Its excellency is seen in the fact that the moral sense, the conscience, of every man approves it.
Among even those who, alas for them! impiously set themselves against God and his revelation, there is not one that can take any exception against this law. All have broken it, and all by nature dislike it as a law for themselves, and refuse to obey it; but all have a perception of its excellence. And that part of it especially which refers to our behavior to each other, has been adopted by all classes, and has received even from the ungodly the designation, "the golden rule." And every man wishes all others to regulate their conduct towards himself by this law, whether he is governed by it or not. And this universal demand, even from those who have violated it, is a universal testimony to its excellence.
Yes, all men love to see it exhibited and observed by others. For who is there so base as not to approve the self-denying philanthropy of a Howard, the untiring humanity of a Clarkson, and of many others whom it would be easy to mention? Yet all that was so admirable in them was conformity, in some good degree, to this law. How often men admire, without giving themselves the trouble to think what it is that imparts loveliness to the objects of their applause. You may perhaps see one who is fitted to adorn the choicest circles, leaving the elegant occupations and refined society of her graceful home, entering the abode of poverty and affliction, to administer with her own hands to the wants of the suffering, or by her soft and sweet-toned consolations soothing the mind of the miserable. You may observe her encountering all that delicacy shrinks from, a ministering angel to the wretched. You speak in glowing terms of her goodness, but do you recognize that such a one is only complying, and that but partially, with one branch of this beauteous law?
What we instantly hate, too, is a violation of this law. We see a sordid wretch, who, having gold in his coffer, loves to keep it there; a son of misery, aye, a daughter of sorrow humbly sues for a trifle from his abundance; but the vile lover of his yellow earth turns a deaf ear to the pleadings of distress; anguish may rise, and swell, and overwhelm the soul—he beholds it all unmoved; his heart is like the nether millstone. We vent our indignation—honest, praiseworthy indignation. But the conduct so justly stigmatized is precisely the opposite to that enjoined by God's law, and is expressly denounced by it. See how, when unbiased by personal considerations, we take part with the law, and approve it as "holy, and just, and good." Thus in the meed of admiration which we bestow on virtue, and in the frown of indignation with which we greet the contrary, does the moral sense of all men testify to the excellence of the law. Partial conformity to it presents us with partial excellence and partial happiness; while perfect conformity thereto, is perfect excellence and perfect happiness.
The excellency of the law is further shown in the fact that the Saviour, when intending to exhibit a perfect model of loveliness of character, made it his rule.
It has been already remarked, that the loveliest character we ever met with derived all that was really excellent from conformity to the law of God. There is no imaginable excellence that it does not comprehend. Take, then, the finished portrait of perfection which we have in the whole demeanor of Jesus of Nazareth. Whatever forbearance, magnanimity, benevolence, self-renunciation, he manifested, he never went a hair's breadth beyond the requirements of this law. Did he forget his own fatigue at Jacob's well? Did he wipe away the tears from the widowed cheek of her of Nain? Did he weep in sympathy with the sorrow-stricken sisters of Lazarus? Did he go about doing good, laboring to reclaim the wanderer, to instruct the ignorant, to bless the wretched, and to raise all about him to virtue and happiness? Did he bury in oblivion his cruel wrongs, and pray for his very murderers? Did he forget his own anguish on the cross, when his weeping mother caught his eye, and when the accents of the dying thief fell upon his ear? In no one instance did he ever step beyond the circle law had drawn. In all he did, when in childhood and youth, he was subject to his parents; when in after life, he lived only for the good of all around him and for the glory of his Father, he only, as it was predicted of him, magnified the law and made it honorable, by complying with its demands. Study, then, the character of Jesus; gaze on the exquisite loveliness that was embodied in his demeanor; and as you admire, recognize therein neither more nor less than law perfectly observed;
"For in his life the law appears,
Drawn out in living characters."
