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The BY HURLEY & MOFFI IT. ■>' IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY. $2.00 PER YEAR. ESTABLISHED 1844. RALEIGH, H. 0., THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1895. _VOLUME XLVIII; NUMBER 14. \ Citmstiart SUi\ The Organ of the General Convention the Christian Church (South). .***»»*%»***»M»**»*‘»»MW%,*M*1,*,m*%' CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. t. The Lord Jesus is the cmly Head of th< church. ^ 2. The name Christian, to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names. 8. The Holy Bible, or the Scriptures ol the Old and New Testaments, sufficient rule of faith and practice. 4. Christian character, or vital piety, the only test of fellowship or membership. ft ' The right of private judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and duty of all. Editorial Reflections. It -is stated that recently at Alexandria a citizen was tried inva justice’s court for assaulting a Pennsylvanian who had made a remark derogatory to Virginia women. The citizen was ac quitted ; and as' the defamer went out of court he had to pass between two lines of Virginia women each holding a raw-hide —and they used them, too. Good for those brave daughters of the old Dominion, than whom purer and nobler women never lived ! Recently in Mexico, a man by the name of Rodriguez en tered the lists to fight with a ferocious bull.. The animal got him down and gored him to death—and the crowd of specta tors cheered! Miserable brutes ! ’tis a pity civilization has never reached them, even though it be so near. The animal nature in man is easily cultivated and ripened into the brute. That is what is the matter with those peo ple in bull-fighting countries— they see so much of it, and take such interest in it that they be come •hardened to4t. - The spirit ual side of our natures need to be educated up, and the animal side down._ Last week as Li Hung Chang, China’s peace envoy to Japan, was going from a conference to his lodgings, a Japanese student shot him in ihe face. It is thought that the student was insane, or it may have been misguided patriotism. He was promptly arrested, and Japanese authori ties greatly deplore the outrage. All reparation possible will be made to the Chinese govern ment, and it is even thought that the unhappy incident may result in making japan easier in her war demands on China. Peace propositions had already been presented and were then under consideration. The shooting of the envoy has delayed negotia tions, and may still more com plicate matters. The wound is not severe, and Li Hung Chang is in no danger from it. Mean while the war goes on. Later.—In view of the above event, the Japanese authorities have consented to an uncondi tional armistice until the present conference between the peace envoys shall come to some defi nite action. From an article in a recent number of the News and Obser ver, we glean some inter esting statistics in regard to North Carolina. In 1890 the total population of the State was 1,617,947—of these, 799,149 be ing males, and 818,798 females. There were 1,055,382 whites, and 561,018 colored—233,307 white voters, and 109,346 color ed voters. It will be seen that the negroes constitute about one third of our' population. Wil mington, with 20,056 population, is our largest city—Raleigh, with 12,678, coming next. We have in the State only 3,702 citizens who are foreign horn. Thus it is seen that as yet we are uninjured by an influx of an objectionable foreign element. We doubt if any other state in the Union can boast of as choice a foreign element as we have. As a general rule, they are thritty, honest, and law-abiding. We have 6,824 churches, with a property valuation of $7,077,440. The church membership is 685, 194—this being 42.35 percent of our population. It ig/evident that along this line we need con [ siderable improvement, and we •trust that another census may show it. It is estimated that there are 200,000young men in the higher I institutions of learning in our country, and that of these, 85, 000 are professors of religion, while the other 115,000 are not. This is most certainly a bad showing for our higher institu tions. Something is wrong— vilely wrong. Thirty thousand more sinners than Christians in our institutions for the develop ment of young manhood and young womanhood! Ffty-sev en and a half per cent of the whole number! Either the home or the school or both are aencient in religious training. It is a sad spectacle—so many young men and young women just on th§ verge of active life and at the same time on the verge of, or indeed in, the dark pit. They expect to go out to mould thought and direct action —to lead in social, political, and intellectual life. Poorly equip ped are they who try to fight life’s battles single-handed. There may be momentary strength in personal attainments; but on ly he who enters in copartner ship with Christ can hope to stand when the real test comes. Therefore “young man, young woman, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ve may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and h:\ving