fl
T
V OC
1
ill
i-4
lo
PlfKLISliUD BY A JOINT STOCK COMPANY L'Xt)28 T3IE iATROSJAUK OF TiJE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
VOL. VI I. -NO. 5.
RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9, 1803.
T 12 K w s
Five Dollars a Year In .titiniice.
A
A
1'hTlstiHi! Advocate Piiblishiu;; Company
Dr.. J ICO. F. F0A11J), 1iikSiIi..'.t.
,..' . - ilev. V.u. II. CiiMsoom, ). l.
F-'.t.tn, H-vi 1 -Si- ' Slisr, and Zkn IJ.
..f N 2, . " 1
Tha is pui.O.vI every Wt-.h;-;?.V-?
mor.:;'"- ;. :'-t ?: er :ia:r.v., ' e-. v..r t
, . .:.'.':. ?.' '' '-".. '"''-f ;'''.
All it-'iv; I bo t!rv t id i cr i vi r.uro
of 12 lino- tu- tes.i. t;-.r !.;.- hru-rfi(.!i. ;.th! 6 tJiils
P,ss'o f r.h -i:-
J,; s ..( .- ' ,! 'j.-' .!:... .J i r:-it-
trrt vf ojk-;. nl! j-- ) : HvV.
V. E. V
Y i
v f T. ?'r
iPUtV He
From Ir S:cveti8 History of ??ctaid:i?ui
'! . ti -.tife'v on Jsr-i'i the . e -i u
IJ: - i. j-. aii-1 io i-lustitu'e Hi;- A.rneil
r iu .!! !iist Si-fifties au 'nisv i;i1
i'li
. ONC LI I) Si 3
V. Oharl-.o Wesley wis a ) i-id High
( 'aurhniau. aiid opposed lo all ordinations
by his broti.vv 'J lie iatter knew his view.s
well that be. would iu t expose tlie pe
jiint tneasute to interi upti.'ti by acUUint
in hitn with it iH it was eoamininated
Though Oh tries NVeshy V.i.s presbyter
of the'chureh of England, and iu the town
at the time, yet other presbyters were
stoini jued o meet rhe d m ind of prpri
e y and universal practiee" on such oeea'
s oas. while be was careial'y avoided.
NvV.f why this remarkable pireautiuii
ai'iinst the liijjh Chureh prejudieesof his
briber respecting ordinations, if he did
not in these proceedings ordain 't. If it
b replied, that Charles was nut en'y op
pwed to his brother's ordaining a bis! op,
bit euually to bis ord lining to the other
o Tueof tha ministry : and, therefore, the
o Jiuations might have been confined to
t .e latter, and yet such precautions be
proper, it may then be asked again, how
eaa we suppose Coke to be now ordained
t these lower offices when he had already
Deeived them, and exercised tliera fur
years ?
8. As sotm as Charles Vvesley learned
these pioceedings lie was profoundly af
flicted. II is correspondence with his bro
ther shows that he understood them in
-TIU marrae? tuat the Aruincn 3IathooistM
do and Wesley never corrected this inter-
pretation. lie deicnas Jnmseii, out nevti
denies the facts. Charles Wesley speaks
of Coke's -Methodist Episcopal Church
in Baltimore," aljuding to the name as
S'imed by the Amertcan Church at its or
ifinization iu that city. Wcs'ey, in his
reply, utters not a word in denial or dis
aps.roval of this tide, but simply vh-di-cites
the necessity of his course in respect
t the Anierieau Mcthudist?. Cbailes
V,'eslev, iu response, -speaks of the doe or'h
4 ambition" and "raohne&s." Wesley,
though he know the Church had been or-.
gtnized at Ualtimore with the title of E
piseopal," and bad used the very word
' bishon," but not as a personal title, say d :
i belkte Dr. Coke as free liom amouieu
r.s coveto;;.-ness.
lie
it..
bus done nothing
rashly that 1 know." Charles Wesley, in
his letter to Dr. Chandler, a clergyman
about tu sail f. r Ame-ica, speaks of his
brother-having "assumed the episcopal
character, ordained eiders, von-tccrateJ -b'fp.
and ;ent hM lo oi'daui our jat
preacbersin America showing thus what
the elii realiv Wi-J though the uame w:u
changed. Kvideni'y it v;;3 only the ap
peilatiuii of bbhop, upplit-d to .tfe Mipcr
..tpn.lr.u:s in pcrsuu, that Wesley disap
proved.