Here, then, we pause. We have recognized the fact that a law emanating from God cannot be other than precisely what it ought to be; for the character of the divine Being is a guarantee for this. We have considered the law in itself, and perceived its claims to be admired. We have also regarded it in its legitimate effects, its adaptation to make the observer of it perfectly happy, and so the entire universe. We have seen how instinctively men admire its requirements to be observed by others towards themselves; and have traced the perfect loveliness of character which distinguished Jesus of Nazareth to the fact that it was entirely formed on the model of the law, of which it was an attractive embodiment.
And now are we not entitled to affirm that the law which God has revealed for the conduct of his subjects, is as beautiful as those laws of nature to which we have previously adverted? Is there not as much adaptation in this to produce harmony and happiness in the world of mind, as in those to secure the order of the material universe? With how much higher delight, then, may we admire and extol this law of God than we praise those other laws which he hath stamped on matter, though they are perfect.
But barren admiration is not the point at which we may stop; there are obvious conclusions which we may not lose sight of. It must be admitted, for example, (1) That it was every way wise and benevolent and right for God to give such a law as this; perfectly right to call on all his creatures to love him supremely, and to love one another perfectly and uninterruptedly; necessarily right, for we cannot conceive that the opposite course would be at all right, viz., that he should not call on them to love him, and to love one another. To dispense with this, would be to dispense with what was essential to the happiness of all; and which therefore would not have been benevolent, but the very reverse even, unkind and cruel.
Then (2) It must be as proper to guard a law so necessary to the general welfare. By how much it was wise and good to give such a law, by just so much must it be wise and even benevolent, to insist on its being obeyed. For as well not enact law, as leave every one at full liberty to observe it or not, just as he chooses, in which case it would not be law at all. But the proper guard of law is penalty threatened to the transgressor, which cannot therefore be dispensed with; the universal welfare requires to be thus protected. It is wise and good, therefore, to threaten punishment to the man who shall set the law at naught, for the violation of law is the only thing that can introduce disorder and anarchy, which has accordingly to be prevented by all proper means.
But if it be right to threaten, it must be (3) right to fulfill the threatening. For it cannot be right for the supreme Governor to speak, and not to keep his word. He must ever be the God of truth. And it would soon be known that though he threatened awfully, it was nothing but an idle word which might be disregarded with impunity; and then it is all one, as though there were no such law at all; and so the entire universe is given up of God, wholly abandoned to utter lawlessness! But by how much we shrink from this, by so much do we acknowledge that God must execute his threatenings. That due regard to the whole, which it were awful beyond conception to think of as not paid, demands that the law, which is essential to the peace and order and harmony and happiness of the universe, shall be guarded by the punishment of the transgressor.
Thus, then, punishment is imperative. It is not that God burns with resentment at the affront put upon him; not that he lays aside for a moment any of the goodness of his nature; not, as some choose wickedly to pervert things and say that, according to Scripture, he brought some of his creatures into existence in order to make them miserable; but his very regard to the universal happiness compels him to maintain his holy law inviolate. Nor can any reasonable person regret that the law of God, when violated, should bring suffering to the transgressor, any more than he can regret that fire should burn and water drown those who choose to brave them.
It is not wrath, it is not fury, it is not passion, which lifts the arm of justice against the violator of law, but wisdom and goodness, which is not that blind, indiscriminating, easy goodness which some choose to ascribe to God, and which would be a weakness exposing to contempt, rather than a virtue commanding our respect, but an enlarged and all-comprehensive regard to the interests of the whole, with which the well-being of the incorrigible transgressor (if it were possible, indeed, which in the nature of things it is not, for a determined despiser of such a law to be happy) could not be allowed to come into competition or bring into jeopardy. So that the very benevolence of God, his considerate regard to the welfare of the many, will nerve his arm to inflict the necessary punishment on the rebellious. Thus we have calmly reached this point,—the indispensableness of punishment when law is broken.—
Religion in the Constitution.
