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ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE, M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
ESTABLISI N 1855.
RALEIGH, N. C, JULY 12, 1899.
New Series. Vol. 1, No. 21.
-
RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
Organ of the North Carolina Conference.
V T.I.ISHED WEEKLY AT RALEIGH, N. C.
:ul-class matter in the post-office at Raleigh.
to win his case. The idea of polished, " CORN-STALK FIRES."
dignified, undemonstrative preaching is
taking- the life out of our rmlnir in sottip i This expression does not, perhaps, com-
! carts of the rnnntrv. Prhfno- th. c ! mend itself to the POetical mind, yet it is
j .
lit"
X. IVEY, D. D., . . . Editor.
M. WATSON, Business Manager.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
Year, - SI. 50. I Six Months, -Cash
in Advance.
.75
; pel of Jesus Christ is a high duty and
privilege, and immortal souls are in
; volved. Red-hot earnestness, attended by
strong, enlightened conviction, and re
ceiving stimulus and momentum from the
Holy Spirit, is the demand of the hour.
We are glad that the preachers whom we
have lately heard, bid us feel encouraged.
There are exceptions, of course, but the
lers of the gospel and wives of deceased
r-. j-i.oo.
-..veiling preachers in the North Carolina ; outlook is bright. Close and unremitting
"vv as authorized agents, will receive the ! , , . . . , ,
; study, earnest and untiring prayer, glad
;-.Yhe label, it shows the date up to which j and faithful service are not unknown
-vription has been paid. Change in label j among bur preachers. We are glad that
this is true.
a receipt.
.. Idress is ordered changed, both old and
ress must be given.
lir-tr. money, be sure to state whether it is
r new subscription.
all letters and make all checks and money
ivable to the
RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
OUR SCHOOLS.
thing,
EDITORIAL
:e recent biblical assembly.
mean the one held in Charlotte
It would be a good thing, yea, a great
if the duty we owe our schools
. should be clearly defined in the mind and
i heart of our Methodism. This consum- j
! . i
; mation can never occur until the basis ot j
this duty be plainly seen and firmly es
: tablished. This duty does not rest upon
; us as a Conference or as Methodists. It
! rests upon us as followers ol the Lord
dariiig the latter days of June. It wasjjesns Christ. A Methodist school is not
not - largely attended as some expected, j a thing which simply gives a Conference
It brought to the "Queen City"1 a strik-1 a certaii forcefnl eclat in the education
i::g array of talented, consecrated work-! of its preaci1XS) or merely advances Meth
crs. That much good was done, no one j odism by teaching her youth ; but it is
am doubt. The seed sown will not ger- j something over which Christ himself pre
mir.ate in a night, but the harvest will sides, and which develops Christian man
he certain and rich. The Assembly de- jhood and WOrnanhood.
e-vts full recognition and the practical; we may meet as a Conference and pass
co-operation of all who love the Lord our resolutions and forget them in a few
Jesus in all sincerity and truth. We trust j weeks We may as Methodists point
that it will be more successful next year j proudiy to Trinity and our other institu
m point of popular interest. We believe j tions? and have onr minds "blinded by
that it will be. Such a thing is en- i secaar considerations. But when we as
dorsed by God and utilized by the Holy j christians 00k at these institutions as
Ghost. It )s bound to succeed as long
as men are faithful . The Bible is the one
book ot tms natron. L pon its trutns j ph SOnnds all the depths and scales all
rest all our national hopes and the su- ' the aitiuides of duty, and which we can-
premaey
! t he exnonents ot Lnnst and ills Dnnci-
ples, we must recognize an obligation
of all good. We are glad that
not repudiate nor deny. So the duty which
we owe our schools does not rest upon
simply loyalty to Methodism but on love seen.
r rv. SllCil
IOl Willis I.
it is being studied as never before in the
history of the world. It has a secure
resting place in the great heart of our
American citizenship. It is a significant j when we paCe onr Christian institu
te:
Spanish soldiers expressed surprise that
so many of our bovs carried the Bible
wonderful in its typifying power. "Corn
stalk fires" are easily made, and as quickly
die down. We have many of this kind
in the field of religion.
A certain preacher of the North Caro
lina Conference preached sometime ago
to a large audience, over which
a revival wave of the newer sublimated
kind had swept, from the text, 'For me
to live is Christ, to die is gain." Toward
the latter part of the sermon, his congre
gation was strangely affected. Men, wo
men and children began to laugh, weep,
gesticulate, and shout the praises of God.
