antique skully tape measure - !? HELP with ID ?!

Hi, all you skully freaks.
Johnny Long here from London. Need some help with info on this exquisite (Victorian?) skull tape measure of finely carved & polished. It has a 111 cm. tape which retracts into the skull by means of rotating bone "ear" handles.

CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH AGE & SOURCE?
THANKS!
Johnny
London, England

Here are some pics: log onto http://www.grace4life.com/objects.html

How do we motivate ourselves & others 2 change?

HOW SHOULD WE MOTIVATE OURSELVES & OTHERS TO OBEDIENCE?
Hi, all,

Johnny here. Just want to get a back & forth started with some of you re: HOW TO MOTIVATE PEOPLE to obey/change!

As a starting point, let's take "Sabbath observance" (or, faithfulness at worship services) as an example.

Below you'll find bits from two famous Christian leaders of the past - Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle and the fiery young Scottish preacher, Robert Murray McCheyne.

1. J.C. RYLE (1816-1900) - an excerpt from Ryles Expository Thoughts on the Gospels - one of the more popular commentaries on the four Gospels - written, says Ryle, for the edification of families and children. (a short bio -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charles_Ryle )

May we all watch our conduct on this subject. Saving Christianity is closely bound up with Sabbath observance. May we never forget that our great aim should be to “keep the Sabbath holy” . . . It is lawful to do well and to show mercy. But to give the Sabbath to idleness, pleasure-seeking, or to the world, is utterly unlawful. It is contrary to the example of Christ, and sin against the plain commandment of God. (Ryle, Expository Thoughts, n.d., Vol. 1, p. 124).

2. ROBERT MURRAY McCHEYNE (1813-1843) - an excerpt from a sermon (which was printed as a pamphlet) - "Why I Love the Lord's Day". (a short bio - http://tinyurl.com/2utzp3 )

"The Sabbath was made for man. Dear Fellow countrymen. . . In the name of all God’s people in this town and in this land, I commend for your consideration the following reasons for loving the Lord’s Day: Because it is the Lord’s Day. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice, and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118:24). . . The Lord’s Day is His property, just as the Lord’s Supper is the supper belonging to Christ. It is His table. He is the bread. He is the wine. He invites the guests. He fills them with joy and with the Holy Ghost. So it is with the Lord’s Day. All days of the year are Christ’s, but He hath out one in seven as peculiarly His own. “He hath made it” or marked it out. Just as He planted a garden in Eden, so He hath fenced about this day and made it His own.
"This is the reason we love it, and would keep it entire. We love everything that is Christ’s. We love His Word. It is better to us than thousands of gold and silver. “O how we love His law! it is our study all the day.” We love His house. It is our trysting-place with Christ, where He meets with us and communes with us from off the mercy seat. We love His table. It is His banqueting–house, where His banner over us is love—where He looses our bonds, and anoints our eyes, and makes our hearts burn with holy joy. We love His people, because they are His, members of His body, washed in His blood, filled with His Spirit, our brothers and sisters for eternity. And we love the Lord’s Day, because it is His. Every hour of it is dear to us—sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. It is the day He rose for our justification. It reminds us of His love, and His finished work, and His rest. And we may boldly say that man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ who does not love the entire Lord’s Day." (Memoirs 1996, n.p., message XXXI).

NOW, FOR DISCUSSION...

1. How would you compare these two admonitions as to their spirit?

2. What does each man hope to accomplish in the lives of his readers? (There are similarities in their goals - and differences. What are they?)

3. How does each man's language impact YOU as a person? What did you FEEL as you read each bit?

OKAY... let's have some perceptive INPUT!

- Johnny