The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 11, 1901, Image 7
DR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
?obJect:NothlnbIs Insignificant? Instances
of on What a Slonder Thread Great Results
Hans?A Little Thine May Decide
Yonr Fate?The Importance of Trifles.
[Copyright 1901.1
Washtnoton, 1). C.?A Bible incident
not often noticed is here used by Dr. Talraage
to set forth practical and beautiful
truth; text, II. Corinthians xi, 33,
"Thrnnnli n tvimlnw in a haslcet Was I let
Sdown by the wall."
Sermons on Paul in jail, Paul on Mars
hill, Paul in the shipwreck, Paul before
the sanhedrin, Paul before Felix, are
plentiful, but in ir.y text we have Paul in
a basket.
Damascus is a city of white and glistening
architecture, sometimes called "the
eye of the East,'' sometimes called "a
pearl surrounded by emeralds," at one
time distinguished for swords of the best
matevial called Damascus blades and upholstery
of richest fabric called damask.
A horseman of tlie name of Saul riding
toward this city had been thrown from
the saddle. The horse had dropped under
a flash from the sky which at the same
time was so bright it blinded the rider for
many days, ana I think so permanently
jojured his eyesight that this defect of
vision became the thorn in the flesh he
afterward speaks of. He started for Da
V,,4.Akat. Pkriofiana hllfr.
UlCU><,Ua IV UUltHCi v/**w?v?u?uw,
that hard fall from his horse he was a
changed man and preached Chrigt in Damascus
till the city was shaken to its
Joundation.
* v The mayor give3 authority for his arrest,
and the popular cry is, "Kill him,
kill him!" The city is surrounded by a
high wall, and the gates are watched by
the police lest the Cilician preacher escape.
Many of the houses are built on the
wall, and their balconies projected clear
over and hovered above the gardens outBide.
It was customary to lower baskets
out of these balconies and pull up fruits
and flowers from the gardens. To this
day visitors at the monastery of Mount
Sinai are lifted and let down in baskets.
Detectives prowled around from house to
hoMse looking for Paul, but his friends
* hid him now in one place, now in another.
He is no coward, as fifty incidents in his
* v- e l. u:_ i.
me uemonsiraie, out nc iccia mo num jo
not done yet, and so he evades assassination.
"Is that preacher here?" the foaming
mob shout at one house door. "Is
that fanatic here?" the police shout at another
house door. Sometimes on the
street incognito he passes through a crowd
of clinched fists, and sometimes he secretes
himself on the house top. At last the infuriate
populace get on sure track of him. i
They have positive evidence that he is in
the house of one of the Christians, the balcony
of whose home reaches over the
wall. "Here he is! Here he is!" The vociferation
and blasphemy and howling of
the pursuers ai*e at the front door. They
break in. "Fetch out that gospelizer and
us hang his head on the city gate.
Where is he?" The emergency was terri- <
ble. Providentially there was a good j
stout basket in the house. Paul's fr?nds i
fasten a rope to the basket. Paul steps i
Ill GO it. X lie Uai'KCI/ 19 111 VCU Lilt
ttf the balcony on the wall, and then while
Paul holds the rope with both hands his
friends lower away carefully and cautious- :
jy, slowly but surely, farther down and.
farther down, until the basket strikes the
earth and the apostle steps out and afoot
?nd alone starts on that famous missionary
tour the story of which has astonished
Pirth and heaven. Appropriate entry in
aul's diary of travels: "Through a window
in a basket was I let down by the
wall."
I observe first on what a slender tenure
great results hang. The ropemakers who
twisted that cord fastened to that lowering
basket never knew how much would
depend upon the strength of it. How if it
had been broken and the apostle's life
had been dashed out? What would have
become of the Christian Church? All that
magnificent missionaiy work in Pamphyiia,
Capnadoc'ia, Galatia, Macedonia, would
never have been accomplished. All his
writings that make up so indispensable
Mid enchanting a part of the New Testament
would never have been written.
The etorv of resurrection would never
have been so gloriously told as he told it.
That example of heroic and triumphant
? J -j. ?? 1:1
endurance at irmiippi, iu liic raem terra*
nean Euroclydon, under flagellation and
st his beheading would not have kindled
the courage of 10,000 martyrdoms. But
that rope holding that basket, how much
depended on it! So again and again great
results have hung on slender Circumstances.
Did ever ship of many thousand tons
crossing the sea have such an important
passenger as had once a boat of leaves
from taffrail to stern only three or four
feet, the vessel made waterproof by a coat
of bitumen and floating on the Nile with
the infant lawgiver of the Jews on board?
J What if some crocodile should crunch it?
What if some of the cattle wading in for
a drink should sink it?
Vessels of war sometimes carry forty
puns looking through the northoles, ready
to open battle. But the tiny craft on the
Nile seems to be armed with all the guns
of thunder that bombarded Sinai at the
lawgiving. On how fragile a craft sailed
how much of historical importance!
The parsonage at Epworth, England, is
on fire in the night, and the father rushed
through the hallway for the rescue of his
children. Seven children are out and safe
on the ground, but one remains in the
consuming building. That one awakes
and, finding his bed on fire and the building
crumbling, comes to the window, and
two peasants make a ladder of their bodies,
one peasant standing on the 6houlder
of the other, and down the human ladder
the boy descends?Joan Wesley.
If vou would know how much depended
on that ladder of peasants, ask the millions
of Methodists on both sides of the
sea. Ask their mission stations all around
the world. Ask their hundreds of thouRands
already ascen'dcd to join their founder,
who would have perished but for the
living stairs of peasants' shoulders.
