North Carolina Newspapers

H W PAL MET 01) ST PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF METliODISM IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA Vol. II. For the Episcopal Methodist. FaYETTEVILLE, N. C, ) Nov. 10th, 1868. j Mr. Editor; Dear Sir: Since lea v ing Warsaw I have traveled, as I cal- culate it, just 241) miles to reach this nty tweive hours ride, at the usual railroad rates, of 20 miles per hour, makes the handsome distance of 240 miles; and yet; this place is only fifty bib les Irom Warsaw. Twelve vears HHj Fayetteville was probably the most flourishing place in the State. In fifty six the great North Carolina road was completed, cutting off a iarge amount of trade from this mar ket. Ninety miles of railroad would have connected this place with Greensboro' by way of the coal fields, or fifty miles would have connected it with Raleigh. If either of these roads j had been built twelve years ago, Fay- etteville would have sustained itself at least, but as it is, probably the population is a little less than it was in fifty six; and yet, these very wor thy and industrious people have an nually paid heavy taxes, to build and sustain roads in various other por tions of the State. Only one railroad leads out from this citv fortv three miles to the coal fields, in the direc tion of Greensboro'; when the airline how in progress from Raleigh to Co lumbia is completed, it will cut this road about forty miles from here, and about three miles from the end of the Western road, just mentioned above, thus giving us connection in Raleigh with their ancient city, the distance by railroad, being about 80 miles. This air line road will eventually pro voke a road from here to Lurnberon, 35 miles, and another from here to Fauon s t ith inst, fifty miles. The roads in those directions will thus bid for the freight and travel of Fayette ville. Strict justice to this section would have built these roads ten years ago; but justice will eventually come, and the beauties and excellen cies of cross creek will shine forth in full radiance. There are many fine residences away up on Hay Mount, representing no small amount of wealth, even yet, snd some of the best men in all the State reside here, quietly waiting the time when a grand city of private mansions on the hill, will overlook a grand city of business houses, stretch ing away down to the Cape Fear riv erside, and shipping annually its mil lions of produce as heretofore. When these things shall come to pass, as I verily hope to see, I promise these good people to make up a grand ex cursion party in Raleigh, come down on the train, take a pick-nick dinner in one of those beautiful groves on Hay Mount, and hear a beautiful speech from Dobbin, or some other one of the beautiful speakers of this town. I should not fail to mention, that the citizens here, have re-built since the war, the bridge over Cape Fear; it is a handsome and durable struct ure, and is said to be paying stock. Several new stores have been built since my last visit, and Mr. Jones has repaired his Hotel in a handsome style, giving his guests now really city fare, and accommodations. The Fayetteville ,goJgl is now kept by Mr. Praughon. The Messrs. Sreel and Lilly have lately opened a new Bank; this with P. A. Wiley, & Co., Banking House, gives the people increased monial facilities. I so to Eervwt on Thursday, where there are six stores, and a handsome trade indeed, for so small a town. Two ladies conduct business there, each carrying on a brisk and success ful trade. Charley Conober also re nides there all the way from merry Hengland,' and about his numerous children and grand-childien, he can talk to you all day long. Mr. Muse keeps a Hotel, and right well he feeds his guests. Long before day on Fri day morning, I shall leave Mr. Muses house by private conveyance for Mor risville, taking breakfast at Pittsboro, after a ride of 14 miles, thence 22 miles over the roughest road this side the Alps, for dinner at Morrisville, which will be about supper time, per chance; but a good night's sleep at Pages Hotel will enable me to reach Raleigh early Saturday morning, ' all weary and worn, if not ' all tattered and torn.' And now some inquisitive reader may ask why Branson is run nmg all round the country after this stylo ? But I will just ask him to re member that I am general Superin j tendent' (self appointed of course like M. all other great officers,) of Public ; Works, Internal Improvements, Edu- ! cation, Agriculture, and especially of the North Carolina Business Directo- jry. In witness whereof I my hand and seal. hereunto set L. Branson. Participating in Worldly Plea sures. If there are pleasures which the world, alienated from God, has stara- ped and chosen as its own; pleasures which express the vanity and darkness of the natural mind; pleas ures which bind men as ungodly to gether in fellowship and sympathy from these pleasures professing Chris tians must wholly abstain, if thev would "keep their garments unspotted from the world." Now the dance the opera, the theatre, the race course, H id onne genua fall exactly into this category. They have been oppropria ted by "the lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," as their peculiar portion they bear the stamp of the mint in which they have been coined they are acknowledged badges of a worldly profession; and, in some sort, sacraments of allegiance to the Prince of the power of the air. We just as naturally infjr that one who mingles in them is worldly in his tastes and pursuits, as that one who goes to ttie Lord's Table is a professed follower of Jesus. In this aspect of the case, then, however perplexed we may be in framing a general and positive, rule which shaU discriminate all the law ful amusements of the Christian, we have no