Earlier text: BIBLE ANSWERS TO BIBLE QUESTIONS CONCERNING MAN.—NO. 7.Abram Leaves Ur and Haran
COMING out of Ur, Abram was accompanied by Terah, his father, Lot, his nephew, and Sarai, his wife. Gen. 11:31. It seems that Nahor had preceded them to Haran, and had built that city, for Haran was "the city of Nahor." Compare Gen. 24:10 with 27:43. Haran was on a tributary of the Euphrates, the Belichus, about seventy-five miles northeast of Carchemish. "And they came to Haran and dwelt there." "And Terah died in Haran." And after his father died, Abram, in obedience to the call which the Lord had given him in Ur, went on to the land which should be shown him. "So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran." "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came." God had said to him while he was in Ur: "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." And now when Abram had passed through the land unto the plain of Moreh, the Lord again appeared to him, and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." The Promise to Abraham’s Seed
"And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Acts 7:5. "Now to Abram and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:16, 29. "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. 4:13. THE “day of salvation” is the entire time during which God’s mercy to man is manifest in the gospel. In this day—this acceptable time—Christ is heard in behalf of the people, and is given for the objects mentioned in verses 8 and 9. One of these objects is the opening of the prison, and saying to the prisoners, Go forth. It might appear to some, from the words that immediately follow (verse 10), that this has reference to the opening of the graves at the last day; but from almost identical language used elsewhere in prophecy, and applied by our Lord himself, we are obliged to place the opening of the prison within the “day of salvation.” We quote Isa. 61:1, 2: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” When our Lord went into the synagogue at Nazareth and read this much of the prophecy, he closed the book, and said to the people: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Luke 4:16-21. The fact that he said this, and that he refrained from reading the next clause,—“and the day of vengeance of our God,”—shows that all that he read is fulfilled in the day of grace. But the dead are not raised until the day of mercy is past. Therefore the “opening of the prison to them that are bound” must be during the “day of salvation.” Bondage Under the Transgressed Law
THIS bondage in which the transgressed law holds its victims until they accept freedom in Christ, is most forcibly indicated by Paul in the following words: "But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." Gal. 3:22, 23. It is well known that human law casts its violators into prison. The sheriff who arrests the criminal, the judge who sentences him, and the jailer who locks him up, are only the agents of the law. The massive bolts and prison walls simply represent the outraged law. Now notice the parallel in the case of a transgressor of divine law. Having willfully sinned, he is justly accounted guilty of a violation of the whole law. James 2:10. For a time he is unconscious of his bondage. Said Paul, "I was alive without the law once." The office of the Spirit is to make men conscious of this bondage. See John 16:8. It does this by bringing the word home to their hearts, for the Bible is the Spirit's sword. Some, it is true, resist the influence of the Spirit, and never become conscious of their need until it is too late. But we will consider the case of one upon whom the Spirit works effectually. As the truth is impressed upon his heart, his prison walls seem to contract about him. Whereas before he thought he had unlimited freedom, he now finds that he is in a narrow cell, the walls of which are the ten commandments. He resolves that he will be free, and starts out in one direction. But he has taken the name of the Lord in vain, and the third commandment says, You can't get out here. He turns in another direction, but he has borne false witness, and the ninth commandment presents an effectual barrier to his escape in that direction. Whichever way he turns, a commandment, stronger than any earthly prison wall, drives him back. He is shut in on every side. But Christ is the door that ever stands open. Toward this door the inclosing walls seem to drive him, and he is shut up to it as the only avenue of escape. At last he escapes through this door, and becomes in Christ a free man. In Christ he is as though he had never sinned, and in him he is, "made the righteousness of God." That is, he becomes a commandment-keeper, and therefore continually walks at liberty. He has now only to stand fast in the liberty wherewith God has made him free. The Un-American Knights of Labor
If there is a more arrogant and at the same time a more un-American "monopoly" than is Knights of Labor, we should like to discover it. In the first place its designation implies a title of nobility, and for these things we have no use in this country. Working men especially would do well to beware of them. They are monarchical and unrepublican. Our revolutionary forefathers were jealous of all such imitations of royal technique, and hence they inserted in the Constitution a clause prohibiting Congress from conferring upon anybody any order of nobility. It is, in addition to this, a secret society, another circumstance which exposes it to suspicion.—N. Y. Commercial Bulletin. LEARN to say, No! and it will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.—Sel. Control Your Temper and Tongue
TEMPER and tongue are an unruly team—don't let them get away from you. Meekness and Lowliness of Heart
By J.
