ciddle which the Sphinx, the Egyptian symbol for the mysteriousness of Nature, propounds to Edipus is only another way of expressing the command of the Delphic oracle, "Know thyself." And when the answer is given the Sphinx casts herself down from her rock. When man does know himself, the mysteriousness of Nature and her terrors vanish also; and she too walks in the light of knowledge, of law, and of love.-Julius C. Hare.

5052. SELF-KNOWLEDGE, Importance of. He (Socrates) did occupy himself with physics early in his career. In after-life he regarded such speculations as trivial. "I have not leisure for such things," he is made to say by Plato; "and I will tell you the reason; I am not yet able, according to the Delphic inscription, to know myself; and it appears to me very ridiculous, while ignorant of myself, to inquire into what I am not concerned in."-G. H. Lewes.

5053. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, Instance of. Rabbi Simeon, son of Jochai, said, "The world is not worth thirty righteous persons such as our father Abraham. If there were only thirty righteous persons in the world, I and my son should make two of them; and if there were only twenty, I and my son should be of the number; and if there were only ten, I and my son would be of them; and if there were only five, I and my son would be of the five; and if there were but two, I and my son would be those two; and if there were but one, myself should be that one."-Beresith Rabbi.

5054. SELF-SACRIFICE, A boy's. The roof of Bridgenorth Church was being repaired, when two boys from the adjoining grammar-school went in. The coast being clear-for the workmen had all gone off to dinner-they climbed the ladders, got on the scaffolding, and had a fine scamper in and out amongst the rafters. At length, when it was nearly time for the men to return to their work, a plank, loosened by their scampering about, happened to give way. In falling, the younger of the boys inanaged to lay hold of a beam, whilst the elder saved himself by catching the younger by the legs. And there they hung, hoping each moment that the workmen might return and release them from their perilous position; but still they came not. After a time the elder thought he perceived signs of the younger's relaxing his grasp of the beam, and at once he asked him if he thought he could hold on ten minutes longer if freed from his weight. After a few moments' hesitation he faintly said that he thought he could. Then the elder boy sent a message to his mother, said "Good-bye!" and loosed his hold of his companion. There was heard a dull thud on the floor of the church, and all was over. Shortly afterwards the workmen returned to their work, and rescued the younger and survivor from his perilous position. Death comes amid our play. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.—Preachers' Promptuary of Anecdote.

5055. SELF-SACRIFICE, A noble. Caius Grac

chus, who was the idol of the Roman people, having carried his regard for the lower orders so far as to draw upon himself the resentment of the nobility, an open rupture ensued ; and the two extremities of Rome resembled two camps, Opinius the consul on one side, and Gracchus and his friend Fulvius on

the other. A battle ensued, in which the consul, meeting with more vigorous resistance than he expected, proclaimed an amnesty for all those who should lay down their arms, and at the same time promised to pay for the heads of Gracchus and Fulvius their weight in gold. This proclamation had the desired effect. The populace deserted their leaders; Fulvius was taken and beheaded; and Gracchus, at the advice of his two friends, Licinius Crassus, his brother-in-law, and Pomponius, a Roman knight, determined to flee from the city. He passed on his way through the centre of the city, and reached the bridge Sublicius, where his enemies, who pursued him close, would have overtaken and seized him if his two friends had not opposed their fury; but they saw the danger he was in, and they determined to save his life at the expense of their own. They defended the bridge against all the consular troops till Gracchus was out of their reach; but at length, being overpowered by numbers and covered with wounds, they both expired on the bridge which they had so valiantly defended.— Biblical Treasury.

5056. SELF-SACRIFICE, and self-denial. The mortar with which the swallow builds is the mud from cart-wheels, sides of wells, and such-like places. This it makes more adhesive by moistening it with its own saliva. As the bird parts with a portion of its own substance to cement its nest, so should we be prepared to give up, not that which costs us nothing, but which may involve much self-denial and self-sacrifice on our part, that which we love and cherish most, as Abraham was prepared to offer up Isaac at the bidding of God.-Rev. H. MacMillan.