1. ihj Conference
ut which iheChurel-
wa.i organ iz d ter;idnattt1 Jamurv
The .Minutes wer - published by Coke wiui
the title, ionerai Mluuie.-ol the CohI'.t
eaces of the Methodic E-Jsp- cal ChuteL
ii Vnetiea." The xMiuuteS, as has been
H ated, expres. ly say thai the American so
c'uties were formed iuto i n Episcopal
Church, and thi?, to?, at the "rccouimen
dition" of Wt-Piey. .l?y duly, Coke wa?
with Wesley at the British Coherence
By the 20th of the preceding juuc, his
own Journal, containing this phrase, was
iiipected by Weslev. Coke also toik to
England the American Minutes, and they
WJre printed on a press which WesjtJ
used, and under his own eye. TT c Balti
more proceedings were thereft ie known to
AVesley, but we hear of no remonstrance
Lorn nun. They toon became known, by
thi Minutesrto the public ; ana when Cote
was attacked in a uewsp iper for what he
had done, he replied, as vre hate seen,
though the press, that "he had done uo-
tftingbut under the direction 01 l r. nu
1 T" Wesley never denied it. How arc
,all these facts explicable, on the supposi
tion that Coke and Asbury had ambmous
ly broken over WcsDy's restrictions t
10. One of Charles Wesley. s greatest
fears was, as we have noticed that the
En-dish preachers would be ordained by
Coie. He had prevailed upon his brother
t refuse them ordination for years, tie
nnv writes, with de'-p concern, that " not
a preacher in London would refuse orueis
Mm the doctor." ."He comes aimed with
favour authority to make us all DmfcntM
Now, why all this sudden disposition of the
Eaglish preachers torsive ' orders from
the doctor," if it was not undcrstoed that
he had received episcopal powers, and they
despaired ot ever getting ordination from
the national bishops? If it is replied,
they believed, with Wesley, that, under
necessary circumstances, presbyters couia
ofdain. and therefore desired it from Coke,
not in view of his new appointment, but.
because he was a presbyter ol the Church
of England, then it may be properly mk
ed, why d;J ihey ii t took it before, for
Coke had boon a presbyter among them
for t ears Why bti.it up with such a de
mand all :t iiiee as soon a.? thev learned
I of the new position of Coke ? And hew
could Charles We ley say, in this case.
lie conies aiiuen itu oiuiauuiiMiiv i
. .1 ...Til. . J5 1 . . '.. 'V "
for
bis autliority as a uvesb tjr he obtain-
i ed fju-.ti a bijhoi ci i lie i'hndhh Church
kr.ew Wesley
i !
'if..-.
ierui
1 -
.:. n v:i- ii-.v nersnr; ni
lv :i-td:t' in tii
j .'b'ciiilitJ'.! t. the Ann l i
can suj eiHiii ..Jems till about three years
after t .he 'orgr.irzatien'' of the Cbi veh,
ai;d W'es'ev 'a"bi urgut rry letter to Asbu-
r
w.is net written till lour years alter it.
Dating all this ; nerval, howevt-r, the A-uic-riean
suoieties were called an 'vEpiseo
pal Church." Jsix months alter adopting
the mine, its .'ini;'e i were, as stated, in
snecUd by Wei-ley, and published under
his auspices ; tb.ey were called the ''Min
utes of tbe Methodist Episcopal Church
iu Ann rle i :" an 1 th-y express'y dielare
that, "following the counsel of Mr. Jor.n
Wcsbv, v. 'O tec. tun. ended the episeipal
mode of Church roverncmnt, we thought
it bst t It come an Epi-copal Church ; "
yet, as has been shown, 'during this long
interim, Wit-ley !.eu-r uttered a syllable
agr.iust this assumption ! When his bro
ther wrttts him, accusing Coke of rash
ness, he replies that "the dotor has done
not ing rashly;" and whin Coke is accu
sed in the London prints, he declares, un
dcr Wesley's eye, and without contradic
tion, that "he had done nothing without
the direction of Mr. Wesley." What now
do ail these iucidviits imply? What but
that "Wesley did approve the Amur i car.
episcopacy that it was established by his
direction? Yet four years after, when
the appellation of bishop was applied per
sonally to the American (h"ioi, this let
ter of'Weslc-y was written. W' at further
does this imply ? What but ihat it was
not the thing he condemned, but the name:
the thing had existed for years uu con
demned, nay, defended by him ; the ery
name "Episcopal so far as it applied to
the Church collectively, he did not con
demn ; but the personal title of bishop he
disapproved, "because of its objectionable
associations.' is it possible to escape this
conclusion ?
