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[From the Mountain Echo.]
The SailoUs Grave.
BT CHA3. TAYLOR.
Suggested by “Bury M* in ih* St*“
Not in the churoh-yard shall he sleep,
Ami«l t-lie silent gloom.
His home was on the mighty deep,
And there shall he his tomb.
1
Break not for-him the grassy turf,
Nor turn the dewy sod.
Hi* dust shall rest beneath th« surf,
llis spirit—with its God. 1
Ho loved hi* own bright, deep, blue so*, \
P'er it ho loved to roam, j
And now his winding sheet shall bo
That namo bright ocean s foam.
Though soa and sky fierce war would wago
And threatening thunders roll, • ,
He heeded nottha tempest'* rag? —
'Twas musio to his soul.
He acted well the sailor's part,
So generous and brave,
And boundless as his noble heart
So wide shall be his grave.
*
No village bell shall toll for him
Its mournful solemn dirge ;
But winds shall chant a requiem
To him beneath the surge.
Tho Closing Days of the Apostle
John.
After the death of St. Paul, John chose
Asia Minor as the scene of his labours. |
Here his attention was naturally directed
to the further extention of the cause of the
Gospel. Ho went about establishing new
churches, ordaining pastors over them, and
exercising his apostolic authority tor the
benefit of the brethren. Some of the chur
ches mentioned in the Apocalypse as requi
ring his superintending care, along with
others not recorded, probably owed their
origin to his missionary zeal, llis energies
however, seemed chiefly to have been di
rected towards confirming the communities
already established in the knowledge and
love of the truth. And his Gospel and
Epistles remained an enduring monument
of the wisdom of divine Providence, in di
recting to this sphere of labour an individu
al whose mental conformation, as well as the
tenof of his Christian experience, rendered
him peculiarly qualified for Opposing the
speculative and practical errors which had
begun to manifest themselves in the time of
the Apostle Paul, and the farther develop
ment of which he had clearly foretold, not
so much by dialectic art, as by the earnest
expression of his heartfelt and deep-reaching
intuitions of divine truth. Upon [he rise
of the persecution under Domitian, this
apostle was carried to Home, and afterwards
banished to Patinos, an island in the iEgean
Sea, where the future destinies of the church
and of the world were disclosed to him in
those visions whose undefined and mysteri
ous foreshadowings continue to exercise the
faith and encourage the hopes of believers
in the pages of the Apocalypse. Upon f lic
death of Domitian, he obtained with other
exiles, the remission of his sentence of ban
ishment ; and the closing years of his life
were spent at Ephesus, as the central point
of his apostolical ministrations.
One or two anecdotes have been recorded
by the fathers of the church, which, as they
correspond with the qualities exhibited by
him, as made known to us in Sacred Histo
ry, may be received as probable, though the
external evidence is not conclusive.
During one of his missionary journeys,
he was struck with the appearance of a young
man whom he observed in an assembly of
the brethren, and warmly recommended
him to the care of the newly-ordained min
ister. Upon a subsequent visit, when in
quiring of the pastor respecting his interest
ing charge, he learnt that, after his baptism,
the youth had been betrayed-into vicious
habits by idle'companioos; and that throw
ing aside all restraint, he had proceeded to
every extremity of guilt, and had now taken
up his abode on a neighboring mountain,
where lie was infesting the country as a
captain of bauditti. The apostle, in the ar
dour of his love, proceeded at once, unarm
ed, towards the haunt of the outlaws, and
being soon laid hold of by.one of the band,
he demanded to be brought to his leader.
When the young Vbbber beheld the holy
man approaching, he turned away in shame,
to avoid his presence. Bui the apostle fol
lowed sister him, and refused to leave him
till, by his prayers, and tears, and expostu
lations, he brought him hack to the true
fold.
Upon another occasion, in his zeal against
error, lie manifested perhaps some remains
af the natural temperament which, at an
earlier period, had procured for him and his
brother the appellation of the “ Soits of
Thunderwhen in proceeding to bathe,
lie perceived the heretic Cerinthus, and tur
ning hastily away, exclaiued, “Lotus flee
THE ARMY & NAVY HERALD.
from this place, lest the bath should fall j
while this enemy of the truth is within j
• The prevailing sentiment, however of his ;
declining years was love ; and we are tola
by St. Jerome, that when he was too much
oppressed with infirmity to permit him to i
exercise his public ministry any longer, be I
was accustomed to be carried into th# church
and after stretching forth his feeble arm?
and crying, Little children, love one anoth- j
cr, to retire from the assembly. So deeply
was he imbued with the scraphi* love of the
bosom on which lie leaned, that it remained :
unimpared amidst the decays of nature and
the eclipse of intellect.