5057. SELF-SACRIFICE, Effects of. A clergyman, after winning the highest honours at Oxford, volunteered to go to India, and there undertook the presidency of the college at Agra for training native missionaries. When the fort of that city was closed, in immediate expectation of a siege by the mutineers, five hundred native Christians, many of whom were members of his own congregation, came beneath its walls, entreating to be permitted to take refuge there. The Governor feared that the supply of provisions would prove totally inadequate to meet the wants of the members already within the walls, and thought it was his duty to refuse admission. "Then," said the faithful pastor, "I will go out and perish with them. They shall not be left as sheep without a shepherd in their hour of peril."

But before he could fulfil the word the

eloquence of the intended self-sacrifice had prevailed, and the Governor ordered the gates to be thrown open, saying, "Mr. French has saved the native Christians."-Miss Marsh.

5058. SELF-SACRIFICE, illustrated. I never understood Christ's emphasis upon self-sacrifice till I had a dear friend shot within an inch of his heart with a double charge of pigeon-shot. The case was desperate. A messenger was sent in great haste to bring a famous surgeon from a neighbouring city. But the gruff old man refused to come. "You must bleed him to death to save his life," was all

I under

he would say. And so we did bleed him to the very edge of death, and saved his life. stood then what Christ meant by, "He that would save his life must lose it."- Rev. E. P. Powell.

5059. SELF-SACRIFICE, Instance of. It was

at the relief of Lucknow, in the terrible Indian Mutiny. Some English troops were holding a building opposite to a strongly garrisoned post of the enemy. An attack on this post had just been made, and had failed. Suddenly some one came in with the news that an English soldier was lying out in the open, wounded but still alive. "Who's coming with me?" cried a young officer, who afterwards received the Victoria Cross from the Queen's hands for his bravery. Two gallant artillerymen volunteered, and these three, with the lieutenant who had brought the news, went out into the open; across a road, over a ditch, then across a piece of open ground, then over a wall, and there in an orchard they found the wounded man. He was still alive, and by his side was a brave lad belonging to the band of the 23rd Fusiliers. He had gone out with the "dholies" for the wounded, and in returning he had found the man lying there alone. Instead of seeking his own safety, he had stayed by the man until found there by the party of four. The wounded man was got under shelter again, and not one of the six received a single wound.— Biblical Treasury.

5060. SELF-SACRIFICE, necessary. Pousa, the Chinese potter, being ordered to produce some great work for the Emperor, tried long to make it, but in vain. At length, driven to despair, he threw himself into the furnace, and the effect of his selfimmolation on the ware, which was then in the fire, was such, that it came out the most beautiful piece of porcelain ever known. So in Christian labour, it is self-sacrifice that gives the last touch and excellence and glory to our work.

5061. SELF-SACRIFICE, Noble. A sad interest attaches to the island of Molokai. It is the leper settlement, and to it all the victims of this terrible, loathsome, and incurable disease, unhappily so prevalent in the Hawaiian archipelago, are sent, in order to prevent the spread of the contagion. A French priest has nobly devoted himself to the religious and secular instruction of the lepers, and up to the present time has enjoyed complete immunity from the disease; but even if he escapes this danger he can never return to his country and friends.A Voyage in "The Sunbeam."

5062. SELF-SACRIFICE, recognised. There is a pathetic story in the Youth's Companion of a young girl, beautiful, gay, full of spirit and vigour, who married and had four children. In course of time the husband died penniless, and the mother made the most heroic efforts to educate the children. She taught school, painted, sewed, and succeeded in sending the boys to college and the girls to a boarding-school. The story concludes:"When they came home, pretty, refined girls and strong young men, abreast with all the new ideas and tastes of their time, she was a worn-out, commonplace old woman. They had their own pursuits and companions. She lingered among them for two or three years, and then died, of some sudden failure in the brain. The shock woke them to a consciousness of the truth. They hung over her, as she lay unconscious, in an agony of grief. The oldest son, as he held her in his arms, cried, 'You have been a good mother to us!' Her face coloured again, her eyes kindled into a smile, and she whispered, 'You never said so before, John.' Then the light died out, and she was gone."

