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The Christian Sun. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1877. Editor-in-Chief, Rev. J. T. WHITLEY. Corresponding Editors, e Ret. C. A. APPLE, Holt Neck, V*., Rev. W. S. LONG, ' Graham, N. C. OPR PRINCIPL.K8. (■extract from the declaration of principles or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.] “We may well afford to dispense with all those doctrines nnd tenets which sot the brethren at variance, and lo take the following primary constitution ns the ground-work of our organiza tion, viz.: “ 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Chinch. The Pope of Rome, or any other pretending to be head thereof, should be regarded ns that man of sin and son of perdition, who cx ultelh himself above all that is called God. “ 2. The name Christian is the only appella tion needed or received by the Church. All party or sectarian names are excluded as being unneces sary, if not hurtful. "3. The IIoly Bible, or the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is a sufficient rule of faith and practice. “4. Christian Character, or vital piety, is a just, and should be the only, test of fellowship,. .Church membership. “5. The- fightforPniVATK Jcdcment and the liberty of conscience is n right nnd a privilege that should be accorded to, and exercised by, nil." Notice to Correipondent*. Articles intended for publication should be addressed to the “Editor of the Christian Sun, Suffolk, Va," and should be mailed so ns M reach ns before the Friday preceding the dato of tlieir publication. Write in a legible hand, with ink, only on one side of the paper. All anonymous communications will be thrown into the waste basket. No article will be inserted for any one, unless deemed suitable fdr publication. THE HEALTH OF DR. WELLONS. We are just from the bedside of Dr. W. B. Wellons, this Thursday, Jim. 25, 12 o’clock M.,«ud report with gratification that his condition is no worse than it was a week ago. He is very weak and suffers much witli his cough; hut there is uo special evi dence of any rapid decline. Let prayer coutiuually be made in his behalf. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.—No. 2. Further Historical Notes. Tlic sources from which to draw in formation for a sketch ot^he early liistory of the Christiau (Much are exceedingly meagre a 11 d^jfcatisfac tory. We have before us O’Kelly’s •“Apology,” a small book written iu antiquated and somewhat affected phraseology, in imitation of the books of Chronicles in Scripture. This is the chief source from which wo draw. “Asbury’s Journal,” the “Life and Times of Jesse Lee,” Guirey’s “His tory of Episcopacy” and other books are also before ns. Yet none of them gives a detailed and satisfactory ac count of the movements of James O’Kelly and his coadjutors at the time of their separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church. The following is from O’Kelly’s Apology : “And it came to pass alter these things, [i. c. after the transac tions of the General Conference iu Baltimore! we appointed a conference at Piney-Grove, in Chesterfield cpuu ty, to confer on the present distress. We met according to appointment,and conversed on the subject of Church government. We unanimously' con demned the Episcopal government; but desired union with the people. And the method we pursued for the purpose, was, we proposed au address to the bishop individually, for him to consider our distress, and give ns to meet with them on the occasion. We told him we only requested that the present form of government might be examined, and tried by the Scrip tures, and amended according to the holy Word. By so doing, we hoped that a 1permanent plan for union might be established : As for the time we ■would cheerfully wait.’ We elected nreu to carry in our address, and then adjourned until December.” The Conference mentioned above as beiug held at Piney Grove was probably held in the early part or middle of the year 1793. The details of what occurred during the intervening mouths we cannot ascertain. “And it came to pass on the twelfth month about the 25th day of the month, we ipet, pursuant to adjournment, at Ma nakin Town, to receive the answer from Francis” [Asbury.] This Con ference at Manakiu Town was held in December 1793, if we may rely upon the accuracy of a statement made by the author of the “Life aud Times of Jesse Lee.” “Our friends made re port that his answer to us was, ‘I have no power to call such a meeting as yon wish; therefore, if five hun dred preachers would come on their kuees before me, i would not do it.’ The answer sounded in our ears like the voice of Kehoboaui. Therefore all hope of union was sank. Nothing remaiued but ‘to thy teuts, O Israel.’ The door to the negotiation wasshuj. Therefore, a separation, or slavish, subjection, was unavoidable. Aud we unanimously chose the former. We formed our minister* on no guilty j gave the lay-members a balance of | power in the legislature; and left the executive business in the Church col lectively. But fearing we should err again, as we were young hands in the busiuess,we resolved to establish noth ing we had done before another geueral meeting. So adjourned Conference.” The next event mentioned by Mr. O’Kelly occurred in August 1794. These are his words: “Now it came to pass in the eighth mouth, on the fourth day of the month, in the year of Jesus Christ, 1794, the Republicans met in Conference in Surry county. We held conference with open doors, that all might hear and learn. And after much disputing, and several resolutions haviug passed, we dis covered plainly the minority were much dissatisfied; and therefore I moved that the whole should be re considered, that all might be agreed, if possible. Aud it was so, that a committee of seven men wore ap pointed to form a plan of government, and lay it before conference the next day. The committee met, aud strove hard for union of sentiment, and al though we sought it earnestly with tears, yet to no purpose. ^Ak'tSngHi it was proposed that we should lay aside every manuscript, aud take the word of God as recorded in the Scrip tures. And it was light; because the primitive church had no govern ment beside the Scriptures as written by the Apostles. But in order to lead the minds of the religious to the law and the testimony, having never been taught to search the Scriptures lor Church discipline, we drew up a small sketch, as a guide, and a light to the connexion, nearly on this wise : ‘We learn from the book of God, that the Church iu general includes all the real Christians in the world. lipli. 5: 25. 1 Cor. 12: 13, 14. Any number of Christians united in love, having Christ for their head and centre of union, .constitutes a church. Ill the primitive church were twelve chosen ministers whom Christ called Apostles. Luke 0 : 13. The same were choseu witnesses. Acts 10: 41. Those men weie am bassadors, and possessed the keys or the kingdom, even the spirit of truth, which opened to them tha mys teries of the kingdom of God. There fore, Christ spake iu them and by them ; thus were they fully qualified, and authorized to write the last will and testainentofourLord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There were elders in the Church beside the apostles, who labored iu the word and doctrine. Some of these could prophesy, speak with tongues, interpret, &c. But after those extraordinary missiona ries had ruu their race, only one order of ministers existed iu the church. Acts 20: 17.’ Aud it came to pass on the morrow, when conference had met, the brethren all present, the committee made report, and the say ing pleased the multitude. Indeed, the-people rejoiced at the consolation and gave glory to God for the light received.” At this meeting the new confederation discarded the uhmg of “Republican Methodists,” declared the Lord Jesus Christ to be the only Head of the Church, repudiated the peculiarities of Episcopacy, aud set apart elders to the work of the minis try by prayer aud the imposition of' the Lands of a presbytery. The con ference took measures also iu refuta tion of a slanderous charge made against them by their enemies of dis loyalty to the civil government. THE CHRISTIAN ANNUAL The Annual of the Christian Church for 1876 is now ready for distribution, and those who are entitled to copies may look out for them in a few days. It contains the minutes of the Eas tern Virginia Conference, minutes of the North Carolina Conference, pro ceedings of the Sunday School Con vention of the Eastern Virginia Con ference, ministerial directory, an nouncement of places where the Con ferences will meet in 1877, and some other matters. It is a source of much regret to us that the minutes of the other Conferences had to be omitted. But, as those bodies at their last ses sions made no adequate provision to defray the expense of printing, and as we could make no arrangements with the secretaries by correspond ence, we were compelled to omit their minutes from the Annual. No on3 can regret the necessity of this omis sion more than we do; but we are not in tbe slightest degree responsi ble for it. It is hoped that all of the Conferences at their next annual ses sions will make suitable provision lor the publication of their' proceedings in the Annual for 1877. The price of the Anuual for 1876 is 15 cents a copy—the same price as heretofore. Had the boek been of the usual size, the cost