The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-12-14
.Ry MRS MARY E FILLYAw.

pofors entering upon the subject for
.be present paper.I will make a few
.,rrations In No. 3. "arrayed the
Nj, 9th their beauty" should have
D,o5 ,.arrayed the lilies with their beau
~ In the next line, house" should
I've ben horse; farther on light
.Sor the sick" should have been omit
ts3. says of joy" should have been
"sous Of Joy"
AnidoI is something to which divine
s,nors are given. One OF the first
forms O. idolatry was the worship of
tho eun, moon and stars. Images
vare made which were probably for
the most part Of the human form.
These images were called in the He
brew language ''Teraphim," and were
consulted on extraordinary occasions.
twas affirmed that they delivered
answers, ~prophesied, could make lest
things known, etc. Extraordinary
ffscts we're also ascribed to these fig
ures. R8chel stole her fathers terra,
Uhin. or household gods, when JACOB
was preparing to go to another place to
live. These images were called by the
Persians, ''Telafm," aud by ourselves
nov, "TaIismaps" or ''Talkingmen,"
because they are supposed to tell the
secrets of the spiritual world. When
er1gsae, beads, horse-shoes, rabbits
Al, s-,r Ioo-o1 oIouop nn6 O+bo~ or
ticles are used so secure good luck,
they become as ''terRphim," and, as
such are contrary to that command
ment which says, Thou shalt have
no other gods before Me-" because the
trust which should be in Divine Provi
dence is given to the creatures whose
extgteuca IL from Gld.
When Laban overlook Jacob, he &C,
cused Jacob of having stolen his gods
Happy are we, who have the Lord for
our GOD. Enemies may steal our
goods, but cannot steal our God. Jacob
became very angry, and said, With
whomsoaver thou fndeth thy gods, let
hin not live Not long after, Rachel,
his best beloved wife, for whom he had
served fourteen years, died suddenly
in travail. When she was buried,
Jacob set a pillar upon her grave,
that is the pillar of Rachel unto this
day" Sd wrote Moses 80 years after.
RacheHs sepulchre was again brought
to notice in the lines of Samuel, who
said TO Saul, Thou shalt find two men
BE- RlcneI's sepulchre. Thus he would
barsminded Of her who was cut down
in her youth and beauty and of her
~disobedience to the divine law which
torbijs both idolatry and THEFT. He
would De broughtface to face, as it were,
with death, and reminded of the end
Of all things human. As beauty is to
vomsn, 50 is glory to man. Either rem
der5 It's possessor famous, and either
may prove a snare to lead into de-
struc5i0n E.cl c~onsecrated to God
becomes a gut to lay upon his altar.
Samuel gave other signsto Saul, all OF
which came to pass very p~unctually.
God gave hiCn another heart A heart
ft for a statesmen, a general, a prince
Saul prophesied also, for Gsd was with
him. Bslam proPhesied for God put
a word In his mouth, and he was
obliged to tell it, and Saul, though
among the prophets, was Saul still,
for though strictly commanded by Sam
uel to tarry at Gllgal until he should
come and show him what to do, he be,
came impatient at the end of the even
days, and offered sacrifices, contrary
to SameTs Instructions. Therefore,
God rejected Saul, and turned over the
kiugdom to David, a man who abhorred
superstition and idolatry, and who
maintained q jealous and uninterrupted
attachment 20 the worship to the true
God, and whose character was very
different from that of the w~retched,
Eavering and disobedient.
Returning to the word. Idol" find
in 2 Chronicles 1916 the marginal rem
dering for idol is ''horror." And Ara
removed Maachah from being queen
bscluse she had made horror, that Ia.