Review and Herald, Vol. 22, No. 24. (11/10/1863)

Review and Herald

Nov 10, 1863

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 10, 1863

The Temple.

By Editor

THE Bible reader will find in the following history of the Temple, most valuable information respecting that sacred edifice. It is taken without any abridgment or alteration, from "Watson's Bible Dictionary," a work replete with useful instruction to the student of the Sacred Page. Having read and studied this article, much to my own improvement, I herewith present it to the readers of the Review as something worthy of more than a general perusal. G. W. A.

TEMPLE, the house of God; properly the temple of Solomon. David first conceived the design of building a house somewhat worthy of the divine majesty, and opened his mind to the Prophet Nathan, 2 Sam. vii; 1 Chron. xvii; xxii, 8, &c. God accepted of his good intentions, but refused him the honor. Solomon laid the foundation of the temple, A. M. 2992, completed it in 3000, and dedicated it in 3001, 1 Kings viii, 2; 2 Chron. v, vi, vii. According to the opinion of some writers, there were three temples, namely, the first, erected by Solomon; the second, by Zerubbabel, and Joshua the high priest; and the third, by Herod, a few years before the birth of Christ. But this opinion is, very properly, rejected by the Jews; who do not allow the third to be a new temple, but only the second temple repaired and beautified; and this opinion corresponds with the prophecy of Haggai, ii, 9, "that the glory of this latter house," the temple built by Zerubbabel, "should be greater than that of the former;" which prediction was uttered with reference to the Messiah's honoring it with his presence and ministry. The first temple is that which usually bears the name of Solomon; the materials for which were provided by David before his death, though the edifice was raised by his son. It stood on Mount Moriah, an eminence of the mountaineer ridge in the Scriptures termed Mount Zion, Psalm cxxxii, 13, 14, which had been purchased by Araunah, or Ornan, the Jebusite, 2 Sam. xxiv, 23, 24; 1 Chron. xxi, 25. The plan, and the whole model of this superb structure, were formed after that of the tabernacle, but of much larger dimensions. It was surrounded, except at the front or east end, by three stories of chambers, each five cubits square, which reached to half the height of the temple; and the front was ornamented with a magnificent portico, which rose to the height of one hundred and twenty cubits; so that the form of the whole edifice was not unlike that of some ancient churches, which have a lofty tower in the front, and a low aisle running along each side of the building. The utensils for the sacred service were the same; excepting that several of them, as the altar, candlestick, &c., were larger, in proportion to the more spacious edifice to which they belonged. Seven years and six months were occupied in the erection of the superb and magnificent temple of Solomon, by whom it was dedicated, A. M. 3001, B. C. 999, with peculiar solemnity, to the worship of the Most High; who on this occasion vouchsafed to honor it with the Shechinah, or visible manifestation of his presence. Various attempts have been made to describe the proportions and several parts of this structure; but as scarcely any two writers agree on this subject, a minute description of it is designedly omitted. It retained its pristine splendor only thirty-three or thirty-four years, when Shishak, king of Egypt, took Jerusalem, and carried away the treasures of the temple; and after undergoing subsequent profanations and pillages, this stupendous building was finally plundered and burnt by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, A. M. 3416, or B. C. 584, 2 Kings xxv, 13–15; 2 Chron. xxxvi, 17–20.

After the captivity, the temple emerged from its ruins, being rebuilt by Zerubbabel, but with vastly inferior and diminished glory; as appears from the tears of the aged men who had beheld the former structure in all its grandeur, Ezra iii, 12. The second temple was profaned by order of Antiochus Epiphanes, A. M. 3837, B. C. 163, who caused the daily sacrifices to be discontinued, and erected the image of Jupiter Olympus on the altar of burnt-offering. In this condition it continued three years, 1 Mac. iv, 42, when Judas Maccabæus purified and repaired it, and restored the sacrifices and true worship of Jehovah. Some years before the birth of our Saviour, the repairing and beautifying of this second temple, which had become decayed in the lapse of five centuries, was undertaken by Herod the Great, who for nine years employed eighty thousand workmen upon it, and spared no expense to render it equal, if not superior, in magnitude, splendor and beauty, to any thing among mankind. Josephus calls it a work the most admirable of any that had ever been seen or heard of, both for its curious structure and its magnitude, and also for the vast wealth expended upon it, as well as for the universal reputation of its sanctity. But though Herod accomplished his original design in the time above specified, yet the Jews continued to ornament and enlarge it, expending the sacred treasure in annexing additional buildings to it; so that they might with great propriety assert, that their temple had been forty and six years in building, John ii, 20.