An English ship stopped at Pitcairn
Island, and right in the midst of surrounding
cannibalism and squalor the passengers
discovered a Christian colony of
churches and schools and beautiful homes
and highest style of religion and civilization.
For fifty years no missionary and
no Christian influence had landed there.
Why this oasis of light amid a desert of
heathendom? Sixty years before a ship
had met disaster, and one of the sailors,
unable to save anything else, went to his
trunk and took out a Bible which his
mother had placed* there and swam ashore,
the Bible he?d in his teeth. The book was
read on all sides until the rough and vicious
population were evangelized, and a
church was started, and an enlightened
commonwealth established and the world's
history has no more brilliant page than
that which tells of the transformation of
abolition by one book. It did not seem of
milch importance whether the sailor continued
to hold the book in his teeth or
let it fall in the breakers, but upon that
small circumstance depended what mighty
results?
Practical inference: There are no insignificances
in life. The minutest thing is
part of a magnitude. Infinity is made up
of infinitesimals; great thines an aggregation
of small things. Bethlehem manner
palling on a star in the Eastern sky. One
book in a drenched sailor's mouth the
evangelization of a multitude. One boat
of papyrus on the Nile freighted with
events for all ages. The fate of Christendom
in a basket let down from a window
on the wall. What you do, do well. If
you make a rope, make it strong and true,
for you know not how much may depend
on your workmanship. If you fashion a
boat, let it be waterproof, for you know
not Tho may sail in it. If you put a Bible
v in the trunk ol your boy as he goes from
home, let it be remembered in your prayers,
for it may have a mission as far-reaching
as the book which the sailor carried
in his teeth to the Pitcairn beach
The plainest man's life i9 an island between
two eternities?eternity past rippling
against his shoulders, eternity to
come touching his brow. The casual, the
accidental, that which merely happened
go, are parts of a great plan, and the rope
that lets the fugitive apostle from the Damascus
wall is the cbie that holds to its
mooring the ship of the church in the
storm of the centuries.
Again, notice unrecognized and uare
corded service. Who span that rope!
Who tied it to the basket? Who steadied
the illustrious preacher as he stepped into
it? Who relaxed not a muscle of the arm
or dismissed an anxious look from his
face until the basket touched the ground
and discharged its magnificent cargo?
Not one of their names has come to us,
but there was no work done that day in
Damascus or in all earth compared with
the importance of their work. What if
they had in their agitation tied a knot
that could slip? What if the sound of
the mob at the door had led them to say,
"Paul must take care c5 himself and we
will take care of ourselves?" No, no!
They held the rope and in doing so did
more for the Christian church than any
thousand of us will ever accomplish. But
God knows and has made record of their
And thev know.
. How exultant they must have felt when
they read his letters to the Romans, to
the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the
Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colosscans,
to the Thessalonians, and when
tbey heard how he walked out of prison,
with the earthquake unlocking the door
for him, and took command of the Alexandrian
corn ship when the sailors were
nearly scared to death and preached a
sermon that nearly shook Felix off his
judgment seat! I hear the men and women
who helped him down through the win*
dow and over the wall talking in private
over the matter and saying: "How glad I
am that we effected that rescue! In coming
times others may get the glory of
Paul's work, but no one shall rob us of
the satisfaction of knowing that we held
the rope."
Once for thirty-six hours we expected
every moment to go to the bottom of the
ocean. The waves struck through the
skylights and rushed down into the hold
of the ship and hissed against the boilers.
It was an awful time, but by the blessing
of God and the faithfulness of the men in
charge we came out of the cyclone, and
we arrived at home. Each one before
leaving the ship thanked Captain Andrews.
I do not think there was a man
or woman that went off that ship without
thanking Captain Andrews, and when
years after I heard of his death I was impelled
to write a letter of condolence to
his family it! Liverpool. Everybody recognized
the goodness, the courage, the
kindness of Captain Andrews, but it occurs
to me now that we never thanked the
engineer. He stood away down in the
darkness amid the hissing furnaces, doing
his whole duty. Nobody thanked the engineer,
but God recognized his heroism
and his continuance and his fidelity, and
there will be just as high reward for the
engineer, who worked out of sight, as for
the captain, who stood on the bridge of
the ship in the midst of the howling tempest.
There are said to be about 150,000 ministers
of religion in this country. About
80,000, I warrant, came from early homes
which had to struggle for the necessaries
of life. The sons of rich bankers and
merchants generally become bankers and
merchants. The most of those who become
ministers are the sons of those who
had terrific struggle to get their everyday
bread.
The years go by, and the son has been
ordained and is preaching the glorious
gospel, and a great revival comes, and
Bouts by scores and hundreds accept the
gospel from the lips of that young preacher,
and father ana mother, quite old now,
are visiting the son at the village parsonage.
and at the close of a Sabbath of
mighty blessing father and mother retire
to their room, the son lighting the way
and asking them if he can do anything tc
make them more comfortable, saying if
they want anything in the night just to
knock on the wall. And then, all alone,
father and mother talk over the gracious
influences of the day and say: "Well, it
was worth all we went through to educate
that boy. It wa9 a hard pull, but we
held on till the work was done. The
world mr.y not know it, but. mother, we
held the rope, didn't me?" And the
voice, tremulous with joyful emotion, responds:
"Yes, father, we held the rope.
I feel my work is done. Now, Lord, lettest
thou Thy servant deoart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."
"Pshaw!" says the father. "I never felt
so much like living in my life as now. I
want to see what that fellow is going on
to do. he has begun so well."
Come, let us "go right up and accost
those on the circle of heavenly thrones.
