Newspapers / North Carolina Christian Advocate … / Nov. 22, 1899, edition 1 / Page 1
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o " " , ESTABLISHED I' 555. RALEIGH CHRISTIAn ADVOCATE. Orean of the North Carolina Conference. 1YBUSHKD VKKKIAT AT RALEIGH, ft. C. Halt' -vl as second-class matter in the post-office at Raleigh. Kev. T. X. IVEY, U. D., . . . - Editor. Kkv.N. M. WATSOX, Business Manager. .. ; itmtta ur MiHM.iiii'iiUH. One i ear, si-ou. i oia mourns, -Cash in Advance. r V 1 1 1 I t . .. Fvl 11 mr. I : 1 ; 7. c , ' U ministers of the gospel and wives of deceased I wchers, 5i.oo. All travelling preachers in the North Carolina j Conference, as authorized agents, will receive the vr free Watch the label It shows the date up to which vour subscription has been paid. Change in label e:ve as a receipt. When address is ordered changed, both old and :1ev.- address mibt be given. I:i sending money, be sure to state whether it is for old or new subscription. Address all letters and make all checks and money orders pavable to the RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. EDITORIAL IN HIS PRESENCE. For every individual there is some spot on earth which represents for him all that is comfortable for the body, congenial to the aesthetic tastes, and stimulating to the mind. This spot, though seldom vis ited or even seen, is nevertheless a cher ished reality. For every child of God there is a place which represents all that is dear to the soul. Seen only by the inner eye, visited o::lv by Faith, Hope, and Love, desig nated bv no latitude nor longitude, exist- er.t anywhere, not dependent for beauty on blue of skv or o-old of sunshine, glow- j in- in the darkness of the darkest night, j shining with a "light that never was on j land or sea," it is the Arcr.dia of the ; Chri ;t-nossessed nd C h rist-posessi ng It is called "In His Presence." I iT,-.r,. r;.!i;pnp ;it: in tbe mellow liodir ' r Tx.r:.i. ui i,tacc- "CIC lalLU icaatS the unseen. Here love leans its head on the bosom of the Father. It is the "secret nlaee of the Most Hih," and the soul , i ,i 1-1 c i. . 1 aoi-ies uniir tne snauow oi uie in:.rlitv,M Blessed place! Accessible to I oi eartns millions and designed as a ; permanent abiding place in this life and I a far more aggressive work in this de that which is to come. jpartmeut than we are; they are giving In His Presence! Who may abide j more money, and using it more intelli here? Whv, the little child hist treading ! gently and effectively. They are build- the daisied lields of morning, anc I the I white-haired pilgrim who is Hearing the j W nle dn,P- tbe centered ruler and ! ragged Lazarus; the beauteous star of the salon, and the shrinking Magdalene; the laborer in the harvest field and the sailor on the heaving sea. All these may stand within the circle of "In Flis Presence." But remember that all who do so must i, . i 1,1 -. i. j nave the pure heart and consecrated lite. "Blessed are the mire in heart for thevlretary (atiouier name ioi xuoF -snail see God" and they only. No one who lias failed to cast out, by the Spirit's power, the last idol from the heart in or der to make room for Jesus can rest un der the smile of the Father. All the sin sick thousands who have gone from the outer court into the presence of the King have used the pass-word : " None for self and all for Thee. All the ransomed thous ands who have feasted their eyes on "the riches of grace" in His blessed presence have first shouted from the depths of their hearts: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." In His Presence ! Sad it is to think of so many of earth's millions who know nothing of this happy place. Some have never heard of it. Others have heard f it around the fireside, in the Sabbath school, and from the pulpit, f hev have read its odories in the Bock of books and in the lives of those who are now singing in the upper courts. Yet they are content to live with famishing hearts at a distance from His Presence. Il is sad to think that so many who once enjoyed His Presence and were recognized as children there have wandered far away. ORGANOF THE NORTH Strucvsrlino- in tbe ,Wr r i vv vjiucb ui low-oorn thoughts, feelings, and acts they have lost the lighten the mountain top. They drink no longer the water which flows from the eternal fountain. They have ex changed the bread of life for the ! of sin. And yet the gates to In His Pres- enee are standing nnpn in His Prewar . . v- . Here mav we Elsewhere, faith has no vision: 1 e' no torcll5 love o sweetness; service 11r, , f ' ' llonntage; life, no crown. Elsewhere, the skies are wild and starless, the way is lone aildjloilg, and the darkness deepens. Ill His Iresence alone is "fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore." AGGRESSIVE METHODISM. That Methodism has the best machin ery for aggressive church work, is one of the favorable opinions often expressed by those within and without her fold. In foi mulating her polity Mr. Wesley freely appropriated from other churches what he conceived to be the "best'thing-s and wrought them into harmonious unity. And with this polity, readjusted now and then to suit new times, exigencies, and conditions, Methodism, under