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BY EMMETT L. MOFFITT. IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY. $2.00 PER YEAR. ELOff COLLEG E, E. 0., THTJBSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1898. VOLUME LI: NUMBEB 32. Tl^ Cipiatiart $Ur\ PUBLISHED WEEKLY. The Organ of the General Convention the Christian Church (Sonth). CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. 1. The Lord Jesus is the only Head of the church. 9. The name Christian, to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names. 8. The Holy Bible, or the Bcriptnres 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. 6. The right of private judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and duty of all. Reflections. There are two thousand, five hundred distilleries in the Unit ed States, and their hissing still worms pour forth annually a lake of poison three-fourths of a mile long, three-fourths of a mile wide and ten feet deep.—The American Issue. At this time the war with Spain seems to be nearing its close ; but, no doubt, some time will be necessary before satis factory terms of peace can be settled upon. The United States demands the withdrawal of the Spanish army from the West Indies, and the ceding of Porto Rico,and all territory over which the United States flag has been raised, to our government; and it now seems that, aftei a little dickering, Spain will accede to our demands. Later.—Peace has been proclaimed. Mothers who are in the habit of “quieting” their babes with ghost stories and other frightful tales may, perhaps, be benefitted by the following from Florence Winterburn, who wrote in the June number of the Woman’s Home Companion on “An Office of Motherhood” : “The first nat ural duty of a mother is to pro tect her young ; to create around it a shelter, in the midst of which the tender thing can grow, se cure from shocks and see ing and hearing only what is good for it to hear and see. * * * By learning the signs of fear in a young child and knowing how to distinguish true fear from wilfullness, they will be able to exert a soothing and protecting influence at the right moment and avert dangers whose conse quences are serious, almost be yond belief, in the case of our highly organized, excitable, modern children. It is the moth er rather than the lather who is called upon to secure the bless ing of a sound imagination to her children. She ought to begin away back in the beginning— with the very first surroundings of the new born infant. Let it find its early life peaceful, quiet and unhurried. And wnen in fancy merges into that older pe riod when young faculties are springing forward in rapid de velopment, and each day the lit tle one takes on more of the hue of its larger fellow creatures, let her be doubly careful that no un timely scare stunts its intelli gence. It is said that to be afraid of shadows is an inevitable pass ing experience ot childhood. Yet I know one small toddler who never has shown any such dispo sition, but whose great delight is to play with her own shadow and other shadows, when the lights are brought in each night. She is a peculiarly sensitive, sympa thetic little thing, and could ea sily be made timid by unwise treatment. But under the shel tering care of fond and judicious parents, is remarkable for ‘not knowing what it is to be afraid,’ and, although she is given to un pleasant dreams, as many young children are, and is often awak ened with a start, a low word or touch soothes her into serenity. Happy above all others is the lit tle child who thinks ot his moth er as a veritable refuge from trouble, a bulwark against dan ger, and a sympathizing pres ence.” We would commend the fol lowing clipping to the consid eration of our Eastern Virginia friends : “One of the most annoy ing features of the latter months of the summer along the banks of rivers and on the seacoast is the mosquito, and anything help ing us to abate the nuisance is important. Apropos to the sub ject, says, The Monthly Retro spect, a recent number ot The Public Health Journal observes : “Two and one-half hours are re quired for a mosquito to develop from its first stage, a speck re sembling cholera bacteria, to its active and venomous maturity. The insect in all its phases may be instantly killed by contact with minute quantities of per manganate of potash. It is claim ed that one part of this substance in 1,500 of solution distributed in mosquito marshes, will render the development of larvae impos sible ; that a handful of perman ganate will oxidize a ten-acre swamp, kill its embryo insects and keep it free from organic matter for thirty days at a cost of 25 cents; that with care a whole State may be kept free of insect pests at a small cost. An qfficacious method is to scatter a few crystals widely apart. A single pinch of permanganate has killed all the germs in a thousand-gallon tank. The be lief has been generally held that the filling in of the meadows with the ashes from near-by cit ies would prevent the develop ment of these pests, and the pro viding of a place for the ashes would be another good. It is doubtless true that the potash which would leach