If we will be Christ’s we must take his yoke upon us and learn of him, for he is “meek and lowly in heart,” and it is meekness and lowliness in heart which we must learn of Christ, that we may be his. And if we be his, then are we Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. So says Christ: “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5. J. PRISONERS AND FREEMEN.
By Editor
BEING unable to furnish the current Sabbath-school lesson for the Commentary Department this week, we occupy a portion of the space answering the following questions which we have received:— "Who is addressed in Isa. 49:8, 9? Who are the prisoners, and when and from what are they to be freed? P. B." The verses referred to read thus:— "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the way, and their pastures shall be in all high places." Christ, the Servant of the Lord
By reading the preceding verses in connection with these, we readily learn who is addressed. "And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him." Verse 5. "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Verse 6. These passages show unmistakably that Christ is the one addressed. Compare with verse 6 Luke 2:29-32. The eighth verse itself shows that Christ is addressed, in the words, "I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people." Compare with this Isa. 55:4, 5. Freedom from Sin’s Bondage
THEN we have to inquire, Who are bound, and what is their bondage? The following verses will set us in the way of the correct answer: "They [the wicked Jews] answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:33-36. From these words we learn that sin is a bondage, and that it is from this bondage that Christ sets men free. To further show that sin is a bondage we need only to refer to Rom. 7:14 and 2 Peter 2:19, out of a multitude that might be quoted. Christ Frees the Prisoners of Sin
AGAIN, we know that Christ's special work is to save people from sin. See Matt. 1:21. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. "Looking for . . . our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity." Titus 2:13, 14. Both these points, namely, that sin brings men into bondage, and that Christ releases them from this prison, are brought out in the following passage:— "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which [i. e., by the Spirit] also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." Christ, by the Spirit, went and preached unto the spirits in prison; this was in the days of Noah, while the long-suffering of God waited. God's long-suffering waited one hundred and twenty years, and during this time his Spirit was striving with the wicked antediluvians. See Gen. 6:3. Those wicked men were in the bondage of sin; Christ was ready and anxious to give them freedom,—the same freedom that Noah had, namely, the righteousness which is by faith,—but they refused to be made free, and were therefore destroyed. Sin and the Prison of the Law
STILL further: We have seen that men are bound in prison because of sin. Said Paul, "The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7:14. Now "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), and therefore it is the transgressed law that shuts men up in prison. David said, "I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts." Ps. 119:45. But when he turned aside from the commandments he was at once bound as a criminal. Prisoners of Hope
By James White
ONE more point. Christ is the tower of the flock, "the stronghold of the daughter of Zion." Micah 4:8. Now turn to the exhortation of the prophet: "Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto you." Zech. 9:12. The blood of the covenant (verse 11) is still offered before the throne of God, and is powerful enough to set every prisoner free. Therefore we are all prisoners of hope. We may all be free if we will. No matter how high our sins may seem to be piled up against us, backed by the law of God, we need not despair, for the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; and where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. W. "MY BROOM."
