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IN E8Pfc HALS, UNIT!; ' IN NO V KS8ENTIAL8, LIBERTY; LS ALL THINGS, CHARITY. vm. YT.TTT ** = RALEIGH, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1890. • ~_NUMBER 10. The Christian Sun. T£RH8 Of 8UB80RIPTI0MI (f’A8U I* XDYAMOM.) One veer, postage included..•> Sixid-muii •* “ .. 1 00 reftM8 Of MDVfRTIISMR i One square, ten lines, flfst Insertion .*1 Oo For each subsequent Insertion.,. Bo One square three months,.,.6 00 One squaresU months.... .• 0as square twelve months.. .is 00 Adrertlaers chancing weekly mar t make T—-. yearly ad nor Users will par monthly or quarterly In ad ranee, transient advertisements to be paid for on The Christian Bun. PUBLISHED KYBY THURSDAY BY Rbv. J. PRESSLEY BARRET. OUR PRINCIPLES: 1. The Ix>rd Jesus Christ Is the only Head of the Church. 2. The nine Christian, to the exclustoc of all party or sectarian names. 3. The Holy Bible, or the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, a sufficient ule of faith and practice. 4. Christian character, or vital piety, th* only test of fellowship or membership. 5. Tfc:. right of private judgment and the libf fty iif conscience, the privilege and duty o'. all. . OUR M«HT 1JOU8R. “Let the lower light* he burning." Enthusiasm. An enthusiasm for a great cause makes you cheerfnily tolerate, a^d even co operate with, minor enthusi asms if they tend aright J. M. Wilson. Namby Pamby Novels. The silly people who write namby pamby novels, and the sillier people who read them, ought to be protected against themselves by some means. The only one we can suggest is re newed activity in the production and circulation of what is better. N. C. Advocate. Everywhere a Secret. A wonderful fact to reflect upon! that every human creature is consi tuted to be a profound secret and mystery to everybody. A solemn con sideration, when 1 enter a great city Dy night, that every one of those dark ly clustering houses incloses its own secret; that every room in everyone of them incloses its own secret; thut every beating heart m the hundreds of thousands of breasts there is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it. Charles Dickens. In God's Keeping. It is easier to read history than it 3s to prophesy. We can see, as wa. nook back, that what we thought was -a sad thing for us at the time it hap pened, was really an occurence for 'which we have now reason to be ex ceedingly thankful. But we cannot f iresee, as we look forward, how this i"*~ new trial of ours is going to he look ed back upon by us as another cause of thankfulness. The future is in God's keeping. So was the past,when that was the-present. Why not com mit ourselves and all our interests ip unwavering confidence to Him to whom the future is as clear as the past ? H. Cl at Truhbull. Job's Inactive Life. Job’s life was all within the circum ference of his own prosperity. Be yond bis sheep and oxen and camels and servants and children there was nothing that called forth his sympa thies and enlisted his activities. The •world in which he lived and moved -was not the great, broad world of hu ^inanity, but the little, narrow world, • which .encompassed nothing hut his .earthly possessions and joys. He i knew nothing of his neighbors. He 1 bad no thought of their cares, strug gles, awUwwm- It was nothing to ! him that '-kuiBMt beings about him .were sick and destitute and dying. It - was nothing to him that they were benighted and degraded and ignorant of the God whom he worshiped. His great possessions and his daily feast ings with his happy children, left him no time to concern himself with other people's welfare. He was rich. His family was supplied with every need ful thing. He was upright. Ho and bis household worshiped God, and en joyed his unfailing goodness; and if other people were poor, sick, ignorant, wicked and idolatrous, it was none of his matter. J. B. Hawthorne. A Light which Directs. “He that follnweth me shall not walk in darkness/' Many false tapers will he seen along the, waj. Men with powerful intellects kindle other lights; and they are the will-o’ the wisps that lead into the quagmires ot sin and death. Christ is the only true light. The Great Britain, a ship which cost a million dollars, left port with a valuable cargo and three hun dred souls aboard. During a storm the captain mistook a wrecker’s light Tor a light house and the ship was wrecked, the cargo lost, and many passengers drowned; and so those who turn from the true light to guide tlielr vessels of life by these wrecker's lights which appear may expect a like disastrous result. This Christ-light, to us, may not be ver> bright, on ac count ot our lack of clearness of vi sion. Tbs sun may be shining in all its splendor, and yet the diseased eye may see little of its light; but it is all that we have, and whatever Christ is to us we should toliow. A party of us went down three hundred steps into the gold mine at King’s Moun tain. The guide carried before ns a little tallow candle.. It was all we had, and we tollowed that flickering taper until it brought os out into the brightness of the sun. And the con viction you now have, may be but aa the flickering taper. Follow it out, and yon will soonbe rejoicing in noop day glory. A. C. Dixon. Wine in tne White House. ' Wickedness is to be condemned, both in low places and in high places. Wo are to frown upon it wherever it may be seen, whether in the hut of the poor, the palace of the rich, or the White House of the President, in