Surely they must have killed in battle a
million men. Surely they must have been
buried with all the cathedrals sounding a
dirge and all the towers of all the cities
tolling the national grief. Who art thou,
mighty one of heaven? "I lived by choice
the unmarried daughter of an humble
home that I might take care of my parents
in their old age, and I endured without
complaint all their querulousness and
administered to all their wants for twenty
years." Let us pass on round the circle
of thrones. Who art tliou, mighty one of
heaven? "I was for thirty-five years a
Christian invalid and suffered all the
while, occasionally writing a note of sympathy
for those worse off than I, and was
general confidant of all those who had
trouble, and once in awhile I was strong
enough to make a garment for that poot
family in the back lane." Pass on to another
throne. Who art thou, mighty one
of heaven? "I was the mother who raised
a whole family of children for God, and
they are out in the world Christian merchants,
Christian mechanics, Christian
wives, and I have had full reward for all
my toil." Let us pass on in the circle of
thrones. "I had a Sabbath-school class,
and they were always on my heart, and
they all entered the kingdom of God, and
I am waiting for their arrival." But who
art thou, mighty one of heaven, on this
other throne? "In time of bitter persecution
I owned a house in Damascus, a
house on the wall, A man who preached
Christ was hounded from street to street.
ana i nia mm irom trie assassins, ana
when I found them breaking into my
house and I could no longer keep him safety,
I advised him to flee for his dear life,
and a basket was let down over the wall
with the maltreated man in it. and I was
one who helped hold the rope." And I
said, "Is that all?" And he answered,
"That is all." And while I was lost in
amazement I heard a strong voice that
sounded as though it might once have
heen hoarse from many exposures and
triumphant as though it might have belonged
to one of the martyrs, and it said,
"Not many mightv, not many noble, are
called, but God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the
world and things which are despised hath
God chosen; yea, and things which are
not to bring to naught thinsrs which are,
that no flesh should glory in His presence."
And I looked to see from whence the
voice came, and. lo, it was the very one
who had said, "Through a window in a
basket was I let down by the wall!"
Henceforth think of nothing as insignificant.
A little thing may decide your
all. A Cunarder put out from England
for New York. It was well equiDped, but
in nutting up a stove in the pilot box a
nail was driven too near the compass.
You know how that nail would affect the
compass. The ship's officers, deceived by
thai distracted compass, put the ship 20C
miles off her right course and suddenly
the man on the lookout cried, "Land
ho!" and the ship was halted on Nan
lucKet snoais. a sixpenny nan came
near wrecking a Cunarder. Small ropes
hold mighty destinies.
A minister seated in Boston at his table,
lacking a Vord, puts his hand behind hii
head and tilts back hi* chair to think,
and the ceiling falls and crushes the table
and would have crushed him.
A minister in Jamaica at night by the
light of an insect called the candle fly ii
kept from stepping over a precipice a hundred
feet. F. W. Robertson, the celfr
brated English clergyman, said that he
entered the ministry from a train of circumstances
started by the barking of I
dog.
Had the wind blown one way on a cer
tain day the Spanish Inquisition woulc
have been established in England, but ij
blew the other way, and that dropped
the accursed institution, with seventy-five
tons of shipping, to the bottom of the
sea or flung the splintered log3 on the
rocks.
Nothing unimportant in your life 01
mine. Three naughts placed on the righl
side of the figure one make a thousand,
and six naughts on the right side of the
figure one a million, and our nothingness
placed on the right side may be augmen
tation illimitable. All the ages of tinu
and eternity affected by the let
down from a Damascus balcony.
THE GREAT DESTBOYEE
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE.
Medical Testimony as to the Injury o>
Giving Intoxicant* to Children ? Responsible
For Many Diseases and Organic
Troubles?A Great Evil.
Professor Max Kassowitz. the most famous
authority in Vienna 011 children's
diseases, speaking at the session in Vienna
of the International Anti-Alcoholic Congress,
strongly opposed the practice of
giving children intoxicants in any form,
even m very moderate quantities.
Beer and wine, he held, were highly injurious
on account of the changing character
of the bodily organs during child
growth. Such liquids were absolutely unnourishing
and frequently led to epilepsy
and had also a deadening power in learning.
_
A V ienna schoolmaster stated that on
Mondays the children were dull and heavy
in consequence of the beer and wine drinking
on Sundav. Fifty Der cent, of the
Vienna school children, it wi^s stated, take
intoxicants.
The New York Herald interviewed various
New York medical men on the matter.
Dr. Louis Fisher, a leading specialist
in diseases of children, corroborated the
statements of Professor Kassowitz as to
the injury of intoxicants to those of tender
age.
Dr. Fisher was inclined from personal
observation to the belief that wine and
beer were frequently given to children in
this city, especially among the tenement
house population. - He added:
"This is obsewed by any phvsician who
has a dispensary practice. Among parents
of Irish birth who live on the west
side whisky is a favorite tonic for babies.
Ths Germans on the east side give their
children beer.
"Parents seem to have the idea that by
giving ctinaren liquor tney are matting
them strong?that it will strengthen their
hearts. They generally hegih the practice
very early.
"In consequence of this practice the
growth of the children is retarded, and
their digestion is disturbed. The suffering
of the baby from the effects of the administration
of liquor seems to give the
parents the idea that more is needed to
counteract the ailments. So they go from
bad to worse.
"To any one whose attention has been
called to the subject particularly it is remarkable
to note how much digestive
trouble can be traced to this practice.
The most deplorable part of it is that the
ill-effects of the liquor are not injurious
to the stomach alone, but quickly extend
to the liver."
Dr. Augustus Caille said the evils resulting
from the practice were real and not
imaginary. He declared that great care
was necessary in the administration of
liquors to children even by physicians.
He added that he did not prescribe whisky
or brandy for children except in extreme
cases.
Views of the Very Rov. Doan Farra?.