from ashes will—like a solution of the per manganate of potash—render the development of insect life impossible.” Some recent newspaper re ports have caused many Ameri cans to fear that we were going to have about as much trouble with the Cubans as we have had with the Spaniards. The Atlan ta Constitution takes the other view of the question. In speak ing of the letter recently written by President Masso to President McKinley, the Constitution says : “Bartolome Masso, president of the provisional government of Cuba, has sent to President Mc Kinly by the hands of a messen ger a very interesting letter set ting forth the attitude of the pro visional government. This let ter is called out by the apparent misunderstanding between Shaf ter and Garcia, and it will go far toward undeceiving those in this country who have been misled and misinformed by the lies man ufactured by the Spanish party in this country, which, though not large in numbers, is in a po sition to be extremely influen tial. From the letter”, says the Constitution, “it will be seen that there is no possible desire on the part of those Cubans who have the confidence of their own peo ple to interpose the slightest ob jection to any plan the United States may adopt in settling the Cuban question. President Mas so is abundantly able to speak for the Cubans. He was born and raised among them, and with a pride entirely pardonable he is able to say that his own history, which is the history of the Cuban struggle for freedom, is known to every man, woman and child among them. He as sures President McKinley that the Cubans realize that they are in the hands of the people of the United States, in whom and in whose government the Cuban leaders have the most implicit confidence ; and he declares that the only wish of the Cubans is to know what is desired of them and what are the views of the government with reference to the solution of the future of Cu ba. President Masso is perfectly willing to efface himselt in order to promote the interests of Cuba. Though he feels that his intimate knowledge of and sympathy with those who have struggled for years to free the Island from Spanish rule will enable him to be of some service in the final settlement, yet he is ready to get out of the way and leave the whole matter to the sense of jus tice that is innate in the Ameri e«n people.” Contributions. THE CHUBCH: ITS FOUNDERS; ITS MISSION. BY PROF. J. J. LINCOLN, fConcluded from Last Ieeue.l Huss and Wycliffe and Jerome, martyrs for the laith, have told their story amid the flaming torches. Eliot and Luther and Wesley have played their part in the great work of christianiz ing the world and in establishing the church, and they have gone to glory. This country, the pride had its foundation laid by these immortal heroes. Yes ; O’Kelly, Manning, Horace Mann and our own lamented Wellons, founders of the Christian church, bore the same motto on their banner, and are gone from us forever—gone as a sunbeam to revisit its native skies, gone as this mortal to put on immortality. Of them every Christian and every American may exclaim, “Ne’er to the chambers where the mighty rest Since their foundation came nobler guests, Nor e’er was to the bowers of bliss con veyed A fairer spirit or more welcome shade We may not mourn over the departure ot such men. We should rather hail it as a kind dispensation of Providence to affect our hearts with new and livelier gratitude. They were not cut off in the blossom of their days while yet the vigor of man hood flushed their cheeks and the harvest of glory was ungath ered. They fell not as martyrs fall, seeing only in dim perspect ive the salvation of their coun try. In peace, in the bosom of domestic affection, in the hal lowed reverence of their coun trymen and co-laborers, in the full possession of their faculties, they passed away without a fear to cloud, with scarce a sorrowto disturb life’s close. To them indeed it was a great and good day. The morning sun shone with lustre on their closing eyes. Its evening beams played lightly on their brows, calm in all the dignity of death. Thejr death was gentle, me thinks, as an infant’s sleep. It was a long, lingering twilight, melting into the softest shade. Fortunate men so to have lived and so to have died. Fortunate above all to have left upon rec ord an immortality of virtuous fame, upon which history has written with severe simplicity the dying encomium of Pericles: “No citizens through their means ever put on mourning.” We live in an extraordinary age. It has been marked by events which will leave a dura ble impression upon the pages of history by their own intrinsic importance. But they will be read with far deeper emotions in their effects upon future ages ; in their consequences upon the hap piness of whole nations ; in the direct or silent changes forced by them into the very structure of society ; in the establishment of a new and mighty empire, the empire of public opinion ; in the operation of what Lord Bacon has characterized as almost su preme power,the power of knowl edge working its way to univer sality, and interposing checks upoD government and people by means gentle