would have been greater. Never did the former publisher get back the money he in vested in printing the larger book at 15 cents a copy. We do not propose to lose money on the publication; the price is put, therefore, at the rea sonable sum of 15 Cents. Those who have paid already will receive at once the number of copies ordered. If others want copies, they eau be had at the price mentioned above, by addressing J, T, Whitley, 1 Suffolk, V*> “BROAD CHURCHISM." Lnst week we entered a protest againsttbe misuse of tbe term “Broad Churchism,” as it is employed to con vey a covert insinuation of heresy among our people. AVo stated, fur thermore, that we bad no objection to tbe use of tbe term as applied to onr organization, provided it should be understood in its literal sense. Broad church, in opposition to nar row church, isiu our opinion just what the church of Christ should be. Nar row churchism has been one of the most potent foes to the advances of Christianity. It is this narrow, self seeking, Pharisaic spirit which has in every age been opposed to the all comprehensive spirit of Christ. It was manifost in apostolic times, when some opposed the admission of the Gentiles into the church of Christ. When that point was set tled, and it was seen that Christ came'to save not only the Jews, but all mankind, then came the narrow spirit once more to demand that all heathen or Gentile, converts should bn yjitetrtncised according to the rites of Judaism. Even Peter who had seen the vision as he prayed upon the house-top, and had gone in obe dienes thereto, to the house of the lioman centurion, and had preached uuto him Jesus, now began to waver, insomuch that it required all the en ergy of the mighty apostle of the Gentiles to withstand the tide of bigotry which had carried away one of the chief disciples and apostles of our Lord. But it is scarcely worth while to multiply examples. The pages of ecclesiastical history fur nish them in such abundance that one cannot go amiss to iiml them. The truth is, that the manifest and inevitable tendeucy of the age is to wards a broad church. Some may say that this argues a tendency to wards unbelief. With all due re spect for their opinions, and with a frank admission of their plausible nature, we beg leave to express our doubts as to any such conclusions. To witness the great revolutions which the world has undergone du ring the last hundred years, and to imagine that the church, that mighty social and moral engine, can stand still amid them all, is to, be very blind to, and very ignorant of, those law's by which moral force is pegula tea. All Drauciies qi unman pro gress must in some sort keep pace with each other. We should no more expect theology to stand still, than we should expect the same of chemis try or astronomy. We should no more expect the church to continue always iu the same methods, than we should expect that there would be no new processes in mineralogy or ap plied mathematics. Wo dot no imag ine that the science of rdigion is any more complete than ^most other sciences. Perhaps it is'less so.««4s it is incomparably the grandest and no blest of all sciences, so it is the widest, most far-reaching, and, in many senses, the most difficult and abstruse of all sciences. We do not know that the study of the Bible has been con ducted to ultimate results, any more than has the study of nature. Anti quaries and explorers are every year finding new confirmations of the his torical record of the Sacred Word. New interpretations,or modified ones, are constantly given to the sacred text by the logic of human experi ence. Christianity, while not depart ing one jot or tittle from its original purposes and principles, is found to be a very elastic thing. This, perhaps as much as anything else, proves its divine origiu. It i$ fitted to all peo ple and to all ages, to every order of intelligence, and to every grade of civilization. That men have misinter preted it, is very true. The Ptolemaic system of the universe was wrong. But that was not proof that there was no system of the universe. Yet the Ptolemaic system contained some germs of truth, and iu practice lung subserved useful ends. Though wrong, it was tolerably well suited to the wants of the age. Men got along with it, until the state of human af fairs demanded a better. Then Co pernicus arose, and a new system was founded upon the ruins of the old. Newton took a great stride in advance of Copernicus, and later still, the theories of Newton have been greatly modified by more recent in vestigators. So it has beon, and is to be, w ith the church. In our advances we shall no more do away with the Bi ble, than we can do away with na ture. Both are by the same Author, and equally