THE
VISITOR*
. ii
VOL. 2.
FREMONT, N. C., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, 11, 1898.
NO. 22.
The Glory of God in Nature.
Thou art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee,
Where’er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are
thine.
When day, with farewell beam, delays
Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze
Through golden vistas into heaven,
Those hues, that make the sun’s decline
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.
When night with wings of starry gloom
O’erhadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose
plume \
Is sparkling -with unumbered eyes,
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord, are
thine.
When youthful spring around ns
breathes,
Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh:
And every flow^p the summer wreathes
Is born beneath that kindling eye:
Where’er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are
thine.
American Messenger.
The Smell of Fire.
“O Auut Margaret what a
? strange subject! What can you
write from such a peculiar text?
The smell of fire!’ Really, I
haven’t the remotest idea what
moral you are going to bring out
of that,” and Esther smiled in
credulously as she seated her
self on an ottoman at her aunt’s
feet. ‘‘Please tell me about it,
auntie; I know it was quite im
pi oper for me,;$b peep over your
shoulder at jfhCSta«t»»«eript; but
I think you will excuse me, for
you know I cannot stay until the
article is done.”
Aunt Margaret only smiled at
her impetuous niece, and re
plied just get your Bible, Esther,
and read the twenty-seventh
verse of the third chapter of
Daniel;” and Esther read, in a
dear, sweet voice, the wonderful
verse: “ ‘^.nd the princes, gOver
nors, and captains, and the king’s
counselors, being gathered/ to
gether, sawT these men, upon
'vfrhose bodies the fire had no
power, nor was a hair of their
head ^singed,- neither were their
coats changed, nor the smell of
fire had passed ou them.”
“You see, Esther, that God
not ^ only preserved the He
brew cYiiTdren in the fiery fur
* nace, from all danger, great as
it was, but kept them so securely
that their enemies could not
even detect the smell of fire up
on them. Was it not enough
that God should preserve the
lives of his faithful children?
No; their very garments must be
kept from the devouring ele
ment, and even the odor which
is naturally imparted to the
clothing from close contact with
tire, must be absent, or the ene
mies of the God of Israel might
find some excuse whereupon to
base a false report,”
“O auntie! I never thought of
it before in that light. I am sure
the third chapter of Dauiel will
always seem more beautiful to
me than ever before.”
“You remember that Christ
prays that his children may not
be taken out of the world, but
that they may be kept from the
evil. He is as able to keep his
children to-day from even the
very taint of sin and impurity as
he was to preserve the three He
brews. His grace can be mani
fest to deliver from the furnace
today as well as anciently. He
can keep us, and he will, from
even the very appearances of
evil, if we earnestly ask him
that the words of our heart be
pure and clean.
“I had a friend, Esther, a
young man, whose early training
had been given him by a careful,
tender, mother, who was, withal,
an earnest Christian, He went
out into the world, and met trials
and temptations of a very pecu
liar nature. Sin was made to
appear to him in a false light,
and it did not appear exceeding
sinful. Well, thank God, he c|id
not fall, but the childlike inno
cence of his early manhood faas
marred—was gone—the smell of
fire was upon him.”
There were tears in Esther’s
eyes as she replied: “0 auntie! I
am thinking of Edna Lee; she
was such a dear friend; but,
someway, ever since she return
ed from the city, she has not
seemed the same. She has a
continual craving for excitement,
and the deep religious ferver
which before was almost a part
pf her, seems to be gone. Her
1 * '
life might still be considered al
most a model one, in the eyes of
the world; but I knew her so well
before, and can see the differ
ence. ”
“Ah,” said 'Aunt Margaret,
sadly, “the smell of fire!” and
continued, “Here is a little verse
among my selections, which is
right to the point:—
‘Had I but known to dread the dreadful
* • 'r:
That lay in ambush at my heart’s desire,
Wherefrom it sprang and smote my
naked hand, »
And left a mark forever to remain,
I would not bear the fire’s ignoble
brand,
I would have weighed the pleasure
with the pain—
Had I but known!’ ”
—Selected.
Spiritual Worship.
“God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth.”—Jno. .4:
24.
There is no worship but that
which is the Spirit. None can
worship but saved people. A
man dead in sin can do nothing
to please God. All a sinner can
do is to confess and forsake his
sin, and believe God. Jno. 6:39.
Saved people may sing, pray.and
give and yet never worship. One
may be a son or daughter and
yet have-no fellowship with the
Father. Fellowship is not a
matter of the head, but of the
heart. Therg cani be no com
munion with unconfessed sins.
