J
The
BY EMMETT L. MOFFIIT.
ESTABLISHED 1844.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
VOLUME XLIX : NUMBER 40
IN ESSENTIALS,
NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY'
RALEIGH, N. 0., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8.1896.
C^mstiart SUr*
The Organ of the General Convention
the Christian Church (Sonth).
CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.
1. The Lord Jesus Is the only Head of the
ohurch.
2. The name Christian, to the exclusion
of all party and sectarian names.
8. The Holy Bible, or the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments, sufficient rule
of faith and practice.
4. Christian character, or vital piety, the
only test of fellowship or membership.
It. The right of private judgment, and
the liberty of conscience, the privilege and
duty of all.
Editorial Reflections,
On June 30, 1896, the total net
public debt of the United States
was $955>297'253-7°
The people of Morehead City,
N. C., have purchased the Teach
ers Assembly building in that
city for the sun of $1500.
The late Joseph Wild, of
Brooklyn, bequeathed $92,000,
000 fir the aid of the different
Baptist organizations of Amer
ica.
During the month of March,
1896, $7,268, 604 worth of prop
erty belonging to Christians was
destroyed in the principal cities
of Turkey.
Maine is being canvassed by
evangelists who travel in orna
mented carriages displaying Bi
ble texts and from which num
bers of tracts are daily distrib
uted.
Sculptors are making their
way to Galveston to compete in
securing the-contract (or a mon
ument to the heroes of Texas.
The monument is to cost about
$69,000.
■CA paint has recently been dis
Covered for painting vessels and
wooden fixtures so that the trou
blesome and mischievous insects
will not injure the wood. It has
been tried and found to be a suc
cess. *
The.re was a heavy waterspout
at San Marcos, Texas, last week.
Many houses and bridges were
washed away, and several lives
were lost. The crops in that
section were completely de
stroyed.
Germany is now producing a
new illuminating gas which
comes up to the standard test,
and costs only twenty-five cents
a« thousand feet. A plant with
sufficient capacity to furnish a
hundred lights will cost only
$iSO- __
Prof. Dean, of Columbia Uni
versity, will lead a party of nat
uralists and botanists to" explore
Puget Sound. It is expected that
quite a number of peculiar ani
mals and plants will be present
ed to the museums by this party
of explorers.
The Christian Advocate of
New York has just celebrated its
seventieth year of publication.
It published a special twenty
page number, giving the portraits
of all the editors who preceded
the present one, except one, the
portrait of whom could not be
secured.
It has been decided to estab
lish a union missionary periodi
cal representing the seven Con
gregational missionary societies.
The first number will be of six
teen pages. The name of the
monthly will be “Congregation
Work”, and will start with the
new year of 1897.
Russia aided the Abysynnian
ruler in obtaining $400,000 Irom
Italy to maintain the prisoners
and to restrict the limits of Ery
threa, and in return for these
services she has gained great
commercial advantages over her
previous condition. Peace has
now been restored between Italy
and Abyssinia.
I
Sir Herbert Kitchener and his
Anglo-Egyptian forces have for
some time been trying to gain
possession of the country around
the Nile. The British forces at
last succeeded in taking Don
?ola, the chief point. They con
sider this victory a signal one
in driving out the Dervish who
ire the enemies of the British
ind the Egyptians.
An organization known as
‘The United States Church Ar
my” has been established by the
Episcopal church, but they also
provide (or interdenominational
co-operation in behalf of the un
saved. The chief work of the
Army will be to take the place
of the “Rescue Mission” in the
work among the churchless and
the outcasts.
The North Carolina^ection of
the Climate and Crop Service of
the Weather Bureau has been
furnished a complete outfit for
printing its own reports. It has
before this time had the aid of
the Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion. Special attention will be
given to information concerning
climate and to meteorological
observations.
During the past sixteen years
the United States has imported
through the San Francisco cus
tom-house 1,328,000 pounds of
opium, or a yearly average of
83,000 pounds. From this source
an average yearly revenue of
about $700,000 has been collect
ed, making in all about $11,200,
000. The average price paid
per pound was about $9. This
is an alarming state of facts, and
something should be done to
protect our people from the in
fluence of this drug.