iudestructible. But the study of neither is exhausted. False theories have arisen in regard to both. These false theories have had their advocates. But they have been swept away in the grand inarch of human progress. We say the tendency of the church in this age is to be broad. That is one of the discoveries of the age. There is no littleness and narrowness about Christianity, whatever there may be about some who profess themselves its followers. The fact is, brethren of every order, the world in moving, and \fo must wove too, or we shall be left behind and forgetteu. VVhat,Christianit,v be forgotten t No, not Christianity, but ice who are too narrow minded to see its scope and the breadth of its application. But are we to drift iuto Materialism and Unbelieff No, for that would no longer be Christianity. J, Depend upon it, the surest way to promote Materialism and infidelity, is* to refuse to move at all. Tho Church must not be afryid of the truth, no matter whence it may come. It cannot harm us. We are not bound to accept crude and unripe theories; but we are bound to accept truth whithersoever it may lead us. For one, we are not afraid of scc'mg re ligion uprooted by the advancement of human knowledge. It may de stroy opreconceived theories, bid it cannot destroy tho church j that is indestructible. If our organization be inure in har mony With the age than others, then it is the more likely to make its impress ypon mankind, either directly or in directly. If it is a broad church, it is better than a narrow church. Bui we forbear for the present. A. &V. J. W, WELLONS. This brother, who is one of the most useful and belovtd ministers in the North Carolina Christian Confer ence, is now in Suffolk, on a visit to his afflicted brother, Dr. W. I>. Wel lons. We are much gratified to learn from him that his health, which has been very feeble for a year or two past, is now much better. On last Sunday morning he preached for the Suffolk Church a sermon which was highly appreciated. Besides his nu merous other good works, Brother Wellons has published the best book of family prayers that we know of. May his life long be spared to the Church and the ministry. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. The National Sunday School Teacher for February, besides the excellent lesson notes by the editor, M. C. Hazard, has contributions by Rev. W. M. Taylor, D. D., Leonard Bacon, D. D., and Rev.C. D. Helmer. This magazine is the best of its class in the country. Adams, Blackmer & Lyon Publishing Co., Chicago. Godey’S Lady’s Book for Februa ry is lieie. A beautiful steel engra viug embellishes one of its pages. There is the usual number of fashion plates, good stories, besides other in teresting and valuable matter. Our lady friends will be charmed with this elegant magazine. Price $3 a year. L. A. Godey, Philadelphia. Scribner’s Monthly for Februa ry contains among other things, “Trout Fishing in the Kangeley Lakes,” “A Winteron the Nile,’’“Nich olas Mintnrn,” “The Lass 6’Lowrie’s,” “How do I know what is the Bible?” Dr. Holland, the editor, is one of the most powerful writers in America. Four dollars a year. Scribner & Go., 743 Broadway, New York. St. Nicholas for February is sim ply splendid. It is profusely and ele gantly illustrated. “The Artist-Sol dier!” “Pattikin’s House,” “The Stars iu February,” “The Peterkins at the Centennial,” are among the many ar ticles given. The boys and girls who get this magazine regularly are for, tuuate indeed. After reading our copy, we usually let some young friends read it. They are delighted. Three dollars a year. Scribner & Co., 743 Broadway, New York. Wide Awake is the only success ful rival of St. Nicholas in the coun try. The February number of Wide Awake has been received. It has a number of beautiful and life-like il lustrations. The stories and sketch es are very good and will greatly please the young people. D. Lothrop & Co., Boston. Bev. E. W. Beale, who has charge of the ministerial students of the Eastern Virginia.Conference, writes: “Thanks to Bro. 1. A. Kitchen, at Union, for a valuable box of provis ions for the ministerial students. Who will be the next to do likewise ? A word to the agents appointed for the collection of funds, provisions, &c., for this purpose. AVill you give the matter some attention 1 If you will, then these youug men can remain at school; if not, they will have to leave, and the church suffer. I think I can most confidently recommend them to your liberality and the liberality of the church. They are worthy. Help them. What agent or friend will do as Bro. Kitchen, who is not an ageut, but who feels interested in a good cause and has shown bis faith by his works? Let us hear from you at once. Our New York correspondent, J. E. Brush, Esq., wrftes us as follows : “My correspondent are informed that I have closed out my interest in the Hardware business at No. 4 Chat ham Square, and will hereafter be engaged iu the wholesale Fancy Goods line at 37 Walker street, New York.” This change, we learn, goes into effect February 1st, NEWSANO OPINIONS. [Note.