Some were carried out in a state of com
plete exhaustion. Others lay in a trance.
The preacher could not continue his ser
mon on account of the tumult. With
seemingly heaven-born finesse, he turned
his efforts in the direction of taking up a
missionary collection. He wanted eigh
teen dollars for those who have not the
Gospel. But the frantic crowd evidently
scorned the idea of descending the mount
of their 44 transfiguration " to take up the
prosiac duty of obeying their Lord's last
request on earth. They continued to
shout while the almost empty hat went
around. The preacher, after all his ex
hortation, succeeded in getting only a
small part of the amount asked for.
We heard once at a camp-meeting a
sermon from one of bur best men and
strongest preachers. At the conclusion
of the sermon, a 44 son of thunder'1 but
a holy man and now in heaven arose to
exhort. Many of the congregation were
worked into a frenzy7. The scene was al
most a pandemonium. Children were
weeping, while men and women were
leaping and shouting. Tn our simplicity.
we prophesied a grand time for the after
noon service. We saw prospectively peni
tents flocking to the altars, and heard the
shouts in the camp of Israel. Nothing
seemingly7 but dead apathy7. The fire had
burned down. Hardly any ashes could be
faced the sunrise of a new day, with the
noble ambition to reap for Jesus many7
golden sheaves before the dying of the
day7. But alas, it was not his lot to
44 wield his sickle in the ripening fields."
Among the shadows,' he sat down to talk
for and with his Master. With the dag
gers of disease piercing his body7, parrying
the thrusts of an old appetite which had
nearly destroyed him, listening to the
wolf of poverty howling at his door,
awaiting the final and apparently early
summons, he strikes from the harp of his
sweet and buoyant faith a melody which
rings all over the State. He may7 at times
get happy 44 in meeting" and roil on the
billows of ecstatic joy. But we know that
the truest baptisms of spiritual power come
to him m the quietude of his daily7 con
flict, in the watchings of the night-time,
and in his constant breaking of the ala
baster box at the feet of the Master.
God in War and Providence.
BY
P. RICHARDSON.
that, in the late war with Spain, the ; tions npon tlie same piane as tne Sunday
school, then our duties will be obvious.
A Sunday school is not an annex of the
with them into the camp and the fury of j cmirch, but an institution in which all,
battle. Many of those who were killed j from the iittle cnlid to trie gray-haired
had their mothers1 Bibles next to their nr vvftl1ian. mav be tauo-ht the Word
- " 5 J O
hearts. God rest their souls! As long
as the Bible and 4 Old Glory" go to
gether, so long will the 44 God of nations"
smile upon us.
May an annual Biblical Assembly bless
our commonwealth, and Heaven-favored
he those who have helped to make it a
benediction to our people.
of God. So a Christian institution of
learning is not a mere foster-child of the
church or a protege of a sub-organization,
but an institution for developing the
youth of our land into an intelligent,
j Christian manhood.
. God could place the great work of
! teaching only in the hands of an agent
having a knowledge of God's thought,
j the ability to correctly interpret it, and
, , i the Heaven-inspired desire to use it for
:e nad occasion lately to come . . . - . . . f
. 4. , , t the attainment oi ine oniy true eim ui
to the conclusion that our younger preach- . . , ,
, . r . education. The Church is the truest eou-
cis are developing very sausiaciomy a
There are but two ways to govern men
and nations. The one is to appeal to
their reason and moral sense. The Lord
said to the Israelitish nation, 44 Come now
and let us reason together." The other
is to appeal to their fears and danger of
punishment. The child must fear the
rod until it gets old enough to be con
trolled by reason. The history of the
Israelitish nation, as recorded in the Bible,
and Josephus, is but a history of God's
dealings with men and nations. God
deals with nations as he deals with indi
viduals. To one he gives five talents, to
another two, and to the other one. ' He
adds to those who improve their talents,
and takes from those who bury theirs.
Humanity was made to grow, and man's
Creator has wisely furnished him with
the ir. ems of growth. Man was not
finished in creation, but complete in his
endless possibilities.