the light of this fact we are sorry, sorry for the sake ot humanity, that our President, in the late dinner he gave, should have served five kinds of wine, or even one, to his guests. There was no higher American de mand tor it, and it there was a social demand at all, in this direction, it was foreign in its nature. By serving the wine the bottle was put to the neigh* b >r’s lips, and if he was not made drunken thereby the reason rested in bis own good sense, rather than in the act of the President. The service of wine was not necessary; it was in the face of a protest from the hearts of a million homes. The act was a defiance of ail American ministerial and Church labor, and to all resolu tions agvnst intemperance within the Nation for the past thirty years. We lament the act all the more because it was performed by a professed Chris tian man, himself an elder in the Presbyterian Church. The act has carried joy to all haters of temperance; it has carried sorrow and keen regret to all friends of sobriety and temper ance. J. P. Watson. Impertinence in the Pulpit. There ia no impertinence equal to the imperitence of standing up to teach others when we are not sure ourselves. We do not want to know about the preacher's mental indiges tion; we want to know what God says. Do not wonder the world leaves the pulpit; the pulpit will soon be left like a solo singer, and the sooner the bet ter, if the world is to listen to the doubts and misgivings of the preacher; but a Bible-loving church shall be a growing quantity, like a minister who shall deliver the message that God has given him. He must trumpet what the general says, and whether he waves a flag or sounds a trumpet, he must never practice to show bis own skill. The trumpet has his place m the church when the minister is sent from Christ to tell the terms of emancipation. But we are getting more and more afraid of the trumpet. We like the flute or the harp instead of the blast that tells of battle and conflict. Let us pray that our rising ministers may he men able to wait and watch all night to give the first signal of the enemy's approach I “It the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the bat tle ?” If the preacher questions, “Is the enemy a person, or is the enemy an influence ?" then indeed the enemy says, “Go on;" but l want no little fledgeling trumpet to stand up and argue whether there is a devil, or whether there is a general feeling of miasma in the air. "Let those men proach who can preach 1 would rather have them like the men of old, who hare seen the devil and thrown an ink-pot at him, instead of men who don’t know whether there is a person al devil or a diffused influence. Joseph Parker. Wasted Opportunities. Hearken to ono thing more. How will you bear the disgrace, if ever it come u|ton you, ot having suffered your golden opportunities to be wast ed ? What if Israel had been des troyed for lack of Kit tier’s interces sion ? Her name would have been a by-word among other nations as a base and traitorous woman. If tbe people bad been spared by some other means, and she bad refused ber mis sion, as long as there lived a .Tow they would have kept no least of Puriro, but would have cursed ber memory. When I think of the neglects of our ancestors, 1 am anxious that we take warning by them. There are at this moment straths in the Highlands which are thoroughly Romish. Why? They were not carefully evangelised at the time of tbe reformation. Iftho workers of that period had done their work thoroughly there would have been no RomUh valleys in Presbyte rian Scotland. Ireland still cowers under the shadow of the pope; there was a hopeful time when better things were promised, and this was allowed to pass and what can be done to res cue Ireland now ? Times do not tar ry, and tides do not wait; and if we do not avail ourselves of them while they are with us, our sons may lament our neglects. I fear that tbe best among us can recollect with regret times which wo have suffered to pass over us unimproved. We can never call them back again. Yon did not train your children; they are men and women now, and will not listen to you now. O parents, why did you not speak to them when they would have listened ? But what if a whole life should glide away in living for yourselves, in living for your own comfort and enriching? Let every Esther resolve that she will never bring this ban upon her name; let every man, woman, and even child, among us, knowing the Lord, feel that the vows of the Lord are upon us, and that by imperative necessity we must serve according to our capacity the cause of God and truth. C. H. Spurgeon. CONTRIBUTED. Oar Idlers Again. Having read the reply of our esteem ed friend and brother,Rev. P.T. Klapp, to an article contributed by me a few weeks since, I wish in as tew words as possible, to do the subject justice, to comment a little upon its contents. It seems from the brother's own confession that what I had to say in my reply to his attack upon the laity brought up quite a lively image in his mind. This image took its form in that of a <lspoilt child ,” which, having been rebuked for doing something which was not exactly right, begins to tell the one rebuking it that he ought to do right himself if he would expect it to take his corrections without mur muring. Well, this is but another ex ample of the old old fable of the crab an 1 bis son, the moral of which is, that the young are to be taught by nothing more than examples. The brother admits