—We solicit, for publication in this col umn, items of news from the Uhurches. and brief expressions of opiuiou from our brethren on mat ters of common interest. Write briefly and to the point. If you have news of interest, or a good idea, and cannot write with correctness, send along the news or the idea, and we will put it in proper shape.] Our Mianks arc due to W. F. Tny nor, Esq., ru litor of public accounts, for a copy ot the auditor's report. Rev. .1. It. Howell has accepted a unanimous call to the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Kinston, N. C. Ilishop Kail), of the Catholic diocese of West Virginia, is'hut thirty-three years old. lie is the youngest Bish op in the world. There arc ten members in the First Baptist Church of Richmond, whose aggregate ages amount to more than eight hundred years. Col. John It. Connolly,/ortnerly a Virginia State Senator, was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Asheville, N. 0., on Sunday the 3lst of Decem ber. .\ Richmond pastor, who recently had his salary raised £500, devotes every cent of the increase to charita ble objects connected with liis Church. John Wesley, during his active life, preached 40.000 sermons, wrote a vast quantity of hymns, and travelled nearly 1500.000 miles on preaching excursions. Rev. W. E. Mousey, D. 1)., the fa mous orator of the Methodist Episco pal Church, lias been transfered from the Louisiana Conference to St. Louis, Mo. Rev. Dr. Bobbitt, senior editor of the -Raleigh Christian Advocate, has been recently afflicted in the death of his venerable mother. May the Copifort?r soothe liis sorrow. Rev. C, V, Waugh, who was recent, fy pastor of the Baptist Church, Mod est Town, Aceoinac county, Va., has removed to Florida and taken charge of the Church in Gaiuesville. The N. C. M. E. Conference has 1(13 travelling preachers, 230 local preachers, 5lj.l7l mem hers, 28.533 Sabbath school scholars, 58 parson ages, U30 church buildings, valued at £572 330.' Rev. J. D. Ewing, a venerable cler gyman of the Presbyterian Church, died at his residence in Rockbridge county on the 11th inst. He was the oldest member of the Montgomery Presbytery, being 89 years of age. The Chicago Tribune says that tko handsome sum of $10,000 has been raised in Chicago as a fund for the maintenance and education of the two sons of Bliss, the evangelist, au thor of “Hold the Port,’’ &cs who was killed in the Ashtabula accident. The Boston newspapers report that tire arriyal of Messrs. M°°dy ai?d S411 key is awaited in that city with keen interest. The various denomi nations have cordially united in the preparations for their coming, and a large corps of Christian workers is ready to aid them. The caso of Rev. YV. C. McCone came up before the Presbytery of Cincinnati on Tuesday, Jan. 2d, and at his request was deferred until the 5th of March. It will be remembered that Mr. MeCune is under prosecution for some imaginary affront offered to Presbyterian traditions. A brother, whose earntfst desire to do good in nie cause is beyond ques tion, writes: “My church seems very backward in taking hold of the genera! enter prises of our denomination. I have urged the matter publicly Bad pri vately, and never in my life met so much difficulty, and, with few excep tions, so little liberality. M.v breth ren here used to respond with more generosity than they now do to calls of the same kind. I want subscribers to tire Sun, and meet little encourage ment. So with missionary, educa tional, and other work. I am afraid much of this is my own fault. Yet I know not what to do. YV’ill the brethren pray for me and my church ? I am in great distress.” Rev. John T. Kitchen sends us the following from Southampton county, Va., this week : “The 2nd Saturday and Sunday in January, at Uuion, our first quarterly and communion meeting for the year was held. On Saturday a larger num ber than usual attended the business meeting. The Sabbath brought to gether a good congregation, many of whom sat around the table of the Lord. Union is one of our oldest churches and ought to be among the best iu the Conference; but for the want of proper atteutiou it is now in a waning condition. We have entered upon our labors there, praying and expecting that the Lord will revive us. Brethren, pray for us. “I am making an effort to get the Sun into every family. If I don’t jo this, I expect to get it into as many as possible. If every present subscri ber of the Sun would just try to get another, (and it can be done ft' the will is there) what a help it would be 1 I hope the local agents, to whom I have written, will not forget their du ty. Brethren, please take au interest in this work,” INTERNATIONAL LESSONS. _ Prepared for the Christian Sun by Rev. O. a. Apple. First Quarter.