Thus we fee that, whatever view we take
of the subji et, we are compelled to one
conclusion : that Wesley did create and es
tablish the American Methodist episcopi
cy. The man who gainsays such evidence
must be given up as incorrigible. There
can be no ! earning with him.
And now. what is the sum of this evi
Jei.ee? It'has already been presented
with sufficient detail ; but let us retrace
be successive and decisive steps of the ar
gument, lfore we have Wesley propos
ing to establish "tlio discipline of the
Church of England ' nmongtho American
Methodists, and to doso beordains for then,
bishops, and gives them an episcopal regi
men ; yet, according to their antagonists,
he never. 'dcsgr.ed them to be a distinct
Church, but only a "society" in the Prot
estant Episcopal Church! Wesley and
Coke have "scruples',". delays, references
to antiquity, imposition of hands, and oth
or solemn Urms, conforming to the "uni
versal pr&ct ice" of episcopal oidmation :
mdtet ali concerning some nondescript
kind'of eppointb.ent, analogous to that
tfhich is confer r. d up -n a missiuiiary, iu
har.re over bis brethieu in a foreign sta
Aon? Wesley ? oak sol it as "ordaining,"
and of Ids rci tir ing to n e the right beioie
she devolution became it would have in
terfered with the "cstablisntd order of the
national Church;" srd yet a mere secon
dary commission ol Cke, such an one as
hai existed in tho person of Asbury for
years, is the momentous interference wth
the established order of. the national
Church though there was nothingtn that
nder with which it could interfere the
na'ional (Uiuieh never having bad any
such appointments.! Wesley solemnly
'ordains" C"ke; and yet it is not to the
episcopal eftice, though he had beer, or
dained to all the other offices to which or
dination is appropriate, years be ere Wes
ley ordains two other men tqjhe office of
elder and at the same time separately and
formally ordains Coke, who had already
borne this office ; but still Ccke s new of
fice is not the only remaining one that
could be conferred upon him . csley
refers to the ordination of bishops by the
presbyters of Alexandria, in j unification
of Coke, and yet he does not ordain Coke
a bishop ! Wesley prepares for the A
mtrican Church a Prayer Book abridged
from that of the Church of England, pre
scribing the English forms for the three
offices of 'deacons, presbyters, anu bishops;
the two former are allowed unquestionably
to be what they are in England and yet
the latter is explained into something new
and anomalous, answering to nothing ever
beard of in the Church of England or in
any other episcopal Church? In these
'buns the old names of two of rno offices
are changed to new but synonymous appel
lations, that of presbyter or priest toeldcr,
thattf bishop to superintendent; in the
former ca ;e the change of the name is not
for a moment supposed to impty a change
of the thing ; and yet in tlie other case, the
change or the name invalidates entirely
the thing, without a particle more evidence
for it iu the one case than in the other !
Charles Wesley, being a High Churhtnan,
is kept unaware of his brother s proceed
In era fill thev are accomplished, though ne
ls in the town at the time of the ordina
tion j aud yet it is no ordination, but a
specks of appointment ugainst .which be
could hate hud no episcopal prejudice
Waatevtr! Y hen he learns the facts 1 e
is o trwbelmcd itii surprise, and in LL
eorrei?ponleuce esciahns against his "bro
ther's consecration 1 a bishop," .';nd"!?r.
Cuke's Method'st Epheopal Church" at
lialtimore, and YVcslev, iti hisrepiies, nev
er denies tne.fe tiths, but s mply
Vindi
cates Ins old majors, and rays that Joke
had "done nothing ix-slilv ." vet these was
no bishop, no episcopal tfliee ajpointe-'l.