difficulty in reaching a uea tive decision upon the dance and the pleasures cognate with it. Brethren "I would not, that ye should have fel lowship with devils; ye caunot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and of the table of dev ils." Indeed, this matter may be brought home to the conscience. In joining ourselves to the visible Church, do we profess to have come out from the world and to be a peculiar people ? What separation any more remains to us when we have band d with the world in the enjoyment of its vanities? Do we profess to be "strangers and pilgrims upon earth, seeking a better country, even a heavenly ?" How does this comport with our "lusting after the flesh-pots of Egypt ?" Do we pro fess to groan over the remains of in dwelling sin, an to sigh after greater holiness of heart? What consterna tion would be produced if, amid the evolutions of the dance, we should ex press this in the pregnant utterance of Paul, "Oh, wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" and would not the reply come to us from a chorus of voices, "What doest thou here, Eli jah ?" Do we profess to fear the temp tations of the devil ? How does this consist with following Satan into his own haunts that we may tempt him ? j Do we profess to be in travail of soul 'for the salvation of impenitent men ? Suppose that we speak to a partner in the dance, warning him faithfully of the wrath to come; is it he, or is it conscience, that rebukes our profane- ness ? Do we testify to the world the pleasures of a good conscience and thejoj'of communion with God? What is that testimony worth when contradicted by our testimony for the pleasures of frivolous mirth ? But above all, do we profess to be the fol lowers of Him, whose style and title on earth was "the Man of Sorrows ?" Do we profess to "bear about in our bodies the dying of th Lord Jesus;" and have we been to the communion table expressly to remember Him in his death, and to have fellowship with Him in his sufferings? Oh ! tell it not out to earth, lest it rend again the ve ry rocks and break once more the slumbers of the dead a dancing dis ciple of a crucified Redeemer ! ! A ho ly prudence, I know, must be used in drawing out religious truth to the no tice of the ungodly. Yet the Chris tian has no call to be in anr assembly, when his simple presence there effec tually closes his lips and seals up the testimony, which, as God's witness, he should never le disabled from ut- tering. Dr. B. M. Palmer. Heat s a Motive Power. No small amount of .anxiety has been occasioned of late in Great Brit ain hy certain estimates, based appar ently upon substantial premises, go ing to show the probable not distant failure of the supply of coal for manu facturing purposes. But providen tial provisions seem likely now to an ticipate such a contingency, and ren der the actual occurrence an event no longer to be dreaded. Captain Erics son, an honored adopted citizen of this country, the renowned inventor of the iron-clad monitor, of the screw propeller, and of the caloric engine, at the present time in his native Swed en, has brought to a successful termi nation a protracted series of experi ments in which he has sought to avail himself of the sun's ravs as a motive power. He has prepared three engines, one of which is moved by steam, the oth er two by compressed air, and all of them are set in motion and continued at their work by the power of the con centrated ravs of the sun. The ex haustion of the coal fields may be looked upon with complacency if, as it seems now to be probable, the great source of light and heat can be so utilized as to provide a calorific force to keep the enginery of the civilized i portion of the earth in operation. Mr. Ericsson, in a letter describing his wonderful invention, addressed to the Swedish University of Lund, says with pardonable enthusiasm, ' Archi medes exclaimed that his favorite de vice, the lever, had power enough to heave the earth out of -its path. It may be more truly said that the con centration of the radiant heat of the sun furnishes sufficient force to stop the earth in its course.' Steam has been one of the most powerful materi al agents of modern civilization; it has multiplied almost in6nitely hu man force, and giveu man an extraor dinary power to overcome physical obstacles. It has also increased hu man comforts bv affording what would otherwise be bevond the reach of the poor at n cheaper rate, and it has mit igated the oppressive weight of labor by enabliug machinery to perform all its heaviest tasks. The cost of fuel has ever limited the widest use of its irresistable force. But if now the in exhaustible sun, by flashing his rays upon an engine, can keep it in con stant motion, it is difficult to estimate the effect that it will have upon the world's material progress. Mr. Erics son meets the natural inquiry as to the practical difficulty growing out of long periods of cloudy and wet weath er by intimating, without explanation, that skillful engineers will find no difficulty 'in laying up a supply when the sky is clear, and that great store house is opened where the fuel may be obtained free of cost and transpor tation.' Dying Words of VYilberforce. "Come and sic near me; let me lean on j on," said Wilberforce to a friend, a few minutes 1 efore his death. After ward putting his arms around that friend, he said, "God bless you, my dear!" He became agitated somewhat and then ceased speaking. Presently, however, he said : "I must leave you, my fond friend; we shall walk no far ther through this world together, but I hope we shall meet in heaven. Let us talk of heaven. Do not weep for me. I am very happy. Do not weep for me. I am very happy. Think of me, and let the thought make you press forward. I never knew happi ness till I found