Before we proceed to describe this venerable edifice, it may be proper to remark, that by the temple is to be understood not only the fabric or house itself, which by way of eminence is called the temple, namely, the holy of holies, the sanctuary, and the several courts both of the priests and Israelites, but also all the numerous chambers and rooms which this prodigious edifice comprehended; and each of which had its respective degree of holiness, increasing in proportion to its contiguity to the holy of holies. This remark it will be necessary to bear in mind, lest the reader of Scripture should be led to suppose, that whatever is there said to be transacted in the temple was actually done in the interior of that sacred edifice. To this infinite number of apartments, into which the temple was disposed, our Lord refers, John xiv, 2; and by a very striking and magnificent simile, borrowed from them, he represents those numerous seats and mansions of heavenly bliss which his Father's house contained, and which were prepared for the everlasting abode of the righteous. The imagery is singularly beautiful and happy, when considered as an allusion to the temple, which our Lord not unfrequently called his Father's house.

The second temple, originally built by Zerubbabel, after the captivity, and repaired by Herod, differed in several respects from that erected by Solomon, although they agreed in others.

The temple erected by Solomon was more splendid and magnificent than the second temple, which was deficient in five remarkable things that constituted the chief glory of the first: these were, the ark and the mercy seat; the shechinah, or manifestation of the divine presence, in the holy of holies; the sacred fire on the altar, which had been first kindled from heaven; the urim and thummim; and the spirit of prophecy. But the second temple surpassed the first in glory; being honored by the frequent presence of our divine Saviour, agreeably to the prediction of Haggai, ii, 9. Both, however, were erected upon the same site, a very hard rock, encompassed by a very frightful precipice; and the foundation was laid with incredible expense and labor. The superstructure was not inferior to this great work; the height of the temple wall, especially on the south side, was stupendous. In the lowest places it was three hundred cubits, or four hundred and fifty feet, and in some places even greater. This most magnificent pile was constructed with hard white stones of prodigious magnitude. The temple itself, strictly so called, which comprised the portico, the sanctuary, and the holy of holies, formed only a small part

of the sacred edifice on Mount Moriah, being surrounded by the spacious courts, making a square of half a mile in circumference. It was entered through nine gates, which were on every side thickly coated with gold and silver; but there was one gate without the holy house, which was of Corinthian brass, the most precious metal in ancient times, and which far surpassed the others in beauty. For while these were of equal magnitude, the gate composed of Corinthian brass was much larger; its height being fifty cubits, and its doors forty cubits, and its ornaments both of gold and silver being far more costly and massive. This is supposed to have been the "gate called Beautiful" in Acts iii, 2, where Peter and John, in the name of Christ, healed a man who had been lame from his birth.