on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above all, tak ing the shield of faith, where with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet ofsalvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God and you wlTTbe prepared lo run the race set before you, and to fight the fight that ends in glorious victory.. _ , They are making a big fight in l^Jew York for a “liberal Sun day,” which really means open saloons during certain hours, open theatres, and other things of.the same stripe. And it is said that severaj ot the city min isters are openly espOusifig the move—itf fact one prominent minister addressed a large pub lic gathering favoring the mea sure. We, ot course, can’t tully appreciate new York's attitude in the matter, far removed from them as we are, both geographi cally and circumstantially ; but we oppose the principle of the thing. We recognize the fact that the Sabbath was made tor man: but it was certainly not made lor him to desecrate ; and we know of no viler desecration, even of a week day, than is the open saloon. The divine injunc tion, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” has been so wrung and twisted in trying to suit it to the desires of the peo pie, that, with a great many persons in the world, it ha's ldst almost all its real forye^, \ We believe in a live, growing, pro gressive Christianity ; we believe in, a pleasurable religious ex perience ; we can see no earthly nor heavenly use for a.long-fac ed, gloomy, pessimistic Chris tian ; but we also believe in keep ing close to, and scrupulously re cognizing our obligations in the obsei vance of God’s commands. We think at least a portion of every Sunday should bet con secrated to the exclusive service of God ; and when we say ser vice, we don’t mean mere atten dance upon church worship—we mean a worship of hand and head and heart. Open the saloons on Sunday during any part of the day ; open the theatres for ma tinees and evening concerts and plays, and such a service we be lieve to be absolutely impossible. This cry for a “liberal Sunday.” is nothing more nor less than a cry for liberal license—a cry for sinful indulgences on a day of rest from daily toil. Sunday may be pleasant without sin, if onty the heart is right. In such a move as this in New Yoik, Christian men are made a mere i tool of by the sin-loving element. It is time to call a halt, and think. From Our Contributors, * A PURPOSE IS LI PE ' BY L. L. LASSITER. There is no intelligent man or woman who does not aspire to some kind of success in lite< The individual who, having tound his mission, does not per form the requirements of that mission is a failure in business, a'drone in society, and a stum bling-block in the way of others. In the creation of the world was a divine purpose. Every planet, every star, every object animate and inanimate, material and immaterial was created for a purpose. The tiniest, blade of grass, the most insignificant in sect*, the smallest particle of mat ter, even the little dew drop that sparkles in the sunlight, has a mission to fill, a duty to perform, a purpose to achieve. Then shall man, the highest, the grandest, the noblest work of all creation, be without a pur pose? Nay indeed ; but let man, the only being endowed with the faculty of reason, have the highest and the noblest purposes in life. Being endowed, then, with power to reason for himself, man is left to some extent, to find out the purpose for which he is intended; yet, he is not without a means of obtaining this knowledge ; he is not with out a source of information. He must seek this knowledge at the Great Fountain Head of all knowledge and wisdom. To obtain it, he must have two qualifications. There must be a desire, and an effort to obtain the thing desired. This idea is beautifully por — _ m.I, ***** mm-Hmm g»->iAtr-■ a gentleman who took a contract to build a bridge over an im mense chasm, and spent forty thousand dollars in its construc tion. He had finished one of the main arches all except the keystone, and when the time came to stop work he said to his men, “I should like to have you work a few hours beyond time to-night, for if we leave that arch as it is and the flood should come, all our work will be swept away.” The men said the flood would not come, and besides, they were not going to work over time. Hut the flood came before morning and swept the arch away. It was all right except the keystone,’ but lacking the keystone, it lack ed everything; hence it could not stand the force of the current. So in our lives ; a great deal has to be done, for us before we are ready to receive the keystone. Much of time, money, patience, anxiety, tenderness and love, are spent on us, before w'e arrive at the age of accountability, or of sufficient maturity to think and act for ourselves. Then, and not till then are we capacitated to entertain the thoughts of high er ideals and purposes in life. Like the arch, we are ready for the keystone ; there is the capac ity, and there is the need or the desire. Neglect the op portunity and the storm may come; wait till to-morrow, to morrow may be too late. Decide in the seasonable