Hstii ct epi-'Cfpa' Churtii e.st.'ibiished, but
Cuke l ad fabricated the v. le k-! When
tlte pieachcrs in England, trained under
epi.-eopaey, Lear of Coke s new i luce, they
are. to the great alarm ei Charles Wiv-iey;
suddenly reized with a desire to be ordain
ed by Coke, though they fully knew that
he is no bishop, but the same presbyter
that he had been amoujr them for years '
In six months after.thc oraaii'zatiuuof the
American Church, Coke publishes its Min
utes, with the title, "Methodic Eph copal
Church iu Ameiica,' in L u.dun. uuder
the eye of Wesley, and in these Minutes
it is dec'ared that Wesley "recommended
the episcc'j-al mode of Church govern
incut;" but no re mens trance is hoard from
Weley! When Cole is eendemncd in
the public prints lbi his proceedings, he
publicly replies that he had done "noth
ing without the direction of Mr. Wesley;"
no rebuke follows from Wesley but Coke
goes on as usual, presiding iu his Confer
ences, and maintained in his new position;
and yet hi i American proceedings were an
ambitious plot, ce.-.lraiy to the will of YYes
ley ! The AmerieanJMt thodists had borne
the title "Episcopal" Church," with Wes
ley's ful approval, for four years, when,
on the use of the pcrsonual title of bishop,
Wesley writes Ins letter to Asbury : and
yet it is not the mere personal tit'e he con
demiis, but the office which, for four years,
he had left uncondomncd, nay, had vindi
cated !
And now, looking again at this scries
of arguments, will not .he American Mcih
odists be acquitted of presumption when
they assume that they may h? re make a
taiiimphant stand, surrounded by evidence
accumulated and impregnable ? The no
ble ecclesiastical system under which it
has pleased God to give them and their
families spiritual shelter and fellowship
with his saint;, and .wh.cse efficiency ban
surpiised the Christian woild, is not, a,v
their opponents won d represent, an impo
sition of their preachers, and confiary to
the wishes of Wesley, but wis legitimate
ly received from bis hands as the provi
dential founder of Methodism.
If Wesley's strong repugnance to the
mere rarac of .bishop had be. n expressed
before its adoption by the American
Chuich. it would probably not have been
adopted. Hi ill, the American Church was
now a separate organisation, tnd was at
perfect liberty to dissent from Wesley on
a matter of mere cxnedie n y . ' The Chut ch
thou i? hi. it had cood
reus- ns to use the
name.
The American Me.theuists were
mostly of English oiig-n. lhe peopie ol
their country amcng whoei Methodism
was most successful, were either frt m En
gland i v of immediate E.oglish descent,
and had been educated to consider
episcopacy a wholesome and apos'olical
government of the Clnneh. The Chuich
appiovcd and had the office, why not then
have the name? especially as, Without the
name, the office itself -would be' 1 able to
lose, in the eyes o! the people, its peeiniar
character, and thireby fail in that appeal
ii their long established opinions which
Methodism had a right, both from princi
ple and expediency, to make ? The Eng
lish Estabhshmcnt having been dissolved
in this country, and the Protestant Epis
copalians not "being yet organized on tin
independent basis, and the episcopal or--rani
nation of the Methodists having pre
ceded that of the Protestant Episcopalians,
the Methodist Church had a clear right to
present itself to the American publie as
competent to aid in supplying the place
of the abolished Establishment, having the
same essential principles without its pecu
liar defects.
May not the circumstance of the cs
snovmion of an episcopal character, nomi
nally as well as really, by the American
Methodists, be considered providential-?
Episcopacy, both iu America ar-d England,
hai reached an excess ef presumption and
arrogance. The moderate party, once de
clared by Bishop White, of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, to include a large ma
jority of American Eepiscopafians, has
nearly disappeared. Was it not providen
tial under these nrcunastance?,tliata body
of Christians should appear, cxceediugetT
ry other'in success, and nominally and prac
tically beating an episcopal character, with
out any of-its presumptuous pretensions?
Amid the uncharitable assumptions of prc
latical Episcopalians, the Methodist Epis
copal Chuich stands forth a monument of
the laborious and simple episcopacy of the
early aes ; its success as well as its Humil
ity, contrasting it sign illy with its more
pretentious but feebler sister. It has thus
practically vindicated episcopacy as au ex
pedient form of ecelesiasticalgovernnient,
tind assuredly it neatls vindication in these
list's
Such, then, is the evidence which should,
with all men of self-respectful candor, con
clude decisively the question of Wesley's
design and agency in the-organization of
American Methodism.