The first or outer court, which encompassed the holy house and the other courts, was named the court of the Gentiles; because, the latter were allowed to enter into it, but were prohibited from advancing farther. It was surrounded by a range of porticoes, or cloisters, above which were galleries, or apartments, supported by pillars of white marble, each consisting of a single piece, and twenty-five cubits in height. One of these was called Solomon's porch, or piazza, because it stood on a vast terrace, which he had originally raised from a valley beneath, four hundred cubits high, in order to enlarge the area on the top of the mountain, and make it equal to the plan of his intended building; and as this terrace was the only work of Solomon that remained in the second temple, the piazza which stood upon it retained the name of that prince. Here it was that our Lord was walking at the feast of dedication, John x, 23; and that the lame man, when healed by Peter and John, glorified God before all the people, Acts iii, 11. This superb portico is termed the royal portico by Josephus, who represents it as the noblest work beneath the sun, being elevated to such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from its flat roof to the valley below, without being seized with dizziness; the sight not reaching to such an immeasurable depth. The south-east corner of the roof of this portico, where the height is the greatest, is supposed to have been the pterygoion, pinnacle, or extreme angle, whence Satan tempted our Saviour to precipitate himself, Matt. iv, 5; Luke iv, 9. This also was the spot where it was predicted that the abomination of desolation, or the Roman ensigns, should stand, Daniel ix, 27; Matt. xxiv, 15. Solomon's portico was situated in the eastern front of the temple, opposite to the mount of Olives, where our Saviour is said to have sat when his disciples came to show him the grandeur of its various buildings, of which, grand as they were, he said, the time was approaching when one stone should not be left upon another, Matt. xxiv, 1–3. This outer court being assigned to the Gentile proselytes, the Jews, who did not worship in it themselves, conceived that it might lawfully be put to profane uses; for here we find that the buyers and sellers of animals for sacrifices, and also the money-changers had stationed themselves; until Jesus Christ, awing them into submission by the grandeur and dignity of his person and behavior, expelled them; telling them that it was the house of prayer for all nations, and was not to be profaned, Matt. xxi, 12, 13; Mark xi, 15–17.

Within the court of the Gentiles stood the court of the Israelites, divided into two parts, or courts; the outer one being appropriated to the women, and the inner one to the men. The court of the women was separated from that of the Gentiles by a low stone wall, or partition, of elegant construction, on which stood pillars at equal distances, with inscriptions in Greek and Latin, importing that no alien should enter into the holy place. To this wall St. Paul most evidently alludes in Eph. ii, 13, 14: "But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ: for he is our peace, who hath made both one, (united both Jews and Gentiles into one church,) and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us:" having abolished the law of ordinances, by which, as by the wall of separation, both Jews and Gentiles were not only kept asunder, but also at variance. In this court was the treasury, over against which Christ sat, and beheld how the people threw their voluntary offerings into it, for furnishing the victims and other things necessary for the sacrifices, Mark xii, 41; John viii, 20. From the court of the women, which was on higher ground than that of the Gentiles, there was an ascent of fifteen steps into the inner or men's court; and so called because it was appropriated to the worship of the male Israelites. In these two courts, collectively termed the court of the Israelites, were the people praying, each apart by himself, for the pardon of his sins, while Zacharias was offering incense within the sanctuary, Luke i, 10. Within the court of the Israelites was that of the priests, which was separated from it by a low wall, one cubit in height. This inclosure surrounded the altar of burnt-offerings, and to it the people brought their oblations and sacrifices; but the priests alone were permitted to enter it. From this court twelve steps ascended to the temple, strictly so called; which was divided into three parts, the portico, the outer sanctuary, and the holy place. In the portico was suspended the splendid votive offerings made by the piety of various individuals. Among other treasures, there was a golden table given by Pompey, and several golden vines of exquisite workmanship, as well as of immense size; for Josephus relates that there were clusters as tall as a man. And he adds, that all around were fixed up and displayed the spoils and trophies taken by Herod from the barbarians and Arabians. These votive offerings, it should seem, were visible at a distance; for when Jesus Christ was sitting on the mount of Olives, and his disciples called his attention to the temple, they pointed out to him the gifts with which it was adorned, Luke xxi, 5. This porch had a very large portal or gate, which, instead of folding doors, was furnished with a costly Babylonian veil, of many colors, that mystically denoted the universe. From this the sanctuary, or holy place, was separated from the holy of holies by a double veil, which is supposed to have been the veil that was rent in twain at our Saviour's crucifixion; thus emblematically pointing out that the separation between Jews and Gentiles was abolished; and that the privilege of the high priest was communicated to all mankind, who might henceforth have access to the throne of grace through the one great Mediator, Jesus Christ, Heb. x, 18–22. The holy of holies was twenty cubits square; into it no person was admitted but the high priest, who entered it once a year on the great day of atonement, Exod. xxx, 10; Lev. xvi, 2, 15, 34; Heb. ix, 2–7.

