(i. e., 12,000,000 sesterces,) the other somewhat less. Pliny also relates, that a table was destroyed by fire, which had come down from the family of the Cethegi, and had been sold for $56,000,-"the price," he adds, "of a large estate, if any one would be willing to buy an estate at so great a sum." Nomius, a freedman of Tiberius Cæsar, had a Thyine or Algum table nearly four feet in diameter, and a little short of six inches in thickness. The table of the Emperor Tiberius was still larger, but was only covered with a veneer of this precious wood. Whether this table-furor ever took hold of the Greeks, we are unable to say. They at least intended to avoid the extravagance, as far as it had self for its object, and so put it to a sacred use by burning it as a perfume in connection with the sacrifices to their gods.

But all this aside, the highest honor of the Algum tree, and its lasting fame, will rest on the fact, that it came from afar to assist, with its beauty, in exalting the Lord, and to sound forth to His name, from the harps and psalteries of Israel, sweet strains of praise in Zion.

It is significant that King Solomon not only made the mountains and valleys, the rocks and trees of his native land, tributary to the Temple he was called to build for the Lord, but sent ships over the sea to visit the distant ports of more southern climes, to convey to him for the same holy purpose, from the mines of Ophir the purest gold, and from its forests the choicest Algums. Thus was raised, with the most profuse liberality, the Temple of Jerusalem-the product of the love and wealth of a mighty nation-"a monument of their reverence for the God of their fathers and their God." And every devout Jew, whether he beheld it from the Holy City, or with weeping eyes recalled its grandeur "by the rivers of Babylon," could well exclaim, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion." (Ps. 48: 2.)

THE USE OF MOSSES.-Of the use of mosses in the economy of nature, very little is known, except that they are very often the precursors of a higher order of vegetables, for which they prepare a soil, by retaining among their matted branches, the drifting sand and dust in places which would otherwise remain bare and sterile. They afford refuge in winter, and food as well as lodging in summer to innumerable insects. They overspread the trunks and roots of trees, and in winter defend them against frost. In wet weather, they preserve them from decay; and during the greatest drought, provide them with moisture, and protect them from the burning heat of the sun. Indeed, to the traveller in the dense and trackless forests of North America, they are pretty sure guides to the points of the compass, growing chiefly upon the northern sides of the trunks and branches of the trees-as if, it is said, to shelter them from the cold north wind, but in reality, because they find there most shade and moisture. The poor Laplanders find several of their comforts from mosses. The Golden Maiden Hair, one of the largest species of the moss tribe, forms excellent beds, by cutting thick layers of it, one of which forms the mattress, the other as a coverlet.

LYING.

BY THE EDITOR.

In the discussion of any subject, it is important to call it by the right name. It has been well remarked, "that those who accustom themselves to call lying and lie by a softening appellation, are in danger of weakening their aversion to the fault itself." Lying is the proper word for untruth. It is the plain positive Saxon; and the word Leegan, from whieh it is derived, meaning to hide or conceal, teaches us much of the nature and character of a lie.

To lie, is to speak or act falsely, with the intent to deceive. We may speak what is untrue ignorantly; but this is not a lie-only a mistake. To make it a lie, it is necessary that we should know it to be such, and design to make an impression on another which we know to be contrary to truth.

There are various kinds of lying:

1. Lying for sport. It has been thought that a lie spoken in sport or jest, is no sin. It certainly has all the elements of a lie. It is spoken contrary to the truth; it is intended that it shall, for the time being, deceive; and the person intends to gain an object by it which he thinks he could not reach by the truth. The motive also is improper; for he either wishes to win for himself the title of smart or witty, which subjects him to the charge of vanity; or he intends to pass a joke at the expense of another, which is an unnecessary trifling with his dignity or his feelings. It is evident that lies in sport belong to that "jesting which is not convenient," (Eph. 5: 4,) and which the holy Apostle censures. It is also reasonable to believe, that it has a tendency to cultivate a wrong habit of spirit, and gradually and secretly to render truth less sacred. If it is a good thing, that the Ichneuman breaks crocodile eggs, it is equally wise to destroy these seeds of lies in the germ.

