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PER ANNUM. THE ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. REV. F. L. REID, Editor. gTABLISHED 1855 MMI II I III II II I II III I II I IIIHII I II I III III I II RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1889. VOL. XXXIV., jS'U. 18. WO For the Advocate. I Olir3iissionary Collections. I ,K iprnm : I send you the fol- .;,"r xvritien at my request by the Cv; Kltler of Shelby District : fa"n J. D. Arnold. Concluded from hist week.) T served a church, the aver- iiVontrihutiou of whose members r , -k Thev paid an average of lu ftn- Support of tbe ministry, be what they gave for missions, ; ,(llno- etc, ior was it a ricn Ech I tlo not think that more S two of its members were worth 000 1 Know a man on mis uis vho last year commenced giv J one-tenth of his income. He ;f pjjyji some rive or six times as 'liaVhedid before, with about r-e -inie income. And he says he ve move cheerfully and joyfully :;w "tiiaii lie did then. And he feels he "gets on" better and is more Onerous than he formerly was. ;t vear the old part ot this dis- VK illlSSK'IlS, ft(J. UUUl 1L U1U T i' t T i 1 1 I "1 "1 e ve r oeiore. xvnu jl am sure vir has the "ability" to more Em double the amount paid. But, do you asK now we are to get :r people up to this standard of rr T ? It will certainly take time, tienee aiiti mucn laiunui worn: do it. And alter all we can do, Je may not hope at any early dav ;Tet all ot them up to it. But 1 Wwe may do much at it bv iing perseveringly the following fans: i. Preach faithfully, fearlessly. .aiulv and frequently on the duty 'liberality and proportionate giv- b. Men will object, but their ob- -ctiou only indicates me necessity i "1 T 1 " . 1 r mucn preacmng. it is a remarKa !e fact that one may, without tiring offence, preach on almost .iv other subject. He may, with ammitv, denounce lying, dunken- less,and fraud, and commend faith, )ve ana holiness, but it he warn gainst covetousness and insist on :berality "preach about money" :e may expect compiamt, especially :om those who pay but little or : nothing. I he philosophy ot it eems to be the f act that human de ravitv human selfishness con- entrates and fortifies itself about the ocket, and does not like to be dis- urbed. But we must boldly and i&Ul LUl ?IJ OIICIJ. ij U.11L1X 111 XO Ulo" -Aged or destroyed. Luther said at a man had to be converted teart, and then his pocket-book."As he has said of others, many of pur -upie neea mis tmra conversion, ad not a few of them would be ach improved bv a little more of te other two. The pocket is usually (-nuoi. iJLixi iu UC 1 CtlVJilCU.. JJUb 11 is to be reached through the head :not the heart by preaching. We ran st break down this nreiudice mast preachina about monei. We -st let our people know that while Sjigion is love, love is a principle -at expresses itself in sacrifice and irvice. We must remind thpm fit the Bible says as much about r-ney, tithes, liberality, etc., as it aoout singing, pravinjr, and 1-outiEo-. ve must give them to FJerstand that God furnishes the Meet-matter ot our sermons that Rare to "nreach the IFrvZ" nnrl It we are to take all the word of J from His mouth and give it un- m-mat we dare not "shun" ' eeclare unto them any of "the pnsel of God," however unpalata tmay be to their stingy souls. ie must f-Piioh fin . i. - v"" Liivui Luau jxj jstnp of God consists as really in nEo alms" a it rlnpc in coiner I'SriP Pay!! as in praying. that "pure religion nnrl nnde- K $(yi:e Go(l" is as much "to 1-1 !fe fatherless and widows in f1 fiction" to help the needy htLl unspotted from the JUU rinrp in noo-nf 15 HMm cious church member "smacKs ... JP With a rp.lish whpn wp 50H against wnrlrllinooarlcinn. FDCLC. hnt hp ffAnmci nml TxTT-ifVina IB?ir , Ai no tutu vnitno fir 1 en we tou?h on money 0 tO missions Ar 1 4lJa,Jen as mucn as we please, lo We don't rpfor t nht,. Wo 'Cw. eloquent in speaking of rul V ' must ut; iv now we represent it as a 2 which, as in the case of c;;: maritan, in the fl hVu lJ a stranger ot a hated Iatthe rv 1 greatly concerned b kept pure, and l''LJ?ms at home," but which :-rvnsAr.enough from them to 0 10 j leaven ! God save the 6 Us r cn irienas(r; ana iP'aee to disregard their 'lr lhe pocket-book of 'fJlOno. ti 1 "over uc uunvcit- Uld las tiiey control the pulpit, arn no one ride a hobby, at to i , sure Dllt something ton r'e said on this general line, ortionate giving, every 'Tn-ftc -?a special collection. ;"haViv,iCri-je often for the patient viHcu anumaae inveter :l;ct paid lo per cent, more for the "Vt 01 tne ministry, and nearly yv cent, more for the six collec- ate the fearful disease of covetous ness. 2. Distribute literature on liber ality, missions, etc., and talk the matter privately to their homes and at business. More can some people in