Christ a Saviour. "Read the Bible! Bead the Bible!" Let no religious book take its place. Through all my perplexities and dis tresses, I never read any other books, I and I never felt the want of any other. It has been my hourly study; and all my knowledge of the doctrines, and all my acquaintance with the experi ences and realities of religion, have been drawn from the Bible only. I think religious people do not read the Bible enough. Books about re ligion may be useful euough, but they will not do instead of the sim ple truth of the Bible." Causes of Sudden Death. Dr. J. M. Howe, of New York, writes j as follows on this subject: j "Very few of the sudden deaths! which are said to arise from disease of i the heart do really arise from thatj cause. To ascertain the real origin of; Tue following instance of divine in sudden deaths, the experiment has I '-erposition in answer to prayer is re been tried in Europe, and reported to lated b3' the missionary Hans Egede a scientific congress held at Strasburg. i Saabye, the grandson of the celebra-Sixtj--i. cases of sudden death were teJ Hans Ede, who was the first made th'e subject of a thorough (missionary to Greenland: mortem examination. In these cases ln the 2ear 1849 a young married only two were found that had died of j Pair who uad fouml grace iu the Lord disease of the heart. Nine out of six- j Jesus camo to Okak to get some pro ty died of apoplexy, while there were j visions- n tleir way they were met fortv-six cases of' congestion of the ! b3 a larSe white bear which is the o lungs that is, the luugs were so full o of blood they could not work, there not being room enough for a sufficient quantity of air to enter to support life. The causes that produce congestion of the lungs are cold feet, tight cloth ing, costive bowels, sitting still until chilled after being warmed with labor or a x-apid walk, going too suddenly from a close, heated room, into the cold air, especially after speaking, and sudden depressive news operating on the lungs and circulation of the blood. These causes of sudden deaths beiner known, an avoidance of them may serve to lengthen out va luable lives which would otherwise be lost under the v rdict of heart complaint. That disease is supposed to be inevitable and incurable; hence men may not take the pains they would to avoid sudden death if they knew it lay in their power. A judicious and perse vering use of the inhalation of the common air through the inhaling tube, would, we are persuaded, even in per sons who have no tendency to con sumption, in many cases prolong life full ten years. It would toughen the throat and lungs, and do away with all the liability to congestion and in flammation of these organs to which so many are liable by reason of the lack of out-of-door, vigorous exercise, and of a sedentary life; and especially as persons advance in age, it would tend greath' to keep up to its normal con dition the circulation and arterializa tion of the blood and a healthy state of the digestive organs, and thus lessen the liability to sudden death. Three JJad Things. By three bad things I mean bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds. - , We know that an ear of corn grows from a grain, a flower from a seed, and an oak from an acorn. Well, just in the same way bad words and bad deeds spring up from bad thoughts. If we leave the door of our mind open, and are not watchful; if we let bad thoughts come in and stay there, bad words and bad deeds will follow them. When proud, wicked Haman fell in to a rage with Mordecai, the Jew, he let bad thoughts enter his heart, and then he began to consider how he could punish Mordecai. The more he thought of the matter the more his bad thoughts pushed him on to evil; till at last he made up his mind to bring about the death of Mordecai, and all his people, the Jews. But did the matter end there? 0 no', bad thoughts will go on from bad to worse; so Hainan's bad thoughts made him use bad words. He went to the King and spoke against the Jews, and persuaded him to give a command that they might all be de stroyed. Thus, you see, bad words followed bad thoughts. Haman was not yet satisfied; for, as 1 said, bad thoughts and bad words are sure, unless it please God to or der otherwise, to be followed by bad deeds. Haman took good care that the King's command should be sent through the country, and after that caused a gallo.vs to be made, that Mor decai might be hanged thereon. But mark what bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds did for Haman. The King found out that he was a wicked and deceitful man, and so hg had him hanged on the very gallows he had set up for Mordecai Again I say, beware of bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds. Pray apainst these three bad things : say "Search me O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlast ing. Prayer and Deliverance. most fierce and dangerous animal of these regions. The7 were, as you may suppose, very much frightened, and the more so because the man car ried no gun or other weapon to de fend his own life or that of his wife. He therefore turned to his companion and said, "We can do nothing to save ourselves from this danger but pray." They then knelt down together on the snow, and begged God to protect them, offering their bodies, souls, and spirits to his divine will. "While they were thus engaged the bear came up to them, but to their wonder and joy he quietly passed them by. On their return from Okak, when they had nearly reached the same place, they were alarmed at seeing the fierce crea ture coming up to them again. The terrified couple, having proved the value of prayer on the first occasion, again kneeled down and looked up to Heaven for help. The bear came close up to them and smelt all around them, but he