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2.00 PER ANNUM ESTABLISHED 1855. COMMUNICATIONS. For the Advocate. Our Kentucky Correspondence. BY REV. J..M. BOLAXD, I) D. After spending one year -) V'llU J Vlfci. ill IkVll - 1 1" Til tucky, attendin two sessions of the Conference, two camp-meetings and ieveral Centennial meetings, I be gin to feel at home. I was fortunate in being here during the Centennial year of Kentucky Methodism. The occasion has been duly observed. To hear the addi esses, delivered at dif feient points, was an era never to be forgotten. The Book Agents would do the church a good servk e by publishing a volume containing a number of these addresses. Of those we heard, worthy of a place in such a volume, we mention those of Drs. S. A. Steel, S. II. Worlein, T. J. Dodd, W. T. Boiling, B. M. Mes siek and J. C. Morris. As a result of this review of Meth odism in Kentucky during the first hundred years, as might have been expected, the reports were consider ably in advance of 1330, while much of the fruit of this review is to be gathered in the years to come. The wiser heads of our Conference ex press the opinion that Kentucky Methodism begins her second cen tury on a solid foundation and with tncouraging prospects. At the recent session of our Con ference, there were four connection 1 officers present. The lay book agent, D. 31. Smith, with his cheer ful face, was present looking after the interest of the house. Dr. Hoss, the new Editor of the great Official Organ, gave us a "pop call," but stayed long enough to give us a very fine sermon, which will live in the memory of those who heard it. Dr. II. C. Morrison was with us two days. If the eh urea needed more than one Missionary Secretary, the General Conference made no mis take in electing Dr. M. to that office. Dr. J. C. -Morris reached us in time to take part in our Centennial exer cises, and to look alter the cause of Church Extension, of which he is the assistant Secretary. By the time Drs. Morrison and Morris got through with us, it was well that the preachers had round-trip tickets, or the most of them would have had to borrow money to pay their way home. By the way, Mr. Editor, cannot the wisdom of the M. E. Church, South, devise a planby,which the en tire membership will aid in sending the Gospel to the heathen ? Is it too much to say that half of our entire membership contribute nothing to the 3ause of missions? Is is too much to say that less than one-fifth pay nine-tenths of what is raised? Is it not a f dd that, on the present plan, our Missionary Secretaries and Church Extension Agents will reach only those who pay all they are able to pay before they go to Conference? Will the 81,000, begged out of the preachers, atone for the 5,000 deficit from those charges which report from thirty to fifty per cent on their assessments ? Such a plan puts the burden upon a faithful few and lets all the rest go free. These great speeches and big collections at our anniversaries were necessary to in augurate the modern Missionary and Church Extension movements; but what is needed now is a plan that will reach and educate the entire membership. This cannot be done under the present plan, because not one in ten thousand of our mem bers are present at our Conference Anniversaries. We do not propose to do away with our anniversaries, Wt leave off the collection, and utilize the time and talent of the oc casion to give such instruction to the preachers as will prepare them to reach the people in their several charges. Then, in the interim of the Annual Conferences, let mis sionary mass meetings be held in every pastoral charge and in every church. At these meetings, utilize the best talent of the District or Conference. During each quadren nium, the three missionary Secre taries and the two Church Exten sion Secretaries, with the College of bishops, might attend several hun ched of these mass meetings with fine effect especially if such visits were made to those pastoral charges where the people most need instruc tioa. In short, inaugurate a plan THE ORGAN OF '"WMMWMMKMaMMIBMMMWMM----., that will do for the whole oh what the old plan has done for the few who have been reached by it. "But we want the big collection at Conference as an inspiration to the people;" yes, but if each pastor would give liberally at the time and place of taking bis collection, his example would be an inspiration that would inspire, while under the present plan the inspiration evapo rates long before the time the preacher lifts his collections. We must cultivate the liberality of the whole church at home, if we would raise the funds necesssary to occupy the inviting fields abroad, and keep the church alive at home. Every agent, male or female, self-appointed by the church, that goes out to raise money takes a bee line for the churches