By Mrs. C. M. Livingston
"Oh, mamma, don't take my pretty broom to sweep the stairs, please don't!" This came in shrill tones from Bessie, as she danced into the front hall and came suddenly upon her mother, who considered that she had found an excellent tool in the shape of her little daughter's new broom. It was a present to Bessie from the old broommaker just round the corner, and because he had taken great pains in its manufacture, it was an unusually good one, and pleasant for anybody to use. As might be supposed, its chief merit to a six-year-old child was its gaily painted handle. She had always kept it among her treasures, and was horrified now to find it in use, like any common broom. The work Mrs. Allan had laid out for that day was enough for three days. There was cake to be made, and everything to be put in perfect order for company to tea. Perfect order, in the mind of this fastidious woman, meant a great amount of labor. With no help but an inexperienced girl, not a moment was to be lost. So she worked in nervous haste, taking no notice of Bessie's protest, except to say, "Be quiet, child, you will be heard on the street." "I want my broom, please mamma," persisted Bessie. "What a selfish little girl! For shame!" her mother said sharply, sweeping vigorously at the same time. "Oh, don't use it so hard, my dear little broom," pleaded Bessie, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You'll spoil it, mamma, you truly will." "If I spoil it I will get you another. Get out of my way now, quick." "Another broom won't do," sobbed Bessie, growing more excited at this suggestion. "I want to keep this one always, 'cause old Mr. Strong made it for me, and he likes me. It shan't be used, I shall put it away;" and, springing up the stairs, she clasped her arms about her treasure. The mother's patience was by this time quite exhausted. She angrily wrenched the broom from Bessie's hands, then seized, and half carried her up the stairs, and thrust her into a room in no gentle manner, bidding her stay until she called her. Bessie was not a difficult child to manage, nor was her mother a hard woman. It needed but a little loving tact on her part, and the little girl would have been happy in lending her broom. But, poor mother, she had allowed herself to become nervous and tired and heated through much serving, and so she forgot that she was outraging an innate sense of justice which the Lord himself had placed in the child's heart—forgot, too, that it had been written, "Provoke not your children to wrath." Her worries and cares and the entertaining of friends so absorbed Mrs. Allan that she gave her little daughter but slight attention for the rest of the day. It was not until evening that she discovered Bessie to be in a burning fever, and complaining of sore throat. She remembered then with a pang that the usually amiable child had been irritable all day, which should have led her to suspect something wrong. All through the night they watched the little one, while she tossed and moaned, murmuring words in delirium that pierced the mother's heart like a knife, for it was all about a little broom, pitiful pleadings—"Please, mamma, please don't;" then, drawing her white brow into frowns, would scream out, "It's mine, I say; you must not take my broom!" The best medical skill and the tenderest nursing could not avail. For two days they fought with the terrible disease, and then they gathered about the darling to give her the last kiss. They thought she would never speak again, but the blue eyes suddenly opened; they looked lovingly into her mother's, and Bessie said: "Mamma, good-by. You may take my little broom—you may keep it forever—forgive me 'cause I was naughty;" and then the sweet mouth was put up for a kiss. The next instant the mother's kiss fell on still lips. Do you wonder that for many years afterward the most torturing, heart-breaking sight to her in all the world was a little broom? Oh, dear mothers, it is well to be fine housekeepers, and to entertain one's friends handsomely; but, as we go bustling about, let us not load ourselves with such a weight of harassing cares that we have no time to be just, and tender, and patient with even the little whims and fancies of our darlings. When we come to lay them down to their last sleep, our sorrow will be keen enough without the stabs which memory with cruel faithfulness will inflict. Not a harsh word or unjust action will be forgotten then.—Mrs. C. M. Livingston, in the Congregationalist. CURIOSITIES OF SCIENCE AND NATURE.
GOLD-BEATERS can, by hammering, reduce gold leaves so thin that 282,000 must be laid upon each other to produce the thickness of an inch, yet each leaf is so perfect and free from holes that one of them, laid on any surface, as in gilding, gives the appearance of solid gold. They are so thin that if formed into a book, twelve hundred would occupy the space of only a single leaf of common paper; and an octavo volume of an inch thick would have as many pages as the books of a well-stocked library of fifteen hundred volumes, with four hundred pages in each. Still thinner than this is the coating of gold upon the silver wire of what is called gold lace. Platinum and silver can be drawn in wire much finer than human hair. A grain of blue vitriol or carmine will tinge a gallon of water so that in every drop the color may be perceived. A grain of musk will scent a room for twenty years, and will at that period have lost little of its weight. A burning taper uncovered for a single instant, during which it does not lose one-thousandth part of a grain, would fill with light a sphere four miles in diameter, so as to be visible in every part of it. The thread of the silk-worm is so small that many of them are twisted together to form our finest sewing-thread. But that of the spider is finer still, for two drachms of it by weight would reach four hundred miles. In water, in which vegetables have been infused, the microscope discovers animalculæ of which many thousands together do not equal a grain of sand; and yet nature, with a singular prodigality, has supplied many of these with organs as complete as those of the whale or of the elephant, and their bodies consist of the same ultimate substance as that of man himself. In a single pound of such matter there are more living creatures than of human beings on the face of the globe.—Selected. The Home Circle.
