Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Feb. 19, 1903, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH. Vol XXVI Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, February 19, 1903. N o. FACTS VERSUS FICTION The Success o$ the Work not De pendent upon Resident Bishops. BY BISHOP'J. W. HOOD, 15. D., LL. D. i !L®TTER NO. In the attempt to make it ap-; pear that we need more bishops, itj has been stated that the work in North Carolina has prospered be cause so many Bishops reside; there. N® statementraould befwrth ; er from 'the truth. No man living1 knows more about the history of Zion Church in North Carolina than I'do. Zion began to <©>0]oy! great,prosperity ic“this State when! There was no Bishop living m orj near it; and the large number of! Bishops residing"here during the* last fourteen years has had no ap preciable effect upon the prosperii ty of the Church. But! shall not iilmit my obser vations to North Carolina i© 'con sidering this subject. The New England Conference has sot had an active resident bishop tfor .‘19 years; and yet it has led the Con nection on all Hues for more than ten years. 1 ne e w i '®er k i^omeren'ce reached the lowest ipoint in its his tory of at least fifty years, at a ipe riod in which a Bishop had been residing in it for ten years; and»t?he church at his homeywhich had osee once been considered as seossnd only to Mother Zion, was mot among the most prosperous* When H took ©barge of (fikat work in 1886, there were oaly three churches in really good con dition. Cess than twenty were supporting regular,pastors. M&ay of the churches claimed that they were not able to suppsrt pastors. Middletown., iPeekskilf, Port Ches ter, New Rochelle, Mt. Vernora, Mam mar oneok, Oyster iBay and Nyack were ah without pastors. Mother Zion bad three factions, and that reoowtaed choir had so run down that the pastor was lead ing the singling from the pulpit. That.church was raising 1©$3 than $'5C general fund, and the whole Conference less than $50!). She now laises $350 and the CVsfer enen nearly $1200. My first visit to dsbsgston, I had to raise money to pay the pastor's rent to keep him from being put outdoors There hawe been only three new churches added to this Conference m many years, and fitst by resuscitating and improv ing what we formerly had, we have now, nearly iwi.ee as iinany preach ers employed asI found there; and the Presiding Elder’s report for the last (quarter informs me that nearly ail are doing well. The Virginia Conference has '•never had a bishop residing in it or near it; and yet it has al ways been among the foremost of the Southern Conferences. When the S uth Carolina Conference was raising 5 cents a member, general fund, anil North Carolina .8 cents per member, Virginia was raiding 1 > ceuts per member, and it held th it lead for many years, and still pays a larger percentage per mem ber than the maj >rity of the South ern Conferences. The Kentucky Conference has no resident bishop, and yet it is on a boom. The Blue Ridge Confer ence has no resident Bishop, and yet no Conference is improving more rapid iy. Alabama never had a resident bishop till a littie over two years ago, and yet the strength and in fluence of Zion Cpnpeclion in that State is second only to North Car-j olina. Coming to North Carolina,! where so many 'Bishops have lived,' it is true that the Old North Car olina and the Central N. C. Con ferences are <4oing weflt; bat how a boat the Western Nort h Cawoii ca Conference in which four hish •ops have lived, and three still re-J main*? 'If that Conference had; ['been formed where it is for the purpose of proving the uatruth fillness of the assertion that ?a n u m-! her of bhhops residing in Con Iference‘is an advantage to it,'the] (proof could not have bee® made! more ccmspicuefss. That Confer-] <ence has every advantage, and yeti' for some cause, it lags behind! every other Conference of its shc-e! in theConrsoifeon. Certainly, not because so maey bishops live with in its bounds, but the fact that their Qiving'tbere has'net prevented the-existing state of -things, is fa tal'to the the-claim, ead ought to con-vince any reasonable person that there !isabsolutely nothing in it According to the claim, that Conference iaaving-irs it threehish ops, the College, the Publication House, and the -great town of ■Charlotte <(which some one has called the future ^London) ought to lead all. It refuses to be a wit ness to 'the claim; bwt etands there in the negative, as stubborn as a rock, against which, this claim for more bisb®ps butts its own brains omt. v* .