the blessing of God, has grown in a little more than a century, to be the largest Protestant denomination in the world. But our yesterdays cannot be wrought over into our to-days, nor must we con gratulate ourselves on past victories, and sit down in ease ; as in the past, so in the future, we must keep our polity wisely adjusted to the demands and con- ditions and needs of to-day And if Mr. Wesley originally borrowed from other other churches to formulate our polity, so ought we now to study the aggressive work of other churches, and wisely ap- propriate that which proves itself good. For instance, there is hardly an intelli- Jcrf -oW nr lavmnn within the! ; r " , :"" " ; j bounds of ot the North Caronna Comer- j ence who does not lament the ineffici- j ency of our Domestic Mission work. The U;,Q mma cntnf.K,"ifl' riiYlif tr "wu v speak out plainly. Our Baptist breth reu (all honor to them for it) are doing ing up a methodic system, under the di rection of an accomplished and vigorous Secretary, by means of which every out- post and wayside mission shall feel the throb of central life. By this system every missionary working under the di rection of the Board, is assured of the help of some strong man at every strste- ! gic point for a week or ten days every U - ear Under the direction of their Sec- jedi L UUU LUC i -i-M .1 4.1.,. .- l-i 1 J fl-ioir frrrt nf SlulUg XlUei J liiC uiuojii tiiv-ii xwix.. w the proper point and at the proper time. We have all the machinery for doing this work much more easily, and just as effec tively, but we are not using it. Our plan at least our practice has been to make starvation appropriations and pick up a number of men who for -rc-a nr anntber are not in self- UllC Ccllli kjl --" d send them forth supporting charges, an to "root hog or die." What these heroic souls have suffered in body and mind no tongue can tell, no pen record. Small pay, little encouragement, and no help. No man can do his best under such con ditions. That thev have done as well as they have is almost a miracle. Year after year we are dragging our missionary charges along with little evidence of improve ment. Why not recognize the folly and cruelty of such a system and begin at once an aggressive work ? Pay our self sacrificing missionaries living wages, even if we have to decrease the number in order to do it; release our Presiding Elders from the necessity of giving any Sunday service to the strong circuits and stations, and let them give themselves CAROLINA CONFERENCE, M. RALEIGH, N. C, NOVEMBER 22, 1599. and a part of the time of every preacher in the District to helping at these w7eak points. Some such plan as this would infuse new life into our flagging system, and enable Methodism to do her part in advancing the Master's kingdom in this world. What we want is the most effective men possible for our mission points, a read justment of the work of the Presiding Elder, and the co-operation and personal help of the preachers in charge of circuits and stations. If anyone has a better plan for aggressive work, they are at liberty to speak through these columns. THE ROBERTS CASE. We have nothing but good words for those who are working so strenuously to save our government the humiliation and disgrace of having a polygamist in its Congress. Mr. Roberts has broken the moral law. He has broken the civil law. He flaunts before the eyes of the Ameri can people his shameless depravity, and expects to be sustained by the country. It was wisely said, in the last issue of the Nashville Christian Advocate, that Mr. Roberts may be able to retain his seat through the votes of men whose lives are as immoral as that of Mr. Roberts. Right here is the rub. This danger wonld not exist if the Christian people of this country would only cry out constantly against private immorality in the lives ot some of our pnblic men. WTe are too too much given to crying out against evil in spurts and spots. There are probably men now holding public positions who are as guilty as Mr. Roberts. But this fact should not keep us from praying to be delivered from the evil of polygamy. At the same time, those guilty of private immorality shouitMiot be spaied. THE MAN WITH A GRIEVANCE. Like the poor, lie is always with us Like some poor, he believes that the word Qwes hm a rightin He expects his friend and acquaintances to espouse ! his cause, neglect their own interests and i labors, alienate, if necessarv. their friends. , , , brf righting his wrongs, If any decline this generous proposition, he sts them aown as indifferent to justice and righteousness, without sympathy with the oppressed, un worthy to be called men. It is really astonishing how numerous are these men and women with a griev- ance. A man in government service comes to say that his chief is prejudiced against him, denies him promotion, threatens his dismissal. You try to get at the root of the matter, but cannot learn that your caller is at all at fault. His chief 'is wholly to blame. He is a bitter partisan, and, in total disregard of civil service laws and principles, favors exclusively Repub licans or Democrats. He is from Connec ticut or Kentucky, and secretly hostile to all employees not from his own