----- " ' ' - 1
i
0L. XXXI. NO 7,
THE ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
ESTABLISHED 1855
RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17, IS8(
sa.oo ir:it A. ii.n
t kHT; stWle in AcJvanc
For the Advocate.
Suiulays in tlie Mission
Conference.
Two
I.V BISHOP J. C. GRANBERY.
Friday, Jan. 22nd, was bitter-cold
n St. Louis, and the streets were
janerous to those who took no heed
-0 their steps. I left that morning for
Shelbine in the Northern part of the
tate. Our only excitement was caus
ed by the attempt of the brakesman to
revive the fire in a stove by throwing
in coal-oil. The sudden flame which
shot out alarmed the passengers ; no
harm was done, nor any good. J. M.
O'Brien met me at the depot in the
n-en;nr, and seemed as much con
cerned for my comfort as a nurse for
her child. Where are your rubbers ?
"I have none' "Where are your
cloves ?" " I never wear them." We
had only a few blocks to walk to the
cheerful home of Bro. Reid, and the
'd and snow were soon forgotten by
:he blazing fire, in the conversation of
a large and genial circle, and at the
renerous table. We were rather too
comfortable there, tarrying to the an
r.avance of the hungry children who
knew that a sumptuous feast had been
provided. A four-year old thrust in
his head, and called out, " Be in a
huny, and get throgh !" The Church
was filled, and I tried to sow good
seed. My host had heard me more
thin thirty years ago, when Dr. Ben
net: and I travelled the London cir
, cait in Va.
The next day O Bnen brought me a
pair of Arctics for my feet, and gloves
for my hand the first I have had in a
score of ye irs ; and a friend lent me a
fur overcoat, wolf-skin, in which I
: looked like an explorer of theXorthern
sea. "A sheep in wolfs clothing,"
they called me. The preacher was
resolved not to freeze his visitor. I
was never before so muffled from head
to foot, for even my hat was substi
l tuted by a fur cap which, came down
over the ears. The mercury was
I several degrees below zero, but the
cold could touch only a square inch
or two of my face, as we sleighed
l'-, vtr the fourteen miles to our
"! resting place for the night. O'Brien
I ;s over six
feet tall, I judge, large,
f strong.in perfect health.of hight spirits
! and bier heart, a North Carolinian, a
j I Trinity boy who loves to talk of Dr.
! 1 Craven, and one of the most accepta
Ible and efficient preachers of the Mo.
I Conference. He knows moreofVir
f jginia than of his native State, having
I J carried a musket four years through a
I (large part of the Old Dominion. This
I lis his third year on Shelbyville cir-
I ?cuit ; and I was invited to dedicate a
i new Church, the third which has been
built during his pastorate there. Sun
! day was bright and more temperate,
jand the sleigh-loads filled the neat
'frame house. The debt of 200 was
! pleasantly canceiled by subscription,
jand O'Brien Church dedicated to God.
I A sermon at Shelbyville that night,
j and one at Monroe City, the next
- night, completed the work of this trip,
i and Tuesday evening found
me safe
fat home.
! The next
Saturday
evening
preached at Wentzville, a town of six
j hundred inhabitants: and Sunday,
I j Jan. 31st, dedicated the beautiful brick
' Church which replaces one consumed
; f : by fire a few years ago. The cost
I j was $5,000; $750 remained to be
i raised. Bro. Pritchett, one of the
; I able men of this Conference, stated
" the need in few words- We had suc
j s cessfully opposed, asking aid from the
; J Church Extension Board. Times
j j were hard, but they could pay for
their own Church. We asked for six
nfties. and they were given ; then for
eight twenty fives, and there was
iiience Taking out his watch, he
said, "If this proposition be not car
'ied out in ten minutes, the benedic
tion will be pronounced, those who
have subscribed will be released from
je obligation to pay, and Bishop
franbery wi l return home without
dedicating the Church." They came
:o time, and in tbirty-five minutes the
Yi " ho'e amount was raised. Everybody
jj kit happy, and the doxology was sung
I wth spirit. The large room was again
:--ed at night, and after I had preach
ed we pan. ok of the Lord's Supper
:thgiaterul hearts.
There is great need of Churches
5 everywhere this side the big river.