Mv reasons for takine the Dledire wer?
partly general and partly special."
First?I became convinced that the usa
of alcohol in any form waa not a necessity.
I saw that whole nations hav*
lived and flourished without it. I believed
that the whole race of man had ex?
isted for centuries previous to its discovery.
becond?I was otruck by the indisputable
fact that in England 20,000 inhabitants
of our prisons, accustomed to strong
drink all their lives, and the majority of
them brought into prison directly or indirectly
by it, could De, and were, from the
moment of their imprisonment, absolutely
deprived of it, not only without losa,
but with entire gain to their personal
health.
Third?I derived from the recorded testimony
of our most eminent physicians
that the use of alcohol is a subtle and
manifold source of disease even to thousands
who use it in quantities conventionally
deemed moderate; also, that all the
young, and all the healthy, and all who
eat well and sleep well, do not require it,
and are better without it.
Fourth?That the carefully drawn statistics
of many insurance societies convinced
me that total abstinence, so far from
shortening life, distinctly and undisputably
conducted to longevity.
Fifth?Then I accumulated proof that
drink is so far from heme requisite to
physical strength or intellectual force,
that many of our greatest athletes, from
the days of Samson onward, "whose drink
^vas only of the crystal brook," have
achieved without alcohol mightier feats
than have ever been achieved with it.
Drinking Habits and BncceM Are Alien.
Here are some words from John D.
Rockefeller, spoken in his speech before
the great University of Chicago, to which
he has given over ?9,000,000. They deserve
to oe printed in every paper in the
land. He said to the young men: "Some
of the foes which threaten your success
may not be apparent to you until it is too
late. If you are to succeed in life it will i
be because you master yourselves, and if
vou are to continue masters and not slaves
vou do not need that I should say to you
here to-day that you must jealously guard
the approach of any foe to your wellbeing.
How many a young man whom I
knew in my school days went down because
of his fondness for intoxicating
drinks! No man has ever had occasion to
regret that he was not addicted to the
use of liquor. No woman has ever had occasion
to regret that she was not instrumental
in influencing young men to use
intoxicants. The chances for success are
better to-day than ever before. Success j
is attained by industry, perseverance and
pluck, coupled with any amount of hard
work, and you need not expect to achieve
it in any other way." This is the estimate
of drinking habits Formed by a man
who has probably had opportunity to
know and see as many young men succeed
or fail as any other man in the land. It
is fast becoming true that drinking habits
and success in life will not go together.
?Baptist Argus.
A Horrible Traffic.
A step which is most desirable* is to repress
the horrible iniquity, of which England
and Germany are specially guilty, of
deluging with ardent spirits?often of the
most villainous quality?the savage races
of Africa and other countries, ami so incurring
the deadly curse of placing a
stumbling block before the helpless childhood
of the world. There are many evidences
to show what those whom we complacently
call "the inferior races" think
of this shameful crime. The name given
in Africa to our strong drink is Shamewater;
the Maoris call it Rotten-water;
the American Indians, Fire-water. "Drink
is death," said the African chief Ivhama;
"it is that and nothing else." "For every
sincere Christian in India," said Archdeacon
Jeffries, of Bombay, "we have made
a thousand' drunkards."
The Cruitade In Driof.
The devil's most helpful ally is the
liquor traffic.
Governmental law has enthroned the
demon traffic.
Drink, combined with disease, has devastated
the islands of Hawaii.
jKussia, norrinea ac cne wuoiesaie tiegeneracy
of her drunken peasantry, has
adopted rigorous measures to remove them
from temptation.
France is so much alarmed at the dingrace
of a drunken soldiery that the Minister
of War has issued an order prohibiting
the sale of drink in barracks, camp?
and manoeuvring grounds.
After alcohol readies the blood it is first
carried into the liver, and it is especially
the liver that suffers from whisky, the
strongest, liquor.
An imperatively ncce3sary legal measure
whicn we have a right to demand is
the prohibition of any sale of drink to
children under sixteen.
The Church of Scotland Temperance Society
in seven years has increased its membership
from 32,000 to 72,000, and now
supports four temperance evangelists for
preventive, rescue and reform work.
The postal director at Doubs, Franco,
has issued an order forbidding all lettercarriers
from accepting alcoholic drinks
from their customers, both while on and
off duty. He declares that the exigencies
of the service demand total abstinence
.. - s,'
TEE SABBATE SCEOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR SEPTEMBER 15.
Subject: Jacob a Frinoo With God, Gen.
xxxil., l-oJi?Golden Text, Luke xvill.,
1?Memory Verses, 24-'-J8?Cornmentary
on tlie Day's Lesson.
1. '"Went on Ilia way." In some way
God had spoken to Jacob anil told him to
return to his native land. Gen. 31: 3. The
Lord would not permit him to remain
away longer, for he might become perverted
in his religious lite and forget the
promises of which he was heir, ana then,
as he could no longer live in peace with.
Laban it was time for him to return.
"Angels of God." A host of angels. See 2
Kings 6: 17. "Met him." Literally,
"enrne, drew near to him."
2. "God's host." The angels are called
hosts. 1. From their multitude. 2. From
their order. 3. From their power for the
protection of the saints. "Mahunaim."
"Two camps."
3. "Sent messengers." These messengers
were probably sent before he saw the
host of angels, for they seem to have returned
soon after this. "Land of Seir."
This is on the east and south of the Dead
Sea.
4. "Unto my lord." "Yielding pacifieth
great offenses." Eccles. 10: 4. Jacob
Bumbled himself before his brother, recognizing
him aa lord, and putting himself
down as a servant.
