Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

...» : THE + HOLIDAYS: Ire coming. So are our holiday goods. Every train brings something new. We do not and will not spare neither pains Ijr money to get everything that is bright and attractive for our friends. We appreciate your trade. Call and see us and |bu will appreciate our new goods and low prices. We respectfully submit a few as follows: l Our price for genuine imported Plush Parlor Suit $30, popular price $45. Our price for genuine imported Silk Plush Parlor suit $45, popular price $60. Our price for a 10 piece Walnut Marble top Toilet suit of Furniture $45, popular price $55. Our price for a 10 piece Maple Marble top Toilet suit of Furniture $38, popular price $45. Our price for a Marble top French Dresser, 17-30 glass, $12 50, popular price $15. Our price for an imitation Marble top French Dresser, 17 30 glass, $9, popular price $12. Our price for a 10 piece im tation Marble top Toilet Suit of Furniture $30, popular price $40. ur price for a large German Plate Glass Bureau $5, popular price $7. Our price for a No. 6 Cooking Stove, complete, $6 50, popular price $7.50. ur price for a worm wire Bedspring (full size) $3, popular price $4.50. Our price for a No. 7 flat-top Cooking Stove, completed 10, popular price $12. ur price for a slat spring (any size) $1 25, popular price $1 50. 300 good strong Bedsteads, (none ot them made ot pine) from $1 50 up. ur price for a well-made cot top Mattress $2 50, popular price $3 50. 1000 Chairs of every description from Fifty Cents up. f We would call attention to our elegant line of WILLOW, CANE and FANCY ROCKERS, Baby Carriages, Chil¬ dren’s PIVlYflNA Wagons, RUGS. Fancy Work Tables, ’ Lamp Stands, Tin Sets, Oleographs, and particularly to our handsome line of ■ !!::No old goods can be .found in . our store that have been picked over and accumulating lor years and years, but every¬ thing is bran nevt just from the factories and the most attractive styles that money can buy. Do not buy a single article of Furniture until you get our terms and prices. Call on or address A. G. RHODES & CO., 1017 Broad Street, Columbus, Ga. OTHER PARABLES. BJTICAL NOTES BY REV. GEORGE P, HAYS, D. D., LL. D. P* ^Amapter, .Conversion yet it is is implied not directly in the taught first six in para- this jfebles. Neither field would bring forth a good harvest unless some one sows seed in \ them. The mustard seed is planted by an dhd the leaven is hidden in the meal. gijRiS Mhe market. treasure In was all lost, these and the the pearl was of in cases course ^Jiature was changed by some outside force, speci lut the doctrine of conversion is more cally taught in the parables of the leaven fend the grain of mustard seed than any fwhere I The proverbial else. small seed of ancient times Iwas the mustard. It obtained this character Efrom the disproportion between its own size Lnd the size of the tree which grew there¬ from. jof It is therefore an excellent example Ithat that which the Saviour was here teaching, Lrge results are oftentimes disproportionately when compared with their causes. I When the seed is sown it is with the inten¬ sion of bringing forth the tree. God means She ends accomplished by his small provi¬ dences. When man plants a mustard seed )ie does it in faith in the vitality of the seed. If he did not believe the seed retained its vi¬ tality limes he would not plant it. This is some called the faith of the mustard seed. Wee Matt, xvii, 20. It is really the faith some one has in the grain of mustard. Elsewhere this faith in the mustard seed is used to re prove those who, through a false humility, will not try to do their duty. God has prom ised the result of activity quite as surely as the has promised a tree in the vitality of tho mustard seed. Growth is the only proof of life. This must be open, manifest, visible growth. religion whose growth is not vis ible and manifest must be as dead as tho fcmstard seed which issues in no tree. Birds of the air are sheltered in the tree, as irro ligiousand godless people are protected by the moral sentiment and good order which are due to a religious public sentiment. 33.—The leaven is not originally in the When it is there it is with the specific intention that a change shall result, Leaven is yeast, and though it may be put in but one part of a lump, its effect will extend until the whole mass is leavened. Leaven in Scripture is generally a type of evil. If we combine the lossons of these two parables, we have an admirable illustration of true religion. The growth of the mustard seed sets forth the visible effect of religion in the sight of our fellow men; and the hidden working of the leaven equally well sets forth the internal change which alfects our inner life. In these two parables religion is set forth as if it were an unconscious force ■'working in an unconscious being, But man is not unconscious like the meal, nor wrought upon like the mustard seed without any free agency of his own. Conscious activity.