time and you are ready to begin the structure ; the bridge , over the'arch which you have been building. Against such a foundation the flood tides of temptation may dash in all their fury, across such a struc ture great burdens of sorrow may be borne and many depress ing cares transported. Put forth the proper effort; find out what God would have you be, and be that with all your might. The truest hero is not he who does a single great deed, but he who acts nobly in the daily events of life. < It is said the best exponent of God is His ordained purpose. Then find out- that purpose con cerning yourself, and seek to accomplish that tor which you have been ordained. There is nothing like operating in the proper sphere. Take a sewing machine out of its place and it is worthless ; take an individual out of his place, and he is as complete a failure as a machine misapplied. What the world needs to-day is mfcn in the right place and men of right principle. Young men! plant yourselves upon high, right principles, and -then have the courage to stand by them, lie sure you are right, then go ahead. Don’t be afraid of being called a crank, for it is better to be called a “crank,” and make something go in this i beautiful world than to be an “emery grinder” to be turned by every other ’eraiik that, comes along. Seek to attain to that higher and better life that is within every one’s grasp. Per haps in many a heart there lies some sadly broken dream, or some sweet, but rudely crushed hope. These broken pieces lie about us and must either mak; or mar our lives. The little rose though crushed, still lives in its fragrance, and so, we, although our hearts be crushed with sor row, may have them tilled with the fragrance of God’s abiding love, and though thorn crowned, we may rejoice as children of God, and scatter light and glad ness where’er we go. Gather up the fragments, a11^ upon ev ery broken piece which we con secrate to His service, the divine Hand will rest in sweet bene diction. Out of our meagerness, there will come forth a rich abundance; and out from the marred and shattered fragments will come forth a harmony,grand," complete and beautiful. WHY CHRISTIANS J>0 NOT PaY LARGER SALARIES TO THEIR PASTORS. BY “WORKER.” “.. Mr Editor:—You have re vealed some alarming facts to the readers of the Sun along the financial line, of the Christian, church. Being g member of the church I think the laity have some room for explanation in regard to the small salaries that the ministers receive. In the first place one half of our ministers are devoting more time to something else thanfthe work of the ministry. Some are teaching and mak ing a support for themselves and families, others are farming, while others are merchandising. Surely no one could expect the churches to support a man pay ing him for his entire time when he devotes over half of his time to some secular business. Every minister that devotes his entire time to the work of the ministry, preparing his sermons, visiting his people and preaching, gets a handsome salary, lhere are a number of obstacles that binder the progress of the work. Some times the leading members of the church wash to raise the pas tor’s salary and employ an educa ted man ; and the more illiterate, non-progressive members of the ^hurch hinder such an action by being in the majority, for they use this power of voting to em ploy the cheapest man they can get. Men tl*at will run the sal ary down to get the church will soon run everything else down, and the church grows weaker year by year. If our pastors would break loose from business and trust God to sustain thym in the work and do their duty they w'ould not suffer more than some of the early preachers did, and soon the church would be in a growing, self-sustaining condi tion ; but as long as our leaders are so dilatory about their duty in the ministry we cannot expect success. Some of our divines would preach the gospel more if the field were prepared for them,but they cannot put their hand to the work and build up the church for God and humanity. They expect the church to become self sustaining and able to pay a large salary before they do the work. There was never a church that became strong until it had some one to work as leader. Il such men were placed at the head of the strongest church in the south it would mean death to it. The reason for small salaries lies in the “half-handed” indifferent, work-all-the—week-and-preach on-Sunday kind of ministerial work. Such work will nevei build churches nor keep thos< alive that are built. It will never earn a salary and surely preach ers cannot expect to get what they have not earned, I for one never expect to vote for or sup port a minister to serve my church, that spends the greater part of his time at some secular calling. I wish that every min ister that does devote his entire time to the work would join with the laymen to have ministers to devote their entire time ’to the ministry. Another trouble about low salaries is an uneducated miiiis try. People are not going to pay the price of wheat for chaff. Some of our ministers have not prepared themselves for 7the work