6. "Cometh to.meet thee." Ihe mind of
Esau was in that wavering atate when the
slightest incident might soothe him into
good will, or arouse him to vengeance.
7. "Greatly afraid." The fear of his
brother was the direct consequence of his
sin, the sin that embittered his whole life.
"Two bands." Disposal of his company
into two bands, so that if one was attacked
the other might escape, was characteristic
of Jacob. He was a scheming
man, and never neglected to take every
possiule precaution.
9. "0 God of my father Abraham." In
this great emergency he had recourse to
prayer.
10. "Not worthy." The Hebrew expression
is "little among all the mercies;" that
is, too little to have received less: less than
all. "With my staff." When he passed
over this Jordan he had nothing but his
staff, but now he has wives and children
and flocks and herds.
11. "The hand of my brother." Jacob
knew that his brother-was coming toward
him with an army, and he feared the
worst. "The mother with the children."
He must have had an awful opinion of his
brother when he used this expression,
which implies the utmost cruelty, proceeding
in the work of slaughter to total extermination.
12. "Thou saidst." God's promises are
the sure ground of all our hopes, and "to
remind God of His promises is one of the
privileges of prayer.'
13. "A present for Esau." Jacob did
not regard praying as a rubstitute for the
use of means. It was rather a guide, an
inspiration from God in their use.
14. 15. "Two hundred," etc. We can
learn something of his great prosperity
from the fact that this present to Esau
consisted of 580 animals.
16. "Every drove by themselves." The
disposition of this pri*cely present in several
droves, following one another at intervals,
was such as to repeat the favorable
impression made by eacn, as they successively
came before Esau, accompanied with
a conciliatory message. "Pass over before
me." They were now near the fords of
ue Jabbok, clo3e to the region of expected
danger.
20. "Will apease him." Jacob hoped to
pacify his brother and turn away his anger
by the presents, and by the words of
esteem which he had instructed his servants
to speak to Esau.
22. "Kose up that night." Jacob took
his family across in the night when there
would be no opportunity for the enemy to
Bee or to hinder. "Ford Jabbok." The
Jabbok was a stream flowing into the Jordan
about two-thirds of the distance from
the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.
24. "Was left alone." To be left alone
with God is the only true way of arriving
at a just knowledge of ourselves and our
ways. "There wrestled." From Hosea
12: 4 we learn that the wrestling of Jacob
was not merely a physical exercise, but
also a spiritual one. "A man* This was
doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ho3ea
12: 4, the man who wrestled with him i.?
called the angel, and the Lord of hosts;
and in verse 30 of this chapter Jacob calif
Him God.
25. "He prevailed not." It would have
been easy enough for the angel to prevail
physically, but the Lord was endeavoring
to lead Jacob to a complete abandonment
of himself. "He touched?his thigh." The
thigh is the pillar of a man's strength;
Jacob was thus sliown his utter helplessness
and dependence on God. God can
bring down to the dust the stoutest
26. "I will not," etc. To say this from
the heart is the secret of all true strength.
"Thou bless me." The bleasing of God on
the heart is of greater value than the best
this world can give.
27. "What is thy name?" God directed
attenticn to his name as representing his
character. "He said, JacoD." That is,
"supplanter." Thus did Jacob admit the
true state of his heart.
28. "Israel." A prince of God, or one
powerful with God. God had taiight him
that his greatest enemy was not Esau, but
himself "Power with God." The only
sure way of having power with men is to
have power with God first. Earnestness,
perseverance, submission, faith?the^e will
move both God and man. "Hast prevailed."
All of God's people are wrestlers.
Great things are promised to those who
give themselves fully to God, not the least
of which is that they shall prevail with
God.
29. "Tell me?thy name." Reveal thyself
to me more fully. "He blessed him
there." The angel did not gratify Jaccb's
curiosity when he asked his name, but he
did bless him. 1. Consider the place. It
was a place (1) of great trial (vs. 6, 7);
(2) of numble confession (v. 10); (3) of
pleading (vs. 11, 12); (4) of communion (v.
30); (5) of conscious weakness. V. 31. 2.
Consider the blessing. He was (1) saved
from a great peril (v. 11); (2) he was able
to feel that a great brcach was healed (33:
4); (3) he had won a new name and rank
(v. 28), and was made a prince on the
spot; (4) he was now under a fresh anointing.
and was a superior man ever after.
30. "Peniel." Or Penuel (v. 31), meaning
"the face of God." "My life is preserved."
These word9 have a deep spiritual
meaning. The only way in which the
life can be preserved is to meet the angel
?Christ; He is the life.
31. "The sun rose." See Mai. 4: 2. The
rising *un was a type of the spiritual sun
rise upon ni8 soui. rnucu, en-, hucw
er Jacob was healed at this time, or was
ever after a cripple, is mere conjecture.
32. "Eat not of the sinew." What this
sinew was neither Jew nor Christian cm
tell.
Ajtrii-nlturo In Alaska.
The Cenaua Bureau, at Washington,
has issued a report on the agricultural
statistics for Alaska. It shows that
Alaska's total farm wealth June 1, 1900,
was $15,688, of which $2196 was invested
in live stock, $600 in implements and machinery,
and $12,800 represented the value
of buildings and other improvements.
Buildings have been erected on nine of
the twelve farms in the Territory. The
twelve farina have a total area of 159
acres, and vegetables are the principal
product. The total value of domestic animals
and poultry waa $2198. Next to
vegetables grass cut for hay and ensilage
in t.nfl mnafr imnnrhnf arrripiilt urn 1 nrr*.
(iuct. From the standpoint of income
upon capital invested poultry raising in
1899 was relatively the most profitable
branch of Alaskan agriculture.
Russian Trad? With England.