Let us confess not only the sins
we see, but also the sms which
only God can see. We are con
stantly sinning “through ignor
ance in thp holy things.” Lev*,
C:lo. “W^rfknow not what we
should p£&y for as we ought.”
Rom. 8:%i: Every selfish prayer
is sin..
Our greatest need is not more
of the Spirit, but to be more en
tirely given up to the Spirit.
Fellowship can only be in the
light, in the holy place 1 John 1:
TV Prayer is occupied with
wiants, arid praise with blessing.
Cjonfession of sins is not wor
ship. The place to confess sins
iS at the altar. The place to
get rid of defilement is at the
laVer, by washiug in the water
bythe Word. Eph. 5:26. The
holy place is for communion on
ly.' Outside, all goes up to God.
Inside, all comes down from God.
We w«!*£hip God only when eye
and mind are withdrawn from
what is happening about us, and
and our thoughts are altogether
occupied with God. We go in
to worship and come out to
serve.
A man who is much on his feet
should be much on his knees.
The men who move the world
are the men whom the world
can’t move. We must withdraw
from the rush of work and haste,
be it worldly or religious, ere we
learn to worship. There is such
a thing is being so occupied
with the study of ’ the Word that
I we forget to have communion
with the author.
Fluent, eloquent prayers reach
the ears of the great Father no
quicker nor with greater effect
than do the few broken words.
The gilding on a key makes it
open a door no better. It is on
ly “the effectual fervent prayer
of the righteous man that avai
leth much.” Jas. 5:16. Our
prayers are effectual and fervent,
only when the Holy Spirit in
us prays through us. Children
of God, whom the Father has
called to be holy, as He is holy,
take time to worship, take time
to be' holy.—Charles W.
M’Crossan, in Christian Unity.
The Slam-Shanty Crowd.
It had taken form in a night.
The women said it was a poison
ous growth, springing up in
haste, like a mushroom, contam
inating the whole atmosphere
of the new Wesjgrn village, and
Carrying wretchedness and pov
erty in its train.
One dismal rainy autumn day
the usual disreputable crowd of
men and boys were gathered in
the shed-like structure, passing
the time with drinking, smoking,
and games of chance, when into
the foul atmosphere and bedlam
like noise of the place there en
tered a well-dressed and respec
table-looking stranger, who be
gan asking questions about the
prospects of business in the
place. i
“You have a church, I see,”
he said at length.
“Oh, yes,” replied Uncle Tom
Johnson, who always^ led the
conversation. “We a’n’t heath
en. We have a meeting-house
for the women and the little
shavers. ” h
“And you have af minister,
perhaps?”
“Oh, yes, a good one too, they
say, but none of the Slam-Shanty
crowd have had any use for him
yet.”
“I have heard that there is a
new man coming to hold a pro
tracted meeting.”
^ “ Well, stranger, he can come,
and he can stay, and he. can
preach; ft.wont make any differ
ence to Sl&tp-Sbanty. No old
I preacher, nor ho new preacher,
| gets a shot at us. ”
< imi ____a. _j_a _ 1
± licit JUU W III illuFt UUUCiaidlJU
anything about the chance you
have lost. You will be like the
man I heard of, twenty miles or
so back, who had been in the
war, a poor, ragged, sick, miser
! able, hungry, cold, friendless old
| veteran.*’
“Had a pension, of course?”
said some one.
“No; he knew he deserved one,
but he wouldn’t go to work the
right way to obtain it. He had
his discharge'paper, buthedidn’t
believe it was good for anything,'
His friends, who were anxious
about him, tried to reasou with
him, but he was obstinate, and
would say, ‘You can't make me
believe that there is any good in
that old yellow paper,’ and he
wouldn’t have i anything to do
\
ill.
with it”
‘ ‘What an old’ fool! Deserved
to be poor and wretched and mis
earble!” decided Undo Tom, and
the others all echoed, t
“What an old fool!”
“In that same town,” went on
the stranger, “there were a good
many prominent and well-to-do
citizens living in open sin in the
way of intemperance, gambling,
profanity, Sabbath-breaking,and
all their attendant vices. Every
one of them had a Bible at home,
and a praying wife, mother, or
sisters, and every week the
minister'preached from the pul
pit the beauty and joy of right
eousness and the blood of Christ,
a free gift, cleansed from all sin;
but it was of no use, they would
not listen. The Oldest sinner of
them all jeered and reviled, and
the younger ones followed his
example, and although the good
men in the community deplored
the mistake, it wouldn’t have
done for any one to call them
fools, and no one would have
presumed to say, ‘Good enough
for them. They deserve to be
lost.’”