By D. C. Colesworthy
SPEAK—drop a word only
To enter the ear,
For the child of misfortune—
For the friendless to hear.
Perhaps with God's blessing
A force it may prove,
Full many a shadow
From the breast to remove. Dejected and troubled
Thy neighbor may be,
While in the dark future
No light can he see.
Say, "I am your brother;"
Throw open your purse,
As you tenderly warble
A soul-cheering verse. Like dew on the mountain,
Or rain on the wold,
Kind words to the heart are
More precious than gold.
They lift from the valley
Of shadowy gloom,
Making all that is cheerless
Heaven's splendor assume.
—D. C. Colesworthy. A wooden clock is a good deal of a curiosity, in this part of the world, but in Europe, where the enterprise of the Yankee clock and watch-maker has yet failed to penetrate, the wooden clock is the general rule among the middle and lower classes. The simplest forms of time-pieces of this construction are very cheap, and as they combine with this the advantage of being fairly accurate time-keepers, their popularity is not to be wondered at. It is perhaps not generally known that these wooden clocks are the product of an industry that is carried on almost exclusively in the Black Forest in Germany, and in a recent report to the State Department, Consul Ballow of Kehl gives a very interesting account of the history of this curious, and one might almost say primitive, industry. The inhabitants of this wild and otherwise unproductive region apparently had no other resource but to engage in some such employment, and in this respect the wooden clock industry is a species of natural production, in which all the phases of the process of evolution are illustrated. They did not have the soil to work upon, but they had plenty of wood, and the natural ingenuity of the people was not long in turning it to account. The first wooden clocks were made in the seventeenth century and were of the most primitive construction. Even in the middle of the last century the mechanism was of the simplest form and consisted of three wooden wheels and an escapement resembling a yoke, which was operated by leaden weights. The pendulum was introduced still later, but it was not until thirty years ago that any changes were made in the old traditional forms. Many of these old clocks were very complicated in their mechanism, at least so far as the attachments were concerned, and in addition to recording the time of day they would mark the day of the week, month, and year, the principal feast days, and operate whole armies of soldiers and other automatic figures. The clock-makers of the Black Forest during the early part of the present century had gained such a reputation for their product that they controlled the market on the Continent, and made a great deal of money. Then new styles came into fashion, and for a long time the industry in the Black Forest languished because the manufacturers refused to give up the old form. Since 1850, however, they have conformed to the more modern usages, and now all varieties of clocks are made, from the very finest regulators with metallic works down to the plainest of the old wooden forms, for there are still many who adhere to the old traditions.—Graphic. THE anti-tobacco people ought to have their attention called to the fact that "tobacco blindness" is becoming quite a common affliction. At present there are several persons being treated for it at one London hospital. It first takes the form of "color blindness," the sufferers who have smoked themselves into this condition being quite unable to distinguish the color of a piece of red cloth held up before them. That is the popular medical test, though there is also a more scientific one. Eventually the victim of tobacco blindness sometimes loses his eyesight altogether. Although smoking is to a large extent the cause of the malady, and so gives it its name, heavy drinking is also partly responsible. Unless the smoking and drinking go together, the "tobacco blindness" is not serious. A proof of this is, that if a doctor has a case of it in hand, he always insists on abstinence, when, as a rule, the sufferer gradually regains his sight.