Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette.
VOL 2.—NO. 28.
Remember My Bonds.
The last verse in tha Epistle to the
Colossians is: “The salvation by the
hand of me, Paul. Remember my
bonds. Grace be with you.” This
epistle -was written while Paul w-as a
in Rome. His hands were manacled
and hence he was abliged to employ
an amanuensis. But when the letter
was finished, the Apostle’s heart was
so full of love to his Colossian con
verts that he must add a few words
with his own hand, no matter how
difficult and even painful it was. So
he takes the pen, and, clanking the
chain as he tries to write, he scrawls
upon the parchment- “Bv the hand
of me, Paul” Then, seeing how al
most illegible the writing is, he con
not refrain from reminding them why
it is eo, and why he could not write
the whole letter with his own hand:
“Remember my bonds.” lam doing
the best that I can under the circum
stances, and you must judge me
charitably. But hard ns it is to hold
and move the |>en, the manacled
Apostle must still add his accustomed
benediction; yet he makes it as short
as possible. Every letter costs an
effort and a pang. Hence we read:
“Grace be with you.”
By comparing this salutation with
that of Paul’s other epistles, and re
membering how the Romans hand
cuffed their prisoners so they could
not move the hand without lifting and
dragging a chain, we will be able to
appreciate, in some degree, the feel
ings of the Apostle as he slowly
wrote: ,“Remember my bonds.” It
was not an appeal for sympathy
merely. It was an explanation also.
A great many people in these days
are silently making the same appeal.
They are handicapped by their for
mer habits or present surroundings.
They cannot do what they would, and
they ask us to judge them charitably.
Here, for instance, is a mother with a
houseful of children. She is fettered
by them as Paul was by the manacles
at Rome. She cannot go to the
Lurayer-meeting as regularly as she
like to. She cannot even at-
Vl the ladies’ meeting. And yet
die good sisters who have no children
or have servants to take charge of
them, wonder why Mrs. A. does not
come. They should remember her
bonds. They should go and spmpa
tkize with and encourage her, instead
of criticising her. Suppose that
some reader of that Epistle to the
Colossians, when ho came to the
scrawling signature, had said: “1
would be ashamed to write so if I
was a scholar and an Apostle.” How
the flippant critic would have been
rebuked when he came to the next
words, “Remember my bonds.” If
he had been in Paul's place, he prob
ably would not have tried to write at
all. That which we do imperfectly,
with great difficulty, under special
emoarrassments and limitations, may
■>e more acceptable to God than that
is better done, under conditions
■VSrable to success.
Here is a man who was a great
sinner, lie has beet: reformed by
the truth and Spirit of God. But the
old chains, though broken, still hang
upon h.s limbs, and hamper him as he
tries to walk worthy of his high call
ing. Shall we judge that man when
he stumbles, as we judge him who
was nurtured in a Christian home and
converted in early life ? By no means.
We must remember his bonds. We
must deal with him very patiently
and charitably.
Some men are fluent by nature. It
is easy for them to speak or to pray.
Others are slow of speech, and have
stammering tongues. While they
try to take part in our meetings,
shall we shrug our shoulders, and
wish that they would keep their seats?
No; we should remember their bonds,
and rejoice that they are trying to be
helpful in spite of them. I would
rather have the signature that Paul
affixed to the Colossian letter with
his manacled hand, than the most
graceful autograph that was ever
written. It revealed, in its very ir
regularities, the innermost heart of
the great Apostle. And, in like
manner, I prefer a prayer that comes,
evidently, from the heart, though hes
itating and ungrammatical, to one
that flows like a purling stream, if it
seems to bo artistic rather than
heartistic.
Another application of this subject
is to physical infirmities. It is won
derful how little consideration even
good people have for those who are
near-sighted or deaf or lame. Again
and again I have heard a brother or
sister in the charch complain of one
of our elders because he does not rec
ognize them when they meet him.
They seem to wilfully ignore the fact
that his vision is imperfect. They
will not remember his bonds, but per
sist in judging him as if he could see
them as well as they see him. It is
hard enough to bear such an infirm
ity when one has the sympathy of his
friends and neighbors, and they make
all reasonable allowances. But to
be treated as if one’s blindness or
deafness was a crime, alas! how
deeply and cruelly it wounds!