this our people in their places of be done with way than bv puunc preaenmg. in tins connec tion I most heartily recommend a tract of 19 pages, published in Chicago, under the title of " Chris tian Giving, or Paying What ice Owe." It is the best thing of its kind and size that I ever read. The author and publisher has for years been sending it "in any quantity, gratis, postage paid, toalfwho desir ed it for distribution among parties who would read it." lie will gladly send pastors one for each family in their congregations. He will also send them to laymen for their read ing and distribution. I beg that every pastor reading thin will send for some of them. And will not our laymen do so ? All it will cost them is a postal card. Address "Layman, 310 Ashland Ave., Chi cago, 111. "Of course our p:stors will scatter broad cast the missionary tracts and leaflets which Dr. I G. John, Nashville, proposes to furnish them free. Let us "sow down" our congregations with this literature. 3. I would humbly suggest to my brethren of the ministry that we set our people an example of liberality. I believe wTe may do great good m this way by complying with the re quirements of the tithe law. Ought we not to let them see that we prac tice what we preach in this, as m all other matters? Ought we not to lead them in this work of giving ? If they see that we do not contribute to the support of the ministry at home, ought they not to know that we contribute liberally for missions? I regard this as very important. 4. I would emphasize the fact that every o?ie, no matter how poor, should be urged to do something. And I believe that any one wdio can pay at all can pay one-tenth. "Under the Jewish system no worship was complete without a gift, and the art ot giving was itselt an art ot wor ship." Why should any one, even the weakest and poorest, neglect this part of worship or be deprived 6i this means of grace ? Do they not need it as really as the strong and rich ? We must let those who are "objects of charity" realize the greater blessedness that comes to them from giving. Besides, as one has suggested, the failure of most methods for raising money is due to the fact that they fail to reach the masses. One secret of . Rome's great financial strength consists in the fact that rich and poor are alike expected to contribute of their means. And one has said that "next to spirituality, the rapid growth and spread of Methodism is due. to the skill manifested by John Wesley in marshaling every niany icoman and child for individual wok and personal endeavor." He adds that the watchword of the early Methodists was, "justification, sanctification, and a penny a week." That of modern English Methodists is, "A penny a week and a shilling a quarter," which is about $2.00 of American money a year. An intel ligentEnglishman,who was for years a member of the Wesleyan Church, tells me that he never knew one of the youngest or poorest of their members toxaylessthan that amount regularly for the support of the pastor alone. lie says that apprentices do it. No wonder, then, that they average SI. apiece for foreign missions more than five times as much as North Carolina Methodists average. Of course the wealthier people give much more than 82.00 a year. Oh for the genius, skill and methods of Wesley and his English followers for American Methodism! Who will revive the class-meeting or give us a substitute for it as a means of developing the liberality, as well as the spirituality of our people? 5. Get every one to see that he is not only able to give at least one tenth, but that it is greatly to his interest to do so that he can't afford not to do it. Many will be slow to see and believe this. They forget the lesson of the widow's barrel of meal and cruse of oil, and our Savior's miracle of the loaves and fishes. They overlook the reason Mrps o-ives for naving tithes: "That the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest." Help them to see that this is the way in which to have their "barns filled with plenty," and to have the "devourer' and all other enemies of their crops and temporal prosperity "rebuked by the Almighty. Teach them the divine philosophy that giving is a condition of getting. "Ring the changes" on the Savior's words: "Give and it shall be given unto vou; good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. Let them see that men, as wxis agents, shall bring them enlarged temporal prosperity as the reward of their liberality. And let us not for get that the most effective way of teaching this is from our own expert- "if "we could get the American Church up to this standard of liber ality we would have an Anti poverty Society" far better than any that is proposed by Henry George or Dr. Mc&ynn. We would have one the effect of wdioselworking would be to present