—St. James Gazette. THE efficiency of the Russian spy system, says the Buffalo Commercial, is shown by an incident connected with ex-Governor Curtin's stay in St. Petersburg as America's ambassador. After the downfall of Napoleon III., he went to London on a brief visit. While there he received an invitation to call on the fallen potentate, who was then living at Chiselhurst. He responded to the invitation and was received with a great deal of warmth. The ex-Emperor talked for a long time about his own career, his poverty, his former life in London, and his visit to New York. Finally, after a conversation of nearly two hours, he came to the real point of his desire to see Mr. Curtin. He said to him: "You are on intimate terms with Prince Gortschakoff. Have you any objection to telling me what are his real views upon the subject of the re-establishment of the empire?" "I know what his sentiments upon the subject are," said Mr. Curtin, "but they are of such a nature that I do not feel at liberty to communicate them to you." "I understand you," said the ex-Emperor, "and am much obliged to you for your civility in calling." Gortschakoff's opinion, which Mr. Curtin withheld, had been very vigorously expressed. He said that this "French scoundrel" should never have any help from him in getting back his throne, as he regarded him as a man dangerous to the peaceful condition of affairs in Europe. When Mr. Curtin returned to St. Petersburg, Gortschakoff invited him to dinner. During dinner he said to him, "You have been away?" "Yes, in London." "You saw many people there?" "Yes." "A number of distinguished people?" "Yes; I saw some prominent American friends of mine." "I am told you also saw the man who at one time seemed to hold in his hands the destinies of Europe." "Yes; I saw him," said Mr. Curtin. "Have you any objections to telling me the nature of the conversation you had with him?" "It was not important," was the reply; "it was mainly upon personal topics." Here Gortschakoff said, with a very knowing look, "I know all the details of that conversation. I am very much obliged to you for your discretion in not communicating to Louis Napoleon my views upon the re-establishment of the French empire." As there was no third person present at the interview between Mr. Curtin and the ex-Emperor, this interview gave him a very high opinion of the completeness of the Russian spy service.—Selected. The Dangers of Bad Reading
By Lord Coleridge
NEVER, under any circumstances, read a bad book; and never spend a serious hour in reading a second-rate book. No words can overstate the mischief of bad reading. A bad book will often haunt a man his whole life long. It is often remembered when much that is better is forgotten. It intrudes itself at the most solemn moment, and contaminates the best feelings and emotions. Reading trashy, second-rate books is a grievous waste of time, also. In the first place, there are a great many more first-rate books than ever you can master; and, in the second place, you cannot read an inferior book without giving up the opportunity of reading a first-rate book. Books, remember, are friends—books affect character; and you can as little neglect any other moral duty that is cast upon you.—Lord Coleridge. Hold Fast to the Present
By Goethe
HOLD fast to the present. Every position, every moment of life, is of unspeakable value as the representative of a whole eternity.—Goethe. CONTAGIOUSNESS OF CONSUMPTION.
DR. E. W. CUSHING, of Boston, not long since read a paper before the Suffolk Medical Society, giving a summary of the evidence on which Professor Koch bases his view, that tubercular consumption is caused by living organisms, and is therefore infectious. It is published in the Medical and Surgical Journal, and we use it freely in this article. As early as 1843 Klenke proved that rabbits could be rendered tuberculous by inoculating them with expectoration from consumptive patients. It had been previously proved that anthrax (malignant pustule) was due solely to a living organism. The question was whether or not consumption was due to a similar organism, of a different species. In tuberculous patients such organisms were found in the expectorations, in the lung tissues, in scrofulous glands, and in tuberculous joints; and they were exactly alike in all, each organism (rod-shaped) containing from four to six spores, or seeds. Professor Koch conducted his investigations for years in every variety of form, to eliminate all possibility of error. The peculiar organisms were found in every case. Over five hundred small animals were inoculated from tuberculous patients, and a post-mortem of the animals showed the presence of the organisms in every case. On the other hand, all sorts of other diseases were carefully studied without showing a single organism of the kind. Again, when a consumptive patient recovered, all the organisms disappeared from the expectoration. Further, the organisms were found at the very first stage of the disease, thus indicating that they were its cause, not its product. To render the thing absolutely certain, the organisms were so cultivated out of the body as to separate them from every other contagious element. When these were used to inoculate with, they invariably rendered the animal tuberculous. These organisms require for their development a rather high temperature and a peculiar soil. They are quite tender, so that they readily perish, thus lessening their liability to communicate the disease. They gain access to the system mainly by the breath. The dust-like particles of dried expectoration furnish an abundance of spores. Professor Koch communicated the disease to many rabbits and guinea-pigs by simple inhalation. It is clear that all expectorations of consumptive persons should be thoroughly disinfected, and their rooms kept well ventilated. Weakly persons should specially avoid exposure, as their systems afford the best soil for the spores.