whose pastors and mem bers are furnishing the bulk of the means that keep the aggressive forces of the church at work. Under the present plan, we may convert the heathen abroad; but, like our Northern philanthropists who have spent so much time and means on the South, we will wake up after a while to find that seven tenths of our home population have been fear fully neglected. It is a wonderful fact, in the his tory of Christianity, that nearly all the territory occupied by the church, during the first fifteen centuries of the Christian era, is now mis lonary ground ! And while New England Methodism is getting ready to cele brate the Centenary of Jesse Lee's entrance into Boston, it comes to light that New England has a large class among her population who are but little removed from the moral degradation of heathendom ! Will the Christian Church never pause long enought to look into ana cor rect a policy that leads to such re sults? As things are now movirg, all nistory points to a period when Ciiina and Japan will have to seud missionaries to North America ! I o r is, Hy. For the Advocate. Correspondence )ur Virginia BY REV. JOHN E. EDWARDS, D. D. EDUCATIONAL. ENTERPRISES, AND OTH ER MATTERS. The success which has attended the great Randolph Macon Academy, located at Bedford City,has awaken ed an interest in the cause A inter mediate education that has already materialized in a twin enterprise in the bounds of the Baltimore Confer ence. All the preliminary steps have been taken for the establish ment of another Randolph Macon Academy to be located at Front Royal, in the Valley of Virginia, within a few miles of the town of Winchester. Already one hundred thousand dollars have been raised for the enterprise, and the building will be put under contract at an eariy day. This Academy, like the Acad emy at Bedford City, will be deeded to the turstees of Randolph Macon College. The building will be in every respect, in point of sue, extent of accommodation, and in all its ap pointments, the equal of the Acad emy at Bedford City. The great movement is under the oversight of that remarkable man, W. W. Smith, LL. D., President of Ran dolph Macon College. He possesses in rare combination, sagacity, skill, tact, indomitable will power, self possession, and all the qualities that invest him with wonderful control over men. He inspires confidence by his boldness and daring. He de clines to engage in any educational enterprise that is not on a grand scale. It is positively wonderful how he generates confidence in great enterprises by his speeches. His de votion to the work of education is marvellous. He worked up the Academy at Front Royal in a few days. He told the people what he wanted to be done, and gave them to understand that if the Academy was not on a grand scale he would have nothing to do with it. In no way was it to be inferior to the Academy at Bedford City; and to give them an idea of what that was, he chartered a train on the Shenan doah Valley railroad, contiguous to which the Academy is to be located, and took forty or fifty men to Bed ford City and showed them the Academy, just now in operation, and then returned with them in less than twenty-four hour's time. A THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. RALEIGH, N. 0., WEDNESDAY, NOV. , land company has donated twenty five or thirty acres of land, and the citizens had subscribed fifty or sixty thousand dollars perhaps more to go ahead at once with the building. These facts may inspire others to at tempt great things. But this is not all : Dr. Smith is just now talking up a greater enterprise still than any yet attempted by him. He has spent a day or two, this week in Lynchburg, and awakened a lively interest in another new enterprise. It is nothing less than the building and endowing a Randolph Macon Female College, in Lynchburg,to be upon a larger scale than any Female College in the Southern States. He proposes noihing less than a college of equal grade, and with even a more extended curriculum than ob tains in our best colleges in the land. Already he has awakened a deep interest on the subject. Some of the "land companies" are already in competition for the site of this great college. How it will turn out is a, matter of conjecture and specu lation. This is the grandest con ception of Dr. Smith, as yet given to the public. Should the proposi tion meet with success, there is no telling what he will next project on the public mind. The Academy at Bedford City is full. Additional rooms are in pro cess of completion for the accommo dation of students. The patrons are realizing all the expectations excited by the promises made in the notices and advertisements that have ap peared in the newspapers. The Academy is moving off with glow ing prospects as to its high success. In the meantime the old College, at