Newspapers / North Carolina Christian Advocate … / Dec. 10, 1890, edition 1 / Page 1
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r0 I II II vi UV. "V XV V. i. Wt 11 i V.I X I iVri III XSfll- X S-K f l fcJ-i I III. I 11 1 II - . V f I II I J I I II 111 P 1 1 JL $2.00 PER ANNUM. THE ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. REV. F. L REID. Editor ESTABLISHED 1855. RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, DEO. 10, 18'90. VOL. XXXV., NO. !0 . -Jl7. I I pnh" rwv 4-j. . . . : r ; , Kneeling at the Threshold. I'm kneeling at the threshold, Weary, faint and sore, Waiting for the dawning, For the opening of the door ; Waiting till the Master Shall bid me rise and come To the glory of His presence, To the gladness of His Home. A weary path I've travelled. 'Mid darkness, storm and strife, Bearing many a burden, Struggling for my life ; Xut now the morn is breaking, My toil will soon be o'er, I'm kneeling at the threshold, My hand is on the door. Methinks I hear the voices Of the blessed as they stand Singing in the sunshine Of the far-off, sinless land ; Oh, would that I were with them, Amid the shining throng, Mingling in their worship, Joining in their song. The friends that started with me Have entered long ago ; One by one they left me Struggling with the foe ; Their pilgrimage was shorter, Their triumph sooner won How lovingly they'll hail me When all my toil is done. With them the blessed angels, That know no grief nor sin ; I see them by the portals, Prepared to let me in ; . Lord, I wait Thy pleasure Thy time and way are best ; But I'm wasted, worn, and weary O Father, bid me rest. W. L. Alexander, in Christian at Work. COMMUNICATIONS. For the Advocate. Kcdtniption of the Masses. BY REV. E. L. PERKINS, M. D. The work of the church is to se cure the redemption of mankind from the curse incident to a life of sla. TtLaporal redemption and spiritual redemption are closely re lated. They may be said to go hand in hand. Hence we are not surprised at finding, in the periodicals of the times, such expressions as the fol lowing : "You cannot raise angels in a pig-sty." "Mere evangelization will never redeem the lapsed masses in great cities; they must be saved from their miseries before they can be saved from their sins. Extreme poverty and extreme wealth are the two greatest barriers to the reception of the Gospel. A man who is driven of sheer necessity to think inces santly of his empty stomach, and how to fill it, and his naked back and how to cover it, becomes, in the nature of things, so completely an animal, that his redemption becomes difficult under the best circumstan ces, and quite impossible without an improvement of his mental and ma terial conditfon." It is evident that thousands can not be reformed while left in the slums of overcrowded houses, amid the vilest associations and debasing examples. To meet such difficul ties, the Salvation Army, with many of its objectionable features, has set an example wiiich the churches need nt be ashamed to follow. They have organized a "Social reform wing," and have gone systematically to work to lift the helpless into a better condition of life. In Europe they have organized a Labor Bureau to provide work for the unemployed and thrif tless,also cheap food houses where sustenance can be procured at the mere cost of material. This Method lifts thousands out of situa tions where they are dependent up on vicious habits for their daily bread to conditions enabling them to appreciate virtue. In their old homes they see nothing, hear noth lnS, and learn nothing but what comes of the lowest forms of vice. They need to be transplanted to a 8il where morality can live and grow. We are told by the most reliable statistics thdtthe "Salvation Army" consists of 2,844 corps, commanded y 9,301 officers, who in 29 different languages are working in 34 differ eQt countries; and that the Army ow raises a revenue of about 900,- a year, that is $4,500,000. Their ?i"st cheap food deposit was in Lime Jiouse, London, in 1888. Since then fooddeposits have been established 111 White Chapel, the most criminal Burn street. These three deposits feed 6,000 persons daily. The smallest coins buy the poor starvlings something to satisfy their hunger, and they get good words of encour agement, as well as being kept out of the hands of sharpers that fleece them. This looks very much like practical Christianity, however ir regular some of the methods adopted to secure attention. Christ preach ed on the mountain sides and fed the hungry multitudes in a way that was considered very irregular in his day. He was an iconoclast up on the Pharisaic notions of his times. We must not shrink from that which is good, though it seems to be mixed with much that seems to us irregular and disorderly, but we should strive to encourage the good and seek the reform of that which appears not in order. I know that the churches have established orphan asylums, hospit als and cheap educational institu tions, reformed prison life, and in many ways have mitigated suffer ing throughout Christendom; but I also know that works of benevo lence, by systematic methods, have been far too limited for the means at the churche's command. Too much of the financial strength has been spent in pandering to the taste of the classes to the sad neglect of the masses. It may be answered that the masses will not come to the churches. Very true then let the churches do as Christ did go to the masses. Send their workers into the highways and hedges, and down into the pits where the poor are fall en. It would be more Christ-like to spend less money on high steeples and more money on the low fields of suffering humanity. True enough, Christ never objected that the temple was too grand a place for the humble worship of God, but he did charge that the poor were neglected. Then while the cnurches are build ing grandly let them not forget to cultivate the humble fields of chari- ty. A stately building always looks more lovely when it is known that the hand of charity is ever