SELF-WATCHfulness

5063. SELF-SEEKING. A certain King had a minstrel whom he commanded to play before him. It was a day of high feasting; the cups were flowing, and many great guests were assembled. The minstrel laid his fingers among the strings of his harp, and woke them all to the sweetest melody, but the hymn was to the glory of himself. It was a celebration of the exploits of song which the bard had himself performed, and told how he had excelled high-born Hoel's harp and emulated soft Llewellyn's lay. In high-sounding strains he sang himself and all his glories. When the feast was over the harper said to the monarch, "O King, give me thy guerdon; let the minstrel's mede be paid." Then the monarch replied, "Thou hast sung unto thyself; pay thyself. Thine own praises were thy theme; be thyself the paymaster." The harper cried, "Did I not sing sweetly? O King, give me thy gold." But the King answered, "So much the worse for thy pride, that thou shouldst lavish such sweetness upon thyself. Get thee gone, thou shalt not serve in my train."

5064. SELF-SEEKING, condemned. An ancient bishop (Ivo) met a woman one day of solemn and thoughtful mien, carrying in one hand a vessel of fire, and in the other a vessel full of water. He asked her what it was for. She said the fire she carried in the one was to burn up heaven, and the water she carried in the other was to extinguish hell, in order that men might serve the Saviour, not from the love of heaven, nor from the fear of hell, but out of love to Christ.-Dr. Cumming.

5065. SELF-SEEKING, End of. Parker, Bishop of Oxford, being asked by an acquaintance what was the best body of divinity, answered, "That which can help a man to keep a coach and six horses."-Clerical Anecdotes.

5066. SELF-SURRENDER, the beginning of a new life. Horace Bushnel was a teacher in Yale College at a time of a religious awakening there, and although not an infidel, was greatly disturbed by doctrinal unrest. He was passing through that tumultuous period known in the experience of most diligent inquirers in which he could raise more questions than he could answer. His pupils were profoundly affected by the religious movement, and it caused him extreme pain that he seemed to stand in the way of the reformation of his own scholars. He paced up and down his room meditating on his personal duty, and finally came to this proposition :"I have perfect confidence that there is a distinction between right and wrong; am I willing to throw my. self over the line between the wrong and the right, toward the side of the right, and hereafter consecrate myself irrevocably, utterly, affectionately, to knelt down. He consecrated himself to the perthe following of the best religious light I possess?" He formance of all duty known to him. He rose with a forehead white and the light of a star in his soul. Were all his doubts dissipated at an instant's notice? Not at all. But they were like the mighty pines on the mountain-tops after the lightning has smitten them. They do not fall, but they cease to grow. They are no longer trees; they are timber. He went on and on until he came to be a prince with God, one of the leaders of religious thought, one of the most spiritually-minded of theologians.— Rev. Joseph Cook (condensed).

5067. SELF-WATCHFULNESS, Daily. A friend

once asked an aged man what caused him so often to complain of pain and weariness in the evening. "Alas!" said he, "I have every day so much to do; for I have two falcons to tame, two hares to keep from running away, two hawks to manage, a serpent to confine, a lion to chain, and a sick man to tend and wait upon." "Why, you must be joking," said his friend; "surely no man can have all these things to do at once.' "Indeed, I am not joking," said the old man; "but what I have told you is the sad and sober truth; for the two falcons are my two eyes, which I must diligently guard, lest something should please them which may be hurtful to my salvation; the two hares are my feet, which I must hold back lest they should run after evil objects, and walk in the ways of sin; the two hawks are my two hands, which I must train and keep to work in order that I may be able to provide for myself and for my brethren who are in need; the serpent is my tongue, which I must always keep in with a bridle, lest it should speak anything unseemly; the lion is my heart, with which I have to maintain a continual fight in order that vanity and pride may not fill it, but that the grace of God may dwell and work there; the sick man is my whole body, which is always needing my watchfulness and care. All this daily wears out my strength."-Preacher's Promptuary of Anecdote.

5068. SELF, Worth of. General Fisk says that he once stood at a slave-block where an old Christian minister was being sold. The auctioneer said of him, "What bid do I hear for this man? He is a very good kind of a man; he is a minister." Somebody said, "Twenty dollars" (he was very old, and not worth much); somebody else, "Twentyfive," "Thirty," "Thirty-five," "Forty." The aged Christian minister began to tremble; he had expected to be able to buy his own freedom, and he had just seventy dollars, and expected with the seventy dollars to get free. As the bids ran up the old man trembled more and more. "Forty," "Forty-five," "Fifty," "Fifty-five," "Sixty," "Sixtyfive." The old man cried out, "Seventy.' He was afraid they would outbid him. The men around were transfixed. Nobody dared bid; and the auctioneer struck him down to himself-"Done done!"-Talmage.