SOME years ago, the Examiner and Chronicle, the most influential, as well as the most widely circulated, of the Baptist journals of this country, under the title, “Short Method of Conversion,” thus alluded to the movement for a religious amendment to the Constitution:—
“We have wondered at the magical effects ascribed to the sacraments according to High Church theology. But turning a nation from atheists to Christians by a few strokes of the pen, by a vote in Congress, and ratifying votes in three-fourths of the State Legislatures, is equally miraculous and incomprehensible.
“This agitation for a national religion, officially professed, has, for its logical outcome, persecution—that, and nothing more or less. It is a movement backward to the era of Constantine, as far below the spirituality of the New Testament as it is below the freedom of republican America.”
The Beauty of Loving Enemies
The venerable Dr. Duff once read the Sermon on the Mount to a number of Hindoo youths, and when he came to the passage, "I say unto you, love your enemies," etc., so deep and intense was the impression produced on one of them that he exclaimed, "Oh, how beautiful! This is the truth, this is the truth!"
"And Many Such Like Things Do Ye."
By W. N. Glenn
THIS language was used by the Saviour, when reproving the Pharisees and scribes. It is recorded in Mark 7:13. It may be interesting to consider what it was, like unto which they had done many things, and for which they were called hypocrites. Jesus had been asked why his disciples did not walk according to the traditions of the elders, because they had been seen to eat with unwashed hands. The question was not asked because their hands were filthy, but because they did not fulfil the technical custom of the Jews, and observe the ceremony of washing before eating, whether necessary to cleanliness or not. The Lord immediately brought a counter charge against them, of rejecting the commandments of God that they might keep their own traditions. He not only makes the abstract charge, but he brings forward a specification:—
“For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free; and ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or mother; making the word of God of none effect through your tradition which ye have delivered. And many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:10–13.
The word “corban” Kitto defines as “a Hebrew word employed in the Hellenistic Greek, just as the corresponding Greek word was employed in the Rabbinical Hebrew, to designate an oblation of any kind to God.” Smith’s “Comprehensive Dictionary” defines it, “An offering to God of any sort, bloody or bloodless, but particularly in fulfillment of a vow.” McClintock and Strong say: “A Hebrew word, meaning that which is brought as an offering. Whatever might be required by a parent is refused on the ground that it has a prior and more sacred destination. The son might either make such reservation previously, or at the time, when he observed that his parent was about to ask for any article, in either case involving himself in a sin peculiarly hateful to God.”
Then the son being under obligation to devote any portion of means or service to his parents could say to them, That by which you were to be profited by me (that is, that which was due to you from me) has been given to God; and the tradition of the scribes would set him free from his obligation to do “aught for his father or mother.” Thus we see that these traditions would free one from the plain commandment of God on condition of his doing something in lieu of the commandment which would bring money into the treasury and purport to be for the glory of God.
We are told that the Jews were commandment keepers, and observers of the Old Testament scriptures, and yet were rejected by Christ. Their rejection grew out of the fact that they did not keep the commandments, but virtually rejected them, and made them void by their own traditions. Because their ears were dull of hearing the Scriptures, and they had closed their eyes to the evidence of his Messiahship, they were led to reject him whom they were professedly looking for.
The specification above cited shows how the Jews set aside or virtually annulled the fifth commandment by a pretense of doing something better and more directly to the glory of God. But Jesus did not honor their substitutes for his Father’s commandments; as reported by Matthew (chap. 15:7), he called them hypocrites. They would honor God with their lips, that is, in some way he had not commanded, but their hearts were far from him. Why? Because they rejected what he did command. Verses 7, 8. But the Lord not only charged them with making void the fifth commandment, but he further arraigns them, saying, “and many such like things do ye.” From this we infer that they were violating other commandments in the same manner. In fact he directly charges them with going about to kill him, in violation of the law. John 7:19. And did they not put him to death on the cross, contrary to law?