I Much is done yearly toward supplying
the lack. But the work should be
j fastened. Our Eastern people must
lXe laught the importance of the
Church Extension cause. They need
t.mvui Ul, llVJlllV-j UUl llO
value is stimulating and helping the
recti. n of
neat and commodious
"'t"')-
'-'juses of worship for the use of the
;,V E. Church, South, in this vast
est.
The M
rge increase of members last Sep
V'ber. Since that time revivals have
-en numerous and extensive. They
are due inpart to the labors of Bro.
Sam Jones, though he has been at
only one point, St. Joseph, since the
session of the Conference, and to a
young evangelist from Ky., Bro My
sonbeimer, who has devoted several
months to this field. In many in
stances, however, they have sprung up
and yielded their precious fruit with
out the aid of evangelists. We can
not question that great benefit has
come from this class of preachers in
stirring up professors and awakening
the unconverted. But caution is de
manded lest an evil should "arise. Our
ministers may seek refuge from the
rigid requirements of the itinerancy in
the freedom and excitement of evange
lism, or give over to there revivalists
the pointed, impassioned, urgent style
of preaching, and all direct and press
ing methods of bringing sinners to
commit themselves to a life of piety ;
and our people may depend on the oc
casional visits of evanglists for revi
vals, and crave sensational modes of
preaching and worship, to the slight
ing of the regular pastors. Let us
porve all things, and hold fast that
which is good.
Your request, Bro. Editor, for a
communication came as I was pre
paring for a trip to Brazil, and you
must accept these few lines.
(Thank you, Bishop, think you.
Let us hear from you again and often.
Virginia is very near to North Caro
lina, and our people love to read after
the pens of Virginians. Ed.)
For the Advocate.
Uncle 3Ioses Simler's .Philosophy
of diving".
BY REV. EDWARD L. PELL.
lie was only an unlettered back
woodsman, a volunteer from nature's
roughest soil, but he was one of the
Lord's giants Uncle Moses Smiler
was. He was the head and shoulders
of a little chapel situated in the shady
corner of Hardtack Mission, and had
been serving in this double capacity a
marvellously long period when I knew
him ; but his head had not grown be
fogged nor did his shoulders exhibit
any signs of weakness. Uncle Moses
did the work of a steward as a man
who had a divine call, but as one
whose call extended only to the beg
ging not to the getting ; for a diamond
himself he lived among flints, and his
only satisfaction was in hammering
with all his might what he knew he
could never break. But it was to give
a specimen of his hammering, and
only a specimen, that I have introduc
ed him.
" I told 'em" said he to me one
day while explaining the deficiency in
the quarterage, (a duty he had per
formed with wonderful regularity for
forty years,) "I told 'em, when they
was sayin as how the craps had turn
ed out sorry-like and they couldn't pay
nothin to the preacher, sez I, Fellers,
if you air goin' into the swindlin'
bizness arter that style I wouldn't be
gin on a poor innercent preacher
what's never done you any harm. I
tell you what, sez I, that's the same as
swindin the Lord pint blank"
A skeptical smile passed around
among the listeners who were, how
ever, too busy whittling to look up.
" You see" explained Uncle Mos
es " suppose we and Tom Jones
over thar goes into pardnership. I
throws in so much and Tom throws in
so much. 1 holds the bag and 'tends
to the bizness. By-and-by me and
Tom, we git together for a settlement.
I has the bag, you ricollect, I say,
Look here, Tom, we've had a sorry
year of it and bizness has been dull
and we ain't made much or nothin and
and I'm mighty sorry, Tom, but I
don't believe I can spare you anyth
ing ont'n this leetle pile. And I goes
off with the b ag. What sort of a feller
would you think I was ?"
The opinions expressed were very
damaging to such a character as Uncle
Moses was supposing himself to be.
"Now," continued the old man,
warming up, " last Spring you enter
ed into a pardnership with the Lord
to make a crap. You knew you could
n't make a crap without hiui, and you
says to him, I'll furnish the hands to
work with and the land, you must
give me the rain and the sunshine aud
take care of my crap at night when
I'm asleep, and make the leetle buds
bust open and grow, and keep me
from gittin sick so I can 'tend to
things. And then by-and-by when
you've got the corn all housed and
sent off your cotton and sold it and
put the money in your bag, and the
Lord sends to you for his part of the
purceeds, you say you holds the bag
you know and therefore you say" Its
been such a hard year and craps is so
short I really don't see how I can
spare any."