Russia is largely and handsomely represented
at thei Glasgow Exposition, and
since the opening of that snow and the
visit to England of many Russian business
men increased interest in the trade between
the two countries is manifested.
It is reported that direct trade between
the Siberian dairymen and the English
importers will be established. This business
hats hitherto been done through Danish
and German middlemen.
' . *.' V- - v ' * 7 . ... , .
GOD'S MESSAGE TO MAN
PRECNANT THOUCHTS FROM THE
WORLD'S CREATEST PROPHETS.
Hid With ChrUt"?Noble Livine?On* o)
the Selected. Avenues to Noble L1t<
Ins i" Found in Grent-HeArtednesa ?
The Strong Should Help the Weak.
We gazed into the yawning grave,
With ffhudd'ring agony and dread;
Into that sere and narrow cave
Where we must leave our precious dead!
Our heartstrings quivered with the moaa
Of cords reluctantly unreeled,
As, in their taut, yet writhing zone,
The casket sought the tomb's grim shield
With tense, expectant breath, we stood
To hear the hollow-sounding clod
Pall from the cowl, the yellow hood
Of fresh-turned clay, and waiting sod.
Then, "Earth to earth, and dust to dust,"
We heard, but not the mocking thud
Which thrills the soul with anguished
thrust,
Which chills the stricken brain and
blood;
For. thoughtful hands had thickly strewn
The cherished casket with the boughs
Of arbor vitae's fragrant boon,
And human pity's fadeless vows.
Ah, then, revivified with trust
In God and man, we waited there,
\Vhile "Earth to earth and", dust to dust,"
No longer seemed Death's ruthless
share.
Beyond the stern, sepulchral groans,
Beyond the knell of perished time,
We heard the Comforter's glad tones,
We heard the resurrection chime.
A voice had whispered: "Come to Me!"
And lo! the weary had fottnd rest!?
O Grave, where is thy victory,
When Christ's dear ones sleep on His
breast?
We left her there, below the wreath
That made the nir with fragrance rife,
Forever "hid with Christ," beneath
The branches of the Tree of Life!
-Mrs. Virginia Sheffcy-Haller, in N. Y
Observer.
Vnhlo T.lvlnp.
All service worthy of the name springs
from the desire created bv love, to go out
of self and be one with others, that it may
enrich and bless them. Men cannot be
reall> blessed without tenderness. You
may relieve their wants in the way of
duty, but such relief will not refresh their
hearts. A loving heart is the great minister.
Here clothing itself in graceful
speech, there manifesting itself in kindly
action, here sympathizing with the sorrowful,
there relieving the distressed; it
exhales sweet odors like the alabaster box.
It pours forth music like the harp. It
warms and cheers like the winter's fire.
It is without question that one of the seiectesc
avenues to noble living and noble
influences is found in great-heartedness.
It is through greatness of heart that the
strong help the weak, the educated the ignorant,
and the rich the poor. It is the
ministry of the heart which is taking the
rigor out of toil, the cruelty out of law,
the hardness, out of theology, and the injustice
out of life. ' It has been said:
You may save anyone if vou will only
love him enough," and there is deep
truth in the statement. How many men
who would otherwise have been lost, have
been saved by a friend who would not
give them up when they had gone astray,
who would not abandon them when others
had fallen away in despair, and who
would not withdraw from them the protection
of that generous friendship which
still kept self-respect alive, and held the
door open for a return to that whieh is
noble and good?
A Spiritual Tonic.
The doctrine that there is no use of exercising
self-denial unless some worthy
end is .to be served by it. is subject to ths
important Qualification that the habit of
self-control is itself an end worthy of any
cost. John Stuart Mill advises us every
day to refrain from doing something that
we want to do, to do something that involves
sacrifice and hardship for the sake
of strengthening the soirit. Is not that
as wise a9 to take regular exercise tor tne
sake of the body? Much ia said to-day
about "the strenuous life." The intent
of most of it is toward producing a selfassertive,
pugnacious and rather brutal
type of character. The true field for the
exercise of the strenuous life ia not in out
relation to other people, but in our relation
to ourselves. We are our own worst
enemies, and the counsel of Mill is exceedinply
wise. It does hot differ much
from that of Paul. (1 Cor. 9 : 25-27). It
may be said that in everv life opportunities
enough for the exercise of self-denia}
arise every day. where it is a duty. That
may or may not be so. just as a man mai
or may not get physical exercise enougl
when about his ordinary task3. Even ther
it is a good plan to bring new musclei
into play. A little of the heroic that wt
make for ourselves, not because we hav?
to, but because we want to cultivate thai
mood is an admriable spiritual toa> ?
Boston Watchman.
Looking Upward.
No one is really profited by drudtrenr o)
which he th'nkB as drudgery and nothing
more. Ouv life is not a treadmill, but a
journey. When the hard and thankless
day is thought of as one stage in a dustv
road that leads toward home, when selfdenial
takes the form of service, when
postponement of gifts mean9 opportunity
of growth, even drudperv puts on the dignity
and glory of a divine calling. It is,
therefore, by the uplifted gaze, tho lofty
vision, that we are to attain. All that
we can realize of our best ideals we shaH
attain in Christ. Our life ia filled with
mniTiinff htr Tfia nrrc onPA nnd TTifl triiafc.
Faith, obedience and service are the way
marks of our journev. Faith looks up to
Him for guidance. Obedience keens us on
the road. Service to others, in the experience
of Christians, is the usual medium
of God's bestowal of enlightening grace.
"He that doeth the will fthall know," is
Christ's law of all attainment.?Boston
Congregationalism
The Natural Christ.
