance of millions from the bondage of Egypt, of their food coming from heaven every day for forty years, of sea and river divided for them to pass through on dry land, of walled cities falling down as men shouted, and many such wonderful works of a wonderful God. We can tell of dead bodies actually raised from their graves as Lazarus and oth ers, and of a time when all m tneir graves shall come forth, and of some who will never die. Let us magnify the name of Him who only doeth all these things. 28. "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus tne Persian." And ail because he was a man of prayer, and Go 1 was witn him. He feared not the face of man, nor did be fear death; but he feared only to sin against God. He honored God, and God honored him, even in this world (I Sam. ?i., 30). ? Lesson Helper. PoMeaisil the Art of Codclllnz. It is not true that women do not realize and appreciate the attractive qualities that other won^n have for men. Occasionally, however, they do not. There Is a woman now of wide reputation before whom men fall in swaths. Her conquests have been signal, conclusive. The secret or this woman's charm other women have in vain tried to discover. A man who has himself "been prostrate before this all-conquering lady was asked wherein lay this lady's power. His brief answer was, "Coddling." This he went on to explain. "If a man has a weakness. a sccret grievance, her tlrst step is to discover it. He is lea to talk about it, and, alas, it is usually a relief to do so. This she humors as a mother does a sick child. It may be a heart affair, a financial matter, dyspepsia, or rheumatism. "What it is is immaerial. "When you see their two heads bowed together you perhaps think that they are whispering tender nothings. Not at all. He may be only telling her about a last night's toothache, and the tears are standing In her brown eyes as sue listens to his tale of woe. No man is able to withstand this all-penetrating sympathy. Of course, in time, he is apt to learn that it Is kept on tap for the beguilement of all who come that way."?New York Sun. 0S1RICH FARMING. A VISIT TO THE HOMES OF BIO BIROS IN CALIFORNIA. The Feather Industry, Which Prom ises Success?How the South African Bipeds are Americanized and Managed. "1/3^ f~7 ERE in this beautiful Iff valley,seven miles dis( I tant from the village of '^^g^lbrook and twelve ' f J | "om Oceanside,in the valley of the San Luis '(KT* Key, Cal.. writes a Ul ^ correspondent of the rirChicaS? Tribune, is that unique industry in America?an ostrich farm. Those who have seen California-bred ostriches at Riverside, Coronado, Carpeateria, or Santa Monica may have thought the enterprise of ostrich farming in this country - 1 f ? i _ l..4AnMAAM iU.i a purely iaocuui one, uum appcms iuat these birds thrive and multiply and yield valuable plumes as well anions: the California hills as in their native Africa, and the history of the experiment encourages the belief that this industry will prove profitable and comparatively general in the State, and, perhaps, in some parts of Arizona and New Mexico. This is the pioneer farm. In 1882 a resident of Fallbrook went to South Africa in the interest of the American Ostrich Company, then just incorporated, to study the science of ostrich farming. A year later he returned to America, bringing with him twenty-three birds, which were -1* ?*_!_ 1._ J.J -i. XT U.?t an saieiy laaueu bi> new uucaus, uut alter a month's experience of Louisiana climate it was decided to move them to California, and this locality was chosen as offering, conditions most resembling those to which they had been accustomed. There are some sixty ostriches on the ranch, forty ethers being absent on ex* hibition, and a considerable numbers in addition having been sold. A three-months-old "chick" is no chicken in appearance, for it stands fully four feet high and looks as if it might nave had at least two birthdays. Nevertheless, the female does not mature until four years old, nor does the male uotii live. The color of the young birds is brown in general effect and the hen reiiains of that hue. The cock as he nears maturity turns a deep glossy blac a, with i row of pure white plumes among those t>f jet; down the front of each leg is a A FEATHBI tripe of brilliant red and a ring of the same color surrounds his big, savage eyes, for the cock-ostrich is a ferocious creature at times, and even the hens must be handled with skill. As fast as the birds pair the couple are confined in a paddock about an acre in extent. The hen begins to lay soon after the rains come, one egg every other day until the aest?a careless excavation three feet Across scratched in the sand?contains inywhere from eight to fifteen eggs, according to her humor or her ability to count. The cock does the principal part of the labor of setting. Every afternoon at exactly at 4 o'clock be relieves his mate, and never quits the aesta until 8 o'clock the nexc morning, thus giving the female a short watch of only eight