God remembered the Apostle's
bonds He did not expect him, when
chained at Rome, to do the work of
an evangelist or to wield the pen of a
ready writer. And he has the same
consideration for our bonds. Ho
deals with us lovingly in view of our
special conditions and limitations. Ho
does not require the ignorant to do
the work of the learned, or the weak
that of tho strong, or the babe in
Christ that of the mature believer.
What we need is the Divine Spirit in
our feelings toward and our treatment
of our brethren. Let us be thought
ful, considerate, and charitable. It is
so easy to find fault, to set ‘up a
standard by which to judge others.
ignoring the special facts in each case,
not remembering the bonds which
hamper them, and prevent their do
ing what they would.—From the
Herald Presbyter.
An Endless Life.
How can we stay shut up to our
own little planning and scheming,
when the ocean currents of God’s be
ing are pressing in to flood us wi'h
his eternity? Ilow can we be so little,
when we were meant to be so great ?
How can we help calling to our neigh
bors who are stifling in their airless
pinfolds: “Conte out and float upon
the seas of eternity? Come, feel how
great you are, how great the world is,
how f great and glorious is the God to
whom you belong! Come and let us
breathe together the full freedom of
the infinite life—the life of love, of
truth, of holiness—and so be immor
tal together?” And escaping out of
ourselves, we leave our doors wide
open to God. He enters into us, and
makes a heaven of our souls—every
thought, every emotion, glows and
expands in his presence. Now, for
the first time, we learn what wc are,
and what we may become.
It is too true that circumstances
are sometimes our pitying jailers.
We feel ourselves dwindling in our
cells, with scarcely strength left to
aspire toward freedom. Room!
room to breathe in, room to rest our
cramped powers by putting them to
noble uses! is the piteous cry of
many an unwilling prisoner—a cry
more appealing than even the wail of
poverty. But the circumscribed lot is
not necessari'y ignoble, nor the trivial
duty mean. The only really small
life is that which shuts God out; and
there is no life so narrow or so low
that its doors may not open to the
inflowing grandeur of his being. Yet
sometimes we must Wholly break
down the waks of our imprisoned
self-cogent, and go forth, unsheltered
wanderers, to seek him in the wilder
ness. Our dissatisfaction with our
selves is proof that we belong to him.
Says an old writer: “In this is the
excellency of man, that he is made
capable 0$ a communion with bis
Maker, and because capable of it, un
satisfied without it; the soul, being
cot to that largeness, cannot be satis
fied with less.”
Without a sense of the Infinite, we
never come to a just knowledge of
our own powers. The reason why
our lives are so fragmentary and
meaningless is that we live them as if
HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1801.
they were our own lives only, nnd do
not center them in God. We must
unite ourselves to the Greatest, if we
wou'd live in any great or glorious
way. In union with the Strongest is
our strength. By ourselves we are
but units. In God we come into
unity, into oneness with the Whole.
The deepest prayer a human being
can breathe was uttered by the Psalm
ist centuries ago: “O knit my heart
unto Thee!” The life that is knit to
the perfect, the divine Life, however
little it may be, is coherent and strong
and immortal.—Lucy Larcom.
The Chris!ian, London, makes this
summary of some of the results of
our boasted civilization: “A ‘para
chutist’ has been killed while giving
a useless and senseless exhibition of
foolhardiness. Murders and divorces
jostle each oiher in the daily papers.
Two men pound each other for an
hour in a brutal fight, which ends in
the death of one. Pugilists are hired
to fight at a so-called ‘club,’ before a
heterogeneous crowd of noblemen,
rich men, bookmakers, and repro
bates; when not so employed they
are kept by their ‘noble pa rons’ in
debauched laziness. The owner of a
princely historical estate, officially
declared unworthy of the society
even of ‘the turf,’ has squandered a
fortune, and at the age of twenty
eignt is dependent upon money lend
ers for his daily subsistence. Immor
ality and profligacy, both open and
secret, are sapping the national puri
ty. Thousands of men and women,
for several months of the year, fritter
away their lives in a ceaseless, weary
ing round of so called pleasure, in
which heartless folly vies with reck
lesa extravagance.”