Driven from this ground, objectors re-
Case of the Prot. Epis. Church ift the V- itl
fc tates, etc., p. 2S, . .
treat to an equally untenable one, by al
legmg tnat thij episcopal organization ol
the societies in America is to he attributed
to the influence of ambitious counsellors
over Wesley, in the imbecility of bis old
aye. In has a!i eidy been shown that he
as yet betrayed no such imbecility ; but it
has stiii more conclusively been demon
strated that, the ccclesiasf'cal opinions
wlrleh sanction tins great act, were adopt
er in the prime of his manhood. They
were the vel!-considered and fully demon-
j strafed 'convictions of two -ooie years, be
fore he yielded to the unavoidable necessi
ty oi giving them practical tiiict. Pew
facts iu the history u. Methodism art more
.interesting and instruct! to than the grad
ual development of Wesley's own mind and
character under his extraordinary and ac
cumulating responsibilities; it has there
iote been studiously traced throughout the
pieced ng pages. No reader who has fo!
loved this narrative will need an addition
al word in refutation of this last objection
to the American Metln.disf episcopacy, and
no pos.sibfe "round of argumtnt. remains I
for its npp.uen's but the pielaiical charge
against its egiiimacy. founded in the tra
ditional and exploded eec'c-iastic'sm of ob
solete ages. Methodists are conUnt. with
WtslfV, to prcn; unce the apostolic suocos
sion !i ('able which no man ever did, or
ever can prove," and believe that, in this
age, ihey need not anxiously challenge any
advantage which their Oj-ponents cau ilaim
from a prefer sion so incompatih'e alike
wiih the let er and the cl .vify of the Cos
pel, as welits with the Christian enlighten
ment of modern times.
Weil y war. in good company among Church
men in hi? ti nnnciatioa of tae "fublo" of thesuc
cts ion. Chit'invi rt'i said, "I am fully per
Kiiiuio'l tli re hut'i Veen no sujh runccsoiou
Li shop Siilliugllaet dt-darea tba. 'this &iu-ces
sion is a i m u dy as ilie Tiber itself." Bishop
Hon !! y sss'.-rts : "It bath not pleased Uod, in hid
pro i.leuce, to keep up any proof of the lest
probab liiy. or moral possibility, of a regular c
iiit riupted t-ucccsfiion ; buttheroisagie.it ap
pe:ir:ir ee, and, humanly speaking, a oertainH, to
ths contrary, that the sueoe siori hatholten been
iLterruptcd." i rhbiohop Whareley .-ays ''there
is not a u inistcr in all Christeudoin who is able
to Ir.iC! up, with approach to ct.rta:nty, hit- spi
ritual pi digr e."
Xov-Tbt Accepted Time.
A young man called upon me one Sab
bath evening, and as soon as we were seat
ed, he said to me . - '
"1 have accepted the invitation that you
h.ivc so often given from the pulpit to
any who were willing to converse with
you upon the subject ef religion."
"I am glad to see you," said T.
'1 den't know," he replied, "as 1 have
anything to say, such as I ought to have ;
but I am convinced that .1 have neglecfed
religion long cw , and I am determin
ed to put it oil' no longer."
"That is a good determination," said I.
" 'Behold now is the accepted tini, be
hfld.tu.w is the diy of salvation."'
"Well, 1. don't kuow as that text is for
me, because1 ."
'Yes, it is for you," said I. interriipt
inz him.
"1 was going to say, sir, I don't suppose .
1 have got so far as that yet, so that sal
vat on is for me now."
'You fu'dme that you were 'determin
ed to put ot icligicn no longer;' ami there
fore I say, 'now is the accepted time, now
is
Lt!C eav oi saivanou.
cay
"Put 1 don't wish to be iu a hurry, sir.
" You r u.jht to be In haste. D ivid was.
lie "says, 4 thought on my ways and turn
ed my feet to (by testimonies. I made
haste, and delayed not to k- t p thy -commandments'
'Got! new couimandeth all
men, everywhere, to repent,' and you are
one of tbi m. And if you are like David,
you will 'make haste and delay not' to
keep God's commandments."