The precise year of his death is not known
but it took place daring the peaceful inter
val in which Trajan pursued the mild poli
cy of his immediate predecessor, at a date
whi#h is usually considered as correspond
ing with the beginning of the second cen
tury. — Dr. Welsh's Church History.
A Historical Illustration.
When South Carolina was overrun by i
the British in our great revolutionary war j
of the past century, among many others,
Colonels Marion and Horry, of that State, j
without any concert of action aud without i
the knowledge of each other, mounted their j
steeds and set out to the northward in search
of safety and of troops with which to fight
the battles of their country. They met to
their mutual surprise and joy, in the solita
ry forests of North Carolina. A graphic
account of the incidents of this hegira of
the two patriots is given in Horry’s Life of
Marion. The two exiles halt in the shade
by the road side to take some food, and good
old Peter lion j gives the following as a
part of their-conversation :
“ I shall never forget an expression,” says
he, “ which Marion let fall during our re
past, and which, as things have turned out,
clearly shows what an intimate acquaintance
he [Marion] had with human nature. I
happened to say that ouv happy days were
all gone.”
“ Pshaw Horry,” replied Marion, “don’t
give way to such idle fears. Our happy
days 'are not all gone.' On the contrary,
the victory is still sure. The enemy it is
true, have all the trumps in their hands, and
if they had but the spirit to play a generous ;
game, would certainly ruin us. But they ;
have no idea of that game; but will treat,
the people cru#lly. Aud that one thing j
will ruin them, and save America.
When thw.se incidents occurred, Georgia
and Carolina had just been overrun by the
British. Savannah, < Charleston and Augus
ta had been recently captured. All the im
portant towns and a vast proportion of the
territory of the Thirteen Colonies were in
the enemy’s hands, Reconstructionists,
alias tories, abounded. At one country
bouse, the two Continental •fibers were re
fused lodgings because they wore the uni- j
form which showed that they were opposed j
to “.King Georg#.”
At another, honest old Peter was jeered
by a wise crowd of bomb-proofs and fireside
generals, who were discussing the deprecia
tion of the currency, and the folly of con
tinuing the war at the public cross roads, j
“The situation” for the rebel’s looked des- ;
perate. Yet Marion did not despair. Un- j
dcr the wise leadership of the immortal j
"Washington, the desperate fortunes of the J
Colonies were retrieved. Independence ;
came years afterwards, through years ot strug i
gle and blood. The soft shelled bomb-1
proofs and fire side generals became ardent j
self-sacrafieing patriots so soon as they had j
enjoyed the blessed cruelties of British su- !
prcmacy for a season. —Lynchburg 'Jlcp. \
o..
Beware of Fiction. — An agent em
ployed by the Franklin county Bible Society,
says, “ An aged man of ninety years, ‘ did
nut want a Bible, but a story book ’ —that
is. a novel. Let novel readers ponder this
result of a depraved taste ; a pas»ion gen
dered in youth, now clinging, to the very ex
treme of age. How unspeakably sad the
view ! —an aged man tottering a step or two
more to his grave! From eternity’s en
trance he turns back his sunken eye, reaches
fourth his feeble, trembling baud, and calls
for fiction , as one dying of delirium does
for more of the fatal poison which has al
ready destroyed him ! What will he do
with his passion beyond thn grave ? Can
be aside God’s truth and have, fiction
in heaven ? Can he have it in hell ? Let
the young, let parents beware of the poison
which eats out all relish for the truth, and
especially the truth of God, from the soul. ’
— Puritan.
Man Unuknewed. —Easy, goodnatured,
affable men, whose hearts are nevertheless
unrenewed by divine grace, may hi- com
pared to ripe plums and apricots, which how
ever soft and smooth on the out side, yet
have a hard stone within.— Anon.