Tampering With Temptation.
We do not so often do wrong delib
erately as unintentionally. Too many
a sin is committed coolly and pur
posely, yet most of us, especially
among Christians, yield to temptation
through failure to appreciate our dan
ger rather than because we mean to
incir moral risks known to be too
great. We expect to be able to draw
back in season and without having
fallen into sin. But we suddenly
awake to the fact that we have gone
too far and actually have done the
evil from which we believed that we
would refrain. Then nothing remains
but Hhame, penitence, and a fresh
effort to reform. W e have been tam
pering with some tempation, have
been ensnared, and the penalty re
mains to be paid. Even if nobody
else is involed in, or even aware of,
our misdoing, one’s consciousness of
weakness and disgust with one’s self
are not a light punishment
Tampering with temptation is most
attractive. We have something of
the feeling that we can disprove the
old proverb by eating our cake and
keeping it also. We seem to be able
to secure much of the pleasure of evil
without actually committing it. We
act as if we thought it possible thus to
outwit the great tempter. Really we
do his base work for him by outwit
ting ourselves. Perhaps nothing else
prepares the way more insidiously or
more certainly for the ruin of the soul
than this habit, because it constantly
leads us upon dangerous ground. It
destroys spiritual sensitiveness and
delicacy, accustoms us to familiarity
with evil—which we no longer take
paius to shun, because we feel sure of
withstanding it—confuses our moral
standards, and tends to render us un
duly apologetic for sin. Abundant
illustrations will occur at once to
every one. To tamper with tempta
tion is to go part of the way, and a
large part of the way, to meet it. It
involves the most dangerous risking
of the safety of the soul.
It is cruelly deceptive not onlv
about the peril of actually yielding to
sin, but also about the permissibility
of going as far as possible toward sin
without yielding. In point of fact, it
is sin to be contriving thus how much
self-induigence we may safely permit
ourselves. It is not asceticism, it is
only common sense and Christian
wisdom, to remind ourselves that
God bids us study to keep as far from
sin as we can, not to go as near to its
edge as we can. To tamper with
temptation consciously, is to have
one’s face turned away from Christ
instead of toward him, for the time
beieg, at any rate. It is not mere
idling by the way instead of going
forward. It is as real a form of sin
as any of those more apparent varie
ties to which it so surely leads.
Here is the test question—Are we
Christ’s followers ? If we are, there
is for us one, nnd only one, allowable
attitude toward temptation—the atti
tude not of compromise, or even dal
lying with it, but of straightforward,
unfaltering hostility. When every
thing has been said which can be said
truly about the peculiarities of our
age, the new- methods in the presen
tation of religious truth which it de
mands, sml tho abandonment or large
modification of some of what used to
be considered essential doctrines, it
still remains true, as it ever will, that
temptation involves disloyalty to God.
It leads directly and inevitably to
actual sin, so that for us to tamper
with it is not merely to run a risk of
disobeying and grieving our Heavenly
Father, but is in itself positive and
grievous disobedience.
Let these truths receive the heed
which fhey merit.—Congregationalist.
The following are illustrations giv
en of what is meant by gospel tem
perance: “When a young man simply
declines a glass of wine, giving the
name of Jesus for the reason, I call
that gospel temperance. And when
a young woman with Christian tact
and grace demands, as Christian la
dies can demand, for the sake of
Jesus, who never once reproached a
woman, abstinence as a prerequisite
to h*r respect, I call thar gospel tem
perance. And when the honored wife
of Minnesota’s spotless senator, who
died with his glass reversed, Mrs.
William Windom, refuged to serve
wine at her table according to the
custom, saying she would rather
offend a few than to tempt any, I
call that gospel temperance. And
when a Christian man stands up and
votes the will of God touching drink
into the ballot-box, and does it for his
sake and in his name, though he
stands alone among a million, and
against overwhelming odds of policy
or politics or worldly wisdom, I call
that gospel temperance.”
The Machine Without Thread.
“I like to sew when tbeie is no
thread in the machine; it runs so easy,”
said a little girl just now.
A good many people, I think, are
fond of running their machines with
out any thread.