by this allusion to the spoilt child that there is something wrong among the ministry as well as among the laity, and that the laity are not altogether to blame for the great number of idlers he claims to be among us. Hence, I would remind the brother that he ought to do like Christ told the Scribes and Pharisees, ‘ Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.” In the course of his reply, the brother says, “1 wonder why our dear brother did not give us gospel minis ters of Jesus Christ the benefit of bis rebuking, chastising, scourging article for ourignorance, lack of scholarship, etc., before this time V If the brother had perused ceretully the columns of the Son issued Oct. 10,1890,1 don't think be would have asked this ques tion. You should read the Sun more carefully, brother, or you may miss something that would lie worth think mg upon. Though I may not be very courageous, I am not afraid to stand up for the right, let come what may. And again, the brother says, “If the brother meant what he said when he virtually admitted I was right, then, 1 fail to Bee the good his article in defence of the laity can do.” Upou the same line of reasoning wo might say, that since the brother virtually admits that there is something wrong among tho ministry,' we cannot see ^wherein his reply could do any good in their behalf. But I do not assent to either of these, because l can 9ee vary clearly where good can lie (nought about to both sides. No re formation, whatever, has ever been effected without a great deal of agita tion before hand, and since therb are none of us perfect, T cannot see any harm in talking over our faults. But right hen I wish to saj that the broth er in speaking about my virtually ad mitting what he said was true errs to a considerable extent. 1 stated in my first reply that I should not attempt to deny his assertion in regard to the number of idlers. My sole object in writing was to show that the cause of there being idlers was, to n great ex tent, the minister’s fault I had no facts and figures to prove that the brother’a statement was not true. But, now, since idleness is a fault ot which no acitiye, energetic church-member hkefr^o be accused, and since it is nothing i.but an act of justice on his part to the laity whom he has arraign ed, I call upon our brother ttNgive us the facts in the case, showingXhat, as he claims, 75 out of every 100 of our members are doing little or .nothing for the cause ot Christ. The broad sweeping assertions which the brother made in his first article failed to give any conclusive proof, because, if the classes of people named in those as sertions were examined closely, there would be found a considerable number ot idlers among them. Wbat we want are the facts and figures in the case. t * Again, the brother, in replying to what 1 said in reference to the cause of some ot the members being bard to arouse to action, wishes to know it it was a lack ot skill on the part of God because Adam and Eve did not keep his law, and if on the part of Christ be cause Judas betrayed him and Peter denied him, etc, I am surprised at the brother’s forming such an idea from anything that I said, that could lead him to suppose for a moment that 1 intended to make the point that the work of any person could influence others so strongly as to render them infallible. No one with a spark ot common sense would attempt to argue such a thing. No human being that has ever been born into existence has passed over this arena of life without going astray from the laws of God. The greatest, the best men who have ever lived and moved upon this fair earth, have committed eorae of the grossest sins that could be perpetrated by the hand of man. Yet, we are told by the divine truths of inspiration that they lived, active, consistent, godly lives, and did that which was right in the sight of God. While Judas betrayed his Master ana Peter denied him, Christ’s teachings did not fail to arouse them to work and. to work ac tively, and though Judas may never, as some claim, have been sincere in following the Master, yet we have no account of there being any idleness throbbing within his vein . And, as the brother refers to Christ, I just wish to say that if he, in preaching the same gospel that Christ preached can influence the members of his flock to make as effecient workers, there will not be any more need of his at tacking the idlers. While, as he says, the ministers of the present day are preaching the same gospel that the apostles preached, yet, I would like to ask him if he thinks they are all preaching it as effectively, as the apos tles pseached it, il. since God chouses the weak and foolish to confound the wise, it is not the duty ot the weak aud foolish to do all within their pow er, both in preparation and in work, to confound the wise, and if good results can be made without good work ? As to the people referred to by the brother in John 6, 66., who turned back from Christ and followed not after him, we have it from the lips of Christ himself that they believed uot, and John also tells us that they left the Master. They did not follow after him in the manner ot idlers, but took themselves out ot his way and the way of his work. And then the very fact of some of Paul’s flocks being misled liy Judaizing teachers shows that they were neither sleepy beaded nor idlers, but that they were awake to the teach ings of Paul and of the teachers of Judaism, and because the latter pre vailed upon them they did not