Magnificent as the rest of the sacred edifice was, it was infinitely surpassed in splendor by the inner temple, or sanctuary. Its appearance, according to Josephus, had every thing that could strike the mind, or astonish the sight; for it was covered on every side with plates of gold; so that when the sun rose upon it, it reflected so strong and dazzling an effulgence, that the eye of the spectator was obliged to turn away, being no more able to sustain its radiance than the splendor of the sun. To strangers who were approaching, it appeared at a distance like a mountain covered with snow; for where it was not decorated with plates of gold, it was extremely white and glistening. On the top it had sharp pointed spikes of gold, to prevent any bird from resting upon it and polluting it. There were, continues the Jewish historian, in that building, several stones which were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth. "When all these things are considered," says Harwood, "how natural is the exclamation of the disciples, when viewing this immense building at a distance: 'Master, see what manner of stones' (lithoi megaloi, 'what very large ones') 'and what buildings are here!' Mark xiii, 1: and how wonderful is the declaration of our Lord upon this, how unlikely to be accomplished before the race of men who were then living, should cease to exist: 'Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.' Improbable as this prediction must have appeared to the disciples at that time, in the short space of about thirty years after, it was exactly accomplished; and this most magnificent temple, which the Jews had literally turned into a den of thieves, through the righteous judgment of God upon that wicked and abandoned nation, was utterly destroyed by the Romans a. d. 70, or 73 of the vulgar era, on the same month, and on the same day of the month, when Solomon's temple had been razed to the ground by the Babylonians!"

Both the first and second temples were contemplated by the Jews with the highest reverence. Of their affectionate regard for the first temple, and for Jerusalem, within whose walls it was built, we have several instances in those Psalms which were composed during the Babylonish captivity; and of their profound veneration for the second temple we have repeated examples in the New Testament. They could not bear any disrespectful or dishonorable thing to be said of it. The least injurious slight of it, real or apprehended, instantly awakened all the choler of a Jew, and was an affront never to be forgiven. Our Saviour, in the course of his public instructions, having said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again," John ii, 19, it was construed into a contemptuous disrespect, designedly thrown out against the temple; his words instantly descended into the heart of the Jews, and kept rankling there for some years; for, upon his trial, this declaration, which it was impossible for a Jew ever to forget or to forgive, was immediately alleged against him, as big with the most atrocious guilt and impiety: they told the court they had heard him publicly assert, "I am able to destroy this temple," Matt. xxvi, 61. The rancor and virulence they had conceived against him for this speech, was not softened by all the affecting circumstances of that wretched death they saw him die; even as he hung upon the cross, with triumph, scorn, and exultation, they upbraided him with it, contemptuously shaking their heads, and saying, "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself! If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!" Matt. xxvii, 40.

It only remains to add, that it appears, from several passages of Scripture, that the Jews had a body of soldiers who guarded the temple, to prevent any disturbances during the ministration of such an immense number of priests and Levites. To this guard Pilate referred, when he said to the chief priests and Pharisees who waited upon him to desire he would make the sepulchre secure, "Ye have a watch, go your way, and make it as secure as ye can," Matt. xxvii, 65. Over these guards one person had the supreme command, who in several places is called the captain of the temple, or officer of the temple guard. "And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them," Acts iv, 1; v, 25, 26: John xviii, 12. Josephus mentions such an officer.

A Little While.

A LITTLE while to walk this weary road; A little while to bear this heavy load; Then all our earthly pilgrimage shall cease, And we shall wear the crown in perfect peace.

A little while to love with earthly love, And then we share the "fullness" from above; A little time of darkness and of doubt, Then the bright home whose light shall ne'er go out.

A little toil and sadness here below; A little time to watch and plant and sow; Then Jesus calls his laborers away, Where everlasting joy and gladness stay.