and thfey cannot expect to get pay for vwiat.they cannot do. Their deficieHcy in education, executive ability^and systematic work accounts for so many dead churches- Educated men will give such men the authority to go out and underbid them for churches, which closes the doors of our churches against live, en ergetic, progressive men and welcomes unprepared men unto the work. Th.is means death to the church and they cannot em ploy a pastor that will work the church up from its state of Rip- • Van-Winkle-sleep. I am sure that it will pay any church to employ progressive men, educat ed men, men who give their en tire time to the work instead of half-prepared, retrogressive, far mer or merchandise preachers, even it they have to pay twice as much to get them, for by their work they will build up the church and soon it will be much easier to support such'men than the man that does nothing for the growth of the church. We need such men in our church to-dav as Rev. Isaac N. Walter or Rev. W, Bi Wellons were in their day. Give more men like Rev. James O’Kelly with such a bold courageous spirit anowe shall soon see the power of our principles. The Savior said : •‘Go ye into all the world and preach my gospel to every crea ture,” but many are staying at home farming, merchandising, or school teaching. He also fays’: "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and as harmless as doves,” but some forget the in junction to become wise as ser pents, and think that it is un necessary to prepare for the work, and therefore the failure in the church work. How many ministers who are now doing something else will during this year consecrate themselves both soul and body to the work for the Master? 11 vou are going to be a preacher don’t divide your time and allow the devil to do more against the church in the week than you cairtfffon Sunday. Germany has just celebrated the eightieth birthday of the Great Iron Chancellor. Prince Bistn;irk. Hundreds of distin guished men from the Reichstag and Diet visited his home to pay him homage ; and this celebra tion is timely and appropriate from a national point of view. Bismark has been a great dip lomat, perhaps the world’s greatest. He has done more to place Germany where she stands to-day than any other man. In his speech of welcome to his vis itors, he touchingly referred to his old patron, the Emperor— the .Iron man actually wept. He was tryannical in pflice, but he was patriotic. He did what he thought was best for his country, no doubt; but from our point of view, the Reichstag did credit to itself in not paying him unanimous honor. One result of the hard times is a marked falling off of foreign immigration. In 1892, there were 623,000 immigrants to this country, while in 1894 there were only 314,000—only a very little more than one-half. It, seems that for the last few years our prospects have not been so in viting to the nations beyond the waters. The world follows on the heels of prosperity ; and when they find themselves in the wake of adversity, they right about-ffice, and retreat. We don't especially like adversity, but we don’t object to the fall ing-off ot foreigners. The Pulpit. CHRIST THE FRIEND OF SISNERS. (Concluded.) BY REV. JAMES MAPLE, D. D. A friend of publican* ami sinners. Matt. 11 : 1». Our earthly friends may love us, and earnestly desire to do us good; but their love, sympathy and power may be unavailing. This is often the case with man, and there are some experiences in which our ablest earthly lriends can do nothing for us. Uuder the conviction of sin the love,, sympathy and power of man can bring no deliverance. Then Christ is just the friend that we need, for he can pardon all our sins. Fie who said to “the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee and con firmed his promise by healing him of this dreadful disease, can pardon and save ; millions have experienced his saving power, and are now rejoicing in heaven. When made conscious of the strength of passion and sinful habit, man realizes his need of a friend who has more than mortal power. This was the experience of Paul (Rom. 7 : 21-24). He knew what a friend he had in Jesus) and found the needed help in him (Rom. 7: 25). Millions have found this deliverance in Christ, and have conquered passion and evil habit when all earthly aid had failed. I know a man who was a con firmed drunkard, and his friends tried in all conceivable ways to save him, but utterly failed ; and he was lost so far as human aid was concerned. His wife was a noble Christian woman,and real ized, that the only friend who could serve him was Christ. She led him to this friend,- and he' saved him from this awful slav ery. Millions of enslaved souls have been redeemed by Christ, and are now the companions of holy angels in heaven. There are overwhelming sor rows in this life that no earthly friendship can alleviate. Friends may mingle their tears with ours, and encircle us in the arms j of their sympathy ; but cannotj give the consolation we need. I remember a Christian home of love and happiness. There were in that home a noble Chris tian father and mother, and four beautiful -children. Love