remain idle as Christians, but iollowed after their lalse teachers, while those re maining true to the cause of Christ followed Paul’s teachings. —TvS in reierence to uie ieiunitv» ui cue brother upon the work of the ministry, inpreaching, visiting ihe.siek, giving of their substance, etc; I have always claimed that the ministers of God were the most liberal in giving of their substance of any class of people m the world. This is commendable and is an example worthy of the patronage of all the laity. In visiting the sick and counselling the penitent, they do more than the laity because it Is not only part of their regular life work, hut because a greater number o( opportunities for such present themselves to them than to the laity. The average church-member has these opportunity only in his immediate neighborhood. As to the preaching, while it is quite natural that the min ister should do more of this than the lay-man, yet? in a great many cases, he, not being equipped as he should be for the work, fails to do the good he might do; hence, the great canse of our brother's not finding us as active a condition as he wishes lo see us. In conclusion the brother says, “If a field is not plowed and prepared for seed, why, one seed is more than would do well there.” That is quite true brother. But will you tell us who it is that generally plows and prepares the fields for seed ? But, perhaps yon think your “spoilt child” is getting raflier impertinent, so he will draw to a close, hoping that what he has said will receive just consideration at your hands. Herbert Sciiolz. Grafvtm, A. (X Fortune can take away riches, but not courage.—Seneca. TEH BREAD-VIEW. Christ Blesses The Multitude Through His Disciples. BY REV W. W. STALEY. A. M. And when it was evening, His disciples came to /Tim, saying: This is a dessrt place, and the time is now past; send the multitide away, that they may go into the villages,and buy themselves victua's. But Jesus said un to them: They need not depart; give ye them to eat.”—Matt: 14:15, 16. Read also Matt: 14: 13—21, It seems that Jesus had made a vis it to His own country, and while there had heard of the death of John tbe Baptist; and He had heard, also, that Herod desired to see Him. Luke 9: 9. When Jesus heard of it He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart, that Be might avoid the cruel Antipas. And when the people heard of His departure, they followed Him on foot out of the cities. When Jesus went forth lrom the ship, and saw a great multitude, He was moved with compassion toward them, and healed their sick. And He spake unto them of the kingdom of God. There must have been some ten thousand people in that multitude. There in tbe de sert Jesus taught them and healed their sick. It was a great meeting and perhaps near the eastern Bethsaida. (Lange pp 263)The multitude anxious to hear His wondrous words, and His great heart throbbing in compassion for their souls. It was at the close of this day that Christ blessed that multitude through His Disciple, thus showing not only His own power, but the immense results flowing from a little well employed by His people. I. The DiscrpLE-viEw op the multi TUDE 1. Send the multitude moat/. “And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him saying: This is a desert place, and the time is now past, send the multitude away.’’ There were two reasons in their view for sending the multitude away. (1). The time was now past. The day was about to expire, the evening shadows were already fall ing in long dark shafts upon them from 4the west. Lingering streams of light were dancing and fading out among the black curtains tha were mantliagjthe hills around.Their service would soon have to close. They thought best that the multitude be sent away while there were some blushes of day upon the earth. (7) This was a desert place It was re mote from the cities from which the multitude had come. They saw no way of making ample and comfortable accommodations tor such a throng in such a place. They determined all by thejilace and circumstances that sur rounded them. That is the great world view of life. They failed to look at Christ as more than the world. Remember that was the view of His owu disciples. Many of Christ’s disci ples now feel and say: Send the mul titude away from Christ to the world. 2. That they may go into the villages and ljuy themselves victual». It was a food concern for the multitude that seized upon the disciples. They lost sight cf the grander and higher needs of the soul. They seemed to see the multitude hungry and without bread. They thought the only way to obtain themselves victuals was to go away into the villages The disciples were thoroughly honest in.this, but they were also thoroughly ignorant of the true situation. This indicates ’that the world-view turns man away from Christ, making the world itself the source of more good for men than Christ, the maker of the world. It shows, too, lhe.hold the world lias up on believers. .They cainnot break loose from the world and hold on-to--Christ. Christ was there in their midst, baving knowledge of their needs, being mov ed- wilh—compassion for -them,. ..and. holding the keys, that open the store house of all food, and yet His disci pics aaid; “Send the multitude away into iue viuifcaco* _-w.._ 3. The prevailing bread view of hu man lift is Nearly draw here. In its Hope it embraces the disciples Perhaps the question of food had been raised by some among the multitude, and the disciples