'1 don't suppose 1 am in such a state
of mind, as to be prepared to become a
Christian hmc"
' Will disobeying God put you in a let
ter state of mind, do you think ?"
"Why, I don't know ; but 1 have not
much deep conviction. 1 know that I
am a sinner against: God, audi wish to
turn to Him, and live a different life."
'T ion turn to Ivitn. Now is the ac
cepted time."
"But I find my heart is full of sin ; 1
ran all wrong; 1 led an oppos:tion to God
buch as I never felt before."
"Then repent and turn to God instant
lyj while it is call to-day."
"But 1 don't suppose T can be ready to
come to religion so yV.r."
"You s'tid you were 'determined to pub
it off no longei and I told you 'now is the
accepted time.'"
"But I never began to think seriously
abnut my religion till last Sunday."
" Aud'so you want to put it off a little
longer."
'' Why I want to get ready."
"And arc you getting ready ? You
have tried it for a week."
"No sir," said he in a sad manner, "I
don't think 1 am any. nearer to it than I
was at first."
1 don't think you are. Aud I suppose
the reason is, that you don't believe 'now
is the accepted time.' "
"Oh, y es, I do ; for the Bible say s so."
"Then dou't wait for any other time.
Bet cnt now. Vice to Christ now, in 'the
accepted time.' "
"I have not conviction enough yet."
' Then it cannot be 'the tfeeepted time'
yet."
'But I have not faith enough."
"Then it cannot be 'the accepted time.'"
"Well. sir. I, I. I am not ready xow."
"Then it cannot be 'the accepted time'
now.
"?ut it ecems to me, it is too .".,"
said he earnestly.
"Then it cannr-t be 'the accepted time,'
and the Bible has made a mistake."
' But, sir, my heart is not ju-h--hV
''Pliirk If its nitr i li nr.iir.fo.l t n,ii "
; " 'f " . " " v
i ii.it mucn emoariastnieni in ms mail
ncTj he rep.lied, ,
" What shall I do V
"lirpent and turn to God, with faith In
Christ to save you as a lost unworthy sin
ner, now is !the accepted time '"
He apc-carcd to bo in a ereat strait
1 .
lie sat in silence with very manifest un-
easiness for a few moments, and l.hen ask
ed, "Is it pcssibe that uny one should re
pent, and give up the world, end turn to
God so swi, when I began to think'"abiut
it only last Sunday ?"
" 'New is the accep'ed time,' " said I.
Again he fat in though tful silence, and
after a time he asked me,
"I sdra'ion offered to sinners n- '
' Yes, now. 'Now is the day of salva-
11UII.
"But it seems to me T am not prrjtond
now to give up the world.
' That very thing is your difficulty.-
V t are not prepared ; but 'now is lhe s;e
cepted time.' You wish to put eli' yo if
repentance and conversion to Christ till
si me othfr time; but 'now is the accep
ted time.' Yrou and your Bible disagree.
And if nothing else kept you from salva
tion, this would be enough. I beseech
you, my dear friend, delay no longer.
Now is God's time. 'Deny yourself, and
take up yrnr cross, and follow Jesus
Christ.' You told me you were deter
mined to put off religion no longer. I sus
pected you did not know your own heart,
and therefore said to you, 'now is the ac
cepted time." And now it has become
manifest, that you meant to put eff reli
gion till some other time, all the while."
"It seems hard to shut up a man just to
the present time," said he, in an implor
ing accent.
"If you were a dying man, sml had on
ly an hour to live, you would not say so.
You would be glad to have the Bible say
lo you, 'now is the accepted time,' instead
of telling you, you needed a month or a
week to flee to Christ! Tt is nu-rey in God
to say to you, 'behold now is the day of
salva'ion,' when you do not know as you
will Jive till to morrow iiuiv"tu;.; '
"Will you pray with me?" said I.e.
I prayed with him, and we separated.
The last woids 1 uttered to him as he left
the door, were, "now is the accepted
time.
Just one week aftci wards he called up
on me, "to give au account of himself," as
he said,
" I ha ve got out of my Irvttblo;" said be
-Now i trust in Christ, and I am iocui
ci led to God, or at'mast 1 tbir k so. 1
thought you weie very hard upon me last
Sunday night, when you hamuitrrti me,
and h-unmered me with the text, now is
the accepted time..' But I could'nt get
away from it. It followed me everywhere.