Ashland, is doing even better than was expected. It has catalogued nearly ns many students as at a cor responding date last year. The old mother college is doing well with a growing household of children coming up around her. As long as it is written; "My kingdom is not of this world;" and "render unto Cresar the things that are Ce ur's," it is safe for ministers of the Gospel to stand aloof from politics in the pulpit. The preacher of the Gospel c unpromises himself whenever he inter-meddles with partizan questions in political con tests in State or General Govern ment political issues. He may preach the gospel of temperance,and of Sabbath observance, and so of other purely moral and religious questions; but not as they stand re lated to partizan politics. As soon as he does this he will invoke ran corous criticism, impair his influ ence as a preacher of the Gospel of "peace on earth, good will to men," and ruin his influence, with one party or the other, in the political issues of the day. In the pulpit, with a message of salvation to all, he can not be Democrat, Republican, or third party, Prohibitionist. Dr. D C. Kelley has ruined his influence as a preacher cf the Gospel. He is a Samson "shorn of his locks." He has "become weak as other men." It is a sad spectacle! The old "Jerusalem Conference" is in a sad plight. Its peace and harmony are destroyed. The lesson for us all is, "let political, partizan issues alone in the pulpit.'' The session of the Virginia Con ference is at hand. Bishop Hargrove will preside. Bishop Granbcry will be present as a visitor. Dr.. Potter, one of our field Missionary Secreta ries, is expected to be present with us. With our preachers, lay delegates, visitors, and members of our Con ference Boards, we will have to pro vide for about three hundred guests in Lynchburg. Scarcely more than one hundred can be provided for at our hotels. We do not ask other denominations to aid us in provid ing accommodation for our Confer-, had large hotel ence guests. If we accommodation in Lynchburg,as we have not, there would be no difficul ty in the matter, inasmuch as we have a fund amply sufficient to de fray hotel expenses. Lynchburg, for its population, has the smallest extent of hotel accommodation of any city of its size on the continent. Just now there is a movement on foot for the erection of a grand hotel, worthy of the city. All this aside. Our Conference guests will be, amply provided for. We are look ing forward for a goo I time of it. "Come one, come all." Lynchburg Fa., Oct. 2oth, '00. For the Advocate. Our Letter From Gilderoy. The Conference year will soon be rolled up and laid away with the years that are passed and gone. In some respects this has been a hard year in Miss. It has been a year of flood , overflows and unprecedented rainfall. The corn crop is short, very short, not en6ugh corn made to last six months. At one time the cotton crop bid fair to be good, but five weeks of rain in Sept. and Oct. caused much cotton to rot in the boll, and lowered the grade of all that was open. There will be a loss 6f from one to one and a half cents a pound on all that was open when the rains set in. This is not much to any one planter, but taken in the aggregate it is a large sum of money. Of course the pay of the preachers and the general collections will suf fer. When we lose we lose all round. If one member suffer ail the members suffer with it. This is three years in succession that we have ha i short crops and small collections. Well, we are trying to raise fifty thousand dollars to put on toy of the fifty thousand given by Maj. R. W. Millsaps of Jackson, Miss., towards the endowment of a Methodist Col lege in this State, said college yet to be located and built. W e want a nest egg of one hundred thousand dollars endowment fund before we do anything else. The church has raised in cash and in notes about sixty thousand. We want in cash and notes sixty -five or seventy thou sand, so as to make the fifty thou sand certain. There must be no slip between the cup and the lip in this ca-. It is generally understood th it the place that gets this college will give fifty thousand. Any place cvi!'l well afford to give twice that sfcrui. When we build, and where we build, we mean to stay. We are a;oing in for the whole war. Bishop Galloway has been in the forefront of this movement from the first. He is awise and courageous leader. I never knew our Methodist people more united on anyone subject than they are on this college. A majority of them will have given something to it before we are done, and this will bind them to it as nothing else will. A man's interest in any enter prise is about equal to the sum of money he puts into it. Teaching is a part of the Divine commission. The book does not say when or where it is to be done, nor how, but teaching is very