2. There are lies of pride, which have their origin in pride. Thus it is often the case that persons, who love to draw upon themselves the attention of their fellow-men, will seek to exalt themselves in their eyes by a violation of truth. Something which they did, or saw, or heard of, is greatly exaggerated for the purpose of making themselves of much consideration for having done, or seen, or heard it. Thus all boasters are also necessarily liars. Persons who have travelled much, and have the weakness of vanity withal, are in great temptation to do violence to truth. It was to ridicule this kind of lying, that Gulliver's travels were written. Vain persons, who get into a position where an acknowledgment of the truth would be humiliating to themselves, are apt to escape the dilemma by a lie. They reason thus: "It is better to tell a lie, than to be caught." Thus, also, children early learn to attempt to escape from trouble by a lie. This expedient, when one uses it for a time, ceases to cause the conscience

any uneasiness, and is therefore constantly resorted to in any emergency. Persons who are fond of telling wonderful stories to tickle their own vanity, are found among all classes.

From motives of vanity, persons tell lies as to their age; as to their relations to, and acquaintance with eminent persons; as to the extent of their acquirements in science or mechanics, as to the extent of their reading, or the amount of their wealth. Besides, there is any amount of passive lying, when persons silently acquiesce in the existence of impressions favorable to their wealth, knowledge, good deeds, or social position, for which they know there is no foundation. By silence they give consent to a falsehood which flatters their pride.

3. Lies of Politeness-lies occasioned by a desire to be polite.

Persons will often equivocate, or give their assent to an opinion contrary to their own real convictions, from fear of offending, or from a desire to please. Lord Chesterfield's manual of politeness is a strong attempt to create lying into a system; and there are only too many who have learned the lesson well.

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Flattery, too, is a rich source of polite lying. To this class of lies belong all idle, unmeaning and extravagant compliments, so common among all classes; all inflated expressions of gratitude, surprise, and admiration, and all groundless apologies. In short, whenever you see a smooth-tongued, over-accommodating, polite prattler, you see one who, in the multitude of his pretended good breeding, utters a hundred untruths during a single evening party. This thing was "the least of his thoughts;" that gave him 'unspeakable pleasure;" and for something else he was "uncommonly sorry." Then, from mere affectation, he is led to ask many questions, thus pretending to need and desire information, when in truth he knows as well as the one of whom he inquires. Surely such persons walk in a vain show, and act as if true politeness required us to diverge as far as possible from the beautiful simplicity of the truth. What a fearful moral obliquity underlies this whole habit of life! The very fact, that any one can violate truth thus easily, and perhaps even thoughtlessly, only shows how well he is inured to lying, and how little susceptibility there is left to the loveliness of truth. This kind of politeness is like vines and flowers that grow over ruins; the beauty which they reveal, hides slimy, hateful worms and hissing serpents!

4. There are lies for gain. Whenever any one wishes to take advantage of his neighbor, or in any way impose upon the community, he is sure to lie. In bargain, purchase and sale, if the truth were known, the transaction on both sides is often paved with lies. This anaconda, like the one in the tropics, lathers its victim before it swallows him. This vampire, like the natural one, fans the prey while it sucks its blood.

The article to be sold is misrepresented; its cost is falsified; its value is exaggerated. While there are, of course, noble exceptions, and many of them, is it too much to say, that, in many cases, where there is the absence of high principle, and of a strict, conscientious regard to truth, a hundred violations of truth are thus committed in the transactions of a single day. Suppose they were all written down: they would fill a page a day-a volume of over three hundred pages a year-a library in the life-time of such a business man!-a solemn record-a formidable series of ledgers to be settled in the day of judgment!

There is no need of untruth in trade. The seller is justly entitled to a

necessary profit. This is understood; and the buyer is in truth and honor bound to allow the profit. Why then cover the margin between the wholesale and retail price with falsehoods, and make it a disputed territory for inglorious contention by stratagems. Men of business in this age are exposed to fearful temptations in this direction, and their love of truth must be much stronger than their love of money, if they escape to their homes in the evening, and to their churches, on Sunday, with clear consciences. The person that buys, by pressing a bargain, may, and often does tempt the seller to untruth, and thus, although it does not justify him who sells by the aid of falsehood, yet the buyer makes himself partaker in his sin.

It is useless to say, that such trifling with truth in business transactions, and a sacrificing of it to the spirit of gain, is understood to exist, and is therefore innocent. It is a crying evil. Honorable tradesmen and merchants, as well as the community, are deeply injured by it. It is the door to dishonesty, and has a direct tendency to undermine and destroy all confidence between man and man in the intercourse of business. All such gain must prove a curse in the end; for "wo to him that buildeth his house unrighteousness, and his chambers in wrong." poor man is better than a liar." (Prov. 19: 22.) by a lying tongue is vanity." (Prov. 21: 6.) lying words, that cannot profit." (Jer. 7: 8.)