State. He has one favorite in the office, and makes everything bend to her interests. Your man with a grievance makes out a very plausible story. He goes into particulars. He gives day and hour. He has a long list of incidents that prove how sadly he is ill-used. Should he be dismissed, what will become of him and his dependent family? He has no resources, can do on ly this one sort of work, has served the government long and faithfully. Will you stand by and see such injustice, without raising your hand to nelp the oppressed.'' No. You will set this wrong right, or know the reason why it cannot be reme died. You go straight to the office, indie-nation in your heart and fire in your eye. You will demand righteousness. That chief will quail when he sees and hears you, stammer, apologize, and pro mote your friend off-hand from his beg garly twelve hundred dollar place to two thousand. "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just." Thus you commune with yourself on your way, at the door, in the corridor while waiting for the mes senger to take in your card. You are ushered into the presence of this rascally chief. A glance shows you that he is a gentleman. You conclude to withhold your demand for justice until after a lit tle conversation. With some hesitation and misgiving you introduce the subject of your visit. You find you are the third caller that day on the same errand. Your E. CHURCH, SOUTH. friend's grievance is so unendurable that he has found it necessary to seek other sympathy and aid besides yours, though he assured you that a word from you would make all right. The chief tells you that your friend has long been inefficient. He sends for his rating, and shows you that it has been so slow that he should long ago have been dismissed, in justice to the government that pays for service never rendered, but has been retained out of sympathy for his family. Or, he is efficient but quarrel some, always keeping his office in hot water, insubordinate to the point of de stroying discipline among twenty or thirty men and women. He has exhausted the patience of all his fellow clerks, demora- lized an entire branch of the public ser-! vice, and nothing remains but to discharge ! him How about partisanship? The chief and your friend prove to be of the same part Religion? Both are ardent Meth odists. Residence? Both are natives of the same town, and still vote in the same precinct. Favoritism? Well, that is a matter of assertioii on both sides. But the chief seems such a fair-minded man that you cannot help believing this ground of complaint as fanciful as the others. You apologize for troubling him, protest your confidence in his fairness, retire with the fire in your eye reduced to ashes, and anticipate your report to your friend with decidedly mixed emotions. Of course, this is not always the sequel. Too many chiefs are partial and preju diced. Too many clerks have genuine grievances. But what should they do with them? Should they carry them to their friends, and try to have them righted or should they try patiently to disarm prejudice by extraordinary industry, fidel ity and courtesy ? No chief is indepen dent. Each is accountable for the effi ciency of his bureau. He must have effi cient helpers. He cannot afford to let his prejudices run against thoroughly good workmen, and in nine cases out of ten he will not. Granting that he is unfair and partial, he can be met in almost every case and conquered by incontestable effi ciency and faithfulness; and, if not, the proper recourse of the employee, after ex hausting appeal to right superiors, is quiet withdrawal. He should not make his per sonal o-rievances the subject of oublic con troversy. The public service affords lessons in this ! matter among men in higher positions than ! cierKsmps ana cnieismps. Aieinoers oi Congress and Senators lose their hold upon their constituencies, and are not re turned to their seats. Forthwith they carry their grievances to the President, if he is of their party. They have been left stranded, and he must float them again. Postmasterships, ccllectorships, consulships, foreign ministries, must be given them not at all because they have a special fitness or training, but to con dole them for their grievances. Nor is this exploiting of grievances. confined to any city or any walk of life. A pastor has trouble within his church. The finances halt, and? rightly or wrongly, he bears the odium. The congrega- tions decrease, and whisperings arise that a more popular preacher is needed, j comparjson : "The maidens of Devon Personal and local jealousies develop, and ; shire are comeiv an, sweet, those of the through lack of tact or prudence, he is en listed on this side or that. Come how it may, he has a grievance. What shall he do with it? Keep it absolutely within his own bosom, and set himself to remove or conquer it? Such is the right course, and in most cases it will succeed. But he is Wrongly tempted to make it a par - ish and a community matter. .Nothing is easier. A five minutes' speech from his pulpit, a dozen lines in a newspaper, even a sentence or two to an indiscreet friend, will divide his church and his town into hostile camps, set going a hun dred