ready to dispense blessings at the door. It may be our duty to build substanti ally, or even splendidly, for God, but if this should be done, the other should riot be left undone. Greatness without goodness is only showing one side the glittering side of Christian work. The really valu able and substantial rests in the charitable deeds which relieve dis tress and lead the ignorant and de praved to tread the way of peace and righteousness. The glory of the church is the sum of its good deeds. Address of Bishop Keener. BEFORE READING THE APPOINTMENTS AT CONCORD. There is a rythmic grandeur in this itineracy; as grand as the an thems above, as this movement be low. The same harmony that is found in the touch of the lute in the upper realm is the harmony that moves us, the Spirit of Love, the harmony of the Spirit of all grace and of all truth, the Holy Spirit. He it is that binds us together and makes us flow into each other. We are in the highest sense free, and we come together in this very beau tiful bond and co-action under the great impulse of the Savior himself, marshalling his forces, for he is a God of order. I never lose the impression of the sublimity of such an occasion as this; it grows upon me continually and I am more persuaded now than I was twenty, thirty, fifty years ago when I used to take an appointment myself that the providence of God is in these appointments. You hear a great many foolish men say it is the Presiding Elder, or some one else of influence; oh, no, let them exert all the influence they please, you are in the hands of God. He has prepared the field for you; He has anticipated your going and He wants exactly such a man as you are, and if you do your duty you can do more than anybody else could, no matter how capable he may be according to the estimate of the world. How many are waiting with much solicitude upon this very reading that I am going to make. Why, I take eighteen appointments to my self every year. I have three sons in the ministry, and they each one give me about three times as much anxiety as I ever felt for myself. My wife is as much concerned as I am, and I carry all her burdens with her, and between us we carry about eighteen appointments. But after all, if we were turned loose, there would be a wrangle among the godly people who would have us, and may be they might conclude not to take us at all. By the great system, the Presiding Elders' system, the preachers know where to go, and the people know whom to get, and the Bishop knows whom to appoint. You preserve that part of the system intact. A great many people who do not study Methodism much think that presiding eiders are a sort of fifth wheel and could be dispensed with; they do not know anything about the system; they have more labor than anybody else, more responsibility, take more church work and are paid less than anybody else. That is their per quisite; they are between the upper and the nether-millstone. As you get older you will find that you have wasted a great deal of time to side issues; brethren, get wise; waste no time in side issues; preach Christ and righteousness, so the Holy Spirit can use the text and the sermon; do not preach on nothing and everything and something; try to preach upon Christ; life is what we want, and power, and this is what Methodism holds forth to the world, a system of life and religion. Religion is simply existence; it is only knowing Jesus. Now preach that. I am very happy to have been with you, my dear brethren. I am glad to see the harmony which prevails here and the good sense. Oh, for common sense, baptized into the spirit of Christ; that will take the world. Preach sensible views of the Gospel; do nQt attenuate it, du not strain it, but go and get the . . . . . ., .' i Liy tu uuve a puiiusupuiu view ui a speculative view; I do not care how deep you go provided you have a broad, commonsense view, which the Savior gives us specially in his parables. Oh, what a luxury it is to hear a good sermon from a man who has worked hard over it and then gone into the closet with it, and it shows as much of the closet as it does of the lamp. That is the sort of preach ing that will take the world, and why should we not take i t ? I invoke the blessing of God upon you, my dear, brethren, especially the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. May you be blest; may your families be blest; may you have great com fort at home, and great and con tinual trust in God. The Lord will take care of you and feed you; you will not starve; your children will be educated, and when you are gone they will do about as well as other people's children. The Lord will take care of you; the Savior takes a great deal of pains to impress that upon his children. God has integ rity of character and faith is that which receives of God according to his integrity, and he will manifest it to you. For the Advocate. Our Washington Letter. (From our Regular Correspondent.) When I wrote that saloon keep ers "have no rights that society should recognize," I only expressed my own opinion, and had not the slightest idea that ere a week was passed that opinion would be up held by a decision of the United States Supreme Court; and yet such is the fact. This . decision, which was based upon an opinion written by Justice Field, is the weightiest single blow ever struck for the cause of temper ance, and that' it will lead to renew ed efforts throughout the land to stop this cursed liqjior traffic cannot for a moment be doubted, and that it will be of the greatest benefit to the citizens of those states which already have laws which are more or less loosely administered, for the supervision or regulation of the traffic, is equally patent. The case upon which this decision was made, was appealed from the U. S. Circuit Court of California which had, under a writ of habeas corpus, ordered the release of a San Francisco saloon keeper whose li cense had been refused by the au thorities, and who had been arrest ed under a city ordinance for selling liquor without a license, on