The recent war between the United
States and Spain, the manner in which it
was begun and conducted, with its far
reaching results, furnishes food for pro
found thought and action, both by church
and state. The American people had no
prejudice or hatred of the Spanish nation,
nor any special regard for the people of
those islands. The real, underlying prin
ciple of the American mind was to make
peace by arresting the suffering of those
people and the devastation of those grand
islands. The American government had
not the remotest idea that those islands
would be thrown on its hands to be
taken care of, and looked after in their
future destiny. Without much effort or
instances as the above could be
multiplied. The times demand that our
people should learn well the difference be
tween spiritual power and a frothy emo
tionalism. Spiritual power is attended by
emotional phenomena of some kind. We
have seen noise and power go together.
But true spiritual power not only appeals ; sacrifice of blood, the Spanish rule has
ENCOURAGING FACTS.
preachers. They show very clearly that j
they are reading and studying and what
is better, praying. They show progress,
not by making homiletical excursions
into the domain of the so-called higher
thought, but by selecting practical and
tvargelical themes, and preaching the
plain old truths of the Gospel with intel
lectual and spiritual force. Avoiding a
spurious and inert conservatism, they
evince that evangelical radicalism which
boRs to the best of the old while ad
vancing to the best of the new. We have
noticed, too, that there is a growing earn
estness in the presentation of Truth.
We have often thought while listen
1!:g to some men preach that they,
n account of their lack of earnestness
anfl their mechanical delivery, would
make but a slight impression upon a jury
if they were lawyers. It is a good thing,
We would say by way of parenthesis, for
evy preacher to go into a court-house
nce in a while just to see how earnestly,
and often importunately, a lawyer strives
cator and the best conservator of the real
educational idea. For 3000 years the
Church carried the responsibility7. The
sacred and secular wTere one. All was
God's. To-day, according to common
acceptation, the preacher is the one who
stands in the pulpit and preaches the
Word of God, while the teacher is re
garded as one who teaches the thoughts
of God as revealed in the book of nature.
Yet it should be remembered that the
Church is not relieved of its duty of
teaching all of God's thoughts wdiereso
ever revealed, whether in the little log
school-house, or in the rude church.
During these vacation days many
parents are deciding upon a school for
their children. May the foregoing
thoughts and others be in their mind.
God grant that the coining scholastic
year may be the best in the history of
Trinity and our other schools.
Being justified by faith we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
to the emotions, but is attended by7 a
completer equipment for, and a livelier
stimulus to, a practical and Christ-reaching
service. Benificence and blessing
must go together. When our hearts
overflow some other heart must catch the
surplus. The fire of the Holy Ghost
burns bright and long. No rains of a
varied experience can extinguish it.
In the former instance cited, there was
a lad who remained practically unmoved
in the midst of the shouting and tumult.
After the happy ones had exhausted their
little store-houses of liberality7, he turned
to the preacher and said, 44 Preacher, I'll
give you a dollar for the heathen. I
hav'nt got it now, but I'll work for it un
til I get it." Here was the evidence of
spiritual power. The boy felt the impact
of that eloquent gospel sermon. The
wave which shattered itself against the
self-centered hearts of those noisy eccles
iastical Epicurians gathered its force and
swept the silent lad into the very pres
ence of the Eternal One. The fire which
burned in his heart did not leap and roar,
but it had a heat which fused the rougher
elements of his nature and brought out
the pure gold. He felt the touch of God,
and his heart burned with love for sin
ning and dying men.
Let us realize what true spiritual power
is. Let us distinguish between spiritual
exaltation and religious dissipation. We
know a man who, years ago, was about to
sink beneath the waves of life's storm
lashed sea of sin. Christ came walking
on the water, and all was peace. Christ
possessed and Christ-possessing, this man
been retired, and the American govern
ment don't think it either wise or just to
recognize those insurgent organizations.
Therefore the United States finds those
islands in her hands under military7 con
trol. The recent discussion in Congress
was most unfortunate. It gave encour
agement to the insurgents, left the people
in the islands in a state of unrest as to
their future, and discounted our nation
ality7 abroad. But the Divine providence
seems to have moved straightforward in
the midst of all opposition to accomplish
His ends. A man must be a very super
ficial observer who cannot see God in His
providence in nations as in individuals.
He chose the Israelitish nation to reveal
His law and worship to mankind. 44Who
are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the
adoption and the glory and the covenants,
and the giving of the law and the service
of God."