and decisive which have never before been fully felt and are even now, perhaps, inca pable of being perfectly compre hended. every American, Other ages have been marked by brilliant feats in arms. Wars have been waged for the worst purposes. The ambitious con queror has trodden whole na tions under his feet to satisfy the lust of power ; the eagles of his victories have stood on either ex treme of the civilized world. The barbarian has broken loose from his northern fastnesses and overwhelmed in his progress temples and thrones, the adorers of the true God and the worship pers of idols. Heroes and patriots have suc cessfully resisted the invaders of their country, or perished in its defence; and in each way have given immortality to their ex ploits. Kingdoms have been j rent asunder by intestine broils or by struggles for freedom. Big otry has traced out the march of its persecutions in footsteps of blood, and superstition employed its terrors to nerve the arm of the tyrant or to immolate his vic tims. There have been ancient leagues 'tor the partitions of em pires, for the support of thrones, for the fencing out of human im provement and for the consolida tion of arbitrary power. There have been bright spots on the earth where the cheering light of liberty shone in peace; where learning unlocked its stores in various profusion; where the arts unfolded themselves in eve ry form of beauty and grandeur: where literature loved to linger in academic shades or enjoy the public sunshine; where song lent new inspiration to the temple ; where eloquence alter nately consecrated the hall of legislation or astonished the fo rum with its appeals. But though we may not arrogate to our selves the possession of the first genius or the first eta of human history, let it not be imagined that we do not live in an extra ordinary age. I have cited you to a few of the duties of the church and to some of her advocates, but the mission of the great and glorious church is to extend the gospel. The gospel is the great theme, for in the gospel is made fully known to us God’s purposes re specting sinners. In the gospel is revealed to us the Divine Heart. In nature we behold the Divine Hand. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his han diwork.’’ “I consider the heav ens the work of thy fingers* Belshazzar in the feast saw a hand writing on the wall, a strange hand, a detached hand, a hand from eternity—nothing but a hand. In like manner, when we look upon Nature we behold writing upon her walls a Hand —a strange Hand, a strong Hand, a cunning Hand, a divine Hand ; still nothing but a Hand. In Judaism again we behold the Divine Back. God showed His Back to the children of Is rael ; a strong Back, a broad Back, upon which He carried them for forty years long, but still only His Back. But blessed be God, in the gospel He re veals His face, and in His face His heart. “He shineth into our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ.” “The spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God also.” His Hand in Na ture, His Back in Judaism, His Face in the Gospel; He has turned Himself completely around in the sight of humanity and revealed His lyhole being. Preach the gospel to every creature. It was preached to the Jews—to the Greeks and Ro mans. It is being preached to the barbarous tribes afar off. It shall be preached to every crea ture. It shall bring glad tidings of great joy even to the animal kingdom. “The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fading together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” A marvelous change ! The language is meta phorical, you say. Perhaps, but metaphorical or literal, it pic tures a marvelous improvement to be brought about by the gos pel of Christ. Nay; more. It will lift the curse from the very ground. “Cursed be the ground for thy sake ; briars and thistles will it bring forth.” Man’s sin has impoverished the very soil on which he treads; and in pro portion as man will recover his holiness will the ground recover its fertility. A period of great fruitfulness is predicted, when a harvest of wheat will be gather ed on the tops of the mountains. When? When holiness shall be inscribed on the bridles ot the horses. Christianity is the infal lible panacea for all maladies of the world, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Many medicines are advertised in the present day, and each one is recommend ed as a cure for all the ills to which flesh is heir; and reading the advertising columns of the newspapers, one wonders that there is any sickness—or death either—in the world. But I may say with confidence of the gospel that it is the universal remedy ; “it heals all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Yea, it will also deliver the earth from its groan ings and travail, and make it share in the joy of the children of God. Oh ! glorious day ; when will it come? JOSEPH, THE SON OF JACOB AND RACHEL. BY HERBERT SCHOLZ, A.M. Jacob loved him more than any of his other children, because he was Rachel’s first-born. WJien Joseph was a youth, Jacob gave him a coat of many colors as a mark of affection and favoritism. This