" I tell you what, fellers," added
Uncle Moses earnestly, "thnt's what
I call downright swindlin ; its gittin
goods under false pretenses."
For the Advocate.
Suggestive Facts.
BY REV. W. H. ANDERSON, D. D.
These often are more impressive
than direct oral instruction, and indi
rectly more permanently influence
opinion and actions. A discovered
coir.-, or an exhumed fragment of col
umn, or a multilated inscription, often
determine important points in other
wise doubtful history, and they are
mute, but mighty witnesses of the
truth of revelation itself. Look at the
grandest of facts that human history
ever trembled with joy to record the
life, labors, and death of the Son of
God. Thee are the holy materials of
Church history, of gospel message,and
of Christian joy and triumph. This
was too valuable a fact, or group of
facts to be left even with inspiration
itself to record and preserve. God
has imprinted this indellibly inhuman
history. The time of earth is regulat
ed by the great clock in the cathedral
of heaven. Whither " of constraints,"
or gracefully yielding to the plan of
providences, hisory, now takes "the
year of our Lord," as " the corrected
time" of locating events whether pros
pective, present, or retrospective. In
vain does the Jew endeavor to dot
from his hoary calendar, or the Ma
hommedan from the Hegira. The
Old Julian calendar of Rome, and the
Olympiads of Greece, are almanacs
gone out of use. While infidelity is
sneerly and blindly attempting to have
Christ an imposter, and Christianity
a falsehood, the united world of
science, letters, and even of religions
of every grade, are accepting the gran
dest of facts, Christ's visit to earth
as the new era from which not only
new morals and blessings may begin
to elevate man individually and in
nations, but the record of human ac
tion shall itself commence at. " The
year of our Lord ? It is like the rain
bow in the sky, a perpetual memorial
of human folly, and yet of divine good
ness and love. 1
Another grand fact is the almost
worldwide recognition of the Chris
tian Sabbath. Here is a reminder to
the world of the risen Christ, his de
monstrated divinity, the glorious truth
of His holy religion, the rock on
which we build for heaven, is the God
man Jesus, dying on the Cross, yet in
keeping his own immutable word, the
risen Jesus despoiling .the grave, and
almost concealing the gloom of the
tomb by making it heaven's earth gate,
through which celestial promise and
hope pour their golden light. Every
where as Christian commerce carries
the manufactures, ideas of government
and pure morals of Christian lands,
rapidly men adjust themselves and
their business to the observance of the
Christian Sabbath. Thus bv two
grand facts as most valuable object
lessons our holy Christianity is teach
ing and prepanng the race to accept
the Christ who came from heaven to
save as well as to redeem man, whose
flesh he sanctified and wears as the
mantle of his divinity.
These suggestive facts are every
where visible to the eye that will
search for and observe properly these
traces of our Father's wisdom and
love. Look at the teaching of history
in our own land. Its settlement by
Puritans at Plymouth, or several years
earlier at Jamestown by haters of
tyranny and lovers of liberty, then by
the Hugenots in more Southern locali
ty, was not a matter of chance, but of
divine direction. The seed sown all
along the Atlantic Coast has germinat
ed and produced abundant harvests,
in correct principles of civil liberty,
sacred regard for human right, and
the inalienable privileges of relgious
belief and worship. When great
men are needed for great deeds God
has them ready, and only as they are
needed. But ere theDeclaration of In
dependence was ever written, our
God easily furnished the names to
sign that immortal document, and
then, without successors, they become
illustrious history.
What, a magnificently suggestive
fact is our beloved Methodism among
different races and continents and
fsles of the sea. How readily does it
adapt itself to climate and soil, habits
and customs, language and govern
ment. It interweaves itself with form
ing thought and opinion, conduct and
character, and gives Jesus as the com
mon precious Savior. Her hymns as
well as her doctrines and usages and
experience are as easily translated in
to the language and haarts and lives
of those who live in the cold rugged
North, as of those who reside in sunny,
vine clad climes, or at the flowery
tropics, or the fervid Equator. No
century since the days of Jesus on our
earth, ever had crowded into it so
much to startle with joy and wonder
either earth or heaven, as this century
of Methodism, Truly baptized ' Chris
tianity in earnest," her devoted zeal,
self-sacrificing labors, patient, toil,
and persistent trust in God, Metho
dism has not only her Wesley's re
corded on tablets at West Minister,
but round the world.