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
Among the martyrs who suffered in the
persecutions that the Roman emperors rais
ed against the early Christians, th*re were
forty who endured martydom at the same
time, in the city of Sebaste, in, Armenia,
a country of the East. They all belonged to
the Roman army, and were in the strength
and vigour of their age. They had receiv
ed many rewards for their volour, and had
been advanced to places of trust. But these
earthly honours were not what most occu
pied their minds—they had become Chris
tians, and were leading Christian liv*s. The
general of the army was a Heathen, devo
ted to the service of idols ; and he thought
that in order to conqner the enemy, lie must
sacrifice these Christians to the honour of
his false gods. JThese faithful soldiers of
Christ did not deny their profession'; they
refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, and
were brought publicly before the judgment
seat on their refusal. When they received
the emperor’s order to •bey, they answered
boldly that they were Christians, and that
no tortures wi th which they could be threat
ened should force them to forsake their re
ligion. Upon this they were cruelly tortu
red, and then put in prison, and confined
there for a week, being fastened together
by chains. It was the the winter,
which is very cold in Armenia; and an
east wind, which blw at that time, increas
ed the severity of'cold. The judge ordered
t hese holy men to be stripped of their cloth
ing, and exposed to the frost during the
coldest part of the night, till the violence
of it should cause their death. They went
cheerfully to the place of their punishment
which Was close to the public baths, that
they might see relief at hand, if they were
overcome with pain, aud ready to deny their
faith.
Among the various words with whieh
they encouraged each other, they all prayed
together to God that he would preserve
their number complete. This was fulfilled,
but in a different sense from that in which
they intended it. and may remind us of the
fall of Judas, and the election of St. Mat
thias.
Oue of these forty follow sufferers yielded
and was carried into the baths to be resto
red by tlie warmth of the lire ; but ho. did
not save his temporal life, for he died as
as soon as he was brought in there. His
place was supplied with a soldier who had
charge of the baths, and who had been
watching the martyrs; he hastened to
join them, crying out that he was a,-Chris
tian. He was bound with chains, and
placed among them. At last they all ex
pired from the cold; and their dead bodies
were heaped together and carried away to
be consumed by fire. The youngest of all
these martyrs, whose name was Aleliton, was
still living after all the rest were dead; the
executioners brought his mother to him, ho
ping that she wouid persuade him to deny
his faith, and live. She was a poor woman,
and a widow ; but she had brought up her
son in the knowledge of true wisdom. She
now came to him, and found his limbs fro
zen, his breath short, and his speech gone ; .
he could only look at her, and mad* signs
to endeavour to console lier. She exerted
him to persevere unto the end ; and then
with her own hands laid him on the chariot
where the dead bodies of his companions
had been placed, and followed him rejoicing
in his victory. This is said to have happen
ed in the month of March.
The Gourd and the Palm Tree.—A
gmrd wound itself around a lofty palm, and
in a few weeks climed to its very top.
“ How old mayst thou be '! ” asked the
the new comer.
“ About a hundred years,” was the an
swer.
“ A hundred years ! and no taller ! Only
look, I have grown as tall as you in a fewer
days than you can count years.”
“ I know that well,” replied the palm,
“ Every summer of my life a gourd has
climed up around me, as proud as thou art.
and as short-lived as thou wilt be.”
♦
Christian Liberality. —There are cer
tain great principals laid down in Scripture
in relation to giving, and the use of proper
ty generally, respecting which there is much
practical scepticism. They are as follows:
1. That'which we have, we hold as stew
ards that must give account.
2. The way to increase is to distribute.
Some are rich because they are liberal.
3. That which is given to the poor is lent
to the Lord.
4- That which is done to Christ’s little
ones is done to himself.
A hundred to one is the rate of interest
God allows now ; and life everlasting in the
world to come. (Mark x. 29.) — JYevins.
- ■
Earthly riches are full of poverty.
Survey of Jerusalem.— While the
survey of the city is proceeding, Captain
Wilson has been exploring under ground,
and has made some important discoveries
to elucidate its ancient topography, the
mast important of which is the discovery
of “one of the arches of the causeway
which led from the city to the Temple, in
a very good state of preservation, the span
of which is between forty and fifty feet,
and composed of large stones like thos*
seen in the Jewish wailing place.” He
has also discovered another cistern in the
Harem or Temple area, and says the whole
area is perfectly honey-combed with pas
sages and cisterns; and he had himself
lowered eighty-two feet down a well, which
is in what was formerly the valley of the
cheesemongers, and followed the stream for
a considerable distance till he came to the
spring with some steps down into it, which
were cut in the solid rock. —London Times.
Humility Courting Observation.— That hu
mility which courts notice is not first-rate. It
may be sincere, but it. is sullied. Do not sound
a trumpet, nor say : “ Come and see how hum
bha I am.” Cecil.
Imp Sam iifoematST
BEING POSSESSED OF THE APT OF
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to write on* hundred letters for the sue* of one
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any part of the Confederacy free of charge.
Address ROBERT H. TAIJSM,
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Reference —Any citizen of Savannah.
mh23—tit*
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" •
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