plainly enjoined. I had occasion a few days ago to lock up this idea in the word of God, and the book is full of it. I suppose the church may safely teach anything and everything calculated to improve the mind and help to an understanding of the works and word of God. This important work cannot be turned over to the Stae, nor to private enterprise, without danger to the souls of men. It is the buisiness of the church to teach Christ and the Gospel, and other things for Christ and the Gospel. Whatever we teach must be taught in the name of Christ. The Gospel must be committed to faithful men who are both "able" and "apt" to teach the things of God. Ability to teach and aptness in teaching come, mainljr, from thorough prepara tion for this work. We must seek out the men and prepare them for teaching. This is part, a prepartory part, of the work the Master left us to do. We are not true to Christ and our commission if we fail in this. Many young men are lost to Meth odism and to the itinerant ministry each year in Miss., because we have no school where they can be educat ed. We must remedy this or we will fall behind in the work of win ning the people of this common wealth to Christ. The Baptist and Methodic Churches have about equal numbers in this State. The Baptist are educating their young preachers at Clinton College. . The entire ministry of that church has been greatly toned up by that school. They are sending out strong young men to fill their pulpits. Some of the older men, men of families, have given up their charges and have taken a full course in that college. So you see we will have to move up or be rooted out. It is this, or dry rot and death. Yours, Gilderoy. 1890. How it Could be Done. Burdened with a growing convic tion that the greatest urgency in Methodism is a more general circu lation of our religious weeklies, and having had a somewhat unusual ex perience in the effort, we address our readers specially upon this sub ject. A critical knowledge of the situ ation reveals the fact that there is no phase of our denominational his tory in which relatively we now make such a humiliating exhibit as in the patronage by our people of our religious press. For instance, it is exceptional to find any distinctively Congregational or Baptist families who are not constant readers of a denominational paper, while it is exceptional to find a Methodist pa per in Methodist homes. Any offi cer in our sister churches would think it evidence of an unpardon able neglect and indifference not to be furnished with his religious weekly, but a very large proportion of the members of our officiary throughout the church are with- ut any religious paper, and, worse than that, feel no sense of chagrin be cause of the fact. It is not difficult to find official boards where not a single member takes a religious journal. Row has this amazing and para lyzing state of things come about? The explanation lies in the fact that a busy and overworked ministry have ceased to press and urge the paper upon the people. It must be recalled that, in our economy, the stationed minister is made responsi ble for all needed good work upon the charge. He is held responsible for the connectional causes, and he works along such lines until a cer tain standard of achievement is reached. If not secure at the first trial, he follows it up with personal solicitation until measurable success is attained. The circulation of the religious paper is also entrusted to him. Re is the authorized represen- i tative, and no one is allowed to trench upon his prerogative. What is needed, therefore, in all our borders, in order to a proper in crease of the circulation of our Methodist weeklies, is for the min istry to determine that it shall be done, and to folio vv up the matter personally until such end is reach ed: It is not enough to notice from the pulpit that subscriptions will be received. The cause of missions, the repairs of the church, or any other work of importance, would not be done on a pulpit notice. The writer came to the conclusion in his ministry that in no way could he so gre ttly benefit his people and nur ture the work of the denomination as by putting ZioiCs Herald into his homes. He went about it with the same spirit and determination that he would to accomplish any other needed work on his charge. Re took it to his pulpit, and then to the Sunday-school and the social meet ing. For two weeks or more he made Zioits Herald a specialty on his charge, personally urging the paper upon his parishioner-. lie made lists of possible subscribers, and visited them at their homes or places of business in order to secure their subscriptions. He emphasized the fact that the paper could be se cured at once, but that susbseribers could pay bim therefor at their pleasure. Many will subscribe who are given a reasonable