thought the solution of this que tion was in the suggestion they made. Moreover, they regarded the multitude as capable of self ptir chases They thus brought out in its typical from the two fold earth no tion of man. (l)Tlist the earth has in it what man needs. That this is hi* first duty to himself and underlies all other obligations. (1) That uian can purchase for himself what he uceds and what the world has to sell. Lu other words, this visw in large meas ure ignores God and relie* upon the world aud self, reducing the interests of man to this bread view that ad plainly appears here. This view leave* out the doctrine taught by Jesu* upon occasion of Hjs temptation. “Mao shall not live % bread alone, but by every word that pr eeedeth out of the mouth of God.M Malth 4: 4.and Luke 4: 4. It would be easy to prove that man does not live by bread alone. A single person takes into his lungs in respiration during one day of twenty four hours, sixty tons of atmaspheric air. Air is two parts Oxygen and one part Hydrogen. Oxygen consti tutes more than one half of the solid matter in the earth. Tue great fact is reached at a glance that atmospherisi air is id >re essential to human life than bread. Man can live longer without bread than without air to breathe, tor he cannot live at all with out air. The statement that man shall not live ov bread alone" is capa ble of a physical demonstration. But lie lives by the word of God. But men turn away from these fundament al truths and go into the villages to buy victuals. All doubtful forms ot business, and sharp turns in trade, follow this line ot bread that goes away from God. The true law ot life and bread is to stay close to Christ, though it may seem a desert place. I. cHaisT's view of the multitude. 1. They need not deport; give ye them to eat.'’ None need depart lrom Christ for bread. He is the bread of life Himself. He is the life of the world. He is all to men. God had fed His ancient people in the wilderness for forty years, and He surely could feed this multitude one night. Men need not enter sin to make bread for their families and whoeverjdoes lacks faith in God. Men say, I know the saloou busi ness is wrong, but I must do some thing to make bread tor my family. So thought the disciples, that the multitude should depart from Christ lor food. But Christ said, “Tbev need not depart: give ye them to eat." There is a Icssod for the church. Better feed men than to allow them to go away from Chiist to get food. The true theory is given inJChrist’s sermon on the mount: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous ness; and all these tbiDgs shall be ad ded unto you/’ Matt. 6: 33. Christ can spread His table in the desert as well as in the city. But He uses His people to do His work. He required His disciples to feed the multitude. Give ye them to eat.’’ 2- Their excuse for not feeding them And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes.’' This was an expression, an attempt at proof, of their inability. This is the universal cry of God’s people. By this they mean to assert their willing ness, if thty only bad the ability. But Christ often requires us to do what we cannot do of ourselves. They had not yet learned this grand lesson. Christ required the man with the with ered hand to stretch forth bis band. This he could not do, but he did by the power ol Christ. So here, so al ways our work is not measured by our ability. Paul says to the Philippians: ‘I can do all thing through Christ which strengtheneth me.” 4: 13: We are to use what we have for the good of others, and in this way communi cate the blessinge of Christ. JNo man and no church can say in truth I am not able to do my duty. What ever the Master directs us to perform we are to enter upon in all faith and sin cerity. But men, disciples, are too prone to say we have here only five loaves and too fishe3." 3 The multiplication of their little tahen given to Jesusfthe multitude fed by what they had regarded insufficient. He said: ‘Bring them hither to me,” ‘Then He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and brake, and gave the loaves to. His dis ciple,and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled.” And there was no loss by feeding the multitude, for twelve basket full of fragments were taken up. Those who ate were about five thousand men be side women and children. Christ is able to multiply the little which we consecrate to Him into large blessings for multitudes of men. All that wa do for men should.,he through a full consecration of ourselves to Christ. ‘•He that hath pity upon the poor leudeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again. “Prov. 19; 17. Some Peculiar Customs. While out recently 1 went to the threshold of a Buddhist temple. Did you say, “Why did you not go in ?” Well, if l had attempted that 1 pre sume 1 should not have lived long, for a foreigner would pollute a shrine if h? were to enter it. 0 i entering the temple iuclosure there was noticed, first, a large stone trough full of water; this is the laver where all wcrshipers wash their hands and mouths helore going to prayer. Near the gate wav was a large rack or bill board on which were hung about fifty short pieces of wood containing the names of those for whom prayers were Ining offered that day. Above the gate and on either side stood long bamboo poles with strings attached, fastened to which were pieces of paper containing more names of subjects for prayer Within the inclosure were seen many stands