A little while of storm and wind and rain, And then the shining haven we shall gain; A little time to toss on life's rough sea, Then in that perfect home our rest shall be.

A little while! O Saviour make us strong To bear that little, though it oft seem long: Guide thou our way with thine own loving hand, Till we shall enter in the promised land. [New York Observer.

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Do You Enjoy Religion ?

By Nevins

I do not ask you if you possess religion, but do you enjoy it? Does it make you happy? The question is not whether being, as you hope, a religious person, you are also happy; but is it your religion which makes you happy? Are you happy, because religious? A person may acknowledge God, and have joy, and yet not "joy in God." Perhaps you will say it helps to make you happy—that is religion and certain other things together make you happy. But this answer is not satisfactory. Religion must more than help to make you happy. If it only helps, it does no more than many other things. They help. In that case religion might be needful to happiness, even as money is reckoned by many to be; but it could not be pronounced to be the one thing needful. Religion ought to make you happy without the aid of anything else. You should enjoy it, though you had nothing else to enjoy. Habakkuk says, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." He regarded religion as able alone to make him happy. And are we not commanded to be happy in religion alone—to "rejoice in the Lord," and that "evermore?" Should we be commanded to be happy in it, if it needed some assistance to make us happy?

Religion is both exactly adapted and entirely adequate to make its subjects happy. It supplies the soul with a portion; and what does the soul want to make it happy but a suitable and sufficient portion? This the religious man has. The LORD is his portion. Is not that a portion to make him happy? Is it not good enough, and large enough? If the world can make one happy, as some suppose, cannot much more the Maker of all worlds, and the owner of the universe? This portion is infinite, so that it can never be exhausted; and it is eternal, so that it can never fail. And while religion gives us a portion, what a protector, what a provider, what a comforter it affords us! The best of fathers, and the friend that is more constant than a brother! Then, what present good it yields, and what promises it makes of greater good to come! What a prospect it holds out! O what hopes it inspires! The Christian has all these to rejoice in—Christ Jesus, the "exceeding great and precious promises," the first fruits of the Spirit, and the hope of glory. Can any one say what is wanting in religion to make one happy?

Religion has made many happy. Peter, in his first general epistle, within the compass of only three verses, speaks of Christians as not only rejoicing, but rejoicing "greatly," yea, "with joy unspeakable and full of glory." He speaks of it not as a duty, or as a privilege, but as a fact. They did so. And what they so rejoiced in was Jesus Christ, and the prospect of the incorruptible inheritance, both which Christians have the same warrant to rejoice in now. Now, if religion made these happy, why should it not make others happy? Why should one enjoy it, and another not enjoy it, if both possess it? It was intended to make all its subjects happy—very happy.

I ask then, does it make you happy? Do you enjoy religion? Now, do not evade the question. What is to become of us, if religion does not make us happy? If we do not enjoy it here, how shall we enjoy it hereafter? Barely to possess it hereafter would not satisfy, even if such a thing could be. How can a religion which does not make us happy on earth, make us happy in heaven? The religion of heaven is the same in kind with that of earth. The only difference is in degree. The religion of earth is communicated from heaven. It must be of the same nature with it.

Besides, if our religion does not make us happy, how do we do our duty? We are commanded to rejoice. It is a part of practical Christianity to be happy. It is obedience to a precept. It belongs to the character of the doer of the word. Moreover, how are we to have satisfactory evidence that we possess true religion, if we have not joy in it? Suppose we had not love, would we be Christians then? No, certainly; for without charity a man is nothing. But why can we not be Christians without love? Because it is the fruit of the Spirit. And is not joy also the fruit of the Spirit? If love is the first named of the nine, joy is the second. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, &c." Gal. v, 22, 23. And these are not said to be the fruits of the Spirit. It is not the plural form that is used. They are not distinct productions. They are all one cluster—"the fruit of the Spirit." Now, since we have not love, we conclude we have not the Spirit; why should we not conclude the same if we have not joy? I know it may be said that there are many things to interfere with Christian joy. But while these may and do diminish it and interrupt it, they do not therefore annihilate it. There was much to interfere in the case of those to whom Peter wrote. They were "in heaviness through manifold temptations." Nevertheless they rejoiced "greatly."

