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very ill with typhoid fever, at the res idence of her son, Mr. R. Page. Mrs. Spear, the widow of the late B. J Spear. also sick with malaria! . IS Very fever. Miss Annie Wilkerson has recently returned from West Point and La¬ Grange where she has been on a visit of two weeks. What has become of our numerous correspondents ? In looking over the Journal for a month past I have missed them. Come, Mountain Hill, Mulberry ^rove, Don, Hargett and others, wake up and walk bravely to the front and let us hear from you. PAYABLE OF THE SOWER. CRITICAL NOTES BY REV. GEORGE P. HAYS, D. D., LL. D. Lesson X of the International Series for Sunday, Dec. 4, 1887—Text of Les«on, Matt, xiii, 1-5); Golden Text, Luke vlii, 11 . This chapter of parables is quite as con¬ spicuous as tho chapters containing the Ser¬ mon on tho Mount. These parables may not all have been spoken at one sitting, but are here given in one group. The Saviour had been traveling through Galilee and was now back at his permanent residence at Caper¬ naum. Crowds gathered around. The ship made a convenient pulpit, high enough above the shore to bring the Saviour easily in sight of the multitude of people. It is to be noticed here that tho Saviour d««Ti,.Uon ... of , this . does , gives no sower, nor no muljonze the sower to pick the ground on wm,-h ho is to sow Neither .s there any description of the seed I he sower does not innke the seed ho was to sow. It was g,ven to him to sow, and he has no right to try to mod,! V ,t or Change it “Go, preach the preaching tout I bid thee” was God’s com ,nun,l to Jonah, as to all his other servants. Neither does the sower understand the nature o the growth of this seed. The. .seed is sown m us, but we also are sown in too world, and the result is not merely m the ground mt also m the seed sown. The re sensibility is not altogether on the sower or on the see,1 which is the word of God, but the ddleiyi.ee of results is in the hearer. , 1V o vs.de hearers -The wayside was once as sol, as any part of the held; it .snow Lea ton hard by much treading The seed exposed cm this hard ground s to the birds a special opixirtunity and invitation, and so they come and light in flocks, taking away . every seed and al possibility of growth j •1 hat ways.de,. it is ever to bring iorth irui; must be plowed and harrowed. This wdlbe bard work and require rough hand lmg. u ithout t his plowing and breaking up ut this hard ground, not only will the seed not eider, but the rain will pass away with out softening It. and the sunshine that ought to have produced growth will only make dust. There seems not much chance for any good result from sowing seed iusucli a place. But the sower is simply told to sow, and sow everywhere. Stony ground.—’The rain that falls on it is eoon evaporated, and the soil becomes dry and \ egeiation dies. This rocky ground, however, may be cleared up and become fruitful. This can onlv ai.d be done by blasting the big, deep rocks gathering out toe little stones one by one. This will take vigor ous work and strong resolution and patient labor on the 1 -art Of the farmer. Thorny ground.—Thorns arc still a differ ent kind of thing from either rocks or birds or clods. Tlu* roots of the thorns are not part of the ground as the rocks are. nor are they the result of much treading as is the hardness of the wayside. Like the wheat they are themselves things of growth, and the soil wherein, they will grow well would also grow wheat well if the thorns were out ol the way. In such soil it is » question of competition which shall occupy the ground. Iu the case of the soil supplied with th or us but sowed with grain, one or the oth-»r will be choked. “No mau can serve two masters.” No ground can raise a good crop both of thorns and of grain. Good ground.