Mr. Tesla, the noted electri
cian, says that Buffalo, N. Y., is
destined to become one of the
largest if not the largest manu
facturing city in the United
States because it is near Niaga
ra Falls, which is to furnish
power for the lights of the city,
and that the power will be used
in manufacturing, making the
cost of production much less
than can be done by any other
Tower. While few of the cities
aave increased in population
more than fifty per cent during
;he past sixteen years, Buffalo
las increased 130 per cent in
imputation.
At the convention of the
rades-unions of Great Britain
which was recently held at Ed
nburgh, resolutions were passed
favoring the payment of mem
m-rs of Parliament, the granting
af complete amnesty to all polit
cal prisoners, important changes
n the educational system, and
unking the taxation of land val
aes and ground retats a test ques
:ion in the next election. A mo
;ion was adopted advocating the
aationalization of the land,mines,
minerals, royalty, rents, and
-ailways, and the municipaliza
ion of all undertakings in con
aection with water, artificial
ight, and tramways
The number of men and wom
en engaged in the principal oc
cupations commanding a salary
was 22,735,661 in 1890. These
igures relate to those employed
in the United States. The in
crease in the number of males
engaged in these occupations for
:he ten years previous was 27.64
per cent, while the increase in
:he number of females employed
was 47.58, making a total in
crease of 75.32 per cent. The
increase in population for the
same period was about twenty
five per cent. Thus we see that
the work along these lines has
bsen greatly increased, and that
women ire becoming much more
prominent in the gainful occupa
tions. In 1890 there were 22,486
irtists and teachers of art. Of
this number 11,676 were men and
10,810 were women. There
were 3,989 male authors and 2,
725 female authors. Of the 62,
155 musicians and teachers of
music 27,636 were men and 34,
519 were women. There were
1)6,581 male teachers and 245,230
female teachers. Of the 33,333
stenographers and typewriters
12,148 w'ere men and 21.185
were women.
From Our Contributors,
LETTERS TO “OLD FRIENDS.”
NUMBER TWO
Norfolk, VA.,Sept. 30, ’96.
To Miss Hattie Happy,
Jollytown, Va.:
My Dear Young Friend.—I
must not leave you without this
letter, the Lord willing, because
of the importance of the point 1
wish to make to you.
In my last letter I tried to
show you that the gay and friv
olous girl is not the bright and
happy Christian. Some think
levity indicates happiness,where
as, it is not even second-cousin
to real Christian joy.
The young people in many
cases have gotten happiness and
frivolity badly mixed, but I do
not blame them for it—the fault
rests on another’s shoulders, but
it is not the less a serious matter
on that account. The teacher ol
the young people is very largely
responsible for this mistake.
This is especially true of the
preacher, for he is the teacher of
the young people in divine
things. I know this is so. for 1
have caught them in the very
act. Only a few weeks ago I
heard a distinguished preacher
who had something like a na
tional reputation, as. a leader of
the young people in Christian
work. He arraigned the “long
fabed” Christianity of the day
by drawing a grotesque figure
with a long, sad, sour, and ugly
face, all out of humor with eve
rybody, and this he depicted as
“long-faced” Christianity, and
then, on the other hand, he put
in a plea lor a jony ana iun-iov
ing young people whose faces
should be always wreathed in
smiles, and then he left them
without ever intimating that
there is any difference between
the joy of the jolly and fun-lov
ing and tne joy of the truly hap
py Christian. As we were leav
ing the meeting in which he had
spoken, I heard a bright young
lady say : “I declare he is jolly
—1 like him so much.” Vvhata
slip that preacher made that
night! What an opportunity he
lost for doing good? He left
those young people with the
thought that to be light-hearted,
gay and frivolous' indicated the
joy of the Christian, and I sup
pose they will not soon get that
♦hought out of their minds. Why
did he do it? Well, I cannot
say, but he did it. But do you
not suppose that he meant the
joy of the Christian life was more
than to be gay, frivolous and
fun-loving? Possibly he did,
but he did not say so—he made
no distinction at all. He did
not ted them that there is any
difference. It was all right to
warn them of‘long-faced’ Chris
tianity—I approve heartily of
that, but it was equally import
ant that he should have drawn a
distinction between the frivolous
and tun-loving, on one hand, and
the truly happy-hearted Christian
on the other. I do not admire
the Christian whose joy is indi
cated by his frivolity and fun
loving ways; but 1 do admire
the Christian whose heart is full
ot the grace of God—who is led
of the Holy Spirit, who is filled
with all of the fullness of God.
