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ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH IN AMERICA. < . _ ‘' ' Volume XXIII. Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, April 20, 1899. Number 16 MUTTERINGS OF 1900. Work that the General Conference Should Do. BY KEY. A. J. WARNER, D. D. No. 1. Mr. Editor: I have been quiet ly watching and listening at the discussion that has been in prog ress for the last few weeks as to whether the next General Confer ence should elect any more Bish ops, for I must confess that I, for ore, am unable to say as to what will be best for the whole Church. I think, however, that those who are opposing the elec tion of more Bishops should give a better reason than I have yet heard advanced. Now let us ex amine the objections offered : First, they say we are unable to pay them. But reasoning from the standpoint of a Methodist preacher, this objection will not stand; for we are told that we must go where we are sent, wheth er the Church is able to pay or not, and stay there and make it pay. The Discipline says: “The salary of a minister shall be $700 and parsonage, or $800 without parsonage, etc; but two-thirds of our churches are unable to pay even that meagre amount. And yet we hear no one sympathetically crying out that these men and their families are starving because they do not get what is promised them. And yet these are the men who wade the swamps, swim tne creeks, brave the storms, travel through rain, to gather the peo ple, build the churches and collect the general fund, and, I may say, do the suffering, and no one seems to fear that they and their families will suffer because they are only getting a part of what is prom ised them. But to the contrary, they are told to go, and the Lord will go with them, which is true, for many of us are witnesses to the fact from experience. Now if this be true in one case, is it not true in all? And if the church cannot liv^ and thrive without pastors, is it not equally true that the Church, as a whole, cannot thrive without a sufficient number of her chief pastors to do the work that they only can do in order to make the Church what it should be? Now we come to our second question, viz., Can eight bishops, some of whom are well stricken with age or otherwise incapacitated for dtard labor, do the work re paired by a Church composed of a half million members scattered as they are all over America, and in Africa, and the isles of the sea? It seems to me that it would be unreasonable to expect it of them. And yet the work mu3t be done, or the Church suffer loss. But, again, we hear the cry, “We 'cannot pay them; and it is said that we are in danger of injury ing the future of Livingstone College and the Publishing House, and, therefore, we must retrench. m True, but to weaken the head is to proportionately weaken the body, and we have the same re sult. The way to retrench is to first investigate and find the cause of all this weakness ; then apply the remedy in a manner that the cause producing the effect will be removed. Now the remedy that 1 would suggest is this: In order to give relief to our dear Living stone College, let the law author izing the division of Childrens’ Day money among the different institutions of learning be changed so that our chief institution shall receive all the money raised on Children’s Day until it be placed upon a sure footing. Then let the Quarterly Review, which has almost become a quar terly in name, be placed under the Editor of the Star of Zion, so that when he is overcrowded with matter he may divide it be tween the Star and the Quarterly Review, thus doing the work of two men with very little more la bor and no more salary; thus sav ing one thousand dollars per an num. Then there is the Publish ing House. Cut down a few of the clerks,etc., in that department, even if you have to leave off a lit tle of the job work for awhile. Let it stay within the bounds of its income until it shall have been paid for. Let the Manager and Fbreman be consolidated, and one man do the work that we have two now doing. Liet the Janitor ot the otar have absolute control of his department, thus relieving the Manager of a part of his great responsibility, and saving for the Church about one thousand dollars or more an nually. Then consolidate the office of the General Secretary and Gener al Steward. Let the Financial Secretary give bond for the faith ful performance of his duty, and by so doing save time, trouble and money. Then in order to encourage the people, divide up the general offices vrith the laity. Raise the general fund to one dollar and let the preacher go to the people and explain the needs of the general Connection, apd there will be no trouble to collect the money; for our people are just as loyal as any other peo ple. Now, brethren, I cannot see why any man who loves the Churcq should oppose this, or something on this order. I think this is the principle that 'will solve the vexed problem and give us as many Bishops as we need to carry on the work of the Church as it should be. For Heaven’s sake let us see to it that the work for which Bishop Holliday gave his life trying to build up, does not go clown for the want of the oversight of a Bishop. In conclusion, I would say the above lines are simply my person al .views. As one of the rank and file I feel I have aright to express mv opinion in common with the other unassuming and unaspiring ministers of Zion. f, More anon. Charlotte, N. C. * NATIONAL COUNCIL. The Sub-Committee Holds an Im portant Meeting. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED. An important meeting of the Sub-Committee of the Executive Committee of the National Afro American Council was held in Washington on Friday, April 7th. A large majority of the members MR. J. EDGAR SMITH, A. B. Foreman A. M. E. Zion Publication House. was in attendance. The subjects of lynching, disfranchisement of Afro-Americans, etc., were dis cussed, and the following actions taken: 1. An open letter was sent to the Governors pf the States where lynching had recently occurred. 