5069. SENSES, Failure of. Very beautiful is the simile used by a departed authoress-Mrs. Gaskell-when, alluding to the decay of sight and hearing which is natural to extreme old age, she remarks that God acts towards His feeble servants as a tender mother does towards her child as the time for rest approaches; she draws the curtain to shut out the light, and stills every sound in the chamber, that, the outer world excluded, her beloved may more quietly sink into sweet sleep. "So He giveth His beloved sleep." When the memory,

from a failure of one or more of the senses, ceases

to retain its grasp upon what were once objects of interest, what is it but the same loving Parent gently taking from the child the toys of life's day as the evening shadows fall around, and laying aside whatever might keep the mind restless and awake?-A. L. O. E.

5070. SENSES, how they deceive. When Lord Anson published his voyage round the world, one of the sailors is reported to have said, "What a liar that captain of ours is! I went with him all the

way, and I declare all the way it was as flat as this bit of earth here."-Paxton Hood.

5071. SENSES, may be deceived. There is more meaning and philosophy than at first sight appears in Coleridge's answer to Lady Beaumont, when she asked him whether he believed in ghosts. them." He had sense enough to see that his senses "Oh no, Madam, I have seen too many to believe in had been deceived.-Horace Smith.

5072. SENSES, Slave of. "Ede, bibe, lude, post mortem nulla voluptas"—an inscription found to this hour on the tombstone of a Roman Epicurean in the Vatican.-Van Doren.

5073. SENSUALITY, Dislike to. His (Antisthenes') contempt of all sensual enjoyment was expressed in his saying, "I would rather be mad than sensual."-G. H. Lewes.

5074. SENSUALITY, of priests. In his "Acts and Monuments" Foxe tells of a council of French bishops which met at Avignon in 1540 for the purpose of devising the best means of encompassing the ruin of the Lutherans of Merindol. After they had dined, says the martyrologist, they fell to dancing, playing at dice, and such other pastimes as are commonly wont to be frequented at the banquets and feasts of these holy prelates. After this they walked abroad to solace themselves, and to pass the time till supper. As they passed through the streets, every one leading his minion upon his arm, they saw a man who sold base images and pictures, with filthy rhymes and ballads annexed to the same, to move and stir up the people to whoredom and knavery. All these goodly pictures were bought up by the bishops, which were as many as a mule could well carry; and if there were any obscure sentence or hard to understand in those rhymes or ballads, the same these learned prelates did readily expound, and laughed pleasantly thereat.

5075. SENTIMENT, must not interfere with duty. When Frederick the Great was leading his little army to overthrow the Austrians in the field of Leuthen he heard the sound of loud singing, and asked what it was. The answer was, "The soldiers, as they march, are singing Luther's hymn, 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott' (Our God is a strong city'). They can't fight without." "Very well,' he said; "as much psalm-singing as they like, provided they fight."

5076. SEPARATION, A last. Three-quarters of a century ago there were bloody times in France. So many were killed that in some places the streets ran with blood. In one village the soldiers made use of a shocking plan; they bade all the people come out of their houses and stand on the green, that they might look at them, and decide who were to be shot and who were to be saved. A path fan across the green; and as the soldiers made up their minds what to do with one and another, they put those who were to be saved on the right side of the path, and those they meant to kill were sent to the left. When all were thus parted the soldiers made those on the left side stand in rows, ten abreast; and loading their own guns, they stood a little way off from their unhappy victims, and fired at them till all were killed. The shrieks of the wounded before they were quite dead, the streaming of blood, the agony of their poor friends, who stood on the

other side of the path, but did not dare to stir for their help, were more horrible than pen can tell or mind conceive. A day is coming when we shall all be parted on two sides; not by man, but by God. He will put on His left hand those who have served Satan, and His own dear servants and children on His right. If you care to know which side you shall be on then, you must look to it which side you join now.-Preacher's Lantern.