—Lesson V.— February 4, 1877. ELIJAH AND AlIAR. 1 Kings IS: 5 1.s. Time—About 908 B; C. NOTES. During tin period of Eli,jnli’s resi dence with the widow of Zarephath, tlie famine continued to increase in Israel. The moat diligent search had been made for the prophet, blithe was now here to he found. Concealed in the house of the widow, Elijah had wrought a wondrous miracle,— no less than raising to life the dead son of his hostess. This is the first instance of the dead being restored to life of w hicJi we read in the Scrip toys. The reader will (In well .to pe ruse threat ter part of/4 lie I7th,and the four first verses of the 18th chap ter. After Elijah had bei fill'll I JIM ilUIMl l Mil UU liiilf, the Lord coriininmlej aiul present'hi in self once i Alinh, the king of Israel now his purpose to send more upon the land, time the famine in Samaria It ver\ oppressive, iiliil I Hose WIi^BHgl survivi'il, had been diiven to tl«H extreme of desperation and uiflH It may be supposed, however, t!qJJ some supplies luid been obtained from other countries during the long continuance of the drought; as we have no evidence that the rains had | not fallen as usual in Judah and the other neighboring countries. Other wise, it is impossible to conceive how any considerable portion of the pen- j pie of Israel could have survived the i dreadful famine which had so long prevailed. Perhaps those who were people of means, had managed to oh tain some supplies from abroad. The lesson may be divided into three heads: 1. Tiie Distress in Israel. 2. OnadiAll’s Meeting with Eli jah. 3., Elijah’s Interview wit9 Aiiab. i. mu msTBisss in- iseael.— V. 5.—“Aliab said unto Obadiali.”— Some think that this Obadiah was the same with (Wuliali, one of the minor prophets. This appears, how ever, to be very doubtful. Another person of this name is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 154: 12, as having been set by Josiah, king of Judah, as one of the overseers over the workmen who were repairing the • temple. Tiiis may have been the prophet, or he may have been an entirely distinct individual from either of the two named. The person meutoined in the lesson text, was the governor of Ahab’s household, and a very pious, godly man. flow such a person should have held a high office under such a king, and ip a court so wicked as that of Allah, it is difficult to imagine. Bat it seems that God will have his witnesses almost every where, and that, for the good of his creatures, ho seldom allows a govern ment to exist, which is composed wholly of wicked and unjust men. The wise and pious Daniel was promoted to high authority in the corrupt court of the king of Babylon, and Mordecai and Esther gained a powerful influence in the licentious court of Aliasurons. “Go into tlie land unto all fountains of water.”— Nearly all the brooks bad dried up, and there was but one river of any importance—the Jordan, and that probably afforded but little water. One cannot but wonder that any run ning stream was left. But it is well known to those who have studied tlie subject, that springs and fountains frequently draw their supplies from long distances through veins, in the earth. For instance, there is an artesian well at Chicago in Illinois, "Which is thought to derive its water from the Hooky mountains, hundreds of miles away. The Jordan, though flowing through a barren country at the present day, where it seldom rains, is still fed and kept compara tively full from the melting snows of Mount Lebanon whence the river takes its rise. Bo that it is possible, notwithstanding the extreme drought, that there might have been some few springs and brooks yet running in the land of Israel. “We may And grass to save the horses and mules.” —If men were perishing from thirst and starvation, of course, it must have been much worse with beasts. The kiug seeing the great importance of saving the animals, determined to make the most careful search for water and food to keep them alive. V. (5.—“So they divided the land between them.”—It was a question of lifo and depth, and the king appears not to have been willing to entrust the matter to any ordinary pevsou. So he went one way, and sent his chief officer the other. What a fall was this 1 The proud and haughty Aliah journeying for days and days under a burning sum over arid and rocky wastes in search of a little wa ter and a plat of grass. Scarcely the burning desert of Sahara itself is more barren auij dreadful in its aapset than was tho whole land ol Israel at Mint time. II. Ob Am All’s Meeting with Elijah.