did th m no injury and went away. He who delivered David out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear had heard their crv, and deliver ed them. Carrying- ox Business- for Chrigt. "Many years ago, happening to be in South Wales, I made the acquain tance of a Welsh gentleman. He was then a landed proprietor, living in his own mansion, and in very com fortable circumstances. He had been before carrying on an extensive busi ness in a large town. By the death of a relative he had unexpectedly come into possesion of this property. Af ter considering whether he should re tire from business, he made up his mind that he should still continue to carry it on, though no longer for him self, but for Christ. I could not help being struck with the gkesomencss of a holy mind which lighted up his countenance when he s-id: "I never knew before what real happiness was. Formerly I wTought as a master to earn a livelihood for myself, but now I am carrying on the same work as diligently as if for myself, and even more so, but it is now for Christ, and every half-penny of profits is handed over to the treasury of the Lord, and I feel that the smile of my Saviour rests upon me.' I think that is an example worthy of being imitated." Dr. Duff. The Fruits of Faith. xVll true and lively faith (says Leigh ton, ) begets love; and thus that hea venly light is the vehicle of heat. And, as by this means, true faith has a tendency to the practice of obedience the latter depends upon faith, and Hows from it. All knowledge of mys teries is vain and of no value, unless it have influence upon the affections, and thereby upon the whole conduct of life. The luminaries of heaven are placed on high; but they are so pla ced that they may shine, and perform their periods, for the benefit ol this earth. Mow Good Salaries Come. That pastor who abandons a weak church because the salary is too small is like the farmer who abandons his newly purchased farm because the crops are insufficient. Salaries like crops, increase in proportion to the amount of labor expended. He who stays and patiently toils, year after year, reaps a better and better har vest. He who drops his work and re moves to another field every six or 12 months has a dismal time of it, and deservedly so ! Standing Fire. A young soldier, going to his bar rack room to sleep for the first time; quietly knelt down to pray in the pres ence of his comrades. This act was the signal for a storm. Hisses, shouts and whistling filled the room with hi deous noise. Belts were thrown at the kneeling soldier, and one mail leaped upon the bed and shouted in his ear. But he was unmoved to tbd end of the prayer, when he arose and silently went to his repose. Tho next night his comrades eagerly watch ; ed, to see if he would dare to kneel a second time. To their surprise ho again dropped on his knees, and they saluted him with the same noise as on the previous evening. Ho did not flinch, however . The third evening he kneeled down and praj-ed, regard less of their continued mocking and noise. On the fourth evening the noise was less; on the fifth it was still less; and on the sixth one of tho sol diers exclaimed "he stands fire, he stands fire. He's true." After that no one disturbed him. He had vef corae opposition he had won re spect. Triumph of Redeeming Lore. Two glorious visions rise up before me, and fill the world and all my heart with joy. I see the Holiest, the Peifect, the Son made the victim, the lamb, tho curse, willingly yielding Himself up to death on the cross for me. I see the Father inflexible in justice, 3ret delighting in mercy, accepting Him, the spotless Lamb whom He had given; raising Him from the dead; setting Him on His right hand. Just, beyond all my terrified conscience could picture Him, He justifies me the sin ner. Hating sin, as love must abhor sel fishness, and life, death, and purity, corruption, He loves mo the selfish, the corrupt, the dead in sins. He gives his Son, the Only-Begotten, for mo; He accepts his Son, the spotless Lamb, for me, He forgives me; Ho ac quits me; He will make me pure. The thought overpowered me. I knelt among the pines, and spake to Him, who hears when wo have no words, for words failed me altogether then. Old Thomas Fuller quietly says: Lord, my voice by nature is harsh and untunable; and it is vain to lavish any art to better it. Can my singing of Psalms be pleasing to Thy cars, which is unpleasant to my own ? Yet, though I cannot chant with the nightingale, or chiru with the blackbird, I had rath er chatter with the swallow, yea, rath er croak with the raven, than bo alto gether silent. Hadst thou given me a better voice, I would have praised thee with a better voice; now, what my music wants in sweetness, let it have in sense sing, Lord, create in mo a new heart, therein to make melody; and I will be contented with my old voice, until in Thy due time, being ad mitted into the choir of heaven, I have another, more harmonious, bosiowed on me. Truth. The consciousness of truth nerves the timid and imparts dignity and firmness to their actions. It i3 an eternal principle of honor which renders tho possessor superior to fear; it is always consistent with itself and needs no ally. Its influence will re main when the lustre of that onco sparkled and dazzled has passed away. There is a sacred ness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power ! They speak more elo quently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelm ing grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated. Jiishop Hall. We triumph over calumny only by despising it. Truth has never need of error, and shades add nothing to light. Flattery is a false coin which is car rent only through our vanity. It is wisdom to say little respecting the injuries you have received.