—When the good ground is described, it is said to belong to those who have an honest and good heart. There is to be no trifling .... with the impoitance of religion, . These begin to cultivate it with care. The crop will depend very much on the nature of the soil and the exposure to the sun, and other favorable circumstances. This growth in the good ground is a steady progress, and not a growth by fits and jerks. The amount of fruit, however, will vary \ery much even in good ground. It is sometimes asked whether a hundred fold is not a very unreas onable and extraordinary crop. It must be remembered, however, that in wheat each 1,rii w s ioTt * m ? n y stalks, and eachstalk a head; so a hundred fold is not very un¬ usual. I have myself, while preparing these lesson notes, counted the p-ains on an ear of corn, and not an especially large one. There were on it 7U3 grains. Many a stalk of corn has two or three ears on it. The estimate, therefore, of the crop in an especially good field is not unreasonable—thirty, sixty or a hundred fold. SUGGESTIVE APPLICATIONS. BY THE REV. EDWIN W. RlCfc, D. D. The wayside seed (see vs. 4 and 19). You find a particularly inattentive scholar in your class who is listless, has no desire nor in¬ terest for religious truth, and upon whose heart it seems as difficult to make an im pression as if you were working upon gran¬ ite or upon polished steel. Whatever good truth drops there stays on the outside, and the next wind or the next companion who comes along brushes it aside; or some agents of the evil one in other ways snatch it away. This hearer is the most discouraging and the most hopeless one in your class. Seed upon rocky ground (see vs. 5, 20 and 23). There are hearers and scholars who are mercurial, impulsive, governed more by pas¬ sion than by principle, who gladly receive an earnest call to obey the truth; they comply with it promptly and passionately; for a few days . thero ,, seems no , bound , to ^ then . zeal; . they n . are quite i ready to find fault with older Chvi ian3 tor t h eir coldness, tor their lack of J,. and th ( s6em at one bouod to hav0 | f om wor d i illcss to the very height of * Ainciplo irltM , ecstnsy . But th havo no abicli * £ of Christianity; it is simply a sur mining impulse, which passes away dew, ScodK hirers too thorns (seo vs. 7 and 22). and scholars, full of the „ r th ; 3 wori<1 Bnd its pleasures, crowded m / ambition* and worldly desires, ^ r vrfth tbe multitudo o£ oth > take in some of the teachings of d Thoy that they can C o ; themselves with God’s people > b themselves with too t u its deIi gbts , without a » Christ or of their duty to God all ’ nav, ^ they can mingle in all toe £rivoUties ol they «*, no harm in opera* dancing or card playing or 6 chance, unless indeed that they nnd extensive gam- I =' ,hilo ^ pretending to reSeive d h cboke Jt out und spirituality to them and no vital yorpo J 1 werin their assumed Christian pro- j . ’ the ugo good ground (see vs. 8 and ’ difference in the fruit J d b tho of tbe spjrit ual seed. to u, a greater care in preparing tho , ieal , , ., ,______ Nearer aK t th spirituality of . too ,, receiver £• These These give eive in m 'reused liunfulnessirn toe ant ’ l l we l , . ^5" t . T.L d/aSaftiTS , ris ics 1 ” to ‘ spiritual fields, se«l and : There is no ?“ c0 *“ A^-e^Wfourt^ , , the f ””* Lf SLed w “ tea - Only one-fourth of the seed brought brou-ht ars y harvest, and that in different decrees cf fruitfulness; some very high, some very moderate, and some in a very low degree. As a spiritual sower you need not be discour aged if every effort of yours does not pro- 411100 an abundant harvest; indeed you may bo highly encouraged if barely one-fourth of the good seed which you sow from God’s word produces any good result, HINTS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES. BY ALICE W. KNOX. Golden text: “The seed is the word of j God.” It is God’s word we study, this seed we sow. Teachers are laborers on the great farm, or in the garden of the Lord. The reaping will be according to the sowing. How is it, fellow laborers, with us? Are we sowing the good seed of the word, or are we sowing our own thoughts, illustrations and seeds of self making? Does every child in our classes get one gospel seed verse im¬ planted in the young heart every Sunday, so that the Spirit will find it there ready for his influences? or are we so anxious to show our ingenuity in manufacturing pictures and original illustrations that there is no time to plant the seed? Pictures are excellent when they aptly illustrate the subject,Tbut they can never take the place of the gospel seed verse that should be well planted in the child’s mind. Stories are good when they explain the truth contained in the seed verse, but they must always be helps and not the main lesson. Jesus