Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-06-06


- sword: and our sons and'our daughters
and our wives are in captivity for this"
| One hundred and twenty thousand fell
| in one day, and 100000 women, sons and
! daughters were carried captive because
| they had forsaken the Lord God of their
fathers (chap. xviii, 6, 81. This also had
! been plainly foretold (Deut. xviii rs, 80
and so it came to pass. Think for moment
at the more than 100000 who in heathen-
dom are dying every day, without II knOwl-
edge of God, besides all in Christendom
who have heard, but do not believe
TO- Now it is in mine heart to make a
covenant with the Lord God of Israel that
his fierce wrath may turn away from u.s."
So did Asa, and at a later period Nehe-
miah CHAP. XIV, IL; Neh. X, 29), and each
obtained blessing from the Lord, See the
encouragement to act thus in ii Chron. vii,
| IA. David found comfort in the unchange-
ableness and fullness of Gods covenant
with him, and Gods faithfulness should
ever be our resting place Oil Sam. xiii, 5;
Ps. lxXxiX, l, 2; Cor. /, 8; X, l3). Yet let
us do as Hezekiah did, and enter into a
covenant with the Lord to present our
bodies a living sacrifice, with all we are
and have, that, like the lads loaves in the
J hands of Jesus, we may be blessed, broken,
multiplied and made to feed hungry souls
with the bread of life, that so the Gospel
may be preached in all the world for a wit
ness, the body of Christ fastened to COM
pletion and the kingdom come. Let us
covenant to be wholly His for His service.
II. my sons, be not now negligent"
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the
Lord negligently (Jer. Xviii, TO- margin).
| Whatever we do in His service should DO
done most thoroughly as unto Him, and if
we live as in His sight how can we be
negligent or deceitfulP
"For the Lord hath chosen you to stand
before him"
Not before men, to please them or rely on
them, but before God, in humble and whole
hearted reliance upon Him. He said to
Abram; 81 am God Almighty. Walk thou
| before me aud be thou perfect" upright or
sincere). Gen. xvii, l, and margin, Elijah
in great fearlessness said to Ahab, THE
Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom !
stand" Aud Gabriel said to Zacharias,
81 am Gabriel, that stand in the presence
OF God" q Kings xvii, /; Lukei, l9). Thus
consciously to stand before God is the great
secret of strength for fearless service.
ITO serve him, and that ye should min
lister unto him"
unto them, in sense, yet we are as priests
of God ministering unto Him, for what
ever is done unto the least of His. He
counts as done to Himself Matt. XIV. 40)
But our motive must always be to please
Him and not those little ones to whom we
minister, except in so far as pleasing them,
we please Him first. If, on the other hand,
we live to please people, we cannot be
servants of Christ (Gal. /, 10; Rom. XIV, 8;
John viii, 90
And burn incense"
Incense being, as wesaid in verse z, SYM
Dol of prayer, we are here reminded OF such
words as these, "Pray without ceasing;"
praying always with all prayer and sup
plication In the spirit, and watching there
unto" 'in everything, by prayer and sup
plication with thanksgiving, let your re
quests be made known unto God" Il ThCsA
v, II; EDh. vi. Is; Phil. iv, 81.
A Valuable Knife.
An acquaintance of ours once breakfasted
in the tavern at Amesbury, Mass His at
tention was attracted to and riveted on a
venerable gentleman at the table opposite,
who voraciously shoveled big pieces of cold
apple pie into his mouth by means of a
knife. The spectacle amused if it did not
horrify the spectator; he could hardly un.
derstand how one Of so noble a countenance
and so distinguished presence should
consume cold apple pie for breakfast, and,
more shocking yet, scoop in the monstrous
comestible with IA vulgar, plebeian knife.
"Tell me, said our friend to the waiter,
after the venerable stranger had left the
room, "who was that old gentleman who
shoveled in that atrocious cold pie so in
dustriously9"
THAT, sir" answered the waiter proud
ly, as he drew himself up to his full height,
that, sir, was Mr., Whittier. our famous
poet"
"Oh, if that's the case" cried our friend,
tits all right, cold pie or no cold pie. Pm
free to say that whatever Mr.. Whittier
does needs no apology or justification"
Our friend meant it too. AS an earnest
of his sincerity he captured the very knife
with which the famous poet had eaten the
cold apple pie, and that knife is now one
of the most treasured possessions of the
gentleman who gave us this interesting
narrative.-Eugene Field in Chicago News.