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dr ff. rs minrirr aot time i t rrunr'i btk rii nrwrn rrw a ' nw PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF METHODISM IN NORTH CAROLINA. if ESTABLISHED 1855. The Christian Advocate. 203$ fayetteville St., Raleigh, N. C. The Official Organ of the North Caro llua Annual Conference of the Method ist Episcopal Church, South. SUBSCRIPTION RATES One year, in advance, Six months, in advance, Three months, in advance, To Ministers at halt price. ?2.00 $1.00 .50 Entered at the Post-Office in Raleigh as second-class matter, in accordance w ith Postal Laws and Regulations. POETRY. Here and There. BY A. T. 1 know I shall not always here abide; That, stilled, sometime somewhere these restless feet Will cease to go the busy rounds of lite, These hands fall cold and helpless by my side, These eyes the scene j of earth no more will greet, This active brain desist from earthly strife, And friends will weep here o'er my lifeless clay; But I believe death will but quicken me That I, transformed, somewhere beyond earth's pale Shall reach a place of everlasting rest, Where tireless feet will never holden be, And hands in blest employ will never Jail, And I shall see ami know things here onguessed, And friends will shout there: Welcome home for aye. COMMUNICATIONS. For the Advocate. The History of Methodism in North CarolinaPrior to the Or ganization of the North Caro lina Conference in 1837. RY REV. ROBERT HENRY WILLIS, A. B. AND REV. JESSE ARMON BALDWIN, A. B. WITH A CRITICAL ESSAY OX THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. BY' STEPHEN B. WEEKS, PH. D. History of Methodism in North Carolina, 1800-1837. BY REV. JESSE ARMON BALDWIN, A. B. IV. THE EASTERN PART OF THE STATE. CHAPTER III. GROWTH AND EXPANSION, 1813-1837. I. The period, 1800-12, noticed in a former chapter, was wonderfully pros perous. At the beginning, it has been noticed, there were eighteen cir cuits and part of another, and about eighty-seven hundred members. In 1802, the Minutes for the first time arranged the circuits into dis tricts and conferences. By this ar rangement there were two districts of the Virginia Conference in North Carolina, viz : Salisbury and New bern. There were also North Caro lina circuits in the Norfolk district, Virginia Conference, and in the Cam den district, South Carolina Confer ence. In 1804 several circuits in the southern part of the state were trans ferred from the Virginia to the South Carolina Conference. There were various changes of minor importance every year. In 1811 the North Caro lina territory in the Virginia Confer ence was divided into three Districts, Raleigh, Newbern and Yadkin. The Catawba and Camden districts, S. C. Conference, embraced much North Carolina territory. By the close of the year 1812 the great revivals had about ceased. At the conference held in February, there were about 19,500 members, giving an increase in twelve years of 10,800. This in a measure represents the great religious awakening just past Minutes of Annual Confer enc8. II. TUB DARK DECADE OF METHODISM. From 1812 to 1820 Methodism seareely held its own, and in view pf this, Prof. A. W. Mangum observed that perhaps the period from 1810 to 1820 might justly be called the DARK DECADE OF NORTH CAROLINA METHODISM. Cen tennial of 3fethodis?n in North Caro lina." If any period of North Caro lina Methodism be called "dark," this may justly be so called, for it is the only decade in its history that shows no numerical growth. Why this check in the progress of Methodism in North Carolina? Gen erally after a great excitement there is a period of quiet, if not a positive reaction. This was probably the case here. The first excitement had worn off; Methodism had gotten to be an old thing, and the opposition being practically over, the members lost some of the zeal that had former ly characterized them. Then, too, there was another and greater excitement. The war of 1812 was engaging the thoughts of the peo ple. Though North Carolina furnish ed a considerable number of men, yet the great majority remained at home and went on steadily with their work, neither knowing nor fearing danger. Still the spirit of unrest and of idle speculation was rife, and kept the peo ple from concentrating their atten tion on the truths of the Bible. This doubtless, was the principal agency operating against the advance of re ligion. During this war nearly ail of the Methodist preachers were native-born Americans, and of course loyal to our government. The Englishmen who had come over as missionaries were as anxious for freedom as our native born citizens. So there could be no charge of opposition by Methodists as there had been during the Revolu tion. It must not be thought that the work in any sense ceased, for it did not. There were during this period many gracious revivals, but they were few in comparison with the number in the several preceding years. The church sustained a great loss, in 1816, by the death of Bishop As bury. Asbury was the John Wesley and godly life and deeds did more than anything else to establish Meth odism on a firm basis in America, for he understood thoroughly the condi tions in which it was situated and acted accordingly. Sixty-eight times he came into, or passed through, North Carolina, and his visits were always productive of good. Asbury' s Journals; Lee's "Short History of the Methodists." In 1816 there were gracious revi vals in the eastern part of the State. In Gates county, and in Murfrees boro, Edenton and Elizabeth City, the revivals were powerful and there was a great increase of members. Bennett's "Memorials of Methodism in Virginia.11 Raleigh had a great revival in 1820. The next year there was a great awakening in the region round the city. The increase in membership for this year in Raleigh was almost as great as during all the nine years previous. As there is no record of a revival in the city, the increase doubt less resulted from these meetings and the meeting held in Raleigh the year before. " Centennial of Methodism in North Carolina;" Minutes of Annual Conferences. III. SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS OF CHURCH WORK. The Sunday-school entered the ... 