the ground that the ordinance upon which he was arrested made his business depend upon the arbitrary will of others, and in that respect denied to him the equal protection of the laws. Here is the view which our high est legal tribunal takes of this claim: "It is undoubtedly true that it is the right of every citizen to pursue any lawful business, subject only to such restrictions as are imposed upon all persons of the same age, sex or con dition. But the possession and en joyment of this right, and indeed oi all rights, are subject to such re strictions as may be deemed by the governing authority of the country essential to the safety, health, peace, gopd order and morals of the com m unity." One of the arguments made in this case is that as the liquors are used as a beverage, and the injury following them if taken in excess is voluntarily inflicted and is confined to the. party offending, then their sale should be without restriction, th point being made that what a mn shall drink, equally with what he shall eat, is not properly matter forf legislation. To this the opinion of the Court replies in plain and un mistakable language as follows : There is in this position an as sumption of fact which does not ex ist, that when the liquors are taken in excess the injuries are confined to the parties offending. The injury, it is true, first falls upon him in his health, which the habit undermines; in his morals, which it weakens, and in phe self abasement which it cre-aUfc.-7 But, as it leads to neglect of HesKand svaste of property and general demoralization, it anects those who are immediately connec ted with and dependent upon him. "By the general concurrence of every civilized and Christian com munity, there are few sources of crime and misery to society equal to the dram shop where intoxicating liquors in small quantities to be drunk at the time are sold indis criminately to all parties applying. The statistics of every state show a greater amount of crime attributa ble to this than to any other source. The sale of such liquors in this way has therefore been, at all times, con sidered a proper subject of legisla tive regulation. For that matter, their sale by the glass may be abso lutely prohibited. It is a question of public expediency and public morality and not of Federal law. "There is no inherent right of a citizen to sell intoxicating liquors by retail; it is not a privilege of a citizen of a state, or of a citizen of the United States. In the prohibition or the regulation of the traffic, dis cretion may be vested in officers to decide to whom to grant and to whom to refuse liquor licenses. The officers may not always exercise the power conferred upon them with wisdom or justice to the parties af fected. But that is a matter which does not affect the authority of the State, or one which can be brought under the cognizance of the courts of the United States." The opinion concludes by re versing the order of the lower court under which the saloon keeper was released, and the case is lemanded for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion of the Court. This decision settles for all time any doubts that may have existed of the constitutionality of prohibi tion legislaiion, and places the liquor business in the category of evils to be regulated by law, just where it belongs, and best of all it places on record an opinion which is, in it selfalone,an unanswerable argument in favor of the legal prohibition of rum selling. It also disposes of the "personal liberty" plea which has so long served as a rallying cry for the liquor dealers. Who will say, in the face of this decision of the United States Supreme Court, that saloon keepers have any rights that should be recognized or respected by society ? A question which has for many years been a source of worry to the good people of the National Capital and of trouble, not only to people in every section of the United States, has been taken up by the Pastor's Alliance of the District of Columbia, and there are good grounds for the hope of relief in the near future.1 I refer ito the question of marriage licenses, and the loose and little un derstood laws in vogue in this Dis trict for their issuance, and govern ing the marriage ceremony. A com mittee has been appointed by the Pastor's Alliance, which is compos ed of Ministers of all denominations, for the purpose of prepa ring a peti tion to Congress on the subject, and also to prepare a bill covering the whole subject, which, when endors ed by the alliance, Congress will be asked to enact as a law in the place of those we now have. The manner in which marriage licenses are now issued here is simply disgraceful. Any person ap plying for a license and tendering the fee of one dollar gets it; no ques tions are asked as to the age, color, or condition of the applicant, or of the person he or she proposes to marry, nor whether they have a legal right to marry, and the license directs any properly ordained min ister to marry the couple, provided he finds no legal impediment to the marriage. J ust here a great diffi culty arises, for it would be difficult to find two experienced lawyers who would agree as to the "legal impedi ments" that exist against marriage in this District, and to cast the buTden of responsibility upon the minister of the Gospel, who is not a legal officer and has no right to ad minister an oath, is certainly wrong. How can the minister know whether there is a "legal impediment" which might apply to a couple presenting him a regularly issued license, and how can he possibly find out? The proper place to settle the question of the legal right of parties to marry is .'before --the Court officials who issue the license; they have the ne cessary legarauthority to find out; ministers do not. This question concerns the peo ple of ttie country at large, far more than it does the citizens of the Dis trict of Columbia, for but a small, very small proportion of the mar riage licenses issued here are for our own people; they are mostly for people from