Is there not some important lesson in the experience of the Jewish people for God’s people of to-day? Certainly these things were written for our instruction. If the Lord would not indorse the transfer to himself, of honours due to earthly parents in violation of one of the commandments, what other infringement would he be likely to tolerate? Although he is “a jealous God,” and will not give his glory to another (Isa. 48:11), yet he will not acknowledge as worship any tradition which violates his express command. There is no honor that the creature can bestow upon the Creator which is as acceptable as obedience. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Sam. 15:22. Saul of Tarsus thought he “ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth,” because he was “zealous toward God;” but he subsequently learned that his acts of violence were in gross violation of the law; and could not be accepted as worship.
Never was there a time when the principle of substituting tradition for commandment, professedly for the glory of God, was so prominent as to-day. Notably so is the substitution of the first-day sabbath for the Sabbath of the Lord. The change purports to be in honor of the Son, who rose from the dead on the first day of the week; but it is only a tradition, which has no better foundation than the traditions of the Jews, and like their traditions, it makes void a commandment. Besides, it sets up an unwarranted rivalry between the Father and the Son. We have a memorial of Christ’s burial and resurrection (baptism), by which we express our faith in him, Col. 2:12, and from that point onward we can do him no greater honor than to “walk even as he walked;” 1 John 2:6; and he kept his Father’s commandments. John 15:10.
But, as before cited, when Jesus showed the scribes and Pharisees how they were violating the fifth commandment in pretended honor to God, he added, “And many such like things do ye.” It may be deemed harsh to intimate that those who have thus made void the fourth commandment, have done many like things. It is not presumed that all who have been misled by the Sunday delusion are thus guilty, but it is a fact that the power which has attempted to enforce a change of the Sabbath, has in its arrogant presumption violated every command in the decalogue under the pretense of worshiping God. And we find among those who disclaim allegiance to this power, some who are willing to set aside the entire law for the purpose of establishing the one tradition of a first-day sabbath, and making void the fourth commandment. Surely this one thing is leading them to “many such like things,” whether they are conscious of it or not.
Salvation from Sin
THE message of Christianity is a message of salvation from sin. The grand purport of Christianity is in its announcement of redemption, and in its clear declaration that redemption is not through any jugglery whereby sin’s penalty is evaded, but by a divine power and through a vital process whereby man is to become like his Master. There is nothing speculative in this message of the gospel. It holds itself strictly to facts, and presses itself unflinchingly on the human conscience. There is no room for debate; God is holy, man is sinful. Reconciliation to God is not an artificial patching up of moral differences between man and his Maker. It is bringing man up to that standard of morality that reflects the image of his Creator.
A Striking Parallel.
By Epsilon
PERHAPS we may be thought uncharitable for drawing this parallel. We feel sad at the thought that many who claim an interest in Jesus are arraying themselves against the “holy,” “just,” “good,” “perfect,” and “spiritual” law of God. But whom are the antinomians imitating? Not the Lord Jesus; for he taught, both by precept and example, that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He and his apostles condemned no one for keeping the letter of the law. But they taught plainly that the spirit is greater than the mere letter, and of course includes the letter.
The time was, in California, when one might mingle with various denominations and see no opposition to the claims of the decalogue. But when the light on the Sabbath came, it produced the effect of the fire cast from the censer upon the earth. Rev. 8: 5. Some churches, seeing the Sabbath enthroned in the very bosom of the decalogue, began at once a war against the “commandments of God.” Rev. 12: 17; 14: 12; 22: 14.
Other churches at first seemed loth to change their manner of teaching and preaching. But the Sabbath must be opposed, and to-day churches that would have defended the decalogue twenty years ago, are joining the antinomian ranks.
Is it unkind in us to tell them whom they imitate? They imitate Herod, not Jesus. This wicked man would gladly have murdered the infant Saviour singly. Though he held no ill will against the infants of Bethlehem, he ordered a body of soldiers to fall suddenly upon the village and environs, and slay all the male infants.