1 1 A X State during this period, ana me preachers made earnest efforts to orga nize them in all their churches. They succeeded so well that before the close of the period almost all the churches had Sunday-schools at least during the summer months. Doub's "His torical Incidents." They were, how ever, scarcely Sunday-schools as they are known at present. The many aids to Bible study that are so com mon to-day had scarcely been dream ed of. The spelling book was gener ally taught to the younger and the more illiterate, and the older ones had a Bible class which read and discuss ed some chapter in the Bible. The use of the Catechism was quite gener al, and was productive of much good. The work was very unsatisfactory, but RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1894. ; , I I 1 . . MHHHMHMMMBM it did much good and furnished a foundation for the excellent system of the present. This sort of Sunday school is, or was until a recent date, kept up in Eastern North Carolina. They were the sort I attended there in the seventies and it is still fre quently said of men of the older gen eration that they got all of their learn ing in the Sunday-school. I learned to spell from a Sunday-school blue back. S. B. W. (To be continued.) The Mississippi Temperance Law. Br REV. W. C. BLACK. The Mississippi law is a local op tion law; but it has several features that differentiate it from the local op tion laws of other States. One of these distinguishing features is its post election petition require ments. When a local option election has beenijeld and a county has voted "For the Sale," it does not follow that a saloon can be set up anywhere or by anybody. The would-be saloon keeper must present to the proper authorities a petition in his behalf signed by a majority of all the regis tered veters of the municipality, or supervisor's district, as the case may be. This petition must lie on file for thirty days before it can be acted on, and must also ba published for the same length of time in some local newspaper. Moreover, the names to this petition must be signed in full. G. W. Smith will not do; it must be George Washington Smith. When the amendment embodying this requirement was introduced into the Legislature, it was violently op posed by the liquor power. The saloon orators made many ad capian dum speeches against it. They said that when the people have spoken at the ballot-box that ought to be an end of all controversy. " To require the running of a second gantlet before license could be granted, they de nounced as unjust and undemocratic in the extreme. It requires a very little reflection to see the groundless ness of such a charge. The gantlet is not the same in the first case as in the second. Because the people of a county have voted for the sale, it does not follow that they regard every man in the county as a suitable person to engage in the traffic; neither does it follow that they are willing for a saloon to be set up in every com munity. Many a citizen votes for the sale in a local option contest, who, if asked to sign a petition in behalf of a would-be vender of known criminal proclivities, would say no with em phasis. Moreover, many men vote for the sale in a county election, in tending at the same time to do what they can to restrict the sale to one or possibly two towns in the county. Go to such a person with a petition for a saloon in his own village, or rural neighborhood, and you will again see that there is a difference between the ballot gantlet and the petition gantlet. There is therefore nothing unjust or undemocratic in such a requirement. This isimply carrying out the principle of local option to its fullest extent. First,the people of a county decide by ballot whether they will tolerate the traffic at all in the county. If they vote in the affirmative, then each commu nity, whether in town or country, is allowed to decide the same question for itself, and also to decide into whose hands the traffic shall be com mitted. Another notable feature of the law is that which relates to Counter Peti tions. During the thirty days when the liquor petition lies on file, any person may get up a counter petition. Any one who has had any experience in getting up petitions knows that there are a great many persons who will sign almost any kind of petition that is presented to them. They will sign a saloon petition to-day, and to morrow they will sign a counter peti tion. The law provides that all names that are on both petitions shall count on the counter petition, but not on the other. Just here we see the ra tionale of the requirement that all names shall be signed in full. It is a well-known fact that saloon petitions are often fraudulent. They frequently contain the names of non-residents and deceased persons, and often-times the same name is repeated in a different form. W. Smith, Will Smith, Wil lie Smith, Bill Smith, William Smith, Wm. Smith, and W. M. Smith are only different forms of the same name. Now, when the names are all signed in full it is, of course, much more difficult to perpetrate frauds of this sort. In many localities, it is easy for any ardent active anti saloonist to get up a counter petition which will contain enough names that are on the liquor petition to bring the list below the requisite number, and thus defealt the petition. I wish also to