hours out of the twenty-four, all daylight at that. The practice is to remove the eggs to an incubator as fast t as laid, and in that case the hen will lay as many as twenty-five cr thirty before taking a rest. An interval of five or six i weeks ensues and then she resumes laying. Thus the 09tnch farmer counts upon three periods of productiveness from his breeders in a year, aggregating fiom seventy-five to ninety eggs from each laying hen, although as in the ca9e of fowls not all the eggs are fertile. The ccrcrs hatch in forty days here?two days sooner than in Africa. The plumes are cut once in eight months. The first plucking takes place when the chick is six months old. The PLUCKING THK BIRDS. feathers then are small and of inferior 1 quality, and are used in the manufacture of feather dusters. In the vernacular of the African Boers, these first feathers are "spadoues." At one year old the chick yields feathers fit for use in trimmings. At two years a respectable plume is obtained, and thereafter the ostrich is a ripe and regular plume-prcduccr. Of plumes there are four rows on each wing, and in each row twenty-six plutnes. every one after its own kind both in color and size in any given row. The tail plumes are termed "boos." An OSlriCQ piUCKlDg 13 au Muug operatiou. The regular 4'featFe. roop1' is rather docile if unmolested, but highly excitable, and dangerous kickwrs on small provocation unless they are first blindfolded. Consequently, they are called into a paddock and fed, and, while they are busily engaged in picking up the corn or chopped beets that have been thrown them, two trained men quietly approach, dexterously seize a bird by the neck, and at the same instant f > thrust a long hood not unlike a huge stocking over its head. It is then forced' into a railed inclosure about three feet square, and a gate is shut behind it J Thus hooded the ostrich requires mtucu-' lar men to hold it, but it rarely HOLDrNGFOR A PICTirRB. shows fight. The plumes are then carefully snipped off one by one, and tho stub of the quill allowed to remain until its juices hare been diverted into other growing feathers and it has become transparent to tne eye. This requires but a few days, and then the stub is pulled out. After plucking the bird's thigh is daubed with red paint before it is turned loose, and when the quill stubs have been extracted] a second marking is made, so that a glance will discover the condition of any bird in the troop. When, however, ft breeding cock is to be shorn of his plumes the operation requires more nerve, ad-i . & dress and strength. He is as dangerous as a vicious bull at almost any hour of the day. If you approach his paddock closely he will generally trot up to the , fence and peer over and down upon you, opening his short stout beak with a hiss and looking bullets and bludgeons at Aiii- Af V*ifl <nrM/*lrA/3 anas jrvu Owing to the pugnacious temper of the breeding cock, the oidinary stratagem of throwing it fool is of no avail. When the hour for his plucking arrive# he is taunted and challenged to come to the fence and fight, if by any chance ha does not propose it himself, and in the i maiDTSG. ~ melee he is caught around the neck bj atronsr arms and hooded.. He is then harmless, although the combined strength of two men is exhausted bj the time hi* plucking is finished. The average weight of a full-grown cock is 175 pounds. Each bird yields at a plucking, oh an average, one and one-fourth pounds of plumes. Some of these are the "prime white," and sell for $75 a pound at wholesale, although as much as $7.50 is sometimes received for a single plume of super excellence. Others are the "long black," next in value, the "long drab" (from the female), "medium" and EGGS AS THEY ABE LAID. "short." The average value of a plucking from a single bird is $35, and as it is plucked three times in two years th3 annual product in plumes is about $50 for each bird. The life of an ostrich is , commonly thirtv years, although eighty years has been claimed for individual cases. They are sold at from $30, the price of a chick, to $300 for a threeyear-old bird. A breeding pair is valued at $1000. The finest' cock here was raised on the ranch from the egg, although some of the imported Africans are splendid specimens. Thus there is now a California breed of ostriches. Some of these fellows break through the fences and give their keepers a long stern chase. If a pair sho'uld one day make an effectual escape and breed out of captivity ostrich hunting might become one of the sports of California, like the shooting of wild boars in the Santa Rosa Wnnntoina nnlw twentv milfiS &W&V. MVUUkNtW v ? 'J J 4 ' Market Report. Veal is very firm.?Once a Week. Tiic general drift of opinion lately expressed appears to be that the practice of harrowing com, both before and after it is up, is increasing in popularity. Leprcsy has become a terrible scourge in Colombia, South America, there bein<r from 50.DUO to 100.000 cases in a population of 4,0')0,0u0.