Suggestions, thick as falling leaves
in Autumn, come to rebuke pride and
human boasting ; to impress the true
secret of unparalled success, the pure
religion of Jesus Christ fully and clear
ly and forcibly preached and illustrat
ed in the plain, consistent, every-day
holy 'living of the sons and daughters
of Methodism. Take from our Meth
odism the consecrated living which
marked so intensely its early and
medieval history, if not the present,
and you have removed the Crown of
her gicry, the source of her activity
and success.
While the grand facts of Christ's
presence in the world and the sublime
and sad history connected with his
life and death ; and the still grander
revelation of his divine power and
glory are seen in his resurrection from
the dead, should teach us to prize the
Christian religion above all price, and
to observe most carefully the Chris
tian Sabbath, the lessons of providence
and the teachings of the Holy Spirit
should influence the legislation, the
ruler, the patriot, and the Christian.
The chased and tired ostrich foolishly
hides his head in the sand, and thinks
himself safe, while his destroyer is
getting ready to capture and kill. We
should never forget "God reigns."
Neither noon-tide light, nor midnight
darkness can hide us from his eye.
Real and lasting prosperity, peace and
happiness, whether for individuals or
people, are secured only by intelligent,
entire consecration of all our soul,
body and spirit lo God.
Carlisle, Ky.
. , o
Sensible Sermon by Sam Jones.
Extracts from a Sermon at Trinity Church,
1 Cincinnati.
The,ext selected from the evening's
discourse was from the second verse of
the second chapter of Second Corinth
ians : "Receive us; we have wronged
no man with our tongue ; we have
corrupted no man by our example ;
we have defrauded no man in any
business transaction."
St. Paul knocked at the inner door
of the Church of Corinth. He was met
by that Church, and he was asked,
" Upon what ground do you demand
ss great a privelege ?" And he re
plied, " On the grounds, first, I have
wronged no man with my tongue ; I
have corrupted no man by my exam
ple ; I have defrauded no man in any
business transaction' Jesus Christ
watched the doors of His kingdom
when He stood among men with the
most uncompromising and most un
tiring scruitiny. And that young man
approached Christ, and would have
entered the kingdom, and Jesus look
ed upon hiin as he asked the question:
" What must I do that I can get into
the kingdom ?" Jesus looked at him
and said, "KeeptheCommandments."
The young man said exultingly,
" Why, Master, all these have I kept
from my youth up." And Jesus look
ed him in the face and said, " One
thing thou lackest yet ;" and the young
man walked off. I expect his discip
les, if they had been as worldly as we
are, would have said, " Master, that's
a magnificent young man ; he's a very
rich young man ; he stands well in the
community; and if he only lacks one
thing let's take him in. He will give
tone to the church, and he will pay
larerelv. We have few members of
that sort, and he's got money to pay
our expenses. Why, Master, if he
doesn't lack but one thing let's takehim
in." "One thing thou lackest yet," said
Christ, and the young man turned and
went away, and that's the last he heard
of him. The disciples caught at the
same spirit and taught men this : That
you must deny yourself and take up
your cross and follow Christ. They
taught us if any man love the world
the love of God is not in him ; if any
man have not the spirit of Christ he
is none of His.