Christ could talk in parables and convey exactly the truth he wished to com¬ municate; but he spake as never man spake. In trying to imitate him, the greatest care should be taken not to mistake the story for the truth. Hence let young children memo¬ rize the Scriptures. Better far to go back to tli old system of a verse a day and take all the Sunday school hour in hearing them re¬ cited individually, and have no time for ex¬ planations, pictures, illustrations, than to give the hour to these explanations, pictures and illustrations, with no memoriter exer¬ cises. The Bible words are God’s words; the others are human. The Bible words are the good seed, the others the tillage. First get the seed into the heart soil which God has already prepared for it, and then let the best possible explanations be given. Appeal to eye, to ear, to heart, to memory; then with earnest prayer submit the case to God, plead¬ ing for the Sun of righteousness to shine on it and the dews of the divine Spirit to fructify it, when a glorious harvest may be confi¬ dently expected. In China the scholars commit entire chap ters and whole books to memory. In a few i ns t ances the entire New Testament has been correctly recited from beginning to end. This may, of course, be a parrot like recita¬ tion, the pupil not understanding one verse with its true meaning; but it should be thoroughly understood that this is not what is here recommended. The memorizing Of at least one seed verse weekly is urged as indis pensable to good gospel teaching; then add the rest as time permits, but by no means neglect the first. A concert recitation of the verses is not sufficient. As all teachers know, young children mistake and misunderstand words, like the little boy who told his mother the verse taught in Sunday school was, “Hold a grater to Solomon’s ear” (for “Be hold, a greater than Solomon is here”). How much gospel did that child get that day? Each child should recite the verse separately, carefully, and then be questioned about it, and receive explanations of words new to it. When twenty, thirty, 100 or 1,000 young children are packed on crowded seats, and all recite together, per sonal care and instruction are sim¬ ply impossible. The school may be very at¬ tractive, the children may like to attend, but the truth is that very few of them are much benefited. The younger the children the more personal instructions they need: Adults may crowd together under one good teacher and receive benefit, because they know how to read, how to study, how to pay attention, how to think. Little children know none of tliese things. The very meaning andpronun clatlon of the words they do not know, Whattol)yto try to teach them enmassel They may be amused, they may be iuter ested, by a skillful teacher, but a book might be written filled with toe mistaken ideas and words they obtain. These views are the re suit of long experience and close observation, recommended to primary teachers thcir serious consideration. In short, to sow the good seed of the word of God is to plaI , t lt in the memory, wherethe Spirit may find it ready for hi& use. This is our first work, and let no teacher feel discouraged who finds time for little else, Remember—“The seed is the word of God.”—Sunday School World, ut tne thirty-eight students matriculated on All Smuts’ Day at the General Episcopal seminary, two are of the colored race, one j being a son of Bishop Holly, of Hayti. i The school of industrial art in Philadelphia j is to be benefited by the proceeds of a festival, arranged to be held at Horticultural hall un¬ der the direction of Mrs. E. D. GillesDia i f BARGAINS! BARGAINS! GOODS MOST BE SOLD! I will c.ffer for the next ibir ( y dnys, AT COST, my entire stock of Men’s, Boys’ and Children’s j Clothing, Overcoats and Boots At First Cost. I Have too Many My House, and tliey Must be Sold. mwiMthina V O in the J J)ru Goods reduction k in pvtces, he* t hi Prints lilts at at e> cents., cents • Checks, 7 A l - W OGl Jeans ^ cents ; 40c, Jenns at 33 i-3 cents ; oOc. Jeans at 40 cents; jUveSS Goods marked way down. hi fact, we Will sell anything in, the house so low that you will he astonished . JVo humbug about this business Come in and get 4 my prices and you Will see tha\ I WE MEAN BUSINESS. Very Respectfully, R. SPIVE1 Chipley, Ga. m jt