—Youth's Companion. THE increase in the amount of whisky distilled and drunk during the year now ended, was 1,600,000 gallons over the amount for 1885, the total consumption of this liquor being 7,700,000 gallons. Estimating the population of the country at 60,000,000, this gives about one gallon and a pint for each one of us, including women and school-children and infants. The consumption of beer amounts up to some 264,000,000 gallons, an increase of more than 1,500,000 from the preceding year, which admits of an allowance of eleven gallons to each inhabitant, or counting out the children and one-half of the adult population as total abstainers, the rest are to be credited with the imbibition of one-half pint daily. The use of tobacco is constantly increasing, except in the form of snuff, the falling off in the consumption of that article reaching nearly two hundred thousand pounds. In the comparatively novel practice of cigarette smoking, which has, in fact, come into vogue within less than fifteen years, there has been an increase of 25 per cent., the total number burned being 1,310,000,000, or about twenty-two apiece all around. Of manufactured tobacco for smoking and chewing, there were 191,000,000 pounds used, averaging about three and one-fourth pounds each, and of cigars, 3,500,000,000, an increase of 152,000,000 from last year, or about fifty-nine for every inhabitant. If, now, a calculation is made of what these large aggregates have cost the consumers, supposing them to have made their purchases at retail, we may reach an approximate imagination of the tax which our minor vices lay upon the collective purse of the average man. Taking the lowest prices as four cents for a cigar and ten cents for a gill of whisky, the total will be found to amount to more than $1,200,000,000—not so very much less than our national debt—or $20 each from all who live in our prosperous land.—Boston Advertiser. It is the common talk of the liquor men that prohibition does not prohibit. If this were really the case, they would have but little cause to oppose the prohibition movement. But the fact of their determined opposition to prohibition, and even to the submission of the question to a fair vote of the people, proves beyond doubt that it does, to a very great extent at least, prohibit, and consequently is injurious to their business. Reports from Rhode Island in regard to the operation of the prohibition law in that State show that the results have more than justified the expectations of the friends of temperance. And the same is true of other States where prohibitory laws have been enacted. This is what makes the liquor men mad, and excites their opposition. We would like to have a little more of this so-called prohibition that does not prohibit.—Selected. ALCOHOL is universally ranked among poisons by physiologists, chemists, physicians, and all who have experimented, studied, and written upon the subject.—Professor Youmans. —Small-pox has appeared in Brooklyn. —Earthquake shocks are being felt at Charleston. —Professor Tasso, the celebrated violinist, died January 6. —The Parnellites are actively preparing for the dissolution of Parliament. —About 3,000 people are prospecting for gold in the interior of British Guiana. —Bishop Bassett, a Mormon, has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for polygamy. —It is said that 15,000 Jews have been expelled from the Government of Kief, Russia. —Congress has been asked to have ten Ericsson's "Destroyers" built, at a cost of $200,000 each. —It is officially stated that 405 persons were burned to death in the incendiary fire at Madras, India. —An earthquake occurred in Tunis, Italy, killing seven people and destroying a number of houses. —The council of the Fenian Brotherhood has issued another circular denouncing O'Donovan Rossa. —Chicago pays $9,000 in doctors' bills for attendance on the policemen wounded by the dynamiters. —The Duke of Bedford has remitted the whole amount of his Bedfordshire rents for the current half year. —The New York courts have decided that the infamous practice of insuring the lives of infants is illegal. —Seventeen smugglers, who were hiding near Vicenza, Italy, were killed, not long since, by an avalanche. —The town of Paige, Texas, about fifty miles east of Austin, experienced a sharp