Why do these antinomians wish to drive the Sabbath out of practice? What is wrong about it? Can they find either in Scripture or reason a good plea for its discontinuance? Have they any better plea for attacking it than Herod could have for making an attempt upon the life of the infant Saviour? Finding that their attack on the Sabbath, singly, did not check the spreading of the truth, they must imitate Herod further. Herod slaughtered the innocents of Bethlehem in order to get rid of one innocent; and they attack the whole decalogue in order to get rid of the Sabbath. These severe words are penned with kind feelings toward them.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Prov. 27: 6. EPSILON.
A Prayer Against Vanity
“TURN away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way.”
Is It Safe to Dance?
A GREAT deal can be said about dancing; for instance, the chief of police of New York City says that three-fourths of the abandoned girls of that city were ruined by dancing. Young ladies allow gentlemen privileges in dancing which, taken under other circumstances, would be considered as improper. It requires neither brains nor good morals to be a good dancer. As the love of one increases, the love of the other decreases. How many of the best men and women are skillful dancers? In ancient times the sexes danced separately. Alcohol is the spirit of beverages, so sex is the spirit of dance; take it away, and let the sexes dance separately, and dancing would go out of fashion very soon. Parlor dancing is dangerous. Tippling leads to drunkenness, and parlor dancing leads to ungodly balls. Tippling and parlor dancing sow to the wind, and both reap the whirlwind. Put dancing in the crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and the verdict of reason, morality and religion is, “Weighed in the balance and found wanting.”—New Journal of Education.
Our Sabbath-School Lessons.
By C. P. Bollman
THE subject of the present series of lessons is of surpassing interest to every child of God; and should be so to every one who has heard the sound of "this gospel of the kingdom." The fulfillment of all the most precious promises contained in the word of God, depends directly upon the second coming of Christ, and toward this glorious event the eyes of the waiting church have ever been turned with holy and inexpressible longing. The early Christians desired to see that day; and John, when beholding in vision, upon the lonely isle of Patmos, "the glory that shall be revealed," prayed, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
The Saviour taught his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come;" and, even when instituting the memorial of his broken body and shed blood, pointed them forward to the time of his return. He said: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come," 1 Cor. 11:26. So it is not only the duty of Christians to look back to the cross, and behold by faith the sacrifice there offered, but they should also look forward to the Redeemer's triumph, when he shall "appear the second time without sin unto salvation," Heb. 9:28. It is to "them that look for him" that he will appear "unto salvation;" and upon those "that love his appearing" he will bestow crowns "at that day." 2 Tim. 4:8.
The truth contained in these lessons should not only be impressed upon our minds, but our hearts should be sanctified by it. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17. This prayer was not alone for the twelve, for in the twentieth verse he says: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." Let us each make an individual application of the truth, and so live before God that we may be sanctified by it, in answer to the Saviour's prayer.
We cannot study these lessons too carefully.
It is not enough that we believe the truth ourselves, for we owe a duty to those with whom we come in contact. Peter says: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. 3:15. All have not the same talent, but every one who professes present truth should be able to give intelligently the main points of our faith, and also refer readily to those scriptures which most clearly and positively prove each point. It is the duty of every Christian to wield, as occasion may demand, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Eph. 6:17.
Some of the lessons may seem difficult, but all can learn them if they will. It may be necessary to put forth some effort, but is it not our duty to thoroughly master each one as it comes? We may say we cannot do it; but is that true? Is not the real difficulty that we do not apply ourselves as we should? Let us feel that if we would be clear in this matter we must carefully and prayerfully prepare each lesson, not only that we may be able to recite well on the Sabbath, but that the truth may be blessed of God to our salvation, and to the good of those around us.
C. P. BOLLMAN.
Assistant Superintendents.