England, in her aggressive forces, has
done more to civilize and Christianize
mankind than all the other nations.
Wherever, in the ends of the earth the
English flag goes, the open Bible, prayer
book and personal, civil, religious liberty
go. She opened the Celestial empire to
the gospel at the mouth of the cannon.
It is said the United States govern
ment is the best in the world, and so it is.
We say nothing about party spirit in poli
tics, and many other evils, but the gov
ernment in the shortest time has neutral
ized all national prejudices and unified
all nationalities, and developed the very
highest forms of personality in the world,
former pledges, and there is now but one
way open for the government, and that is
clearly to annex those islands as territo
ries, and deal with them accordingly.
The Christian public ought to rise up
in their God-given strength at once and
send five hundred missionaries as teach
ers to those islands. This would help
the State to an early settlement of all the
affairs of government in those islands.
Over ten millions of people are now
open to the churches and teachers for sal
vation. It may be replied, the Catholic
Church has been there. That is true.
Slavery can elevate a savage to a certain
point, but beyond that in slavery there is
no room for growth, so can the Spanish
government and the Catholic Chnrch ele
vate a savage race to a certain altitude,
but beyond that there is no room for fur
ther development. In fact, the govern
ment of Spain and the Catholic Church
have been in the way of progress on
those islands. They have made but lit
tle advance in the last hundred years.
There is no place now in the higher
and more advanced civilization for the
Catholic Church. Wherever the Ameri
can flag is unfurled, there will be found
an open Bible and civil and religious lib
erty.
I can't see how any patriot who enjoys
these blessings can vote against giving
them to others. I am no politician, and
belong to no political party. Some of
our Congressmen who oppose the annex
ation of those islands to the United States
remind me of my youngest boy. When
about five years old he came into the
room where his mother was having a
carpet tacked clown. He took in the
movement, and asked his mother if the
Lord did not have a barrel of tacks ? His
mother asked him what use the Lord had
for tacks. He said to keep his sky
nailed down. His world w7as confined to
his little horizon (the reader can make
the application.)
This great nation can't crawl into her
shell and ignore the claims of men and
nations. The United States, without in
tending, has done more in the past year
than ever before, to impress upon the na
tions the grandeur of her government,
the intelligence and courage of her peo
ple, and the vastness of her resources.
The United States is obliged to take her
place as a nation and meet her national
obligations, and in the providence of God
aid in the civil and religious freedom to
the ignorant and down-trodden of all
people.
The people of the United States don't
want to annex these islands to enrich
themselves, but to better the condition of
those islanders by giving them a better
civilization, better government, and a
better form of religion. If they are an
nexed, then they will be a part of the
nation, and no good can come to the na
tion that will not come to those islanders.
They will be a part of the United States.
The annexation of those islands will
make the geography of the nation com
plete, having all soils, all climates, and
all products produced on the globe, from
the icy north to the sunny tropics. The
nation needs the products of those
islands ; coffee, sugar, the finest timber
in the world, and all tropical fruits.
The resources of those islands are end
less. It is seed time and harvest all the
year. The tropics extend about twenty
eight hundred miles across the center of
the earth. The Creator planted humanity,
in the tropics, and by this annexation the
United States will add about 300,000
square miles to her territory, and over
ten millions to her population. I write
understandingly, having lived near the
tropics. Much is said about the burning;
sun of the tropics and climatic condi
tions. I know it is not as hot in Ha
vana in mid-summer as it is in Atlanta
or New York. The people are not sub
ject to half so many diseases, and thus
live much longer. I have spent many
years in all parts of Florida. I never saw
nor heard of a case of sunstroke or of
any7 one being overcome by heat. I lived
two years within forty miles of the tropics.
I never saw the the thermometer but
once above ninety, and only twice below
sixty. As you approach the equator
every schoolboy ought to know that the
days and nights become more nearly of a
length and the twilight shorter, as you
approach the tropics. If these islands
whether in war or m peace. If this is
true, then all people are justly entitled to are permanently annexed to the United
the same blessings, and every tnend of
humanity ought to give his influence to
extend civil and religious freedom to the
ends of the earth. Whatever promises
or pledges the government has made, the
new order of things abrogates all those
States, in less than five years more than
a million of Europeans and American
citizens will go there, and in less than
twenty years the islands w7ill be made an
earthly paradise. Wesley an Chris tia?n
Advocate.