? . gQFJ1ENOgTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE, M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
J-gjT 'N 1555, 'RALEIGH, N. C, OCTOBER 18, 1899. New SERIES. Vol. 1, No. 35.
RALEIGH CHMMN ADVOCATE.
Orzan of the Carolina Conference.
' pi i T.isiiKD V at Raleigh, N. C.
i -CLVOK.-class matter in the post-office at Raleisrh. i
r.t :- . j
,Tt. X. IVEY, D. D., . . . Editor. !
prv' N. WATSOX, Business Manager.
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RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. !
EDITORIAL
IN OLD WARREN.
A two hours' dash up the S. A. L., a ;
lev.- minutes' stop at Warren Plains, a j
-crawnsh." rocking ride over a little rail-'
road, three miles long, and we are in '
Tarrer.ton. a town wearing the after-!
cow of a richly historic Past, and flushed j
with the lusty strength of a livelier Pres- j
ent. A gentleman introduces himself as j
"Brother Masseuburg," and we are car-;
ii at once to nis nospiiauie nome, wnere j
1 1 1
we are introduced to his cultured wife. I
Here we spend a pleasant hour with these j
; high church" Methodists, as they call j
I themselves. Of course they mean that j
- thev are strong, loval Methodists. i
j A knock at the door and we are intro- j
! hiced to a Bro. Ed Williams, who tells j
j "5 that he is to convey us to the neigh-!
I bcrhood of Shady Grove Church, Rev. j
J. M. Rice, P. C. Bro. Williams, in the j
I course of two hours, proves himself an j
l agreeable companion, a gracious host, a j
I modem Jehu, and a rich mine of agricul- i
j rural and other information. He is one j
j of the "stand-bys" of Shady Grove a j
leal yeoman in the Master's service. May j
his shadow never grow less. I
The ashen skies were weeping, and j
the twilight shadows were beginning to j
: enfold the dreary landscapes, when we j
'Irove ud to the door of Bro. Jonas Wil-1
hams, who with "Elder" Underwood and !
i
"Preacher1 Rice, welcomed us to the
1 blazing fireside of a family, every mem
ber of which wore a face bright with
love's sunshine. A devoted husband, a
brave, consecrated wife, and fourteen
. taght children, some of whom have
j gone to the upper courts. This is the
I Household at which mv heart took some i
successful snap-shots, and of which mem
I carries some charming views. We
j vere glad to meet under this roof a real
j Methodist patriarch and his interesting
j companion. I refer to Bro. J. S. Jones
I and wife. Bro. Jones is eighty-five years
but he is as spry and chipper as a
Bros. Underwood and Rice gave
tom a birth-day present in the shape of
a year's subscription to the "Old Ral-h-''
A good example for all who
lla'e friends or relatives with birth-days.
The congregation at Shady Grove the
-et day was small, on account of the
ja:n, but the service was a very enjoya
Jie one to the preacher in the pulpit. It
';as the occasion of the fourth O. M. on
arrenton circuit. Thejmusic deserves
ptc;al mention. Prof. J. A. Dameron
f n Asaph. His son, and little Miss Anna
plains only twelve years old, alter
"ate1:' evoked the sweetest music from
l' & s""tt-toned organ, and the little con
f fc?atlon5 ied by Prof. Dameron, gave us
;,;c;i ymnic melody as is not often heard
country churches. Shady Grove is
f e of tite oldest Methodist churches in
Ovatt. Tt rnnlrl foil inf orct innr tnlpc;
of
4 t:le earliest decades of Methodist his-
1 he glory of the former years is
gone, the worshippers are few, but in the
Hearts oi these few is a persevering and
enduring loyalty which gives no sign of
decadence. We secured some new sub
scribers to the Advocate.
Bro. Jonas Williams was kind enough
to convey us in his buggy to Warrenton.
He is a man in whose presence it is im
possible to suffer from that ennui with
which all travellers are acquainted. He
is well informed, and impresses every
one with the strength of his convic
tions, and the sincerity of his motives,
home?"
The journey of twelve miles was a
short one. The purple stars of autumn
hung in the roadside shrubbery, and
the graceful golden-rod trembled over
dainty carpets of black and gold. The
smell of the newlv-washed earth, mingled
with the odors that came from the gaily
decorated forests, made quicker heart
throbs and brighter eyes for at least one
on that blessed Sabbath afternoon. When
we feel the touch of nature we feel the
touch of God himself.