By Editor
THE following, from the Sunday School Times, should be read by all superintendents, as well as by their assistants. Although the term "Sunday-school" is, as a matter of course, used in the article, it will be found just as profitable to the leaders of Sabbath-schools:—
A good superintendent is pretty sure to have a good Sunday-school; although, on the other hand, a Sunday-school may be a good one, a fairly good one, without having a good superintendent. The best superintendent could do more than he now does for his Sunday-school, if he could multiply himself and have several workers where he now works alone. There are, in fact, few Sunday-schools which could not be improved by additional work in the superintendent's sphere. And here is an opening for wise and efficient service by judicious and energetic assistants in the realm of the superintendent. All this is suggested just now by a letter from a Pennsylvania worker, who writes:—
"I will thank you to advise me how I can be of some benefit in the position I hold as assistant superintendent in our Sunday-school. The position has ever been a simple figure-head; its duties as defined by law (?) 'to occupy the place of the superintendent in his absence.' Thanks to our efficient head, that is seldom necessary. I have been elected to this position, and am expected, not to teach a class but to assume the 'official position.' Will you please tell me, through your 'Notes on Open Letters,' what benefit an anomaly of this kind can be to a Sunday-school?"
There are Sunday-schools where one man has to be superintendent and secretary and librarian and singing leader; and sometimes he has to teach a class in addition to all this. Such a man—God help him—must do all he can, as well as he can; but, at his utmost and at his best, he cannot superintend a Sunday-school as a Sunday-school ought to be superintended. All the time and all the ability of any one man can be well employed in the superintending of a Sunday-school; and even then there will be things beyond that man's utmost reach which might be done to the school's advantage.
When a Sunday-school can afford an assistant superintendent, where there are men enough to justify the setting of a man apart for such a work, there are always fine possibilities in the sphere of an assistant superintendent. To begin with, in the responsive or alternate or simultaneous Bible-readings of the opening and closing exercises, the assistant superintendent can stand at the opposite end of the room and lead the school in its reading. This one thing may be a means of unifying the school in its Bible-reading, and so in its exercises of worship. Then again, the assistant superintendent can study the school from another direction than the superintendent's, during other portions of the opening and closing exercises. He can observe which teachers and scholars are prompt and attentive, and which are sluggish or careless in those exercises. And to know the needs or faults of particular members of the school is, with a faithful overseer, but a step from the attempt to correct the error or to supply the want observed. During the class hour, also, the assistant superintendent can be watchful to attend to one duty or another which the superintendent is hindered from doing through his occupation elsewhere. If the one is looking over the classes to see which of them are without teachers at the opening of the school, the other can be greeting strangers who enter the room, or speaking a kind word to new scholars who need to be made at home there. Or, these duties may be reversed for the moment.
A careful study of the school by any overseer, can always be made advantageous to its interests. There is something which just now needs fresh attention in every Sunday-school, if only it be watched for intelligently. And if the assistant superintendent is looking for such things as these, in order to report them to the superintendent, with his suggestions for the remedy, he can be a power for good in the Sunday-school. Why, every gang of men in the street, or on the wharves, or in the factories, is found to be a gainer by an overseer who has nothing to do but to watch and suggest; and the closest-fisted contractor or the narrowest-gauge corporation recognizes the economy of paying a man for this watchful oversight. Two or three such overseers could be employed to advantage in every Sunday-school of a hundred members or more. And this is without taking into account the division of labor which might fairly be made between a good superintendent and a good assistant in the ordinary conduct of the Sunday-school. One might attend to the exercises from the desk, and the other might look after the classification and class direction of the school. One might take one side of the room, and the other the opposite side, in close oversight during the session of the school. And so on, indefinitely. What can an assistant superintendent do to advantage? What can't he do?
The Sabbath-School.
LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—OCT. 4.
Review.
1. For what purpose does Christ come the second time?
2. Are any taken besides those then living? Give proof.
3. Quote a text concerning the righteous dead, which shows that they will not be rewarded before those who live until the Lord comes.
4. Can you prove that no one will be rewarded before the coming of the Lord?
5. Relate in order the events connected with the coming of Christ. Give authority for each statement.
6. To what event did Christ teach the people to look for a recompense for their good actions? Quote proof.
7. Prove that the resurrection takes place at the coming of the Lord.
8. Can you show that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was known to those who lived before the birth of Christ?