and who wears a bright face, is
cheerful under sunshine and
clouds alike, because he knows
he is a child of God—because he
knows that he has passed from
death unto life, and that his life
is hid with Christ in God. Such
an one has cause to be happy,
and his happiness is so quiet and
sweet—so full and complete, be
cause he is in Christ a new crea
ture— ; old things—his love of
the frivolous; of the follies and
fashions of men—have passed
away, and he lives a new and a
joyful life. This happiness, this
joy, is worth having, whereas
the joy that is born of the fun
loving and the frivolous, the
worldly, oh it goes the way of
the earth with the first trial—the
first burden, the first sorrow, the
first loss, the first disappointment
—it will not stand a heavy test.
I think I told you in my last
that I would show you the differ
ence between the frivolous and
fun-loving joy and the real true
Christian joy. It may be clearly
seen in this: The joy that is
born of frivolity and fun gives
you a smiling lace only while
everything goes well—while the
sun shines and the fragrant flow
ers bloom and the birds sing
sweetly and all your loved ones
are well.
On the other hand the joy that
is born of God—that fills your
heart and life because of the
presence of the Holy Spirit, be
cause of your humble obedience
to His will, because you have
consecrated all to Him and His
service, that joy abides and up
holds you in the time of your
trials, in the time of your bur
dens, in the time pf your sor
rows, in the time of your great
loss, and when disappointment
overwhelms you, yea, in your
last great struggle with death, it
will not. leave you, but will fill
you and sustain and make you
happy in that trying moment.
That is what it did tor David—
he said, “Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil—thy rod and
thy staff they comfpct me.” It
did the same lor Abraham, and
Enoch, and Moses, and Joshua,
and Isaiah, and John the Bap
tist, and Stephen, and Paul, and
thousands of others. A Dear Hat
tie, it will dc as must for you, if
you will just get it.
Now, do you not see a great
difference between being frivol
ous and full of fun, and being
full of real Christian joy? Oh
there is a great difference. The
valuable always costs, and if you
would get it you must pay for it.
In my next I will try to show
you what real Christian joy
costs, and then you can say if
you are willing to pay the price
and get it.
J. Pressley Barrett.
SOME MISSIONARY NOTES.
BY REV. J.PRESSLEY BARRETT ,D.D.
A lady sometime ago heard a
missionary pleading for means
to support men who would go to
preach to the heathen. She
said she had heard Mr. Moody
preach, but she never received
such a sense of her own sins as
she did when she saw the burn
ing zeal of the missionary for
the salvation of the heathen. In
speaking of the visit of this mis
sionary she said: “It not only
makes our Christianity (mine at
least) look like a mustard seed,
but it makes one wonder wheth
er it isn’t a dead seed at that.”
And then she said with a mark
ed significance. “I wonder what
the Lord does think ot us all—
some ot us anyway.” If some
of us who are so little concerned
about the salvation of the lost,
could only know definitely just
what the Lord does think of us,
we would probably be waked up
from a solid nap of indifference,
and for once we would be most
anxious to get to work in the
Lord’s missionary vineyard.
How much? Of what? Well,
how much have you given to the
missionary cause this year?
How much did you give last
year? Seriously, from this
standpoint are you a profitable
or an unprofitable servant?
Some one has well said: “A
dime whispers, I will help save
America ; a dollar says the same
thing outloud ; a hundred dollars
shouts it. One prayer helps the
good work on ; two prayers help
it on a bit further; a halt-dozen
prayers possibly make it go fas
ter yet; and only the angels
know how marvelously the pray
ers of a few millions might ac
celerate it. One man or woman
saying a good thing, or doing a
brave thing, somewhere, makes
America a little better ; a band
of laborers affects perhaps the
development ot a whole country ;
while a host of workers may
reap a harvest waving in fields
as broad as a prairie, or mine
out nuggets of spiritual ore rare
and rich as a thousand mountain
mines.” Looking at the matter,
purely from this standpoint, it
seems to me that every lover ot
the Lord would desire to con
tribute his or her part to the
missionary fund for the Lord’s
work at home or abroad.—Do
you? Will you do it? Now?