To say that nightfall found us before a
blazing grate in the home of that large
hearted layman and successful business
man, Walter E. Boyd, of Warrenton, is
to say much. To say that the same bless
ing included the hospitable attentions
and ministrations of his accomplished
and matronly wife, is to say much more.
Then there were Underwood and Guthrie.
There was charm in the coterie and the
occasion. But the church-bell warned us
that the congregation were ready to hear
the nomadic editor preach. We found a
congregation of good size. The attention
was all that could be expected. There
was present a large contingent of young
oeople to whom we were glad to preach.
The church is a gem. The Warrenton
Methodists should feel proud of it. The
pastor, Bro. Guthrie, is closing his second
year on the Warrenton Circuit. He has
done work which abides. His meetings
this year have been profitable. It was
quite a pleasure to canvass his congrega
tion the next day for the Advocate.
Bro. Guthrie on Sunday night suggested
that we appoint a place where the good
people who wished to subscribe might
meet us Monday. Such a thing had
never been heard of in Israel. So we had
to smile incredulously while we accepted
his suggestion. But he knew his people
better than we did. They did hunt
the editor the next morning to sub
scribe. What a glorious people! We
very much lengthened our list of subscri
bers. Those Warrenton Methodists be
lieve in reading and their own church pa
per at that. From forefathers, who guided
the ark in troublous times, those Warren
ton saints have inherited a zeal which
flags not, and a spirit which is ready in
every good word and work.
Bro. Underwood convened his Quar
terly Conference for Warrenton Circuit
about 11 o'clock on Monday morning.
The attendance of the official brethren
was large. It was our privilege to talk a
few minutes to them. It is saying much
for them when we say that when we bade
them adieu there was only one who was
not a subscriber to the "Old Raleigh."
We would say, en passant, that Bro. Un
derwood, as far as we have been able to
learn, is popular in every part of his Dis
trict. Bro. J. M. Rice, P. C. of the Warren
Circuit, lives at Warrenton. He married
a daughter of Bro. Matlock, of Alamance,
and she makes a model preacher's wife.
Bro. Rice is one of our truest men. He
preaches a plain, searching gospel. He
tells the truth, no matter -how it hurts.
His work has borne fruit. He has held
some very gracious meetings. It was our
fortune to dine at the parsonage, where
our stay was only too short for us.
We started out in this correspondence
to tell something of Warrenton and War
ren County. But our space is not suffi
cient. Warrenton is a live town, if it is
ancient. There is a great deal of business
done in this interesting old town. The
houses wear that air of thrift and respect
ability which is a true index to pros
perity. The people are cultured and in
telligent. One of the best schools in the
State is here, taught by Prof. J. B. Gra
ham. W e looked in on the boys and girls,
of whom there was a large number.
They seemed contented and ambitious.
Prof. Graham is one of the State's fore
most teachers. Such men as he are the
truest conservators of the best interests
of the commonwealth. We are sorry
that we did not have time to visit that
genial ink-slinger and worthy occupant
of the tripod, Bro. Rod well, of the War
renton Record, a valuable paper on which
we levy for points every week.
By one o'clock, through the kindness of
Bro. Rice and the unusual exertions of his
horse, "Lucy", who seems to be an almost
standing rebuke to this fast age (she is a
splendid horse, though), we were at War
ren Plains, where a few minutes after
ward we took the southbound train for
Raleigh. In less than three hours we
were in this office listening to the printers'
demand for copy.
A WRONG TENDENCY IN LITERATURE.
The Christian who carefully studies
the history of mankind, past and present,
must evidently come to the conclusion
that the world is growing better. Re
ligion and civil government go hand in
hand to make better men and better citi
zens. But in some particular lines the
nisfht seems to KV blacker and the
dawn to delay her coming.
We refer to the increasing use of pro
fanity, as shown by the unfailing guide
current literature. To-day the Press is
all-powerful. It speaks, and a fair island
is freed from tyrrany. It thunders, and
a powerful but corrupt government par
dons a Dreyfus.
Be it remembered, however, that evil
may and does have the same champion.
Our firesides are invaded by books and
magazines that insidiously weaken the
moral tone of our children, and bear
fruitage in stunted Christians and often
ruined homes.