5077. SEPARATION, between good and evil. The Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, formerly president of Princeton College, America, was once on board a packet-ship, where, among other passengers, was a professed Atheist. This unhappy man was very fond of troubling every one with his peculiar belief, and of broaching the subject as often as he could get any one to listen to him. He did not believe in a God and a future state, not he! By-and-by there came on a terrible storm, and the prospect was that all would be drowned. There was much consternation on board, but not one was so greatly frightened as the professed Atheist. In this extremity he sought out the clergyman, and found him in the cabin, calm and collected in the midst of danger, and thus addressed him, "O Doctor Witherspoon! Doctor Witherspoon ! we are all going; we have but a short time to stay. Oh how the vessel rocks! We are all going! Don't you think we are, Doctor?" The Doctor turned to him with a solemn look, and replied in broad Scotch, "Nae doubt, nae doubt, man, we're a' ganging; but you and I dinna gang the same way."

5078. SEPARATION, Man's, what it means. "I separate thee from the Church-militant," said the officiating bishop. "But thou canst not separate me from the Church-triumphant," replied Savonarola. Being asked by a priest if he met death with composure, he said, "Should I not willingly die for His sake who willingly died for me, a sinful man?" To the inquiry if he had any statement to make before he died, he answered, "Pray for me, and tell my friends that they take no offence at my death, but continue in my doctrine and in peace.' Then, repeating the Apostles' Creed, he ascended the fatal ladder.-Newman Hall.

5079. SEPARATION, of Christians. Two aged

and feeble ministers met near the close of their

earthly career. One was able to repeat from memory whole chapters and favourite hymns; the other to offer connected prayer. They shook hands previous to what proved their final separation for this life, one of them saying, in the most solemn, affecting, and collected manner, "Brother, we part at the footstool; we shall meet at the throne !"— Leijchild (abridged).

What an expression of countenance! No one looks at me as he does. He seems always to be saying to me, 'Be serious; be in earnest; don't trifle.' Then, bowing toward the benign, thoughtful face of Martyn, Simeon would add, "No, I won't, I won't trifle.”—Dr. Cuyler.

5082. SERIOUSNESS, looked upon as madness. The effects produced by Whitefield's first effort in the pulpit were such that a complaint was made to the bishop that he had driven fifteen persons mad with his first sermon; and the bishop's reply was, that he "hoped the madness might not be forgotten before the next Sunday.”—J. R. Andrews.

5083. SERMON, A short. One morning, as two men near New York were going into the field, their attention was attracted by the long beard and shabby appearance of a man who was journeying along the way. One of the men, with an oath, asked, "Who is that?" The other, whose name was Barton, said, "From the description I have heard, I think it is Dow." The stranger then addressed them with a very courteous salutation, and said, "Gentlemen, did you ever hear Dow preach ?" "No," was the reply. “Would you like to hear him preach?" he continued. "Yes," was the answer. Lorenzo Dow then reverently removed his hat, and after prayer preached the following sermon:-"Gentlemen, you were born into the world naked; you go through the world in trouble; and if you do well, it will be well with you." He stopped, and in a moment was on his way to Mayville, and they saw him no more. But there was something in the fervency of his prayer and the manner in which he spoke, as he looked them in the eye, that caused the men to tremble. So deep was the impression made upon their minds, that they did not go into the field that morning to mow, as they had intended. "And though that was thirty-five years ago," says Mr. Barton, "it was the greatest sermon I ever heard. It is true we came into the world naked; we brought nothing with us; and though we may do the very best we can in this world, yet trouble is unavoidable. And I have thought a thousand times, if I could be found doing well, I can trust for the future that it will be well with me hereafter."

5081. SERIOUSNESS, Incentive to. The godly Charles Simeon, of Cambridge, kept a portrait of the heroic missionary, Henry Martyn, hanging on the wall of his room. Looking up toward it, he would often say, "There! See that blessed man!

the great assembly to attend in the evening to hear the same sermon under which, more than twenty years ago, their pastor had been converted unto God. The church was thronged. Mr. Bourne preached the sermon. At the close Dr. Welch rose and told the congregation that they had now heard substantially the same sermon which was God's instrument whereby he had been brought to receive