earthquake on the 5th inst. —A terrible snow-storm has prevailed throughout the midland counties of England. Much loss of life is feared. —Thirty miners were imprisoned by an explosion in a coal-pit at Mons, Germany. Six have been taken out dead. —The British Parliament has been prorogued until the 29th inst. —An explosion of gas occurred at a barracks in Portsmouth, England. Six soldiers were killed and several wounded. —New York City alone is said to consume more fruit than any other city of the world, London or Paris not excepted. —The British in Burmah have issued a proclamation ordering all the inhabitants to surrender their arms within five days. —It is said that since the Century began to publish the life of Abraham Lincoln, its circulation has increased thirty thousand. —The French garrison of Hakhoi and Mongkai in Tonquin have been massacred by Chinese pirates. Daily engagements are going on. —Intelligence comes from Warsaw that the Russian War Office has decided to immediately construct more forts on the Austrian frontier. —At Pewaukee, Wis., the other night, a passenger train ran into a sleigh load of men, killing three, and fatally injuring several others. —The commanders of Canadian cruisers have been instructed to seize and confiscate every foreign vessel encroaching on the Canadian fishing-grounds. —The wheat harvest of Victoria, Australia, is 12,000,000 bushels. The exportable excess is 150,000 tons, or 60,000 tons over that of the preceding year. —The British and American claims for the destruction of property in the late Chunkhing riots, have been settled, the Chinese paying each party $30,000. —The British steamer Dragoman, from Liverpool, collided with and sunk the ship Duke of Connaught off Bird's Eye, England. Seventeen lives were lost. —The avalanches are destroying considerable property in Switzerland. Several villages have been completely cut off from communication with the outer world. —A German vessel was wrecked January 9 off Cape Henry, Virginia. The life-boat went to the rescue and in returning was capsized and twenty lives were lost. —The shops of the Ohio Southern Railway at Springfield were burned January 8. Six locomotives and two cars and valuable machinery were destroyed. Loss, $140,000; fully insured. —The family of John Wooster, consisting of five persons, were poisoned at Wabash, Ind., a few days ago, by eating biscuit in which had been used a very inferior quality of baking powder. —An explosion of natural gas occurred at Youngstown, Ohio, January 6, destroying several buildings, including a Baptist church. Several persons are reported missing, and the loss is estimated at $100,000. —On January 7 crowds of the unemployed workmen of London assembled in front of the offices of the Local Government Board and demanded relief, but received none. After much hooting, they dispersed. —A disastrous collision occurred January 3 about 200 miles from San Antonio, Texas. The débris of the train took fire, and nine Mexicans who were pinned down on the top of a flat car were literally roasted alive. —The strike of coal haulers is extending all along the lines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Five thousand men are out. —The Danish Folkething (lower house of Parliament) has been dissolved, owing to its refusal to agree to the Government's financial proposals and army estimates. Elections for the new Folkething will take place January 28. —The Adesalchi Palace of Rome has been burned by a fire caused from the lights of a Christmas tree, and a large amount of jewelry and pictures has been destroyed. The palace was not insured, and the loss is estimated at $1,000,000. —The San Francisco Chronicle says: "One hundred and seventy-three criminal cases remain in this city untried, a legacy from the year just past. Of these 18 are cases of murder, 19 of assault to murder, 25 of assault with a deadly weapon, 13 of grand larceny, and the remainder minor offenses. —The San Francisco Chronicle says: "To all appearances, a European war cannot long be postponed. Armies are not increased and forts built to no purpose. Warlike demonstrations are not made simply to impress neighboring countries with Russian importance, but as the first step toward a war of conquest." —A disastrous railroad accident occurred on the 4th inst., near Tiffin, Ohio. A passenger express, going at the rate of sixty-three miles an hour, ran into a freight train which was standing on the main track. The effect of the collision was horrible; the express telescoped, and in a few minutes was in flames. It is reported that seventeen passengers were either crushed or burned to death, and all the mail, express, and baggage was burned, including large sums of money. On the same day another accident occurred at Mittineague, Mass., and two lives were lost.