When a man or woman makes
loud profession of piety, converses at
all times on religious subjects, has
much to say adout the love of Christ;
and at the same time will never lend
a helping hand in the Church, the
Sunday#* cirool, or in any Christian
enterprise that involves real work and
self-denial, I am quite sure that his
or her machine has no thread what
ever in the needle.
Ah! this sewing without a thread
is very easy indeed; and she life
machine will make a great buEzing,
and the wheels revolve merri.y; but
labor, time, and force will in the end
be far worse than wasted.—Selected.
A Free Country.
In this country men have the same
right to their political views that we
have to eurs. If a man prefers to be
a democrat, or a republican, or a
third party prohibitionist, or a farm
ers alliance man, that is his privilege
and much as we may despise, mg
judgment or regret big choice, we
are in duty bound as Christians and
law-abiding citizens to accord to him
his right to his opinions. This is a
free country, you kffow, and men
have a right to their choices and
preferences, provided they behave
themselves. We must recognize the
fact that other men are just as hon
est, just as patriotic, and just as in
telligent as we are; and, therefore,
are just as capable of making a right
choice in politice as we are. The
best of men make mistakes, and so
may we; and while it is very difficult
for a man to eiltertain for a moment
the thought that his political views
may be wrong, yet the fact is that
some men’s political views are wreng,
and as others are just as honest, pa
triotic, and intelligent as we are, it is
possible that we are the ones who
are wrong. This thought should not
be overlooked—especially should we
remember it when we are about to
fall out with or abuse our neighbor
because of his political views.—Re
ligious Telefcope.
Spiritual Culture.
Spiritual development is the nor
mal expectation of the believer. The
husbandman justly anticipates that
the earth, under his faithful tillage
will respond in abundant harvests.
The teacher reasonably expects that
the pupil on whose memtal discipline
and nurture he expends toil will grow
in capacity and in contents, just as
flabby muscles grow Arm and tenge
under athletic training. So the
church aims at spiritual culture. This
progress is in different lines. A deep
er, profounder conception of the
meaning of God’s truth, of w hich the
church is a witness and herald, will
be gained. We read the pages of any
author and catch surface improssions,
but study brings out hidden meaning
and relations. There is also increased
facility in doing God's work, as well
as understanding his will. God conies
very near to our thought—nearer
than pantheistic philosophy ever
di earned of; near in his providences,
near in prayer. Increased sense of
dependence on C..rist, growing digni
ty and stability of Christian character,
augmented usefulness in the world,
and serene anticipation of the su
preme experience of life—the exodus
of the soul into the other life—all
these are the fruitage of a spiritual
culture which it should be our stren
uous aim to secure day by day.—
Anonymous.
Making the Most of Things.
The satisfaction to be gotten out
of life depends less upon what one
has than upon his faculty to make the
most of hings as they are. Many a
rich man realizes far less joy and
comfort all through life than others
who aro contented poor. The dif
ference grows out of the fact that
some men know how to use what
they have to the best advantage*,
wdiile others do not. The same prin
ciple extends even to the art of giv
ing. Some people take so much in
terest in studying the needs of dif
ferent objects that they find great
delight in giving even a little, while
others with less knowledge and dis
crimination draw their check for hun
dreds, it may be, doing it rather from
a senso of duty than because it brings
them any real joy. Blessed is the
man who knows how to make thj
most of what he has.—The Congre
gationalism
The Canada Presbyterian voices
the right sentiment that true, sterl
ing godliness is the need of the times.
Whether such piety is demanded by
the times is questionable. It says:
“Dr. Cuyler says thet the great de
mand of the times is for men and
women to live near to God. Wheth
er it is the demand or not it is cer
tainly the need of the times. Living
near to God in heart and soul
does not well comport with the for
malism and worldliness too preva
lent in the Church. Neither is it
compatible with the intense Mam
mon worship so painfully conspicu
ous in these days.”
A little girl in Pennsylvania, who
had an attack of dyspepsia the other
day, described the sensation very con
cisely when she said: “I dess I must
have eaten my dinner on top of my
breaf.”
All the doors that lead inward to
the secret place of the Most High are
doors outward—out of self, out of
smallness, out of wrong.—George
Macdonald.