—Christ now sets forth this side of human nature in the following parables. Hero again are two prominent differences. Some men consciously seek what their souls need: others are conscious of a need, but do not seem to understand anything about the spiritual wants of their nature. The parables of the treasure and the pearl set forth these two sides of human ex perienee. In both parables, however, the great final lesson is that those who would enter the kingdom of heaven must give up all for God. The illustration of this parable (v. 44) is of a man stumbling unexpectedly on such a oidden treasure. With surprise he found that was valuable which others passed by. When he understands its vulue he dictates no terms, but, like the real convert, sells all that ho has to buy that field. This last is God’s condition of eternaWifo (Matt, xix, 21). Wo turn now to the inquirer who knows what he wants. He is seeking definitely for the pearl of great price. The reason for the high price of pearls is that they are small in size and weight, and yet of great value, They were often swallowed to preserve them from the search of robbers. Pearls are moro easily concealed and more easily carried than gold or silver. The hidden treasure is avail able for present use; the pearl is provision for future use. The pearl broken is do stroyed; but the two parts of a lump of gold are worth just as much separate as tho two together were when they were one lump. For some reasons gold was best and for others pearls were best. We need to combine both these features to get a full illustration of the amplitude of God’s grace. No wonder, there fore, that this man should sell all that he had to buy that pearL If now we combine these four qualities, we shall have before us the symmetry of God’s grace and man s experience. Like the muss tard seed, it manifests its power externally. Liko the leaven, it completely changes the character of the inner life. Like the treas ure, it is moro valued t han ail else, and is immediately available for all present wants, And like the pearl, while more valued than a11 else > is an abundant guarantee of supply •for all future wants. Like the treasure and tho P uarl > its Possession is equally real and valuable whether stumbled on or sought for and found; and like the leaven and the mus to rd seed, it* effects are equally real and val liable whether manifested externally or work ing within. _ SUGGESTIVE ci.rrFQTivP APPLICATIONS. appi iPATinMQ BY TnE REV * EIjwrN w - 1 H CE ’ D - D * The least of all seeds, verse 82. Yom can scarcely get more than a very small grain of spiritual truth into tho mind of that lioed less scholar. He in very thoughtless; but you have discovered a single small spot or corner in his heart which seems to bo fitted for an equally minute particle of divine truth. You drop this with ljttle hope or expectation that so small a thing can ever grow, but out of that small seed may come a power which will eventually renew that soul and change tluit life. The result seems to lx* out of all proportion to the slight work of sowing, but it is according to God’s order; it is one of the ways in which God encourages his servants to sow for him. The wholo was leavened, v. 83. The leaven was hid. It seems to be lost. Thus much of the teaching in the .Sunday school often seems to have been buried out of right. Not a trace of it can be discovered in tho hearts of those who come to tho weekly .Sabbath study. It looks like wasted labor; but if tho truth is there in the heart it is sure to work as secretly and as effectually as the leaven works in tho doUgh i:i which it G hid. Hold all that he had, and bought it, v. U». Thero are some who seem to stumble upon the kingdom of God providentially; as tho old j.rojjhet said, “I am found-of them that sought me not.” Christians see this prophecy moroqxurt^omeinto Cull lied in many ways, but probably tho the kmgikmi by seeking to cuter. Even these can enter it only by giving up all as the price-. Tho angola shall . . . sever the wicked from amo^g the just, v. O. Tho drag urt gathered up every Kort of firii, good and twd. Bo is it in the kingdom of heaven on earth and in our work for God. It is not rtranga that evangelists and preachers and Sunday teachers should gather in among tb<m w j lf) ftrt , p fK »d, who are truly Christian, not n few who am without that true life in Chri st. The sifting time will come; the angels will gather the good, and they will easily discover the bad. It is for men to work; it is for Clod to judge. HINTS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES. BY ALICE W. KNOX. Jems taught many truths by parable. A Jo Immb ie is an illustration that is like the truth bo taught Write tho topics on the board and number them: 1. Tho Mustard Seed. 2. The Leuven. 3. The Hid Treasure. 4. The Goodly Pearl 5. * The Fish Net. Explain how very small the mustard seed ^ mi(l how strange that a great bush can grow from such u little feed Show an uenrn and doscrilie the oak; or show an apple seed and call attention to the tree and its fruit. Try to use such illustrations as are familiar to the children. The leaven grows differ¬ ently; it swells the dough and makes it fit for food. Illustrate hy the process of making bread with yeast. little deeds of kindness, Ilf lie words of love. Make our earth an Eden Like to heaven above. Teach the children the im portance of little things in spreading the Gospel. Children can help in many ways, nu -a * by showing a Christian spirit when toinptwd to <lo wrong; by acts of kindness to others; by couirioat ing of their [jennies to send tho Gospel abroad arid to maintain it at home. Good examples help wonderfully to make others good, The End.—There is an end to ail the effort and all the strife. Tho good and tho bad seed grow together until the harvest comes, Tho good and bad fish are found in the same net. But the reapers %‘purate the wheat from the tares, putting the wheat in the h im and burning tho tart s^ Um fishermen gather tho good fish into vus4 fs, but east the bad away. Aa the Golden Text says, “Ho shah <t be at tho end of the world; the angels shall eemo forth and sever tho wicked from among the just.” Now is the time to choose where our place shall be. Jesus sayo Come to me now. He wonts to save os, God the Father wants to sayu us, and sodoev the Holy Spirit. But no one will bo force l i .*-» the kingdom of heaven; we must . ho* so it and ask to be tokou i.ito it and all who ask School ° *** World.