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(Jer. 22: 13.) “A "The getting of trea"Behold, ye trust in

5. Political lying, as it may be called, has in these days acquired a sufficient notoriety to deserve special notice. It is not to be concealed, that truth is violated at a fearful rate among politicians. Who believes one-fourth of what is said and printed about candidates for office? No Bane person. Even the doings of council halls cannot be received with confidence through second hands. We have seen enactments from official journals falsified, and so printed for party purposes. Documents are forged to charge sentiments on men which they never held or expressed. The most eminent men in the country are belied to such an extent, that European papers have said, that if the one-half which is said and printed in regard to our great men be true, instead of being exalted to office, they deserve to be exalted to the gallows!

All this may be treated as a trivial matter, but it is in truth a great evil. If this kind of lying were not customary, and any one should thus slander the worthies of the land, he would be frowned upon as superlatively mean and wicked. But is its enormity less real, because it is customary? No-greater; because it shows that the public habit and spirit has become so inured to the lie, that the conscience, instead of instinctively protesting against the general spirit of untruth, lives in it with freedom, as in its own proper element. How has truth fallen in our streets! With regard to us, as a land, the language of the prophet is literally fulfilled: "This is a nation in which truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." (Jer. 7: 28.)

Who can calculate the influence which this habitual resort to untruth, on the part of our political papers and public men, must exert on the people, and especially on the young? It has a powerful tendency to destroy all sacred estimation of the truth. The feeling comes gradually to prevail, that falsehood is not only no disgrace, but absolutely necessary to secure a desired end.

6. Worst of all, and perhaps most prevalent, are lies of malice and re

venge.

These are such as are the deliberate production of a wicked heart for the purpose of injuring another in character, good name and influence. It is sometimes almost unaccountable, how reports utterly false are put into circulation; but it is easily explained, when we remember a fact which has a thousand times been verified, that there are persons who can and do frame and circulate falsehoods from pure malice. It is true that these lies do often correct themselves, when the source whence they proceed is ascertained; but often, too, for a time, and to some extent, they prevail, and the innocent victims are made to suffer in their good name. There are always persons who take pleasure in seeing the good name of others suffer, especially such as it is their interest to see defamed, and such as they dislike, and hence will the more readily entertain such ill reports as the lying propensity of others may have invented. This is on the see-saw principle of the old couplet:

"Whene'er my rival goeth down,
Then up go I."

But how morbid, yea hellish, is that ambition, which will elevate itself on ruins!

This kind of lying is common among all tattlers and tale-bearers, and the rest of the long-tongued tribe. These are found in all communities; it is even supposed by some, and the opinion has at least been hinted privately, if not even expressed in a confidential way, that there may be, and that there perhaps is some remote ground for the opinion, that, at least one, perhaps even two, such characters might be found among the readers of the Guardian!

This class of persons always know more than others, though their opportunities for knowing may be far less. Any matter that goes through their mouths, always acquires additional force and ornament. The smallest hint of a story defamatory of another, by them put out to usury, yields some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. The old grandfather and grandmother of this generation are eloquently and correctly described in an ancient chronicle, thus: "And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idlers, but tattlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things which they ought not." 1 Tim. v. 13. This evil was already prohibited in the Levitical law: "Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people." Lev. xix. 16. "The words of a talebearer are as wounds," says Solomon. Prov. xxvi. 22.

Our subject is too large for us. As the Devil, the father of lies, said of himself, so we must say of his progeny, their name is "Legion;" for they are many. We must leave some for the reader to guess. Pious lies; or lies told with a view to secure some good end: Lies of action, as when one deceives another by a look, smile, frown, or gesture: Perjury, or lies under oath promise-breaking: want of punctuality to meet engagements: lies to children to make them good, by the fear of the "black man" or the "bear" in the closet, garret, or cellar-"Id genus omne"-all the rest of this tribe.

7. One more kind of lies, however, requires notice: "Lies of necessity," (Noth-luegen,) not because it is necessary to be guilty of them, but because men commit them because they think it is necessary.

There are those, who believe, that there are cases in which a lie is ne