—V. 7.—“Behold, Elijah met him.”—Obndiah was overwhelmed with astonishment. He fell on his face, as in the presence of a superior being'. V. 8.—“Behold, Elijah is here.”— Obndiah could not at first believe the evidence of his ova eyes. Though he saw the prophet before him, ho must ask, to be sure whether it was really ho. or not. V. 0.—‘'What have I sinned f”— Obndiah was conscious of the recti tude of his own conduct and purposes, and appealed to Elijah not to be an gry with himJ'Hor to class 1dm with those who worshipped Haul. V. 10.—“There is no nation nor kingdom whither my Lord hath not sent to seek thee.” That is, no neigh boring •country..—“He took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not.”—So earnest.and im portunate had been the search of Aluvkaftcr Elijah, that not satisfied ere assertion that Elijah found in their borders, srael had demanded of an oath to the effect is not hidden in their ^^1 ''' rsc requires no com of (lie Lord cr 1 know not.” Eli kill! II Will Wlilt :u~ -'Tiiuvw especial keeping, ami that tlie power of man was fruit less to keep him in any place unless the Lord so willed.—“And he cannot find thee, he shall slay me.”—That is, Obadiah was in great distress, be cause, if he told Ahab that he had seen Elijah, and then the king conhl not find him, his own life would be in jeopardy, because Ahab would then think that his otlicer was imposing upon him with a falsehood. Neither did he think it right to conceal the fact of his meeting with Elijah, so that he was in a great strait, and im plored the mercy of the prophet, beg ging Elijah to remember that lie was, like himself, a worshipper of the true God. V. Id.—‘‘When Jezebel slew tho prophets of the Lord.”—This abomi nably wicked woman, who had inci ted Ahab her husband to all manner of criminal conduct, had at onetime sought to slay all'tho Lord’s prophets remaining in the kingdom. Obadiah had secretly mautwred to save the . lives of a liundred^Mioin, by con coaling them in two caves, putting fifty in each, and affording them such nourishment as lie could procure. V. 14.—Requires no explanation. V. 15,—“1 will surely shew uiysolf unto him to-day.”—With a very sot einiiiidjuration Elijah reassures the troubled Obadiah. lie need have n'n fears this time that Elijah would he suddenly taken away. HI. Elijah’s Interview with Auab.—V. 10.—Requires no- com ment. V. 17,—“Art thou lie that frotr bloth Israeli” Ear and wide, loiig and diligently, had the wicked king sought for the prophet who had boldly stood up in liis court, where others were bowing the knee, and had de nounced his wickedness, and uttered that prophetic curse which had been so terribly fulfilled during the three dreadful '■years that had succeeded. Now, all ef a sudden, when the king had despaired of ever seeing tho austere Tishliite any more, behold. Elijah starts up in liis path. Here lie sees, as lie imagines, the author of all his woes. V. IS.—“I have aot troubled Israel,. but thou and iny father’s house.”— You need not impute to mo the bit ter results of your own and your father’s crimes. Had you walked in the ways of God, and done justice, and loved mercy, this famine had never been. You are the guilty man. I am but the messenger of God, to declare his judgments upon you and your wicked followers.—“Baalim.”_ The Hebrew plural of Baal. Proba bly used here to express the fact that Abab had forsaken the Lord, and had gone astray to wot ship Baal, and other false gods like him. The word might, perhaps, be rendered into Eng lish by the expression, “Baal and the like.” Miss Smith, daughter of tho late Rev. Dr. \V. A. Smith, of Virginia, is in England, tenchiug a theory of the nervous system, iu which, she says, there is a law of harmony. In order to be always young one must rise at half-past four a. at., walk a mile, breakfast at half-past five a. m., take diuuer at half-post one p. at., sup on bread and water at six p. at., and retire at half-past seven p. at. She is keeping herself young in ap pearance. ’’? The Reformed Episcopal Church lias fifty-six settled pastors. Some of these are in cbarge of several congre gations. There are four congregations in Chicago, five in Philadelphia, three iu Baltimore, and five iu New York and Brooklyu. Rev. Win. E. Hatcher, D. I)., of Richmond, is reported quite sick. We trust our friend and brother will Boon mcov«r. f i
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 26, 1877, edition 1
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