You see now why I ask you if you enjoy religion. You perceive that it is no insignificant question. Many profess to have religion, but are conscious that they do not enjoy it. They hope they are religious, but know they are not happy. They trust that God is their portion, but they have no joy in him. Indeed some are astonished that we should speak of religion as a thing to be enjoyed. They regard it rather as a thing to be endured—as a sort of penance, a system of privation. And in so far as it is not suffering, it is toil—a something composed of penance and task. When they betake themselves to anything of a religious nature, they feel that they must. A sort of dire necessity constrains them. Such a religion may prepare a person for hell, but how it is to qualify him for heaven, I see not. And a religion which does not qualify a person for heaven, certainly does not answer the purpose.

Many persons lament that their religion does not make them happy, and they wonder why it is. I suspect it is because they depend no more upon it to make them happy. They look for enjoyment too much to other sources. Perhaps, however, the reason they have so little enjoyment in religion is that they have so little religion to enjoy. Now those who appear to have so little, should seriously inquire if they have any.

But some may say, "Religion sometimes makes us happy." But why only sometimes—why not always? The command is, "Rejoice in the Lord always," and the same reason exists for being happy in religion at all times, as at any time. If you rejoice in the world, no wonder if your joy is often interrupted; but if God is your God, and he is evermore the same, why should you not rejoice in him evermore? But does not the Lord sometimes call to sorrow? True, but even then he does not call from joy. Joy and sorrow are perfectly compatible. Were they not coincident in the experience of Paul? "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," he says. If there exists causes of sorrow which operate, that does not annihilate the causes of joy. They should operate too. If you seem to have nothing else to rejoice in, yet there are your sorrows; rejoice in them; well may you, if they work for you "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Did not Paul "glory in tribulations also."

Let not the reader rest satisfied until he enjoys religion. What can one enjoy when the world is receding, if he cannot enjoy God?—Nevins.

Profit of Prayer

PROFIT OF PRAYER.—After prayer is not the heart lighter and the soul happier? Prayer renders affliction less sorrowful, and joy more pure. It mingles with the one an unspeakable sweetness, and adds to the other a celestial perfume. Sometimes there passes over the fields a wind which parches the plants, and then their withered stems will droop toward the earth;

but watered by the dew, they regain their freshness, and lift up their languishing heads. So there are always burning winds, which pass over the soul, and wither it. Prayer is the dew which refreshes it again.

Family Prayer.

By Dr. Bushnell

THE grand infirmity of family prayers, or what is sometimes called family religion, is that it stands alone in the house, and has nothing put in agreement with it. Whereas, if it is to have any honest reality, as many things as possible should be soberly and deliberately put in agreement with it; for, indeed, it is a first point of religion itself, that by its very nature it rules presidingly over every thing desired, done, thought, planned for, and prayed for in this life. It is never to finish itself up by words, or supplications, or even by sacraments, but the whole custom of life and character must be in it by a total consent of the man. And more depends on this a hundred times, than upon any occasional fervors, or passionate flights, or agonizings.

The grand defect will, in almost all cases, be in what is more deliberate, viz., in the want of any downright, honest casting of the family in the type of religion, and as if that were truly accepted as the first thing.

See just what is wanted, by what is so very commonly not found. First of all, the mere observance kind of piety, that which prays in the family to keep up a reverent show, or acknowledgment of religion, is not enough. It leaves everything else in the life to be an open space for covetousness, and all the gay lustings of worldly vanity. It even leaves out prayer; for the saying of prayers is, in no sense, really the same thing as to pray. Contrary to this, there should be some real prayer, for the meaning's sake, and for the shell of religious decency, in which the semblance may be kept. This latter kind looks, indeed, for no return of blessing from God, but only for a certain religious effect accomplished by the drill of repetitional observance. There is also another kind of drill sometimes attempted in the prayers of families, which is much worse, viz., when the prayer is made every morning, to hit this or that child in some matter of disobedience, or some mere peccadillo into which he has fallen. Nothing can be more irreverent to God, than to make the hour of prayer a time of prison discipline for the subjects of it, and nothing could more certainly set them in a fixed aversion to religion, and to everything sacred. This kind of prayer prays, in fact, for exasperation's sake, and the effect will correspond.