or relieve poverty of every kind temporal, spiritural and eternal at home and abroad in time and eternity. G. Let the rich see that one-tenth or even one-half of their large in come is not more than is needed. Point them to the sublime and pa thetic spectacle presented by Young J. Allen. After leaving, home friends and native land, and giving his young and maturer manhood to missions, he sees a new and brighter day dawning upon China and Japan. He hurries back to his loved country and pleads with his brethren to send more laborers into this wide field, so "white unto the harvest." He back ed his appeal with a contribution of S500 to pay those laborers. What has been the financial response to this affecting appeal ? N inety thou sand Methodists add not quite $2,000 to their former contribution to mis sions not four times 'what the noble Allen alone gives after giving his life to the work. Tell them of the 2,000 students in American schools who are preparing for foreign mission work, and who beg us to give the money necessary to enable them to go. In this way, and through the rich, "Say to the gold, The Lord hath need, Till hoarded treasurers yield." Emphasize the fact that every one must go or send or die ! Fraternally yours, Jno. R. Brooks. Shelby, JST. C, 27th Mar., '89. P. S. By all means get the tract from Chicago recommended above. Address "Layman, No. 310 Ashland Ave., Chicago, 111." For the Advocate. Our Virginia Correspondence. BY REV. JOHN E. EDWARDS, D. D. THE SUGGESTIONS OF THE SPRING TIME. Time flies! Yes: what of that? This, at least, time tousisthe meas ure of our period of probation for eternity. It is precious. In the lit tle parenthesis between the cradle and the grave, we make up our ac count for the everlasting ages lying beyond the boundary line of time. How brief the fleeting space! At its longest term human life is short. What are three score years and ten! In the forecast of hopeful youth the period appears to be long. But the seasons come and go with noiseless tread. Youth, like the spring-time, glides into the summer of early man hood; and then, as the summer fades into the sober autumn, manhood's prime falls into "the sere and yellow leaf." Then follows the winter of age, as the close of the year follows the seasons: that have come and gone in their turn. "The days of our years are three score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." There is no way of evading the inevitable law. "There is nothing new," says the reader," in these trite remarks." Admitted; and yet they may be ac cepted as prefatory to something that is to follow. By some freak of fancy I wras carried "back, this April morning, by the fragrance of the Spring blossoms, over the lapse of a little more than half a century, to a point in my life that formed a sort of transition period from the buoy ancy of comparative boyhood, to the graver responsibilities of early man hood. In the years of 1837 and 1838, I was the preacher in charge of the Raleigh circuit, in the North Caro lina Conference, then but recently set off from the Virgina Conference. It was a three week's circuit, with twelve appointments. Round and round I went, with only two or three rest clays in the week, and in one or two instances, I had to ride the dis tance of twelve or fifteen miles even more than that, as I now remember, from one appointment to another, as for example, from Strickland's to Oak Grove, and from Oak Grove to Liberty. But, all this by the way. There are but few readers of the Ad vocate who know anything about Strickland's, Oak Grove, or Liberty. Well; what now ? It was the breath of Spring, that came through the open casement, this vernal morning, laden with the odor of bursting buds and blossoms, that, strange enough, carried me back to Raleigh and the Raleigh circuit fifty-one years ago. Just then I wras making my arrange ments to leave the circuit for the space of three weeks to go, first to Greensboro a distance of nearly one hundred miles, thence to Prince Ed ward county, Ya., a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, where I was to be married on the 1st day of Mav, 1S38: and then," to return to my circuit, a distance but little short of one hundred and fifty miles, and all this travel to be performed by private conveyance, with the inter esting event of my marriage to in tervene, in the space of less than three weeks. Nor, was even this length of time taken without the wholesome fear of my Presiding Elder before my eyes. Keturnin to my circuit there was no parsonage for my reception, and no boarding house to wrhich to carry my bride: and having been sent to the circuit as a single man, the stewards made no additional "allowance" for me as a married man. These were gay old times. It was well that the spring time of my life had not passed away: for it is scarcely to be supposed that, with a little more experience, I would have adventurad on a married life, with so slender a prospect of providing for the comfort of my young wife, who had abandoned a home of ease to share my fortunes as a homeless itinerant. I have sometimes thought that, but for the hopefulness of the gentler sex, in the bud and blossom of the springtime of their lives, very many of the preachers of the olden time would nave lived and died in desiccated old bachelorship. Many did so die, as it was; but the hopefulness and courage of some of the fair maidens of the land led them heroically to share the hardships and privations in cident to the itinerant life in the first half of the present centurv, and thus to save some of our preachers from lives of lonely celibacy. It is well that human life has its spring-time that blossoms with hope. The reader will see that 1 am trying to stick to my text: but, like many sermons I have heard, there seems to be hut little connection between the text and the sermon. In vindication of the preacher it may be said that he sees, or thinks he sees a connection that is not patent to the hearer. To be candid with my friendly reader, i have to say that J, myselr, do not always see the pertinence of the line of remark to the subiect in hand. To return after this digres sion, to the Spring-time, it is admis sible to say that it is the seed-time, or the time of planting. Youth, in this respect, answers to the Spring. It is the time to deposit good seed in the mind. The seed sown by the farmer, may for a wrhile disappear, but under the influence of moisture, warmth, and electricity it will quick en into life; strike down its roots, and in due time the plant will lift itself into the sunlight; and in its season, bring forth its fruit. Let us learn to toil on to "labor and wait" remembering "that in due time we shall reap if we faint not." The leading lesson of this random discourse is to teach us the value of the spring-time of life, and that with the recurrence of the season, year after year, it may serve a purpose to recur to the hopes, plans, aspira tion? nd budding expectations of our earlier vears. revealing: to us how far we have fallen short of the realization of our anticipations on the one hand, and on the other hand, leading us to gather up the practical lessons taught by the disparity be tween our anticipations and our re alizations. Life, in very many of its aspects, has turned out to be some thing very dissimilar to that which my youthful fancy pictured on the glowing canvas at a time when the rose-tinted colors predominated on the palette. With me, personally, the spring-time, for the most part, has lasted all the year, and indeed, through all the years of a long life. I have always spontaneously kept in sympathy with the young. It has been my good fortune to take a cheerful viewr of what are called ad verse fortunes. I never thought it a sin to laugh. When I was a mere boy in the ministry I was thrown a good deal with a class of preachers that thought it sinful to laugh be yond an audible smile. That good man, the Rev. John Wesley Childs, was a terror to me. He did not even smile audibly; and he wrould reprove any one for indulging in a good, hearty, midriff-shaking laugh. I respected him so highly that I tried to graduate my risibility by his conscience, when in his presence; but I always claimed reprisals when out of ear-shot of that good and holy man. Mr. Wesley's oft-quoted aph orism; "cleanliness is next to god liness," might be so changed as to read, "cheerfulness is next to godli ness." Cheerfulness indeed is an element of godliness. Well, it is spring-time. The birds are singing; the venal air is redolent with the perfume of bursting flowers; the streams, unlocked from the ice of winter, are making merry music in the valleys; the mountains are lift ing their heads in the sunshine; the wind-harps of the forest are breath ing dulcet notes on the ear of soli tude as she sits in sylvan dells, or wanders in the perfumed air of the wild woodlands. My pero ration fails to redeem my poor ser mon. No newr thing under the sun. We have all seen this before. Let us turn to something else. LOCAL NOTES. Rev. Joseph Lear, an old and honored member ol the Ya. Confer ence, died in Petersburg, April 9th, in the 80th year of his age. He rendered fifty one years of effective service in the pastorate. Since the Conference of 1881 he has been on our superannuated list. He was a man of learning; a most excellent preacher, an able writer, and withal an eminent Christian. No man ever sustained a more irreproachable Christian character in our Confer ence than he. Brother Lear joined the Conference Feb., 1834. There are but six preachers, now living, who joined the old Ya. Conference before he was