say a word about the license fees. The license taxes im posed on the traffic are as follows: country saloons, $700; town saloons, $1,000; city saloons, $1,500. These are the dues to the State. Each county or municipality has the right to im pose an additional tax of fifty per cent. Most of the counties and towns take advantage of this provision. This makes the schedule run thus: country saloons, $1,050; town saloons, $1,500; city saloons, $2,250. This high-license scheme was inteuded to sound the death knell of the country saloon. In the Mississippi river bottoms, wThere there is perhaps more Ameri can citizenship of African descent than anywhere else on the continent, the country saloon has become a nui sance that could no longer be tolera ted. Planters from that region, who have never been accounted prohibi tionists, came to the Legislature and pleaded for protection against this form of the liquor traffic. They said, "You who live in the cities have no conception of the evils of the country saloon. In your cities, if a man gets drunk, a policeman is at hand to take him to the lockup. In the country, in our swamp region, we are often abso lute iy at th e mercy of a drunken mob."- It was in response to such appeals as this that this measure was adopted. It has worked admirably. It can al most be said that the country saloon is now a thing of the past. Let us suppose that the would-be vender of intoxicants has met his pe cuniary obligations to the State and procured his license. What then? Is he now at liberty to dispense liquid damnation to anybody and everybody according to his own ideas of proprie- y? Not exactly. In the first place, there must be no secrecy about his work. No screens must be placed be fore his door. This provision is of vety little practical value in those towns in which public sentiment is so debauched that drinking is reputable; but in those localities (and Mississippi has many such), in which society frowns upon the drink habit, it keeps miny a dollar out of the saloon keep er's till. The American citizen who has paid so highly for his vending privileges finds himself restricted also as to the character of his customers. Not only is he not allowed to sell to a drunken man; he is also forbidden to sell to a habitual drunkard, either drunk r sober. As to minors, he must not only refuse to sell to them, he must not even allow them to en ter his place of business. Suppose the vender should make up his mind to ignore the law, what are the penalties that can be inflicted on him? Well, besides fine and im prisonment, there are other conse quences to be contemplated. Besides being liable to indictment and prose cution, he may have a damage suite brought against him by any one who has suffered by his law breaking. A father whose minor son has imbibed at his counter, or a wife whose hus band has exchanged shekels for his poison, r iay claim heavy damages at his hands. Moreover, any chancellor (not necessarily the local one) may on complaint of any citizen cancel any license summarily, and the cancella tion of the license does not require the refunding of the license money. These are the main features that differentiate the Mississippi Lecal Op tion Law from its congeners of other States. It is my deliberate convic tion that Mississippi is to-day the banner temperance State of the Union. By this I mean that Mississippi has more nearly than any other State solved the problem which all temper ance legislation seeks to solve viz to reduce the evils of intemperance to a minimum. In saying this I do not forget that some of the States have prohibitory laws. I verily believe there is less intemperance in Missis sippi to-day than in Kansas orMaine. There are only nine counties in Mis sissippi in which the traffic exists at all. (One county has gone dry since Bishop Galloway's letter was written.) And in some of these the saloon ex ists only in one or two localities. Moreover, it is certain that other counties will fall into line very soon. Moreover, the law is better enforced in Mississippi than in many other States, not only because of the wise provisions of the law itself, but be cause in the very nature of the case wherever prohibition exists there is a strong locel sentiment to support the law. Local sentiment is an all-important factor in the enforcement of law. Juries are affected bv it morp largely than many persons seem to be aware of. It is almost impossible to enforce any law in a county in which there is an overwhelming sentiment against the law. Mississippi began her temperance career in a small way. At first a few counties unfurled the prohibition banner. These enforced the law moderately well as well as other laws are enforced. The bene fits of the prohibitory regime were soon so apparent that opposition to the law ceased, except on the part of the lawbreaking element. Those good citizens (and there were such) who had voted the anti-ticket became in many cases enthusiastic prohibition ists. Moreover, one county profited by the experience of another. A county which had voted for the sale very soon observed that her neigh boring dry county wras in a far better condition than herself. Her crime record was far less, her court expen ses less, and many other evidences of ad vanclng civilization pi counted uiem selves. Thus the leaven spread from county to county. Now, suppose Mississippi had in a sudden spurt of temperance enthusiasm passed in 1886 (the date of the enactment of the local option law) a prohibitory law for the entire,State, what would have been the result? Well, it is absolute ly certain that in a large number of counties the law would have been a dead letter. It could have been truly said in all counties that opposed the law, "Prohibition does not prohibit." Thus the law would