I'm a natural, innate, constitution
al, inborn hater of shams and hum
bugs, and above all humbugs that ever
cursed this world the religious hum
bug is the biggest. That's so. I will
give you a little illustration. A.t
Harvard, I believe it was, there was
in the college an old professor one of
those thick-glassed old fellows, near
sighted who was a wonderful bugol
ogist. He knew bugology better than
he did manology, and he was acquain
ted with all the bugs from Adam down
and he had all kinds of 'em in frame
hung up around his offic. In this,
mischief, and as a joke, the students
got the body of one bug and took the
legs of another and the head of anoth
er r.nd the wings of another and pu'
them together just like as if nature (
had tormed it that way, and they all
trooped down stairs together into the
old professor's room, and one of the
boys says, " Professor, what kind of a
bug is this?" and the Professor stood
up and took the card on which the bug
was pinned, and he cast his eyes on it,
and after looking at it a awhile he said,
"Gentleman, this is a hum bug." Now
you have my idea of a humbug. It's
a fellow that has a heart that belongs
to the Church, and a head that is run
by the world and his hands by the
devil, and he's just nothing but a sort
of a compound. God deliver us from
humbugs in the Church. Let's be
only one of a kind, and let that be a
good Christian. If I was asked now
what was the trouble in Cincinnati,
the greatest trouble a trouble you
can't overcome as easily as other
troubles I believe I would answer
that the greatest trouble in Cincinnati
is that you have too many Churches
here !
I think the finest tombstone I ever
saw, and the prettiest epitaph I ever
saw, was when I was visiting an old
friend of mine. After dinner he took
me into the graden, and in the most
prominent place there was erected a
beautiful tombstone of white marble,
in memory of his wife, and oil it I
read her name and the date of her
death, and her simple epitaph was
this line : " She made home pleasant."
I remember the old Irishman who
said, "I hope I'll never I've to see my
wife marred again." Brethren, let us
be kind to wife, for she has left her
father and her home and her mother
and given up all things for us. and she
gives her life to us, and we ought to
be kind to her. Never let a word slip
from your tongue that will bring a
drop of blood from her heart. We
should be kind and loving to our chil
dren, too. I remember once, at a
camp-meeting, two or three years ago,
I was talking to two or three of the
brothers after dinner, and to one of
them a little girl, a rosy-cheeked and
bright-eyed fairy, ran up and asked
him some question, and he snapped a
word out to her that almost made her
faint, so frightened was she.
"I cried, "You brute, you !' Bre
thren, you can almos: crucify one of
your children with one stroke of your
tongue. How cruel it is ! I know
it is myself. Sometimes I was busy
at work and my little boy would bother
me, and I would snap at him and drive
him away, but I afterwards hunted
him up and begged his forgiveness
But some of you would sooner die
than do that. Control your tongue
and be kind to your children.
Brethren, what we need now is a
few good examples. Examples You
go home to-night and awake your lit
tle Willie. Wake bim up wide awake
and get him on your knees and ask
him, " Willie, who is the best man in
Cincinnati ?" and he will say, " You,
papa." Ask him, " Who would you
rather be like than any other man,
Willie?" and the dear child will say,
"You, papa." "Well, who is the
biggest man in the State, Willie ?" and
he will still say, " You are, papa."
Poor little fellow, he hasn't got much
sense. Laughter' Now just try it
on him when you go home. Laughter
You go home, mother, and sit you lit
tle lovely daughter Mary on your lap,
wake her up good and ask her,
" Daughter, who is the best woman in
the world?" and she will say, "Why,
you, mamma." " Daughter, who
would you rather be like than any
body else?" and the sweet little child
will say, "You, mamma." Ask the
child such questions as that and she
will answer always, " You, mamma.
Ah, sister, that child is mistaken ; yet
she is that way there's no doubt
about that. The saddest thing a fath
er ever said to me in all my experience
was this : (I was pastor of a Church
then, and I have been pastor for eight
years and know all about the relations
of pastors and people. I tell you,
brethren, you can't love your pastor
too much or pray for him too much.
He needs your examples and prayers.)
This brother said to me about four
weeks after I had preached a sermon
in his town : " I heard your sermon
on 'Home Religion,' and it waked me
up." He was a man of intelligence.
I said, "What about it ?" "I went
home," said he, " and studied my
children four weeks in all of their vari
ed characteristics and all of the phas
es of their character and life, and I
reached a verdict."
" What was that said I. " Well,
I found out that my children haven't
got a single fault that me or their
mother hasn't got, or a direct copy
of my wife and myself our children
are."