I would think of one thing, and then that
would ccme up, 'now is the accepted time'
Then I would begin to think of something
else, and it would come up aga'n, 'now is
the accepted time.' I tried to forget that
text, but I could not. I said lo myself, 1
there is something else in the Bible' ex
cept that ; but wherever I read, that would
come to my mind. It annoyed mo an
tormented me. Finally, I 1 egan to ques
tion myself, why it was that this plagued
me so much ? And I found it was becam-e
I was r.ot u iliuj to h- aared Ly (Jhrit-l. 1
was trying to do son cthin for myself,
and I wanted more time. But i wis not
done. Even thing failed no. And lien
I thought, if 'now "h the tc v, ted time.,
I may go to Christ n w, wh-ke i as I :on
So I just prayed for ineicy, and gave up
all to Him."
The idea of tins young man w..s m- to j
me. It had never enten iny mmd. !.oat j
when one want: more tin e. is evn-,-
lie is r.ot iviHin-j to Le mred Ly Cln-i.i I
supposethatit, is true. A drdayi-:'; sin
ner is a legalist. Self righteousness de
lays. HoW little thci procras tinating knr.f
about their own hi arts!
The ISeauty ol'Fa'lb.
The world's ideas of beauty areas false
a3 its ideas of heroism. A lit In lou-.'-l-ness
of feature aud freshness of color, and
w,.i-T crv riir, " How lovely ! " But it is
the loveliness of a statue of of a aii.ti!!g.
not of a being made in the im uro of G d.
"Within that lounded and ,aintcd casket
there may be a dull pebb e or a paste ma
mond, instead oi age in likesoul. He who
is attracted by the outside simw is utsgus
ted when he sees the poverty within a
nlden case for a penny-worth ol glass
beads! But spiritual beauty will so mir
ror itself in the plainest features and flash
out from the smallest, the most d. eply sen
o-ray eye, as to make deformity lovely - ;
, .:ii ..tl..,.,.i;-. -o t,;i , tiirroweu. lriOiTU- i
lar face, until itsccms angelic.
John Bunvan's Flute A Mr.
Howell, tailor, Gainsborough. Eng , has
t - : flutrt with which
in nis tossejMoii "" ......
2. J! J w51ed the tediousness of his
tive hours. Banyan is said to have
manufactured it in p.ison out of the leg
nfTstoo which being re-placed in the
llltCty attracted by the
cnd of music, enter eel the cell to take
j it away, escaped "fiswtion. 1
TnSLilihe l-ii I;ei un llc lf;n.
l:Y TIIi: HKV .U)ll. Tfl-'. t' i.
Par up lhe side oi the ui j
naked ink shot uo stiii hi;,!;, i
. i i i i '
.ii.t tie
e i ciy nign as you i kcu upw. i.i.
I t.i:
j ruCk van ven - u ns
and was i.iti (
- i T,r- ..t .... i,
T'CT; iiieu J.i s. tin ii.-. sii.'..e tve:
'bar
; kinds of lichen giow'ng -i'-eiu .I.ui'wh.-se
ical was very smaii, lo lhe h'ts;., whit a w
juite coarse ;;nd higr. We Minetinio-t
see such lichen on ;ui .1.1 n, :. (.Idftf
or an .ld hono. ' ho liu-c f ihe hiii.e
rook was fihro'st. C'uon! with 't
i sat omaij m.der the shad of tin- ni.'in-
tain, v.a:tiiig for my frii nd I hit the
hcheij and bogau to V ieiurr, in my (?. ;i
mind, what it was created lor, and ot wi at
use it e.ou'd be, wl en 1 seemed to hear n
small, crispy voice, far up the reck, c-all-in-r
out
' Mul her how old am I TZ ,1
" by, my child yi u have' but just
begun to live. You are only cL-h.'y eais
old ye'!" J " JJ
"And how old are you?"
Vc r'.nall myself young, fur I am only
five hundred and twenty five years old."
1 now listened with all my ears, tor I
knew it was the lichen talking an ong
themselxos. I felt sure they would sny
more, and 1 lookout my .pencil lo p..l
down what they would say. Pretty soo.i I
heard the same little voic? say,
"Mother, ain't y ou discuti raged V
"Discourager! at what, pray?"