Do the missionaries in foreign
lands have much to do? It is
more than probable. Here is a
specimen of one day’s extras,
outside of the regular work with
just one missionary:
“A child swallows a coin. Its
mother brings it to us. A wife
turns obstinate. Her husband
comes to us. A husband hates
his wife. The wile comes weep
ing to us. A man in a fit of de
spair joins the army. We are
asked to liberate him. A mem
ber of the church loses his char
acter. We have to examine into
things and discriminate truth
from lies. An educated Chris
tian man runs hin*selt into debt.
His advice is to apply to us for
higher salary. A woman has
two sons—one earning good
wages, the other a boy at school.
The older son gets into debt.
The mother’s salary as a Bible
woman just keeps her and her
younger son in food and cloth
ing. The younger son, being
clever, should receive a higher
education. Who is to pay? Not
tee elder brother, but the mis
sionary. At least that is the re
sult of a discussion that occupies
nearly a day. We refuse say.
The missionary is then accused
of spending over the heathen to
the loss of the Christian.”
With all that extra work for
one day, how do you suppose
any regular work was done?
A missionary sends us some
good advice. He says: “When
you cannot see any bright side,
polish up the dark side and look
at that.” Now, that is a golden
sermon in a nutshell. But faith
always sees a bright side, be
cause she looks at everything
through her confidence in God.
If He is, and He is, why He w ill
change the dark clouds into
masses of shining glory. It must
be so, for he has said that all
things work together tor good to
them that love God. Now, if 1
love God, the assurance that He
gives me that He is making ev
erything work together for my
good, that alone turns the dark
cloud into a shining mass, and so
I do not have to do the polishing
—it is well done by my Father
in Heaven.
Now, let us act not only on
the missionary's advice, but let
us go a step further and through
faith in Him always keep our
eyes fixed on the shining side of
His dealing with us. —
A SUGGESTION TO THE CHOIR.
BY REV. J.PRESSLEY BARRETT,D.D.
A preacher, so it is said, alter
concluding the morning prayer
gave out a familiar hymn, and
said:
“I hope the entire congrega
tion will join in singing this
grand old hymn; and I know
the choir will, for I heard them
humming it during prayer.”
Now think of it 1 The choir
humming a hymn while the pas
tor was praying ! Who prayed
for the choir?—they evidently
did not for themselves. In other
days this writer has been dis
turbed by whispering in the
choir during prayer. It is pos
sible that the whispering during
the prayer was about the next
hymn to be sung, only that they
might be ready to sing when the
prayer closed, but it was no ex
cuse. Whispering during prayer
is wrong, even by the choir.
The Insurgents in Cuba are
hopeful of securing their indepen
dence in a short time. The
Spanish government has made
a proposition to the effect that il
the insurgents will lay down
their arms by Nov. ist, Spain
will grant Cuba home rule, and
would also guarantee that am
nesty be granted to every man
who has been in the rebellion ;
and tha< Gen. Weyler should be
recalled and the Crown’s repre
sentative in Cuba be some one
who will be favorble to the in
surgent leaders. It is not thought
that the insurgents will accept
the proposition because they
think Spain has about exhausted
her treasury and cannot in her
present condition secure another
loan sufficient to carry out her
purposes.
Don’t talk politics on Sunday.
The Pulpit
MIGHTY TO SAVE.
BY REV. JAMES MAPLE, D. D.
Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above
all that we ask or think, accord
ing to the power that worketh in
us, Unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus through
out all ages, world without end.
Amen.
Paul was deeply interested in
the spiritual welfare of the disci
ples of Christ in the city of Eph
esus, and he prayed most ear
nestly for them. He writes to
them :
For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father ot our Lord Je
„us Christ, Of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is
named, That he would grant you,
according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner
man ; That Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith ; that ye, be
ing rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and
height; And to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all
the fullness of God.
Paul commenced praying that
they might be able to measure
the length and breadth, the
depth and height of Christ’s
love ; but as he began to pray it
unfolded to his mind and be
came so vast that he exclaimed,
•‘It passeth knowledge.” We
cannot understand and measure
it in all its tullness now. It will
take an eternity to fathom it,
and it will always remain a
shoreless ocean ; for it is bound
less and eternity is endless.
Paul studied this subject until
uis mind and heart was so full
that it overflowed in gratitude,
and he exclaimed, “Now unto
him that is able to do exceeding
ly abundantly above all that we
isk or think, according to the
power that worketh in us, unto
him he glory in tne cnurcn by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.”