elsewhere. I cannot give a better idea of the present status of the matter than to quote a few remarks made by an eminent minister a few days ago. He said : "The whole system of issuing mar riage licenses in the District of Co lumbia is in a most unsettled and un satisfactory condition. Any one with a dollar in his pocket can pro cure a license. Now, the main ob ject of a license is to furnish a record of marriages, but as it is now it makes no record at all, for a license is no evidence of marriage; any one of a number of circumstances might prevent the marriage from taking place after a license had been issued. The present marriage laws are also in a chaotic state. They are both uncertain and inadequate. Every minister should understand the marriage law, and yet I doubt if any two lawyers can agree upon it. Whom may a minister legally unite in marriage? I do not know. For instance, in the matter of age the old Maryland statute holds that a man must be twenty-one years of age and the woman sixteen. But does that statute still hold? I never knowingly married a girl under eighteen, and yet I doubt if I could be prosecuted for tying the knot around a girl of sixteen. There is also a statute forbidding mixed mar riages, and yet two cases of misce genation were reported last year and no one knows how many more may have occurred. There are many other doubtful features about the present laws, and I think every one will agree that in so important a matter as this, what is legal and what is not legal should be made perfectly plain to all." Washington, D. G. A moment is all the time it takes to die. From life to death is meas ured by two ticks of the clock. You can't promote a Christian. The highest station in this life is to be a soldier in God's army. Ram's Morn. Subscribe for this Advocate. Our Baptist Brethren. Our Baptist brethren, some of them, have a way of claiming a great deal. A writer in the Shelby Aurora, signing himself "Observer," says : The Baptist brethren have just closed a very pleasant convention in our town. As a church, they are doing a successful work in the state. We want them to have full credit for all they are doing; still we think they are a little prone to claim more than the facts of history will war rant. First, as to being the leaders of education. It was claimed that the Baptist originated the first de nominational college in North Caro lina. We suppose the brethren had forgotten that the Presbyterians de serve the honor of pioneering classi cal education in North Carolina. In 1770 the Presbyterians founded what is well known as Queen's Col-" lege, in the town of Charlotte. This college was regularly chartered, be stowed diplomas, and turned out some of the most distinguished scholars of the state. Tnis was at least a half century before the foun dation of Wake Forest was laid. It is true that the old Revolutionary war closed its doors, but the spirit of education among the Presbyteri ans took new form in the founding of Davidson College in 1835 just one year after the founding of Wake Forest. Justice requires that the crown of praise be put upon the Presbyterians as to the pioneering work of education in North Caro lina. They have done largely more than any other church on this line. As to female education, the Bap tist brethren are considerably be hind. The Salem Female College leads in this work, a school built and equipped by the Moravians in 1802. The Episcopal College (St. Mary's) in Raleigh comes next, be ing built in 1842. The Methodists followed Ui building the Greensboro Female College in 1846. Then the Baptists built the Chowan Female. Institute in 1848. Now let the Baptist brethren push on and build their Female University. We hope they will succeed, but we trust the brethren will not ignore what others are do ing in the cause of Female educa tion. The Presbyterians have a good Female College in Raleigh, and the Methodists have five live female colleges in the state. It was claimed also that the Bap tists led in establishing the first or phan aslyum. We presume the reading public will give due honor to the Masonic fraternity for estab lishing the first orphan asylum in the state. We know that the breth ren admit this, but claim to be the first church that led off on this line. Very well. But the state ment is made in such a way as to obscure the honor due the Masonic fraternity, and give the credit of leadership to the Baptist church. The brethren also took to them selves the peculiar honor of being the authors of religious liberty. We do not wish to take a single feather from the cap of Baptist glory in reference to this matter; but, if history be true, others come in for a large share of this glory. Did not the Hebrew children make a good fight for liberty of conscience, when they suffered themselves to be thrown into a furnace of fire, rather than bow to the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar? And what about Daniel and the lion's den? Why did so many of the early Christians suffer martyrdom, but for the prin ciple Of SOUL LIBERTY? Did DOt Martin Luther make a bold fight for religious liberty? That is what historians say. In 1550, the Puritans of England "gave the first grand impulse to the cause of liberty, civil and religious." Roger Williams is the man through whose influence the Baptist breth ren saw the liberty of conscience was established; but historical au thorities show that religious liberty had been agitated and partially es tablished for eighty years befoie the time of RogerWilliams. As to nu merical strength, the Baptists and Methodists are about equal in North Carolina, but in the United States the Methodists are nearly one mil lion ahead of the Baptists in mem bers. These two churches are the peo ple's churches, and have done more and are doing more now to evangel ize the masses than all the other de nominations put together. Let them work on ia peace and harmony.
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Dec. 10, 1890, edition 1
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