* Mr. Editor: I -saacist take issue wkh Dr. Wheeler respecting the omission <d “He descended into 'beli,”iin Edit©” lilrme hasfol lowed the order of the Genera' Coaferenee, Whether it is found dnithe minutes or-not, it is found in the Discipline as ordered by the General Conference in 1872. In the eeremoay for the baptism of Admits, page loS. The order of the General Con - fere-nee has been violated time and agaiua, and I have frequently called attention to it. Now that our Sabbath school literature is com ing out according to discipline, I think it is not the time to criticize: it. Get any discipline since 1872 and you will find that “descended into help is omitted. When I have more time, I will state why it was omitted. l*ayetttvUle< N.C. Dr. B F. Wheeler’s Open Letter, ANSWERED. BY DR. R B. BRUCE. I THE LORD’S PRAYER. I prefer the present form of the Lora's Prayer to that of Matthew’s or Luke’s. It is the old familiar form, and I think it is the best and most ap propriate form for our Sunday schools. I prefer this above the other forms, because this is really the correct form of the Lord's Prayer The form in Matthew 's and Luke’s Gospels are com plicated and misleading to a child. II. THE APOSTLE’S CREED. I do not know just when the General Conference ordered the phrase “He de scended into hell” stricken out of our book of Discipline, but it is out, and that accounts for its present form. III. THE APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION. It is not supposed that a superinten dent will pronounce the benediction like the pastor, but it is intended for him to read just as he reads all the other parts ; of the opening and closing services. j I shall not pay any attention to your suggestions whatever, because they are not given in good taste, nor in a good spirit. I am willing to take any sug gestions from any one for the good of the work, when they first tpta'i to me pn vitely, otherwise I shall treat it with the contempt it deserves. HR. e. E, COOPER. Dhe Mosi $ufcce8$ff)ttl Negffi'Journ a l ifi t Mv-mg-. ’EY J. G. C©NNINGlfi»3M[. Itls not my ’intention to write him a letter *clf 'reconrm6ndation, not to introduce him to this public, tor Mr. Edward E- CoopOr is too w^ll knowa for that, anti needs 'nothing of the bind*fiom us Bur, it was our pleasure, about eight years agu, to form the acquain tance of this hustling journalist, and we teuve watched him closely ever since. During this time we have ha<d some business transac tions with Mr. Cooper, aqd have always found him to be a man who practices what he preaches in re gards to elevating his race, etc. ----H-; Mr. E. E. Cooper, Journalist. We wish to mention here some of his kind heartedness to others, to the detriment of himself. Ever since we have known Mr. Cooper we hav-e noticed that he seems to take special delight in trying to boom others for high positions in life, but never says a word about himself. Have the readers of this or his paper ever thought of this? Many of the big colored men who hold good positions under the Governm 3iit to-day, are largely indebted to Mr. Cooper their success. Now., ho v many of the successful ones have endeavored to push Cooper's name for a nice “berth,” which he so much de serves? Not only has Mr. Cooper labored hard to laud men of his own race, through the columns of the Colored Lmric c i, b it ch u-e are Repub lican representatives in the United States Congress who should ever feel grateful to him for their tri umph over their Democratic op ponents. Even at times when the colored voters were threatening to knife some of the representatives who are no v in Congress —and doubtless ought t o have been knifed—Cooper held them in the ranks by bis earnest persuasion in behalf of the Republican party. Njw, since those who have been true ti the cause are to be reward ed, why pass him by.f, The Republican representatives in Congress owe it to Cooper to stand by him for anything he may ask for. He is a modest man— possibly too much so for his own good —now who of those who have been aided by him (of his own col or) will first put forth an effort to land him in a nice position? No place? Why, you made a place for him to help fight the enemy. Let some on .3 ou the extreme end just move up a little, and he can get in. How about a second Aud itorship in one of the big depart ments? The race would be glad to see Mr. Cooper thus honored. Messrs John P. Green, of Ohio; Smalls, of South Carolina; John C. Dancy, of North Carolina; J. W. Lyons, ot Georgia; Hill, of Mississippi, and others have done much for the success of the Re publican party. But none of these in our bumble opinion, are more deserving than the aforesaid Cooper. Mr. Cooper has never been accused of being untrue to any trust imposed in him, nor of being untrue to a friend; neither of being any son’s father, but he pleads guilty of having done much lor this prosperous administration of which the gallant President Theodore Roosevelt is chief. Wmkinqton, D, C. They Join Issue. Ia the last issue of the Star of Zion, Dig. J, B. Colbert and J. H. Manley join issue -with Bishop J, H. Hood, D. D, L.L. D., on questions relating to the general Church The senior Bishop is a great churchman, far-seeing and sagacious. They are all able writers and we are expecting some interesting reading.