naturally made the other cuildren jealous, because they did not like such discrimination. Very frequently when Joseph would be with his brethren in their travels to find pasturage for the sheep, he would take ac count of their evil doings and report them to his father. This, of course, increased their dis pleasure toward him. Another cause of jealousy was two dreams which Joseph related to his brethren. One was, that he dreamed they were all in the field binding grain, and his sheaf stood upright, while the sheaves of his brethren bowed to it, sig nifying that in time to come, Jo seph’s brethren would do hom age to him. The other was, that he dreamed the sun and moon and eleven stars did obeisance to him, which was interpreted to mean that his father and mother as well as his brethren should be ruled over by him. These dreams increased jealousy into hatred, and that hatred soon had an op portunity of exercising itself in a dreadful way. When the older sons of Jacob were some distance from home attending to their flocks, their father became anxious to hear how they were getting along. So he sent Joseph to see them and to bring him word concerning them. When his brethren saw him coming, they conspired to kill him, but Reuben, their old est brother, persuaded them that it would be better to put him in to a deep pit, where he would starve to death, and they con sented to do this. Reuben’s in tention was to rescue his brother secretly and send him back home. So when Joseph arrived they threw him into a dry, emp ty pit, and left him to his fate. Reuben’s business called him away from camp for a short time, and while he was gone, his brothers saw some Ishmael ites coming, and decided to sell Joseph to them as a slave. So they sold him for twenty pieces of silver. When Reuben return ed and found out what had been done, he was very sad and won dered what he should tell his fa ther. But he and his brothers solved the problem by taking Joseph’s coat and dipping it in the blood of a goat, and then they showed it to their father and claimed they found it in the fields, and their father thought that his favorite son had been torn to pieces by a wild beast. After the Ishmaelites had bought Joseph, they took him down into Egypt, and sold him to an oihcer whose name was Potiphar. Joseph soon won the confidence of Potiphar and was appointed ove-seer of his house hold. After staying with Poti phar for some time, Toseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and cast into prison. Here he also gained the favor of the prison superintendent, and was allowed a measure of liberty not enjoyed by other prisoners. In the meantime a circumstance took place which indirectly led to Joseph’s liberation. The king of Egypt had become offended with his chief butler and chief baker and had sent them to the same prison in which Joseph was incarcerated. These two men had a dream. Joseph interpret? ed their dreams for them. The interpretations came true to the letter. The chief butler was re stored to his former position : the chief baker was hanged. Two years afterward, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had a dream which troubled him very much. The chief butler recommended Joseph as a very apt person to interpret his dream. Pharaoh sent for Joseph, made known his dream to him, and asked for an inter pretation. Joseph told him that his dream was a warning from God to the effect that there were to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. It pleas ed Pharaoh to appoint Joseph as a special officer to provide in the years of plenty for the years of famine, in order that the people might not suffer when the famine came. Joseph was clothed with extraordinary power and made second only to the king. So during the seven years of plenty Joseph had immense store-houses built, and he required the people to contribute a certain part of all the food crops they raised as a deposit to be drawn on when the years of famine should come. The consequence was that the people of Egypt did not starve when the famine came, but had plenty and many people from surrounding countries came to Egypt to buy corn. Among those who came from a distance were Joseph’s ten brothers. Joseph treated them harshly at first and pretended that he thought they were spies. But when on their second visit they brought their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them, Joseph made known himself to them, and forgave them the great wrong they had done him. He made a great feast for them, and after it was over, he sent them back to his father with large wagons in order that they might move the whole family down in to Egypt. Jacob’s heart revived when he heard that his beloved Joseph was still alive, and he readily consented to move to Egypt where he could spend his last days with Joseph. Pharaoh set apart the land of Goshen as the home of Jacob’s family, and they and there descendants dwelt there until the time of Moses. Joseph in his great power was very good to his father and brethren, and they were forced to acknowledge that his youthful dreams had come true. Joseph married Pharaoh’s daughter, Asenath, by whom he