An Honest Life

AN HONEST LIFE.—The poor pittance of seventy years is not worth being a villain for. What matter is it if your neighbor lies in a splendid tomb? Sleep you with innocence. Look behind you through the track of time! A vast desert lies open in retrospect; wearied with years and sorrow, they sink from the walks of man. You are to leave them where they fall; and you must go a little further and you will find eternal rest. Whatever you may have to encounter between the cradle and the grave, every moment is big with events, which come not in succession, but bursting forcibly from a revolving and unknown cause, fly over this orb with diversified influence.

Self.

By J. Clarke

ONE would suppose that a trifle would bear to be trifled with; that a cheat would stand a swindle; that a coquette would bear disappointment; that a joker would bear a jest; that a scold would bear rough usage; that a tyrant would smile at being corrected; but by some strange obliquity it is exactly the reverse.

The impatient person galls terribly under the lash; the critic goes raving under criticism; the joker flashes at being the victim of a keen retort; the persecutor screams when the flame scorches his flesh; the tyrant pines in confinement; the selfish person is dreadfully disgusted at the selfishness which causes pain or inconvenience, or expense to himself; the proud person cannot bear superciliousness when it bears upon his own important self.

Oh self, how dear thou art! Dear self, for thee a hundred angels might die, yet still thou wouldst think thyself worth a hundred more. For thee a Saviour might shed his blood, yet this is only a stepping-stone for thy advancement. O important self! for thee and for thy convenience were all things made.

Says self, Oh that I could clasp the universe, grasp the millions of California, the fame of a Caesar, the eloquence of Cicero, or Demosthenes, the wealth of Croesus.

Insatiable self! never satisfied! always wishing, always ravenous, only lacking teeth and claws to make a lion, or bear, or hyena, or wolf, or some monster of the wild desert.

Such is the tendency of selfishness: down down to the lowest grade until the beast is fully developed.

Benevolence tends upward. By as much as selfishness tends downward, by so much does benevolence tend upward; up, up, to the skies, while selfishness tends down, down, to the level of the brute, as we have just shown.

Look at the lower grades of humanity, as the Hottentot, the Bushman, the New Zealand cannibal. What has caused all this degradation? Selfishness, selfishness, in all its varied forms has seduced the noble race of man to its present contemptible weakness. And let not the gentle American, of Caucasian stock, plume himself upon his beauty and strength. Let him contemplate the strength of the Roman soldier who marched from 20 to 40 miles per day carrying an average of 160 lbs., including three days provisions. Or let us go back to the testimony of Esdras, who wrote centuries previous to the Christian era, thus: "Consider thou therefore also how that ye are less of stature than those that were before you, and so are they that come after you less than ye, as the creatures which now begin to be old, and have passed over the strength of youth." What then must have been the manhood of our race if it had passed its prime in Esdras' time, and what must be its dotage now? No wonder the image was graded from gold to silver to brass to iron to clay, yet pride and selfishness abound more in the clay of the image than in the pure metals.

Selfishness in its varied forms is still doing its dirty work, and every generation is falling upon a lower step, yet by a strange delusion they fancy it is a rising scale of human development.

But benevolence still visits earth. She is an angel of heavenly birth. She cannot take up her abode on earth. No, she must visit her native skies to recruit her strength. She cannot breathe the atmosphere of earth. She would soon die, as those who descend into impure wells die from the deadly gases confined there. But by often being refreshed above she visits earth, and beckons us to follow her where is no selfish thought or act.

J. CLARKE.

Refinement in Marriage

No man of correct taste, will persistently praise another lady to the disparagement of his own wife; nor will a lady of true refinement accept it.—Chimney corner.

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