9. Give three references in the Old Testament that speak of the coming of the Lord. State the substance of each.
10. Prove from the New Testament that the dead are not now happy in Heaven.
11. Prove the same from the Old Testament.
12. Who has the power of death? Quote proof.
13. By whose power are men raised from the dead?
14. When the Lord comes, what change takes place in the righteous?
15. Do both the living and dead alike share in this change?
16. Before this change comes, where are the dead kept in waiting?
17. In what condition are they?
18. Can you quote a verse from Paul's writings that proves that they are unconscious?
THE CHILDREN'S SONG.
By Frances Ridley Havergal
God of Heaven, hear our singing;
Only little ones are we,
Yet a great petition bringing,
Father, now we come to thee.
Let thy kingdom come, we pray thee;
Let the world in thee find rest;
Let all know thee and obey thee,
Loving, praising, blessing, blessed!
Let the sweet and joyful story
Of the Saviour's wondrous love
Wake on earth a song of glory,
Like the angels' song above.
Father, send the glorious hour;
Every heart be thine alone;
For the kingdom and the power
And the glory are thine own.
—F. R. Havergal.
The Superintendent and Teacher’s Duties
It is the superintendent's duty in general to secure the regular attendance of the school; it is the teacher's duty in particular to secure this attendance of his class; and if the teacher neglects his duty in this regard, I doubt the ability of the superintendent to secure the same. It is through the teachers largely that the superintendent expects to obtain this result. The ways to bring this about are many, and must be governed by circumstances.
Temperance.
How the Leak Was Mended.
“UNCLE TIMOTHY!” Uncle Timothy looked up from the shoe whose sole he was vigorously hammering.
“Why, bless you, John, ef I’m not glad to see you, man alive!” exclaimed Uncle Timothy, jumping up so suddenly that his last went one way, taking the shoe with it, his hammer went another, while his spectacles fell into the water-pail close by.
There stood Uncle Timothy, grasping the arm of his favorite nephew, John, as if he were a pump-handle, and the day being hot, and Uncle Timothy being dry, the pump-handle was worked with emphasis.
“Set down, John, and tell us how the folks are,” said Uncle Timothy. “You have come to make me a visit, and have time enough to tell me all I want to know.”
John was telling about the “folks,” when Uncle Timothy said: “What’s that? Thunder, I do believe, rollin’ down old Bear Mountain! We shall catch a rain now. There it is, coming down the mountain.” Soon the water began to drip down from the ceiling. “Uncle Timothy, your roof is leaking.”
“I know it, John; I will just put this pail under that ‘ere.”
“Why don’t you have the roof mended?”
“Well, John, carpenters, you know, do charge so. La! John, they’d make a forenoon’s work of it stopping up that ‘ere hole, and I don’t seem to have the extra chink. Fact is, John, it costs suthin’ to live in this world, and it keeps a fellow poundin’ all the time.” Here Uncle Timothy took up his work, and began to ring out a series of responses to the thunder rolling at nine-pins overhead. In the course of his visit, John noticed that every afternoon Uncle Timothy would leave his shop, step across the yard to his house, bring out an immense yellow mug, and, passing to a saloon in the neighborhood, bring a mugful of beer. “Ah!” thought John, “I see how it is that the roof is not mended.”
The next day a surly, glowing wind brought rain that began to pour early in the morning. “Uncle Timothy,” said John, “could I borrow that mug in the closet?”
“Oh, sartin, sartin!” Uncle Timothy was not going to his shop very early that day, and John knew it, business at another place calling him away. When he returned it was about 11 o’clock, and his beer-gnawing visited him. “Where is my mug?” said Uncle Timothy, going to the closet. “Oh! John has it. Well, I guess I’ll let my beer go this forenoon.” The rain was still dripping when he passed from his house to the shop. John was standing in the door. “A wet day, nephew,” said Uncle Timothy, “and there is not much hope given by the clouds.”