and peace reigned supreme in that happy family, but allliction came. The father and the chil dren sickened and died in a short time: and the wife and mother was left alone in her desolate home. What could earthly friends do for her in that sad hirin' ? But little. Christ alone could give the comfort she needed. His promises were her support: Through them she looked above and beyond the darkness of death and the grave to that home, where there is no death, and all tears are wiped away by the soft hand of the Sa viour. When we come to die our earthly friends can do but little for us; and in our great need, absolutely nothing. They are powerless. Prince Albert lay dying. Queen Victoria, his wife, who loved him better than life, stood weeping by his side. She had at her command the wealth, learning, and power of the might iest eqnpire on earth : but she could not stay the cold hand ol death. In Christ he found a friend that could sustain him. He said: “I have had wealth, rank and power ; but if this were all I had, how wretched I should be now. u ‘Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in tliee." Christ is an unfailing friend in the hour of death. He is ever present with his disciples in that change, and they can say with David, ‘“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy statl" they comfort me.” To the irreligious the thought of death is dreadful, and he shrinks from it; but the Christian looks forward to it with calm ness, for he knows that Christ will be with him in that hour. He feels as good old Simeon did when he had the infant Saviour in his arms, and in the fullness of his joy exclaimed: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de part in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a light to lighten the Gen tiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Christ is said to have abolish ed death ; that is he has disarm- “ ed it of its sting and power to injure the believer. He has destroyed “him - that had the power of ddath, that is the devil; and delivered them, who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage.” z Christ gives special grace to his people in the dying hour; » wider and richer conceptions of his fullness and glory fill their hearts to o%erflowing. “I did not know until .now how precious' the Saviour is,” - said a dying Christian. Often the spiritual powers of the soul are so fully developed in the dying hour that the Chris tian can see his future compan ions, and something of the glory of heaven even before he has left this body. Sometimes they hear the music of heaven. “Lis ten ! Do you hear it? O, how— sweet! how rhpturous!” ex claimed a dying saint. Said another, as a shining convoy of angels came in view, “bee, see ! there are the shining ones! Tliev have come for me! O, let me go!” The loving hand of the Saviour has put aside the shadows, and permitted them to look beyond. Thus it was with St. Stephen when dying: “He - being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stead fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus stand ing on the right hand of God, and he said, Behold, I see heav en opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand ot God.” Men of the world call this fa naticism, and mere rhapsoda ; but to me it is Pisgah views, given for a loving purpose. A minister, after preaching on the .Sabbath, retired for the night; awoke in the morning quite ill. His physician was called, who after examining him said, “Sir, if you have any busi ness requiring attention you had better see4 to it for you can live but a few hours.” He looked up, clasped his hands, and exclaim ed : “Ob. my gracious God ! I did not know that I was so near home.” Through faith heaven becomes a glorious reality to the Chris tian. and he hails death with joy as a release from the toil and sor row of life. A dramatic but solemn scene was witnessed at the dedication of a church in Utica, N. V. Dea con Schermerhorn, 77 years old, had taken great interest in rais ing funds for building the .new edifice. He was one of the trus tees of the church, and at the close of the services the pastor urged him to make a tew re marks. lie sang two verses of a hymn and closed thus : “l have prayed—tor—this place a great rflany times. Now I see my prayer answered. Lord, let now thy servant depart iu peace. Lord Jesusy you know it is ’all right between thee and me.” As he finished 'the sentence Mr. Schermerhorn dropped and im mediately expired. Ot course there was intense excitement in the congregation over this re markable answer to prayer for release from life. REMARKS. i. The more we know of this friend the,.more we feel like lov ing and trusting- him. We find him ever faithful, and we learn to trust him with abiding confi dence. • In old age Paul could say, “I know whom I have be lieved, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” From the study of his word, and the experience of [Continued on Page 3-j _ \_." _
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
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April 4, 1895, edition 1
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