There corned a time when the natural
Christ does not satisfy the soul, and then
the ecclesiastical Christ is brought out to
please those who are seeking deeper
knowledge. Christ recognizes a life midway
between nature and reason; between
the simplicity of the blade and the finality
of the full ear of corn in the ear.?Rev
J. A. Milburn. Congregatiooalist, Chicago,
Religious KuggaU.
The divine can never be inhuman.Ram's
Horn.
Known duties are fixed fingerboard*
along life's way.?Weilspring.
Great effort from great motives ia the
best definition of a happy life.?Channing
Life goes from teat to test; it ia like
any other business?the more you know,
the more it puta upoa you.?Mrs. Humphry
Ward.
Thorns may be woven into a chaplet,
i /.i-ATi/n it fcpftv anH a pat
ttllU autli li viwnii, *" - ~7 ?
the brow, is the emolem of fc royalty likf
Christ's.?Charles Beard.
General lUilas to Uie Aimy.
Lieutenant-General Miles has issued a
general order, intended to improve the
londitions of the army. It admonishes
jfficers and men regarding their duties,
md points out the essentials of a good
loldier, specifically mentioning patriotism,
discipline, physical development, self-retncefc,
self-reliance and resourcefulness,
ilso adding that professional knowledge '
m necessary at all thne3. The General
jays that on account of large acccssior-j
)f officers and soldiers who have had on'.v
imited experience in the military service
;hc instructions contained in uie ordrr '
ire issued for their guidance, as well as '
ior that of others.
, INLTDML ]
%M?$C e c ?? 66^
The Management of Cattle.
While the use of the best cows is a
very important matter, yet the management
of the farm and the cattle
have something to do with the production
of milk. There are cows that will
give more milk on some farms than
on others, due to better varieties of
grass, more grain food and more comfortable
quarters. An indifferent farmer
may have good cows from which
no profit is derived because of poor
management. During long periods of
drought the pasture may not provide
but a fraction of the grass compared
with its capacity early In the season,
and it, therefore, becomes more difficult
for the animals to supply them
selves. This deficiency the farm??
should observe and supply.
Farm Gates.
Take two pine or poplar boards, six
inches wide, an inch and a half thick
and as long as you want your gate.
Have pickets one by fouxjnches and,
as . long as you want your, gate high,.
iH?1^..- 'h
A HEAT PABM OATS.
Then a brace one by four inches, long
enough to reach from the lower corner
of gate on hinge end to top corner,
where the latch is to be placed.
Lay the two rails down on barn floor
or treaties, if you have them, the
proper distance apart, and nail on your
pickets, putting four nails in each
end. Saw brace to fit in between
rails without notching, and nail pickets
to this. Bolt on hinges, having
holes in same, so the bolts will pass
through both picket and rail. At the
other end bolt a paling on each side
of the rail. Have a common latch
made out of au old Magon tire or ^n
old piece of bar iron and when this is
properly secured your gate is complete.?Orange
Judd Farmer.
The Summer Dlot of Chickens.
There is no perfect summer or winter
food for chickens, but with a little
ingenuity-in mixing their diet we can
supply them with what may be called
perfect food. A good deal depends
upon the nature of the chlokens and
fowls in regard to the food, and also
upon the season of the year. While
a fair supply of corn may do for
winter feeding, it could hardly be
recommended for summer feeding. It
is altogether too fattening and heating.
On the otfier hand a little rice is
good for the fowls in summer, and
totally unsuitable for winter;. There
is practically no beating elements in
rice, aud this is what we need for
summer feeding, food that will nourish
without heating.
Now when we feed summer or
winter for eggs we must consider food
from a different standpoint We need
to supply the fowls with egg-producing
material, and for the time we
must consider the relative importance
of heating and non-heating foods much
less than formerly. Usually, however
foods that make flesh and fat do not
contribute to the egg-producing abilities
of the hens. The foods adapted
to the latter are usually iu a class by
themselves. In addition to them we
need consider only such other foods
necessary to repair the daily waste
and loss of heat and fat. In cold
weather the loss of the latter is much
greater than in summer, and consequently
the proportion of these foods
must be far larger.
Both fowls and chickens indicate
what they most need if turned loose.
They will pick of grains, seeds, worms,
slugs and all sorts of natural foods.
The more of this natural food they
can secure the better will it be for
them. Chickens that can forage for
a living in summer will always be
healthy and robust. But we must not
forget that very often they fail to
secure enough to keep them In good
growing condition. After they have |
foraged for the day they need additional
food. But in the summer this
food should not be corn, which so
many think necessary. A little, and
a very little at that, will suffice. The
evening meal would be much better
for the poultry if\composed of a great
variety of seeds, grains, rice, scraps
from the table, ground fresh bones,
rrit, oats, barley and so on. . Make
such an evening moal as varied in its
composition as possible, adding as few
fat-producing foods as the case will
warrant Feed the poultry freely with
this mixture every night, giving them
all they will cat up clcan. In the
morning turn i!iem loose to forage
again, feeding tln-m artificial food only
when night couics again. Of course,
where there are many colonies kept,
the foraging grounds will be more
limited, and the birds will have to receive
more artificial l'oods.?Annie C.
Webster, in American Cultivator.
An Excellent Scratching Shed.
In winter as well as in summer It
Is imperative that fowls should be
kept busy. They delight always to
" e their feet, aDu for this reason no
netter method of affording them
requisite exercise is to be met witu
when the ground is mantled with
snow than supplying the poultry
House in some way witu a goou, commodious
scratcliing-shed.
Truth to say, the sw.itchJng-shcd
has come to slay, aud If only rightly
constructed it forms ji most pleasing
Adjunct to auy poultry house. and ?:; I
peciall.v to U?e Snuiatcs. The ldsa of j
what is required can be seeu iu the <
'
accompanying illustration, althoag*
this may be varied to accommodate
whatever style of house one. happenl
to bave.