Here he looked up, and there on the shop roof, covering the leak, he saw his yellow beer mug! For a minute, Uncle Timothy gazed in silence. Then he broke out: “Thank ye, John; I’ll take the hint.” It was the last day Uncle Timothy owned a beer mug. It was the last day that roof leaked, for it was soon mended with the beer money he saved.—Christian at Work.
Of Interest to Smokers.
By Editor
A GENTLEMAN describing himself as “one of the people fond of a good cigar,” assures the New York Times that a prominent physician told him that from the practice of cigar-makers wetting the wrapper with their saliva and biting the end of the cigar into shape, a loathsome disease was spreading, and that he knew of several cases. “Somewhat alarmed,” he continued, “I managed to visit a number of factories.
Two-thirds of the cigar-makers, I found, daub the whole end of the cigar with their saliva. Thinking that Cuban workmen might not do it, I visited places where they were employed, and found that not only did they use their saliva to make the wrapper stick, but that most of them, before wrapping, bit the end of the cigar into shape with their teeth. As the physician informs me that many of the cigar-makers have sore mouths from disease, it is a dangerous as well as a beastly habit.”
This is horrible, if true; and we fear it is true to some extent. From personal observation we know that cigar-makers in Cuba do manipulate their work with a touch of saliva. Not many of them do it, we should judge; but some do, and these nasty workmen are probably the very fellows whose mouths are most likely to communicate disease. Those cigars, moreover, which look the neatest at the smoking end, and therefore the most admired by young smokers, probably owe their attractive symmetry to this disgusting manipulation. Yet it is a fact that the most inveterate smokers are found among young men who must be aware of the prevalence of this filthy practice. Almost all those who manufacture cigars, or who deal in cigars, also smoke cigars. We don’t quite see how they do it, but they do.—Buffalo Express.
The Saloon-Keeper’s Gains.
By John Bartholomew Gough
“I HAVE made a thousand dollars during the last three months,” said a saloon-keeper, boastfully, to a crowd of his townsmen.
“You have made more than that,” quietly remarked a listener.
“What is that?” was the quick response.
“You have made wretched homes—women and children poor, and sick and weary of life. You have made my two sons drunkards,” continued the speaker, with trembling earnestness; “you made the younger of the two so drunk that he fell and injured himself for life. You have made their mother a broken-hearted woman. Oh, yes; you have made much—more than I can reckon up, but you’ll get the full count some day—you’ll get it some day!”
A minister of the gospel told me one of the most thrilling incidents I have heard in my life. A member of his congregation came home, for the first time in his life, intoxicated, and his boy met him upon the door-step, clapping his hands and exclaiming, “Papa has come home!” He seized that boy by the shoulder, swung him around, staggered and fell in the hall. That minister said to me: “I spent the night in that house; I went out, bared my brow, that the night dew might fall upon it and cool it. I walked up and down the hill. There was his child dead! There was his wife in convulsions, and he asleep. A man about thirty years of age asleep, with a dead child in the house having a blue mark upon the temple where the corner of the marble steps had come in contact with his head as he swung him around, and his wife on the brink of the grave. “Mr. Gough,” said my friend, “I cursed the drink.” He had told me I must remain until he awoke, and I did. When he awoke he passed his hand over his face and exclaimed, “What is the matter? where is my boy?” “You cannot see him.” “Stand out of my way! I will see my boy.” To prevent confusion I took him to the child’s bed, and as I turned down the sheet and showed him the corpse, he uttered a wild shriek, “Ah, my dear child!” That minister said further to me: “One year after, he was brought from the lunatic asylum to lie side by side with his wife in one grave, and I attended the funeral.” The minister of the gospel who told me this fact is to-day a drunken hostler in a stable in the city of Boston. Now tell me what rum will not do? It will debase, degrade, imbrute, and damn everything that is noble, bright, glorious and godlike in a human being. There is nothing drink will not do that is vile, dastardly, cowardly, and hellish. Then are we not to fight till the day of our death?—J. B. Gough.