SINGLE COPY THREE CENTS,
FOUGHT WITH BANANA SKINS.
Thrown on it £toop by an Enemy, the
JVel Frorei a Powerful Weapon.
She was walking rapidly up the little
walk lending to the front steps of a
house on Ferry street It was her
walk and her house, and she had a
right to walk any way she chose. That
disgusting Brown family next door
might better mind their own business
und stop watching her. So she was
saying to herself, when—flop! thump!
—her feet went from under her and
she found herself sitting uncomforta
bly hard upon that same walk which a
moment before she had been treading
so proudly. Slowly, she picked herself
up. and ruefully she looked at the
buimna peel which had caused her
downfall. A half suppressed titter
came from the window of the house
next door.
"So that’s their trick, Is it?” she mut
tered scornfully, tossing her head to
ward her enemies. “Well, it’s a game
two can play at.”
The next morning the old man Brown
got up rather early and started to walk
down town. He had barely reached
his front steps when he struck some-
tiling. It carried him off his feet like
a cyclone. He went buiupety bump
down the steps. At the bottom lie
struck something else. It carried him
along a few feet farther and then shot
him into a barbed wire fence which had
been mysteriously strung across the
path during the night.
The fence stopped him. But what a
sight lie was! His clothes were torn
and covered with mud and ashes. The
mud and ashes had also mysteriously
got on the path during the night. His
Hesii was lacerated and bruised and liis
little linger was broken in two places.
He picked himself up and crawled
back into file house and up to the room
of his youngest son.
“Ben," he said, “was it you put that
banana peel on the Widder Smith’s
walk yesterday?”
“Yep."
"Well, you young rascal, take that
for it, and that!” and lie began admin
istering kicks on the person of liis son
till tlie youngster howled with pain.
Then as lie crawled off in search of
tlie arnica bottle he murmured: “I
don't blame the widder a bit. It was
a mean trick, but it was a blamed sight
meaner of her to take revenge on me
when I’m tiie only one in our family
that has stood up for her." —Buffalo
Express.
tiny a .Secondhand lloat.
When a boy lias learned to sail a
boat, and has discovered how very de
lightful sailing is, lie is sure to wisli fora
yacht of his own; nor is lie likely to be
content until the desire for ownership
shall have been satisfied by actual pos
session. The Chief obstacle with which
lie lias to contend, of course, is the
cost, for yachts are expensive toys, and
not every one can afford to purchase
them. But a careful and patient per
son may, nevertheless, possess himself
of a small yacht if he will buy with
discretion and ut tlie right season of
tlie year, which is the autumn.
Yachtsmen are droll fellows; they
(mild costly boats, use them a year or
two and then sell them for any price
they can secure, often less than a quar
ter of their original cost. Therefore. I
say that the ownership of a nice little
yacht is not beyond the possibilities if
a boy loves a boat and is determined to
own one, for pluck, luck and patience
accomplish wonders.—F. W. Paiigborn
in St. Nicholas.
Au Awkward Predicament.
A New Haven letter carrier was mak
ing liis last round for the day, not long
;igo, when lie unexpectedly found him
self a prisoner. It was about half past
10 in the evening, and he was hasten
ing from box to box, taking np their
contents.
His key was attached to a small but
strong chain, which was fastened about
Ids waist in such a way that it could be
taken off only by having the key end
of the chain It is customary for the
carriers to put the key in a bresist pock
et after opening a box, the box being
fastened again with a spring lock.
In the present case the key happened
not to enter the man’s pocket, but slid
down inside the box unobserved. He
slamtfied up the loosely closing door,
put on the padlock, snapped it and
darted onward.
He took two steps, and was brought
up with a stiddeness that jarred both
the man and the post. The key was
inside the box and the carrier was a
prisoner. To remove the chain from
his body was out of the question. He
"stood still, therefore, until a young
*nan happened along. To hiro he ex
plained his predicament, and in half an
hour or so a duplicate key was brought
from the postofflee and he was released.
-New Haven Register.
When iron or steel is used in con
structing a ship the metal causes serious
derangement of the compasses on
board. Let the iron or steel be united
witii a little manganese and its mag
netic influence will be reduced to al
most nothing, although the metal has
gained strength rather than lost it.