2. The first Sunday in June, 1899, was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer, and a commit tee (of which Dr. H. T. Johnson, editor of the Christian, Recorder was made chairman,) was ap pointed to arrange for the same. The ministers of all denom inations in America are requested on that day to preach a sermon on “Lynching, and Its ^Baneful Ef fects.” It is hoped that all the Bishops and ministers throughout the country will concur in this ac tion. 3. Arrangements were made to investigate the recent lynchings, and to test the constitutionality of the Louisiana Election Laws; a Committee of Ways and Means (of . which Mr. R. H. Terrell is chair man) was appointed to secure funds to push forward this work. 4. A Literary Bureau was or ganized with Mr. P. B. S. Pinch back as chairman. The object of this department is to flood this and foreign countries with literature on race conditions, etc., as they ex ist in America. 5. A Legal and Legislative Bu reau was formed, Mr. Daniel Mur ray chairman. 6. An Emigration Bureau was organized, with Mr. Robert Pel ham, of Michigan, as chairman. It is the object of this bureau to pro ' mote plans for a healthy migration ’ of Afro-Americans from terror ridden sections df odr ltifid to States where law is respected and maintained. The National Afro - American Council has been incorporated at Washington and is doing aggres sive work. It will hold its next meeting at Chicago, 111., August 7, 1899. It is hoped that the Ex ecutive Committee of the States mentioned below will begin to or ganize local councils in their States at once. The following is the law concerning the organization of lo cal councils: “Whenever ten or more persons who are in sympathy with the ob jects set forth in the Constitution shall desire to organize a local council, they shall have power to do so. When any State or Terri tory shall have as many as ten local councils, said councils shall have power to organize a State Council. (Article IX, page 9 of Constitu tion.) Any person desiring to or ganize local councils can obtain all the information necessary by ad dressing Bishop A. Walters, 228 Duncan avenue, Jersey City, N. J., Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, 4 Ce dar street, N. Y., or Mrs. Ida Wells-Barnett, 2939 Princeton av enue, Chicago, 111., or the Execu tive Committee of the State or Ter ritory of which he or she is a citi zen. Easter at Pineville, N. C. BY MISS F. K. BANKS. While our dear Bishop T. H. Lomax, prior to the last assem blage of the W. N. C. Conference, appointed Rev. M. Caldwell to take charge of our church or circuit, and at the last assemblage of the ' same reappointed him to this work, he has succeeded thus far, and the people with whom he comes in con tact know him as a preacher of no little ability, and long ago he has proven to be a man for the race, the Church and Christ. Early Sunday ^morning every mind and eye were placed on Eas ter day. The breeze blew gently from the South, and we quietly stole our way to the temple of God. At 11:15 the choir struck the highest keynote of praise to the Christ who has risen for our justification, at which time every one, seemingly, was extracting the harmonious blessing. Rev. Cald well read for his morning lesson 104th Psalm and the 15 th chapter of 1st Corinthians, after which prayer was offered. The text was chosen from St. Mark 28:6. The subject was so philosophically treated, until e#ery professed Christian felt the outpouring of His Spirit. In the afternoon came the well rendered exercise^ which was quite a credit to both teachers and pu pils. Following this was the Eas ter offering, $4.29 was the amount collected. The choir sang very impressively, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” after which the benediction was pronounced by the pastor* and we all returned home feeling thankful that it was ours to have enjoyed once more the celebration of our risen Lord. Cha/rlotte, N. C. OUR SUNDAY COLUMN. Prayer Enjoined as a Christia Duty By the 5aviour. BY BISHOP G. W. CLINTON, D. D. Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, The Christian’s native air; His watchword at the sates of death, He enters heaven with prayer.” Last Sunday we found ourselves in the house of the Lord rejoicing with gladness on account of the benefits to received from services and contact with fellow Christians. We do well to consider on this Lord’s day one of the precious means of grace by which we may become strengthened and made more effective servants of God. Prayer is the gracious means of grace, the blessed agency, by which man can come unto and find favor in the sight of God. The progress of the Christian Church, the development of Chris tian growth in the lives and char acters of individual Christians^ the triumphs of heroes and hero ines are in a large measure the achievements of prayer. No duty is enjoined more frequently and with more emphasis than prayer. The great characters of the Bible, the most powerful workers in all ages of the Christian Church have been men and women of prayer. Prayer is the Christian’s duty, 1. Because the Saviour taught His disciples to pray both by pre cept and example, and urges that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke 18:1. He also enjoins upon His followers to pray for the upbuilding and advance ment of His cause. ‘ ‘Pray ye there fore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers in the harvest.” Matt. 9: 37. There is no greater reason for pray er than this, and there was never a time during the present century when Christian should pray to this end than the present day. 2. Christian should exercise this gift much, because it is one of the ways by which every sincere Chris tian can be of service to the cause of God and at the same time be come stronger himself. Through prayer Jacob obtained power with God and afterwards had power with men. It is one the ways by which we overcome our enemies and thwart the schemes of the devil. The Apostle Paul asked prayer in his behalf that the word of God preached by him might have full course and be glorified etc. II Thess. 3: 1. Christian members can scarcely do a greater service for the pastor than pray earnestly and constanly for his success and his spiritual benefit. 3. Christians should pray be cause it is enjoined upon them to pray in behalf of those who exer cise governmental authority over us. I Tim. 2: 1-2. 4. Job’s example in praying for his children is one that cannot fail to commend itself to .Christian parents. Job 1:5. Christians should haye stated times to pray and never neglect this duty for any other. See Psalms 5: 3; also Psalm 55: 17. Nothing that I know can so im press and instil righteous princi ples and Christian habits in chil dren as pray offered daily and at stated times arojin4 the home al tar. “Pray without ceasing lift ing up holy hands, without wrat h and doubting.,”—JPauJ. K
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 20, 1899, edition 1
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