admitted. Two are still in the Ya. Conference; namely : James McAdin who joined in 1814 95 years of age, and Rev. James A. Riddick, who joined in 1S33. There are four in the N. C. Conference who joined before Bro. Lear; name ly, Miles Foy, Daniel Culbreth, W. W. Albea, and Rev. R. O. Burton, D. D. Revivals are still progressing in some of the Methodist Churches in Richmond and Manchester. Large accessions have been made to the membership of the Methodist Church. An interesting fact, in some of its aspects, is worthy of re cord. Of the four hundred mem bers received into the Methodist Church, not more than five, or six, at most, made a profession of religion outside of the meetings held in our own churches. Many hundreds pro fessed conversi n, in the "religion-made-easy-wray," in others, but only five or six offered for membership in our . churches of the city. Some of the modern "evangelists" are now getting the people "converted by the card." Something after this style : A printed card, having a few ques tions on it, is circulated among those that "stand up for prayer." They are requested to answer the ques tions, sign the name, and return the card to the pastor, or evangelist. If an affirmative answer is given to the questions, the person subscrib ing his name is counted as a convert. This is the latest improvement on the short-cut-process. It is to be hoped that the Methodists never will adopt any of these modern in ventions. Something akin to the above is the custom that has prevail ed in the west of receiving members on the mere profession of "a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins." The result is that our church, in some places, is chock full of unconverted members. But the other day I saw published in one of our Advocates an account of a great revival in one of our great city churches, where a large number of conversions was re ported, with the statement by the pastor that a very large proportion of the converts were church mem bers who had never been converted before that meeting ! ! No member should be received into the church wi thout "sati sf a ctory assurance ' 'be ing given "of the genuineness of the faith" of the candidate. In other words, without the profession of "saving faith." We must guard the door of admittance to membership. Profession by the "stand up," "shake card, and the hands" con ver the demands of sion win not meet the hour. Lyncburag, Ya., April 20th, 'S9. For the Advocate. Letters From a Villa-are Parson. IY. The reason why our people do not give a dollar a head to missions is not beause the men spend $600,000 a year for tobacco, and the women wear out $20,000,000 worth of kid gloves. It is not stinginess, nor malice, nor the devil. It is pure ignorance. Ignorance in town and in country, among rich and poor,business men and farmers, enlightened and unenlightened. "My people doth not know. Israel doth not consider," and no united, sys tematic effort is being made to get them to consider. What ve need here in North Carolina, and in every large Confer ence, is an intelligent, permanent method of educating our people on the subject of, and securing their offerings for missions. Two hun dred preachers with two hundred methods let loose upon two hundred charges will continue to bring a con siderable part of the collections up to Conference, but the dollar will continue to go for mince-meats, not for missions, and our people will continue to lie in heathenish dark ness respecting the heathen and to hold the most paganish notions of duty toward the pagans. The good old time notion that a Methodist preacher should be a myriad-handed man equally qualified to sell grind stones or honor a bishopric is steadi ly fading away before the long and fruitless search for just such a man. The wisdom of the itinerant plan lies in the very fact that it accepts the one-sidedness of men and changes the preacher often in order that each church may enjoy the benefit of many sides. Not one preacher in twenty is fitted by na ture or by grace or by education to take a collection. Not one preacher in ten is fitted to properly train and enthuse a people for a collection. We don't know how to enthuse or we can't manage after we have en thused or we know better than we Hn Wp nppd to be trained our selves. We need a born agitator and a born collector to instruct us and oversee us. Left to ourselves most of us enter upon the work with the depressing consciousness that we are about to undertake some thing wre are not equal to, and if we succeed in raising the assessment we are haunted for days afterwards by the uncomfortable feeling that we did not act wisely, and that the church has been injured rather than benefitted by what we have accom plished. . . , . Let us have an intelligent method. Do not leave us preachers to our selves to manage an elephant we have never been trained to manage. Our time and brains are frittered away by the multiplicity of duties ever multiplying. We were left to ourselves to manage the book busi ness and we failed ingloriouy. An intelligent method and a qualified head have made of it a glorious suc cess. Would not a like wonderful stimulus attend a like application of business meethods to the cause of missions? What we want is an agent of missions, who, under the direction of the missionary board shall organize and keep in good run ning order an intelligent system for educating our people on the subject of missions ana for raising the mis sionary collections. There need be no trouble about the. 