A few years ago, books and magazines
of the better class dared not use pro
fanity except by printers' dashes, and but
seldom that way. To-day the oaths are
brazenly spelled out, and used in profu
sion. Not only this, but sacred things
are sneered at and impurity apotheosized.
Remember, that this is not "Wild-West"
literature, to be read in dingy garrets, but
the product of our famous writers of fiction,
which fashion and learning decree shall
be read by all intelligent persons wTith
no thought of concealment.
To-day "David Harum" is eagerly read
in thousands of our American homes;
but the old country banker must needs
sauce his homely wit and logic with
questionable slang and open profanity.
A gifted English writer, who is very dear
to Americans, makes his well-bred Eng
lish school boys use billingsgate and in
vective that would tax the ingenuity of
hardened criminals.
Nor is this state of affairs confined
to literature. Popular lecturers regale
us with anecdotes of drunken men, imi
tating their movements, and making their
condition a joke. We regret to say that
even ministers sometimes listen with a
smile to stories of questionable propriety,
whose sole pithoften lies in a well-turned
in semi-oath or in obscenity.
The remedy for all this is a rigid su
pervision of literature that comes into
our homes, and a severe let-alone policy
toward those lecturers who do not send
from the lecture hall ' better men and
women.
We should be as careful in these affairs
as we are in lesser ones, and far more so.
A government closes its mails to the trea
sonable writings of any of her citizens.
A public assembly in a Western State
drives from its hall a famous ex-Congressman
because of his plea for Aguin
aldo. Then should wc hesitate to boldly
1 ;
attack and destroy anything, however
strongly championed by fashion and in
fluence, that detracts in any degree what
ever from the purity and security of the
Unto the Ends of the Earth.
Review of Missions.
The secret forces which dominate the
actions of men what are they? The
agnostic refers them to chance ; the ra
tionalist, to nature (whatever that means),
and the philosopher who is honest with
himself recognizes an impulse more than
human, but is at a loss to account for it.
The reverent student of the Word of God
sees the presence of an unseen hand and
the influence of an overruling power
which shape the aims and ends of man.
There has been no century in the recent
history of mankind which has given such
marked proof of the immanence of God
in movements which are both of a na
tional and of a world-wide significance.
In a recent number of the Review of
Reviews, the editor calls attention to the
fact that "the Conference at The Hague,
which was assembled primarily to discuss
disarmament, found itself gradually trans
formed into a congress for the establish
ment of an international tribunal for the
settlement of disputes between nations
by the orderly processes of law." It was
far from the intention of the great powers
represented to enter upon the discussion
of arbitration, nor was it in the mind of
any member of the Conference to propose
the establishment of an international tri
bunal ; but, as by a common impulse, the
delegates have agreed to recommend "the
creation of a world's high court of judi
cature." The recommendation " marks
one of the great epochs in the progress
of civilization."
JeCnre's Magazine for August con
tains an article on '-The Cape to Cairo
Railway," by W. T. Stead. He opens
with a conversation between himself and
Herr Rothstein, a German Jew7, who is
adviser to the Russian Imperial Minister
of Finance, and che of the few men who
influence the policy of the empire. He
greatly surprised Mr. Stead by making
the following observation upon the secret
forces whicn appear to control the actions
of men:
"The Siberian Railway," said Herr
Rothstein, like man)- others of the same
nature, is being built under the compul
sion of an impulse or an instinct which
it is impossible to justify on financial,
political or military grounds. The sac
rifices which the construction entails will
never be repaid, at least to the men wdio
make them. From a financial point of
view I could name a score of other meth
ods of investing money within the empire
that would pay handsomely, pay far bet
ter than this transcontinental railway can
ever hope to do. But nations appear to
be sometimes possessed by an uncontrol
able passion to bring together the utter
most ends of a continent, quite irrespec
tive of rational motives. It is a kind of
demon which drives them, and I can only
suppose that the impulsion is intended
to promote the general good of mankind.
Certainly, in our case, the sacrifices are
much more obvious than the gain to
Russia."
Mr. Stead thinks the gigantic under
taking of Cecil Rhodes in constructing
a railroad of sixty-six hundred miles in
length, from one end of Africa to an
other, at a cost of $50,000,000, is a still
more striking illustration of the doctrine
of the Russian financier. We think we
can explain the happy though unlooked
for results of the Peace Conference and
the projection of these world lines of
travel and communication by one w7ord :
Providence. They are due to the move
ments of that supernatural Presence who
works to the removal of national barriers
and to the extension of his kingdom in
all the earth. The forces of God are
shaping the ends and purposes of man,
"For he should have dominion from sea
to sea, and from the river unto the ends
of the earth."