Our example Brethren, hear me. I
shall never do, or suffer myself to do,
or suffer any one else to do, in my
house, in the radius of my influence,
anything that would or could curse
anybodys child. Loud exclamations
of Amen. You can have cards at
your house if you want to, but until
this world burns down I never will, so
help me God. They shall never be
brought in or remain in my house. Do
you ask me why ? Nine tenths of the
gamblers of Cincinnati were raised in
Christians homes. They are the most
polite and refined gentlemen in town,
and if cards in any Christian home
ever made a gambler out of a Christ
tian boy, then so long as life shall last,
I will never have cards in my house
Amen. If demijohns, and glasses,
and bottles ever damned a member of
the Church's son, then, so long as I
have given my home to God, demi
johns, glases, and bottles shall have
place there. Amen. And I will
tell you another thing. Old Brother
Demijohn and old Sister Demijohn,
you are just raising up drunkards by
the hundreds, and I reckon if God Al
mighty lets your sort of fo:ks into
Heaven, the verv angels would halloo
out, " Brother Demijohn and Sister
Demijohn, have you got in at last ?"
Laughter. And some women have
no reached the degraded strata where
they are nothing more or less than
bar-keepers for their husbands stir
ring their toddies and mixing their
drinks. Next to the biggest fool that
God's eyes ever looked upon is a wo
man who stirred toddles for her hus
band, but the b:gest fool God's eyes
ever beheld is a woman that will mar
ry a man with whisky on his breath.
Amen. I know what I am talking
about. I believe if I bad a wife that
some drinking men in Cincinnati have
to-day, I would be in a drunkard's
grave and a drunkard's heli this mo
ment ; but, thank God, she never
would touch,taste, nor handle, nor suf
fer it in her house. I have had a wo
man to come to me, who in her young
married life had toadied to her hus
band and seen that his wines and li
quors were carefully prepared for him
I have had her come to me with
haggard face, and cry out, " O, Mr.
Jones, in God's name, help me to
save my husband from death and hell;'v
and she gave her husband the first
years of her married life in the en
couragement of drinking. I have been
preaching prohibition experimentally,
practically, collectively, and personal
ly, for about thirteen years, and it's
never hurt me yet, but whisky liked to
have knocked me in about thirteen?
months.
I am not going to run the grand old'
ship ofZion about ten miles from shore.
I am going to bring her to the land.
'Ten million sinners might look at the
old ship away off and say, " There she
is, but I can't get to her, for if 1 tried
to swim to her I would drown." Broth
er, brother ! Let's run the old ship in
until her keel strikes the hore. Tell
the world, "All aboard ! This grand
old ship is going by !" You can't get
the old ship of Zion too close to sin
ners hear that ?
Talk about Ingersoll, I never met
an intelligent man yet that had been
damned by Bob Ingersoll. The only
difference between Bob Ingers 11 and
any oter fellow running after him is
this : Bob Ingersoll plays the fool for
$1,500 a night, and this little fellow
runs after him and plays the fool for
nothing and boards himself. Great
laughter. And I tell you Bob Inger
soll is going to continue to play that
kind of a fool as long as this country
gives him $1,500 a night to insult God
and ridicule His precious Word ; and
yet you go to hear him. If I had a
dog to go and hear him I would kill
him. Laughter.) He couldn't come
to my house any more.
" I have defrauded no man in any
business transaction," Brothers, let
us look into this and do what it says ;
do what you say you'll do, and quit
defrauding men. Brother, hear me ; a
man who has $50,000, $100,000, rid
ing in a $1,200 carriage and living in
a $25,000 house, driving down the
streets, meets a poor old widow from
whom he has stolen. I tell you if
there is any hell, it is for that kind of
a man. There's no use talking. Til
tell you another thing. There are too
many men in this country boarding
with their wives. Laughter. No
doubt about that. Let me t ll you
another thing when the fellow does
a clean thing, God Almighty will stand
by him. He will give you three square
meals every day if He has to put the
angels on one-third rations. Let's do
right and defraud no man, and we will
have righteousness, peace and joy.
Well, I have talked considerably
over an hour. I did not intend to.
But hear me ; let's thiik about these
things. I tell you I never I tell you
I never want to see a revival in Cin
cinnati any more, or anwhere else,
that isn't bottomed on bed-rock. Let's
go down until you hear your boot
heels grating and grinding against the
Rock of Ages.
Renew your subscription to this
Advocate, price $2.00 per annum.