where various ar tides were kept ou sale. One had gods, auother cakes, and another tow les and soap. There was also a large vase full of fishes, mostly gold fishes; also a large flock of doves so tame that they would scarcely move out ot the patli as we walked At the steps of the temple, for that is as far as w« were allowed to* go, stood a box ibi the reception of the money of those coming to pray. On the steps wert kneeling several people in prayer I Overhead were three bells to whicl I were attached ribbons, which tin devotees pulled as as they left the shrine. The priests only enter the inner temples, aud, as a rnle, are not prepossessing in appearance. In a former letter I spoke of the politeness of'the .Japanese. It was necessary to call upon a gentleman connected with the Treasury Depart ment, so I took an Interpreter and a Japanese friend with me. On entering the court yard our business was asked and we were directed to the proper building. When we reached the en trance we were asked to present our name cards, after which we were shown into the reception room, where we had a wait of about ten minutes when an attendant appeared to con duct us to the person we desired to see. " W e were ushered into another room where the gentleman in a few minutes appeared and introductions followed. During the interview, which lasted about fifteen minutes, the con versation was interrupted fully ten limes by the formal bowing of the Japanese, Every time anything was said to which both parties assented there was the acknowledgment by three very low bows. We were highly favored on Decem ber 14th by being invited to attend a sacred dance given in memory of one of the old Somural ofTokio. We went in the afternoon and found our selves the only white people present. As we entered the hall we were told to remove our shoes, and we obeyed There were no seats in the room, but the floor was divided in small apart ments, separated by a railing a foot high, with room enough for ten per sons. The building is one of the old time dance houses, and has a holy room which occupied only by the emperor, who rarely attends, so that the room is nearly always closed. We, as the others did, sat on the floor and began to loon around us for new ob jects of interest. The regulations for the attendance upon this occasion were the wearing, by the Japanese in native costume, his family coat of arms, printed or worked in three places on his outer garment; by those in foreign dress, the conventional dress suit of a Euro pean. Many of the company had na tive costumes of handsome silk. The ladies present had given special at tention to the arrangement of their hair, which was shown in severs 1 predominant styles. The dancing was more like the opera. The stage bad no curtains nor scenery. The actors were dressed in the attire of fifty years ago. The musicians were three in number, and had their places on the stage behind the actors. The instruments consist ed of a “frul,” corresponding to our fife, ana two “tsutsums/' miniature drums, the one held on the shoulder, the other on the knees and beaten with the fingers. The music (?) was Buddhist theory. There Was on the stage, near the center, a large bell covered with green cloth, which wa3 raised and lowered by means of ropes attached After the bell had been raised a woman appeared and asked the privilege of going into the temple, which was represented by a part of the stage. The high-priest, with two others, were represented upon the stage, to whom, through a servant, the petition was made. After a long argument it was decided that if the woman could dance to suit him he would let her in, but told her that if she danced under the bell she would be drawn into it and hef spirit would become a serpent. One of the teach ings of Buddhism is that the spirits of nearly all women enter, after death, Tnto lower forms of animal life. The woman danced while the musicians played, and a chorus of men sang, or more properly groaned and growled; the whole proceeding being of the tamest nature. After a tedious wait ing the woman moved under the bell, which was let down Over her, and after a dry farce by two men represent ing the servants of the temple, the < priests began to pray to Buddha to retease uer.-- . During this performance tbe bone beads used by tbe Buddhists in their prayers, were introduced and au-> exhibition of Buddhist praying given, reminding me very strongly of Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel as recorded tn the Bibl<». After a time the bell was raised revealing the woman supposed to be changed into a seroent. Then the priests began to pray her out of the temple, but tbe/ had a long contest before the woman left of her own ac cord. My interpreter said it was a representation of an actual belief of i he Buddhists, even at the present time, and as his grandfather was a higb-priest of Shiutoism, tbe authority is of unquestio nable reliability, c H. J. RnoDis. Perpetual prayerfulness and per petual joy fulness in God are natural ly allied together. Their connection is intimate and direct; and neither will exist in the soul without the other. Both supposes God to be pres ent to the eye of thought as the object of supreme affection, and so present that both naturally exist. The Way to Preach —“I'll preach as though I ne'er should preach again 11 And as a dj tog man to dying men.”
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 6, 1890, edition 1
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