have been brought into contempt, and by this time a movement would have been on foot to repeal the law. Or, again, suppose the Mississippi prohibitionists had im itated the example of some of their brethern in some of the other States, and carried the question into the realm of partisan poliiics; what then? Well, in that case, she would have been as entirely whiskey-ridden as her sister Tennessee. It was well for Mississippi that she had at the helm in the crucial hour the clear head and strong head of that prince of statesmen, Bishop Chariot B. Galloway to whom more than to any other one man the State is indebted for her present status on the temperance question. Christian Advocate. Crime and its Remedy. Undeniably we have fallen on evil times. Despite the fact that the church is wider awake to the obliga tion resting on her to evngelize the world than ever before, and that the religious life of her communicants is of a more practical kind, as seen in her schools, asylums, hospitals, and other agencies for ameloratlng suffering and lifting humanity to a higher life, yet crime is more general, and defi ant than ever before in this generation, if not in the history of the world. Anarchists, Communists, and other lawless men, who cannot be so read ily classified, have disturbed the peace of the wTorld, and made uneasy heads that have never worn a crown. Robbery and peculation, have assum ed an epidemic form, while rape, ar son and murder are alarmingly com mon. What has been termed, "The Kottor Hass." and "hisrher circle of UVVtVJ. j u society," so far from being exempt, are doing their full share of the dev il's work, and adding to the miseries of the world. ArOL. XXXIX., NO. 11. I ' For all this there must be a cause. What is the cause? and what is the remedy ? Of course depravity is at the bot tom of the whole, but that is only re motely the cause, and does not ac count for the greater prevalence of crime at one time than another, nor for the diabolical circumstances atten dingiits perpetration. Men have been depraved from the days of Adam, but ever and anon their depravity assumes, as now, a more alarming manifestation. The combinations of lawless men such as resulted in the blowing up of the Parliament build ings in London, the Hay-Market Massacre in Chicago, and the more recent explosion of a bomb in the French Chamber of Deputies, would hardly have been possible in any other age of the world, or condition of society. If we add to this organized lawless ness, which threatens the existence of all good government, the mania among individuals of all classes in society to rob, steal, defraud, mur der, and to outrage the persons of helpless women, the picture becomes more alarming still, and calls for the immediate application of some rem edy that shall break up the combi nation of criminals for criminal pur poses, and strike a terror to the in dividuals which shall make them fear to disobey. Criminals have gone unwhipped of justice till our courts no longer in spire them with a wholesome dread, and, even gentle, but misguided wo men, make the cells of red-handed murderers fragrant with the perfume of flowers, and twist silken ropes for use, that the murderers neck be not chafed, if he shall be hung. THE REMEDY for this condition of things is to be found in a more diligent prosecution of all criminals, and a sterner inflic tion or tne penalties or tne law by those appointed to administer it, when ever convictions are made. "The powers that be are ordained of God for the punishment of evil doers, and the praise of them that do well." Human governments are of Divine ordination, and one purpose of their institution is to punish crime. To wink at crime, or to inadequately punish it, is but to encourage it. Sym pathy is a good thing, in Its place; but it is nowhere more out of place than when virtus is stabbed by ex tending it to her assasins. The ad ministrators of the law must learn that they bear the sword, and have been invested with it, for the punish ment of evil doers, that they may thus protect the la w7-abiding part of society. And the church, particularly the ministry, must help in this matter by creating a heathier public sentiment. To do this we must preach the law as well as the gospel. The whole counsel of God must be declared; sinners must be warned, as well as invited. Of late years our pulpits have dwelt on the Fatherhood of God, and pushed his milder attributes to the front, till many seem to have lost sight of the fact that God is a righteous Savior, as wTell as a tender Father an inflexi ble Judge, as well as a gracious Sa -vior. "The fear of the Lord is the be ginning of wisdom." The fear of God is a greater restraining force than that of man; hell is more dread ed than the prison or scaffold. The law and its fearful consequences, if disobeyed, must be plainly and re peadtely preached; and men must be made to feel that hell is as real and as dreadful, in this year of grace as when Christ proclaimed it as the just retribution of the damned, and more to be dreaded than all the . tortures men can inflict. Public sentiment is a powerful thing. In a government like ours it is more powerful than in any other; and, for that reason, needs all the more to be kept healthy. It en acts, and enforces law, or it paralyzes it. To debauch it is to tear down the only barriers erected against crime, and put ourselves at the mercy of the criminals; but to elevate, and maintain it,is to add to our safety,and the peace of society. God is Spirit, and before we can know anything about him we must be born of the Spirit. Barn's Honu
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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March 14, 1894, edition 1
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