GOOD LUCK OR GOD'S GOODNESS.
Sunday School Times.
There are persons who are counted
very lucky. Their friends have this idea
of them, and they themselves think there
is something on which to base the idea.
Other persons are similarly looked at by
themselves and by others as remarkably
unlucky. What basis is there for think
ing thus? What basis can there be?
What do we mean by luck? Luck is
understood in a general sense, to mean
fortune, or chance, or happening. There
are few wdio have any well-defined idea
in connection with the word. Most use
it because of a lack of a well-defined
idea. They employ it as a substitute for
a thought in the absence of the thought;
as it has been said that those who do not
believe in God often believe in ghosts
Many connect the term "luck" with cer
tain persons, as indicating their charac
teristics or course of life, as favorable or
unfavorable, or, rather, as favoring or un-favoring.-
Those who are not satisfied
with using the term without any sup
posed meaning in their own minds, some
times talk vaguely and imposingly of an
undiscovered law7 of nature, as conveni
ently covering their admission of igno
rance of any specific meaning. Thus a
well-known philosopher without philos
ophy declares that "luck is untraced and
untraceable law7." But, as even John
Stuart Mill points out, there can be no
such thing as a law apart from the idea
of a lawgiver, therefore an undiscovered
law is, at the best, or at the worst, the
uniform way of working a Power or Per
sonality. Either there is a God or there is not a
God. Either God is supreme, or God is
not supreme. To those who say in their
heart there is no God, there is nothing
to be said. They are beyond the realm
of argument or reason. Those who re
cognize the existence of God, either
count God supreme, or recognize a power
or personality of evil combatting God.
Both of these two classes believe that all
good is from God; those who think that
theie is an evil personality working
against God can, it is true, consistently
believe that evil comes from that source,
for instance, Paul, writing to the Thessa
lonians, says of himself and companions
i that they would fain have visited them
once and again, but "Satan hindered"
them. . In other words there is a certain
reasonableness in thinking- that what is
called by many "good luck" is God's fa
voring goodness, and that bad luck is
the result of the adversary's working;
but there is no reason for thinking that
good luck or good fortune, or anything
else good, is the result of any other cause
than God's favoring goodness.
If all good is from God, the little good
and the great good are alike from him.
We must not make the mistake of meas
uring his standards by ours, and of sup
posing that he deems great what w7e thus
deem, and that he counts small what is
small in our sight. With him, the small
is great and the great is small, and all is
small and all is great, and, again, noth
ing is either great or small.
A Lost Mother.
(BY ELLA BEECIIER GITTINGS.)
It is no uncommon thing for police
men to find lost children upon the streets,
and to restore them to their homes, but
here is an interesting story of a Colorado
Springs officer who had the pleasure of
restoring a lost mother to her family.
One morning, as the policeman was
sitting on a box in front of a drug store,
he was startled by seeing a strange look
ing animal crawling up his trousers' leg.
With a quick motion of the hand, he
caught it by the tail. At first he thought
it was a rat, but it was unlike any rat or
mouse he had ever seen. Plainly it was
neither squirrel nor gopher, nor could he
think of any animal known to him to
which he could liken it. He took it to
police headquarters, where it was kept on
exhibition for a time, but no one not
even a learned college professor who
chanced that way could give it a name.
At length, as one of the officers was
passing a fruit-store, he saw in a small
glass show-case a nest of seven babv ani
mals exactly like the one at the police
station. The fruil-dealer told him that
they had been found in a bunch of ba
nanas just received from South America.
Returning at once to headquarters, he
fetched the animal imprisoned there, and
placed it in the show-case with the babies.
They at once ran up to it, and showed by
unmistakable signs of joy that they had
found a lost mother.
Finally there appeared a "wise man,"
who said that they were South American
mice, otherwise known as kangaroo rats.
In shape and general appearance they re
semble a kangaroo, but have feet like
the hands of a monkey, having thumbs
distinct from the fingers or toes, and, like
the monkeys, they hang by their long
tails. Having satisfied their hunger, the
little ones went to sleep with their tails
coiled around the tail of their mother,,
which she had turned over her back.