"At yoor size! Five hundred and
twenty years old, and how very small you
-i e .
"Not so small, either ! I cover six in
ches square already, whi'e there's 'my
poor grandmother, almost eleven hundred
years, eld, and she covers only five iiiehe--,
even now ! Very few, am "tq-fy to sav;
of the lichcs faintly, who have winked
harder or accomplished more than I have
though I do say it myself."
Well, mother, of v. bat use is It to
cling to this great rock, and hang here
summer and wintci, amid storms, ami
cold, and winds beating upon us? II ere 1
have clung and been trying to pnaw into
this rock for eighty years, and have not y i t
got my roots in hill" an iuch. What's li e
use ? We might as well die and d p i It.
No-body would miss us or cure. WhaL,
we lite furl"
"To raiso wheat."
"llai.e rtheai, tj.b. ,ir-.."
"Piay, mother, wl.jii.do y m mean ? Wo
lichen, away up here on thi.i eld nek,
raise wheat ! If that ain't funny !"
Listen, my chil l. This huge nfoun
tain is all solid rock. U it was all pt und
id up it would make soil on whic.'i uc u
would raise v. heat. But it is ow ttiy
hard, and there is nothing to pound it.
and turn it into powder. And so God
I as .'leated ns, the lichen lo have our
home hv re, to clli g (. it, to gnaw it, and
with a -kind of acid we have, to crumble
and dissolve it. Dou't you remember
that the very last year, you rolled duwa
two l'ttle grains f the rock ? W U. every
grain we n ake fai's down, then the rains
wash it into the little brook, anil the brooj.;
carries it into toe river, and. the river
rubes ;t up, and it overflows its ban!-.,
diops it jus! wbire the old .oil is . mii
out and ti c vvb'-at need new. 'l he .Nile
thus carries d.ovi n little p michs from the
mountains, .:nl makes Egypt so fruit
ful; '()!! T!i:,!ll be-W oft'-ll CitH T g?UW
fl rock ei;u ;ti t- iai-e a kernel of
vrh- at ;"
I Vvh.n s .- in i'rils ..ar"
'(!! v h.i- f r:v w .";' When v'W
Wind o. t' ' oil; ibis e:f raMf whoa' '"
"Pe. naps five J undu-J ye ns I race.
Ged sees .!;.!. ll ete v, V be ( Id Im'li Hod
li!1 le. ( IiiIkicm ti en rait t cn, and t'. y
vviil unt Ijie.ni, ail'! :ai
a d r -hired lu-re t
he has crc;.t d is
r -pare s H. jh d
ht t, this r.fck n.fiy nd. o wln.'d. J I s
1 .. .f i .: Oi I- lc :il i I I'll I'. c s. and li.: ki s
uu,u Uf l i-)A .
( (.r ia.. w; f u
, , .. . , 1V
' " - " .
lit lie. tel. that lit t:
in. -i .
go'.d to bilnc
i 1
DO'Sy
The lichen pped talk leg, but 1 did
not stop thinking. What would u.y young
icaJer have thought had be been there?
I,!ll t-'ll
Talk lo me now in S"ipMjrc lar.gTtgc
aioae,' sai'' a dying Christian. 'I rail
trust the woids of God; but when ihey
are the words of man, it costs me au ti
fbrt to think whether I in- y trutto ihem.'
This vas the testimony ol'ouo who died
in the mo-nir-gof l'lc. 'Charles, bring
me -the Bible," said a dying mother.
The weak sufferer laid her thin, pale
hand on the blessed book, and said, 'I rest
in Christ.' How plcas;nt arc the last
hours of a Christian ; and how often have
they borne t the trembling the assurance
than i oath h is no M:ng, and the grave no
v.elory ! W ho wOald not bear the cros
ou can", iu - vi. ... '
A WotniiY ExA.Mrid:. The Boston
Conoreooliouxiliat states that Bcv. Dr.
Burn ham's church, Bindgc, N. IJ., has
paid the pastor's salary, for 42 years, iu
. . - . - - .
one sum, cn the very day tt became due,
and near y at the t
amc hour of the day,
except when pay uay oume on u.e oao-
WH., and then the money was T
day before ! Such punctuality dt,crve,
iinitation, especially in these Bttmgect
tames,
-4
i"? '