gossipping tongues, drag to light the secret of scores of households, sow seeds of lifelong hate and vindicate him? Never! He may muster a majority vote at a congregational meeting, his friends J may persuade him to "stand for a great principle," he may hold his pulpit for a few weeks or months amid bitterness and recriminations that make efficiency im possible and life a burden, and. then he must go discredited, leaving a rent and disheartened church to mourn his folly ! and his own. A young man enters a store, an office, a bank. He soon discovers that his em ployer is a hard master, exacting, unrea sonable, irascible, impossible to please. He does his best for a while, endures what he cannot avoid, and tries to be effi cient and faithful. By and by he begins to brood over the situation. He finds his New Series. Vol. 1, No. 40. employer bears in the community just the reputation that he deserves. He has been unable to keep good men in his em ploy, changes very frequently, and the community understands why. Now our young man begins to meditate exploit ing his grievance and raising an issue with his employer. "Surely," he argues, the public will take my side. Every one will understand why I leave such a man. I shall never need to say that I resigned voluntarily. If there is to be a quarrel, it wull be the public and myself against this odious man. I have nothing to lose, and everything to gain." So he joins the issue only to find the public entirely indifferent, and himself unable to explain to those of whom he seeks employment, why he did not remain in his former place, and endure its hardships with manly courage and patience. Their con clusion is that, if he could not get on with one employer, it is extremely doubt ful whether he can get on with another, and they, at least, do not care to take the i chances. It is a favorite saying of Mr. Moody that "God has no use for a discouraged man." May we not add, 4 no use for a man with The world has a grievance There is probably no practical lesson that the young so urgently need to learn. Every position in life has its hard ships, which are very easily trans formed into grievances. A little brood ing over the former, and lo ! they are the latter. The first suggestion of wisdom is to avoid that brooding as you would contagion. Accept them as simply hardships, indis pensable parts of healthful discipline, un avoidable in any occupation or call ing, wherever exercised. Eudure them bravely, paiiently, and, above all, silently. Next to brooding over, talking about them will make them grievances. Talk about anything, even the weather, but never about your hardships. And if, in spite of you, they have be come grievances, and you are tempted to throw yourself upon the justice of the world to right your wrongs, reflect first how infinitesimal a part of the world you are, and how impossible it is that the world should pause even to hear your story, much less to fight your battles. You may say this is selfish and wicked. So saying you speak out of the bitterness of your heart, not out of the clearness of your reason. But grant it. Still the fact remains. Join battle over your griev ance, and you are certain to find yourself fighting alone, amid indifferent or mildly amused spectators. And of the issue of that battle there is no doubt vou will go down in total defeat. Hardships you will have, grievances you need not -have. But if unhappily you have them, you need not exploit them ; or, if you must exploit them, you need not count on pub lic sympathy and aid. If you would win success and enjoy peace of mind, engrave on the palms of your hands, "The world has no use for a grievance." S.S. Times. ! iRudyard Kipling s Estimate of American Girls. j In a recenty expressed estimate of j ;rnlooci Rudvard Kipling makes this better parts of London refined and gra cious; the damsels of France shy, de mure and fascinating ; but the girls of America are over and above them all." The man of letters comments in detail upon traits of mind and character which distinguish them more j than personai charms, although those rp ;mni;Pfi He rb.ims that the eirls of this country " are excep tionally clever talk, think, and take care of themselves, without the least sac rifice of womanly grace and tenderness." He attributes this largely to co-education and the association of boys and girls in childhood, which naturally results in strong friendship, even competition, be tween them in studies and sports. "American gills learn to regard men sen sibly, not being taught to consider every one they meeet in the light of a possible future husband. Again he asserts that they are "superbly independent, using without abusing the large liberty allowed them." This he determines as the result of "the beautiful life they lead together in societies, clubs, and social functions, which are strictly feminine in member ship, without masuline influence or asso ciation. Well-educated and self-reliant, in their girlhood, they are capable execu tive women, assuming life's duties as pleasures and privileges, rather than, tasks."
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Nov. 22, 1899, edition 1
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