The point of view fs to have the
shed so situated that when the sun is
shlniug it may derive all the benefit
possible from its rays. It should
therefore occupy the south side of the
house, as indicated in the picture?the
more so for the reason that it is then
out of reach, as near as can be, of
the cold northwest winds.
Now, to build this form of scratching-sbed
erect in the first place a
simple, ordinary shed, with a good
roof; then, to exclude animals of prey
and the like which may be prowling
around even in the daytime, cover the
three open sides from the exterior
with good wire netting, extending it
from the eround or base boards clear
to the top. This accomplished, construct
on the Inside cotton-cloth screen
doors to match the netting, and havo
them hinged at the top so that they
can be turned up to the ceiling when
the weather is suitable.
When the weather Is very stormy,
very cold* or exceedingly blustering,
the doors may be dropped and the
fowl# left to enjoyfcbeir "gymnasium"
.with scarcely' any--.inconvenience at
all,, the cloth1 admitting light sufficient
for them to execute the most "foul*
antics imaginable, . On warm, sunny,
days, however, the "curtains" may bn
raised, as likewise they may In Bummer,
and the poultry have a frolicking
place well ventilated and pleasant 1a
every respect This is of decided advantage
where fowls have to be confined
more or less all the year, as la
generally the case in and about villages.
One thing more. To realize good
results from such a shed a quantity
of straw, hay or the like should occupy
It (this to be replaced witn rresn
every once in a wb}le)r and each morning
some grain, such as rye, oats,
wheat, barley, buckwheat or even
grass1 seed, be sprinkled among it.
Thus will the fowls.be encouraged to
work, so that the laziest among them
will obtain a proper amount of exercise
and lay in return more eggseggs
of a much better quallt^, too.?
New York Tribune.
/
Shrinkage on the Farm.
The loss of corn and f-odder by
shrinkage varies according to climate
and the conditions of the atmosphere.
Experiments have been made in different
sections, and the results show
that there is n wide difference in the
shrinkage of corn, wheat and other
grains, and that sometimes the loss
by shrinkage is sttcfr-as to render the
crop unprofitable. The Michigan Agricultural
Experiment Station has given
the results of several years' work h*
solving the problem, and also published
facts from other sources. Referring
to the relative weights of ears, leaves
and stalks, It was found that on August
24 about 24.3 per cent, of the
total weight of the corn plant above
ground was in the ear. This per cent,
gradually increased until near harvest
time (September 14) above 35.7
of the total weight of the plant was \
in the ear. At harvest 46.3 per cent,
of the dry matter of the entire plant
was' in the ear. This experiment was
repeated the next year, when It was
found that about 47 per cent, of the
total dry matter of the plant was in
the ear. At harvest (September 14)
the ear contained 45.57 per cent, of
dry matter, the stalks 21.53 per cent,
and the leaves 27.27 per cent, the ears,
therefore, not being relatively as dry
as tbe leaves and stalks. It may be
claimed, by way of convenience,
therefore, that the amount of dry matter
in the ears is about equal to that
of the whole plant. Ensilage corn,
cut at different dates, showed the following
percentages of moisture: August
10 the moisture was 82.69; August
25, 79.13; September 6, 72.51, and
September 15. 65.14. One lot of 16,155
bushels of corn, of 70 pounds per
bushel, was carefully weighed when
cribbed. It was to be delivered in
July. It weighed at the elevator a
fraction over 14,896 bushels, showing
a loss from shrinkage of over 1258
bushels, or about 7% per cent. In one
experiment 7000 pounds oi corn
shrank 400 pounds between October 19
and January 19. At the end of the
year the kernels of corn contained
32.14 per cent, of water and the cobs
25.82 per cent.
It has been demonstrated that there
is a slieht loss of weight in wheat
between complete ripeness and the
stage known as dead ripe. There i*
not only a loss by shelling when the
grain becomes over-ripe, but a given
area, kept in the ordinary manner,
will weigh less if taken from an over-,
ripe held than if taken from a field cut
at the proper time. The amount and
quality of the tlour, as well as the
germinating vigor of the grain, arealso
less if the grain is allowed to become
overripe. Wheat will shrink if
the climate is dry, but when the wheat
is taken from un intensely dry ^Jlmnte
to a comparatively damp one the gain
in weight may amount to as much as
twenty-five per cent. In eighteen
days in an absolutely dry atmosphere
the loss in nir-dried wheat was 6.2
per cent.; oats. 9.3 per cent., and
barley, 7.8 per cent. According to this
there must naturally be a gain if ex
posed again to moist air, the gain in
oats io eighteen days being 19.8 per
cent.; barley. 20.4 per cent., and wheat
(in 14 days), 18.8 per cent In a very
dry climate the grain from such may
greatly increase in weight If shipped
to some point where the air is moist,
the purchaser making the gain by the
absorption of moisture by the grain.
Kvnpvimcnts fllsn ahnw that- xvhoalr
lost and gained in weight several
times in a season by reason of being
exposed to dry and moist conditions.
Tlie difference in loss or gain of
weight depends upon the condition of
the wheat when cured, and hard wheal
loses less than the soft varieties. Thr
same rule applies to corn, oats and
other grains. Shrinkage usually occurs
when tfraln is kept dry, but loss from
shrinkage docs not occur in all places
with uniformity, as a gain in weight
may result during damp periods.?I'liii
adelphiu Record.
More than eleven per cent. (11.G) or
the inhabitants of Switzerland
300) are foreigners. In France the
proportion of foreigners is three per
cent., and Germany only one Der cent*
>