time to make payment. He found no difficulty in securing an increase of many fold, and on several charges the largest increase that was anywhere made. He now looks back upon that work as perhaps a fruitful andpeimanent part of his ministry. Can anything be more helpful than to place in the home the religious paper that week ly brings its message of edification, enlightenment and comfort? A large proportion of our minis ters have done nobly in this matter, some of them increasing their lists a hundred and fifty fold. The can vass for two years has been very successful. These lines are written with the hope that some who have not yet grappled with this problem may be led to earnestly lay hold of it. No work of the charge would bring to all causes such quickening. Shall not all our helpers make com mon cause in a movement which means so much in deepened convic tion and influence to our Metho REV. F. L. REID, Editor VOL. XXXV., NO. 4!. dism ? Shall not the earnest word go forth everywhere: "A Methodist paper in every Methodist home?" The publisher will gladly send a package of sample copies to any one who requests it, or mail to any list of names furnished. He will also be glad to render any other assistance which may be suggested as helpful. ZioiCs Herald. For the Advocate. The 3latter Can be MouuVl. 1 hardly know how it could have come to pass, but it is a painful fact that our Anna il C lferencj se-isio s are no longer attended by great man ifestations of spirituil power. In deed, for a number of years, with the exception of the session at Fay ette ville, the spiritual results have been so meager th it many have de spaired of better things and have settled thems;;. ves pitiently to en dure what they consider a necessary evil. That there is an evil is plain to all, but that there is any necessity for if, however it may appear to us, has never been apparent to the scores of visitors who go to our Conferences with anticipations of a spiritual feast and return to their homes spiritually starved. It is true that there are several obstacles which do not appear to the average visitor. For example, it is exp33te 1 that an Annual Conference will transact as miiuh business in a week's time as our Legislature usually pulls through with in sixty days. And it is expected to do this while hamper ed as is is invariably by the demands of an elegant entertainment. But as a matter of fact all ot this great load of business is shouldered by ab .ait one-third of the Conference, while the remaining two thirds are in a hurry about nothing, having merely caught the fever of haste from their busy brethren. And it is also a matter of fact that the most ot u-- have been too willing vic tims of our kind hosts and their burdensome hospitality. The matter can be mended. In nearly every town where Confer ence has been held the early risers among the brethren have been com pelled to wait for from one to three hours in their rooms for breakfast. These hours afford to most of us very little opportunity for profitable private worship. Why not have a sunrise prayer-meeting? What a blessing it could be made to the Conference ! How much better than an hour spent in a cloud of smoke and jokes! Let us have the prayer meeting by all means. Men can be found to hold it and help it and get help from it. Certain drowsy ones who complain of the absence of their members on Wednesday night will not be there. In the afternoon many of the brethren have nothing to do. Some of them are not on committees and many committeemen have left th-;ir work in the hands of the chaii m-m. Visitors who do not know the pro gramme drop in now and then ex pecting service.lt is a capital chance for a Bible Reading, or a prai. e meeting, or a promise meeting, or a prayer meeting, or an experience meeting, or a question meeting, or any odier of the dozen and one so cial meetings which have been own ed by the Spirit in the kind of work for which we plead. Let the Com mittee on Public Wor&hip take charge of thee afteroon hours and provide men to conduct the meet ings. If only one man can be found put him in charge of the whole. But we have twenty peculiarly fitted for this sort of work. Properly con ducted, these meetings would kindle revival flames throughout the town. We want a Conference to which we will go, every man with his bmnd in hand, expecting to get it kindled anew at a flaming altar. P. Prejudice, whatever be its source, gets nothing out of the Scriptures. The Ilerods of to-day get no answer from Christ. The influence of skep ticism makes the Scriptures silent. Tht Rtc. William M. Taylor. Character does not usually sus tain sudden changes; age is generally the development of youth. Subscribe for this Advocate.
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Nov. 5, 1890, edition 1
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