“I reckon you are the new
minister,” said Uncle Tom medi
tatively.
“You are good at reckoning.”
“Well, I swore -hear
you preach, but I have, and now,
so long as you’ve got the better
of us and preached us a smart
gospel sarmint without our mis
trusting it, we’ll go to meeting
every time you preach, if you
protract all winter. We’ll go
instead of cornin’ here, I’ll pass
my word, and Uncle Tom's word
stands for all this Slam-Shanty
crowd.”
Sure enough, at the first ser
vice held that evening the
“crowd” was there, and whatever
the rest of the congregation
might have thought, it was to
them the evangelist preached,
and it was among them that re
sults were first seen, for after a
few meetings Slam-Shanty dis
appeared.
That night, when Uncle Tom
stood up to be prayed for, the
others all followed, and the evan
gelist, looking down upon them,
said, “Even they whom He him
self hath called; for Christ came
not calling the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance.” So the
reign of sin and idleness, was
broken, and industry aud pros
perity followed the reign of)
righteousness.-—Selected. !
Legal Evidence.
Salmon P. Chase, chief justice
of the Supreme Court of the
United States, appointed by
President Lincoln, will take the
witness stand, “Chief Justice
Chase, please to state what you
have to say about the book com- j
monly called the Bible.’’ Thej
witness replies: “There came a
time in my life when I doubted |
the divinity of the Scriptures, j
and I resolved as a lawyer and I
judge I would try the book as Ij
would try anything in the court
room, taking evidence for and |
against. It was a long serious
and profound study, and using
the same principles of evidence
in this religious matter as I *al
j
ways do in secular matters, I
have come to the dicision that
the Bible is the sujternatural book,
that it has come from God and that
the only safety for the1 human
race is to follow its teachings.”
“Judge, that will do. Go back
again to your pillow of dust on
the banks of the Ohio.” Next I
put upon the witness stand a
president of the United States—
John Quincy Adams. “President
Adams what have you to say
about the Bible as Christianity?”
The president replies: “I have
for many years made it a prac
tice to read through the Bible
once a year. My custom is to
read four or five chapters every
morning immediately after ris
ing from my bed. It employs
about an hour of my time, and
seems to me the most suitable
manner of beginning the day. In
what light soever we regard the
Bible, whether with reference to
revelation, to history or to mor
tality, it is au invaluable and in
exhaustablo mine of knowledge
and virtue.” “Chancellor Kent,
what do you think of the Bible?”
Answer; “No other book ever
addressed itself so authoritavely
and so pathetically to the judg
ment and moral sense of man
kind.” “Edmund Burke, what do
you think of the Bible?” Answer:
“I have read the Bible, morning
noon and night, and have ever
since been the happior and tb
better man for such reading.
Talmage. C. /
Winning Souls. \
;jl - l
A strange reluctance comes
over many when they try to talk .
about the soul and its relations
to God. Very often the gay girl
whose heart is running over
with fun and mirth, and whose
speech sparkles with wit and
humor, has deep in her coossci
ousness the feeling that she is
unsatisfied; that she wants some
thing better, purer, higher. She
wishes that the Christian woman
who is talking with her would
ask her a question, would give
her a hint, would lead the con
versation to the subject of per
sonal religion. The oyier hae
no thought of the kind. She
has even the faint, unde£#atole.
dread that any efTor^oifner part
would be received coldly, or
made occasion of ridicule. .
So the opportunity passes.
The souls have been within
speaking distance, but have fail
ed to jcommuniciate with each
other. Each goes on its way.
The friend of Christ, who might
have won a soul to him, has
been silent, afraid, ashamed.
What wonder if to that too faith
less friend there comes the sad
experience that the Beloved has
withdrawn himself and is gone;
that seeking the Spirit, finds
him out; and calling, there re
turns no answer! Can there be
perfect ‘ serenity and the full
sense of communion, with God to
one who refuses or neglects so
important a duty.—Margret E.
Sangster.
If any little word of mine
May make a life the brighter,
If any any little song of mine
May make a heart the lighter,
God help me speak the little word
• And take my bit of singing
And drop it in some lonely vale,
To set the echoes ringing.
—Selected^