'salary. The right man and we have three or four burn for the place would add fifty per cent, to tne collections the first year, and we could well afford to pay him out of the increase. Put a fire brand in the field a Ben. Hall, a Stain ey, a Tuttle a man who knows how (as Mr. Kingsbury has suggested about the Trinity endow ment) to get hold of the dimes as well as the dollars, a man who can plan for grand, inspiring occasions and come up to them. Let him take the Missionary Conference and work it for all it is worth. He will find it worth enough to employ his whole time. Let him appoint fifty Missionary Conferences for the first year in accordance with Article XIII. 105 of the Discipline. The next year let the Conference be helcfc at fifty other places and the next and the next, carrying the fire to every part of our territory in four years. Four yeai s of agitation on such a scale would put us where we would not be ashamed to stand. The programme of the Bethel Missionary Conference furnishes an idea of what is proposed. Let the pastor at whose church a Conference is to be held co-operate with the agent. Let him secure the . aid of the partors from the adjoining charges. Pre pare an attractive programme and advertise it extensively. Give the children a part. Stir the choir. Spend the whole of Saturday in dis cussing every phase of the subject of missions. Sunday draw every ray of light to a focus and set the coun try on fire. At all of the meetings distribute missionary literature and tracts on giving. Dr. John will send you all you want of the former for the asKing. Thos. Kane of Chicago will send you the latter on the same terms. ,T P. Matters ol Opinion. Good Company : "That men should make so much of qualifications and experience in choosing a book-keeper or a coach man or a music-teacher, and make so little of it in choosing a legislator, would astonish us beyond measure if we had not got so used to it." Independent : It is better to have good inten tions for one hour than not to have them at all. There is no man who who is not the better for pure, un selfish resolves, however brief they may be. The Watchman : "Those who imagine that the pulpit loses importance from the superior effectiveness oi the press, might with profit inquire why it is that the stump speaker is still consider ed so indispensable in politics." The Congregationalist : "Infidelity and reckless wicked ness get no little proportion of their fascinating influence over the crowd of common-place sinners, from a mis.taken homage sometimes paid, even by Christians, to the boldness presumably involved in them." United Presbyterian : "Men are habitually striving after )lace and power, as if there was lappiness in being great and dis tinguished. If we read history or scrutinize the lives we see in our own day, we will conclude that the chief misery of the world is lodged in those who have reached public elevation." London Primitive Methodist : "Learn of me" what to do? To make the world, to raise the dead, rebuke the winds and waves ? No, to be "meek and lowly;" to wash one another's feet; not to build churches or erect hospitals; not to fast forty days and forty nights; not to go barefoot on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; not to wallow naked in snow as St. Francis no, to be "meek and lowly." Dr. Guthrie : "Never go where you can not ask God to go with you; never be found where you would not like death to find you; never indulge in any pleas ure which will not bear the morn ing's reflection. Keep yourself un spotted from the world? not from its spots only, but even from its suspicions." Leigh Hunt : "God made both tears and laugh ter, and both for kind purposes; for as laughter enables mirth and sur prise to breathe freely, so tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair and madness, and laughter is one of the privileges of reason, being confined to the human species." - , 'i ' t
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.)
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May 1, 1889, edition 1
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