—Zion Methodist. That Pension Bill. FOR EX SLAVES. Mr. Editor:—I see that Senator Han na has offered a bill to pension the old ex-slaves. We pray that the bill will pass in Congress by a unanimous vote, and become a law this session of Con gress. We feel that every Southern Congressman ought to give the b’ll h;s hearty support, for we were faithful and true to them, and they should be willing that we be rewarded. There is but a few of us that come under the bill; therefore, we appeal to Congress to pass the bill at this session. Signed on behalf of old ex-slaves, Rkv. S. Derry, D. D. Montgomery, Ala Great Demand for Help. BY REV. E. GEO. BIDDLE, B D. Dear Dr. Smith : I wish to announce in the Stab that there is a great de mand up here in New England for col ored help, male and female. Good wil ling servant girls can get steady work and good pay at once in almost every N‘• w England town and city. Batespec ia’lj in these thriving towns is there a great demand. Ou" Zion pastors in Ter rington, C»nn , Northampton. Mass., Leominster and Ciin^on and Webster, Mass , in New Brittian, Oonrt., in Dan by, Conn , and wherever there is a Z on pastor here in New England colored help would be looked out for and situa tions secured immediately by writing to the pastor of our church, or by writing to me herein New Haven, Conn. Re?. J. W, Davis and Mrs. Biddle here will look out for any who will come to New Haven looking for work. Rev. J. Fran cis Lee in Worcester, Mass., Rev. A.A. Crooks in Hartford, Conn , Rev. J J Smyer in Bridgeport, Conn., Rev. W.J. Holland in Providence, R. I, and also Rev. 8 L Newby in Providence, R. I., and Rev C. S Wni ted in Attleboro, Mass., will secure places for any help who will come 134: Asthma Street, New Haven, Conn Church Burned. BY REV. R, J DANIELS, P. E. The Clinton A M.E Zion church, Rockville, Aid, Rev. Timothy Keene, pastor, burned down Fri day night February d, 1903. The cau-e of tire is unknown. The church was insured for $1,200, not a Mifficient amount to rebuild a creditable church. The members aie without a p ace of worship and need the sympathy of loyal Zion ites This I know will be rnani tested wben an appeal is made for assistance. Washington, D. C. ORGANIC UNION. To the Sixth Episcopal District. BY BISHOP C H. PHILLIPS. Presiding Elders, Preachers, Women of the Missionary Society, Members and Friends—Greetings: At the meeting of the Commis sioners of our Church and of the A. M. E. Zion Church at Washing ton, D. C., last October, I found myself in a hopeless minority. I was the only man who voted against organic union. I would have voted for federation pure and simple, but all the commissioners wanted and voted for organic un ion. I did not want organic union at Washington, neither do I want organic union now. 1 have noth ing unkind to say of any man in our Church who may want to unite with Zion, neither have I any crit icism to offer. But personally, I do not favor organic union. 1 am not tired of the C. M. E. Church, neither do I believe her condition would be bet'ered by uniting with the A. M. E. Zion Church. At some time in the future Iwill set forth in an elaborate paper why 1 do not favor organic union. In the meantime I desire to say that I will entertain the very friendliest feeling towards my col leagues and all others who may want union. But, as for myself, and speaking only for myself, my mind is made up to stand firmly by the Church of Miles and Vanderhorst if I have to stand alone. I want federation pure and simple. But federation or no federation; union or no un ion; the C. M. E. Church just like she stands is good enough for me. “For her my tears shall fall. For her my prayers ascend ; To her my cares and toils be given, ‘Till toils and cares shall end.” [In Christian Index ] Jcickst n, Term. Livingstone College. BY REV. W. H. GOLER, D. D, My Dear Dr. Smith:-Livingstone College is now crowded. We have 390 students in attendance and several ap plications. The Theological Depart ment has 4o students. Dr. R. B. Bruce is in the happy exercise of his duty as one of the instructors. We are meet ing the conditions of the General Con ference in this particu’ar. More room however is much needed, both for the accommodation of the classes in recita tions and seating in the chapel exer cises. * * An earnest effort is new being made by the Facul y, alumni, students and friends to secure at once the PRICE MEMORIAL BUILDING Let the ministers and the general Church give us the Hood Theological Building and a chapel. A movement is on foot, aided by some of the best citi zens of Salisbury—inc'uding Senator Overman, Congressman Klutz and the Mayor of the city, A.H. Boyden, Es>q. to secure a Library Building. We have hundreds of books for which we have no shelving space. We are looking forward for great things. Our Industrial Superintendent, Mr. Melton, began this week to put the brick >ard in order preparatory to mak ing brick in the early Spring. Our car penter shop, blacktmiih ehop, dress making, sewing rooms and aundry are a 1 in suecessfid operation. Work is also p ogressing on the firm in the way of plowing aud preparation for tarly plan ti g. We appreciate the kind words in your columns from so mmy of jour corre spondents, urging that lo legislation be ma’e that shall affect the progress and usefulness of the Co lege There can be no doubt that the institution is in a more prosperous condition than ever before, and needs to be helped -atherthan hindered in its beneficent work for the general Church and the people. Salisbury, N. C,
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1903, edition 1
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