It is true that we cannot fully
comprehend what Christ has
done, is doing, and will do for
us ; but we may learn much of.
his ability and work by the faith
ful study of his nature, attributes
and work. In this study we soon
learn that “in him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bod
ily and he that hath seen him
“hath seen the Father.”
When enlightened by divine
truth and the Spirit of God, men
are made conscious ot their spir
itual needs, and the first and
deepest conviction is the need of
pardon and deliverance from the
bondage of sin. When made
conscious of the existence, pres
ence, holiness and justice of God
and of their accountability to
him men always recognize their
need of forgiveness and help to
live a Christian life. This has
been the experience of men in
all ages. Christ meets this want,
tor he has power to pardon and
save from this slavery of sin.
One of the first sermons he
preached was on that sublime
passage ot f Isaiah where iia
speaking in the person of the
Messiah he said, “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because he
hath annointed me to preacft the
gospel to the poor ; he hath sent
me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the cap
tives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised. To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord.”
This was the mission of Christ,
and there is an incident in his
recorded history that reveals his
deep sympathy for man and de
monstrates his power to pardon
and save. On one occasion
while preaching to a great multi
tude of people the friends of a
palsied man brought him into
the presence of Christ, who
moved with compassion said to
him, “Son.Jthy sins be forgiven
thee.” There were some cavil
ing Jews present who said “in
their hearts, Why doth this man
thus speak blasphemies? Who
can forgive sin but God only?"
I Christ read their secret thoughts
and to remove all doubts said to
the palsied man, “Arise, and
take up thy bed, and go thy
way into thine house. And im
mediately he arose, took up his
bed, and went forth before them
all; insomuch that they were all
amazed, and glorified God, say
ing, We never saw it on this
fashion.” They had listened to
the teaching ot the holy proph
ets, read of the miracles of Mo
ses, Elijah and Elisha, but had
never witnessed such a revela
tion ot the love, wisdom and
power of God as this. For the
first time in the history ot the
world men realized the presence
of one who could save from
physical death and pardon sins.
This was more than they ever
asked for or even dreamed of.
He “is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us.”
Christ is the great Teacher
the world, and is able to let
men out of the ignorance a
darkness of sin into the light j
divine truth and the path of l
He is “the way, the truth, •.
the life and “in him are'
all the treasures of wisdom
knowledge.” He could jv
say, “I am come a light intc
world, that whosoever belitf
on me should not abide in
ness.” Man is spiritually blinc
and is walking in moral dark
ness. The gospel is preached,
but men do not see and under
stand its greot facts and truths ;
for they are blinded by passion
and sinful ambitions.
But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: In
whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which
believe not lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine
unto them.
Some men are color-blind,and
cannot distinguish colors. There
is mind blindness. A very pe
culiar case of this form of men
tal blindness is on record. A
press despatch from Philadelphia
describes a peculiar case which
is puzzling the medical staff of
the city hospital. A physician
from Lawrence, Kan., who was
in the city recently, paid a visit
to the hospital to see a friend
who is on the staff. As he was
going through the hospital he
noticed among the clerks a man
whom he thought he knew.
Looking at him more closely he .
was convinced that he was right,
and went to him and greeted
him by his name. The clerk
did not know him, and said so.
Yet the visitor declared that he
was positive about the identity,
and that the clerk had been a
class-mate ot his own at college.
Inquiries about the man in the
hospital elicited the fact that he
came there originally as a pa
tient. In March last he went to
a policeman on the street and
told him that he was lost. He
could not remember his name,
nor his place of residence, nor
any fact of his past history. The
policeman took him to the hos
pital where he was examined.
Apart from his utter loss of mem
ory, he was well balanced men
tally, and was a man of intelli
gence and education. He re
mained five months in the hos
pital as a clerk and did his work
satisfactorily, but no clue to his
identity was discovered until the
Kansas physician saw .and rec
ognized him. A telegram was
sent to his parents, who have
been in great distress about him
since January last, when he left
home to go to Washington and
was not heard of afterwards.
The physicians say that his case
is a form of mind-blindness,
which is very difficult to cure.
That he should be rational and
intelligent on all subjects but
this one is extraordinary. Chris
tian workers who have to do
with souls are familiar wjth such
cases. There are many'whoare
honorable and admirable in all
their relations, but are unmind
ful of their obligations toward
God and are unmoved by the
love and self-sacrifice of Christ
on their behalf.
(CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK.)
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