had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob blessed these two sons and prophesied that the younger should be the father of a much greater nation than the elder. Jacob also blessed Joseph and divided the birthright be tween him and Judah, and de clared that Joseph was a fruitful bough, whom the Almighty should bless with the blessings of heaven. When Joseph was a hundred and ten years old he perceived that he was at the point of death, and so he made his children vow that they would take his bones back with them back to the land of Canaan when the Lord should bring them all again to their promised home. He then died and was embalmed according to the custom of the times and placed in a coffin. No man ever accom plished more than he, and no man ever rose from the position of a slave and a criminal to high er heights of power. But the great secret of his success was his own personal integrity, knowledge and energy, and the presence of the power of God. When nations are at war eve ry other question or event is com pletely overshadowed, even though at an other time these things would be cansidered as of great import to the nation. Social, political, and financial questions are for the time lost sight of; and every body feels it his duty to “go crazy” on the war question. One notable instance of this state of things is the passing of the question of “silver and gold”. Another is the little that has been said about the death of Gladstone and Bismark, two of the greatest statesmen that the world has ever known. Had these men died in times of peace, even the United States would have vied with England and Germany in doing honor to their memories. Certainly war is the paramount question, but the little brush we are having with Spain should not engage all our wits. A DREAM OF BEATEN. M. E. BRADSHAW-ISHERWOOD, IN AN EXCHANGE. It was the last night of the old year. Tired and drowsy, I fell asleep in the hush of the early dawn ; and as I slept I dreamt a dream, and in my dream I thought I stood at the gate of heaven, and the gate stood ajar, and far inside I saw a land of beauty, but words fail me to desciibe that fair place. And as I stood at the entrance an angel approached me, say ing : “What brings thee to this land? Speak, and do not be afraid.” * Encouraged by these gentle words, I answered: “I am so tired and lonely, and on earth so useless. No one needs me. Let me, I pray thee, enter paradise and work for Christ here.” But the angel shook his head. “Those who work here are those who began their work be low ; there would be no rest for you here, for the rest that re maineth for the people of God is the fruit of their eajthly toil. Poor wanderer, once more thou must return to earth, but before thou goest, behold!” And the angel pointed as he spoke to a tree on which all the leaves seemed to be shriveled. “These”, said he, “are the golden opportunities which have withered and died.” “And as I gazed upon the tree many of the leaves seemed to grow into familiar deeds of mine, and on each of them I could see the words plainly depicted, “Gone past recall.” The angel then led me forward and pointed to another tree whose leaves were just bursting forth, as in early spring. “There”, said he, “are the op portunities yet to come.” And on stooping down I read the words, “The truit of the Tree of Life.” “Even such are they,” said the angel, “the tiny deeds, the words of love, and the unselfish thoughts, so little considered by men, but their fruits are strangely sweet in the Master’s sight.” And at these words the mean ing of life became clear, and I no longer desired to leave my earth- . ly work till the fruit of my labors should be deemed worthy of the heavenly rest; and from this dream I awoke not a little com forted. IN GOOD STANDING. FROM CHURCH LIFE. The ice-cold Christian may be a member of the church “in good and regular standing.” Yes, and a contributing member, too. He attends church quite regularly and sings in the choir. When he gets his “Sunday best” on he looks quite like a Christian, but how does he live? No daily Bible reading. No blessing asked at the table. No family prayers. No Bible instruction for the children. No religious conversation in the home. No private prayer. No attendance at the week day services. No attendance at the Sunday school. No Christ in his choice of read ing matter. No Christ in his favorite amuse ment. And only a little of Christ in his head. Well, what has he then, which the-commonest sinner has not? First. He has his name on the church roll. Second. He has his name on the list of contributing members. Third. He has a pew or an oc casional sitting in church. These three things and nothing more to entitle him to the glo rious name of Christian. If he should suddenly die, he would be given a Christian bur ial, and these three things about him would be sure to be men tioned in the funeral sermon, and held out to the bereaved family as reasons for a blessed assur ance that he has gone straight to glory with an abundant entrance. I -: Send in your renewal lor Sun.
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 18, 1898, edition 1
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